/
4
Pat Metheny visits
Rudder Auditorium
See page 10
3 more Ags meet
NCAA standards
See page 12
U.S. Hockey team
eligibilty disputed
See page 13
TKe Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol 78 No. 90 CJSPS 0453110 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, February 6, 1984
/
Cold snap keeping
-OS sweeps busy
By JAN PERRY
Reporter
I Legend says that the touch of a
chimney sweep will bring good luck —
|iot to mention a sooty hand — to all
who greet him.
E With winter’s freezing weather and
wie tendency for people to have fires
f in their home fireplaces, a lot of peo-
■learound Bryan and College Station
K|ie shaking'the sooty hands of Mark
ILoflus and Nick Pappas.
I Loflus and Pappas are chimney
■weeps who incorporate modern
■leaning techniques with many of the
■•aditions of chimney sweeping.
E One such tradition that they carry
I On in their 1-year-old business —
|hich they call Old London Chimney
■weeps — is the practice of wearing
lack top hats while cleaning chim-
eys.
Chimney sweeps wear the top hats
“half out of superstition and half out
ol custom,” Pappas said. “It’s bad luck
I lot to.”
I As full-time firefighters for the
Bryan Fire Department, Loflus and
i Pappas, who are sweeps during their
' olf-duty hours, said they have a con-
■derable amount of experience in
Healing with the hazards of unkept
fireplaces.
I The primary danger of dirty fire-
■places is the buildup of creosote, a
|nighly flammable, tarlike substance
khat coats the inside of the chimney
land reduces the ef ficiency of the fire-
fplace, Pappas said.
■ If creosote is allowed to build up
too long, Pappas said, the chimney
become unsafe, and the fireplace
should not be used because of the
Banger of a chimney fire.
■ “A chimney fire can be very fright-
fening,” Loflus said. “It looks and
Bunds like there is a rocket engine in
■your house.”
A chimney fire burns at extremely
ligh temperatures, about 3,()()() de
uces Fahrenheit, Pappas said. At that
Jgh temperature tfie mortar melts or
flaming halls of creosote may be
thrown onto the roof.
I The damage to a fireplace after a
chimney fire appears to be minimal;
however, the structure is weakened
and can endanger the entire house if
used again without the necessary re
pairs.
While on the job, Pappas and Lof-
tus do make minor repairs to chim
neys if needed. They do not, however,
try to repair the more serious damage
that may require a professional
mason.
Pappas and Loflus, who clean ab
out two or three chimneys a week, said
they use the same cleaning techniques
now as chimney sweeps used 100
years ago.
Pappas, the smaller sweep, said he
usually works inside the fireplace. He
wears an old Army gas mask to filter
the ash and soot out of the air while
scrubbing the walls of the chimney.
Extended exposure to the soot — like
coal dust — may cause cancer, he said.
Cleanliness is always their main
priority. Pappas is careful to lay out
larps on the floor and to use a vacuum
with 900 cubic feet of air to pull most
of the soot out of the air.
While Pappas is scrubbing the low
er portion of the chimney from below,
Loflus usually is on the rooftop scrub
bing from above.
Loflus uses brushes and fiberglass
poles that come in 5-foot sections to
clean the creosote, bird droppings
and nests out of the chimneys. Occa
sionally, Loflus said, the two have
been hired to remove dead raccoons
or squirrels f rom chimneys.
The entire chimney-sweeping pro
cess, Pappas said, takes about 1-1W
hours, depending on the size of the
chimney and the degree of creosote
buildup.
Harry Davis, College Station fire
marshal, said one way to reduce the
build-up of creosote and the risks of
chimney fire is to burn well-seasoned
wood. He said green wood smokes too
much, and creosote is transported in
the smoke.
Pappas also recommends a chim
ney be cleaned after about a cord and
a half of wood has been burned to
prevent severe creosote buildup. The
Photo by DEAN SAITO
Mark Loftus, of Old London Chimney Sweeps, prepares to
clean out a chimney in his traditional attire, a top hat.
Gemayel appeals
for renewed talks
actual time may vary on the quality of
the wood.
For example, Loftus said, pine
burns poorly because of the large sap
content.
If commercial paper logs are going
to be used for color, Pappas said, a
good, strong, hot fire should be built.
Davis said there are about one or
two chimney fires each year in College
Station. He said the amount may in
crease soon because of the number of
new apartment complexes with fire
places.
There is some problem now, Davis
said, in deciding who is responsible
for the maintenance of the fireplaces.
It has not been determined whether
the apartment complex should be
made responsible or if the tenant
should be made responsible.
If the decision is not made in the
near future, Pappas said, some severe
chimney fires may result.
United Press,International
BEIRUT — Prime Minister Chefik
Wazzan resigned along with his gov
ernment Sunday, but fighting intensi
fied as Shiite Moslem militiamen
seized control of the main road lead
ing to the airport and the U.S. Marine
base.
Facing his greatest crisis, Christian
President Amin Gemayel went on na
tional radio and television to appeal to
his Moslem opponents to meet with
him in renewed peace talks aimed at
averting all-out civil war.
