Faculty Senate determines
guidelines for scholarships
— Page 3
Moslem leaders debate
counter sanctions against U.S.
— Page 6
'85 Wimbledon brings back
legacy of Old West shootout
— Page 8
ii
ils
The Battalion
^ i Vol. 80 No. 167 USPS 045360 8 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday July 9, 1985
above)
rench-
luring
President: Terrorism
an act of war, U.S. has
right to defend itself
4.7-6;
anvier
r over
t Ger-
avrati-
ie Uys
rterii-
gainsi
tcuna,
, and
inaldi
gainst
iriver
, Nav-
t
f last
tleeva
tie in
dered
and a
-ating
Ma-
wn 3-
ining
ed to
d,af-
leeva
ames
ience
ourts
eaten
Associated Press
■ WASHINGTON — President
Reagan on Monday branded Iran,
■bya, North Korea, Cuba and Nica
ragua as partners in a terrorist net
work “now engaged in acts of war”
against the United States, and de-
Rared that America “has the right to
defend itself.”
R “The American people are not —I
Rpeat not — going to tolerate intim-
Ration, terror and outright acts of
par against this nation and its peo
ple," Reagan said.
R “And we are especially not going
to tolerate these attacks from outlaw
iitates run by the strangest collection
of misfits, looney tunes and squalid
cmninals since the advent of the
Rhird Reich.”
■ The audience of several thousand
Relegates to the convention of the
Rmerican Bar Association ap
plauded and laughed at his descrip-
ition of the leaders of the “outlaw
Rates.” They also gave the president
R standing ovation when he said
Americans will always defend their
^Country.
Reagan pointedly did not
threaten any military steps or retalia
tion against terrorists, saying his
purpose was to “simply state the
facts about the nature of interna
tional terrorism and affirm Ameri
ca’s will to resist it.”
He said terrorists are trying to
cause us to retreat, retrench, to be
come “Fortress America.” “Yes, their
real goal is to expel America from
the world,” Reagan said.
“That is the real reason these ter
rorist nations are arming, training
and supporting attacks against this
nation. And that is why we can be
clear on one point: these terrorist
states are now engaged in acts of war
against the government and people
of the United States.
“And under international law,”
Reagan added, “any state which is
the victim of acts of war has the right
to defend itself.”
. So far, there have been no retalia
tory strikes during the Reagan ad
ministration for the many terrorist
actions directed against Americans.
Robert C. McFarlane, the president’s
national security adviser, recently
suggested there would be strikes
against terrorist training camps or
supply bases.
Reagan noted the hijacking of
TWA flight 847 and the killing of
four American Marines in El Salva
dor but did not pinpoint blame on
any group.
Citing Iran, Libya, North Korea,
Cuba and Nicaragua as sponsors of
terrorism, Reagan said, “I submit to
you that the growth in terrorism in
recent years results from the increas
ing involvement of these states in
terrorism in every region of the
world.”
Reagan said his list was not all-in
clusive, but added, “Those which I
have described are simply the ones
that can be most directly impli
cated.”
The president charged that ter
rorists represent “a new, interna
tional version of Murder, Inc.” and
said their sponsors are united by
“their fanatical hatred of the United
States . .. .”
A&M student: Ecstasy
easy to get in B-CS area
Undercover
Photo by GREG BAILEY
This little bird sought refuge under the cover of a tree’s leaves as a
band of thunderstorms drenched the Bryan-College Station area
Monday. Today, area residents can expect mostly cloudy skies with a
20 percent chance of rain and a high of 91 degrees.
U.S. court
rules against
creation law
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana’s
law requiring creation science to be
given equal weight with the teaching
of evolution in public schools was
ruled unconstitutional Monday by'a
federal appeals court.
In its ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals said, “The act’s in
tended effect is to discredit evolu
tion by counterbalancing its teaching
at every turn with the teaching of
creationism, a religious belief.”
The court upheld U.S. District
Judge Adrian Duplantier’s ruling
against the 1981 law, which has
never been enforced. It was the only
such law still on the books in the na
tion.
Creation science is the theory that
the Earth and everything on it was
created all at once some thousands
of years ago. It is in accordance with
the Bible’s version of creation in the
Book of Genesis.
The theory of evolutibn holds that
life began billions of years ago and
has gradually developed from sim
pler forms.
Martha Kegel, New Orleans direc
tor of the American Civil Liberties
Union which fought the law in court,
said, “This decision puts the Loui
siana creationism law out of its four-
year misery.
“With the decision today, the fed
eral appeals court made it very clear,
abundantly clear, that creationism is
religion, that it is not science, and
that the courts will not tolerate gov
ernment promotion of religion in
the science classroom.”
Mexican results unofficial
By TRENT LEOPOLD
Senior Stuff Writer
R The pills are known as “exes,” the
■wonder drug,” the “recreational
Drug of the ’80s” and the “love
Mlrug,” while chemists call it methyle-
Itiedioxymethamphetamine.
