Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • Page 10

Sunday Press Section Dec. 31, 1967 Tom. CaVLEY rtUr -y-y Tvw The most encouraging development of the year was when Mrs. Marilyn Esworthy decided she had had it. To assorted oddballs on the radio who were braying loudly about her husband, the mayor, she gave the back of her hand.

She deserves applause for calling attention to that odd remnant of an electronic society, the system that invites irresponsible persons to talk to radio audiences of many thousands by simply dialing a telephone number. They are protected firmly by a freely given anonymity and are immune from charges of libel, slander or disorderly conduct. The radio telephone talk show is to the paranoid mischief-maker what the anonymous letter is. The shows are tailor-made for the witless and the vindictive. Wrapped in carte-blanche immunity, telephone callers are permitted to use great gobs of air time with little or no restraint to spew contumely and character 1 in i I iiiimthim i as rnuiua or junn dulmx IT'S SNACKTIME Participants of the Day Care Center in Jenksville (Tioga County) take time out for a snack during activities at the center.

Left to right: Stephen Harris, Rose Harris, 3, both of Berkshire; Scott Stoughton, 4, of Newark Valley, Michael Park, 4, of Berkshire and Pauline Lavine, 4, of Berkshire. TOP of the Day ON HER OWN-Cheryl Westfall, 3, of Berk-shire adds a few kernels of popcorn to her string during a work period at the Jenksville Day Care Center. THE LEAST OF their sins is lack of information or, perhaps, a determination to blanket the air deliberately with misinformation. What finally got to Mrs. Esworthy as she sat in her home the other morning listening to her radio was the libeling, per se, of her husband.

In libel cases, the courts take a liberal view of what they call "the area of fair comment" when public officials are being discussed. Public officials, however, can be libeled, and this was the case with Mayor Esworthy in the hands of a person who sprayed gutter rhetoric concerning Mr. Esworthy as a lawyer to one of the biggest radio audiences in the area. One of the aims of the Day Center project is to provide facilities for pre-school children of working mothers or give these mothers an opportunity to seek employment. At the same time, children attending the centers are receiving valuable training preparation in advance of attending regular school.

TOP officials have found that double benefits are being reaped from the operation of the two centers. Mothers not only have a suitable place in which to By REID OCIIS Press Bureau Chief Owego Two Day Care Centers in Tioga County established through the Tioga Opportunities Program (TOP) are paying double dividends. The centers are located in Waverly and Jenksville and provide care for pre-s 1 children three to five years of age. TOP is Tioga County's agency for helping low-i ncome families in President Johnson's anti-poverty program. leave their children while they are at work bringing in more income to the family, but also the children are receiving training in preparation for school and learning the qualities of group cooperation, group discipline and instructional procedures.

Both centers are filled to capacity with 15 pre-schoolers enrolled at each of the facilities. Activities at the center, which are under the instruction of qualified teachers, in- Continued on Page 2 D) The mayor, however, is licked at the start because he never could find out who the creature is. All the guy had to do was dial a telephone number, which connected him with a radio station. AUTOMATICALLY, his billingsgate was broadcast far and wide. He went on, and on, and on.

It was a spectacular personal attack that not only stretched, but disintegrated, the limits of free speech. At that point, Mrs. Esworthy went to her own telephone, called the radio station and said, in effect, "In the name of a just Heaven, what insanity is this?" Her point was well taken. The same thing had occurred to at least one listener who was spellbound at what he was hearing from the radio of a Press photographer's car in the Vestal Parkway. Visions of libel suit dollar signs danced in his head, but he realized almost immediately that this is a new age, that we live in a society where it is possible to libel, to possibly a half-million people, in a few stomach-turning minutes, anyone one cares to and never run the risk of even a mild remonstrance.

Libel is serious. In my business, we live with its spectre from second to second. The written libel laws are good, just laws as the unwritten laws of good taste are good, just laws. Now, however, such safeguards against the attacks of the malicious have been wiped out in at least one terribly important unit of mass communication, the radio station. POPCORN STRINGING Mrs.

Franklin Thomas of Berkshire, teacher at the Day Care Center in Jenksville, supervises a popcorn stringing project. Children in photo are left to right: Kristin Thomas, 4, of Berkshire RD 2, Robert Terribury, 3, of Berkshire and Ronald Phillips, 4, of Berkshire. New School Studies Press Bureau ing and facilities needs, met At a future meeting, Mr. Owego Lay committees recently with Christy J. Val- Valvo will present a projective started preliminary stud- vo, athletic director of tion of physical education program and facility needs for WHAT HAD BEEN under discussion on this particular radio program was the City Council passage of a salary increase for the mayor's office.

