The Battalion
Serving the University community
78 No. 7 USPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, September 9, 1983
I ■ |s (
le Savings d
ocal transportation options
nclude high-speed railway
by Christine Mallon
Battalion Stott
Construction of a high speed railway
fain that will run from Houston to Dal-
withabypass through Bryan-College
(ation will begin in early 1985, a Texas
—^Biiroad executive says.
Hal Cooper Jr., president of Texas
lilroad Transportation Company, and
tree other Texas transportation ex-
rts addressed a group of about 70 Bra-
is County officials, residents and the
press at a luncheon sponsored by
te Bryan-College Station Chamber of
lommerce at Briarcrest Country Club
Bryan Thursday.
Alter visiting and researc hing high
peed railway travel in Europe and
apan, Cooper came back to Texas and
tegan plans for a similar system here.
Railroad transportation is the most
sconoinical and energy-saving mode of
ravel, Cooper said.
Cooper said Rock Island Railways has
purchased land located about 20 miles
away from this area where the railway
The only negative aspect of the sys
tem, Cooper said, would be the safety
hazard it may cause since the trains
travel at an average speed of about 200
miles per hour. He added that precau
tions other than a normal railroad cros
sing signal would have to be used, but
there are no alternative plans yet.
Cooper estimated that construction
of such a railway would create 5,000 to
10,000 jobs for people around the Bra
zos Valley and surrounding areas and
wotdd increase tax revenues.
“Bryan-College Station would be the
most affected city between the Houston
to Dallas trip," Cooper said. He said a
bypass through the twin cities and
would be a major source of revenue.
ning Shoe
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lours:
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Sat.
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stall photo by Eric Evan Lee
Parking lot accident
A. Kok, a graduate student in Chemistry,
explains his accident to Matt Menger, a member of the
Texas A&M Emergency Care Team. Kok’s moped was
struck by a car in Parking Annex 50 Thursday
afternoon.
Shultz denounces
Soviet’s attitude
United Press International
MADRID, Spain — Secretary of
State George Shultz said today the
sliooting clown ofa South Korean jumbo
jet carrying 269 people showed the
Soviet Union’s “callous disregard for
human life.”
Shultz broadened his attack on the
Soviets by blaming them for the division
of Europe by force and for creating
“real, basic obstacles” to security and
cooperation.
“This is a system that fears foreign
inside
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forecast
High today near 90, with a low
tonight in the 70s. Cloudy weekend
with a 60 percent chance of rain.
radio broadcasts even more than it fears
missiles,” Shultz told the 35 nations
attending the European Security Con
ference, ending today.
The speech concluded three days of
sharp verbal battling with Soviet Fore
ign Minister Andrei Gromyko, who had
spoken to the conference Wednesday
and who left Madrid for Paris about 20
minutes before Shultz took the podium.
Following a private meeting with
Gromyko for more than two hours
Thursday, Shultz described the Soviet
minister’s attempt to justify shooting
down the plane as “totally unaccept
able” and “preposterous.”
“From this rostrum, its foreign minis
ter (Gromyko) shamelessly insisted that
the Soviet Union would do so again,
thus again demonstrating its callous dis
regard for human life,” he said.
Shultz spent much of his three days in
Madrid lining up support among the
Europeans for sanctions against the
Soviets in the field of civil aviation, to
retaliate for the shooting down of the
airliner and the refusal to apologize for
the incident that killed 269 people, in
cluding a U.S. congressman and 60
other Americans.
Shultz dropped his usually placid
style, openly showing his anger over
what he considered to be the Soviets’
cynical and brutal attitude toward hu
man life.
NATO ministers called to an urgent
meeting early today — with the excep
tion of Greece and possibly France —
decided to impose a two-week ban on
flights to and from the Soviet Union
beginning Sept. 15, diplomatic sources
said.
Trains were not the only topic at issue
Thursday. W.A. “Skip” Porter, director
of the Texas Engineering Experiment
Station and former chairman of the
Texas A&M Board of Regents’ Airport
Relocation Study Committee said the
committee ended their study on Easter-
wood Airport by urging the University
to work with the Regents on improving
instead of relocating the airport.
Porter added that work will soon be
gin on resurfacing the main runway as
the initial step toward improvement.
Local road improvements were also
discussed at the luncheon. Carol Zeig-
ler, district engineer for the Texas
Highway Department, said that Bryan-
College Station will receive about $8
million worth of road repair within the
next year.
Included in the repairs will be resur
facing and lane extension to FM 60, FM
Latins kidnap
man in McAllen
2818, Highway 30, Villa Maria Rd.,
Holleman St. and construction of a new
bridge over Highway 21’s intersection
at the Brazos River.
In other business, Ron Hale, execu
tive vice president of First City Bank of
Bryan, urged citizens to support a state
gasoline tax increase that will be
brought up at a special session of the
state legislature.
Hale said Texas has more roads than
any othef state in the nation, yet has the
lowest highway users tax. He said the
budget for Texas highways is $1.9 billion
per year, but that Houston uses about $1
billion of the allotment.
The state highway department re
ceives 75 percent of the 5 cents gas tax.
Hale said if the tax goes up to 10 cents
per gallon, the state would be able to
keep the highway growth compatible to
the population growth.
United Press International
MCALLEN — Two Latin men
armed with guns kidnapped a Mexican
newspaper official with connections to
his country’s national oil company,
police reported today.
Hector Hernandez Garcia, 48, was
abducted at gunpoint from his luxu
rious, north-side condominium Thurs
day by two Latin men and driven away
in his late model beige Mercury car, Lt.
Gary Miller said.
