Corps Of Cadets will sell
trivia game to raise $150,000
— Page 4
Inalead of roU aftaln. we A**'™ RE LOADf
A&M, Tech coming off games
as different as night and day
— Page 9
■mmw Texas A&M ^ ^ «i a
The Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol. 82 Mo. 23 CJSPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
October 2, 1985
Heckler to become ambassador to Ireland
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Margaret
Heckler stepped down Tuesday as
secietary of the Department of
Health and Human Services to be
ne ambassador to Ireland but
■sident Reagan denounced re-
pons that she was forced from the
post as “malicious gossip” and “false-
noed ”
Hi think Mrs. Heckler was justi-
fiahlv upset by the kind of gossip
that was going around,” the presi
dent said as she stood at his side. “I
don’t know where this was coming
from. It was malicious, it was false.
She executed the policies that I
wanted for the agency.”
There had been persistent reports
that the White House staff, partic
ularly chief of staff Donald Regan,
had disapproved of Heckler’s per
formance and had applied pressure
to get her out.
“I’ve never been able to find the
individual responsible for this,” Rea
gan said of reports that the White
House was displeased with her work.
“She has done a fine job at HHS,”
the president said, during a brief ap
pearance in the White House press
room. “As a matter of fact, if she
hadn’t done such a good job, I
wouldn’t have been so eager to seek
her out to be the ambassador to Ire
land.”
White House deputy press secre
tary Albert Brashear said Heckler
will remain at HHS until she is con
firmed as ambassador by the Senate.
“It shouldn’t take long,” Brashear
said of the confirmation process,
noting that the Senate is in session.
Heckler fidgeted with her hands
and appeared nervous as the presi
dent talked with reporters. She said
Reagan had persuaded her to take
the new post and that she considers
it “an honor and an exciting chal
lenge.”
Heckler once described the Irish
ambassadorship as “a lovely position
— for someone else.”
Asked about that, she said she
“looked upon this assignment with
new eyes having heard the presenta
tion that he (Reagan) made and hav
ing also his assurance that it was my
choice to stay on as secretary of HHS
or become ambassador to Ireland.”
Reagan was asked if she could
have stayed on.
“Yes,” he said.
On Capitol Hill, House Speaker
Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., a Democrat
from Heckler’s home state of Massa
chusetts, said it was known that
“they” have been trying to get rid of
Heckler.
“It’s regrettable that the ultra
right wing group of the Republican
Party wants to take control of the
avenue she has been on,” O’Neill
said.
Before Heckler’s departure from
the Cabinet was announced, Rep.
Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., chair
man of the Education and Labor
subcommittee on health, said,
“Clearly the ideologues of the ad
ministration do not want to work on
health or human services. The
White House staff looks at health
care as only one more place to slash.’
Quake causes
Mexicans to put
tradition aside
Photo byJAIMk LOPEZ
from a crane he was operating when a board he was lilting fell and
struck him. A spokesperson at St. Joseph Hospital says he was
treated and released with minor contusions.
eagan: Israeli attack justified
Associated Press
■ WASHINGTON — President
■eagan suggested Tuesday that Is-
| rad was justified in raiding the Pal
estine Liberation Organization
Headquarters in Tunisia in retalia
tion for the killing last week of three
Haelis in Cyprus.
■ Asked whether Israel was entitled
to retaliate, the president replied,
“As long as you pick out the people
responsible.”
Before Reagan spoke at the White
House, State Department spokes
man Charles E. Redman had told re
porters that “as a matter of prin
ciple, it is our view that it is
legitimate self-defense to respond
appropriately to acts of terrorism.”
However, Redman said the ad
ministration did not yet have all the
facts.
As to whether U.S. planes were in
volved in the air raid, Reagan re
fused to comment. “I don’t know the
facts,” he said.
Redman said it was the depart
ment’s understanding that the raid
“was not intended as an offensive act
against Tunisia,” and he refused to
say whether the administration con
sidered the raid a violation of Tuni
sia’s sovereignty.
