6 Page 10-Sunday, April 6, 1980-The Michigan Daily MOUNT ST. HELENS 'SHOWING ALL THE SIGNS' Volcano may erupt soon Hotel employees protest religious jokes by atheist conventioneers VANCOUVER, Wash. (UPI) - Rumbling, steam-belching Mount St. Helens was showing all the signs of, building toward a major eruption of lava yesterday and National Guar- dsmen were called in to keep the curious at a safe distance. Sixty soldiers moved into place at 6 a.m. on roadblocks around the 9,677- foot mountain to assist local law enfor- cement officials, according to Col. Robert Rudolph, operations and military support officer for the state. guard. All 5,500 members of Washington's National Guard were available in the. event of a "major disaster," he said. The soldiers established bases at Camus, Longview and Vancouver, and Rudolph said additional base camps might be established closer to the mountain. The volcano blew steam and ash thousands of feet into the air for nine sustained minutes beginning at 6:28 a.m. yesterday morning. The call-up of guardsmen was authorized under an official state of, emergency signed by Gov. Dixy Lee Ray on Thursday. With the mountain showing all signs of getting ready for a major blowout, other state agencies readied plans for a possible evacuation of the area. The decision to bring in guardsmen was preceded by the largest "harmonic tremor" yet as molten lava worked its way up inside the mountain to set off an unnerving 33-minute earthquake Friday. It was the second harmonic tremor of the day, and the sixth recor- ded since Tuesday evening. The volcano let fly a 10-minute blast of ash and steam Friday afternoon and NEW MINI-COURSE: ten Lectures, 1 credit SOVIETSEM10TICS OF CULTURE (all in English) Lecturer: ANN SHUKMAN, Oxford University Place: Lecture Room 2, MLB Time: 4-5:30 p.m., beginning April 8 For information, col 764-5355 or Checkpoint 764-6830 tickets for President Shapiro's Inaugurion iffand Concvert MAonday April14 1980 A limited number of general admission tickets to President Shapiro's Inaugural Ceremony and Inaugural Concert are available for students, faculty and staff who would like to attend. The Inauguration will be held at 10:30 a.m. and the concert at 2:00 p.m. Both events will be held in Hill Audi- torium on Monday, April 14. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis upon presentation of an individual's identification card. Tic- kets will be limited to two per person and will be distributed from the Office of the Registrar, Room 1518, ISA Building, from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon and from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday beginning Monday, March 31. followed up with another blast that sent steam plumes nearly Ythree miles into the sky. A sharp earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale jolted the mountain early yesterday. U.S. Geological Sur- vey (USGS) scientists said tremors measuring under 3.0 on the Richter scale were occurring by the "thousan- ds" each day. "They're going on constantly, ranging from 1.0 to 3.0 and on up," said one seismologist at the USGS obser- vatory at Newport, Wash. "We've never seen anything like this before these past two weeks." Those in excess of 3.0 were "running about two or three per hour," and tremblors in excess of 4.0 were rattling the mountain approximately every six hours, University of Washington spokesman Dave Endicott said. The governor's volcano watch group issued a list of four recommended viewing spots for sightseers, who were forced a few miles further from the base of the mountain by Cowlitz County deputy sheriffs worried about the hun- dreds of parked cars lining the narrow two-lane highways approaching the peak. "The nature of the beast," said En- dicott, was that molten rock "is exer- ting pressure and the pressure is ap- parently being released in two ways," inside the mountain. "Fluid lava is seeping into cracks and crannies under pressure causing the harmonic tremor readings, or it (the lava) is crushing the rock un- derground, causing the earthquakes." "We feel that rock is being crushed," he said. SOUTHFIELD (UPI) - A dispute with Easter- celebrating kitchen workers left an American atheist con- vention foraging for food yesterday and an angry Madalyn Murray O'Hair demanding a boycott of a major hotel chain. O'Hair, a longtime foe of organized religion and founder of the Society of Separationists, branded the incident fun- damental to the struggle being addressed by the 10th national American Atheists convention. A SPOKESMAN FOR the Sheraton Southfield Hotel in suburban Detroit, however, said the atheists overreacted to a protest by catering employees about anti-religious jokes told at an opening dinner. "Anybody has the right