Crushed cogs
A philosopher says modern
lan tends to perform actions for
thers instead of himself. So he
loses the feeling of accomplish-
ent for himself — and he
mes mangled by society. See
’age 7.
The Battalion
Vol. 72 No. 16 Friday, September 22, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611
10 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
Lotsa letters
America is wonderful, teachers
aren’t all researchers and tenure
is valuable for those professors.
The Battalion’s letter-writers are
at it again. See page 2.
Villiams may move
to ‘new’
house
By MARK PERRIN
Battalion Reporter
Jack K. Williams, chancellor of the
jasA&M University system, is expected
love temporarily into the old board of
Jctors’ building on Houston Street as
b as renovations on the structure are
shed.
[heA&M Board of Regents is scheduled
lake the final decision on the proposal at
neeting Tuesday.
'illiains now lives in the president’s
neat 102 Throckmorton. He was Uni-
^ity president from 1970 until 1977,
he became chancellor.
)r. Jarvis E. Miller, current president,
move into the house Williams and his
mow occupy if the board approves,
filler now lives in a house off the cam-
■, He receives a $500-a-month housing
’vPat01b wance, said Howard Vestal, vice presi-
euivU
Gainst Dj
‘‘fdinals
Set bad
'ped
d /on
lutes to ■
; ed in tit
' the pa
h Louis l
11 1 will :
titer. Jin
t block 4
r ds intoti
1 BareW
dent for business affairs of the University.
These payments will stop if Miller moves,
he said.
“We expect to move over there for an
interim time period,” Williams said. No
decision has been made on where he will
move after that.
The board of directors’ building will con
tinue to house offices of the Texas A&M
Press upstairs. The building is currently
undergoing work on its foundation and
walls. Williams said the cost is expected to
be $68,000 at the most.
He said he and his wife expect to occupy
a two-bedroom apartment on the first floor
of the building.
Frank Wardlaw, director of the Univer
sity Press, has been living in the Houston
Street house. He is retiring and will move
out of the residence, which Williams says is
the oldest on campus.
Karen Heisler shows steady balance and a lot of concentration as she
tosses a frisbee to her husband, a senior at Texas A&M University.
Heisler, who is not a student, works at the City National Bank in Bryan.
rk\eporter ordered
Hick to N.J. jail 7 million barrels underground
Flying saucers of the other kind
The couple was throwing in front of the Academic Building earlier this
week.
Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
United Press International
EENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey
ireme Court Thursday ordered New
k Times reporter Myron Farber back
ail for refusing to turn over his notes in
Mario Jascalevich’s murder trial,
n a 5-2 decision, the court upheld
ber’s contempt of court conviction and
newspaper’s $5,000-a-day fine.
jVriting for the court, Associate Justice
'id iflel irra ]] p Mountain ordered Farber to
[render at the Bergen County jail
irsday at 4 p.m.
'arber and Times attorneys were ex-
ed to appeal the order to the federal
rts,
Farber spent 27 days in jail after he was
convicted of civil and criminal contempt
charges for refusing to turn over files on
Jascalevich, an Argentine-born surgeon on
trial for murdering three patients with
overdoses of curare. The state’s highest
court freed Farber in August.
The reporter wrote a series of articles in
1976 which led Bergen County authorities
to reopen a 10-year-old investigation into
the mysterious deaths of patients at River-
dell Hospital in Oradell.
Defense attorney Raymond A. Brown
maintains Farber’s notes and files are es
sential to Jascalevich’s defense. He also
claims Farber was acting as an investigator
for the prosecutor’s office and is not enti
tled to invoke the New Jersey Shield Law.
Fire threatens oil reserve
United Press International
HACKBERRY, La. — An explosion
ripped through a rig atop the govern
ment’s strategic 7-million barrel crude oil
reserve cavern Thursday, touching off a
roaring fire and arching flames 300 feet
into the air.
Firefighters furiously doused the blaze
with water to contain it at the small, work-
over rig perched atop the underground
supply of oil. Heavy bulldozers and drag
lines moved in to begin dirt moving opera
tions to help contain the blaze.
Officials feared a larger, “cactus” rig lo
cated about 150 feet from the blaze might
also catch fire.
