TUT3C P j-n-r-j I i -i-u in.
The Banaiion
Serving the University community
lot 76 No. 69 USPS 045360 18 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, December 8, 1982
X is
United Press International
JVashington — The House dealt
[sident Reagan the biggest setback
todate on his drive to re-arm America
en it voted against the MX missile,
[both sides say the weapons system
Hot yet dead.
Hlhey also agree the Pentagon must
now try to erase the deep concerns
It produced Tuesday’s 245-176
vote to delete nearly $1 billion in MX
ppoduction funds from a $231.6 bil-
defeated but not
lion defense appropriation bill.
Opposition primarily focused on
the dense-pack basing mode, in which
the missiles would be placed in under
ground silos in Wyoming, as well as
the price tag — $26 billion.
Reagan immediately called the
House’s action “a grave mistake” and
urged the Senate to reverse the deci
sion. Although Republicans have a
54-46 margin in the Senate, foes say
they have the votes to stop production
funds — at least for now.
Rep. Joseph Addabbo, D-N.Y.,
who led the House fight against the
MX, said afterward: “No one knows
the future of the MX. It’s far from
finished. We won the battle, but we
haven’t won the war.”
With the lame-duck session of Con
gress scheduled to end in less than
two weeks, the president may have to
try again next year for the MX pro
duction funds. But next year, he will
face a House with 26 more Demo
crats.
The margin in the House against
the MX funds was surprisingly wide,
with 50 GOP lawmakers deserting
Reagan’s cause. Foes of the nuclear
weapon argued it is time to show Con
gress is willing to hold down the Pen
tagon budget.
Reagan, in a statement issued by
the White House, promised to do ev
erything he could to take his case for
yet dead
the MX and its controversial dense-
pack basing system to the people.
When the House finishes work on
the overall defense bill, it goes to the
Senate.
Both chambers, however, are ex
pected to approve the $2.5 billion
provided in the bill for continued re
search and development on the mis
sile and on the much-criticized, de
nse-pack basing system recom
mended by Reagan.
The dense pack basing plan calls
for 100 MX missiles, each carrying 10
warheads, to be placed in closely
spaced superhardened silos near
Cheyenne, Wyo. The plan is based on
the unproved theory the first enemy
missile to strike the area would pro
duce debris and radiation that would
divert or destroy following enemy
missiles and leave the MX safe for its
own launch.
Staff photo by Irene Mees
It’s time to think snow
mndy Bowers from Cleveland, Ohio, hangs one
last line of snow in front of her door in Haas Hall.
Cindy and her southern friends, Beth Love from
ljuston, La., Helen Hensen from New Orleans
and a friend from Conroe, Janice Jaeger, wanted
love to have a white Christmas and so they
created the snowman out of cardboard boxes,
buckets, newspaper, cotton batting, and other
materials in about 12 hours.
List of graduates posted
I To avoid surprises, graduating
f seniors should confirm their eligibil-
I to graduate before commence-
tjjient exercises this weekend.
I A list of seniors who have been
Reared for graduation is posted today
in front of Heaton Hall. The list in
cludes the names of all students who
submitted a degree application.
A red dot beside a name indicates
that there is a block or other problem
with graduation. Problems usually in
volve academic deficiencies, financial
aid obligations or University Police
matters, such as outstanding parking
tickets. Seniors have until 5 p.m.
Thursday to clear up any conflicts.
Senior rings that were ordered at
the end of the summer session have
arrived and are available for pick-up
from the ring clerk in Heaton Hall.
The office is open from 8:30 a.m. to
11:30 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Death supporters
say injection too easy
United Press International
Opponents to the death penalty
claim it is a farce to promote lethal
injection as a more humane method
of execution, but supporters say it is
too easy a way to die.
Several vigils were held in Texas
and cities across the nation as Charlie
Brooksjr., 40, was injected with lethal
doses of drugs early Tuesday for his
part in the slaying of a Fort Worth,
Texas, used car mechanic.
