Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Monday, October 13, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
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Rescuers search for living
Algerian earthquake death toll over20,000
United Press International
Al-ASNAM, Algeria — Rescuers pushed away rubble
with bulldozers and bare hands today in a hunt for survi
vors in the earthquake-flattened city of Al-Asnam, but
government officials said the death toll already has passed
20,000.
“We still do not know the scale of this disaster,” a doctor
of the Algerian Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red
Cross, said of the killer quake that reduced the town to
rubble in about 30 seconds Friday.
About two dozen people, including a 2-month-old
baby, were plucked alive from the ruins of the city Sun
day, but several hundred other victims dug out with
bulldozers and earthmovers were already dead, bringing
the total of corpses already recovered to more than 5,000.
Interior Ministry aides said more than three times that
number were still under collapsed buildings, and rescue
teams in isolated villages in a 60-mile swath of destruction
reported the number of homeless would reach more than
140,000.
At an emergency Cabinet meeting Sunday, President
Bendjedid Chadli ordered additional generators and
floodlight equipment to the ravaged city, and 200 more
ambulances were thrown into the evacuation effort to get
still uncounted thousands of injured to undamaged hos
pitals.
“We lack organization, not medical supplies, for the
moment,” the Red Crescent doctor said, acknowledging
delays in treatment at hastily thrown up aid stations in
schoolyards.
The quake rivals the worst to ever hit North Africa — a
1716 tremor that is believed to have killed 20,000.
The 2-month-old baby was plucked in a miraculous
rescue from the wreckage of a four-story building where
already about a dozen corpses had been found.
A rescue worker wriggled under tons of fallen concrete,
following the infant’s cries. Emerging with it in apparent
good health, he ran with it in his arms to a waiting ambu
lance. Its mother was apparently dead.
Bodies already uncovered were hurriedly buried as
soon as they were identified in make-shift morgues.
Chadli ordered that the second priority after saving those
trapped was to avoid risks of epidemics.
As a 17-nation international effort gained momentum in
Algeria, field hospitals arrived from West Germany and
Yugoslavia that would add 1,200 beds to those available in
the disaster area. France sent an additional 80 doctors and
paramedics. The United States sent disaster experts and
satellite communications gear.
A continuing flow of thousands of refugees streamed
from towns and villages in the stricken area, spurred by
continuing aftershocks that brought fears of another
damaging quake.
The shocks endangered rescue crews digging through
the treacherous debris, and officials tried to keep the
refugees off the only two open roads, already clogged by
relief convoys and wailing ambulances.
_ - _ Staff photo by Dillard Stone
Lay-ho... heave!
TiployBGS, hsi ■
remerton on Senior redpot Kyle Gish lets out a growl as he helps move one of the first
only one tabotofire logs to arrive at Duncan Intramural Field. Sunday was the first
as the city »'| a y 0 f cutting for the 1980 bonfire, and flatbed trucks loaded with logs
Urived at the field early in the morning.
Iraq pushes for control
of waterway on border
ions.
7 Oct. .
< dialing 1#:
hr gland to speak today
ID
M/F
J.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Bob
rgland, will speak at Texas A&M Uni-
sity today on the topic: “Carter’s Pro
se to America — More Than Just
emits.”
MSG Political Forum is sponsoring the
ent. It will begin at 1 p.m. in Rudder
Theater. Admission is free.
Before his confirmation to the presi
dent’s cabinet, Bergland represented Min
nesota’s seventh district in the U.S. House
of Representatives. He was a member of
the House Agriculture and Small Business
Committee.
United Press International
BASRA, Iraq—Iraq said today its troops
battled their way to the outskirts of Abadan
and were massing to enter Iran’s crucial oil
refining city in a major push to gain mastery
of the Shaat al-Arab waterway.
As the war stetched into its fourth week
today, the Iranian Foreign Ministry con
firmed that Iran would take part in a
United Nations debate on Tehran’s dis
pute with Iraq, raising hopes of a limited
cease-fire to free foreign shipping trapped
in the strategic waters.
But there were no signs of a settlement to
the 22-day conflict, and Iranian President
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr told the Soviet en
voy in Tehran that Iran would not stop
fighting until Iraq halts its “aggression and
intervention in Iran’s internal affairs.”
To strengthen Iran’s war effort, Ayatol
lah Ruhollah Khomeini set up a Supreme
Defense Council in a decree that consoli
dates Bani-Sadr’s control over Iran’s armed
forces and increases his power overall
against hard-line Moslem militants.
Iraq’s long-awaited push against Abadan
began Saturday with its forces throwing
pontoon bridges across the Karun River
and pushing tanks and troops across the
waterway, 10 miles north of Abadan.
Iraq announced Sunday its forces were
“maintaining their advance with confi
dence and high morale” and the troops
were “getting ready to enter Abadan.”
