The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 10, 1986, Image 1

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    The Battalion
1. 32 No. 205 USPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, September 10,1986
ia III
Center 846-6714
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Photo by Mike Sanchez
ilock Party
^rissa-Starr Smith, a sophomore general studies come help her move cinder blocks into her dorm
lajor from San Xnmnio, waits for her friends to room in Mosher Hall.
hilean left-wing journalist
Imong 3 reportedly killed
>n
j»TIAGO, Chile (AP) — Three
-(Bncluding the editor of a left-
{Hmagazine banned under the
2j®ate of siege decree were taken
Dm heir homes by armed men and
filkilled, their relatives reported
:>Hay.
Polif e said they had no knowledge
l.fut the killings, but the govern-
Kannounced 16 dissidents were
!Vl up in the military crackdown
Hsd after the attempted assassi-
tioii Surulay of President Augusto
, *nochet.
One of the slain men was fose
|sco, 41, a former political exile
orked for the news magazine
talisis. His relatives said he was
taken from his house early Monday
by gunmen claiming to be police.
His body was found Monday
night outside a suburban Santiago
cemetery. He had been shot in the
head.
The other victims were identified
by relatives as Gaston Vidarrauzaga,
a 30-year-old schoolteacher, and Fe
lipe Segundo Rivera, 40, a govern
ment-employed machinist.
The relatives said the two had
been taken from their homes early
Monday also and the bodies were
found dumped in Santiago, but they
had no further information.
The Interior Ministry confirmed
Carrasco’s death only, and said it
had not ordered his arrest.
Gen. Pinochet Tuesday attended
the funeral of bodyguards killed in
the attack, then headed to a rally
staged in his honor.
Police reported they were holding
16 opposition activists and three
French priests picked up under a na
tionwide state of siege decreed after
Sunday’s guerrilla ambush on Gen.
Pinochet’s motorcade.
Two escort cars destroyed in the
rocket and grenade attack were put
on display outside the presidential
palace along Santiago’s main boule
vard, site of the pro-Pinochet rally.
American abducted
by gunmen in Beirut
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — An
American who runs a private school
in Beirut was kidnapped by four
gunmen Tuesday on nis way to play
golf, and a caller claimed responsibi
lity in the name of the Shiite Moslem
group Islamic Jihad.
The kidnapping was the first ab
duction of an American in Lebanon
in 15 months.
The U.S. Embassy identified the
victim as Frank Herbert Reed, 53, of
Malden, Mass., director of the Leb
anese International School in Mos
lem west Beirut.
Islamic Jihad, which espouses the
fundamentalist teachings of Iran’s
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has
said it holds at least three other
American hostages.
A spate of politically motivated
kidnappings in west Beirut in 1985
prompted most Americans and
other Westerners to leave the city.
The caller on Tuesday accused Reed
of being a CIA spy.
Police said the assailants, toting si
lencer-equipped pistols and driving
in a dark blue Volvo, rammed
Reed’s chauffeur-driven car onto
the sidewalk at 11:15 a.m. near the
ruins of a supermarket in west Bei
rut’s Bir Hassan district.
Reed was driving from his home
in west Beirut’s Manara neighbor
hood to play golf at the war-scarred
course on the city’s southern edge.
Two men forced Reed and his
Lebanese driver at gunpoint to get
into the car. The driver was freed
minutes later, a few hundred yards
from the headquarters of Syrian in
telligence officers in charge of en
forcing a security plan to restore law
and order in west Beirut.
Until Tuesday, no foreigner had
been kidnapped since Syrian troops
moved into west Beirut on July 4.
The driver, whose name was not
given, went to Reed’s home and in
formed Reed’s Syrian wife, Fahima
See Kidnapping, page 14
A&M building budget
may reach all-time high
Construction Costs
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987*1988*
Years
* Estimated costs
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Staff Writer
Texas A&M is contemplating
$75.2 million in projects this year,
which represents by far the largest
construction budget in the school’s
history.
The two largest projects —- a $22
million biochemistry/biophysics
building and a $15 million computer
science/aerospace engineering build
ing will both be funded by bond is
sues backed by the Available Univer
sity Fund, says Daniel T. Whitt,
assistant vice chancellor for facilities
planning and construction.
