European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 25, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes tuesday october 25, 1988 Young students raise voices against school noise Monitor Richmond . A about 90 elementary school students who objected to an electronic Monitor that buzzes and flashes when they get Loo loud in the lunchroom won t have to endure it if they stay reasonably quiet the school s principal Lay. I think the Light stinks said Scott Doyon a sixth grader at Richmond school. It s a big waste of Money. I think the aides do a Good Job of nuking us  he was among fifth and sixth graders who submitted a Handwritten petition last week asking hat the Monitor be removed. The Monitor is equipped with a noise measuring device that scans the lunchroom. As Many As 175 students take part in one of four daily lunch shifts at the 705-Sludent school Princi pal Pasquale Nappi said. With relative quiet the Monitor is Green. If the and More yell in Ici Uryc iju1ci hic Imu mull la �11.l.u 41 u noise gets louder the signal changes to yellow Ai the Monitor emits a loud electronic beep. To noise and the red Light comes on and the Monitor buzzes. If he red tight blinks on More than five times during a lunch shift the lights Are switched off and the students eat in the dark. Additional red lights mean the students lose a 10 minute recess after lunch. Nappi bowing to the the fifth and sixth graders protests has ruled that they won t have to eat under the Monitor s continuous scrutiny As Long u they remain reasonably quiet but first through fourth graders will remain under the Monitor s supervision Nappi said. The Richmond Parent teacher organization bought the device in the Spring for 1450. To was installed in Lime for the first Day of school last month. The acquisition was a reaction to complaints from lunchroom aides that noise in the cafeteria was intolerable at times. Results of science literacy poll of americans called devastating1 Chicago a nearly Sod years after Copernicus Postula cd that the Earth revolves around the Sun millions of americans think otherwise suggests a poll that found vast numbers of the nation s adults scientifically  Many americans also mistakenly believe that laser beams arc focused sound Waves and that atoms Are smaller than electrons said Jon Miller director of the Public opinion Laboratory at Northern Illinois University who conducted a nationwide Survey for the National science foundation. In a july Telephone Survey 2,041 adults is or older were asked about 75 questions on Basic science Miller said. The Survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage Points. Asked whether the Earth goes around the Sun or the Sun around the Earth 21 percent replied incorrectly. Seven percent said they did t know. In the Early Ifill Century the polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus Laid the foundation for Modem astronomy with his heliocentric theory of planetary motion in which the planets revolved around a motionless Sun. Forty five percent correctly said it takes & year for the Earth to orbit the Sun but 17 percent said one Day 2 percent said one month and 9 percent did t know. The results show thai on very Basic ideas vast numbers of americans Are scientifically illiterate Miller said sunday. It s a fairly dire  the results of the Survey Haven t been fully tabulated yet but it appears that 93 percent to 95 percent would have to be considered scientifically illiterate lacking fundamental knowledge of scientific Vocab ulary methodology and an understanding of science s Impact on the world said Miller. The group s 1989 Survey found a 95 percent illiteracy rate. The results indicate Many americans have Little idea of what presidential candidates Are talking about when they list key issues such As the strategic defense Initia Tive acid rain the greenhouse effect and the space race he said. Leon Mcderman who last week was named co win Ner of the 1988 Nobel prize for physics and is director of the Fermi National accelerator Laboratory in Bain via called the latest findings pretty  How you can preserve democracy when the world is increasingly More Complex scientifically and techno logically and people Are increasingly More ignorant of the issues he asked. On other questions the Survey found that 43 per cent said correctly that electrons which Are components of atoms Are smaller than atoms 20 percent thought they were larger and 37 percent had no idea. Asked if lasers an essential component of the proposed Star wars defense system work by focus ing sound Waves 36 percent correctly answered the statement was false. Twenty nine percent thought it was True and 35 percent did t know. Lasers work by focusing Light Waves. In fact the name stands for Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Most of those surveyed 76 percent answered correctly thai Light travels faster than sound. Nineteen percent mistakenly thought sound moves faster. Miller said some of die responses indicate the Lack of scientific knowledge could present some practical problems. For example 63 percent said incorrectly that antibiotics kill viruses As Well As bacteria. So if a doctor tells a patient he has a virus and the patient has an Antibiotic around the House he s liable to take it said Miller. Antibiotics Don t kill viruses. Miller said the great majority of High school graduates have not had a Day s instruction in algebra physics or  s important to turn that around he said. Designers stand by mrs. Reagan new York Nytz the