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

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r- National Presidential Election In a startling landslide victory, Ron- ald Reagan was chosen by the voters of the United States as their 40th presi- dent. Earlier in the year, a field of faces dominated the campaign. For the Demo- crats. incumbent President Jimmy Carter. Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy. and California Gov. Jerry Brown all drew public support. The Republicans were also well-re- presented by people like Rep. Philip Crane. Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker, former Texas Gov. John Connal- ly, Congressman John Anderson, Sen. Lowell P. Weiker. former ambassador and CIA director George Bush and Ronald Reagan. the former Governor of California. The Democrats let support for Jerry Brown fade as most backed the Carterl Mondale team. and the rest threw their support to Kennedy. But the Republican situation was more complicated. Since he had almost won the partyls 1976 nomination. Reagan was the early favor- ite. But when George Bush made a strong showing in New England and won the Iowa caucus. Reaganls dominance was questionable. John Anderson. a former GOP hope- L 10 National ful. announced his independent candida- cy. His decision evoked cheers from Democrats and Republicans alike who considered him a viable alternative to Carter and Reagan. Carter won 24 primaries to Kennedyls 10. giving him 1,982 delegates to the Democratic Convention - 316 more than he needed to win. In spite of the American peoplels increasing displeas- ure with his presidency, Carter was sit- ting comfortably. The July Republican Convention was held in Detroit. Reagan went into the convention smiling. the support and uni- ty of his party behind him. The only ma- jor tremor arose when it looked like Rea- gan might choose former President Ger- ald Ford as a running mate. He finally settled on his major challenger, George Bush. a choice which satisfied the party. As the Democratic Convention warmed up in Madison Square Garden in August. Kennedy was not yet ready to give up. The American pcoplcls support of Carter had dropped to 22 percent. even lower than Nixon's 25 percent after the Watergate scandal. Kennedyls ac- tion to win over some of Carteris dele- gates failed and Carter received his re- nomination bid. The campaign was ready to start mov- ing. Reagan tried to win over traditional- ly Democratic groups by appealing to union workers and minorities. pointing out Carter's inadequacies. Carter re- sponded by saying Reagan lacked a com- mitment to peace and social welfare. The Anderson impact faltered as the AndersonlLucey coalition concentrated on getting their names onto state ballots, instead of campaigning through their economically conservative, socially lib- eral ideology. When the League of Women Voters invited Anderson to an initial debatet Carter refused to be a part of it a Rea- gan and Anderson debated without himJ A week before the election, Carter and Reagan debated alone. Toward Election Day, pollsters be- lieved Carter had tightened the gap and that the election was too close to call. They were wrong. Reagan won 44 states and 489 electoral votes while Carter snatched only 6 states and the District of Columbia for 49 electoral votes. Reagan received 51 percent of the vote: Carter, 41 percent; and Anderson, 7 percent. The remaining one percent went to mi- nor candidates from other parties. 4Cindy Halterman

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Arson At Garden Theater An early-morning fire in late January 1980 extensively damaged the upper floors of the Hotel State College7Gar- den Theater complex on South Allen Street. An arsonist was later arrested in connection with the blaze. Alpha Fire Company officials report- edly found debris stacked at the end of a hallway on the buildings top floor where the fire began. The fire spread across the roofand burned out of control for nearly two hours after firemen were summoned at 12:14 am. About 70 Alphas. with the help from several Boalsburg firemen, fought the blaze, which gutted 16 living units, apartments and rooms. The the- ater, reportedly built in 1914. also sus- tained extensive smoke and water dam- age. Even by late December, owner Fred lannurelli remained uncertain as to when the theater would reopen. -Liz Chesney Sharp Dies Centre County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard M. Sharp, of Phillips- burg, died Oct. 7, 1980 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 61. Judge Sharp, elected to the bench in Centre County in November 1977, died at Phillipsburg State General Hospital Where he had been a patient for three Weeks. Judge Sharp had been initially hospitalized in February for a potassium imbalance. In December the judges ill- ness was found to be liver cancer. Judge Sharp was an attorney for 30 Years and a former District Attorney of Centre County from 1957 to 1961. He had served on the bench since 1977. He was instrumental in establishing pro- grams of constructive rehabilitation for juvenile and adult offenders. He was most noted for his contribu- tion to court improvement at the trial court level. In 1979, Judge Sharp pio- neered the Inmate Work Program, the only program of its kind in the state, which allows convicted offenders the op- portunity to serve the community in a constructive fashion. -Sherri Ross TMI Clean-up Clean-up activities designed to decon- taminate and restore the now famous Unit 2 reactor at Three Mile Island lagged seven months behind schedule this year. Metropolitan Edison estimat- cd that cleanup following the March 1979 accident will take at least three more years and cost $500 million. Clean-up efforts in the shut-down re- actor started with the venting of krypton gas from the sealed airlock leading to the reactor building. The venting allowed the first workers to enter the area and take radiation readings. A major problem hindering the cleanup is the new equipment which must first be designed and built. One such innovation is a system known as EPICOR 11, which helped decontami- nate the water that spilled into one of Unit 2's auxiliary buildings. The wastes from this process will be stored in tanks on the island until a permanent disposal site is found. In addition to the technical aspects of the clcan-up operation, Met-Ed also faced a barrage of public criticism about the company's handling of the actual ac- cident and the venting of the krypton gas. As a result, Met-Ed is trying to re- store its tarnished image and recapture the publicis confidence. A-Jill Rippey T CATA Troubles A strike by the local transit employees union halted Centre Line bus service in the State College area and left many stu- dents and business people without trans- portation for nearly a month. A dispute between Local 1203B of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Cen- tre Area Transportation Authority arose in late December upon termination of the drivers contract. The disagreement centered around increases in hourly wages and the length and wording of a new contract. In addition, the dilemna grew to encompass problems surround- ing the inclusion of a part-time worker pension plan and a non-discrimination clause in the contract. After many weeks of unsettled tension between CATA and the union, the courts stepped in and im- posed a mandatory collective bargaining session. The result was a two-year con- tract settlement ratified by a vote of 23 But that sill did not put the buses back on the road. CATA manager Vernon Lyght and the drivers clashed over the terms under which unionized drivers would resume work. Almost one full work week passed before service was re- stored and transportation returned to normal in the Centre Region. ALiz Chesney State7Local 9

