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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 1979)
he Battalion i/oi72 No. 133 iordforioieo Pages in 2 Sections Thursday, April 12, 1979 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 ost unbettB -nee. winning pj Place. i| hand, ice behijifl S MU, Ho, Itation sists lictims By KEITH TAYLOR Battalion Staff >.m. ! tough, j W | had, fc h will f w e need | t. “Ofco,, always b ! currently] L AerknocldiWSic, the amateur radio station of lay' >xas U&M University, is still hard at jrk, broadcasting to tornado-stricken orth [Texas. ^ navid McCarty, chairman of the MSC S(l iio Committee, said Wednesday night I e club is now broadcasting personal in- rmation into Wichita Falls. People can call the committee and leave l e {fflone numbers and addresses of 1 ends and relatives in Wichita Falls. The fltfn bpl relay the numbers to Wichita ■wl WJdlBid the people will be sought. HkiIso said the club has a map of the 1 RICHMiSfy marked with the path of the tornado s Editor J ca ]l . - can find out where the tornado The worst] |,ek. '1 player is6THe [Radio Committee’s phone number self a luncl] 845-7245. ay of sayiijAs of Wednesday night, the committee nynfore||d Bceived more than 200 calls since job. iesda\ ows the sail McCarty said that the names of injured because lit dead may not be broadcast according to ago follows jderal Communications Commission l jors and biles. He also said committee members irown in to mid not say if a street was directly in the ght after to th of the tornado, but they will give the easons. idea of the severity of damage in the have to cj ; a of t he street. day, hutli “\Ve can’t be definite about damage or or it yet, ury. Most of what we get back is that oounced a >y are OK,” he said, i clubs in tin fire club was handling first priority jssages Tuesday night, he said. These ginally m feages were used to coordinate relief lim to theC orts between Dallas and Wichita Falls him to the d to find out what supplies were 429 for the eded orld Series,! Now four amateur radios are operating wersandji Wichita falls through generator power, er. Last Mij said. The radios are working in cooper- o to the Ini | ing out d, he’s ba Roger Cooper, an electrical engineering sopho more from Midland, lies asleep on the floor of WSAC’s radio room in the MSC after an all-night vigil Tuesday. Cooper and other ham operators helped to coordinate civil defense, the Red Cross and the National Guard when normal communica tions to the Wichita Falls area failed as a result of tornadoes. W5AC is also relaying “health and wel fare messages” to family and friends. Their phone number is 845-7245. Battalion photo by Colin Crombie ation with the Red Cross, Civil Defense, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the city government. He said as far as he knew power had not been restored as of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The club will coninue to broadcast to Wichita Falls until normal communica tions are restored — at least another two days, McCarty said. “Most of the telephone exchanges are open,” he said. “Only a couple were knocked out, but long distance lines are packed. We will be here as long as we have work.” About 20 people have been helping the radio committee in their 24-hour -a-day ef fort. He said two students from Wichita Falls came in to find about their families, then stayed and worked. (LB. Zachry says Kyle Field expansion Kill finish on time — with new schedule lere doesjl ooking up) |r- ;ing his sod ■ # e doesn't i “ > Cardinals a bigger la te’s sayinj 1 tion thanffl■ By SCOTT D. HARINO Battalion Reporter draft this# The Kyle Field renovation project is drafted ither five weeks behind, not behind at d, Philader I or somewhere in between — depend- e of them d ig on who’s talking. so on Fell The project, which calls for a third deck ;h the seed nRth sides of Kyle Field, a new press i you call tl» ox and two four-story buildings connect- eally interfbg Kyle Field to G. Rollie White Col- were tkeiieum. is being built by the H.B. Zachry e. i°|struction Co. of San Antonio. The bo finds so‘ompany bid $22,858,600 to do the work, id. He sees H|e Texas Aggie football team was sup- ue clubs li ped to open its 1979 home season Sept, ed. Lastifagainst Brigham Young University. The led Sox wa^wf the game was moved to Houston, ind of s t r( 'H|b v er, when the contractors said they me of their^Bd have trouble getting the stadium le banner«gHy in time, ou gone ed it at 3 that, onlt' 1 ub draM g it hard what the still thinsj] i only 31 left. Ica", and I e® (9 and they' er put esignated think of and W lub u ‘--, rj are tired ® 3 only if\ e ll you oorne ( v 7 ice P re! r Office'') ion in lay' s be bad y linen 0 "', showed » f nsitivif ;o that he ■egular 1 ials and / mana? ciled in/ field and ; been loymenj; nks of d over id bug n.’Cf’. S which “I kno' v in the e | hit .310**] runs. 1 owsam etoMrt inch h“* University of Houston game. Kevin Patterson, vice president for stu dent services in student government, told the student senate last week that the project was five weeks behind schedule. He also said the construction company was starting 20-hour work days six weeks ahead of schedule to catch up. H.B. Zachry, chairman of the board of Zachry Construction Co., said that the project was not behind schedule at all. Zachry was in town Tuesday to give a speech to the Business Student Council, and he took time out to personally super vise some of the work. Zachry did say, however, that the 20- hour work days were beginning six weeks early. “We’ve had a lot of bad weather and want to be ready for any more.” Zachry said there would be no problem getting the project finished by Oct. 13. Robert Evans, assistant manager of the construction division of the