Vol. 83, No. 69
, Chapel Hill's Morning Newspaper
Chapel Hill. North Carolina. f.tondav. November 25. 1974 Founded February 23, 1833
WffW? rV-KlT-' """" .
y fdiral toil.
by Henry Farber
Staff Vrlter
Congressional passage of an $11.8
mass transit bill last week may aid
Chapel Hill's bus system substantially,
or it may not offer the town a penny.
In either case, the local transit system
will be in the red as expected for the
fiscal year 1974-75, with estimated
deficits of at least $20,000 and possibly
as high as $77,000.
Local officials contacted federal and
state officials over the weekend to find
out if the bill, certain to be signed by
President Ford, applies to Chapel Hill.
News of the bill's passage was greeted
with excitement at Thursday's meeting
of the Chapel Hill Transportation
Advisory Committtee, at which the
projected local budget was released.
Transportation Director John Pappas
said the bill could mean as much as
$176,000 for Chapel Hill.
But Friday, a committee member
state department of
to discover that an
the bill might restrict
cities of populations
exceeding 50,000. The population figure
used by the town bus system in applying
for grants and funds is 32,000.
Even though the government might
consider Chapel Hill too small to benefit
from the bill, the local bus system is the
third largest in the state. The state's
largest system is Charlotte's which is
reportedly earmarked for $7,5 6 1,000 of
the federal money. The second largest is
Durham's, only slightly larger than
Chapel Hill's system.
Alderman Gerry Cohen said he read
the bill thoroughly and could not find
where Chapel Hill might be eliminated
contacted the
transportation
amendment to
allocations to
from receiving funds. The only
distinction made between allocations to
small and big cities is that cities of
populations of less than 200,000 must
have their funds channeled through the
governor, he said.
The six-year aid bill was passed by the
House Thursday and by the Senate
Tuesday. Ford , said in a telegram to
House leaders that he would sign it
when he returns from his Asian tripl
The 288-109 House vote marked a
major success for mayors and the
administration, which had launched a
strong lobbying effort in its behalf.
Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee
asked the aldermen to send letters to
Sen. Sam Ervin and district Rep. L.H.
Fountain, asking for support of the bill. '
Lee said he also called friends in
Washington for support.
The bill makes . operating funds
available on a dollar-for-dollar
matching basis, but the federal
'government will continue to pay $4 for
every $1 in local matching for capital
improvements. Chapel Hill's four-month-old
system is funded by the four-to-one
capital plan and local officials
have discussed demonstration projects
to obtain previously untouchable
federal operating funds.
About $7.8 billion will be available
nationwide, on a case-by-case basis, for
improving and expanding transit
facilities. . - . , . . , 7;
The other $4 billion can be used either
for " capital improvements or as
operating subsidies to help hold the line
on fares.
Operating money will be parceled out
annually under a formula based on
Please see TRANSIT, Page 2
Photo by Gary Lobrico
James Betterson head through a hole in Duke's defense in Saturday's 14-13 win over Duke. Detterson finished the season with 1,082 yards. See story, page 6.
TO
Firmer proittessor
R
MsseM (Dines
n o
by Jim Roberts
Staff Writer
Dr. C. Phillips Russell, UNC
professor emeritus, was found dead in
his home Friday at the age of 90.
Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m.
today at the Community Church.
Russell was a noted historian,
newspaperman' and professor. He
taught journalism and creative writing
at UNC from 1931 to. 1956.
Before coming to the University to
teach, Russell was a reporter for the
Charlotte Observer and then the New
York Press. After a trip to Europe,
Russell worked for the Philadelphia
Evening Press, later returning to
England to report for the London Daily
Express.
He joined the faculty here in 1931
after two years work with the New York
Herald Tribune.
Russell, a Rockingham native, was a
graduate of the UNC class of 1904. As a
student at the University he was editor
of the Daily Tar Heel and was chosen as
a member of the Order of the Golden
Fleece.
In 1949, Russell was honored with the
Mayflower Award for his book, The
Woman Who Rang The Bell. He
received the North Carolina Award for
Literature in 1968 for uhis creative work
in writing and teaching others to write."
Russell authored several historical
novels. His latest, These Old Stone
Walls, a book on Chapel Hill lore, was
published in 1972.
Russell was the oldest living alumnus
of the University. He celebrated his 90th
birthday on Aug. 5.
