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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 1986)
New Schedule! St. Franics Episcopal Church invites you to join us in Sunday worship and Christian edu cation at our new time: Worship Sunday School 9:15 am 11:00 am Infant and toddler nursery provided The Rev. Jeff Schiffmayer, Vicar 696-1491; for ride, 764-0598 Schulman’s Palace Theater presents Stage Center’s Spoon River Anthology March 6-8,13-15 8 p.m. Ticket information: 693-0050 nff*** BETTERGET LiT*! v MAACO. From Crashes to dents to rust, the MAACO Collision Experts restore your car’s body and paint it like new...all for a price that's lower than you’d ever expect. And MAACO works with your insurance agent to quickly settle your claim. PAINT SERVICES START AS LOW AS... ^ -| ^Q95 BRYAN 1300 South College Ave. (1 block behind Gallery Nissan Datsun) 823-3008 HOURS: Mon. thur Fri. 8-6 Page lOThe Battalion/Friday, March 14, 1986 Testing blood for AIDS Government favors examinations for high-risk groups Associated Press WASHINGTON — In a recom mendation that could affect millions, the Public Health Service recom mended Thursday that all people in high-risk groups undergo periodic blood tests to check for infection by the AIDS virus. While there remains no cure for AIDS, agency officials said, research over the past year shows that vir tually all people in high-risk groups who repeatedly test positive to the blood test can infect others. Thus, they said, people with veri fied positive results can be counseled on how to avoid spreading the deadly disease to others, particularly including sexual partners. Dr. Donald R. Hopkins of the fed eral Centers for Disease Control, said “The thrust of these recommen dations is that we’re saying, have this serological (blood) test. “We have great confidence in this test,” Hopkins said. “And it’s in creasingly obvious that a large part of the problem ... is represented by people who are infected but who are not now symptomatic.” Most such people that test positive are infectious, intermittently or per manently. “We think it’s important for them or their partners to know whether they are positive or not.” The recommendation was an nounced at a news conference by Hopkins, federal AIDS coordinator Walter R. Dowdle and Dr. Harry M. Meyer of the Food and Drug Ad ministration. None of the three could say how many people were covered by the recommendation. Hopkins, under intense questioning, estimated it might be between 10 million and 20 million. But Dowdle said the poten tial figure clearly is in the millions. The government’s list of highnsB population includes homosexual^ bisexual men, a figure which sot-)! have estimated at 10 percent of* male population. Others include past or presentj travenous drug abusers: peopK born in countries where heterosal ual transmission of AIDS is cons* ered common, including Haiti an Central Africa; male or femalepj titutes and their partners; sex par* tiers of high-risk individuals; heroi philiacs who have received 14(1 clotting-factors. Soviets televise space launch live (continued from page 1) world attention on the benign part of their space program.” The Soviet Union has insisted that its work in space is intended only for peaceful purposes. Soviet viewers could hear Kizim and.Solovev reporting back 50 sec onds after their craft blasted sky ward on a column of orange flame. Television monitored about four minutes of radio conversation be tween Baikonur ground control and the cosmonauts, who answered to the call signal Mayak (Beacon). Kizim and Solovev, who hold the record for the longest space flight, could be seen for about three min utes, strapped in their seats with the commander reading what appeared to be sheets of instructions. Before the launch, Soviet tele vision showed the cosmonauts un dergoing final medical check-ups, boarding a bus and clambering into the Soyuz T-15. Soviet television has shown launches live only three times be fore: in 1975, when a Soyuz went into space to hook up with an Ameri can Apollo vehicle; in 1982, when a French cosmonaut flew a mission with Soviet spacemen, and in 1984 when an Indian was aboard. State cuts funds for Planned Parenthood (continued from page 1) vealed because of the confidentiality of the pay scale. “Of course there will be a problem for many women,” she says. “So long as people are aware of it, they can usually make arrangements. “If a person is truly indigent, we will try to provide services any way we can. The problem is we walk a fine line deciding who is truly desti tute. It’s a judgement call.” Miller says patients will be told of the increases when they call to make an appointment. She says there are no plans to decrease office hours or personnel. In order to stretch the govern ment money, the