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00 'ol) 76 No. 42 USPS 045360 20 Pages
The Battalion
Serving the University community
College Station, Texas
Thursday, October 28, 1982
3 Irish killed
at U.N. post
in Lebanon
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the Holidays!
Underwater music
photo by David Scott
MSC Town Hall’s air guitar contest Wednesday produced
some unusual contestants — like Brian Rupainis, who
performed under the waters of Rudder Fountain.
Rupainis, a sophomore accounting major from Harlingen,
appeared with his group, the Derangers, which was
named best air band. In air guitar performances, people
without musical instruments mime to recorded songs.
The contest promoted the Nov. 4 Cheap Trick concert.
ig Event: a new tradition?
by Beverly Hamilton
Big Event is likely to become as
igja tradition as bonfire if’all goes as
llafined.
Student Government members
formulated a project called “The
ig Event” — a campus-wide volun-
'■ service project involving Texas
students and residents of
|tyan-College Station.
MVice President for Student Ser-
yU vices Joe Nussbaum, who is heading
11 Of l P e ! project, said he hopes to see at
easi 10,000 students turn out for the
EVent.
BHe is urging every student organi-
iion to become involved in the pro
ject, which is tentatively set for Feb.
20.
Students, working through their
organizations, will volunteer four
hours of labor to charitable organiza
tions or individuals in the community,
Nussbaum said. The student organi
zations can choose where they want to
serve and the Student Government
Student Services Committee will assist
any group in Finding a project to
undertake.
The mayors of Bryan and College
Station and members of the Cham
bers of Commerce would like to make
the project a community-wide event,
Nussbaum said.
“I think it would be very f ulfilling
for us,” he said. “We could attempt to
fulfill virtually any need in the com
munity.”
One idea for the event is to have
large organizations work in the
Bryan-College Station city parks,
Nussbaum said. The Texas A&M
Flying Club suggested flying youngs
ters at no cost on the day of the event,
he said, while the Texas A&M medic
al students could give free blood
pressure checks.
Campus ministry groups could
work with their affiliate churches to
serve individuals, he added, and the
Texas A&M football team could work
with disadvantaged youth.
Nussbaum said he hopes to set a
nation-wide precedent for all cam
puses and communities. He said he
also would like to see Texas A&M
awarded with the President’s Nation
al Volunteerism Award.
A meeting will be held to organize
The Big Event at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 in 701
Rudder. Every student organization
— including off-campus organiza
tions, sororities and fraternities —
should send a representative to the.
meeting, Nussbaum said.
United Press International
U.N. forces searched today for
gunmen who ambushed a U.N.
checkpoint in south Lebanon, killing
three Irish soldiers, and U.S. envoy
Morris Draper worked toward the
withdrawal of all foreign troops from
the country by year’s end.
Draper, a U.S. deputy undersec
retary of state, arrived in Beirut
Wednesday and went immediately to
the residence of U.S. Ambassador
Robert Dillon. Embassy spokesman
refused to divulge his schedule.
But Lebanese sources said he
would be meeting President Amin
Gemayel, Prime Minister Chefik
Wazzan and Foreign Minister Elie
Salem in talks aimed at the withdraw
al of Syrian, Palestinian and Israeli
forces before the year’s end.
The sources said Draper would
first establish a Lebanese-Israeli com
mittee to discuss military withdrawals
and also discuss Gemayel’s request for
more U.S. Marines to join the tri
national peace-keeping force already
in Beirut.
Gemayel w'ants to boost the peace
keeping force to 30,000 from its pre
sent size of about 3,500 troops. The
Beirut force is separate from the
6,500-man U.N. Interim Force in
Lebanon (UNIFIL), stationed along
Israel’s border.
Beirut news reports described a
possible phased withdrawal of some
70,000 Israeli troops simultaneously
with a complete pullout of 25,000 Sy
rian and another 10,000 Palestinian
soldiers from central and northern
Lebanon.
In southern Lebanon, unidentified
gunmen shot to death three Irish sol
diers attached to UNIFIL in an
ambush near Tibnine, in the border
enclave controlled by the Israeli-
backed militia of renegade Lebanese
Maj. Saad Haddad.
U.N. officials in Lebanon and New'
York said an intensive search was
under way today for the unidentified
attackers.
