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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1983)
I in© BaTTanon Serving the University community - Vol — 76 No. 102 USPS 045360 12 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, February 22, 1983 every aeob Green, a former Aggie now playing defen- ive end for the Seattle Seahawks (right), tips off gainst a member of the Texas A&M Association of Handicapped Athletes in the wheelchair bas ketball game held Monday in G. Rollie White Coliseum. Price war threatens; OPEC leaders United Press International Saudi Arabia summoned Persian Gulf oil producers to an emergency meeting in Riyadh today amid reports they would slash petroleum prices to match Nigeria, the next salvo in a price war threatening to tear OPEC apart. In Mexico City, authorities said Mexico, the chief supplier of oil to the United States, would announce an ad justment in its export prices on Friday. The official Saudi Press Agency said Monday that oil ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman would meet today in Riyadh with Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani chairing. The six oil-rich states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are scrambling to recoup their share of a glutted world oil market shrunk by recession, better conservation efforts and a rela tively mild winter in the northern hemisphere. Gulf officials said the council, all OPEC members expcept for Bahrain and Oman, were angered by Nigerian price cuts that ignored cartel guide lines and had already agreed to re duce their prices by between $5.50 and $7 a barrel. Nigeria, following Britain and Norway, slashed oil prices by $5.50 a barrel on Saturday. Gulf newspapers, which generally reflect government positions, strong ly attacked Nigeria for breaking ranks meet with OPEC. “The price war has started inside OPEC,” the Emirates newspaper A1 Wahda said. In Los Angeles, oil industry analyst Dan Lundberg said he could not yet predict the impact of an OPEC price war on the price of gasoline but said it could be “devastating” to the U.S. eco nomy. “It could adversely affect domestic producers, further dry up windfall profit tax revenues and bring about a further deficit,” he said. The Gulf producers have suffered tremendous losses in sales trying to defend the official Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries base price of $34 a barrel for Arabian light crude — while others cut prices to boost sales. A&M Graduate College enrollment increasing by Kelley Smith Battalion Staff Graduate student enrollment at Texas A&M has been increasing steadily during the past four years due to the economy and an active re cruiting program, the dean of the Graduate College says. Graduate College enrollment has increased 7 percent — from 5,331 students in 1981 to 5,729 in 1982. Doctoral student enrollment has in creased 8 percent — from 1,728 in 1981 to 1,872 in 1982. “History has shown that during a depression in the economy, graduate enrollment tends to increase,” said Dr. G.W. Kunze, dean of the Gradu ate College. “They (graduates) can’t find jobs so they come back to get a better education to compete for the available jobs.” Kunze also attributes the enroll ment increase to the recruiting prog ram, which has been active since 1979. The assistant to the dean orga nizes trips with faculty members to other Texas universities to talk with potential graduate students. Texas A&M doesn’t recruit students from colleges where graduate programs are offered. “We don’t compete for their stu dents so we’ve been welcome at the schools,” he said. Particular attention is given to schools with a high minority enroll ment, Kunze said. Minority enrollment in the Gradu ate College has increased 36 percent — from 210 in 1979 to 285 in 1982. The number of programs offered to graduate students here also is in creasing. Two doctoral programs in agricultural education -r— one in phi losophy and one in education — were added this year. In addition, the col lege has asked the Coordinating Board, which approves new degree programs, for a doctoral program in psychology. “We develop our proposals de pending on our needs and the needs of the state,” Kunze said. The fastest growing areas in the Graduate College are agriculture, education and engineering. All three had an increase of about 100 stu dents, about 70 percent of the total increase. “The increase reflects the job opportunities,” Kunze said. Engineering is a lucrative field with good job opportunities, he said. There also are plenty of job opportu nities in both education and agricul ture, Kunze said. He said that he does not know of any graduate students having serious problems finding jobs after gradua tion. The graduates go into both teaching and technical areas. “The job depends on the disci pline,” Kunze said. “There are some areas where most of the jobs are in teaching such as history and English, but it’s not that way in engineering.” Nominee may testify again to gain committee approval Committee approves funds o repair wing of Capitol United Press International AUSTIN — A $7 million approp- ation to fix the fire-damaged Senate ing of the state Capitol was moved Monday by a Texas House immittee, but some members corn- lamed of the “horrendous price.” ■ In addition to approving the jpropriation, the House Appropria- )ns (Committee amended the bill to athorize the state to buy an aban- oned funeral parlor across the street :oni the Capitol. ■Committee members said they Ere concerned about approving icli an appropriation when the total ist of repair from the Feb. 6 fire has W been determined, fifep. Gerald Geistweidt, R-Mason, said he had receive numerous tele phone calls from constituents who complained the state is paying a “hor rendous price” to repair the Capitol. But Sen Roy Blake, D-Nacadoches, chairman of the Senate committee overseeing the repairs, said he did not expect the repairs to cost $7 million, and any money left over from the appropriation would go to the Sen ate’s operating fund. “I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination that we’ll spend that much, but we don’t know how much it will be,” he said. The appropriations bill includes $1 million to finance the cleanup of the damage and provide temporary quar ters for nine displaced senators. The remainder of the money would be used for repairs and restoration. Blake said the plan to purchase the building just west of the Capitol has the endorsement of Gov. Mark White, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and House Speaker Gib Lewis. The building — once a funeral home — has been leased to the Legisl ature in recent years for office space, but is now boarded up, he said. Blake said he favored the purchase because it would prevent another high-rise building from being erected near the Capitol. The building was condemned by the state for a selling price of $1.48 million, but the owners have appealed to district court. United Press International WASHINGTON — Kenneth Adel- man may get a third chance to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is threatening to vote against his nomination as head of the U.S. arms control agency. Assistant Senate Republican lead er Ted Stevens said Monday a new round of questioning could improve the controversial nominee’s chances of winning approval from the com mittee. The third hearing was requested by Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., after it was disclosed that Adelman, in a 1981 newspaper interview, reported ly called arms control negotiations a sham. Adelman, 36, said last week he could not recall making such a com ment. But Stevens told reporters he understood that “perhaps the com plete statement was not transcribed,” and said, “a hearing may benefit him (Adelman).” President Reagan said at a news conference last week he would fight for Adelman’s confirmation. The president’s defense of his embattled nominee came only hours after the committee put off a vote when it became apparent Adelman would be rejected by a one-vote margin. Although reports that a hearing would be held Thursday circulated through the Senate, the committee said no final decision had been made. Cranston, who is seeking his party’s presidential nomination, has opposed Adelman from the start. He argues that Adelman does not truly believe in arms control efforts and should not be given the vital post as head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Despite the controversy, Adelman says he will fight for the job. He has the strong backing of Reagan, who nominated him last month after fir ing Eugene Rostow from the post. But Adelman has fared badly with the Foreign Relations Committee. The panel last week delayed a vote on his confirmation in the face of a likely 9-8 adverse vote, and members ex pressed hope Reagan would with draw the nomination. But Reagan reaffirmed his choice, and on Sunday Secretary of State George Shultz said in a television in terview, “We need him and we want him. And we’re going to fight for him and we’re going to get him.” Granston requested the third hear ing and said he wants Adelman to testify under oath about the reported interview'. Sen. Paul Tsongas, D-Mass., has said a confrontation between the president and the committee would be devastating in Europe, where Reagan is trying to build support for his arms policy. “The president has got himself in basically a facesaving box in which the major beneficiary will be the Russian propagandists,” Tsongas said. “The Soviets want to use propaganda to undermine the NATO alliance, and the Adelman nomination is a windfall for that policy.” prof to help salvage steamboat dicapi’^. iMw’ 1, . i in '"fill ie Slier' 111 . ,1, Gree»' 'U’Ttf liton* ^ n ' V linin'! ■s: Ji"’ I, cl <M * sS# S rB« by David Marchand Battalion Reporter IA Texas A&M researcher is helping coordinate the investiga tion and raising of the Mittie Stephens, a steamboat that burned and sank in a northeast Texas lake more than 1 14 years ago in l he state’s worst waterway accident. I At least 62 people died when the 312-ton “sidewheeler” went down in about five feet of water shortly liter midnight on Feb. 12, 1869. [ Dr. Ervan Garrison, of the lexas A&M civil engineering de- lanment, said Thursday that the llarion County Historical Com mission contacted him in August and requested assistance in the sal- |age project. The request came af ter a metal detection survey con ducted by the Texas Antiquities Commission located the wreck and interest in the circumstances of the Cvent grew, he said. I Garrison said the steamboat is of significant historical value for sev eral reasons: — Its three decks were deco rated lavishly and the ship carried many wealthy passengers. — It was a fast and profitable vessel. — It could navigate in almost any body of water- because of its shallow hull. — It was used to carry Union dispatches down the Red River during the Civil War. Surveying the site can begin dur ing spring break, Garrison said, when divers can attempt to identify the wreck. It is possible, he added, that two other boats that sank in the area could be the one currently be lieved to be the Mittie Stephens. The Mittie Stephens Foundation was formed from the Marion County Historical Society to con duct the project and is sponsoring the excavation, which could begin in May, Garrison said. Raising the boat will involve tun neling under the hull with water jets, suspending it in nylon straps connected to air tanks and floating it to the surface, he said. The cost of the project could be nearly $250,000, he said. Garrison, who started a search for documents on the ship in the Tulane University Library, the Cincinnatti Public Library and the Steamboat Research Center in Memphis, Tenn., has pieced together the events that sur rounded the Mittie’s sinking. The following is his account: The New Orleans-based boat navigated the Mississippi River, the Red River and Big Cedar Bayou to Caddo Lake, which straddles the fexas-Lousiana border about 30 miles south of the point where those states meet Arkansas. The ship, loaded with 104 pas sengers, five crew members, nine kegs of black powder and 274 bales of hay, was bound for Jefferson — the second-largest city in Texas at the time. Fire broke out on the main deck where the hay was stored. When the captain realized the blaze was out of control, he steered the boat to shore. Following standard practice, Capt. H. Kellogg ran the bow into shore to allow evacuation onto land or into the shallow water. The bow was engulfed in flames, however, preventing escape forward to shore. Most passengers jumped over board near the middle and rear of the boat where the water was about 10 feet deep. Buoyed by lifejack ets, many passengers were killed when they were sucked into the paddle wheels, which were turning to keep the bow inshore. Some, un able to swim, remained on board and died in the flames. At least 62 were killed. Although the powder had been thrown overboard, the upper decks burned as the boat moved out of control to about 200 yards offshore where it sank. The paddle wheels, one on each side, dug a grave in the soft bed of the river, where the boat may rest today under about 15 feet of water. Jesse M. DeWare, an attorney in Jefferson working on the project, explained that two torch baskets hung at the bow to improve visibil ity not only were illegal but were cited as the cause of the fire. The Federal Board of Supervis ing Inspectors of Steamboats, which investigated the accident, determined the cause of the blaze and rested blame on the captain, DeWare said. They recommended that laws be written to prevent simi lar accidents. inside Around Town Classified .... Local National Opinions .... Police Beat. .. Sports State What’s up. . .. 4 8 3 7 2 4 9 6 12 forecast Cloudy to partly cloudy skies today and a high of 60. Northwesterly winds at 7 to 15 mph. Partly cloudy for tonight with the low around 42. For Wednesday, mostly sunny and warmer with the high near 68.