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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1984)
CS Ci1y Council meets OKs zoning changes See page 3 Space shuttle ready for flight in August USFL's title game slated for Sunday See page 6 See page 7 Texas A&M - V • The Battalion Serving the University community Vol 79 No. 170 USPS 045360 8 pages be challoJ course dot! i’s at ail i ■p delaying s in canj College Station, Texas Friday, July 13, 1984 i, R-Mo., subcorr y safely advocated sion, sayind this isab tomobile .1 rcision, sati manufaauj ice of teds miounlof^ o reduce i olved ini t over tin | in responi iiff that voi peal of ail mny Cartel 3 and inti® ;n all are i they chon ipear imply alto litate or who pi® ud eagan olishes mage United Press International BOLLING GREEN, Ky. — Presi dent Reagan capped a three-day push to polish his tarnished environ mental image Thursday, telling feO.OOO outdoor enthusiasts that he is upgrading the nation’s parks — “the rown jewels of American land.” Reagan told a cheering crowd at the National Campers and Hikers Association convention that he “re versed the four-year decline in fund ing for their upkeep” when he took pffice. “Like everyone who has ever seen Khem, we view our national parks as he crown jewels of the American land,” he said. God bless America,” Reagan said at the end of his speech, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd gathered in a grassy field sur- ounded by campers, recreational vehicles and a scattering of tents. Before speaking to the campers, Reagan loured the Mammoth Cave National Park, walking 1,000 feet into the damp cavern. Ducking and weaving through dripping stalactites and stalagmites, Reagan viewed a huge formation dubbed "frozen Ni agara.” on the staying. in’t knoi> ty i cooper coo note! id he tool pages ooi es were er. Since 1981 about $1.8 million has been spent on improvements at Mammoth Cave, the world’s longest known cave system, meandering see my more than 300 miles beneath 52,369 didn't to acres of forest. “Be careful it' they suggest you take the long way out.” he told re porters. Speaking at the nearby Beech Bend campground later, Reagan said he “inagnrated a five-year, bil- lion-dollar effort to give our parks the improvement they so badly needed.” Camper Dick Dittebrand, of Por- tagelake, Ohio, said he was glad Rea gan supported cleaning up the parks. ‘I’ve been to a lot of parks and I’m afraid to say a lot need repair. We are all greateful for what the presi dent is doing,” Dittebrand said from under an umbrella blocking the hot midday sun. The president, as he did earlier this week in visits to the Chesapeake Bay and Roosevelt Island in the Po tomac River near Washington, also said he has helped — and even acce lerated — efforts to clean up the na tion’s water and air. Mondale picks Ferraro as V.P. United Press International ST. PAUL, Minn. — Walter Mon dale, breaking 200 years of Ameri can political tradition Thursday by picking a woman for vice president, chose New York Rep. Geraldine Fer raro Thursday as his running mate in the uphill battle against President Reagan this fall. The bold political move by Mon dale, a candidate with a reputation for never taking the controversial road, was hailed by all factions of the Democratic Party as they headed for what appeared to be a unified con vention in San Francisco next week. “Today I am proud to announce I have selected Geraldine Ferraro of New York for the vice presidency of the United States,” Mondale said as he received a standing ovation in the Minnesota House chanber where he declared his own candidacy on Feb. 21, 1983. “This is an exciting choice,” he de clared to prolonged applause. “She’s earned her way here today. Gerry has excelled in everything she’s tried.” Ferraro followed Mondale on the podium. “Thank you Vice President Mon dale — vice president has such a nice ring to it,” she said. “There is an electricity in the air, an excitement, a sense of new possibilities, a pride.” “I’m honored to join him in this campaign,” she said. Mondale called her the embodi ment of the “classic American dream.” She agreed. “Fritz called my road here the classic American dream,” she said. “He’s right. My father came to America from a little town in Italy. Like millions of other immigrants he loved our country passionately, but what he loved most about it was that in America anything is possible if you work for it. “I grew up among working peo ple, straightforward, solid Ameri cans trying to make ends meet, try ing to bring up their families and leave their country a little better off than when they moved here and found it.” Ferraro wasted no time in lashing out at the administration, without mentioning President Reagan. She said the people “love Amer ica, and support a strong, sensible defense. But they want nothing to do with reckless adventures in Latin America. And they want to get some talks going and stop this nuclear arms race before it destroys us all.” After the announcement the two families went back to Mondale’s home in suburban North Oaks for a lunch with Minnesota friends. Mpn- See FERRARO, page 3 Texas politicos hail decision Hurry, Hurry Photo by Peter Rocha Despite the lines at Thursday’s registration, things moved rather quickly. A slow shutter speed was used to show the movement of students picking up their card packets in G. Rollie White Coliseum. About 14,000 stu dents registered for the first summer session By BILL ROBINSON Senior Staff Writer Texas political leaders were ex pressing reservations over the selec tion of Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D- NY, as Walter Mondale’s vice presi dential candidate Thursday, al though most hailed the nomination as a breakthrough for women. Democrats and Republicans con gratulated Ferraro, but several ex pressed doubts over her ability to help the Mondale presidential cam paign. “It was a good choice under the circumstances,” said Texas A&M po litical science professor Bruce Ro- beck. “(Gary) Hart would have been a better choice, but