“Everything is open to discussion
with the opposition,” said Gemayel,
appearing composed as he sat in a
television studio with a green, red and
white Lebanese Hag in the back
ground.
He dismissed calls for his own res
ignation but pledged to work to im
prove ties with Syria, which supports
the Moslem militias fighting the gov
ernment and has demanded abroga
tion of a May 17 Lebanese-Israeli
accord.
Earlier, Gemayel immediately
accepted the resignations of Wazzan
and his Cabinet, which came in re
sponse to appeals from Syrian-backed
Moslem rebels. But they appeared to
have little effect on the escalating bat
tles.
“We are aware of the situation and
are reviewing it very carefully, said
Marine Maj. Dennis Brooks. “We are
on a very high stafce-nf alert, close to
our bunkers and ready for anything.”
Members of the 1,200-nian Marine
peace-keeping contingent fought a
brief small-arms clash in the after
noon with Moslem militiamen,
Brooks said. There were no reports of
American casualties.
The Lebanese army fought a
fourth straight day of clashes in south
Beirut with Shiite Moslem militiamen,
who were backed by the artillery of
allied Druze Moslem rebels based in
the mountains overlooking the
capital.
An estimated 150 people have died
and 561 wounded in the fighting
since Thursday, according to figures
compiled from the Red Cross, hospit
als and other sources. No official gov
ernment figures were available.
The Lebanese army announced 20
soldiers and two officers have been
killed and 197 others wounded. An
official said 20 army soldiers were
taken prisoner.
“Some efforts should be made to
end these bloody events where inno
cent people are killed and homes are
destroyed while all hope is lost,” Waz
zan said in his resignation statement.
Nabih Bern’s Shiite Moslem mili
tia, Amal, seized positions on the main
coastal road, controlling civilian ac
cess to Lebanon’s only international
airport and the American military
compound there.
Echoing a demand by the Druze
Moslem militia leader Walid Jumb-
latt, Berri called for Gemayel’s res
ignation, saying there was “no solu
tion until the downfall of Nero” — a
reference to Gemayel.
Former Moslem Prime Minister
Rashid Karami, of the northern port
of Tripoli, announced that he was
calling on the 5,000 Lebanese soldiers
based in north Lebanon to follow his
command.
Troops in the south appeared to be
following the call as well since
Lebanese soldiers gave up positions
along the airport road without a fight.
The army is commanded by Christ
ians although a majority of its soldiers
are Moslem.
Adding to the tension in the coun
try, an army official said Syrian troops
began a siege of the central Christian
town of Zahle, with 25,000 inhabi
tants. The Syrians apparently plan to
invade the town, he said.
Wazzan submitted his decision in a
meeting with Gemayel at the pres
idential palace, on a bluff overlooking
south Beirut’s Shiite Moslem slums
where the army and Moslem militia
men began an intense battle
Thursday.
Wazzan said illegal militias, right-
wing Christians as well as Moslems,
must join in negotiations to resolve
the crisis.
The 10-member Cabinet will appa
rently stay on until Gemavel appoints
a new government.
Astronauts find missing Westar 6
By Ed Alanis
Stall writer
I Funeral services will be held today
|i 3 p.rn. in Austin for Distinguished
[Alumnus E.M. “Buck” Schiwetz, one
Ipf the state’s best-known and best-
Boved artists.
B Schiwetz, 85, died Thursday in his
Hometown of Cuero following a long
Bllness.
H Credited with capturing Texas
Beenes as no other artist has, Schiwetz
Hainted with a distinct style, all his
W'vn.
I Schiwetz graduated from Texas
jH&Min 1921 with a bachelor’s degree
fjii architecture. However, he never
Hracticed that trade. Instead, he de-
Hoted much of his life to drawing and
Hainting Texas scenes.
I Schiwetz has worked with many
Heople at Texas A&M, including en-
■ironmental design graphics profes-
tacted Westar 6 Sunday afternoon
and was able to command the satellite
to recharge its batteries.
Although the satellite can never be
raised to its proper stationary orbit
22,300 miles above Earth, the first re
ports rai hopes for a successful post
mortem on its $75 million fai. “We
have a spacecraft that’s in the wrong
orbit that’s completely healthy,” said
Bill Ziegler, the project manager for
Western Union, the owner of the
satellite.
Ziegler said the satellite might be
nudged into an orbit high enough
where it would have some limited use.
He said his best guess to explain the
satellite’s predicament was that Wes-
tar’s rocket motor misfired and
flamed out, laving the satellite in the
wrong orbit.
The Westar 6 failure was the first of
two disappointments for the astro
nauts in the first three days of an
eight-day mission.
The shiny white balln that was to
have been used as the bulls-eye to re
hearse a satellite repair mission burst
soon after it was ejected from the
shuttle’s cargo bay Sunday morning.
Stewart told mission control the
balloon popped with “a fairly violent
explosion.”
“It was just like somebody stuck a
stick of dnamite in it and blew it up,”
said Stewart.
The balloon was launched in a
canister containing a nitrogen gas bot
tle for inflation. An explosive device
failed to break the canister apart and
the swelling balloon burst in the con
tainer.
