The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 3

Pantagraph A-3 Bloomington-Normal, III. Feb. 18, 1979 Some light on how to view eclipse safely munications. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will launch three rockets from Red Lake, Ontario. Canada, to send the instruments aloft Information from the instruments will be relayed to earth by radio and recorded during each flight After the instruments return to earth on parachutes, of I scientists will analyze data by computer at Champaign-Urbana.

Smith said the instruments will undergo reconditioning for a project in 1980 In that experiment, rockets will be launched in northern Scandinavia for an investigation of the northern lights Returning to earth, Sangamon State University in Springfield will open its observatory from 9:30 a.m. Monday until the end of the eclipse. Two 6-inch telescopes will project the sun's image. One 14-inch telescope will be equipped with proper filters to view the eclipse directly. Outside Illinois Central College's library-administration building of East Peoria, an 8-inch Celestron telescope, with solar filter, will permit direct and safe observation of the eclipse.

It will mark the last time residents will be able to see a total solar eclipse until 2017. By Ann Piccininni and Paul Levin For the first time this year, the great celestial bodies hovering in space will collaborate on one of nature's more attention-getting tricks. At 9:33 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 26, a partial solar eclipse will occur, blocking some of the sunshine that ordinarily would pour onto the streets of Bloomington-Normal.

Central Illinois won't be the only area affected. The rest of the continental United States will experience varying degrees of shading by the moon. While the sky will appear slightly dimmer than it usually does in some areas, hardly any sunlight will seep through the sky above states in the northwestern region of the U.S. where a total eclipse will occur. It will be the most dramatic eclipse the United States will undergo before the beginning of the 21st century, and it will peak at 78 percent in Central Illinois at 10:49 a.m., according to Philip P.

Edwards, assistant professor of physics at Illinois State University. The entire eclipse will be over by 12:08 p.m., he said, when Central Illinois will once again be illuminated in its customary manner. The last time an eclipse occurred in Central Illinois was on Oct. 12, 1977. Then only 13 percent of the sun was concealed by the moon.

Permanent damage Edwards said there will be two lunar eclipses and one more solar eclipse during 1979, but the Feb. 26 eclipse will be the only one that will be significantly noticeable. Although many people may be interested in observing this intriguing phenomena, Edwards said caution should be exercised. Enough of the sun's ultraviolet and infrared rays, most of which are absorbed by the earth's atmosphere, still penetrate and could damage the eye's retina. Looking directly at the sun obviously is dangerous, he said, but the danger is less apparent during the eclipse.

However, he said, the danger still is there and people should be aware that direct viewing could result in permanent damage to sight. Edwards recommends two ways of safely observing the eclipse indirectly. The most prudent method is to project the sun's rays through a pinhole in a piece of white cardboard onto the surface of another piece of white cardboard. To vary the size of the image, Edwards said, the distance between the two pieces of cardboard should be varied. Another way to avoid danger and still witness the path of the eclipse would be to gather with the Twin City Amateur Astronomers, Edwards said.

This group will congregate from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. west of Moulton Hall, where the eclipse will be projected on a screen, he said. Telescopes equipped with sun filters also will be available to viewers, he said. of I research In addition to ISU, two Central Illinois colleges and universities will have telescopes and screens for public viewing of the solar eclipse.

And researchers from a third area institution, the University of Illinois, have helped build instruments to probe the ionosphere, 45 miles above the earth. The instruments, built in conjunction with the University of Bern, Switzerland, will be used to study the ionosphere's loss of electrons when light and other radiation from the sun are lost. The experiment is significant, said of I Professor Leslie Smith, because electron production and destruction have a bearing on long-distance radio com mmmw WHITE i .1 s. Safe way Bus system ridden by image SURFACE Looking directly at the eclipsed sun can damage sight. A safe way to observe the phenomena is by projecting the sun's rays through a pinhole onto a piece of cardboard.

Does the system deserve its image? The system may be one of the more economical systems in the Twin Cities. In 1978, the system carried 822,000 passengers. The direct cost to Blooming-ton and Normal was $109,733. That means the cities are putting 13 cents in the fare box each time somebody gets on the bus, excluding federal and state funds that Twin City residents also help pay. At Bloomington Public Library, 330,000 books were loaned in 1978.

More than $388,000 was collected from local residents in taxes. That means that every time someone took out a book, it board not happy with buses, wants $75,000 woes In essence, the cost per rider will level off this year and then rise. Chances are the system's expenses will grow faster than its revenue. Lammey thinks the federal aid will not end, and the state will continue to kick in money. If either ends, he said, "that would be the end of the system." He said the money Bloomington ana Normal pay is "not an unreasonable expense." Five years ago, both cities agreed to pay each year to make the system break even.

