Automated sprinkler system
winning recognition for A&M
— Page 3
Aggie spikers get through
sloppy victory over Hofstra
— Page 8
PWM Texas ASM m fj •
The Battalion
,1.82 No. 27 GSPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, October 15, 1985
White urges
universities
to improve
Associated Press
AUSTIN — Texas’ top political
leaders Monday told a special com
mittee on higher education the
state’s colleges are it) good shape but
could,and should, he better.
“1 have said it before and I say it
again:: educated minds are the oil
and gas of our future,” said Gov.
Mark White.
While, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and
Speaker Gib Lewis spoke to the 23-
member Select Committee on
Higher Education, which was cre
ated by the 1985 Legislature to make
recommendations to the 1987 legis
lative session.
White said the committee meets
under different circumstances than
the so-called Perot Committee,
which “met in an atmosphere of cri
sis” to rescue Texas' public educa
tion system.
That committee’s recommenda
tions resulted in the public educa
tion reform measures of 1984.
“There is no similar crisis in
higher education today,” White said.
"We do not have a system that is in
need of radical ref orm.
"You do not have the awesome re
sponsibility of saving a ship before it
sinks. But you will be dealing with is
sues that are much more complex,
yet subtler by nature.
‘Any good mechanic can repair a
car that is about ready to break
down. But it takes a special kind of
mechanic to prepare a well-tuned
automobile for world-class competi
tion," White said. “And make no
mistake about it — that is your re
sponsibility; to tell us what we need
See White,page 12
Photo by Greg Bailey
Modern-day Columbus
Sanders Letbetter, University Center business manager, poses as
Christopher Columbus and gives passersby the “Gig’em” sign
during Monday’s grand opening of the Bus Stop Snack Bar.
Prizes and refreshments were given away to celebrate the opening
of the new snack bar. The snack bar is on the corner of Ireland
and Ross streets in f ront of the Reed McDonald Building.
U.S. officials demand
rebel be extradited
Associated Press
WASHINCiTON — Top law en
forcement officials in the Reagan ad
ministration insisted Monday that a
Palestinian guerrilla leader accused
of masterminding the Italian cruise
liner hijacking be brought to the
United States to face trial.
The State Department also de
clined to provide an apology de
manded by Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak, angered over last
week’s U.S. interception of an Egyp
tian jetliner carrying the hijack sus
pects.
The administration, rebuffed ear
lier by Italy in an attempt to have
Mohammed Abu el Abbas arrested,
made no headway in getting his pro
visional arrest in Yugoslavia, pen
ding a formal extradition request.
In fact, the Yugoslav news agency
reported that Abbas, 38, was out of
the country. The White House said
it had no independent confirmation
of that.
However, CBS News said its cor
respondent in Tunis, Tunisia, had
spoken to Abbas by telephone in Yu
goslavia shortly before 9 a.m. EDT
— after the Palestinian leader was al
ready said to have left.
CBS quoted Abbas as saying that
Yugoslav authorities had told him he
could stay as long as he wanted. The
network did not say how its corre
spondent knew that the man to
whom he spoke was Abbas.
The State Department said the
United States was asking Yugoslavia
for confirmation that Abbas had lef t
the country.
The statement also said: “We have
not vet received a response from the
Yugoslav government to our request
that Abbas he provisionally arrested
pending a . formal extradition re
quest from the United States.”
Abbas, also known as Abul Abbas,
is dose to Palestine Liberation Orga
nization chairman Yasser Arafat and
heads a wing of the Palestine Liber
ation Front. He has denied that he
was involved in the hijacking, in
which an American, Leon Klinghof-
fer, 69, of New York City, was killed.
Italian news agencies reported
that a fifth Palestinian has been
named in an arrest warrant as an ac
complice in the hijacking of the
cruise ship Achille Lauro and the
death of an American passenger.
The news agencies said judicial
sources in Genoa identified the fifth
suspect as Kalaf Mohammed Zainab,
21, and reported he had been in cus
tody since Sept. 28 after he disem
barked from a Tunisian ship in
Genoa with Iraqi and Moroccan
passports.
In Washington, State Department
Dan Lawler said he had no informa
tion on a fifth man being held by
Italian authorities and said he did
not know whether the U.S. would
seek his extradition.
In other developments Monday,
the State Department said Syrian au
thorities have discovered the body of
an elderly man who washed ashore
near the port city of Tartus, and
U.S. officials were seeking to learn if
it was Klinghoffer’s.
Egypt calls for apology
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt — President Hoshi
Mubarak, angry and apparently un
moved by American efforts to de
fuse tensions, said Monday he
wanted an apology from President
Reagan for intercepting an Egyptian
airliner carrying four hijackers. He
said an apology “is needed for all
Egyptians. There shouldn’t he a per
sonal apology in this matter.”
