Texas A&MV^ m m «•
The Battalion
Vol.80 Mo. 113 GSPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, March 18, 1985*
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Children using
stress control
before exams
I Some parents say ifs
I'mental child abuse'
Associated Press
JCLEARWATER, Fla. — Before a
w exam, thousands of fifth-graders
B Florida’s Gulf Coast breathe
Bep, close their eyes, picture the
teitand tell themselves: “1 am ready.
Shave studied.”
■ In return, they get better grades,
Isays Harry Danielson, guidance su
pervisor for the Pinellas County
! school system. The exercises, he
lavs, have a calming effect that helps
Bntrol anxiety and build conti-
Mence.
■ Hut some parents call the pro-
^Batn “mind control" and “mental
B^iild abuse” and refuse to let their
Bildren take part.
I Opponents fault tape-recorded
[ itistructions telling youngsters to
Breathe deep and imagine a safe
|| place or a "wise person" to whom
Bey can turn in times of trouble.
i That, they say, is hypnotic and phys-
! kally threatening.
; The controversy recently forced
I 1 the school board to lake another
ijooJc at the 4-year-old program
Known as “quieting reflex.” or Q R.,
|||»hich is used for about 4,000 chil-
llrtlren in at least 28 middle schools.
■H By a 6-1 vote Wednesday, the
|||K>ard reiterated its support for
|B).R,. but required schools to inform
parents about the program and re
stricted its use to the weeks before
iStandardized tests.
The concessions didn’t mollify
itics.
“It’s a form of tampering with our
Children’s mind,” said Hugh Riche-
pon Jr., a lawyer representing par
ents opposed to the technique. “You
night want to call it mental child
hbuse.”
The objective, Danielson says, is to
teach children to modify physiolog
ical reaction to tension by reversing
tendencies to tighten muscles or take
shallow breaths. They are taught to
recognize that they’re upset, tell
themselves they can handle it,
breathe deeply and consciously try
to relax.
Superintendent Scott Rose recom
mended the program be continued,
based on the findings of a review
committee of ministers, Parent Tea
chers Assocation representatives,
physicians, clinical psychologists and
two professional counselors.
Photo by WA YNE L. GRABEIN
Irish Invasion
Many people claim Irish roots when St. Patrick’s day arrives.
Lisa and Tracey Connor, two sisters who are journalism ma
jors, were part of the Irish crowd at Bennigan’s Sunday
night. Bennigan’s hosted its annual party complete with Irish
music and green beer.
Acid rain a priority
for Shamrock Summit
Associated Press
QUEBEC — President Reagan
and Canadian Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney launched their St. Pat
rick’s Day “Shamrock Summit” Sun
day with an announcement designed
to smooth over the issue of acid rain,
the single greatest irritant in U.S.-
Canadian relations.
The two leaders said they would
exchange special envoys to examine
the sensitive environmental issue
and report back within a year.
“Together, we will find an answer
to this problem,” Reagan said after a
half-hour meeting with Mulroney.
Mulroney, who stated that the
pollution problem was going to be
the top issue for him at the summit,
called the move “a significant step
forward .... The president and I are
confident that this approach will
produce real results.”
However, there was no commit
ment in the two men’s statements to
a full-scale cleanup program similar
to what Mulroney had been seeking
in advance of Reagan’s goodwill
visit.
Reagan named former Transpor
tation Secretary Drew Lewis as his
special envoy, while Mulroney
named former Ontario Premier Wil
liam G. Davis.
Reagan and Mulroney, fellow
sons of Ireland and kindred conser
vative spirits, are holding two days of
talks and celebrating St. Patrick’s
Day in Quebec, the heart of French
Canada.
Although U.S. worked to stress
the positive aspects of Reagan’s over
night visit, the president alluded to
an ongoing environmental dispute
over acid rain when he said, “Be
tween two such independent and
sovereign countries there will always
be some differences, as there will al-
ways he opportunities for
agreement.”
