Astros LaCoss loses
3-7 to New York Giants
Entertainment reviews
'Electric Dreams' movie
See page 11
See page 9
Geraldine Ferraro
attacks Reagan
See page 3
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The Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol 79 No. 176 USPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, July 26, 1984
Congress approves
after-school prayer
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The House
Wednesday passed and sent to Presi
dent Reagan a measure to let high
school students hold prayer meet
ings in classrooms after hours, re
jecting charges that would make
public schools recruiting grounds
for religious cults.
The so-called equal access provi
sion, approved 337-77, was attached
ill providing almost $1 billion
years to beef up mathemat
ics and science instruction. With a
two-thirds majority vote needed for
passage, the bill was approved, 393-
The prayer meeting provision al
lows students to meet before or after
to a bi
over two years
school for religious discussion, but
not during school hours.
It prohibits outside speakers from
coming into the meetings unless in
vited by students. Nevertheless,, op
ponents charged the measure would
allow schools to be invaded by reli
gious cults.
Rep. Don Edwards, D-Calif., pre
dicted schools would be “inundated
by requests by various types of cults
and so-called religious groups.
“Just because a student must ini
tiate the request is not going to hin
der many cults, whose aggressive
proselytizing of students is one of
their traits,” he said.
The equal access bill has the sup
port of Reagan and religious groups
that lobbied for a constitutional
amendment allowing prayers in
schools. That proposed amendment
was rejected by the Senate March 20
after weeks of heated debate.
The House June 28 rejected a
tougher form of the equal access
provision that would have cut off
federal funds to schools that did not
allow the prayer meetings.
The milder form of the measure,
approved by the Senate last month,
does not prescribe penalties for fail
ing to comply and would not restrict
the funds.
Backers of the legislation said it
was a question of equal access by all
groups to public property.
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United Press International
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND —
Shark patrols went up Wednesday
along one of Texas’ most populous
tourist beaches, where the first ap
parent shark attacks in more than 20
years injured two teenagers, one se
riously.
The attacks Tuesday left Carmen
Castro Gaytan, 18, of Mexico City in
guarded condition with deep bites
on her feet.
The other victim, an unidentified
13-year-old girl, was treated Tues
day for deep lacerations and punc
ture wounds on her foot and re
leased from a Port Isabel clinic.
Marine experts said they could
not absolutely confirm the attacks
were by sharks, but Castro said she
was bitten by a 4-foot-long shark and
the mother of the other teenager
said she saw a shark bump against
her daughter’s leg.
The attacks occurred between
10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Tuesday
about a mile apart on the South
Padre Island beach, which teems
with tourists during the summer.
City officials said patrols were out
scanning the beaches and shallow
water for signs of the normally re
clusive but dangerous fish.
“We have a plane flying over,”
said city spokesman Joe Rubio. “A
boat from the Coast Guard is patrol
ling (as well as) a boat from the Fish
and Wildlife Department to confirm
any sightings. We have a couple of
vehicles going up and down the
beach.
“So far it’s a dry run. We did spot
a couple of large sharks yesterday
but they were out in deep water.
We’re going to monitor the situation
the rest of today.
“Everybody’s back
beach today, enjoyin
This is an isolated; incic
out on the
t themselves,
ent.”
Immigration bill may ‘hang by a thread’
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Sen. Alan
impson, the chief Senate sponsor of
reoccur*; a sweeping immigration reform bill,
if the weei said Wednesday the controversial
measure that would grant amnesty
^s we coimi to millions of illegal aliens “hangs by
ligh demaJ a thread” in Congress,
still have) Simpson, R-Wyo., made the com
ment at a rare news conference fol-
is doub!f#lowing a White House spokesman’s
statement that the bill, as passed by
the House, is “unacceptable” to Pres
ident Reagan.
The bill would grant legal resi
dence to millions of illegal aliens
Reagan blasts Democrats’ ‘obsession’
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left America.’
