North Carolina Newspapers

Mm Up in the 80s Partly cloudy today with highs in the upper 80s. Lows tonight in the upper 60s with a 30 percent chance of showers. Copyright The Daily Tar Heel 1983. All rights reserved Damn we're good UNC ranked No. 5 by the Associated Press. See page 7 for the rest of the AP Poll. n Serving the students and the University community since 1893 Volume 91, Issue 57 Tuesday, September 20, 1983 Chapel Hill, North Carolina NewsSportsArts 9624245 BusinessAdvertising 962-1163 Poet shares experiences of life, living By LINDA QUEEN Staff Writer Riding alone on a slow cloud, I am she, Who writes the poems. A noted writer, journalist, recording artist and mother, Nikki Giovanni shared her poetry and experiences with about 500 people Monday night in Memorial Hall. Giovanni spoke on a number of various topics ranging from poetry to motherhood to the death of John Lennon. She stressed that we should "allow other things to live, and let us live." She said, "Why is it that we wait until disaster until we know each other? Life is difficult we don't need to invent a problem. We ought to recognize that all people are different and go on about our business." She expressed her joy of being a poet, and she read several of her poems to the crowd. She first paid tribute to a fellow writer, Lorraine Harsbury, saying that "writers live in that fine line between in sanity and genius." She wished for happiness in old age in "The Life I Led," saying "I hope I die warmby the life that I try to live." Hitting more somber tones as she re cited a poem for John Lennon, she said she was saddened by the "true injustice" of Lennon's death. At one point in the poem, she said, "It's not the gun but the manlet's ban the man." Giovanni's comments on the other aspects of her life were as entertaining as her poetry, and the audience laughed with her as she shared her thoughts on relation ships with them. For instance, a few notes on mothering went like this: "Women are more than their wombs," but having Evidence shows Breathalyzers not always right By SHARON SHERIDAN Staff Writer When the Safe Roads Act goes into effect Oct. 1, drivers can be charged with driving while im paired if it is proven that their physical or mental faculties are impaired by alcohol, drugs or both. The charge also can be made if the alcohol con centration in their blood is 0.10 or more at any relevant time after driving. These tougher drinking and driving laws re quire more reliance on the Breathalyzer test, which is used to determine alcohol concentration. Chapel Hill attorney Lunsford Long attended the First National Seminar on Defending the Drunk Driver in Washington in June. The ac curacy of the Breathalyzer was discussed at the seminar. "It's not 100 percent accurate," Long said. In the case of State vs. Boehmer, evidence was of fered that there is a 0.0165 percent margin of er ror in test results. For example, if the defendant's test result showed 0.11 alcohol concentration, he might actually have had an alcohol concentration of less than 0.10, Long said. Factors that might affect Breathalyzer test results include radio frequency interference, human physiological variations and contamina tion of the test ampule. In September 1982, Smith and Wesson, the company which manufactures the Breathalyzer, issued a customer advisory concerning the possibility of errors in Breathalyzer readings because of radio waves. l- not all I J 1 - f 1 -X j - 'I I ! II sggSSgjS ) ; fabwagWWWi .MtlllOTggaillw' liillimii) iiiih.ii.i.ii-TT niii ! Minn mi , mi 1 ill 11 1 ducation schoo accrc DTHLori L Thomas Nikkie Giovanni, a noted poetjournalist and recording artist, spoke to a crpwd of about 500 Monday night in Memorial Hall. She spoke of many varied personal experiences. babies is "something to do to keep you off the streets." Describing her activity in politics, she merely said, "I voted." On technology and progress in the world, she said, "We don't see each other. How are we going to see life someplace else?" The thing to keep in mind, Giovanni said, is to "...think about... the emo tional things . . . about reaching out to peo ple." As long as there is computerized com munication, people are obliged to talk to each other and to express their thoughts to each other, Giovanni said. Male and female relationships were a key issue, because of the daily stereotypes on television, which Giovanni described as "one of the most vicious things that hap pened to a woman." Describing the absurdity of a commer cial, she said that in malefemale relation ships on commercials, women are still in ferior to men. "The lady says, 'My hands are itchy, if John finds out. . . .' If John loves you so much, why doesn't he buy you a dishwasher?" Giovanni asked. Giovanni said, "I hope I get to see the moon just to see how fragile we are. I hope to be able to go to the moon and look down on Earth." The Ohio native, who resides in Cincin nati with her son, has a degree in history and numerous other honorary degrees, as well as a Mademoiselle magazine award for outstanding literary achievement. But to get a glimpse of Giovanni and to hear her poetic words is to begin to under stand a person capable of receiving such praise. She seemed to describe herself well