Page 4/The Battalion/Tuesday, April 26, 1983
Coast Guard ends
search for victim
United Press International
FREEPORT — The U.S.
Coast Guard Monday halted its
search for a fifth person be
lieved drowned in a weekend
boating accident in the Gulf of
Mexico, an official said.
“We will not keep searching,”
said Martin Taylor, Coast Guard
petty officer. “The Coast Guard
search has been suspended.”
Sunday, divers found the
bodies of four of the five victims
who were reported missing after
their 15-foot outboard boat was
found capsized 6 miles offshore
on Saturday.
Coast Guard Petty Officer
Matt Walter said the bodies of a
man and a woman were found
early Sunday and the bodies of
another man and woman were
discovered Sunday afternoon.
All four bodies were floating
in the Gulf within 5 miles of each
other, about 8 miles off Freeport
and about 40 miles south of Gal
veston.
The four were identified as
Walter Gunther III, 20, Michel
le Gonzales, 19, Gayle Gonzales,
23, and Benigno Uresti, 23, all
of the Houston area.
caused the boat to overturn. The
vessel was found about 5 p.m.
Saturday.
“Because it had recently been
sold and the new owner hadn’t
re-registered it, we had some
difficulty locating him to deter
mine how many people had
been aboard,” Walter said.
The search for the fifth per
son, identified as Martin Gon
zales of Houston, ended at sun
set Sunday.
Walter and Taylor said there
was no indication as to what
Taylor said the search was
carried out with the 82-foot cut
ter Point Monroe, aided by a jet
aircraft and a helicopter.
Taylor said there were small
craft advisories in effect
Saturday.
“I was not a good day to be out
in the Gulf in a 15-foot boat,” he
said.
Toxic pesticide bill
reviewed by legislature
United Press International
HOUSTON — They were
known as the “Phosvel zombies,”
a group of workers at a chemical
plant who suffered nerve and
reflex damage that left them
with glassy stares, ungainly
walks and a tendency to break
into silly laughter for no reason.
Most said they never knew
the dangers of the organic pesti
cide — known as leptophos and
marketed overseas under the
name Phosvel — that they work
ed to make during the mid-
1970s at the Velsicol Chemical
Co. pesticide plant near
Houston.
Sponsors of a bill before the
legislature this session say it
would be a step toward ensuring
the danger to people never hap
pens again; but its opponents,
primarily a chemical companies’
lobbying group, say the law is
unnecessary and could damage
the industry.
John Orville Wright, 39,
worked for nine months at Vel
sicol in the mid-1970s and was
fired after his bosses decided his
stumbling endangered him and
his fellow workers. He later set
tled for Si7,000 in workers’
compensation from Velsicol’s
insurance company and now
lives in Alabama on his Social
Security disability payments.
Some years later the National
Institute of Occupational Safety
and Health determined that
Wright and 62 fellow workers
showed abnormalities con
nected to chemical exposure.
He and 10 other men, dubbed
the “zombies,” had major nerve
and reflex problems that made
them prone to wild, glassy-eyed
stares; jerky, stiff-legged gaits;
and giddy, inappropriate
laughter.
The “right to know” bill, simi
lar to laws in several other states,
would force companies to tell
workers who deal with any of
450 toxic chemicals the nature
of the substances and what to do
to protect themselves.
It also would require em
ployers to keep records for 40
years on which employees were
exposed to which chemicals.
This would eliminate the legal
difficulties workers often have
proving exposure when their
symptoms do not appear for
many years.
Most of the opposition to the
bill has come from the Texas
Chemical Council, a lobbying
group that represents 85 che
mical firms. They contend the
bill would simply lead to out
rageous and unnecessary ex
pense, confuse workers, expose
trade secrets and disrupt volun
tary informational programs
now in operation.
Snow job wins prom date for beau
United Press International
MESA, Ariz. — Steve Moore’s
high school prom invitation was
a chilly proposition, but he
didn’t get the cold shoulder
prospective date.
ii Self awoke in
from his
Bobbi Self awoke in 90-
degree temperatures Sunday to
find a 3-foot snowman in her
front yard with an invitation to
the prom attached.
Moore had driven four hours
to get the snow in the Arizona
mountains and another four to
get back.
IVTSC TOWN HALL
presents
JOAN JETT
Cthe
DLflCKHE9ftT6
L
1
with special guest star
HU€V L€LUIS and the N€WS
playing a full 60 min. set
IN CONCERT
Thursday, April 28
G. Rollie White Coliseum
Tickets: $ 7 50 , $ 8 50 , $ 9 00
MSC Box Office 845-1234
TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE!
It was
Bullet
I g en<
Up and Over
staff photo bt !r P
Laura McEvoy guides her horse over a fence in
the Schooling Jumper class at the sixth annual Vet
School Horse Show. The event, held Sunday at
Hunter Creek Stables, featured both Englil
Western competition. McEvoy is a senior
Science major from College Station.
Unit.
Project first of its kind
P.E. students after silver
pus
nyestiga
Ids to
ilcials
by Karen Schrimsher
Battalion Staff
Students and faculty of Texas
A&M will have the chance to
show their support for U.S.
Olympic hopefuls — including
22 Aggies — on Olympic Silver
Day.
