ustxtxb_obs_1983_07_22_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

Fine Food and Drink located behind the historic Tarpon Inn, Port Aransas. Information for Historians, Researchers, Nostalgia Buffs, & Observer Fans Bound Volumes: The 1982 bound issues of The Texas Observer are now ready. In maroon, washable binding, the price is $20. Also available at $20 each are volumes for the years 1963 through 1981. Cumulative Index: The clothbound cumulative edition of The Texas Observer Index covering the years 1954-1970, plus annual supplements through 1978, may be obtained for $20. A second cumulative edition from 1971 through 1981 will be available by mid-year. Back Issues: Issues dates January 10, 1963, to the present are available at 75 cents per issue. Earlier issues are out of stock, but photocopies of articles from issues dated December 27, 1962, will be provided at 75 cents per article. Microfilm: The complete backfile dividual years may be ordered separately. To order, or to obtain additional information regarding the 35mm microfilm editions, please write to Univ. Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. to the Observer Business Office. Texas residents please add the 5% sales tar to your remittance. Materials will be sent postpaid. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 600 W. 7 ST. AUSTIN 78701 interviewed said the sirens sounded like far-off police sirens and they would pay no attention to them in a real emergency. When Board Chairman Peter Bloch asked if the plan approved by FEMA identified “which people participating in an emergency would require training?” FEMA’s answer was “No.” Bloch: “Then how do you know who will need to be trained?” FEMA: “They will ask.” Bloch: “Who is ‘they’?” FEMA: “Those who need training.” Bloch: “Do the police need training?” FEMA: “Yes, but we have no tool to assess that . . . we will ask the police during the October drills if they feel comfortable with the knowledge they have.” \(Laughter erupted from the audience from citizens who know well the “noAt the end of the testimony FEMA witnesses said the plans are “generally adequate” with “some deficiencies.” Jordon replied, “My problem is that is ok.” CASE’s response was more blunt. “It’s a paper plan carried out by paper people,” Juanita Ellis said. When asked why the two judges had not been called to testify, Armstrong said he had spent several hours with Judge Crump and the judge understood the plan 2.t and signed it. Preister said later that he too had spent Several hours with the judge three days earlier and the judge’s understanding of “exercises and drills seemed to be radically different from the state’s. “By any estimate,” Preister said, “the Hood County and Somervell County plans flunk the federal standards. Even if you don’t look at it from a legal standpoint, just a practical matter, there are serious problems in Somervell County. The judge doesn’t know who is going to pay for the county’s emergency commitments. Money and resources are genuine issues . . . the counties can’t afford to do what they will be called on to do in a radiological emergency . . . so who is going to pay for it? “I don’t see how FEMA can conclude the plan is adequate. That’s a gross misrepresentation.” Mavis Belisle, a longtime Dallas opponent to the plant, asked if there were any provisions in the plan for warnings in Spanish to be broadcast over the Emergency Broadcast System or any provisions for those in isolated areas of the county who may not have phones to be notified; the answers were “No.” Somervell County has a large Spanishspeaking population and regardless of the increase in construction jobs at the plant, Somervell is still one of the poorer counties in the state. Also, there are many inaccessible areas in the state parks and several summer church camps filled with children each year.* *Some additional and significant insight into the state’s Radiological Emergency Response Plan’s own weaknesses was given unintentionally by the TDH’s Radiological Division’s Clarence Born, speaking to a radiation emergency seminar held at A&M on February 19, sponsored by the South Texas Health Physicists Association. According to one participant, Born assured the listeners that the state had hospitals, equipment and clothing lined up for radiation emergencies but not for “local accidents” only “major events.” The participant said that Born seemed to be primarily concerned with Comanche Peak and the need for the state to help the utility get its first nuclear plant open. Born said the state would be able to get all the protective clothing and equipment it would need from suppliers such as Ludlum and Durafab to meet an emergency. But one nuclear rep said that his company had to wait weeks for orders, asking Born, “Did you know that the two companies do not stock that much clothing and equipment?” Illus tra t ion by Ka r l Fran klin 6 JULY 22, 1983