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Show I! -v - Vol. 36 No. 50 Weber student named heir in Hughes estate By Rick Libby Melvin Dummar, possible heir to $156 million from the Howardl Hughes estate, is a full-time evening student at Weber State College. Dummar, a management major from Willard, Utah, allegedly gave the late billionaire a ride to Las Vegas after finding him injured beside the road. Dummar offered to - take the man he described as a 'bum' to a hospital but the man refused. Along with the Hughes fiasco, Dummar also is carrying 12 credits as a night student. 'I've had Melvin the last two quarters and he seems to be a quiet, dependable, passive, student with a lucky streak born in him.' said Dr. Jarry Novak, one of Dummar's instructors. Novak was referring to the monies Dummar has won on television quiz shows. Dummar won over $4000 in merchandise from Let's Make a Deal in two appearances and won a $5000 automobile and $500 while on the night time version of Hollywood Squares. Dr. Jerry Horgesheimer, another Dummar instructor, who said he knows him on a 'social basis,' said he has a great deal of admiration for Dummar because he is going to school and still supportin a family. Dummar, 31, and wife Bonnie, 30, held a press conference last Sunday for 40 local and national media representatives. The Coal is a gas : Someday work done by Weber's Robert Beishline could lead to the inexpensive production of petroleum products from the immense coal reserves Utah possesses. service station operator said that his life has turned into a nightmare since the finding of the Hughes will. 'People have been pulling my children out of school to talk to them and chasing the school bus to photograph them,' said Mrs. Dummar. 'If I knew it was going to be like this. I'd rather not take the money; I'd rather be just the way we were,' she added. Dummar is keeping his small service stationgeneral store open even though he stands a chance of becoming a millionaire. 'I just want everything to return to normal,' he said. Although the validity of the Hughes will is questionerd, many authorities say the will is definately in his handwriting. Graphoanalyst Henry Silver said he was 'positive beyond doubt' . that the will was genuine. The will, found mysteriously in the LDS office building, is presently being studied by judicial process in Las Vegas. Officials said the authenticity of the will will have to be proven by Noah Dietrich, former aid to Hughes. Dietrich said of Dummar's story, 'I would not place much opportunity of finding Howard Hughes in the desert as Neil Armstrong had of finding him on the moon.' He went on to say 'I know that Hughes never left the Desert Inn during that time. I have the security log for his penthouse there. It shows exactly who came and went. Hughes never left' t E ,1 Weber State College . A- I ' photo by John Shupe Worms to Riches? : WSC evening school student Melvin Dummar, who manages and lives in this Willard. Utah gas station-store, has been named in a will supposedly written by billionaire recluse Howard R. Hughes, who died in Housten last month. Research nears $4 million "Funded research projects at Weber State College will exceed the $4 million mark before the end of this fiscal year," says Dr. Perry T. Larsen, Director of the WSC Office of Research and Development. There are currently 103 such projects in progress on the Weber campus, mostly in the area of applied research. "The term research is widely misunderstood," states Dr. Larsen. Most people think of basic research, which attempts to extend a body of knowledge by discovering new facts. At the present more applied research is going on, the kind that finds new applications for existing bodies of knowledge. "We're looking more at the state of the art and how it can be used better," explained Dr. Larsen, who says most of the research going on at Weber is the applied variety, with a heavy emphasis on educational service projects. Last week a new brochure was published by the Office of Research and Development entitled Research at Weber State College which describes ten of the current projects and the services available through Dr. Larsen's office. This brochure, the first of it's kind at Weber, has been sent to all faculty members, and will also be used for public relations work and in negotiating for more research grants. Research recounted in the brochure includes projects 1 ' i , " " ' - V ' ' i covering coal liquification, a community arts program, the WSC Criminalistics Laboratory, the General Assistance Center for school districts, vocational training learning modules, the Paramedic Training Program, Rural Health Worker Education, a restructuring of science education, the Teacher Corps, project UPSTEP, Utah Artists Today, and a management plan for improving the water quality. A good example of these research projects at Weber is the Paramedic Training Program. Professor Evelyn Draper, of the College of Nursing, saw a need for such a program here in Utah, and set about starting one. Now completing it's first year, Professor Draper's program has won wide recognition for its quality, and she enjoys ample federal and state funding for continuing development. Another project, one of few embracing "basic" research, is Dr. Robert Beishline's four year study of the liquification of coal. Assisted by students Joanna Creer, Doug Stuart and Ed Walker, Professor Beishline is working on a detailed chemical analysis of liquified coal of "syncrude" and also research into the role of catalysts in the liquification process. According to Dr. Beishline the biggest problem in getting a project is having an established research competancy. "Without a previous name in the field it is hard to gel money," he said. May 4, 1976 J S 4 , ' l ' -' '"'. 1 Beishline overcame this obstacle by taking a sabbatical leave to work at the University of Utah, one of the two leading coal research centers in the nation. As a result of his work there he was able to get his own project funded.As far as other ways that a professor can use to get past the "published name" hurdle, Dr. Beishline offered, "It is my opinion that many professors at the Utah universities would like to collaborate on projects. It's up to each faculty member to search these possibilities out for themselves." "As faculty members get more involved in research, they become better instructors," reports Dr. Larsen, who added, "There is a high correlation between excellence in teaching and participation in research." Dr. Larsen and his assistant, Dr. Alan Dayley, through their Office of Research and Development, provide a variety of services to the WSC faculty to help them secure funding for their research proposals and to aid them in managing their projects once funded. In addition to the library of fund sources and periodicals available to the faculty, the ORD offers frequent workshops on proposal writing. The WSC R&D officials maintain close contact with federal, state and private funding sources, and report a 25 to 30 percent success rate on getting Weber's proposalsfunded. |