The death count in Atlanta rose to 25 yesterday when the body of a 23-year old black man was
pulled from the Chattahoochee River. The body is being unloaded at the Fulton County Medical
Examiners. Authorities are undecided as whether to turn the body over to the special police
task force searching for the killer or killers of 24 Atlanta children.
Space contacts
Two alumni pioneer
final frontier with NASA
By CINDY COX
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Space was the final frontier when
George Page and Paul Weitz graduated
from the University in the 19505. Neither
man then anticipated a career with space
travel.
But last week, Page, director of shuttle
operations for Kennedy Space Center at
Cape Canaveral, Fla., acted as the
launch director for the Space Shuttle.
' "When I graduated from Penn State, I
didn't even know what a NASA was,"
Page said. "In those days, we didn't
think much about space programs."
Shuttle operations was responsible for
the processing of flight hardware, as
sembly, check out and finally the launch,
he said. After computer problems caused
the mission to be delayed, Page said the
main concern was to start a recovery
program.
"We get used to some of these things in
this business," Page said. "But it was
quite a letdown because we had built up
to it for such a long time."
Fortunately, space personnel recov
,. ered well and two days later had a better
operation, Page said.
Work has already begun on preparing
an orbiter for a second launch this fall, he
said. Last week, Page was at Edwards
IV 202 PATTEE
dattiii; olle • ian
Air Force Base in California getting the
orbiter ready to load on a 747 shuttle
carrier to bring it back to Kennedy Space
Center in Florida.
After graduating in '52, Page worked
at General Dynamics on the Atlas Mis
sile Program and the Mercury Program,
the first United States manned orbital
launch. Since 1963, Page has worked for
the National Aeronautics and Space As
sociation on all the manned launches.
Another University graduate involved
with the space program is Paul Weitz, a
NASA astronaut. Weitz participated in
the first Skylab mission in space, con
ducting medical experiments and work
ing with solar telescopes.
When not up in space, Weitz is based in
Houston at Johnson Space Center. His
main concern in Houston is working on
the design and operation of space vehi
cles.
"This gives the astronauts an insight
into the operation of vehicles," Weitz
said. "We try to make sure they are as
good as can be from the user's point of
view."
After graduation in 1953, Weitz was
commissioned as an officer in the Navy
until he had the opportunity to apply for
the astronaut program.
4 7 , COPI:.
Atlanta death toll rises
By NANCY KENNEY
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) The body of a slightly built
23-year-old black man was found yesterday in
the Chattahoochee River, but authorities had not
decided whether to turn the case over to the
special police task force investigating the slay
ings of 24 other young blacks.
The bodies of two of the victims killed since
July 1979 were pulled from the muddy waters of
the Chattahoochee last month. Only two young
adults were among the two dozen victims both
were retarded and described as child-like.
Assistant Fulton County Police Chief Louis
Graham said the identity of the victim would be
released after his relatives were notified. He
said the man had a criminal record and that
identification was made through fingerprints.
The man, who lived in Atlanta, had not been
reported missing; Graham said, adding that he
weighed 120 pounds in November, the last time
he was arrested by authorities here.
Details of his criminal record were not imme
diately available, although Graham said it in
cluded felony arrests.
Graham had said earlier the case had not been
assigned to the special task force investigating
the slayings and the disappearance of one other
youth in the past 21 months.
Graham said a decision on whether to turn the
case over to the task force would be made after
the cause of death is determined.
Fulton County, Medical Examiner Dr. Robert
Stivers said officials decided , quickly that the
body was not that of 10-year-old Darron Glass,
Gentle Thursday?
Spirit of spring event may be revived
By ELLYN HARLEY
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
In most students' minds, Gentle
Thursday has met its demise after a 10-
, year lifespam But - for: BilL - Eichen.ser
' engineering), Gentle
Thursday still has a breath of life, and he
will try to rescue it this Thursday on the
HUB lawn in an event called "Gentle
Thursday Lives."
Eichenser said Gentle Thursday is too
goodan idea to "let it die," and he wants
to instill the original idea of the event as
a day to forget about political and social
issues.
"The Horizons thing seems to be the
opposite kind of thing, to hype political
things," Eichenser said. "It (Gentle
Thursday) is a good idea. What every
, one's hassle was is that it was becoming
a big party on the HUB lawn."
Eichenser said he was not alone in
having the "Gentle Thursday Lives"
idea but he put the idea to work.
"I have a silk screening machine so I
can make T-shirts," he said. "The Lazy
J downtown has from 100 to 150 T
shirts." He said the money from T-shirt
sales has allowed him and a few close
friends on his floor in Mifflin Hall who
are helping him to put up posters publi
cizing the event.
Eichenser stressed that the event will
be informal and unstructured. He said
this "Gentle Thursday" cannot become
the giant party it has been in the past
because there will be no bands or struc
tured events. He said the only thing that
might be a problem is trash thrown on
the only missing person on the task force list. He
was last seen Sept. 14.
