uston
Reactions to ‘Something about Amelia’
come in from across nation, B-CS
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Local senior citizens
find fun and games
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The Battalion
,amar
Serving the University communily
.Thonu
Vol 78 No. 73 USPS 0453110 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, January 11, 1984
old snap causes campus damage
by Ronnie Crocker
Battalion Staff
The recent prolonged freezing
jell, which sent temperatures plung-
intothe low teens during the worst
leeze to hit this area in many years,
used at least $160,000 worth of
mage to dormitories and on-
tnpus buildings, including the
[edital Sciences Building.
Damage was reported in at least six
Irmitories, including I.eggett, Haas
■d at least one Corps dorm. Walton
d Hart halls were the hardest hit.
nid, 1“ ie full extent of the damage won’t
d to
ice,II
the"
;ht ,
their M
ntoari'
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theii
enditiw
pic iw
chanjp
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renio'i
llybe known until all the on-campus
idents have arrived.
Water damage in many buildings
d dormitories on campus, caused
omen® broken pipes, will cost between
,000 and 580,000 to repair, phy-
onewfci plant director Joe Estill said.
' ' The $60,000 to $80,000 figure
esn't include the damage done to
|e Medical Science Building.
Ron Sasse, associate director for
jdentaffairs, said that the Universi-
is not legally responsible or liable
led aM r damage to students belongings.
nships
sagoni mbursed for damage to their per-
d 11 set
idainai
hange
a
S SO'
Taraso
arvill
jetitors
a and
‘ of the
illegal,
ich Dea
e should
tied
uerrillas stage two
m French forces in Beirut
ro is
ogram
their ai
ig as id
t is an
ership.
ting, win
adents need to have insurance to he
al property.
However, Sasse said that his office
is trying to find a way to help the
students concerned. He said he felt a
“moral responsibility,” but admitted
he didn’t know what could be done.
Many students and faculty mem
bers are beginning to realize the ex
tent of the damage as they return for
the spring semester.
Freshman Carol Cook’s arrival at
Texas A&M about 3:80 p.m. Tuesday
was an unpleasant experience, to say
the least. She entered ner dorm room
to Find ruined furniture, shoes, pic
tures and a possibly damaged re
frigerator and television set.
For her roommate, Jamie Piehl, a
junior health and physical education
major from Woodsboro, it was less of
a surprise because she had been noti
fied Jan. 5 that their First floor room
in Underwood Hall had been flooded
when a water pipe broke in the recent
hard freeze.
But Cook, an aerospace engineer
ing major from Uvalde, was com
pletely surprised. As she looked
around the mildewed room at the
warped wood of the beds and desks
and at the black mold growing on her
mattress, she said, “I don’t want to
move my stuff in.”
Piehl said she had to have a mainte
nance man open the drawers under
her bed with a crowbar.
Cook and Piehl weren’t the only
ones affected by water damage.
Three other rooms in Underwood
also were damaged by the gushing wa
ter flowing out of the cracks in the
pipes that had burst, and frozen water
pipes burst in at least 35 other build
ings on campus.
Estill said the water wasn’t turned
off anywhere over tfie holidays except
in the Halbouty Geosciences Building
because there is no electricity in that
building.
He also said that leaving faucets
dripping will not prevent water from
freezing in the pipes in buildings as it
does in houses. It only will prevent a
f reeze at the faucet itself.
Estill said he had about 90 percent
of his people working over the holi
days cleaning up the mess caused by
the broken pipes.
Custodians were vacuuming water
out of rooms in Ramp A of Walton
Hall Tuesday. Outside were piles of
rolled up carpet and carpet padding.
Frank Nicolas, manager of the
married student apartments, said that
there were a few broken water pipes
but very little apartment and personal
damage there.
Michael A. White, administrative
planning analyst for the College of
Medicine, said there were several
breaks of both hot and cold water
lines, mostly in the north face of the
building.
In that building, which has been
open since July, there are pumps that
are designed to send not water
through a coil to heat the water pipes
when temperatures dip below the
freezing mark.
White said a possible reason for the
broken pipes is that the pumps may
have been wired backward and didn’t
circulate the water. In two other cases,
the switch plate for the pumps were
put on backward, meaning that the
pump wasn’t on even though the
switch was in the “on” position.
White estimated that it will cost
$100,000 to cover damages done to
ceilings, carpets and equipment in the
building. White added that “several
tens of thousands of dollars” worth of
equipment will have to be checked for
damages. — —
At Prairie View A&M University
the damage was extensive enough to
delay the beginning of the spring
semester. Hot and cold water is sche
duled to be returned to the campus
Jan. 14.
attacks
Dean Saito, Battalion staff
United Press International
BEIRUT — Guerrillas staged two
rts batliacks against French peace-keeping
rces Tuesday, soon after Syrian-
teked rebels dashed hopes for a
banese peace plan by demanding
Tievart iw concessions from the Beirut gov
pment.
