Finger Lakes Times

Tuesday, September 3,1985

y^T^f^nch team find the wreck QJifaeJitanic

(Newsday) They found the Titanic A team of scientists using an uttra-soptristicated deep-sea robot spotted the liner's grave at eaTly Sunday. It was 13,120 feet below the sea, about 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland and not far from where it sank 73 years ago as it crossed the North Atlantic o n its maiden voyage. " W e came upon it early this morning. Just bang, there it was right on top of us," said Dr. Robert Ballard, w h o headed the. U.S.-French expedition. " . , . W e went smack dab over a gorgeous boiler. It was just straight out of all the books " Ballard was aboard the U.S. Navy oceanographic survey ship Knorr, which carried super-sensitive cameras that scanned the floor of the sea after it was illuminated by Argo, an unmanned robot craft the size of an automobile The robot delved through wreckage the length of five football fields and allowed the scientists to take pictures of sights that BallawLdescribed as "unbelievablyfantastic." The Titanic, which- its British builders claimed " C o d Himself could not s i n k / ' was en route from Southampton to New York when it struck an iceberg. It went d o w n w i t h 1,513 passengers arml crew, as about 700 survivors scrambled for safety aboard insufficient numht>rs.nf lifeboats. This latest s e a r c h f o r t h e T i t a n i c began in late June, after months of secret negotiations between the sponsors Woods^ Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of the Sea and the National Geographic Society. The American and French institutes initially made detailed surveys of the area using undersea robots, super sensitive television cameras called " s w i m m i n g eyeballs" and sonar-mapping systems that can endure the most intense pressures of the deep sea. Ballard told Canada's CTV network in a ship-toshore interview that the scientists' initial reaction "was excitement, then a coming down off that to realize that w e had found the ship where 1,500 people had died. " A lot of us had researched it for so many years that to finally Pt those souls tor rest was a very nice feel8 " ,. <* Marshall D r e w , one of 21 living survivors of the Titanic, didn't share that feeling when he HearcFonTie discovery w h i l e visiting Long Island Monday. " I always felt that they should just leave it a l o n e , " saTd Drew, w h o i s t j i . I don t know what 'FTcTrJe * gained by looking for i t . " Drew was 8 years old when he tearfully said farewell to his uncle and boarded lifeboat number 11
in

w i t h his aunt before it was lowered 70 feet from the T i t a n i c ' s d e c k t o t h e dark sea It was like going down the side of a^kyseraper," said Drew 'UnfefgettableTjust unforgettable." Drew, who now lives in Westerly, R.I , was visiting Walter Mengeweit in Southold, Long Island. They met nine years ago when Mengeweit, a n^arine history buff, tracked d o w n Drew to get his story. It's a story that Drew, w h o taught fine arts in a Queens high school for 36 years, has.told over and over, in classrooms, in lecture halls, in television studios and as often in his o w n living room "The Titanic never really impressed me, he said, "because a kid just isn't impressed by ships built tor millionaires." But the memory of the disaster left a lasting impression. Monday, he recalled going to bed in a stateroom on Sunday, April 14 and being jarred when the ship struck the iceberg. He walked the steps to the boat deck where women and children were being loaded ""aBoarcT lifeboats. There, hisaunt. Lulu Drew, said goodbye to her husband, James. The Drews had taken their young nephew to Cornwall, Lngland, to visit reraTTvesfoTThe^winler: After the survivors had rowed some distance, Marshall Drew watched the ship sink There seemed to be a huge explosion w i t h steam, sparks and smoke,"

he recalled The next sound was the cry of hundreds of people across the water. At 2:15 arm. on April 15 the bridge slid under the 28 degree water; at 2:20 a m . , according to the history books, the two huge boilers burst from their beds, and the 46,328-ton ship turned on end and slowly slid into the sea. Besides 2,200 people, including lohn lacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim and George D Widener, as well as steerage-class passengers, the ship carried a fortune in jewels. A strong-room was said to be filled with diamonds valued then at $7 million $200 million today. In recent years treasure hunters have tried to find the ship, without success. Three times Jack Grimm, a Texas oilman w h o funded searches for the Loch Ness monster and Noah's ark, sent a team of experts to comb the waters with equipment that was supposed to be able to detect the location of the ship Ihree times the efforts, which cost him as much as $2 million, were inconclusive. Walt Disney productions once spent $70,000 on a study of the feasibility of finding the ship but decided against a costly search Formal announcement of the discovery is to be made simultaneously in Parts and Washington qn Sept. 13

