September 17, 1964 (28 pages)

NE: Eee September 17, 1964 EDITORIAL CALIFORNIA VOTERS HAVE THE CHOICE OF LEADING THE NATION IN FAIR HOUSING LAWS Voters in California, the nation's number one state, will be asked in November to turn their backs on the nation's number one domestic issue. Weare talking about Proposition 14 on the ballot which would not only nullify the Rumford Fair Housing Act but would create a constitutional amendment to prohibit the legislature or counties from passing any future laws relating to discrimination in housing. Californians are justly proud of their state for its leadership in education, transportation, recreational opportunities and many other fields. We have been thumping our chests recently and proclaiming we are number one. We know because of our population we have become the key political state in the nation. Yet with all this knowledge of the good things of the state and our influence we are being asked to turn back the clock and not face the biggest issue in our country today--racial discrimination. It is easy to dismiss the problem of discrimination when there is no one against whom we can discriminate. This, on the surface, is the situation here, but far sighted people can see that this will not always be the situation. The state is experiencing one of the greatest population booms in the history of our nation. We cannot seriously believe that the problems of discrimination because of race, color or creed will not be increased as the population grows. The voters of California have an opportunity to deal with this growing problem, but if they vote for the constitutional amendment supported and financed by the California Real Estate Association, they willbe putting an end now and.in the future to the legal procedures for dealing with this problem and taking a step backward when it is most important that we go forward. The CREA members have been beating the drum up and down the state and shouting about how the Rumford Act will deny individual property rights. The concept that property rights are more important than human rights is one which is alien to our state and nation and should be rejected. For those locally who have been dragging the redherring of federal intervention through every local issue lately, one thing should be made clear about this and Proposition 14. If the amendment becomes the law of California, the only agency with the power to deal withthe problem of racial discrimination in housing would be the Federal Government. The President's Executive order on housing would have to be enforced more vigorously in California and additional Federal Legislation would be urged because of the inability of the state and local government to meet their responsibilities. Those supporting Proposition 14 should be made aware that the amendment would mean more centralized government. We hope the voters. of California will reject Proposition 14andtake a forward step toward the orderly and sensible development of the nation's number one state. IN THE FOOTHILLS VEIN WE ARE READY TO LISTEN BUT NOT TO FACELESS PEOPLE The A merican press has fought a long battle and is continuing to fight for the right to protect the names of those people who give reporters stories, The reason for this is obvious, In certain places and in certain public climates, a man is taking a chance of facing public or private reprisal when he gives informationto a reporter. The press has always maintained that they can dotheir job of informing and serving the public better if they can assure their informants of this protection. The point of all this is that we received an anonymous phone call this week and we are a bit puzzled. We at first thought the man was a crank for we seemed to be growing quite a few of those in the county lately, We cut the man off and told him we had no respect for anonymous callers, Reconsidering the incident it occurred to us that it was possible that instead of trying to harm us the man was offering help, but feared that the use of his name might get him into trouble. We must stress again that we have no respect for people who call in the night with threats, people who stuff viscious literature in mail boxes or people who parade around in hoods, .But we are willing to listen to anyone who is willing to stand up and say that this is what he believes and we will, to the extent that we are able, protect this person from local reprisal by protecting his name. t++et¢teeeeerertretet ASSEMBLYMAN NICHOLAS PETRIS, at a meeting of state Democrats in Sacramento Friday told of the woes of a friend who had had seven “NO on Proposition 14" stickers torn off his car. Petris said his friend, tiring of putting on new bumper stickers, had a card printed which he put in the windshield, The card read: “Attention Bigots--$50 reward for information leading to the arrest andconviction of persons tampering with this property.” The man has had no trouble since that time. t++ee teeter tertrerertrtete et For those whoare still confused about the sudden blossoming of Christmas street decorations in Grass Valley last week, Christmas will still be Dec. 25 this year and the Christmas push, we hope, will not start until after Thanksgiving. : ye The stringing of Christmas decorations across the city's main downtown streets is a prevue of what is to come and an attempt by the city to see which decorations, fromthe two firms submitting bids, will best do the job, The bids were opened by the City Council Sept. 8 and the council turned over authority to accept the lowest bid with the highest quality to the purchasing agent and the Grass Valley Chamber Merchants Committee. CALIFORNIA e A LITTLE MORE PLANNING WOULD MAKE CAMPING BETTER Mountain geography and climate being what they