Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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Appropriate Compensation Governor Richard Thornburgh wasted no time in signing a pay bill that will install raises for lawmakers, judges, and two state-elected officials. The base salary for lawmakers will rise from its current $18,720 a year to $25,000 a year. The 33.5 percent boost will become effective Dec. 1, 1980. The state's 330 judges will get pay increases of up to $10,000 and the Su- preme Court chief justice, who has the top judicial salary, will receive a pay hike to $67,000 beginning Dec. 1,1980. Salaries for the auditor general and state treasurer will rise from $42,500 to $48,000 in January of 1981. Governor Thornburgh was pleased that compensation for legislators was secured and felt that our legislators will turn a fuller measure of their at- tention to the many important issues and problems affecting all of us. Thornburgh said he was concerned that the increases exceeded those rec- ommended by the Compensation Commission in February. It was sug- gested that lawmakers should receive 15 percent increases over two years. Since there had been no increase since 1976, the governor said he felt he could sign the bill anyway. State Sen. J. Doyle Corman, who voted in favor of the bill, was opposed to the pay hike last spring. Corman Claimed that under the spring proposal, immediate pay raises would have been unconstitutional. The new approved pay hike would be effective after 1981, he said, when most of the legislators now in office are gone. People need to be appropriately compensated, or they are just not go- ing to run for the office, Corman said. An opponent to the pay hike, Rep. Gregg Cunningham, R-Centre, said that his 1no' vote speaks for itself. He said he suspected it has been five years between raises, which averages out to about a 6 percent raise per year. A proposed increase for cabinet members was dropped at the last min- ute. Governor Richard Thornburgh Emergency Plan Drafted In reaction to the alarming incidents occurring at the Three Mile Island nu- clear power plant, Governor Dick Thornburgh issued an advisory that pregnant women and children stay outside a five-mile radius of the plant. In addition, local officials in the area of the plant prepared plans for a pos- sible evacuation and made arrange- ments to relocate the elderly, invalids, and persons in institutions such as hospitals and jails. The governor also disclosed that schools within five miles of the plant should be closed and state government offices would be open, but with leaves granted for some absentees. It was estimated that approximately 50,000 of the 950,000-plus residents of the area surrounding the plant had left their homes several days after the acci- dent. About one month after the happen- ings at TMI, Gov. Thornburgh stated that he had doubts on whether the country should continue to rely on nuclear power as a significant source of energy. He also said that not order- ing an evacuation was the toughest decision of all. Photo tourlest m The Daily Collegian Odd or Even? The summer of '79 brought along with its sun and fun, a critical decision by Governor Thornburgh to do some- thing about the pressing gas shortage. With OPEC's decision to charge more money for oil, American's were forced to account for the price differ- ence. In June, Governor Thornburgh an- nounced that Americans would have to purchase gasoline on an odd-even basis. This meant that car owners whose licenses ended with an odd di- git could only buy gas on odd calendar days, and the same applied with even numbers and days. Pennsylvanian's were also subjected to a $5 gas minimum, as well as the skyrocketing gasoline prices which rose to well over a dollar per gallon. To make matters even worse, lines for the much-in-demand gasoline were so long, many people had to plan their entire day's schedule around the pre- viously simple procedure of having their gas tanks filled. PSU Offers Shelter Had a state of emergency been de- clared after the accident at Three Mile Island, State College would have been able to house some 1,400 evacuees. State College Mayor Arnold Addison and municipal officials discussed ways to accommodate evacuees, and said plans were made to utilize churches and schools. If necessary, Addison said he would ask State College residents to open their doors to the evacuees. Al- though food and transportation could have been a problem the mayor con- tended that the University could house about 5,000 evacuees in White Build- ing, Rec Hall, and the Intramural Build- ing. Dr. John A. Hargleroad, Director of University Health Services, said Health Services would survey evacuees for radiation had an evacuation taken place. ReviewlState 8: Local 27

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reviewrstate 84 l ocal Local Election Favorites On November 6, 1979, Election Day in Centre County, four people were chosen by the people of State College to fill the vacant seats in the county's Municipal Council and Board of Com- missioners. Incumbent Mary Ann Haas led the way in the race for Municipal Council by getting the majority of votes in the election. Haas, a republican, ran on both the democratic and republican tickets. Democrat Daniel Chaffee was named on the second largest number of ballots. Chaffee was a write-in can- didate during the spring and won the primary elections. He was pleased that he won a seat on the Council even though his campaign was minimal. Chaffee said he had aimed his cam- paign at no special group and that he was happy to have received as many votes as he did. Fred J. Honsberger, a native of Centre County, was also named to Council as he came in third in the voting. Honsberger is a republican, and was formerly employed by both WRSC in State College and KDKA in Pitts- burgh. Joseph Wakeley, Jr., came in fourth in the voting and will fill the last re- maining seat on the Municipal Coun- cil. Wakeley, a democrat, said he was not at all surprised that Haas won since both she and Chaffee ran on both tickets. He did add, however, that he was pleased that Fred Honsberger was also named to the Council. Wakeley won by a margin of 149 votes over the next candidate in line. In the race for the three seats for the Board of Commissioners, republican Jeff Bower's name turned up on the majority of ballots. Bower said that he was very pleased with the work of the former board, and that he would con- tinue to work hard for the Centre County region. The other two Board seats were filled by John Saylor, a democrat, and John Clatz, a republican. Both men were incumbents. 