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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1982)
= I Battalion/Page 1! October 19, -lands ^ay Texas A&M lion Serving the University community rd were evacuated, nil nan sustainine 76 No. 36 USPS 045360 18 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, October 20, 1982 she jumped fromtli • • ••••••»! TeLorean arrested in coke bust United Press International jps ANGELES — John DeLo- who gave up a shot at the pres- cy of General Motors to build his futuristic sports car, was in jail y, charged with trying to finance 24 million cocaine deal to save his company in Northern Ireland fern collapse. the 57-year-old, gray-haired en- ftreneur was arrested Tuesday at a Inear Los Angeles International [■port, only hours after the North- |Ireland government announced lelfast it would shut down DeLo- fi’s financially troubled auto plant in 10 days. DeLorean faced arraignment to day on charges of conspiracy to distri bute cocaine and possession with in tent to distribute. DeLorean was seeking “an invest ment with a quick return” to salvage his company, said Ted Hunter, head of the Los Angeles office of the feder al Drug Enforcement Administra tion. Hunter said DeLorean was to serve as the “financier” for the purchase and re-sale in Southern California of 220 pounds of cocaine with an esti mated street value of $24 million. The former vice president of Gen eral Motors Corp., DeLeorean was re garded as a future president of the giant corporation until he quit in 1973 to build the $25,000 DeLorean sportscar, the stainless steel car hailed as a revolutionary vehicle. The Northern Irish government helped set up the DeLorean plant to boost its flagging economy, providing $126 million in aid, but placed it in receivership in February. Since May, production has all but ceased. There was no indication the auto builder, who is married to top New York model Christina Ferrare, had been involved in any other drug transaction, Hunter said. Also arrested were William Mor gan Hetrick, 50, of Mojave, Calif, and Stephen Lee Arrington, 34, of San Diego. Arrington, arrested Monday night near suburban Van Nuys Airport, had with him 60 pounds of cocaine with an estimated value of $6.5 mil lion that was to be part of the deal, said Richard Bretzing, the agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office. Hetrick also was arrested Monday night. Federal agents would not reveal some details of the alleged narcotics deal, or of DeLorean’s arrest. DeLo rean was carrying no cocaine when he arrived by plane from New York, Hunter said, but “there were drugs in his possession when he was arrested” in a hotel shortly afterward. Hunter said the drugs were part of the 60 pounds confiscated Monday night but he declined to say how they reached DeLorean. “That’s part of the undercover in vestigation,” he said. Hetrick and Arrington were cocaine and Arrington delivered it. arraigned before U.S. Magistrate James J. Penne late Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute, which carry a maximum prison term of 15 years. Bail was set at $20 million for Het rick and $500,000 for Arrington. The officials said the cocaine ori ginated in Colombia and came into the United States in the southeast part of the country but they declined to give details of its transportation. They said Hetrick supplied the liver Jay, Oct. 12:30 ncert Tickets I be awarded as prizes. , Construction at A&M grows 0 815 plflr Now the highway department knows how big those potholes ^ tin the road are. Leon Snider, from the University of 701 FRc|Texas Center for Transportation, checks the readout jfrom the Profilometer in the back of a highway 'department .'van while curious onlookers watch. The staff photos by David Fisher and Michael D. Johnson computer collects data on the roughness of road surfaces and supplies information for highway engineers to use in making the roads better. The system has been in operation nearly a year. by Diane Yount Battalion Reporter More than $68 million in building projects are under construction in the Texas A&M University System — most of them on this campus. Fifteen projects are underway at Texas A&M, seven at Prairie View A&M University, one at Tarleton State University and several others at various agricultural extension sites across the state. “We need almost one million more square feet at Texas A&M,” said Gen. Wesley E. Peel, vice chancellor for facilities planning and construction. “We’ve only got facilities for 25,000 students and we already have appro ximately 34,000 students.” The Medical Sciences Center has the largest individual budget for planned construction. “Laboratory equipment always escalates the cost of a building,” Peel said. “The Medical Sciences Building