Texas A&M
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76 No. 159 USPS 045360 14 Pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, June 9, 1983
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staff photo by Peter Rocha
and Dr. John Nagyvary displays a violin he carved and
tence ol fcecially treated to duplicate the tonal quality of a
lization ftradivarius instrument. Nagyvary spoke at the College
Btion Lion’s Club breakfast Wednesday.
I
piolins made
lo sound old
..J
on?,
ased
by Angel Stokes
Battalion Staff
ew violins — which sound like
B antiquated versions created by
B Italian masters — soon may be
available to musicians.
■ Dr. Joseph Nagyvary, a Texas
Ai:M professor of biophysics and
piochemistry, has developed a che-
Kcal process that opens the cell
^alls of spruce wood, a material
d for the construction of violin
bodies.
■ At a College Station Lion’s Club
bijeakfast Wednesday, Nagyvary
said he believes the process dupli
cates formulas used by Stradivar-
iusand Guarneri, two violin mak
ers during the 17th and 18th cen
turies, whose violins are famous
for their tonal quality.
B Nagyvary said a Stradivarius
cost $500,000, even if broken, and
recently one sold for $1.2 million
,in South Korea.
[Violinists cannot afford them
y longer, he said, and many have
Abandoned playing the old violins
cause insurance is very expen-
10 7.1
ESDAY
iting Fof Ivt ‘ , ,
Dl tlfl A violin can make or break a
illiS 1'musician,” Nagyvary said.
■ New commercial violins sound
terrible for a year, he said, but af-
tei aging about 50 years they start
jsounding better.
wHe said he wants musicians to
have the chance to own a good
polin at a reasonable price.
■ Violinist Manuela Roller, a
founder of the Bryan-College Sta-
ried Stef tion Chamber Orchestra, demons-
D Gravy Brated two of Nagyvary’s violins
Dtatoesart itul an Italian violin made in 1753,
Bo belonging to Nagyvary, at the
{lion’s Club breakfast Wednesday..
B One of the violins was only two
weeks old and had been carved by
[the best violin maker in mainland
;(|hina, Nagyvary said. He said Xu
Fu carved the outside and he
-'fcarved the inside and treated the
wood.
I “It has no right to sound good,”
he said. He said the violin which is
six months old has a sweeter tone.'
I Nagyvary said he has worked on
the project for about 10 years, and
has really become involved during
the last four years. He studied the
one otr
itable
ead am
or Tea
literature of the 16th Century to
determine what violin makers
used at that time.
He made his breakthrough
when he examined a piece of a cel
lo made by Guarneri in 1660. He
decided that treatment of the
wood was the secret of the old
violin makers.
The cells in the wood he ex
amined had millions of tubular
holes, he said, but violins of lesser
quality don’t have any holes.
“New violins have too many
overtones because the holes are
closed,” he said. Those with open
holes have no reverberations and a
better tone.
Nagyvary is now in the process
of obtaining a patent for his che
mical formula, which uses fungus
to eat out the holes.
Nagyvary uses gold in the
violin’s finish to give the instru
ment the golden brown color pre
ferred by musicians.
Nagyvary recently sold a violin
to a musician in Chatanooga,
Tenn., for $4,000. He said the
price is reasonable because it takes
400 to 500 hours to make a violin.
He said selling his instruments
to performers establishes a value
for them.
He is interested in making and
selling more, although he no lon
ger carves them himself because it
takes too much time. Instead,
violin makers and students do the
carving.
“There’s no glory in the carv
ing,” he said.
Nagyvary said he personally has
spent about $20,000 conducting
the research on the violins because
it is a hobby and is not connected
with his work at Texas A&M.
Nagyvary used to play the
violin, but now he just researches.
He said he still has improvements
to make, but he believes he has
pinpointed the major points in the
process.
Wednesday afternoon, Nagyv
ary went to Roundtop for blind
testing of his instruments by ex
perts. He said the experts will try
to determine the difference be
tween his instruments and those of
Stradivarius.
University’s appropriation
not as generous as before
by Scott Griffin
Battalion Staff
The Texas Legislature’s recent
budget appropriation for Texas
A&M is not as benevolent as in pre
vious years, says a University budget
official.
“The increases we got weren’t that
generous if you compare them to past
years,” said Clifton Lancaster, assis
tant vice-chancellor for budgets at
Texas A&M.
While Texas A&M did get a 27.6
percent increase for the biennium,
Lancaster said the increase is not sig
nificant.
“The money we received was con
siderably lower than what we re
quested,” he said. “But we expected it.