“His wife and some friends were at
the residence before be came home,”
he said. "They were being held by the
suspects.”
Miller declined to speculate whether
the suspects were Mexican officials. An
official at the Hidlago County sheriff's
department said early today police be
lieved the two men may have been
Mexican authorities.
Police, who called the FBI for assist
ance, did not know if Garcia and the two
suspects were still in the United States.
He said Garcia “runs a newspaper in
Mexico and is connected with Pemex
(the Mexican national oil firm)
somehow. ”
Authorities were investigating the in
cident as an aggravated kidnapping,
Miller said.
The closest border crossing into Mex
ico from McAllen is 10 miles south in
the small community of Hidalgo.
Bryan to begin
street project
by Jamie Hataway
Battalion Reporter
The Bryan district of the State De
partment of Highways and Public
Transportation begins a $1.6 million
street and highway improvement
effort this fall, B.G. Bookman, su
pervising resident engineer, said
Wednesday.
The 1983-86 Urban System Prog
ram will improve 269 miles of Texas
urban streets and highways as part of
a statewide program that will cost
approximately $246 million. Con
struction in Bryan includes improve
ments on FM 158, FM 2513 and
Loop 507.
Bookman, who is in charge of de
sign and construction of the Bryan
projects, says plans are complete on
FM 158. FM 158 will be widened to
a four-lane road with curbs, gutters
and a continuous left turn lane. Con
struction on FM 158 will extend
from South Highway 6 to East Villa
Maria Road where similar improve
ments are almost complete.
“We estimate it will go to contract
this fall,” Bookman said, meaning
construction would begin in October
or November. Improvement costs
on the half mile section are esti
mated at $462,(KM).
Bookman said that at a later date,
development of Villa Maria to the
downtown area will continue in an
attempt to adequately connect South
Highway 6 to downtown Bryan.
Loop 507, also call Business 6, will
be widened to a four-lane road with a
continuous left turn lane.
“This is a bottleneck we’ve been
needing to widen for some time,”
Bockman said. Business 6 is a four
lane road until it intersects with FM
2818, where it then gradually nar
rows to a two lane road. Plans are to
widen it until it merges with South
Highway 6.
“Planwork is underway at this
time,” Bockman said. Bids for the
job will be taken sometime this win
ter, he said.
Estimated cost lor the work which
will involve a little more than two-
thirds ofa mile is $880,371.
FM 2513, from Finfeather Road to
FM 2818, will be the last of the three
to undergo improvement, Bockman
said. It has been proposed to widen
the road to provide two 12-foot lanes
with an 8-foot surfaced shoulder.
Bockman indicated that no plan
work has been initiated so a time
schedule cannot be set for the l>egin-
ning of construction.
Construction on that half-mile
section is estimated to cost $246,000.
Funds for the improvements
come from the Federal Highway
Administration and state and city
funds. The Federal Highway Admi
nistration provides 80 percent of the
funds and the remaining 20 percent
is provided by state and city funds,
Brockman said.
The City of Bryan is providing
$106,000 for the development of FM
158.
To determine the locations for im
provement, Bockman said, a local
transportation committee has
periodic meetings to study and
analyze problems in the area. The
committee then makes a priority list
to determine which areas will re
ceive attention when funds become
available, he said.
“We have a more than ample work
load,” Bockman said. “The need ex
ceeds what we are able to do right
now. It outweighs the funds and the
work force.”
President ‘mad as helV at Soviets
Reagan considering new sanctions
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Described by an
aide as “mad as hell,” President Reagan
is said to be considering new sanctions
against the Soviet Union for shooting
down a Korean passenger plane.
An aide said perhaps the only effec
tive sanction available, however, is a
concerted allied effort to deny Moscow
the ability to buy high technology items
— but only those that have military ap
plications.
National Security adviser William
Clark told a leading conservative poli
tical activist Wednesday that step-by-
step measures are under consideration
to squeeze the Kremlin economically.
according to a high-ranking administra
tion official. But the aide cautioned at
the same time that a complete cutoff of
technology would amount to “shooting
ourselves in the foot. ’
Reagan has discounted any diploma
tic or military sanctions against the
Soviets, leaving symbolic gestures like a
worldwide boycott of Soviet airline
flights or a selective embargo of tech
nological goods as the only alternatives.
Clark had an impromptu meeting
with John Dolan, head of the National
Conservative Political Action Commit
tee, and Tryggvi McDonald, the 22-
year-old son of Rep. Larry McDonald,
D-Ga., who was presumed killed when
a Soviet fighter downed Korean Air
Lines Flight 007 after it crossed Soviet
air space last week.
The administration aide, who asked
not to be named, said it is unlikely the
United States would pressure American
companies to stop selling modern tech
nology to Russia. He did suggest the
incident might spur U.S. allies to coop
erate with previous administration
efforts to cut off technology that has
military applications.
“The president, as all of us were, I
think, was mad as hell about this inci
dent,” the aide said. “He and all his
advisers sought ways to get the Soviets
to admit what they had done and to
provide restitution and to keep it from
happening again.”
Also, an administration official said
some time after the Korean airliner was
shot down transmissions were picked
up and that “a person talking from a
(Soviet) ground station was aware that a
civilian airline had been shot down by
them.
The New York Times Wednesday
quoted an administration official saying
“the United States had intercepted
some chatter by Soviet ground control
crews that referred in an excited fashion
to the possibility that a passenger plane
had been brought down.”
Time for some cosmetic surgery
staff photo by Brenda Davidson
The Systems Administration building gets a facelift. The
structure has been undergoing repairs since the
beginning of the summer. Many other buildings around
campus are being cleaned while the weather permits.