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emorial Dr. ♦ Hotline | t-CARE alitysogood an’t tell it’s copy :ri$p copies from our copier-duplicaloi. parking, fast service Bryan W-»t | i • • • f rttt| rur | ige in ghtsky I ' the I sas game j [e Flite's * onic ' ard.Call •!; lite ; ^ds ! 334-4082 1 V 125 new computer terminals can be used without charge — Page 3 A&M-Arkansas game best the SWC has to offer this week — Page 13 ■■ ■■■■ The Battalion Friday, Movember 15,1985 College Station, Texas Vol. 82 No. 55 C1SPS 045360 14 pages 20,000 feared dead after volcano eruption ess for :cess v e n i ent ►st Pkwy lo- ful setting Ba and 2 got your ent home >e got your Dme in to- led offer! OakwoodApts, y 696-9100 41 m WAS*. MmNfl -.NattyGarm Flrit Show Only Sal 45® A&MNItt Tuesday Senior Citizens Anytlmi Mon.-Frl. 7:35/9:35 $/ G Presents *.14* ?,FUTURE 1 7:45/9:55 ^ Sh III ( R ) dn-Fri 7:20/9:20. IE NIGHT”/STINI3 . 7:40/9:40 " fuisT-. iaGGCD ;0R ® •i.7:30/9:4rlt Mon.-Frl. ':20/9|20 0 Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia — A vol cano that had been rumbling for months erupted early Thursday, melting its snowcap and hurling down torrents of mud that buried four sleeping towns in an Andes mountain valley. Early estimates of the dead reached 20,000. Blazing volcanic ash cascaded into the valleys Wednesday night. A few hours later the mud avalanche trashed through the towns, which had a combined population of 70,000. Lava began flowing from the cone Thursday afternoon. President OKs raising debt limit Associated Press WASHINGTON — The govern ment narrowly averted default as President Reagan signed interim legislation Thursday night raising federal borrowing authority — the national debt limit — to $ 1.9 trillion. The White House released a brief statement shortly after 8:30 p.m. EST, saying tHe president had signed the measure. Earlier in the day, with no debate and only about two dozen members present, the House, on a voice vote, approved the legislation that post- ones a credit crunch through Dec. by raising the government’s $ 1.824 trillion line of credit by $80 billion. The Senate passed it on a voice vote Wednesday night. The action temporarily cleaned up the government’s latest fiscal mess and cleared the decks for the president’s meeting next week in Ge neva with Soviet leader Mikhail Gor bachev. Without action, the government would have been in default. The president had ordered federal agen cies to stop issuing new checks start ing Friday if Congress had not in creased the debt limit. Attached to the legislation is an extension until Dec. 15 of the 16- cent-a-pack federal tax on cigarettes. Congress has not completed action on pending legislation making the Ifi-cent tax permanent and without the extension the tax would have dropped to 8 cents per pack after midnight T hursday. The temporary bill also would ex tend until Dec. 14 a government program of aid to workers and com panies hurt by competition from im- E orts, a limit on the size of federal ledicare reimbursements to doctors and hospitals, and the method of cal culating benefits for unemployed railroad workers. Those programs also were expiring Thursday. In September, the Reagan admin istration asked Congress to increase the debt limit from its current level to $2,078 trillion. But that necessary legislation has become tangled in congressional wrangling over rival plans passed by the House and Sen ate to force a balanced budget by the end of the decade. II the death toll equals the esti mates, or climbs beyond them, the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz vol cano will rank as one of this cen tury’s great natural disasters. The Langunilla River became a rushing wall of mud that destroyed at least 85 percent of Armero, a cof fee-farming town of 50,000 people 30 miles from the volcano and 105 miles northwest of Bogota. "Armero doesn’t exist anymore,” Red Cross, rescue worker Fernando Duque said in an interview from the scene on Todelar radio. A Civil Defense spokesman, Maj. Hugo Ardila, told a midday news conference iii Bogota that about 10,000 people had been found alive in Armero up to that time. They climbed trees, clung to roofs above the mud, and huddled behind a sturdy concrete cemetery wall that didn’t fall. One of them, Edeliberto Nieto, told 1RCN radio: “We heard a frightening noise, and then a blast of wind hit us and we saw fire falling from the sky. It was horrible, so hor rible! My wife was killed. My mother was killed. My little girl who would have been tour vears old tomorrow died. One of my sisters was killed aitd one of my little nephews.” Marina Franco de Huez told the radio: “T he ash rain increased and the whole world began to