‘land
ngs
[in
oss Intenai,;,
ND~r
d frustrate]
iguing
gation pi
today
nldng scl
id in co
ng to
Judge Frar|
f NAACP
The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 134
12 Pages
Tuesday, April 8, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
ornadoes and hail batter central Texas
IS expecteiL
hearings UK United Press International
tem is t ^ nt man was ^Hed and four other peo-
as—foall^re injured when twisters snaked
ice of a(kJ! a s ^ orm system as it moved across
vnntfL JlM Texas, battering some areas with
' “mil-size hail.
eview coti Dozens of twisters and funnel clouds dip-
transportaffljrom the clouds during the heavy thun-
, when fotsforms late Monday, but reportedly
ct, Ohio’slypo touched down,
the see® Round Rock Police Chief Gene Collier
red racial id pajin Ortega, 51, was killed when one
k twisters flattened a two-story home
he was visiting. Another man in the house.
Albino Vena, 66, escaped with a minor in
jury to his forehead.
A few miles to the west of Round Rock at
rural Lund, in northwest Travis County,
three people were injured when a twister
cut a swath 2-3 miles long and IV2 miles
wide. None of the three was injured se
riously, officials said.
Collier said he watched the tornado take
the roof from a Round Rock plant nursery,
auto supply building and a feedstore, and
then hit the house where Ortega was killed.
“At first it was just clouds boiling, going
in all different directions,” the police chief
said. “I kept watching it and if it came down
in a funnel, I was going to notify everyone.
“Just about that time, it took the top off
Murphy’s Nursery, and by the time I got on
the radio, it was across town. ”
Officials said the twister that hit Lund
from the southwest did extensive property
damage.
“We counted 32 houses that were pretty
heavily damaged before it got too dark to
count,” said Dale Owen, president of the
Travis County Emergency Unit.
Travis County Sheriff Raymond Frank
said he estimated damage would be high
even though the tornado had hit in a rural
area.
“I would think we re looking at $1 million
plus in damage, but it’s hard to assess it all, ”
Frank said. “There was one residence
where it did about $200,000 damage.”
Frank said the storm caused an esti
mated $200,000 damage to outbuildings
and the home on the Fred Lundgren farm,
where winds destroyed an implement shed
gh buses*
port a
d adran
roceeded
‘gregatiom
of chaos,
ips
cl at pic]
for more
continued
he embed
turned
nally n
ousing.
tor of
id brou;
trol, alll
ind drive«|
s schedul
House warming
Brad Burgess, Jim Kaufman and Frank Jones (1-r) joined other residents
tlOIl v 0 f Mclnnis Hall in protesting the high temperatures in their rooms.
y$t Heaters in their rooms were running Monday and the students couldn’t
turn them off. So the residents of the men’s dormitory moved onto the
catwalks.
Photo by Dave Einsel
arter severs relations with Iran
K United Press International
The United States severed diplomatic
lations with Iran to retaliate for the hold-
?of the 50 American hostages in Iran and
[j § raed other tougher steps would be taken
less the 157-day-old crisis was quickly
® ded.
In Tehran, the Revolutionary Council
Id two emergency meetings to discuss
e sanctions ordered Monday by Presi-
^^^mt Carter.
Tehran Radio said the council met late
■'"’onday and again early this morning “for
the purpose of fighting the decisions of the
American government.”
The radio, monitored by the BBC in
London, did not say what the council de
cided and only reported Iranian President
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr attended, forcing
him to cancel a visit to Khuzestan province.
Carter announced the sanctions hours
after Ayatollah Ruholleh Khomeini ruled
the hostages would remain in the custody of
the militants holding the U.S. Embassy in
Tehran until the captives’ fate was decided
by new parliament, which may not meet
until midsummer following runoff elec
tions.
In abandoning hope a conciliatory, diplo
matic approach could diffuse the crisis, the
president warned: “Other actions may be
come necessary if these steps do not pro
duce the prompt release of the hostages. ’’
Carter made no mention of military
force, but the government has said such
action has not been ruled out.
Carter had been set to announce a series
of sanctions last week but held off when
Bani-Sadr appeared to be working out an
arrangement to have the hostages transfer
red to the custody of the Revolutionary
Council.
But in-fighting between Bani-Sadr and
the council’s religious faction severely
damaged the chances of a transfer and
Khomeini’s statement Monday finally put
the question to rest.
Sen. George McGovern, who ran for
president in 1972 as a liberal, anti-
(Continued on page 8)
containing tractors and $20,000 worth of
seeds.
“They opened the windows and that’s
what saved the house,” the sheriff said.
He said the family left home before the
storm hit and, “When they came back,
their dog and a stray dog were in the house,
hiding.”
In another part of the community, the
twister picked up a large, white church and
moved it about 6 feet so the steps led up to
the corner of the building. One home was
ripped from its foundation, leaving behind
only a door-less refrigerator on a concrete
foundation.
Funnel clouds also were reported in
Lee, Hopkins, Wood and Morris counties,
but no damage or injuries were reported.
