WOI TV: News Clips 308

hope not to talk as long as (inaudible) though welcome to League of Women Voters' annual meeting our first annual meeting it's really not going to be anything like any annual meeting in the future will be because tonight we really don't have any business we just have a program we're we're really lucky tonight you should see them the bulletins I get from other leagues all over the state this thick and it's the minutes and the Proceedings of their annual meeting and they last from 9:00 until 3:30 and they're long long meetings and they plan the program for the next year vote on what items they're going to study and they're very long and complicated meetings and a good deal of preparation has been made for the meetings well tonight we lucked out and none of us have prepared except for our program tonight so we've had all of it so we're very lucky I must I think before I begin the meeting I'll explain why these cameras are focused on us and why the lights are bright and all woi TV station at Ames Iowa the State University of Iowa station is filming and taping this tonight to use for betty lou McVay's program have you ever listened to woi perhaps you're familiar with Betty Lou McVay's program she wants to do a program on the League of Women Voters because 1970 is their 50th anniversary year and we're already as you perhaps have noticed in your Iowa voter that did you all get your little Iowa voter incidentally well you probably saw the news of the 50th anniversary in that and let's introduce the board for those of you who do not know some of the board members our new legislative chairman she is the second vice president of the Iowa League of Women Voters and she also has a very important part of our league Committee of lobbyists which of course Lobby in the legislature and Marge will be presenting a review and an updating of our state program she will be saving us an awful lot of time in unit meetings and and we are really as I said before quite I hope you feel that way when I'm all through because this is pretty lengthy I'm going to warn you right now I'm just terribly pleased to be here I want to congratulate today we're visiting the greenhouse here on the Iowa State University campus and just in case some of you might be fortunate enough to receive as a gift one of the flowers that we're going to talk about we thought you'd be interested in knowing how to take care of it so we have ben Vance extension horticulturist at Iowa State ben I guess when we start talking about Christmas flowers poinsettia I guess leads the list doesn't it yes by far I think Dale it's been a popular Christmas plant for a good many years and still remains the most popular one we have others that are in the picture of course but nothing that comes up to the sales and use of the poinsettia mm-hmm it's a very beautiful plant why don't you tell us about this beautiful poinsettia we have here all right Dale this of course is a poinsettia that we have like we've used for many years now well we must realize that this one here in case you don't have color is red and then there's a pink one and then then there's also a white one they we call it white but actually it's a very pale creamy yellow the poinsettia is a plant that is relatively easy to take care of in the home if you just remember three or four points and these I will try to give you first a poinsettia cannot stand chilling that is if you chill it to any great extent by opening the door or the window something like this and and the temperature suddenly drops that Poinsettia is going to suffer on the other hand it doesn't like extremely high temperatures some people have in their living room mhm or dining room a temperature of 65 to 75 degrees is about right and I think that would catch most people's homes and as I say don't put them in false or don't give them cause them to have a draft around them and don't put them in full Sun when you get them home get them home now give them lots of light a nice window where you get plenty of reflected light but no direct sunlight and the fourth point is that they are very sensitive to over watering or to drying of the soil so they should have plenty of water but the soil should not be saturated at all times just give them enough water to keep the soil slightly moist and if you will follow those four points of preventing chilling of the plant a temperature of 60 to 65 to 75 degrees and the watering of the plant and keep it out of direct sunlight you should have no trouble in carrying a plant through for well Dale I've seen them many homes here in the Ames area where they have them and bloom up into April is that right still in pretty good shape because they had the right conditions I think ben you might comment on the bloom of the poinsettia I think it's rather interesting it is very interesting Dale the thing that we see here that we call the bloom or the flower is actually not the flower itself this these nice red brilliant red leaves are actually a rather what we call petals or leaves are actually the leaves of the plant they're modified they are of a different color than the natural green right into this area here Dale is where we find the flowers those little portions right there you see those are the flowers and this is a true flower of the point study right in here while these are actually modified leaves the attractive part ben you say that isn't too difficult to keep a poinsettia we often get the question whether they can be carried over yes they can Dale it's a great deal of trouble for most people some people do this I would say a very small percentage of the people that get poinsettias or buy poinsettias use them that is keep them over from one year to the next a few people do and they seem to have success with it but they're tricky and they're difficult to do you've got to have the right conditions and some people have this in their home and others do not now we do have a pamphlet Dale that will tell more about the care of poinsettia as well as the the carrying them through the entire season if you wanted to from one year to the next and if you'd like to have a copy of this pamphlet just ask for the Christmas