■■■TexasA&M XX ■ S
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Serving the University community
1.76 No. 52 USPS 045360 22 Pages In 2 Sections
College Station, Texas
Thursday, November 11, 1982
kezhnev dies, word comes late
United Press International
MOSCOW — President Leonid
fezhnev, who presided over the
met Union since 1964 and made it
e military equal of the United
;es, died of an apparent heart
ck or stroke, officials said today,
was 75.
The ruler of the world’s largest
intrydied suddenly early Wednes-
Jy, the official Tass news agency said
today. It was not known whether
Brezhnev was at home or in a hospital
at the time of his death.
Although Brezhnev’s Reclining
health had been a source of growing
concern in recent years, there had
been no hint in recent days that he
was ill.
At his last public appearance Sun
day, viewing the annual Revolution
Day military parade from his custom
ary post atop the Lenin Mausoleum in
Red Square, Brezhnev appeared rela
tively vigorous.
The initial announcement, deli
vered simultaneously by Tass, Soviet
Radio and Television, said simply,
“Leonid Brezhnev died a sudden
death at 8:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. EST)
on Nov. 10, 1982.”
The wording of the statement indi
cated either heart failure or a massive
hemorrhage felled the stocky Com
munist Party general secretary. More
complete medical details were ex
pected later, however.
“The name of Leonid Ilyich Brezh
nev, a true continuer of Lenin’s great
cause and an ardent champion of
peace and communism, will live fore
ver in the hearts of the Soviet people
and the entire progressive mankind,”
Tass said.
No funeral arrangements were
announced immediately for the
Soviet giant who led his country dur
ing the terms of five U.S. presidents.
Brezhnev was both head of state
and general secretary of the Com
munist Party, whose leadership he
took over from Nikita Khrushchev
just over 18 years ago.
There are no published guidelines
indicating whether anyone would
take over those offices on a temporary
basis. There was no indication how
long the succession process would
take.
Analysts said they expected the col
lective leadership of the Soviet Union
— the Council of Ministers, which is
in charge of the government, and the
Politburo, the top executives of the
Communist Party — would rule the
country until a clear line of succession
is established
Jnemployment becomes reality for many
olitical promises could cost consumers
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by Maureen Carmody
Battalion Reporter
For a growing number of Amer
icans, unemployment is notjust a pos
sibility, but a reality that must be
coped with.
Once out of work, people not only
have to deal with the economic prob
lems of being jobless, but also with the
psychological trauma.
In early September, the nation’s
unemployment rate rose to a post-
Depression high of 10.1 percent, leav
ing 11.3 million Americans jobless.
And that’s the number of Americans
who can be accounted for. The statis-
, tic does not include Americans who
I have become so discouraged that they
have dropped out of the job market
altogether.
And Brazos County has not gotten
away unscathed. The total civilian
labor force in Bryan-College Station
grew from 49,800 in August to 50,500
in September. With unemployment at
5.8 percent, 3,000 people arejobless.
But it’s people — not figures —
that tell the real story.
One young oilfield worker, 22,
whose asked that his name be with
held, talked about his problems while
standing in the unemployment line.
“You hear it all the time, ‘Thanks
but no thanks,’ or ‘we’ll call you if we
need you,’ and they never do,” he
said.
“It’s getting so I can’t take it any
more. I got no place to go and no
money and no place to get it. What do
you do?”
Patricia Arbuckle, service control
specialist for the Department of Hu
man Resources in Bryan, said the in
crease in the labor force is causing an
increase in families requesting help.
She attributed this, in part at least, to
people coming into the state hoping
to find a job.
“We are dealing with a more tran
sient population,” Arbuckle said.
“Many people are coming into the
county without any support.”
And support is tough to get in
Texas.
The maximum unemployment in
surance a person may receive is $160
a week. But according to a 1980 re
port released by the Labor Depart
ment, to live in moderate comfort a
Houston urban family of four needs
at least $ 19,025 a year — nearly triple
the amount received through unem
ployment insurance.
Arbuckle, who deals mainly with
the Aid For Dependent Children
program, said that child abuse also is
increasing. The increase may not di
rectly relate to increasing unemploy
ment, but it seems to be correlated,
she said.
Even though Bryan statistics on the
crime rate as compared to unemploy
ment contradict each other — the
crime rate has shown a small decrease
in Bryan — national statistics show a
definite correlation between the two.
A 1981 report by the National
Advisory Council on Economic
Opportunity showed that a one per
cent increase in unemployment in
1970 accounted for a 3.8 percent in
crease of all homicides, 5.7 percent
increase in robberies, 2.8 percent in
crease in larcenies and 8.7 percent
increase in narcotic arrests. And a re
cent study done by two labor econom
ists showed that with every one per
cent increase in national unemploy
ment more than 300 men commit
suicide.