Scattered thunderstorms, some severe,
were located from southwest of Waco to
east of Dallas. Golf ball-size hail was re
ported in southeast Dallas County, Burnet,
Briggs, Florence, Lampasas and near Pitt
sburg, Texas. Hail up to the size of base
balls was reported in the line of thunder
storms from Lufkin to Austin to Waco.
False alarm empties
University library
By BECKY SWANSON
City Staff
The Sterling C. Evans Library on the
Texas A&M University campus was evacu
ated for 30 minutes Monday night after a
fire alarm was pulled, but firefighters found
no signs of fire or smoke.
Over 2,500 students and faculty were left
standing on the mall in front of the entrance
for about 30 minutes after the building was
ordered evacuated at 8:30 p.m. when one
of the hand-operated alarms was activated.
Library workers said the evacuation was
the third since the alarm system was acti
vated, and many students did not leave the
library after the evacuation was ordered.
James Hough, a student library worker,
described the evacuation as “apathetic.”
Hough said, “No one really cares. People
are used to them being set off when nothing
really happened.”
Two College Station fire trucks were sent
to the library, a fire department spokesman
said.
Several library workers expressed con
cern that the false alarms were causing stu
dents to become apathetic and uncon
cerned when the alarms sound.
“It’s just like the ones in the dorms,” one
student said, “they go off so much that
everyone just says, ‘turn off that stupid
alarm,’ and no one thinks about leaving the
dorm.”
A library clerk who asked not to be iden
tified said, “It really is an interruption to
studying, but you’ve got to think of the
safety hazards.”
He said many of the students on the
fourth and fifth floors did not leave when
the building was being evacuated.
“One of these days there’s really going to
be a fire and all those people that are up
stairs will get wiped out.”
Nan Dubbelde, a library assistant, said
the alarm had gone off at least three times
in the past. She said she was upset that
anyone would set oft the alarm as a prank.
“It’s really unfair because one of these
times it’s not going to be just a joke,” Dub
belde said.
The building has to be evacuated each
time the alarm goes off, and the fire depart
ment must give clearance before anyone is
allowed back in the building.
“You just cannot take a chance with peo
ple’s lives,” Dubbelde said. “The people
who work here are responsible.
Another problem faced by the library is
that the system to detect books that have
not been checked out must be shut down
during an emergency evacuation, and
many students leave through fire exits in
other parts of the building, making it possi
ble for library materials to be stolen.
“Most of the students are honest and put
their books on the check-out desk on their
way out, but it is a great possibility that
books can be stolen during the evacuation,
a librarian said.
Hough said, “If someone wants to play a
prank or steal a book, all they have to do is
pull the fire alarm.”
Runoff election today
The polls open today from 9 to 6 p.m. for
the run-off election of four Texas A&M Uni
versity student body positions.
Brad Smith will face Rip Van Winkle for
student body president and Bubba Correa
and Gary Branch vie for Class of 82 presi
dent. Also to be decided are two Class of’83
positions. Mike Plank and Dale Whitaker
are running for vice president, and Sherry
Ackles and Diana Horadam are running for
secretary-treasurer.
Polls are at the Memorial Student Cen
ter, the Commons, the Corps Guard
Room, Zachry Engineering Center, the
Kleberg Center, the Veterinary Medical
Administration building, at the Rudder bus
stop and between Harrington Center and
Evans Library.
CS murder
still without
my suspects
By RICHARD OLIVER
Staff Writer
IkThe murder investigation surround
ing the stabbing death of LaShan
Muhlinghaus has now reached its sixth
month, but so far College Station police
ire still without a suspect.
JIAlthough police in Amarillo have
liken a 17-year-old man into custody in
connection with a “similar” stabbing
’ batoi ,|rniir( ^ er ’ College Station Assistant
Police Chief Edgar Feldman said there
is no connection between the two mur
ders.
tl Sarah Donn Lawrence was brutally
stabbed to death Oct. 26 in her Amarillo
borne, and police there say they have
Rested a “likely” suspect.
Lp/jlj^Feldman said the College Station
('HO p 0 li ce department spoke to Amarillo
. police officials last Wednesday, but no
\ cirlr real comparisons were found.
)eWarc “They did talk to them (Amarillo
ndoor f ( police) last week,” he said. “But there’s
JeWare not any connection between the two
ISC L^inurders. I don’t expect anything will
come out of it.”
J fMuhlinghaus, 20, was found stabbed
" “ to death Oct. 20 of last year in her Travis
House apartment. She was stabbed over
/two dozen times. The murder touched
H several rumors and increased prow
ler calls in the area, but these have sub-
; sided.
I I The murder investigation has turned
up nothing.
•iL “It’s frustrating as hell,” Feldman
a y- said. “We have investigated several
’ ptigles, but nothing’s turning up. There
.|jhave been a few murders similar to this,
jy and if we see that it looks like it could
' i .jImpossibly be him (the Muhlinghaus mur-
, j)! derer), we look into it. We just con-
yjiJkally run into dead ends.”
Aprill« Feldman said the investigators will
S !,j Slope simply keep alert for clues.
