Newspaper Page Text
THE RED AND BLACK
Athens, Go. Vol. 91, No. 5
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
Thursday, Sept. 29, 1983 News 543-1809 Advertising 543-1791
The Luminous Processes plant on the Atlanta Highway
Feds to sue Luminous for
costs of factory clean-up?
By TOMMY SIMs
Hrd anil Hla.k Sttnriilr \ems J rtitix
Th<* attorney representing the former Athens bast'd
Luminous Processes Wednesday said he expects a com
plaint today or Friday from the federal government
requesting compensation for the cost of cleaning up
hazardous waste from the site
The federal government filed suit on Monday against
Luminous, which was located on the Atlanta Highway
before going out of business in 1978 The lawsuit asks that
Luminous. Kadium Chemical Corp - based in New York
— and officials of the two companies repay the federal
government more than 1750.000 spent in 1981 82 to clean up
the site
Kirby Turnage, attorney for Luminous, said until he
received the federal lawsuit he was “completely In the
dark 1 However, luminous currently is involved in a
lawsuit with the state of (Georgia over the same site In that
lawsuit, the state also asks for $750,000 in compensation
costs, plus another $5 million in damages, Turnage said
A federal superfund was used in a • remedial action" to
clean up the site, where Luminous had buried low-level
radioactive waste Luminous opened the Athens site in the
1950s and painted watch and clock dial faces with radium
and tritium, which glow in the dark. Turnage said
Turnage said the clean-up process included removing the
entire layer of soil 3 feet deep on a 17.000 square foot area
and shipping it to Richland. Wash . to be buried
The state lawsuit, which still is pending, has two major
parts. Turnage said He said one question was whether
Georgia courts could take jurisdiction over out of-state
defendants and whether those defendants can be sued by
the state
The (ieorgia Supreme Court already has dismissed one
defendant from the case, a New Yorker, because “the
courts don’t have jurisdiction over him." Turnage said
"It's our contention that the state has no jurisdiction over
out-of-state individuals and the Radium Chemical Cor
poration." he said "The issue is none of these people had
sufficient contacts with the state."
He said a "non-resident has to have certain minimal
contacts" in a state before he can lx* included in a lawsuit
such as this and the out-of state individuals who were in
volvi*d with Luminous Processes were people who "have
nothing to do w ithalleg<»d contamination at the site "
That is a very complex part of the litigation." Turnage
added "The state is contending the contrary "
The second question concerning the state lawsuit is
whether the site indeed was contaminated and who should
have been r<*sponsihle. he said
"There has lx*en no injury for which my clients can be
held responsible under the law . he said
Luminous Processes tried to clean up the site, but "the
site was not cleaned up to the state’s specifications,"
Turnage said
Luminous borrowed $75,000 for the waste clean up. but
the money ran out and the state claimed the clean up was
"insufficient "
Luminous officials claim otherwise. Turnage said
"There are those who contend that the clean up was
adequate ”
Turnage said he was not aware of any citation Luminous
had received for violating federal and state regulations
After Luminous stopped operating in Athens in 1978, its
license was amended to provide for cleaning up the waste,
Turnage said
However. Turnage contends that if Luminous had not
agreed to remove the waste it would have had "no
responsibility to clean up the site."
He said that, at the time Luminous used radium, it was
not regulated by state law, and the corporation stopped
using radium in its pnxlucts before the Georgia Radiation
Control Act went into effect
The federal lawsuit, filed under the Comprehensive
(environmental Responsibility Compensation and Liability
Act of 1980, could come up in court as early as next May.
said Frank Butler, US. assistant district attorney in
Macon
Debate over drinking age
again heading for Atlanta
By FRANCINE WII-SON
Hr,I and mark Stall Writer
University freshmen won't be the
only students unable to drink legally if
legislation sponsored by a president's
commission on drunken driving passes
the Georgia Legislature in January.
However, a local legislator said
Wednesday he sees the legislation's
chances of passing as dim because of
the "yo-yo" effect the state’s drinking
age has had the past several years.
“1 don't see the 2l-year-old drinking
age passing next time," said Rep Hugh
Logan, D-Athens. “I think one of the
reasons for this is that earlier it (the
drinking age) was reduced to 18, then
changed to 19 If it were changed to 21,
it would be like a yo-yo."
