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The Battalion
The Weather
Yesterday
Today
Vol. 74 No. 96
28 Pages in 2 Sections
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Thursday, February 12, 1981
College Station, Texas
High 32 High 48
Low 17 Low 35
Rain none Chance of rain. . none
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
Storm deaths
now total 50
United Press International
The season s worst storm battered the
East Coast with howling winds, rain and
snow for the second day today, aided by
bitter cold that left the Midwest under a
sheath of ice. At least 50 deaths were
blamed on the storm.
The storm, which dumped more than
afoot of snow from Colorado to Michi
gan, moved into the Northeast Wednes
day and spread rain and snow down the
Eastern Seaboard.
Arctic air, combined with fierce
winds, dropped wind-chill factors down
toalifethreatening84 below in the Mid
west and headed east, threatening to
tum the rain and snow into treacherous
layers of ice.
The storm was blamed for at least 50
deaths — eight in Iowa, seven in Illinois
and New York, five in Kansas, four in
Louisiana, and three each in Texas and
Missouri. Wisconsin, Nebraska, Indi
ana and Michigan each reported two
storm deaths and Ohio, North Carolina,
Colorado, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania
each had one.
The Arctic front swept into the South
Tuesday, bringing with it wind gusts up
to 35 mph and dropping temperatures
40 degrees in a matter of hours. By late
Wednesday, however, skies cleared and
the National Weather Service predicted
temperatures would be back in the 50s
by the weekend.
The front spawned violent storms in
central Texas where tornadoes killed
two persons. As the leading edge
pushed across Matagorda Island on the
coast the winds slammed into a tugboat
towing barges, causing it to break up
and sending its crew diving into the icy
gulf waters.
Five crewmen were missing and
feared dead.
In Fort Worth, two disabled men liv
ing in a wood frame house tried to keep
warm by using a stove to heat their
apartment. The house caught fire and
the men were unable to escape.
The National Weather Service said by
midday Wednesday the lower portion of
the front had pushed into Mexico and
the leading easterly edge was sweeping
across Alabama and Georgia.
The front set record lows in several
metropolitan areas and temperatures
were as low as 10 degrees in North
Texas.
Utility companies, fearful that fuel
supplies could not be stretched, asked
large customers to curtail usage.
At Dallas P<|wer & Light, spokesman
Don Wilson said Wednesday on a nor
mal winter day the utility would be
operating at 2,000 to 2,100 megawatts at
the peak of the afternoon, but that by 8
a.m. the load already was 1,900 mega
watts.
He said a plea to major users and the
general public gradually reduced the
load throughout the day, so that by noon
DP&L was operating at 1,807 mega
watts and by 3 p.m. the load was down
to 1,673 megawatts.
Eleven of DP&L’s natural gas-
burning generators switched to fuel oil
during the crisis.
Snow and ice were a problem in the
East Texas counties of Cherokee,
Anderson and Rusk. School had to be
canceled in Jacksonville because of the
weather.
The cold front made a dramatic entr
ance into Texas, dropping the tempera
ture in McAllen 52 degrees in one day
— from 90 degrees to 38.
Long-standing record lows for Feb.
11 were broken across the state with
Dallas at 10 degrees, San Antonio 17,
Victoria 20, Midland 10, Austin 17,
Waco 12, Beaumont-Port Arthur 20 and
Wichita Falls 12.
Elsewhere in the South, the storm’s
appearance was just as dramatic. Toma-
do-like winds up to 50 mph swept
through the Southeast and the middle
South, resulting in millions of dollars of
damages and whipping up waves that
pounded away at beaches.
The temperature in Charleston,
W.Va., plunged from 60 to 25 degrees
in just a few hours Wednesday. The city
received 2 inches of snow, while other
areas in the state reported up to 6 in
ches.
Hundreds of accidents were reported
on slippery roads in Tennessee, hit with
a combination of high winds, thunder
storms, heavy rain, snow and dropping
temperatures.
Heavy rains in Georgia led to a bridge
collapse on U.S. 19 near Roswell, one of
the major northern commuter routes
into Atlanta.
The wind-chill factor dipped to 45 de
grees below zero in Ohio, where snowy
roads triggered two chain-reaction acci
dents involving a total of 50 cars in sub
urban Cleveland.
Blowin ’ in the wind
Staff photo by Greg Gammon
High winds Tuesday night virtually drained the fountain in front of the
Chemistry Building by blowing water from it. Freezing temperatures and
the water resulted in icy sidewalks. University workers spread sand over
the area for better traction before cleaning up the ice.
