Supreme Court rules on TMI restart
Mental harm
need not be
considered
By JAMES H. RUBIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON The government can
allow Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island
nuclear power plant to reopen without first
weighing whether that would mentally injure
nearby residents fearful of a recurring
accident, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
A' guard at Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh stands outside the prison. Two basement yesterday when they released their: hostages and surrendered to
armed convicts ended a six•day siege In a windowless room in the building's authorities.
Pittsburgh hostages released
Convicts surrender after 6-day siege in prison
By LILLIAN SWANSON
Associated Press Writer
PITTSBURGH Two armed convicts freed
two hostages and surrendered yesterday, ending
a six-day siege in a windowless basement prison
room that started when an escape attempt went
awry.
"It's over," prisoh spokesman Ken Robinson
announced midafternoon, after both prisoners
had given their guns to negotiators and both
hostages were out of danger..
The first to be freed was hostage Kostas "Gus"
Mastros, 51, a prison records supervisor. He
walked out of the room where he had been field
hostage with guard Daniel Kohut, 39, at 10:38
a.m. and asked for a cigarette. He was given two
packs, and a plate of food.
News of Mastros' safe release prompted cheers
from many of the 1,300 inmates at the State
Correctional Institution who
,had been kept
locked in their cells during the drama.
the
daily
In a 9-0 decision, the court said potential
psychological harm to individuals is not
addressed by a federal law requiring the
government to examine environmental
questions when it licenses nuclear reactors
"We think the context of the statute shows
that Congress was talking about the physical
environment the world around us, so to
speak," said Justice William H. Rehnquist.
"If a harm does not have a sufficiently close
connection to the physical environment (the
law) does not apply."
The ruling moans that the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission may permit the
undamaged Unit 1 reactor at the Middletown,
Dauphin County, plant to resume operations
without considering the possibly anxiety it
could cause in the community.
The adjacent Unit 2 reactor was damaged
Inmate Louis Coviello, 26, a convicted •
murderer, surrendered about 4 1 / 2 hours later.
After giving up his gun, he telephoned back into
the room and told inmate Richard Henkel he was
unharmed, said Robinson
Henkel, a convicted bank robber to be tried this
week for murder, then talked to the prison
officials and gave himself up. He Walked out the
door behind Kohut with a gun in his hand,
Robinson said.
"At 3:33 p.m., the door opened. Danny Kohut
came out of the door first, followed by Henkel,
who surrendered the weapon that he had," said
Robinson.
Both inmates, who pulled guns Thursday
morning as they were being strip-searched prior
to a court hearing, were taken from the prison in
an unmarked police car to a federal prison in
Lewisburg, Union County, said Warden George
Petsock.
"We didn't promise the inmates anything. We
gave them nothing. We signed no agreement,"
olle • lan
on March 28, 1979, in the nation's worst'
commercial nuclear accident. Repair of Unit
2 is continuing, with no restart date likely in
the near future.
The court overruled a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals finding that psychological factors
should be considered before the undamaged
reactor is restarted.
Thousands of residents were evacuated
from their homes after the reactor at Three
Mile Island on the Susquehanna River
malfunctioned and radiation leaked into the
atmosphere.
Unit 1 had been shut down for refueling at
the time and was not damaged. But the NRC
has not approved its reopening pending
completion of the $1 billion clean-up at the
plant.
Rehnquist, in his opinion for the court, said
Overqualification a problem for grads
Editor's Note: This is the last in a three-part
series examining job prospects for this year's
graduating class.
By MARK FEATHERSTONE
Collegian Staff Writer
With the job placement rate for the Class of 'B3
expected to drop to one of the lowest levels in
recent years, many students are faced with
choosing between unemployment or working at a
job-for which they are overqualified.
Therefore, many students are approaching
graduation with feelings of increased anxiety,
rather than hope, said Louise Sandmeyer, a
counselor at the Career Development and
Placement Center.
"Graduation is always a scary time," she said,
"but graduating and not knowing what to do or
not being able to do what you want to do is even
more difficult."
said Petsock, adding the inmates were moved to
avoid reprisals at the Pittsburgh prison.
"If you caused inmates to be locked up for six
days and two staff members to be abused
mentally, then you're going to face a lot of
animosity," he said.
Henkel held a bag up to his face as a police
motorcade passed reporters keeping a vigil .
outside the 101-year-old prison on the city's north
side. The inmates, both unshaven, wore mustard
yellow prison garb.
Dr. Dietrich Jehle, who examined Mastros,
said the former hostage felt "thankful for his life.
He said he had a gun pointed at his head eight
times a day. His hands were tied behind his back
and he was in a corner most of the time."
Kohut refused medical treatment, opting to go
home, Petsock said.
At 12:30 p.m. after Mastros had been released,
negotiators heard a muffled shot from the room,
but Kohut came to the door and yelled out that he
was unhurt. The bullet went into a wall.
it would be asking too much of government
agencies to decide which claims that
psychological health may suffer from
government decisions are legitimate.
"It would be extraordinarily difficult for
agencles to differentiate between 'genuine'
claims of psychological health damage and
claims that are grounded solely in
disagreement with a democratically adopted
policy," he said.