Walt Baker, office manager of the
local Texas Employment Commis
sion, says the reason employment is at
such a low is simply a collaboration of
events such as high interest rates, a
decrease in oil production and de
mand, and a decrease in construction.
“It’s like tossing a rock in the mid
dle of a pond, you don’t make just a
splash, you make ripples all over the
pond,” he said.
Even though Bryan-College Sta
tion’s unemployment rate is down
from 6.8 percent in August to 5.8 per
cent in September, there are still
2,950 people unemployed, Baker
said. The decrease in unemployment
is mainly because of seasonal hiring at
Texas A&M, but even at the Universi
ty the job openings are less than in
previous years. From September
1981 to September 1982 the number
of people applying for either employ
ment or unemployment insurance in
Bryan-College Station has increased
383 percent, he said.
Baker also said he didn’t see any
relief in the near future.
And how do the unemployed feel?
Well, the young oilfielder agrees with
Baker.
“I’ve been out there,” he said.
“There just isn’t anything. And it’s
not like 1 haven’t been looking be
cause I have, I have. I doq’t want to go
on welfare or anything, but you have
to eat.”
See Jobs, page 5
White’s policy may raise utility bills, prof says
by Brian Boyer
Battalion Reporter
Eliminating monthly fuel adjustment
arges as proposed by Governor-elect Mark
hite in the recent election campaign would
ad to higher utility bills for consumers,
cxas A&M researchers say.
"We’ve been hearing a great deal during
mu political campaigns about eliminating
ie right of the utilities to pass on increases in
id prices to consumers,” said economics
ofessor Dr. S. Charles Maurice.
“If you did that, you would have a far
gher increase in rates because the com
mies would request additional funds in case
ie costs for fuel jumped higher than they
iticipated.”
This viewpoint is shared by Texas A&M
Electric Power Institute director John De
nison.
“I don’t really believe, that Mr. White or
anybody that looks into the situation carefully
will disagree with the basic idea that anybody
who is selling energy is entitled to recover the
cost of their fuel,” he said.
Utility bills in most Texas cities include a
base rate for electricity — plus the controver
sial fuel adjustment charge. The fuel adjust
ment fee is one way energy producers cope
with frequent changes in the cost of fuel used
to produce electricity.
To compute the fuel adjustment charge, a
rate at which the utility company expects to be
able to buy fuel is set. If the cost of fuel rises
above the predetermined rate, the additional
expense can be passed on to consumers
through the fuel adjustment charge without
changing the base rate. A drop in the cost of
fuel below the predetermined rate would re
sult in a corresponding credit to customers.
College Station buys electricity from Gulf
States Utilities Co. rather than generating its
own power. The city uses a power adjustment
clause to pass changes in the cost of power
along to customers.
Denison explained how the system will deal
with an impending increase in the cost of pow
er supplied by Gulf States to the city:
“I’m not sure we know how much that in
crease is going to be. When it occurs, rather
than us having to change College Station’s
rate structures very rapidly and without a
thorough analysis, we will merely use the pow
er adjustment clause to pass on to the custom
er whatever increases we have to pay Gulf
States over and above the level that was built
into the rate structure.”
The increase in the cost of power eventual
ly will lead to an increase in the base rate
charged to College Station customers, but
with the power cost adjustment the base rate
change doesn’t have to be made imjmediately,
Denison said.
Companies that sell conventional goods
and services can increase their rates as costs
increase. But utility companies must have
Public Utility Commission approval before in
creasing base rates.
Research on the issue by Maurice and gra
duate assistant Jane Hobson indicates that eli
minating the fuel adjustment clause could
lead the utility companies to bankruptcy. The
economists said forcing utility companies into
bankruptcy would only cost taxpayers extra
money, because the state would have to sal
vage the companies.
“If politicians really want to help consum
ers, they will deregulate the utility com
panies,” Maurice said, “but I don’t think you’ll
hear anybody in Texas talk about deregulat
ing these companies anytime soon.”
Dennison notes a potential for abuse in the
system as it stands now, since there is no incen
tive for utility companies to hunt for the best
price for fuel.
olumbia launches smoothly;
ins a 5-day space mission
JO,
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United Press International
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Four
ronauts flew the space shuttle Col-
into orbit today, carrying two
timercial satellites for paying cus-
ners for the first time.
The big winged space freighter
ikoffontime at 7:19 a.m. EST and
eaked into a normal orbit for the
th time in a year and a half.
It was a spectacular Veterans Day
idoff for astronauts Vance Brand,
ibert Overmyer, Joseph Allen and
lliam Lenoir, the first four-man
tee crew and the first to fly a spa-
hip on a charter flight.
Air Force space trackers calculated
: Columbia would come within 60
miles of the two-man Soviet Salyut 7
space station in darkness over the In
dian Ocean at 11:16 a.m.
