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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1981)
“The Battalion Page 5 »!” r wi Vol. 74 No. 172 a year, ari|f 8 Pages will featufl ■asting styleij 1 abandoned! 1 slugged i!| alule, as e first matelj Serving the Texas A&M University community Wednesday, July 8, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High 89 High 93 Low. 73 Low 75 Chance of rain. 20% Chance of rain. . . . . . . 20% Majority opposes justice nomination •'iPSiflfe United Press International ^WASHINGTON (UPI) — President Hagan is urging swift Senate confirma- Hn of Arizona Judge Sandra D. O’Con- Hr so she may take "her place in his- Hy” as the first woman justice on the 7e diets T reme A ’m Reagan tumlied a campaign promise e n i 0l/( ] Tuesday in announcing his decision to " Hminateawoman to the high court. He )W th(l described O’Connor, 51, as “a person H all seasons" who possesses “those Hique qualities of temperament, fair- i . B ss ’ ' n t e ll ec l ua l capacity and devotion calorie, to-the public good. ” I Reagan said at a GOP fundraiser tfl r/l(Hesday night in Chicago, "I feel cer- ' Cent e lighted} tain her term upon the bench will be one of the proudest legacies of my pres idency.” Reagan apparently won the backing of several key conservative Republican senators for the nomination, paving the way for confirmation. But O’Connor’s perceived position on abortion and her support of the Equal Rights Amendment drew harsh criticism from others, including the Moral Majority. They vowed to fight her confirmation as successor to Justice Potter Stewart, who retired Friday. Reagan told reporters he is “com pletely satisfied” with O’Connor’s posi tion on abortion, and deputy White Staff photo by Greg Gammon A Hitching post Steve Maze, a senior from New Braunfels checks the Hitching Post board in the Memorial Student Center main hallway for ride pros pects to his hometown. The board is a service sponsored by the MSC Travel Committee for faculty, staff, and students. Frial set in April death if Texas A&M student I 22-0875 By DENISE RICHTER Battalion Staff The capital murder trial of the former exas A&M student charged in the ipril 22 stabbing of Frederick Axel bungberg IV, has been set, said Dis- rict Attorney Travis B. Bryan III. Joel Quintans, 19, will be tried Aug. 0 in the 27th District Court in Bryan. District Judge J. Bradley Smith has ssued a gag order restricting the release if information in connection with the ase to avoid pre-trial prejudice. Student Affairs Director Ron Blatch- ley said his office has received a number af inquiries from faculty, staff members and students concerning the procedure the University will follow in determin ing the status of Quintans and another student charged in a second, unrelated stabbing. Leighton Barry Hurst, 20, a sopho more from San Antonio, was charged with the May 8 stabbing death of his roommate, freshman Joseph Lynn Dill /fr., also from San Antonio. Hurst was released May 9 on $50,000 bond. His trial date has not been set. “The University will do the same as ... anyone else in this situation — we can’t assume guilt until it is proven,” Blatchley said. Whenever a Texas A&M student is charged with a crime, the University has the obligation to provide students with an opportunity to respond to the charges and prove their case, he said. However, Quintans’ attorney has asked the University to postpone the on-campus hearing until the criminal trial is completed, Blatchley said. Both Quintans and Hurst have with drawn from the University, he said. “We have not suspended them or held hearings,” Blatchley said. “All we have done is blocked their re enrollment. “If they want to re-enroll, they will have to go through the (Department of Student Affairs) and we will have to hold hearings on campus. If they make the decision to return, we have to make the decision whether we want them to re turn.” House press secretary Larry Speakes later disclosed that during her July 1 interview with Reagan, O’Connor said abortion is “personally abhorrent” to her. It was the Oval Office interview that was the decisive factor in O’Connor’s selection, he said. O’Connor was the first of 25 potential nominees to be interviewed. After the interview, Reagan decided against seeing the others. O’Connor, a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, served as co- chairman of that state’s Nixon re- election committee in 1972. Her nomination was hailed as a “sig nificant victory” by leaders of the women’s movement, who have faulted the administration for not naming enough women to important posts. The precedent-shattering appoint ment to the lifetime post will end the court’s 191-year tradition — dating back to George Washington’s presidency — as an all-male tribunal. A total of 101 black-robed “brethren” have preceded O’Connor. O’Connor, wife of a Phoenix lawyer and mother of three sons, would be the youngest member of the court if approved by two-thirds