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TX 75225-0XS8
T exas ASM
Vol 82 No. 77 USPS 045360 6 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, January 7, 198 7
Congress
‘Watergate’ committees
_ WASHINGTON (AF) — A new
~ 00 f r *** tackled a top prionty
craadng two Waterfate-
•y** to inveatiaatr why
the Uaaied State* daadeatinely aoM
arm * *o Iran and how tome money
gotmd ^ujp^aappoetmg Nicaragua *
“Our Am duty in this new Con
ffr*** h the restoration of pubix
truM in the formulation of American
torea^u poh»y." said Sea. Robert C.
•yrd. D-W.Va.. the nu^orkv leader
an the new Democrat-controlled Sen-
aae. at the body opened for business
“The Iran mis adventure hat hurt
the preatdenry. ntadr a shambles of
'katefieaa foreign pahcy and called
atto quetuon just bow our foreign
policy it formulated and anpte-
mented,* Ryrd said
Amtrak starts
train service
after wreck
CHASE, Md. (AF) — Amtrak re
stored limhad passenger tram serv
ice T n reday past the anr of a deadly
wreck, and said its tests found two
< nucal signal kghu were working
properly and should have prevented
the ctdhaaon that killed 15 and in
jured more than 170.
Amtrak spokesman Clifford Black
said SO trains would be permitted to
make the run during the day on the
busy Northeast Corridor between
Washington and New York, rather
than the normal BO.
Trains were held to 90 mph
through the area of (he wreck, tar
below the estimated 100 mph at
which the 12-car Colonial was travel
mg Sunday when it rammed three
Conrad diesel engines from behind
Partisan tensions already were be
coming apparent over the Iran issue
and its potential for affecting the
1908 presidential elections, and Sen.
Bob Dole. R Kan , now the minority
leader in the 100th Congress, urged
colleagues not to be consumed by
the Iran-Contra matter to the exclu
sion of other issues.
"There are too many other prob
lems. domestic and foreign, prob
lems that are not going to go away,"
Dole said. "They cannot, and should
not, be swept aside because of an ob
session with the Iranian affair."
A few blocks west of the Capstoi.
former federal judge Lawrence E.
Walsh, appointed last month by a
three-judge panel to be independent
counsel for the Iran-Contra affair,
was settling in at the U S. Court
house. Walsh also was to meet with
high-ranking Justice Department of
ficials. government sources said.
The 74-year-old independent
counsel, they said, likely will take
over a series of separate Justice De
partment investigations into various
elements of the private support sys
tem for the Nicaraguan rebels,
merging these efforts with his
broad-based investigation
Ae Georgetown University Hospi
tal. officials said that CIA Director
William J. Casey, who appeared be
fore congressional committees last
month to discuss the Iran-Coutra af
fair. remains in stable condition and
"continues to convalesce" from Dec.
18 surgery to remove a brain tumor.
But the hospital statement ac
knowledged. for the first time, that
the spy chief "has been expenenciatg
speech difficulties and right-sided
weakness Both of these functions
have been improving slowly since
the surgery He has begun radiation
therapy which mil continue for a
number of weeks for treatment of
hu lymphoma "
And at the Pentagon. Defense
Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger ex
pressed doubts that profit* from the
tair of U.S. weapons to Iran actually
had been provided to the U.S.-
barked Contra rebels
Weinberger, in an interview with
reporters, said. "I think it*s a possi
bility" that the money never made it
to tne guerrillas At this point, he
said, the only evidence that such a
transfer took place has been
statements by Lt. Col. Oliver L.
North to Attorney General Edwin
Meese 111.
“1 think we’re all assuming that,
what he said was true." Weinbei ye-r
said of North. "And nobodv knows
that yet. I understand the Contras
have denied receiving it."
North was fired as a National Se
curity Council staff deputy on Nor.
