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The Battalion
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! at sti«lVol. 72 No. 142
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Wednesday, April 25, 1979
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
AbduVs spread
This land, and a good bit more in
Brazos County, belongs to someone
who isn’t a citizen of the United
States. Foreign ownership of U.S.
land is drawing a lot of criticism
from domestic investors. See page
10.
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United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter is
edging open his option to deploy the neu
tron bomb to offset the new tactical nu-
ear missiles the Soviet Union has begun
(deploy in Eastern Europe, according to
\
his spokesman, and the president con
tinues to assure that there will be
adequate protection against cheating in
the SALT II treaty.
Press Secretary Jody Powell told re
porters Carter is “aware of and concerned”
navigate
concrete canoes
By RICHARD OLIVER
Battalion Reporter
For years. Aggies have proclaimed
themselves to be the best in everything,
andjnow the Texas A&M University chap
ter bf the American Society of Civil Engi
neers is out to prove it by racing concrete
Banoes.
Concrete canoes, you say? According to
Tom Hooper, vice-president of ASCE,
g concrete canoes is a challenge and a
lot pf fun.
A concrete canoe is 17 feet long, 32
incnes wide and weighs nearly 200
pounds, said Hooper. The canoe is approx
imately five-eights of an inch thick and is
manned by two people when in competi-
tiori each kneeling in standard canoe rac
ing fexrsition.
|ver the weekend of March 29-31, the
Texhs A&M ASCE won the Texas state
jchappionship by sweeping the men’s,
[len s and faculty’s divisions of the
[petition.
eld on Town Lake in Austin, the com-
tftion was the preliminary meet to de-
hinine who would represent Texas in the
jtional championship to be held this
eakend in Manhattan, Kan.
Tie ASCE was also given the American
■crete Institute’s Construction Award
■he best-built canoes at the competi-
■.
BVe did excellent at the state meet,”
boper said. “We wiped everyone out.
fere pretty excited and optimistic about
■onals.
The making of a concrete canoe requires
many long hours of work and dedication.
Hooper said.
“It all involves quite a bit of testing and
sampling,” he said. “The canoe is actually
built inside a fiberglass mold. A half-inch
square mesh wire is shaped inside the
mold and reinforced at all the joints. The
concrete is then applied by hand.
“We did all our testing and sampling in
the fall,” he said. “We would do tension
testing and sampling using old canoes and
when the spring rolled around we got
down to fabricating the new ones. From
February to the first of March we worked
once a week, then in March we were work
ing every day.”
Hooper said Texas A&M will be repre
sented by one faculty team, two women’s
teams and six men’s teams at the national
competition.
He is optimistic about the team’s
chances at the meet.
“I really can’t say how we’ll do, ” he said,
“but we did great at the state meet. A
guess now could be a little premature. In
any case, it’ll be a lot of fun and I’m sure
we’ll make a good showing.”
Hooper said the group will leave here
Thursday and arrive in Kansas Thursday
night. They will practice all day Friday be
fore competing on Saturday.
“It’s been a lot of work for quite awhile
now,” he said, “and now it’s all coming
down to this. We’re ready.”
Battalion photo by Lynn Blanco
I Russell Weniger, a senior civil engineering major, sprays his concrete
canoe with a coat of latex paint in preparation for competition.
about the SS-21 missile the Soviets are
providing troops in East Germany, and
views it as part of the Soviet drive to
modernize its nuclear forces targeted
against Western allies.
He recalled that last October Carter au
thorized the modification of the Lance
missile with the capability of delivering a
neutron warhead, but delayed a decision
on whether to deploy the weapon.
Asked if the controversial bomb is still
seriously considered an option, Powell re
plied, “You’re damn’ right it is.”
Carter was flying to New York today to
deliver a major address he hopes will
launch a “rational and informative debate”
on the strategic arms limitation treaty
(SALT II).
In the speech, kicking off his all-out ef
fort to win ratification of the not-yet-
completed treaty. Carter promised a full
capability to detect cheating on the terms
and warned that failure to approve the
agreement could provide the Russians
with a strategic advantage in the future,
lead to an all-out arms race and encourage
a return to the Cold War.
