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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1978)
‘S Iona counstl ttomeyt ever tion m of 4. Jit” ajj ?x A6e:M scientists can create miniature earthquakes on wlsl they s i.'vep| By SCOTT PENDLETON Battalion Staff ome men are doctors. Some are lawyers. But ask people who work at the Center for Tectonophysics it they do and they re likely to answer, “We make thquakes.” tndthis would be a modest answer because produc- miniature earthquakes in the laboratory is only part heir work. n the ten years since the creation of the center on A&M campus, its scientists and graduate assistants e been doing research with applications ranging earthquake prediction to radioactive waste isola- TLong range research with broad applications is the leme of the center, Dr. Melvin Friedman, associate ]ector of the center, said. In 1967 Texas A&M ided funds, office space, and academic appoint- (ents so that Friedman and five other scientists could duct this kind of research. n the decade that followed, the center compiled an Jipressive record of achievement. Its research results ha'e been reported in 69 publications and in 68 tracts presented at scientific meetings. The center las attracted $2 million in research contracts and nts, and has equipment worth $500,000. jThere are no similar facilities (at any university) in e country or world,” Friedman said. “You’d have to go to a government lab to find comparable facilities, fecause the center does research on broad rather In specific problems, gathering information alone gi take several years. On the other hand, research ults are useful to many specific problems. For in ice, the center is studying the cracking of rocks sed by high temperatures. This research will be fill to scientists who want to predict earthquakes as well as those who want to develop geothermal energy. (Another area of study underway at the center is the |\v properties of salt. Much nuclear waste is stored fflderground in old salt mines or salt domes. The nu- pear waste is hot, causing the salt rock to flow or Beep” around the container of nuclear waste over a period of 15-30 years. 1 The center is concerned with whether or not the salt perfectly isolate the radioactive material. Because government wants the waste to be retrievable, in Dr. Brann Johnson, a scientist with the Center for Tectonophysics, demonstrates an experiment in thermal cracking. case the container leaks, the center also wants to find out if the waste container will sink through the salt rock. The Center for Tectonophysics, located in the rear of the Geosciences building, is not a degree-granting entity of the University. Those graduate students who wish to study tectonophysics can enroll in a department that suits their backgrounds — usually geology or geophysics. To become affiliated with the center, a student must meet additional requirements set by the center. Handicapped tenants sue after getting eviction notices THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1978 Page 5 United Press International HOUSTON — Several physically handicapped apartment tenants Monday filed suit to prevent their landlords from canceling a federal contract and evicting them. Thirty-one tenants, most of them physically handicapped, charge they are being discriminated against be cause they are more injury-prone than other residents. Jim Reid, regional manager for Johnstown, said the handicapped tenants are not being cared for properly. Uayton to order hearings in his tax relief proposals United Press International [USTIN — Speaker Bill Clayton Tuesday he would order two Juse committees to begin im- Biate hearings on tax relief pro- gds in preparation for a possible lial session of the Legislature. Clayton met Monday with Gov. Dolph Briscoe to discuss the pros pects of a special session and said Tuesday he had at least two other bposals for tax relief to present to i^ governor. The speaker predicted Briscoe ill decide this week whether to vene a special legislative session consider proposals for property relief. We’re going to try to get the rges out this afternoon to the f ays and Means Committee and (institutional Amendments Com- Rtee to go ahead and begin hear ts on all subject matter that has )een discussed for consideration in ecial session,” Clayton said, he said he also planned to ask Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby’s consent for a joint interim committee studying prop erty tax reform to also study the sub ject of tax limitations. Clayton said information gener ated by the committee hearings would be useful during the 1979 Legislature if the governor decided against calling a special tax session this summer. The speaker said he would suggest to the governor a plan to tax agricultural land on its productive value rather than its market value and to tax residences on 80 percent rather than 100 percent of their market values. He said that such a plan would deprive local government units of about $150 million in property tax' revenue and that the income could be replaced from the state’s general revenue fund. “This would be one form of tax relief by taking money from the general revenue fund for these two classes, which seem to have a pretty big tax burden,” he said. He said his second proposal to present to Briscoe was a “truth in taxation” plan that also would re quired a two-thirds vote of local governments to increase property taxes more than 5 percent a year. Clayton, apparently the most act ive state leader in pushing for a spe cial session, said the session needed to begin about July 10 if it was to involve any constitutional changes such as the plan to tax agricultural land on its productive value. Because of the time limits, Clayton said he thought Briscoe would decide this week whether to call a special session. “I’m not trying to second guess him, but I feel like he’ll come to some decision relatively soon,” Clayton said. “I can’t help but be lieve the time is right to put a limit ing factor, or at least an accountabil ity factor, on the way things are done.’’ United Press International PRESIDIO — The United Farm orkers union will continue its tike of vegetable fields in remote est Texas until growers provide rinking water and adequate toilets, UFW spokesman said. Tive UFW members remained in Tuesday on charges of obstruct- g traffic during a strike Monday by Blon and onion pickers against al leged poor working conditions and low pay. The UFW, in its first concerted farm strike activity in Texas in re cent years, claimed 150 workers — 100 of them Mexican aliens -— walked off their jobs Monday, com plaining of lack of water and toilet facilities as the temperature climbed above 100 degrees in the Texas Big Bend area. “The grower also broke his con tract to pay $2.97 an hour and is pay ing just the $2.65 minimum wage,’’ spokesman Greg Trevino said from the UFW’s Texas headquarters at San Juan. Trevino said the workers had been harvesting melons and onions under such conditions for the past 10 days. “One of the reasons they’re treat ing the workers so bad is because they did not think the ones from Mexico would say anything,” he said. The UFW has maintained a Texas office since 1968, but in recent years has confined its activities to support ing union president Cesar Chavez’s boycotts of California products. 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