But Iraqi troops met stitt resistance at
Khurramshahr on the north bank of the
Karun River and trucked up reinforce
ments in an attempt to silence the Iranian
holdouts.
The port area of Khurramshahr has been
in Iraqi control for several days, but Iranian
troops armed with mortars and automatic
rifles and backed by artillery to the south
have resisted a complete Iraqi takeover.
Iraqi troops fired mortars into Khurram
shahr in close-range fighting while artillery
pounded Abadan. Palls of smoke hung over
the two cities.
An Iraqi military communique said 43
Iranian soldiers were killed in the fighting
and 10 tanks destroyed, while eight Iraqi
soldiers were killed and one tank lost.
Reagan change campaign tactics
Banks close
for holiday
Area banks, federal offices and post
offices are closed today for Columbus
Day.
Also called “Discovery Day,” Col
umbus Day is celebrated every year on
the second Tuesday in October. The
holiday commemorates the discovery of
America by Christopher Columbus in
1492.
City offices in Bryan and College Sta
tion will be open for business as usual.
United Press International
sident Carter’s campaign will devote
attention to what its chairman calls
ttald Reagan’s “flip-flops” on issues,
Reagan’s campaign shifts its aim to
ica’s suburbs in this third week before
ion Day.
B>ert Strauss met with Carter cam-
ign coordinators from 25 states in
|ington, then told reporters, “Their
JBst complaint is that we have not done
d a job as we need to do to let people
oil how he (Reagan) has absolutely flip-
pped on issue after issue after issue,
we’ve got to do a better job on that,” he
ded. “We’ve let him get by with it.”
Stuart Spencer, top Reagan campaign
rajegist, said America’s suburbs “are
ing to be the battleground” in the final
seks before Nov. 4, and vice presidential
nominee George Bush will be called upon
to help win them.
“The big thing in the next three weeks is
to elevate George Bush in the campaign
and give him more resources in certain
regions and states where there are ticket
splitters,” Spencer said.
Both major candidates geared for heavy
campaign weeks. Carter was to spend today
at the Columbus Day parade in New York,
then go on to Illinois and St. Louis before
returning to the White House. Reagan was
spending today campaigning in the Los
Angeles suburbs before heading east again.
John Anderson, on CBS’ “Face the Na
tion” Sunday, said he believes Carter is
“out of it,” and that the voters will choose
between Reagan and himself in the polling
booths. He has, he said, a good chance of
winning.
A number of new surveys and polls had
conflicting results.
NBC’s third weekly news electoral vote
survey showed a narrowing lead for Reagan
with 190 votes in 23 states to Carter’s 144
votes in 13 states and the District of Col
umbia. Fourteen states were too close to
call.
Last week, Reagan led in 25 states with
233 votes, while Carter led in 13 states and
D.C. with 143 votes.
The shifts included Texas and New
Jersey moving from leaning Republican to
toss-up, a net loss for Reagan of 43 votes.
Maine moved from toss-up to leaning
Democratic, and Delaware moved from
leaning Democratic to toss-up, a net gain of
one for Carter.
A United Press International weekend
survey, meanwhile, showed Reagan with
more than enough electoral votes to win. If
the voting were held now, Reagan would
carry 34 states with 365 electoral votes, it
said, while Carter would carry 10 states and
the District of Columbia with 121 electoral
votes. Six states with 52 electoral votes
were rated toss-ups.
Reagan in UPI’s survey a month ago had
30 states and 323 electoral votes to Carter’s
15 and the district with 128 electoral votes.
Five states with 87 votes were rated as
toss-ups.
The St. Louis Post Dispatch and the
Arkansas Gazette, meanwhile, endorsed
Carter over the weekend, while the Birm
ingham, Ala., News and Ohio’s Columbus
Dispatch and Cincinnati Enquirer went for
Reagan.
Here were the findings in other weekend
polls:
— Carter ahead in the New York Daily
News straw poll, with 39 percent of likely
voters to Reagan’s 32 percent in New York
state.
— Carter narrowly ahead in the Chicago
Tribune polls, with 33.9 percent to
Reagan’s 29 percent in Illinois.
— Reagan ahead in Iowa, with 44 per
cent to Carter’s 32 percent in Iowa, accord
ing to the Des Moines Sunday Register.
— Reagan ahead in nine of the 11 Mid
western states, according to U. S. News and
World Report magazine, with Carter lead
ing only in Minnesota, and with Michigan
too close to call.
Texans to vote
on bank laws
United Press International
AUSTIN — A proposed constitutional
amendment authorizing banks to place un
manned teller machines in shopping cen
ters and supermarkets would shorten
downtown bank lines and allow Texans to
do the bulk of their banking in their home
neighborhoods, supporters of the proposal
contend.