The fund raising event will be
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday,
and will begin with a ceremony
at Rudder fountain.
Olympic Silver Day is be
lieved to be the First event of its
kind to be held on a college cam
pus. It is sponsored by the De
partment of Health and Physical
Education and Phi Epsilon Kap
pa, the service fraternity for
physical education students.
4’he sponsors are asking stu
dents and faculty to donate sil
ver, half-dollars, quarters, di
mes and nickels, at donation
booths around the Texas A&M
campus. Larger donations will
be accepted, and donors of $5,
$10, $50, $100 and $250 will re
ceive U.S. Olympic Committee
gifts.
Approximately 22 Texas
A&M students are hoping for a
chance to compete in the Olym
pic Games in 1984. They repre
sent a variety of sports: diving,
swimming, volleyball, kayaking.
sailing and weightlifting.
Project coordinator Warren
“Spider" Simpson says if every
Texas A&M student and em
ployee would donate a dime, the
project would be worth the time
and ef fort.
“That would he about
$5,500,” Simpson says. “Any
amount we come up with will set
a precedent."
The sponsors hope student
and faculty groups will hold
competitions to raise money.
Simpson says residence halls,
sororities, fraternities and
Corps outfits may compete for
trophies donated by the U.S.
Ian Trai
Ition n
I KI RI
B repot
Id cor
Olympic Comminee
II the event is SU ctf lt,mi1
U.S. Olympic Commi
have more "silver danl
versities throughout in
Simpson says.
Donation booths t
rated at the entranced
White Coliseum, b
Rudder fountain, the!
Student Center, Acadi
Agency Building, if
tnons, the Quadrangle
C. Evans Library, Sois
I bill and theCollegeol
ary Medicine.
Group donations si
taken to the EastKrlti
Shared criminal facilities i
a mistake, officials say
United Press International
TEXARKANA, Ark. — Offi
cials on both sides of Texarkana
say they are wondering if they
made a mistake by agreeing to
build and share a modern Cri
minal Justice Center that is now
two years and $7 million behind
schedule.
Construction has stalled with
the building 75 percent com
plete because there is no more
money. Efforts to salvage the
project so far have failed.
“Had we known in the begin
ning that the CJC would turn
from an $8 million project into a
$20 million project, we can see it
probably would have been less
expensive to renovate the court
house and jail,’’Judge Lee Over-
street of Miller County, Ark.
said. “Now, when the project is
partially completed and a large
part of the money is already
spent, which is the better route?
We really don’t know.”
The building was intended to
house the police and sheriffs
departments of both cities along
with their courts and jails. But
construction was delayed by
strikes, and construction cost
soared with inflation. Then the
federal Law Enforcement
Assistance Administration,
which was to fund the project,
was abolished.
Miller County especially
needs the new jail because its ex
isting jail cannot meet constitu
tional standards. But the Miller
Quorum Court fears it cannot
meet its share of the $2 million
yearly operating costs for CJC,
even if the project is eventually
completed, Deputy Prosecuting
Attorney Rodney McDaniel
said.
City Manager Russ Crider of
Texarkana, Texas, said Miller
County is legally bound to con
tinue the project. Overstreet
agreed the county has a “moral
obligation” to participate.
Texas and Arkansas officials
recently worked out a plan for
Texarkana, Texas, to assume
ownership of the building and
lease it to the others. But a cir
cuit judge in Texaifel
ruled in Februarytto|
be illegal for
participate in I
Building or reffl [S |
county jail requires'
wide vote of appro'i "'"T
and Miller Countv os
not think they canf
dents have voiced olj
the project becaused
be charged a 4 pen 1
franchise tax to help'
payments on CJC.
The county alreai
off a $335,000
approved for tlie I*
1981, but officials an
sidering dropping
ject and renova
jail, Overstreet said
School vandalizel
information
i-
A&M Consolidated High
School was broken into and van-
t dalized during the weekend of
Jan. 14. Approximately $900
worth of property was des-
JL; troyed.
The vandals have not been
identified.
£ The library and snack bar
* areas were ransacked and the
L fire extinguishers in the build-
^ ing were set off.
, This was the third buglary at
^ the school this year.
P If you have any information
Sunday through Friday J on the person or persons in-
’ 1 -no a m tn 1 Rn n m ?, volved in these crimes, call
i .uu a.m. xo i -ou p.m. ^ Crime Stoppers at 775-1 ips. if
you give your information this
week and it leads to the arrest
Serving
Luncheon Buffet
and grand jury indtf’
suspect, Crime Stop|* r
you $350 foreachcW
All callers to Cri#
are issued special uf
hers to assureanonvr.' 1
Stoppers also pays
formation on any f#
or fugitive.
Delicious Food
Beautiful View
-m-
Now you know
Open to the Public
“Quality First” ^
United Press International
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Being
neurotic has its advantages.
A study of 434 white males by
Washington University, St.
Louis, showed the neurotics
among them earned about 23
percent higher salaries than
those diagnosed as well.
The results of the survey
were reported in a rtf
of American Familv
Researchers also'*
neurotics had si»i
er ratings I
ment, IQs and l
schooling.
The group wassWq
period of about 39' i: j