“We are confident that no significant
violation of the treaty could take place
without the United States detecting it,” he
said, and declared:
“The issue is whether we will move
ahead or resume a relentless arms compe
tition. That is the choice we face — be
tween an imperfect world with SALT II
and an imperfect, and dangerous, world
without it.”
After the speech to the American
Newspaper Publishers Association, the
president was to fly to New Hampshire for
a “town meeting” in Portsmouth and a
Democratic dinner in Manchester.
Powell said the newly deployed Soviet
nuclear weapons are under study by the
NATO planning group to determine “how
to meet this challenge.”
“We are continuing to monitor the
Soviet nuclear modernization program,
with a view toward Soviet restraint,” Pow
ell said. “The president’s final decision on
enhanced radiation capabilities (the formal
name for the neutron bomb) for our nu
clear weapons will be afiFected by Soviet
behavior. ”
“The Soviets are well aware of our con
cerns,” Powell said.
Some military leaders feel the neutron
bomb, which bas power to kill without
doing extensive property damage, would
be especially useful in Europe as a deter
rent to conventional attack.
But opponents argue it would lower the
threshhold of nuclear war and that the
slow and agonizing death through radia
tion it inflicts is inhumane.
Don't walk on the MSC ‘grass
This interesting biological specimen was found
growing near the Texas A&M University Memorial
Student Center Tuesday. No positive identification
has been made yet, but surely some over-
enthusiastic horticulture student would love to
analyze it. Battalion photo by Roy Bragg
Controversial aquatic weed, hydrilla
keeps fish population up in Texas
United Press International
HUNTSVILLE — Hydrilla, an aquatic
weed with a reputation for choking lakes
and fouling outboard engines, protects fish
and can prevent the premature decline of
Texas lakes, two Sam Houston State Uni
versity researchers report.
The controversial plant might be best
controlled by mechanical harvesting
rather than chemical treatment or use of
weed-eating fish, biologist Darrell D. Hall
and graduate student Jack Killgore said.
“Hydrilla seems to be very good for the
fish populations, so from a fisherman’s
point of view, it’s good,” Hall said.
“Developers and marina operators don’t
like it. It grows along the shoreline, gets
caught in boat props and you can’t swim in
it. ”
Studies by Hall and Killgore at Lake
Shutdown by May 2
Nuke plant cooling off
United Press International
HARRISBURG, Pa. — After a month of
efforts by teams of top scientists, the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday
announced a specific timetable designed
to bring the crippled Three Mile Island
nuclear reactor to a safe shutdown by May
2.
Victor Stello, head of NRC operations at
the Metropolitan Edison Co.-operated
nuclear station, where the nation’s worst
nuclear accident occurred March 28, said
the shutdown would result because of an
unusual, improvised plan.
Stello said he would declare the plant to
be in a “long term cooling condition” —
tantamount to a cold shutdown — when
the water in the reactor core cooling sys
tem was able to circulate by natural con
vection.
Currently, it is circulating by use of a
pump in a process in which a steam
generator is being used to draw off heat
from the reactor core. Last week the pro
cess resulted in a temperature drop of
more than 50 degrees.
Stello said he did not want to use the
phrase, “cold shutdown,” because that
would indicate the plant would be brought
safely under control by its normal systems.
“The activity we are about to undertake
is the result of an excellent team of scien
tists the licensee has pulled together at the
site,” Stello said.
Meanwhile, the NRC was expected to
decide Tuesday or today whether to tem
porarily shut down atomic power plants
built by the same firm that constructed the
Three Mile Island reactor.
In Washington Monday, two top NRC
staff experts recommended plants built by
Babcock and Wilcox be shut down for a
month or so pending a review of their
problems. NRC Chairman Joseph Hen-
drie said the commission will meet Tues
day or today to decide what to do.
Harold Denton, the NRC’s director of
nuclear reactor regulation, said he would
rather wait until more information is
studied on possible defects in the plants.
Nine Babcock and Wilcox reactors were
built, but only four — three Oconee units
in South Carolina and Rancho Seco in
northern California — are now operating.
The other five were previously closed for
repairs or maintenance.
