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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 2, 1986)
TKeBattalion /ol. 82 No. 170 GSPS 045360 6 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, July 2, 1986 ummit lanning iay start Soviets seek ialk renewal MOSCOW (AP) — The Soviet jpaion, which had canceled pre rations for another Reagan- jrbachev summit, has proposed that they be resumed, a senior of- Icial said Tuesday. I It was the first public step by tlte Soviets toward scheduling the next summit since they called off a preparatory meeting between Foreign Minister Eduard A. She- Irdnadze and Secretary of State fceorge P. Shultz after the April U5 U.S. bombing raids on Libya. I Vladimir F. Petrovsky, deputy mreign minister, told a news con- fcrence that diplomatic contacts Lwere under way for a new meet ing between Shevardnadze and Ihultz, but he made clear that the ivo sides were far from setting a late for a second summit be tween President Reagan and So lid leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev. At their first summit last No ember in Geneva, Reagan and torbachev agreed to meet again nisyear in the United States. In Washington, White House Ipokesman Larry Speakes wel- pmed Petrovsky’s statement and laid the United States hopes it in dicates “a willingness on (the part |f) the Soviet Union to move for ward to preparations for a sum- nit, which we would like to have.” We are certainly ready for Inch a meeting between the secre- ary and the foreign minister, but here has been no specific date set or such a meeting,” he said. Petrovsky said the Shultz-She- ardnadze meeting hinges on :hances of “tangible” progress in irms control. South African mineworkers plan protest JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — A bomb blast injured six women and two girls at a downtown bus stop Tuesday. Elsewhere in Jo hannesburg, leaders of the black mineworkers’ union voted to protest the detentions of colleagues by stag ing disruptive actions. The mineworkers’ move could af fect the output of the world’s largest gold-producing nation. The nation’s largest labor feder ation, the mostly black Congress of South African Trade Unions, said Tuesday its executive committee drafted a plan for a nationwide ac tion to protest the detentions and other effects of the state of emer gency. The federation includes the min ers’ union. A spokesman said local affiliates would be consulted about the plan. He said the proposed pro test might be scheduled for July 14, but no final decision on details had been made. Tuesday’s bomb explosion, across from 50-story Carlton Center office tower, the nation’s tallest building, was the 10th in South Africa since a state of emergency was imposed June 12. The blasts killed three peo ple and injured 98. Injured Tuesday were five white women, a black woman and two white children — a 2-week-old baby, reported badly hurt, and a 3-year- old, slightly injured. The government blamed the bombing on the outlawed African National Congress. The black guer rilla organization has refused to con firm or deny responsibility for any recent explosions. Also Tuesday, police commanders in four regions banned several anti apartheid groups from holding meetings. The orders extend an existing ban on outdoor rallies to in clude indoor meetings and affect such groups as the United Demo cratic Front, the country’s largest anti-apartheid coalition. The ban affects districts of eastern Cape Province, southwest Cape Province, northern Orange Free State, and the Eas Rand area directly east of Johannesburg. The latest bombing came a week after explosions at a fast food restau rant and a hotel in Johannesburg in jured 19 people. Bureau for Information spokes man Leon Mellet said the blast was “in line with the adopted policy of the ANC of indiscriminate attacks.” Police said the bomb was placed in a garbage can. A motorcycle shop was wrecked, and windows were shattered. Witnesses said one woman was sit ting at the stop, her baby next to her in a stroller. She leaped up, blood pouring down her face, a witness said. Early Tuesday in Johannesburg, at the close of a five-hour meeting, leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers voted to launch dis ruptive actions to protest the state- of-emergency detentions of 10 se nior union officials. The action followed detention of a mineworkers’ union vice president who also is president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. The union represents nearly half the country’s 550,000 black miners. Team of engineers suggests escape system for shuttle SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) — A team of engineers has recom mended that NASA install a space shuttle bail-out system so astronauts can escape during a low-altitude emergency. But the group found no way to save lives in an accident like the one that destroyed Challenger. A crew wearing special suits and breathing oxygen could use par achutes when the spacecraft is mov ing at low velocity below 100,000 feet in gliding flight, A1 