We never get all we ask for.”
However Lancaster did point out
some special funding Texas A&M re
ceived:
• $180,000 for a public policy re
source lab.
• $100,000 for a military studies
institute.
• $ I million for teaching and labor
atory equipment.
• $945,000 for engineering lab
equipment
Lancaster said some of the special
appropriations could be credited to
the efforts of State Sen. Kent Caper-
ton and State Rep. Bill Presnal.
Included in the appropriations is a
teacher salary increase of 4 percent
for next year and 3 percent for 1985.
Lancaster added that because of
the money provided, no personnel
cuts will be necessary and that the
University will be able to maintain its
current operating level.
As far as other state schools and
their appropriations are concerned,
Lancaster said, “I don’t think we
fared any better than anyone else. A
lot of appropriations' are based on
square footage, enrollment, etc., and
the money we got was not essentially
different from anyone else based on
the formulas.”
Prairie View A&M’s appropria
tions were cut from $43 million from
the last biennium to about $42 million
for the next two years.
“Prairie View lost some money be
cause of a drop in enrollment from
5,600 to about 4,000,” Lancaster said.
One plus for Prairie View, howev
er, is that the state will continue to
fund repairs and rehabilitation of ex
isting buildings at the university. Lan
caster said the Legislature has de
cided to discontinue the same type of
funds to most of the state schools.
Begin defeats
withdrawal plan
United Press International
Prime Minister Menachem Begin
today easily defeated an opposition
motion for a unilateral Israeli with
drawal from Lebanon, blocking the
most dramatic challenge yet to his
government’s handling of the costly
year-old war. The Knesset voted 55-
47 against opposition Labor Party’s
motion after Defense Minister Moshe
Arens ridiculed the proposal, saying
Syrian troops would move into posi
tions vacated by the Israeli army.
The vote came amid mounting
domestic criticism of the war, which
has claimed at least 490 Israeli lives
since the invasion of Lebanon June 6,
1982. Two more Israeli soldiers were
reported killed in a car bomb blast in
Beirut Wednesday, official Beirut
radio said.
Labor Party Chairman Shimon
Peres’ motion would have Israel firsf
leave the Shouf Mountains in favor of
the Lebanese army and the multina
tional force, which includes the
Marines. They would act as a buffer
between remaining Israeli and Syrian
forces. In the next stage of the pull
out, the Israelis would leave Lebanon.
Peres reasoned that the pullout would
force Syria to act and leave under
pressure.
“Is there anyone in this house who
thinks it would be better for Israel for
the Syrians and PLO to remain?”
Arens asked Begin during the par
liamentary session.
On the eve of the motion, Israeli
military intelligence chief Ehud
Barak predicted that Syria would use
any tactics — short of all-out war — to
sabotage the Lebanese-Israeli agree
ment and force Israeli troops out of
Lebanon. In an interview published
Tuesday by Beirut’s An Nahar Arab
and International weekly, Egyptian
president Hosni Mubarak said it
appeared that Israel wants no im
mediate change in Lebanon.
“It is in Israel’s interest that foreign
troops don’t pull out from Lebanon
for some years to come while it con
tinues building settlements in the
West Bank and Gaza,” Mubarak said.
“Soon the Palestinian problem will be
forgotten.
“By the end of next year the West
Bank and Gaza will be so cluttered
with settlements that it will be impos
sible to remove them even by an all-
out war.”Israel agreed in its May 17
accord with Lebanon to remove its
30,000 troops from Lebanon in 1976
to quell a civil war between leftist Mos
lems and rightist Christians.
staff photo by Eric Evan Lee
Need a lift?
This crane, located at the Halbouty annex building site
behind the Reed McDonald Building, moved into an
area of soft dirt and almost tipped over Wednesday.
The shovel of a bulldozer was placed at the front of the
crane to lift it and prevent it from falling over. The
crane then was moved to an area with solid ground.
Property premiums to decrease
United Press International
AUSTIN — Texas homeowners
will save between $8 and $24 a year on
property insurance premiums begin
ning this fall under new rates
approved unanimously by the State
Insurance Board.
The average 3.8 percent reduction
in Texas property insurance rates for
homes, farms and ranches was
approved by the board Wednesday
and will be in effect from Oct. 1
through Sept. 30, 1985. The reduc
tions will save Texas property owners
an estimated $42 million a year.
Renters’ insurance policies will de
crease slightly for brick veneer apart
ments and condominiums but will rise
as much as 27.5 percent for buildings
made of wood frame and other com
positions for an average 10.2 percent
statewide increase.
