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Vol. XC, No. 101 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Saturday, February 2, 1980 Ten Cents Eight Pages
FCC to
rule on
WCBN's
future
By GEOFF OLANS
Staff members for the University's
student-run FM radio station-WC-
SBN-are eagerly awaiting a decision by
the Federal Communications Com-
mission (FCC) that will decide whether
it may continue to broadcast on its
present frequency.
The uncertainty in WCBN's license
renewal is attributable to an FCC ruling
a year ago that all commercial-free FM
transmissions be carried with a
minimum of .100 watts. Since then the
station, which*currently operates at ten
watts, has secured permission from the
Regents and the financial backing to
boost its power to 200 watts.
WCBN PROGRAM Director Judy
Schwartz said she feels confident that
the FCC will approve the station's
request to continue broadcasting at 88.3
on the FM dial. The one thing tht may
stand in the way, she said, "is the
possibility that a local high school may
have put in a bid for more than a 200-
watt station. "
If the FCC approves renewal for
*WCBN, the station will undergo several
physical changes, which may be com-
plete by mid-1981, according to Schwar-
tz. Te boost would require the in-
stallation of a new transmitter and the
replacement of WCBN's antenna, wich
is located on the roof of the Physics and
Astronomy Building.
The wattage transformation would
cost approximately $18,000, accordirg
to Ann Rebentich, general manager of
the station. Rebentich said the Univer-
sity General Fund will supply $10,000,
while the Michigan Student Assembly
See FCC, Page 3
Nation's unemployment
hits 6.2%; state jobless
level jumps to 10.3%
From AP and UPI
The nation's unemployment rate
climbed to an 18-month high of 6.2 per
cent in January, an indication that the
recession predicted by the government
has arrived. Unemployment in
Michigan, fueled by layoffs in the
automotove industry, climbed to 10.3
per cent, compared to 8.5per cent in
December.
It was the first time the state's
jobless figure broke the double digit
mark since April, 1976, when unem-
ployment stood at 10 per cent and the
highest rate for any January since 1976
/ whenit also was 10.3 per cent.
THE LABOR Department reported
yesterday that the number of unem-
ployed Americans rose by 340,000, or .3
per cent, since December, most of them
laid-off auto and construction workers
and other males. As a result, the jobless
rate for adult men increased, from 4.2
' per cent to 4.7 per cent, the highest level
since November, 1977. In Michigan,
total employment dropped by 143,000 to
3,827,000.
The unemployment rate for women,
by contrast, rose only slightly, from 5.7
per cent to 5.8. per cent. Total em-
ployment among women increased
from December, while employment
among men declined.
The rising jobles~s rate was in line
with a new forecast by President Carter
this week. The president said he expec-
ts the economy to enter a mild
recession in the first half of this year,
pushing up unemployment to 7.5 per
cent by the fall.
"BUT IT WOULD be premature, on
the basis of findings for a single month,
to conclude at this time that a major
downturn is under way," Janet Nor-
wood, head of the Labor Department,
told Congress' Joint Economic Com-
mittee.
The anticipated recession would be
the result of the government's fiscal
and monetary policies, which are
designed to dampen inflation. Thus far,
however, inflation is stubbornly
refusing to come down from a 13 per
cent annual rate.
A Labor Department economist said
the large rise in unemployment among
adult men was an "important'sign"
that the recession the government has
been awaiting since mid-1979 may be
arriving at last.
THE JUMP IN unemployment
marked the first significant rise in 1%
years. The rate had held steady bet-
ween 5.7 per cent and 5.9 per cent since
falling from a 6.2 per cent rate in July,
1978.