R Doctors have coined the shorter
jHerm MDMA to describe the white
Hapsules. It’s most recognizable
I name is Ecstasy.
I No matter what you call it, it’s a
IRniethamphetamine drug similar to
1 I.SD that is becoming increasingly
[ popular in the United States. Users
Say the drug offers the emotional
l|‘high of cocaine without the subse-
I quent letdown, destroys emotional
ibarriers, makes everyone an instant
friend and enhances sex.
iR Two Texas A&M students who
I have used the drug agreed to discuss
lift with The Battalion on the condi-
iRtion that their names not be re-
Rvealed.
“It’s really great,” says one of the
(students. “It makes you feel like
lyou’re speeding. You really get to
feeling good about everything. It
(makes you want to climb trees.
“You don’t want any alcohol, or
marijuana. I guess you could say it is
[similar to cocaine or crystal (a proc-
lessed form of THC, the active cnem-
ical found in marijuana), hut there
inever is any type of letdown.”
The drug is similar to heroin, pro
viding “fantastic” hallucinations
when it is taken in strong enough
doses, says the other student.
Ingestion of one 100-milligram
pill provides effects lasting from
four to eight hours, users say.
It costs between $15 and $20 for a
100-milligram dose, and it’s easy to
get, they say. Ecstasy can be bought
for $10 each if 100 or more of them
are purchased at once.
Austin, JHouston and Dallas seem
to be the most popular places to pur
chase the drug, although users say it
is readily available in the Bryan-Col
lege Station area.
“It is really easy to get it (Ecstasy)
at almost any party,” one of the stu
dents says. “You can also find people
selling it at just about any local night
club.”
Until it became illegal to sell the
drug. Ecstasy was sold openly inside
nightclubs in the Dallas area.
Texas A&M officials say they are
aware of the drug but have received
no reports of its usage here.
“We are aware of it but wd have
received no reports of people using
it,” says Robert Burnett, a pharma
cist at the A.P. Beutel Health Center.
Similarly, Dr. Wade Birch of the
A&M Student Counseling Service
says he has “heard of no one actually
using it,” although he is “aware of
it.”
On July 1 a law went into effect
that subjects manufacturers and sell
ers of the drug to a $125,000. fine
and up to 15 years in prison. The
law makes it a misdemeanor to pos- •
sess the drug.
Within the past week — since
Ecstasy became illegal — a slightly al
tered version of the drug has begun
to appear. It is chemically similar to
Ecstasy, with only one minor hydro
carbon alteration — enough to cause
the drug to be chemically different
from Ecstasy and therefore legal.
In early June, the U.S. Drug En
forcement Agency adhered a Sched
ule 1 classification to the drug. A
Schedule 1 classification is a label for
drugs that have high abuse poten
tial.
DEA officials say the label was put
on the drug because Ecstasy is che
mically similar to MDA, a drug that
got a Schedule 1 classification in the
early 1970s after it was linked to
brain damage and death.
Few studies have been done to de
termine the actual effects Ecstasy has
on the human body, however DEA
officials say Ecstasy abuse “has be
come a nationwiae problem that
poses a serious health threat.”
Con Daugherty, a DEA public af
fairs officer in Washington, D.C.,
says some incidents of nerve damage
have been associated with the drug’s
use and at least one death has been
associated with the drug.
See Ecstasy, page 7
Ruling party claims win
Associated' Press
HERMOSILLO, Mexico — The opposition National
Action Party hurled charges of fraud Monday after the
government party claimed a sweeping victory in na
tional elections.
Although official results are not expected for a week,
the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI,
said early returns from around the country showed it
won a major victory.
Here in prosperous Sonora state at the Arizona bor
der, the PRI claimed in a statement that it won a “100
percent victory” in campaigns at every level, from the
governor to city councils. The races here and in Nuevo
Leon, along the Texas border, had been expected to be
the most hotly contested in Mexican history.
Organizers at the state headquarters here of National
Action, which has not conceded, said a rally would be
held later in the day to protest fraud.
In a statement issued in Mexico City, top PRI spokes
man Juan Saldana Resell said, “We can affirm that we
obtained clear triumphs” throughout the country. He
said the claim was based on reports from the party’s poll
elec-
observers and included all seven gubernatorial el
dons.
Jorge Trevino, the PRI candidate for governor of
Nuevo Leon, claimed victory Sunday night after receiv
ing about half the results.
But his opponent, Fernando Canales Clariond of Na
tional Action, known as PAN, said “the Nuevo Leon
elections were not clean.” He planned to meet Monday
with party officials to determine his course of action.
“There simply weren’t elections,” PAN spokesman
Jose Luis Coindrea told the daily newspaper El Norte in
Monterrey, the Nuevo Leon state capital. “This is a
monstrous fraud.” Nuevo Leon is a heavily industri
alized state that borders Texas.