25. and he has cited his Fifth
Amendment rights against self-in
crimination in refusing to give testi
mony to congressional committees
The Senate began debate on legis
lation that would establish an 11 -
member Select Committee on Secret
Military Assistance to Iran and the
Nicaraguan Opposition, and worked
toward a compromise catling for the
panel to finish its work by Aug. 1.
three months earlier than initially
prmansnd. . , ,|g
fhe House also was preparing »o
take up its own Irio'tanon on today
to create a 1 Vmember paranH panel
to report no later than Oct. 90. •
(.OP lawmakers continued to
press for public' release of a 159-
page report by the Senate I«u-U»
grace Committee that sources wud
found no evidence that President
Reagan knew of the diversion of
'Iran arms sale proceeds rn the Con
tras The panel had voted 7-6 not to
release the report late Monday
Bwri strynglv objected to release
of the report, saving it had been
vamu/rd' by the administration
and that at least one urv lasst find sec-
tket had been deleted from the pro
posed report
» portal h»i
Safety
i fresh
provided no
details about their investigation be
yond Monday night’s disclosure that
the Con rail engineer reported see
ing a scon signal and applying his
brakes when he approached the
main track from a siding The engi
neer said be didn’t have bane to stop
before pulling onto Use tracks just
ahead of the packed, speeding pas
senger train
NTSB officials refused to say if a
ngaml the Conrad engineer had
passed earlier directed him so pro
ceed or So dow and be prepared to
stop.
The Con rail engineer reportedly
has told investigators that the first
signal 1 7 miles from the track junc
tion erroneously told him to pro-
when be saw the
he could not stop in
No Way Out
qua
ing rush of Ohio State linebacker Chris Spielman (3b). Murray had problems with
the Buckeye defense ail afternoon as he threw a CxMton Bowl record five intercep
tions in the Aggies’ 28-12 kiss to Ohio Sta»e in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1
Clements says Texas can avoid fines
AUSTIN (AF) — Gov.-elect Bill Clements
voiced hope Tuesday that Texas may be able to
head off a federal judge’s threat to Fine the state
up to $800,500 a day for fading to carry out
District Judge Wilbam Wayne I ustice on
Monday found the state in contempt of court for
fading to complete reforms dating back to 1981.
He said that unless the improvements were
made by Mgrth SI. fines would begin April 1.
Assistant Attorney General F. Scott McCown said
the fines could toad up to $24 million a month
But Clements, who is scheduled to meet with
Justice at the judge’s Tyler office on Friday, said
through a spokesman that he hopes Justice can
be persuaded not to levy the fines.
"He believes that Judge Justice wants what ev
erybody else wants, and that is to solve the prob
lem,” said Reggie Bashur, Clements' press secre
tarv. “If it is mown dearly and convincingh to
the judge that the state is doing everything it can.
then he won’t levy any fines '
*The spokesman said Clements, who wiN take
office Jan 20, was reviewing Justice's 100-page
order Tuesday and would “reserve judgment on
the specifics of the citation until after the (Friday)
meeting."
The court ordered the reforms — including
hiring of more guards and medical personnel —
after an inmate sued the Texas Depart mem of
Corrections a decade ago over conditions in the
nation's second-largest prison system.
Justice s latest ruling against the prisons came
a year after inmates' lawyers filed a motion con
tending that Texas was in contempt of a set
tlement it agreed to in Juh 1985
In his ruling. Justice criticized the state for
doing very little during the first two years after it
agreed to the settlement
While most state officials expressed disap
pointment with the judge's ruling. Lt (»ov Bill
Hobby went further He said Justice carried out
an arrogant act that is unfair to Texas.
Syrian hostage-taker
may be in U.S. illegally
eiaht
th In-
(.RAPEVINE (AF) — A Syrian
who held a bo* at gun pc ant for i
boors at the Dallas-Fort Worth
ternauonal Airport and demanded
to be flown to Egypt may have been
in the country amgsSy, authorities
said Tuesday
The 10-year-old boy. Michael
(-aruso Jr., who had been snatched
from his parents as they stood in line
at a Delta Air Lines ticket counter.
was released unharmed
a ruled with his family.
re-
Technology shows fat, lean meat in cattle
Ultrasound images show yields of
By Tricin
The use of ultrasound to predict
caalr carcass yields is a x<»>d exam
ple of technology transfer in action,
says Meaner Recto, a lecturer in the
Texas AJcM animal science depart
'Ultrasound was first used m hu
mans," Recao says “Since then, n has
gone from the medical field to the
animal torace and veterinary medt-
** -m
CHIC
Ultrasound was first used in ani
mals m detect pregnancy m cows
used in sheep to detect multiple fe
tuses. he says, so a ewe’s feeding re-
gone may be avljuMeii
Fi nihlt problems in male animals
aha umf wm datecaad aod corrected
with the use of ultrasound. Recto
says. The trMklei may be viewed
with the equipment and monitored
until the problem is located.