poinsettia you can get a copy at your County Extension office or writing to the station and we'll see that you get it and good luck with your poinsettia if you're fortunate enough to get one well ben of course you mentioned poinsettia isn't the only Christmas plant that is very popular this this one here dale is coming into the picture as a popular Christmas plant and they're very beautiful I think the cyclamen which this is is one of our very fine pot plants now the the the shape of the of the blossom is so attractive to me and it reminds me of a bird in flight and I've heard other people say the same this one here is a dark deep pink they come in various colors red white and pinks and they are I think one of our nice plants now the cyclamen should have relatively cool temperatures that is if you can put them in a room in the evening or if you can keep them in a room when you get them home where the temperature is down in the 50s even they will keep much longer there than they do if you put it put them out into a warm living room or a dining room so keep them as cool as you can down to a point of course and you will have new buds developing from these down in the port in the center of the plant here oh i see and you'll have a good nice bloom from them well now would you say this is as sensitive as a poinsettia or less sensitive well I think probably if you keep giving cool it's a pretty much keep it cool it's pretty much the same same yes now the thing about the cyc or the cyclamen is the attractive leaves they are very pretty leaves even when the plant is not in bloom they're pretty now this is another plant that is difficult to carry through from one season to the next some people do but it's not I wouldn't advise it yes you've got just good conditions another popular one this is a very popular plant the Azalea for Christmas giving and for Christmas decorations they are just they just literally load themselves with blooms and as I said about the cyclamen they come in various colors white pink orange and so on so the the Azalea is another good Christmas plant remember that Azalea like to say the Azalea likes it cool also like the cyclamen if you can put these in a place where the temperature is down and keep them in a place where at the night where the temperatures down in the oh middle 50s that would be fine for the Azalea and again keep the soil slightly moist don't overwater and don't let it dry out now this applies to all three of these plants the Azalea the cyclamen and the poinsettia if they're allowed to dry out especially the poinsettia it can just drop its leaves almost immediately or if they're over watered this is another serious thing too Dale then Ben you said there's another plant we have here that they're starting to push as a Christmas plant now what do you say that was this is a kalanchoe Dale it's I don't know of any common name for it other than that and it is a good serviceable plant it's one that can take a lot of abuse and this one here is a brilliant well it's kind of a brick color I guess isn't it a light red yeah light red and it is it is a good Christmas plant and it's being used more and more all of the time because it is less temperamental than these other three that I mentioned and if you can't get along with the three that I've mentioned earlier this one here is for you because it's it's one that can take quite a bit of abuse you mean you're making it personal no not not for you dale well you're probably right but I didn't want you to be quite so blunt about it I was pretty blunt wasn't I now what'd you say that was again kalanchoe and this is one that is being as I say used more and more it is a tough plant they're relatively tough again if it if you can keep it fairly cool well that helps it so actually these four were all very typical Christmas plants I notice you also have some beautiful mums yes here chrysanthemums are a popular violets are more popular than than they have been for years Dale for Christmas giving and African violet fans exchange plants you know change nice potted plants in bloom are they get them from a florist and so on and they are very nice do you want to look at them well now of course the mums often you see they you know on football season but I didn't realize they're quite as popular now yes they're popular the year-round chrysanthemums are ideal the florist used to grow mums just in the fall yeah like we do outside because the short days but now then with black cloth and this this right here is the are the frames for the black cloth you see so that we can regulate the shade we can shorten the day or if we want to begin lengthen the day by artificial lighting at night and we can have move mums in bloom any time of the year okay thanks a lot Ben and I hope that you will receive a one of these beautiful plants for Christmas I hope that you've also received a few pointers on how to take care of them Ben Vance extension horticulturist here at Iowa State [Hanna Gifton?] participated in the Institute of world affairs at Iowa State which was held recently and I want to clarify at this time we are talking to him while he is here during the Institute of world affairs so that if anything that has said has been outdated by the time we are actually on the air then I think people will have to take that into consideration he is part of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations and perhaps you should say what's your position with well I'm first of all will try to stop events in the Middle East so this is topical venue yes when you show it we I'm a member of the mission I'm a Minister Plenipotentiary on the mission and my field of activities Asian affairs and I'm also because of my dark past in communications I'm also supervising public affairs yes because if we could go down to that whole history of activities he's had a great deal in the broadcasting field that's right all right to the issue as we have it at the present time could you briefly tell us your interpretation of the situation between Israel and the Arab world as it is at the present and as I said understanding that this may be broadcast after you're actually talking well this is easy I wish