in one of her poems: "I am so etheralno one can comprehend me except by my per mission." The lecture was sponsored by the Forum Committee of the Carolina Union. By MARK STINNEFORD Staff Writer The N.C. Board of Education has with held full accreditation of three programs at the "UNC School of Education, citing defi ciencies in standards for faculty and cur riculum. The board granted provisional one-year accreditation to the program rather than a full five-year accreditation. The School of Education should have no problem regaining full accreditation for the programs, said William I. Burke, director of teacher education. The provisional accreditation will not affect students currently enrolled, Burke said. Students will not be forced to retake courses because of proposed changes in the program, he said. Robert D. Boyd, assistant state super intendent of education for personnel ser vices, said he expected UNC to make the necessary changes in the programs. Boyd said he would rate the penalty against the School of Education as mild, considering that 30 of its 33 programs re ceived full accreditation. The maximum penalty the board can impose is complete denial of approval for a program, he said. The board will decide in September 1984 whether to grant full accreditation to the programs, deny accreditation or extend the provisional accreditation. The board granted the provisional ac creditation to the intermediate education program for graduates and under graduates, the foreign languages education program for graduates and under graduates, and the curriculum-instructional specialists program. Burke said he was not surprised by the decision. The school had been working to correct problems in the three programs be fore an evaluation committee visited in April, he said. "We were in the process of making some of the modifications," he said. ,rI suspect if the truth be known about programs, there are ones where you have weaknesses and you work on the weaknesses." The intermediate education program will have to be changed to reflect new state certification standards that went into ef fect in July, he said. The certification for intermediate instruction, which previously covered instruction in the fourth through ninth grades, has been restricted to grades four through six. Teachers of grades six through nine used to receive certification as intermediate teachers but now receive certification as middle-grade teachers, he said. Because instructors in junior high school usually teach only one subject, the board recommended more specialized fa culty in courses for UNC students intend ing to teach at that level, Burke said. In the foreign languages education pro gram, the board called for more per manence and continuity in the faculty, Burke said. While the school had to hire two temporary faculty members last spring, it is now working to arrange joint appointments of professors to language departments and the School of Education. The board found that the curriculum instructional specialists program over emphasized school administration, Burke said. The program, attended by certified teachers with master's degrees or above, is designed for educators planning and eval uating courses and programs. At the time of the evaluation committee's visit, the School of Education was in the process of shifting the program from the administra tive division to the curriculum division, he said. Despite the problems in the three pro grams, the School of Education is on a sound footing, Burke said. "From the headlines, you'd think there was a problem with faculty across the board; (but) at 90 percent of our certifica tion levels, there was no problem," he said. DRINKS (TWO-HOUR PERIOD) Weight V ozs. 86 Liquor or 12 ozs. Beer 100 tw2? 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 120 Cl.? ; 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 140 :l V2' ' 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 160 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 180 Ur 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 200 ' iiiZvSs 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 220- 2:34 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 240 4V 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 BE CAREFUL DRIVING BAC TO .05 DRIVING IMPAIRED .05-.09 DO NOT DRIVE .10 & UP Source: NHTSA N .Cr nuclear plants near top of list of worst in the nation The Breathalyzer model used in Chapel Hill is one that has been proven to be susceptible, Long said. Breathalyzer operator Master Officer Alvin Allen of the Chapel Hill police said the depart ment's Breathalyzers were tested for radio fre quency interference. "I understand that there's no outside radio frequency interference here," he said. "It has a lot to do with the building that houses the instru ment." There would be more interference in a metal building than in a brick building, for exam ple. The Chapel Hill Police Department has a concrete block building, he said. Long said there could be a problem with test ing the machines only once. Based on what he learned at the seminar, he said, radio frequency interference is not limited to one location. The tested machines still may be susceptible. He said the test only proved that on that day, at