Normal pledged $100,000 each year Bloomington, $200,000 for each of the five years. According to projections of the system, the local deficit for operating expenses in 1983 will be under $150,000. about one-half what the cities pledged in 1974. Why fund a losing operation? The same reasons cities fund the other departments a public service. "Why have parks, swimming pools, the zoo?" asked Robert Tate, chairman of the transit board since it was founded in 1973.

"It's a public service just like the rest. Not everybody uses the buses, not everybody uses the zoo or the parks." "We have to have a transit system." said Normal Mayor Richard Godfrey. "There are so many people dependent on it." Godfrey, and most other officials, are quick to point out the indirect benefits of public transportation. Less parking is required of the city and major employers. There is less pollution and fewer accidents, plus less wear on the streets.

The direct benefits are to elderly riders, students and working people who can't afford a car. The council will be getting together soon to talk about the future of the system. In September, the local fire-year subsidy commitment ends. Some Normal councilmen are talking about dropping the system. Most observers don't think that will happen.

Bloomington City Manager William Vail thinks the system needs another long-term commitment from the cities, so it won't be operating day-to-day. "It's almost a necessity" he said Transit Manager Peter Weber said it would be "absolutely stupid" for the system to buy new buses, to replace the ones falling apart, unless the system is going to be operating a few years. The buses to be junked when the 20 new ones are bought are the subject of negotiations between the system and the manufacturer, FMC Corporation. The system is having problems keeping schedules because the FMC buses are frequently being repaired. To solve that problem, the system, with no cash reserve of its own.

borrowed money to buy used buses. Deficits, broken-down buses, and borrowing. "We've got a hell of an image problem right now," Weber said. Average If the Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System were a taxing body, the average Normal homeowner would pay $4.93 a year to run the system. The average Bloomington homeowner would pay $4.12.

Bloomington subsidized the system to the tune of $77,400 in 1978. To take in that amount, based on an assessed valuation of $263 million, the tax rate would be 2.75 cents per $100 assessed valuation. Based on an average $45,000 bouse, the homeowner would pay $4.12. In Normal, to collect its $37,300 subsidy, based on an assessed valuation of $113 million, the rate would be 3.29 cents per $100 assessed valuation. By Stephan Gleason The Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System has an image problem a big one.

Buses breaking down, deficit spending, heavy borrowing and disputes with city officials lead most people even a few elected officials to think of the transit system as a poor relative who won't go away. After all, when you speak about revenues of $273,000 and expenses of nearly $1 million, or about buses limping to Chicago for frame repair, or borrowing thousands of dollars, its image can't be the best. Transit to buy By Jim Flannery The Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System Board Saturday rejected a $650,000 offer by the FMC Corporation to buy back the city's 20 buses. FMC, which manufactured the buses and sold them new to the transit system four years ago, is offering to buy them back in return for release from a prohibitively expensive warranty agreement. FMC offered to pay the system the $650,000 in installments: $150,000 at the time the contract canceling the warranty is signed, $155,000 by May 1, $325,000 by next Jan.

9 and the remaining $20,000 in $1,000 increments as each of the city's 20 buses is returned to the company. The proposed agreement would require the transit authority to release 18 of the buses within 90 days and the two buses for the elderly and handicapped by Dec. 31. Board chairman Robert Tate recommended the board reject the offer because it was too small. The FMC buses were purchased in 1975 for $1.3 million.

Based on a 12-year depreciation schedule, the buses would be worth $650,000 to $800,000 today. Tate recommended a price of $725,000, which is midway between the upper and lower limits of the depreciated value of the FMC fleet and reflects the costs of buying used replacement buses for the system. Used buses The Bloomington and Normal councils have approved a proposal by the transit system to borrow $150,000 to buy 20 used, 1962 GMC buses from a bus system in New Jersey. The plan is to use those buses a year, while the transit system looks around for new buses to replace its fleet. Those buses would be paid for with the money from FMC and with federal and state funds if the latter are available.

Tate estimated Saturday that if the transit system buys the used buses for $150,000, their resale value in a year will be half that, a loss of $75,000 to the system. "Since it's their (FMC's) lousy buses that aren't holding up, then I think they owe it to use to pay what it costs to replace them," Tate said. Therefore, he said, $75,000 ought to be added to the $650,000 depreciated value of the fleet to determine a fair resale price. Board members Lorraine Phillips and Jack Pokorny joined Tate in supporting that figure (two other board members were not present) and the "installment plan" proposed by FMC. The only difference in the board proposal from the offer is an additional KjflE) cost taxpayers $1.02.