The Texas constitution currently bans
branch banking, and the unmanned teller
machines have been considered branch
banks, so the only ones in use currently are
located on the main bank premises.
Lnnual drive kicks off today
I 2,000pints of blood sought
By VENITA McCELLON
■ Battalion Reporter
The Aggie Blood Drive starts today, with hopes of bringing in
ore than 2,000 pints of that good of Aggie blood.
’We re shooting for as much as we can get,” said Chris Lang-
| Aggie Blood Drive Committee member. “But we’ll be hap-
ith anything over 2,000.”
The blood drive is sponsored annually by Alpha Phi Omega,
mega Phi Alpha and Student Government.
Kent Caperton, Democratic candidate for the state Senate from
lis district, will help kick off the drive today. Caperton is sche-
ded to arrive at 12:15 p.m. at the bloodmobile at Sbisa Dining
all to give blood, said Langford.
Texas A&M University Head Football Coach Tom Wilson is
keduled to give blood Tuesday morning, though the location
isbot yet been determined.
The main facility, located in 212-224 Memorial Student Center,
be be open Tuesday-Thursday from noon until 9 p.m., and
andle a capacity of500 pints a day. Two bloodmobiles will be
located at Sbisa and the Commons, each open from 11 a. m. to 7
p.m. through Thursday. The bloodmobiles have a daily capacity of
100 pints.
The hours at the three locations will allow for the donation of
2,300 pints.
Although pre-registration for the drive ended Friday, Langford
said that any student who meets the requirements can still give,
even if he hasn’t pre-registered.
Requirements for giving blood include that the donor must
weigh over 110 pounds, must not have given blood within the past
56 days, should eat a good meal four hours before giving, must not
have been ill in the past few weeks, must not be on medication of
any kind and must not have lived outside the country for an
extended period of time in the past three years.
The first Aggie Blood Drive was held in 1959, when 392 pints
were collected. Since that time over 20,000 pints have been
collected, making Texas A&M the largest donor of blood to the
Wadley Central Blood Bank, which handles the blood drive.
Dallas millionaire backs hunt
ot divers hoping to recover Pinta
United Press International
KEY WEST, Fla. — Two divers backed
f a Texas millionaire hope to prove they
m found a treasure worth far more than
avenged booty — the Pinta, one of the
iree ships Christopher Columbus used in
isbdyssey to the New World.
Olin Frick and John Casque said next
lonth they and a crew of 23 divers and
rdeologists would return to recover the
Pmains of the ship, which they found while
parching for sunken treasure. They said
Hallas millionaire William R. Reilly is
acldng the venture financially.
The treasure hunters told the Miami
lerald Sunday a 500-year-old tax report
scently found in Spain suggests the sunk-
n wreck could be the Pinta, one of the
iree ships to take part in Columbus’ first
xpedition to the New World in 1492.
The ship, resting in 30 feet of water, was
discovered in 1977 by Frick and Gasque
while searching off the Caicos Bank for
ships to salvage.
In documenting the wreck, Frick and
Gasque have relied on two experts, Men
del Peterson, former director of underwa
ter archeology for the Smithsonian Insti
tute, and Dr. Eugene Lyon, a Florida his
torian who specializes in research at Spain’s
Archives of the Indies in Seville.
Peterson said he has “found nothing
which would contradict” the treasure hun
ters’ theory that the sunken ship is the
Pinta. He said a heavy iron cannon, a light
er swivel gun and a single lead cannon ball
removed from the wreck are consistent
with the period.
“Nothing is precisely datable, but no
thing I saw could not have been in use at
that time,” Peterson said.
“We plan to go over the wreck very, very
carefully,” Gasque said. “We will recover
everything that we can find — right down
to the last ballast stone — and bring it back
with us.
“Like all archeological work, we may not
be able to come up with absolute proof that
it is the Pinta, but if we find nothing to
contradict it, we think the weight of the
evidence will be awfully convincing,” Gas
que said.
Even if the ship is not the Pinta, but it is
established that it actually sank around the
turn of the 16th Century, it would qualify as
the oldest shipwreck ever found in the
Western Hempisphere.
So far, the oldest shipwreck found in the
Americas is part of a Spanish fleet that sank
off Padre Island on the Texas Coast in 1553.
Photo by Ed Martinez
Terrorism in Aggieland?
Dr. John Koldus, vice president for student services, is
“kidnapped” by members of MSC Great Issues Commit
tee Friday. Committee chairman Katy Campana and
member Tommy Attaway escort Koldus from his office.
The event was staged to promote the committee’s Tues
day night presentation by journalist Jay Mallin, “Inter
national Terrorism: The Weapon of the Future.” Prog
ram admission is 50 cents for students, $1 for others.