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
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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.”
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