Graphic by Jm Payne
Solar salvation
United Methodist Church turns on to sun’s power
By KENT KULBY
Of the Emerald
David Albright, a United Methodist minister
from Springfield, presented final plans in a press
conference Thursday for expansion and solar
heating of his church at 332 N. 58th St. in Spring
field.
The church will be the first solar-heated public
building in Springfield and is the largest structure
to use an active air system for solar heating, ac
cording to Al Paz, the architect who designed the
plans.
Paz explained that heat from solar panels is
blown into a rock storage tank: Fans blow the hot
air through pipes to various places in the building.
The rocks are able to retain the heat from two to
four days, he said.
“The air system is preferable to the water sys
tem because water may freeze, and it requires
more piping mechanisms than air,” Paz said.
The total estimated cost is $125,000, of which
$98,000 has been secured. The funding has
come from donations, contributions of founda
tions and corporations volunteering services.
Albright has been working on the project for
more than a year.
“The biggest problem has been convincing (po
tential contributors) that solar energy is feasible,”
Albright said.
Paz has spent eight months gathering govern
ment and university solar heating researchg in
formation and drawing up the final blueprints for
the projects.
“We’ve heard nothing but positive, encourag
ing comments from community citizens,” Al
bright said.
Ground-breaking will begin this weekend, and
construction is planned for mid-May. Western
Solar Inc., will supply the solar heating equip
ment.
The present United Methodist Church is “filled
to capacity with church and community activities
like kindergarten, mentally retarded and Lane
Community College programs,” said Don John
son, contractor/coordinator of the project.
The state wili monitor the building and its effec
tiveness to help formulate future state energy
policies.
“It is one of the finest projects we’ve seen,"
said Al Kipnut, solar specialist of the Energy De
partment.
Gov. Bob Straub salutes the project as “a
commendable step forward.”
(Continued from Page 1)
Bribe?
she says. ‘‘Let’s get 'em early
while we can still help.”
While “all teachers are impor
tant,” McFarland feels it is “those
first ones” which deserve the most
attention, since it is in the first
grades that fundamentals are
learned.
"We've been putting our em
phasis on the wrong thing," she
says, referring to state require
ments for more education in sec
ondary school teachers than
elementary teachers. She sug
gests a fifth year of education for
elementary grade school
teachers, or “some education
after you’ve been teaching.”
Adequate textbooks are
another area McFarland is con
cerned about. She says often
texts are not actually at the read
ing level the publishers claim. And
some math books used for teach
ing, say, fourth grade math, will be
written at an eighth grade level.
These are the “wrong tools,”
says McFarland, and "are not
helpful in the educational arena.”
These three Ts — testing,
teaching and textbooks — are the
basis of McFarland’s campaign. If
elected, she would like to estab
lish workshops to help local dis
tricts effectively implement
policies in these areas. She says
she would try and be a strong
leader, but at the same time would
have respect for local autonomy.
McFarland believes the State
Basic School Support budget
should be raised 50 percent. She
feels this money need not come
from higher taxes, but from jug
gling other budget areas.
It may take a re-ordering of
priorities to get the money, says
McFarland, but, she feels it’s a jus
tified rearrangement.
"Let's be concerned about
education for a change,” says
McFarland, since public educa
tion "gives people skills with which
they can live the rest of their lives.1
March to protest ruling
A march protesting the recent court ruling that allows herbicide
spraying in national forests begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at Main Street and
“I" Avenue in Cottage Grove. The march is sponsored by the Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom.
STARTS 1 WEEK
TH€ CHAPLIN BIOGRAPHY
Narrated by
Walter Matthau, Laurence Olivier and Jack Lemmon
An AffectionateTribute to Charlie.
Including Scenes from 17 of His Greatest Films,
The Complete Academy Award Presentation to Chaplin,
Rare Footage from Chaplin’s Own Vaults,
Oona Chaplin’s Horne Movies and Newly Photographed
Film of His Private Life.
Original Music by Charles Chapin
Written and Directed by Richard Patterson •Produced by Bert Schneider
A Tine Production Corp. Release
in Association with Marvin Films, Inc
'4S. 10.V A
M'lVriJf
aftp iuh y
Co-hit
6lenda Jackson
in “Incredible Sarah”
-Times:
Tramp” 7 & 10:15
“Sarah” 8:25