Mubarak said he hoped the cloud
hanging over relations between the
two allies would soon be dissipated,
but for the moment, he said he was
still “very upset.”
Mubarak defended his decision to
deliver the four men to the Palestine
Liberation Organization for trial at
Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in the
Tunisian capital.
He said a trial in Italy or the
United States, “will not stop the vio
lence.”
“Had the Italians and Americans
not taken these people, I think they
would have avoided lots of things
which may take place in future,” he
said.
“If Arafat didn’t punish them,
then he would be responsible before
the whole world,” Mubarak said.
U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Ve-
liotes delivered a letter from Reagan
to Mubarak on Sunday, but the
Egyptian president said he had not
even read it. He said he was still wait
ing for a public apology.
On tap
Local water tested for organic compounds, radioactivity, bacteria levels
College Station Tap Water
TDK
STANDARDS
Radioactivity Levels
Gross Alpha
less than 2.0 pCi/L .
15.0 pCi/L
Gross Beta
less than 4.0 pCi/L
20,008 pCi/L
Trihalomethane Levels
TTHM Potential
0.067
0.10
"11)11” stands lor the "Texas Department ol
The last test lor radioaefivitv levels in the cits’
sear.
Health.” Total trihalomethane
water svas in 1982,while the la
potential is expressed in (nm/I ).
st TTHM test was conducted this
Editor's Note: This is the second
in ;i five-purt series ot articles con
cerning the tap water in the city of
College Station and at Texas A&M.
Today's article deals with the radio
activity levels and biological compo
nents of College Station s tap water.
By TRENT LEOPOLD
Senior Stall Writer
In addition to testing for inor
ganic chemicals in the tap water,
state water standards require cities
to test domestic water supplies for
bacteriological quality, radioactivity
levels and organic compounds
known as triaholmethanes to ensure
that the waiter is safe to drink.
K. Daniel Linstedt, an assistant
civil engineering professor at the
University of Colorado and an ad
viser to the American Water Works
Association in Denver, says the bac
teriological analysis is concerned
with determining the number of mi
croorganisms per unit volume of wa
ter.
‘Such an analysis provides an in-
iication of the pollutional load of a
water source,” he says. “In water
with a low organic content, the total
number of microorganisms is low
since food is the limiting factor.”
In water containing a high con
centration of organics, the bacteria
will predominate with the number of
bacteria as high as 10 to 100 million
per milliliter of sample, he says.
Texas Department of Health stan
dards state that the College Station
tap water be tested for bacteria at
least 45 times each month to be sure
that bacteria do not exceed the maxi
mum prescribed level.
Elry Ash, College Station’s city en
gineer, says at least 40 tap water
samples are tested lor bacteria each
month in College Station by the Bra
zos County Health Department.
However, a spokeswoman at the
health department says at least 500
samples are taken from various loca
tions around the city and tested for
bacteria each month.
Bacteria serve as food for higher
forms of life such as protozoa, Lins-
tedt says. Protozoa are one-celled an
imals that comprise the simplest
form of life and certain forms of
protozoa are known to cause disease.
Chlorine constantly is added to
the water supply to kill any bacteria.
And in College Station, the level of
chlorine is monitored about every 30
minutes.
Generally, the residual chlorine
level in College Station’s tap water is
about .2 milligrams per liter, but it
varies each hour.
“If bacteria levels get too high in
the water the results are usually
clearly evident,” Linstedt says.
“People get sick real quick (when
bacteria levels are too high) and
that’s basically the reason why the
bacteria levels are watched so close-
ly.”
The tap water’s radioactivity levels
must be monitered at least once ev
ery four years, according to state
standards. Tests must be conducted
more frequently in the vicinity of
mining or other operations which
may contribute alpha particle radio
activity to the drinking water source.
Both the alpha and beta particle
levels must he tested. Alpha particles
are positively charged, while beta
particles are negatively charged.
“The effects of human radiation
- exposure are viewed as harmf ul and
any unnecessary exposure to ioniz
ing radiation should be avoided,”
Linstedt says. “What’s interesting is
to look at what the. maximum levels
for gross beta levels were about 20
years ago compared with what they
are today.”
In 1968, the maximum allowable
beta levels varied from state to state
but a general figure was about 1,000
pCi/L. Texas’ current maximum
limit is 20,000 pCi/L.
A pCi is a measurement for the
rate of decay of the nucleus of an
atom by emission of particles accom
panied by electromagnetic radiation.
Usually this level is tested in a one-
liter sample of water.
Finally, College Station’s tap water
must be tested for maximum total
trihalomethane potential.
“Maximum total trihalomethane
potential” means the maximum con
centration of total trihalomethanes
produced in a given sample of water
containing a disinfectant residual af
ter seven days.
A trihalomethane is one of the
f amily of organic compounds named
as derivatives of methane. They in
clude such compounds as trichloro-
methane and tribromomethane.
