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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1984)
Reveille V makes public appearance Seep ' ' Train track situation still under discussion See page 4 1 1 * *2' - ' , j > „ TexasASM _ - - | • itie tsattaiion Serving the University community College Station, Texas Wednesday, Decembers, 1984 Passengers released from hijacked plane United Press International KUWAIT — Arab-speaking gun men Tuesday hijacked a Kuwaiti jet liner carrying 161 people, including some Americans, and forced the pi lot to land in Iran with threats to blow the aircraft from the sky. One passenger was reported killed and a second injured in a fight on the plane. Forty-three woman and children were freed in two separate groups from the Kuwaiti Airlines Airbus at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport during negotiations between Iranian offi cials and the hijackers, IRNA, the of ficial Iranian news agency, reported. In Washington, the State Depart ment said at least three and perhaps more U.S. citizens were aboard the aircraft, and that other passengers were nationals from four other na tions. Kuwait, Pakistan, Britain and West Germany. Airline officials said most of the people aboard were Pa kistanis. The aircraft was bound from Ku wait to Pakistan and was seized shortly after a stop in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. One of the women released by the hijackers told IRNA the men were heavily armed with “bombs, machine guns and pistols.” “The hijackers said they were Pal estinians and they spoke Arabic all the time,” said Sajiada Banou Oth- mani, 40, who was traveling to Paki stan from Chicago. It was not known if she was a U.S. citizen. “The airliner stands at Mehrabad Airport runway with all its window curtains dosed to prevent passen gers from looking outside,” IRNA reported in a dispatch monitored in Beirut. “More than 20 emergency vehicles are standing by several hun dred yards away.” The hijackers’ only reported de mands were for more fuel and an Arabic-speaking interpreter, who was provided. The Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, quoting a Tehran radio broadcast, said Iranian author ities also had agreed to refuel the French-made Airbus and link it up with ground power units. IRNA said two passengers were wounded in a fight aboard the air craft with the hijackers. The most se riously injured man was released af ter the plane arrived in Tehran but he died of his injuries. The hijackers refused to release the second man. Othmani said a doc tor among the passengers was treat ing the passenger. IRNA said medi cal supplies were sent into the plane. At least one of them had been shot, Othmani told IRNA, but it was unclear which had been hit by gun fire or whether both had suffered gunshot wounds. Othmani, describing the takeover. told IRNA that 15 minutes after the flight left Dubai she heard “a quarrel between some persons and the crew ... and the firing of a gun which in jured a male passenger.” After the plane touched down at the Mehrabad airport, two hijackers emerged from a door and talked with Iranian officials who asked for the release of all the women and children aboard. The hijackers released five women and 14 children 11 hours af ter the plane landed. IRNA said an other 15 women and nine children were allowed to leave three hours later. The number of hijackers re mained in question. Othmani said she saw four, but KUNA said six Ar abic-speaking hijackers — four f rom Beirut and two from Iran —boarded the aircraft early Tuesday when it made the stop in Dubai. IRNA said the aircraft was carry ing 155 passengers, including five hijackers, and a crew of 1 f and en tered Iranian airspace at about 5:30 a.m. local time. Iranian officials said they sent a fighter plane to intercept the air liner, but allowed it to land for “hu manitarian” reasons. They said the pilot reported he was low on fuel and that the hijackers had threat ened to blow up the plane. A&M students complain of Austin police actions Postmaster gives students tips Holiday mail made easy By KIRSTEN DIETZ Stuff Writer R Because of the traditional increase 1 the Christmas muil flow, students ;|e asked to follow a few simple mles during the holiday season to al ienate some of the potential mailing problems. ■ College Station Postmaster C.L. M.itcek advises students who are re timing home during Christmas break not to leave a temporary for- wauling address unless it is nec essary. ^Temporary addresses are what kills us," Matcek said. “It’s hard to stay up with them.” Rif a student feels he must leave a temporary forwarding address, Mat cek advises turning it in to the post office at least one week in advance. He said it takes about one week to process the forwarding addresses, so students need to allow for lag time. Matcek also asks students not to request to have second class mail such as magazines and newspapers forwarded. If no forwarding address is left, all packages and mail, except certi fied mail, will continue to be placed in the student’s mail box or held be hind the counter and delivered when the student returns. Because the forwarding increases the post office’s work, Matcek said mail has a greater chance of getting lost before the student receives it. T o insure that cards and packages reach their destination by Christmas Day, Matcek suggests mailing pack ages by Dec. 13 and greeting cards by Dec. 17. Postal customers also are encouraged to mail earlier in the day, rather than late in the evening, to take advantage of special early collections that speed up the mail’s delivery- Despite the post office’s annual advice to mail early, Matcek said many people still wait until the last minute. See MAIL, page 7 By DAINAH BULLARD Staff Writer A Texas A&M student who was struck in the head by an Austin po liceman with his night stick Saturday night said Tuesday he may take ac tion against the Austin Police De partment. “I’m not out for blood, but I’m not going to just let them get away with it,” said George Clendmin, a junior environmental design major, “fve called my lawyer and called my home and everything. We’re not going to let them get away with it.” Clendinin said he was clubbed by an unidentified Austin policeman while he was helping to break up a fight between four men. Clendinin said he had just separated two of the men when he was