Battalion
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Entertainment in Aggieland
Entertainment abounded this weekend with two great
performances by Leon and Mary Russell in G. Rollie
White Coliseum and folksinger Nanci Griffith, who
entertained in the Basement Coffeehouse. For reviews of
these performances, see page 5.
Mass
after
suicides reported
Guyana killings
United Press International
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - In a bizarre
followup of a raid and shooting Friday of a
United States congressman and several
members of his party, it was reported
today that some 300 members of the reli
gious commune which the United States
group was investigating have committed
suicide both by gunshot and poisoning.
The congressman. Rep. Leo Ryan,
D-Calif., was reported killed. So were at
least a half-dozen other members of his
party including several journalists and at
least one woman who were accompanying
him on the mission to see whether the
cult, reportedly headed by a former
California man, was holding American
prisoners in the jungles of this small South
American country.
The raid took place on a remote landing
strip in Port Kaituma, about 150 miles
north of here as the party was gathering to
return to the United States.
The religious group, based in San Fran
cisco and known as the People’s Temple,
reportedly numbers about 1,000. The
adw
In the Texas A&M locker room after Saturday’s loss
to Arkansas, Coy Collinsworth extends an invitation
to the Aggies to play in the second annual Hall of
Fame Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. on Dec. 20. Head
coach Tom Wilson accepted the bid on behalf of his
staff and his players, while Texas A&M University
President Jarvis Miller and Interim Athletic Di
rector Marvin Tate look on. See related story on
page 9.
Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
Pentagon accused of
^apparent illegal act’
in canal construction
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Despite a top-level
determination that U.S. national security
is involved, three legislators are accusing
the Pentagon of committing “an apparent
rain dust fire prevention discussed
By BECKY DOBSON
Battalion Reporter
Last year grain dust explosions killed 61
ople and cost grain elevator owners an
Kimated $46 million in damages says
, hry S. Nelson, a safety engineer with the
has Agricultural Extension Service.
U researcher has found that grain
i/ILLAMARU fevator fires and explosions rank first in
146-7384 Imber of occurrences, people injured,
;PPER PLAN id amount of property damaged in all of
. 6 recorded history of agricultural dust
M plosions in the United States.
"Once a person understands the four
iMMH sic elements that are needed to create a
H lin dust explosion —dust, oxygen, igni
ftpffM w and confined space — he can take
\7«Rps to see to it that these four are never
fiflthe same place at the same time,” says
SDk Nelson.
fcfejf /MTexas Agricultural Extension Service
■' Jesented a short course last week on the
ise and prevention of grain elevator
;s and explosions. An estimated 175
ople participated including grain
ivator owners, salesmen and inspectors.
“I came to get a better handle on what
we can do to make them (grain elevators)
more safe, said one participant, Gary
Curlee, marketing manager for Burgess
Power Equipment. Curlee sells grain
elevators and equipment to individual
owners.
The explosions are not a real problem
for the elevators he deals with, Curlee
says.
“Most of my business is with country
elevators, and explosions are not as big a
problem as with city elevators,” Curlee
said. He said there have been two ex
plosions in his area this year with two in
juries.
The large amounts of grain handled at
terminal elevators in the city, along with
the increased operating time, wear and
maintenance, make the chance for an ex
plosion greater at a terminal elevator than
at a county or farm grain-handling unit,”
says Nelson, “but the essential conditions
for explosions can be found at any
grainhandling unit.”
The dust created by the storage and
transport of most grains is highly combus
tible. The actual hazards of various dusts is
listed by the Bureau of Mines. An index
number between 1 and 10 is considered a
strong explosion. Anything above 10 is
considered severe: Pittsburgh coal dust
1.0, corn dust 8.4, sugar dust 13.2, wheat
flour 3.8, cornstarch 35.6, and wheat
starch, 49.8.
When the dust is dispersed in the air in
a dust cloud and the mixture is within its
“explosive range” it requires only two
more ingredients to explode. It must be
ignited (spark) and it must be confined to a
closed space (pressure).
The short course attempted to present
the most recent technology available that
may be employed to prevent grain dust
fires and explosions said Nelson. Speakers
from Ohio and Massachusetts traveled to
Texas A&M University to explain new sys
tems and designs that may be built to pre
vent explosions. Preventive maintenance
and electronic monitoring systems were
also presented.
No classes Dec.l
m
ounseling is vital
o life of rape victim
As a sign of confidence of winning the
Aggie-Longhorn football game in Austin
Friday, Dec. 1, all classes will be dis
missed on the day of the game, except for
veterinary medicine students.
Classes will meet the following Monday,
however, regardless of the outcome of the
game—putting a slight dent in the time-
honored Aggie tradition of taking the next
class day off for prolonged celebration of a
victory over the University of Texas.