the fre quencies tested, there was no radio frequency in terference. Another problem with the Breathalyzer is that it makes assumptions about human physiology, Long said. "It assumes that everyone has a blood-breath ratio of 2,100-to-l," he said. This means that the amount of alcohol in one cubic centimeter of blood is assumed to be equal to the amount of alcohol in 2,100 ccs of air. But, just as people may be taller or shorter than the average height, people's blood-breath ratios may vary from the 2,100-1 ratio, Long said. A smaller blood-breath ratio could result in an overestimation of alcohol concentration. See BREATHALYZER on page 3 U.S. Navy fires on Druse artillery posts The Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon U.S. naval guns ham mered away at Druse artillery positions in Lebanon's central mountains Monday and for the first time a U.S. spokesman said the firing was in support of the Lebanese army's defense of Souk el-Gharb. The government's Radio Beirut reported that fighting raged into the night in the mountain town overlooking the Lebanese capital. An army communique said a Lebanese Bulldog recon naissance plane, crashed near the Druse mountain town of Aley, "and the fate of the two pilots is still unknown." It was the third time in the 16-day-old resump tion of the civil war that American ships have opened fire and the first time since Syria warned on Sunday its troops in Lebanon would fire back if attacked by American ground, air or sea forces. Druse spokesmen in Beirut claimed the American shells landed in about five towns around Souk el-Gharb including Baissour and an undetermined number of civilians were killed. But U.S. officials insisted the guns were firing at military positions. Israeli Druse leaders protested to U.S. Am bassador Samuel Lewis in Tel Aviv, claiming Washington was supporting the Christian Phalangists against the Druse in the Lebanese civil war. The Druse sect is an offshoot of Islam. The official Soviet news agency Tass claimed the United States was trying to "intimidate Syria and those forces of the Arab world which refuse to be subordinated to the American-Israeli diktat." French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson, whose government has troops in the multina tional force in Beirut, also criticized American military intervention in the civil war. He said he did not believe that the U.S. operations and par ticularly the Navy shelling "is the best method to achieve" a settlement. The destroyer John Rodgers and the guided missile cruiser Virginia fired repeated barrages in the morning and again in the afternoon as the U.S.-trained Lebanese Army's 8th Brigade fought with Druse and Palestinian guerrillas at tacking Souk el-Gharb, the mountaintop town nine miles southeast of Beirut that overlooks the U.S. Marine base at the Beirut airport. "The naval gunfire support was conducted on military targets threatening the Lebanese armed forces defending Souk el-Gharb," said U.S. Em bassy spokesman John Stewart. "Successful Lebanese armed forces defense of the area is vital to the safety of U.S. personnel, including the U.S. multinational forces, other U.S. military and the U.S. diplomatic , corps personnel. The naval gunfire support missions are defensive ac tions." V A State Department official in Washington, who requested anonymity, suggested that the loss of Souk el-Gharb could spell a major defeat for American policy and lead to a reassessment of whether the Marine force should remain in Lebanon. The White House announced last week that the Marine command in Beirut had been authorized to call in naval fire support when the Marines and other troops of the multinational forces were threatened and when the Lebanese army was threatened with loss of a position from which the Marines could be attacked. Previously U.S. officials ordered retaliatory shelling after the Marine camp or other American installations were shelled. A Western military source said the attackers penetrated Souk el-Gharb twice, but the army drove them out each time. The Druse and Palestinians left behind 50 bodies after one at tack, and two of their tanks were destroyed, said the source, who asked not to be identified. See LEBANON on page 4 The Associated Press WASHINGTON Reactors in North Carolina, Arkansas and Alabama top a list, of the worst managed operating atomic power plants in the country in 19S2, according to government documents obtained by a Ralph Nader anti-nuclear organization. In a report Monday, the Critical Mass Energy Pro ject said the 4,500 mishaps or "events" reported at U.S. nuclear plants last year including 253 that had a "particular safety significance" were 10 percent above the number of mishaps reported to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1981. "The track record disproves the nuclear industry's claim that nuclear power provides reliable, safe and abundant electricity," said Michael Totten, the direc tor of the project. However, the industry's Atomic Industrial Forum said the licensee event reports that utilities file with the NRC point to nuclear power's "incredible safety record, unparalleled in any other industry." "What other business can you point to where there has never been an injury or fatality," said