Page 4/The Battalion/Wednesday, December 14, 1983 Father believes son is alive in Vietnam United Press International HOUSTON — An Austin man says he has information his missing son and other crewmen of the sunken drill ship Glomar Java Sea are alive in Vietnam. The father of a crewman missing from the drill ship Glomar Java Sea, which sank Oct. 25 during a typhoon off the China coast, says a govern ment official told him some crewmen are alive in Vietnam. Douglas Pierce of Austin, father of John Pierce, 29, of Stephenville, Texas, refused to name the U.S. government official who told him 10 Americans and 11 other crew men are alive in Vietnam. Vice president Dick Ver meer of ship owner Global Marine Inc. of Houston said: “We talk to the State Depart ment every day and we don’t know that information to be The Glomar Java Sea was drilling in the South China Sea under contract to Atlantic Richfield when it sank. Divers have located the vessel under water off Hainan Island, but they have found no sign of its crew. true. Officials had raised the possibility crewmen drifted to Vietnam west of the sinking site if they managed to use lifeboats to survive the onslaught of Typhoon Lex, which the ship supposedly was designed to ride out. None of the 81 men aboard the vessel when it sank has been found. Pierce has filed a federal court suit accusing Global Marine of negligence and seeking $8.5 million in dam ages. Patricia Cates, wife of mis sing crewman Bernard Pat rick Cates of Midland, also has filed a federal court suit accus ing Global Marine of negli gence and seeking $5 million in damages. Pierce said his son had asked for a transfer from the vessel because of communica tion problems between En glish-speaking and Chinese crew members. “Obviously things happen very quickly on a drilling ship and communications are vit al,” the father said. “For the first time in four years (of offshore work) he was afraid.” Global Marine has filed documents in federal court disclaiming responsibility and saying it did everything possi ble to keep the ship safe. In Hong Kong, a U.S. Marine Board of Investiga tion reconvened Monday to hear testimony about the sink ing. The five-member board is scheduled to hear more testi mony in Houston next month. Houston lawyer Michael Shelton, representing Pierce and Mrs. Cates, is attending the hearings in Hong Kong, Pierce said. Vermeer said Global Marine met in Washington last week with an organization of relatives of U.S. soldiers missing in action in Vietnam. The organization provided advice on obtaining informa tion about Americans in Vietnam. Company officials also con tacted Vietnam’s ambassador to the United Nations, who Vermeer said reiterated pre vious statements a Viet namese search had turned up no survivors. “We are working though the State Department and on our own,” Vermeer said. “There’s not a lot of prog ress.” Michael Abrams, Washing ton attroney for Air Line Pilots Association, asked Lorenzo if the board of Con tinental met a few weeks be fore the bankruptcy filing and discussed the options in volved Border drug smuggling causes demand for new aerial radar United Press International CORPUS CHRISTI — A senior state law official told a congressional hearing Tuesday that more that half of the Texas- Mexico border is not covered by radar detection at a time when increasing planeloads of mari juana are being flown in from Mexico. Col. James B. Adams, direc tor of the Texas Department of Public Safety, appeared on a state law enforcement panel as the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control ended a two-day hearing in South Texas in which it deter mined that efforts to control the trafficking and use of drugs in the area have been inadequate. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the panel that will draw up the next national prog ram for dealing with narcotics smuggling and use, was particu larly critical of what he said was a lack of cooperation among agencies and of concerted com munity involvement in dealing with the problem. Adams said in a prepared statement that heroin, cocaine and marijuana continued to en ter the state by land, air and sea and that Texas led the nation in the manufacture of drugs and that marijuana was becoming a more important domestic crop in the state. ficking in large quantities of nat^ colics. Recent seizures have i creased in size down toonl) 50 pounds in each vehicle,It said. Lake Travis area blaze controlled United Press International JONESTOWN — Nearly 300 volunteer firefighters gained control Tuesday of a fast- moving brush fire that me- nanced homes and businesses in the Lake Travis area, authorities said. Travis Gounty sheriffs office spokesman Gurtis Weeks said at least 10 homes were voluntarily evacuated in advance of the wild fire. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. “There’s a lot of smoulder ing, but it looks under control,” said Gedar Park Police Chief I time for the - ^o/ /V , Save until Christmas at a Ts S vV i < For 50 years Loupot has been depending on the Aggies. His business has been built on one Aggie telling another Aggie that nobody treats Aggies better than Of Army Loupot. Right now Loupot is buying used books. He wants all your used books so he’ll have used books for you Aggies to buy this fall! Remember, you have 30 days to buy back any book you decide to keep-for the same price Loupot paid you. HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE COMING TO A&M? If you have a friend or relative coming here next year, give us their name and i address and we’ll send them a Free Aggie Gift! FRIEND’S NAME iADDRESS l L (Fill In And Drop Off At Loupot’s) ONE HOUR PARKING!!! Behind Loupot’s Bookstore Bring your used books now and get top dollar-don’t