Ceremony marks opening
new Medical Sciences Library
— Page 3
More college women are
virgins than before, study says
— Page 4
Rice hopes 'controlled chaos'
stays more in control in '85
— Page 6
The Battalion
Vol. 80 No. 189 USPS 045360 6 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday August 13, 1985
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No survivors
bund at site
of JAL crash
Associated Press
KITA-AKAMURA, Japan (AP)
A Japanesejumbo jet packed with
024 people crashed in rugged
ountains of central Japan on Mon
ay. First reports from the site said
here were no survivors, making it
he worst single-plane crash in his
tory.
Three dozen helicopter-borne
roops made a rope descent into
teep, thickly forested mountain
ountry Tuesday morning to reach
the wreckage of the Japan Air Lines
Boeing 747.
The jetliner crashed on a do
mestic flight from Tokyo to Osaka.
3S. Re- MThe pilot had reportea a door was
lowest K’broken, that he was fighting for con-
Btrol and would try an emergency
JTLE1 landing.
Hiroshi Ochiai, a Self Defense
Force spokesman, said initial reports
from the crash site, at about 5,000
feet, indicated no survivors among
the 509 passengers and 15 crew
members aboard.
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chair,
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Going 1
JAL spokesman Geoffrey Tudor
said two Americans were on the pas
senger manifest. They were identi
fied as Edward Anderson, believed
to be 48, and Michael Hanson, 40,
both employees of Stearns Catalytic
Co., of Denver, Colo. Neil McLagan,
a Stearns vice president, confirmed
Anderson and Hanson were on the
airplane.
The jetliner crashed at about 6:54
p.m. (5:54 a.m. EDT), on the north
side of Mount Ogura, a 6,929-foot
peak about 50 miles from Yokota
and 70 miles northwest of Tokyo.
Pilots of two other planes in the
area were said to have reported see
ing a plane in flight and on fire be
fore the crash. A Japan Air Self-De
fense Force helicopter reported
spotting the burning wreckage on a
mountainside.
The site is in a remote area in a
range known as the Japan Alps. The
only roads in the region follow river
valleys that cut through steep,
densely forested mountainsides.
Tudor said JAL flight 123 left To
kyo’s Haneda Airport bound for
Osaka carrying 509 passengers, in
cluding 12 infants, and a crew of 15.
It left Haneda at 6:12 p.m. It had
been scheduled to leave at 6 p.m.
and to arrive at Osaka, less than 250
miles away, at 7 p.m.
Tudor said that at 6:36 p.m., the
plane reported: “Rear 5 door bro
ken, making emergency descent.”
Judging from the communication,
he said, “it appears the aircraft crew
had difficulty controlling the air
craft.”
Dozens of weeping relatives gath
ered at Haneda and at the airport in
Osaka to await word on possible sur
vivors. Most of the passengers came
from the Osaka area.
Kyodo News Service quoted wit
nesses as saying they saw the plane
make a long, sweeping turn and
then saw “red and black flames.”
Tudor said in a telephone inter
view that the plane’s captain, Ma-
sami Takahama, 49, radioed “there
was trouble with a door on the deck
of the main cabin,” and the door ap
peared to have been on the right
rear side of the fuselage.
One report of a plane on fire
came from the pilot of a U.S. Air
Force C-130 cargo plane and the
other from an Air Self-Defense
Force plane, news reports said.
Japan’s worst previous air crash
was the air collision of a domestic All
Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a
military aircraft in July 1971, which
killed 162.
One Way Only
Marty Lopez paints a one way only sign onto Ire
land Street. As of Monday, Ireland is to be used
only by traffic leaving campus while Asbury Street
is now only for traffic coming onto campus. Driv
ers at Texas A&M also should be aware that only
Photo by Lori Chaney
right turns will be allowed from Spence Street onto
University Drive now. Bob Wiatt, director of traf
fic and security for the University Police Depart
ment, says the change will help maintain the flow
of large vehicles involved in construction.
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Actors, mayors lead apartheid protest
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Thousands
of anti-apartheid demonstrators, led
by mayors, actors and union and
civil rights leaders, marched to the
State Department on Monday and
called on the Reagan administration
to renounce its policy of “contructive
engagement” and impose sanctions
on South Africa.
The protesters carried 50 coffins
symbolizing South Africans killed in
growing violence since the white-mi
nority government in Pretoria or
dered a state of emergency more
than three weeks ago.
