Battalion
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Aggie Muster draws
horde to campus
More than 8,000 people attended
the 97th Aggie Muster at Texas
A&M University Saturday. See
page 9.
Uganda election
simple, peaceful
United Press International
KAMPALA, Uganda — Thousands of
Ugandans voted for the first time in more
than eight years Saturday as Tanzanian
troops closed in on Idi Amin’s last known
stronghold in the eastern city of Jinja.
Special British envoy Richard Posnett
raised the Union Jack over the downtown
British High Commission, symbolizing the
restoration of full diplomatic relations be
tween the two countries for the first time
in three years.
A U.S. delegation was expected in
Kampala today. The new provisional gov
ernment is looking to Washington and
London to provide the bulk of aid neces
sary for Uganda’s reconstruction, esti
mated in the billions of dollars.
Moving speedily to implement a pledge
to return Uganda to full democracy, the
government Saturday held the first elec
tions in Uganda for more than eight years.
Thousands of civilians in Kampala
turned out to nominate local parish repre
sentatives to act as their spokesmen with
the central government.
The newly elected parish leaders also
were charged with rounding up stolen
weapons and goods looted from the capi
tal’s stores, offices and homes — one of the
government’s main priorities.
Along Kampala’s streets, typewriters
and chairs stolen from government offices
have begun to appear neatly at curbside,
where trucks carrying police officers col
lect them.
Saturday’s elections were peaceful and
even friendly. At each polling station five
candidates were selected; voters lined up
behind their favorite candidate.
On the military front, Tanzanian officers
said a task force of some 1,000 troops was
closing in on Jinja — Amin’s last known
hideout which was reportedly still held by
a force of 500 to 600 of his loyal troops.
The Tanzanian column has so far not
met any resistance, but refugees from
Jinja, Uganda’s second largest city, re
ported a roadblock of two Ugandan tanks
and an armored personnel carrier blocked
the bridge over the River Nile at the gates
of the town.
The bridge runs across the Owen Falls
dam — site of a hydroelectric power sta
tion that provides nearly all of Uganda’s
electricity.
Neches expected to crest
at record 12 feet Tuesday
Battlaion photo by Lynn Blanco
receive award
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Staff
Pitting nine sons through Texas A&M
'nffcrsity would be enough to test the
i of any parent. And it also proba-
ly leserves some recognition for service
“above and beyond the call of duty.”
Mr. and Mrs. Oswald Kubecka received
that recognition by being named Aggie
Parents of the Year Sunday.
Their award highlighted the annual Par
ents’ Day awards presentations, held in
Rudder Auditorium.
The couple was cited by Parents’ Day
chairman Ann Shedelbower for their in
volvement with their sons’ education, and
for service to the school and community.
Also presented were the Thomas S.
G.athright Academic Excellence Awards,
given to the student with the highest over
all grade point ratio in his college
classification. Gathright Award recipients
were:
Cleon Dean, Don Harton, Hugh Hood,
David Lancaster, Kelly McCrury, Mark
Melish, Robert Merrill, Thomas Patter
son, Charmaine Walter and Jana Robbins.
Other recipients were Rollie Childers,
Linda Erlandson, Michael Godinich,
Michael Huddleston, Stephen Jones,
William Kingsberry, Carla Noll, Michael
Riggs, Ray Scholl and David Norman.
Also receiving the award were Patrick
Giam, William Harlin, Jack McCullars,
Gary Nelson, Brett Pharo, Ronald
Ullman, Dirk van der Meyden, Judy
Willard, John Zouzalik and John Hodges.
Outstanding Corps of Cadets members
and units also received awards Sunday.
Cadets receiving awards “oustanding”
included:
William McKerall, major unit comman
der; Mark Tilton, battalion commander;
David Jackson, company commander;
Peter K. Imbrie, staff officer; Michael
Hanley, first sergeant; Ken Cross, sopho
more cadet; David Moyer, freshman
cadet; Michael Smiley, best drilled
sophomore; and Charles Fontenot, best
drilled freshman.
Unit award recipients were Company
B-2, General George F. Moore Outstand
ing Unit Award; Company B-2, General
Bruno A, Hochmuth Militray Proficiency
Award; Squadron 12, General George
P.F. Jouine Scholastic Achievement
Award; Squadron 11, Buchanan Outstand
ing Engineering Outfit Award.
United Press International
While workers sandbagged today along
the Neches River in anticipation of a rec
ord crest, a ‘“gigantic cleanup” of roads and
bridges flooded by heavy rains continued
in other parts of hard-hit south Texas.
The sandbagging and cleanup opera
tions were to take place under partly
cloudy and fair skies in south Texas, said
weather forecasters, although some drizzle
or rain was expected in northeast, east and
west Texas. Other parts of the state were
expected to be clear or partly cloudy.
In Montgomery County where au
thorities estimated damages were in ex-
cesss of $50 million. Sheriffs Lt. Bob
Williamson said more flooding occurred
Saturday night in the Conroe area and
“right now we re in a subsiding situation.”
“The (San Jacinto) river on the east side
didn’t crest until (Saturday) evening and
the water’s just now beginning to subside.
We still have a great portion of high water.