U.S. not island, Krueger says
Today in SCONA...
The 1981 MSC Student Conference
on National Affairs continues today at
Texas A&M University. Internationally
known leaders from academia, business
and politics at the three-day affair are
addressing the topic: “International So
ciety in Transition.”
Today’s addresses:
— Edgar Owens, development offic
er at Appropriate Technology Interna
tional, Washington, D.C., at 10 a.m. in
Rudder Theater.
— Dr. John P. Holdren, professor of
energy and resources at the University
of California at Berkeley, at 2 p.m. in
Rudder Theater.
The public is invited to attend.
By KAREN KALEY
Battalion Reporter
Americans need to recognize their
ties with mankind in the form of foreign
aid, Robert Krueger, former arnbassa-
dor-at-large to Mexico, said
Wednesday.
Krueger addressed the opening ses
sion of the 26th Student Conference on
National Affairs, being held this week
at Texas A&M.
The world is increasingly becoming
interdependent, he said to an enthusias
tic crowd of about 350.
“The United States is not an island,’’
he said.
Widespread specialization in a single
national export, such as oil or sugar, will
force the world apart unless countries
can make their resources available to
other countries, Krueger said.
The United States should make tech
nology and education available to those
countries who are willing to use the
knowledge, he said.
The 20th century should be the cen
tury to care, Krueger said.
In the late 1940s and 50s, America
was at its high point in foreign aid, con
tributing about $14 billion for the recon
struction of the countries involved in
World War II, he said.
However, foreign aid was cut drastic
ally in the 1970s and will be cut again in
the 80s, Krueger added.
In the 1960s social programs were set
up by presidents Lyndon B. Johnson
and John F. Kennedy to help aid foreign
countries and their development, Krue
ger said.
In the 1970s, these programs started
to decline in support and now in the 80s
Congress wants to cut foreign aid spend
ing again, he said.
The Reagan administration is only
doing what the American people want,
he said. They are increasing the defense
budget and cutting foreign aid.
The American people and those peo
ple of other western countries are wor
ried about their economies, Krueger
said. People complain that this is the
most dangerous part of history they
have seen.
This is not the most dangerous time in
history, Krueger said.
The Berlin airlift, the Cuban missile
crisis, WWII and countless other inci
dents far outweigh the problems facing
the nation now, he said.
Great leaders such as Mahatma
Ghandi and Martin Luther King be
lieved in the power of peace, he said.
Outward peace must first come from
within — the people and the nation,,
Krueger added. it
Bob Krueger
"Racist mentality’ behind bill
Prairie View president says black schools needed
Rain in Reed McDonald
What a mess
Staff photo by Greg Gammon
Julie LaPorte, a secretary in the Texas Feed & Fertilizer Control office
protects herself from the “rain” on the third floor of the Reed McDonald
Building. A heating pipe burst on the fourth floor heating unit Wednesday
afternoon, sending a flood of water throughout the building.
Frozen pipes which had burst caused
considerable amounts of water to cas
cade down the elevator shaft and west
stairway of the Reed McDonald Build
ing shortly before noon Wednesday. By
the time books and typewriters were
moved to dry places, the problem was,
for the most part, cleaned up.
Physical Plant Director Joe J. Estill
said the pipes on the fourth floor of the
building were connected to the central
air conditioning and heating unit.
At first Estill said he expected the
elevator wouldn’t be back in operation
until today, but it was in full operation
by 4:00 p.m. Wednesday. He said he
anticipated some damage to the elevator
because the wiring and controls were
soaked.
Regarding the condition of the fourth
floor’s heating unit, Estill said, “We lost
a heating coil and we have to locate one
before the system can be fixed. ” He said
he had no idea how long it would take to
find the replacement part but that they
would heat the fourth floor with the help
of other heaters in the building.
“I donVknow of any major damage,
just a lot of inconvenience,” Depart
ment of Communications Head Bob G.
Rogers said. The communications de
partment is on the third floor of Reed
McDonald.
When the water made its way to the
basement and near a room where year
books were being stored, the possiblity
of damage to the annuals was all but
eliminated by Student Publications
Coordinator Donald C. Johnson and a
small group of students who dammed up
the doorway of the storeroom with a pile
of crumpled newsprint.
