3
CS mayor: Water may be
White defends decision to test
A&M's Crite gearing up for
unfit to drink by year 2000
educators on television
NIT game against Wyoming
— Page 4
— Page 8
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— Te x asA &M m m -m •
The Battalion
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faster
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bl. 83 No. 116 GSPS 075360 16 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, March 12, 1986
et -
iS.
'blern
I
stronaut
uty limited
or pilots
in military
Associated Press
PACE CENTER, Houston —
le Department of Defense plans to
limit the assignment of military pi-
Bas astronauts to Five or six years,
Being NASA to search for more ci-
Ban pilots who would not come un-
dtl this restriction.
B)uane Ross, manager of the as
tronaut selection office at the John
son Space Center, said Tuesday that
almall group of astronauts, about
llto 12, will be selected this spring
film about 2.000 applications being
•reviewed.
\nother personnel officer, Te-
a Gomez, said the flow of astro
naut applications received by the
■tional Aeronautics and Space Ad
ministration has increased since the
|an 28 explosion of Challenger that
killed seven crew members.
■Gomez said the strict military limi-
Hion has been under consideration
foi some time and is not related to
the Challenger accident.
Hlhere are 95 astronauts in the
corps, Gomez said. Forty-five are
military officers who can be recalled
to active military service, and she
said the Department of Def ense has
served notice that all military pilots
fe the future will be limited in the
amount of time they can spend as as-
tipnauts.
PRoss said the agency was looking
See Astronaut, page 12
Sandman
Photo by GREG BAILEY
A workman cuts into a piece of sculptered masonry at the Hal-
bouty Geosciences Building. Workmen are cutting and sanding
the intricate facade as part of ongoing renovation.
Arrests ordered for 2
of Marcos’ legislators
Associated Press
MANILA, Philippines — Presi
dent Corazon Aquino’s government
issued arrest orders Tuesday for two
Marcos legislators, now in hiding,
who are accused of killing her sup
porters before and after the Feb. 7
election.
A government news release said
Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile
ordered the arrests of National As
semblymen Arturo Pacificador, an
assistant majority leader, and Or
lando Dulay. Both went under
ground when former President Fer
dinand E. Marcos, who had ruled
for 20 years, fled to Hawaii on Feb.
26 with his family and retinue.
In other developments:
• Aquino scheduled her first full
Cabinet meeting for Wednesday. On
the agenda is a proposal to proclaim
a revolutionary government and dis
solve the National Assembly, in
which Marcos’ New Society
Movement holds two-thirds of the
seats.
• Exiled leaders of a Moslem se
paratist rebellion returned to nego
tiate autonomy for the Moslem mi
nority. The Philippines also is
plagued by a communist insurgency,
in which Aquino says she will try to
achieve a cease-fire.
• An official U.S. team arrived to
spend a week assessing the Aquino
government’s needs in U.S. military
and economic aid.
Pacificador is wanted in the Feb.
11 assassination of Evelio Javier,
Aquino’s campaign chairman in the
central Philippine province of An
tique, and also faces murder charges
in the deaths of seven of Javier’s fol
lowers. Javier ran against Pacifica
dor in the 1984 National Assembly
election.
Prosecutors had recommended
action.against Pacificador while Mar
cos still was in power, but nothing
was done.
Dulay is sought in a series of kill
ings and kidnappings of Aquino’s
followers in the northern province
of Quirino.
Some of Aquino’s advisers want
her to proclaim a revolutionary gov
ernment to make it easier to reform
the system Marcos left behind. Oth
ers say the action would be superflu
ous because she clearly gained
power through a popular revolu
tion.
The National Assembly declared
Marcos the election victor, which it
had the power to do under the con
stitution the former president wrote
during martial law in 1973. That
proclamation led to the military-civil
rebellion that drove him into exile.
Three leaders of a Moro National
Liberation Front faction who arrived
from Malaysia said they were accept
ing Aquino’s invitation to negotiate
autonomy for the southern Minda
nao region’s estimated six million
Moslems, who comprise almost 10
percent of the country’s population.
The front began fighting the Mar
cos government in 1972. Officials
said more than 50,000 people were
killed in the first four years, when
the rebels gained control of substan
tial areas on Mindanao and other
smaller islands.
m
Security director: Don't be easy victim
Wiatt says A&M not Wonderland
By LOYD BRUMFIELD
Reporter
, Students need to make themselves aware that
they are vulnerable to crime on campus, says Bob
Wiatt, director of security and traffic at Texas
Ml.
Wiatt says many times students are easy victims
for crimes such as assaults or thefts because they
lievethey are safe.
