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Vol. 73 No. 53
14 Pages
Wednesday, November 14, 1979
College Station, Texas
Ags take to sky
in Marine chopper
Texas A&M University Marine
Corps contract cadets and poten
tial Marine Corps recruits were
given rides on this Sikorsky CH-
53 Sea Stallion throughout the
day Tuesday (above). Two Aggies,
Capt. W.M. Moore, ’69, and
Capt. Chuck Savage, ’72, piloted
the helicopter. Each ride lasted
about 15 minutes, during which
realistic flight maneuvers and
landings were demonstrated, in
cluding airspeeds of 145 mph ab
out 5 to 10 feet above the tree
tops. Passengers were provided
with a breathtaking aerial view of
the A&M campus (left).
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
Midnight yell
in Kyle Field
By LOUIE ARTHUR
Battalion Staff
Perhaps it is a sign that the football sta
dium confusion is almost over...
Midnight yell practice will be held at
Kyle Field Friday night for the first time
this season.
Head yell leader Pete Greaves said extra
precautions will be taken because of the
construction.
Greaves said students should enter
through the tunnel and the ramps on the
east side (on the right as you face the tun
nel). Bathrooms will also be open on the
east side.
“The whole south end is going to be
locked,” he said. “Everyone should enter
and exit at the north end.”
“No one will bepermitted on the second
or third deck,” he added, “and everyone
needs to stay away from the construction. ”
The University Police and the “green-
pots” (Corps of Cadets juniors) will handle
the security Friday night.
Ken Cross, Corps sergeant major, and
the person in charge of the greenpots, said
he’s glad yell practice will be at Kyle Field.
“It will be a lot better,” Cross said.
“There are only 400 juniors in the Corps.
That made it hard to maintain a perimeter
around the field at Duncan and around the
band. It’s tough for 400 to combat several
thousand. ”
Cross said the greenpots would also pro
tect the construction areas and keep people
off the second and third decks.
“At least people won’t be tripping over
the logs for Bonfire,” he said.
Greaves said there will be a small varia
tion in Friday night’s yell practice. It’s an
Aggie tradition to kiss your date when the
lights are turned out after the senior story,
but any kissing at this yell practice will have
to be done with the lights on.
“We can’t shut the lights out after the
senior story,” he explained. “The lights are
wired with hand-wiring — it’s not safe to
turn them on and off.
“Everybody can just pretend we turned
them off. I don’t think it’s going to make a
lot of difference to anybody,” Greaves said,
laughing. “We just really want everybody
to cooperate with the K. K. s and stay away
from the construction.”
Hostages allowed
to receive mail
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The State Depart
ment said Tuesday a communication sys
tem has been set up between U. S. hostages
in the Tehran embassy and their families in
the United States, using as a link the Ira
nian students who captured the embassy.
A State Department spokesman said that
the Iran Task Force has been talking by
telephone to the students inside the U.S.
embassy in Tehran and that the students
have now agreed to receive incoming mail
from the hostages’ families.
The spokesman said the students have
been willing to pass some personal mes
sages to some of the hostages from their
families, and that the students offered to
pass on incoming personal mail, which will
be sent through the State Department.
The hostages will not be able to send mail
out.
The spokesman said the students also
warned that they would screen the incom
ing mail.
The spokesman said that the department
called the embassy “just as a number of
radio stations did” and set up the con
tinuing contact with the student leaders.
U.S. officials said the telephone com
munications have dealt only with humani
tarian issues concerning the hostages, and
that no substantive negotiations about the
release of the hostages have been con
ducted with the student leaders.
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lalt of oil imports to ‘take card out of Iran’s hand’
United Pres.% International
4SHINGTON — President Carter’s
igofoil imports from Iran is described
e White House as a move to prevent
ranians from turning oil into a lever for
inginore than 60 Americans hostage,
his should eliminate any thought they
t have that economic pressure could
ed in any way to affect our decision on
this matter of fundamental principle,” said
a top administration official.
The same official acknowledged, howev
er, the United States is still no closer to
securing release of the hostages than it was
when the embassy was seized in Tehran
eleven days ago.
Looking worn and answering no ques
tions, Carter personally announced the oil
decision before television cameras. Later,
the White House provided several top-
level administration officials to talk to re
porters.
From their comments, and those of
others, this view of White House thinking
on the oil cutoff emerged:
— The halting of Iranian oil imports
“takes that card out their hand” as some
thing the Iranian students might have used
in demanding extradition of Shah Moham
med Reza Pahlavi.
— Whether the United States would be
willing to resume oil imports from Iran if
the hostages were freed is not certain, part
ly because of a White House attempt to use
oil as its own lever in dealing with Iran.
— The loss of Iranian oil could result in
“substantially more” costs for Americans,
but these costs could be diminished if the
people conserve more.
— The loss is not likely to cause as much
shortage and gasoline lines as the total
shutdown of Iranian oil production caused
earlier this year.
— The defiant “let’s do anything” mood
among the people and some politicians has
waned considerably in recent days.
Carter decided Sunday night to stop the
imports, after several days of considera
tion.
