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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1985)
m 4ES? for tafe safe OK ;epin 8 i. stigators, s, Inc. 3 ;nanc v ? GAO disagrees with Navy Sherrill's newest Ags report Dorsett back with Cowboys; over location of homeport for physicals, orientation Contract suits star to a TD' — Page 3 — Page 5 — Page 6 PWmV Texas ASM ^ ^ mm A The Battalion Serving the CIniversity community Vol. 80 No. 192 CISPS 045360 6 pages College Station, Texas Friday August 16,1985 154:5!., :1HJ | CVETHw South Africa’s Botha offers no new reforms Associated Press DURBAN, South Africa — Presi dent P.W. Botha rejected the one lY6Pa(| man, one vote principle for South '•o&biMfrica on Thursday, and told his a prty he would not lead the country “on a road to abdication and sui- P- sa '^ ec l ua I voting rights for •iiUjJIQj all racial groups, including the 24 million blacks who have no vote at :—all, “would lead to domination of one over the others, and it would lead to chaos.” IIDSHol i “I ani not prepared to lead white South Africans and other minority groups on a road to abdication and suicide,” he said. “Destroy white South Africa and our influence and this country will drift into faction strife, chaos and poverty.” He indicated no impending change in the “pass laws” that re strict where blacks can live and work. Botha addressed the convention of his ruling National Party, which has been in office since 1948 and de vised the apartheid system of race discrimination that reserves the best of everything for South Africa’s 5 million whites. There had been speculation that the much-heralded speech, which was televised internationally, would announce reforms in response to the year of riot and boycott. On “influx control,” which re stricts rural blacks from migrating to white cities where the jobs are, Botha said: “I can only say that the present system is outdated and too costly,” and that a government commission will complete a report on possible changes soon. Blacks say the most hated aspect of influx control is the pass laws re quiring them to secure permission to work and live near white areas. Botha said government funds would be allocated to improving un derdeveloped black cities and towns, where black people live in shacks without plumbing, often a short dis tance from the private swimming pools of privileged whites. The president stated anew that blacks. living outside the 10 tribal homelands “are South African citi zens and should be accommodated within political institutions within the boundaries of the Republic of South Africa.” He repeated that blacks should be allowed to own land in urban areas and not just lease it as is now the case. But he hewed to the long-time policy of his party that nominally in dependent black homelands “rep resent a material part of the solu tion.” Another idea he rejected was the concept of a fourth chamber of Par liament for blacks. The white Parlia ment runs the country, but separate houses with limited powers were es tablished last year for ethnic Indians and people of mixed race, known here as “coloreds.” He said South Africa’s future must be determined by negotiation among all its racial groups. There are 2.8 million coloreds in the coun try and 850,000 ethnic Indians. The government will approach the future “by letting the people speak through their leaders,” Botha said, and “by negotiation between all these leaders.” “We will not prescribe and we will not demand,” he said. “We will give so that others can also give.” ^ucmii MSAIilil *5 11 Elmo's Fh | ROB L0*t. □mcE s; 312 stance on hiring goals assailed Associated Press WASHINGTON — Civil rights hnd labor groups Thursday sharply Criticized a Reagan administration idraft proposal to abolish require- nents that businesses with govern- nent contracts set numerical goals for hiring women and minorities. At a news briefing in Santa Bar- ftara, Calif., White House spokes man Larry Speakes said the proposal had not yet been taken up by the ■Cabinet Policy on Domestic Policy, and “therefore, it has no standing whatsoever as administration pol- The regulations affect up to F73,000 private firms that employ an pestimated 35 million workers. | A draft version of the new order, I obtained by The Associated Press I from non-governmental sources, ‘ said that under its provisions, a gov ernment contractor would no longer be required “to utilize any numerical quota, goal or ratio” to remedy dis- : -crimination based on race, sex, reli gion or national origin. It said that compliance with gen eral equal employment opportunity objectives would be judged by a firm’s “demonstrated nondiscrimi- natory treatment