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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1983)
Texas A&M Battalion Serving the University community Monday, October 3, 1983 Salvadorans say Reagan must talk or fight Bonfire chain command staff photo by Guy Chandler Hood Chris Schwalb, left, and Stephen Gray, two senior civilian coordinators for bonfire, tie chains around logs which are to be transported by tractor to the loading site. This was the first official cutting weekend and Aggies started off by cutting trees, hauling logs and loading trucks for the trip to Duncan field. United Press International Mexico City — The top Salvadoran rebel negotiator said Sunday that lef tist rebels will fight until President Reagan talks with them or faces “the tough decision of sending U.S. Marines.” The pledge came as a rebel radio broadcast said an army colonel ordered an air strike on a civilian- populated town under attack by leftist guerrillas. Ruben Zamora, the head of the rebel Democratic Revolutionary Front, made the statements to UPI in Mexico City where he was attending a convention of the U.S.-based Latin America Studies Association. Zamora said the rebels will con tinue their four-year-old civil war against the U.S.-backed government until “the Reagan administration negotiates or to the moment of the tough decision of sending U.S. marines to El Salvador to prop up the government. “The signs are that Reagan believes he can win a military victory in El Sal vador,” said Zamora. But Zamora added the rebels will not give up attempts to negotiate with the government. “Two years ago they said they would never talk with us, and now we have met with them twice,” he said. “We will not sell out in the first meet ings.” Rebel Radio Venceremos broad cast what it said was a tape recording of a radio communication between Col. Adolfo Blandon and an air force official. Despite heavy jamming of the rebel radio, a man’s voice could be heard shouting “the streets, the streets, bomb the streets.” Venceremos claimed the tape was made by rebels who occupy Guazapa volcano, which is 20 miles north of San Salvador and 9 miles northwest of Tenancingo. Government officials have admit ted that U.S.-supplied A-37 warjets killed 18 and wounded more than 30 civilians last week in a bombing raid on rebel-occupied Tenancingo, just north of El Salvador. In Miami, Costa Rican President Luis Alberto Monge met with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to prepare for Kissinger’s forthcoming trip to Central America. Kissinger and 60 to 70 commission members and advisers are set to begin a five-day tour of Costa Rica, Hon duras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Pana ma and Guatemala Oct. 9. “We need immediate economic aid for production programs above all to confront social unrest — social imba lances that the crisis in Costa Rica has produced,” said Monge prior to lunch with Kissinger. In Nicaragua, anti-Sandinista re bels declared the country’s most im portant port a combat zone, in a warn ing to Mexican oil tankers using the facility to deliver nearly all the coun try’s petroleum. nclaimed checks each $250,000 Steam tunnel may interfere BELL tower site not yet OK’d by Karen Wallace Battalion Reporter More than a quarter of a million liars in scholarship and grant >ney had not been claimed as of last feek, Lynn Brown, student financial |d administrator, says. Some of the checks, ranging from 0 to $1,000, have been ready since "1 can see where a student might not pick up a $50 scholarship check cause he’s not necessarily needy, (Ut a $1,000 grant check just sitting there for a supposedly needy student makes me wonder,” Brown said. When the registrar’s office releases Who’s who deadline Applications will be taken for Vho’s Who in American Colleges md Universities until October 21. pplications should be taken to Dr. hn Koldus’ office in the YMCA uilding. inside ground town 10 Classified 16 ,ocal 3 National 10 [Opinions 2 [Sprts 13 State 7 mhat’s up 8 forecast partly cloudy and warm — highs in the upper 80’s. address rosters, Brown said, the 700 students will be written and asked to pick up their checks at the Fiscal Office. After two weeks, she said, the unclaimed checks will be cancelled and re-used. “We can’t set a deadline until we get addresses, but tentatively, any thing left after Oct. 21 will be cancel led,” Brown said. The same thing happened last year, she said, but this semester it’s worse. “I thought $100,000 last year was terrible, but this year it’s over $250,000,” she said. Last year, Brown wrote some stu dents three times and even called some on the phone but they still didn’t pick up their checks. “This year it’s gonna be one letter and if it’s still there two weeks later, it’s cancelled,” she said. “Somebody else really needs this money. by Brigid Brockman Battalion Staff Former student Ford D. Albritton told the Texas A&M Board of Re gents last week that he would like a 130-foot bell tower — his gift to the University — to be built between the YMCA and Coke Buildings, but the building site has not been approved yet by the planning and building com mittee. Albritton, Class of ’43, would like the tower built in the spot where a circular flower bed sits between the two buildings. The tower will be built of brick and limestone, and will match the style and color of the Academic