“Lethal injection is just as much
murder as electrocution and it was a
farce for anyone to say lethal injection
was a more humane way to murder
someone,” said Cathy Ansheles of the
Women Prisoners’ Project for the
Alabama Prison Project.
Spokesmen for the group said they
feared the Brooks execution would
lead to three or four executions
nationwide annually by 1984.
“Charlie Brooks has now become
the first person in history ever to have
been executed by the hi-tech method
of lethal injection,” said Henry
Schwarzschild, director of the capital
punishment project for the American
Civil Liberties Union. “The process is
altogether reminiscent of the
methods used in the mass extermina
tion camps of the Nazi Holocaust.”
A noisy crowd of about 200, most
of them college students from nearby
Texas A&M and Sam Houston State
universities, gathered outside the
Texas Department of Corrections’
Walls Unit in Huntsville, late Monday
and debated the death penalty.
Some students carried signs saying
“Lethal Injections Too Easy; Let’s
Bring Back the Hangman’s Noose,”
“Justice Finally Prevails” and “Kill Em
in Plain View.”
Israelis kill soldiers
in attack on ministry
United Press International
Israeli soldiers today tried to force
their way into the Lebanese defense
ministry east of Beirut, starting a gun
battle with Lebanese army units that
left two Lebanese soldiers dead and
one Israeli soldier wounded, a
Lebanese army spokesman said.
In Tel Aviv, the Israeli military
command, apparently reporting on
the same incident, said an Israeli pat
rol was attacked near a Lebanese
army roadblock east of Beirut and
that two Lebanese army soldiers died
in the ensuing shootout.
The Israeli command said Israeli
troops were investigating to deter
mine if the Lebanese soldiers had
been hit by cross-fire between the
Israeli patrol and the attackers. But
the report did not clarify who had
attacked the Israeli patrol.
Israeli military sources had no
comment on the Lebanese charges.
The Lebanese army spokesman
said the shootout, outside the defense
ministry compound just east of
Beirut, took place less than a mile
from the Baabda presidential palace.
President Amin Gemayel was
meeting at the palace with Egyptian
Foreign Minister Butros Ghali, who
arrived unexpectedly earlier in the
day..
The Lebanese army spokesman
said the Israeli soldiers tried to drive a
jeep into the defense ministry, but the
Lebanese regulars prevented them.
Prime Minister Menachem Begin
wrote a letter to the official Jerusalem
commission defending his tacit
approval of the entry of Lebanese
Phalange gunmen into two Beirut re
fugee camps, a report said today.
The Yedioth Aharonot newspaper
said Begin was “probably” sending a
three-page answer to the panel in re
sponse to charges he and eight other
top officials failed to prevent the mas
sacre of hundreds of civilians.
The commission two weeks ago
ordered the nine top officials to re
spond by today to allegations of “non-
fullfillment of duty” in failing to pre
vent the Sept. 16-18 massacre but
Tuesday granted a one-week exten
sion.
Heart recipient doing well
after tears in lung repaired
United Press International
SALT LAKE CITY — Small leaks
in the lungs of artificial heart reci
pient Barney Clark have healed,
allowing doctors to remove a drain
age tube from his chest for the second
time.
Doctors say Clark, 61, a retired
Seattle-area dentist, is responding
well to an exercise program designed
to help him regain strength and fight
off pneumonia and other postopera
tion problems.
Clark remained in serious but
stable condition late Monday in a spe
cial recovery room at the University
of Utah Medical Center where he re
ceived the first permanent artificial
heart last Thursday.
Clark felt well enough Monday to
listen to a recording of Handel’s
“Messiah” performed by the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir. Nurses also
changed the recovery room routine to
give him more sleeping time.
“For the first few days, he never got
more than a couple of hours sleep at a
time,” said intensive-care nurse Jane
Stetich. She said Clark showed his
appreciation for the extra sleep by
starting to snore.