of its employees and potential employees, irrespec- ; live of the number of minorities and [ women recruited, trained, hired or | promoted.” ( “It’s an unconscionable proposal,” said Ralph Neas, executive director of the Leadership Conference on I Civil Rights.In Pittsburgh, the AFL- | CIO’s executive council, concluding I a three-day policymaking meeting, i said “such a move would represent a giant step backward in the fight | against employment discrimina tion.” Virginia Lamp, a labor relations I attorney for the U.S. Chamber of | Commerce, said of the proposed re- I vision: “We have not been actively j seeking this kind of initiative, but we s are pleased to see it taking place.” Brian Chubb is afraid to look at the graduation block list while roommate Tony Franklin reassures himself that he isn’t blocked. Seniors had until 5 p.m. Thursday to check the list and clear their names for graduation ceremonies on Saturday. Chubb was relieved to find his name was not on the list ei ther. Danny strikes coast packing 90 mph winds Associated Press NEW IBERIA, La. — Hurricane Danny churned across Louisiana’s marshy coast Thursday, spinning off tornadoes, causing flash floods, and keeping tens of thousands of people from their homes and offshore jobs. Danny hit shore Thursday morn ing, with wind gusts of more than 90 mph. Gov. Edwin Edwards declared a state of emergency in 13 parishes. National Guardsmen were put on alert statewide, but only three dozen were called out to help with evacua tions and other tasks. More than 20,000 people lost power, and indications were that the most serious damage was inflicted by winds behind the storm’s center. By midafternoon, the highest winds were 75 mph in squalls along the coast, the National Weather Service said. An estimated 65 people were stranded near Weeks Island on a bridge over the Intracoastal Canal, apparently the only place high enough to be above the water, St. Mary Parish officials said. One person was hospitalized in stable condition after a mobile home at Kaplan was tossed and rolled about 60 yards. A flood watch was issued for the entire state, and forecasters warned that the hurricane could dump 10 inches of rain on some areas. Many roads in the marshes near the coast were reported blocked by floodwa- ter. All of south Louisiana was under a tornado watch. Two twisters hit at Grand Isle before dawn, and two more tornadoes were spotted at mid day, one in St. Bernard Parish and one south of West Hackberry, offi cials said. No damage was reported. At 2 p.m. CDT, the center of the hurricane was about 40 miles east- southeast of Lake Charles. The hurricane was weakening and moving toward the north-north west at 10 to 15 mph, the weather service said. But gale warnings con tinued during the afternoon from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Pensacola, Fla. Six damage assessment teams were to start work at daylight Friday, Tom Creaghan, state director of emergency operations, said in Baton Rouge. “We have experienced pockets of damage — mostly from wind. We won’t know the full extent until we actually get out in the field,” he said. About 20,000 customers were without electricity for a couple of hours in New Orleans; at noon about 2,000 customers of Gulf States Utilities were out in the Baton Rouge area; sections of Crowley lost power; and at Kaplan, transformers were reported on emergency radios to be “blowing like popcorn.” Flood waters buckled a kerosene storage tank at the Berwick Oil Co. in Intracoastal City in Vermilion Parish, said Hamilton Mixon, of the state police. The tank was leaking and officials called the state emergency opera tions center because of fears the ker osene would get into area homes, Mixon said. “They’re calling this a class one hurricane, minimal hurricane, and that’s just exactly what it is,” said Vermilion Parish Sheriff Ray Le- maire. “A minimal hurricane, knocking powfer out, a real head ache.” First bill introduced in 1981 Groups seek laws regulating VDTs Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on possible health problems associated with the use of Video Display Terminals. By BRIAN PEARSON Staff Writer Concern over possible harmful ef fects of Video Display Terminals has trickled into 23 state legislatures. National groups — including The Newspaper Guild, the National In stitute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, and 9 to 5 (the National Association of Working Women) — have lobbied to get the legislatures to consider bills to regu late VDTs and their use. The first VDT bill was introduced in 1981 by a 44-year-old cleaning lady in Maine who worked at a pub lishing company. She heard VDT operators