There are quite a few people that can’t get
back to their homes,” said Williamson.
Up to 1,000 people were forced to
evacuate in the Conroe area at the height
of the flooding Friday, but many of the
residents affected by Saturday’s crest were
reluctant to leave their homes, said Ginger
Pierce of the Red Cross.
“People had been living with 1 or 2 feet
of water in their houses for the past three
days and weren’t planning to move,” she
said. “But the Civil Defense people de
cided to move them because the danger of
electrocution in these houses was pretty
severe.”
Families who refused to leave their
homes had their electricity turned off and
meters removed by firefighters at the di
rection of county Civil Defense au
thorities.
The bodies of two more drowning
victims were recovered during the
weekend. Joel O. Cantu, 4, fell into an
unfinished swimming pool that had filled
with rainwater at his home Sunday.
Donald Edwin Brigham, 40, of Porter,
drowned in the San Jacinto River after fal
ling out of his boat Sunday.
“Our immediate concern is in parts in
side the city,” a Beaumont Civil Defense
spokesman said Sunday. “It’s (the crest)
going to break the record, they say.
There’s supposed to be a record crest
Tuesday near 12 feet, and the record was
9.9 in May 1969. Most of this is from that
deluge we had Friday.”
Houston authorities said flood waters
that entered homes and businesses
throughout Harris County caused $100
million in damages but were receding
today and all roads and streets were open.
New women s dorm too expensive
Mosher basement designated for athletes
By RUSTY McDONALD
Battalion Reporter
Despite a $400,000 donation, a women’s
athletic dorm will not be built. Instead,
the basement of Mosher Hall will be reno
vated to house the women.
Mosher — one of the Commons dor
mitories — is located on the east side of
campus on Bizzell Street across from the
golf course.
Although it is not yet known exactly how
much the renovations will cost, Wally
Groff, assistant athletic director for busi
ness affairs, said they will cost less than
$100,000.
The renovations will begin this summer
so that the scholarship athletes can be
housed there in the fall.
Linda K. Don, assistant athletic director
for women, said the 128-bed facility will
be used to house incoming full-scholarship
women and some women now on full
scholarship.
These women have scholarships in the
eight Texas Association for Intercollegiate
Athletics for Women (TAIAW) sports of
fered at Texas A&M University. These are
basketball, golf, gymnastics, softball,
swimming and diving, tennis, track, field,
cross-country and volleyball.
“We plan to house the women on a
progression basis,” Don said. “We will
only use between 60 and 80 beds next
year, but eventually we hope to house all
the women, including walk-ons.”
Walk-ons are athletes not on schol
arships.
Don said the plan to build a women’s
athletic dorm has been postponed due to
the high cost of construction.
Ron Sasse, associate director of student
affairs in charge of housing, said that
women now Jiving in Mosher would not
have to move.
“Since the athletes won’t be using the
whole floor, the women that want to stay
can,” he said.
Subject to approval, the renovations of
the dorm will include turning a storage
room into a lounge area with a television
viewing area, informal study area and a
tutoring room.
Right now, women athletes live “any
where they want to,” Don said. About 50
percent are living on campus, in such resi
dence halls as Spence, Krueger and
Fowler, while the other half lives off cam
pus, Don said.
Unsuccessful 1861 event
yields obscure holiday
Battalion photo by Clay Cockrill
fter leading the firing squad in a 21-gun salute, John Bonn leads the
roup of Ross Volunteers out of G. Rollie White Coliseum at Aggie
luster Saturday.
United Press International
CONCORD, N.H. — Banks, stores and
schools will be closed in the Granite State
today for a holiday unique to New Hamp
shire — “Fast Day.”
It all started back in 1681 when John
Cutts, the first colonial governor of New
Hampshire, fell ill.
The Legislature called on the colonists
to join in a day of prayer and fasting for
Cutts, who was on the verge of death.
The colonists obliged, but despite their
prayers and fasting, Cutts died.
For years after the first day of prayers
for the stricken governor, fasting and
church attendance marked Fast Day ob
servances. Working could result in a 10-
shilling fine and there was a ban on any
form of recreation.
Fast Day became an official state holi
day in 1899.
There were other fast days, called on a
one-time basis in colonial times by the
Legislature when disasters threatened,
but the one initiated for the governor was
the only one which occurred with regu
larity.
It was observed on the fourth Thursday
of April until 30 years ago, when lawmak
ers saw in Fast Day an opportunity to
legislate a three-day weekend.
Tourists who never heard of Cutts often
are bafiled by New Hampshire’s unique
holiday — but even natives who have had
the day off for years — can offer little more
than a blank look when quizzed on its his
tory.
It was an “extra day off*’ to Dean Dexter
of Laconia, a former Belknap County
commissioner. He stayed home from
school on Fast Day as a child, but never
really knew why.
“Fast Day? It was just a blank spot on
the calendar,” he says.
Battalion photo by Bill Wilson
Baby needs new shoes
The members of this intense group are watching the dice that control
their play-money fortunes at Friday night’s RHA Casino in the Memo
rial Student Center. The “gamblers” are, from left to right, Louis Her
rin, Brian VanTubergen, Mark Zaharoff and Rick Reynolds.