1979,--Page 9
Magna cum laude grad
remembers horrors of
Nazi concentration camps
LONGMEADOW, Mass. (AP) - "It business in his native Lodz, Poland, so
proved to me I'm not old," Saul Torrey he worked as a furniture salesman and
said as he sat in his study surrounded later as a traffic manager for an
by papers, books, and photos of his four aluminum and metal distributing firm.
grandchildren. "I feel the pride and Five years ago the aluminum firm
achievement like any young man." changed management.
Torrey, a Polish born Jew who sur- "I was out of a job," recalled Torrey.
vived Nazi concentration camps, is "I had to go down. No one wants to go
graduating magna cum laude Sunday lower. I had contacts all over. I could
with a bachelor's degree in government have gotten a job in Baltimore or
from Western New England College in Philadelphia, but my wife didn't want
nearby Springfield. to move.
He will celebrate his 69th birthday on "I SAID TO myself, 'What am I going
June 8. to do?' Even while I was working I had
BEADS OF perspiration roll down his a hobby of studying. I even went to the
face as he talks of World War II and the Springfield Technical Community
concentration camps that took, by hs College."
count, a haunting toll of 100 persons He enrolled full-time at the two-year
related to him or his wife, Beatrice, 61. community college and in 1977 received
He pulls out a handkerchief to wipe his associate's degree in liberal arts.
his face. It is so painful to talk about the Then he enrolled at Western New
death of his parents and three brothers, England College for only $20 a semester
and German warplanes bombing Polish under a special program for the
civilian patriots "so close you could elderly.
shake hands with the pilots." He said What will he do now that he has a
his wife was so weak from hunger and degree?
suffering from gangrene that she "I HAVE TO think about it," he says.
crawled to him on her hands and knees "I'm going to look very hard for a job in
when he located her at war's end after an office. I would like to go to law school
having been imprisoned in a separate but they have more applications than
camp. openings. I might go back and study
His son, George, now 40, a professor Spanish and French without credit for
of German literature, was one of 26 my enjoyment.
children to survive the camp at Raven- "I feel education never finishes. More
sbruck. Torrey also has a daughter, elderly people should do it. They would
Regina Gleason, 31, who is married to have less time to think about their
an attorney. illnesses. The best medicine is to
TORREY ARRIVED in New York in engage the mind."
1949, and a few weeks later moved to Even if his degree doesn't gain him
this area of western Massachusetts anything, he doesn't care. "After what
because he had relatives in Springfield. happened to us," he says, "I cannot be
His family had been in the furniture happy. But I feel good."
State insurance spokesman
blasts redlinin legislation
LANSING (UPI) - A spokesman for
State Farm Insurance Co. yesterday
blasted insurance redjining legislation
and suggested ending compulsory
liability coverage could ease the pinch
of high auto insurance rates for the
poor.
The comments came in testimony
before the House Insurance Committee
which is studying redlining or "essen-
tial insurance" legislation.
Committee Chairman Matthew Mc-
Neely said he has set a June 15 deadline
for action on the controversial
measure. He said he will use "every
legitimate method" to win committee
approval of the bill, but also said he will
consider the State Farm suggestion.
Insurance redlining is the practice of
discriminating against consumers on
the basis of where they live. The anti-
redlining bills also deal with
discrimination based on age, sex and
other factors.
Critics say the practice contributes to
the decay of urban neighborhoods by
making them less attractive places to
live.
Under the bill before the committee,
insurance firms would have to provide
home and auto policies to all comers
and could not cancel or refuse to renew
except for non-payment.
Rates could not be based on sex,
marital status, age, or residence. An
association consisting of all insurers
doing business in Michigan would be
created to indemnify insurers for the
high-risk policies they write.
State Farm claims the bill will force
low-risk customers to subsidize high-
risk policyholders through higher
premiums.
Perry called the debate over insuran-
ce redlining "a fundamental conflict of
interest between legislators who want
to do good without increasing taxes and
insurance companies who want to sell
insurance as insurance and not as a
vehicle for carrying out a social welfare
policy."
He said eliminating the requirement
that all motorists carry liability in-
surance under the no-fault law would
ease part of the problem of high rates
for inner city residents. Such a change
could cut insurance costs for inner city
residents by as much as 55 per cent, he
said.
The current law "requires the poor to
buy insurance for the sole benefit of
others," Perry said.
Joseph Tuchinsky of the Michigan
Citizens Lobby said redlining
legislation is needed because many
motorists with good driving records are
now being forced to buy insurance from
the assigned risk pool where rates are
double those charged most consumers.
M'CNeely said a similar redlining bill
died last fall largely because of time
problems in an election year. He said
it's "a whole new ballgame now," and
the measure's insurance industry foes
have lost the leverage they enjoyed last
fall.
NEXT SUNDAY Saul Torrey is graduating magna cum laude with a B.A. in
government. Torrey will be 69 on June 8 and is a student at New England
College in Springfield, Mass.
Kidnapper set free,
nust go to Alaska
underarms of his parole, must go im-
REIDSVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Gary mediately to Alaska, where his father
Steven Krist was set free yesterday, lives.
less than 10 years afterfhe was convic- "He's got 72 hours to get to Alaska to
ted and sentenced to life in prison for report to the parole people there," said
kidnapping Florida heiress Barbara Balkcom.
Jane Mackle and burying her in a box THE PAROLE of Krist, 34, was an-
for almost four days. nounced by the Georgia Board of Par-
Krist left the Georgia State Prison don and Paroles on May 4. Under the
here in the pre-dawn hours, after being terms of the parole, he may not return
released at 5:45 a.m. to the state of 'Georgia for any reason
Carrying a large cardboard box and without consent of the board.
accompanied by a woman identified as Some of those involved in the convic-
his fiancee, he ignored reporters' tion and sentencing of Krist raised loud
questions as he climbed into a rented objections to the parole, however.
compact car. "Good Lord. It's a terrible mistake,"
"I'M GETTING into this car and said Superior Court Judge H. O.
taking off," he said just before getting Hubert, who presided at Krist's trial. "I
into the car. don't think he will ever be
Warden Charles Balkcom said Krist, . rehabilitated."
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