Texas A&M University System, said the Kyle Field project was three to four weeks behind. “They have been delayed by the bad weather, even since the first of the year, ” he said. In response to Zachry’s claim that the job wasn’t behind schedule, Evans said, “Well, a contractor’ll tell you that.” Evans said that in addition to the weather, some steel forms for pouring concrete had not come in until last week. Since they’re in, he said, “they should be rolling now. ” The engineering firm in charge of the project, Lockwood, Andrews and New- nam Inc., met Monday with John Mer chant, manager of the construction divi sion. Evans said that at the meeting some changes were made in the plans and the schedule was rewritten. For example, Evans said, the construc tion of the elevator to the press box was simplified. He said the engineers decided to scrap a more ornamental, time- consuming method in order to finish the job more quickly. Patterson said that even though the project was five weeks behind, the new schedule is written so that construction is not behind at all. Athletic Director Marvin Tate said that he wasn’t afraid of any delays. “I have an awful lot of confidence in Mr. Zachry and the Zachry people.” Tate said that if the Oct. 13 game could not be played in Kyle Field, they would try to reschedule the game for December. Time to register, get back in line About 16,000 Texas A&M University students are expected to preregister next week for the fall 1979 semester. Preregistration will begin at 8 a.m. Monday and close at 5 p.m. Friday. The procedure goes like this: After choosing their courses and time schedules, students should report to their major departments and pick up their card packets. Next, students should fill out all the cards except the course request card. which must be filled out and signed by a department adviser. Students should then turn in their card packets at the exhibit hall in Rudder Tower, where ID photographs will be taken. Fee statements will be mailed to stu dents at their permanent home addresses around July 10. Students must mail in their fee payments by Aug. 1 or their pre registration may be canceled. Fall semester classes are scheduled to begin Sept. 3. House barely loses chance to outlaw state income tax , ii 1 it ——————^ ^SaSI^Hot^^eRoy Leschper Jr. i]K° r ^ er atop the P art, y constructed addition on Kyle Field s west s Mouetted by the evening sun. The bundles of structural steelwUI term 5 backbone of massive concrete pillars supporting the addition. United Press International AUSTIN — A San Antonio legislator, close to seeing passage of his constitutional amendment prohibiting the state from adopting a tax on personal or corporate in come, watched an opportunity slip away and now the measure faces a dim future. The constitutional amendment by Rep. Al Brown, D-San Antonio, was tentatively approved Wednesday by the House 86-45, but he needs 100 votes for final passage. Constitutional amendments require two- thirds approval from the House’s 150 members. On Tuesday Brown’s proposal drew 99 votes on tentative approval. But instead of trying to secure a final vote Wednesday, he chose to have Tuesday’s vote reconsid ered, and he lost 13 votes. He now has one more attempt — if he chooses — to try and pass the measure. Brown, insisting the constitutional amendment is needed to protect future Texas citizens from overburdening taxes, argued Rep. John Bryant, alias, and other opponents had weakened his proposal with an amendment stating that if the state ever adopted an income tax, the revenue would be used only for reduction of state and local property taxes. “This is about the best shug job I’ve seen here,” Brown said. Bryant said he opposed any kind of state income tax but insisted Brown’s proposal could jeopardize the state’s financial fu ture. “We re narrowing our tax base ... in the future if we need revenue, we ll have no thing left but property tax. It doesn’t make any sense,’’ he said. “I don’t think homeowners and farmland owners ought to pay all the taxes. ” Earlier during the almost day-long de bate, Rep. Craig Washington, D-Houston, submitted an amendment to impose taxes on gross receipts from the sale of goods, services and insurance policies. But Washington’s amendment drew harsh criticism from members who said it was contrary to the proposal’s intent and it was tabled 70-61. Washington insisted the bill would abolish taxes that already exist. “This is just like cheap insurance,” Wil son said. “It gives it to you in big print, and takes it away in little print. It’s still a tax. What difference does it make if it is gross or income (tax)?” The worm turns Why are these somewhat dis gusting inch worms are all over the area? No one is quite sure, but they’ll probably be here another two to three weeks. See details on page 5. Tornado sites yield more dead United Press International WICHITA FALLS — Storm-stunned residents of “tornado alley” Wednesday found more bodies amid the tons of shat tered and twisted debris left by the most devastating and deadly tornado to strike the state in the past quarter century. A Texas National Guard spokesman re ported at least 61 people, 45 of them in Wichita Falls, died during a frightful af ternoon and evening of weather violence and said the death toll was likely to rise throughout the day. Twelve bodies were found in Vernon, 50 miles to the west, one in Harrold, 20 miles east of Vernon, and three in Lawton, Okla., 60 miles north of Wichita Falls. At least 600 persons were hospitalized, two dozen of them mangled and in critical condition. Power, water and telephone services were knocked out to the devastated com munities. A 4-year-old girl died on an operating table at Wichita Falls’ Bethania Hospital during emergency surgery when the storm cut off