Perry Meridian High School - Passages Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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space Shuttle Keeps Busy with Two Flights On Thursday, April 7, the first American space walkers in nine years floated out Challenger ' s airlo ck on the first of two flights. Story Musgrave and Donald Reter- son took a 3-hour, 40-minute walk out in space while Challenger pilots Paul Weitz and Karol Bobko viewed the operation through the rear cabin windows. Weitz and Bobko cautioned their crewmates to avoid various sharp edges that puncture the white spacesuits. The main accomplishment of the space walk was to retest the 250-potmd shuttle pressure suits which had proved ineffective during their debut five months earlier. This time, the suits worked faultlessly. Musgrave and Peterson were secured to safety lines while they swayed to and fro in the cargo bay. They tested tools and instruments that might later be used to mend broken satellites. They practiced emergency procedures to close the cargo bay manually. On Tuesday, August 30, Challenger departed on a six-day mis- sion which would take it 97 times around the globe. The shuttle ' s crew consisted of Richard Truly, Daniel Brandenstein, Guion Buford, William Thornton, and Dale Gardener. Buford was the first black American in space and Thornton, at age 54, was the oldest astronaut to fly in space. The astronauts were accompanied on their flight by six rats, scientific and engineering data, and 260,000 coUector ' s envelopes to be sold at 815.35 each by Postal Service. Challenger left behind in orbit the In- dian communion and weather watching service. A major ac- complishment of the mission was the first overnight landing of a spacecraft. The Labor Day landing was to take place on a three-mile desert runway at Edwards Air Force Base in Califor- nia at 2:40 EST. The runway was lit by six of the world ' s brightest floodlights, each providing 800 miUion candle power. They also employed flashing strobe lights, a string of green lights, white nmway lights, and a special kind of light that appears red if the shuttle is too low as it glides in toward a landing and white if it is too high. The landing was as flawless as was the entire flight. The only defects were a propellant leak in two of Challenger ' s steering thrusters and the forced replacement of 27 heat shields. The success of the night landing opened new opportunities to NASA. It means a great deal to us to have this night landing capability for the future, Lt. Gen. James Abraham- son, NASA associate administrator Space shuttle Challenger blasts off at night on the shuttle ' s eighth mission into space. in charge of space flight said. What that offers us is an improved capabili- ty at Kennedy Space Center. The climatology there is always much bet- ter at night than at day. Darkness Falls Early at Perry Meridian On August 23, at approximately 12:15 pm, the lights went out at PMHS leaving the school in complete darkness. Within fifteen minutes, the entire student body was taken to the football field where they would be away from traffic and still have access to the school. Because of the extreme heat out- side, some students became ill, and within an hour, everyone was moved into the gym. After a while, the heat of the gymnasium began to effect students, and they were moved to the hallways inside the building. Between 2:00 pm and 2:10 pm students were released to the buses. Sometime after 3:00, all the lights came back on. It had been discovered that because of high air conditioner use in the neighborhood, a fuse on an outside light pole had blown causing the blackout. Preparations were made in case another blackout oc- curred, and it did. On August 25 at approximately 1:40 pm, a second blackout oc- curred. This time, students were not moved. The administration knew the exact source of the problem. With the help of the Indianapolis Power and Light Company, the second blown fuse was replaced, and the hghts came on at approximately 2:25. Assistant principal, Mr. Ron Bolyard, stated that students should learn from this experience. He em- phasized that students should behave responsibly during an emergency. He added that they should act in a mature manner if this, or something similar, were ever to happen again. Many students were startled by the blackouts, but saw them as no more than an exciting change of pace. The blackouts left one question lingering in everyone ' s mind, Where were you when the lights went out? HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 45

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Laws Crack Down On Dangerous Drivers On September 1, a new law went into effect that attempted to decrease the number of drunk drivers on In- diana roads. The law stated that anyone caught with .10 or greater alcohol percentage would have his Ucense suspended and face drunk dri ' lng charges. The new law allowed police to pull drivers over and con- duct a breathalyser test at their own disgression. A license would be suspended an . ' where from 30 to 180 days. The driver would receive a 8500 fine and or up to 60 days in the coimty jail. The new law brought harsh pimish- ment on habitual traffic offenders. It defined a habitual traffic offender as anyone who committed the following If W P You Over, You Had Better Be Sober. This familiar billboard of the Indiana State Police clearly states the seriousness of the penalty for any persons who are driving under the influence of alcohol, (photo by Lyndon Wall) in a period of ten years : Two vmrelated accidents causing death. Three major driving offenses such as driving without a license or a hit and run. Ten minor driving convictions such as improper driving procedure. The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles began a search for 15,000 habitual offenders on September 1 . In Indiana, 9,000 residents were caught and mailed license suspension let- ters. These letters stated that their licenses would be invalid for 5 to 10 years depending on the charges. Before the institution of the new law, punishment for a habitual traffic offender was left up to the county prosecutor. There were many questions on whether or not the laws were con- stitutional, but most agreed that they would bring about safer roads. Russia Downs Jetliner Killing 269 On September 1, a South Korean jetliner carrying 269 passengers, in- cluding 61 Americans, was shot down by Soviet fighter planes when it mysteriously entered Soviet airspace. The Boeing 