In the Public Interest

Gene Patterson, publisher of the St. Petersburg Times (FL), was in Washington recently to deliver a formal lecture on the media. Patterson, a long-time advocate of civil rights and generally liberal causes, was an enigma that evening. He was critical of the press for becoming more superficial (moving towards a kind of headline service ala…

In case you are not current with the latest definitions, “Poison” is now a Christian Dior fragrance. The firm is spending over $7 million to introduce this perfume which sells for a mere $65 an ounce. In magazines, perfumed pages advertising Poison come at readers. On television, the ads convey this new meaning to an…

Let’s try some facts on food on your inclination toward correction action: — There is no mandatory federal inspection and testing of fish and shellfish, unlike the inspection of meat and poultry plants. — The Natural Resources Defense Council, a respected environmental organization, comprehensively tested green coffee beans imported into this country. The Council found…

Last month, President Reagan sent the name of Undersecretary of Transportation, James H. Burnley IV to the U.S. Senate for confirmation as the new Secretary to replace Elizabeth Dole. At that time, Democratic and Republican Senators were quoted as saying that Burnley would be controversial. Some Senators thought he was a hothead, especially after his…

One of our authors, Anne Witte Garland, has just finished the manuscript for a book entitled “Women Activists: Challenging the Abuse of Power”. In this volume are biographies of women who came out of their homes to become civic leaders taking on coal barons, nuclear power plants, auto companies and other weighty opponents. Returning from…

A physician relates the story of a bank in New York charging him $2 because he deposited a check made out to him into his own account without endorsing it. Supermarket shoppers write us to complain of all the added water in their hams, poultry and fish that is selling at meat prices. Motorists inform…

Champaign, Illinois — Here in this agricul­tural region where the University of Illinois is located, a unique consumer group has been show­ing the way for almost ten years. Called the Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC), it is just that — a grass roots community association funded by citizen member­ship dues and a local door…

Ronald Reagan, whose sea of red ink has broken world records for government deficits, is moving once again to sell an old idea. Why not sell government (meaning taxpayer) assets to help reduce the deficit? In his first term, Mr. Reagan floated the idea of selling the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Bonneville Dam. He…

For many small investors, last week’s gyrating stock market has been effectively closed to their desperate desires to get out or in. Tens of thousands of these shareholders have been unable for hours or days to get through to their brokers or even to get post the busy signals. In San Francisco, there was a…

By 1983, two years into the Reagan government, nursing home reform groups discovered depression. After years of modest progress in nursing home standards, Reagan was proposing the inconceivable — scrapping many health and safety regulatory responsibilities by the federal government and reducing the number of nursing home inspectors and Inspectors. He went too far. Outraged…