At the UNC Journalism School's
recent 50th anniversary banquet,
Russell received a standing ovation
from students and faculty.
Russell's survivors include his former
wife, Caro Mae Green Russell; two
daughters, Avery and Claire; a son,
Leon; and his sister, Susie Crossland of
Rockingham.
PIP
ipitll!
Vogel ap&Ftmernit
"b'etmi'ff f or eclosed.
by Greg Nye
Staff Writer
Foreclosure proceedings are underway
against two apartment complexes owned by
builder Daniel Vogel.
Foxcroft and Chateau apartments in
Chapel Hill are scheduled for public auction
on Dec. 18 to pay off a loan taken out by
Vogel two years ago.
Cameron-Brown Investment Group of
Massachusetts is foreclosing on its loan.
. Cameron-Brown loaned Vogel
approximately $1.75 million to be used for
construction on the apartrqents.
Vogel failed to make the final payment on
the loan, which was due in October.
A representative of Nye-Mitchell, a
Durham law firm handling the Vogel
foreclosure case, said Friday Vogel may still
make the payment to Cameron-Brown
before the Dec. 18 auction.
"If we do make the payment in time, there
will be no auction of the property," he said.
Joe Murray, appointed by Cameron
Brown to carry out the auction, refused
Friday to comment on the foreclosure
proceedings.
Apartment tenants at Foxcroft and
Chateau have no cause for worry, the Nye
Mitchell spokesman said.
If the apartments are auctioned, no major
changes will occur, although there will be a
management change. Contracts and rents
will not be affected by the auction.
When faced with similar foreclosure
proceedings earlier this month, Durham
builder Bobby Roberts filed for
reorganization under Federal Bankruptcy
law.
The reorganization petition allows the
property owner to arrange a plan of payment
to his creditors without having to auction his
property.
Vogel has no plans at the current time to
file for bankruptcy, his lawyer said Friday.
, ' ' - - --tax,"' r
.-. .'.;;::.;....:.:::.:.: :i ."::s-;:v-, ' . .N-;!:r..w.;i?.'.;;'::.: v.i.:.:;i:;:wyis',
!t W
)
PI
iii iiiinini'iiiiirii nm.hr'" niri-n - imnMiiininniirr .ainntfiiiiiirTininiiiiirTTirriiMrr--.-ww,-. -.,r ..T..-,- ...
Griffith recommends
no
Stan photo by Ptr Ray
Martha Griffith addresses Hill Hall audience Thursday
by Lynn Barnes
Staff Writer
"Women are not looked at by the courts as really being human" because they are not
included in the constitution, Congresswoman Martha Griffith told students in a speech
Thursday night.
Griffith, the last speaker of the Colloquium on Individual Rights and Liberties, asked the
audience to work for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
"Before the 20th century is over," she said, "are we finally going to look at every woman in
America as a real human being or are we going to set apart 52 per cent of the human race and
say, 'For them, there's nothing'?
"The greatest thing we could give America for its 200th birthday is equal rights under the
law for every man, woman, and child. Ratify, in this state next year, the Equal Rights
Amendment and let us all be human together."
Griffith said the primary problem in getting the amendment ratified "is the word equal.
They think that it means exactly alike, but equal does not mean exactly alike."
What the ERA would do, Griffith said, "is apply the Fourteenth Amendment to womeir.'lt
would mean that state governments, local governments and federal governments could not
make laws that distinguish between people on sex and sex alone."
Congress, she said, is discriminating worse than anyone else. "They collect so much money
and dispense it on a most unequal basis."
"Under the pension act, for example, the government does not have to pay anyone who
makes $6,000 or less annually. So who makes $6,000 or less? Women, that's who. And we will
continue to have these laws unless the ERA is ratified to stop that type of nonsense."
Griffith also talked about inequalities in the social security act. "When I first went on the
Ways and Means Committee, even a woman's own children couldn't collect social security
after her death if she had been out of the labor market more than one-and-one-half years.
"We corrected that after I had nagged everybody in Washington for about five years. The
first year after it was corrected, orphaned children drew $100 million from social security
funds.
"One of the errors of people who fight the Equal Rights Amendment," Grifffith said, "is
some mystical belief that women do have some rights now. There are very few rights that any
wife can count on, and then only if she is connected legally by marriage to a man at his death."
