The Battalion
Vol. 82 Mo. 139 GSPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, April 20, 1987
im9
played gren
in us.
Americans
celebrate
holiday
(AP) — With colorful hats and
bunny ears, solemn protests and
joyous hymns, Americans on Easter
Sunday celebrated Christianity’s ho
liest day.
People in newly bought finery
packed into churches to give thanks
for Christ’s return from the dead.
Others, harking back to pagan sym
bols of springtime and rebirth,
hunted for decorated eggs and
nibbled on chocolate rabbits.
New Yorkers by the hundreds
promenaded down Fifth Avenue in
an annual display of tropical hues
and pastels. In Los Angeles, thou
sands gathered in early-morning
darkness for celebrity scripture
readings at the 67th Easter sunrise
service at the Hollywood Bowl.
While a human-sized Easter
Bunny handed out bonnets of car
rots and alfalfa sprouts to the two el
ephants at Chicago’s Lincoln Park
Zoo, four people were arrested at
Ellsworth Air Force Base in South
Dakota for trespassing.
About 60 people had gathered for
iunrise Easter services and to place
it* first balhis
vei hidefl
;et them badr dies at the front gate of the base,
place Fii The four arrested had crossed a
white line at the entrance, a base
mi IVirr-e: Spokesman said.
Things were a bit different in
ape Canaveral, Fla., where den-
zens of the shallows met in the 23rd
gami^faster Surfing Festival. The festivi-
ies included a bikini contest and
itunts involving dynamite blasts.
At the Lincoln Park Zoo, a year-
)ld orangutan named Batu, aided by
ookeeper Pat Sass, hid jelly beans
tnd about six dozen hard-boiled
ggs for residents of the chimpanzee
labitat. Batu helped ''Bye the eggs
ist week.
Soloists, choirs and a symphony
lerformed sacred music in the Hol-
ywood Bowl as dawn lighted the sky
>ver the Hollywood Hills. Actress
hirley Jones sang while Robert
tack and Rhonda Fleming gave
eadings.
Part of New York’s Fifth Avenue
losed to traffic and became a sea of
white gloves, frilly dresses, sailor
|uits and hats, from plastic flower-
[estooned bicycle helmets to several-
ound egg-and-bunny creations.
Dallas jai
lev were b
i he inlndin
the tempo mini
iberi Reid sail
r physical
e because
orce to be
le."
:ing for «
nd 1 don't pli!
ing routine *lie
that because t
everything he
magnified'9 ;
ram,” he said
moJt-recojOT
in the game
concerned
i offense,
came to the
nit with Dw
for $800,(W
additional £
dedbyacM
Bunny Hug
Photo by Susan McDonald
Rebels in Argentina
surrender to leader
President takes soldiers from military camp
Jeremy Allen, 7, receives a warm hello from the Easter Bunny at the
annual Easter Egg Hunt, sponsored by the College Station Police De
partment, at Central Park Saturday. Gretchen Beasley, the police de
partment secretary for special services, played the part of the bunny,
greeting the children pnd passing out candy.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)
— President Raul Alfonsin an
nounced Sunday he had obtained
the surrender of dozens of armed
rebel soldiers after meeting with
their leader at the military base
where they had been holed up for
three days.
The mutineers and their leader,
cashiered Lt. Col. Aldo Rico, were
taken into custody from the infantry
school at suburban Campo de Mayo,
which they had occupied since
Thursday, said Defense Minister
Horacio Jaunarena.
Alfonsin, following his dramatic
decision to meet with the rebels, said
the mutineers would be “detained
and processed” according to law.
The mutineers, who had been
holding about 2,000 loyal govern
ment troops at bay at Campo de
Mayo, were demanding an amnesty
for officers accused of human rights
violations under previous military
governments. The infantry school is
one of about a dozen different train
ing facilities at the sprawling army
base.
It was not immediately known
how many rebels were involved. Sen.
Adolfo Gass on Saturday placed
their number at 57, hut the rebels
claimed they totaled about 150.
They had two tanks near the main
school at the infantry training com
pound and positioned machine guns
along approaches to the building.
The rebels were taken to the Mili
tary Institutes Commmand unit
within the huge Campo de Mayo
and placed under the charge of Gen.
August© Vidal, the defense minister
said.
Alfonsin said the mutinous troops
would be “detained and processed”
but he recognized some of them
were “heroes” of the 74-day Falk
land Islands War and had “reiter
ated their intention not to provoke a
coup.”
Argentine troops occupied the
Falkland Islands, a British colony off
Argentina, in 1982 and were de
feated by a British task force.
Alfosin flew by helicopter to the
army base and said he met with Rico
at a neutral site within the wooded
compound.
Rico, 41, was cashiered Friday af
ter taking over the base’s infantry
school.
Alfonsin, speaking to some
200,000 people from the balcony of
Government House, had announced
earlier Sunday he would go to the
Campo de Mayo and meet with the
rebels.
The revolt — the second military
rebellion in four days — produced a
deluge of popular support for Al-
fonsin’s government, which was
elected in 1983 to restore democracy
after seven years of harsh military
rule.
But there also had been signs of
resistance among Alfonsin’s own
troops at Campo de Mayo.
Earlier Sunday, Gass, a member
of Alfonsin’s Radical Civic Union
party, said, “There are problems
with mid-level commanders of the
army in charge of carrying out the
operation” against the muntineers.
“I don’t understand why the loyal
forces have not attacked the muti
neers,” he said.
