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The Battalion
Vol. 82 Mo. 42 CJSPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, October 28, 1986
acers
opular
jn B-CS
: Cycles said to be
^ “too powerful'
By Robert Morris
Reporter
inja, V-Max, Interceptor and
Eliminator — these and other high-
performance motorcycles with ma
cho images have taken over the Col-
r> leg< Station market for males be-
Epwi-n the ages of 18 and 24.
fflHlhey also have caused problems
—, for insurance agents and motorcycle
t iers.
The fact is all of these cycles are
i too powerful for the people on
them,” said Budd Abbott, marketing
--.man ager for Century Dairyman In-
Uurance of Austin. "Less than 500
people in the United States are capa
ble of handling the type of motorcy
cles in the super-sport category, and
: mpst of them are riding the pro cir
cuit ”
[Joe Fisher, owner of University
les in College Station and a Ya-
ha motorcycle distributor, said
Mpst people don’t realize that along
with the purchase of a high-perfor
mance motorcycle comes the respon
sibility of learning how to use it.
Bfeandy Pazzaglia, president and
general manager of Central Cycle
and Supply and distributor of Kawa
saki and BMW motorcycles, said
these “macho-image” cycles are
| called super-sports or cafe-racers by
the people who sell them.
Hhbbott called them "death machi
nes ”
■some of the machines can reach
|,Jl|ee(ls of 160 mph, and all do the
quarter-mile in less than 11 seconds,
^■’azzaglia said almost none are rid-
, den by people capable of handling
this power.
^Randolph Adami, a junior at
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Man charged
with spying
against U.S.
Former Air Force sergeant
wanted 'to embarrass' U.S.
Photo by Tom Ownbey
Andy Crenshaw bought his Ninja motorcycle six months ago but has ridden smaller bikes for two years.
authorities a
■lease informal
1 Tejcra’sauk-p
Texas A&M, is among the minority
of people who own a high perfor
mance motorcycle that have experi
ence.
He estimated almost 75 percent to
80 percent of the people currently
riding these cycles have little or no
experience.
Adami began riding a small mo
torcycle three years ago and rode
two other small motorcycles before
taking on a super-sport.
Still, he admitted he bought the
cycle because he “liked the style of
the bike.”
As far as performance is con
cerned, Adami said he enjoys having
the power, yet he said he rarely uses
it.
Pazzaglia said that these motorcy
cles are taking over the market of
the young male consumer because of
their strong male-image appeal.
The macho performance market
was created by the Japanese motor
cycle producers in the late 1970s and
early 1980s in response to the lag
ging sales of the typical cruiser mo
torcycle made popular in the early
1970s, Pazzaglia said.
However, he added the strong
sales push has been greatly helped
by the image portrayed in movies
like “Top Gun,” where speed is pre
sented as the ultimate object of ma
cho release.
“All these guys come in to buy a
cycle that will make them Tom
Cruise,” Pazzaglia said, referring to
the actor in “Top Gun” who was
shown in the movie riding a Kawa
saki Ninja 900.
College Station Police Sgt. Gary
Bishop compared the current popu
larity of the high-powered cycles to
that of the black Trans Am in the
late 1970s.
Fisher said the sporty image ap
peals to Americans — from muscle-
See Motorcycles, page 10
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A dis
gruntled former Air Force sergeant
was arrested Monday and charged
with trying to deliver secrets about
an Air Force reconnaissance pro
gram to the Soviet Union, authori
ties said.
Allen John Davies of San Jose, a
naturalized American citizen who
works for Ford Aerospace & Com
munications Corp., was arrested by
FBI agents in Palo Alto, south of San
Francisco in the heart of Silicon Val
ley, said U.S. Attorney Joseph Rus-
soniello.
If convicted, he could be pun
ished by sentences of up to life in
prison.
Davies, 33, was arraigned before
U.S. Magistrate Frederick Woelflen
and held pending a hearing Thurs
day on a government request to keep
him in custody without bail until
trial.
Davies showed no emotion during
the brief hearing in a packed court
room.
