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
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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
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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