CONCORDIAN Concordia College Volume 77; Number 6 Moorhead, MN 56560 October 12, 1984 ALC convention opens next week in Lutheran 'heartland9 about 1,000 people —half clergy and Other convention actions will in- half laity-about 900 visitors and clude: 100 advisers and ALC headquarters staff. •considering the problems in Namibia, a country controlled by the All business sessions will be held in government of South Africa. Memorial Auditorium —where con- Namibia is seeking independence vention delegates will review the from the opressed rule of the white church's program, make any minority South African government changes in policy or issue, establish whose population is about 60 per- a budget ($40.6 million is recom- cent Lutheran. mended) and elect representatives to various boards and committees. •organizing a major fund drive There are no major offices up for that seeks $40 million for starting election this year. new congregations and ministries and forming the New Lutheran In addition, the convention Church. delegates will review the work of the 70-member Commission for a New •formulating visions of an in- During Homecoming Lutheran Church. clusive church that addresses the need for equality in membership Members of the Homecoming Court attended the Homecoming foot- The commission is charged with lay- regardless of sex, race or age. ball game on Saturday afternoon at the Jake Christiansen stadium. ing the groundwork for forming a The Cobbers were victorious over the Bethel Royals. In Christ single church from the existing ALC, •discussing the economic crisis Hope for the World LCA and AELC. The target date for facing many farmers today. Pictured are, from left, Paul Hanson, Ryan Haaland, Mary Dorsey, reorganization to be completed is Mike Rasmus, Heidi Graff, Kristin Stark, Joel Fagerstrom and LIv Jan. 1, 1988. ALC iO page 14 Abrahamson. "In Christ-Hope for the World" is the theme of the gathering which will bring about 2,000 people to Fargo-Moorhead for the twelfth, general convention of the American Lutheran Church. Fear threatens traditional Halloween This will be the second time the ALC general convention has been on the Concordia campus. The first by Nate Jackson Moorhead Police Department for Mat Valan of Moorhead, married, time —in 1978 —was also the first nine years, said in the days follow- and father of a one-year-old girl, said time the ALC convention had been Scary stories about long-nosed evil ing Halloween last year there was it is "just not worth taking chances" held on a college campus. witches, dark haunted houses and one report of a nail found in an apple on Halloween night. spooky ghosts are all a traditional and one report of suspected poison- Ulmsted: 'I don't The American Lutheran Church is a part of Halloween. ed candy. "It's the odds that something could *i • | TTT 11 product of the former American happen," Valan said. "Nine hundred tlMlK JtltlllOW Lutheran Church, Evangelical The well-known anec- In other years, he said there have and ninety-nine point nine percent of L ] Lutheran Church and United dotes—although all make- been isolated incidents of razor the people are just fine...it's that one Evangelical Lutheran Church. The believe-have been told in good blades found imbedded In candy and person who wants to sink something is necessary. merger of those church bodies was spirits each year since Halloween fruit, and general repor.ts of into an apple or something. It's just consummated in 1960. first began. tampered-with candy. not worth the risk." According to the Lutheran Council, Because the number of Halloween- Mat and his wife Kathy are co-youth the Red River Valley is the heartland related deaths has increased nation- directors at the Lutheran Church of of Lutheranism. Minnesota has the wide in recent years, Andersen has the Good Shepherd in Moorhead. largest number of Lutherans found begun a new program in Moorhead Together, the two are responsible for Halloween to page 19 anywhere in the United States—1.1 in conjunction with the National million —who are members of the Child Saifety Council. The purpose of ALC, the Lutheran Church in the program, said Andersen, is to en- America (LCA) or the American courage children and parents to take Evangelical Lutheran Church certain precautions* during Hallo- (AELC). ween. th issue,u , In addition, Norman County, just Continuing a practice he started north of Moorhead, has the highest four years ago, in the weeks prior to percentage of Lutherans for any Halloween Andersen plans to speak county in the United States—88 per- in every fourth-grade class in all of cent. the Moorhead elementary schools. Many of the things he plans to talk North Dakota ranks as the state with about are simple safety precautions, the highest percentage of its popula- he said, but things that "have to be tion as Lutherans —27 percent. remembered." Today