Daily Tribune, The (Newspaper) - August 28, 1975, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin Accuse funeral industry of exploitation WASHINGTON AP The Federal Trade Commission day accused the year funeral home industry of practices ranging from snatching to bait-and-switch sales tactics The commission proposed rules to stop under- takers from exploiting and deceiving the bereaved Announcing results of a two- year probe the FTC said it found widespread abuses among the nation's funeral homes In addition to the snatching and bait-and-switch tactics the FTC said it found requirements for the purchase of expensive coffins for cremations false claims for waterproof burial vaults and profiting on flowers clergymen and pallbearers At the same time the FTC announced acceptance of a con- sent order requiring Service Corporation International SCI of Houston Tex the nation's largest funeral home chain to refund overcharges for cremations performed ing the past 4 years The proposed funeral rules if adopted would override any state and local laws that prohibit price advertising and that require caskets for tion An accompanying FTC staff document said state regulatory boards are often under the con- trol of the industry and that the general counsel of the National Funeral Directors Association the industry's largest trade association also is general counsel to the con- ference of state regulatory boards The industry is well organized in terms of state boards of regulation and trade associations and uses its tages to limit price disclosure low-cost disposition arrangements and tising all in the name of course of professional ethics and good practice the Bureau of Competition paper said The proposed trade tion would prohibit undertakers from up or embalming corpses without the family's permission known as snatching Refusing to release remains upon request of viving relatives Suggesting that a customer's concern about price indicates lack of respect or affection for the deceased on arrangements for flowers pallbearers crematory charges clergy honoraria musicians and obituaries Requiring the purchase of a costly casket for immediate cremation and refusing to sell inexpensive cardboard boxes or canvas or plastic pouches for the ashes the public health necessity for em- balming caskets and burial vaults Bait-and-switch selling tics which display cheaper caskets in battered condition or unattractive colors The FTC staff said the average cost for a funeral and burial is about and upon some two million deaths a year raises the total outlay o billion with projections of up to H billion by 1980 Counting extras such as flowers cemetery plots grave markers and burial vaults the total for items is about billion an- the FTC said The federal government's share of the expense million through Social Security and veteran's burial programs The FTC said the proposed 2 THE DAILY TRIBUNE Sixtieth 1 8267 INFORMING THE SOUTH WOOD COUNTY AREA OF WISCONSIN Wisconsin Rapids Wisconsin 54494 Thursday August 28 1975 Pages 2 Sections Plus Supplement 150 To walk Mackinac Bridge Gary Soule 24 of Sturgeon Bay Wis will be head and shoulders above the crowd this Labor Day when he and several thousand others walk across the Mackinac Bridge He plans to make the walk on stilts Soule has walked professionally for the past seven years and used the money to help pay his way through the University of Wisconsin AP Wirephoto Wet weekend Ram that returned to sin early this morning is ex- to remain through the weekend Showers and thunderstorms are forecast for most sections of the state tonight and Friday low temperatures will range from the upper 50s to and Friday's highs will be in the 70s The extended outlook calls for partly cloudy skies day through Monday with a chance of scattered showers or thunderstorms each day Lows will be in the to and highs in the Report most students smoke pot Milkman begins his rounds at 3 What's it like to be a Tribune reporter Vernon Borth a milkman on his rounds recently to obtain this account the second of a series of three articles on milkmen in South Wood County By Vernon Borth Tribune Staff He moves quickly through the night with flashlight in hand The motor is left running out front for a fast getaway If he's lucky he will make off with some money but usually he returns to the truck empty handed Call the No But don't forget to mark the milk card Kenneth Irwin 450 13th Ave S will be around in the morning early Irwin has been delivering milk since 1945 Boy that's a long he says And he still has 12 years to go until retirement from his job as milkman for Fischer's Dairy The doors open at 3 as Irwin and Eugene McGinley Rt 3 Wisconsin Rapids pick up their truckloads of milk How do they manage to get up so early in the morning Very Irwin says You ly appreciate a vacation according to McGinley except sometime you wake up quite early in the Irwin adds By they are on their way Five minutes later Irwin has stopped the truck and heads for the morning's first on Harrison St with two half gallons of homogenized He is back at the truck in a flash both tons still in hand They only want milk one day a week Around the corner and a few doors down Irwin strikes out again with a half gallon of homogenized and a pint of whipping cream This time it's not the usual so he returns to the truck for two gallons of A few more houses where the standing order has saved him a few steps and he wheels his stand-up truck to the curb again Over the whine of the engine and a few rattles comes another early morning sound