Mondale had painted himself into a circle.” Gloria Wilkins, the chairman of the Brazos County Republican Party, says Mondale trapped himself in that circle by committing himself to minority groups. “It just goes to prove Mondale is obligated to another special-interest group,” Wilkens said. But the biggest questions raised about Ferraro’s selection involved her ability to draw voters to the Democratic ticket. “We’re sorry we don’t have a good Texan like Lloyd Bentsen on the ticket,” said Patty Everett, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. “Without a Texan, we’re going to have to work a whole lot harder.” The state chairman of the Repub lican Party also questioned Ferraro’s See TEXANS, page 3 ED ETE Libyan minister travels to Lebanon despite death threat United Press International BEIRUT, Lebanon — Militiamen killed 12 people in northern Leb anon but maintained their uneasy peace Thursday in Beirut, where Li bya’s foreign minister arrived for a visit in defiance of death threats and a bomb that gutted his nation’s em bassy. Police said two pro-Syrian factions exchanged rocket and heavy artil lery fire in clashes that swept through a string of mainly Christian villages in the mountains southeast of Tripoli, a seaport 42 miles north of the capital. At least 12 people were killed and another 40 wounded in two days of fighting, security sources said. Syr ian leader Hafez Assad sent an en voy to the region in hope of nego tiating a truce. Defying a death threat from radi cal Moslems who bombed Libya’s embassy in Beirut, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Salam Tureiki visited the capital and pledged Col. Moam- mar Khadafy’s “total support” for reunifying Lebanon after nine years of civil war. He carried a written message from Khadafy calling for a reunited Lebanon and urging Arab nations to “close ranks” in their aim to “liber ate” Jerusalem from Israel, Leb anese news agencies said. Government officials said Presi dent Amin Gemayel, a Christian, hosted Tureiki for 90 minutes at his palace in suburban east Beirut, a few miles from the ruins of the seaside Libyan Embassy in Moslem west Bei rut. Tureiki postponed his visit for one day when gunmen rousted all occupants from the embassy, known as the Libyan People’s Bureau, and set off a bomb. Most Libyan diplo mats had already fled Beirut because of earlier kidnap threats. The “Sadr Brigades,” an under ground Shiite Moslem group, have claimed responsibility for the bomb ing and the recent kidnappings of two Libyan diplomats in west Beirut. I Ags develop antibody detection test By SARAH OATES Staff Writer A testing method developed by Texas A&M University chemists could mean the end of complicated and expensive lab analysis of some medical tests. The technique, known as micro- gravimetric immunoassay (MGIA), may result in speedier, simpler im munoassays, the tests used to detect antibodies. These immunoassays also are radiation free. MGIA directly measures the mo lecular changes that occur on the surface of a quartz crystal. Dr. Glenn Bastiaans, an assistant professor of chemistry, said re searchers recently produced the first successful tests using monoclonal an tibodies, which increased MGIA sen sitivity by about 2,000 times. This improvement puts the technique in competition with the two most com mon methods for measuring fluo rescence and radioactive decay. MGIA detects antibodies as well as antigens, the “invaders” which stim ulate antibody production. Antibody identification is used to target the causes of infectious dis ease. In the lab, antibodies also can be used to show that recombinant DNA procedures are working cor rectly. “We can detect evidence of dis ease even before the antibodies re spond,” Bastiaans said. MGIA can be used to detect such infectious diseases as herpes, hepati tis and influenza, as well as drugs, hormones and toxins. He said that immunoassay testing is not new. For example, he said, it was used to detect evidence of drug use by Vietnam veterans. It also has been used in diabetes testing. Bastiaans said the new method is simple enough to be performed in a doctor’s office, whch would save the time and expense involved in send ing tests for lab analysis. He said that conceptually, the test could even be sold over-the-counter for home use. However, additional research must be performed to learn if the test is commercially feasible. “If it can be done, it wouldn’t be on the market for at least another 18 months to two years,” Bastiaans said. He said the University might ap ply for a patent on the parts of the MGIA method, which he and a graduate chemistry student have been researching for two years. Bastiaans said MGIA testing is as sensitive as existing procedures. MGIA measures direct molecular reactions of an antibody to an anti gen, or vice versa, instead of second ary chemical reactions, he said. It produces acoustic waves on the crystal surface through oscillating voltage. Any solution on the surface of the crystal must also move, so the new assay combination can measure changes in wave frequency and give readouts of the mix and concentra tion of the sample solution. Secretion samples, such as viruses, are injected into a chamber con nected to the crystal. Bastiaans said that he and grad uate student Joy Roederer have been working for two years to de velop this technique. Electrical engi neers in the University’s Institute of Solid State Electronics collaborated by depositing electrodes on the ex perimental crystal. In Today’s Battalion Local • The College of Business Administration is sponsoring a Careers in Business Seminar next week, for minority high school students. See story page 3. State • Austin began rationing water to combat an over-taxed water system in Texas’ hot, rain-thirsty capital. See story page 5. • Cov, Mark White signed a bill requiring motorists to use passenger safety seats or restraints for children. See story page 8. World • The Soviet Union is protesting a lifting of the ban on German mistle and bomb making. See story page 5.