“Students here have to realize that there are
Ipeople out there who will take advantage of their
paivety and vulnerability,” Wiatt says.
“Many students here live in an ‘Alice In Won-
Jerland’ fantasy world,” Wiatt says. “They aren’t
employing basic common sense and they don’t
Relieve it can happen to them. Well, it can.”
Wiatt says even though more serious crimes
like aggravated assaults are a rarity at A&M, stu-
ents should still take every possible precaution.
Wiatt says the University Police provides offi-
er
more
itative
just
t. SW
cer escorts for those who want it, but walking
alone at night is still dangerous, he says.
“A woman walking alone at 3 a.m. has got to
realize she’s a high risk,” Wiatt says.
Wiatt says most of the people who commit
crimes on campus, especially thefts, are students.
“The idea that all Ags do not lie, cheat, or steal
is not entirely true,” Wiatt says. “These people
are opportunists, not professional thieves.”
Despite the Aggie code of honor, Wiatt says
A&M leads all other universities in the state in
“these little petty larcenies.”
A majority of crimes committed at A&M are
thefts of property, Wiatt says.
“Stolen books or backpacks are eating us up,”
he says. “People don’t keep their property safe.
They leave their belongings out in the open or
their doors unlocked and things get stolen.
Wiatt says assaults on campus are almost non
existent, and most of the reported cases are
fights between students.
In 1985, there were 31 assaults at A&M, Wiatt
says. In the same year, there were three aggra
vated assaults — cases where someone has suf
fered severe bodily injury or has been attacked
with a weapon, Wiatt says.
“We’ve been very lucky here,” Wiatt says.
“We’re pretty safe as far as personal attacks are
concerned. We’ve had no murders on campus,
and no rapes in almost four years.”
At the moment, vandalism is a more serious
problem than assault, especially vandalism of
cars, Wiatt says.
A favorite spot for car vandals is the Commons
area, Wiatt says.
Wiatt says from January 1985 to January 1986
there were seven burglaries of cars in parking an
nex 24 near the Commons and five cases of crim
inal mischief.
Criminal mischief is when property is dam
aged in some way, Wiatt says.
Another area where cars are vandalized is
See Wiatt, page 12
Spring brings a twist;
tornado season's back
From staff and wire reports
Bryan-College Station got a
small taste of what the beginning
of spring means Tuesday night
when the National Weather Serv
ice issued a tornado watch until 1
a.m.
The watch, which was canceled
for the local area at about 11:20
p.m., included a large portion of
north, central and eastern Texas.
This year, weather watchers
and emergency service workers
are eyeing the onset of tornado
season warily, recalling the last
two years when twisters brought
devastation far from the usual
Midwestern “tornado alley.”
Twisters in the Carolinas two
years ago, and in Ohio and Penn
sylvania last year, claimed dozens
of lives in a pair of violent out
breaks that left hundreds injured
and millions of dollars in damage
in their wakes.
Those storms helped remind
Americans tornadoes pose a
threat in every state, not just the
famous tornado alley stretching
from Nebraska south through
Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas,
where they are traditionally most
common.
This year’s first tornado struck
Feb. 2, leaving what government
meteorologists termed consider
able damage in the vicinity of
Mineral Wells, Texas.
Tornadoes are the offspring of
changing weather. The warmth
replacing winter cold can spawn
twisters, making the violent
storms most common as spring
arrives across the nation.
Government statistics show tor
nadoes increase sharply in
March, fatalities peak in April,
and the total number of storms
reaches its maximum in May.
It was last May 31, that Penn
sylvania suffered its worst tor
nado outbreak ever, according to
the National Oceanic and Atmo
spheric Administration. Sixty-
three deaths were recorded in the
Keystone State.
An additional 11 people were
killed in Ohio, and the storms
also caused damage in western
New York state and Canada.
It was the worst outbreak of
tornadoes since the “Superout
break” recorded on April 3-4,
1974, when twisters claimed 315
lives in a path through 11 states,
according to the National Cli
matic Data Center.
Overall, 1985 recorded 92 tor
nado deaths in the United States,
slightly below average, while 1984
was above average with 123 fatali
ties, government records show.
See related story, page 9
Expert says Russians
to build space station
Associated Press
SPACE CENTER, Houston —
The Soviet Union may be prepar
ing as early as this week to link up
three large craft already in orbit
and then launch a trio of cosmo
nauts to inspect and activate a
large space station, an American
expert on the Russian space pro
gram said Tuesday.