The commission voted unanimously
on Monday to recommend to Congress
legislation requiring states to set a
minimum drinking age of 21 If the
legislation passed, states would lose
federal highway funds if they did not
raise the legal drinking age to 21.
Logan compared the situation to one
in the mid-1970s in which most state
legislatures lowered the speed limit to
55 mph to avoid cutbacks on federal
highway aid
"If the Feds put the stipulation that
you would lose highway funds, then that
could affect the vote," he said, "But I
don't think the legislation could pass
unless there were strict fund cutbacks
because of the yo-yo effect "
A bill to raise Georgia's drinking age
to 21, sponsored by state Sen Joe Lee
Thompson, D-Smyrna, passed the
Senate in February and. will come
before the House during the 1984
General Assembly session
The local president of Mothers
Against Drunk Driving said Wednesday
MADD would send representatives to
the General Assembly to support
passing the legislation
"This is one of MADD's goals for
1983," said MADD President Melinda
Durham "I'm convinced by studies
I've read there is a serious problem
with drunk driving in the 15-24 age
group "
Durham cited statistics from a study
by a presidential council on drunk
driving comparing alcohol-related
deaths of states with a 21-ycarold
drinking age to states with younger
legal drinking ages The study con
cluded that 13 states that had raised the
drinking age since 1976 had 28 percent
fewer night-time alcohol related
deaths
Durham said the statistics prove the
effectiveness of an older drinking age
“I have three sons, ages 23, 19 and
15," she said. "I have considerable
empathy in their warranting and faith
in their decision making But
something is telling us that the drinking
age should be higher, or the figures
wouldn't be saying this "
However, O’Malley’s owner Ken
Fulghum said raising the drinking age
would not reduce drunken driving, but
would only "drive drunking un
derground"
"We re definitely against drinking
and driving,” Fulghum said. "The laws
on the books need to be responsibly
enforced But liquor store owners I've
talked to have said beer sales would go
up if the drinking age is raised because
the crux of most beverages are sold on
off premise accounts ”
Fulghum, who estimated 50 percent
to 75 percent of his customers were
between the ages of 19 and 21, said th*
proposed law was unfair to people tn
this age group
“The law would take someone aged 19
through 21 and tell them they’re second-
class citizens," he said
Local bar owners aren’t the only ones
who oppose raising the drinkipg age to
"My country '(in of thre, sweet land of
maple trees..." or something like that.
This patriotic tree sits in a yard off
King Avenue displaying the stars and
stripes like all good patriotic trees do.
Actually, someone went to extra pains
to carve the Tree of Liberty on a dead
21 Several students said they would
like the legal drinking age to stay as it
is.
"I think it's ridiculous,” said senior
Lisa Franklin, 20. "If you're old enough
to go to college, you're old enough to
drink People who want to drink will
drink, anyway They want to raise the
drinking age for political reasons, so
the Moral Majority will vote for them "
Nineteen-year-old Donna Hanson
said she thought stricter enforcement
of DUI laws was the answer to the
drinking problem
"I don't think raising the drinking
age will cut it," she said. “I think they
should be more harsh on drunker
drivers."
tree trunk. Flag Day Isn't for a while,
hut Terrell the Tree doesn't seem tn
mind. Now, (he termites slowly eating
their wav through the bottom of his feet
are a different story. Replied the tree.
"I regret that I have only one mass of
wood fiber to give for my country."
Him HnlIon/Thr Red untl Black
I pledge allegiance...
Black group nixes plan: ‘It was too vague’
University Ssstem Chancellor Vernon
Crawford, left, and Georgia Gov. Joe
Frank Harris have seen their ex-
haustivelv prepared system desegrega
lion plan thrown right back into the try
ing pan from which they thought they
had Rescued it. The NAACP Ugal
Defense Fund. plainlifHn the original
desegregation lawsuit filed against the
system, on Monday rejected the latest
plan, calling it vague and inadequate.
However, because the Department of
Education's Office of Civil Rights has
approved the proposal, it probably will
go on through the courts with the (H R's
approval.
