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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1986)
taam m A&M aerospace researchers Ylight testing' racing car —Page 8 Lady Aggies' offense purrs against Sam Houston State — Page 9 a lead: i rij-y HeJ n pm l 1978 d nied. foreH [ ShcrJ for The Battalion 'ol. 83 No. 91 GSPS 075360 14 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, February 5, 1986 hop Around exas A&M students talk to recruiters at booths in ;he Blocker Building Tuesday during the first day |J)f the College of Business Administration Career - viles of water mains to remain intact ay :n- )ni Photo by GREG BAILEY Fair. Mike Billingsly of Foley’s tells students about career possibilities with his company. The career fair continues through Wednesday. Reagan seeks to break welfare dependence Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Reagan told Congress on Tuesday the breakdown of the family struc ture among America’s welfare recip ients has reached crisis proportions and ordered his administration to devise a strategy by December to break “the spieler’s web of depen dency.” While proclaiming “a Great American Comeback” from a land of broken dreams, Reagan directed new attention to social concerns, pledging to work with private insur ers to develop affordable insurance against the costs of catastrophic ill ness. In a State of the Union address delayed a week by the explosion of the shuttle Challenger, Reagan asked Congress to pause with him to “mourn and honor the valor of our seven Challenger heroes.” He then delivered, as expected, a relatively brief and upbeat report on a nation that he said is “growing stronger ev ery day.” The president suggested few ini tiatives in his fifth such address, boosting again his tax reform propo sal and extolling Congress to cut the federal deficit by reducing spend ing. His remarks included an em phatic thumbs-down on tax in creases. Reagan also suggested that in his proposed budget for fiscal 1987, which he will send to Congress Wednesday, several programs and agencies will be pegged for sharp funding cuts. Saying heavy federal deficits cloud the future, Reagan said, “We cannot win that race held back by horse-and-buggy programs that waste tax dollars and squander hu man potential.” In laying out his hopes to reform welfare programs, Reagan said: “In the welfare culture, the breakdown of the family, the most basic support system, has reached crisis propor tions — in female and child poverty, child abandonment, horrible crimes and deteriorating schools.” The Democrats, echoing the words of Republican Senate leaders earlier this week, said that any pro posals to increase taxes to reduce the budget deficit would have to come from Reagan. “After hundreds of billions of dol lars in poverty programs, the plight of the poor grows more painful,” Reagan said. “But the waste in dol lars and cents pales before the most ERA asbestos ban won’t affect B-CS y OLIVIER UYTTEBROUCK Reporter Bie proposed Environmental otection Agency ban on asbestos- mem pipe and other asbestos roducts announced Jan. 22, will not quire the removal of miles of as- l|)s-cement water mains now in >e|in the Bryan-College Station •ea. The proposed ban, which would strict the production and sale of a iber of asbestos products, is tgely a response to health risks Med to asbestos industry employ- t* V- ees, rather than concern over asbes tos contamination of drinking water, says Dr. Peter Lassovzky, a drinking water specialist at the EPA’s Wash ington bureau. The plan would be gradually im plemented over as many as ten to fif teen years, Lassovzky says. Asbestos-cement pipe accounts for 30 percent of Bryan’s 400 miles of water mains, says David Simmons, division manager of water distribu tion and waste water collection in Bryan. David Pullen, an engineer for the city, says asbestos-cement pipe has been in use in College Station for many years. But figures aren’t avail able on the amount of the pipe in use, he says. Asbestos-cement pipes are com monly used as water mains. And re cently concern has arisen as to whether, if damaged, they might ad mit asbestos fibers into the watei^ supply and present a health risk. Fred Albee, an offical with the Texas Water Commission, says, “You don’t usually test groundwater for asbestos. I’ve never seen any sta tistics.” He says that asbestos is associated mainly with respiratory diseases re sulting from inhalation. Asbestos is a proven carcinogen blamed for numerous diseases, in cluding the repiratory disease asbes- tosis and a suffocating lung cancer, mesolothimia. Pullen says he is sure there is no asbestos in College Station’s water, although the city doesn’t test for it. See Engineer, page 14 tragic loss: the sinful waste of human spirit and potential.” At the end of his speech Reagan saluted four “heroes of our heart” who were in his audience in the chamber of the House of Represen tatives. They were: Richard Cavoli, whose high school experiment to make X-rays less harmful was de stroyed aboard the Challenger; Ty rone Ford, a gospel music singer and pianist; Shelby Butler, who risked her life to pull a youngster out of the path of a schoolbus; and Trevor Fer rell, who saw homeless people on television and left his home to de liver food and blankets to them in what has become a Philadelphia cus tom involving hundreds of volun teers. Saying “we can ignore this terrible truth no longer,” Reagan ordered his Domestic Policy Council to re- See Reagan, page 14 Democrats denounce Reagan’s optimism Associated Press WASHINGTON — Democratic Party leaders said Tuesday night that President Reagan’s upbeat State of the Union speech sot?ght to hide a devastating budget deficit, a floun dering farm economy and a sea of foreign trade red ink. In a nationally televised response to the president’s address, they said these are symptoms of serious eco nomic troubles ahead, which threaten the jobs and the stability of the very American families Reagan maintains his policies are devised to protect. To present the Democratic view, the party turned to former Virginia Gov. Charles S. Robb, and to Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, Harriett Woods, the lieutenant governor of Missouri, and Reps. Tom Daschle of South Dakota and William Gray of Pennsylvania. Mitchell, chairman of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, said, “We can no longer rely on rhe toric which refuses to face the real world — which pretends that we can have unlimited military spending and unrestrained tax breaks and a balanced budget — all at the same time.” When Reagan says that can hap pen, “the president is wrong. And the American people know he’s wrong,” said Mitchell, who