Reviewing the clips that survived the cut

JOSEPH N. BELL

I have a large manila envelope into which I stuff clippings from the

news that I think might make column fodder. When that envelope gets

too full, I dump it out, throw away or file the clips that are badly

dated, and start over again. Here are some of the items that survived

the latest cuts.

History teacher Dan Granite at Corona del Mar High School got into

predictable trouble by showing his seventh-grade history class an

R-rated theatrical movie about Joan of Arc recently. I haven’t seen

the movie, so I can’t attest to its historical accuracy, but that

wasn’t the main concern of the parental complaints, which focused on

scenes of graphic sex and violence. Sort of like “The OC” television

show.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees acted

with admirable speed to ban “R” rated movies from our public school

classrooms. But as long as the board is having a look at such

matters, I would suggest the members consider historical accuracy, as

well.. The only time I can remember having a real go with a teacher

was when my youngest daughter told me about a movie she had just seen

in her high school history class -- also at Corona del Mar -- in

which every country in the world to the left of J. Edgar Hoover was

painted bright red as communist, with new candidates blinking

ominously for entrance in the background.

I asked the teacher if this film was being shown as an example of

political propaganda, which would have been fine with me. When he

assured me it was being taught as factually accurate, I demanded and

got a review of the film by school authorities, and it was banished.

But a lot of other movies that were less politically motivated but

just as inaccurate continued to be shown. God knows, for example, how

many American kids got their information about Gen. George Custer

from Errol Flynn’s portrayal of him in “Custer’s Last Stand.” Or of

the Vietnam War from “The Deer Hunter.”

I once watched a heated and acrimonious debate in the press room

at the Academy Awards between Jane Fonda -- who had just won the best

actress award for “Coming Home” -- and Michael Cimino, whose “The

Deer Hunter” had just won best picture. Fonda was furious with Cimino

for the liberties he had taken with well-established truth about

Vietnam. Cimino didn’t deny the inaccuracies but rather defended them

on the basis of creative freedom. For that reason alone, I would urge

school officials to concern themselves not only with pillage and rape

but at least minimal accuracy in the filmed history shown our kids.

*

I’ve read so many dozens of letters and editorials, pro and con,

about the expansion of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church that I’ve

decided I may be the only person in Newport-Mesa left without an

emotional investment in this issue. The facts are pretty simple. No

one, to my knowledge, has denied the good works generated by this

church or the value of the activities that would be added. Nor does

anyone deny that the addition would cause problems. There is some

debate about the severity of the increase in traffic and congestion

that would result, but not in their existence. So, only two questions

seem to me really relevant: first, are the benefits the expansion

would bring sufficient to negate the problems they would cause the

current residents; and, second, should the addition be forced on the

residents if that remains the only option?

I would answer “no” to both questions. There is no way to

compromise this issue. Any addition is certain to add problems to

what is already a congested area, and there is no compelling reason

the people who live there should be required to take this burden on,

no matter how socially useful it might be. The parking improvements

suggested by the church could be a different matter. Even if -- as

expansion opponents insist -- they are part of a conspiracy for the

church to get a foot in the expansion door, couldn’t they be made

contingent on the denial of expansion?

*

There appear to be many more layers in the elimination of the Job

Center by the Costa Mesa City Council. The reasons being given for

this action by the three-man majority may only scratch the surface of

deeper motivations. For example, it seems odd for a council that

found it expedient to pay a $750,000 settlement to a disgruntled

employee to cite economy as a reason for torpedoing a Job Center that

costs the city only a small fraction of that amount -- especially

when increased police protection would eat up much of the savings.

Before he became mayor, Allan Mansoor wrote on the Pilot’s Forum

page: “If you continue to increase spending on government social

programs, how is that fiscally conservative?” The fine performance of

the Job Center stands as a firm answer to that question. It was

created in the first place to fill a social need the private sector

didn’t serve. There’s no reason to believe that the private sector

will fill that need if the Job Center is axed.

*

Finally, my favorite place to take cynical visitors, the Nixon

Museum in Yorba Linda, has finally decided to play by the rules, join

up with the official presidential library system and put the Nixon

papers under the control of the National Archives. This supposedly

will mean that such confections as the smoking gun tape, which had

been doctored beyond recognition, will now tell it like it was

instead of how the loyal Nixonites wanted to convince visitors that

it happened.

Like Nixon, himself, the people running the library aren’t going

down without a fight. A symposium was recently scheduled there in

which an array of esteemed scholars, including some critics of

Nixon’s presidency, were going to deal honestly with Nixon’s record

during the Vietnam war. The symposium never happened. Library

officials canceled it on the grounds that tickets weren’t selling

well enough, but there are some deep suspicions that the real reason

was that the Nixon image wasn’t going to fare well under the new

rules.

It’s clearly going to be a rocky transition, and I find myself

feeling sorry to see the museum trying to go straight after all these

years. It won’t be nearly as much fun to show my out-of-town guests.

* JOSEPH N. BELL is a resident of Santa Ana Heights. His column

appears Thursdays.