Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Jan. 13, 1976, edition 1 / Page 1
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4 ft X n Serving l he students and the University community since 1893 Vol. 83, No. 75 iicFci run, iiuiin urmma, mesqay, January 13, 1976 Weather: cooler South port plant will stay open Despite psychic's quake predictions by Laura Toler Staff Writer The Carolina Power & Light Company (CP&L) has no plans to defuel or shut down its Brunswick nuclear power plant in Southport, despite predictions by a psychic and a geologist that a major earthquake may occur there by the end of the week. CP&L public relations officer Albert Morris said Sunday it would take weeks to defuel the plant. John Mumm, CP&L's manager of licensing and technical service, said Monday operations at the $793 million plant have not been altered because of the prediction. A quake of 8.0 magnitude on the Richter scale strong enough to cause hundreds of deaths and damage all of Wilmington was predicted Saturday by California psychic Clarisa Bernhardt. She said it would definitely occur within 365 days, probably between Jan. 14 and 20, and most likely on Saturday, Jan. 17. Dr. David Stewart, a UNC geologist and director of the MacCarthy Geophysical Laboratory, said Saturday that Bernhardt's prediction is compatible with scientific data showing geological developments that normally precede an earthquake occuring in the Wilmington-Southport area. The greatest danger of an earthquake in that area, Stewart said, is possible damage to the nuclear plant. If the reactor's emergency core cooling system ruptured, he said, the reactor core would heat rapidly, melt, and issue a radioactive cloud that could kill thousands. Brunswick plant manager Ed Hollowell said Sunday the reactor is built to withstand seismic activity. But Stewart said the plant was ipnly built to resist quakes of magnitude 5.0 or less, while both his data and the psychic's prediction point to an 8.0 quake, some 1,000 times more severe than a 5.0 quake. Bernhardt did not foresee a plant meltdown, but did predict a crack jutting through the concrete foundation under the reactor. State geologist E. P. Allen said Monday CP&L's seismic monitoring equipment at the Brunswick plant would show preliminary seismic activity at least three days prior to a major quake. CP&L is obligated to notify the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NCR) of any seismic activity. NRC would then inform North Carolina geologists, who would contact the governor's office, Allen said. "At this time there is not sufficient evidence to alarm the public about an earthquake," he added. Since Bernhardt and Stewart voiced their concerns to state officials Thursday, Allen's staff has evaluated the evidence and consulted the chief of the California state geological survey and the Denver office of the U.S. Geological Survey's division of Earthquakes and Seismic Risks. None of these sources has advised precautions because of the prediction, Allen said. Although Allen confirmed that the seismographs would operate constantly through Tuesday, Mumm said CP&L is observing the usual plant schedule of monitoring the equipment anywhere from three to seven days per week, depending on the plant schedule. "1 told him (Allen) we would be sure this week to keep the information up to date, and to make an extra effort if there were any required," Mumm said. "Otherwise we're doing nothing different from what we normally do." The NRC ordered C P & L to install seven seismographic stations surrounding the plant last July, but only three are functioning at this time, and those only since October. M umm said they still provide some degree of accuracy. But Stewart said seismographs cannot be trusted to warn of an impending earthquake unless they have been operating for a year in advance, collecting background recordings of normal geolgical activity for comparison. "It would have been well if they had been in a year or two ago," Allen admitted. "But we have to work with what we have." : In his Saturday press conference, Stewart said land in the Southport area is rising, ground water pressure and rock stresses in the region are mounting and a major earthquake occurred in Charleston, S.C. geologically identical to Southport in 1886. All these are major indicators of a major earthquake in the near future, Stewart said. Although Stewart said his findings deserve priority because they are more recent, Mumm said they do not necessarily conflict with results of CP&L's original 1 967-68 investigation declaring the plant site safe. CP&L public relations officer Morris said Monday drillings, environmental impact studies, and other investigations must be made before NRC wilL license a n1 oo f nlont Lighting effects Afternoon light shines through an Playmakers Theatre, home of company, the Playmakers. The Aldermen A News Analysis by Merton Vance Staff Writer A move by local government officials to change the membership of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority met with limited success last week but managed to stir up a controversy over the authority and its relationship to the governments it serves. At the heart of the issue is the question of whether the authority should bean autonomous or a political body. That question came to the forefront Jan. 5 when Chapel Hill Mayor James C. Wallace, Carrboro Mayor Ruth West and Orange County Board of Commissioners Chairperson Flo Garrett recommended in a joint statement that the appointed members of the authority be replaced with elected officials. They contended that this change would provide better public representation on the authority. But opponents say the move was designed to increase the board's political power over the authority. The proposal was not entirely successful. The Orange County Commissioners voted 4-1 to keep its three present members on the authority Jan. 5. Carrboro's Board of Aldermen passed a similar resolution by a 5-1 Naval scholarship may be by Dan Fesperman Staff Writer