Ground controllers canceled the
rehearsal manuevers because of the
lack of a suitable target and concern
about a collision with the balloon’s
200-pound ballast that was drifting on
its own in orbit, too small to be tracked
by radar.
The radio contact with Westar 6
confirmed the satellite is among a
pack of space debris circling the Earth
in an orbit ranging up to several hun
dred miles higher than Ghallenger.
“There’s no hope of saving it, but it
is exciting that we will be able to piece
together the story of what happened,”
said a spokesman for Hughes Air
craft, the firm that built the satellite.
Hartadi Asturi, project manager
for the Indonesian Palapa satellite,
said the first reports from Westar
made him confident that the launch
of his country’s relay station would
succeed.
T he Palapa launch originally was
scheduled for Saturday but was de
layed because of the Westar 6
problem.
Asturi said engineers believed Wes-
tar’s failure was caused by a problem
with the satellite’s rocket motor that
was to have fired 45 minutes after
deployment Friday to start the satel
lite on it climb to orbit.
United Press International
I CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —
Tracking teams Sunday finally found
the errant Westar 6 satellite missing
since its launch from Challenger two
| days ago and its first reports transmit-
lled from space boosted confidence
for Monday’s deployment of a similar
relay station.
1 That was good news for the astro
nauts whose plans for a 17,500-mph
game of space tag were spoiled by the
explosion of their 6 VL'-foot target bal-
t on.
The bursting balloon meant space-
Iltien Vance Brand, Robert “Hoot”
Hibson, Bruce McGandless, Robert
Hewart and Ronald McNair had to
K)rgo rehearsing the manuevers for
an important Apt il rendezvous with a
|malfunctioning solar satellite.
■ But the astronauts and ground
Bams were optimistic things would go
Hoothly for Monday’s launch of the
■donesian Palapa satellite.
|A California tracking station con-
Services held today for Schiwetz
sor Jim Earle. Earle is the creator of two years as art editor of the year-
comic strip character “Slouch,” who book, then called The Longhorn.
has appeared in the Battalion for Jerry Cooper, editor of the Texas
more than 40 years. Aggie, says Schiwetz was quite a char-
Schiwetz was the first recipient of acter during his days as a student. He
the Texas Artist of the Year Award, lived in the attic of Gathwright Hall,
established in 1977. Many of his Ciathwright Hall is no longer standing
works have been published in book today, but it was located near Heaton
form, including scenes from the Hall. Schiwetz had his illustrations
Texas A&M campus drawn during printed in several campus publica-
the 1976 centennial celebration, lions, and many of his works are pre-
Schiwetz served as anist-in-residence sently on display in the MSC.
for Texas A&M in 1976 and Buck Services will be at St. David’s Epis-
Schiweu’ Aggieland—A Portfolio of copal Church in Austin today. Texas
Eight Scenes from Texas A&M Uni- A&M President Frank Vandiver will
versity was published by the Universi- deliver a eulogy, The Ross Volunteer
ty press. Company will serve as pall-bearers
Schiwetz came to A&M to study and Aggie Band buglers will play taps,
electrical engineering, but it was soon Schiwetz is survived by his wife,
discovered that his talents did not lie Ruby Lee Schiwetz, a daughter, Mrs.
in this field. He then began studying Frank Nelson of San Antonio, a
architecture, and won awards for his brother, David Schiwetz, and a grand-
designs and sketches. He also served daughter.
E.M. “Buck” Schiwetz
satellite
The Palapa is equipped with the
same sort of rocket motor, called a
payload assist module. The rockets
have worked correctly on four nearly
identical satellites launched on pre
vious missions.
“They think the failure on Westar
was a random failure,” said Asturi.
“There is no indication that there is a
design problem.”
Despite the rehearsal cancellation,
the astronauts and ground crews still
were able to use a large balloon frag
ment to successfully test the naviga
tion equipment that will be needed
for the exacting maneuvers on the
next flight to bring the shuttle within
100 yards of the broken Solar Max
satellite.
The astronauts also checked out
the ship’s 50-foot mechanical arm that
will be used during the free-flying
“Buck Rogers” spacewalks scheduled
for Tuesday and Thursday.
In Today’s Battalion
Local
• Funeral services were field Sunday for a 22-year-old
TAMU student killed in a Cessna plane crash. See story
page 3.
• The debate oyer whether seniors will take finals prob
ably won’t be settled for two or three months. See story page
• The Texas A&M women’s basketball team beat Rice
Saturday 71-69. See story page 11.
World
• Secretary of State George Schultz talks with Brazilian
leaders about debt, trade and n uclear energy. See story page
5.
‘84 football
ticket prices
to go up
Football ticket prices at Texas
A&M will increase 25 percent the
athletic department announced
Friday.
Prices for home games this season
for sideline bench seats will increase
from $12 to $15. Armchair seats in
Kyle Field will increase from $14 to
$17.50
Athletic director Jackie Sherrill
said the increases were made “in
order to be competitive with what
other schools in the Southwest Con
ference and around the country are
doing or have already done.”
The Aggies are scheduled to play
seven home games, the first against
the University of Texas at El Paso on
Sept. 1.
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