the united church numbers "I encourage kids to bring candy or more than 2.3 million members. But a different breed of story has fruit [to police headquarters] if they There are 4,905 ALC congregations begun to be told in recent years; one have any doubts about it," said in all but two states —Connecticut that is scarier than any Halloween Andersen, who has four children of and Rhode Island. tale; one that has put a definite his own. "We tell them to dump any damper on America's "traditional" candy they suspect may be The Upper Midwest is still home for Halloween. tampered with. ltrs better to throw the Lutheran Church, however. Ap- away one little piece of candy than proximately 41 percent of the ALC "Trick-or-treatlng" is down substan- risk the possibility of poisoning." membership lives in Iowa, Min- tially," said Moorhegd Youth In- New national stu- Sincerity of nesota, North Dakota, South Dakota tervention Officer Dave Andersen. "I Andersen also said children should dent press service students in social and Wisconsin. think both parents and kids get not eat any candy before first letting scared after they hear about the their parents check it. He said any debuts in publica- situation is For the 1984 convention, large weird things that happen [on Hallo- candy that Is suspect can be taken tion. questioned. blocks of rooms have been reserved ween night] around the country." to one of the local hospitals or the at 14 hotels In Fargo-Moorhead to Moorhead Law Enforcement Ce'nter See pagi See page 6. house delegates, comprised of Andersen, who has worked with the for x-ray or chemical testing. -/+; * News Page 2 Conggrdlan, October 12,1984 Mondale plans to decrease national deficit by the United Students The final phase of Reagan's 1981 tax its independence fiercely and would military programs which It has got through Congress. Press Service (USPS) cut would be repealed for individuals resist any such pact with Mondale. already approved, for instance, and making more than $45,000 and Neither political pressure nor pro- it would have to enact Medicare cost But one of these nine, the Social At a Philadelphia press conference families making more than $60,000. mises of unprecedented budget cuts containment measures which it has Security tax increase of 1977, was earlier this week, Walter Mondale Individuals making more than did much to make the Fed help so far refused to pass. the biggest tax increase in history. unveiled a plan which would raise $70,000 and families making more Reagan with cheaper credit, they And between 1977 and 1981, the taxes by $85 billion and, he says, cut than $100,000 would face a ten per- claim. With Congressional opposition, Carter Administration managed to the deficit by two thirds In 1989. cent tax surcharge on their addi- Mondale might not succeed in mak- double the dollar amount of per- tional earnings. Corporations would Mondale aides admit that if the Fed ing any cuts at all, in which case his sonal income taxes collected. Mon- Mondale's plan would depend pay a minimum assessment of 15 does not go along, or if interest does "pay as you go" philosophy would dale may have a chance. almost exclusively on higher taxes percent. not fall, their combination of spen- commit him to another round of tax rather than spending cuts to bring ding cuts and tax increases will drive hikes as the only way to reduce the If everything goes his way, Mondale the deficit as projected by the Con- Seventy-five percent of the tax in- the economy into recession. deficit, to keep Interest and inflation says that a family making between gressional Budget Office down from creases would be borne by families down, and to avoid economic $25,000 and $35,000 will pay only $95 $263 to $86 billion at the beginning making $60,000 or more, according catastrophe. in new taxes, whlle.a family making of a second Mondale term. to Mondale. Problems with keeping between $35,000 and $45,000 would campaign promises Nevertheless, Mondale's biggest pay only $200 more. But if interest Corporations and the relatively Mondale would cut $54 billion In problem may simply be to get all the rates stay high, or if Mondale can't wealthy would bear the brunt of the spending over the next four years by tax hikes he wants now through Con- cut spending, taxes will have to go Cutting costs while keeping cam- gress. tax increases, though the increases cutting $25 billion from defense, $20 paign promises would also be a up even more. would affect all households making billion from non-agricultural pro- serious problem for Mondale, whose more than $25,000 a year, or about grams, including Medicare, and $9 promises from earlier this year could Unpopularity of Treasury Secretary Donald Regan 50 percent of all American tax-, billion from the budget overall add as much as $69 billion In new tax Increases says that Mondale's program will ac- payers.