to speak, and frankly, those jokes were tame," O'Hair said as she walked a picket line set up by the conventioneers. "We don't intend to let kit- chen employees tell us what to do. "We want a public apology, we're asking for a boycott of the Sheratons, and as for the meals, they can take them and shove them." She said the more than 100 participants would remain at the hotel through today but would eat meals outside the catering halls. NORMAN LIPPITT, an attorney representing the Sheraton, said the hotel was "ready and willing" to serve the meals and threatened legal action if the convention refused to pay its food bill. "We have a contract, and the hotel is entitled to be paid," Lippitt said. "It's ludicrous to think the Sheraton would discriminate against any group." The atheists had convened their yearly meeting to assess the past and plan the future of the movement to stem the influence of organized religion. Admittedly disturbed over a resurgence in organized faiths, they pointed to the boom in evangelism as a bellwhether of the mood Americans have developed during troubled times both at home and abroad. A linchpin of the convention was to be O'Hair's un- veiling of a proposed lawsuit to force churches to disclose all their assets. The "so-called non-profit" organizations, she claimed, are "ripping off" the public. Also on the agenda for the Texas-based society, representing some 100,000 American atheists, was discussion of the 1981 convention slated for Salt Lake City - the stronghold of the Mormons. I ma .. 0 Miller cites recent price decline as bright spot in war on inflation (Continued from Page1) "I wouldn't want to tell you it's a tur- ning point or a permanent signal, but it's a hopeful sign," he said. "If lower crude prices begin to work into inter- mediate and finished goods, I think we can see a couple of months downstream some relief beginning to show up." HE SAID HE hopes "we could do a little better" than the administration's official forecast of an increase in con- sumer prices of 12.8 per cent this year. The current rate of increase is about 18 per cent. Miller said he doesn't trust private forecasts of a more severe recession than the mild downturn predicted by the administration. However, he acknowledged that it could be worse. "I don't think there is 'much risk. we won't have a recession," he said. "I think there is a risk that it could be a lit- tle more severe." REMINDED THAT he had declared last year*that the nation was in a recession that was already half over, Miller laughed and said, "We were in a recession. The only thing I was wrong about was we were completely over it, and now we're having a new one." But he admitted the one-quarter slump in the economy last year didn't meet the conventional definition of a recession: two consecutive quarters of decline. , He said he didn't want to predict how long the new downturn would last. Miller said the government would take steps - "counter-cyclical measures" - to deal with a'steep down- turn.Such measures normally would include aid to cities, industries and groups of worlers who are especially hard hit, although Miller didn't mention them specifically. High interest, rates and credit restraints are the major causes of the slowing economy, Miller said, adding that the government will need to guard against bringing on a severe credit crunch. The administration is predicting an overall decline of 0.4 per cent in the nation's output of goods and services thi year, which would be a mild downturn. Miller.said a more serious downturn than that could complicate plans to balance the budget in 1981. 4 Limp lettuce, celery or carrots can be revived by soaking in ice water for an hour, freshening the flavor with a thrusU AYteaspoon of sugar or honey. THE CENTER FOR SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES announces a lecture by HIS EXCELLENCY, PUNCH COOMARASWAMY, The Ambassador to the United States from THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE "SINGAPORE, ASIA AND THE WEST" Miller ... sees hope in economy Miller declined to speculate 'on how spon President Carter might consider a tax cut, which Carter has said he would do if and when the 1981 budget is balan- ced. There have been indications the president may recommend a tax cut this fall, which could be timely from a political point of view, assuming he wins the Democratic nomination. Ronald Reagan, the Republican Carter expects to face in November, is recommending broad cuts in federa taxes. Tuesday, April 8, 1980 3:00-5:00 p.m. West Conference Room 4th floor. Rackham Bldg. An informal reception will follow the lecture yviJ b yaw C? \ ti a 1 1 7 b V _ 0 l v/ ( _- wI q , Ab I Don't miss your LA S T chance to buy a 9 11 I 4 1 1 1 Y(IIT---1AT iiA1-f. 0