There were two simultaneous
that tb iscks," said French spokesman Col.
absoli® lilippe DeLongeaux. There were no
sualties, unlike attacks in die pre-
)us two days that killed a French
never# ratrooper and a U.S. marine.
DeLongeaux said a guard post at
ie all t 6heavily fortified French Embassy,
have arthe ruins of the former Amer-
n0 re ill n Embassy, was attacked with light
it certaii
says
CalW
U.S. Marines on guard around the
ilding dove for cover. There were
very se#reports of new U.S casualties.
At the same time, two rocket-
opelled grenades were fired at a
sition that French troops share with
jout tlifi Lebanese army about a mile from
:e couf Trench Embassy.
Earlier, the Lebanese army and Sy-
•backed Druze Moslem rebels ex-
v any i#
sour tl#
The ft®
There
ire a
UFF
BY
BOB
DDSO
324-25 1
changed mortar and machine-gun
fire around the key crossroads of
Khalde, on the coastal highway just
south of the U.S. Marine base at
Beirut Airport.
The attacks came after the rebels
dashed hopes for a peace plan to halt
fighting around Beirut by issuing a
statement demanding sweeping
changes in the Lebanese army and the
cancellation of the U.S.-mediated
May 17 Israeli-Lebanese troop with
drawal agreement.
The rebel statement, issued by the
office of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt
in Damascus, followed a meeting of
the Syrian-sponsored National Salva
tion Front, which opposes the govern
ment of Lebanese President Amin
Gemayel.
It said the opposition figures*
“agreed to the necessity of finding a
comprehensive political solution to
keep the Arab identity of Lebanon, its
unity and liberty.”
It said they would counter Christ
ian Phalange Party control of the gov
ernment through “the scrapping of
the May 17 agreement, reforming the
army structure to make it into a na
tional army acceptable to all Lebanese
before giving it security missions.”
The army is also under Phalange con
trol.
The refusal to let the army under
take “security missions” was a clear
rejection of the government’s
attempts to arrange a limited peace
plan covering an area from Beirut to
Israeli lines about 20 miles to the
south.
The government’s plan was to be a
first step toward extending its author
ity throughout Lebanon, with the ulti
mate goal of restoring a sovereign na
tion.
On Monday, the foreign ministers
of Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia
adjourned in the Saudi capital with
out any progress toward restoring
peace to the largely occupied nation.
The ministers are to resume their
discussions in Morocco Jan. 16, but
Syria made clear it objects to the
agreement with Israel under which
Lebanon offered economic and milit
ary concessions for an Israeli promise
to withdraw.
Syria’s official radio said that “the
May 17 accord remains the major
stumbling block foiling attempts to
unify Lebanon.
“The Americans and the Israelis
are in the same trench,” Damascus
radio said. “Because of that, the
Lebanese should not yield to Amer
ican pressure aimed at persuading
them to keep the May 17 accord.”
Israel, backed by the United States,
insists on implementation of the
agreement and withdrawal of Syrian
troops, while Syria refuses to pull its
troops out until the accord is can
celed.
Lebanon’s Moslem Prime Minister,
Chefik Wazzan, said the Saudi meet
ing “did not secure all the solutions we
had been waiting for,” but was a step
toward resuming a conference of war
ring Lebanese factions that first met
in November in Geneva.
But Pierre Gemayel, father of Pres
ident Amin Gemayel and the head of
the Christian Phalange Party, said
there was no progress in the meeting.
Physical Plant workers get ready to leave after cleaning
out most of the damaged material from A-ramp in Walton
Hall. The carpet was ruined when freezing temperatures
caused water pipes to burst.
Registration begins
The following is a schedule of im
portant dates for this semester:
Wednesday, Jan. 11 — Delayed reg
istration begins, Drop/Add begins.
Friday, Jan. 13 — Delayed registra
tion ends.
Saturday, Jan. 14 (noon) — Last day
for students who registered during
delayed registration to pay fees.
Monday, Jan. 16 — Spring Semester
Classes begin, Late Registration be
gins, Last day for students to pay fees.
Friday, Jan. 20 — Last day to enroll in
the University for spring semester.
Last day for adding new courses, Late
registration ends.
NOTE: Card packets for late registra
tion of students who were enrolled in
Texas A&M during the Fall 1983
semester, can be obtained at the stu
dent’s major department. Transfer
students’ and readmitted graduate
students’ card packets are with their
deans. Graduate students’ card pack
ets are with their major departments.
Fees will be collected at the Rudder
Exhibit Hall from Monday, Jan. 9 to
Tuesday, Jan. 17. from 8 a.m. to 5
p.m., and Saturday, Jan. 14 from 8
a.m. until noon. After Jan. 17, all fees
will be collected at the Fiscal Depart
ment in the Coke Building. Any stu
dent who registers or pays fees after
the first class day of the spring semes
ter, Jan. 16, will be assessed a late fee
of $10.
Gramm: Federal budget
could cure deficit woes
by Karen Wallace
Battalion Staff
U.S. Rep. Phil Gramm, candidate
forthe Senate seat being vacated by
Sen. John Tower, said Tuesday the
j-nH tat way to deal with the deficit in
hev W-' ^ e ^ n ‘ tec * States is to budget feder-
y al government spending.
