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.