The Minneapolis Star from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 27

Hazardous-waste dump for state probably is a little orphan ugly Jim I 1 Klobuchar Llfcl In a series of public meetings last week before specific candidate sites for the dump had even been chosen more than 2,000 people The housewives of America, grieves Shawn O'Rourke Gilbert of north Minneapolis, are squandering the best years of their lives on hold. She wants women to make some organized response to this telephonic exile. It should have been on the agenda of the National Women's Conference. Somewhere among all of the motions urging lesbians' rights and abortion forever, she says, there should have been some strong, unflinching voices demanding the liberation of American women from this silent tyranny. Mrs.

Gilbert, I surmise, is one of those civilized ladies much too mannered to yield to shrillness but not too gentle to avoid a good brawl. She does not want to slay windmills but she does want somebody to pick up the phone every 10 or 15 minutes in the business of and collect any waste that might penetrate a barrier layer. There are no plans for what to do with the facility if it proves to be too expensive to operate and must be closed. But officials have said that a $10-million insurance policy probably would cover the costs of dismantling the facility and monitoring the dumped wastes for as long as they are hazardous. In answer to the fears about a drop in property values near the dump, agency officials have assured the public that the dump would be located away from residential developments and valuable agricultural land and as close as possible to existing industrial areas.

Though officials decided to hold off on the search for a site, a report that names a number of specific candidate sites in either the Chan-' hassen-Eden Prairie or Cottage Grove-Pine Bend areas will be released tomorrow. RELEASE ME FROM HOLD, SHE DEMANDS to build the waste dump in the metropolitan area to demonstrate that communities could accept a safe, well-designed, economically workable disposal facility. But a number of deeply held fears consistently have stood in the way of that acceptance, despite a persistent public-relations effort by the state agencies involved. The citizens at last week's public meetings were afraid mainly that a waste dump would contaminate groundwater in the area where it is located, that its presence will cause property values around it to drop and that the facility and the wastes will be abandoned if processing and storing them is not economical. THE AGENCIES have explained on several occasions that the waste landfill will be lined with several layers of material impermeable to liquid wastes.

In addition, there will be elaborate systems to detect fices of the republic so that she can be released from the deep freeze where they have consigned her. "I have kept an informal journal to document this," she tells me. "There must be millions of people who get the same casual abuse of their One morning a couple of weeks ago I sent my family off to its daily adventures and started running the house. I called the man from Dayton's to tell him they sent the wrong table. He promised to check it out and asked if I'd hold on the phone.

I did, for 20 minutes. A half hour later I called the eye doctor to make an appointment for my son. The lady at the desk heard my request and asked if I would hold. I did, for 5 minutes, 1 at which point somebody else in By ROBERT OSTMANN JR. Minneapolis Star Surf Writer "It is my personal opinion that it will be impossible to site this facility in the seven-county metro area or anywhere else in the state.

That's how Thomas Vender-voort, public information director for the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission, last week assessed the future of a plan to build a multimillion-dollar center for processing and storing dangerous chemical wastes. And after the latest public outcry against the plan, it appears his vision may be correct. For two years, the waste control commission, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (PCA) and the Metropolitan Council have been trying to find a home for a waste dump that would handle labout 10 -percent of the 150,000 tons of acids, solvents, pesticides, cyanides, oils and other dangerous 7 wastes produced by Minnesota industries each year. The facility would cover about 200 acres and consist of a plant for recycling some wastes and pro-, cessing others for burial in a specially lined landfill. It is estimated that most of the dangerous waste produced in Minnesota is being dumped illegally in swamps, farm fields, city dumps and sewers, where it often contaminates watercourses and underground water supplies.

The facility would cost about $5.4 million, with the federal government picking up more than half the tab. BUT EACH TIME the agencies have tried to find a place to build the dump, they have run into virulent opposition from every town, township or county that has been named as a potential site. In the past few months, the agencies had narrowed down the potential locations for the dump to two large areas in the southern part of the metropolitan region. THE MINNEAPOLIS Tues. Nov.

22, 1977 Mobile-home park takes dim view light law or gas By TERRY BROWN Minneapolis Star Staff Writer Behind the Day's News from Cottage Grove, Eden Prairie and Rosemount turned out to tell the agencies that they don't want the dump, no matter where it was to be builU Officials1 of the three agencies trying to find a dump site, again facing an avalanche of public oppo-; sition, met Friday in St. Paul to figure out what, to do next. With a defeated air, they apparently no community will "accept the dump without a lengthy court fight and that if the agencies wre tied up in court, the federal government would take its money elsewhere. William Wallrlch, a waste control commissioner, suggested that the agencies give up trying to find a location for the dump, give up the federal grant' and let the Minnesota Legislature decide what to do next. OTHER OFFICIALS protested that if they passed the buck now, no environmentally sound way.

of disposing of hazardous wastes would be in use in Minnesota for years. In the meantime, they said, other midwestern states are likely to forbid importation of wastes with the result that substantially more wastes would be dumped illegally in Minnesota. The officials finally decided to go no further in searching for a dump site until after they meet with key state legislators and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to see whether another way to approach the hazardous-waste problem can be found. State and federal officials hoped MB "With the exception of Blaine, we've been getting pretty good cooperation from the cities," he said.