Chanting “freedom yes, apartheid
no,” they marched from the Lincoln
Memorial to the State Department,
their line stretching about two blocks
down Constitution Avenue.
Among those leading the march
were Mayors Ed Koch of New York
City, Marion Barry of Washington,
Ernest Morial of New Orleans and
Richard Hatcher of Gary, Ind.; the
Rev. Jesse Jackson; Coretta Scott
King; NAACP Director Benjamin
Hooks; Walter Fauntroy, the District
of Columbia’s congressional dele
gate; and actors Paul Newman and
Tony Randall and singer Harry Be-
lafonte.
At the State Department, the
group sang “We Shall Not Be
Moved,” then were led in prayer by
four clergymen.
The leaders of the Free South Af
rica Movement, beginning a day of
mourning and demonstration, also
urged U.S. corporations to halt all
business dealings with South Africa.
Jackson, who sought the Demo
cratic presidential nomination last
year, said, “There is a large moral
force in the community coming to
gether. Every moral imperative used
to withdraw the Third Reich from
Germany in 1945 should be used to
justify withdrawal of the Fourth
Reich from South Africa in 1985.”
Randall Robinson, leader of the
Free South Africa Movement that
sponsored the march as well as daily
protests at the South African Em
bassy, said, “We mourn the growing
numbers of South Africans killed
and the thousands arrested, while
our government continues to supply
weapons, computers and loans ... all
in the package of contructive en
gagement.”
Both the House and Senate have
approved bills that would impose
economic sanctions against South
Africa. The House approved a com-
f >romise version of the legislation be-
ore beginning its summer recess but
the Senate has not yet passed it.
President Reagan, who has long op
posed sanctions, has not said
whether he will veto the bill.
FM officials
release Delta
crash tapes
Associated Press
FORT WORTH — Gonversations
between air traffic controllers and
Delta Flight 191, released Monday
by federal officials, showed little
concern by the pilot over a threaten
ing thunderstorm shortly before the
jet crashed, killing 134 people.
The Federal Aviation Administra
tion released a transcript and tape of
communications before the Aug. 2
of the Delta jet at Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport. The wide
bodied L-101 1 jumbo jet crashed
during its final approach.
“Yes sir — all aircraft listening ex
cept for Delta 1291 — is going to go
across the airport. There’s a little
rain shower just north of the airport
and they’re starting to make ILS (in
strument) approaches . . . .”
At one point, Delta Flight 1291
asked controllers for permission to
go around what the pilot called “a
buildup.”
But Norm Scoggins, manager for
the Dallas-Fort Worth International
Airport tower, said the jet was avoid
ing a storm cell separate from the
weather cell that Flight 191 encoun
tered.
At one point, controllers directed
all pilots to begin using flight instru
ments to approach the runway in
stead of relying on visual ap
proaches, a common procedure
when visibility is impaired by poor
weather.
At 6:03 p.m. CDT, 2'A» minutes
before the crash, controllers an
nounced some “variable winds” at
the north end of the airport.
Gontrollers then told the pilot of
the jet to reduce its speed.
“Tower Delta 191 heavy out here
in the rain. Feels good,” the pilot re
sponded.
After telling the pilot of a Learjet
to make room for the Delta flight, an
air traffic controller said, “Delta go
around.”
At that time, the controller made
a “spontaneous judgment” and
probably didn’t know the jet had hit
the ground yet, said Earl Wolfe, as
sistant manager for the air traffic di
vision of the FAA’s southwest re-
gion.
Wind shear — a sudden shift in
winds — has been discussed as a pos
sible factor in the crash. In a wind
shear, a strong flow of air rushes to
ward the ground, then hits the
ground and shoots violently outward
in all directions.
FAA Southwest Region Director
“Tex” Melagin defended the actions
of the controllers, saying their expe
rience ranged from a minimum of
eight years to more than 20 years.
“One thing that is important that
will come across (the tape) is the high
degree of prefessionalism that
existed in the cockpit of the aircraft
and with the air traffic controllers,”
Melagin said.
Texas A&M student
charged with extortion
From wire and staff reports
A Texas A&M student was re
leased on $25,000 personal re
cognizance bond Friday after be
ing charged with trying to extort
money from a state representa
tive and a Bryan attorney, au
thorities said.
Michael Thomas Ferguson, 22,
originally from Dallas, was
charged in Federal court before
U.S. Magistrate Karen Brown af
ter he allegedly sent a letter to
Bryan Attorney William Thorn
ton on August 6, threatening to
burn down his home if he didn’t
leave $10,000 under a bridge in a
College Station park.
