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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 1986)
ol. 82 No. 182 CISPS 045360 6 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, July 24, 1986 lobiess rate Fire school’s waste water violates permit ip in B-CS )tudentjobs emain steady By Olivier Uyttebrouck Staff Writer By Karen Kroesche Staff Writer [■espite a 35 percent increase in te unemployment rate in the Iryln-College Station area, jobs still | (Brelatively easy to come by for exas A&M students, local employ- ■av. Statistics released by the Texas T H)loyment Commission Tuesday Haled that the number of unem- Heri in the local area has jumped 1 V ® ^ P ercent * n May to an all- . H high of 9 percent in June. ' 5 I laiip Patterson, Labor Market IHlyst for the Texas Employment ® Himission, says university stu- fentsare included in those statistics. Hmployers on and off the campus, 1 Hever, said that student employ- I H ^ as re mained about the same 1 I’ ' n some cases > b as increased. ^^^■aren Burke, Senior Academic 1 Hiness Administrator in the Col- ege of Business Administration, tayl there has been no actual cutback Htudent worker jobs throughout B H college. Instead, she says there f; Hbeen an increase in the number I IHudents hired. ! “Because of the hiring freeze on T-time personnel, within the Of- ice of the Dean we actually in- crelised our number of student wor- kefs.” she says, speculating that the Situation is the same throughout the University. Hn fact, the Texas A&M Depart ment of Food Services, one of the largest student employers on cam pus. is lacing a similar situation. Rav Muff, personnel manager for Pood Services, says that his office is airing more student workers to fill .vhat used to be full-time staff posi- ions. iglt’s going to be a reverse situation lor us,” he says. “ The budget situa- ion has led us to hire student work- ;rs instead of full-time workers.” Two student workers can be hired olill one 40-hour shift without re siling the added benefits that full ime workers receive, he says. ■Vhile the number of student workers employed by Food Services s Idrastically reduced during the iummer months, Muff still noted an ncrease in student employees in |une 1986 as compared to June 1985. [ Susan Lytle, personnel operations manager for the Sterling C. Evans library, another large on-campus student employer, says that during the Spring semester the library re- Hed the allocation of hours for student workers by 10 percent in re sponse to the governor’s request for budget cutbacks. But the 10 percent reduction was terminated for the summer months, she says. Hkdministrators in the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering and Lib- iral Arts say that no actions have been taken to reduce the number of student jobs within their colleges. Financial Aid Assistant Jerri Gad- 3erry in the Student Employment Bice confirmed the availability of student jobs. She says that in June ter office processed 1,088 student workers compared to 867 students njune of 1985. Bocal business merchants who employ students also noted no de ceases in the number of students employed by their companies. Contaminant levels in waste water discharged in the last nine months from the Brayton Fireman’s Train ing School still violate the school’s permit with the Texas Water Com mission. However, an official with the commission says the school has improved its record considerably since 1980. The school is responsible for test ing its own waste water discharges and providing the Texas Water Commission with the results. In two test categories, the school exceeds the limits of the permit by as much as five times the allowable amount. Anna Dunbar, a Texas Water Commission records department employee, says the fireman’s school has reported two discharges in the past 9 months and both have shown violations of permit standards for oil and grease discharge and Chemical Oxygen Demand. Chemical Oxygen Demand is a measure of the oxygen-depleting ef fect that waste water has on fresh water. In October 1985 the school re ported a three-day discharge con taining 29 milligrams per liter of oil and grease — nearly double the per mitted limit of 15 milligrams per liter. The same discharge had a Chemi cal Oxygen Demand of 913 milli grams per liter, over four times the permitted level of 200 milligrams per liter. In a 250,000-gallon discharge Hit the Dirt Photo by Tom Ownbey A pitcher in a Wednesday afternoon softball game goes after a wild throw from the outfield on the field next to Dorm 2 and Dorm 4. The game’s rules are different on this field and include: Hitting a moving car is a home run, hitting a pedestrian walking across the field stops play, and a ball that hits or lands in a tree is still in play. Shultz: U.S. influence weakened May L 1986, the school’s wastewater contained 30 milligrams per liter of oil and grease and a Chemical Oxy gen Demand of 1,042 milligrams per liter, the latter being more than five times the permitted level. These discharges were made from the third and cleanest pond in the three-pond water cleansing system built in 1981 following the discovery of serious pollution problems there. In 1979, an oil spill at the school prompted an investigation by three state agencies which discovered low levels of PCBs and other hazardous wastes in the sludges of one of the school’s drainage ponds, including benzene and toluene. In 1981,9,000 cubic yards of soil, contaminated by waste oils used to set fires and then drained into the discharge ponds, was dredged out of the ponds and placed in a landfill on school grounds. Two subsequent Environmental Protection Agency studies deter mined contaminants remaining in the ponds to be at levels acceptable to that agency, says Jim Edwards, district representative for the Texas Water Commission. However the landfill remains con troversial and is part of the reason that the fire school was named as one of the state’s Superfund clean up priority