72 No. 132
Pages
he Battalion
Wednesday, April 11, 1979
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Double feature
The Aggie baseball team won
one and lost one against Okla
homa City University Tuesday
— with the Marks brothers and
a cast of thousands. See details
on page 13.
Twisters devastate towns
on Red River: 40 dead
United Press International
Vicious tornadoes slashed a “path of
death” through the Red River Valley bor
der between Texas and Oklahoma Tues
day, killing at least 40 and possibly 50 and
packing hospitals with more than 500 in
jured.
Authorities making a careful count were
able to confirm 40 deaths, but unofficial
totals from the scene ran as high as 50.
Officials said damage was running to
many millions of dollars.
In Wichita Falls two tornadoes hit at
sundown, demolishing whole neighbor
hoods and two modern shopping centers.
One hospital administrator said there were
“in the area of 10 deaths” and more than
400 injured. The National Guard was
called out to defend against looting.
In Vernon, a city of 12,000 about 40
miles away, there were 12 confirmed
deaths and 70 injured. “It hit some re
A&M Radio Club
relays tornado news
W5AC at Texas A&M University is part
of an emergency network of amateur radio
operators reporting on the tornado disas
ter centered in Wichita Falls.
Collin McKinney, operations officer for
the MSC Radio Committee, said late
Tuesday night that club members were re
laying messages for'Texas Electric Co. be
tween Dallas and Wichita Falls. The tor
nado destroyed a power plant in the North
Texas town, knocking out lights.
McKinney said two residents of Wichita
Falls here were working with a mobile
radio unit in the city, trying to pinpoint
the tornado path. The club now has infor
mation about specific streets and some
damage reports.
By early this morning more units, in
cluding some from Dallas, were set to
relay messages between College Station
and Wichita Falls and the other areas.
“We should be able to relay messages
Wednesday,” McKinney said. “It’s a mat
ter of how bad the (radio) traffic is into
Wichita Falls and the conditions.”
Few messages to individuals were sent
Tuesday night.
“The emergency nets (networks) have
priorities,” McKinney explained. “Right
now the priority is to try to restore the
well-being of people there.”
Around midnight about nine club mem
bers were in the Radio Room, which is in
Room 152 of the MSC. Besides aiding the
electric company, they were listening to
broadcasts from Vernon and Lawton, two
other cities hit by tornadoes. The Aggie
emergency network began running about
7:30 p.nm, an hour after the twisters hit.
RolofFs girls willing to talk
Dnda Reger and Lindsey Scoggins don’t look too worried during their
iJrrnoon haircutting session, but the blow dryer they’re using could be
limful to them. Battalion photo by Caron Becker
airdryer hotlines:
curate but busy
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Consumers wanting
■nation about asbestos-lined hair
§5 have jammed telephone lines to
rai mpanies and flooded the gov-
nent with calls, a federal agency said
idav.
be Consumer Product Safety Commis-
lid several toll-free telephone num-
perated by dryer manufacturers are
Sisy that many callers cannot get
ftey simply don’t have the lines to ac-
■o many calls,” a spokeswoman said,
ne CPSC is investigating whether the
Blion asbestos-lined hairdryers in use
in the United States are possible health
hazards. Asbestos is a known cancer-
Some companies already are offering re
funds or replacements for dryers with as
bestos lining.
Dryer information numbers, which are
accurate but busy, are Conair Corp. —
(800) 6315391; General Electric — (800)
241-9992; the Gillette Co. (800) 328-9208;
and North American Philips Corp.
(Norelco) — (800) 223-1828.
The CPSC said its own tollfree hotline
has received about 1,200 dryer calls per
day. That number is (800) 638-8326.
United Press International
CORPUS CHRISTI — The Rev. Lester
Roloff said Tuesday he and the five girls
who allegedly stabbed a classmate at the
evangelist’s Rebekah Home would testify
if called before a Nueces County grand
j u D-
“You know I’ll be ready,” Roloff said as
he awaited the afternoon arrival of Gov.
