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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 1985)
MM Texas may gain 2 to 5 seats in Congress after 1990 census — Page 3 Dorsett finally comes to terms; Cowboy star on way to camp — Page 5 Black students mob teacher at South African high school — Page 6 ns PM V Texas m m V • The Battalion Vol. 80 No. 191 USPS 045360 6 pages College Station, Texas Thursday August 15,1985 i bil V aid's ERY nd their enewing >n Mon- ireation ulty and spouses ise ID's re Intra- orts Of- Building, and 8-5 TALS lay re- or the tween ber 3. newed n\\\ be :es will isteror Lock- or re- Build- irs. FBI agents: Yugoslavian is con man Associated Press I AUSTIN — A Yugoslavian ac cused of posing as a KGB agent to dwindle an Austin man is an interna tional con man who preys on the 'World’s political hot spots, FBI [agents testified Wednesday in fed eral court. I Bratislav Lilic, 33, was named in federal fraud and mail fraud indict- inents alleging he took $46,000 from Businessman Douglas Pierce, who las spent over $400,000 in his ■earch for his son John. ■ John Pierce, then 29, disappeared BWhen the Glomar Java Sea sank in he South China Sea on Oct. 25, 1983. The body of Pierce, a derrick hand on the drilling ship, has not en found. Douglas Pierce testified Wednes- ay he believes his son is alive. On uesday, he told jurors he believes John Pierce is a prisoner in Vietnam. Lilic, using another name, had contacted Douglas Pierce, saying he was a KGB agent operating out of Washington and could win John Pierce’s freedom. FBI agent Sikes Houston, who ar rested Lilic in San Antonio on Jan. 11, testified that Lilic told him he had used his foreign accent to bilk governments into paying for phony information. “He said he felt compelled to go out and make a living for him and lis family by doing this kind of work,” Houston said. Testimony about previous chemes in wnich Lilic might have >een involved was previewed by U.S. District Judge James Nowlin, who ater ruled jurors could hear the tes- imony, but could not hear about Lil- c’s prison record, the details of which were not given. “He decribed himself as a con man and burglar, indicating he had )een in contact with representatives of foreign governments for the pur pose of using his foreign accent for the purpose of pulling off cons,” said Byron Eden, a Chicago FBI agent who investigated Lilic’s contact with the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defama tion League. Eden testified that Lilic claimed to have attempted scams on the gov ernments of Bulgaria, Romania, Li bya and the Soviet Union. According to Eden, Lilic liked the plans because he felt he could not be prosecuted unless those foreign governments admitted to engaging in espionage in the United States. Vietnam hands over remains of 26 MIAs Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam on Wednesday turned over what may be the remains of 26 Americans missing in the war that ended 10 years ago. It also indicated accep tance of a U.S. proposal that senior officials visit Hanoi. The Communist government ap pears eager to normalize relations with its former enemy. Last month it suggested a high-level visit as a means of resolving the emotional is sue of MIAs, Americans still listed as missing in action. An American delegation took cus tody of the remains. After a brief, solemn ceremony, they were flown from Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport to the U.S. Joint Casualty Resolution Cen ter in Honolulu for analysis. If nearly all are identified as being Americans, it would be Communist Vietnam’s largest single delivery of the remains of missing Americans. The bones given to the American delegation Wednesday were packed in 26 small, numbered wooden crates. A neatly folded American flag was placed on top of each and they were carried one by one onto a C-130 transport plane as 18 U.S. sol diers, sailors and airmen saluted. Vietnamese officials also gave the Americans what they called “material evidence” from six other servicemen missing in action, includ ing identification tags. The officials said Vietnam agrees in principle to a U.S. proposal, made last weelt, that a high-level dele gation visit Hanoi later this month for talks on speedy resolution of the emotional issue of MIAs, Americans still listed as missing in action. Vo Dong Giang, minister in the Foreign Ministry, told foreign jour nalists that Vietnam sees no reason to reject the proposal. Before Wednesday, Vietnam had handed over the remains of 99 MIAs, but 2,464 American service men and civilians are unaccounted for in Indochina, more than half of them in Vietnam. The previous larg est single delivery of remains was 22 sets of bones in 1977. Zaire’s president gives Pope subdued welcome Photo by CRAIG RENFRO Ghostbuster! Robert Heaton, 25, a health education major from Belton, is cleaning the ramps of Kyle Field with an air blower in prepara tion for the Texas Aggies’ football season. The Aggies’ first home game is Sept. 21 against Northeast Louisiana State University. Associated Press KINSHASA, Zaire — Pope