“It’s burning all over the place,” said
William A. Parker, a deputy director of
the federal project for strategic petroleum
reserve. “The winds are blowing the
smoke away (from the cactus rig). Those
men are in there close. ”
Parker said the explosion, in which two
workers sustained extensive burns, hap
pened as the rig was extracting small cas
ing from the underground cavern.
“We just had a routine workover opera
tion,” Parker said. “They were just pulling
up casing and they were rigged properly
with a blowout preventer. Everything was
standard oil field practice.”
“The flames and smoke are rising to the
stratosphere,” said state police Sgt. Brooks
Arrant. “It’s unbelievable.
“We will probably burn off about 25,000
to 30,000 barrels of oil until the pressure
neutralizes,” Parker said. “We have to get
the fire out first.”
A team of firefighters headed by Asgar
Boots Hansen flew into the isolated,
alligator-infested area of southwestern
Louisiana to begin salvage operations.
But Parker said there was little danger
the entire 7 million barrel supply would
explode.
Smoke from the blaze was visible 30
miles away. Cameron Parish sheriff’s de
puty Patrick Lowery said 10 to 15 families
in the area were placed on alert to
evacuate if conditions worsened.
The underground tanks can hold 60
million barrels of oil — more than 2 billion
gallons. Federal officials last year consi
dered increasing the capacity to 210 mill
ion barrels, or 8.8 billion gallons.
Firefighters were unable to reach the
scene of the blaze until 6:10 p.m., nearly
two hours after it started, because of the
intense heat. They were called from as far
away as Lake Charles, La., 20 miles to the
north.
Hackberry is located in the alligator-rich
marshy flatlands of extreme southwestern
Louisiana, adjacent to the Sabine National
Wildlife Refuge.
The injured victims were taken to Lake
Charles Memorial Hospital with bums and
later airlifted to the burn unit at Baton
Rouge General Hospital. Their conditions
were not immediately determined.
The fire started about 4:20 p.m. and was
burning heavily more than five hours la
ter.
An official with AmoUo Pipeline Co.,
about a mile from the fire, said two injured
men were on a workover rig near where
the fire began.
White House energy adviser James
Schlesinger and Louisiana Gov. Edwin
Edwards turned a huge white valve on
July 21, 1977, to let oil flow from a barge
into a huge storage bin.
From there, it was pumped into the
West Hackberry Salt Dome, an under
ground storage cavity. Federal officials
said the West Hackberry Salt Dome and
others eventually would hold a 42 billion
gallon petroleum reserve to be used by the
United States in the event of another Arab
oil embargo. They said the system was ex
tremely safe and virtually foolproof.
“If they do it right, you’re not going to
have anv problems,” Sen. Russell B.
Long, D-La., said. “All you’re doing is put
ting the oil back in the ground.”
Attorney believes
Torres case could
go to Supreme Court
Blinn student shot in class
United Press International
Authorities said Thursday a man armed
with a .22-caliber pistol walked into a
crowded classroom at Blinn College at 307
S. Main in Bryan and shot his wife to
death, then fled to an apartment building
and shot himself as police closed in.
Police said Elbert Blue, 27, of Bryan
was charged in the death of his wife,
Holly, 32. Blue was listed in fair condition
at a local hospital.
Officials said Blue went to the college
Wednesday evening where his wife was
taking night classes and walked unchal
lenged into the crowded classroom with
the pistol in hand.
Police say he shot his wife twice in the
chest and then walked out again with no
one attempting to pursue him.
Authorities said they learned Blue was
in a nearby apartment complex and as they
attempted to make an arrest heard a shot.
Blue was lying on the floor with a gunshot
wound to the chest, they said.
They said the shooting apparently
stemmed from a family dispute.
By LYLE LOVETT
Battalion Reporter
The attorney for one of three former
Houston police officers charged in the
death of Joe Campos Torres said Thursday
public criticism against the federal pro
secution of the case is one reason the issue
could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme
Court.
“The government will never be satisfied
until these guys go to the penitentiary for a
very long time,” he said.
Bob Bennett defended Terry Wayne
Denson in two trials, one on the state level
and one on the federal level. Both times
the defendants were convicted of negli
gent homicide and received 10-year prob
ated sentences.
Bennett said the public was not happy
with the state prosecution. Also because
federal prosecution produced almost iden
tical results, he said, the federal govern
ment has been criticized as severely as the
state.
He said the federal government is trying
to show it is doing everything it can to
prosecute the case again on the grounds
that the sentences were illegal. The Jus
tice Department has taken the case to the
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New
Orleans. A trial date has not been set.