Overall, unemployment in January
stood at 6.4 million, up from 6.1 million
in December, while employment dip-
ped to 97.8 million from the December
record of 97.9 million, according to a
monthly survey conducted by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
William Cox; deputy chief economist
for the Commerce Department; siad
See NATION's, Page 8
Counter-Olympics will
be held if Moscow
games go, on - Carter
AP Photo
Home at last
The six Americans who escaped from Irah arrive at Andrews Air Force
Base near Washington yesterday. The Americans escaped with the aid of
the Canadian- government, which sheltered them for over two months in
that country's embassy in Tehran. See story, Page 2.
$1.6 BILLION ENVIR ONMENTAL 'SUPE R FUND':
cleau budgeted for
From AP and UPI
WASHINGTON - President Carter
assured the nation's athletes yesterday
they will have an opportunity to com-
pete in counter-Olympics if the official
Summer Games in Moscow go on as
scheduled.
In a speech to a, physical fitness con-
ference in which he defended his threat
to boycott the Moscow Olympics if
Soviet troops are not withdrawn from
Afghanistan, Carter said he remains
determined that Olympians who do not
go to Moscow "will have an opportunity
this year to participate in athletic
games of the highest caliber."
THE PRESIDENT did not elaborate.
But White House sources said after the
speech the administration was
prepared to help organize some form of
international competition or even a
counter-Olympics "to make sure the
athletes who are trained and ready this
summer have an opportunity to com-
pete."
"We are pushing for a cancellation or
postponement," said one official who
asked not to be identified. "If either of
those-happen, it won't be a question of a
counter Olympics but of arranging
some other competition for the world's
athletes this summer."
However, the source added, if the
Olympics were held in Moscow as
currently scheduled, the United States
would find a rival site for competition
among those who did not go to the
Soviet Union. The sources said the ad-
ministration believes the International
Olympic Committee.is unlikely to order
the games moved.
"IT WOULD be easier to cancel them
-there's precedent for'. that --r-post-
pone them until 1981," one official said.
In his speech to the National Con-
ference on Physical Fitness and
Sports for All, Carter offered a special'
tribute to the United States Olympic
Committee for its support of his and
Congress' call for moving, postponing
or canceling the games. The committee
put off a decision on a possible boycott
to protest the Soviet Union's drive into
Afghanistan.
AT THE State Department,
spokesman Hodding Carter said about
three dozen countries had indicated
they believed Moscow to be an inap-
propriate site for the Summer Games.
He said 17 countries that had publicly
announced their positions were
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Carter's 1981 budget proposes a $1.6
billion environmental "superfund" that
seeks to atone for past government
neglect - the failure to regulate hazar-
dous waste dumps that dot the nation's
50 states.
While emphasizing waste-site clean
up, Carter is scaling down efforts to en-
force air and water regulations at a
time that the push for energy develop-
ment would create major new pollution
sources.
THE CENTERPIECE of Carter's
1981 environmental plan - creation of a
"superfund" to clean up 400 to 500 of the,
nation's worst dump sites - faces stiff
opposition from the oil and chemical
industries, which would be tapped to
pay $1.3 billion into the fund.
In addition to the superfund, Carter
proposes spending $147 million for the
Environmental Protection Agency's
hazardous waste program, a 47 per cent
increase over current efforts. Staffing
would ihcrgase by 126 per cent to 774
employees.'
In the meantime, the EPA's clean-air
programs would be cut by $2 million
and lose 87 people, a four per cent drop
in staffing. The water quality program
would lose $2.3 million and 55 people.
THIRTY OF the people being cut
from the air quality program would be
employees who work in the field. The
reduction concerns Robert Rauch of the
Environmental Defense Fund. He poin-
ts out that regional EFA offices are
responsible for certifying the new coal
power plants that would help wean the
nation from its dependence on. foreign
oil.
Despite his unease over cuts in air
and water programs, Rauch was
pleased with the increase in hazardous
waste regulation.
"We have a legacy of tragedy that
could have been avoided with a modest
AATA pushes to establish new
.city-wide ride sharing program
expenditure of money (for regulation)
years ago," Rauch said. "Unless we'
are willing to increase the risk of can-
cer and let our children be born with
birth defects, we must be willing to
spend the millions that will now be
needed to clean up these dumps."
