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.