The shutdown recommendation came
from Denton’s deputy, Edson Case, at a
staff briefing for the commissioners.
“A lot is expected of these operators — a
lot more than the present training pro
gram provides,” he said.
He said he would “feel more comforta
ble” if the other Babcock and Wilcox reac
tors were shut down pending a full review
of their problems, which he said could
take “a month or so.”
Roger Mattson, director of reactor
safety, said he leaned toward Case’s view
because operators of those plants have not
been trained adequately to handle
emergencies.
At Three Mile Island, the temperature
of the water in the core’s cooling system
has dropped below the boiling point of
water to a constant 175 degrees
Fahrenheit. But because of damage done
in the nuclear accident, the NRC is hold
ing off on a shutdown declaration until it is
repaired.
Conroe north of Houston found 12 species
of fish feeding on hydrilla.
“If the hydrilla were removed from the
lake, the fish population would definitely
drop, Hall said. “The fish would have no
cover so every little fish would be prey to
larger fish. The food chain would be dis
rupted because fish that eat hydrilla would
now have to eat something else or perish. ”
Hall said plans to apply chemicals to
Lake Conroe at the rate of 50 pounds per
acre won’t eliminate hydrilla and could
raise a serious problem. He said he was
worried about a large dose of chemicals
flowing into lakes that supply urban drink
ing water systems.
Hall said mechanical harvesting was
more reasonable because it could be done
every two or three weeks during the
summer growing season at a cost that
would decline over the life of the equip
ment.
Pistol, peppers
stolen in Bryan
Bryan Police received a report last
Wednesday that a pistol and some peppers
were stolen from a Bryan residence.
A Bryan resident told police a German
Luger pistol and a gallon jar of jalapeno
peppers were missing out of her sewing
room.
She told police she felt someone had
walked out with the items while visiting.
She said she last remembered seeing
the pistol and peppers in the sewing room
three weeks ago.
There were no signs of forced entry, ac
cording to the police report.
Over the weekend, the Bryan Police re
ceived a total of 174 calls which resulted in
20 arrests. Fourteen of those 20 arrests
were for public intoxication.
Foreigners invest in B-CS motels
This is the first in a series of
three stories on investment by
foreigners in U.S. business.
By KEVIN D. HIGGINBOTHAM
Battalion Reporter
If it weren’t for his accent and his na
tionality, he could represent any South
Texas businessman. But it is just those
characteristics, and the recent controversy
surrounding his business, which set the
broker apart from other Texas busi
nessmen.
He is a foreigner, and his business is
helping other foreigners invest in Texas
real estate. He would be the first to agree
that foreign investment activity in Texas is
increasing, but the last to agree that it
poses a significant problem to the nation
and the state.
Although not every foreign investor
deals with the broker when buying Texas
property, many do because he can relate
to them better than many American brok
ers.
“The reason they come to me is because
I’m someone they can trust, he said.
“They know me and can trust me; many
times I can speak their language.”
The broker is not alone in his trade by
any means. Foreign investment in U.S.
property, both agricultural and commer
cial, is growing every year.
According to the Dept, of Commerce
Benchmark Surveys, direct foreign in
vestment in the United States has quad
rupled from 1959 to 1975.
Of the foreign investments located in
the Brazos County area, purchases of
commercial properties far outweigh ag
ricultural purchases both in number of
transactions and amount of money in
volved.
The local commercial properties bought
by foreign investors are predominately
motels, although there are rumors that
several apartment complexes currently are
under consideration for purchase. These
rumors, though, are as yet un
documented.
The foreign-owned motel properties in
the Bryan-College Station area are mostly
small investments by foreigners commonly
referred to as “mom and pop types.”
This type of foreign investor, according
to T. Harold Jambers, a researcher for the
Texas Real Estate Research Commission,
usually invests in motels, restaurants and
retail stores.
“Many small investors operate their
own businesses and use the investment as
a means to facilitate immigration and
eventual citizenship for family members,”
Jambers said.
Local investments of this type, located
through county deed records, include:
—the Holiday Plaza Motel, 1720 Texas
Ave.
(Continued on Page 11)