wait until it’s too late and they become obsolete. Protect your investment. spLouporsip BOOKSTORE NORTHGATE (At the Corner Across From the Post Officel Beginning Our 50th Year Of Serving Aggies. Randolph Doyer, who viewed the scene from a helicopter. Firefighters said the blaze near the Jonestown community in northwest Travis Gounty was whipped by 30-mile-per hour winds that quickly spread the flames over the hilly terrain ab out 20 miles west of Austin. “Our state has an extensive land border with Mexico, a ma jor source in our country for marijuana, and the majority of this border is untouched by radar,” Adams told the panel. “As long as this condition exists, the smuggling of marijuana by general aviation aircraft is going to continue to be a major prob lem of Texas law enforcement officials and the state’s citizens.” Adams said 36 marijuana-laden aircraft were sized during 1982 in Texas and another 10 mari juana-related air crashes were reported. During the first 10 months of 1983, he said 25 drug- related aircraft seizures and three drug-related crashes occurred in the state. He said two vessels also ha« been seized with marijuam aboard on the Texas coast ikj year. He said these figuressii|> port reports that Texas waskt- coming a more important hi ing site for international na® tics traffickers now that ami down in Florida has mai tougher to get boatloadsol drugs ashore there. “Right now we’ve got it pretty well under control and con tained, but with this wind you never know,” said Jonestown Fire Department dispatcher Weldon Horton. “We’ve got all these hot spots and it could blow again and take off 100 mph.” Additionally, Adams said drug smugglers have begun us ing more vehicles and carrying smaller loads across the border to avoid prosecution under re cently passed legislation provid ing stiff mandatory sentences for persons convicted of traf- “Texas also leads the nati« in the amount of illegal dn being manufactured.” Ad; said. “During 1982, 19 labt atories manufacturing ill drugs were put out of open by the DPS in cooperation»i|| other police agencies. Throui October 1983, 24 eland laboratories have been sei» * with a total of $0 million won of met hamphetamine ai amphetamine.” He said law enforcemei agencies in Texas have loan and destroyed 36,272 marijuai plants growing in 88 sepann Tuesi to be plots in 55 Texas countiessofi this year. Horton said more than 100 firefighting vehicles from six Gentral Texas volunteer fire de partments were used to douse the fire. Firefighters planned toremain on watch during the night to make sure the fire did not flare up again. A&M economists blame Congress for energy crisis by Kelly Miller Ciov. Mark While dispatched helicopters from the Texas Army National Guard to help combat the fire. The choppers were outfitted with two special “fire buckets” that dumped wa ter over an area 75 yards wide. Battalion Reporter Two Texas A&M economists. Dr. S. Charles Maurice and Dr. Charles W. Smithson, are blam ing Congress for the energy cri sis of the 1970s. There was conflict over how many acres were destroyed dur ing the nearly four hours the fire burned out of control. Weeks estimate the acreage at 2,000, but Doyer and Horton said it appeared to be only about 200 acres. The Jonestown Fire Depart ment called for volunteers, in cluding off-duty Austin fire fighters, to battle the fire, and obtained firefighting equip ment from theTravis County Fire Control District. While many Americans fault the Organization of Petroleum Countries and big oil com panies, Maurice and Smithson say the government’s policies on price controls and limited ex ports caused most of the prob lems. The economists say the gov ernment shouldn’t interfere in the free enterprise system, but should let supply and demand control the market’s natural course. “We let the market operate in 1981 and as soon as we did, the prices leveled off,” Smithson says. Maurice and Smithson say the ingenuity of human beings has always found a way to over come past crises. The cause of the fire, which is believed to have started near the Nameless Valley Ranch, was not known. “People don’t need the gov ernment to tell them ways to conserve energy,” Maurice says. “They’ll simply do it themselves. They’ve done it in the | they'll do it in the future The economists’ theom supply and demand tinue to eliminate shortagi examined in a book thevi writing. “We have a very optira veiw of the world," Smiili! says. “That’s why we've i our lxx>k The Doomsdayi — J 0,000 Years of Em ('rises." Maurice and Smithsonsail Reagan administration: deregulate natural gas inii9| ately, instead of steadily t ulating the industry over) next three years. “Natural gas is high | and simply because of i lion,” Maurice says. “Iftlier) regulate within a year, najj gas prices will begin tun down, just like gasoline | did. That’s the bottom 1 Smithson says the I prices caused by reguMl sound good to consumers,! eventually lead to shortages) “The lower prices soun very good,” Smithson says, theyjust lead toshortages.il C ut a lid on prices, shortages) ound to occur.” sav I 'gy W'' ■7 day p 12 stati tuning 8 fund JE 45 Wa NOW HA1 NAVY HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM • 20 oz 1 yea FULLY-PAID EDUCATION PLUS MONTHLY INCOME If you are considering applying to an approved school of medicine or osteopathy, you may qualify for the Navy Health Professions Scholarship Program. AS A SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT THE NAVY PAYS: Your full tuition, authorized fees and educational expenses; the cost of required books and supplies; rental fees for necessary equipment such as microscopes;and a monthly stipend of $579.00 paid directly to you. 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