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration officials hailed the
five-day, $250 million mission as an
important step toward shifting much
of the shuttle system’s operational
costs from the government to com
mercial users.
Satellite Business Systems and
Telesat Canada, the owners of the
twin 7,300-pound communications
satellites hauled up in the shuttle’s
cargo bay, are paying NASA $18 mil
lion for carrying the satellites into
orbit.
The shuttle, weighing a record
4,488,000 pounds at engine ignition,
left a long trail of smoke and flame in
its wake as it climbed into the cloud
less sky.
The next shuttle flight is scheduled
for January. It will be made by the
second shuttle, the Challenger.
The weather was perfect for Col
umbia’s launch, and Brand told the
control center before takeoff: “I
appreciate you guys ordering it for
us.”
The lakebed runways at Edwards
Air Force Base in California’s Mojave
Desert were under water from recent
rains, but officials said the Columbia
will be able to land on a paved runway
there next Tuesday.
inside
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4
falsified
6
lational
11
Ipinions
2
pom
13
Ute
5
Ehat’sup
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forecast
Today’s Forecast: Chance of
bowers today. Cooler tempera-
ures expected as weekend
iroahes.
ap-
Chemical plant blast
injures several men
United Press International
LAKE CHARLES, La. — An explo
sion rocked a southwest Louisiana
chemical plant early today, igniting a
fire that critically burned at least one
worker and forced officials to close a
stretch of interstate highway.
The blast tore through a portion of
the Olin Chemical Co. about 6:30
a.m. CST, said State Police trooper
J.B. Singer. The extent of damage
and the cause were not known, but
the blast apparently was confined to
an ammonia unit.
One worker suffered burns and
was taken to West Calcasieu Cameron
Hospital in Sulphur.
The fire apparently was under
control about one hour after the ex
plosion and officials reopened an 8-
mile area of Interstate 10, said troop
er Gary Viator.
One man was killed and 58 other
workers injured at the plant June 2 in
a leak of toxic nerve gas. Discharges
of phosgene, a deadly gas used dur
ing World War I chemical warfare,
occurred twice at the plant in as many
days.
The gas, used by Olin as a chemical
catalyst, spewed into the air for 2'A
minutes June 2. The accident killed
Frank Rodgriguez, 50, of Fresno,
Texas. Two Olin employees, eight
workers at an adjacent Conoco plant
and 48 construction workers con
tracted by Conoco were treated for
respiratory discomfort. No one was
injured in the second leak June 3.
Russell Sanders’ modern art is displayed
staff photo by Robert Snider
on the Academic Building’s front lawn.
Paper plate art stolen
by Patti Schwierzke
Battalion Reporter
To Rbssell Sanders they were pen
nies from heaven — or modern art.
To persons unknown they were pap
er plates to be disposed of — stolen, in
Sanders’ point of view.
To someone who knows who took
them, they’re worth a $1 reward.
This fanciful set of circumstances
grew out of Sanders’ personal cam
paign to put a little art into the every
day life of the Texas A&M University
campus. He had hoped to remain
anonymous in his efforts, but he went
public this week after his latest paper
plate sculpture — which he called
“Pennies From Heaven” — was stolen
from the front lawn of the Academic
Building.
The sculpture—or environmental
painting — like two previous ones,
was made of paper plates arranged to
represent a musical composition.
“The idea I’m trying to portray is
visual music,” said Sanders, a senior
enviromental design major from
Abilene. “I happen to be doing it with
paper plates because they are cheap.
We are in an art vacuum here at
Texas A&M. You can’t get a total edu
cation without that art element.”
Sanders said he started his cam
paign when he decided that substan
tial art — such as sculptures and
paintings and a museum to put them
in along with large-scale enviromen
tal structures — wasn’t in Texas
A&M’s immediate future. Sanders
said he wanted something now and
decided to do something about it him
self.
“I don’t have $50,000 or $100,000
but I do have a brain and an imagina
tion,” Sanders said. “After I did the
first one — ‘Primary and Secondary
Colors in C Major’ — I had a vision for
the next four. I decided to call the
whole series ‘Greatest Musical Hits: A
Five Part Series.’”
The problems started when San
ders realized his art was being stolen
from in front of the Academic Build
ing each time he put it out. The latest
incident occurred Tuesday with the
theft of “Pennies From Heaven.”
“If the art thieves are not caught,
then we may have to move the next
two paintings and possibly guard
them,” Sanders said. “I don’t under-
: stand why people are stealing it.
“At first, I thought it was the trash
people, but I found out it wasn’t
them.”
Sanders said he had permission
from the ground maintenance de-
E artment to display his work on the
iwn.
“Are people stealing it because it is
that bad?” he asked.
“I wasn’t sure if it was art at first but
now I am. I’m reacting to nothing
because there is nothing here for art.
^^mjillingthat^void^y^^^^^^