Louviere, head of the team that studied possi ble astronaut escape systems, said in an interview Tuesday. But Louviere, a Johnson Space Center engineer, said the team’s six- week study discovered no system that would have provided an escape for the seven crew members who died when Challenger exploded and broke apart 73 seconds after launch on Jan. 28. “It would have been very difficult to understand that you had a prob lem and then react to it,” Louviere said. “It was very, very quick. We’re talking about a second or two. I don’t know what you would have done.” He said a bail-out system could be designed to give astronauts a chance to survive an emergency that oc curred during gliding flight, after the solid fuel booster rockets were separated from the spacecraft. The system could be as simple as having the astronauts jump from the shuttle with parachutes at a low alti tude, or as complex as using rockets to extract crew members who wear fireproof , pressure suits, breathe ox ygen and ride down on heat-resis tant parachutes. Louviere said none of the con cepts studied provided perfect solu tions. “There’s not a good answer,” he said. “The system we had, if we can get it to work right, is probably the right one — to let people go back and fly like a passenger airline.” Whether Astronauts could survive a water landing was uncertain, so the group recommended some type of bail-out system, said Louviere. None of the systems would be practical for escaping while the launch rockets are thrusting, mean ing the astronauts would have to wait for the solid rockets to burn out and separate, said the engineer. The shuttle then would descend to a lower altitude and slower speed be fore the astronauts bailed out. The bail-out system, depending on its complexity, would cost “tens of millions,” said Louviere, and could be ready within 18 months. Louviere said the group studied and rejected expensive plans such as ejection seats; a system that would separate the entire crew cabin from the shuttle; and a mixed system us ing a pressurized tank in the cargo bay and ejection seats. The pressurized tank would be ejected and descend by parachute. These systems, he said, would cost “hundreds of millions” and would add weight and penalize spacecraft performance. They also would take about two years to design and build into the shuttle, he said. Police cite economy as cause B-CS crime increases sharply By Olivier Uyttebrouck Staff Writer Bryan and College Station police statistics show that 1986 has seen [harp increases in a number of crim- al activities and police cite the fail- g economy and increased prisoner pleases by the Texas Department of Corrections as possible causes. Texas A&M has avoided this in ease in criminal activity to a large extent, with University Police re cords showing only small increases in most theft and burglary catago- ;s. For example, misdemeanor eft rose from 652 for the 1984- 1^85 academic year to 666 for 1985- 1086. if Felonious theft and motor vehicle break-ins actually declined slightly from the 1984-1985 academic year Jthe 1985-1986 year. Sgt. Choya Walling of the Bryan Police Department attributes the higher crime rates to the unusually Jrge numbers of convicts the Texas department of Corrections has re- Local crime statistic comparison Comparing statistics for Jan uary through May of 1985 to the same period in 1986, the follow ing increases were noteworthy: COLLEGE STATION — • A 33 percent increase in thefts. Reported thefts in College Station rose from 693 to 920. • A 24 percent increase in mo tor vehicle thefts. Reported mo tor vehicle thefts rose from 37 to 46. BRYAN — • Robberies rose 73 percent from 19 to 33. • Residential burglaries rose 48 percent from 235 to 347. • Motor vehicle break-ins rose 45 percent from 142 to 206. • Thefts rose 12 percent from 878 to 989.. • Aggravated assaut rose 31 percent from 108 to 140. Theft — removal of property without breaking and entering a building. Burglary — unlawful entry and removal of property from an unoccupied building or motor ve hicle. Robbery — unlawful entry and removal of property from an oc cupied building. leased from prison in recent months on parole or early release. Charles Brown, Assistant Director for Public Information at the Texas Department of Corrections in Hunt sville reports that the number of convicts released by the TDC has in creased from 15,632 for January through May ol 1985 to 18,421 for the same period this year. The number of paroled convicts and prisoners under mandatory su pervision now living in Brazos County has shown a modest increase over last year, rising from 164 in Au gust 1985 to 199 in April of this year, says Robert Papscott, Informa tion Officer of the Board of Pardons and Paroles in Austin. A prisoner released early for good behavior remains under manditory supervision for the remainder of his original sentence, Papscott says. Cpl. David Luedke of the College Station Police Department attributes the increases in theft and burglary in good part to the downturn in the lo cal economy and higher unemploy