The Michigan Daily-Thursday, September 16, 1982-Page 3

200 protest chemical

Daily Photo by JEFF SCHRIER
Hanging on
A worker is silhouetted against the girders of the new Detroit Edison
building, which is under construction at the corner of Packard and Main
Streets.
siwo school districts
.settle teacher strikes

AFTON , N.C. (UPI)- More than 100
chanting protesters were arrested
yesterday as they tried vainly to stop
the dumping of the suspected cancer-
causing chemical PCB in a state lan-
dfill.
About 200 demonstrators singing "We
Shall Overcome" and vowing to block
trucks hauling dirt tainted by PCB were
met at a controversial Warren County
landfill by about 35 troopers bran-
dishing billy clubs.
AMONG THOSE arrested at the
dump approximately 40 miles northeast
of Raleigh were two leaders of the
demonstration, the Rev. Leon White
and Ken Ferruccio.
Faced by a line of officers, the
demonstrators yelled, "let us through,
Agent
Orange
research
criticized
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Veterans Administration was accused
by members of Congress yesterday of
"footdragging" and "bureaucratic
paralysis" in its investigation into the
effect of Agent Orange on the 2.5 million
Americans who served in Vietnam.
At an oversight hearing, Rep.
Thomas Daschl (D-S.D.) drew from VA
officials an acknowledgement that key
inquiries have not yet begun even
though suspicions abut the herbicide
were raised 11 years ago and studies
have been in the planning stage for
years.
AMONG THOSE he listed are resear-
ch projects to compare the health of
veterans who were believed to have had
contact with the plant-killer with those
who were not exposed; to study sets of
identical male twins in which one twin
served in the war zone and his brother
did not, and to compare the death rates
of Vietnam veterans with comparable
veterans who did not serve there.
Rep. Margaret Heckler (R-Mass.) said
the VA was spending only $5 million out
of a $140 million research budget on
Agent Orange and said: "That is an in-
credibly small amount."
"Well, that is the figure," replied Dr.
Donald Custis, chief of the VA's depar-
tment of iMpdicine and surgery. "There
is a limit.as to what can be done resear-
ch-wise."n
CUSTIS DENIED categorically to the
House Veterans Affairs Committee that
the VA has purposefully delayed the
scientific research.
He added: "We would have to be
masochists to set ourselves up for the
chastisement we would receive."
Custis drew a comparison with the
Nixon Administration's "War on Can-
cer," and said millions of dollars were
spent then to find a cancer cure "to no
avail."
AT ISSUE is whether the Veterans
Administration should compensate
veterans for a wide range of disorders
that they believe were caused by the
herbicide when it was sprayed to
destroy Viet Cong crops and the jungle
hiding places.
Among the difficulties that veterans
have attributed to dioxin, the toxic
element in Agent Orange, are cancers,
liver, kidney, nerve, vision and hearing
disorders, skin outbreaks, numbness,
fatigue, impotence, and birth defects in
their children.
Daschle accused the VA of
"bureaucratic and bungling delays."

We're going through."
Lt. H.B. McKee of the Highway
Patrol warned the demonstrators they
would be arrested.
THE ARRESTS came after
protesters refused to obey police orders
to disperse. Troopers took more than
100 demonstrators by the hands and
escorted them to waiting prison buses.
About 65 later were charged with im-
peding traffic on the highway.
Afterwards, in the Warren County
Jail in Warrenton, the protesters held
hands and sang as they awaited
processing by a magistrate.
White, leader of the Commission for
Racial Justice, United Church of
Christ, told the group their arrests were
"a victory."

"In a way, we did stop them," he
said. "They say it's going to take six
weeks to get it all here, but we can stop
them in three weeks. We've got to stop
them in three weeks."
WHITE EARLIER had used a bull-
horn to tell the crowd of protesters to
stop the trucks.
"We're going to break the blockade
or go to jail," White had vowed.
A National Guard helicopter hovered
over the area.
THE FIRST trucks arriving at the
landfill came from Warren County,
N.C., one of 14 counties where oil laced
with PCB-polychlorinated biphenyls-
was illegally sprayed along the road-
sides in 1978.
PCBs were used in electrical tran-


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dump
sformers as a cooling agent before their
use was banned by the federal gover-
nment. The chemical was linked to
cancer in laboratory animals several
years ago.
Officials estimate it will take about
six weeks to clean up the 210 miles of af-
fected roadsides.
THE FIGHT over the landfill began
in September, when a federal judge
dismissed a lawsuit filed by residents to
block the dump. U.S. District Judge W.
Earl Britt ruled that all possible'
precautions had been taken to ensure
that the storage site would not pose an
environmental danger.
Citizens of that county claim the state
chose their county because it is rural,
poor and largely black.

