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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1984)
Sherrill's Ags struggle in 30-12 loss to Tech See page 9 Runaways can ride home free on bus See page 3 f Tech's Wilson enjoys Aggie homecoming See page 12 Texas/^M ^ ^ The Battalion Serving the University community Vol. 80 No.28 CJSPS 045360 12 pages College Station, Texas Monday, October 8, 1984 ord Albritton dedicates tower Regent Bright accepts gift for everyone at University pr By KATHERINE HURT Stuff Writer ■ Ford D. Albritton Jr. asked for- ■ner, present and future Aggies to ■crept the Albritton Tower and its fcll-bell carillon at its dedication cere mony Saturday. Responding, H.R. “Bum” Bright, thairman of the Texas A&rM Board Hf Regents, said, “We accept with Bleasure this magnificent gilt for ev eryone who arrives on this campus »enjoy.” A&.-M President Frank E. Van- Biver presided over the dedication ■eremony and read a telegram from Bresident Reagan congratulating B&M for the completion of the Al- Britton Tower. Keith Goode, chap- lain of the Corps of Cadets, gave the Invocation. I David Alders, Student Govern- Bient president, spoke on behalf of ■he tower’s ”37,000 beneficiaries” — Students enrolled at A&M. ■ “The Albritton Tower serves to inspire present and future Aggies not only to strive for success for Biemselves, but to share the benefits B that success,” Alders said. Albritton. Class of ’43, said he do- Bwted the 138-foot tower and a per manently endowed fund for its paintenance “to add an important oimension of dignity and integrity to [Texas A&M while serving as a con- Itant reminder that the University is continuing to strive for an ever-in- Hxeasing degree of academic excel lence. ■ “The towet has been a dream of ■nine for many years,” said Albrit- ■on, recipient of the Distinguished |mlumnus Award in 1977. “That Bream dates to 15 years ago when 1 was president of the Association of Bormer Students,” he added. The 14-story Albritton Tower, the third tallest building at A&M, domi nates the west entrance to the cam pus. It stands on a landscaped circle, 70 feet in diameter, at the intersec tion of Old Main Drive, Jones and Lamar streets. The Albritton Carillon, within the tower, is made up of 49 bronze bells varying in weight from 28 pounds to 6,550 pounds. It is the heaviest caril lon in the Southwest and one of the largest on any university campus in the United States. The carillon can be programmed automatically from an electric con sole and computer located in an en vironmentally controlled room within the tower. However, actual control and activation of the peal can be done from a remote location on campus. Response to the Albritton Tower was overwhelmingly positive Satur day. President Vandiver said the cer emony was “just wonderful — a beautiful dedication. Ford Albrit ton’s depth of affection for the place (A&M) really came through.” Joe C. Richardson Jr., a regent from Amarillo said, “Ford Albritton has done more for A&M than any one individual ... and this is a proud moment for all of us.” Dave Cummings, a senior ar chitecture/building construction ma jor from Corpus Christi, said the tower is “a real fine example of what A&M stands for, as far as dedication — not only while you’re here, but af ter you graduate.” Mrs. Albritton said Saturday’s dedication was “such a happy day — the culmination of a dream we’ve both had.” 'T f. 'l -.' j Photo by DEAN SAITO Ford D. Albritton, Jr. presents to A&M The Albritton Tower. Archaeologists search for Columbus' two ships Archaeologist Roger Smith searches for the remains of two of Columbus’ ships on the beach of St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. By LYNN RAE POVEC Staff Writer Today, as America celebrates the 492nd anniversary of Christo pher Columbus’ discovery of the New World, archaeologists and students from Texas A&M and the Institute of Jamaica are closer than ever to finding the remains of two ships in the Caribbean Sea which Columbus sailed on his last voyage. In 1502, Columbus set out on his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies in search of a naviga ble strait to the Orient. Combat with ill-tempered weather and Central American natives, the four-caravel expedi tion was reduced to two ships, which were on the verge of sink ing, and Columbus opted to sail for Hispaniola early in the sum mer of 1503. But again the weather forced a change in plans, and Columbus headed Santiago and Capitana to ward Santa Gloria, a bay on the northern coast of Jamaica which he had discovered a decade be fore on his second voyage. There on June 24, 1503 — 13 months after leaving Spain — Co lumbus and his crew grounded the two caravels in shallow water, and 116 Spaniards prepared to live on the ships for the next 12 months. Taking a realistic look at their situation — they lacked ship building tools, and prospects were dim that another ship would come to their rescue — the ma rooned crew sent Diego Mendez to Hispaniola by canoe to get help. Columbus, meanwhile, faced a temporary food shortage and at tack by a discontented half of his crew before Mendez returned with the ship by which the Span iards left Jamaica, abandoning Santiago and Capitana to the el ements. U.S.-Jamaican efforts to locate the remains of the two oldest re corded shipwrecks in the Western Hemisphere began in 1982 as the countries began planning to par ticipate in the upcoming 500th anniversary celebration of the discovery of the New World. “Already, several countries around the world have created commissions (to organize partici pation in the celebration) like they did ... for the 400th anniver sary in 1892,” Roger Smith, an ar chaeologist on the project, said. The Institute of Nautical Ar chaeology, a non-profit educatio nal organization based at A&M, and the Institute of Jamaica are co-sponsoring the search for the caravels in cooperation with the Jamaican government. The government of Jamaica is interested in turning an old plan tation on the island into a na tional historical park with a mu- seum, and it wanted archaeological assistance in bring ing Jamaica’s early Spanish heri tage to light. Smith said. Smith, project director for the A&M institute and a candidate for a doctorate degree in the De partment of History here, got in volved in the study “because I was interested in finding some ships of discovery ... in an environment where they would be very well- preserved.” He said more is known about