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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1983)
Ford, Schmidt, Heath to discuss NATO, economic future of Western Alliance see page 3 The Battalion Serving the University community 76 No. 126 USPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, April 4, 1983 &M may get center by Connie Edelmon Battalion Staff jThe Texas A&M System may con- lerbecoming the af filiate to a Navy jik tank, but even if it doesn’t, jxasA&M President Frank E. Van- ler says he has hopes of starting the ■iversity’s own defense study ■ter. I University Provost Gordon P. ■ton said Percy Pierre, president of Krie View A&M and a former de ity assistant secretary of the Army, leived information about problems ■ Navy is having with the University ilRochester, the current manager of Center for Naval Analyses. The Navy is thinking of changing ! affiliation, which Rochester has jj!<l for 16 years. I Pierre suggested to Chancellor Itluir G. Hansen the possibility of 1 Texas A&M System becoming Tiliated with the center. Hansen pd Pierre and Vandiver to explore : idea. ■ The affiliation would mean that J University System would manage 1 center, and that the system and liA would interact in research in a ftety of areas, Pierre said. JThe center would not move from iwshington, D.C., to College Station. 1 “Dr. Pierre and I haven’t even met I —I’m not sure what our position ^et,” Vandiver said. Vandiver and prre have had one conversation on topic so far, and Vandiver said they probably will talk again during the next week or two. Pierre said: “We’ll have to figure out what is best for the A&M System.” Rochester had a problem with the center, Vandiver said, “and before we go leaping in I think we should take a good look.” But, Vandiver said, “I’m interested in some type of national defense think tank here.” Vandiver said he is in the process of trying to get the state to fund Texas A&M’s own defense strategy think tank. He said it would be a type of Military Studies Institute, which he thinks would fit in with the Navy center. Texas A&M’s think tank would combine the political science depart ment’s public policy center with the defense technology center, adding fa culty members who are interested and knowledgeable in the national defense topic, Vandiver said. “It would be a defense think tank that would rival those in East and West,” Vandiver said. Texas A&M’s think tank would look at defense policies taking history and current technology into account, to arrive at “some ideas on national defense with a southwestern flavor,” he said. Vandiver said he is interested in combining the possible Texas A&M center with the Naval center, but said that he and Pierre would have to find out what the Navy wanted to do. Blatchley says he’s glad busy campaign is over Ron Blatchley by Angel Stokes Battalion Staff Ron B. Blatchley, director of stu dent programs at Texas A&M, was elected mayor of Bryan in Saturday’s election. Blatchley won with 56 percent of the votes over Henry Seale, who has been a Bryan councilman for eight years. Blatchley received 2,917 votes, while Seale received 2,274 votes. Blatchley said Sunday that he is delighted the campaign is over, re gardless of the outcome. He said the campaign was rigorous and came at a very busy time of the year, especially on campus. And he said that being mayor won’t interfere with his work on cam pus at all, although it will keep him busy. He said his first plans for Bryan are to consolidate the ideas expressed throughout the campaign and not to let those ideas become “campaign rhetoric.” The ideas Blatchley referred to in clude street and park improvements and cleaning up the city. Voter turnout was higher than ex pected in Bryan. Twenty-four per cent of the registered voters in Bryan voted, but only 14 percent of regis tered voters in College Station were at the polls. Bryan City Council winners are: Place 1, B.B. Scasta with 2,669 votes or 53 percent; Place 3, Peyton Waller with 2,682 votes or 46 percent; and Place 4, Marvin Tate with 2,682 votes or 51 percent. A run-off will be held for Place 5 between Hugh Barnett, who received 1,691 votes, and Helen Chavarria, who received 1,950 votes. The run-off election is scheduled ten tatively for April 26. Bryan School Board winners are: Place 1, Travis Nelson with 2,042 votes; and Place 2, W.W. Humphries with 2,687 votes. In the College Station City Council race, winners are: Place 1, Alvin Prause with 1,300 votes; Place 3, Vicky Reinke with 1,119 votes; and Place 5, Gary Anderson with 1,132 votes. Winners of the College Station School Board election are: Place 3, Deanna Wormuth with 1,186 votes or 56 percent; and Place 4, Mike Flem- ifig with 1,147 votes