fashion Industry ral lied to the defense of Nancy Reagan s use of Bor rowed designer dresses and jewelry in a newspaper advertisement monday. The Board of the Council of fashion designers of America studded with such names As Bill Blass Ralph Lauren Paloma Picasso and Calvin Klein took out Thead in the new York times saying it stood by in unanimous decision to bestow upon the first lady its life time achievement award. The advertisement says the award was made sept. 29, before time Magazine reported last week that mrs. Reagan had failed to report that she had borrowed and not returned some designer outfits and jewelry Over the lost six years. In the advertisement the Board cited mrs. Reagan s support for an Industry that is the seventh largest in the country and that employs More people than any other in new York  time quoted tax experts As saying the practice which mrs. Reagan has acknowledged left the reagans liable for Back taxes. According to the article Sheldon Cohen a former inter Nal Revenue service commissioner and professor Bernard wolfman of Harvard Law school said such gifts or Loans were taxable because they directly benefited the donors or lenders by bringing designs publicity for example. Since the reagans joint lax returns from 1982 to19s7 did not list those items they May owe a sub Stantial amount in Back taxes time wrote. The White House asserted last week that no tax or ethics Laws had been violated. 17th-Cenury danish scientist praised beatified by John Paul Vatican City a Pope John Paul ii beatified on sunday a 17th-Century danish scientist who convened to catholicism and served As a Bishop in predominantly protestant Germany. During the ceremony in St. Peter s Basilica the Pope praised Niels Stensen As an example for scientists missionaries and christians around the world. Stateside swimmer loses his life attempting to win $ 1 bet Portland Ore. A a Man who bet a Dollar he could swim underwater from one Pool to another atan outdoor Fountain died after becoming trapped under a Concrete slab authorities Laid. Christopher Paulsen 26, died in a Hospital one week after he was pulled unconscious from the upper tier of Ira s Fountain across from Portland s civic auditorium. Witnesses said Paulsen and some friends had Bee drinking alcohol said officer Henry Cropper spokes Man for the Portland police Bureau. Paulsen bet a Friend he could swim through a Nar Row conduit that connects two pools on the upper tier of the Fountain. He then disrobed and attempted the swim but got wedged beneath a Concrete slab covering the conduit said Terry Sparks Deputy mul Nomae county medical examiner. He was revived after being trapped underwater for 20 to 25 minutes but he had been brain dead and on a life support system since the incident. Lifeguards free whale caught in weighted Gill net Long Beach Calif. A a 25-fool Gray whale that became trapped in a weighted Gill net was Cut free by iwo lifeguards and continued its southward Migra Tion during the weekend authorities said. The whale was found by lifeguards Jason Hudson and Alan powder three Miles offshore in a net weighted with eight Small anchors said Gupt. Randall Davis of the Bureau of Marine safety. The lifeguards hacked away at the net for 45 min utes and were Able to Clear All but a Small portion of the net fouling one of the whale s flukes. The whale began to swim South and whale experts Al sea world in san Diego were alerted to be on the Lookout for it Davis said. The whale was rescued off Alamitos Bay Channel on the East Side of Long Beach Harbor. Soviets consider using lawyers group As Model los Angeles a soviet attorneys Hope re forms in their country will give them More Independence and Are looking to the american bar association As a possible Model for a soviet Legal organization a Law journal reports a delegation of lawyers and judges from the soviet Union met with their counterparts Al Aba offices in Washington and Chicago in the past two weeks the Legal newspaper the daily journal reported monday delegates candidly discussed problems concerning the soviet Legal system and the effects of soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev s policy  or restructuring on the Legal profession. Because adv Kali lawyers know the practical realities that acres troika can have on the practice of Law it it important to have an Independent Union of lawyers that can push for change said group Leader Venyamin Yakovlev. Small knot Over scar removed from rep. Pepper Washington a rep. Claude Pepper d fla., has had a Small knot Over a scar removed. Pepper at 88 he oldest member of Congress said he had the operation after the growth Over a hernia car was discovered while he was undergoing routine tests at the end of the  will be out of the Hospital and Back on the Campaign Trail this week he said. , site shows signs of Early Irish missionaries Dingess. , up on a Ridge top in South pm West Virginia an archaeologist has found indications that Irish missionaries May have passed through the area a millennium ago. The archaeologist. Robert byte met with representatives of the Irish embassy including Daire o Cjiodi an Secretary of cultural affairs to discuss ancient Rock carvings called Petroglyph found in a Mountain Rock shelter near Dingess. It s really quite commendable for Irish embassy to be interested in visiting a site in West Virginia Pyle said. Pyle said the Petroglyph Are similar to old markings discovered in a nearby county that indicate the pres ence of Early Irish missionaries known As the Gam