“We deeply deplore the rising pat
tern of violence, of which this latest
incident is part,” Redman said. “It
underscores the need to work on the
peace process.”
While acknowledging that U.S.-
supplied equipment was used by the
Israelis, Redman said the adminis
tration was not informed in advance.
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — Mexicans are
proud and prefer to solve their own
problems, but after a great earth
quake killed thousands and nearly
demolished the heart of this huge
city, they put aside tradition and ac
cepted the world’s help.
Aid began arriving hours after the
first quake Sept. 19, which was fol
lowed the npxt day by a second that
compounded the problem.
The first temblor registered 8.1
on the Richter scale, which put it in
the category of a “great” quake, and
the second was 7.5.
More than 4,600 people are
known dead and 1,000 are missing.
An estimated 18,000 were injured
and 40,000 were left homeless.
Shortly after the second quake,
President Miguel de la Madrid said
on television that the tragedy was
Mexico’s worst. It came at a time of
deep recession, when the economy is
saddled with a foreign debt of $96
billion.
“The truth is that in the face of an
earthquake of this magnitude, we do
not have the resources to confront
the tragedy with speed and suffi
ciency,” the president told the na
tion.
The government retained control
of rescue efforts, but welcomed the
aid from around the world.
The United States has been
among the major contributors. The
first installment was a check for $1
million delivered by President Rea
gan’s wife, Nancy, when she visited
Mexico City four days after the first
earthquake.
Hundreds of American volun
teers helped search for survivors
and plan the eventual demolition of
badly damaged buildings.
Accompanying them were five he
licopters, firefighting and demoli
tion equipment, water storage tanks,
medical supplies and water purifica
tion kits.
De la Madrid’s press office said
the Soviet Union, which was among
the first nations to fly aid to the city,
contributed 52 tons of medical sup
plies and field tents.
It said Canada sent medical per
sonnel, six portable operating rooms
and surgical equipment along with
demolition equipment and 14 explo
sives experts.
Much of the aid came from other
Latin American countries. Colombia
provided disaster experts and medi
cal supplies, including 1.3 tons of
general vaccines, 100,000 doses of
tetanus vaccine and 100,000 bottles
of blood-serum.
The Pan-American Health Orga
nization donated $1 million, Saudia
Arabia $822,000, Finland $400,000
and Norway about $250,000, the
press office said.
CS will initiate energy conservation program
By JENS B. KOEPKE
Staff Writer
■ A '
■ An innovative energy conserva-
plion program for apartments — he-
ilieved to be the first of its kind in the
Illation — will start this fall in College
| Station.
■ Initially, workers will he research
ing the billing histories and square
footage of all the apartments in Col
lege Station, preparing for the en-
rgy audits and thermographic scans
in the spring, Charlie Shear says, the
Ity’s energy specialist.
The voluntary program, ap-
roved Sept 12. by the College Sta-
icnCity Council, has three phases.
Starting in December, apartment
wners and managers will be con-
cted by the city. Those choosing to
articipate will be provided a free,
in-depth energy analysis, Shear says.
I The analysis measures air leakage
ihrough doors and windows by cal-
Iculating the amount of Btu (British
Ihermal unit) produced and lost by
ithe heating ventilation air condition
ing (HVAC) system, he says. Ten to
p5 percent of the units in each com-
“It (the energy plan) will
make students more
aware that they are energy
consumers. ”
— Kristin Sayre, Off-
Campus Housing Center.
plex will be tested.
The energy audits will be con
ducted by Texas A&M graduate en
gineering students, he says, because
hiring a professional mechanical en
gineer would be too expensive.
Shear says that the program also
will be a learning experience for the
students. The students wall be super
vised by the city, an A&M engi
neering professor and a representa
tive from the Texas Engineering
Extension Service, he says.