clinic tried a new method to determine financial need for students who are supported by their parents. Miller says. The student’s total income was de termined by adding her personal in come with her parent’s income to de termine eligibility for government assistance. This evaluation method, which excluded many students from re ceiving any government aid, was stopped in January, Miller says, on the recommendation from Planned Parenthood administration in Hous ton. The government cuts have caused Miller to consider future fund-rais ing events to generate private dona tions, she says. Miller says she doesn’t see any in creases in government funding in the future, only further cuts. Although a medical doctor is affil iated with the clinic, the exams are usually done by certified nurse prac titioners. A nurse practitioner is a regis tered nurse who, after an additional year of formal education, takes a certification exam. Miller says the clinic will see about I (),()()() people this year, and the fig ure is expected to increase each year. About 70 percent of the 10,000 clients are students, students’ wives or women connected in some way to Texas A&M, Miller says. “I believe we provide a valuable, nonacute, routine health care service for students which is not readily available elsewhere,” Miller says. Reagan favo’i new bill to overhaul taxes (continued from pagel) that Reagan has said are essentii to any “tax reform.” It would ca tax rates significantly forindiiid uals and corporations, raise tht standard deduction, boost tlx personal exemption to $2,000fot almost all taxpayers, restrict dt ductions for some state and loo! taxes and interest, and increax investment and saving incentive It also would retain the tax-fm status of most employee fringt benefits. According to staff estimate Packwood’s bill would cutincont taxes for those in the SlO.OOO-tfr $20,000 income class by 23 pei cent, compared with 22.8 perem under the House bill and I6J percent under Reagan’s plan..i the $30,000-to-$40,000 level, tlx cuts would average 9.3 percentu the House and Senate bills and 6.3 percent under Reagans. Those with incomes ovei $200,000 would get a 5.9 percent cut under Packwood, 6 percent under the House bill and 13.6 percent under Reagan's bill. But the consumer tax increases included in Packwood’s bill could reduce the size of the incometas Some students are fascinated by A&M’s steam tunnels | (continued from page 1) Wedding Expedition/Bob and Cheri. Why do people go into the tun nels? “I guess it’s just the thrill of doing something you’re told not to do,” says one A&M student and steam tunnel enthusiast, hereafter known as Bill. Over the course of several years and dozens of ventures below ground, Bill has gained an astound ing knowledge of the miles of steam tunnels that sprawl beneath the cam pus. Bill can explain, for example, how to get into all the old fallout shelters with their supplies of toilet paper and stale candy. Bill can speak with authority about dozens of tunnels — decribing in detail what sorts of utilities run through each, where each tunnel leads and which tunnels are no longer used. He also can tell you if there are locked doors preventing access to buildings and what it would take to get past the obstruction. The maintenance department has done everything it can to to make it hard to get around in the tunnels, building sturdy doors wherever pos sible, especially where the tunnels lead into buildings. On the approach to the Memorial Student Center, for example, a steel door bars the path. But the bars have been pried apart wide enough to allow a thin person to crawl through. Security concerns are well justified. For example, a pile of gar bage was set on fire in a basement storage room of the Systems Build ing. Joe Estill, director of the Physi cal Plant, says he believes the people responsible entered the building through the steam tunnels. Somewhere beneath the Rudder Theater Complex, Bill stands in front of a door that has been welded shut. “It would probably take dynamite to open this door,” Bill says. On the wall beside the door ? message is scratched into thepaint> Tunnel Masters opened thisdat — ’84 But just below this claim, ill maintenance department replies: | “Tunnel Master” busters ctaj this door. It’s possible that Bill knows ife| steam tunnels as well as manyofilil maintenance personnel. Bill has even studied the tunnel diagrams kept in the ma: room of the Sterling C. Evans I; brary, but he complains thattheyafl badly out-of-date. Bill’s passion steam tunnels is not unique. Hesad there’s 20 to 30 people who go on a regular basis. Charles M. Russell, Indian Scout, 1897, Oil on board. Painting of the American West MSC Gallery Through March 14 Last Week to see this exhibition! Remington Poster Available; $5. 00