Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 9, 1984)
M S! Ships are searched for mines in Red Sea See page 5 Lewis and Louganis take Olympic medals See page 9 Authorities break up large prostitution ring See page 6 Texas A&M — — « A The Battalion Serving the University community Vol 79 No. 185 USPS 045360 10 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, August 9, 1984 lENITia jEMEM ) 764-0J ») 846-5;i SIT Two Iranian hijackers seized after forcing plane to Rome United Press International ■ ROME — Two teenage anti-Kho meini hijackers, one a member of Iran’s fanatical revolutionary guard, Wednesday forced an Iranian jet jammed with Mecca-bound pilgrims to fly to Italy, where they released meir 303 hostages and unsucessfully lied to escape oy mingling with the assengers. The hijackers were seized among I crowd of freed hostages at Rome’s liampino military airport, ending an ordeal that took the Air Iran A- DO airbus from Tehran to Bahrain, airo and Rome. Police said the hijackers — Hosein Eftekhari, 18, a member of Iran’s fa natical revolutionary guard, and Mohsem Rahgohzar, 17, — had planned to ask for political asylum in Paris. They were taken to the Queen of Heaven jail. Despite reports they had explo sives and a gun, police said they found only a knife on the pair. One teenager had strapped packages to his body he said contained explo sives, but they turned out to be fake, police said. A “hand bomb” used to threaten the crew was harmless. The pilot, who told authorities in Cairo the plane had been comman deered by 18 hijackers with explo sives strapped to their bodies, in Rome said ne had seen only one hi jacker, a man dressed in a black shirt and army boots. When the pilot identified the hi jacker among the passengers, the second then stepped forward and said, “I was with nim,” police said. Both carred Iranian passports. Ital ian authorities were questioning all the passengers with the help of Ira nian diplomats to determine whether there were any other hijack ers. “The case is not completely con cluded,” Undersecretary of the Inte rior Raffaele Costa said. “We have to ascertain definitely how many hi jackers there were. To do this we have to identify all the passengers before letting them return to their homeland.” Under Italian law, a convicted hi jacker faces up to 21 years in prison. Costa said Italy would not grant po litical asylum to hijackers. Passengers said the hijackers were armed with a gun and said they had a bomb. After freeing 129 hostages in re turn for food and medicine and a promise ofmore fuel, the hijackers gave up and freed the remaining 163 passengers and 11 crew mem bers when they became convinced they would not be allowed to fly to France, Italian authorities said. ixon remains controversial omlort I >••1 United Press International WASHINGTON — Ten years af- tei Richard Nixon resigned from the ! presidency in disgrace he remains one of the most controversial leaders ever, and the Watergate scandal that drove him from office haunts the consciousness of the American peo ple. ■ Americans’ opinions of Nixon Ktnge from reverence to hatred. Few f are indifferent to the man who has inspired controversy on a national iscale ever since he entered politics by c|efeating Democratic Rep. Jerry ■oorhees for a House seat from Cal- ■ornia in 1946. Nixon resigned Aug. 9, 1974, the only president ever to do so. ■ Asked Tuesday if he thinks the former president has been rehabili- bted, Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter who, with , Bob Woodward, was largely respon sible for exposing the link of the Wa tergate burglary to the White House, said: “I think a man has a right to re deem himself. I wish that the presi dent would make an open confes sion. ■ “There was a cleansing effect that Americans still remember Watergate 10 years later Watergate had on our system,” said Bernstein, interviewed on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America.’ Woodward, on NBC’s “Today” pro gram, was asked if he is re-evafuat- mg Nixon 10 years later, and replied that recent reports about Nixon’s private dictations during his presi dency reveal “kind of the other face of Richard Nixon.” Nixon has received thousands of letters over the past 10 years, from all sides of the spectrum, and his tax payer-financed office in New York must also get its share of telephone calls. Thousands of his fellow citizens acknowledge being “Watergate jun kies,”, who recite whole segments of his various public utterances from memory, collect his memorabilia, read and re-read everything written about him and even hold annual an niversary parties to mark his resig nation. Rep. Peter Rodino, D-N.J., still chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that approved three arti cles of impeachment against Nixon, said on “Good Morning America” that he wept after voting for im peachment. “I was saddened,” he said. “I picked up the telephone and called my wife and, frankly, I cried — cried not for Richard Nixon, not because we had done it, but only because I guess (the emotional discharge) was somthing we had to get out of our system; we were glad to be rid of it.” Nixon’s former press secretary Ron Ziegler, interviewed on the “To day” show, acknowledged having given reporters misinformation^ but said: “We (in the press office) were being given information . much of which ended up being incorrect.” He said the press did its job in inves- tigting and reporting the events of Watergate: “I don’t oelieve anyone in a position of leadership, then or now; can blame the press for their shortcomings and failures” during the Watergate period. Former White House aide Charles Colson was asked on the ABC pro gram what they would tell high school students about the scandal. Colson, who became a born-again Christian while in prison, said: “I think I would tell nigh school stu dents that if there is a lasting lesson, it is what the psalmist says — that we are to put our trust not