Along with the analysis, a mobile
thermographic scan will be used to
measure the amount of heat loss
through the walls and ceiling, he
says. The scan will be conducted by
an outside firm in January or Feb
ruary because outside temperatures
must be below 40 F. A thermogra
phic scan has never been used for
this purpose, Shear says.
The city then will recommend im- ,
provements to the apartment own
ers, he says. These recommenda
tions could range from better
maintenance to the replacement of
water heating or HVAC systems.
Improved landscaping also could
cut utility costs by 20 percent, Shear
say$.
Shirley O’Brien, president of the
Bryan-College Station Apartment
Association, says, “Some of the older
complexes will get so many recom
mendations that the program will be
too cost prohibitive.” -
O’Brien adds that most apart
ments in College Station were built
10-12 years ago.
The recommendations will con
centrate most heavily on stopping air
infiltration, Shear says. This can be
achieved through better insulation
and caulking and through the instal
lation of wall outlet gaskets, he says.
"You could make most apart
ments more airtight for $50 to $60,”
Shear says.
O’Brien says the city’s recommen
dations are open records available to
all prospective residents. She be
lieves those recommendations could
be misleading if not carefully
worded.
The apartment complexes will
then be given time to implement the
suggested changes. Because of the
time needed to approve and contract
out building improvements, the
“Air leakage is the No. 1
culprit in an energy-inef
ficient home. ” — Charlie
Shear, city energy special
ist.
apartment owners will have four to
seven months to make the changes.
Shear says.
After the improvements have
been re-evaluated, a three-tier rating
system will be set up. The ratings will
be based on cost per square foot and
will probably have categories such as
good, better and best, he says. The
system is similar to ratings that have
been used by the city for new homes.
After the first group of apart
ments have been re-evaluated, the
city will determine minimum qualifi
cations for the ratings, Shear says.
Apartments that either do not par
ticipate in the program or do not
meet the minimum qualifications
will not be rated.
The organization of the ratings is
crucial to the success of the pro
gram, O’Brien says. The age of the
water heating and HVAC systems
should be a factor in figuring out the
ratings, she says. O’Brien suggests
that the ratings be based on average
utility bills rather than cost per
square footage.
The ratings, which should be re
ady by fall 1987, will be compiled
and published in a brochure, Shear
says. The ratings will be advertised
in all the local media and the bro
chures will be available at the city
See Conservation, page 14
dies at 86
Associated Press
BROOKUN, Maine — £,B,
White, the graceful essayist of
The New Yorker magazine’s bril
liant beginnings, died T uesday at
age 86, leaving behind timeless
works of humor, literary good
sense and whimsy, including the
beloved children’s book, “Char
lotte’s Web.” . -
White, who suffered from Alz
heimer’s disease and whose
health declined steadily in the last
year, died at his home. 'The fam
ily said plans for a memorial serv
ice would be announced,
“A few' months ago, he said he
Jracl so much to tell and so little.
time to tell it,” said J. Russell Wig
gins, publisher of the weekly
Ellsworth American and a friend
of White since the late 1940s.. . : .
The feeling had been with
White nearly all his life. “I liked
to write,” he once said, “and there
seemed to be plenty to write
about.” . ;
White was a private man who
fled New York for a sheep farm
er’s fife in Maine nearly a half-
century ago. He was a precise
writer with a Yankee’s horror of
t lie unnecessa ry word,
T hough not part of The New
Yorker’s original cast. White was
heavily recruited, married one of
the chief editors and set the be
mused, detached tone of the
magazine's “Talk of the Town”
column.
“It is not too much to say that
Andy White was the most valu
able person on the magazine,” his
friend and colleague James
Thurher wrote in 1938: “His deli
cate tinkering with the works of
ITie New Yorker caused it to
move with a new ease and grace.”
He was born Efwyn Brooks
White on July IT, 1899, in Mount
Vernon, N.V’. "T
In 1917, he enrolled in Cornell
See Author, page 14