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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1984)
Barton challenges Kubiak to debate See page 4, Randy White signs with Cowboys See page 11 Twelfth man kickoff team chosen MMW TexasA&M «bb—aiat. _ ^ <aa a The Battalion Serving the University community Vol 79 No. 186 CJSPS 045360 26 pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, August 28, 1984 m I 12th Man chants for ‘Cotton’ at All U night; team set to go By Lynn Rae Povec Staff Writer “fcotton” was the word at All University night Monday, and nearly 8,000 Aggies filled G. Rollie White Coliseum to chant it. The first students — most of them freshmen — arrived about 5:30 p.m. to save places for the upperclassmen in their dorms or organizations. They spent the next two hours trying to out- shout their peers and clapping in time as the Aggie Band played fa miliar songs. As the coliseum filled to near capacity by 7:30 p.m., All U night began on a solemn note. Head Yell Leader Kelly Joseph asked the crowd for a moment of si lence to remember Battalion Edi tor Bill Robinson who died Mon day. Robinson was fatally injured in a one-car accident last week. The invocation followed, seve ral university leaders addressed the crowd, and Head Football Coach Jdckie Sherrill introduced this year’s team. Student Body President David Alders spoke first, and his rous ing speech — interrupted by two standing ovations — was met with thunderous cries of “We wknt cotton! We want cotton!” “Cotton’s in the picture, Ag gies,” said Head Yell Leader Kelly Joseph before introducing Dr. John Koldus, vice president of student affairs. “This is the beginning of my twelfth year at Texas A&M,” Kol dus said. “The 12th Man spirit is very much alive, and 12-0 is the way to go.” University President Frank E. Vandiver also addressed the group, saying that Tex^s A&M has got something other universi ties don’t hive. “We’ve got you,” Vandiver told the crowd. “If I weren’t so glad you were here, I’d feel sorry for them.” After Koldus’ speech, Joseph preceeded his introduction of Coach Sherrill by telling the his tory of the 12th Man tradition. He told the crowd how E. King Gill suited up to play in the Dixie Bowl Classic because the Aggies “were losing players like flies.” “It’d be great to end the story by saying he caught the touch down pass and won it,” Joseph said, “but at A&M that kind of stuff just doesn’t matter.” Concluding his anecdote with the short history of the 12th Man Kick-Off Team, Joseph intro duced Sherrill, who apologized to Aggie fans about the change of kick-off time for the Aggies-Uni- versity of Texas at El Paso game Sept. 1. Because the game is be ing televised, it will begin at 11:20 a.m. Amidst applause, whoops and comments of Approval from a few enthusiastic Keathley residents seated in the front row, Sherrill began introducing the 1984-85 varsity squad as cries of “cotton” once again filled the coliseum. The last 20 names he called be longed to the members of this year’s 12th Man Kick-Off Team whom he said “have worked aw ful hard and they’ve already cov ered over 100 kick-offs.” With the 12th Man and foot ball teams assembled on stage, three players presented Joseph with a maroon jersey that sported the number 12. Joseph and the other yell lead ers then led the crowd in several yells. Battalion By by Melissa Adair Staff Writer James William “Bill” Robinson, 22, editor of The Battalion, died late Monday morning in St. Joseph Hos pital in Bryan. Robinson was a senior journalism major at Texas A&M and was from Round Rock near Austin. Robinson was in a one-car acci dent last Monday night at about 10:45. The Fiat sportscar he was travelling in flipped over on Dowl ing Road and he wtis trapped under neath it. He had severe head and brain injuries and had been in a deep comd since the accident. Robinson was born on Jan. 17, 1962 at Texas City Memorial Hospi tal. In 1967, his family moved from Alvin to Austin and in 1977 they moved to Round Rock. Robinson graduated from Round Rock High School in 1980 and at tended Southwest Texas State Uni- dies; funeral on Wednesday versity between his junior and senior years in high school under an ad vanced placement program. When he graduated, he wds of fered a full ROTC Navy scholarship but instead decided to come to Texas A&M. He helped organize the Acacia fraternity here in College Station. He was president of the fraternity when he died. Robinson was a delegate to the Republican State Convention from Williamson County and was active in civic affairs. He attended Hyde Park Christian Church in Austin. He was gaining experience in journalism and was planting to work as a writer after graduating. Robinson served as editorial page editor for The Battalion this sum mer. He was the assistant sports edi tor in the spring and was a sports re porter for the newspaper in the Spring and Fall of 1982. He also worked at KAMU-TV As a reporter for a semester. He is survived by his father and stepmother, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Rob inson of Round Rock; his mother and stepfather, Brig. Gen. (Ret.) and Mrs. Prescott A. Stark, also of Round Rock; his sister, Susan Robin son; his stepsister, Stacy Macadoo; his paternal grandpArents, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Andrews and his mater nal grandparents Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Bond. His father was a public informA- tion officer for the Texas Depart ment of Public Safety for 13 yeArs and his grandfather, Odell V. Rob inson, graduated from Texas A&M in 1938. His sister, Susan, attended Texas A&M for two years and now attends