John Paul II on Wednesday received a warm but subdued welcome to Zaire, where friction between church and state has eased after more than a de cade. Crossing the equator on a flight from the Central African Republic, the pope arrived in Kinshasa to a warm welcome by President Mobutu Sese Seko. The president was accom panied by Cardinal Joseph Malula, archbishop of Kinshasa, once re garded as one of the Zaire leader’s fiercest opponents. Cheering citizens lined the streets as the pope was driven to the resi dence of the papal nuncio. Arch bishop Alfio Rapisarda, where he will stay during his 46-hour visit to Kinshasa. Before the papal visit, both Mobu tu’s one-party government, which has governed the country for two decades, and the Roman Catholic hi erarchy sought to stress their recon ciliation following more than 15 years of confrontation. But public statements by each side praising the other for helping the people of Zaire contained echoes of friction. An editorial in Elima on Wednes day expressed veiled criticism of the church for purportedly dragging its heels on “Zaireanization” of the priesthood. The church estimates that 45 per cent of the country’s 30 million in habitants are Roman Catholics. But 25 years after the end of Belgium’s colonial rule, 90 percent of its 1,703 priests and nearly half its 4,636 nuns are white expatriates. Mobutu’s “authenticity” campaign included the enforced replacement of baptismal names by African ones. JAL head apologizes to relatives of deceased Associated Press TOKYO — Hours after a Japan Air Lines jet carrying 524 people crashed into a remote mountaintop, JAL President Yasumoto Takagi stood at the bottom of an airline ramp, bowing and apologizing to relatives boarding a JAL plane that would take them near the scene of the accident. Later, when 1,700 relatives and friends arrived in central Japan to await news of the crash and the re turn of bodies, Takagi held a news conference to publicly apologize for the disaster. The JAL crash illustrates how the traditional, sometimes rigid customs of Japan’s highly group-oriented so ciety take many forms and how peo- f >le who fail to live up to them may ace shame or condemnation. In times of disaster, Japanese cus tom dictates unique and often dra matic response from those responsi ble or otherwise involved. The government official or company president apologizes profusely, quits nis post or even commits suicide. And relatives rush to be as close as possible to their lost loved ones. Takagi told reporters late Wednesday he was determined to resign to take responsibility for Monday’s crash and would step down when the accident investiga tion appeared to be settled and his presence was no longer necessary. Although preliminary reports in dicated that nobody had survived the crash, the avowed first priority of many passengers’ families was to reach Mount Osutaka, the crash site. Some hoped to climb the peak, but most were content just to wait. JAL officials, using company planes and buses and hired taxis, transported the relatives from Osaka and Tokyo early Tuesday to a town near the crash site, where they were to be housed until the remains were recovered and identified. The motivation for this gathering near the scene of calamity is said to stem partly fom Buddhist belief that the spirit does not separate immedi ately from the body and remains an integral link to the deceased’s family. Buddhism also teaches that a per son must have a proper burial so that the spirit may rest in peace, a teaching that accounts for why, 40 years after the end of World War II, Japanese continue to make pilgrim ages to remote South Pacific islands in search of soldiers’ bones. Shortly after Korean Air Lines (now Korean Air) Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet jetfighter in September 1983, relatives hired fish ing boats to go to the approximate spot where the plane went down. See Customs, page 6 Barton holds town meeting Budget to get priority in House By BRIAN PEARSON Staff Writer U.S. Rep. Joe Barton discussed some of the legislative actions of the U.S. House of Representatives at the Brazos County Town Meeting Wednesday morning. Wednesday was “Joe Barton Day” in Brazos County. Barton, a Republican from Texas’ 6th district, told about 60 people in the Brazos Center that reducing the nation’s deficit has highest priority over other legislative actions. “That is the most serious issue fac ing this country today,” Barton said. On Aug. 1, a $967 billion budget resolution was passed for the 1986 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Bob Welling, a representative for the Barton office in Washington, D.C., said the budget cuts the spending of federal agencies by $55 billion. Barton said he did not vote for the budget resolution because the bill was debated on the House floor for two hours and members only had 15 minutes to look at the bill. Barton also discussed tax reforms. He said a recent tax reform bill has not been presented because “e- verybody (in the House) is against something in the bill. “I do think we’re going to have a tax bill,” he