But he, too, helped set the Irish
tone of the meeting which officials
from both sides dubbed the Sham
rock Summit, calling it a celebration
of St. Patrick’s Day.
“For two fellows named Reagan
and Mulroney, this would seem to be
appropriate,” said the president,
who wore a Kelly green tie.
Mulroney picked up the cue, and
said that the “luck of the Irish brings
us together. He said Canada’s ties
with its southern neighbor were
marked by “fairness and common
values.”
A U.S. official, briefing reporters
before the trip on condition he not
be identified, sought to minimize the
importance of the acid rain pollution
issue, pointing instead to areas of
agreement, including the signing of
a new Pacific salmon fishing treaty,
and a plan to modernize the obsolete
Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line.
The string of giant radar dishes was
built more than two decades ago to
warn of a surprise Soviet attack over
the North Pole.
The Reagan administration has
for years insisted more research is
necessary before the government
presses a costly cleanup effort.
Caller claims Islamic Jihad
responsible for abduction
Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon — An anony
mous telephone caller claimed Sun
day that the shadowy Islamic Holy
War group had kidnapped Asso
ciated Press correspondent Terry
Anderson, as well as two Britons
who were abducted in Beirut last
week.
The caller said he represented the
group, known in Arabic as Jihad Is-
lami, and read a statement which
said the “the detention” of Anderson
and the two British men “comes
within the framework of our contin
uing operations against America and
its agents.”
Anderson, 37, the chief Middle
East correspondent for the AP, was
last seen Saturday morning, when he
was shoved into a green Mercedes by
three men, two of them armed w*ith
pistols. AP photographer Donald
Mell witnessed the abduction.
The missing Britons are Brian Le-
vick, 59, managing director of the
Coral Oil Co. in Lebanon for the
past 18 months, kidnapped Friday;
and Geoffrey Nash, 60, a metallurg
ist who works for the Lebanese gov
ernment, abducted Thursday.
All were seized in west Beirut, the
Moslem sector of the capital which,
for the past 13 months, has been un
der the control of Shiite Moslem and
Druse militias.
See KIDNAP, page 12
Jury foreman: Cuadra shouldn’t get new trial
By MICHAEL CRAWFORD
Staff Writer
Former Texas A&M Cadet Ga
briel Cuadra should not receive a
new trial, the jury foreman in Cua-
dra’s trial said Sunday.
Cuadra requested a new trial Fri
day after accusing the prosecutor
and the jury of misconduct during
his Jan. 31 trial.
Cuadra based his request on the
dosing arguments in his case when
Brazos County Attorney Jim Kubo-
viak twice referred to punishment
while the jury was only supposed to
determine guilt or innocence.
But according to Jury Foreman
Alyn Hays, the mentioning of pun
ishment did not influence her deci
sion.
“I certaintly wasn’t (influenced),”
Hays said, “but, I don’t know how
anybody else felt. I felt it was obvious
the boy was guilty and I feel very bad
about it.”
Cuadra was found guilty of tam
pering with evidence during an in
vestigation of the death of Cadet
Bruce Goodrich. The charge is pun
ishable by up to one year in jail and a
$2,000 fine. Cuadra was given a pro
bated $500 fine and a probated one-
year jail sentence by County Court-
at-Law Judge Carolyn Ruffino.
Cuadra admitted to destroying a
schedule which outlined the exer
cises Goodrich undertook on an
early-morning run before collapsing
from heat stroke last August. Th^
roster was sought by police during
the investigation into the death of
the 20-year-old transfer student
from Webster, New York. Goodrich
was one of two transfer cadets who
made the run which was supervised
by three junior cadets.
The three pleaded guilty to
hazing charges and a hazing charge
against Cuadra was dismissed in
Ruffino’s court on Feb. 25.
Ruffino ruled that the three de
fendants each must pay a $250 fine
for hazing and $70 in court costs.
The three former students were
plaped on probation for 90 days and
required to work 100 hours of com
munity service.
Colonization
A&M researchers helping NASA's martian dreams come true
This is the first article in a two-
pan series focusing on what sonic
scientists see for the future of Mars.