Tomorrow: A look at other se
lected components in College Sta
tion’s tap water which the state of
Texas has no maximum allowable
levels for.
Forbes lists
the richest
of the rich
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The richest of
the rich in America is worth $2.8
billion, while the poorest of the
rich checks in at a mere $ 150 mil
lion. But who’s counting?
Forbes magazine, that’s who,
and its 1985 list of the nation’s
400 richest people is topped by
Sam Moore Walton of Benton-
ville, Ark., who has made $2.8 bil
lion through his Wal-Mart dis
count stores.
Walton, who danced a hula on
Wall Street last year when profit
goals were met, replaced Gordon
Getty, the front-runner for the
past two years. Getty dropped to
15th.
Getty’s fortune was $4.1 billion
last year, but he agreed to divide
the family oil trust with other
family members, leaving him
barely $950 million.
Second place went to Henry
Ross Perot of Dallas, founder of
Electronic Data Systems, who was
$1 billion behind Walton.
Agriculture and oil were down.
Seven Texas oilmen who ap
peared last year were dropped
from the list.
In addition to listing the 400
wealthiest individuals, Forbes also
listed the richest families, which
includes Cabots, Kennedys, and
the beermakers Coors and Stroh.
The list, to appear on Forbes’
Oct. 28 issue, provides a fascinat
ing portrait of the rich in Amer
ica.
The average net worth of the
400 is $335 million. There are 14
billionaires. Only 165 built their
fortunes without significant in
heritances.
Forty-one of the men and 38 of
the women are unmarried. And
113 have been divorced.
Most of the rich are not very
famous.
James Jaeger, 37, the youngest
of the self-made rich, earned
$175 million with automotive ra
dar detectors. Max Palevsky, 61,
is a computer designer who made
$200 million. Philip Hampson
Knight used to sell sneakers. He
still does, in a way. He owns $195
million worth of Nike.
leacher: Beirut’s children lead distorted lives
Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon — They may not know
irimm’s fairy tales, but Beirut’s children can
ell the difference between the sound of a
lOtimin recoilless rifle and a 120mm mortar.
Toddlers can tell an incoming shell from an
lutgoing. *
They are Lebanon’s war generation, raised
luring a decade of civil war and facing bleak
ears ahead in a country in ruins.
“If we continue this way, our future is a
erv sad one with the kind of children we re
aising," said Iman Khalif e, a Beirut nursery
eacher.
“One wonders what these children will be
ike when they are older, what with all the ug-
ness surrounding them."
Amid daily fighting, a generation of chil-
Iren has lost direction.
“Achild is no longer a child,” said Khalife.
She said the 3- and 4-year-olds she works
dth “don’t talk about the kind of things that
children normally talk about. Then conversa
tions revolve around shelters, explosions, bat
tles and fighting, electricity cuts and water
shortages."
Their favorite game is “war,” she said in an
interview.
“They pretend a shell has exploded nearby
and then they all start to scream, some hitting
the ground while others huddle in hideouts
like tliev do in their shelters at home.
“Life is distorted for them. They don’t
know what the reality around them is any
more.''
With as manv as 130 distinct religious, ideo
logical and social groups, many with widely
differing visions of the Lebanon thev are
fighting for, the voting generation has grown
up with a sharp sense of alienation.
“This is a verv serious problem for voting
people,” said Dr. Samir Khalaf of the Ameri
can University of Beirut.
“How do vou expect to reintegrate youth
into a society they can’t identify with, a society
thev can’t understand; more importantly a so
ciety they don't know?”
Like everything else in Lebanon, the young
generation is divided.
The Green Line that separates Beirut into
mutually hostile Christian and Moslem camps
separates the young as well. Before the war
people on both sides mingled all the time.
Now the young go to separate schools. The
history books they read give different ver
sions of the past and the centuries-old feud
ing that lias kept their communities apart.
According to Khalaf, the war has forced
people increasingly into what he calls “bub
bles,” to the extent that families, rather than
communities, have become the key social
grouping.
This, he argues, limits youngsters’ outlooks
and comprehensions of the world as they are
squeezed into ever-diminishing social contact,
even among people of their own religion,
class or sect.
“What do you say to a 3-year-old child who
asks you why Christians and Moslems can’t
live together?" Khalife lamented.
“Their childhood has been hijacked,” said
Professor Laila Farhood, a mental health spe
cialist at American University-
Lebanon’s teen-agers and young people in
their 20s have spent the past 10 years “witnes
sing a catalogue of horror,” Khalaf observed.
He said most Lebanese have gone into a
chronic state of mourning, “be it for losing
friends, family, property, opportunities or
wasted years.” .
“But the most painful of all,” he said, “are
those grieving the loss of a way of life that
may never be restored.”
Unlike voting girls elsewhere, where main
preoccupations are the latest hairstyles or
See Beirut’s, page 12