Scott Peters, a spokesman for the industry organization. Bob Newlin, a spokesman for the NRC, said the government agency does not rank plants against one another. He said the numbers that Critical Mass used to compile its rankings "had been averaged by a lower-level employee on her own" and were not weighted properly to accurately reflect the safety per formance of each plant. Using mostly NRC data, the 34-page Critical Mass report assessed the relative performance of the nation's 56 atomic power plants on their management, the number and severity of the mishaps they experienc ed, security threats, exposure of workers to radiation and their production of electricity. According to a notebook that Critical Mass said it obtained through a Freedom of Information Act re quest, the NRC's Office of Inspection and Enforce ment rated Carolina Power & Light Co.'s Brunswick plant at Southport as the worst managed commercial operating atomic plant in the country. Arkansas Power & Light Co.'s two reactors at Russelville were rated the second worst, and the Ten nessee Valley Authority's three-reactor Browns Ferry plant at Athens, Ala., was rated the third worst among operating plants. Among plants still under construction, Louisiana Power & Light Co.'s Waterford facility.at Taft, La., was rated the worst managed, followed by TVA's Watts Bar plant at Spring City, Term., and Common wealth Edison Co.'s Byron plant at Byron, HI. The report, however, noted that its list of the worst managed plants under construction omitted Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co.'s Zimmer plant in Ohio, where the NRC halted safety-related work last year because of broad quality control breakdowns. "The very worst plant under construction is almost certainly the Zimmer plant," the Critical Mass report said, even though the NRC assessment rated the per formance of the plant's management as normal. Spokesmen for each of the utilities said their of ficials had not seen the Critical Mass study and had lit tle comment on it. "It's very rare that we could com ment on something like that anyway," said Gil Fran cis, a spokesman for TVA. Pat W. Howe, vice president of the Brunswick nuclear project, said Critical Mass had misused the in formation provided to the Nuclear Regulatory Com mission. "The purpose of preparing these reports and documents is the transfer of information between the company and a regulatory agency. To use this infor mation for compiling an index of management per formance between utilities is a misuse of the informa tion for furtherance of this group's political purposes," Howe said. "Carolina Power & Light Co. rejects the conclu sions of the anti-nuclear Critical Mass group and takes strong exception to any suggestion that any of our plants have been operated in an unsafe manner. "The single most relevant fact is that tjiere never has been an incident that constituted a threat to the public. To imply or state otherwise is a total misrepresentation of the facts," he said. Bruce Stoecklin, a spokesman for Cincinnati Gas & Electric, said procedures ordered by the NRC when it stopped safety-related construction at the Zimmer plant last November "will solve the problems that have been alleged." Also obvious by its omission from the group's list of worst-managed nuclear facilities was the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, which one NRC com missioner said should not be allowed to reopen until its top three company executives are fired. John Clewett, the author of the Critical Mass report, said the omissions of TMI and Zimmer from the lists of the worst-managed reflects variations among the NRC's regional offices on how plants are rated and their inability to agree on standards for overall evaluations. Among the best-managed plants, according to the NRC documents, were Yankee Rowe in Massachusetts, Haddam Neck and Millstone in Con necticut, Vermont .Yankee, McGuire in North Carolina, Palo Verde in Arizona, Summer in South Carolina and San Onofre in California. The Brunswick and Public Service Gas & Electric Co.'s Salem plant in New Jersey, also had the largbest number, 16, of "particularly significant mishaps" in 1982, according to the report. San Onofre, the La Crosse plant in Wisconsin, the Nine-Mile Point plant in New York and the Big Rock Point plant in Michigan led the country in the ex posure of plant workers to radiation in relation to the amount of electric power they produced. Critical Mass said the NRC notebook it obtained was based on "Systematic Assessments of Licensee Performance" conducted for each plant by the NRC's regional offices. Those "SALP" reports evaluate how plants are managed in several categories, including operations, radiological controls, maintenance, security, fire pro tection and emergency planning. Although the NRC last year did away with official overall ratings for each plant, Critical Mass said the commission's staff still calculates them for its own use. The group said the numbers corresponding to an average of the evaluations in each category for each of the plants had been erased from the NRC notebook it obtained "but still faintly can be seen." It said it used those averages to compile its list of the worst and best managed plants.