“We should put the federal gov-
jj trnmenton a budget like everybody
01 'hi! e ' se " sa '^ at t ^ ie f'°^ e ge Station
iSWlln' Apartment Association banquet at
theAggieland Inn.
Gramm said that a balanced
ie grass yg et C0U 1 C J be achieved in five
the Othj fears if the federal government was
he neilf puton a budget that would control
spending on some programs and eli
minate other programs,
you'll W This would be difficult because
jnd fall* *htne of the federal programs are
loo important to be cut, he said.
“You can’t cut Medicare, and be-
, cause of the recent Soviet threats
can’t cut defense,” he said.
“Other areas must be cut.”
Although it would be difficult to
iecide what to cut and how much to
ipend on each program, budgeting
‘ederal spending in this manner is
he best solution, Gramm said.
There are two ways to deal with
Ihedeficit, he said.
U.S. Rep. Phil Gramm
“We could stay with the programs
that are working and go back to con
trolling the government spending
like it calls for, or we could raise the
taxes,” he said.
This decision will be made in the
1984 election, Gramm said.
“If we froze the federal spending
at the current level, in 3 years we
would have a balanced budget with
out cutting a single program. But of
course, that’s impossible.”
Gramm said that in 1981, a 3-year
program to put control on federal
spending was implemented. Howev
er, because the program was im
plemented in the midst of the reces
sion, it was not as successful as it
could have been, he said.
Still, Gramm said the control on
federal spending revitalized the eco
nomy, giving 4 million people jobs
and promising a sound economy in
1984, Gramm said.
Gramm said controlling govern
ment spending would also bring
down mortgage rates.
“We can bring the mortgage rates
down if we deal with the deficit
problem,” Gramm said.
Gramm said that when he bought
his first house in College Station, he
had a loan at 6 percent interest. His
second house had a loan at 7 and
one-quarter percent, he said.
“The old interest rates could
come back if the deficit problem is
dealt with by controlling federal
spending,” he said.
Tower says Middle East
needs Marines’ support
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Senate Armed
Services Committee Chairman John
Tower and Sen. John Warner, R-Va.,
just back from the Mideast, said Tues
day withdrawing the Marines from
Lebanon — or even setting a six-
month deadline — would be “dis
astrous.”
At a joint news conference, Tower,
R-Texas, and Warner called for more
economic and military aid for Leba
non and rejected suggestions the
Marines be redeployed to higher
ground in Beirut or to U.S. ships for
improved security.
Tower said he had “reservations
and concerns” about the American
role in Lebanon before the trip, but
those were eliminated after speaking
to Middle East officials.
“Based on our meetings with offi
cials in the region, it is absolutely clear
that a withdrawal of U.S. forces from
Lebanon without substantial evidence
of diplomatic success, would have a
disastrous effect upon continued U.S.
influence throughout the vitally im
portant Middle East and perhaps else
where,” a joint statement by the sena
tors said.
“It is important that the superpow
er of the West not appear to suffer a
defeat at the hands of the Syrians and,
indirectly, the Soviet Union,” Tower
told reporters.
Tower and Warner met with Presi
dent Reagan at the White House for
30 minutes to report on their seven-
day, five-nation tour of the Middle
East that ended Monday. The two
GOP senators met with government
and military officials in Lebanon,
Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
“The first question the president
asked was, ‘What is the morale of the
Marines?”’ Warner said.
“We assured the president that
morale is high,” Warner said.
“The Marines would be the last in
the world to say we ought to turn tail
and run,” Tower said.
“We impressed upon the president
we have to deal with Syria on very
strong terms diplomatically” to
achieve peace in the area, Warner
said.
In their prepared statement, the
senators said, “Middle East leaders
believe that Syria’s position of influ
ence in the region will be greatly en
hanced by a precipitous withdrawal of
U.S. Marines, as she will be perceived
to have successfully resisted the Un
ited States, while moderate Arab
states friendly to the United States will
be weakened.
“There is no real difference be
tween setting a time limit of six
months on the U.S. military presence
in Lebanon and an immediate with
drawal; in their view, the effects will
be the same,” the statement said.
“With regard to the situation of
U.S. Marines in Lebanon, the com
mander of the U.S. multinational
force contingent appears to be mak
ing maximum effort to further re
duce the vulnerability of U.S. per
sonnel.
“It is our view that none of the op
tions being considered for the rede
ployment on land of U.S. peace
keeping forces would result in a signi
ficant enhancement of the security of
U.S. personnel over their current de
ployment; to the contrary, such re
positioning may actually increase the
vulnerability of U.S. personnel,” the
statement said.
Tower told reporters some U.S.
military officers believe the Marines
should not have been sent to Lebanon
iti the first place, but “now that they
are there, realize the political con
sequences of a withdrawal would be
disasterous.”
Tower would not estimate the
amount of aid that would be needed,
saying only that “it’s not really a whole
lot.”