are in the central Sierra, public recreation areas are generally confined to narrow river canyons or lake basins, The mountains are big and far-ranging, but the places where people will go are confined. Most camping areas adjoin bodies of water, which is natural enough: swimming, fishing and boating are the things people like to do, in warm and dry California. But our recreation basins--those accessible by road-~are overcrowded, especially by cars, and becoming more so, They are so over-used, in fact, that many of them have become unpleasant places to visit. This summer I spent a night with my family at a Forest Service campground at Red's Meadows, adjoining the San Joaquin River, in the Mammoth Lakes area of the Sierra. The following day we packed out of Red's Meadows for a week in the Minarets wilderness area, And that was not one day too soon. The road into Red's Meadows is unpaved and leads down a precipitous-canyon from Minaret Summit, west of the Mammoth Mountain ski area. We drove in on a mid-summer Friday behind a long line of vehicles. We didn ‘t mind eating the dust --until we hit the beautiful and narrow rivervalley, with its meadows and wildflowers, Buthere, along the road leading downstream to Red's Meadows, the dust was a permanent cloud that cast a pall over everything. The whole celebrated canyon, in fact, was one big dust bowl all day long, for the simple reason that there were too many cars driving the dirt roads. Now, anyone's first thought would be, why don't they pave the roads? But this is a narrow canyon that has difficulty accommodating the present load, much less an added flood of cars, And there would be an added flood of cars if the road were paved. A paved road would help the dust problem, but it would aggravate an already difficult problem of camping and parking space. We tried one campground and it was totally full. We tried another and located an unimproved spot beside an abandoned but stinking outhouse, This was our temporary headquarters in the dustbowl, and cars with people looking for camping spots drove past constantly, adding tothe quiet and charm of the great out-of-doors, While my wife held down this spot, I took the children on a walk around the campground, and found a family ready to move out of a campsite infinitely more appealing than the one we were in. Here I placed my oldest child, with these instructions. “You stand right here in the parking spot and if anyone drives up and wants tocome in before we come back with the car, you tell them your dad said he would shoot the first person who tried to steal this campsite. That's how it's done in our crowded dustbow! National Forest camping areas in 1964, Although a great improvement over our original campsite, the new one suffered also from the perpetual line of dust-making traffic cruising the campground in . \search *1083nN Aluno5 epeagn’** P96T ‘LI Jequiaidag:*

NE: Eee September 17, 1964 EDITORIAL CALIFORNIA VOTERS HAVE THE CHOICE OF LEADING THE NATION IN FAIR HOUSING LAWS Voters in California, the nation's number one state, will be asked in November to turn their backs on the nation's number one domestic issue. Weare talking about Proposition 14 on the ballot which would not only nullify the Rumford Fair Housing Act but would create a constitutional amendment to prohibit the legislature or counties from passing any future laws relating to discrimination in housing. Californians are justly proud of their state for its leadership in education, transportation, recreational opportunities and many other fields. We have been thumping our chests recently and proclaiming we are number one. We know because of our population we have become the key political state in the nation. Yet with all this knowledge of the good things of the state and our influence we are being asked to turn back the clock and not face the biggest issue in our country today--racial discrimination. It is easy to dismiss the problem of discrimination when there is no one against whom we can discriminate. This, on the surface, is the situation here, but far sighted people can see that this will not always be the situation. The state is experiencing one of the greatest population booms in the history of our nation. We cannot seriously believe that the problems of discrimination because of race, color or creed will not be increased as the population grows. The voters of California have an opportunity to deal with this growing problem, but if they vote for the constitutional amendment supported and financed by the California Real Estate Association, they willbe putting an end now and.in the future to the legal procedures for dealing with this problem and taking a step backward when it is most important that we go forward. The CREA members have been beating the drum up and down the state and shouting about how the Rumford Act will deny individual property rights. The concept that property rights are more important than human rights is one which is alien to our state and nation and should be rejected. For those locally who have been dragging the redherring of federal intervention through every local issue lately, one thing should be made clear about this and Proposition 14. If the amendment becomes the law of California, the only agency with the power to deal withthe problem of racial discrimination in housing would be the Federal Government. The President's Executive order on housing would have to be enforced more vigorously in California and additional Federal Legislation would be urged because of the inability of the state and local government to meet their responsibilities. Those supporting Proposition 14 should be made aware that the amendment would mean more centralized government. We hope the voters. of California