A sexually exclusive Naval ROTC scholarship, under investigation since early December by the UNC Title IX committee, may be exempted from Title IX regulations by HEW if the consolidated university asks the agency for a ruling, a consolidated university official said Monday. Jeff Orleans, a special assistant to the Consolidated University President William C. Friday and an HEW attorney from 1971 to 1974, said, "While I was at HEW there was talk about exempting single-sex programs if they were run by, or in response to, another federal agency." Orleans, while with HEW, was involved with the drafting of Title IX, the section of the 1972 Education Amendment which prohibits sexual discrimination in federally funded educational programs and activities. Orleans said he thinks HEW will "wait and see how many schools have problems with it (sexually exclusive programs) .before they make a ruling. They usually prefer to react to questions rather than making a decision first." The three-year-old scholarship, called the Nuclear Power scholarship, is being investigated by a committee headed by. f ,'r , vs.- open door in the UNC's dramatic Playmakers' first cause controversy over water authority margin last Thursday. Only the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen removed its initial appointees from the authority. The board voted 6-2 to replace its authority members with aldermen last Wednesday. Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County each appoint three members to the nine-member authority, which will oversee local water and sewer operations. The authority is currently involved in negotiations to buy the two utilities, now owned by UNC. Sale of those utilities is pending approval by the UNC Board of Trustees. Presently the authority is preparing numerous studies and reports concerning the technical aspects of the utilities sale. Wallace said that by having elected representatives on the authority, the community and the aldermen would be better informed on the progress of the authority. Wallace said that the decision to replace the appointed members with aldermen was not meant as a personal affront to the members who were dismissed. But opponents of the action think the Chapel Hill government is attempting to increase its influence over the authority. Grey Culbreth, director of utilities at UNC, said Susan Ehringhaus, assistant to UNC Chancellor Ferebee Taylor. Ehringhaus was alerted to the scholarship's sexual distinction by Cricket Ussery, chairperson of the UNC Association for Women Students. Ussery had seen an advertisement for the scholarship and noticed that part of the ad stated "It (the Navy) needs the best qualified men (italics added) possible to train to become nuclear propulsion officers and naval aviators." Cmdr. Everett Vernon, executive officer of the UNC NROTC, said that the scholarship is offered only to males because it is a "combat billet" scholarship. "Women to this day are not allowed to serve on board a ship," he said. "In our program here at UNC, males or females can earn scholarships," he said. "We don't go out and procure these people (for the Nuclear Power scholarship)," he added. "The recruiting command does." Ehringhaus said in December that the N ROTC could possibly continue to offer the all-male scholarship at UNC even if the committee decides that it does violate Title IX. "There is a pooling arrangement in the (Title IX) regulations that would allow University funds to be used for a proportionate amount of dollars to go to an production of the spring semester will be Holiday, presented by the newly formed repertory company. Holiday will run Jan. 14-17 and 21-24. Monday that town government should not be involved with the authority. The authority should be "as completely insulated from politics as possible," Culbreth said, adding that he fears conflicting individual and town interests in favored projects would hamper the operation of the authority. Culbreth said also that the Chapel H ill citizens he has talked with share his concerns. Wallace called these charges "wholly unfounded," and added that an authority of this nature is necessarily political. "The people who think this is not a political body are deceiving themselves," he said. James Lamb, current chairperson of the authority and one of the members dismissed by last week's actions, said Monday, "It's only becoming more political because Mayor Wallace is trying to make it political." Lamb said the authority should not become "a political plaything." He maintained that the authority should be autonomous and said he was concerned that the change in personnel might disrupt the continuity of the work in which the authority is involved. exempt equivalent women's scholarship," she said. If a satisfactory pooling arrangement cannot be worked out, then Ehringhaus's committee would probably let the administration of the consolidated university handle the matter, committee member Sarah Ramsey said. She said that Orleans told her "that HEW has hinted it will not withdraw from one federal program for the sake of another." Vernon said he doubts the scholarship is under the jurisdiction of Title IX. "There is kind of a dilemma relating to scholarships. The University receives aid through the auspices of HEW. The ROTC receives its through the Navy. It is not money that is available to UNC to distribute." Ehringhaus agreed that the money was not the University's, but said, "We are a party to the scholarship byhelping to administer it through the student aid office. We have no indication that those funds are exempt from Title IX." Ehringhaus said that the investigations of the scholarship is only a very small part of implementing Title IX at UNC. She :aid UNC must be incompliance with all Title IX regulations, except for athletics, by July 22 and that the committee hopes to report to Chancellor Taylor on needed changes by March. by Jan Hodges Staff Writer Student Health Advocate Katie Campbell called for a University-wide commitment "to the full implementation