served as the program’s moderator. Robb said that no one wants to un dermine the nation’s military strength. But he said that strength depends not so much on more and more dollars but “a clear strategy, weapons that will actually work in combat and troops trained to use them. “Strength also requires a healthy economy, but we won’t have one much longer if we don’t have the will to balance our federal checkbook, " Robb said. “What our government desperately needs is discipline. If de fense spending has to be reduced, let’s reduce it. If domestic spending has to be cut, then let’s cut it. If tax breaks have to be stopped, then let’s stop them.” Daschle introduced viewers by vi deo tape to the McBrayers, a South Dakota farm family whom he said face the loss of their land. “Many policy makers are now say ing they (farm families) are no longer needed,” Daschle said. See Democrats, page 14 Oil price slide prompts 2nd look at revenue te Associated Press JiUSTIN — The worldwide ilide in oil prices Tuesday itompted the Texas comptroller Biake another look at the state’s Bncial position and left the [overnor saying he doesn’t yet seethe need to call a special bud- [d-oitting session of the Legis- Iture. B)il prices on the spot market umbled to below $18 per barrel on Monday for the first time this Bade, causing increased worries for state officials. ||ome 13 percent of state gov- Irtment revenues come from axes on oil and gas. Comptroller Bob Bullock said ■esday that “Mexico’s decision, >ver the weekend to drop oil lies to $20 a barrel may have ten the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of relatively stable prices.” Bullock said Mexico’s oil ex ports account for about 17 per cent of the imported oil used in the United States, and that fact, alone, will have a strong influence on the prices of Texas oil. Bullock said he had written White, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and House Speaker Gib Lewis, D-Fort Worth, telling them of plans to update the state’s financial posi tion. “Even though world oil prices have been volatile, I’m not ready to throw out the current revenue estimate,” Bullock said. “But the oil situation that has unfolded in the past three weeks has serious implications for Texas and its fi nances.” Friday last day to apply for diplomas By Brian Pearson Senior Staff Writer Friday is the last day graduating students can apply to receive diplomas during May gradua tion ceremonies, a representative of the Regis trar’s Office said. Don Gardner, assistant registrar, said stu dents who have paid the $15 diploma fee must go to 105 Heaton Hall and fill out to two grad uation application cards by Friday if they hope to walk away from graduation ceremonies with a diploma. “This is actually applying for the diploma and graduation,” Gardner said. “They (students) are not official degree candi dates until they do that,” he said. Students can pay the diploma fee in the Coke Building, Gardner said. Students must show the diploma fee receipt or show the fee was paid on spring semester fee slip in order to fill out the application cards. “Everyone that has applied for graduation in the spring is already a degree candidate as far as the (computer) system is concerned,” Gardner said. He said the student is put on a finals exemp tion list and his diploma is ordered soon after the cards are filled out. Students applying late can still receive diplo mas, but they will have to be mailed after the ceremony, Gardner said. Gardner said students can still apply for grad uation after Friday’s diploma deadline, but the absolute deadline will occur when grade sheets for degree candidates go out. “When those grade sheets are generated, then anybody that comes in after that, they won’t be able to graduate until the next semester,” Gard ner said. “Anybody that comes in after April 24 is nbt going to graduate for sure,” he said. Gardner said each graduation candidate will be notified by a letter sent out April 1 of any aca demic needs — such as grade points, courses, grade changes and petitions — that the student must take care of or straighten out with the Reg istrar’s Office before graduation. Graduating students must sign the letter and return it to the office, Gardner said. “That way we know they got the word,” he said. Gardner said the students have about a month to clear all academic and fiscal problems. On May 7 at 8 a.m., a clear list will be posted outside of Heaton Hall. On that clear list, graduation candidates that still have academic or fiscal problems will have a dot by their names, Gardner said. If there is no dot by the name, the student is cleared for graduation. “All the undergraduates need to check that clear list and they’ve got until noon Thursday (May 8) to get everything cleared up,” Gardner said. “If they’re not cleared for graduation by then, then there won’t be a graduation for them,” he said. Gardner said rough figures indicate that about 3,000 undergraduate students and about 500 graduate students will receive their diplo mas in May. VASA-1 booster may have been found Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — jehers may have found one of lallenger’s two rocket boosters ii|sday, which could be “a very Jable piece of evidence” in the in- , ligation of the space shuttle’s ex- losion, NASA said. Bonar soundings indicate a solid rocket booster may have been lo cated,” a NASA statement said. There was no information on the precise location. There also was no indication whether it was the right booster, which is the chief suspect in the lift off explosion that destroyed the shuttle and killed its seven astro nauts Jan. 28. Challenger had two such boosters to help propel it into space. “It would be a miracle if we could find the right hand segment we saw in the films and everybody has a hy pothesis about,” Jim Mizell, a space agency spokesman, said. “There are many things you could tell engi neering-wise if you recovered that data.” CBS, meanwhile, reported that “at least a portion” of the shuttle’s main crew compartment has been lo cated and that some of the personal effects of the astronauts floated to the ocean surface. NBC said some of the human re mains brought to shore in recent days have been identified as belong ing to the seven astronauts. NASA spokeswoman Sarah Kee gan denied “categorically” that the cabin has been found and said she See NASA, page 14 Correction The Battalion incorrectly re ported Monday the dates of a workshop sponsored by the Landscape Architecture Society. The workshop will be held this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Also, Lane Marshall is the de partment head of Landscape Ar chitecture. The Battalion regrets the er ror. • -