In Sonora, Rodolfo Felix Valdes predicted Sunday
night he would win by a 3-1 margin.
PAN candidate Adalberto Rosas Lopez, who had
mounted a strong challenge to Valdes, claimed there
were widespread voting irregularities and said that he
would protest on the street Monday.
San Luis Rio Colorado, near-the Arizona border, was
quiet Monday after election day violence.
On Sunday, about 200 PAN supporters threw rocks
at the police station and burned five patrol cars to pro
test the detention of 18 youths for election-related dis
turbances.
The PAN activists said a ballot box they opened was
stuffed with PRI votes, but local PRI leaders denied the
allegation. There have been numerous charges of fraud
in others states also.
The PRI has held the presidency and all gover
norships and dominated Congress since it was founded
in 1929.
The PAN holds the other seat, along with half of the
100 seats allotted to minority parties according to the
percentage of the vote they receive.
De la Madrid and other government leaders said the
elections showed the maturity of the Mexican people
and were carried out largely free of violence.
Official: A&M nuclear reactor unlikely target for terrorists
By BRIAN PEARSON
Staff Writer
The nuclear reactor at the Texas
A&M Nuclear Sciences Center
would be an unlikely target for ter
rorists wanting to blow it up or steal
radioactive fuel to make a weapon, a
representative for the center says.
Donald Anderson, manager of re
actor operations, says the weapons-
grade reactor fuel used at the center
could be used to build a nuclear
weapon but would be difficult for
terrorists to obtain without being ex
posed to the deadly radiation.
Anderson says the center is re
quired to maintain a certain level of
-radiation within the reactor core
which is located at the bottom of a
30-foot pool of water.
“As long as we do this, no one is
going to steal fuel because if you
raise it up above the surface of the
pool and carry the fuel assembly off,
you would be dead before you got to
town,” he says.
Anderson says terrorists would
have to take special precautions to
rob the reactor of its fuel.
“They’d have to have some kind
of a gigantic shield on a truck and
several days to get it out of the reac
tor pool and into the shield,” he says.
“If they didn’t maintain certain pre
cautions for themselves, the radia
tion would kill them.”
Anderson says since the Univer
sity Police patrol the area frequently,
fuel thieves would not have the time
to get the fuel out and get away. He
says a special system alerts the police
of any intruders in the center.
“Whenever anybody opens any of
the doors to the main reactor bay, an
alarm occurs at the security office
and the University Police come out
to investigate who opened the door,”
Anderson says.
Although an explosion inside the
“Thetis no accident that could happen that would en
danger anyone in Bryan-College Station” — Donald
Anderson, manager of reactor operations at the Texas
A&M Nuclear Sciences Center.
reactor core could cause the release
of radioactive particles, the danger
to the immediate area would be
small, Anderson says.
“There’s no accident that could
happen that would endanger any
one in Bryan-College Station,” he
says.
Anderson says tests using a dye
showed that most of the fission
products, byproducts of uranium
fission fuel, would be contained
within the building if an explosion
occurred.
“There would be a minimal haz
ard to the people adjacent to us at
the south end of the building,” he
says.
Anderson says the most likely ter
rorist threat would be the intercep
tion of a truck bringing new fuel to
the center. The next shipment will
be in about 10 years, he says.
Anderson says a terrorist has bet
ter options to chose from.
“If I were a terrorist and I wanted
to build a nuclear weapon, I would
get a group together and obtain a list
of the plutonium-beryllium sources
in the state,” he says.
Anderson says 20 or 30 terrorists
individually raiding these sources at
the same time could obtain the nec
essary materials for a weapon.
“If you got a hundred of them to
gether, you could build a pretty nice
nuclear weapon,” he says.
No attempts have been made to
destroy or steal fuel since the reactor
began operating in 1961.
“We’ve never had any demonstra
tions or. anything out here in the 24
years we’ve been in operation,” he
says.
Anderson says the reactor is used
tor research purposes and does not
generate any power. He says materi
als such as gold, technetium, bro
mine, iron and cobalt are made ra
dioactive by exposing them to the
reactor.
The materials are lowered into
the reactor pool to be exposed to the
radiation emitted from the fuel el
ements. Fuel elements, or clads, are
stainless-steel tubes which contain
Uranium 235.
Medicinally, the radioactive gold
is used to treat prostrate cancer. The
radioactive technetium is used as a
tracer inside the body so nuclear pic
tures can be taken of vital organs.
Industries use radioactive bro
mine as a tracer inside of chemical
processing systems. Cobalt is used as
a tracer to determine thickness of
materials.
Anderson says the reactor is used
by industries such as Texas Instru
ments, M.D. Anderson Hospital,
Shell Development and also by other
universities within a 100-mile radius
of the reactor.
The one-megawatt reactor at the
University is one of eight similar re
actors at universities around the na
tion. There are a total of about 40
reactors in the nation that have
above or below one megawatt capac
ity.