The body pulled from the river was described
by Stivers as 5-foot-5, 80 to 90 pounds with an 11-
inch scar and an eight-inch scar in the stomach
area.
Authorities meanwhile found a 15-year-old
black youth missing since April 6 alive and
unharmed. James Ralph Johnson had not been
reported missing until one and a half hours after
the body was found yesterday. His grandfather
had believed the youth was at his sister's house.
The Johnson boy's case had not been assigned
to the task force.
Fulton County Police Chief Clinton Chafin said
the body was found naked on a sand bed at the
river bank. He estimated the victim had been
dead for at least two weeks.
The 24th victim, 15-year-old Joseph Bell, was
found Easter Sunday. His decomposed body was
discovered floating face-down in the South River
in DeKalb County.
Fulton County Police Capt. Robert L. Balti
more said the body found yesterday also was
"badly decomposed."
The body was spotted by Jimmy Brown, an
area resident who saw it while clearing a field
near the river bank with his son. Brown said he
"thought it was an adult, but they (police) said it
wasn't. They said it looked like a kid."
Chafin, asked if he believed the discovery of
the body was related to the missing and slain
children cases; said: "You always worry. But at
this point it would be pure speculation."
The discovery yesterday marks the seventh
the ground
"We're just telling people to bring a
friend and a trash bag. I tell everyone
who calls 'We're trying to avoid hassles
-- bring a trash bag."
"Any money left over from T-shirt
sales will be spent on trash bags for next
year," he said.
The blue "Gentle Thursday Lives"
flyers posted around campus have in
cluded a phone number for T-shirt sales
information, which is Eichenser's phone
number.
'We're just telling people to bring a friend and a
trash bag. . .any money left over from T-shirt sales
will be spent on trash bags for next year.'
University Police Services Manager
Thomas R. Harmon said the posters
might have been in violation of a Univer
sity policy prohibiting solicitation on
campus from off-campus organizations.
"It was apparently an effort to sell T
shirts at the Lazy J," Harmon said. "We
didn't choose to investigate it. We turned
it over to (Pollock-Nittany-Centre coor
dinator) Art Constantino."
time since last November that the body of a
young black has been found in or near an area
river. It is the fourth body found in the Chatta
hoochee during that period.
On March 30, the body of 13-year-old Timothy
Hill was pulled from the Chattahoochee. The
following day, the body of 21-year-old Eddie
"Bubba" Duncan, was pulled from the same
river less than two miles downstream. Chafin
said the body found yesterday was between the
sites where the bodies of Hill and Duncan were
found.
Medical examiners meanwhile said yesterday
that Bell probably died of asphyxiation, as did 12
other victims.
Bell was last seen March 2, when he stopped to
look for work at a restaurant where he occasion
ally did odd jobs.
The manager of the restaurant, Richard Harp,
told police he received a telephone call on March
3 from someone claiming to be Bell who said,
"I'm almost dead." Police spokeswoman Bever
ly Harvard said police were investigating the
incident.
DeKalb County Medical Examiner Joseph
Burton announced after an autopsy yesterday
that Bell did not appear to have been strangled,
but that smothering was a "possible" cause of
death. Burton said Bell could have been in the
river since the day he disappeared.
In addition to the asphyxiations, one of the
victims was shot, one bludgeoned, one stabbed
and one killed by a blow to the head. The bodies
of seven victims were so badly decomposed that
the cause of death could not be determined.
15°
Tuesday April 21, 1981
Vol. 81, No. 155 14 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
Harmon said he didn't know what
Constantino had done, and that he had no
information concerning what type of
event is to be held on the HUB lawn on
Thursday.' , ' ' :
However, Constantino said the flyer
and T-shirt sales are not a problem and
are not in violation of the solicitation
policy.
"They were making other studen
aware that they could buy the T-shirts at
The Lazy J," Constantino said. "If they
were selling T-shirts out of their rooms
—Bill Eichenser
(1 2th-industrialengineering)
that would be a violation, but they are
conforming to the regulations."
Last Wednesday, the Horizons Steer
ing Committee said it supported "Gentle
Thursday Lives," but would have no
further comment on it. Committee mem
bers said they would "let it be" because
"Gentle Thursday Lives" and Horizons
are separate.
• Japan's Toshihiko Seko and
New Zealand's Allison Roe were
the big winners yesterday in the
85th annual Boston Marathon.
Page 8
ID Tony Jacoby announced his
plans to resign his position as
president of the West Halls Resi
dence Association at the end of the
term because of a misunderstand
ing that led to his not getting a
dorm contract Page 14
weather
Mostly sunny, breezy and chilly
today with an unseasonably cool
high of only 48. Clear, calm and
quite cold tonight with frost likely
as the low temperature reaches 27.
Mainly sunny tomorrow with tem
peratures remaining on the cool
side reaching a high of 55. A good
deal of cloudiness Thursday with
milder temperatures near 60 qr:d a
few showers possible.
inside
• A former El Salvadoran gov
ernment official told a Penn State
audience he believes the Reagan
administration policy could turn
the situation in El Salvador into
another Vietnam Page 6