of the Senate. As an associate justice, she would re ceive $88,700 a year. Texas’ migratory need legal means Undocumented Mexican workers are a necessary component of the Texas labor force and there should be a struc tured way to bring them into the state legally, says a Texas A&M professor. Dr. W.G. Roeseler, head of Texas A&M’s urban and regional planning de partment, is comparing the problems of a migrating labor force in Texas with the way the issue is handled in Bavaria, West Germany. He began the study about two years ago when his depart ment received several inquiries from border towns such as El Paso concern ing the issues relating to migratory labor. Several areas of the Texas economy are dependent on undocumented Mex ican laborers, Roeseler said. “They are the people who are abso lutely essential for the construction in dustry,” he said. About 30 percent of construction workers in Houston are Mexicans, he said, and perhaps one- third of the mechanics are Mexican, most of them undocumented. Roeseler said he looked for a similar country with similar patterns of migrat ing workers. He found it in the auton omous state of Bavaria where Turks are the people most likely to fill the void in the labor force. As a state in a Common Market coun try, Bavaria has a formal plan for bring ing workers into the country under a contract that specifies where they will work and how long they will be able to stay in that state. For example, Roeseler said, if a Bava rian plant needs 5,000 workers, recrui ters are sent to countries that have an agreement with the state to sign up workers. “The idea being that with limited space in Bavaria they are very aware of the necessity to avoid permanent im migration,” he said. The guest worker program seems like an ideal solution, Roeseler said, until authorities have to deal with individual cases like a Turkish man who wants to stay in the country with his German wife after his contract expires. The guest program works as long as you’re dealing with impersonal case loads, he said. Ducking substantive questions that may arise during Senate hearings, O’Connor told reporters in Phoenix, “I am extremely happy and honored to have been nominated. “If confirmed, I will do my best to serve the court and this nation in a man ner that will bring credit to the presi dent, to my family and to all the people of this great nation.” While women’s groups hailed the choice as a significant victory, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, head of the Moral Major ity, blasted the nomination. “Either the president did not have sufficient information about Judge O’Connor’s background in social issues workers of entry “The enforcement of these contrac tual agreements, which are based on treaties between the host countries and the sending countries, is a very complex thing that is not easily carried out, ” he said. Even so, Roeseler said the West Ger man solution is preferable to the situa tion in Texas. “They have control over the number of people that come into their country,” he said. “They do not necessarily con trol the return. In the United States we have neither.” Roeseler said the Reagan administra tion is beginning to look at the possibil ity of starting a guest worker program in this country. A special problem that comes with undocumented workers is that they be come a subculture that is deprived of very basic rights and left without ties to American life, he said. Roeseler plans to travel to West Ger many this month to talk with national officials including Secretary of Labor Joesph Stingle about the migratory labor situation. or he chose to ignore that information, ” he said. “Her record indicates she is not an opponent of abortion on demand and is opposed to attempts to curb this biolo gical holocaust.” Cal Thompson, vice president of the Moral Majority, said Reagan tele phoned Falwell Tuesday afternoon and assured him “he was convinced she (O’Connor) is a strong pro-life person.” Registration process starts Thursday As soon as today’s final examina tions are out of the way, Texas A&M students can begin to think about the second summer session. Students moving into the resi dence halls for the second session may check in with the head resident beginning at 6 tonight. Registration for the second sum mer session will be held Thursday. Students are to obtain their registra tion card packets in DeWare Field- house according to the following schedule: S through Z: 7 a.m. — 8:15 a.m. A through D: 8:15 a.m. — 9:30 a.m. E through K: 9:30 a.m. — 10:45 a.m. L through R: 10:45 a.m. — noon. Students should then report to their department head or the desig nated representative in G. Rollie White Coliseum for approval of courses and to get class cards. Next, students should report to their dean in the coliseum for approval of their schedules and go on to the fee assessors stationed in 212 and 224 MSC. Fees may be paid at the cashier’s desk in the coliseum beginning at 8 a.m. Friday. Classes