Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1981-03-05

              i ' 5 i r
STATE iilST. aiC '. , CItIY
' HITT & LOWRY . T.
COLUMBIA, UJ. b52' Ji
73rd Year No. 145 Good Morning! It's Thursday, March 5, 1981 14 Pages 25 Cents
Budget ax to make final cut in poverty war
WASHINGTON ( UPI) - President Reagan
plans to finish the job left undone by Richard
Nixon and dismantle what's left of the War on
Poverty the Community Services Adminis-tration,
a spokesman for the agency confirmed
Wednesday.
The spokesman said the Reagan administra-tion's
budget proposals, to be announced Tues-day,
will cut back sharply on the agency's cur-rent
spending and reduce its 1982 fiscal year
budget to zero.
The agency distributed as much as $ 1.9 bil-lion
a year to the poor during its heyday in the
late 1960s when it was known as the Office of
Economic Opportunity.
It is one of the few federal agencies to be
eliminated in the Reagan administration's
drive to trim the growth in federal spending.
The Carter administration had proposed to
keep its budget next year the same as this year,
at $ 541.5 million dollars.
The attempt will be the second by a Republi-can
administration to do away with the anti- pover- ty
agency President Lyndon Johnson cre-ated
in 1984.
Early in his second term, Nixon also pro- -
posed to " zero- budge- t" the Office of Economic
Opportunity, but ran into fierce resistance on
Capitol Hill and in the courts.
In the end, a federal court ruled the disman-tling
efforts of the Nixon- appoint- ed agency di-rector,
Howard Phillips, were illegal partly
because his name had never been submitted to
the Senate for confirmation.
But OEO veterans say it never fully recov-ered
from the Nixon onslaught, which triggered
an exodus of career professionals. Several of its
most popular programs, like the Head Start
pre- scho- ol project, were spun off to other agen
cies. Many of the programs' most ardent de-fenders
have either left Congress or have joined
the minority in the Senate.
The Community Services Administration
pays for job training, placement programs and
senior citizen service centers but to a lesser
degree. It also retains a community devel-opment
program to help businesses establish
themselves in areas of high unemployment.
The agency employs about 1,000 people, 550 of
them scattered outside Washington in the 900
Community Action offices still maintained
around the country.
Other more basic social aid programs, mak-ing
up what President Reagan calls the " social
safety net," including food stamps and Social
Security benefits, remain exempt from budget
cutting. They account for about a third of pro-jected
1982 expenditures.
The Reagan administration proposes to chan-nel
other surviving social services through
block grant programs, which allow state and
municipal governments to decide how to spend
the money. Forty grant programs would be
combined into one under this proposal.
M. U. anticipates
enrollment gain
By Gary Graff
Missourlan staff writer
Despite a decline in the number of
graduating high school seniors, the
University is following a national trend
by reporting an increase in freshman
applicants for the 1981- 6- 2 school year.
Application statistics as of March 1
show 7,016 have applied for admission
as new freshmen, opposed to 6,309 at
the same time last year, an 11 percent
increase. The University's current
freshman class is the largest ever en-rolled.
In addition to new freshman applica-tions,
the University's statistics show
an almost 29 percent increase in trans-fer
applications. The figures indicate a
total 13 percent increase in new stu-dent
applications.
A survey conducted by John Minter
Associates for the Chronicle of Higher
Education found the national average
of freshman applicants up 13 percent
from last year. The Minter organizaton
found a 7 percent increase in private
colleges, while rates for public colleges
and universities rates increased by 16
percent.
In addition to the application in-crease,
Gary Smith, University direc- t- or
of admissions and registrar, said
there has been a 7 percent increase in
applicants who have made a prepay-ment
to reserve a spot in the 1981- 8- 2
freshman class.
" We projected an increase, but a
modest one," Smith said. " If that ( the
application rate) continues as it is, it
wm be more than we anticipated."
Chancellor Barbara S. Uehling pre-dicted
the application increase in her
January press conference, though last
year she predicted enrollment to drop
over a five- ye- ar period.
Smith said several factors are con-tributing
to the increase in freshman
applications.
" The decrease in high school grad-uates
has not started down, to a signifi-cant
degree yet," he said. " I think
we're seeing a swing back to where the
18-- to 25- year--
old population has an in-creased
value in education."
This increase may be partially
caused by a decrease in jobs available
to graduating high school seniors,
Smith said. Not only are there fewer
jobs available aftergraduation, but the
quality of those jobs make them less
attractive, according to the Minter re-port
" There's always a correlation,"
Smith said. " When unemployment is
up, you pick up some students."
" One of the top criterion ( for choos-ing
a university) students always list is
the availability of the program and its
reputation," be said.
The March 1 totals of previous years
show a steady application increase. In
1978, the March 1 figure had 5,529 ap-plicants
and 3,522 new freshmen at-tending
the University in the falL In
1979, the March 1 total was 5,805 with
4,034 new freshmen.
- - V. -.- "- " - -- -- .-"-
. "- KofeJftrBmrtt And they're off . . .