“We choose to think of taking Friday off
as a sign of confidence—or at least su
preme optimism,” noted Texas A&M Pres
ident Jarvis E. Miller in anmouncing the
holiday.
College of Veterinary Medicine stu
dents, who operate on a rigid trimester
basis, will be dismissed from classes at the
direction of Dean George C. Shelton. He
indicated most of his students could be
Austin-bound by noon.
Friday will be a regular work day for
faculty and staff.
CARgftV
CAN STVLi;
m, Texai
69
DK CA^'
By DIANE BLAKE
Battalion StafT
Editor’s note: This is the third of a
ree-part series discussing the medical
and legal aspects of rape.
[Rape crisis counseling is necessary after
, mpe has occurred to give a the victim a
knse of order and normalcy in her life.
)NDAW I "Although different persons react dif-
itsville H*'r ren ^y> virtually every victim experi
ences some period of severe trauma,” said
[iidith Wooten, a graduate student in
unseling psychology.
Rape is typically a traumatic, life-
ireatening experience,” Wooten said. “It
a crime of violence, not just a sexual
picounter.
“Therefore the victim is often left with a
ar for his or her life. A lot of how this
fects a person has to do with her own
titudes, values, feelings of self-worth and
tneral ability to cope. ”
i Wooten will hold a seminar for those
interested in crisis counseling Dec. 3 at
e Growing Center, 101 Lake St.
[The seminar’s purpose will be to coor-
jnate the various counseling efforts al-
ady existing in the Bryan-College Sta
in area. Persons interested in answering
e crisis hotline should also attend this
minar, Wooten said.
“Rape prevention takes a community ef-
n^^lprt,” the graduate student said. “I am
.JW Most interested in getting the whole
I^Pmmunity involved.”
■ Wooten said persons wanting to be
pisis counselors need not have had prior
E l&ining. “But a counselor must be able to
link fast and not get carried away by his
°f her emotions.
| I Most of all he must be willing to do his
■ -1 her homework, to learn all the neces-
pn information,” she said.
Wooten said there are two types of
unseling for rape victims: crisis counsel-
E pig and long-term counseling.
■ Crisis counseling is needed soon after
le rape has occurred. It involves accom
panying the victim to the hospital and
olice station, helping her make the
roper reports and giving her support
^mediately after the rape.
Long-term counseling deals with all as
sets of the person’s life. “Although the
ipe may be the particular problem, the
ictim’s entire lifestyle is disrupted,”
tooten said.
The first reaction a rape victim has is
ten fear, Wooten said. Then a common
nse is humiliation followed by guilt.
Finally some women become angry.
“But often anger is the hardest thing to
work out,” Wooten said.
“Some women never realize that they
have a right to be angry. They never allow
themselves to be outraged.”
“Trauma like any life threat lingers for
years. The idea that you don’t have control
over your own body is a devastating feel
ing — that’s why it’s so traumatic.
“None of us wants to accept that there
might be some time when we don’t own
our own body. When someone else takes
possession, it is an assault on the person’s
own essence.”
Wooten said counseling was not only to
help those who have been raped, but is “a
two-fold process.”
“Counseling should help you learn
about things before they happen, to pre
vent things from happening. It is educa
tion.”
illegal act” in releasing $10.9 million for
construction in the Panama Canal Zone.
Rep. George Hansen, R-Idaho, said at a
news conference Friday: “I am calling on
(Defense) Secretary (Harold) Brown to re
voke this decision or I am calling for (his)
resignation.
“The president is spending money
without the approval of the House. It is
not appropriate for a single dime to be
spent until the House can vote on the is
sue,” he said.
The money is destined for construction
and consolidation of certain U.S. military
facilities in connection with the gradual
turnover of the canal to Panama.
President Carter certified to Brown on
Oct. 3 the construction was in U.S. na
tional interests, and Brown concurred.
“Before we went ahead on this matter,
we looked into it thoroughly and we re
convinced we re in compliance with the
law, ” a Pentagon spokesman said.
The spokesman said the military con
struction authorization act gives Brown
power to build facilities if he decides it is
vital to U.S. security.
Reps. Hansen, Tom Kindness, R-Ohio,
and Steven Symrns, R-Idaho, are raising
the issue as part of an effort to complicate
— and possibly block — the implementa
tion of the Panama canal treaties.
“The canal fight is not over yet. We are
not going to allow millions of taxpayer dol
lars to be spent in implementing these
treaties without a fight. And that fight will
take place on the floor of the House of
Representatives when Congress recon
venes,” Symms said.
