Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1977-11-04

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70th Year - No. 43 Hood Morning! It's Friday. Nor. 4. 1977 2 Sections - 22 Pages - 15 Cents
Insight
Fear makes
housewives
homebonnd
Phobia considered
'most common'
in U.S., Europe
By Louise Cook
Associated Press
NEW YORK Imagine being afraid
to leave your home. So afraid, in fact,
that you can't mail a letter, go to work,
or attend your child's graduation. So
afraid, that you remain housebound for
years on end, virtually paralyzed at the
nought of going outside.
Hundreds of thousands of people,
most of them women, suffer exactly
this kind of fear. They are victims of a
sickness known as agoraphobia
which takes its name from the Greek
word for market and means fear of
public places.
Dr. Clair Weekes, an author and
specialist in the field, says that the
number of agoraphobics in the United
States alone has been estimated at IV4
million.
Fraser Kent, author of a recent book
on phobias, said agoraphobia is con-sidered
the most common phobia in
North America and Europe today. He
said up to two-thir- ds of all phonics
seeking treatment suffer from
agoraphobia to some extent.
Dr. Weekes, 75, practiced medicine in
her native Australia for 38 years. Since
retiring a little more than a decade ago,
she has traveled widely in the United
States and Great Britain, lecturing on
the subject of agoraphobia and treating
patients by what she calls "remote
direction" through the use of her books
and cassette tape recordings. Her
' books have been translated into eight
languages.
in "a roceni interview, Dr.WMK
said agoraphobia called
"homebound housewives' syndrome"
in England "is one of the most in-capacitating
of nervous illnesses."
She said one woman went for 10 years
without setting foot outside her house.
Other agoraphobics are afraid to take a
bath; afraid they will have a spasm of
fear while undressed, and will become
vulnerable. They lie to their friends,
making excuses for not leaving home.
Often, their marriages and families
break up before they seek help.
Eighty percent of the victims are
women, Dr. Weekes said. "Men have
got to go to work," she added, but said
many men who suffer from
agoraphobia will not travel from city to
' city and insist on remaining in familiar
surroundings.
Agoraphobia can be brought on by a
variety of problems. Victims become
"sensitized," Dr. Weekes said, and feel
the symptoms of fear much more
strongly than the ordinary person.
"Anything that is a shock to the nervous
(See FEAR, Page 14A)
- 1 1 'jiTWie'w!'",
Mfce Brier Car hops :
It may not be the latest craze to hit the disco scene, but this rooftop
dancing seems to suit these two children from Shady Lakes Trailer
Court just fine. Interestingly enough, they seem content to leave
their dance a sock-ho- p.
Ma wn
today .
7 pan. Astronomy film, "The
Crab Nebula," 114 Physics
Building, University.
7:30 p.m. Thorton Wilder's
"The Matchmaker," Launer
Auditorium, Columbia College.
7:30 p.m. Rodgers and Ham-merstei- n's
"Oklahoma" at the
Hickman High School
auditorium.
7:30 pan. University Opera --
Theater presents "H.M.S.
Pinafore," Hall Theater.
See Sunday's Vibrations
magazine for exhibitschedules.
Movie listings on Page 2B.
Child in 'space suit9
is able to conquer
immunity deficiency
HOUSTON (UPI) Doctors
Thursday unveiled a "space suit" that
has enabled six-year-- old David, an
immunity-deficie- nt child, to hug his
mother and walk outside his
protective bubble for the first time.
The child, whose lastname has been
withheld, lacks the natural organisms
that protect most people from minor
infections and has never touched skin
other than his own.
NASA and Texas Children's
Hospital developed the $20,000 rubber,
plastic and nylon suit with a bubble
helmet It was financed by taxpayers
under the agency's "spinoff"
development program.
Before the suit was designed, David
had never been outside protective
cells constructed for him to his home,
fee hospital anda van.
"His eyes were huge" the first time
he tried the suit last July, nurse Brynn
Holcombe said. "He didn't say
anything. It was his expression. He
keptlooldngattbegloves."