The insurance industry, repre
sented by the Texas Insurance Advis
ory Association, had asked for a 13.5
percent increase in rates.
“We realized coming into this hear
ing today that there would probably
be some disparity between what we
would ask the board for as compared
with what their staff recommended,”
said TIAA spokesman Rick Gentry.
“I would like to have seen the board
come a little bit in our direction, so
yes, I was disappointed.”
The TIAA claimed the Insurance
Board staff recommendation of a 3.8
percent average statewide reduction
failed to take into account adequate
profit margins and potential losses
due to catastrophes such as hurri
canes or tornadoes.
Premium rates for individual
homes will vary according to areas of
the state, with policyholders in the
Panhandle and West Texas paying
the highest rates and homeowners in
North and Central Texas paying the
lowest.
Under the new property insurance
rates for basic homeowner coverage,
owners of $50,000 brick homes in the
Panhandle and West Texas would
pay
hom
about $463 a year for general
lomeowner insurance. The owners
of similar homes in the Dallas area
would pay $292; in the Gulf Coast
area $297; in Houston $260; in San
Antonio and South Texas $273.
Rates for extended coverage —
which insures homes for damage
from additional perils like wind
storms, hurricanes or hail — would
vary from $164 a year in South and
Central Texas to $345 in West Texas.
Apartment or condominium ren
ters would pay an average of between
$219 and $253 a year for $20,000
worth of coverage compared to cur
rent rates ranging between $224 and
$259.
Air Force hurling chickens
United Press International
TULLAHOMA, Tenn. — The Air
Force is firing dead chickens out of a
cannon at 700 mph, hurling them at
airplanes to learn more about the
damage caused by bird-plane colli
sions.
Since 1966 14 Air Force planes
have crashed — and seven pilots have
died — because a bird either broke a
windshield or jammed an engine.
officials said Wednesday.
The “chicken gun,” located at the
Arnold Engineering Development
Center, is a Navy cannon that has
been converted into a pressurized air
gun.
The chickens are hurled at air
planes’ windshields and engines to
determine how much damage a mid
air collision can cause. A spokesman
for the center, Sgt. John Blackburn,
said both military and civilian aircraft
have been tested during the past 10
years.
Live chickens are obtained from
local farmers and gassed. After being
frozen and stored, Blackburn said,
chickens are thawed for 24 hours be
fore being fired at airplane windows
or engines.
smJicaraguan diplomat ordered home seeks asylum here
KEY I
United Press International
W ORLEANS — Nicaraguan
d with Bui General Augustin Alfaro, cri-
7 S auc ® Bof his country’s restriction on
LXtPP e< : ch and reli S ion - decided to
or Tea BP^dcal asylum in the United
Gravy r s rat her than return home with
loiceofaUlfdlow diplomats ordered out of
getable [country.
he five other heads of Nicara-
consulates left the country by
the 3 p.m. Wednesday deadline set by
the government. Nicaragua’s six con
sulates were ordered closed by the
State Department in retaliation for
the Sandinista government’s expul
sion of three U.S. officials for alleged
spying.
But just as the deadline was draw
ing near, Alfaro announced he had
asked the United States for asylum.
“I did apply for political asylum be
cause I do not agree with the policies
of Nicaragua, mostly with the restric
tions they have imposed on the press
and religion and the freedom of
speech,” he said.
Alfaro, who announced his deci
sion at a hastily called news confer
ence in front of the Federal Building
where he applied for asylum, said he
would remain near his Metairie home
while awaiting word from the govern
ment on his defection bid.
“It has been a very hard and diffi
cult day for me,” he said. “I don’t want
to leave the United States.”
Alfaro walked swiftly from the
Federal Building where the Immigra
tion and Naturalization Service is lo
cated and stepped into a car driven by
his wife, Amelia Zavala.
In Washington, Duke Austin, a
spokesman for the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, confirmed
Alfaro’s application for asylum.
“As with anyone with an applica
tion pending, he will not be removed.
Until the claim is adjudicated, he will
amain here as is the case with all fore
ign nationals,” Austin said.
Alfaro, who has two children, has
lived in the New Orleans area for 10
years and has served as consul general
for the past 10 months.
inside
Classified 10
Local 3
Opinions 2
Sports 11
State 4
National 7
forecast
Partly cloudy skies today with a
high of 88. Southeasterly winds of
10 to 15 mph. The low tonight near
69. Continued partly cloudy skies
Friday with a high near 89.