Without a new law that specifically orders
such investigations, he added, "we do not
think agencies are obliged to undertake the
inquiry,"
In Harrisburg, opponents of the plant
expressed dismay at the decision. "National
and government officials don't recognize that
a nuclear accident is a different type of
calamity and crisis. They're lumping it with
Sandmeyer described the general attitude of
this year's class as "cautious and concerned. She
said if they have jobs, they're probably feeling
pretty relieved and if they don't, they probably
are feeling pretty anxious as they approach
graduation.
"If they get one offer, they're probably going to
take it. They're less likely to wait for the 'big
offer' because they know the way the job market
is," she said.
In addition, more students are discussing
delaying their entry into the job market until
their prospects improve, she said. Also, more
students are considering military enlistment or
•
Wednesday, April 20, 1983
Vol. 83, No. 160 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
Northeastern Pa. hit
with winterlike storm
By The Associated Press
An unusual winterlike storm dumped as much as 3 inches of snow on
parts of northeastern Pennsylvania and put the west in a record deep
freeze yesterday, the National Weather Service said.
In Philadelphia, a forecaster with.the weather service said
yesterday's inch of snow was the largest recorded this late in the
season.
In Eagles Mere, Sullivan County, the weather service reported 6 1 / 2
inches of snow on the ground, some of it left over from a snowfall the
previous night.
Scranton had 3 inches but it melted almost as quickly as it fell,
according to an employee at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International
Airport.
In western Pennsylvania, the temperature at the Greater
Pittsburgh Airport shortly before 6 a.m. yesterday dropped to 19
degrees —a record low for the date and the lowest temperature ever
recorded in Pittsburgh this late in the spring.
Senate considers
tax compromise
By JIM LUTHER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON Senate
Republicans, badly divided over
President Reagan's plan to
withhold taxes from interest and
dividends, appeared united last
night behind a compromise that
would delay the provision at least
four years and possibly forever.
There was no indication whether
Reagan would agree to the
compromise. He has vowed to veto
any bill that repeals withholding.°
The fallback agreement won the
support of: Sen. Bob Kasten, R-
Wis., leader of the battle for
repeal; Sen. Robert J. Dole, R-
Kan., chief Senate backer of
withholding; and Republican
Leader Howard Baker
"Very honestly, we didn't have
the votes" to block repeal, Dole
told the Senate.
The Senate could take a final
vote on the compromise today. Or,
several senators conceded, the
agreement could fall apart before
it came to a vote.
For the moment, however, the
compromise appeared to be
Republicans' way out of an
unpopular battle that threatened
party unity in the GOP-controlled
Senate. But there still was no
assurance withholding will be
repealed House leaders still
support it.
fires and floods," said Kay Pickering of Three
Mile Island Alert, a citizens' group opposed to
the restart.
A nuclear accident "is unique. You can't
smell it, feel it; it's an unknown in this world
of technology," she said. "The stress and the
fear is always with you . . . A fire siren or
sudden illness brings on thoughts could this
be caused by the accident? Is it possible there
has been another accident?"
And Francine Taylor of Susquehanna
Valley Alliance, a coalition of citizens
concerned about nuclear safety, said "I am
chagrined and shocked that the Supreme
Court, without input from the people, that
they could just come to that decision . . ." She
said the court simply accepted the utility
operator's position about the start-up.
As to Reagan's reaction to the
proposal, Kasten said: "I don't
think the president is going to have
a lot of choice" on accepting it.
Reagan's allies, sensing defeat,
had delayed for several hours a
scheduled test vote on the
withholding issue. When the vote
finally came, on Kasten's motion
to limit debate on the question, it
was after the compromise was
announced and the vote had
become meaningless.
The motion failed, 53-34, or 26
short of the 60 votes required to
limit debate.
According to Kasten, the new
plan would delay the start of
withholding, now scheduled for
July 1, until July 1987 at the
earliest. In the meantime,
penalties would be raised on
people who are found to cheat on
the taxes on their interest and
dividends, and reporting
requirements for such income
would be stiffened
The General Accounting Office
would report to Congress by
January 1987 on how taxpayers
are complying with laws requiring
them to pay taxes on their interest
and dividends. If the compliance
rate, now about 85 percent, were
increased to 95 percent or better
by that time, there would be no
withholding. If not, withholding
could be imposed by a vote in the
House and Senate.
graduate school than in recent years.
The number of applicants to the University's
Graduate School has increased this year, with
more than 4,300 students applying for admission
compared to 3,988 at the same time last year.
The increase in applications was fairly
widespread throughout the colleges. The number
of students applying for the College of Business
Administration increased from 441 as of April
1982 to 497 as of April 1983; for the College of
Engineering, from 489 to 656; for the College of
Science, from 551 to 590; and from 748 to 804 in the
College of The Liberal Arts.
To help students cope with the prospect of
graduating without a future job, Sandmeyer said,
the Career Development and Placement Center
established a group called "Graduation: Coping
with an Uncertain Future 2 -established because
of "a feeling that
Please see OVERQUALIFICATION, Page 2