The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, November 07, 1977, Image 1

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    Breezin'
Jazzman extraordinaire,George Benson charms his Rec Hall audience with his silky yet crisp sound at the Friday night concert, part of the Jazz Festival. See
concert review, page 9.
Anti-porno bill now law
y ALLEN REEDER
;II aily Collegian Staff Writer. •
Pennsylvania!s new-anti-pornography
law may have little effect in Centre
County when it becOmes active in
'January:
Complaints froth citizens about por
ography establishments, an important
part of the enforcement process, are
expected to be few in number.'
Gov. Shapp allmVed the bill to pass into
law Saturday without his signature after
it became clear the legislature could
override a veto. Shapp has vetoed past
anti-pornography bills. .
The law forbids the sale or display of
obscene materials and provides a three
way test to determine if materials are
obscene. To be obscene, material must
appeal to "prurient interest" based on
current statewide standards. It also
must lack literary or scientific value and
describe in a "patently offensive way"
certain sexual acts.
Those acts are: "Ultimate sexual acts,
normal or perverted, actual or
simulated" and "masturbation, - ex
cretory functions and lewd exhibition of
'the genitals."
State College Police Corporal Lewis T.
Rusnak said some books and movies
downtown probably would violate the
new law.
Alan Ellis, president of the local
American Civil Liberties Union, (ACLU)*
said, "No question about it, there are
‘hardcore pornographic moview being
shown in town and on campus that under
this definition would be outlawed."
Centre County Assistant District
Attorney Robert K. Mix said he did not
believe, there was a pornography
problem in the county.
But state Rep. Helen D. Wise, D-77th,
said, "I think there's a pornography
problem everywhere." •
Under the hew law, the district at
torney would seek a court injunction
banning a particular movie operator, for
example, from continuing to show an
obscene film. Fines and imprisonment
could only be imposed if the operator
continued to show the film in violation of
the injunction.
State. Deputy Attorney General
37 perish in Northeastern Georgia dam disaster
TOCCOA, Ga. (UPI) —A wall of red water gushed from
a rain-soaked earthen dam before dawn yesterday send
ing an avalanche of• water, mud, trees, boards and other
debris smashing down on a sleeping Bible college campus
nestled in the northeast Georgia mountains. •
Georgia civil' defense officials said at least 37 people
died. Two persons were reported missing and presumed
dead, and over 60 were injured.
A grief-stricken Rosalynn Carter, who had friends and
relatives in the area, rushed from a Washington church
, service with the president to view the disaster scene•
Student rights probed
WASHINGTON(UPI) The Supreme Court is about to
examine another phase of student rights at state
universities: can a student who fails to measure up
academically be dismissed without a hearing?
Arguments are scheduled for-10 a.m. EST today on the
appeal of the University of Missouri from a ruling that it
Conrad Arensberg said this procedure
conforms to 'Supreme Court guidelines
because it doe not provide for prior
restraint. The 'operator is liable to
punishment only after a court has
determined that the film is obscene.
This protects the operator from being
punished for showing a film that he
didn't consider obscene, but that the
judge did.
Referring to the pioblem of defining
"obscene," Arensberg said, "I have no
better idea of a workable definition of
obscenity than anybody else does."
John Guss, manager of three down
town movie theatres, said the law may
conflict with the Supreme Court concept
of "community standards" because it
defines the community as being the
whole state.
Much of the language in the new law
was taken from court decisions to keep
the law from being struck down, said
State Rep. Martin Mullen, D-
Philadelphia, a, strong supporter of the
bill.
Pennsylvania's last statute against the
sale of pornography to adults was struck
down by the state Supreme Court in 1975
because it did not specifically define the
sexual conduct that could not be shown,
Ellis said.
The county district attorney must
decide what pornography operations to
seek injunctions against. Both can
didates for the office in Centre County
said they would be obligated to enforce
the law regardless of whether the
community wanted enforceinent.
Democrat David Grine said he thought
the majority of the people in the county
want enforcement of the pornography
law.
Republican candidate Robert Mitinger
stressed a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
According to the decision, "There is no
violation if the pornographic material is
kept at a place where the passing public
is not forced to read the material, under
the present law," Mitinger said last
week before the new law took effect.
However, he also said it is the district
attorney's job to prosecute and it is up to
olle • larli
the
daily
should have accorded a hearing to Charlotte Horowitz
before she was told to leave the medical school at Kansas
City. •
The Bth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal's said the dismissal
stigmatized Horowitz in such *a way that she will be
unable to continue her medical education and her chances
of returning to employment in a mediCally related field
are severely damaged.
As a result, she is being deprived of liberty under the
Constitution and is entitled to a hearing, the opinion said.
The university also has appealed another Bth Circuit
decision requiring recognition of a Gay Liberation
student group on the Columbia and Kansas City cam
puses. The justices have not announced whether they will
accept that case.