will reject Proposition 14andtake a forward step toward the orderly and sensible development of the nation's number one state. IN THE FOOTHILLS VEIN WE ARE READY TO LISTEN BUT NOT TO FACELESS PEOPLE The A merican press has fought a long battle and is continuing to fight for the right to protect the names of those people who give reporters stories, The reason for this is obvious, In certain places and in certain public climates, a man is taking a chance of facing public or private reprisal when he gives informationto a reporter. The press has always maintained that they can dotheir job of informing and serving the public better if they can assure their informants of this protection. The point of all this is that we received an anonymous phone call this week and we are a bit puzzled. We at first thought the man was a crank for we seemed to be growing quite a few of those in the county lately, We cut the man off and told him we had no respect for anonymous callers, Reconsidering the incident it occurred to us that it was possible that instead of trying to harm us the man was offering help, but feared that the use of

his name might get him into trouble. We must stress again that we have no respect for people who call in the night with threats, people who stuff viscious literature in mail boxes or people who parade around in hoods, .But we are willing to listen to anyone who is willing to stand up and say that this is what he believes and we will, to the extent that we are able, protect this person from local reprisal by protecting his name. t++et¢teeeeerertretet ASSEMBLYMAN NICHOLAS PETRIS, at a meeting of state Democrats in Sacramento Friday told of the woes of a friend who had had seven “NO on Proposition 14" stickers torn off his car. Petris said his friend, tiring of putting on new bumper stickers, had a card printed which he put in the windshield, The card read: “Attention Bigots--$50 reward for information leading to the arrest andconviction of persons tampering with this property.” The man has had no trouble since that time. t++ee teeter tertrerertrtete et For those whoare still confused about the sudden blossoming of Christmas street decorations in Grass Valley last week, Christmas will still be Dec. 25 this year and the Christmas push, we hope, will not start until after Thanksgiving. : ye The stringing of Christmas decorations across the city's main downtown streets is a prevue of what is to come and an attempt by the city to see which decorations, fromthe two firms submitting bids, will best do the job, The bids were opened by the City Council Sept. 8 and the council turned over authority to accept the lowest bid with the highest quality to the purchasing agent and the Grass Valley Chamber Merchants Committee. CALIFORNIA e A LITTLE MORE PLANNING WOULD MAKE CAMPING BETTER Mountain geography and climate being what they are in the central Sierra, public recreation areas are generally confined to narrow river canyons or lake basins, The mountains are big and far-ranging, but the places where people will go are confined. Most camping areas adjoin bodies of water, which is natural enough: swimming, fishing and boating are the things people like to do, in warm and dry California. But our recreation basins--those accessible by road-~are overcrowded, especially by cars, and becoming more so, They are so over-used, in fact, that many of them have become unpleasant places to visit. This summer I spent a night with my family at a Forest Service campground at Red's Meadows, adjoining the San Joaquin River, in the Mammoth Lakes area of the Sierra. The following day we packed out of Red's Meadows for a week in the Minarets wilderness area, And that was not one day too soon. The road into Red's Meadows is unpaved and leads down a precipitous-canyon from Minaret Summit, west of the Mammoth Mountain ski area. We drove in on a mid-summer Friday behind a long line of vehicles. We didn ‘t mind eating the dust --until we hit the beautiful and narrow rivervalley, with its meadows and wildflowers, Buthere, along the road leading downstream to Red's Meadows, the dust was a permanent cloud that cast a pall over everything. The whole celebrated canyon, in fact, was one big dust bowl all day long, for the simple reason that there were too many cars driving the dirt roads. Now, anyone's first thought would be, why don't they pave the roads? But this is a narrow canyon that has difficulty accommodating the present load, much less an added flood of cars, And there would be an added flood of cars if the road were paved. A paved road would help the dust problem, but it would aggravate an already difficult problem of camping and parking space. We tried one campground and it was totally full. We tried another and located an unimproved spot beside an abandoned but stinking outhouse, This was our temporary headquarters in the dustbowl, and cars with people looking for camping spots drove past constantly, adding tothe quiet and charm of the great out-of-doors, While my wife held down this spot, I took the children on a walk around the campground, and found a family ready to move out of a campsite infinitely more appealing than the one we were in. Here I placed my oldest child, with these instructions. “You stand right here in the parking spot and if anyone drives up and wants tocome in before we come back with the car, you tell them your dad said he would shoot the first person who tried to steal this campsite. That's how it's done in our crowded dustbow! National Forest camping areas in 1964, Although a great improvement over our original campsite, the new one suffered also from the perpetual line of dust-making traffic cruising the campground in . \search *1083nN Aluno5 epeagn’** P96T ‘LI Jequiaidag:*