"He was looking around, hugging
Us family, because he bad never
-- really gotten to do that, and be said,
'Let's go take a walk.'"
NASA's Dr. Loo Bergman said the
suit is like quarrantlne clothes worn
by astronauts after return from space
more than actual space, suits. It is
II
1
' : 1 v '.
attached to a portable filter system on
a cart which David can ride when he
gets tired and has multiple layers to
protect against puncture, he said.
David's physician, Dr. Buford
Nichols, said the suit was developed in
order to facilitate David's continued
development despite his handicap. He
said it is unknown whether the boy
will ever escape bis protected en-vironment
"He's an intelligent child, but he
doesn't have the cultural experience
that we like him to have," Nichols
said. "We can allow him to develop
physical skills be can't develop in the
present isolator. You saw how clumsy
he was."
Nichols showed a film of David
climbing into and trying the suit at the
hospital. He has to climbthrough a
tube leading from his bubble. -
He smiled, shouted, "I like it,"
played with toys and reached out for
his family and associates.
David has been limited In his
movements and '.exploration of the
outside world. But now there is talk of
taking him to the zoo.
Officials' said logistics and the
requirement of support personnel
make it unlikely the suit will be used
more than cnce a week In the' near
future.
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Reaching out to touch others is a new ex-perience
for S-year-
-old David, who suffers from
severe combined immunity deficiency and has
, spent his life in a plastic bubble to isolate him
from the germs his body has no protection
against. A space suit-lik- e mobile filter system
designed by NASA lets David's mother hold him
in her arms.
1 t
Foster to request
raises for deputies
By Max Baker
Missourian staff writer
Boone County Sheriff Charlie Poster
wants to increase the salaries of his
deputies to keep them from being lured
away by higher paying jobs elsewhere.
Foster will ask the Boone County
Court to approve a 12 to IS percent
increase in the sheriffs department
budget for 1S78. His budget request, to
be submitted formally later this month,
will ask that $231,640 of the $330,945
proposal be alloted for increased wages
and salaries.
Foster got $50 per month pay in-creases
for the deputies in February
and July of this year. His proposed
budget asks for two more $50 raises in
January and July.
The budget proposal also includes
allocations for two new patrol cars and
false-arre- st insurance.
The sheriffs department has a larger
budget than any other county depart-ment.
In 1976 Foster asked for a total
budget of $273,240 and was awarded
$263,870. But by the end of the year,
Foster said he expects to spend
$285,815.
The sheriffs department spent
$204,280 for wages this year, and Foster
said he hopes to bring his deputies'
salaries even with Columbia police
officers within one year. A Columbia
city policeman may start as high as
$799 a month while Boone County
deputies' starting pay is $650 a month.
"I've lost two or three good guys,
good officers who liked their job,
because of the money. Some places pay
$300 more a month. Why that's enough
to pay the rent and utilities," Foster
said.
Foster said he did not plan to increase
the size of his staff; that he would
rather keep the deputies he has instead
of hiring new ones.
"I'd rather keep a man who is trained
and knows the county than hire another
man," Foster said. "It is much better to
have a few good men and salaries good
enough to keep them."
In a telephone survey of neighboring
counties, the Missourian found that
Cole, Calloway and Cooper Counties
have a higher starting pay for deputies,
while Randolph and Audrain Counties
pay less. In Moniteau County, a judge
decides on each deputy's pay.
The starting wages in the adjacent
counties are: Randolph, $625;
Calloway, $750; Cooper, $700; Cole,
$730; and Audrain, $450;
Ted Salmon, sheriff of Calloway
County, said his deputies' salaries were
"entirely too low."
According to Foster, morale at the
Boone County Sheriffs office is better
today than when he took office.
"I think the better working facilities
in the court house, the radar gun, and
the improved salaries have helped a
lot," Foster said. "Now I can't take all
the credit for that (increased morale)
but I think increased'wages again next
year will do the same."
Korea OKs interview
of Park, reports say
N.Y. Times Service
SEOUL, South Korea The South
Korean government has agreed to let
American officials question Tongsun
Park at the U.S. embassy here, reliable
diplomatic sources said Thursday.