One official said worldwide petroleum
inventories are at a near high, and U.S.
consumption is 8 percent less than a year
ago. About 4 percent of the U.S. oil supply
has come from Iran.
ittorney General publishes guidelines
for Iranian students to report status
United Press International
Many Iranian students are willing to be
pled in support of their government,
neofthe 5,500 Iranian students in Texas
I But other Iranians are expressing fear
loth growing hostility in the United
Its and possible retaliation in Iran
Inst deported students who oppose the
pollah Khomeini.
here have been no problems at Texas
VI University where officials have said
e are about 75 Iranians students on
pus in College Station. Students have
cated a protest against the hostage
ation is planned today,
ffieials of the Immigration and Natur-
ation Service have been ordered by
sident Carter to screen Iranians to see if
they comply with federal regulations, and
an Iranian student in Dallas — an opponent
of the Khomeini regime — said deportation
to Iran would endanger his, life.
“I am scared to report to INS because I
might be deported, ” said the student, who
would not identify himself.
Iranian students who do not report to the
INS within 30 days to prove they are taking
12 credit hours and meet other require
ments can be deported.
At the University of Texas Austin cam
pus, where heated anti-Iran protests were
held last week, Ali Jafarzadeh, 24, a gradu
ate engineering student, said Iranians were
not hiding.
“I don’t think what’s going on is anything
serious as far as the American people are
concerned,” he said.
“Even if they deport everybody that
doesn’t solve anything. I guess the true end
of this situation is meeting the demands of
the students back in Iran, which is the
return of the shah and the relationship cut
between the U.S. and Iran. I’m ready to be
deported.”
“We will go (to the INS) because we have
been told we must, ” said an Iranian student
in San Antonio. “We will not violate the
laws of the United States. Our papers are in
order and we have nothing to be afraid of.
Another student said San Antonio Ira
nians would participate in a five-day hun
ger strike to protest the shah’s presence in
the United States.
“We love the American people but do
not agree with the government,” said
Mehdi Jadjian, a graduate student at St.
Mary’s University. “It should be a dishonor
and a disgrace to the American people for
the government to aid a criminal. ”
Abbas Bagheri, 41, a naturalized Amer
ican whose two Dallas restaurants were
damaged by vandals, said the brewing anti-
Iranian sentiment has disturbed his family.
“I feel like I’m an American,” the Esfa-
han, Iran, native said. “I’ve been here 18
years and have businesses.
“There are some emotional people in
Dallas doing the wrong thing, disturbing
innocent Iranian people in their homes.”
Vandals wrote “Kill the Iranians” and
“The place is gonna burn” on Bagheri’s two
luxurious restaurants.
erminal to put out information in braille
Grad student designs computer for blind
By CAROL HANCOCK
Battalion Reporter
Vith the help of a Texas A&M Universi-
itudent, blind people may soon have
ier access to computers,
lerry Glover, a graduate student work-
fe on his doctorate in engineering, has
Bn working on an idea to put an inexpen-
:computer terminal for the blind on the
rket.
t blind person would be able to com-
nicate with a computer through a ter-
)al that puts out information in braille,
iver said. Braille is a system of writing
tuses various arrangements of six raised
p representing letters and numerals
ntified by touch.
clover said he started working on the
a in a graduate course in engineering
repreneurship. Teams composed of
rketing and engineering students had to
take an idea through design, research and
engineering phases to the market place.
Glover, teamed with two former market
ing students, Susan Jenkins and David
Tucker, initialized the idea of a braille com
puter, made a basic drawing, then did lib
rary research.
The team contacted companies and orga
nizations across the nation to see if any
thing like it was available. They decided it
was a fairly open market, Glover said.
Although he does not have a working pro
totype built, Glover has a design drawn and
most of the electrical details worked out.
A computer terminal, which resembles a
typewriter with a video screen, transfers
information back and forth through a cable
connected to a master computer.
The basic component of the braille ter
minal would be a microcomputer inside the
terminal which would receive and translate
output into braille, he said. In place of the
video screen, there would be a curved
trough where the raised dots would appear
for the person to feel.
Since the course, Glover said, he has
come across a problem he had not original
ly forseen. The raised dots have to be vib
rating for a blind person to be able to read
them without having to move his fingers
back and forth over the dots.
Glover plans to vibrate the dots to solve
the problem and keep the basic structure of
the terminal the same.
The major obstacle facing Glover is find
ing materials to use for the raised dots. He
has considered using wires under a piece of
rubber-type plastic, but now is looking for
something smaller and more lightweight.
Glover said he has gotten tremendous
response since first inquiring into the ter
minal’s availability.
“The idea is more widespread than I had
originally thought, especially in busines
ses, ” he said. A company in Florida makes a
similar device. Glover said he has seen
terminals costing up to $15,000.
“Ours was more reasonable, around
$3,000.” The lower cost is due to the more
widespread use of microcomputers, he
said.
After the course, Glover said Jenkins,
Tucker and he had planned to continue the
project but haven’t done a good job of fol
lowing up.
Glover does not know the current
whereabouts of Jenkins or Tucker but has
definite plans to build and test a prototype
in the coming months. Money for the pro-
toytpe would come out of his own pocket,
he said.
Battalion photo by Ken Herrera
Fairy tale comes to life
Suzanne Longley, playing the title role of Giselle, is about to meet Count
Allbrecht, played by William Pizzuto, posing as a commoner. The ballet
was presented Tuesday night in Rudder Auditorium as an Opera and
Performing Arts (OPAS) production. See reveiw, page 3.