sites. Edwards says the high oil and grease levels in the school’s waste wa ter may be a result of leftover resid ual waste oils. The residual waste oils were do nated by various Gulf Coast refine ries. Some water commission offi cials say the donations may have been an illicit means of unloading contaminated oil. Since 1981, the University has purchased commer cial grade diesel, propane and gaso line to start the practice fires. Though the University has dredged the drainage tanks, Ed wards says some hazardous wastes still may remain. “They have never given me a good explanation whether they were able to purge all (of the hazardous wastes) out of the system or whether they still have some of the effects of that in the system,” Edwards says. Jack Donovan, the school’s cur rent field manager, says that the See Waste, page 3 Prince Andrew weds Fergie, kissing couple flies to Azores LONDON (AP) — Prince Andrew and his princess tlew away to an is land honeymoon Wednesday after marrying in the splendor of British pageantry and kissing on the palace balcony for a cheering throng and watching world. Andrew’s mother. Queen Eliza beth II, gave them a good-luck dust ing of confetti as they left Bucking ham Palace in an open carriage. The two 26-year-olds walked into Westminster Abbey separately as Andrew, the royal bachelor, and Sa rah Ferguson, the commoner daughter of a retired army major. They emerged hand in hand about an hour later as the newest pair of royal highnesses and, by order of the queen, the Duke and Duchess of York. Tens of thousands of Britons and tourists lined the mile-long route of the wedding procession from Buck ingham Palace to the medieval church in which members of the royal family have been crowned, married and buried for 920 years. Crowds were much larger for the wedding in 1981 of Prince Charles, the queen’s eldest son and heir to the throne, and Lady Diana Spencer, but that day was declared a national holiday. Family and friends gave Andrew and Sarah a tumultuous, confetti- strewn sendoff to their honeymoon in the Portuguese Azores Islands in the Atlantic. Discreetly placed television cam eras gave an estimated 300 million viewers in 42 countries a prime view of the day’s events. Britain’s favorite family kept the common touch despite the pomp, and the wedding remained a family event that brought tears to the eyes of Prince Charles. Television viewers saw Queen Elizabeth, relaxed and smiling, toss ing confetti at her son and new daughter-in-law. At one point she chased Prince William, her 4-year- old grandson, to keep him away from the departing carriage. Cheers from the crowd outside the abbey grew so loud at times that the sound filtered through the thick stone walls into the cavernous space where Andrew and Sarah knelt be fore the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Robert Runcie, who conducted the ceremony. Sarah She wore an ivory silk satin dress with a 17 l /2-foot train, by de signer Linka Cierach. It was beaded with bees and thistles from her coat of arms and anchors and waves rep resenting the royal family’s naval tradition. Her thick red hair was down, un der a veil and a gem-studded tiara. Her mother Susan, divorced and remarried, sat near the altar with Maj. Ferguson during the ceremony. Sarah chose the traditional service in which the bride pledges to “obey.” As her good friend Diana had done in 1981, she stumbled over her hus band’s name, repeating Christian while taking Andrew Albert Chris tian Edward as her lawful wedded husband. Andrew had trouble keeping his sword out of the way as he slipped the gold ring onto Sarah’s finger. Prince William, Charles’s son and second in line to the throne, got a case of the 4-year-old fidgets and chewed the chinstrap of his sailor hat. The queen smiled indulgently and some in the audience laughed. South Africa sanctions blasted WASHINGTON (AP) — Secre tary of State George P. Shultz told Congress Wednesday that imposing punitive sanctions on South Africa would lock the Reagan administra tion into a “straitjacket of rigid legis lation” and weaken or destroy the ability of the United States to influ ence events. But senator after senator told Shultz they believe the administra tion's South Africa policy is unequal to the task of compelling change in a society they said is rapidly becoming polarized and descending into vio lence. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which echoed President Reagan’s televised address on Tuesday, Shultz said the administration is prepared to take coordinated action with U.S. allies “to change the mix of our pressures, positive and negative, to meet the rapidly changing course of events in South Africa.” But he declined to spell out those measures, saying it is usually coun terproductive to threaten another country. In any case, he said he re mained skeptical about the ability of economic sanctions to have any posi tive effect. Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said he does not believe diplomatic persuasion would produce signifi cant changes in sufficient time. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan, expressing “keen disappointment” that the president had not given his policies a new direction and insfilled them with “renewed vigor,” told Shultz: “I believe the time for quiet persuasion has passed.” “I agree with the president that we cannot cut and run from South Africa,” she said. “But neither can we simply sit down and shut up. Now is the time to speak forcefully and wisely to a friend and to use ev ery tool available to us to see that our message is heard.” Hobby to coll for tax hike during tour of 7 cities AUSTIN (AP) — House bud get writers looked at possible spending cuts Wednesday while Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby prepared for a seven-city tour to call for tax hikes. Gov. Mark White has said reve nue increases should only be con sidered as a last resort to balance the budget. Speaker Gib Lewis July 17 reiterated