747, traveling from New York to Seoul, South Korea, was struck and destroyed by two heat- seeking missiles after being stalked and targeted by the Russian fighter pilots. The Soviet Union denied the murder for six days after the incident happened. Their final admission oc- curred less than an hour after Am- bassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick presented tapes of the Soviet pilots ' radio conversations to the UN Securi- ty Council. The Kremlin immediately blamed President Reagan and said it would take similar actions against any planes entering its airspace. The USSR supposedly suspected the plane of being a RC-135 Air Force reconnaissance craft which often is used in spying missions. The Soviet military concluded this after claiming radio control services picked up cod- ed radio signals transmitted from time to time, such signals that are usually used in transmitting in- telligence imformation. White House spokesman, Larry Speakers, stated the Soviets excuse of mistaken identity was an impossiblili- ty because of the distinctive shape and radar image of the Boeing 747 and markings common to civilian airliners. In response to what President Reagan called a crime against humanity, he imposed limited diplomatic and aviation restrictions against the Soviet Union. Among these were the canceUation of an agreement on transportation cooperation, the continuance of the ban against allowing scheduled Soviet aircraft to land at US airports, and a suspension of negotiations for the opening of a US consulate in Kiev. Canada also annoimced it was suspending la nding and refueling privileges for the Soviet national airline, Aeroflot, because of Moscow ' s failure to explain its posi- tion in the downing of the airliner. Montreal and Gander, New Foundland had previously been crucial and money-saving stops for Aeroflot. President Reagan commended Canada for its harsh stand against Russia and concluded by saying, Our immediate challenge to this atrocity is to ensure that we make the skies safer and that we seek just compen- sation for the families of those who were killed. President Ronald Reagan charges the Soviet Union of committing a barbaric act, while speaking at a press conference shortly after the downing of a Korean Jetliner. 44 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

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us Troops Capture Grenada On Tuesday October 25, US troops invaded the small Marxist-ruled island of Grenada. The island ' s 110,000 population consisted of 1,000 .-Vmericans, many of whom were there to study at the US owned St. George ' s University Medical School. The invasion was ordered after a militant Marxist coup that left Prime Minister Bishop and 16 others dead. President Reagan ' s decision to invade was given in answer to a re- quest from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States for a preemptive strike focused at destro Tng the islands pro-Cuban government. Initially, only 2,000 US Marines and Rangers were involved in the in- vasion, but that nimiber was soon tripled after reinforcements of the 82nd Airborne Di ' ision had to be flown in. Eight other Caribbean na- tions combined to add almost 400 troops and police to the occupation force. US commanders found the Cubans living in Grenada better prepared to fight than they had expected. The Cubans were reall y good, really dedicated . . . maybe even better than we were, said Spec. 4 Larry Wheeler of Aiken, South Carolina. Defense Secretary Caspar US troops and paratroopers, in full combat gear, advance on the Marxist-rtded island of Grenada. Weinberger stated that many of the Cubans were combatants, almost all of whom with rifles were shooting at us. He went on to say that large numbers of weapons, including Soviet AK-47s had been seized. US intelligence sources in Washington attributed Cuba ' s being well-prepared to an imintentional leak from one of the Caribbean coun- tries that aided the US in the assault. They claimed that Cuba was aware of the US invasion plans at least 24 hours before it began. The reasons that concerned Presi- dent Reagan about Grenada were identical to those concerns he had stated earlier about Nicaragua and El Savador. These concerns were threats to the US sea lanes and resources, plus threats to resupply Western Europe during some sort of an emergency. With the successful invasion of Grenada, President Reagan drastical- ly changed the US policy on threats of communist expansion in the Western Hemisphere. According to The In- dianapolis Star, the new rules were as follows: the United States was prepared to use military force to pre- vent a Western Hemisphere country from falling under Fighter Soviet- Cuban control. More explicitly, many believed Mr. Reagan had warned El Savador and Nicaragua to beware. The Day After Leaves Long-lasting Impression On Sunday, November 20, millions of Americans crowded around their T.V. sets to watch the much publi- cized nuclear disaster movie entitled The Day After . The two and a half hour movie graphicly depicted the ef- fects of a nuclear attack on Kansas City and the surrounding area of Lawrence, Kansas. The show promp- ted various groups such as the Center for Defense Information and the Women ' s Action for Nuclear Disar- I mament to do commercials. I To counter these anti-nuclear I statements, White House officials I made sure representatives of Presi- vl dent Reagan ' s power-through- strength policy appeared on Good Morning America and The Today Show on the morning after The Day After. On Monday morning, students ex- citedly compared their reactions about the movie. Some teachers began their classes with a short discussion on the movie and the possibility of nuclear war. Yukari Condon ' 85 remarked about the movie, it was more scary than anything like Jaws or the Amityville Horror because you can avoid those things by not going into the ocean or the house, but what can we do to avoid this? Surprisingly, many students felt that a real nuclear attack would be more horrifying than it was por- trayed in the movie. I thought that the movie was a low-scale description of what actually will happen in a nuclear holocaust, stated senior Tom Beaimiont. Many added that they saw a likelihood of war, but that it probably wouldn ' t happen in the immediate future. Paul Buck ' 86 said, I feel that there will eventually be a nuclear war; however, the effects will be much more severe than was shown in the movie. 46 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Ki