complain of health prob lems, became interested in the VDT health issue and ran for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives in 1976. She won. Edith Beaulieu, an employee of the Guigannett Publishing Co. in Portland, Maine, told The Battalion in a telephone interview that she was National groups — including The Newspaper Guild, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, and 9 to 5 (the National Association of Working Women) — have lobbied to get the legis latures to consider bills to regulate VDTs and their use. convinced that she had to jump on the VDT issue after reading a health report by NIOSH. The report blamed VDTs and the way they are used for causing eyestrain, eye fa tigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, body aches, miscarriages and cat aracts. Beaulieu said newsroom workers at Guigannett complained of VDT health problems identified in the NIOSH report. Guigannett pub lishes the Portland Press-Herald, Evening Express and Maine Sunday Telegram. The NIOSH report said possible VDT health hazards were caused by radiation emitted from VDTs, glare from VDT screens, lack of comfort and mobility at the VDT work staion and stress caused by demanding em ployers. The NIOSH report also sug gested solutions to these problems. The report asked employers to in stall special equipment, such as ad justable chairs, detachable VDT key boards, glare control knobs and tillable screens. The report also asked employers to provide free eye exams and more rest breaks for VDT operators. Similar requests were in Beau lieu’s 1981 bill presented to the Maine Legislature. Beaulieu said she introduced the bill to “educate legislators on the VDT issue” and force reluctant em ployers to meet NIOSH requests. “When I put in the bill, I was doing it on purpose to shake up the establishment, and I never expected it to pass,” she said. “The manufac turers (of VDTs) came out scream ing against it because they were to tally paranoid about the issue of even beginning to contemplate regu lations in this area.” Beaulieu’s bill, which made na tional headlines, served as a launch ing point for a nationwide attempt by labor groups, such as the Guild and 9 to 5, to force state legislatures to take action. Within four years, the national groups had slowly carried the issue to legislatures in California, Massa chusetts, Minnesota, New York, Col orado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jer sey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. None of the bills passed. The only VDT bill that came close to passing was one that made it through the Oregon House and Sen- See VDTs, page 4 Variations in AIDS virus hurting vaccine efforts Associated Press WASHINGTON — The virus suspected of causing AIDS has so many variations in its genetic struc ture that developing a preventive vaccine against the disease may prove very difficult, if it can be done at all, researchers said Thursday. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute said they looked at the sus pect virus found in 18 patients with AIDS or at high risk of getting the disease, and that each isolated virus showed a different variation in its genetic structure. The findings, to be published to day in the journal Science, mean that it could be difficult to find a com mon site on the viruses that can be targeted for preventive and thera peutic measures, they said. To develop a vaccine, researchers say they need to find a common pro tein region, preserved in all varia tions of the virus, that triggers an immunologic response. If the body has been previously primed to produce antibodies to this area, such as through vaccination with the protein produced by the targeted region, then it may be pos sible for people to resist the virus when they come in contact with it. Drs. Flossie Wong-Staal, Robert C. Gallo, Mikulas Popovic and col leagues at the institute also said there was no distinct viral pattern found in patients with actual ac quired disease immunity syndrome as opposed to those with a similar immunity disorder called AIDS-re lated complex or those who were vi ral carriers * Gallo, a co-discoverer of the sus-_ pect virus called HTLV-III, said that although viral diversity is affecting development of a vaccine, it should not have a great effect on efforts to develop chemical agents to contain the disease or attack the virus in the cells of infected patients. The studies, conducted with Phil lip Markham of Litton Bionetics Inc., and Robert Redfield of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Re search, also found that only two of the 18 patients showed evidence of actual infection by more than one vi ral variant.