scream. I woke up my daughter and we ran out to one of the streets around the cemetery. More than half of the population was buried under a tor rent of mud that came with a horri ble noise. It dragged houses, cattle, tree stumps and gigantic rocks. The church was buried, the school, the theater,” Ambulances and rescue workers had trouble reaching the town be cause the avalanche destroyed the highway and five bridges leading to it, Caracol said, quoting Civil De fense workers. “Some of the bodies had been un der mud for six hours when we dug them out. We weren’t even able to tell if they were men or women. They were just a mass of gray,” Du que said. There was no late, accurate count of the number of bodies recovered. The Defense Ministry said 21 of the most seriously injured people pulled from the mud in Armero ar rived on a military plane in Bogota Thursday night. “The mass of mud is up to five yards high in some areas,” said Paul kamirez, who was among the first on the scene. "Some people wet e able to escape and climo over walls that weren’t covered by the avalanche and were rescued with the help of ropes and horses.” The last great eruption with cas ualties and damage of the magni tude that appeared to be emerging in the Andes was in 1902 at Mount Pelee on the Caribbean island of Martinique. Photo by WA YNE L. GRABEIN Play It George Women voting and old were delighted when g es > hits Ihursday night in G. Rollie WTiite Gol- Country Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the iseum. A capacity crowd welcomed Strait to Aggie- Year, (leorge Strait, performed many of his big- land. See story pg. 6. Geneva trip is peace mission for U.S., Soviets Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Reagan told the nation Thursday evening he is going to Geneva and his first summit meeting with a So viet leader to search for “undisco vered avenues” of cooperation and to propose broad cultural exchanges of American and Soviet students, sports teams and musicians. “My mission, stated simply, is a mission for peace,” Reagan said in a speech prepared for national broad cast from the Oval Of fice. “Despite our deep and abiding differences, we can and must pre vent our international competition from spilling over into violence,” Reagan said. “We can find as yet un discovered avenues where American and Soviet citizens can cooperate, fruitfully, for the benefit of man kind.” Like the “Open Skies” proposed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower at a similar summit conference three decades ago, Reagan called for an “Open World” where communica tion between the two nations can in crease and “we can lessen the dis trust between us, reduce the levels of secrecy.” Thirty-six hours before leaving for Geneva and two days of summit talks next week with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan said the two sides “are close to completing a new agreement” to resume and ex pand the cultural and educational exchange programs that President John F. Kennedy initiated and Jimmy Carter suspended following the Soviet military push into Af ghanistan in 1979. Although he referred to regional strife throughout the world, includ ing Afghanistan, he did not specif ically point to the continuing pres ence there of 100,000 Soviet troops. “I don’t underestimate the diffi culty of the task ahead,” Reagan said, noting that eight of his prede cessors “sought to achieve a more stable and peaceful relationship with the Soviet Union (and) none fully succeeded.” “So I don’t underestimate the dif ficulty of the task ahead,” he contin ued. ^‘But these sad chapters do not relieve me of the obligation to try to make this a safer, better world.” Reagan said he goes to meet Gor bachev “with an appreciation horn of experience of the deep differ ences between us — between our va lues, our systems, our beliefs. But we also carry with us the determination See Reagan’s, page 12 Alcohol at A&M Officials creating new guidelines for student organizations By TAMARA BELL Suitt Writer A new interpretation of an old li quor law will not cause either the De- B artment of Student Activities or the epartment of Student Affairs at Texas A&M to enact a new policy, says Jan Winniford, assistant direc tor of student affairs. But the departments are creating new guidelines for A&M student or ganizations and residence halls sug gesting what the groups should and shouldn't do when planning parties, Winniford says. The new interpretation of the law savs that an organization can’t use membership dues or activity fees to buy alcohol for its members, she says. If fees are used to buy alcohol, the organizations can be charged with selling liquor without a license. To comply with