THERE ARE as many as 30,000
dangerous dumps across the nation,
according to EPA estimates.
A congressional report issued last Oc-
tober branded government regulation
efforts as "totally inadequate" and said
-waste dumps were the most serious en-
vironmental problem facing the coun-
try.
Rep. Bob Eckhardt (D-Texas), who
headed the congressional investigation,
said he was "greatly encouraged" by
Carter's budget increases. He said the
proposals should reverse a situation
where the "EPA was doing very little
and had little appreciation or under-
standing" of the problem
THE EPA is asking for $1, million
this year to complete long-overdue
regulations to implement a law
Congress passed in 1976 to crack down
on dump site abuses by requiring site
licensing and accurate records on
where wastes are stored.
Carter wants fees imposed on about
1,000 oil and chemical companies to
raise about $1.3 billion over the next
four years with the federal government
contributing $250 million. The $1.6
billion fund would be used to clean up
dumps and oil spills. In cases where the
polluter could be found, the government
would go to court to gain reimbur-
sement of the money spent from the
fund.
See CARTER, Page 2
By LEE KATTERMAN
With city traffic congestion increasing
and available parking space decreasing
local transportation planners are
pushing hard for the establishment of
ride sharing programs, according to an
Ann Arbor Transportation Authority of-
ficial.
Tom Hackley, manager of system
development for AATA, said the
authority hopes within the next month
to hire a coordinator for its new tran-
sportation "brokerage." The new
operation will be designed to establish
vanpools, park-and-ride lots, and, even-
tually, subscription bus service.
THE IDEA has apparently attracted
enough interest to earn it $50,000 in
grants from the state in order to start
the brokerage. The State Department.,
of Highways and Federal Ail in Urban
Systems has offered up $40,000 for the
project, with the remaining $10,000
coming from the Michigan Energy
Administration.
Hackley said he sees ride sharing as a
way of getting people involved in mass
transit, especially white collar
workers.
"We want to present people with a
variety of options other than driving
their own car," Hackley said. He called
rilde sharing "one step toward getting
them to ride the bus."
TRANSPORTATION planners say
they were strongly encouraged to pur-
sue the brokerage after a survey of
area employers was completed last fall
by the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Urban Area
Transportation Study Committee
(UATS). Of the 124 employers who had
at least 100 employees contacted by
UATS, 48 showed interest in
establishing a ride sharing program,
and another 18 already had a similar
system underway-either informal
carpools or formal vanpool programs
like the one the University coordinates.
The first step for the new AATA coor-
dinator will be to contact the area em-
ployers who expressed interest in the
UATS survey, said Hackley. Various
ride sharing programs would be
described and advice would be given on
how to generate interest within the
company.
"We can provide the technical
See AATA, Page 8
AP Photo
THE OLYMPIC flame continued on its 1,000 mile trek yesterday as runner
Suzanne Mink passed the torch to Tony Diamond on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial. Mink and Diamond are just two of a total of 52 American runners
who will relay the torch to Lake Placid for the 1980 Winter Olympics.
I I I
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T:
an English major from Ann Arbor,; Magazine Co-editor
R.J. Smith, a de-evolution major from Farmington;
University Editor Tomas Mirga, a journalism major from
Roseville; Managing Editor Mitch Cantor, a political
science and economics major from Birmingham; and City
Editor Patricia Hagen, a psychology major from Bir-
mingham.Q
Road Hog
believe he fell asleep. That's what the indications are."
Thirty of the pigs were found dead after the accident, and
the rest were eventually herded and loaded into another
truck. At least nobody stole the bacon. [
On the inside . . .
A new bi-weekly column by PIRGIM premiers today on
the edit page ... arts features a review of the MUSE album
No Nukes . . . and check the sports page for a recap of
Michigan's victory over Wisconsin in Thursday night's
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