Bill Clements for a tour of the Roloff
facilities.
The tour had been planned before Dis
trict Attorney Bill Mobley announced the
most recent investigation.
“The girls will be ready. If they (grand
jurors) are interested in boys and girls and
love’s work, there’ll be no problem. Love’s
work is no ill to its neighbor.”
Mobley said it was “shocking” that the
stabbing incident last July 1 went unre
ported for nine months until the Corpus
Christi Caller published a copyrighted
story Sunday quoting the five girls as say
ing they wanted to kill Misty Hardeman,
16, of Marysville, Kan., so they could
leave the home.
Roloff, who has jokingly referred to the
five girls as “my little murderers,” said
since the incident they have “found the
victory” and now are “among the sweetest
girls on earth.”
Hardeman, who escaped the attack
without serious injury and was treated by
Roloff s staff, was removed from the home
by her parents.
The five girls told the newspaper they
had reformed, found religion and wanted
to stay at Roloffs home.
“Isn’t it a sight?” Roloff said of the pro
posed grand jury investigation. “It’s like
coming along and seeing a child fall over
the seawall. You take your shoes off to save
the little child, and then they throw you in
jail because there’s a ‘no swimming’ sign.
We batted 100 percent with these little
girls. They wouldn’t have come to the
victory if they hadn’t stayed here.
Roloff first referred to the five girls as
“my little murderers” at a state capitol
rally supporting separation of church and
state that was addressed by Clements last
month. Roloff told the crowd each girl was
spanked for their misdeeds.
apavik, Morrison
ie in runoff Monday
By DILLARD STONE
■ Battalion Staff
■nnie Kapavik and J. Wayne Morrison
[a runoff election to determine the
*80 Texas A&M University student
| president.
Ii- runoff on Monday also will include
■al other contenders for student of-
| the most important being the vice
Went for student services, where John
ce and Brad Smith will face each
Jr.
orrison garnered 1,616 votes, or 44.17
ent, compared with Kapavik’s 1,343
s, 36.71 percent total. Third candidate
le Masterson received 699 votes, or
JO percent.
lie spring elections, conducted by stu-
!| government, are held each year to
le the various student leaders for the
png year. Also included on this year’s
1( , a referendum on the subject of
luation with honors,
dents voted overwhelmingly to re-
the grade point ratio required to
taate with honors.
e old system, replaced this year,
d for the. following criteria for honors
dates: cum laude, 3.25-3.499; magna
laude, 3.5-3.749; summa cum laude,
4.0. Students voted to return to this
m in the referendum,
e new system, applicable to the Class
and succeeding classes, calls for
levels to be cum laude, 3.5-3.699;
a cum laude, 3.7-3.899; summa cum
*, 3.9-4.0.
the other vice presidential races:
John Calhoun defeated Leroy Startz
e contest for academic affairs,
Jeb Hensarling won the external af
fairs seat from Andrew Cook,
—George Black in the finance race, and
Paul Bettencourt in the rules and regu-
latioons contest, were uncontested.
Slighly under 4,000 students cast votes
in the Monday and Tuesday elections. The
3,931 votes cast represents about 14 per
cent of the Texas A&M student body.
Barbara Thompson was elected Resi
dence Hall Association president, with
Bill Way as vice president and Joanne
Xavier as secretary.
The off-campus student asociation, as
yet unnamed, will be headed by president
Debbie May, vice president Scott Terry,
secretary Paula Sorrells, and treasurer
John Lee.
Senior yell leaders chosen were Brian
Hill, Jeff Smiley and Pete Greaves. Junior
yell leaders are Mark Outlaw and Ed
Franza.
Class officers also were chosen in the
elections:
—Class of 1980: Mark Murphy, presi
dent; Cathy Cox, vice president; Brian
Miller, secretary-treasurer; Susan
Clerihew, social secretary; Valerie Rivera,
historian.