familiar to Irwin We've got one dog awake I've been nipped quite a few times but really bit just once he says by a German shepherd outside Port Edwards He was ling one dog when another bit him Those people must be early he says as the truck passes one of the few houses showing any signs of life It's he says A tot of people are usually up at this time of the morning Then with a smile Most of them don't know where they are but The moon is shining and it appears that dawn is about to break over the early ning mist but Irwin says not until about 5 a m It is summer and the breeze blowing in through the open doors of the is just a See Milkman Page 2 By Ann Grauvogl Tribune Staff Writer Seventy-five to 99 high school students out of every 100 smoke marijuana according to local law enforcement officials and students involved in the drug culture are trying marijuana cording to Debbie Dave and Mike three sons who also smoke Thirteen year olds have been arrested for possession by Wisconsin Rapids police The straight people have started ing marijuana the people who join clubs the athletes according to the trio inter- viewed last week Debbie Dave and Mike are not the real names of those interviewed Kids are into drugs for the same variety of reasons anybody gets into anything Peter Plant Tri-City Youth Services tor said because it feels good it promotes peer acceptance and it's a challenge to societal norms and as something to get away with People smoke for the same reason the businessman has his martini after Dave claimed Because you like it you know that's about it Debbie said It can be really fun sometimes it doesn't do anything Some people use it like a crutch like alcohol Dave added Some people can only get involved by doing drugs Thomas Brookman director of Wood County Alcohol and Drug Council said Many don't know how to quit once they've started he added Peer pressure is a factor To break the cycle they have to find new friends ple that aren't doing dope he said Kids get caught in chemical use to meet frustration need boredom peer pressure adventure Brookman said What it boiled down to with chemicals young people need alternatives Many times they need help in clarifying their own not to have society's values forced on them Youth lack a sense of direction according to Brookman Once you get high it'll change your out- look on a lot of things even when you're not high Debbie observed Before she smoked she said she hadn't realized how many games people play Now she wonders I was ing really good why do they want to be like that? Is it in their best interest to do that? You think a lot more The youth trio agreed that many start smoking because of peer pressure It's a social phenomenon And it's a social thing to continue If someone says no to joint people get on you for it and they Dave said They'll call you a leaker if you don't want anymore Yet the group claimed were accepted and illegality is a concern It's really kind of weird I feel bad about smoking sometimes because it's illegal It's so dangerous to smoke I think about It be- Dems pick New York City WASHINGTON AP The Democrats have decided to take their 1976 presidential nominating convention to New York which needs the money and the Republicans are looking toward Kansas City which sits significantly in the heart of Middle America The Democrats made their choice day after New York officials and labor chiefs pleaded that the financially troubled city needs the economic boost of a big convention and they promised there would be no labor complications The site selection committee faced with some intraparty discord in California and a solid loyalist front in New York agreed to accept the cramped quarters of Madison Square Garden over the spacious facilities of Los Angeles convention center The Republicans make their decision next month and party sources say Kansas City has the inside track although Cleveland and Miami Beach are still in the running Mayor Abraham D Beame told the Democratic committee their convention belongs in New York City and reminded them that the people of New York are on the front lines of meeting the economic challenge The New Yorkers pointed out that their financial problems have forced layoffs of city employes some of whom might be put back to work in the event of a convention boom Neal Walsh New York's commissioner of public events said the convention will be worth million to the city economy over the next year and a half ing illegal and it bothers me a Debbie said I think about it and think about it and think about it but all I come up with is that it's ridiculous for smoking to be illegal The situation is similar to prohibition cording to Dave People are using the sub- stance others are making money off it it's abundant due to the recession Alcohol and pot one is no better or worse than the Dave said Except for Debbie added If you get drunk you feel bad Alcohol makes you do weird things things you wouldn't do if you fi n Drinking and drugs and today's youth weren't drinking I don't think pot would do that to you Alcohol is a legal harmful drug if misused it's addictive to some Marijuana hasn't been shown to do any physical or psychological harm according to Plant Most things have the potential for bodily harm if taken by the wrong person or in too great of quantity he added Grapefruit juice could be harmful to some Marijuana is in the same relative category The greatest myth about marijuana is that we need more research Marijuana has been studied to death Once again the question of tion rises to the surface