the law, the de partments came up with three op tions to help groups when they plan parties, Winnifordsays. “The most obvious option is not to have alcohol at the party,” Winni ford says. “If alcohol isn’t available at the party, then the group can use any University facility.” The second option involves an or ganization renting a facility that has a liquor license, she says. “Simply use the facility and the club can sell the liquor," she says. “Just remember that different clubs have different licenses. One club might have just a beer license, and another might ’ beverages. be able to sell mixed See Drinking, page 12 Bullock backs lottery to help state finances Associated Press SAN ANTONIO — A state lot tery could be the best way to alle viate a financial crisis, says Texas Comptroller Bob Bullock, who predicts such a crisis will face Texas by 1987. Bullock, speaking at a Rotary Club meeting here Wednesday, said he would not bet on pari-mu tuel wagering to bolster state rev enues and help meet the ever in creasing demand for state services. But Bullock endorsed a state lottery, saying it could generate “lots of money” when the eco-: nomic outlook suggests the next Legislature will encounter a tougher budget-cutting process than was experienced this year. Bullock said a lottery could net Texas as much as $600 million within four years. He was sup portive of the pro-lottery movement during this year’s leg islative session. More Texans favor a state lot tery than favor pari-mutuel bet ting on horse races, public opin ion polls have indicated. Gov. Mark White has opposed a state lottery, saving it would he a breeding ground for corruption. San Antonio City Council OKs age restrictions at concerts Associated Press SAN ANTONIO — The San An tonio City Council passed an ordi nance Thursday nignt barring unes corted children from attending city- arena rock concerts with sexually ex plicit lyrics. “What we are saying with this .is that we as a council do not approve of blatantly and purposely onscene performances where children are present,” Mayor Henry Cisneros said. The new rule would restrict the attendance of those 13 and under at rock concerts at the city-owned Con vention Center Arena if those con certs contained songs with lyrics that refer to obscene acts. Members of the public and coun cil voiced their views for about three hours before a 7-3 vote enacted the ordinance. The original proposal would have barred children younger than 13 from concerts where certain sexual and violent acts are simulated on stage. The proposal specified sadis tic or masochistic sex, rape, incest, bestiality and exhibitionism. “Your foresight and concern for decency will set a precedent in America.” said Nancy Myers of Con cerned Women of America. She also urged the council to raise the age limit to 18. “We’re not against all rock’n’roll,” said Bobbie Mueller, another propo nent of the rule. She said she was against “the kind of concerts that may contribute to teen-age preg nancy, drug abuse and suicide/ But Michael Courtney, an oppo nent of the plan, said, “I like heavy metal, quite a bit. This kind of music doesn't affect the way a person acts or thinks. If the music is what causes this, why doesn’t it affect everyone the same way.” Some area phone prefixes change Sunday By BRIAN PEARSON . Senior Staff Writer About 3,100 General Tele phone customers will be affected Sunday when some telephone numbers with the prefixes 775, 779, 822 and 823 will be changed to numbers beginning with 774 or 776. John Wallace, public affairs manager of GTE, said the change, which will occur at 2 a.m., is being made to expand and improve the current tele phone system. “We’ve spent over $40 million to expand the local telephone network,” Wallace said. “It will create a fully digital local tele phone network for Bryan-Col- lege Station that will be linked by fiber optic cable.” Part of the expansion includes the opening of a new switching center on Booneville Road. The 3,100 customers affected by the number change reside in the area to be serviced oy the new center. The number changes had to be made, Wallace said, because pre fixes cannot be duplicated wnen they are being handled by a new switching center. On Dec. 7, about 1,000 custom ers will be affected when 693, 696 and 764 exchanges will become 690 numbers. These customers, who will be served from the Spring Creek switching center, al ready have the new numbers listed in GTE’s November 1985 issue of the Bryan-College Station telephone directory. In May 1986, 400 customers will be affected when a 774 or 776 prefix replaces their 693, 696, or /64 exchange. These customers have a dual telephone number listing in the current directory.