state
Battalion/Page 6
April 8,1982
Annexing of offshore oil well
off Port Arthur upheld again
United Press International
AUSTIN — The Texas Sup
reme Court upheld without
comment Wednesday Port
Arthur’s annexation of a drilling
platform, 10 miles out in the
Gulf of Mexico, that is among
the most productive along the
Texas coast.
Superior Oil Co., owner of
the lease on state lands in the
gulf and of the drilling plat
form, had challenged the city’s
annexation of a one-mile-wide
strip of land into the gulf on
grounds it violated the com
pany’s rights of due process and
equal protection under the 14th
Amendment to the U.S. Consti
tution.
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The state earlier had filed
suit challenging Port Arthur’s
annexation of the submerged
land that includes the well, but a
Port Arthur court ruled out
right in favor of the annexation.
The Superior suit had been
consolidated with the state case
for that ruling. But since the
state attorney general failed to
appeal within the required time
after the ruling, the prospect of
an appellate court overturning
the decision was voided.
Superior had appealed on its
own, alleging violation of its con
stitutional rights, but the courts
rejected that argument. The
Beaumont Court of Civil
Appeals said Port Arthur’s
three-step annexation of the
gulf lands complied with state
annexation laws, and Superior
could not challenge that annexa
tion on constitutional grounds.
Port Arthur, which is not on
the coast, first annexed land
along the Sabine River to the
gulf, then in three separate ordi
nances annexed the strip into
the gulf that included the Super
ior oil and gas lease.
City taxes on the lease for
1980 amounted to $774,430,
which Superior paid under pro
test.
The Legal Foundation of
America issued a friend-of-the-
court brief, supporting Super
ior’s arguments, that said:
“There has never been a case
such as the case at bar, in which
an inland city has taxed by anne
xation down to the coast, south
westerly along the coast, and
then, in three steps, outward 10
miles into the ocean.
“This case is that rare, out
landish situation in which even
the general taxing power has
reached its limits.”
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April 15, 1982
For more information call
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696-7679
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Shuttle test ruined
by freezer thaw
United Press International
HOUSTON — A relatively
simple freezer failed at John
son Space Center and des-
icl nea
troyed nearly all the data from
one of the experiments flown
aboard space shuttle Col
umbia last month.
JSC spokesman Brian
Welch said Tuesday that a
freezer cannister lost its cool
ing power over the weekend
and thawed human cell sam
ples electrically purified in
orbit. The cells were purified
between March 22 and 30 in a
process called elec
trophoresis.
One experimenter, who
sent up visible red blood cells,
hoped to obtain useful infor
mation by studying film of the
electrophoresis unit in opera
tion. Another experimenter,
who sent up invisible kidney
cells, lost everything.
The freezing was impor
tant not only because it immo
bilized the samples for later
study, but also because it kept
the cells alive in a frozen sus
pended animation. When
they thawed, they died.
It was the third major fai
lure among 14 pure science
experiments on Columbia’s
third mission. In orbit, a sun
sensor failed and a balky tele
vision camera on the shuttle
cargo bay arm prevented de
ployment of a contamination
monitor.
Welch said the latest failure
occurred on the ground. The
samples were transferred into
a freezer cannister after Col
umbia landed at White Sands
Missile Range, N.M., March
30.
The freezer used in orbit
had no problems. The ground
freezer apparently worked
for four or five days after
landing, while experimenters
prepared to remove the sam
ples for study, Welch said.
This type of freezer, which
looks a bit like an ice cream
churn, has been used fre
quently. Such freezers have
kept samples f rozen fort:
two weeks.
The cannister has non
ing parts and relies sold;
liquid nitrogen for cold.Ii
nitrogen apparently 1*,.
off through a leak over;
weekend while no onei;
watching, Welch said.
Dr. Stuart Nachtwey off
said: “Of all the things^
could have gone wrong,:
freezer is the last piece
equipment we would have:
pected to have troubles]
The electrophoresis ;■
cess used on Columbia's^
flight involved passing
electric charge throughe;
7-in( h-long clear tubes(idi
cells. The process divide^
with dif ferent electricalpn
Officials said the fieete:;
ilure will not affect plantn
continuous-flow a
trophoresis experiments
duled aboard the fourth
tie mission in June.
Latino pastors end
‘mission in reverse’
£
*
£
SPIRIT AWARD
Up to 20 Seniors
15 Juniors
10 Sophomores
5 Freshmen
and 2 Graduate Students
will be selected by a committee of faculty, staff and students
based on outstanding contributions to the student life pro
gram at Texas A&M University. A framed certificate and a
distinctive watch will be presented to each recipient by the
Former Students Association on May 5.
Grade requirement: Must be a student
in good standing.
Applications are available from April 2-12 in all deans’ offices, Student
Services Office (YMCA Bldg.), and the Student Programs Office (216
MSC) and are due in the Forsyth Alumni Center, 131 MSC, by 5 p.m.
