Page 12-Thursday, May 3, 1979-The Michigan Daily Utah town suffers from 50's atomic testing had died because of fall-out because most people went to Salt Lake City and other cities with major hospitals to un- dergo treatment. "WE HAVE many cases recorded where people had radiation burns," he said. Town people also tell of friends whose lips became blistered and who lost their hair for brief periods and of people who developed mysterious rashes. But Wright, a quiet, lean country lawyer who hooks one of his pointed cowboy boots onto a low table as he speaks, said the most dangerous fall- out was that which fell on the land. "This is a farming area and people drank milk from their cow, which ate the grass, and grew vegetables and fruit in their gardens. And that is how the fall-out got into the people's systems. "YOU COULDN'T see the fall-out, but people will tell you time and time again how the big cloud would appear and just settle over the area, presumably because we are surroun- ded by hills," Wright added. "Children would come in from play and their parents would point a Geiger counter at them and the needle would go off the scale. Some people just didn't understand that was dangerous,"* Wright said. "A lot of people had Geiger counters because they were trying to find uranium. Some thought they had found themselves a uranium deposit when their Geiger counters began clicking and would file a claim. Some even sold their claims, but you had only to scrape the dust off the surface with your shoe and you had no reading at all," Wright said. THOMAS TOLD of a rich man who wanted to buy the entire town - which has grown since the 1950s from 4,500 to 16,000 inhabitants - because he was convinced it was just one big uranium deposit, until the dust blew away. Wright said the devices were ex- ploded when the winds were pointing away from Las Vegas, to the south, or San Francisco or Los Angeles, to the west, because of their big populations. "Many people here are still paying debts caused by vast hospital bills," he said. "Some had insurance and some didn't, and treatment for relatives has cost as much as 100,000 dollars." A DEPUTY assistant counsel for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Donald Gonya, told a Senate Health Subcommittee hearing in Las Vegas last month it was impossible to distinguish between people who developed cancer from radiation and those who were stricken with cancer from other sources. "Each claimant may believe his or her cancer was caused by radiation ex- posure ... yet, it is statistically more probable in each case the illness was caused by something else," he said. But Senator Edward Kennedy, who headed the subcommittee, said after the hearing he had Aro doubt there was a link between the testing and the high incidence of cancer in the area. DR. JOSEPH Lyon, an epidemologist from the University of Utah, published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine last February which con- cluded that twice as many children who lived under the fall-out died of leukemia as would have been normally expected. Wright said there had been talks with officials on the question of compen- sation, but the officials had not reached the point of admitting liability. Asked why it had taken the people here so long to ask for compensation, a local newspaper reporter, Bruce Trethewy, emphasized this was a very patriotic community. "MORMONS ARE taught to obey the law of their church and the law of man and that is what they did," said Trethewy, who is not a Morni on. "People here do not question authority." Wright, who is a Mormon, agreed with this view. "The people here felt the government had a good reason to do whatever it was doing and would not do anything against their interests," he said. "But some are finally becoming in- censed, although they are unlikely to start marching down the main street. There is no specific time gap between fall-out and a person developing cancer and a lot of people who are healthy now may come down with cancer." Do a Tree a Favor: Recycle Your Daily THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SPEED READING Cut your reading time. Get out from under the pressure of heavy read- ing assignments. Learn strategies that help you focus on the most im- portant points while reading for general information. Most partici- pants have found they can at least double their reading speed while maintaining or improving their com- prehension. This class offers the benefits of both individual attention and group in- teraction. Enrollment is open to all University faculty, staff and students. SPEED READING & STUDY SKILLS Improve your grades by learning how to use your textbook, lecture notes and time effectively. This course is designed for those who want to develop efficient study habits. Students will learn speed reading with general and text mate- rial and reading skills that can be applied to a wide range of subjects. WRITER'S WORKSHOP The workshop offers 3 areas of in- struction: 1) Academic Writing-the process and skills involved in writing aca- demic papers. 2) Basic Skills Lab-Individualized program designed for those who want to strengthen their basic writ- ing skills. 3) Research Paper Writing-Plan- ning, researching, and writing pa- pers using library sources. Classes meet 6 consecutive weeks. Days & Times available at registration. HOW MUCH? $25.00 (payable by, check only) (We follow U of M refund policy) WHEN? Registration Today & Tomorrow 8:00 AM-4:00 PM, WHERE? 1610 Washtenaw Ave., Ann Arbor (near Hill St.) Phone: 764-9481 The University of Michigan READING and LEARNING SKILLS CENTER Rowena Wilhelm, Ph.D.-Director The University of Michigan Reading& Leaming sk ills C(enter 41 IL F-