“The Battalion
JgoocK Serving the Texas A&M University community
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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! |
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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
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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
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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.