Wednesday's fog and rain didn't keep prospective Rock Bridge runners trekked five miles ( 8 kilometers) along Providence
High School track team members from getting a workout. The- - Road.
University prospects for patent gold
By Susan Darr
Mbsourian staff writer
Spending about $ 40,000 a year for a re-turn
of only 16,000 in annual revenue ordi-narily
doesn't seem like an economically
sound venture. But, for one University de-partment,
it's the investment you make
when you're chasing the pot of gold at the
end of the rainbow.
That's what the University's Office of
Research Program Services is doing, said
office Director Paul R. Keenan.
The office promotes patents for inven-tors
among the University students, fac- -
Insight
ulty and staff as one of its duties related to
research performed on the four campuses.
The 1880- 8- 1 budget for patents and copy-righting
expenses is $ 33,678. Income from
the 28 patents registered for the four cam-puses
added up to a slim $ 6,874.89 during
fiscal year 1979- 8- 0 a figure that Keenan
said is comparable to what his office ex-pects
to generate this year.
While the University's current return is
small, official point out a single success-ful
patent, such as those registered by the
University of Wisconsin and Iowa State
University, can turn the balance sheet
around in a hurry.
The University of Wisconsin has had four
patents which have earned more than $ 1
million apiece over their 17- ye- ar patent
lives. Two of the patents were based on the
chemical product, warfarin, which, in
large doses, is a rat- kill- er and, in small
doses, keeps some heart patients alive by
thinning blood to prevent clotting.
The rat- kOl- er is a basic product on
America's farms while the blood- thinn- er
received wide public attention in the 1950s
when President Eisenhower disclosed be
was taking the material in small amounts
to prevent dotting following heart attacks
suffered while in office.
Iowa State's patent for diethylstubeste- ro- l,
or DES, was an example of the good
and the bad in the patent- registratio- n com-petition.
In small doses, it was a growth stimulant
used to fatten cattle quicker and, in large
doses, was used to speed human maturity
and stop growth for people who dont want
to grow taller.
While the patent earned over $ 4 million
in . revenue for Iowa State University, it
also earned the Big Eight school a lot of no-toriety
in 1972 when the Food and Drug Ad- ministrat- ion
banned its use in cattle feed
ing.
Research had indicated trace amounts of
the cancer- causin- g substance present in
the livers of animals slaughtered for mar-ket.
The animals had been fed DES within
48 hours of slaughter, a violation of the
product instructions. The ban was repealed
in 1975, but the patent had expired in 1973.
One University researcher believes lack
of legal expertise is holding back the Uni-versity's
dollar- reapin- g potential. Mostafa
Fahim, University professor in the Obstet-rics
and Gynecology department said,
" The University is sitting on a gold mine of
patents, but it's not their fault. The Univer-sity
people are honest and trusting. But
many of the companies are crooks."
Fahim cited the problem the University
has had with licensing his patent for a birth
control method for men using ultrasound,
high frequency sound waves that painles-sly
kill sperm.
Fahim said the licensee hasn't kept up
with his payments and is threatening to file
bankruptcy, which could tie up the patent
in the legal system for the remainding 10
years its life.
Keenan couldn't comment because liti-gation
may result if the University can't
resolve the problem with the licensee.
" That's the risk we take in doing busi-ness,"
Keenan said. " Every business takes
risks. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it
doesn't. We don't have a crystal balL We
work in good faith and hope for the best."
University faculty, students and employ-ees
are obliged, under their contractual
agreements, to have their inventions pat-ented
in the name of the curators, unless
the invention was created during the re-searcher's
free time.
The inventor gets one- thir- d of the income
from royalties and licensing fees while the
remainder is divided among the inventor's
academic department, the inventor's cam-pus
and the university as a whole for use in
research or other scholarly activities, Kee-nan
said.
Keenan said parsistance in marketing
eventually will pay off. Promoting patent-s'
a little like being a traveling
salesman. You know you're going to sell
toone out 10 customers, but which one?
That's why marketing is so important."
Extensive marketing programs don't
come cheap.
Keenan's program begins with a six-- to
18- mon- th patent process, costing between
$ 1,000 and $ 3,500 per patent. With six pat-ent
applications in process, costing about
$ 20,000, a patent and copyright consultant's
retainer fee of $ 15,000, and$ 5,000 more for
( See UNIVERSITY, Page 14)
For the birds
. A University professor s invention might end
unwanted pregnancies for pigeons, that is
By Susan Darr
Iffissoarian staff writer
University professor William Elder says,
with a chuckle and a bumble shake of his
bead, he has no reason to believe the Vati-can
has denounced his invention an oral
contraceptive for birds.
Elder's patent for Ornitrol may be the
most in" gi of the 78 inventions by Uni-versity
students, faculty and staff that the
University Office of Research Program
Services will promote at a worldwide in-ventors
conference in Atlanta in mid- Marc- h.
