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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1981)
THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1981 National Page 9 !s > net- 'anitej, he only are liate.lv lesuin. 1 grow- hutors ighout eulture sports luce to >e to tile Q the ty. out," lazard prog- ilswe i later is just ionil- utlie iresi- eagan d Group raps clandestine tests United Press International WASHINGTON — A 1966 re port to the U.S. Army’s biological [warfare laboratory, just released by the government, details what critics are calling the largest open- air germ warfare test yet to be dis- jclosed. Documents obtained by the f lChurch of Scientology show a che mical used to simulate the disper sion of chemical or biological war fare agents was sprayed over a 10,000-square mile test area around Victoria, Texas, in 1965. The 17 tests, conducted be tween July 11 and Aug. 9, in volved the offshore release of zinc cadmium sulfide from two F-105 jet fighters. The chemical cloud was found to have been carried as far as 110 miles inland. ’ The Church of Scientology, t which has culled evidence of num erous such tests from government [records acquired under the Free dom of Information Act, said the Victoria experiment — like the others — was carried out without notice to local officials or the public. It also said the test raises addi tional questions about the possible harmful effects of zinc cadmium sulfide, which the Army contends is safe but the church — citing the findings of a Canadian pharmaco logist and a former Army scientist calls a potential health hazard. The report to the Army Biolo gical Laboratories at Fort Detrick, Md., showed the Victoria test area was “between Corpus Christi and Freeport on the coast and bound-' 1 I d inland by San Antonio, Austin nd Houston.” Sampling devices were placed )n 270-foot towers on Matagorda Island and outside Victoria and at |6 smaller sampling stations scat- fred over the test area. | The area of dispersion was far reater than that reported in a p61 test, in which quantities of nc cadmium sulfide were re used into the air from a 1,400- rt television transmission tower the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In a letter to Sen. John Tower, Texas, chairman of the Senate med Services Committee, >kesman Brian Anderson re- ved the church’s call for a ban open-air testing. Creationists fight evolution Staff photo by Chuck Chapman Bent out of shape Senior Scott Parma thinks about the $47.50 it will take to replace the bent front wheel of his bike. Parma is an electrical engineering major from Irving. He bent the wheel on a curb by Davis-Gary. United Press International SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An eighth grader will testify on behalf of Bible fundamentalists who claim state public schools violate childrens’ freedom of religion by teaching Darwin’s theory of evolu tion as the only scientific explana tion of life. When testimony resumed to day, prosecuting attorney Richard Turner was expected to call San Diego public school student Kasey Segrave, 13, as a witness. The boy’s father, Kelly Segrave, is director of Creation Science Re search Center, a Christian- oriented foundation that lodged the suit against the state. The plaintiffs want Superior Court Judge Irving Perluss to order the state Board of Education to rewrite its science education guidelines, which now authorize only the theory of evolution in accounting for the origin and de velopment of life. “The Segrave kid isn’t being taught evolution, he’s being taught scientific concepts,” Depu ty Attorney General Robert Tyler told reporters after Monday’s ses sion, noting Kasey Segrave is an eighth grader. He said California students aren’t introduced to evo lution until the 10th grade. “I don’t want to crossexamine the boy,” Tyler said. “They say he was exposed to evolution. I just want specifics.” The two attorneys stipulated Kasey would be the only Segrave child to testify, although his brothers, Jason 12, and Kevin, 7, are named as co-plaintiffs in the suit. In opening statements Monday at the non-jury trial expected to last a week, Turner steered clear of challenging evolution, but said there should be room for more than one theory of life’s origin. “This is not a monkey trial,” he told Perluss. “We are not trying to ban evolu tion. We seek protection for the right to believe in a cause. The real issue is religious freedom under the First Amendment of the Con stitution.” Turner said Kasey and two other Segrave children were being told “their religious beliefs are wrong” in science classes where evolution was presented as a fact. Tyler unsuccessfully sought to have the case dismissed on the grounds there was no infringe ment of constitutional rights. He said science takes a neutral posi tion about religion and cited court decisions in other states where public schools were not required to present all possible theories in the teaching of science. In denying Tyler’s motion for dismissal, Perluss said religious freedom was a key provision of the Constitution. “I see no reason why we should not proceed,” he added. Tyler has enlisted author- astronomer Carl Sagan and other stars of American science to de fend the state’s way of teaching. If they actually testify, it won’t be until later in the trial. Turner began his presentation with a three-hour grilling of Robert L. Howe, program admi nistrator for curriculum frame work for the state Department of Education. Howe testified the free tex tbooks the state supplies public school students conform to guide lines set up by advisory commit tees and approved by the Board of Education. He said local school boards were free to buy other texts if they paid for them with local funds. 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