~11

C

B} United Press International
Two teacher strikes ended yesterday
ii Michigan, but teachers in Detroit and
three other districts were still on the
picket lines, idling more than 220,000
iudents.
t 'Traverse City's 390 teachers voted to
end a strike that began Sept. 7 and
return to work under their old contract
'while negotiations continue. Classes for
9,000 students will resume today. If
there is no settlement by Oct. 31, the
issues will be submitted to af act-findeer.
LAKE 'CITY'S 53 teachers also 'ap-
proved a new contract, ending a strike
that began Sept. 1 and kept 1,100
students on a long summer vacation.
entative accord was reached during a
negotiating session mediated by former
Gtov. John Swainson.
;In Detroit, there was still no -sign of
movement in the strike by the 11,000-
member Detroit Federation of
Teachers.
All schools remained closed, and

layoff notices went out to 8,000 non-
teaching employees for the duration of
the strike.
SUPERINTENDENT Arthur Jeffer-
son, in a report to the Detroit Board of
Education, said it might be necessary
to lay off as many as 2,000 teachers
unless DFT members agree to make
wage sacrifices.
Jefferson said such layoffs would
save $25 million but conceded the move
would have "a terrible impact on our
ipstruction program."
"The board and I hope this doesn't
come to pass, that we will come to an
amicable settlement," he said.
DETROIT teachers have been on
strike since Monday.
In addition to Detroit, teacher strikes
continued yesterday in Wyoming, Troy
and Novi. Those three districts hae
more than 1,000 teachers and 20,000
students.
The four-district total stands at 12,138
students and 220,289 students.

Ti

Us

,gain!

~HA-PPENINGS-
Highlight
The University of Michigan Regents will begin their monthly meeting at
1:30 in the Regents' Room, Fleming Administration Building. General U-M
Hospitals issues are schedules for discussion at the session followed at 4 p.m.
by a monthly public comment session.
Films
CG-Citizen Kane, 7 & 9:15 p.m., Lorch.
AAFC-AllegroNon Troppo, 7 & 10 p.m., Wizards, 8:30 p.m., Nat. Sci.
Performances
Mich. Union Cultural Arts Series - Music at Mid-Day, Reginald Borik,
saxophone, Kirsten Taylor, accompanist, 12:10 p.m., Pendleton Rm., Union.
Speakers
Health Psychology-"Wiscom & Plasticity of the Brain," with Aaron
Smith 12-1 p.m., VA Med. Cntr., Rm. a-154, 2215 Fuller Rd.
Vision/Hearing-"Directional Sensitivity of Human Rods," with Mathew
Alpern, 12:15, 1:30 p.m., 2055 MHRI.
Physical Chemistry Seminar-"Anharmonnic Mixing & Vibrational
Relaxation in Polyatomic Molecules," Sighart Fischer, 2 p.m., 1200 Chem.
Medical Center Bible Study-12:30 p.m., Rm. F2230 Mott Children's
Hospital.
Meetings
Campus Crusade for Christ-7 p.m., 2003 Angell Hall.
Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship-7 p.m., Union.
Scottish Country Dancers-7 p.m., Union.
Ann Arbor Support Group for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee-7
p.m., Union.
Graduate Employees' Organization - Membership, 8 p.m., Rackham
Amphitheatre.
E. Quad Chess Club - 6:45 p.m., E. Quad, Rm. 124.
Weight Watchers-Class for Students & University Personnel, 5:30 p.m.,
Michigan League Bldg.
Sailing Club -7:45 p.m., 311 W. Engineering.
Student Wood & Crafts Shop -11:30 p.m., 537 Student Activities Building.
Career Planning & Placement - Business Intern Program, 7 p.m.,
Rackham Auditorium.
gFnilsenv C1lf-Hen -rnin of Wa htmna w Cnnty-'7 n m 9r 25 Pnokard

Still missing a couple of course
books?
Many late shipments and re-ordered
texts are arriving daily, so please,
try us again. Course books, 3rd floor.
The Non-Profit Student Bookstore.
Open 7days a week.
0 0
341 East Liberty, at Division St.


i

CAN YOU HELP?
Toledo Edison employment representatives will be
on campus September 30, 1982.

Nuclear power generation is expected to replace
natural gas as the second most important source
of electricity in the near future.
Help us compete. Career opportunities are here
for qualified graduates in Mechanical, Nuclear,
Electrical, and Chemical Engineering. Business
Administration, Accounting, Computer Science
and other fields. We also have "earn-while-you-
learn" programs.
Our representatives would like a chance to con-
vince you that the climate here is most favorable to
you. They will be on campus on the date shown
above.
Call or write for more information,
Personnel Assistant (KH)

TOLEDO
- P4 M n amR



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