should be finished in January. We are also planning on building a Medical Sciences Library some time in the fu ture.” Also scheduled for completion in January are the Pavilion Conversion project and the new Animal Science Pavilion. The animal pavilion will be used as a student registration and activity center. A snack bar and lounges will be added to the building, which will become an “MSC East,” Peel said. The new University Press building, located on the drill field behind Dun can Dining Hall, should be completed by January, four months ahead of schedule, Peel said. “I don’t see any problems with this building interfering with bonfire con struction,” he said. “But one of these days they may find that they want to move bonfire across the tracks.” The new Engineering Laboratory Center, next to Zachry Engineering Center on Bizzell Street, is 70 percent complete. Project completion is sche duled for April. The Wastewater Treatment Facil ity, near Easterwood Airport, is com plete except for the installation of automatic controls. The plant is in operation and a pre-final inspection will be conducted this month. The Cyclotron expansion, under construction near the Academic and Agency Building, is about 45 percent complete but is behind schedule due to weather problems. “If you’re in the building business, you’re in the problem business,” Peel said. “Completion for the expansion is still scheduled for June.” Because of the recent acquisition of new buses to provide transportation for off-campus students, a Transpor tation Center expansion has also been budgeted and is under construction. “This building is to house the new buses,” Peel said. “Occupancy is sche duled for May 1983.” Several new construction projects have started on campus. Projects in clude: Meat Sciences and Technology Center; the Horticulture and Forest Science Building; the classroom, equipment and waste water facilities at the Brayton Firemen Training Field; the Physical Plant and Grounds Maintenance Facility; and the Elec trical Utilities expansion. A Food Service Commissary also is under construction. ! ALL Lebanese troop movements near United Press International 1 Israeli forces refused to withdraw ■from positions southeast of Beirut Tuesday because there were insuffi- jent Lebanese soldiers to keep the jeace between feuding Christian fhalangists and Druze Moslems. [ Lebanese President Amin Jemayel was breakfasting with Presi- ient Reagan in the White House ivhere he was seeking U.S. aid in re- riuilding and stabilizing his war- ravaged nation. Gemayel, a Christian moderate on lis first foreign trip since being ISIected Sept. 21, has a “long shopping 1st” requesting economic, military and political help, one official said Monday in Washington. The Israeli state judicial commis sion investigating the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps began work in an isolated university building sealed off by heavy security. In another development, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin said the condition of his ailing wife, Aliza, will determine whether he serves un til the end of his term. In the Shouf mountains outside Beirut, the deployment of Lebanese forces was delayed. The Lebanese troops were to move into the area af ter the withdrawal of Israel occupa tion forces who seized the area shortly after invading Lebanon June 6. “We told the Lebanese on Sunday they can move in and enforce law and order,” a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Force at Baabda said. “They came with three Land Rovers and 20 soldiers.” The spokesman said the Lebanese force was “inadequate” to maintain peace in the hills, the scene of deadly fueding between leftist Druze Mos lems and right-wing Christian Pha- langists. Intense fighting last week re portedly left 15 people dead. The small, elite Lebanese force took up a positon in Kfar Malta, 15 miles southeast of Beirut and less than a 100 yards from an Israeli checkpoint manned by a tank and two armored personnel carriers. “You cannot control three villages with that many soldiers,” the Israeli spokesman said. Also, he said, they have no officers and no heavy tanks or artillery. “We want them to assume full re sponsibility for what happens,” he said. “We don’t want to be blamed for another Sabra and Chatila,” he added, referring to the Palestinian re fugee camp where civilians were mas sacred by Phalangists last month. The Israeli spokesman said it would take from 48 to 72 hours to station the Lebanese troops and pull the Israeli forces from the villages. “We will pull back, but we won’t leave the area entirely.” Members of the Israeli commission probing the Palestinian refugee camp massacre visited the outskirts of the Beirut delayed Chatila camp Monday and inspected Israeli army