United Press International
EULESS — Thirteen Latin
American church officials re
turned to their homelands this
week from what one of them cal
led a “mission in reverse” to the
United States.
During their visit, three of
the officials urged their north
Texas counterparts to consider
how U.S. multinational corpora
tions with investments in El Sal
vador and Latin America prey
on the poor.
Sponsored by both U.S. and
Latin American Methodists, the
19-member mission challenged
North Americans to resist what
they called unethical corporate
behavior and join an ecumenical
movement based on struggle
against oppression.
A Panamanian bishop, a Cos
ta Rican seminary professor and
a Chilean pastor, now at a Mas
sachusetts church, came on a
mission the Chilean compared
to that of the Old Testament
prophet Amos.
Amos is remembered as the
Jewish herdsman who also
traveled north to denounce
Israel because it had sold the
righteous for silver and the poor
for a pair of shoes.
Bishop Secundino Morales of
Panama, the Rev. Ulises Torres
of Chile and Yolanda de Flores
of Latin American Biblical Semi
nary in Costa Rica denounced
an economic system they said
impoverished 150 million Latin
Americans.
“When (the U.S. economic)
system works best, it works worst
for us,” Torres said Saturday at
the First United Methodist
Church of Euless.
While they criticized U.S.
military involvement in El Salva
dor, the three repeatedly
emphasized the role of U.S. cor
porations in that country’s prob
lems.
“They did essentially assert
that the system of capitalism has
produced some policies that
have caused people to be ex
ploited and that’s a fairly com
mon theme among people of
socialistic inclinations,” said the
Rev. DeForrest Wiksten of Dal
las’ 550-member Northaven Un
ited Methodist Church.
Approximately 40 partici
pants heard the four-hour pre
sentation, which included an Ed
Asner-narrated film on the his
tory of U.S. military and corpo
rate moves in Latin America.
Bishop Morales saved his har
shest words for a final question
period.
“There is a kind of
(in the U.S.) to regainth<(l
nance of the 50’s,’' heiM
“The U.S. would likeiol
it is the Boy Scout of theJ
Morales was also blutlfl
support of Nicaragua's*
junta.
“We are looking to N
with great expectation,It
“But not only that, wesij
Nicaragua.”
Despite the occasional
talk, the three mostly rek
Biblical imagery and rti
symbolism to influence!
people who heard them.
“We have been in Lent!
to remember the suffeiiit
Christ,” Torres said. %
remember that the r _. T
Salvador have been inapd
social, and cultural Lentil'
years.”
Morales declared the
must identify with the pot)
that the its task is toaccos
the people in their seard
life that is more human
GM interest plan
OK’d for Fexas
United Press International
AUSTIN — The Texas Motor
Vehicle Commission has revised
its rule prohibiting rebate prog
rams requiring dealer participa
tion, apparently clearing the
way for General Motorsr
its 12.8 percent financing'
in Texas.
Olivia
Belle,
BeH
(Sever
when
United Press Ii
OAKLAND -i
arrying 8,800 g;
ine jackknifed ar
lames inside a hi
lighway tunnel c
fay, killing seven
The accident o
y after midnight
nnnecting Oakk
irban Contra C<
WE BUY BOOKS
EVERYDAY!
AND GIVE 20% MORE IN TRADE ON USED
BOOKS I
GM earlier announj
would not offer the prog
Texas because of the y
Vehicle Commission’s rulfj
hibiting any rebate or inj
rate programs requiringo
butions by the auto dealest
because of a suit by AlH|
General Mark White tosif
earlier CM rebate prognj
The California H
aid the identities
vere not immedk
Witnesses saic
:ars were caught it
ound lanes of i
unnel on the ea
Francisco B;
ruck apparently
avoid a transit b
loded.
Fire teams and
rs, kept out of the
|*FLOUPOT / S*Pl
The commission’s nf'l
BOOKSTORE
Northgate —
Across from
the Post Office
permits General Motors
ance Corporation to ol
12.8 percent interest raid
ram in Texas if dealer p
tion is “clearly and cons
Tired of having
competitive pric
ly disclosed” in any adv^
MR
The Origin of the Universe
THE BIG BANG
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2-Day Service On S
1800 Welsh a
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DR. DAVID N. SCHRAMM
Thursday, April 8 8 p.m.
Room #301 Rudder Tower
University Lecture Series
Recent discoveries concerning the composition of some primitive meteor
ites suggest that a nearby supernova exploded just before the solar
system formed. This violent event may have stimulated the collapse of 3
cloud fragment that eventually condensed into the sun, planets and other
members of the solar system. Dr. Schramm, a theoretical astrophysicist
from the University of Chicago, will discuss the interplay between current
ideas about the origin of chemical elements in the stars and ideas about
the origin of the solar system. Dr. Schramm is an authority on the origins
of chemical elements, stellar and galactic evolution, the consequences of
gravitational collapse that may form neutron stars and black holes, and
the link between cosmology and the physics of atomic nuclei and high-
energy particles.
FREE TO THE PUBLIC
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