In Blaine, a number of park residents have contended that the city council has avoided the issue and that the city attorney has failed to pursue the matter. Some residents even complained that owner Czech was getting special treatment because, they thought, he and council member arl Czech are brothers. However, the two men are not related and pronounce their names differently. City Manager Rufus Nye said Blaine is "moving to solve the problem," adding that in his opinion, the state has the responsibility to enforce the law, not the city. He also said no special interests arel involved In the issue and he speculated that the problem stems from a group of tenants who dislike Czech.

"Our building inspector talked with him just the other day, and it's our impression that something is being done." WALLEN SAID he sympathizes with trailer-park owners who must spend large sums of money to convert quickly, but he stressed that the agency is "serious about this. We understand their problems, but the law says the lights have to be off." One park owner has received permission to take until next spring to convert, he said, and similar variances fcr other owners are possible. The ban on gas lighting is expected to save considerable natural gas in Minnesota. Wallen estimated that the approximately 80,000 gas lights in Minnesota used enough gas annually to heat up to 13,000 homes for a year. Burnsville By DAVID PETERSON Minneapolis Star Staff Writer The question of whether talented 9th-grade athletes should be allowed to Join senior high teams has become a controversial issue In the Burnsville school system.

School board members thought they made it clear when they drew up regulations in April that 9th-graders were supposed to play only with other junior high students, except under special circumstances. So one board member, Bonnie Featherstone, said she was stunned to learn this fall that several 9th-graders were planning to try out Star Star Photos by Tom Sweeney Kathy Smith, Minneapolis, above top, was surrounded by musicians during the practice. Other members included, above, left to right, Ellen Sack, Moundsview, Mary Wohlford, Golden Valley, Mark Fancy, Minne-tonka, and Kent Williamson, Long Lake. The concerts will be under the direction of William McGlaughlin, left, an ExxonArts Endowment conductor. PREPARING FOR CONCERT Members of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies combined with members of the St.

Paul Chamber Orchestra in a practice session for their upcoming Young People's Concert series at the Walker Art Center, which opens Saturday. Part of the program will include Mozart's Toy Symphony, in which the children play toy instruments. the office picked up the phone mistakenly, apologized and put me back on hold. "I called my daughter's doctor, as I was directed, to get the results of certain tests. The girl at the desk put me on hold.

"I tried again, with the same results. Although deficient in many things, I do claim great gifts of tenacity. A couple of days later I called the doctor again. The first sound I got said, "outpatient, will you hold?" and the second was "click." "1 was now back in this fathomless void which American women evidently are supposed to accept as a natural part of their environment. After a while a voice informed me the doctor would return my call.

"All day I waited. I didn't use the phone. When friends called I brushed them off. Siding salesmen got even shorter shrift. I didn't even go to the bathroom.

"The doctor never called. I repeated the procedure the next two days, through the whole dismal check list from 'please hold' to 'I'll have him call On my sixth attempt to reach the doctor I was put on hold for 15 minutes, hung up, called the receptionist and found the dear girl had forgotten me. "I still don't know the results of those $294.45 tests. I'm sure the doctor has been involved in some kind of mission of the highest priority during all that time, including his normal Wednesday afternoons off. I wasn't able to call yesterday because I spent the full day futilely waiting for the school counselor who never did 'get right back to Should the women of America stand and deliver one wall-smashing roar in unison to announce "enough?" "I don't know if it would work," Shawn O'Rourke Gilbert said.

"They'd all be on hold and nobody would hear." And yet my experience has revealed that each setback for the human heart, each calamity for mankind, offers some kind of com pensation, however meager. Doesn't some benefit derive from this electronic delay-of-life? "Some," she acknowledged. "Years ago I decided to adapt. I installed a long cord. Now I -do things like vacuum the rug when I'm holding for the insurance adjuster.

"I sweep the kitchen floor waiting for the pediatrician. "I read three chapters from Dos-toevsky holding for the dental technician. "I write bills and balance the check register waiting for the garage floorman to tell me how many hundreds of dollars the car repairs will cost. "I have even heard of people being required to conduct their love-making while the credit union had them on hold." Until this moment I had never grasped the gravity of the problem. Surely Shawn Gilbert O'Rourke has taken some steps to formally organize a protest movement.

"Some time ago I telephoned a friend who works in a business office," she said. "I thought we might try to organize something like that. She told me it was a great idea. But she had another call, and she had to put me on hold." Accident dampens town's fire power GREEN ISLE, Minn. () The fire department in this southern Minnesota community of 370 people found out the hard way that if you have only two fire trucks, it would be best that they not get involved in the same accident.