“Don’t let them bury the Ameri
can dream in their graveyard of
doom and envy,” Reagan said,
prompting a thunderous roar of
“no” from an estimated 20,000 to
^ 30,000 persons at a dusty park,
where temperatures hit 100 degrees.
now in the country and seek to dis
courage the entry of others by pun
ishing employers who knowingly
hire them.
Simpson told reporters there was
“no question” but that a House-Sen
ate conference committee could
work out major differences between
differing versions of the bill.
“However, I do have very serious
concerns that the raging partisan
hysteria, hooplah and hype against
this legislation which sprang from
the Democratic National Convention
— and which continues to reverbe
rate through the halls of Congress —
may have seriously damaged the
chance that the House could accept
any bill reported by the conference,”
he said.
The Wyoming Republican also ac
cused Hispanic leaders of being “out
of touch with the Hispanic-Ameri-
can community” in opposing the bill,
which they contend would lead em
ployers to discriminate against “for
eign-looking” job seekers.
Simpson, who had met with the
bill’s key House sponsor, Rep. Ro
mano Mazzoli, D-Ky., said he would
not seek immediate negotiations be
tween the House and Senate because
that would rule out other options.
One such option, he said, would
be for the Senate to accept the bill as
passed by the House to avoid send
ing it back to the House — where it
was passed by a slim 216-211 mar
gin.
With elections fast approaching,
some Democrats now appear to be
bowing to the demands of Hispanics
to switch their votes if the bill comes
up again — and both Walter Mon
dale, the Democratic presidential
nominee, and Geraldine Ferraro, his
running mate, are opposed to the
bill.
The acceptance of the House bill,
Simpson s^id, would be “painful” to
him, but may be the only alternative.
Asked about a statement by White
House spokesman Larry Speakes
that the House version is “unaccep
table,” Simpson said Reagan also has
said he would accept it.
Asked if the bill is “dead,” Simp
son replied, “No. Everything hangs
by a thread.”
In ruling out House and Senate
negotiations at this time, Simpson
said other options “will begin to close
the moment the conferees are
named.”
Four
killed
in bar
United Press International
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — A gun
man who killed four people and
wounded another in a motel mas
sacre shot himself through the heart
as officers prepared to move in, au
thorities said Wednesday.
Police Sgt. Paul Jackson said a
preliminary autopsy revealed two
gunshot wounds in the body of
Wayne Crossley, 33, of Benton,
Ark., who died in the Grand Central
Motel Lodge after killing a lounge
manager, two patrons and a truck
driver Tuesday.
“It was a bloody mess down
there,” Jackson said.
He said Crossley apparently was
wounded in the right shoulder in a
shootout with police Sgt. Wayne
Warwick before the rampage at the
motel. Crossley had been ejected
from the bar last week for being
drunk.
The fatal wound, a .45-caliber
shot through the heart, was self-in
flicted, Jackson said.
Crossley, who had a record of vio
lent crimes that included terroristic
threatening, shot Warwick after the
officer had stopped him during a
routine traffic check, police said.
Warwick, 36, was in serious condi
tion with gunshot wounds to the
chest.
Workers at the lounge and adjoin
ing restaurant recognized Crossley
as a regular customer who recently
was kicked out of the lounge.
Mayor Jim Randall said it was the
worst tragedy in the history of the
resort town.
It was the fourth major bar-res
taurant shooting rampage in a
month.
On June 29, A 39-year-old Moroc
can spurned by a woman shot and
killed six people and wounded a sev
enth in a Dallas bar before he sur
rendered to police.
Last Wednesday, James Huberty,
41, killed 21 people at a McDonald’s
near San Diego, Calif. Huberty was
killed by a police sniper.
In San Jose, Calif., Tuesday, a
man armed with a rifle took over a
Shakey’s pizza parlor whose opera
tors had fired him, held police at bay
for nearly 8 hours before surren
dering after randomly firing 15
shots. No one was injured.