— Class of 1981: Jess Mason, president;
Kathy Rivera and Bill Dawley in a runoff
for vice president; Patti Heaton,
secretary-treasurer; Nancy Kelly, social
secretary.
—Class of 1982: Mike McCarley and
Rick Kumpf in a runoff for president; Rick
Seger and Tracy Hammer in a runoff for
vice president; David Moyer, secretary-
treasurer; Sherry Trask and Susan Pav-
losky in a runoff for social secretary.
The 1979-80 student senate will be com
posed of:
—Off-campus senators Sue Vito, Lawr
ence Peircy, Rusty Davis, Dorothy
DuBois, Amy Bayer, Pete Ravella, Chuck
Mullins, Jane McGregor, Ronald
Elsberry, Ted Season, Mark Ellison, Cliff
Cauthen, Teresa Beshara, Brian Gross,
Perie Pitts, Jessie Cowan, John Joyce,
Janet Golub, Thomas Stodgel, Tim Sager,
and Steven Branecky.
Several other off-campus seats in the
various wards are open in Monday’s
runoff.
—Corps of Cadets senators John St.
Mary, Brian Shephard, and Marvin
Swink.
—Civilian living area senators Susan
Hopkins, Jim Barolak, Jan Poison, Molly
Peterson, Tony Albracht, Lance Wright,
and Marc Schneider.
—Academic college senators Robert
Werner, Laura Larson, Rip Van Winkle,
Cleve Clark, Rebecca Taulman, Ron Metz
and Kevin Hamilton from agriculture;
Patty McSweeney and Art Pregler from
architecture;
Cheryl Swanzy, Tracy Cox, Jeff Mason,
and Steve Hageman from business;
Lee Maverick and Mary Alice Williams
from education;
John Peyton, Jeff Honeck, Steven
Tinker, Steven Hague, Dudley Viles, Dan
Ayre, Steve Horn and Kirk Kelley from
engineering;
Robert Hughes from geosciences;
Carlos Dejesus, Mark Shomaker, Ann
Landis and Helen Schitthauer from liberal
arts;
Lisa Carman, Julie Spinn and Jim Bob
Coates from science;
Tom Gowan from veterinary medicine;
and Paul Matherne from medicine.
I
Zachry extols
will to work
By SCOTT D. HARING
Battalion Reporter
Drive and determination are the keys to
success, H.B. Zachry told a group of busi
ness students Tuesday night.
Zachry spoke at the Business Student
Council’s spring seminar, along with' Dr.
William B. Muse, who will become dean
of the College of Business Administration
on July 1.
Zachry said the difference between suc
cess and failure in life is “the will to work,
the will to pay the price.” In his short talk
he also quoted Alexander the Great and
recited poetry from memory.
Zachry, 78, is chairman of the board of
H.B. Zachry construction Co., which he
founded two years after graduating from
Texas A&M in 1922.
Zachry keeps a strict regimen of diet
and exercise, running an eight-minute
mile every morning.
“I may grow old sometime,” he said,
“but not today.”
Zachry told a few jokes and personal
anecdotes, but always came back to his
topic.
The H.B. Zachry Construction Co. does
about $350 million worth of work each
year, and he credits Texas A&M for his
success.
“I like the way A&M builds men, and
now, women.”
Muse, the new dean, talked about the
world’s changing business environment.
He noted the rapid increase in technology
and said that a business student must be
aware of developments in all fields that
may pertain to his work.
But while technology is changing
rapidly. Muse said, some things will al
ways remain the same. He suggested that
business students develop self-confidence,
poise under pressure, loyalty, pride and
integrity.
staurants and houses,” said Vernon Police
Chief Wayne Hendrix. “It just left a path
of death.” The tornado flattened one end
of the city and threw debris several
thousand feet.
Billy Robertson, administrator of Wil
barger General Hospital in Vernon, said
there was no more room to treat the in
jured and few places to send them because
the closest major hospitals were in Wichita
Falls, already packed with their own in
jured.
