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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1986)
The Battalion il. 83 No. 28 CJSPS 045360 12 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, October 8, 1986 7 injured Houston explosion DEER PARK (AP) — A fire and wo explosions rocked a barge in the -louston Ship Channel early Tues- lay, injuring seven men and forcing ifficials to close a mile-long stretch »fthe waterway. One man blown off tanker was reported missing. The fire began at 4 a.m. after the irst explosion and burned through he afternoon, U.S. Coast Guard of- icials said. They said they were let- ingthe fire burn itself out. Barge Hollywood 3003 was carry- ng methyl tertiary butyl ether, a gas- iline additive that creates an intense lame, Coast Guard Ensign Lia De- lettencourt said. Fire broke out while the product vas being transferred to another targe, said Stephen Miles, president " Intercontinental Terminals Co. The other barge did not catch fire, ie said. “The fire is no longer progres ing, but it’s still burning,” said Coast Juard spokesman Richard Nichols. It’s under control, but it’s not extin- uished.” Nichols said the fire was con- ained on the barge and surround- ng water. The barge was partially ubmerged in the water, he said. Witnesses said the explosions oc- urred just before 4 a.m. and then at a.m. during the fire. The cause of ic initial explosion had not been letermined. Several hatches blew off tanks on re barge later in the morning prob- bly because of heat from the blaze, bast Guard spokesman Mark Ken edy said. The barge has 10 tanks. Snips surrounded the burning arge, spewing water, and a circling elicopter looked for the missing nan who authorities said was nocked off a nearby Panamanian anker. Another worker on the vessel nmped into the water when the fire tarted and was rescued uninjured, fficials said. A crew member injured on the urning barge was in guarded con- ition Tuesday at Hermann Hospi- al in Houston, said spokeswoman usan Edwards. Paul Simpson, 22, uffered burns over 75 percent of is body, said a hospital clerk who eclinecl to give her name. Four firefighters from Interconti- lental Terminals who helped fight he blaze also were injured, Debet- encourt said. They suffered first- ind second-degree burns and were satisfactory condition at Humana lospital Southmore, hospital pokesman Walter Leleux said. isai i at il ■ ■ : ■ ■ ■ : II.St ; , - Hi t> ‘•t, - -mm;: Photo by Mark Gee Picture Perfect Mark Johnson, a senior philosophy major from College Station, hangs a picture Tuesday for the “Spanish Heritage in Texas” ex hibit. The exhibit will be open for public viewing Friday through Oct. 28 in the Rudder Exhioit Hall. Yell practice conflict prompts complaints Plan in works to end Corps-civilian friction By Jo Ann Able Staff Writer A plan is in the works to prevent further conflicts between the Corps and civilians running across Kyle Field at midnight yell practice, Dr. Malon Southerland, interim com mandant of the Corps of Cadets, said Tuesday. He said he’s working with the yell leaders and the Corps to address complaints stemming from Corps actions during Friday’s yell practice. Several people received minor in juries in a scuffle that broke out when they tried to run across the field and cadets tried to stop them. “It’s just simply something that’s gotten out of hand,” Southerland said. “People have decided for what ever reasons that it’s a game to charge out on the field, and once that happens, other individuals think it’s their responsibility to stop them, and it gives each party a rea son to have a wrestling match.” Andy Vann, a junior English ma jor, said he was among about 15 peo ple, including about six girls, who tried to cross the field. He said he was tackled by two cadets. “Two C.T.’s jumped on top of me and started hitting me in the head with their helmets and started punching me,” Vann said. “I never fought back. I never said a single thing.” Vann said one cadet tried unsuc cessfully to carry him off the field. He said he then stood up and tried to walk off the field. “One of them grabbed my feet and the other one grabbed the up per part of my body,” he said, “and they ran me off the field and one of them kept hitting me in the head with his helmet, over and over again.” Vann said one of the girls in the group was told by cadets, “Get off the field, you slut.” A few of the girls were tackled and one was hit with a helmet, Vann said. “T he main reason I did it (ran on the field) is I wanted to see how far the Corps would go to keep up a tra dition,” Vann said. “As far as I’m concerned, tradition is a fine part of this institution, but the fanaticism I saw out there and the violence that resulted is scary.” Jeff Newberry, a sophomore En- ? jish major, said he also ran onto the ield. “We knew what we were getting into, and we knew senseless violence was going to be the reaction,” New berry said. He said the purpose of his actions was to get a reaction from the crowd and make them question the violence that he knew would result. “We certainly weren’t the most in telligent rebels in the world,” New berry said. Newberry said he was tackled by at least five cadets who beat him in the head, kicked him in the gut and called him names. He said he suffered bruises, turf burns, a few lumps on his head and had his shirt torn off. Another participant in the run, David Kohel, a junior biochemistry major, said he regrets that his ac tions are being viewed as provoking the Corps. “People need to use more sponta neity and imagination,” Kohel said. “Sometimes tradition limits our per spective of what we do, and I think a lot of times people are oblivious to alternative actions. “I ran out on the field and had quite a few people