in princes and kings, but in the sovereign God. Dean said he would tell young sters the scandal was “a very unique thing to Richard Nixon. It happened because Richard Nixon was there and this was the set of mentality and way of life in the Nixon White Hou se.” But Liddy disagreed: “I would say the kind of activity that went on in those days goes on every four years when there is tremendous power and there is the presidency of the United States to be contested for.” Photo by PETER ROCHA Practice punt Freshmen line up for a punt during the first fish practice Tuesday afternoon at Kyle Field. Photo by PETER ROCHA ffexas A&M System Chancellor Arthur Hansen and his wife have begun moving into the new Chancellor’s Residence. Hansens moving into new house By KARI FLUEGEL Staff Writer Boxes are still being unpacked. Paintings are waiting to be hung. Walking around the house, it looks just like any family moving into any new house. But it’s not just any family or just any new house. It is tne Texas A&M System chancellor and his wife mov ing into the new Chancellor’s Resi dence. The $1 million house, located on Jersey between Wellborn Road and FM 2818, will not only be home for the Hansens, it also will house future chancellors and their families. “It is a private residence for the system chancellor which will be used for system affairs,” Nancy Hansen, the chancellor’s wife, said. Movers began moving the Han sen’s from their house on Quail Hol low Road to the new residence Mon day. Furniture and rugs still need to be purchased, but Hansen hopes to be settled for the first reception Sept. 1. Moving is a traumatic experience for everyone, she said, but nothing out of the ordinary went wrong. “We were assisted by wonderful, helpful, kind and courteous people,” she said. “Everyone has tried to make it as easy as possible.” For the Hansens, settling in has meant arranging the many paint ings, wood carvings and mementos. But while the new house is larger than their house on Quail Hollow, the Hansens’ private rooms consist of a family room, study and bed room. “It may be three times bigger, but two-thirds of it is not our personal area,” she said. The house also has two guest rooms with a kitchenette, a reception area and a large kitchen. Hansen stressed that the house is a system house. Functions for all areas of the System will be held at the house. “It will be used primarily to enter tain and educate those with an inter est in the system,” Hansen said. The house is designed to reflect the image of Texas A&M University System: solid, warm, friendly, com fortable but not pretentious, she said. “It’s solid,” she said. “It feels emo tionally like a house that has been built for people and happy times.” See HOUSE, page 4 Computer future looks promising Technology offers easier life ed By BONNIE LANGFORD Staff Writer I (Editor’s note: This is the third of |a three-part series on computer use.) I It’s Monday morning, 1994. Dr. fjoseph Smith is driving down Texas Avenue, heading for his office. Tra ffic slows to a halt. Smith decides to get some work done while waiting, lie turns on his portable terminal, which is connected to his personal computer. He requests a quick route )ut of the jam; he checks his mail Ind sends replies. Smith turns to pke the shortcut, and then calls the jomputer again to request roast for dinner. I What sounds far-fetched now may Soon become a typical morning. The technology already exists as research prototypes. The research and predictions for the new generation of computers have been around since 1981. It was then that Japan announced plans for the development of computer capa bilities providing unrivaled useful ness. This “fifth generation” would be marked by advances not in hard ware, as were previous generations, but in software. The software would allow computers to serve as expert consultants for the Japanese govern ment. Computers could make quick decisions for medical support, pro vide in-depth research for conserv ing energy, or even evaluate educa tional information. One area needed to create this software is artificial intelligence — the ability to make management level decisions. It’s like having a white-collar worker made of circuits. Artificial intelligence would aid com- uters in understanding speech, aving vision, and having knowl edge systems. Speech and picture recognition would speed the input of information to a computer, as well as make it easier for anyone to use computers. Knowledge systems ap plications would allow computers to become expert consultants in fields like medicine, education or energy. Problems delaying fifth-genera tion computers exist in the hardware area. Parallelism — matching pro gramming to parallel systems, and lei system to work efficiently — is causing many headaches. For exam ple, most present computers use a series system to work problems. When the computer adds 10, II, 12 and 13, it must calculate the num bers individually — 10 plus 11, then 21 plus 12 and then 33 plus 13, to get 46. When parallel systems are used computers can compute simul taneously — 10 plus 11 can be calcu lated at the same time 12 plus 13 is. The more tasks a computer solves si multaneously, the more processors are needed. The more processors needed, the more complicated and difficult computer communications See COMPUTE, page 8 In Today’s Battalion local • The creamery will be open during home football games this year, and offering a special Aggie cheese package. See story page 3. •“Purple Rain” offers visual and emotional impact, but not much plot. See story page 7. State • The death of a rabies victim prompts Houston to in crease the enforcement of vaccination laws. See story page 4. • A search for weapons is conducted at the Texas Depart ment of Corrections after the ninth fatal stabbing this year. See story page 5. National • Democractic candidate Lloyd Doggett’s stand on ho» : momsexuals’ rights is attacked by Sen. Phil Gramm. See story page 6. —— ——