Ultrasound is beginning to “take
off" in the area of determining yield
grades. Reoo says. Fat thickness,
muscle depth and some marbling
are visible with an ultrasound ma
chine, he says
"With this information we are able
to determine the qpiaiiti or yield
characteristics of that carcass." he
•ay*.
The process is refativciv easy, he
say*. A gel or oil is placed on the ani
mal where the observation u to be
made and then a transducer, or
probe, is placed m the same area.
“Once the probe is in place, the
machine can be turned on and an
image is projected onto the screen."
Recto says.
"Operating much like sonar,
sound waves beamed by the trans
ducer through the flesh will acho
back as they encounter heavier den
si ties of tissue,'* hr Vays. "Lean has
more density than fat and bone has
more density than 1
“Wc’rr (AOcSi) moving the
hardest and the fastest in
our work with yield grade
determinations "
Homer Recio, AScM
animal science lecturer
Once a suitable image is acquired,
it Is placed on a video cassette re
corder for later analysis, he says.
In the future, he says, interfacing
with a computer win make automatic
measurement readingv
"We (researchers) think that
wuhtn five years, the industry wiU
have developed a prototype using
i >bt so that a mechanical arm
will ssfbrp across the kill floor, place
a sensor on the hided carcass hang
ing from a shackle and determine
l ield and quality grade," Recio says.
The biggest advantage of ultra
sound is the ability to yield grade
carcasses before the hide is removed,
he says, because it enables meat
packers to trim off excess fat before
shipping the meat.
However, ultrasound does have
some disadvantages. Recio says.
"Expense and expertise arc the
biggest disadvantages to the machi
ne!" he says
To have the program completely
developed and hooked up to a com
puter costs about $25,000, he says,
although it will pay for itself in the
long run.
"Some degree of expertise is also
in the interpretation of the
seen on the screen." Recio
At a news conference I uesday af
ternoon before he and his family
flew to Phoenix, Ana.. Michael said
that during the ordeal he pretended
he was playing a game called "Guns"
with a friend of his.
Swivehng in a chair and appear
mg at rate with reporters. Micharl
asserted that he could have walked
away from hu captor at one piMM
Fhe hostage incident in die Delta
terminal Monday afternoon tempo
rarity hahed Deha an travel for
about 6,000 people headed imtn or
out of Dallas. Rights resumed early
Tuesday, shortly after the
surrendered at 11:59 p.m.
The
identified as Solah
Another i
ler advantage of using ultra
sound u that it enables the valise of a
live animal to be determined. Recio
says. Since it measures fat and the ri-
bevc area, and since the carcass
weight is given, he says, farmers are
able to know which cows are doing
best.
..ill'
says.
However. Recio says. ARM is at
the forefront of ultrasound devel
opment
"Were (ARM) moving the hard
est and the fastest m our work with
yield grade descrminaoons." he says.
suspect'— tc
Kas Abou-Kassem. 26. of Damascus
was persuaded u» sunender by a
fake document and the promise that
there would be “shme amicable way
tor him to leave the country." air
port spokesman Joe Draley said
At one point, a Boeing 757 was
taken to Gate 10 at the i equeat of the
airport's Department of Public
Safety, Delta spokesman Henry
Conley said
Leu Ltmmer. director of public
safety at DFW, said Abou-Kassem
may be m the United States tBegally
The regional director of fra mi
gration and Naturalization Service
Dallas sasd the agency has no re
cords on Abou-Kassem
Witnesses said the gunman
grabbed Mm tlaei and Fired a shot in
(hr criling and threatened him when
the child’s father came alter him.