condone the C.T. s’ violence.” He said he was tackled, had his shirt ripped off and was hit in the mouth. He said he doesn’t believe anyone expected the outcome to be as vio lent as it actually was. “I don’t want to make it sound like we went out there to cause violence,” Kohel said. Marty Holmes, head yell leader, said there wouldn’t be a problem if everyone was “true to each other as Aggies can be” like it says in “The Spirit of Aggieland.” “First of all, we wouldn’t be beat ing up on them like that,” Holmes said. “And at the same time they (ci vilians) wouldn’t be trying to run out there. “When they run out there, they know what’s fixing to happen. It’s not like they’re innocent bystanders or something. They’re egging it on themselves.” Southerland said students need to be aware they shouldn’t go out on the field, but if it does happen, the cadets shouldn’t overreact. Southerland said, “It’s just some thing that cannot be allowed to con tinue because somebody’s going to get hurt.” Air crashes may be linked to covert CIA mission The Coast Guard closed the itretch of the channel for safety pre- autions, Debettencourt said. At east one boat was moved out of the irea, she said. WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. congress man on Tuesday called for a House probe into two air crashes that occurred within the past week in Texas and Nicaragua to deter mine if they were part of a covert CIA opera tion aimed at toppling the Sandinista govern ment. Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, charged that a civilian cargo plane that crashed at a Texas military base was on a se cret CIA mission carrying weapons to Ameri can-backed rebels in Nicaragua. A smaller plane that reportedly crashed in side Nicaragua near the Honduran border was also on a CIA-backed mission, Gonzalez said at a late afternoon news conference. In letters to Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis., chair man of the House Committee on Armed Services, and Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., chairman of the House Intelligence Commit tee, Gonzalez asked for an investigation into whether the CIA was linked with the crashes. “Under the authorization granted to the CIA in 1947 there is nothing to allow them to operate as a paramilitary operation,” Gonza lez said. He also said pilots were being hired to fly aircraft for civilian aviation companies con tracted by the CIA to carry out missions in support of covert operations based in Hondu ras for the Nicaraguan Contra rebel forces. Those civilian air transport companies are not being regulated by the federal govern ment nor by the military, which results in many aircraft being flown that are not airwor thy, Gonzalez said. “You have these aircraft operating in a twi light zone, that not only continue to menace the military bases, but the citizens and com munities living in the vacinity,” Gonzalez said. In a related development, Gonzalez said that the CIA is offering $25,000 to Spanish speaking Texans for a year’s duty in Central America through the Texas Employment Commission and the Veteran’s Service Offi cer. “It’s all tied together,” he said. “In San Antonio, the Texas Employment Commission, through its veteran service offi cer, is attempting to recruit 1,000 Chicanes, Spanish-speaking, for unaccompanied tours for one year in Central America,” Gonzalez said at a news conference. “(They want people) who have a back ground of experience in small arms and com munications,” he said. Asked if he was saying mercenaries are be ing recruited, he,earlier replied, “That’s what it amounts to.” Gene Brieger, supervisor of placement field services for the TEC in San Antonio, said Tuesday that the agency received an or der from Central Texas College in Killeen and is trying to fill it. He said in a government contract, compa nies are required to list jobs with state employ ment agencies. “They’re required by federal orders to place orders with us,” Brieger said. “Receiv ing this is not any big deal.” He said the order asks for 1,000 people to be trained in different subjects for jobs in Central and South America. The pay is $25,000 per year for one year, including food and lodging, Brieger said. “Obviously (Gonzalez) has information we don’t have,” Brieger said. He said he did not know where the college got its order. Alvin Orenstein, deputy chancellor at Cen tral Texas College in Killeen, did not return phone calls to the AP on Tuesday. The plane that crashed early Saturday at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio was owned by Southern Air Transport, a Miami- based company which Gonzalez said has a his tory of CIA involvement. Officials say American downed n plane crash is military adviser MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — An American who survived when Sandinista soldiers shot down a rgo plane said Tuesday he is an aviation specialist who boarded the T123 in El Salvador, and was cap- ured in the jungle a day after the )lane crashed. Nicaraguan officials claim that Eugene Hasenfus, 45, of Marinette, iVis., is an American military adviser ming in El Salvador and the trans- >ort shot down Sunday in southern icaragua was carrying weapons and ammunition to U.S.