A sworn statement by an FBI
agent filed in federal court says that
on Sept. 22, Davies offered informa
tion about the Air Force program to
an undercover FBI agent who posed
as a representative of the Soviet con
sulate in San Francisco at a meeting
in the city’s Golden Gate Park.
Russioniello told reporters that
Davies did not ask for any money
when he offered classified informa
tion to the agent.
“His apparent motive was spite,”
Russoniello said.
He said Davies had been dis
charged in 1984 for “inadequate job
performance” and apparently felt it
was unjustified.
Davies provided detailed verbal
information about the program as
well as a hand drawing depicting va
rious aspects of the program,
according to the statement by Agent
Roger Edstrom.
He said that much of the informa
tion Davies provided at the meeting
was classified as secret, according to
Air Force Maj. Boyd Lease, director
of the reconnaissance program.
He said Davies stated he had
worked on the reconnaissance pro
gram while in the Air Force in 1983
and 1984.
Davies had been told not to dis
cuss his work or disclose the exis
tence of his unit, he said.
Davies said he was providing the
information out of revenge because
of the unfair way he was treated
while in the Air Force, the agent
said.
“He also stated that he wanted to
do something to embarrass the U.S.
and to interfere with the effective
ness of its reconnaissance activities,”
he said.
Political campaigns
nationwide marred
D° na| «by mudslinging tactics
State Department shows 'displeasure'
U.S. not cracking down on Syria
I
AST EVER* i;
RNING f WASHINGTON (AP) — Neg-
| atm campaigning, the volatile “dark
side of politics” that some call
mudslinging, is making its presence
k 1 felt heavily this year in campaigns
IM across the nation.
__ Personal attacks as well as accusa
tions of conflict of interest, absen
teeism in high office and political ex
tremism have left their stamp on
> CLOSE T . manv Senate, House and gubernato-
m; ENTfiyff-' rialjcam pa igns.
sntCente' ! . ; “In these last weeks before an
I: One rourtl -' election, we see again the dark side
1 Doubles, to" I of politics,” Sen. John C. Danforth,
R-Mo., told the Senate earlier this
month. "Each campaign plumbs new
S CLOSEdepths of name-calling in thirty-sec-
TI0N: Mens;'; ond TV commercials that transform
t Classes A: personal attack into an art form,
is D plays ft-o “Politics becomes an even dirtier
oardsoutside”'!! job] hardening to its practitioners,
USHARulef revolting to the public.”
I pointtiebref!; j;That is the same conclusion Penn
sylvania Republican Lt. Gov. William
Scranton III said he reached when
INTRIES CLfi-j he ordered his staff to scrap negative
RACEC0U& adslaimed against Robert P. Casey,
ENTRIES^ :l his Democratic opponent in the race
forgovernor.
year’s campaign has dete
riorated into an unproductive name-
calling contest,” Scranton said last
week. “It has become like a back-al
ley brawl. Mudslinging is not lead
ership. . . . We dirty our own nest
and it is time to clean that up.”
Casey has run television spots at
tacking Scranton’s attendance re
cord at the state Senate, and several
agencies as lieutenant governor.
“He had trouble finding his way
to work,” Casey said. “When you
don’t go to work, you don’t get pro
moted, you get fired.”
A few days after Scranton’s no
negativism pledge, 600,000 bro
chures attacking Casey were mailed
out.
Scranton’s campaign people said
it was all a mistake, that they hadn’t
meant to break his promise. Casey
said he’d make an issue of the mail
ing.
Among the many other negative
examples around the country:
• In Wisconsin last weekend, con
sumer advocate Ralph Nader, ques
tioning why Republican Sen. Robert
Kasten’s drunk-driving arrest has
not become a bigger campaign issue,
said Kasten “needs rehabilitation
rather than re-election.”
Joe Sims, Kasten’s news secretary,
See Mudslinging, page 10
tt. 28; PL#
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the Sport Stf |1
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ever
since Syria went on the U.S. terrorist
list as a charter member in 1979, the
United States, in deciding whether
to censure President Hafez Assad’s
government, has had to weigh the le
verage Damascus may have with
anti-Western elements in the Middle
East.