the University of Texbs in Austin. Mr. Robinson said Bill had re cently tried to get him to sign the back of his driver’s license to donate his organs for transplants if he died. Rescue begins for sunken load United Press International PARIS — Owners of a French freighter that sank in the North Sea with a 225-ton cargo of radioactive uranium hexafluoride — which could explode if water reaches it — organized a risky operation Monday to retrieve 30 sealed drums holding the toxic material. Compagnie Generale Maritime’s' president Claude Abraham said the operation to salvage the cargo aboard the Mont Louis would begin today and would be completed “within the next two or three weeks.” He said divers would be sent down to break open a hole in the hull of the 5,800-ton freighter lying in 50 feet of water 12 miles off the Belgian coast. A Belgian and a Dutch ship will haul the cargo to the surface with cranes, he said. The salvage operation was de scribed as “complex and risky” by experts at the French environment ministry. The Mont Louis sank Saturday af ter colliding in fog with a passenger ferry from West Germany and took with it to the bottom of the sea the sealed drums of uranium hexafluo ride — a highly toxic, radioactive li quified gas. The Mont Louis was bound for the Baltic port of Riga in Soviet Lat via when it hit the ferry bound for Sheerness, England with about 1,000 passengers from Belgium. No one was hurt. The material had been partially processed in France and was on its way to be enriched in the Soviet Union. It was to have been returned to Belgian and French companies for use in nuclear power plants, said Comuhrex, the French firm that produced the uranium hexafluo ride. The Greenpeace environmental group, which first released reports that the capsized vessel was carrying a radioActive cargo, said it was com mon practice for many Western na tions, including the United States, to enrich yellow-cake or uranium hex afluoride in the Soviet Union, be cause it was far cheaper than else where. French and Belgian authorities stressed the cargo hold had not been damaged in the accident and there was no immediate risk or evidence of pollution. They said the uranium hekafluo- ride was only about 3 percent radio active, but if the substance mixes with water, it produces an acid that could trigger an explosion. Ship hit by rocket in Persian Gulf war United Press International KUWAIT — A warplane hit a Panamanian-registered oil tanker with a rocket that sparked a blaze Monday as the tanker sailed in the Persian Gulf. It was the 32nd con firmed air attack on commercial shipping this year in the Iran-Iraq war. The attack by an unidentified warplane came amid reports of clashes between Iranian and Iraqi ground troops in the nearly 4-year- old war. A spokesman for the Greek Pi raeus-based Troodos Shipping Co. confirmed that the 20,000-ton Cleo I had been hit by a rocket and caught fire as it sailed from India to the Saudi Arabian port of Ras Tannura to load oil. The ship was hit about 70 miles northeast of Qatar, said the official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA. There were no reports of injuries among the ship’s crew. In London, a spokesman for Lloyd’s, the shipping insurer, said the fire was under control, but that the vessel’s steering was damaged in the attack and the tanker was head- ing for the Qatari port of Doha us ing an emergency guidance system. The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that the American guided missile destroyer USS King was about 50 miles from the stricken ship at the time of the attack and of fered assistance. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said the warship was in the area at the time but could not confirm that assistance had been of fered. The incident was the 32nd con firmed hit on a neutral ship this year in the Gulf, where Iran and Iraq have been at war since 1980. Dozens of unconfirmed Attacks also have been reported. On Friday, an Iraqi missile tore into A Cypriot-registered freighter, setting it ablaze and forcing its crew to abandon ship south of Iran’s main oil terminal at Kharg Island. An Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad said that Iraqi forces had killed four Iranian soldiers in fight ing east of the southern Iraqi city of Basra. There were no reports of Iraqi casualties. Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980 because of a long-standing dis pute over navigational rights to the Shatt el-Arab waterway. The wAr spread with both nations attacking the Gulf shipping lanes in an at tempt to cut oft e ments. ' each other’s oil ship- “I told him I just couldn’t do that,” Mr. Robinson said. “But Bill really thought that was important ... so his kidneys will be donated for transplant.” Robinson’s father said he was al ways a “good kid” and he was ex tremely proud of him. “He’s the kind of kid that I’ll never have to look back and say I’m sorry about anything he did,” he said. “He’s a great guy all around. He always wanted to help others.” Robinson's parents have set up the Bill Robinson MemoriAl Schol arship Fund to help journalism ma jors at Texas A&M. Contributions to the fund in lieu of flowers may be made to the Texas A&M Devel opment Foundation, care of the De partment of Communications, TAMU. The funeral will be Wednesday at Central Christian Church in Austin at 2 p.m., Wednesday. n Today’s Battalion local • New meal plan system offered. See story page S. National • Anderson to support Mondale. See story page 7. • Reagan speaks to honored students. See story page 4, : ■ 7 ■ > V--V - - *■ World • Arabs want to ban rally. See story page 6. iil