Building. The Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue will be visible through the arch in the base of the structure. Joe Jordan, student body presi dent, said in an interview that he appreciated Albritton’s gift, but he feels there may be some problems. “The physical constraints seem to be the main problem,” he said. Some of the physical constraints include underground water and elec trical lines and a steam tunnel that runs parallel to Coke Street. The steam tunnel is an 8-foot wide pipe that carries water to and from the University power plant. The steam tunnel is a vital part of the sys tem that heats and cools all of the rooms on campus. Joe J. Estill, director of the physical plant department, said all of the ob stacles could be overcome. “I don’t think the utilities should dictate where they build the tower,” he said. Estill said there is a possibility that the tower could be built to straddle the steam tunnel. The steam tunnel also could be moved, he said, but that would be expensive. Dr. Charles E. McCandless, associ ate provost for academic affairs, said some alternative sites may be consi dered. “I do think there are other sites,” he said. “The plaza on the west side of campus could be a good focal point, or the grassy area between the O&M (Oceanography and Meteorology) and Langford Buildings.” McCandless said he had heard there was a steam tunnel at the prop osed building site. Before, plans had not been made to erect a building in that area, he said. “It had always been a street — military walk — before it was turned into a mall,” he said. Kelli Kiesling, president of the Re sidence Hall Association, said she is opposed to the idea of putting the tower in front of the Academic Building. “I’m not in favor of putting any thing there which will block that view,” she said. “It’s a nice idea, but more research needs to be done be fore they pick a site.” Gen. Wesley E. Peel, vice chancel lor for facilities planning and con struction, said there has been no change in the status of the bell tower since it was first announced to the re gents on Monday. t’s premature to say what is going this time,” he said. “We will con- “It’i on at i tact Mr. Albritton early this week and we will work with him on construction and location.” Bicyclists ignoring laws despite police ticketing by Cathy Smith Battalion Reporter What has two arms, two legs, two wheels and doesn’t stop for anything? Any campus policeman will tell you it’s a bicyclist. On Sept. 1 University Police began ticketing bicyclists who violated traffic safety laws. The most frequent violations are running stop signs and failing to stop for people in crosswalks, Director of Security and Traffic Robert Wiatt says. He says these violations are appa rent to any pedestrian on campus. Cyclists ignore bike lanes, sideswipe people in crosswalks and pull in front of cars without warning, he says. Pedestrians shouldn’t have to be dodging bicyclists, Wiatt says. That’s the reason the department began tick eting delinquent bicyclists, he says. So far the cyclists have reacted favorably, Wiatt says. Most students are cooperative and will stop when asked, he says. They will admit they rode through a stop sign, but they always have a reason for the violation, he says. However, there have been inci dents in which a few of Texas A&M’s demons on wheels did not cooperate. A woman officer stopped a male cyc list for running a stop sign. She had intended only to issue a warning but he became unruly. She took out her ticket book to fine him the standard $4 and he slapped the book from her hand. He was handcuffed, charged with assault and fined $162. Other cyclists have ignored police officers and ridden away. As one rid er put it: “It was great. A cop tried to stop me and I just rode off down the sidewalk.” The department is trying to edu cate the cyclists, Wiatt says. People should be riding their bikes like they drive their cars. University traffic rules apply to motorists and bicyclists. The dangers of driving are the same for bicycling, he says. Careless cyclists could hurt others or themselves. But bicyclists aren’t the only ones to blame for the problem. John Hal- lett, an aerospace engineering major from Houston, cycles to campus every day. He says he tries to watch for pedestrians and cars but they aren’t always watching for him. Some peo ple just don’t pay attention and it’s hard to stop on a dime when someone steps out in front of you. And then someone gets hurt. The hurting has been a true-to-life experience for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists. Some have limped around for a few days with bumps and bruises, some have had their bikes or bodies mangled in collisions, and some have had their cars rear-ended or scratched. An A.P. Beutel Health Center staff nurse says that bicycle-related acci dents are frequent. Barbara Reilley says they treat at least 10 people a week, and probably more than that. Because its ticketing campaign be gan only a month ago, the police de partment has no statistics on the effec tiveness of $4 fines for taming the wild cyclists of Aggieland. But cyclists who stop for nothing beware: the E olice will continue to ticket the reck- :ss. staff photo by Mike Davis Alabama in Aggieland The lead singer for Alabama, Randy Owen, wears a Texas A&M jersey while whipping up some Aggie spirit Friday night in G. Rollie White Coliseum. See review on page 4.