for the second summer session begin Friday. Playing guessing games hazardous Traffic signs may cause confusion A highway sign shows a silhouette of a man holding a horizontal staff from which hangs a triangular pennant. What should a driver expect and what should he do? The diamond-shaped orange signs mean there are flagmen ahead. A driver seeing it should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. If you missed the meaning of the sign, you’re not alone. Research shows that 40 percent of Texans in a controlled sample cannot correctly identify traffic signs. “It means there is a large potential for accidents,” said Dr. Patricia Guseman, research sociologist with the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University. She said 10 highway con struction workers were killed in traffic accidents a little more than a year ago in Houston. Poor driver understanding of safety markings and signs combined with pro liferation of the devices pose serious consequences for personal and property safety. “There are as many as 30 signals, signs and markings at any one intersec tion,” said Guseman, whose research for the Texas Department of Highways and Public Transportation is designed to find ways to improve public under standing of traffic control devices. The TTI project includes devising, implementing and testing countermea sures. The researchers are testing driv er education strategies such as a film strip cassette and public service announcements on radio and television. “Drivers want a sense of security with the environment,” said Guseman. “They want to understand their world. If they lack a proper definition for a warning or information sign, they supp ly their own.” An example from the tests depicts an end view of a car with “S” marks extend ing from the tires. The yellow, diamond-shaped sign is usually accom panied by a yellow rectangular sign be low which says, “Slippery When Wet.” The researcher said, “Many unin formed drivers said this means there are curves ahead.” Guseman’s pet peeves are advance and on-site school crossing signs. The former depicts two children walking to school. The latter, also on a pentagon shaped yellow sign, has smaller figures between parallel lines indicating a crosswalk. “It is possible a driver could see the advance sign, pass it and think the dan ger is over and speed up. In this case the Signs such as these on Texas Highways are being studied by Dr. Patricia Guseman, research sociologist with the Texas Transportation Institute. Staff photo by Greg Gammon Research has shown the signs, which may number as many as 30 at intersection, are easily misunder stood and might be a safety hazard. symbolic sign by itself becomes a problem.” Guseman believes part of the difficul ties are within the traffic controls them selves. “We have many incentives to provide more signs, marking and con trols because of tort claims possibilities. “A city is liable in a loss at an improp erly marked danger point.” Excessive signs, markings and con trols may confuse drivers or cause them to ignore the devices altogether. “The problem is that there is no in centive to take signs down or remove markings if they are no longer needed, ” Guseman said. She noted that drivers must frequent ly separate a highway sign or signal from background clutter of advertising signs that often flicker and flash to attract attention. “In some cities and states, ordinances have been adopted that rule out blink ing or flashing advertising lights that interfere,” she said. In addition to city ordinances, driver education may be of some benefit. “We found driver education to be a signifi cant predictor of a better level of under standing,” Guseman said. She said any driver over 40 in Texas has been through four sets of changes in highway markings. “What’s more, most drivers over 40 have never had formal driver training,” the TTI research sociologist said. “The driving environment is becoming more complex every day, and controls on traf fic must become more complex. On top of that, an increasing proportion of the driving population is older.” The project revealed a significant dif ference by age in correctly identifying signals, signs and markings. Overall, the best understood is the two-way traf fic sign, side-by-side opposite pointing arrows on a yellow diamond sign. Among the least understood are the hexagonal red stop sign without “Stop” on it and yellow and white lines, be cause people don’t understand color meanings, Guseman said. Dashed line markings in yellow, the warning color of highway markings, may be crossed with care for passing, while a solid yellow line next to dashed yellow or solid yellow double lines indi cates no passing. Dashed or solid white lines regulate lanes of one-way traffic. “Many drivers believe double yellow lines cannot be crossed,” Guseman said, “but they can if the driver is turn ing into a business or drive.” > a com- mybody » (redis- :>on and tomor- as the day we e, or at If!