In Today’s Battalion
United Press International
AUSTIN — President Reagan, ac
cusing his rivals of being obsessed
with “doom and envy,” said Wednes
day the nomination of Walter Mon
dale and Geraldine Ferraro pushed
far left they’ve
creases
planned
ion
Democrats seek “endless tax in-
deeper dependency,
1 protectionism, certain sacri-
a veiled promises,” Reagan
said in kicking off a three-state cam
paign swing that includes stops in
Georgia and New Jersey.
“This election,” he said, “offers
the clearest, sharpest, most impor
tant choice in modern times: greater
freedom or coercion.”
With his eye on the Lone Star
State’s 29 electoral votes — more
than one-tenth the number needed
for victory — Reagan teamed up
with Vice President George Bush in
a bid to drive an ideological wedge
between conservative Southern
Democrats and the Mondale-Fer-
raro ticket.
In blunt language unleashed less
than 24 hours after his pledge to run
on a positive note, Reagan — once a
liberal Democrat himself — claimed
Democrats “gave Texas the back of
their hand” at their national conven
tion. He was alluding to Mondale’s
choice of Ferraro over Sen. Lloyd
Bentsen of Texas as his running
mate.
The Reagan-Bush “Family Festi
val” was the first stop of a trip di
rected at two potentially decisive bat
tle grounds: the South and the
ethnic, industrial Northeast.
“When I heard some of the things
being said last week in San Fran
cisco, I couldn’t help thinking maybe
that fog is so thick out there it’s get
ting inside their heads,” he said.
“But maybe there is another ex-
E lanation: the national Democratic
:adership is going so far left they’ve
left America.”
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Engineers ‘train’ drivers about safety
By CARL BECKER
Reporter
“Don’t make a railroad crossing
your finish line — train yourself to
watch for trains by observing life-
saver signs.”
That is the message of Texas Op
eration Lifesaver, a free public edu
cation program involving presenta
tions by volunteer railroad
employees. Because many of the
speakers are locomotive engineers
with a special stake in the program
results, the presentations are filled
with personal experiences in addi
tion to the facts and figures.
Dale Evans and Doug Smith, both
Southern Pacific locomotive engi
neers, said they joined Operation
Lifesaver because they have seen all
the railroad crossing accidents they
want to see.
“I’ve got 30 more years on the
railroad, and I don’t want to have
another accident,” Smith said. “They
are horrible accidents... so unneces
sary and so easily avoidable.”
In their combined 24 years as en
gineers, Evans and Smith have been
involved in 15 accidents, nine of
which resulted in deaths. The emo
tion the two men convey in telling
their experiences helps the program
hit home with the audience.
“You watch the scenario play out
in front of you, and you carry that
for the rest of your life,” Smith said.
“The emotional problems of some
one dying... it tears me up when I
think I hit another person.”
Evans agreed.
“Seeing a car try to beat a train to
a crossing, and knowing there is
nothing you can do to stop the train
on time, is one of the most sickly,
helpless feelings you could ever
imagine,” Evans said.
Tne power of the presentations is
achieved when the speakers combine
their emotional accounts with some
impressive facts. For example, the
average freight train weighs 12 mil
lion pounds and takes more than a
mile to stop when traveling 60 mph.
In contrast, the average car weighs
about 4,000 pounds and can stop
much faster, within 225 feet, when
traveling at the same speed. Con
sider the weight ratio — 3,000 to
one. No contest.
Smith put these facts into a more
understandable perspective.
“Kids are always asking us what
it’s like to hit a car, so we put them in
our position,” he said. “It’s like hit
ting an aluminum can with a stan
dard-sized automobile; that’s what
it’s like.”
In their eyes, Evans and Smith
have too many experiences to draw
upon in their presentations, and
they would be happy if their presen
tations keep one person from be
coming an “experience.”
See TRAINS, page 4
Local
• Light rains offer little help for parched Texas. See story
page 12.
State
• Contempt charges against the Houston couple who re
fused to testify against their son are dropped. See story
page 3.
National
• Widow of “McDonald’s murderer” says she’ll sell her
story rights to the highest bidder. See story page 4.
• Federal judge strikes down Louisiana’s ‘blue laws.’ See
story page 8.
World
• British police clash with striking coal miners for a third
time. See story page 6.