ment in the area. Luedke says most thefts and bur glaries are “opportunist” crimes, meaning that an unlocked door or unguarded property invites some one on the lookout for such oppor tunities to commit the crime. Festival Bound Photo by Anthony S. Casper Cindy Foster, a member of the Texas A&M women’s softball team, trains for her tryout for the Olympic Games Festival women’s softball team. Foster’s training regimen includes running the bleachers at Kyle Field, bicycling, running and swimming. Comanche Peak safety record questioned DALLAS (AP) — A federal licens ing panel has ordered officials at the |omanche Peak nuclear plant to an swer questions about the history of safety problems at the plant, indicat- ig the construction permit may be suspended if the answers are not jrovided promptly. In a separate memorandum, the aard, which oversees construction at the plant, raised concerns about a $120 million reinspection of the plant in progress. The U.S. Atomic Safety and Li censing Board made public the doc uments Monday. Texas Utilities spokesman Dick Ramsey said, “Certainly, we’re trying to determine what we need to do in Smithsonian to get winner of largest roach contest DALLAS (AP) — A Texas roach contest has piqued the in terest of officials at the Smithso nian Institution, who have re quested first shot at the burly champion for an entomological exhibit. “He’s going to loan it to us for a while,” said Sally Love, curator of the insect zoo at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The winner of the “Largest Cockroach” contest, which carries a $1,000 grand prize, will have to size up to more than 200 of its kin entered before the deadline Mon day, said sponsor Michael Boh- dan of The Pest Shop-Bizzy Bees Pest Control Co. in Dallas. Love said the zoo already has about four species of cock roaches, but she was interested in the contest winner because of Texas’ reputation for producing bigger and better breeds. terms of time and resources to com ply with the order.” The memorandum says, “We are not at this time assured that (the util ity) will examine in the proper depth the design, design control and tech nical difficulties that have affected their plant and their conduct in these proceedings,” the board said. Ramsey said, “We’re just in the middle of that program. Certainly the concerns that the board ex presses at this point give us an op portunity to look at the program and see if any adjustments need to be made.” The order demanding responses to safety history is part of a legal ex change of information required for preparation of a hearing on whether the utility had good cause for not completing construction of Unit 1 of the twin reactor nuclear project by Aug. 1, 1985, when the construction permit expired. Construction continued on the re actor for six months after the permit expired. Because the unit is almost complete, a federal licensing panel is trying to decide the issue before the plant is finished. Peter Bloch, chairman of the U.S. Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, wrote in the order, “Our only tool for preventing the case from becom ing moot will be to suspend the con struction license for failure to com ply promptly with discovery needs.” Crash of experimental airship kills 1 LAKEHURST, NJ. (AP) — An experimental 343-foot-long airship made from a blimp and parts of four helicopters caught fire and crashed Tuesoay while on a test flight at a Naval center here, killing one of five crew members aboard. The aircraft, known as the Heli- Stat, crashed at 7 p.m. at the U.S. Naval Air Engineering Center, three-quarters of a mile from where the Hindenburg disaster occurred 49 years ago, said Nick Grand, pub lic information officer at the center. The four survivors were not se riously hurt, said Grand, who con firmed the death. The Heli-Stat was hovering and tilted backward when the rear heli copter caught fire, said Mike DeS- tanko, a civilian member of the Lakehurst Navy Flying Club. “Two back helicopters looked like they were totally on fire and there’s a crewman in every one,” DeStanko said. “It was just hovering for one of their test flights and it looked like it just tilted and caught on fire,” he said. The Heli-Stat was designed to be used for timber harvesting in remote areas, but a congressional report in 1982 questioned its practical applica tions, said its costs could top $40 mil lion, and cited structural problems with the aircraft. Chuck Peterson, who witnessed the crash, said the ship appeared to have just taken off and was about 10 feet in the air when it burst into flames. “It just burst right in the air,” said Peterson, a Navy petty officer sta tioned at the center. “I couldn’t be lieve it. Flames flew. “The next thing I knew, there was fire trucks and ambulances running out there,” said Peterson, who about 200 yards from the aircraft. “There was black smoke flying off it. I saw pieces of it on fire, flying all over.” The crash occurred near the site where the German dirigible Hinden burg caught fire and burned in May 1937, killing 36 people.