The Vatican, as well as public buildings
and momi" yrt throughout Europe and
the United States, bears graphic evidence
of pigeon over- populatio- n. Elder says mar-keting
research confirms what ordinary
citizens know: that pigeons obstruct air
traffic, contaminate food, water and grains
meant for human consumption and spread
diseases, as well as decorate statues and
cars with droppings.
The company that markets Elder's bird
contraceptive says the product is sold in
Italy, but said there is no way to know
whether any of the product is used on pi-geons
at the Vatican, which, of course, has
firm views on human contraception.
The contraceptive passes the non- violen- ce
test of the American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a zoolog-ical
pro- lif- e group. Instead of poisoning the
birds, Elder's creation inhibits ovulation in
female birds and development of sperm in
the male birds, limiting successive genera-tions.
Elder, a University professor in forestry,
fisheries and wildlife, said the contracep-tive
is a chemical soaked into whole- kern- el
com that sterilizes females for about six
months and males for three months, when
the birds are fed once a day for 10 days.
Most songbirds cant swallow wnote- ker- n- d
com bat, if they did, sterilization woubl
be only temporary, Elder says. The effect
on waterfowl and other wildlife is not
known, he says.
To restrict consumption of the product to
pigeons, federal, state and municipal gov-ernment
agencies, bird protection groups,
pest control companies and universities
are instructed to scatter the kernels on
roof- top- s, bell towers, grain elevators and
other traditional pigeon- feedin- g locations
in the early spring and falL
The product is the result of a decade of
research, prompted by a request of Colum-bia
officials for an answer to the local pi-geon
problem.
After five years of research to find the
right dosage for an effective chemical that
wasn't lethal, Elder set out on field tests in
the hay lofts of High Hill and Moberly. He
then moved on to possibly the ultimate
proving ground Central Park in New
York City.
The ASPCA contacted him to test the
product in Central Park because an old
woman who fed the birds every day had in
sisted the association look into the possibil-ity
of using a contraceptive, to avoid use of
poison.
Elder is emphatic about wanting only to
curb the bird population, not eliminate it.
He says birds are important to city- dwelle- rs
because " pigeons are the only living
things some city people ever see."
Paul R. Keenan, the University Office of
Research Program Services director, at-tends
conferences annually to interest
commercial licensing companies, maehine
manufacturers and chemical companies in
various inventions by University employ-ees.
University employees are required by
their employment contracts to patent tbeir
research results in the name of the cura-tors.
In fiscal year 1979- 8- 0, Ornitrol reaped
a grand total of $ 290.21 in royalties to be di-vided
among Elder, his department and
the four University of Missouri cam-puses
a figure that shouldn't upset too
many pigeon pro- lifer- s.
Magistrate bans
prison officials
from using force
By Michelle Ruess
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY A federal magistrate has issued a pre-liminary
injunction against Missouri State Penitentiary officials
accused of using excessive force against an inmate.
In a 22- pa- ge opinion issued Tuesday, U. S. Magistrate Richard
H. Ralston prohibited Warden Donald Wyricfc and other officials
from " taking measures involving threats or physical abuse"
against inmate Ronald L. Parton.
In February, Parton filed a lawsuit contending that Wyrick and
four prison officers severely beat him when he was brought to the
Jefferson City prison from the Moberly Correctional Center for
Men last August.
In his opinion, Ralston wrote that Parton had testified ' ' as to ex-cessive
abuse by prison officials" and " offered evidence that pris-on
authorities have made threats, at least of a veiled nature, to
dissuade his pursuit of legal remedies."
Ralston wrote that five witnesses testified during a Feb. 19 hear-ing
in ' Jefferson City that Wyrick or other officers had beaten and
kicked prisoners brought to the prison after a disturbance at the
Moberly facility. Wyrick and other prison employees have denied
the allegations.
Parton is serving his sixth year of a 23- ye- ar rape and kidnap-ping
sentence handed down in Columbia. He is seeking a perma-nent
injunction against physical abuse by prison officials and is
asking for $ 12,500 in damages. Raltson said Parton must remain in
the Jefferson City prison until his complaint is heard in U. S. Dis-trict
Court.
In Columbia Tuesday, two of Parton's relatives expressed satis-faction
at the injunction.
" I'm hopeful this will kind of cut down on the threats and in-nuendo,"
said Kathy Parton, of High Hill Circle mobile home
court '' This is more than he hoped for."
Ms. Parton, who was married to Parton for six years, visits Par- to- n
four times each month.
Parton's brother, Gene Parton, Route 9, said the temporary in-junction
was good news but not a '' permanent solution.''
Inside today
Hickman to play Rock Bridge
By virtue of semi- fin- al victories for Hickman and Rock
Bridge Wednesday in the state 4A district basketball tourna-ment
at Rock Bridge, the two teams wttl meet for the first
time ever at 8 pjn. in Friday's final. See the story in the
Sports section on page 7.
Ira town
today
9: tua. Meeting, Boone
County Court, court cham- -
fifth floor, County- Cit- y IbeBrui, lding.
Index
Bngjaesi u
Classified 5- 1- 0
Comics 12
Theater 13 I
Sports . 7-- 8 I
Weather ..... .2