47% in poll think there is life on other planets

NEW. YORK (AP) - About half of Americans believe the search for intelligent life on other planets is worth the money, and why not? About half believe such life exists, a Media General-Associated Press poll has f o u n d . 1 Forty-seven percent of the 1,517 respondents in the nationwide telephone poll said they believed in what has long been the staple of science fiction writers intelligent aliens from distant worlds. O n l y 36 percent did not believe intelligent lileexisted elsewhere. Forty-nine percent of the respondents also said the search for life on other planets, such as the work done with radio telescopes, was a good use of research money~-Eoity_di.vte p e j ^ T ^ . d i d not think the money was w e l l spent. While half the respondents^beTieved in intelligent ilfe^Tind-stippoTtethTesearctrto i i n d i t r most weren't eager to send someone to another w o r l d . Asked if landing an astronaut on another planet should be a was spent, compared with 21 percent of the men high priority or a low priority of the space program, only 36 percent said high priority. Fifty-four percent On the question of life on other planets, younger said it should be a low priority, and 10 percent and more educated people were more likely to weren't sure. believe in intelligent alien life than older and less educated people. About half of the 18- to 54-yearRiding on the space shuttle was also a desire of olds thought intelligent life existed on other planets, about half the respondents in the Media General-AP compared with 43 percent of the 55- to 64-year olds poll Two-thirds of the men sampled and one-third of and one-quarter of the 65 and older group the women w o u l d like a space ride Three in 10 Americans said they thought the United Fifty-two percent of college graduates believed in States spent too much money on its space program, life on other planets, compared with only 27 percent while about two in 10 believed morg money should of the high school dropouts. Forty-five percent of be spent. Four in 10 said the United States spent the high school graduates said they believed life existed right amount on its space program, and the rest were on other planets. _ unsure. On the question about riding in the shuttle, -Nearly 60 percent of the black respondents said tod^ ^ o u n g e r ^ e o p l e ^ v e r e "mofFTtkely to want a ride than older people. Two-thirds of the 18-to 34-year-olds much was spent on the space program, compared said they wanted to ride in the space shuttle, com with only 27 percent of the whites pared with nearly half the 35 to 54-year-olds, one Men were more likely than women to support the third of 55-to 64-year-olds and only 19 percent of space program: 37 percent of women said too much those 65 and older Respondents in the Media General Associated Press poll Included a random, scientific sampling of 1,517 adutts across the country July 5-13 As with all sample survey*, the results of Media General-AP telephone p o l l * can vary from the opinions of all Americans because of chance variation in the sample For a poU>4)ased_j>n about 1,500 interviews, fsults are subject to an error margin of 3 percentage* Joints either waybecause o i chance variations in the sample. -_^ Media General Inc., a communications company based in Richmond, Va , publishes the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond Newsteader; the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, and the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina The company's television stations are WXFL in Tampa, W C B D in Charleston, S.C., and WJKS in Jacksonville, Fla.

The end of summer sees teacher strikes underway in many states

(The Associated Press) Philadelphia teachers reached an 11th-hour tentative contract settlement to avert a strike in the nation's fifth-largest city, but a Chicago teachers' strike appeared inevitable as talks broke off early today. The 28,000 teachers in Chicago, the nation's thirdlargest school system, had been scheduled to report to work today to prepare for classes Wednesday for the district's 430,000 students. But talks recessed at 1:15 a.m. " d u e to a lack of progress," said federal mediator James Shepherd, and no new talks were scheduled. The breakoff apparently ended any hope for a last-minute settlement. As schools around the nation cranked up after Labor Day signaled the end of summer, 62,100 public school students found their vacations extended by teachers strikes under way inJviichigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania. A strike also loomed in Seattle, where negotiations began just after midnight. Without an agreement, teachers union leaders have said they would recommend that members vote to strike today, idling 44,000 students. And faculty at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N Y . , and Oakland University in Rochester, M i c h . , vowed to strike today, the first day of classes for both schools. In Chicago, the walkout was sanctioned by nearly 90 percent of about 4,000 teachers who voted late Monday, union officials said. " W e were real pleased w i t h the turnout, especially on a Labor D a y , " said Chuck Burdeen, spokesman for the Chicago Teachers Union. Meanwhile, a-coalition of 17 unions representing 12,000 teamsters, painters, boilers, engineers and other building and trade unions also go on strike to day against the Board of Education. Coalition Presi dent Tim Bresnahan of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134 said the coalition, dissatisfied over pay issues, voted Monday to strike Teachers' talks had broken off Sunday when the union, seeking a 9 percent pay increase, rejected a 3.5 offer by the school board. Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode said early today that the three-year pact with the 19,000member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers would require a property-tax increase of about 12 percent Negotiators declined to release details of the agreement pending final approval. The number of Michigan students affected by teachers strikes rose to 46,600 today as a walkout began in the Pontiac School District after contract talks failed to produce an agreement, union officials said. Teachers in Flint, w i t h 29,200 students, and Linden, w i t h 2,400 students, walked out last week But a week-old strike in Beecher was settled Monday night, sending 4,100 students to classes today