struck from be hind. “I never saw the policeman hit me,” Clendinin said. “I have a lot of witnesses who said he (the police of ficer) came running up and hit the first one there — and that was me.” Though the blow knocked him to the ground, he was not unconscious, Clendinin said. When he asked the name of the officer who had hit him, the officer refused to identify him self, then cursed Clendinin, telling him to “get the hell out of here,” Clendinin said. “He pushed me back into the crowd,” Clendinin said. “He was try ing to get rid of the evidence.” Several other incidents followed the event, Clendinin said. Another student was arrested for no appar ent reason, and policemen rode mo torcycles into the crowd, he said. “I don’t know if it’s just the area or the region or what — I don't think the whole police station is bad,” Clendinin said. “Maybe they’re just bad losers.” Clendinin was taken by ambu lance to an Austin hospital where he received six stitches in his head for the injury caused by the clubbing. The attack on Clendinin was con firmed by Jill Swinbank, class of’80, who first reported the incident to The Battalion. Swinbank said she and some friends were watching Clendinin at tempt to break up a fight between four men when the polict proached. “The policeman jumped over a car and pulled out his night stick and cracked him (Clendinin) over the head,” Swinbank said. “We said, ‘You just can’t be hitting people like that,’ and asked for his badge num ber.” Swinbank said the policeman, who apparently was wearing his badge on his shirt under his jacket, ref used to give witnesses his badge number and cursed at the crowd. “We continued to ask for his badge number, and he told the crowd to f— off, which I didn’t think policemen ap- was very professional,” she said. Swinbank said the policemen grabbed, kicked and handcuffed one man who continued to request their badge numbers, and they told the man’s girlfriend she would have to bail him out of jail. Swinbank said that when she attempted to file a complaint with the Austin Police De partment she was told she was ineli gible. “They told me I couldn’t file a complaint because I wasn't arres ted,” Swinbank said. A spokesman from the police de partment told Swinbank that if the offending policeman is identified and found guilty, he may be placed on probation for one or two days. Swinbank said she has contacted the mayor’s office in regard to the inci dent. Lt. Roger Napier, a spokesman for the Austin Police Department, said several “scuffles” among stu dents were reported Saturday night. Policemen who attempted to break up the scuffles were hampered by spectators, he said. “When the police tried to make arrests, the crowd attempted to keep them from doing so,” he said. Though several witnesses have filed statements, none of the parties involved in the fights have filed com plaints, Napier said. Psychologist : stress affects health, relationships ■ Editor's note: 1'his is the first arti- B/e in a three part series on stress. By RENEE H ARRELL Reporter ■ Stress. Something that everyone Experiences at one time or another, tit can make you — if you know how |to handle it — or break you — if you ; don't. ■ Relationships in life can bring on l added stress or help buffer existing press, but what is stress to one per- gfon may not. be stress to another. I Stress is the body’s reaction to jvear and tear, and it isn’t always the villain it’s made out to be. Only when its unduly prolonged or when it comes too often is it dangerous to your health. In fact, some stress could be good for you. “Individually, we all need stress to kind of motivate us,” Tom H. Ed wards, a Bryan psychologist said. “Most of us don’t recognize stress or expect it to have an effect on us.” The stress experienced in a relationship is similar to the stress that comes from anything else. Whether it’s a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship or a marriage, stress can be a common occurenc e. “Especially for two individuals liv ing together it can be stressful when opinions don’t agree,” Edwards said. “It’s hard to separate relationship stress from work stress. Few of us can leave problems at work or at school. “In a relationship, stress has the effect of magnifying our feelings. Sometimes we say things we don’t mean and this can lead to argu ments. Some people say, Tm sup pose to live happily ever,' or ‘You should be more caring.' Love relationships need to be based on unconditional love. “Most of the time in a relationship, we place conditions on the relationship. We need to except the limitations of the other person. Hopef ully we’ll be aware of the limi tations when they happen. Most of us are not willing to accept the amount of influence that stress has on us." Dr. Lowell Krokoff, a Texas A&M assistant professor of psychology, said stress in a relationship can come from “negative affect.” He said this is negative emotions such as, con tempt, sadness or depression that can surface during an argument. “The more negative affect during a fight, the greater stress that comes,” Krokoff said. “The more conflict you have, the more health problems you’re going to have. When a husband and wife discuss real problems, the more negative af fect and, therefore, the more stress. We have strong data to show we have that relationship.” This all may seem like common sense, but when research was done comparing happy marriages to un happy ones a new aspect was discov ered. “These are just our first findings,” Krokoff said, “but, there is some evi dence from recent studies that dis tress in marriage creates more health problems for men than for women. Of course, a bad marriage or relationship with too much stress takes its toll on everyone. Summariz ing all the studies across the board, it’s bad for men and women, but it’s worse for men. “For women, conflict in a mar riage seems to take its toll on their evaluation of the companionship as pect of their marriage (they are lone ly),” he said. “For men the conflict takes its toll on their health. These sex differences in men and women suggest the way they respond to stress in their marriage.” This could be due to two contro versial factors. Krokoff said he thinks it’s a combination of both. On the sociological side of the controversy, women are supposedly taught to express their emotions more, so they are more comfortable See STRESS, page?