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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1980)
“The Battalion JgoocK Serving the Texas A&M University community got a lotion whether we i to play Mi Vol 74 No. 62 8 Pages Tuesday, November 25, 1980 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Yesterday Today High 57 High 49 Low 49 Low 32 Rain .. 0.0 inches Chance of rain. . . . . . good ravel to 8) | night top], I M ! I II .,!■!, ! laine. "beath toll from earthquake passes 1,000 United Press International NAPLES, Italy — In a grim litany, radio announcers listed than 100 southern towns devastated by Italy’s monster quake, which struck with a force 50 times stronger than the shima A-bomb and killed more than 1,000 people. Rescuers d the death toll would soar past 3,500. I «B^ e ” ve as ked the authorities to send us 500 coffins,” said a city ULLrW er ' n Laviano, one of the towns ravaged by the quake. Mole families are missing and they’re all under the debris.’’ DAf the city worker spoke of the need for more coffins, the frail *’ ™ of a woman could be heard calling out from beneath a pile of rete and stone, “Help me. Help me.” rj l|terior Ministry officials in Rome confirmed that by Monday ChMHi H at least 1,012 bodies had been pulled from the rubble left by . 1 make, which measured 6.5 to 6.8 on the open-ended Richter Band hit with the force of a million tons of TNT exploding at #11! | rkey i Cl once, or 50 times the force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima The Hiroshima atomic bomb exploded with the equivalent force of 20,000 tons of TNT. Besides the 1,012 confirmed dead, about 2,500 people were missing from four isolated villages east and south of Naples — Laviano, Santoremma, Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi and Lioni — and rescue workers said they were believed dead, buried under debris from the Sunday evening quake that rumbled through more than 100 communities. The government-run radio and TV confined themselves to reading long lists of towns and villages ravaged by the quake — Senerchia, Morra de Santis, Carife, Gesualdo, Teora, Sant’Ange lo dei Lombardi, Lioni, Solopro e Monteforte, Battipagfia, Sordi no, Laviano, Castelnuovo, Santomenna. Ninety percent of the buildings in Laviano were destroyed, leaving only two houses and a discotheque still standing. Eighty percent of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi was flattened, including a modem hospital. Lioni and Santoremma were similarly devas tated. Almost all of Laviano’s victims were believed to be women, since most of the town’s men work in West Germany and northern Italy. As darkness fell over the village, which was flattened in 60 seconds by the tremor, the survivors picked through the debris with their bare hands, by makeshift lights. Working feverishly to remove debris from a spot where they heard cries, the townspeople found sobbing 5-year-old Ivo Falive- na, clinging to his dead mother Olga and sister Antonella. The women of the town, huddled around a nearby campfire to keep warm, began swaying rhythmically and broke into the keen ing wails common to southern Italy and cried, “He has abandoned us. God has abandoned us.” In the village of Balvano, 75 miles east of Naples, where the village church collapsed on 300 worshippers attending vesper services, the church’s priest Don Salvatore Pagliuca moaned, “I don’t know why us. These people have enough trouble as it is. ” More than 100 were killed in the village, most of them in the church. In Rome, Vatican officials said Pope John Paul II would fly by helicopter to the devastated region during the day, stopping at several destroyed villages to pray with survivors. The main quake was followed by more than 100 aftershocks, some of them measuring up to 6 on the Mercalli scale of intensity. Professor Giuseppe Panza of the seismic observatory of Bari predicted the shocks, and possibly more strong earthquake jolts, would continue in the region for some time. “If this quake follows the normal patterns there will be more shocks over the next few days,” he said. 4 weekend hedules has A&M University facilities will rve the following schedules over the Staff photo by Greg Gammon Have you seen any elephants? 71 DA! ksgiving holidays Sterling C. Evans Library AFAI dnesday 8 a.m.—5 p.m. i sday - Closed > 9'/j"Sgb thy 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sandwldi iirday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. > 16 oi,Bt lay 1 p.m.-12 a.m. * BagofCI [ese f ac iiitj es w iH c i ose a t the wing hours on Wednesday for the ksgiving holidays: pent Snack Bar ■i I Cafeteria and Snack Bar 'sing Library ling and Games Shop Some juniors from Company D-l borrowed a National Guard jeep armed with machine guns but no ammuni tion Monday, to drive through the campus looking for marching elephants to shoot during Elephant Walk. Many elephants, also known as outgoing seniors, parti cipated in the annual walk, which began at the Acade mic Building and ended with a yell practice at the Bonfire site. Meanwhile, the Grim Reaper himself was stationed on the wall in front of the Corps Quad, predicting gloom for the dying elephants prior to their arrival. Underneath the Grim Reaper’s gloomy ex terior is David Heiligman, Class of ’82. ft tn.-l a.m, pent Programs Office i Desk 2 p.m. 3 p.m. 5 p.m. 5 p.m. 5 p.m. 5 p.m. 10 p.m. lese facilities will reopen again during following times on Sunday: ling and Games 1 p.m.