I wish I could hope that the situation will change in in five days or in 15 days or in 15 weeks unfortunately we're deadlocked in our relationship with the Arabs now since the June war was not much progress we thought that after the war we'll sit down and finally after three wars in one generation will be able to achieve a permanent and durable and just peace within us in our Arab neighbors unfortunately it was not given to us and as I say I don't expect or anticipate that we are going to have a breakthrough in the in in the near future the special representative of the secretary-general of the United Nations ambassador [Yarink?] is now in the Middle East and the only thing he could agree was the parties was that he'll now go back to Moscow where he's Swedish ambassador and only the middle of January will he probably meet the ministers of Israel Egypt in Jordan for another round of talks hopefully then maybe something will get moving so far unfortunately the Arabs have not yet resolved to make peace with Israel and as long as they don't resolve to make peace the most we can do is preserve the ceasefire do you think the climate is more favorable now for a more permanent peace than it was two years ago well we thought the climate for peace is always there it's more a climate it's more a question of attitudes of people's and governments now we thought that there was enough strife and misery and wars in the Middle East I mean for more than one generation unfortunately it's the in Arab countries maybe it's that trouble is that we are almost the only country in the Middle East where the governments appoints the chief of staff and all that other way around and unfortunately we haven't seen on the part of their governments this desire for peace and this desire to for the welfare this the day this a real effort for the welfare and and well-being and peaceful living cover of their people they have their grandiose plans about conquests and God knows what and we're not getting nearer also there is this unfortunately going more political side of the problem they have the backing cover of a great power the Soviet Union which she does not seem to be interested to be settlement they seem to be striving on this situation of no peace and no war it gives them a more opportunity to penetrate deeper and deeper into the Middle East well as long as this situation persists there's not much hope what position would you see the United States playing in making it possible on contributing to a peace effort well I must say the United States government has contributed to the peace effort all along it has given full backing to the [RM?] mission it has backed all initiatives whether the United Nations or direct to get the parties to talk peace it was ready to help in many stages with material health was very wise and imaginative plans of economic development whether it was the jordan waters or what was the atomic uses the peaceful use of atomic energy for the dissemination of water the United States has tried very hard over the years with I say they are not not not alone now in the Middle East the the Russians have put in a very powerful fleet in the Mediterranean arming the Arabs to the teeth there's something flaws of weapons to the to the Arab states and the competition is not even some of the authorities that were participants at the conference have expressed well on one the the question was asked what does Russia have at stake and what does United States have at stake and do they both want peace one of the gentlemen says they very definitely both wanted peace and we're working toward peace both Russia and the United States and that neither one had anything to gain by continued conflict do you think this is true well no I wouldn't phrase it that way I would say this the United States definitely desires and is working for peace I would go as far as saying that Russia maybe doesn't want war but I can't say that she wants peace if she wanted peace she would have had it by now I mean the Arab states if Russia wanted peace would have made peace now in other words you're saying that both that Russia does not want all-out war but that she does not want completely at ease I think I think she's taking advantage of this as I say of this condition which is no war no peace because this makes the Arab governments more and more dependent on Russia it gives Russia more and more leverage in the Arab states and it gives them more room for penetration both in the military sense and in the economic sense well is there anything of that as a nation that we can do to perhaps make it necessary for Russia to want peace well I think I think we had pray had pronouncements by by by the President of the United States and by the president-elect of the United States definitely that the United States has a role to play and will play through do you see a change with president-elect Nixon taking office well I think fortunately for our for Israel and I think for the free world and for peace in the Middle East the position of the United States government on the Middle East and it's friendship with Israel was never a partisan business it was always bipartisan policy towards Israel and towards the Middle East was bipartisan so maybe the emphasis will be different the but I guess that in basically in the policy of peace and the policy of support of the broad sense for support for Israel we hope there will be no difference one other thing that became apparent to us throughout the conference that the feeling that the Arab world had lost much confidence in the United States because of the more assistance being given Israel then the Arab world could you comment on this well I don't think it was correct over the years before the Arab state and not all of them but Egypt and Syria became really client states of Russia this is the United States was supporting economically not militarily but economically it was supporting the Arab states no less than for supporting Israel and even now I don't think that those Arab countries which preserve their friendship for for America like Jordan and Saudi Arabia and Lebanon let's say I don't think that they that this claim is correct not at all