or 56 percent. A&M not informed of holiday by Robert McGlohon Battalion Staff Although Friday — Good Friday and April Fools’ Day — was a half-day holiday for all state employees, Texas A&M didn’t find out about it until an hour before it began. The holiday was the result of a legislative resolution that closed all state agencies and offices at noon Fri day. The resolution, passed Wednes day, was signed Thursday by Gov. Mark White. Texas A&M officials, however, didn’t find out about the holiday until 11 a.m. Friday — one hour before the scheduled closing. “Something must have slipped through the cracks in Austin,” Chan cellor Arthur G. Hansen said of the holiday. -“We wished we would have had some forewarning.” Hansen said that he didn’t know why University officials weren’t in formed of the holiday earlier and said that when they did receive word, it wasn’t through official channels. Hansen said that Lane B. Stephen son, director of public information for Texas A&M, learned of the legis lative mandate through contacts in Austin and, in turn, passed that infor mation on to Hansen. Texas A&M Provost Gordon P. Easton called the day “one of confu sion and considerable doubt,” pri marily because of the coincident of the Good Friday holiday with April Fools’ Day. Many people first thought the holiday was a joke, Eaton said. Adding to the problem was the surge of traffic from campus when the vacation became known, he said. Policemen had to be called out to di rect the unexpected traffic at the cor ner of Texas Avenue and University Drive. Dr. John J. Koldus, vice president for student services, said the sudden ness of the holiday, and not the holi day itself, was the cause of the problem. “Anytime that you call up a little bit before 11 o’clock and indicate that in 45 minutes to an hour that everyone’s going on a holiday, you’ve got lots of problems,” Koldus said. “It’s a very difficult thing to just all of a sudden call a holiday.” Canine comparison They say dogs often look like their owners. These three were found at the Brazos Valley Kennel Club spring dog show Saturday. Over 1200 dogs were entered in the show which began at 8 a.m. Best of show was announced at 5 p.m. photos by Barry Papke SG election results to be posted today Results of the student body elec tion are in; however, they will not be posted until 6 p.m. today. Election results must be approved by the Judicial Board before tbey are official and can be posted. The board will meet at 5 p.m. today. Results will be posted outside the Pavilion after the meeting. Candidates who do not make the runoff elections must have all cam paign material —- signs and flyers — down within 48 hours of the posting. If results are posted by 6 p.m. today, Shuttle launch tentative United Press International CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Shift ing jet stream winds today threatened to postpone the afternoon blastoff of America’s newest space shuttle, Chal lenger, on a five-day shakedown cruise. A NASA spokesman said a final decision on the scheduled 12:30 p.m. launch might not be made until 11:00 p.m.. Challenger’s maiden launch already has been delayed two and one-half months because of a series of costly engine leaks. Challenger, second of the nation’s planned fleet of four space freighters, was primed to lift off today carrying the world’s largest and most powerful communications satellite. But jet stream winds, sweeping across the Oceanside launch site at speeds in excess of 100 mph and alti tudes of 40,000 to 45,000 feet, cre ated an off-again on-again element of uncertainty. NASA spokesman Mark Hess said a final decision on whether to send Challenger roaring into orbit might not be made until after a balloon sounding 100 minutes before launch time. This is the sixth space shuttle flight, but the first for the Challenger, a lighter and more powerful sistership of the pioneering Columbia. the material must be down by 6 p.m. Wednesday. All candidates were allowed to keep the signs up over the weekend in case they were involved in a runoff. Campaign signs for student body president candidate Joe Jordan were stolen between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. Sun day. Election commissioner Les Asel said anyone with information about the theft should contact him at the Student Government office in 216 Pavilion. inside Classified 6 Local 3 Opinions 2 Sports 11 State 6 National 7 Police Beat 4 What’s up 7 forecast Mostly cloudy today with a 30 per cent chance of showers and a high of 78. Winds from the south at 15 to 25 mph. Cloudy tonight with a 40 percent chance of thunder showers and a low near 59. Cloudy to partly cloudy Tuesday with a 40 E ercent chance of showers and a igh near 68.