By BRIAN BRASWELL
KH anS Slack Stall Wnor
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund
rejected Georgia's college-
desegregation plan because of a "lack
of commitment" from Gov Joe Frank
Harris and because it was too vague, a
group spokeswoman said Wednesday
The legal defense fund announced
Monday that it had rejected Harris'
desegregation proposal as incomplete
and vague The defease fund cited six
areas in which the plan either was non
existent or inadequate
As of Wednesday, the governor's of
fice still had not been notified officially
of the rejection Harris, who was out of
town, could not be reached for com
ment.
Reaction from University System
Chancellor Vernon Crawford and
members of the system's Board of
Regents essentially was the same as
Harris'
"Until we see the official report from
the NAACP, we are taking the position
that we can’t really comment,"
Crawford said. "We are still in a
waiting game I'm assuming that they
filed their comments in Washington and
haven't gotten around to distributing
copies of their decision "
Both the governor's office and the
regents were informed of the rejection
by members of the press, rather than
by the legal defense fund
Speaking for the legal defense fund,
Jean Fairfax said many of the
documents requested by the group were
not submitted
"Georgia has not met the deadline for
full compliance." Fairfax said "One of
our big objections was the fact that,
under the court order. Georgia was
supposed to submit a plan for each
college within the system If the
governor submitted such plans, we
never got them ”
While the organization was con
cerned with portions of the plan that
were missing, they were equally
critical of the parts that were sub
mitted The legal defense fund cited six
areas where it found the desegregation
plan deficient
"One area where we are concerned is
what we perceive to be a lack of
commitment on the part of Governor
Harris to desegregate the University
System," Fairfax said. "Apparently,
the governor thinks the goals iti the
desegregation plan are unattainable,
and this concerns us."
The group claims that not only has
the system had trouble recruiting
minority students, but it also has had
trouble in keeping those students
"The judge's order said that the
system should not only seek to improve
recruitment, but it should improve
retainment as well," Fairfax said
The legal defense fund also found
fault with the system's provisions for
minority student financial aid Fairfax
said the group was concerned about the
decline in the number of grants and
awards made to minority students
within the system Fairfax also said the
group wanted to see the return to the
tuition-waiver proposal developed by
the regents
In June, Harris eliminated the
proposal, calling it too big a drain on
the state's treasury and a "blank
check" proposal
“The tuition waiver proposal was
really an exemplary approach, and we
wanted to see that in the governor's
plan," Fairfax said
The regents' test and standardized
test scores also came under fire from
the legal defense fund, as Fairfax
charged Harris with confusing the
requirements under the court order
“I believe the governor has misin
terpreted what the OCR (Office of Civil
Rights) is asking for," Fairfax said.
"OCR is not looking for elimination of
the test, but it merely wants the regents
to say what steps will be taken to
measure the impact of the test on
minority students OCR wants the test
validated, that's all "
Please See DKSKG. Page 3
Bell gets ‘F’ from education profs
By STACY LAM
Red and Mark Stall Writer
University education officials say Terrel Bell should get a
failing grade on his examination of America's teaching woes
Bell, President Reagan's Secretary of Education, said at a
Friday forum here on the state of education in America that
the overall problem in improving public schools may lie in
teacher education
"That is a gross oversimplification,” said Edith Grimsley,
an associate professor in the University’s Curriculum and
Supervision Department “You have to look at other cir
cumstances. such as the homes the children come from, as
well."
John Newfield, also an associate professor in Curriculum
and Supervision, agreed
“I think the reasoning is incorrect and too simplistic." he
said "It 'poor public education) is the result of multiple
causes ”
The education process is "very complicated and very
complex and does not rest solely on the teacher," said Curtis
Ulmer, a professor of adult education
Teacher education, however, does need improvement, he
said.
“Teachers need improvement in the area of basic skills,
reading, writing and mathematics," he said "They need
improvement both in learning these skills and in teaching
them to their students.”
While he said the quality of teacher education was "ex
cellent,” Gerald Firth, acting dean of the College of
Education, added that teacher education programs are not
drawing high quality students as they once did
The academic gap between students entering the teaching
profession and those choosing other fields continues to in
crease. Firth said
“We re under a far greater competitive strain from other
professions now," he said
To attract students with higher academic qualifications,
the College of Education has placed more emphasis on
recruiting, Firth said
"This fall, we've begun offering several *1,000 scholarships
to students planning to enter the teacher-education
program," he said