the power. While rescue workers hunted for victims, guarded against looters and at tempted to restore services and communi cations in the hard hit towns Wednesday, more tornadoes struck the East Texas communities of Sulphur Springs and Mahoney. But no one was killed or injured and damage was reported light in the new twisters. The National Weather Service said the storm system that formed Tuesday’s tor nadoes likely would generate other twis ters as it moved to the northeast out of the state. Tornadoes are a familiar sight to resi dents of the Wichita Falls-Vernon area during the spring. The first 10 days of April are considered prime time for twis ters in a state that leads the nation annu ally in total number of tornadoes. But the funnel that dipped from a storm blackened sky at dusk Tuesday was more than anyone in “tornado alley” had ever seen before. “My God it was huge,” said Ellen Gaha- gan, who escaped injury by hiding in her bathtub. “When you’re laying on your stomach with stuff falling all over you, you don’t feel like you’re going to make it.” According to NWS storm forecasters, the gigantic storm was a half mile at its base and stretched three miles upwards into the clouds. For six miles it wantonly skipped about the city, engulfing whole neighborhoods and lifting them skyward and while leaving others totally un touched. The wind-driven debris became deadly shrapnel. A Lawton woman was taken to a hospital in critical condition with a three- foot 2-by-4 plank driven through her ab domen. Cattle grazing in nearby pastures were impaled with fragments of splintered trees. Gov. Bill Clements, who flew to Wichita Falls in a National Guard helicop ter to survey the scene, said the storm may have inflicted as much as $300 million in damage. He said he would ask President Carter to declare the city as a disaster area. The American Red Cross sent food, water and personnel from dozens of neighboring communities and established two shelters for the thousands of home less. Pleas were made for clothing and more supplies. Heavily armed National Guardsmen and DPS patrolmen patrolled the streets for looters. A spokesman said there were “12 minor incidents” of looting early Wednesday morning, but no arrests had been made. Jack Hales, a severe storm forecaster with the NWS in Kansas City, Mo., said the storm system produced the deadliest tornadoes since April 3, 1974, when 313 persons died in Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee. The last major tornado to hit Wichita Falls killed seven people and injured 111 on April 3, 1964. The one Tuesday was the worst in the state since a mammoth storm roared through Waco in 1953, killing 114. Where Tornadoes Occur Most Often Average frequency of tornadoes per 50-mile square (2,500 sq. miles) 3 to 4 a year 2 to 3 a year 1 to 2 a year 1 every two years to 1 a year Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The verticle white line indicates the “tornado alley, where tornadoes are most likely to occur. Twister season here Experts don’t know cause By KEITH TAYLOR Battalion Staff Every season spawns its own type of storm. Summer in Texas brings the threat of hurricanes, winter brings snows, fall has cold, driving rain, and spring brings one of the most frightening and destructive — the tornado. The tornado that hit Wichita Falls Tuesday killing at least 61 people has once again made the possibility of a tornado a frightening reality. Dr. Kenneth C. Brundidge, head of the department of meteorology at Texas A&M University, said the cause of tornadoes is not known. He said it is theorized that the same conditions cause both severe thun derstorms and tornadoes. The storms and tornadoes that struck North Texas and South Oklahoma were caused by a collision of warm, moist air sucked from the Gulf of Mexico and dry, cold air from the jet stream pushed south by a westerly front. He said as the spring and summer progress, the jet stream will move north ward as the number of cold fronts de creases, so the number of severe thun derstorms and tornadoes will decrease. Brundidge said tornadoes are almost al ways associated with cold front storms. The thunder storms Texas experiences in the summertime rarely spawn tornadoes. He said these thunderstorms are caused by warm air rising from the surface of the earth causing the formation of cumulo nimbus clouds commonly known as thun- derheads. These storms are isolated and highly disorganized — usually unable to produce tornadoes like the highly or ganized cold front storms. The destructiveness of a tornado is caused by two factors, the 100-300 mph swirling winds and the sudden drops in atmospheric pressure that the tornado causes. “Texas Weather,” a book written by meteorologists Harold Taft and Ron God- bey, says a 10 percent reduction in pres sure caused by a tornado is sufficient to exert a force of 212 pounds per square foot on the walls of a house and a force of 106 tons on the ceiling. This is enough to cause a house to literally explode. The high winds then carry the debris away. One of the main dangers of a tornado is that it cannot be predicted. Meteorologists can recognize conditions that will spawn a tornado, but they cannot tell where it will strike. The safest thing to do is listen for tor nado watches and if one is given, prepare for the worst. A tornado watch means conditions are right for a tornado to be produced. A tornado warning means one has been spotted in the vicinity. In their book, Taft and Godbey say the basement of a house offers the greatest safety- If ike house has no basement, go to the center of the house, on the lowest floor, in a small room, such as a closet or bathroom. They also advise opening win dows, so inside and outside pressure can equalize, reducing the possibility of the house exploding.