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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1983)
Tuesday, Octobers 1983/The Battalion/Page 5 Using third world ways Lab classes make bricks staff photo by Gin! II, son of Lt II, the firsl essor at Texas Ail sever, Bluford r and brother are laving an astronaut: by Chappelle Henderson Battalion Reporter While some lab classes in volve sitting in a classroom waiting for something excit ing to happen in a test tube, this wasn’t the case last Thurs day or Friday in Civil En gineering 315. A device used in third world countries to compact mud and clay into bricks is being used in the labs to help develop a stronger more dur able brick. “Lots of places in the world have used this method,” Dr. Leonard D. Webb, associate professor of civil engineering, said. The CINVA-Ram was in troduced in 1952 by the Inter- American Housing and Plan ning Center in Bogota, Col ombia, to aid third world countries by producing a material strong enough to build with, Webb said. The lab involves using dif ferent additives such as lime and portland cement or con crete to stabilize the soil, Webb said. The students added water to dirt, making sure it was not too wet. They then took the dirt and added different amounts of lime or cement to get different types of bricks which then were placed indi vidually into the CINVA-Ram — a box about one foot long and eight inches deep with a pole about six feet long attached to the lid — to apply pressure and compact the dirt to form the bricks. The bricks are labeled and dried before going into the Final stage of the experiment — testing for strength under pressure. Alan Pond, graduate teaching assistant, said the lab will produce about 30 types of bricks from which the class will build a wall to see how long the adobe will last. staff photo by John Makely Joey Panazzo from Sugarland and Mark Haynie from Corpus Christ!, make bricks in their civil engineering class, both are senior building construction majors. Suspects’ flight ends in surrender, death United Press International PADUCAH — A man and his son, on the run for killing two Minnesota bankers, decided to get out of their dead-end situa tion with a suicide and a surren der, Cottle County Sheriff Frank Taylor said Monday. James Lee Jenkins, 46, was found dead about 6:30 p.m. Sunday on an abandoned farm 4 miles north of the west Texas community of Paducah. Steve Jenkins, 18, showed Taylor where he could find the father’s body. Taylor said the younger Jenkins indicated he would waive extradition Monday and return to Minnesota to face two second-degree murder charges in the slayings of Rudy Blythe, 42, president of the Buffalo Ridge Bank in Ruthton, Minn., and loan officer Toby Thulin, 37. “I guess they talked it over. The father decided he’d end it out there and the son decided to give himself up,” Taylor said. Jenkins’ body was found in the middle of a road leading to the farm. He shot himself through the mouth with a 12- gauge shotgun. The younger Jenkins surren dered to Paducah police at 6:30 p.m. Sunday and told author ities his father had committed the shootings, Taylor said. The pair had spent most of Sunday hiding out in a partially burned building on the aban doned farm, Taylor said, and apparently were on their way back to Brownwood in south west Texas, where they used to work. Lincoln County Sheriff Abe Thompson of Minnesota told Taylor officers from his office would arrive in Texas Monday afternoon togetjenkinsafteran extradition hearing. Jenkins gave himself up to a police dispatcher who called Taylor, ending a three-day, 800- mile flight for the teen and his father. In October 1980, the Buffalo Ridge Bank foreclosed on Jenk ins’ farm and then bought an interest in it, according to Lin coln County, Minn., court re cords. Jenkins later filed for bankruptcy, court officials said last week. Upon losing his farm, Jenk ins lived in Texas for about a year. Brownwood police Friday reported Jenkins worked as a night guard and maintenance man at the school there for a few months. Jenkins recently bought a farm near Hardwick, Minn., but was having trouble getting the Buffalo Ridge Bank to grant him credit to buy cattle, Minne sota authorities said. They said neither Blythe or Thulin was involved in the fore closure on Jenkin’s first farm. Ijunate 'harassed' UH honors politician from South America Prison worker sued when asked if like to be an asiti lunger Bluford [ have time to thinia lit now all I mtrv« United Press International hrough college,"ftl WASH INGTON — The Sup- ■me Court Monday let a deci- ■m stand allowing “jailhouse \ -pv /A VJ filLver” Allen Lamar to seek / ly 11'images from a Texas prison X ■iployee for harassment, even lough it failed to stop the hi sses during the l!