his fiat-out op position to any tax hikes. Asked if Hobby was wasting his time by pushing a tax hike, Lewis said, “As far as I’m concerned he is.” Tax bills must start in the House. Lewis said, “I just don’t think with the economy of the state we can afford a tax increase.” Statements like that have not fazed Hobby. Saralee Tiede, Hobby’s press secretary, said, “He’s really defi nitely concluded the only way to deal with the problem is a combi nation of spending cuts and reve nue increases.” The problem is a massive, growing deficit. White said last week he expects the revenue shortfall to hit $3 billion by Aug. 31, 1987, the end of the current budget period, unless cuts are made. Reagan boosts Clements' campaign H DALLAS (AP) — President Reagan, campaigning at big- itioney political fund-raisers across the South, promised “eco nomic good times” under Repub lican leadership Wednesday and derided Democrats as liberal clumpions of high taxes and more government spending. ■ As a heated debate opened in the Senate over his South Africa policy, Reagan tlew to Dallas to promote the comeback bid of for- ||ier Texas Gov. Bill Clements. Khen, he was heading for Miami B> help one-term Sen. Paula Hawkins fight for her political survival. Before a cheering crowding of Biousands at the balloon-fes tooned Dallas Apparel Mart, Rea- Bm was heckled by a handful of people protesting his South Af- I|ca policy and holding up a sign saying “Sanctions Now.” The au dience cheered the president when, at one interruption, he said “There’s an echo in here.” |l Leaving his plane on arrival in Balias, the president was asked Bout negative reaction from Ca- Ipitol Hill and elsewhere to his speech Tuesday opposing sanc tions against South Africa’s white minority government. He shook his head, smiled and said some thing that was not audible to re porters. In Miami, a ticket for a private reception cost $1,000, with the proceeds split between Hawkins’ campaign and the Florida GOP. Last year, Reagan raised nearly $1 million for the embattled sen ator, who now' is trailing 11 points in the latest private poll behind her Democratic challenger, Gov. Bob Graham. In contrast, Clements, trying to reclaim the office he lost in 1982 to Democrat Mark White, holds a sizable lead in recent private polls, as Texas grapples with re cord unemployment triggered by the energy-industry crash. At the Apparel Mart rally, Rea gan said, “I think it’s a tragedy that hard times have hit Texas and the unemployment is as high as it is in this great state.” Portraying the 1988 elections as a political watershed, Reagan added: “Believe me, the liberals in Washington know what’s at stake . . . They know that this may well be their last chance to steer American politics way over to the left; they know that if we Republi cans do well this November, it’s going to permanently alter the- political landscape.” In both Texas and Florida, Reagan raised the subject of the leftist regime in Nicaragua. In Miami, he likened Nicaragua to Cuba and vowed, “No dictatorial power will be permitted, through the inaction of the United States, to arm a clique of its followers and hijack any country in this hemisphere.” In Dallas, Reagan took a lighter approach, noting that he has referred to Nicaragua as be ing only a two-day drive from the Texas border. “The communist Sandinista re gime in Nicaragua has made a lot of mistakes but even they know better than to get themselves in a tangle with a bunch of Texans,” he said. “Even with all the tanks and gunships from the Soviet Union, my guess is that the Sandinistas would make it about as far as the shopping center in Pecos before (former Dallas Cowboy quar terback) Roger Staubach came out of retirement, teamed up with some off-duty Texas Rang ers and the front four of the Dal las Cowboys and pushed the Sandinistas down the river, out across the Gulf and right back to Havana where they belong.” “The communist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua has made a lot of mistakes but even they know better than to get themselves in a tangle with a bunch of Texans. ” — Ronald Reagan. Free hay eases effects of drought on cattle (AP) — Farmers drove 100 miles and lined up overnight Wednesday in Georgia for a chance at free hay to feed cattle starving in a drought that has cost farmers in the Southeast an estimated $1.5 billion and forced wa ter conservation measures. Although temperatures have tem porarily eased in the region after 2 , /2 weeks of 100-degree highs, the death toll since July 1 rose to 42. Georgia cattlemen lined up Wednesday at the Atlanta Farmers Market for a share of 40 tons of hay donated by Illinois farmers and flown in by Air Force cargo jets. “This is our only chance to keep our cattle alive,” said Sara Dockery of Royston, who drove 100 miles. Her husband, Franklin, said, “This means the cows will survive for five more days.” The first farmer in line was Dale Banford, of Winder, who said he ar rived Tuesday night. He said he has had to feed his 60 beef cattle apples and stale bread, and they ate leaves off trees blown down in a storm last week. “This is a short start, but it’s a start,” he said. Banford was among about 40 farmers who got up to 50 bales each. Twenty-five others were turned away when the hay ran out after four hours, and some of them left their trailers behind so they would be at the head of the line Friday, when more free hay is to be distrib uted. Georgia Agriculture Commis sioner Tommy Irvin estimated that in his state alone, farmers will need 2 million tons of hay to feed their cattle through spring. Clouds and scattered rain kept the Southeast below 100 degrees for a second consecutive day. But Macon, Ga., came close with a high of 98. Columbia, S.C., reached only 96 Wednesday and 97 Tuesday. In addition to the drought, the heat is killing poultry. About 610,000 broilers have died in Georgia in the last 12 days, said Abit Massey, executive director of the Georgia Poultry Federation.