Irish military officials identified
the three victims as Corp. Gregory
Morrow, 20, Private Peter Burke, 20,
and Private Thomas Murphy, 19, all
from Dublin. The attack left a fourth
Irish soldier at the checkpoint in
shock.
The gunmen drove up to a check
point and two occupants of the car
sprayed the outpost with automatic
weapons fire, the United Nations said
in a statement issued in New York.
Several confrontations between
Haddad’s forces and UNIFIL troops
have broken out since the U.N. buffer
force was assigned to southern Leba
non following the Israeli Litani inva
sion in March 1978.
The headquarters of the U.N.
force in Naqoura, Lebanon, has been
damaged by shells fired from Had
dad’s enclave along the Israeli border.
The peace-keeping force, never
equipped for full-scale combat, was
bypassed by Israeli armor in the inva
sion of Lebanon last June. The sol
diers, including 671 Irish, remained
in place to prevent localized trouble.
U.N. spokesman Joe Sills said U.N.
Secretary General Javier Perez de
Cuellar expressed “shock and sor
row” and offered his condolences to
the Irish government and the families
of the soldiers.
Since its inception, 86 UNIFIL
troops have been killed, 16 of them
Irish. An Irish soldier abducted April
28, 1981, is still missing. The U.N.
Security Council recently extended
the peace force operation until Jan.
19, 1983.
i S 2 !B )
Corsages
F
elf
)R|V
jdent
G^'
phannel 15
goes dark
for 10 hours
A mechanical failure in KAMU-
V’s transmitter caused a 10-hour
Blackout of the station’s signal
Wednesday.
Rod Zent, station manager at
KAMU, Channel 15, said a large
power cable in the station’s trans
mitter failed, causing a complete
shutdown of broadcasting from
the start of Wednesday’s broadcast
clay at 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cable,
which is about the size of a car bat
tery’s cable, was located in the oral
final amplifier that amplifies the
audio part of the television signal.
A 10-year-old portion of the
table that connects the amplifier to
iis power supply gradually had de
teriorated from heat and age and
Jailed sometime before the station
|vent on the air Wednesday morn
ing, he said.
Zent said both cable and gener
al broadcast signals were lost be-
ause the transmitter sends Chan
nel 15’s signal to the cable com-
“ any in addition to general broad-
ast signals. KAMU-F'M radio was
ot affected by the breakdown be-
ause it transmits on a different
ransmitter.
Zent said the problem is an un-
ommon one and is unlikely to re
eat itself.
inside
Around town
4
Classified
14
National
10
Opinions
2
Sports
17
State
5
What’s up
20
forecast
Cloudy today with a good chance of
afternoon thundershowers as a
cold front moves through from the
northwest.
Child struggles to overcome handicap
by Beverly Hamilton
Battalion Staff
Like most children his age, Matth
ew Swick likes the Dukes of Hazzard
and Pac-Man. But unlike most 3-year-
olds, Matthew doesn’t ride a Big
Wheel or play hide-and-go-seek.
Matthew has spina bifida, a birth
defect that damages the spine and
neurological system. The cause of spi
na bifida is unknown and the disorder
has no cure.
Matthew, who is poster child for
the Spina Bifida Association in
Bryan-College Station, has the most
severe form of the defect. His spinal
cord protrudes through an opening
in his back, covered only by a mem
brane.
Matthew also has hydrocephalus, a
condition in which brain fluids accu
mulate and don’t circulate properly.
The condition can be controlled by
“shunting” — a procedure in which
tubing is placed under the skin to re
lieve the fluid buildup in the brain.
A shunt was placed under Matth
ew’s skin when he was two weeks old.
He went to Texas Children’s Hospital
in Houston on Wednesday to have the
tubing in his neck replaced.
The new tubing will allow for
growth and will not have to be re
placed until Matthew is 6 or 8, Matth
ew’s mother, Debbie Swick, said.
The operation is the fifth for
Matthew, she said. The first four
operations were conducted before he
was a year old.
Matthew has feeling in both legs
from his knees up but has no feeling
in his feet. He walks with leg braces,
Matthew Swick
assisted by a walker, and is learning to
walk with crutches.
“He’ll never be out of his braces,”
she said. “Now he’s wearing thigh-
high braces that unlock at the thighs.