The court already has heard arguments on an appeal by
the UniVersity of California in the Allan Bakke "reverse
discrimination" suit. Bakke, a twice-rejected white
candidate for the medical school at. Davis, contends the
university's special admissions program for disad
vantaged minorities kept him out.
the defense to raise constitutional ob
jections.
Neither candidate said he had read the
new law and so they could not comment
on it.
The candidates 'said that they would
usually not take legal actions until after
a complaint had been received. Com
plaints may be hard to come by, ac
cording to local law enforcement of
ficials. Rusnak and Mix said they could
not recall any recent complaints about
pornography in the Centre Region.
Guss said 'he did not expect many
people to complain about the Screening
Room, one of the theatres in his chain.
But, he said, "There's always a few that
complain about anything."
Guss said he and the owner were not
concerned about the new law. The
Screening Room, run by lannarelli
Theatres Inc., has been showing X-rated
films for eight years without having
legal action taken against it, he said.
Guss said X-rated films are accepted by
the State College community and
pointed out the theatre's location, across
from the police station.
"The less government restrictions on
anything, the better," Guss said when
asked his views on the regulation of
pornography. He suggested it would be
better to outlaw alcohol, and said por
nography laws - probably would be no
more successful than prohibition. It is
better, for a person to go to an X-rated
movie and come home sober, he said,
than to go to a bar and return home
drunk.
Ellis and the ACLU oppose the new
law because they take an "absolutist"
view of the First Amendment guarantee
of freedom of the press, Ellis said. Since
the First Amendment says Congress
shall make no law restricting freedom of
the press, "We think 'no law' means just
what it says," Ellis said.
Wise sais she opposed the bill in the
state House and called it censorship. She
said she thought the main reason the
legislature passed the bill was to forbid
the public display of pornography. She
said an amendment was proposed that
would have gotten, at the display
problerri without being censorship.
Dean says breeder reactors
the hope of nation's future
By PAUL COtBRAN
Daily Collegian Staff Writer •
Two University energy experts described President
Carter's veto of a breeder reactor project Saturday as
"disappointing."
Nunzio J. Palladino, dean of The College of
Engineering, said that the breeder reactor is the only real
hope, the country had in solving its energy problems.
Carter used his first veto since taking office on a bill
that would have: authorized $BO million for a breeder
reactor project at Clinch River, Tenn.
Carter has opposed the development of breeder reac
tors because of fears of plutonium proliferation.
Plutonium is a by-product of the breeder reactor and can
be used in nuclear weapons.
"We're destroying an alternative," Warren F. Witzig,
head of the department of nuclear engineering, said.
"That, I think, is imprudent beyond belief."
Witzig said there are dangers with plutonium
proliferation, but that the risks were worth taking. With
the proper precautions, he said, the probability of
problems arising from proliferation would be very low.
Witzig said the country can't solve the proliferation
problem by ignoring it, and added, reactor research is
needed in order to safeguard the system.
"I think it (the veto) is going to greatly weaken our
ability to deal with France, Germany and Japan" in
setting safeguards for nuclear power, Witzig said. The
United States is already far behind those and other
countries in the development of the breeder reactor.
"It (the veto) doesn't help his proliferation problems at
all," Palladino said, adding that proliferation is involved
with any nuclear project and not just the breeder.
Witzig said he thinks Carter is misleading the public
with the veto of the reactor. He said Carter is implying
that the breeder reactor is bad and that there are other
sources of energy available. Witzig said neither im
plication is true.
The Washington Post quoted Carter as saying the
Clinch River project would be "a large and unnecessarily
expensive project, which, when completed, would be
technically obsolete and economically unsound."
"The breeder will not only be economical, but (it will
be) required unless another source of energy is found,"
Witzig said. He said the best that any other source of
energy could supply by the year 2,000 is a few per cent of
what is needed. Nuclear is, at present, the only source of
In another student issue, the court has granted a
hearing to the University of Maryland, which objects to
giving resident status •to students whose parents are
employed by such international organizations as the
World Bank.
Oil cost hike sought
KUWAIT (UPI) Iraq will demand another increase
in oil prices to keep pace with inflation in the in
dustrialized world and to offset recent slippage in the
value of the U.S. dollar, Iraq's petroleum minister said in
an interview published yesterday.
In the interview with the Kuwait daily Al Watan,lraqi
Petroleum Minister Tayeh Abdel Karim rejecte U.S.
calls for an oil price freeze for the near future.
Karim, commenting on next month's pricing meeting of
the Organization of Petroeum Exporting countries
(OPEC), seemed to slap down recent U.S. assurances to
Day care staff
given ultimatum
By STEPHEN MARTE
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
The staff of the Small World Day Care
Center appears to have come up the
loser in its latest battle with the Centre
County Child Development Council
Board of Directors.
The staff was given the alternatives to
either resign, transfer to another center,
or go on a three-week probationary
period at another center in a move by the
board of directors to solve the problems
at the center, according to a staff
member.