Dr. Chase Peterson, vice president
for health sciences at the university,
said at a news briefing surgeons had
removed the drainage tube from
Clark’s chest. The tube was inserted
after emergency corrective surgery
Saturday to repair tears in the pa
tient’s lungs.
“The chest tube has been taken out,
which is further evidence the leaks in
his lungs have sealed themselves,”
said Peterson.
Clark was rushed back into surgery
Saturday for repair of his lungs, in
which small tears had been leaking
bubbles of air into chest tissue. The
bubbles began to swell the chest after
the drainage tubes inserted during
the original surgery were removed.
Chief surgeon William DeVries sta
pled several of the tears but others
were so small they were left to heal
themselves.
Clark’s exercise program includes
dangling his legs over the edge of the
bed and swinging them back and
forth four or five times a day.
Holidays can prompt suicide attempts
inside
Classified 6
Local 3
Mational 8
Opinions 2
Sports 15
State 5
What’s up 13
forecast
Today’s forecast: Cool front
coming in later today. The high is
expected to be in the upper 50s.
Thirty percent chance of rain.
by Ann Ramsbottom
Battalion Reporter
December is synonymous with holi
day festivities, end-of-the-semester
finals, and often, stress.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that
the level of stress is especially high at
this time of the year,” said Wade
Birch, director of the student coun
seling service. “Suicides and suicide
attempts are one of the many ways
students deal with their pressures.”
Anxiety can be caused by finals and
a build-up of last-minute projects and
homework assignments.
But the problems don’t end when
the last final has been taken.
Dr. Claude Goswick, director of
the A.P. Beutel Health Center, said:
“Most people think of holidays as
happy occasions. For many they’re
not.”
Birch explained some of the
reasons behind holiday depression.
“Many people have high expecta
tions for the holidays,” he said. “Stu
dents go home only to find that the
same family conflicts exist. Social
pressures insist that you’re supposed
to be happy. But health problems, old
family strains and a lack of finances
often make happiness impossible.”
Depression often results from
these problems and some people turn
to suicide, Birch said.
Common symptoms exhibited by
suicide-prone people include state
ments of futility, hopelessness, help
lessness and self-devaluation, Birch
said. They show signs of guilt and
alienation and feel as if they have no
support during a crisis. Potential
suicide victims often are unaware of
options and can see no way out of
their situation, he said.
Other problems behind suicides or
suicide attempts include loss of signi
ficant relationships, the inablility to
achieve one’s goals, severe medical
problems and the feeling that events
are out of control, Committing
suicide is an exercise of final control,
he said.
A high number of suicide attempts
are made during holidays; however,
those aren’t necessarily the most pre
valent times for suicide. Counseling
service suicide statistics indicate that
there were 15 suicide attempts and
one suicide at Texas A&M in 1981.
The annual average for Texas A&M
is 21 attempts and one suicide.
But statistics show that September
and April were the worst months,
with four and five attempts respec
tively.
"One must keep in mind (that)
there are many attempts that we nev
er hear about,” Birch said. “Also, an
attempt is defined only as an occurr
ence in which the victim can show
some evidence of physical harm.”
The counseling service has no re
cord of the number of students who
come in just to talk about the possibil
ity of attempting a suicide.
“In our eight years of service, we’ve
saved many, many lives,” Birch said.
“The old wives’ tale that says ‘people
who talk about if don’t do it’ isjust not
true. In some , ecent psychological
autopsies, it was found that prior to a
suicide, victims usually communicate
in some way that they are going to
commit suicide. It’s their final cry for
help.”
Statistics show that suicide is a se
rious problem among younger peo
ple — it’s the second leading cause of
death in people between the ages of
15 and 24.
Statistics also show that college stu
dents make 50 percent more suicide
attempts than non-college students of
the same age.
Among college students, the high
er up the academic ladder a student
is, the greater the chance he will com
mit suicide.