and observance of the smoking ban" Monday. Campbell asked for "all of the University community to support the smoking ban," and suggested ways for five segments of the community to help enforce it. During a press conference, Campbell discussed the harmful effects of smoking on nonsmokers as reported in the Surgeon General's 1972 report. This "passive smoking," she said, "poses a threat to the well-being of those who do not smoke but are in the company of smokers." The smoking ban was passed by students in an October referendum and by the faculty during a November Faculty Council meeting. But "our attention has been diverted away from the smoking ban," Campbell explained, because of "final exams, the semester break and the beginning of a new semester." She made the following proposals in the statement: To students: "Accept the smoking ban; do not smoke in class. Remind those who do smoke that the ban is now campus law." To the faculty: "UNC faculty should be aware that they set the norms of classroom behavior. Professors should not smoke in class, even if it means suffering without a 5 cigarette, cigar or pipe prop which was I formerly an integral part of the professorial image." To Student Government: "Continue to 1 be active in the smoking issue, particularly in educating students of the consequences of 55 active and passive smoking. Student Government should consider amending the campus code to include smoking in class as an offense; it should also consider extending the smoking ban to all public enclosed areas on campus." To the Faculty Council: "1 would like to 4 v Suff photo by Howard Shephera A mothballed naval gun stands watch over the NROTC building. I i ; urge the Faculty Council to maintain a professional climate supportive of the ban. discouraging those who ignore it. Information concerning the smoking ban should appear in all publications dealing with University life and University regulations, including school bulletins and brochures. The Faculty Council should consider, with the students, the extension of the smoking ban to enclosed public areas, with appropriate smoking areas set aside." To the chancellor. "I would like to urge the chancellor to lend the full support of his office to the observance of the smoking ban. As the head of this University, the most powerful and influential figure on campus, the chancellor should be actively involved in University health issues, to make the University a safer place to live, learn and work. With the Faculty Council and the students, the chancellor should promote publication concerning the ban. in addition to considering the extension of the ban to other areas of the campus." In response to the statement, faculty chairperson E. Maynard Adams said that the Faculty Council could make recommendations to extend the ban and include information on it in brochures and bulletins, but added that the council has only a "persuasive and moral force" over the faculty and students. Student Body President Bill Bates declared his complete agreement with the statement. He said Student Government is having red "No Smoking" signs printed to be posted in classrooms by the middle of next week. He also said he would support making smoking in class a campus code offense this semester. Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor would not comment before seeing a copy of the statement. Campbell called this week a critical period in the acceptance of the smoking ban. "As a health consumer advocate for students. I hope that the ban will be permanently accepted," Campbell said. Chapel Hill Alderman Jonathan Howes, one of the newly-appointed members of the authority said the aldermen's decision was not a move to increase control over the authority. In fact, Howes and the other aldermen reached a consensus at last Wednesday's meeting to eventually replace the aldermen on the authority with people who have the technical skills to manage the authority's operations. This move would essentially reverse the effect of the board's recent vote. But at present, Howes sees a need for public representation on the authority because he thinks town planning is closely related to water and sewer planning. Lamb disagreed. "Water and sewer planning should follow good planning and not be used as a tool for town growth," he said. Despite their differences over the relationship that should exist between the Water and Sewer Authority and local governments, most of those contacted about the issue tend to agree that the effects of the week's actions may not be all that great in the long run. "1 think it will probably work itself out," Culbreth said. He added that since only Chapel Hill put new representatives on the authority it (the authority) will not be changed significantly. Comptroller and treasurer slated for CGC discussion The Campus Governing Council's first meetings of the new year will be held at 7:30 p.m. today in 151 Hamilton Hall. Scheduled for discussion is a bill providing for minimal qualifications for the student body treasurer and comptroller, if that office is ruled to be constitutional by the Student Supreme Court. Provisions of the bill would permit the treasurer and comptroller from being preregistered for more than one afternoon lab per week. The treasurer and comptroller must also be certified by the Student Audit Board or by the Student Activities Fund Office director as understanding the requisition system. Also on the agenda are two amendments to the Student Government election laws. One amendment changes the date of the runoff election to Wednesday of the second full week of school following the initial election. Formerly, the runoff election was held on the second Wednesday following the initial election unless there was a vacation, in which case it was held a week after the vacation. The second amendment reapportions the graduate voting districts, which are divided by departments.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 13, 1976, edition 1
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