This year’s construction budget
dwarfs last year’s $23 million budget
but Whitt attributes the difference to
chance.
“That’s just the normal peaks and
valleys in getting projects designed
and contracts awarded,” Whitt says.
For example, $30 million worth of
projects will be paid for with “local
funds,” such as dining hall funds
and residence hall reserves, Whitt
says.
Among these local-fund projects
is a $12 million parking garage to be
paid for entirely out of parking fees
and fines, he says. The garage will be
located on the present site of the
physical plant building but the con
tract will not be awarded until March
1987 at the earliest.
Other local-fund projects include
a $5 million renovation of Duncan
Hall, a $5 million renovation of the
Corps dormitories and an $8 million
expansion of campus utilities.
Unlike Permanant University
Fund projects, which are the result
of long-range, central planning,
these local projects are funded as
they arise, Whitt says.
By chance, he says, $30 million
worth of these projects came to
gether for the fiscal year 1987,
which began Sept. 1.
Listed below are A&M’s annual
construction expenditures since fis
cal year 1983:
• 1983 — $27.96 million
• 1984 — $22.3 million
• 1985 — $48.75 million
• 1986 — $23.09 million
• 1987 (current year) — $75.2
million
• 1988 (estimate) — $40 million.
Meanwhile, work proceeds on the
problem-ridden Chemistry Build
ing. When the project began in
1984, the building was scheduled for
completion by May 1986 but Whitt
says November is now the target
month of completion, and that even
that estimate is optimistic.
In February, with $6 million in
work remaining on the project, the
B.B. Anderson Construction Co. de
faulted on its contract with A&M
and the Avery Mays Construction
Co. was hired to finish the job, Whitt
says.
A&M is still far from raising the
$36 million needed to build the spe
cial events center the school hopes to
place on the west campus one day,
Whitt says.
Houston investor Chester Reed
donated a $13 million parcel of land
to A&M in January, the proceeds of
which are to be used to fund the spe
cial events center, but to date, only a
portion of the land has been sold,
Whitt says.
The University is prohibited from
using money from the Available
University Fund for non-educatio-
nal buildings. And since the center
would be used in part to host sport
ing events, only a portion of the pro
ject can be funded by the Available
University Fund, he says.
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AUSTIN (AP) — State Comptrol-
Boh Bullock said Tuesday that
:’s projected budget deficit
|S improved slightly over the past
lonths, but predicted that 1987
tld be a darker year for state rev-
ies and the Texas economy.
Tto months ago, Bullock pro-
x bills
introduced
in House
pAUSTIN (AP) — New tax bills
were filed in the House on Tues
day with no indication from
Speaker Gib Lewis or other
puse leaders that they would
get immediate attention.
However, Lewis predicted later
Sihe day that there would be a
temporary sales tax hike passed
[luring the special session.
iTiep. Stan Schlueter, chairman
of the House Ways and Means
■mmittee, which must clear any
Hbill for debate, said he proba
bly would wait until the House
and Senate reach agreement on
appropriations before holding
|hearings on tax legislation.
jected a $3.5 billion reduction in all
funds for 1986-87 and a $2.9 billion
shortfall in major funds.
On Tuesday, he revised those fig
ures to $2.8 billion and $2.3 billion
'respectively.
“Since our last official estimate,
the Legislature, in special session,
has made some budget cuts and re
solved a number of pending issues
which have lowered the July short
fall estimate,” Bullock said in a
statement.
Gov. Mark White said Tuesday
that Texas still needs a temporary
sales tax increase even though a new
study estimates the projected state
budget decifit has eased by $700 mil
lion.
Bullock noted the Legislature had
approved not paying cities and tran
sit authorities $223 million in inter
est on local sales tax money held by
the state treasury.
He said Attorney General Jim
Mattox had assured him that the
state will not — as anticipated in July
—- have to refund $100 million in
contested franchise tax payments
during 1987.
Also, the Legislature moved the
state payday to the first day of the
month and eliminated the 3 percent
state employee pay raise, reducing
state expenditures by another $273
million.