Official tells Iran what it is
United Press International
WASHINGTON — A State Department
official says he did not curse or insult Ira
nian Embassy officials, but merely told
them in a forthright, folksy manner that one
of their statements was animal manure.
Iranian Charge d’Affaires Ali Agah and
Hossein Lavassani, a counselor at the Ira
nian Embassy, were summoned to the
State Department Monday to be told they
were being expelled from the United
States.
Agah stormed out of the department and
angrily told reporters the head of the de
partment’s Iranian Task Force, Henry
Precht, cursed them and treated them “dis-
respectfolly. ”
“This is the third time they are disre
specting and using bad language against
one of my brothers who is coming with
By TIM SAGER
Campus Staff
The spring semester Aggie Blood Drive
kicked off yesterday with the usual low
Monday turnout. By 6p.m., fewerthanlSO
persons had given blood.
The Drive, conducted by Alpha Phi
Omega (APO), Omega Phi Alpha (OPA),
and Student Government, usually collects
over 3,000 pints of blood, each donor giving
one pint. The blood is taken by workers
from Wadley Blood Bank of Dallas. In ex
change for the blood, Wadley makes free
blood available to the families of all A&M
students in any hospital in the United
States.
“If there is an abundance in our account,
we can even cover friends,” said Daniel
Poland, a member of APO and chairman of
this semester’s Drive. “We’ve never de
nied a request.”
The blood is used by Wadley for a num
ber of purposes, including research and the
production of interferon, a chemical ex
tracted from the blood’s white cells, which
is now being studied as an anti-cancer
agent.
me,” Agah said, referring to Lavassani.
“I’m not going to stay here,” he added.
When told of Agah’s allegations, Precht
said, “That is not true.
“We had a conversation. He advanced
various propositions. He thought a number
of the hostages would prefer to stay in Iran
after the crisis is over, that the United
States is an oppressive country, and that we
stole funds from Iran,” Precht said.
“I reminded him (Agah) that he had sent
a note in which he had himself said the
Iranian government assumed responsibil
ity for the protection of the hostages.
“Lavassani then said the hostages were
under adequate protection.
“I responded to him, in a businesslike,
and probably not a very diplomatic way —
bullshit.”
Drive
fizzle
Periodically A&M donates blood credits
from its account to research projects on
such diseases as hemophilia and leukemia.
The Blood Drive will continue through
Thursday in MSC 212from noon to 9 p.m.,
and at the mobile blood bank by Sbisa from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Those giving blood may
sign a logbook indicating a campus organi
zation with which they are affiliated.
Loupot has donated six kegs of beer to be
given to the organizations whose members
give the most blood.
The Blood Drive committee is also giv
ing away rulers and “safety pumpers’ to
those who donate blood.
The safety pumpers are small plastic giz
mos that attach to gasoline pump handles
and lock them in the “on” position.
Donors must weigh at least 110 pounds,
be in good health, and may not be receiving
certain types of medication.
Anyone wanting more information about
donating or acceptability as a donor may
call the Student Government office at 845-
3051.
Aggie Blood
starts with a
Gramm critical of Carter
By LOUIE ARTHUR
City Editor
Congressman Phil Gramm had harsh
words of criticism for President Carter
and former Congressman Olin “Tiger”
Teague during a press conference in the
Brazos Center Monday morning.
“Carter completely mishandled the
Iran situation,” he said. “I was ready to
impose sanctions 153 days ago.”
Gramm said he was at the White
House when the crisis broke, but Carter
did not follow his suggestion to impose
an economic quarantine on Iran using a
naval blockade.
“We needed to put pressure on them
to negotiate with us,” he said. “We
should have told them we would kill
them if our people were harmed. It
would have been an act of war. ”
Gramm said he had not heard about
Carter’s decision to expel all Iranian di
plomats, but did comment: “I’m willing
to support his sanctions, if he has any,
but I’m not terribly excited about new
words.”
Gramm also sharply criticized
Teague’s handling of the Millican Dam
Project.
“My predecessor played political
football with this project for 20 years,
being for it here, and against it in
Washington,” he said.
Gramm said he has asked the Army
Corps of Engineers to complete a cost
benefit study on the project. He said he
would oppose the project if the study
showed it would not pay for itself.
He said that after the study was
finished he would Took at it in terms of
yield to the taxpayers, the cost of use
and the benefits. ” He said he would also
consider the “focal impact.”
Gramm was also asked what he
thought of Carter’s decision to boycott
the Olympics.
“I was one of fifteen in Congress who
voted no,” he said. “I thought it was
stupid. We should have kicked the Rus
sians out of the winter games. This just
hurts us and not them.”
Gramm said he would not vote to re
verse the decision because “we said we
weren’t going to go and we ought not
ga
He would not say which presidential
candidate could have handled the situa
tion better.
“The President has made a lot of mis
takes. I don’t know if others would
have,” he said. “It was a very foolish
mistake and a tragedy for some of the
best people in our country. ”
Gramm’s press conference followed a
“town hall” style meeting held Monday
morning.
V