Friday, August 6; 1 97f
TtiE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Friday, August 6, 1976 TI-fE MICHIGAN DAILY i'oge Three
, ,: ,
: '. ; '..,:. '?$!: < ''. ,' "' <: , ! .=" . ,. .. .... :b ..... ..):. '; <., r,, t .so> : .. -, r .; y k < .x':3:5
'Metalfatigue' silences Big Ben
LONDON () - Just after They called police specialists 4:55 p.m. Shortly afterward, of-3k
chiming a quarter to four yester- to check for sabotage, which ifcials said the trouble traced
day morning, Big Ben, one of was promptly ruled out. to a fault in the mechanism of
the world's most ,famous clocks, the clock and to part of one bell
broke down. Experts said the THEY CALLED ALSO the having broken away and dam-
mechanism was so badly damag- clock's chief maintenance engi- aged the clock walls.
ed that the chimes will be out of neer, Leslie Butler, 64, who
action for months. found that a cast iron frame The officials said that the
,_-
,
'
>a
;'
Big Ben resumed ticking again
in the early evening, and telling
the right time, but the chimes
stayed silent.
THE CLOCK'S CHIMES have
stopped before, but never for
the months it seems may be
n1eeded to repair them this time.
The 117-year- Id timepiece
towering high above the Houses
of Parliament gave first a rattle
and then a roar after chiming at
3:45 a.m., police patrolling Par-
liament said.
holding the mechanism had
cracked and that big chunks of
metal had been hurled around.
The breakdown was provision-
ally blamed on metal fatigue.
Butler reported that some
pieces of steel were embedded
in the 15-foot-high ceiling of the
mechanism room, and that on the
floor lay a 112-1pound drum that
controlled the quarter - hour
chimes.
THE HANDS OF Big Ben be-
gan telling the time again at
quarter - hour bells are likely to
be silent for as long as a year,
but that it was possible Big Ben
may be striking the hours in a
couple of weeks' time.
Voicing something of the shock
that Britons clearly felt at the
loss of the chimes, Butler said:
"It is a tragedy. This clock has
been revered for so long by so
many people who have traveled
far to listen to it and look at
it. In World War II, it was the
bell of freedom."
_
, .
,x .
i" y
K } :
T'".
, t
'i .
Asp
. . .
{ .
s ''
Big
'U', GEO NEGOTIATIONS:
TA training considered
By GEORGE LOBSENZ
Despite substantial agreement
on the issue -of Graduate Stu-
dent Assistant (GSA) training,
University and Graduate Er*-
ployes Organization (GEO) ne-
gotiators yesterday initialed
neither that contract section
nor one concerning pay for un-
ion officers.
A sense of frustration pervad-
ed the discussion of the GEO's
counter - proposal on GSA
training as the two sides seem-
ed close "conceptualy" but
could not work out the mechan-
ics.
UNIVERSITY chief bargainer
John Forsyth said of the
GEO's counter - proposal: "It's
a concept we agree with, but
we seem to have gotten bogged
down in the methodology rather
tha subject matter."
Forsyth objected to a GEl)
plan calling for a GSA training
program supervised and taught
by experienced GSAs rather
than the present department
training programs run by fac-
ulty.
The CEO proposal also would
require partial compensation
for all GSAs involved in the
program.
Forsyth said though he
whole - heartedly approved of
GSA training, 'he saw nothing
lacking in the present depart-
mental programs which facul-
ty members conduct without
compensation.
GEO REPLIED THAT their
proposal contained a clause al-
lowing department GSAs the
opportunity to vote either to-
keep the department program
or opt for the GEO program.
Nonetheless, University bar-
gainers rejected the plan, say-
ing that since faculty members
were excluded, it was unaccept-
able.
"This proposal is absurd,"
declared Forsyth. "To say
we're going to turn over 14.
Full Time Equivalents (FTEs)
to GSAs because GSAs are
more coipetent than faculty-
that's absurd."
U N I V F, R S I T Y negotia-
tor John Knott said, "We have
gotten enormous faculty resist-
ance to vour proposal - and
I think it's a question of con-
See 'U', Page 7
Black students protest in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG, S o u t h
Africa 01) - Police fired shots
into. the air yesterday and dis-
persed some 5,000 black stu-
dent demonstrators in another
ontbreak of protests in the
black township of Soweto.
Police said the students,
chanting political slogans and
singing freedom songs, fled in
a cloud of tear gas at a cross-
roads in the Soweto district of
Jahavu. No casualties were re-
ported.
THE MARCHERS apparently
were heading for the New Cana-
da railway junction on the out-
skirts of the township, where
police stopped an attempted
march on Johannesburg by
20,000 blacks Wednesday. Three
blacks were killed in that clash.
Later yesterday, calm re-
turned to the troubled township
of more than one million blacks,
about eight miles south of Jo-
hannesburg. But there were re-
ports that more demonstrators
were planned for today. -
One black reporter in So-
weto said about 2,000 students
vowed at a meeting in the
township yesterday to stage
more demonstrations today and
once again attempt a march on
Johannesburg.
THE REPORTER also said
there were plans to try to dis-
rupt all transport leaving So-
weto and thereby stop the more
than 200,000 black workers who
commute to Johannesburg-
daily.
Rioting in June that swept
dozens of segregated townships
in this racially tense nation
was touched off by a clash be-
tween police and protesting stu-
dents in Soweto. The June vio-
lence left 176 persons dead -
all but two black - and more
than 1,100 injured.
Besides the Soweto march,
protests were reported yester-
day in other townships around
Johannesburg, including Katle-
hong, Teinbisa and Vosloorus.
A GROUP OF about 1.O00
Tenimbisa schoolchildren was
dispersed by police after a li-
quor store and beerhall were
stoned there.
In Katlehong, black youths
attacked cars and buses, and
in Vosloorus about 250 stu-
dents marched through the
streets throiwing stones. Police
later reported all quiet in the
See S. AFRICA, Page 7
Daily Photo by SCOTT ECCKER
Meter Maid
Three-year-old Lainie Gould feeds a meter in front of the
Daily building-even though it takes every inch she's got.
/
ERDA bombs out
SANE, the anti-nuclear war organiza-
tion, presented its third "Insanity
Award" to the Energy Research and De-
velopment Administration (ERDA) for
being unable to account for several tons
of atomic material. "You're a real blast,
ERDA," said SANE yesterday. It re-
ferred to a General Accounting Office
report saying ERIDA could not account
for "tens of tons" of nuclear material,
and wrote in a letter: "With the amount
you can't find, someone could produce
more than 20 times the explosive power
of all the bombs and all the shells that
have been used in all the wars of the
history of humanity. "You assure us
that 'material unaccounted for is not
evidence that the material is actually
missing.' Still, you do admit that you've
had soue trouble putting your hands
on it . . . "So, this Insanity Award,"
SANE wrote. "You so richly deserve it,
ER)A.. When all the rest of the world
is scared stiff of possible nuclear pro-
liferation, terrorist bombings and plu-
tonium poisoned water supplies, it's fun
to know someone who isn't worried at
all."
hold a free session tonight at 7:30 at
the I-riends' Meeting loase, 1420 Bill
. . . There will be a discussion on "En-
ergy and Healing: Cultural Approaches
to Iealing" tonight at 8:00 at Canter-
lury Iouse, corner of Catherine and
Division.
Weather or not
It°s finralv roinr to connl diw w q ta_
yI g 11 gU oL L nilf, as of-
Happenings. - day's high should reach a cloudy 75,
Tonight's low will be in the upper So's,
Tyagi Ji, cosmic transmitter, will and there is a chance of rain.