James Oberg, a space engineer
and author who closely monitors
the Soviet space program, said
three unmanned Russian craft
launched earlier have now
drifted to within four miles of
each other and he expects that
they soon will be linked to form a
large space station.
Oberg said the Salyut 7 space
station, which was launched in
1982 and has been manned for
long periods of time, is already
linked to a craft called Cosmos
1686.
The dual craft, he said, have
drifted into a closely parallel orbit
now with the Mir, a large Salyut-
type craft that the Soviets have
said will form the core of a new
space station. The Mir was
launched Feb. 20.
Oberg said the Salyut-Cosmos
combination is in an orbit of 213
miles and the Mir is orbiting at
209 miles. The craft have orbital
periods that differ by only a few
seconds.
Three cosmonauts experi
enced in space walking are pre
pared to fly in the Soyuz T-15
spacecraft, said Oberg, and could
be launched as early as Thursday.
Based on orbital calculations
and the techniques usually used
by the Soviets, Oberg said the
Russians cosmonauts could be
launched at 3:35 p.m. Moscow
time and then effect a rendezvous
and docking with the space sta
tion combination the next day.
He said a window for the manned
launch opens every other day for
the rest of the week, with launch
time slipping 48 minutes later
each day.
Effects of tanning beds debated
By KAREN BOEHNKE
Reporter
Tanning beds recently have be
come popular, but those who use
them to get a deep tan throughout
the year may be causing irreparable
harm to their skin, according to one
dermatologist.
Dr. Clyde Caperton, a local physi
cian, says, “Sun booths artificially re
produce ultraviolet radiation, which
is the same as sunlight. If it pen
etrates deep enough, it does damage
below the skin, producing skin can
cer when you get into your 50s.”
However, two owners of tanning
bed salons say tanning beds are safer
than the sun.
Charles Teague, owner of Perfect
Tan, says, “It’s a safer alternative
than tanning in the sun, no question
about that.”
He says some people who were
initially very negative about tanning
beds are changing their minds as
they are exposed to more informa
tion.
“I can recall when people were be
ing cautioned about using micro-
wave ovens,” Teague says.
Both Teague and Charles Barrett,
co-owner of TANU, say the older
“You can overeat or overtan. I think done with proper
supervision and in moderation, it’s very safe and can be
extremely worthwhile.”
— Charles Teague, owner of Perfect Tan.
tanning booths are harmful, but the
new tanning beds are safe.
Barrett says tanning booths
emitted a large quantity of the more
harmful beta rays, while the tanning
beds emit mostly alpha rays and only
2 percent beta rays.
Caperton, however, disagrees.
“They may tell you that this kind
of booth won’t hurt you as much as
others,” Caperton says. “That’s not
true.
“The sun booths are no better or
no worse than the sun. If you overdo
it, you can harm yourself.”
Caperton says many people who
go to the tanning salons are the ones
who have trouble getting a tan, such
as those with blond hair and blue
eyes. He says these people are most
susceptible to the damages of ultra
violet radiation.
Barrett says any amount of sun
light you get is bad.
“If we did the best possible thing
for our skin we’d wear long sleeved
shirts and sun screen all the time,”
Barrett says. “No one wants to do
that.”
Teague says he thinks people who
use tanning beds take pride in their
appearance and are more body-con
scious than people who don’t.
“They are people into physical fit
ness, people who want to look their
best,” Teague says.
Barrett says people who go to tan
ning booths often are preparing for
a special event such as an interview
or a wedding. Tanning beds also are
very popular before spring break, he
says.
“So many people are going to Gal
veston, Padre or wherever,” he says.
“It doesn’t make sense to go to the
beach white and get fried the first
day and then be miserable the rest of
your vacation.”
Interest in tanning is fueling the
growth of new tanning bed establish
ments in the area. In the past two
years at least five tanning salons
have opened in Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Barrett says the current popular
ity of tanning beds is not a fad.
“The way technology is increasing
with tanning equipment, it’s here to
stay,” he says.
Teague says it takes about three
weeks to get a good, safe tan. He says
people come in four days before
spring break wanting to get a good
tan quickly, but that’s not possible.
Although Teague says tanning
booths are safe, he says some pre
cautions need to be taken to protect
the skin and eyes.
“You can abuse anything,” he
says. “You can overeat or overtan. I
think done with proper supervision
and in moderation, it’s very safe and
can be extremely worthwhile.”
Caperton says that, in modera
tion, the ultraviolet radiation
emitted from the tanning beds won’t
hurt a person’s skin any more than
being in the sun an average length of
time. But it’s the cumulative effect of
radiation which can be detrimental
to a person’s skin, Caperton says.