The callers came out of the woodwork and used the subject under discussion for spine-chilling personal assaults on the mayor. As some blood-curdling experiences Mrs. John J. Burns had at her home, when her husband was mayor, will confirm, the nuts use telephones as slop pails. The callers in those days had an audience of only one, however.

Now it is possible for them to command an audience of hundreds of thousands just by dialing a telephone. the next five years. Dana Miller served as subcommittee chairman and Robert Vergason was secretary. All of the subcommittees of the recently formed overall ies on school building needs uwego-Apaiacnm ouiwi i of the Owego-Apalachin Dis- tnct. trict that are expected to de- termine the feasibility of con- Mr' Valv0 reviewed the instructing a new junior high ktic programs of the district school.

and focused attention on re-One of the groups, the phys- strictions imposed by physical ical education subcommittee education facilities now avail-of the lay committee on build- able. SALAD DAYS A variety of activities are offered at the Day Care Center for pre-school children. The program is sponsored by the Tioga Opportunities Program, Inc. Making a salad, are, Kristin Thomas, 4, and David Westfall, 4, both of Berkshire RD 2. (Continued on Page 2D) Great Expectations in Tioga County for 1968 school in the Owego area.

The district, in the same study, will have to decide what should be done with the present Owego Junior High building in the event a new school is to be built. Reid in the Apalachin area to serve that section of the town, as well as other eastern parts of the town. New construction also will play an important role in Town of Owego business in 1968. The town board may well begin making definite plans for a new highway building to include town office facilities. Town officials also hope that 1968 will bring about the construction of a new motel being proposed near the new Route 17 Expressway Bridge east of the Owego village limits.

Also, there is speculation that a shopping center will take shape in that area. Both the motel and shopping center would add considerable assessed valuation to the town and beef up tax revenues. Town officials also will be discussing the question of changing the representation structure of the town board. It probably will have to determine whether a ward system increasing the board membership from four councilmen to six is to be Owego Tomorrow is the start of another year a year which could, and should, bring about some big changes in Tioga County. For many areas in the county, it will be a year of decision.

For example, in the Village of Owego, officials will be taking a look at a possible revision in village government. A study has been under way in recent months over the possibility of establishing a village manager-type government. The board at a near-future meeting is expected to discuss this proposal. However, the village will have bigger and more difficult decisions to make. It will have to select a course of action nd map plans in connection with a master study, which already is in full swing.

No Sewers, which have been a thorn in the side of village or several months, are expected to remain in the Ts. Along with current sewer problems, the village will schoc to begin settling down to a set plan for coverting its and tint treatment plant into a secondary treatment unit. Tiicilt. the fin buildint The gTHE TOWN OF OWEGO, sewers also can expect to rehoused attention. The town undoubtedly will begin sufficient more definite plans for carrying out Phase One of to const! rehensive sewer study.

will mean plans for a new sewage treatment plant THE SCHOOL BUILDING STUDY also is expected to include possible consideration of expanding athletic facilities, such as an indoor swimming pool and a new field for outdoor sports. In Candor, more serious thought is expected to be given to zoning regulations, and the operation of the new sanitary landfill project will be put to test. In the Town of Nichols, residents will be watching the progress of the new Route 17 Expressway and anxiously waiting to see whether a $500,000 proposed shopping center west of the village materializes. The new bridge east of the Village of Owego spanning the Susquehanna River and connecting Route 17 and Route 17C is expected to be opened early in 1968. In the Town of Newark, the long-awaited improvement to Route 38B is expected to be started.

Bids have been received for widening and straightening this section of the highway in Tioga County and a contract probably will be let shortly, with work starting in the spring. These are only a few observations indicating that Tioga County should have a busy and interesting year ahead. Area school districts also have a busy year in store for them. Newark Valley School District voters will be asked to consider a building expansion program, which will include a proposal for the construction of a new school. The newly formed Spencer-Van Etten School District will be considering a similar proposal and already has retained an architectural firm to prepare preliminary plans for a new senior high school.

The Owego-Apalachin School District will be rolling "full steam ahead" on developing plans for a new junior high THE TIOGA COUNTY BOARD of Supervisors also may have to take a closer look at reapportionment. An action challenging the present representation system is pending and it is likely that the governing body may have to come up with a redisricting plan..