In nearby Harrold, a city of 3,000, one
person was killed.
In Lawton, Okla., three deaths were
confirmed and there were reports of four
more dead. One of two tornadoes that hit
there knocked over a truck carrying sul
phuric acid, spilling the liquid over the
streets.
The twisters destroyed about two dozen
houses, mobile homes and small busi
nesses in the southeast part of town and
heavily damaged a four-block area near the
heart of downtown.
“They are digging people out over
there,” said Susan Black, who was in her
grandmother’s storm celler when the tor
nado passed over.
At Wichita Falls, Bethania Hospital
spokeswoman Joyce Warren said 139 per
sons had been admitted at that hospital
alone — many with “very serious in
juries.”
“I know we’ve had at least one death,
because it was right in this room,” she
said. “It was a child, about 4. I’m sure
there are others. I’ve heard several people
mention some other deaths. Things are
just sheer bedlam.”
The hospital was operating with
emergency power and Warren said pa
tients were in the corridors, the lobby and
even the plush board room.
Warren said “whole neighborhoods’’
were blown away by the tornado.
“It just seemed to hop all over town.
Cars are in terrible condition — many,
many, many cars. Our biggest shopping
center is totally wiped out.
“There are lots of cases of whole
neighborhoods being blown away. One
lady was at a Pizza Hut and a car was
picked up (from the parking lot) and
landed on a nearby home. One other per
son (a hospital employee) lost his home.
Then he took his family to a relative’s
house and it was also wiped out.”
At Wichita Falls General Hospital a
spokeswoman said she believed more than
100 patients had been admitted and a
number of deaths occurred.
“The patients are coming in awfully fast
and we just plain stopped some of our
standard record procedures so we don’t
have numbers,” said administrative assis
tant Grace Shirk. “It’s my understanding
that they were taking the next group of
patients to Sheppard Air Force Base” at
Wichita Falls.
The tornado also demolished a power
plant, knocking out lights in the city. The
twister destroyed a 17-block area of the
city, according to the Department of Pub
lic Safety.
An observer of the southside destruc
tion said it looked like that area of the town
had been demolished.
Michael Perryman, 19, said he was at
the Sikes Shopping Center in Wichita
Falls when a funnel moved out of the
clouds. He said he ran to a church and
found shelter by a wall.
“We saw the tornado coming,” he said.
“My dad told me to get up next to the
church. I put my hands over my head and
a whole bunch of bricks fell on me. I never
knew what hit me.
“When I looked around only the wall of
the church I was standing by was left, the
rest was gone.”
There was a report National Guardsmen
had been either activated or placed on
alert.
“A lot of the buildings are tore up on
this end of town,” a radio reporter said.
“One of our disc jockeys was inside a club
in town and he came running back to the
station with blood all over him. He said
the club had been flattened.”
Israel retaliates for attacks,
raids Lebanon guerrilla targets
United Press International
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli warplanes
Tuesday raided Arab guerrilla targets In
Lebanon in retaliation for a series of bomb
attacks that killed and wounded scores of
Israelis in the past four days, the military
command said.
A communique said the Israeli jets
zoomed into action at 5:30 p.m. (10:30
a.m. EST) and all returned to base safely.
The Israeli planes struck shortly after a
bomb apparently set by Palestinian guer
rillas exploded Tuesday in an open-air Tel
Aviv market crowded with pre-Passover
holiday shoppers. Police said it killed one
man and wounded scores of people, in
cluding two children.
In Lebanon, Palestinian sources and
witnesses to the raids said the Israeli
planes bombed Palestinian targets in south
and central Lebanon. They said the planes
struck south of the southern port of Tyre
and at Damour, about 13 miles south of
Beirut.
There were no reports of casualties im
mediately available.
H.B. “Pat” Zachry speaks before a group of business students Tuesday
night. Battalion photo by Larry Parker