The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, February 11, 1977, Image 3

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    Housing code
intern planned
By JUDY MESKO
Collegian Staff Writer
The Organization of Town.lndependent
M Students is trying to establish an in*-,
ternship for a student to assist the State
College housing code enforcer, according
to OTIS president Dean Moore.
Housing codes are not being enforced
adequately, Moore said. A recent OTIS
survey showed that 40 per cent of all State
College apartment buildings do not have,
. fire extinguishers on each floor as is
r required in the housing codes. Moore said
that other apartments had no lighting in
hallways and some had broken windows.
Codes are now enforced after someone
files a complaint to the code enforcer and
he investigates it, Moore said. “The ideal
situation would be for the borough to have
a routine inspection of all buildings,” he
said.
Tenants are reluctant to file complaints
in some, cases because they fear the
landlord will evict them, he added.
If the codes were enforced more, it
might persuade landlords to improve their
buildings, Moore said.
Jim Pettingill, State College code, en
forcer, said another enforcer is definitely
needed for the area. ,“I am presently the
'inly one and it’s difficult for me to cover
Embassy aid suggested
to help foreign students
The University Council
(yesterday suggested that the
work with foreign
embassies to alleviate
problems foreign students
encounter.
The suggestion was made
during an informal discussion
concerning the conditions
tareign students face at the
University. Other problems
discussed were the foreign
students’ difficulties with the'
English language, health
care, institutional food,
housing and financial
problems.
< The Council is an advisory
group to University President
John W. Oswald made up of
faculty and administrators.
Craig Millar, director of
> International Student Affairs,
’fend three foreign graduate
students participated in the
discussion. 1 ■
James Bartoo, chairman of
three townships by myself,” he said.
Pettingill added that the borough will
appoint another code enforcer within the
next few weeks and a student intern
wouldn’t be necessary.
“I’m not sure two code enforcers could
cover -the entire town,” said Richard
Rummer, State College representative to
the Centre Regional Code Enforcement
Commission.
The commission is scheduled to meet
.today and Rummer said he will try to get
the item on the agenda. Some of the
commission members seem favorable to
the idea, Rummer said.
There are no set qualifications for the
intern yet. Rummer said he thought the
. student should be in community
development, while Dean Moore said he
thought 'the student should be in ar
chitectural engineering.
After the idea has been accepted, OTIS
and the Centre County Regional Code En
forcement Commission will make definite
plans for the internship.
Moore said he thinks the internship will
be voluntary and will offer credits. “The
whole idea is to save the borough the
money by having a student do the work
rather than hiring more professionals and
raising taxes,” he said.
the Council, said that the
Council will continue
discussing the, problems in
ternational students en
counter during the next
several meetings.
Bartoo said the Council
plans to meet with officials
from Housing and Food
Services as well as members
of both the University
Union information center
to be set up in Pattee
A collective bargaining information center, containing a
collection of literature for and against faculty unionization,
will open in Pattee Library Feb. 16.
In addition to' the information center, acting University
Provost James B. Bartoo announced special University mail
services for unionization materials. The mail services will be
for the period up to the faculty unionization election March 30
and 31.
Information may be added to the center by interested
groups and individuals.
Committee for International
Programs and the Inter
national Hospitality Council.
The Council is looking into
the International studenls’
situation at the request oi
Oswald. Oswald asked the
Council to make recom
mendations to alleviate the
problem at the last Council
meeting.
Dean says proof is lacking
Theory of new
By DON FOSTER
Collegian Staff Writer
According to Dr. Charles L. Hosier, dean of the
college of Earth and Mineral Sciences, theories that
say the ice age is coming lack conclusive proof.
He says there are as many reputable
climatologists who hold to the ice age theory as
there are those who believe the earth’s temperature
is rising. a
“There are as many theories as there are people
who think of them,” Hosier said. “But all of this is
just speculation.”
’ “We can forecast a week ahead at the most,”
Hosier said. “The only prediction we can count on is
that the weather is variable. ” '
This winter’s cold spell is definitely not an in
dication of an ice age, Hosier says. He pointed out
new records are made very year in the amount of
rainfall, hot and cold temperatures and the amount
of snowfall.
But Hosier said the past 50 years have people
concerned. “If. you look at temperatures in the
Northern Hemisphere over the last 1,000 years, and
then at temperatures over the last 50 years, you will
note there hasn’t been a period at any time in
recorded history when it has been so warm for so,
long as it has been over the past half century.”
And so this winter proves that there is no way of
predicting what is to come. Hosier said over billions
Decontamination of Kepone soil
. Plans for the decon
tamination of soils thought to'
be the source of Repone
contamination in Spring
Creek will be negotiated by
government. agencies and
Nease Chemical Co., Dale
Summit, according to the
state Department of
Environmental Resources
(DER).
Surveys by state and federal
agencies have found quant
ities of Repone and Mirex,
carcinogenic pesticides, in
Pa. police commissioner
HARRISBURG (AP)
State Police Commissioner
James Barger, awaiting trial
in connection with alleged
falsification of state police
records, has resigned, Gov.