Citizens give Reagan a 'clean bill'

INDEPENDENCE, M o . (AP) Lewis Maxon came to the courthouse square to see for himself how his f r i e n d , Ronald Reagan, was doing after his cancer operation. He liked what he saw. " H e looked as good as he did in 1984 when I retired," said Maxon, appearing pleased. " I think he'll go on to extended life. He is of a hearty stock." Others said similar things, but among the thousands who were at the courthouse on Monday for the president's post-surgery, postvacation debut, Maxon had a unique basis for comparison. Last year Reagan came to the Ford Motor C o . plant in Claycomo, Mo. arid handed Maxon a plaque marking his retirement after 51 years. The president brought a present, too cufflinks with the presidential seal and even an autograph on the box. So w h e n he heard about Reagan's cancer, Maxon fired off a get-Well note and got a reply. Maxon's wife, Jewell, carries a picture of the retirement ceremony in her wallet. Maxon pointed to it. "Taking into account the short time since his surgery and his age, I think he c a m e through remarkably," he said. Jewell M a x on thought the 74-year-old president looked terrific. Maxon's twin sister, Lucille Noel they celebrated their 69th birthday Monday asserted that if doctors say they cut out all the cancer, thenthe cancer is all gone. " A doctor can tell you you haven't got i t , " she said. " I ' m the living proof. I had a double mastectomy. A month ago, the doctor said I'm free and clear. I don't even have to go for checkups any more." Maxon lives in Grain Galley, Mo., 20 miles east of Independence^HirsisteTisfrom Kansas City, a short hop to the west. " I liked what I saw," said Dave Ashley, a restaurant manager. in Kansas City. " H e was energetic.

On the ball. I don't see any

difference now from before the operation." With the temperature over 90, Reagan bounded up to the lectern and promptly took off his sport jacket. He l o o k e d tan andTesTe<ftn a blue golf shirt as if to invite c o m parison with the nearby statue of Harry S. Truman, caught mid-stride in one of his 120-paces-a-minute walks. " H e sounded like ,he always does," said Juanita Cooper, a bookkeeper from Kansas City. " H e sounded like Ronald Reagan." Will he live to serve out his term? "Yes," said Carolyn Niccum of Independence, a secretary. " I see no reason why he shouldn't." James-Davis^22r, came*, w i t h other shoe workers from Fulton to hear Reagan, who last Week refused to put sanctions on shoe imports.

D'Amato protests USSR 'slave labor'

NEW YORK (AP) - Consumers should be wary of the label " M a d e in the USSR," because the product may have been produced by forced prison l a b o r , Sen. Alfonse D'Amato warns. In spite of the 1930 Smoot-Harley rat sale of products made by convicts or forced labor, an estimated S180 million in goods produced by Soviet p o l i t i c a l prisoners are brought into the United States each year, the New York Republican saidMonday. As the nation honored American workers w i t h Labor Day parades and speeches, D'Amato called on the federal government to enforce the tariff act. le ~"0"nT a day when we ce the dignity of people's labor . . t h e obscenity of slave labor is on display in our very midst, ' said IFAmaToT h o l d i n g " carved chess piece. The chess set and wooden dolls were purchased at a Soviet book store on Fifth Avenue at 21st Street, Soviet prison t o r his religious outside of which D'Amato held a beliefs. sidewalk news conference. He was Speaking through an interpreter, joined by two Soviet emigres, both Vins described the inhumane former prisoners. conditions in the prisons, including " I n every Soviet product ... you bitter cold, constant Hunger, poor always will trace a drop of slave medical care, overcrowding, and labor," said Vladimir Dremlyuga, was^ imprisoned i n H o n o u r work days. Failure t o / B # # k ^ production quotas meant reduced labor camps for six years for demonstrating against the 1968 inrations. vasion of Czechoslovakia. Vins lives in Elkhart, I n d . , and works on behalf of the 2,000 unauthorized Baptist churches in The wood used to carve the dolls the Soviet Union.. He and four and chessmen was cut by forced others were released to the United labor in the Ural Mountains and the States in 1979 in exchange for t w o books were printed on paper made Soviet spies. from pulp wood choppadJby inmate The work camps are inhabited, laborers. The carving was done at a D'Amato said, by people " w h o s e labor camp, he said. only crime was that they attempted Dremlyuga was released t w o to practice their religion; they tried days before President Richard Nixto emigrate; they wanted to keep on visited Moscow in June 1974. their culture alive." He is a naturalized U S citizen and D'Amato, chairman of the lives in Jersey City, N.J., where he ictlon I monitors human rights violations, Georgi Vins, pastor of a Baptist said the tariff act is ignored by the church that did not have the Treasury Department and the approval of the Soviet government, Customs Service said he spent seven years in a

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Thomas M. Tryniski 309 South 4th Street Fulton New York 13069

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