The dilemma was evident again
Monday as the State Department
registered its “great displeasure”
with Syria’s policies while also trying
publicly to hold Assad to his pledge
to assist the seven U.S. citizens listed
as hostages in southern Lebanon.
Syria is considered the dominant
political force in Lebanon, and while
Assad’s government is philosoph
ically too secular to please most Mos
lem fundamentalist groups involved
in terrorist incidents, its political in
fluence is substantial.
Also, terrorist experts within and
outside the U.S. government are
convinced that Syria plays a double
role — providing a safe haven for
Abu Nidal, head of the Fatah Revo
lutionary Council, and others ac
cused of terrorism, but also assisting
American hostages, at least after
they are released.
In the case of at least three of
them, Jeremy Levin, a Cable News
Network correspondent; the Rev.
Bejamin Weir, a Presbyterian min
ister; and the Rev. Lawrence Martin
Jenco, a Roman Catholic priest, the
Syrians are credited with helping
them get out of Lebanon once they
were freed by their captors.
“Nobody thinks Syria could press
a button and get them out,” said a
State Department official who spoke
anonymously. “But we feel they’ve
tried to be helpful up to a point.”
Syria is not considered the domi
nant influence with the groups be
lieved to be holding the Americans.
“These people, if they are in
fluenced by anybody, are influenced
by Iran,” the official said. “And Syria
doesn’t want to jeopardize its rela
tions with Iran.”
Privately, State Department offi
cials have no doubt that both Syria
and Iran use terrorism to advance
their political aims. Secretary of De
fense Caspar W. Weinberger blamed
both governments three years ago
for the bombing of the U.S. Marine
headquarters in Beirut that killed
241 U.S. servicemen.
He said Iranians exploded the
truck bomb with the “sponsorship
and knowledge and authority of the
Syrian government.”
The United States also accused
Syria of responsibility for the bomb
ing of the American embassy in Bei
rut the previous April.
New shuttle engine design passes first tests
SPACE CENTER, Houston
(AP) — Early tests show that a
new rocket engine design will
eliminate the flaws that caused
space shuttle Challenger to blow
up, a NASA official said Monday.
John Thomas, manager of the
space agency’s solid rocket motor
redesign team, also said NASA is
on track toward a resumption of
space flights in early 1988.
A new engine “has been tested
and we are much more confident
than ever before that it is a good
design,” Thomas said, but added
that much more testing remains
to be done.
Challenger blew up 73 seconds
after launch Jan. 28, killing all
seven crew members.
A presidential commission de
termined that the accident oc
curred when a joint on the solid
rocket engine leaked flame that
ignited rocket propellant.
Among the factors blamed by
the commission were warping of
the metal parts of the joint that
unsealed two rubberized O rings
and low temperatures that re
duced the seals’ resilience.
Thomas and his team designed
a joint with an extra lip to prevent
warping, added another O ring,
and developed a heater to keep
the joint warm. All of these el
ements worked well in early test
ing, he said.
Thomas said engineers also
tested the joint design used on
Challenger and duplicated the
leaks that the investigation con
cluded occurred.
The new design was subjected
to “hot fire” tests using a scale
model burning some 70 pounds
of propellant for 80 seconds,
Thomas said.
“The results have been very,
very pleasing,” he said. In one of
the tests, he said, the joint sealed
even without the use of O rings.
Engineers are testing two ideas
for insulating the steel walls of
the engine from the 1,500-degree
heat generated by the propellant.
The next stage calls for tests
using rocket segments that are
the full circumference of a flight
engine but which burn only 300
pounds of propellant.
Leaders of world religions join in peace prayer
nday, Od2oH
n Rodeo, Fit H
: reemanAf^
n Sal, Nov. I
Nov, 2.
Manor East 1 -
an by Geoni 1 ';
om McDonne ;
.'j^SSlSI, Italy (AP) — Bearing
olive branches and offering prayers,
Pope John Paul II and other leaders
of great world religions, from Mos
lems and Jews to fire-worshipping
Zorjoastrians, solemnly pledged
Monday to work for peace.