On Thursdsay, Ferguson, a se
nior parks and recreation major,
was arrested in the park ~ by
Bryan, College Station and Texas
A&M police and the FBI after he
picked up a briefcase containing
the money, police said.
According to federal extortion
charges filed by the FBI, Fergu
son mailed a letter on July 17 to
state Representative Richard
Smith,. R-Bryan, threatening to
kill Smith’s wife if he did not pay
$50,000.
On July 19, Smith left a brief
case containing the money under
the park bridge but Ferguson
couldn’t find it and left empty-
handed. FBI officials said.
Conditions of Ferguson’s re
lease were that he spend the
weekend in Spring Shadow Glen,
a drug rehabilition facility, and
stay out of the Bryan-College Sta
tion area.
Ferguson was living at 1202D
Spring Loop in College Station at
the time of his arrest.
If convicted of extortion, Fer
guson could be sentenced to a
maximum of 22 years in federal
prison and a $5,500 fine.
Notification of toxic leak delayed
Union Carbide fighting criticism
Associated Press
INSTITUTE, W.Va. — Union
Carbide defended itself Monday
against criticism of its emergency no
tification procedures during a poi
son gas leak that injured 135 people.
But company officials conceded that
workers at first thought the leak was
not a problem and delayed notifying
authorities.
The chemical involved in Sun
day’s leak, aldicarb oxime, is rated
on a toxicity scale in the same class as
methyl isocyanate, which killed more
than 2,000 people after it leaked at a
Carbide plant in Bhopal, India,
according to a company memo dis
closed by an aide to Rep. Henry
Waxman, D-Calif.
The cbmpany said the rating in
cludes chemicals of varying toxicity
and that it does not consider aldicarb
oxime as toxic as MIC. Doctors said
those exposed at Institute were ex
pected to recover fully because of
low concentrations.
Carbide said it would investigate
the cause of Sunday’s leak, while
county officials said they would in
vestigate the company’s emergency
response.
“The system didn't work.” — Charleston Mayor Mike
Roark, who joined mayors from St. Albans, Nhro, Dun
bar and other communities in criticizing Union Car
bide's emergency warning procedures.
“The system didn’t work,” said
Charleston Mayor Mike Roark, who
joined mayors from St. Albans, Ni-
tro, Dunbar and other communities
in criticizing the warning proce
dures.
But Carbide officials disputed the
charges, with plant manager Hank
Karawan saying the plant’s alarm
was activated within 60 seconds of
the leak’s being discovered at 9:24
a.m.
Kanawha County emergency offi
cials were not notified for 20 min
utes — until 9:44 a.m. — because “at
that time we did not believe the
emergency would affect the commu
nity because the cloud was hovering
over the plant,” Karawan said.
He said the community warning
whistle at the Institute fire station
was sounded shortly before 10 a.m.
But Emergency Broadcast Sys
tem’s first report wasn’t broadcast
until 10:09, said Kanawha Valley
emergency services coordinator Bill
White.
By that time, the stinging, white
gas cloud already was settling on In
stitute, forcing the community’s
3,100 residents to flee or seal them
selves inside their homes.
Thousands stayed indoors for two
hours, and more than 300 were
checked at an emergency medical
center set up two miles away. More
than 130 were treated at hospitals
for burning eyes, noses, throats and
lungs, and 13 remained hospitalized
Monday.
Doctors predicted quick recovery,
but one Carbide worker was in se
rious condition Monday with eye in
juries.
Company spokesman Dick Hen
derson said plant workers promptly
notified the emergency services of
fice and recommended a first stage
alert — in which sirens warn people
to go home, shut windows and doors
and turn off air conditioners.
Gov. Arch Moore, a strong sup
porter of the chemical industry, said
he is certain Carbide will be a good
“corporate citizen” and offer a full
explanation.
Company officials believe the leak
occurred when steam was somehow
introduced into a storage tank con
taining 500 gallons of the pesticide
ingredient, but the source of the
steam has not been determined, Ka
ra w-an said.
Steam would have set off a chemi
cal reaction capable of blowing out
the three gaskets that failed and al
lowed the substance to escape, Kara
wan said.
He said federal and state officials
were at the plant Monday, conduct
ing investigations.
Doctors from the emergency
medical team that treated injured
residents Sunday said at a news con
ference that exposure levels gener
ally were low.