Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Times
Saturday, February 5, 1977, page 2 (of 24)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
news briefly Steinem, Nader open UM series
Gloria Steinem, a founder and editor of "Ms." magazine, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader will open a spring lecture series on human rights at the University of Miami Feb. 7, with a discussion of "Women in Corporate America," from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on the patio of the Whitten Student Union. Ms. Steinem also will conduct a writer's workshop in Room 241 of the student union from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., and Nader will discuss consumer law in Room 109, Law Building. Both speakers will be guests at a luncheon from 1 to 3 p.m. Tickets for the luncheon, $3.50 for students and $5 for non-students, are available on a first-come basis through the F.P.I.R.G. office in Room 244 of the student union, or by calling 284-3919. Three films, "Growing Up Female," "Three Lives" and "F.P.I.R.G. In Profile" will be shown at 7 p.m. in the UM Rathskellar. Both the program and films are free to the public.
Helping Migrants
The Bryan Memorial United Methodist Church is looking for donations to help needy migrants. (Cash checks marked "for Migrants"), blankets, clothing, nonperishable food and green stamp books should be brought to the church, on the Main Highway in Coconut Grove. The church can be called for pick-ups.
Music class
The Coral Gables Youth Center is offering a free class in basic music for senior citizens. Class meets 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays beginning Feb. 16. Beginners in music are welcomed. For further information and registration call 445-8835.
Reunion
Where are you, Class of '52? Your classmates from Miami High School are looking for you. A 25th year reunion is being planned for August, but not everyone has been contacted. If you are a 1952 graduate, call 274-6279 for information.
Calisthenics
The Coral Gables Youth Center will be offering an evening Calisthenics course for adults starting Feb. 15. Class meets Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Fee is $10 for eight weeks. For further information and registration call 445-8835.
Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink?
By KAY SEVERINSEN Staff Writer Dan Jackson, director of the Division of Environmental Technology and Urban Systems at Florida International University, isn't waiting around until someone discovers that Miami's water causes cancer. There's a chance that it does, so he and his colleagues are developing a filter which would strain out the cancer causing elements in our water before they are ever formed. A report that Jackson released in June, 1976 showed that Miami's water may have up to 311 parts per billion (ppb) of chloroform, a substance known to cause cancer in mice. At that time, Miami ranked highest in the nation for chloroform content. Tests this fall, however, showed only between 50 and 110 ppb, a significantly lower amount. Jackson believes the difference is due to the amount of rainfall. It's a matter of the amount of water coming down in the canals from Lake Okechobee," he says. "When the canal is the main source of water, we have high amounts of chloroform, because the canals hold a lot of decomposed plant material." This plant material becomes the precursors to chloroform and other trihalomethanes, which are suspected cancer-causers. "But when there is a lot of ground water we have lower values of trihalomethanes. It's a matter of dilution," Jackson explains. Miami has a particularly serious problem, Jackson says, because of the type of vegetation in South Florida. It seems to cause a lot of precursors. Jackson says the federal government will set a trihalomethane maximum for drinking water in the next several months. "I don't know, but I suspect it will be somewhere around one micromole per liter. Dade has three right now, even at a low concentration level." So Jackson's experimental filters have not really been given a good test, since we have not had high chloroform content lately. "We've had some amount of success but we are working with low values of chloroform," he says. Why is Jackson working so hard to filter out chemicals that might not be harmful? "You can work this out two ways," he says. "You can wait till you know that chloroform causes cancer, then figure out how to stop it, or you can do it ahead of time and be ahead of the reports." Photo by FRANK TURSI
Club provides free dental care
By KAY SEVERINSEN Staff Writer Fourteen-year-old Betty had a big gap between her two front teeth. She was so embarrassed about it that she refused to smile. Her parents, while not poor, simply didn't have the money to correct the problem. Then they heard about the free dental clinic run by the Coral Gables Junior Woman's Club. Through the club, Betty obtained free braces and now she can't stop smiling. Betty is just one of the 707 children the club has helped in the past year. Children are referred to the clinic by school personnel, social workers, the Catholic Home, United Way, Vietnam Refugees, churches or desperate parents. Before acceptance, a case worker visits the home to determine genuine need. Once admitted, everything is free: x-rays, extractions, root canals, etc. "Most of the children have never been to a dentist in their lives," says club member Bert Ditmore. The clinic is tucked behind the Coral Gables Woman's Club at 1009 E. Ponce de Leon Blvd. It is open five mornings a week September through May and is staffed by two part-time dentists and six volunteer hygienists. Five or six children are seen each day. Young Harris Fellman of Coral Gables has his mouth full of tubes, instruments and the hands of Dr. Jack Briggle, DDS at the free dental clinic run by the Coral Gables Junior Woman's Club.