ancient Egyptian ships than about the ships Columbus sailed on his See SHIP, page 5 Candidates argue taxes, budget issue United Press International LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Presi dent Reagan and Democratic challenger Walter Mondale clashed sharply over taxes, abor tion, religion, budget deficits and leadership in a free-swinging tele vised debate Sunday night. Battling on domestic issues for more than 90 minutes before an estimated audience of more than 100 million, the two opponents showed they differed dramati cally on an entire range of do mestic affairs raised by a panel of three reporters. Mondale, far behind in all na tional polls in the final month be fore the election, sharply attacked the incumbent, charging he had no real plan to lower the budget deficit, would appoint Supreme Court justices suggested by the religious right and lacked the leadership ability to avoid inci dents like the bombing of the American embassy in Beirut. Reagan, countering in the strongest language he has used in the campaign, said Mondale leads a Democratic Party no longer concerned about the needs of mainstream America and favors a heavy tax increase that would wreck the economic recovery his administration has accomplished. Even before the debate ended, presidential spokesman Larry Speakes declared Reagan the winner, saying he was “clearly in command of the facts, clearly in command of the debate.” Mondale’s campaign manager, James Johnson, said Mondale “scored very strongly” on his clos ing statement, and also did well on “the issue of fairness, where he said he was going to stand up for the average family.” Johnson said Reagan “gave a very, very unsatisfactory answer on Social Security.” The two contenders stood be hind podiums on the stark stage of the Kentucky Center for the Arts with the panel of questioners off to one side. “I’m running on the record,” Reagan said. “I think sometimes Mr. Mondale is running away from his. “Their leadership isn’t taking us where Americans want to go,” the president said of the Demo crats. “I think this is something the American people see.” Mondale slammed back, say ing: “There is a difference be tween being a quarterback and a cheerleader.” Saying there was no excuse for Americans being blown up in Bei rut three times by the same ter rorist method, the Democratic nominee said, “A president must command the White House and those who work for him.” Mondale hit Reagan partic ularly hard on proposals he made early in his administration to cut Social Security and medicare. “The fact of the matter is that the President’s budget wanted to cut Social Security by 25 percent,” See DEBATE, page 5 More radar observation time NASA delays spacewalk United Press International CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Ace commander Robert Crippen sal vaged Challenger’s radar explora tions Sunday and NASA officials de layed a planned spacewalk until Thursday to give the shuttle astro nauts additional radar observation time. “So now all the experiments that we’re carrying on board are up and operating doing exactly what they were being flown to do,”, said flight director John Cox during a news briefing. “The trick with pointing the KU-band antenna worked. We’re very happy with the way that’s working.” Crippen saved the important ra dar experiment by maneuvering the shuttle to point a jammed antenna toward a distant satellite, so hours of unmatched radar pictures of scien tific targets around the globe could be transmitted back to Earth. It was like a searchlight seeking out a high-flying airplane. The shut tle had to be jockeyed about until the radio beam from the 3-foot dish an tenna hit the relay satellite 22,000 miles higher. The satellite in turn transmitted the radar results to sci entists on Earth. It means scientists will be able to receive many extra hours of imaging data produced by radar waves bouncing off deserts, rain forests, oceans, mountains and ice packs de spite the radar problem. The spacewalk was delayed from Tuesday to Thursday so the 35-foot- long radar antenna could make ad ditional observations. The delay was necessary because flight controllers want David Leestma and Kathryn Sullivan to J;ie down the balky dish antenna to make sure it does not cause any damage during Challeng er’s return to Earth. Officials said there was no con cern about danger to the spacewalk- ers. But before the dish antenna can be secured, the radar antenna must be folded up, and that will end the radar’s use. Thus the spacewalk was delayed two days. Crippen told David Hilmers in mission control that the tie-down op eration might not be as simple as it sounded, but he was assured that George Nelson, who walked in space on Crippen’s April satellite repair flight, had checked out the proce dures. Controllers in Houston planned to operate the radar on and off while the astronauts slept Sunday night. One target was the Lake Turkana region of northern Kenya where an thropologists are looking for clues to settlements by early man. The astronauts transmitted three See SHUTTLE, page 4 140 East German refugees stuffed in closed embassy United Press International BONN, West Germany — About 50 East Germans have slipped into the West German Embassy in Pra gue since it was closed three days ago, bringing to 140 the number of refugees holed up in the mission seeking to emigrate to the West, news reports said Sunday. The refugees, including 30 chil dren, share crowded facilities with the embassy’s 10 West German dip lomats, the West German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported. The incident is a major embar rassment for East Berlin, whose communist leadership this weekend is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the East Ger man state with the motto “The Ger man Democratic Republic is My Home.” West Germany closed the embassy in the baroque Lobkowitz Palace Thursday night after more than 80 East Germans had entered and re fused to leave unless they were al lowed to emigrate to the West. Another eight East Germans scrambled over an 8-foot iron fence around a garden at the back of the embassy Friday morning. The Bild am Sonntag Sunday said another 50 East Germans have slipped into the embassy since it closed and reported a total of 140 refugees were inside. Czech police patrolled the rear of the embassy for the first time Satur day. Witnesses outside the embassy said no refugees had entered since the eight Friday arrivals.