So, it costs taxpayers 89 cents more every time someone borrows a book at the library than the cost of boarding the bus. The same comparison could be used for the Bloomington-Normal Airport Authority, parks and recreation departments and any other department in either city. A smart reader could pick holes in any comparison between the transit system, the library, or another department. And the smart reader would be correct. The comparison isn't fair.

But transit officials and planners have been crying for a long time that it isn't systems rather than simply replace parts for any problems or defects that developed in two or more of the buses. Breakdown Tate said the Bloomington-Normal buses developed at least 35 problems that would have required design changes changes that FMC could not make now that it's out of the bus business. Meanwhile, the transit system's buses Dnnrinn Winnor UUltiny Willi Id Si fair to always talk about the system and deficit spending in the same breath. It is deficit spending, but it isn't. A few years ago, the people in Washington, DC, concluded that clean air, lives and space were more likely to be saved if transit systems continue to operate.

Cars spoil the air, hit each other and cause fatalities and take up a lot of valuable space to park. So the federal people decided transit systems were worth saving. They funded systems across the country. The state people came to the same conclusions. offer more (just four years old) were starting to break down at an alarming rate, causing shortages of equipment on the streets and drops in ridership because of erratic service.

Tate issued an ultimatum: Either we get new buses or we shut down. FMC and the transit board agreed the most mutually satisfactory solution would be for FMC to buy back the buses- Carolyn Moore was among 14 contes- tants Saturday at the fourth annual Miss Black ISU contest, sponsored by Phi Beta Sigma fraternity in Illinois State i i. HIiiVTi I IIP Instead of outright grants, the officials decided to kick in 50 cents for each $1 a system loses. All systems lose money. In 1978, the federal Urban Mass Transit Administration paid about $527,000 to the Twin City system.

The Illinois Department of Transportation paid about $220,000. Still, the cities had to come up with about $110,000 But transit officials will argue that that isn't really a deficit. The library board collects taxes the transit system doesn't. The parks budgets come from the city general fund supported by taxes. And the library and the cities receive federal and state funds.

Michael Lammey, principal transportation planner of the McLean County Regional Planning Commission, said the Bloomington-Normal transit system will never be able to pay its own way. Nor, he said, would any transit system. The systems passed the break-even point between expenses and fares a long time ago. Without federal, state and local money, the system would be charging $1.09 for each passenger. Not too many people would pay that.

Anywav, who ever heard of a fare of Last year, the system had an average passenger cost of 86 cents. A major expansion in January pushed expenses and revenues up. Lammey expects the system to add about 10 percent more riders this year and then grow at an average rate of 5 percent a year. In 1978, the system had a 13 percent increase in ridership. University's Union Ballroom.

Miss Moore performed a dance as her con- tribution to the contest's talent portion. (Pantagraph photo by Jed DeKalb) f) JSI', $75,000 (for a total $225,000) paid when the contract is signed. Transit system Manager Peter Weber said the schedule of payments will not interfere with either repayment of the $150,000 loan or purchase of the new buses over the long haul. Expect reply The board is scheduled to meet in a regular session Wednesday. Tate said he expects an FMC reply to the board offer by Tuesday "at the earliest," but before Wednesday's meeting.

He said several times during the Saturday meeting he expects to have negotiations finished and a contract with FMC signed within a week or two. The transit system's problem with goes back 2'z years, when the company left the bus-manufacturing business after a stint of about two years. The FMC buses, with their fiberglass bodies, hit the market with great fanfare as an "innovative approach" to providing bus transportation. According to one new story in 1975, the buses were being touted as a line with a "number of innovations," including many that the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) had developed itself in a $26 million project to find the ideal intracity bus. As it turned out, FMC soured on both the innovations and the government.

According to Tate, FMC's buses were so different they could not be purchased by a transit authority on a competitive-bid basis. There were no comparable buses. As a result, transit systems using federal funds had to purchase the buses on what is known among grant-seekers as a "sole source" basis. Lemon fleet That meant transit systems were buying the buses without competitive bids from other manufacturers, and that FMC was subject to many more federal regulations and controls to justify their prices. Tate said the bureaucratic costs and hassles and the realization it would have to make major design changes in buses led the company to get out of the business.

Tate said FMC put its bus-manufacturing business on the market, but no one bought it. What would this all mean for the Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System? FMC would not be able to live up to its warranty on Twin City buses. Tate thanks Mrs. Joby Berman of the Chicago office of the Illinois Department of Transportation for insisting on a contract clause that saved the Twin Cities from being stuck with a fleet of lemons. That clause required FMC to redesign.