-11 p.m. /sing Library 6 p.m.-10 p.m. lent Programs Office. .4 p.m.-10 p.m. |Main Cafeteria and Snack Bar will re dosed until Monday. Remote Computer Center mesday 8 a.m.-6 a.m. rsday Closed ay Closed rday Closed ay 1 p.m.-10 p.m. Teague Computer Center: . 8 a.m.-6 a.m. 5 p.m.-12 a.m. . 8 a.m.-5 p.m. . 9 a.m.-7 p.m. 1 p.m.-10 p.m. eA.P. Beutel Health Center will close [4p.m. Wednesday and reopen Monday m. Emergency services will be avail- throughout the weekend. OFFICWI ack to be lighted tonightat 7:30 Corps plans parade Origin of bonfire tradition hazy in Austin be fore game GOOD f.'j CD. GAMIj AND St S CRR INTI DECEMli I By USCHI MICHEL-HOWELL Battalion Staff — "'it was pitch dark; the rain from the day and night before till Imng in the air. There was a field, and about 200 le waded around in ankle-deep mud. was the last few days before bonfire. iat probably explains a lot. Or at least why all those ■ pies were stalking around in the middle of the night, | € Pg to put up that thing called bonfire. 1 *hne worker walked by, clad in army gear, toward the ession stand that offers the weary workers drink, food a smiling face to talk to. le weather has not been good to the students who are [king around the clock to get the 65-foot stack ready for Iting tonight at 7:30 p.m. Wire work started with cutting logs on Oct. 11. Last Inesday students began the “push,” hauling and rais- the logs 24 hours a day on Duncan Intramural Field, lie origin of the bonfire tradition is hazy. According to as A&M history department head Dr. Henry De- ffs “A Pictorial History of Texas A&M University 1976,” the pre-Texas-game blazes began in the !0s. In the 1940s, the first centerpole-supported stack built, and the 1969 bonfire was the tallest ever, at nit 109 feet. lowever, in recent years participation has declined so ch that some people are voicing doubts as to whether ifire will remain a tradition in the future, r'j C Every year the civilian turnout is lower than it could .JkJ ’’Nolen Mears, bonfire adviser, said. “As a percentage y don’t have as much as they could have. If only one liter (of all the students) was out there to work, it would About 1,200 people have been cutting overall. That’s a whole lot, ” David Eppright, senior civilian coordi- Jor, said. He estimated the average turnout for daily jjrk at 600-800 people. You always see the same people. The ones that have ilowest grades work the most,” Eppright said. “I just ■"lassBCkaf flike staying up all night and forgetting school.” A faculty advisory committee reporting to Dr. John Idus, vice president for student services, is in the initial “‘‘’jnstlndf ges of considering recommending limiting the height a o ... a bonfire. The committee members feel bonfire is too ich a strain on the grades of the few who work on it. Bonfire work is not restricted to the Corps of Cadets, (cadets have made up the workforce more than civilian dents in the past. -yrauio" “The Corps wants to do less work,” Greg Nicholas, nan outing ;j s t an t Corps area coordinator, said. “It’s not (only) a ar n the irps thing. But they’re a military organization and when jrinantopPf sysay they’ll work, they will,” he said, to win b the past two years restrictions have been placed on ipetition reil Rousters 6 etition w* onie Roots, :d Roots s'®'] s and 0 espectivelf its capture® title, whi ne the &■ ien s C tit by Wesley" the cadets, which prevent them from spending too much time working on the bonfire. Freshmen are not allowed to work weeknights after 6 p.m, and sophomores had to have a 2.5 GPR at midterm to be allowed to work at night. This policy is an effort by the Corps to stress scholastics, Mears said. But there might be other reasons why this year’s turn out for the traditonal fire building was lower than hoped. “This year’s football season plays a role,” Nicholas said. “You can tell by the (football) game turnout. There just hasn’t been that anticipation about the (UT) game this year. ” Eppright, however, didn’t agree. He said there is more to bonfire than just the boosting of the football team. “People that don’t know about bonfire might be influ enced by the (performance) of the football team. It’s ssBdivisi® 1 d Marble Her (Dor® Dgc reg be unp Chari; • against W iherleWehh 5 f us who e"' creational ® . the Class Bonfire ’80 cooperation, a bunch of guys building something,” he said. Women were involved in bonfire for the second year, most of them working at the concession stand. Company W-l had 40 women working every other day, company commander Julia Arthur said. “There’s not much to tell about the off-campus women in bonfire. We couldn’t get anybody,” Kim Hoskins, Off- Campus Aggies coordinator, said. Hoskins cited a lack of organization as one of the reasons. To work on the stack, a student has to have two years experience, Eppright said. There are six stacks on the bonfire. Juniors work on the fifth, seniors on the sixth stack. Preparations for bonfire started long before the work began on Duncan Field. Funds for the bonfire come from the Texas A&M Book store profits, the Association of Former Students, Aggie Mothers’ Clubs and fundraisers in dorms, Mears said. Several companies donated the use of trucks and driv ers to haul the logs and lift them onto the stack. The mothers baked about 600 dozen cookies, which were taken to the site by girls of the Student Y Associa tion. The girls also made a continuous supply