26 ReviewlState 8r Local Phi Psi 500 Re-Routed The State College Municipal Council approved a series of changes in the running of the annual Phi Psi 500, in- cluding a route change and reduction in the number of runners allowed to participate. The action was taken in response to several complaints of vandalism and crowd control problems that were ob- served in last spring's event. According to several spectators, bot- tles, plastic garbage bags, and beer were just several of many things heaved at spectators from apartment balconies. Borough Council President Ingrid P. Holtzman said that another problem with last spring's race was the sale of beer at downtown bars without age identification. Robert Albright, man- ager of the All-American Rathskeller, denied such accusations. As a result of these problems, the Municipal Council has designed a new route for the Phi Psi. The next race will begin at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on Locust Lane, continue to ei- ther E. Nittany Avenue or E. Foster Avenue, proceed up Pugh Street to Calder Way, and then reverse itself. Another proposal reduces the field of runners from 2,000 to 1800. Airport Controversy The growing controversy over whether the University Park Airport is of more vital importance to the Centre region than the Mid-State Airport was a topic of major concern this past year. Incumbent Republican for Centre County Commissioner John Glatz said that the Centre County taxpayers' money should not be used to finance the University Park Airport's operating expenses. Glatz proposed several means for the University Park Airport to counter- balance its deficit, such as improving its operating efficiency and assessing regular airport users. Jeffrey Bower, a republican candi- date for county commissioner, agreed with Glatz stating that the taxpayers' money should not be used to support the airport. He also proposed that an additional fee should be charged to those who use the airport. Mall Dispute In one of the greatest controversies to ever hit State College, citizens have actively opposed the building of the proposed Ferguson Mall. The mail was supposed to be built along N. Atherton St. on the Dreibelbis farmlands. However, Ferguson Town- ship residents tried to petition against the construction. On February 28, 1979, residents tried to petition against the mall, calling the proposed building construction the mauling of Ferguson Township. This petition was denied however, by Centre County Common Pleas Judge Richard M. Sharp, who said that petitions may not be used to effect final legislative action on proposed changes to zoning ordinances. Still dissatisfied, residents appealed the ruling to Commonwealth Court. The residents also drafted a re-zoning proposal which was under evaluation. lf re-zoning can not be accomplished, the mauling will be on.

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reviewl nanna -f: 4. . ..syi . N'V . . Three Mile Island nuclear plant TMI Site of Nuclear Accident Last spring, in what was labeled the worst accident in the history of United States nuclear power production, the nuclear power plant at Three Mile ls- land, near Harrisburg, malfunctioned and began releasing radioactive steam and gas into the atmosphere. Later investigations by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission showed that simple human error on the part of plant workers was partly responsible for the series of events that caused thousands of residents to flee the Har- risburg area. Gov. Richard Thornburg ordered evacuation of pregnant women and preschool children within a five mile radius of the plant. , Workers tried for days to discover the source of the malfunction and to lower dangerously high temperatures in the reactor core. Radioactive steam and gas continued to leak periodically from the damaged plant, and a 280- 28 RevievWNat ional cu.-ft. hydrogen bubble developing in the core kept pressure and tempera- tures at frightening levels. Nuclear en- gineers at the plant discussed the re- mote possibility of the bubble inter- fering with water circulation, heating the core up to the point of meltdown. The core would have melted its way down through steel reactor walls, the floor of the containment structure, and into the ground where it would con- taminate the soil or meet with water to form radioactive geysers. The bubble eventually subsided, and a few weeks later the plant was safely shut down. TIME magazine summa- rized, The price of progress, like the price of anything, has a ceiling, and for the nuclear power industry, the radio- active gases drifting from Three Mile Island have undeniably raised the price-and public consciousness -about the risks of nuclear power. AP photo courtesv Centre Daily Times 1979 Ends Decade It was more than just the end of a decade. For Americans, 1979 marked the beginning of new trends in enter- tainment, music and lifestyle. At the movies, the early part of the year was dominated by horrorHantasy films. Newsweek called it Holly- wood's Scary Summer in their cover story on the horror boom. Films like Dawn of the Dead, Nightwing, Proph- ecy, Halloween, Alien, The Amityville Horror, and The Black Hole, all shocked their audiences with the sus- pense of the unknown and with costly and gruesome special effects. But the true horror in the movies was the portrayals of the Vietnam War. It began with Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter, about the wars effects on the minds and lives of men from a Pennsylvania steel-town. Then ap- peared Coming Home and Francis Cuppola's Apocalypse Now. Even The China Syndrome could be called a horror movie for it's true-to- life version of a nuclear mishap. Of course they weren't all horror movies-there were some comedi- es-John Belushi's 1941, Monty Pyth- onls Life of Brian, 10, and The lerk. And there were more serious films such as ... And lustice for All with Al Pacino in the starring role; The Seduc- tion of Joe Tynan with Alan Alda; The Rose with Bette Midler; Kramer vs. Kramer with Dustin Hoffman and Me- ryl Streep; The Electric Horseman with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford; and Star Trek with William Shatner, Leon- ard Nimoy and the Enterprise crew. It was death-to-disco as music took on a new trend with new-wave bands like The Cars, Cheap Trick, The Knack, Dire Straits, and Talking Heads. But these new rock 'n' rollers didn't replace such elders as Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. At year's end, every one of these old timers was in the Top Ten. Styles for women began with slit skirts and ended with the western look and designer jeans. America also got moving with a craze in roller-skating. With everyone in their chic new skates, we're ready to roll right into the '80's.