The three legislators said the construc
tion violated the express wish of Congress
that no public funds be spent for the canal
turnover until both House and Senate
have debated the detailed legislation for
implementing the canal treaties.
That debate is expected sometime next
year.
The Senate ratified the two Panama
canal treaties last spring. They provide for
the defense of the canal and turnover of
the waterway to Panama’s control at the
end of the 20th century.
The gradual turnover process requires
relocation of some U.S. facilities located in
the Canal Zone. The first of these are to be
ready by Oct. 1, 1979.
The Pentagon argues it must begin con
struction immediately to take advantage of
the dry season, which lasts from De
cember until April. The Pentagon further
argues it is authorized to do so under con-
gressionally authorized provisions for
emergency construction.
c
Getting ready for the big show
While some Aggies were partying, a number of others spent their Satur
day night building the bonfire for the deadline, now less than two weeks
away. The flood lights enabled them to work through the night and the
camp fires continued burning to keep them warm when the cold rains
swept the Bryan-College Station area, a few hours later.
Battalion photo by Richard Westlake
mass suicide reports have not been con
firmed.
In Washington, the State Department
said one of the two pilots involved said
about 25 members of the party had been
hit by gunfire, and as many as 10 might be
dead.
“We have an eyewitness report of Ryan
being hit by gunfire and some members of
an NBC crew and others being hit,” the
spokesman said.
“This report comes from the pilot of the
second plane, which took off. The first
plane was damaged so badly it couldn’t
take off. There’s a further report that a
member of the People’s Temple, an
American, in Georgetown, murdered her
children and killed herself.”
The mass suicide reports were heard on
Guyana radio but unconfirmed early to
day.
Ryan arrived Nov. 14 in the tiny South
American country formerly known as
British Guyana and went to the commune
with a party of about 25 people, including
several U. S. Embassy staffers, two per
sonal aides and eight American journalists
including a four-member NBC News cam
era crew.
Ryan was reportedly escorting some
Americans from the religious settlement
who had decided to return to the United
States.
Suddenly one of the party pulled a pistol
and opened fire as they boarded two light
planes, the pilot said, the State Depart
ment said. Then a tractor-trailer pulled up
near the planes and gunmen in the trailer
opened fire.
The pilot said the first pistol shots ap
parently were a signal for attack by the
group of armed men on the truck.
Ryan was checking reports that some of
the 1,100 Americans at the People’s Tem
ple were being kept in “a jail” in Jones
town, named after the self-styled Rev. Jim
Jones of San Francisco.
Nine or 10 of the religious converts had
decided to return with Ryan to
Georgetown and then to the United
States. The entire party of about 25 people
was boarding the planes at the time of the
attack.
Coded data:
setback for
SALT pact
United Press International
MOSCOW — Former astronaut Sen.
John Glenn says Soviet insistence on send
ing coded data from its outer space tests
prevents adequate monitoring and could
prevent completion of a new SALT treaty.
Glenn, part of a Senate delegation that
toured the Soviet Union for a week, told
his colleagues the coding of telementry
data from space goes to the very heart of
verifying compliance in any new Strategic
Arms Limitation Treaty.
Glenn, the first American to orbit the
earth Feb. 20, 1962, said the Soviets were
increasing their coding during test flights
and called the issue a “very major sticky
point” in current SALT-2 talks.
Glenn said he told Soviet Premier
Alexei Kosygin that any agreement would
have to be equal for both parties “and as
long as one hand says, no, we’re going to
encrypt and keep the information from
you, it is not an even-handed agreement.”
“I told the prime minister that it could
very well be that if there is no give on that
particular point, the Senate will never get
the vote on SALT,” he said. “I think it’s
that serious.”
The issue involves the testing of Soviet
SS18 missiles armed with multiple
warheads, each of which can be indepen
dently programmed to hit a different
target.
Recount shows
small change in
Nov. 7 results
Friday’s recount of Brazos County bal
lots has shown only a small change from the
Nov. 7 results.
Dr. Bruce Robeck, appointed recount
judge, reported that Democratic guber
natorial candidate John Hill picked up one
additional vote in the recount. Hill led
Republican Bill Clements in Brazos
County by 324 votes when the ballots
were counted on election night.
U.S. Senator John Tower, who led
Democratic challenger Bob Krueger in
Brazos County by 208 votes Nov. 7,
gained three more votes in the recount.
The recount came after representatives
of Hill and Krueger filed for a check of
local precinct boxes. District Judge W.T.
McDonald Jr. ordered the recount last
week, and appointed Robeck to supervise
the activity.
A spokesman with the Secretary of
State’s election division said Friday that
the 42 county recounts are not expected to
differ greatly from the original results. He
said the recounts should be finished by the
end of the week.