observation posts to de termine what soldiers on duty could or could not see happening in the camp. An accurate death toll has been im possible to determine. Military prosecutor Assad Germa- nos, involved in the Lebanese investi gation of the Sept. 16-18 massacre, said 328 bodies were recovered and another 991 people were missing and unaccounted for. Another set of figures, compiled for the government and provided to United Press Interntional on the con dition its source not be revealed, claims 762 bodies were recovered and an estimated 1,200 more were taken from the camps for private burial by relatives. In an interview with the Ma’ariv newspaper. Begin said the condition of his wife would determine how long he stays as Israeli prime minister. Asked if he will serve until the ex piration of his second term in 1985, Begin said: “I don’t know. That also depends now on the health of my wife. It is an important matter that will influence my decision.” Begin also said he might have to ut off a trip to the United States ecause of the health of his wife of 43 years. “With her condition such, I cannot travel,” Begin said. N Businesses invited to join Hydrogen Research Group, help support funding by Rebeca Zimmermann Battalion Staff Businesses will be able to partici- ate in the excitement of Texas A&M Jniversity’s recent hydrogen re- «arch on Nov. I and 2 in a series of neetings sponsored by the Hydrogen Research Group. “We’re inviting representatives Tom companies that are interested in oining our Hydrogen Research Group,” said Bill Craven, business idministrator for the group. More than 30 companies have 3een invited to attend the meetings, which will provide information on the group’s research and how a company may become involved and be helped, he said. “The main thing is to help out American industry,” Craven said. “We’re on the cutting edge of hyd rogen research. We will discuss the patents, royalty distribution and con tracts with the research foundation.” In the Nov. 1 meeting, speakers will give participants a history of hyd rogen research and explain how con tracts will work and how the center will be run. That afternoon, Craven said, parti cipants will be shown around the labs and will visit researchers working on projects. Companies then will be invited to make suggestions for research and in dustrial needs. “We hope our work will be taken into labs of corporations,” he said. “They’ll make it or break it — and market it. We just lay the ground work.” The Nov. 2 meeting is for com panies who already support the Hyd rogen Research Group: Exxon Enter prises, Standard Oil of Ohio, Atlantic Richfield Co., Diamond Shamrock and Koppers (a Maryland-based coal company). These companies will discuss the research they would like to see done and compare ideas from the Nov. 1 meeting. “It (research) will really be under the guidance of companies, with strong help from (Dr. John O.) Bock- ris,” he said. Bockris, a chemistry professor, is director of hydrogen research at Texas A&M. He also is head of the research team that announced two weeks ago the discovery of a more efficient method of extracting hyd rogen from water. The current contributors to the group are energy-related industries. These companies are interested in and able to afford researching future ideas, Craven said. Companies with more diverse in terests also have been invited to the meetings. Ammonia and electrical com panies, a food company and such air plane manufacturers as Boeing and Lockheed have been invited, he said. The food company, which manufac tures cooking oil and margarine, uses hydrogen as a preservative and a coagulant. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration also has been invited. NASA uses hydrogen to propel the space shuttle and to pro vide electricity for the astronauts’ life- support system. “We’re going to be asking for $20,000 from each company for three years,” he said. “We hope to obtain commitments from five.” The group has an agreement with the National Science Foundation in which contributions made by corpor ations and businesses will be matched with money from the NSF up to $200,000. “Bockris has been working on this for two years,” Craven said. After five companies contributed money, the NSF gave $59,000 this year to help formalize the center. After receiving commitments from corporations, the group plans to for malize its status as the Hydrogen Re search Center, which must have Uni versity approval. “We’re full-speed ahead and very excited,” Craven said. “We hope to have the Hydrogen Research Center here by April.” inside Around town 4 Classified 6 National 11 Opinions 2 Sports 14 State 5 What’s up 18 forecast Today’s Forecast: High in the low 60s, low in the mid 40s. North erly winds from 15 to 25 mph.