The sources said the United States,
through Ambassador Richard L.
Sneider, had accepted the proposal in
principle. Sneider had a 40-minu- te talk
with Korean Foreign Minister Tong Jin
Park Thursday morning, presumably
to consider the protocol of when and
how to question the Korean
businessman.
Thursday's development appeared to
be a modest breakthrough in the
current impasse allegedly caused by
the Korean government's refusal to
cooperate in the U.S. Justice Depart-ment's
probe of a so-call-ed Korean
influence buying scheme on
Washington's Capitol Hill.
Seoul had earlier rejected the idea of
having the "Korean rice dealer in-terrogated
inside the U.S. embassy, on
grounds it would compromise South
Korea's judicial sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Park offered no com-ment
on progress of these talks.
Tongsun Parlt wra!)
To be questioned
Conflict of interest discussed
Coal gas firm's ties a surprise
By John Schneller and Jim Stern
Missourian staff writers
Energy officials were caught by
surprise Thursday by the news that a
consulting firm deeply involved in a
publicly funded study of a proposed
coal gasification complex has business
ties to the major coal supplier in
Missouri.
Fluor Corporation, a multinational
energy development firm, earlier this
year bought a 10 percent interest in
Peabody Holding Co., the largest coal
company in the state, while its sub-sidiary,
Fluor Engineers and Con-structors
Inc., was employed as a
major subcontractor in a study ad-vocating
construction of a coal
gasification plant in mid-Missou- ri.
Energy officials contacted Thursday
agreed that Fluor, a leader in the coal
gasification industry, and Peabody, the
nation's largest coal company, both
stand to benefit from the construction
of any coal gasification complexes. But
the officials were unwilling to say
whether they consider .the firms'
business ties of little significance or a
substantial conflict of interest
The technical expertise supplied by
Fluor Engineers and Constructors
played a pivotal role in a study which
declared the proposed complexes to be
economically and technically sound.
Harrison Lesh, a Peabody vice
president, Wednesday termed Fluor's
involvement in the proposed
gasification centers "small peanuts."
Peabody itself, however, has expressed
an interest in supplying the more than
one million tons of coal required each
year to run one center.
Jim Newman, regional director for
the US. Department of Energy, said he
never suspected that Fluor and
Peabody share financial interests. He
refused, however, to say if he considers
the relationship a conflict of interest.
likewise, City Manager Terry Novak
was noncommittal. "I don't know if it
should be excused ornot," he said. "I
have no expertise in the area of
engineering ethics or anti-tru- st
regulations."
Two leading critics of the Phase II
report found by members of a City
Council-appointe- d task force to be
biased and misleading in favor of
gasification Thursday said they don't
think news of the Fluor-Peabo- dy
connection will amount to much.
"The whole thing is one more
relatively small item that casts further
doubt on the whole report," said
William Wiecek, co-chairm-an of
(See PROFESSOR, Page 14A)
Housing plan
not doomed,
officials say
By Betty Connor
Missourian staff writer
City Council opposition to a proposed
subsidized housing project on East
Walnut Street doesn't necessarily doom
the project, say federal and state of-ficials
who will make the crucial
decisions.
Federal officials say they expect
some community objection to this type
of low-inco- me housing project. State
officials say Columbia's Housing
Assistance Plan, on which the council
based its strongest case against the
project, may be too ambiguous to
support the city's objection.
Instead, federal officials will be
looking at the developer's financial
position and whether Columbia needs
new subsidized housing.
The future of the project "will not be
decided on the basis of political
pressure," said Donald Flint, area
counsel for the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development He
said problems such as thoae advanced
by the East Walnut Neighborhood
Association in opposing the project
potential overloading en schools and
utilities are expected and "usually
worked out by amending project
rather than dumping a protect '
Ken Flood, of FfcW (Flood k Wife)
Construction, has asked HUD to insure
a mortage of about 04 million for a 8fc
(See PROJECT, Page 1IA)