Justice Department officials say that it is
illegal for an offense carrying a possible life
sentence to be probated. The U.S. attor
ney’s office asked the federal judge in the
case to change the sentence, but he re
fused.
“I think the government has made up its
mind to go all the way,” Bennett said. “So,
if it loses in New Orleans, it’ll take the case
to Washington.”
He said that only offenses carrying a
mandatory life imprisonment of death sen
tence exclude suspension or probation.
See related story on page 8.
ntoinette Attell falls into the hands of Jay Vickers at the Toad the
Mime’s master class Thursday night in Rudder Tower. Attell was teach
ing the pantomime class. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Candidate to file suit
if energy bill adopted
United Press International
AUSTIN — Jim Baker, GOP candidate
for attorney general, Thursday unveiled a
lawsuit he said he would file against the
ime teaches story telling
By SALLYANNE CORNELIUS
Battalion Reporter
Ever had your body read?
Some 20 students did during Toad the
ime’s master’s class Thursday night in
idder Tower.
Toad the Mime is Antoinette Attell from
m Francisco. A performer and teacher of
e pantomime, she was trained by Jean-
Duis Barroult and Mamako Yoenyama,
rench mime experts.
The students, clad in tights and loose
othing, learned to communicate with
eir bodies — to pantomime.
Attell explained that a pantomime is the
fual story being told, and the mime is
e story-teller.
Most of mime communication is
u 'rough the eyes and the heart, Attell
| id -
She began teaching the students muscle
id sound exercises.
“Texans pick this up fast,” Attell said.
“Some people think Texans are kind of
slow, but they’re not. Texans are great.”
The students also participated in a
story-telling event, which amused par
ticipants and the few observers.
One student began the story, and when
Attell touched someone, he had to take up
the story-telling.
Tales beginning with “Three boys walk
ing down the street” ended with “Martians
from Venus investigating the remnants of a
cave.”
The actual performance of Toad the
Mime is at 8 p.m. in Rudder Theatre.
Toad is known to break the traditional
routine of mime by encouraging audience
participation. She said she plans to involve
audience members tonight in her improvi
sations.
Attell mingles with her audience, and
through an “energy thing” she selects par
ticipants. “I can feel who to pick,” she
said.
Audience participants often are asked to
tell a story and she acts it out in pan
tomime.
“I always include a teaching part in my
performances,” Attell said. “Everyone can
do mime, if they just let themselves. ”
Toad was a regular on NBC’s Laugh-In
in fall 1977. She also appeared on The
Great American Laugh-Off in late 1977.
Attell has performed with many come
dians, including Steve Martin. She also
has appeared on the Merv Griffin, Dinah
Shore, Mike Douglas, and Nancy Wilson
shows.
She has opened for such rock groups as
The Tubes, Traffic, America, and Richie
Havens.
Besides America, she has performed in
England, Africa, and Japan.
Attell’s current approach features
people meeting in singles bars, airline
stewardesses, gangsters, and the animal
kingdom.
federal government if the present com
promise energy bill is adopted by Con
gress.
If elected. Baker said, he would chal
lenge the federal government’s intent to
regulate intrastate gas prices because “it
could severly damage the Texas economy
and jeopardize our educational funds.”
Baker said the lawsuit would be difficult
to win, but “it should be filed.” He said,
however, that the lawsuit could be won
because federal controls cannot be placed
on intrastate gas produced from state-
owned land.
“If my suit is successfid, Texas consum
ers will be protected from federal regula
tions which could endanger our state’s
energy supply, and even order our fuel out
of state—regardless of our own needs, ” he
said.
The Republican candidate, who is chal
lenging Democrat Mark White in the Nov.
7 election, said the energy bill — which is
likely to be passed by Congress — is too
complicated and would be difficult to en
force.
“The bill is a bad bill. It’s complex and it
would be a bureaucratic nightmare,”
Baker said.
The Houston attorney said the mock
lawsuit he displayed for Capitol reporters
was not a campaign gimmick.
“It’s not a gimmick. This lawsuit has
some very valid arguments,” he said.
Caught ya!
Cindy Pate, a junior animal science major at Texas A&M University,
wasn’t expecting a lurking photographer as she takes a king-size
bite of a snowcone • Battalion photo by Karen Cornelison