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Stall
The president of Prairie View A&M
University says a “racist mentality” is
behind a move to dissolve the state’s two
predominantly black universities.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Foster
Whaley of Pampa — a Texas A&M gra
duate — would close Prairie View A&M
University and Texas Southern Univer
sity to new students; after students cur
rently enrolled graduate or leave, the
institutions would be closed perma
nently.
“It comes out of a racist mentality,
where people feel that black people
shouldn’t exist,’’.Thomas said of the bill.
“It’s just tragic that this would hap
pen in this day and age, but it’s some
thing we’re going to have to contend
with, but as soon as it raises its ugly
head, we’re going to have to snap it off,”
he said.
Reaction was immediate and largely
negative to Whaley’s bill. “Obviously,
we’re opposed to this type of thing, and
all responsible people in Texas (are
opposed to it),” Thomas said.
That opposition ranges from the gov
ernor’s office to the Coordinating
Board, Texas College and University
System to Kenneth Ashworth, state
commisioner of education.
The bill was introduced before the
federal Department of Education found
Texas in provisional compliance with Ti
tle VI race discrimination regulations.
State officials now have until June 15 to
come up with an acceptable plan; loss of
federal funds in state institutions is a
possible penalty for non-compliance.
The Education Department had
been investigating Texas’s system for
several years, looking for continued ra
cial discrimination in the vestiges of the
state’s formerly segregated system.
Thomas also said the federal govern
ment is placing too much emphasis on
desegregation by race. He’s opposed to
division along racial lines, but he main
tains that ethnic uniqueness should still
be a criteria for separation.
A predominantly black institution,
such as Prairie View or Texas Southern,
“is essential to the progress of Texas,”
Thomas said. “It’s essential to the demo
cratic pluralism that we want to have.
“I think we have something to offer at
Prairie View that can’t be offered any
where else, just like there’s something
offered at Baylor that can’t be offered at
Texas A&M, that can’t be offered at
University of Texas,” he said.
Thomas maintains his concept of plu
ralism is essential not only to Texas’
progress, but to the continued success
of programs aiding Third World coun
tries.
“We see this today in Iran,” Thomas
said. “We have totally no access to that
kind of mind, and the Third World na
tions of Africa.
“One of our great allies today is
Nigeria. Obvious access to Nigeria is
through Prairie View and Texas South
ern. That s the only way we’re going to
get in there.”
Hilton bus boy arrested for arson
United Press International
LAS VEGAS Nev. — A Las Vegas
Hilton room service busboy was held
today on charges of setting the hotel-
casino’s $10 million killer blaze he re
portedly watched burn for “sensual
gratification” as eight people died.
Police arrested Philip Bruce Cline,
23, of Las Vegas late Wednesday and
charged him with eight counts of mur
der and one of arson in connection with
Tuesday night’s fire. He was held in
solitary confinement at the Clark
County jail pending today’s arraign
ment.
Authorities said no other suspects
were being sought in the blaze, which
forced the evacuation of the 30-story
hotel’s 4,000 guests and injured at least
242 people. Thirty-nine were still hos
pitalized today with three in serious
condition.
A source close to the investigation
told UPI Cline apparently set the blaze
for personal pleasure and not because
of a grudge against the hotel.
“Investigators believe the motive
was sensual gratification apparently
some kind of sex hang-up,” the source
said. “He stood there and watched it
bum.”
Police said Cline, who had previous
ly been employed at the MGM Grand
and Caesars Palace, was working the
night shift Tuesday picking up trays in
the Hilton’s east tower when the fire
broke out.
Police Commander Eric Cooper said
the busboy reported the first and
largest of the four fires set and he indi
cated Cline was one of four suspects
questioned at the fire scene shortly
after the blaze erupted.
“Certain inconsistencies in his state
ments led us to question him further,
said Cooper. “He was not developed as
a good suspect until he was brought
into the police station.”
Police said the suspect previously
had been arrested for receiving stolen
property resisting arrest and several
unspecified felonies.
“This is the biggest case we’ve had
because of the number of deaths and
the one violent act,” said Homicide
Sgt. Bob Hilliard. “It was not luck he
was captured.”
Although Cline also was employed as
a busboy at the MGM Grand which
burned last November killing 84 peo
ple police said he was not being ques
tioned in connection with that fire be
cause it was not arson.
Clark County Fire Chief Roy Paris
told reporters arson was obvious as
soon as investigators discovered the
fire’s origin — on the eighth floor of the
hotel’s east tower.
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