Authorities said Wendell Dau-fenbach was driving the pumper truck to a chicken-house fire Saturday when it collided with a car 2 miles west of town. The pumper, totaled by the accident, then was struck from behind by the community's other fire truck as it was being driven to the same blaze. The second truck sustained heavy front-end damage, putting it out of commission. Daufenback and another volunteer fire fighter suffered minor injuries. For the time being, trucks from nearby Belle Plaine will be used to fight fires in the Green Isle area.

Burnsville Braves may fall amid charges of stereotypes A trailer court in Blaine has been using its gas lamps in violation of. state law since Oct. despite resl-i dents' attempts to turn them off. State law bans gas-burning light-1 ing in an attempt to conserve nam-1 ral gas, and although the Minneso-. ta Energy Agency says compliance i with the law has been good, owners of the Restwood Terrace trailer court keep turning the lights back on when residents turn them off.

The problem for Restwood Terrace and other mobile-home parks is a conflict in the laws, according to Richard Wallen, manager of the energy agency's policy division. One law says that minimum lighting levels must be maintained in the parks. The other requires the gas lights to be turned off immediately, which irks owners who have to pay to convert to electricity, Wallen said. "Trailer parks have a different situation than John Q. Public," Wallen said.

"The tenant pays the gas bill, so he saves some money when the gas goes off. But the owner pays for the conversion and doesn't get any of the benefits." THE AGENCY has been trying to work out its differences with Restwood Terrace for about six weeks and Wallen said a tentative solution has been reached some sort of temporary variance to allow the park to convert to electricity more slowly. Restwood Terrace owner Lyle Czech could not be reached for comment yesterday, but a woman who answered the telephone at the park said, "There's no problem out here. We're converting." She declined to identify herself or to comment further. Local governments have the primary responsibility for enforcing the light law, Wallen said.

AREA NEWS f- zone i Vi'TT res WV, 1. ZUNk, 1 I tf MKiM Tmi-. By DAVID PETERSON Minneapolis Star Staff Writer The Burnsville Brave may be going the way of the Mankato State Indian out the window. A committee has been set up In the Burnsville school district to study whether the senior high athletic teams should continue to be called the "Braves." The district's faculty advisory council thinks the name has derogatory connotations. Council members think it stereotypes Indians as painted fighters on the warpath and implies that only men are athletes.

The issue is reminiscent of a controversy last fall in Mankato in which the state university's sports nickname was switched to "Mavericks" from Marianne Reynolds, chairman of the BurnsviUe faculty council, said she was aware of the Mankato issue but was more inspired by federal legislation emphasizing equal treatment for minority-group members and women. The name and the picture of a warrior that goes with it appear "racist and sexist," she said. Ms. Reynolds brought the issue before the council in September, and a committee looked Into it. The full council then recommended bringing the issue before the school board.

THAT WAS DONE last week, and the school board agreed to set up another committee of senior high staff members, coaches, students, parents and admin- istrators to further examine the issue. Administrators warn that it's not quite as simple as merely changing the name. Supt. Robert Tschirki said he's "sure it would involve substantial cost" to change the name on such things as athletic uniforms. The use of the brave is "meant to honor, not to degrade or connote some negative attitude," Tschirki said.

School tradition should also be considered, he said: "Maybe that can be exaggerated, but it's certainly there and a major consideration." Coincidentally, a brief controversy arose in neighboring Bloomington over the same issue this fall. When Bloomington's Jefferson High School hosted Burnsville for homecoming, the slogan was "Burn the Braves." The Bloomington Human Rights Commission told school officials it objected to the implied stereotype. A special faculty meeting was held at Jefferson to discuss the issue, it was discussed in each home room, the student representative on the commission read an announcement about it over the school's public address system and Burnsville adminstrators were notified. "I think it sensitized the whole school community to the fact that even in homecoming slogans it's important to consider all aspects," said Bloomington school spokesman Donald Heinzman. squaring off on athletic try outs last chance to play interscholastic hockey.

MRS. FEATHERSTONE, who said she has heard some angry words from 9th-graders' parents over the issue, pointed out that there are community hockey programs available to those who can't play for varsity teams. "I don't think we're in the business of promoting athletes," she said. In the past, Tschirki said, 9th-grade swimmers and wrestlers, particularly wrestlers at the 95-pound weight class, have joined senior high teams. He said he knows of no such cases now.

for the senior high hockey team. Those students' parents have since been informed that the 9th-graders can't play with the older students', but the issue lingers. A committee was set up last week to study the matter. The problem apparently lies in the mistaken interpretation by administrators of what the board intended in its action this spring. As Supt.

Robert Tschirki put it, "I should have been quicker on the draw there, frankly." ACCORDING TO the regulation, junior high athletes shouldn't play with teams at other levels unless they lack programs offered at the senior high and unless extra "space" is available to accommodate them. When board members used the word "space," they meant openings on a team caused by inadequate turnout. But Tschirki interpreted it to mean physical space, as in extra space in a swimming pool. So the eight 9th-grade hockey players who don't have a hockey program of their own were preparing to try out for senior high hockey along with more than 100 senior high students. A talented 9th-grader conceivably could deprive a high school senior of his zone4 XrLimm I 4.