“The reduction in all funds for
1986-87 will be $2.8 billion because
See Deficit, page 14
k
Challenger disaster leads to diversity
Pentagon changes space policy
Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a
four-part series examining the impact of the ex
plosion of the space shuttle Challenger on the
space industry. Part three examines the Penta
gon’s attempt to break its reliance on shuttles by
adopting throwaway rockets.
WASHINGTON (AP) — From spy satellites to
“Star Wars,” the loss of the shuttle Challenger
temporarily crippled military space programs. It
also wrought an expensive, new approach to
space at the Pentagon.
The military must have the shuttle, Air Force
Secretary Edward C. Aldridge Jr. says, but plac
ing great reliance on the orbiters was “a major
mistake for this country and we’re paying the
price now.”
Gone are the days of a seemingly foolproof
shuttle, available to the Pentagon for secret mis
sions along with its more familiar work as a space
truck hauling commercial payloads into orbit.
“We cannot afford to rely on a single launch
system for launching our very critical satellites,”
Aldridge said recently. “The Expendable Launch
Vehicles (rockets) are going to be the workhorse
from now on for DOD.”
Ironically, as the Pentagon moves to break its
reliance on the shuttle, the military’s role in the
future of the spaceplane is increasing. Since the
Challenger’s loss, the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration has turned over four key
jobs to military officers.
The Defense Department is likely to monopo
lize the first few years of resumed shuttle flights;
two of the first three flights have already been set
aside for the military. In fact, some administra
tion officials credit the Pentagon with helping to
persuade President Reagan to replace the Chal
lenger while restricting the access of commercial
firms to the shuttle in the future.
But the military ramifications of relying solely
on the shuttle have been far-reaching:
• To recover, the Pentagon now plans to
spend $2.6 billion over the next five years. As
suming Congress goes along, that money will fi
nance design and production of two new genera
tions of unmanned rockets. Critical satellites will
be designed from the ground up to fly on either
the shuttle or one of the new rockets.
• By simple good luck, the nation’s defense
satellite system was healthy when the Challenger
exploded Jan. 28, according to Gen. Larry D.
Welch, the Air Force’s chief of staff.
Nonetheless, every month the shuttles stay
grounded, the picture worsens.
The Challenger’s loss, and the unrelated
grounding of the Titan rocket following two
losses over the past year, is producing a backlog
of national-security payloads that will take years
to overcome.
According to Aldridge, the Pentagon will have
21 payloads “sitting on the ground waiting to fly”
in early 1988, when the shuttles are supposed to
resume operation. The backlog will grow to as
many as 30 satellites before it starts dropping, he
adds.
The United States has at least one of the KH-
11 spy satellites still in orbit and functioning, and
perhaps at least one more that could be launched
with a Titan. By 1988, however, the Pentagon
could face a serious problem maintaining the
photo reconnaissance that monitors Soviet mili
tary movements and arms control compliance.
• The standdown for repair of the shuttles
has forced the planned, $3 billion military space
port at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in Cali
fornia to be placed in “caretaker status” until
1992, when Challenger’s replacement is due to
be ready. The mothballing will eliminate up to
1,000jobs.
Aldridge maintains the United States must
eventually activate Vandenberg so that shuttles
can place spy satellites in polarorbit, the only one
that gives them a vantage point on the entire
globe. The safety requirement that shuttles be
launched over water rather than land prevents
the spaceplanes from putting payloads in polar
orbit when launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
• President Reagan’s Star Wars program,
known formally as the Strategic Defense Initia
tive, has also been hurt. More extensive Star
Wars work using the shuttle was scheduled to be
gin next year.
Col. George Hess, the director of survivability,
lethality and key technologies for Star Wars, says
the Pentagon is now reviewing its experiments to
determine if some can be performed with un
manned rockets. Much of the research, however,
can only be performed by men in space. In the
long run, assuming shuttle flights resume in
1988, Hess says the research program shouldn’t
be set back too greatly.
“But everyone is suffering from a lack of shut
tle availability,” he adds.
DAILY
I 7:00 PM DAILY