By WAYNE L. GRABEIN
Reporter
The men of Earth came to
Mars.
They came because they were
afraid or unafraid, because they
were happy or unhappy, because
they felt like Pilgrims or did not
feel like Pilgrims. There was a
reason for each man.
‘The Martian Chronicles”
by Ray Bradbury
Through the years, many of
the ideas and inventions of sci
ence fiction have crossed the line
into reality from futuristic
dreams. Robots, computers and
space travel, once fantasy, are
common place today.
Now researchers at Texas
A&M, supported by NASA, are
beginning their own Martian ven
tures by investigating the possibil
ity of manned bases on Mars in
the early 21st century.
“How much do we know and
how far are we from a real, live
space station on Mars or even an
orbiting space station?” said Dr.
Duwayne M. Anderson, associate
provost for research at Texas
A&M. “We’re very close in terms
of the know-how.”
Anderson’s outlook is echoed
by Oran Nicks, director of the
new Space Research Center at
A&M.
“The exciting thing is that now
we’ve gotten to the point where
it’s beyond the dream; it’s a possi
bility," Nicks said. “We’re here fi
nally.”
Anderson, as a researcher, and
Nicks, as the deputy director of
the Langley Research Center,
were members of the National
Aeronautics and Space Adminis
tration during the Viking space
missions to Mars.
Anderson also helped inter
pret portions of the missions’
data. His interpretations were in
cluded in the published results of
the mission.
The Viking missions proved
the United States could land a
spacecraft on Mars safely, Ander
son said. With the success of these
missions, the route to Mars has
been paved, he said.
But Nicks said the colonization
of Mars will take at least two ox-
three decades to become a reality.
Dr. Michael Duke, chief of the
solar system exploration division
at the Johnson Space Centex-, said
one reason for the time lapse is
because NASA programs go
through an evolutionary process
that often takes decades to com
plete.
The lunar and Mars bases, he
said, will most likely be developed
out of the current space station
program.
From past experience with
NASA projects, Anderson said
each program usually takes about
10 years to evolve from the initial
planning stages to the end.
“The space shuttle is the key to
the next step,” he said. “It’s the
bridge.”
Nicks said the shuttle will allow
the development of orbiting
space stations, and, later, will fa
cilitate the construction of moon
bases. These lunar bases would be
the essential providers of materi
als for the Martian expeditipn,
Nicks said. The lunar bases also
would be a possible starting point
for the operation.
But why Mars?
“Seeing the similarities (be
tween Earth and Mars) suggests
the tremendous amount of real
estate,” Nicks said. “Who’s to say
that it isn’t a valuable property.”
Nicks compared the Martain
landscape to the reddish, rocky
surface of the California and New
Mexico deserts.
Besides the visual similarities,
Nicks said the scientific prop
erties which parallel Earth’s own
characteristics would make the
colonization of Mars more favor
able.
For example, a day on Mars
lasts 23 hours and 37 minutes
compared to the 24-hour Earth
day. Also, the martian year goes
through four seasons like Earth,
but a year on Mars is 687 days.
The main attraction of Mars,
though, is the presence of water,
said Doth Niclts and Anderson.
This water supply, in the form of
ice and snow, could provide an
energy source and an atmo
sphere, Anderson said.
Nicks said differences between
the two planets also would bring
settlers to Mars.
“There’s the same spirit in the
human psyche,” Nicks said,
“which will make people want to
go to Mars and do some of these
things, in spite of the challenges,
for the same reason people left
Europe and came to the United
States.”
Anderson said the Apollo mis
sions to the moon and other past
space programs should not be
forgotten. Those programs still
influence the present programs.
“Aa to why (we should go to
Mars), it’s because we can, and we
will because we want to, not be
cause vve have to,” Anderson said.
“That’s kind of a nice situation to
be in.”
Photo by WA YNE L. GRABEIN
Scientists have been able to simulate the martian soil here on
Earth. The flask contains samples of the simulated soil.