Plant favors It The amount of marijuana associated with violent crimes is almost nonexistent he said The law is he added You can gel a few busts here and there usually users dumb users He said the law get at production and distribution Sociologically it's a Plant said It demands the creation of a subculture and all that goes along with a subculture life lying cheating rip-offs paranoia It has also created a double standard of law enforcement in Wisconsin Rapids according to the interviewed Juveniles are prosecuted more vehemently for marijuana use than alcohol possession Parents react more violently to marijuana than alcohol A friend of Debbie's was jailed for mari- juana possession Then you walk by a bar and see those old drunks in there People that really need help they won't put in jail The three agreed marijuana doesn't affect rationality or motor functions Mike said he had been hassled by his parents the first time he smoked I handled it while 1 was high and made believe I hadn't All of their parents know they smoke mari- juana Dave's father has smoked with him Mike was arrested My Dad just handled it he didn't get mad Mike said He would think it was nothing if I got busted for drinking because everybody does it Debbie said her mother is afraid of junna She couldn't realize why anyone would want to because she never did People don't know anything about it Mike said They think wow high it's going to kill you When people don't understand something they're afraid of it Dave observed They don't know how to handle it so they get violent Mike added Marijuana is a drug affects everyone differently The three agreed that it makes See Marijuana Page 2 Kent appeal seen CLEVELAND AP A swift appeal is ex- of a federal jury's decision denying million in damages to the wounded and the survivors of the dead in the Kent State University shootings of 1970 The last day of the Kent trial has not curred plaintiffs attorney Joseph Kelner said Wednesday after the jury absolved Gov James A Rhodes and 28 other present or former state officials and Ohio National Guardsmen of liability in the shootings Kelner predicted that the jury's verdict announced on the fifth day of deliberations of the trial would be reversed by a higher court U.S District Judge Don J Young and at- for the 29 defendants as well as some of the defendants themselves acknowledged the case probably had not been finally resolved Four Kent State students were killed and nine were wounded on May 4 1970 in a volley of gunfire which erupted on the campus when National Guard troops tried to disperse antiwar demonstrators The plaintiffs contended the shootings were unprovoked and unwarranted They claimed victims were denied their constitutional to free speech peaceful assembly and due process of law Substitutes peat for some of fuel oil heat in home By John Pelton Tribune Staff Writer A partner to help develop a commercial peat press and share in most of the profits August Tomat 77 Chase St is con- the area's plentiful peat would offer at least a partial solution to the energy crisis rind spiraling inflation Peat is a dark brown or blockish mass of partly decayed vegetation formed in marshes swamps and bogs mainly in the northern hemisphere It is composed of all sorts of marsh plants and is used as fuel generally where the supply of other fuels is meager It'll just lay there and burn about like gas with a blue said Augie's wife Margaret Despite the dense smoke Margaret contends it makes the air smell more summery and leaves a lot of ash that's good fertilizer for lawns and gardens The couple has cut their fuel oil tion considerably by heating the basement of the their wood frame one-story home with an old iron Heating the basement makes it easier for the od furnace to heat the house Augie said Margaret said she not want to reveal how much oil was saved for fear of having the couple's allocation cut A fuel oil dealer said this would not be done A customer able to cut his consumption in half last winter would not receive less than he did in the 1973 base year the dealer Trash rolled newspapers split logs and wood chips were used in past heating seasons Peat will be added to the list this winter Augie said Augie's initial supply of peat bricks were formed from peat dug from his six acres of land The crumbly peat is mixed with water allowed to dry like a big mud pie for about three days and then cut into bricks Tomat born in Germany migrated in 1930 to America and became a U S citizen in He was drafted into the German Army during World War I and into the U S Army during World War II He retired in 1963 from Consolidated Papers Inc with 22 year's vice A Mother Earth article on reminded him of peat mixing operations he saw as a young man in the old country Convinced that peat can again be profitably Augie is pondering a small electric or peat press utilizing a worm gear to show that it does work Peat compressed into bricks forms a better fuel than in its natural state It is an early for- mation of coal The larger commercial press and its output envisioned bv Augie would require seven to eight men good workers no lazy ones to feed the mill with peat and water and cut the mixture as it is extruded Tomat is looking for an individual or firm to finance his project and perhaps fund a tent He said would want only per ton of peat sold to be paid to his wife or her son With every thing increasing in izs feet August Tomat stacks some peat bricks to dry so they can be used to heat his and about 75 feet in Babcock ment this Winter Tribune PhOtO SPAPERI