of coffee, Michelle Piatt, director of University services of the asso ciation, said. The stack will cost over $7,000, not counting the logs, and will just go up in smoke, having used a lot of manpow er, gasoline, cookies and coffee. About 2,000 gallons of fuel will be poured on the blaze before it is lit. Bailing wire to tie the logs together and money for administrative staff to take care of electrical cable and telephone lines to Duncan Field were also needed to make bonfire happen this year, Mears said. The wood that will make the bonfire about 65 feet high was donated by Granada Land and Cattle Company of Bryan. Though bonfire has its problems, it is still lauded as one of the best experiences on campus. “The work out here pulls people together. I thought it was corny when they told me that (it would) as a freshman, but I don’t think it is now,” Eppright said. “The Corps freshmen get a lot out of it. Carrying out the logs is the best thing,” Nicholas said. “In the Corps, the spirit is there. In the whole Univer sity, the freshmen might even have a more eager spirit than the others,” Mears said. “We need someone to take the lead,” he added. “It’s gonna be built. You can’t blame it on anybody but the students themselves if it doesn’t,” Nicholas said. But Eppright views it differently. “There are different people going to A&M now. The University used to let people out of class to build the bonfire. Students now look at grades and are also getting lazier,” he said. “The school is getting more impersonal. People come out here with their buddies. If I didn’t know anybody, I probably wouldn’t come out either.” “There is a general consensus that bonfire will screw your grades around, but that’s an excuse,” Keith White, senior redpot, said. The only complaints about bonfire work came from some residents living across from the site. “There have been some complaints from people across the street about the constant (taped) Ronnie Milsap music, but the people have been pretty cooperative. They really don’t have any choice,” Eppright said. As the Aggie-Longhorn football confron tation draws nearer, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets is preparing for its second Corps trip of the year. Midnight yell practice will be held in Austin on the steps of the Capitol on Con gress Street where it has traditionally been held in years past, Head Yell Leader Mark Outlaw said. Prior to the 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday, the Corps, including Parsons’ Mounted Caval ry, will complete a parade through Austin beginning at Congress and East 3rd streets at 9:30 a.m, said Corps Operations Officer Phil Greilich. Led by Corps Commander Ken Cross and accompanied by the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band, the Corps will proceed up Congress to the Capitol, turn left on 11th Street, and continue on 11th Street to Col orado where they will break. Major General W.L. Scott, adjutant gen eral of the Texas National Guard, will re view the cadets from a stand on 7th and Congress streets in front of the Stephen F. Austin Hotel. Corps trips are a century-old tradition that began in 1878 when special trains transported the cadets to the San Jacinto Battlefield to stage mock battles. A year later the Corps traveled to Dallas for the State Fair of Texas. Around the turn of the century, howev er, the trips more frequently coincided with away football games. Attorney general speaks to regents By DILLARD STONE Battalion Staff Texas Attorney General Mark White vi sited Texas A&M University Monday^ speaking to the Board of Regents behind closed doors. White’s appearance highlighted an otherwise routine day for the regents, who considered various items in Monday’s com mittee meetings. Neither White nor the regents would comment on the attorney general’s appear ance before the Board’s Executive Com- ittee. Joining in the executive session were System Chancellor Dr. Frank W.R. Hubert and the presidents of the four academic institutions of the System. In addition to hearing from White, the regents considered a number of building and construction items. The Planning and Building Committee approved $43,000 for the preliminary de sign of the Animal Husbandry Pavilion at Texas A&M. The renovated pavilion will house several student activity-related offices and a snack bar; it will also serve as a permanent headquarters for registration of University students. Also approved was $60,000 for prelimin ary design of the Texas A&M Cyclotron. The addition to the “atom smasher” will enhance its position as one of the finest in the world, Dr. J.M. Prescott, vice presi dent for academic affairs, said. The contract for the new $13.2 million Engineering Laboratory Center at Texas A&M was awarded to Allen M. Campbell Co. General Contractors, Inc., of Tyler. The new center will be built south of Zachry Engineering Center, and will house research and extension laboratories of the System. A report prepared by a System study group on System marine programs was pre sented to the Academic Campuses Com mittee. The committee took no action on the recommendations, which propose a more comprehensive organization of the programs. A consulting firm presented a similar set of recommendations at the Sep tember Board meeting. The construction items, as well as other matters related to the System, were sche duled to receive final action at this morn ing’s general board meeting.