Basic HTML Version
Prospects
for Panama's
Canal
A
t midnight on December
31, 1999, Panama will
assume full responsibility for
the operation, maintenance
and defense of !he aging
Panama Canal . So said a
1979 treaty with the United
States. But the liabilities of
Functional
llliteracy
A
man says he forgot his
glasses, so his wife fills
out the form for him. A
young woman bandages her
hands and líes about an
injury. A father tells his
children he is too busy lo
read them a story. " You gel
pretty good al faking when
your lile depends on it, " one
woman says.
They are functionally
illiterate.
In spite of what many
believe, illiteracy is not
limited to Third World
countries. The illiteracy rate
in such developed countries
as the United States and
Australia is probably
between 10 and 20 percent,
and the number of functional
illiterates is even higher.
Functional illiterates have
received sorne schooling,
but have not achieved a
mínimum standard of
literacy. In other words, their
limited ability lo read and
write makes it difficult and
often painful to function in
society. They live in fear of
28
Manfredo: Canal ownership
could ruin his nation.
ownership may outweigh the
benefits. according to
Fernando Manfredo, deputy
canal administrator.
The United States now
defends the canal; the canal
and U.S. military bases
employ sorne 12,000
Panamanians and contribute
more !han US$470 million
annually to the Panamanian
economy.
Mr. Manfredo worries that
without U.S. money, Panama
may be unable lo guarantee
its Panamanian employees
the benefits to which they
have become accustomed.
Thus the best may join the
exodus of U.S. workers from
the canal.
Since October 1, 1979,
being discovered.
" Millions of employees
with varying degrees of
illiteracy cost their
companies daily through low
productivity, work-place
accidents, absenteeism,
poor product quality and lost
management and
supervisory time," said
William Woodside, chief
operating officer of the
American Can Company.
Why so many ill iterates in
nations where education is
stressed from early
childhood? Reasons include
poor parent-child and
student-teacher relations,
dropping out of school,
learning disabilities,
television ·dependency,
illiterate parents and
emotional problems.
In the United States,
volunteer organizations have
been established to combat
the problem. The Coalition
for Literacy, a group of such
organizations. has launched
a nationwide advertising
campaign with a national
literacy hot line. lt is also
struggling to raise needed
funds.
In Australia, the problem
the number of U.S. citizens
in the canal work force
dropped from 26.4 percent
to 18.6 percent. Many of the
remaining U.S. workers are
expected to depart by 1990,
when Mr. Manfredo takes
over as the first Panamanian
Designer
Drugs: Cheap,
Deadly-
and Legal
C
hemists are now
creating powerful ,
heroin-like drugs by slighfly
altering the molecular
structure of legitimate
chemicals. lt's inexpensive,
deadly-and legal.
" The clandestine labs can
always stay beyond the
reach of the law with a
slightly different compound
that is not yet on the
schedule of controlled
drugs," said U.S. Senator
Lawton Chiles.
Officials fear that
underground kitchen
laboratories in the United
States may soon replace the
opium and coca fields of
Asia and South America.
" Theoretically, a single
clandestine lab could
produce enough synthetic
heroin to meet the
worldwide demand for
heroin-like drugs without a
single opium poppy being
harvested,' ' commented
Charles Rangel, chairman of
the U.S. House narcotics
committee.
Oesigner drugs give drug
pushers new incentive.
" Why go through the
is similar. Jill Gillespie, who
works with a literacy
program in Sydney, said
Adult Literacy Board
representatives were
unsuccessful in lobbying !he
federal government for
funds.
According lo
The Editorial
administrator of the canal.
Panama can do little to
prepare itself for the
financia! liabilities of
ownership. lnstead of solving
the country's financia!
problems, the canal could
ruin Panama. •
smuggling, the danger, the
cops and robbers, when a
sharp chemist with a good
cookbook can do it all?"
said Robert Roberton, chief
of California's Oivision of
Drug Programs.
Chemical designers can
mimic or even " improve"
the effects of existing drugs.
One heroin substitute, China
White, is up to 5,000 times
more poten! than morphine
and 200 times more toxic.
With greater potency
comes greater risks. A
contaminan! found in one
heroin subsl itute left sorne
users with irreversible brain
damage. As use of these
drugs spreads, fatalities and
disorders snowball .
"1
believe that anyone
who is taking a street drug
these days is playing
Russian roulette," said J.
William Langston. chairman
of the neurology department
at Santa Clara Valley
Medica! Center. •
Eye,
published by Editorial
Experts, lnc., many
companies are being torced
to provide in-house training
to establish an adequate
work force. " AT&T alone
spends $6 million a year to
provide basic skills for
14,000 employees." •
The
PLAIN TRUTH