The staff was asked for an immediate
reply Friday and chose to go on a
probationary period with the Mulberry
Free Day Care Center on Atherton
Street or the Sunrise Day Care Center in
Lemont, said Shirley Ricotta, a staff
member.
The action by the board evolved out.of
a two-week report conducted by con
sultpt Dr. Kent Sokoloff to recommend
solutions for the problems at Small
World. Sokoloff was hired at the urging
of the Department of Public Welfare to
study the problems at Small World.
Ricotta said Sokoloff desired to break
up the staff because of a problem he
termed "group think."
"He claims we don't think in
dividually, but as a group," Ricotta said.
Other staff members contacted by the
board include Susan Baling, Patty
McNally and Terry Griffths.
In other action to resolve the con
troversy surrounding Small World, the
board also asked for the resignations of
two cooks at the center, "because the
kitchen was a mess."
In other important races, at least 38 mayors or chief
executives will be chosen in an off-year election that is not•
expected to set many national political trends.
In most mayoral elections there were plenty of can
didates, but there were none in Grant, Mich., population
800. Voters there faced a blank ballot because city of
ficials decided not to run again and no other candidates
filed for office. ,
In New Jersey, the nation's eighth most populous state,
Gov. Brendan Byrne was battling for a second term.
V/ 202 PATTEE
150
Monday, November 7, 1977 .
Vol. 78, No. 75 20 pages University Park, Pa. 18802
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
energy that can hope to meet the demand, he added.
"I look and see Carter turning his back on it (nuclear
energy)," 'he said. He described Carter as having a
"Messiah" attitude on the use of plutonium.
Witzig said that through the use of the breeder reactor
there is enough material "to run our country for a cen
tury."
"Nuclear, today, is the cheapest and the safest source
of energy," Witzig said.
Palladino said nuclear power is the best answer for the
energy problem. Coal poses an environmental problem
and solar energy is not yet ready, he said.
"I think it ( the veto) is going to put us behind the eight
ball for awhile," Palladino said.
Neither Palladino nor Witzig wanted to predict if
Congress would override Carter's veto, but both agreed
that the breeder eventually would be approved.
"I think eventually it will have to go through,"
Palladino said, "otherwise we won't have any other
alternatives."
The Associated Press reported Stuart Eizenstat,
Carter's domestic policy assistant, as saying, "There are
now on the drawing boards better technologies."
Witzig said there are always better technologies on the
drawing board than in use at any particular time. A new
car is never as economic or efficient as the one that is
being planned for the next year, he said.
The two energy experts agreed that the United States
will not have as much influence in world energy policy
without the breeder reactor.
Witzig said the breeder is needed to solve the energy
problem that he says is a threat to the fabric of society.
"I worry about how much we're going to care about our
brothers," Witzig said of a future with energy problems.
"If we don't solve our energy problems within 10
years," he said, "I think armies will move."
Another bill containing money for the Clinch River
project will be presented to Carter. The second bill is a
$6.8 billion appropriations bill that includes money for
other projects as well.
The other projects in the second bill include money for
sewage treatment, small business disaster loans, strip
mining reclamation, refugee assistance, strategic petro
leum reserves and provisions that carry out Carter's can
cellation of the B-1 bomber.
The Associated Press reported that Clinch River ad
vocates do not expect Carter to veto the second bill.
Persian Gulf oil states that the dollar's slippage was ,
temporary and would be recouped next year.
Mayoral races set
By United Press International
In the nation's only two governor races set for Tuesday,
independent polls showed the Democratic incumbent
leading in New Jersey and the Republican candidate
ahead in Virginia. .
4 COPIES
Lynn Cecchini, a staff member of
Sunrise Day Care Center, said this
probably was done by the board at the
urging of the Department of Public
Welfare to clear up the controversial
Laetrile issue.
"Hope (Woodring, Small World
director) had total control of the kit
chen," Cecchini said. Cecchini said the
two cooks were being dismissed "so that
it would look to the public as if
something were being done."
"They had no opportunity to defend
themselves, they were just asked to
resign," said Cecthini. "Dave (Korman,
one of the cooks) told me it was being
done similar to how it is done in Russia
in a totalitarian manner."
Originally, problems at Small World
included salary grievances, which the
staff claimed board chairman David
Weiss said they could not meet because
they were "strapped for funds."
Yet Ricotta said Sokoloff was being
'paid "$4,500 for three weeks' to a
months' work, which is more than most
day care workers are paid in a year."
Sokoloff was being paid $1,500
originally for his report and is not being
paid an additional $3,000 to rewrite the
personnel policies, Cecchini said.
"So he has to get results," • Cecchini
said. "He's the hired gun of the council
who's been hired to do what Hope was
doing trying to get rid of us."
The board has declined to comment on
the issue until after its meeting Tuesday
night. Ricotta and Cecchini said they
had no idea what was going to happen to
Woodring or the personnel policies of the
center.