Even if a couple is married, Griffith said, there are still inequities. "If a man died with assets
of $250,000, of which his wife may have earned half, she would have to pay $10,000 in estate
taxes. That would be money paid in taxes on money that had already been taxed."
An additional problem for widows, Griffith said, is credit. "The day a woman buries her
husband she also buries her credit cards. If a widow wants to avoid paying for everything in
cash, she must use her dead husband's credit cards. To some lenders, a man dead for five years
is worth more than a warm, working, living woman."
(tewairtt
by David Broadwell
Staff Writer
The Shearon Harris nuclear power plant now under
construction near Raleigh may be vulnerable to an accident
of catastrophic proportions, Dr. David M. Stewart of the
UNC geology department says.
An earthquake of sufficient intensity could shatter the
plant's cooling system, he says, causing the reactor to melt
and releasing deadly radioactive material into the
environment;
Stewart also accused the Carolina Power and Light
Company, the plant's builder, of not seriously considering
this possibility. He says further research into the earthquake
potential of the area around the plant site should be
conducted before construction proceeds.
We have made studies and are building the plant
according to Atomic Energy Commission standards," one
CP&L official said. The AEC has approved the company's
actions to date.
Stewart remains adamant, however. "I am the only
earthquake seismologist in the state," he said in an interview
last week. "I look upon myself as representing the people of
North Carolina in an earthquake risk.
"The administration of CP&L doesn't understand the
situation because they're hot seismologists. Whenever
someone does a report for them and everything comes out
great, they don't want to question it. Whenever someone like
me comes along and says, 'Hey this isn't right,' they don't
want to hear it."
Stewart contended that he has been blacklisted by CP&L
for his outspoken views. "I've cooperated with CP&L before
and have supplied them information. They're willing to take
all the freebies 1 can give out " he said.
"All of a sudden their geologists have been muzzled and
instructed not to talk to me. They are afraid, in my opinion,
that they may say something that would be self
incriminating. Replying to this charge, the company issued a statement
saying that any previous cooperation between CP&L and
Stewart was initiated by the geologist himself. They said
Stewart has not been consulted because CP&L maintains its
own staff of scientists!
With respect to the company's advisors, Stewart
commented, "They are good geologists, but what CP&L says
to the public and what they actually do is dictated by the
administration, not the geologists. That's where there's a
weak link in the chain."
Stewart's main contention is that not enough seismic
instrumentation has been established in North Carolina to
determine whether the plant site is safe. The cause of
earthquakes in eastern United States is relatively unknown,
and North Carolina's potential for tremors is an even greater
mystery. "Without instrumentation, it's a complete guessing
game," Stewart noted. .
Earthquakes in this state have been a rarity over the past
300 years, but the historical record indicates that a disaster
can occur practically anywhere. An earthquake shook parts
of South Carolina just last week, for example; Another
South Carolina earthquake, the Great Charleston Quake of
1886, virtually leveled that region of the state arid, as far
away as Raleigh, moved houses off their foundations.
No significant seismic activity had been recorded before
that date.
Stewart pointed out that although six out of seven
potentially destructive earthquakes occur west of the Rocky
Mountains, a quake in the east willdo 20 times the damage.
"We know we haven't had a major earthquake in North
Carolina for 300 years," Stewart said, "but that is no
assurance whatsoever that we couldn't have the biggest
quake in the history of the United States tomorrow. We just
have to face this realistic possibility."
Stewart has proposed a statewide network of seismic
monitoring stations to begin recording phenomena within
the earth. He advocates financing from the power companies
because "they are the highest risk. You break a dam, and it's
all over with when the water's gone. You break a building, it
falls down, and it's over with, but when you break a nuclear
reactor, you've just started your troubles."
CP&L has declined participation in Stewart's project.
Because of the lack of instrumentation near the Harris
plant site, most research has centered on the historical record
of seismic activity. Since the Great Charleston Quake,
affected the area more than any other incident, the Harris
plant is being built to withstand just such a shock. "Take a
Charleston-type earthquake and move it 50 miles and what
have you got? You've got a broken reactor," Stewart said.
Stewart insisted, "I'm not on the side of being either for or
against that power plant. I'm on the side of good science. All
I'm asking of them is to do some bonafide, objective studies
before they proceed, and they're scared to death to do it."
i