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Vance Resigns . Secretary of State Cyrus Vance re- sngned from office in May 1980 in pro- test of President Carterls attempt to res- cue the American hostages in Iran. He was the first Secretary of State since William Jennings Bryan to leave a presi- dent on an issue of principle. After a final face-to-face meeting to change the Presidents mind on the issue, Vance wrote out his resignation. Carter recruited Senator Edmund Muskie to replace Vance. Muskiels nomination was well received in Con- gress, by the media, and around the world. In his 22 years on Capitol Hill, Muskie rose to become a member of the Senate's inner circle, as well as one of its most popular and respected members. Few doubted that his blunt style and Cengressional connections would make him an effective advocate of foreign poli- Cy and establish him as a formidable counterweight to White House national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. -Scott Smith Billygate For several months. Billy Carter had been paying visits to the terrorist coun- try 0f Lybia. No one paid much atten- tion until he applied for registration as a foreign agent six months after he re- ceived a $220,000 ttloan from the Ly- bian government. Members of Congress began raising eyebrows. Why had Billy waited so long to register and what part did the White House play? The new catchword became uBilly- gateii as a Senate investigation was con- ducted. Did Billy intervene on Lybiais behalf so the Carter administration Would lift the ban on the delivery of eight C-130 Hercules military aricraft to the country? Did someone in President Carteris State Department tip Billy off to register before he was found out? The Senate hearing revealed discre- pancies between the stories of Billy Carter, the White House and the Senate Department, but the committee could not conclude that anything illegal had occurred. The incident uncovered little except for a few more stones on the President's rocky road to re-election. -Cindy Halterman Draft Resumes A decision was made to register four million l9-and-20-year-old men in America for the draft. The $13.3 million plan. a reaction to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. involved collecting the names. addresses. and dates of birth. along with the Social Security numbers of all eligible men. Draft registration methods were explained over 7.000 radio stations. 730 television stations, and in 2.500 newspapers. In January, a similar registration occurred for all the men who had reached the age of 18. Anyone failing to sign up faced a $10,000 fine or a five-year jail sentence. though the Selective Service admitted it would have a difficult time identifying offenders. However, registration at local post offices went rather smoothly. The event was stalled for a short time while the American Civil Liberties Union took the issue to court. complain- ing that a men-only registration was dis- criminatory. But the protest was short lived. If the quality of the all-volunteer army continues to deteriorate, the need for a partial draft may develop. -Jim Metzgar j Women Graduate Last spring. for the first time in histo- ry, women were among the graduates of the nations service academies. At the US. Military Coast Guard Academy New London, Conn, 227 women received diplomas and became commissioned officers in the armed forces. Although some of the traditional physical training requirements were re- laxed for them, the women held their own in the classroom; many graduated in the upper third of their classes. Howev- eri dropout rates for women were sub- stantially higher. For those who made it to graduation. problems still remained. Combat duty. the quickest route to promotion, is barred to women by law, leaving admin- istrative jobs for them. Additonally, the women graduates agree that the acade- miesl hazing rituals were particularly in- tense for them because they were such a novelty. One graduate offered this ad- vice to those women who will follow her: liHang in there. his not impossible. We muddled through. alill Rippey J National 1 l