said. “It’s going to be a close call, but I would say that we will.” Barton also talked about the United States’ difficulty with increas ing the number of products in Ja pan’s economic market. “Overt and covert trade barriers have made it impossible for America to get into Japan,” he said. He said the United States will tighten its trading policy by restrict ing entry into its market until the Japanese open their market. “The U.S. as a trading partner has been a pushover,” Barton said. DciMnv to hit lou isiana abc^ii noon Associated Press | : ...I CAMERON, La, ~ Hurricane' Danny, packing gusts up to 92 *nph, churned toward the Gulf Coast on Wednesday, and prompted the evac uation of thousands of offshore oil wot kers and lowland residents. Danny became the season’s third hurricane when its maximum Sus tained winds reached 75 mph just before 5 p.m. CDT, Bands of thunderstorms {rom fringes of the sprawling storm sys tem battered the Louisiana coast, and flash flood warnings were is sued, .; Cameron and Port Arthur were given the highest probability for landfaU. • ba • ' "The forecast Is for .the center to make landfall near Lake Charles sometime near noon (today)," said Clarence Vicroy, meteorologist in charge of the U.S. Weather Service office in Slidell. Effect of video display terminals upon users not certain ients 3l High- /our lo- taurants i or East wenue. embers -aphics id pho- lell and Editor’s note: This is the First of a two-part series on possible harmful effects of Video Display Terminals. By BRIAN PEARSON Staff Writer Video display terminals, one of the most Popular electronic devices since television, nave become an essential part of many peo ple’s lives. They have brought Americans efficiency, productivity and even recreation, but VDT operators who work for hours nearly every day have found some kinks in this “Alice in Wonderland” technology. Among daily terminal users are children blasting space aliens from the sky, secretaries planning schedules for their bosses and re porters cranking out stories. About seven million VDTs were used in 1984 and 40 million are expected to be oper ating by 1990 in homes, newsrooms, business offices and other work places. Like television, the VDT has changed the lives of millions and altered the physical characteristics of hundreds of workrooms. Typewriters are being set aside to make room for the VDT screens and keyboards. Although filing cabinets are being left be hind as computer memories replace them, not everyone is convinced that use of the VDT is completely safe. Shortly after the VDT wave began during the early 1970s, questions arose about the possibility of VDTs’ harmful effects and about the work environments in which they are used. Workers who use VDTs extensively com plained of eyestrain, eye fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea and body aches. Some blamed VDTs for causing miscarriages and cataracts. National groups — including The News paper Guild, 9 to 5 (the National Association of Working Women), the American Newspa per Publishers Association and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — became involved with the issue. VDT bills cropped up in 23 state legislatures. Groups supporting theories that VDTs were harmful said body aches or musculo skeletal problems were caused by a lack of mobility at the work station. Eye problems were attributed to extensive exposure to the glare from VDT screens. Studies were conduted to see if the low- level radiation emitted from VDTs could cause cataracts and miscarriages. Other studies focused on possible effects of the terminals on VDT operators, but the results were contradictory and inconclusive. Groups such as the Guild who support the theory that VDTs are harmful began asking employers to update the VDT equipment, so employees’ complaints would be satisfied. The basic equipment requests included: • Controls to regulate the brightness and contrast of VDT screens. • Adjustable chairs. • Detachable keyboards and tillable screens. • Terminal maintenance. • Radiation protection. Along with these requests, VDT operators have been asking their employees for more rest breaks and free eye exams. To get what they want, supporters of the requests have begun lobbying state govern ments to regulate the use of VDTs and force employers to install specified VDT equip ment. Currently the VDT issue has become a conflict of employee vs. employer, labor group vs. business association and labor group vs. state government. Opponents of suggested changes do not want to install new equipment because they say it is too costly, a Newspaper Guild rep resentative said in a telephone interview. The Guild supports VDT legislation. David Eisen, research and information di rector of the Guild in Reston, Va., said the cost of installing the equipment and meeting the demands of the employees is justified. “These things are not terribly expensive when compared to the significant productiv ity gain the businesses will receive if the VDT operators’ demands are met,” Eisen said. He said the results of all the studies show See VDTs, page 4