The best we can expect is braces that
unlock at the knees.”
Matthew is visited twice a week by a
physical therapist who works with
him on his walker and a set of parallel
bars, Mrs. Swick said. The therapist
also takes Matthew to the swimming
pool for water therapy.
“The physical therapy gives him an
opportunity to learn to swim and to
participate in sports activity even
though he can’t run or walk,” Matth
ew’s father, Leslie Swick, said.
The Sw'ick family has been affected
by Matthew’s condition, he said.
“Anybody with a spina bifida child
will be affected in some way — either
by mental strain, financial burden or
physical strain,” he said.
“It creates financial burdens and
severe hardships — certain things in
surance won’t cover.”
Matthew and his brother Brian, 4,
are close, Mrs. Swick said.
“Brian doesn’t fully understand
the extent of the disability,” he said.
“But Brian growing up with him will
be better because there will be some
one who understands it (the defect).”
Swick, who works at the Texas
A&M Physical Plant, and his wife are
members of the Bryan-College Sta
tion chapter of the Spina Bifida Asso
ciation. The chapter is trying to create
public awareness of the birth defect
and contact other families whose chil
dren may be affected by spina bifida,
he said.
“There are a couple of families
with spina bifida children who won’t
talk to us —- which is a normal re
sponse,” Swick said. “But it’s always
nice to know that there’s someone
around in the same boat with you.
“The University offers us a lot of
opportunities for service projects and
a forum for public awareness.”
Law Hall and a fraternity at Texas
A&M are supporting the chapter’s
efforts to raise money.
“It made me feel good that those
guys were interested enough to lis
ten,” Swick said.
Anyone who wants more informa
tion about the Spina Bifida Associa
tion can reach the association at 823-
0618.
staff photos by John Ryan
Matthew Swick stands with the help of leg braces.
Computers to aid science, math teaching
United Press International
Something for taxpayers to cheer about:
For a pioneering project to improve scienct
and engineering education, The National Sci
ence Foundation, a federal government agen
cy, is doubling its bucks by teaming up witf
private industry.
The NSF investment, as a result, is booster
by nearly $1 million — the value of computer:
donated by five companies. NSF funding foi
the program is $855,668. The company contri
butions amount to $947,217.
Education institutions, which must provide £
quarter of the project cost to receive an NSf
award, will plunk down another $800,000.
Fifty-eight research teams will run the ex
periments aimed at improving science and en
gineering education at the 10th, 11th, and 12th
grades and early college levels.
Why all the effort?
Shortcomings in American science and en
gineering education are the sorest topics an)
time educators, high-tech companies and gov
ernment officials get together.
Germany, Japan and the Soviets are on the
way to outdistancing the United States in pro
duction of scientists and engineers. This is due
to the near-collapse of science and math educa
tion in American public schools as science and
math teachers opt for higher paying jobs in
industry.
Among projects in the NSF-Industry
Cooperation Education Experiments:
• Computer-based instruction for university
general biology laboratories. NSF, $43,033;
computer company, $3,888. C.O. Patterson,
Texas A&M University, is experiment director.
• Computer games for teaching high school
and university-level modern physics without
mathematics. NSF puts in $500; computer com
pany, $5,400 worth of equipment. Project to be
run by Joel R. Primack at University of Califor
nia, Santa Cruz.
• Robotics modules for enginering technolo
gy students. NSF puts in $500; the computer
company, $15,045 in equipment. William A.
Beard of Western Kentucky Univrsity, Bowling
Green, Ky., is in charge.
• Using computer games to teach physical
rinciples and engineering applications. NSF,
38,899; computer company, $4,990. Barbara
E. Bowman, Wichita State Unviersity, Wichita,
Kans., to run the program.
Computer equipment needed for the pro
jects is being donated to grantees by Radio
Shack, a Division of Tandy Corp.; Atari Insti
tute for Educational Action-Research, a divi
sion of Atari Inc., a Warner Communications
Company; the Digital Equipment Corp.; IBM
Corp.; and the Apple Education Foundation.
The NSF announcement said: “Each com
pany will provide computers and related hard
ware and technical information about the
equipment, and expert assistance so that the
computers can be used to best advantage in the
projects.