-backed lontra rebels fighting the leftist Sandinistas. Sandinista army Lt. Col. Roberto alderon said in Managua that Ha- ienfus and two Americans who died )n the plane carried identification issociating them with the U.S. mili tary advisory group in El Salvador. However, officials in Washington denied any connection between Ha senfus and the U.S. government. A Contra official in Tegucigalpa, Hon duras, also denied that it had any thing to do with the plane. Hasenfus was allowed to speak to local journalists briefly in San Car los, a port on Lake Nicaragua near the crash site. He said the plane be gan its journey in Miami, picked him up in El Salvador, then took a Nica raguan aboard in Honduras and en tered Nicaraguan air space from Costa Rica at a site known as La Noca on the San Juan River. Hasenfus said the Nicaraguan was one of three men killed in the crash. Nicaraguan army officers who ac companied Hasenfus said the other two men killed were Americans they identified as Wallace Blaine Sawger Jr. and Bill Cooper. Their home towns were not available. Calderon, chief of the military dis trict where the plane was shot down, quoted Hasenfus as saying Sunday’s flight had been his fourth Contra supply flight since July. Calderon said Hasenfus’job in the flight was to kick bundles of supplies out of the plane. The C-123 is an older-model aircraft that was used widely during the Vietnam War. Calderon said Hasenfus carried a card issued by the Salvadoran air force, authorizing him to enter re stricted areas of Ilopango Air Force Base in southern El Salvador. Calderon claimed documents found in the downed transport plane and on the victims’ bodies identified Cooper and Sawger as members of the U.S. military advi sory group in El Salvador. Another captured document had been issued to Cooper by a company called Southern Air Transport, Cal deron said. That company, which re portedly has flown supplies to the Contras, said Tuesday it knew noth ing about Hasenfus or the flight. Sandinista officials said the plane was shot down with a Soviet-made surface-to-air missile at a spot 35 miles north of Costa Rica and 91 miles southeast of Managua. The Defense Ministry said the downed plane carried 50,000 rounds of ammunition for Soviet- made AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, dozens of automatic rifles, jungle boots and other military sup plies. Runoffs will be held on all freshman offices By Rodney Rather Staff Writer Tuesday’s freshman elections attracted 1,090 voters to the polls and elected eight student sen ators but left all five class offices unresolved. According to election returns reported Tuesday night by elec tion co-comrhissioners D.B. Thomas and Derek Blakeley, no candidate for any office received the majority vote necessary to se cure a victory. Run-off elections will be held Monday between the two candi dates receiving the most votes for each office. The presidential run-off will be between Mike Lister and Dan Gattis. Lister, a business major from Dallas, netted 19.7 percent of the votes while Gattis, an agri cultural economics major from Friendswood, drew 11.5 percent. The run-off for vice president will be between Rachel Powitzk, who emerged from Tuesday’s election with 27.6 percent of the votes, and Michael Aspina, who tallied 15.6 percent. In the run-off for treasurer, Jennifer Saute will face David Gribble. Saute accumulated 31.9 percent of the votes and Gribble piled 21.6 percent. The race for secretary will be between Sharon Brunner, who received 33.1 percent of the votes, and Jeff Brennan, who got 27.1 percent. The run-off for social secretary will be between Kathleen Erode and Clay Harris. Erode finished Tuesday’s election with 39.2 per cent of the vote while Harris at tracted 18.4 percent. ounty jail expands but more space needed By Olivier Uyttebrouck Staff Writer Most businesses in downtown Bryan have seen better days, but one blace in town has more customers |han it can handle — the Brazos Countyjail. Business is booming at the jail. So nuch so that the county has more |han doubled its jail capacity with $4 nillion in new construction and ren ovations in the past two years, says It. Ron Huddleston, jail administra tor for the Brazos County Sheriffs Department. Even so, about 30 in mates still are sleeping on the floors, he says. Billy E. Beard, Brazos County commissioner, says county commi- sioners are finalizing plans to build a minimum security jail about a mile west of Bryan as a more lasting solu tion to the overcrowding problem. It could house 96 inmates, he said. If the jail is built as Beard has planned it, the $500,000 facility will be situated on a 32-acre tract of land along Still Creek, and inmates will raise animals and cultivate gardens and a hay field on the land, he says. But for at least the next year, the sheriffs department will have to make do with the present jail located on the second floor of the Brazos County Courthouse. Huddleston says when the 112-in mate addition to the old jail was fin ished last year, all of the 70 or 80 in mates were moved into it, so renovations could begin on the 50- year-old portion of the jail. But in the past year, he says, the inmate population has risen to 135. And on weekends, when judges and bail-bondsmen are hard to come by, the population swells to about 150, he says. Renovations of the old jail should be finished in the next 30 days, cre ating room for 60 additional in mates, he says. But even this relief may be short-lived and the county may soon have to start paying to have its inmates jailed in other coun ties, at a cost of about $50 per day, per person, he says. Huddleston cites two reasons for the growing inmate population: A growing number of arrests and a de cline in the number of suspended sentences and probation sentences. With more room in the jail, judges are more inclined to sentence crimi nals to jail terms and give them longer sentences rather than release them on probation, Huddleston says. Today, about 35 inmates are “doing time” in the county jail — serving sentences a year or longer — about four times the number a year ago, he says. The cost of feeding the growing inmate population is expected to be about one-third more for 1986 than for 1985, rising from about $100,000 to $150,000, Huddleston estimates.