The pope, summing up the re
solve of his religious colleagues,
urged world leaders to fashion
“strategies of peace with courage
and vision.”
Dalai Lama, the exiled Buddhist
god-king of Tibet, called the historic
gathering in Assisi, hill-town birth
place of St. Francis, a recognition of
the [“indispensable spiritual dimen
sion” in efforts to end war.
And the efforts had an immedi
ate,-if temporary, impact in far cor
ners of a war-torn globe.
Warring parties in a dozen coun
tries, including Nicaragua, El Salva-
doriand Cambodia, acceded to the
pope's appeal that combatants lay
“Either we learn to walk
together in peace and har
mony, or we drift apart
and ruin ourselves and
others. ”
— Pope John Paul II
down their arms for 24 hours Mon
day. The cease-fire broke down in
Lebanon, however, and minor viola
tions were reported elsewhere.
In at least a dozen other conflicts,
meanwhile, from the Iran-Iraq bor
der to Northern Ireland, wars
dragged on heedless of the plea.
The 160 participants at the prayer
meeting represented 32 denomina
tions and groups from Christendom
as well as American Indians, African
animists, Japanese Shintoists,
Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and
Bahais.
The denominations’ adherents
number 3.5 billion people, or 70
percent of the world’s population.
In a moving climax to the day’s
events, the participants, resplendent
in attire of a dozen colors, gathered
on the steps of the Basilica of St.
Francis and raised olive branches in
a commitment “to make peace a cen
tral aim of our prayer and action.”
In his final address, the pope
warned that the choice facing hu
manity is “true peace or catastrophic
war.”
“Either we learn to walk together
in peace and harmony, or we drift
apart and ruin ourselves and oth
ers,” he said.
Dalai Lama told reporters, “The
significance of today’s gathering
must be found in its symbolism. We
stressed the importance of prayer
and reflection and the indispensable
spiritual dimension in building
peace.”
But a Moslem from the Ivory
Coast, Ahmed Tidjani, cautioned
that many of the participants, unlike
the pope, lacked the power to trans
late “the spirit and meaning of As
sisi” into concrete action. He de
scribed the meeting as largely a
“ceremonial exercise.”
The nine hours of fasting, prayer
and pilgrimage began at 9 a.m. in
front of the Basilica of Santa Maria
degli Angeli, built on the site where
the peace-loving founder of the
Franciscan order died.
In chilly weather and under peri
odic showers, thousands of pilgrims
and tourists packed the narrow al
leys of this central Italian town. Po
lice and plainclothesmen pushed
and shoved the onlookers to Clear
the way for the religious leaders.
The pope arrived in a motorcade
from nearby Perugia and shook
“The significance of to
day’s gathering must be
found in its symbolism.
We stressed the . . . indis
pensable spiritual dimen
sion in building peace. ”
— Dalai Lama
hands with the leaders of more than
60 delegations, including Anglican
leader Dr. Robert Runcie, the arch
bishop of Canterbury, and Elio
Toaff, chief rabbi of Rome.
The individual groups first held
their own prayer sessions in
churches, monasteries and town
buildings.
Toaff and the other Jewish partic
ipants gathered in a small square
where a synagogue once stood be
fore it was destroyed in the 14th cen
tury.
After 2'/2 hours of prayer, the
participants walked in silent proc
essions to a square in front of the
800-year-old Basilica of St. Francis,
where the 13th-century friar is bur
ied.
Representatives of each religion
then mounted the podium one after
another and offered a public prayer.
Muneyoshi Tokugawa, the chief
Japanese Shinto priest, read from
poems composed by Emperor Hiro-
hito:
“Although the people living
across the ocean surrounding us are
all brothers, I believe, why are there
constant troubles in this world? Why
do winds and waves rise in the ocean
surrounding us? I only earnestly
wish that the wind will soon puff
away all the clouds which are hang
ing over the top of the mountains.”