Shapp said yesterday.
Barger becomes the second
straight Pennsylvania state
police commissioner to leave ~
office after being accused of
misconduct.
His predecessor, Rocco
Urella, was fired by Shapp in
1973 in a case involving wire
tapping of state policemen by
their fellow officers.
A spokesman for Shapp said
the governor did not request
former waste disposal sites ministration (FDA), a
and drainage ways of the study done by DER found that
Nease Co. The company samples of the fish contained
produced Repone in the late levels of .025 parts per million
50s and again in 1963. A (ppm) to .23 ppm of Repone
similar compound, Mirex, and .02 ppm to 1.0 ppm of
was produced in 1973 and 1974. Mirex. The FDA allows levels
The chemicals are no longer of .1 ppm for each substance,
being produced at Nease. , Charles Gummo, chief of
The levels of Repone and operations for the DER office
Mirex in fish taken from in Williamsport, said there
Spring Creek in September was no immediate danger to
were found to be higher than people who'consume the fish,
levels allowed by the fed- “We don’t feel anyone can eat
eral Food and Drug Ad- enough trout where there can
\ /
Barger’s resignation.
Shapp, in Fayette County to
review the energy situation
there, said Barger informed
him four weeks ago that he
intended to resign.
The governor said he at
first tried to persuade Barger
to remain, but “he let it be
known in no uncertain terms
he wanted to leave this year.
“He’s' had one kind of
problem after another, but we
have had one crisis after
another. What a lot of people
don’t realize is the strain that
has been placed on my whole
team. After five or six years
many of them are tiring of it.”
of years there have been certain trends, but
throughout this period some years are much colder
or warmer, than others. These exceptional years
are only normal deviations.
He said 10,000 or 15,000 years ago there was an ice
shelf that came as far as Williamsport.
“The odds makers would say that chances are
that these last 50 years have been the exception and
in the future the weather should fall back to
He said Barger has done an
excellent job.
Barger, 56, joined the force
in 1941 and was named
commissioner after Urella
was fired.
“I find it necessary at this
time to consider other per
sonal commitments,” Barger
said in his resignation letter
to Shapp.
A state police .spokesman
said that one of Barger’s
brothers died last month, and
another is seriously ill in a
West Virginia hospital.
Barger went there Thursday
to donate blood, the
spokesman said.
ice age disputed
be a danger,” he said. State
agencies, however, have
advised that fish taken from
Spring Creek should be
consumed only occasionally.
Periodic fish sampling will
continue until the sources of
contamination are eliminated.
The DER is also studying
the chemical levels of Bald
Eagle Creek and Thorton
Spring, both running below
the Nease Co. Studies have
shown the presence of Kepone
in those waters. -
Maj. t’aul J. Chylak, 45,
considered Barger’s right
hand man in recent months,
will be sworn in as acting
commissioner next week. His
name will be submitted later
to the state Senate for con
firmation as commissioner.
Barger made no mention in
his letter of his indictment
last Feb. 10 on charges of
conspiracy and perjury.
He was one of three state
police officials accused of
ordering state troopers not to
mention if fellow troopers
were involved in accidents
had been drinking.
The Daily Collegian Friday, February 11, 1977 3
something like it’s been over the past millennium
which means considerably colder weather to which
we are now accustomed.
“But by studying the data throughout the period,
it would seem logical to expect some cooling down
over the next decade, perhaps,” Hosier said,
stressing there is no way to predict what nature will
do.
He-said trying to predict the weather of the future
could be compared to a person going outside at a
certain time during the day and predicting what the
weather will be the next week.
Some factors which affect the weather are the
westerly winds, currents in the oceans, the sun, and
to some extent, man.
Because of pollution some of the earth’s heat is
trapped inside the earth’s atmosphere. He said
before we can predict the future, “we have to have a
better understanding of nature.”
“Regardless of what’s ahead, the time is long
overdue for some serious planning regarding food
and fuel resources for the future,” Hosier said.
He added that the media had a lot to do with the
rise of wild speculations about the weather.
“Newspapers latch onto people who have wild
ideas,” he said.
He said people should not really worry about an
ice age now because it would take thousands of
years to happen.
resigns
planned
Gummo said DER knows
where the source of the
contamination is. but thev are
not sure what can be done
with it. He said DER will
meet with the Nease Co.
within the next,two weeks to
decide on a method of
decontamination.
Some decontamination
methods suggested by DER
are: storing the soil in
watertight containers, taking
the soil to. an approved
storage area or burning if
office
Neither Barger nor Chylak
would comment on the
resignation until Chylak is
sworn in, a state police
spokesman said.
Shapp had no comment
other than his two-paragraph
letter to Barger, which
wished Barger luck and
praised his service.
State Superior Court is
considering Barger’s appeal
that it wouldn’t be a crime to
delete references to drinking
in accident reports. Dauphin
County Court already has
ruled that such deletions
would be a crime.