|L e f rom filing lawsuits, hat crashed in 1™ lid decline of oil pi The high court’s decision as Banking Cornu means Lamar, a 46-year-old iam Aldridgesaidi convicted thief who was serving the failed banblS-year sentence for robbery lecame depositors'by assault, will return to a Hous- iank of Odessa* ton magistrate court to have a ransaction. ly assess damages against C spokesman Alai longtime Texas Department of d the assumption Corrections employee Len :iy the new banblthur Steele, ed for a payoff ■ rank’s accounts, llamar was released from the Keral prison in Leavenworth, itney added itabten., 12 days ago, his attorney possible losses todtlln Boyd said. He was transfer- h accountsabovciiift to federal custody after tes- isured limitofSIDifying in a case which led to Beeping reform orders of the ^ , iexas prison system. ■ Odessa bank tw Permian Basin b®; r to . Inn three monthP^ 6 ’ n ° W an aSS,Stant war ' anking Board i Bank of Midland] late July. ] idland bankrec] ing Monday iperating undfi Mid-Cities N' Ben at the TDC diagnostic unit, is a building major at I DC’s lis Unit in Huntsville when mar filed the lawsuit that led ■ a favorable magistrate jurv’s Blinoun 1080 J 7 3 filing in 1980. iLamar, known as a “writ wri- T an , d J- ailh ouse lawyer” be- Pe h , e frequently filed law threatened him because of a series of lawsuits filed over con ditions in the nation’s largest prison system. Lamar said Steele burned his legal documents, asked an in mate to assault him, asked another inmate to kill him, in vited him to pick up a small knife while Steele held a large knife and promised to send him home in a “pine box” if he did not cease his activities as a writ The trial included testimony — over Steele’s objections — that the TDC official had asked inmate Bertrand Bennett to kill another writ writer and lhat in mate Lawerence Smith, who died bef ore trial, said Steele had threatened to harm Lamar if he continued filing lawsuits. The magistrate’sjury ruled in 1980 that Steele had harassed Lamar, but decided against awarding him damages. U.S. Magistrate Calvin Botely in Houston awarded Lamar a nominal $1 in damages, as well as $7,992.33 in attorney fees to be paid by Steele. Steele appealed, saying no damages should be awarded be cause there was no injury if Lamar continued to file his law- SU1 whH-h P t ite i )fthe harass ment — ivhith he described as harsh language often necessary for prison management. Steele also raised objections again about the inmate testimony. Lamar cross-appealed, saying the questions put to the jury were confusing and the panel should have been allowed to assess damages. The jurors had found that while Steele had tried to intimi date Lamar from filing his law suits, it did not believe he had “unnecessarily and wantonly in flicted emotional distress” on Lamar. The negative response to the second question incorrectly pre cluded jurors from considering damages, Lamar argued. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld inclusion of tes timony about the other inmates’ claims and Botley’s award of attorneys fees but sent the case back to him for a new trial “sole ly on the issues of actual and ex emplary damages.” The Supreme Court Monday let stand that decision, which means Lamar now will get another chance in court. Court documents show that Lamar — who has spent time in eight prisons in Texas, Califor nia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, In diana and Tennessee — was usually unsuccessful in his hun dreds of lawsuits but had some notable exceptions. United Press International HOUSTON — A South American educator, physician and political leader will be hon ored by the University of Hous ton this week and will receive an award for his work in education. Dr. Jaime Lusinchi, a candi date for the presidency of Vene zuela and member of the “Accion Democratica” party, will be given a special award Wednesday designating him as “Distinguished Social and Edu cational Leader of the Amer icas,” said UH president Dr. Charles Bishop. SPECIAL DISK SALE $2.50 each 5 1/4 single side, double density, error free 100% certified 5 yr warranty OTHER SERVICE COMPUTER RENTAL ($3.95/1hr includes free use of business application software) Word Processing & Resume Services THE COMPUTER PLACE Texas 707 Shopping Center (Suite 1086) The Great New Taste of Grandy’s Country (Hookin’! Something for Everyone • Southern Fried Chicken • Country Fried Steak • Country Barbecue Ribs • Garden Fresh Salad Bar • Country Breakfasts 1003 E. Harvey Road (West of the Post Oak Mall) 764-1177 • Bryan / College Station