The rebel officers were seeking an
end to prosecution of officers ac
cused of human rights abuses under
military governments from 1976-83.
The rebellion, which began Thurs
day, followed another one in Cor
doba that ended without bloodshed.
Meanwhile, government sources
said embattled Army Chief Of Staff
Gen. Hector Rios Erenu, criticized
for his failure to promptly end the
insurrection, agreed to retire. The
sources, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said he would be tempo
rarily replaced by Jaunarena.
According to the sources, Rios
Erenu’s retirement was negotiated in
secret talks Saturday and Sunday be
tween the government and the re
bels. The rebels sought Rios Erenu’s
ouster because he insisted that the
military answer court orders in the
human rights cases.
Tens of thousands of Argentines
See Rebels, page 12
Palestinian rebels
kill two soldiers
in northern Israel
hospital official says “Yuppie’ image
f designer drugs lures college users
2 has
talked
roll him?
leasing
/FaK/Sfi
rm/2 Full^j
2 Filina
► Hot Tut?
tball Court
nager
+ Sem
By Suna Purser
Reporter
X. Fantasia. Basement chemistry.
These are among the many “street
2s” associated with designer
pi-ugs.
The term designer drug refers to
Substances found in the illegal drug
market. Designer drugs are chemical
analogues or variations of another
psychoactive (mind-altering) drug,
bys Linda Hosea, outpatient treat-
Juent coordinator at Creenleaf Psy
chiatric Hospital.
Underground chemists slightly
iedesign the parent chemical’s for-
fmila to produce different drugs,
Hosea says. The parent chemical is
nethamphetamine, or MDA.
“These drugs fit in with the Yup-
|>ie generation,” Hosea says. “The
drugs are designed by chemists who
want to make a fast and easy buck.”
Currently, the most popular de
signer drug is Ecstasy, Hosea says. It
is a synthetic, psychoactive drug with
hallucinogenic and amphetamine
like effects.
“Ecstasy produces a warm,
glowing feeling,” Hosea says. “It will
make a shy person loosen up and
feel relaxed to talk.
“There is an altered perception of
reality. Users have a euphoric feel
ing that can last up to five or six
hours. Of course, this euphoria is a
chemically-induced feeling and the
user begins to lose touch with the
hard, cold facts of life.”
Ecstasy costs about $15 per tablet
and usually is “eaten,” she says.
However, some people inhale (snort)
it or use it intravenously.
Designer drugs are most common
among junior-high, high-school and
college students, she says.
“In our society today, there is
great cultural pressure to be an
achiever, to be ambitious and to be
all that you can be,” Hosea says.
“Some young people don’t always
handle the pressure effectively and
those are usually the ones who turn
to designer drugs as a way to help
them deal with it.”
However, like all drugs, designer
drugs are addictive, perhaps not
physiologically, but psychologically,
she says.
Abuse of these drugs leads to se
rious psychological problems, such
as confusion, depression, severe
anxiety and paranoia, she says.
Physical problems, such as muscle
tension, nausea, blurred vision,
Mainfen^ |
faintness and chills or sweating also
are connected with these drugs, Ho
sea says.
Designer drugs destroy serotonin-
producing neurons, she says, which
help the body in regulating aggres
sion, moods, sexual activity and sen
sitivity to pain.
“We’ve been brought up to believe
we should never feel pain,” she says.
“We live in a chemically-oriented so
ciety that advertises a product for ev
ery ache. Designer drugs fit into this
scheme.”
Until June 1985, these MDA anal
ogues were just as legal as aspirin or
cough syrup, she says. At that time,
the Drug Enforcement Agency
banned Ecstasy and other drugs che
mically related to it.
See Drugs, page 12
MENARA, Israel (AP) — Pales
tinian guerrillas on a hostage-taking
mission sneaked into northern Is
rael and killed two soldiers Sunday
before being slain in the bloodiest
infiltration in seven years, the army
said.
The firefight in an apple orchard
followed a week of violence in
northern Israel. The army said the
strife was linked to a scheduled
meeting in Algeria today of Pales
tinian leaders to map out a new po
litical and military strategy against
Israel.
During a 14-hour battle Saturday
in southern Lebanon, Israeli troops
killed 18 Iranian-backed Shiite Mos
lem fighters in the most violent
clash since Israel withdrew the bulk
of its troops from Lebanon in June
1985.
And in the occupied Gaza Strip,
about 5,000 Palestinians demon
strated at Islamic University on Sun
day. Nine students were hospital
ized after Israeli soldiers beat them
with clubs, Palestinian sources said.
The army identified the infiltra
tors as members of Yasser Arafat’s
mainstream Fatah wing of the Pales
tine Liberation Organization, which
has stepped up military activity re
cently in an apparent effort to re
gain the support of hardliners.
The guerrillas penetrated in pre
dawn darkness near the isolated
Menara kibbutz, or communal
farm, where several hundred peo
ple live on the Israeli-Lebanese bor
der, the army command said.
The Palestinians crossed electro
nic fences and security ditches in a
light rain to reach the orchards be
tween Menara and the neighboring
Yiftah kibbutz, military sources said,
speaking on condition of anonym-
ity.
Israeli soldiers spotted the guer
rillas’ tracks and found them hiding
nearby, the army said. All the Pales
tinians were killed in the ensuing
firefight, it said.
The army declined to say how
many guerrillas entered Israel, but
Israel radio and Lebanese reporters
said three men crossed the border.
The army said the guerrillas
planned to take hostages at either
Menara or Yiftah, apparently to ne
gotiate for the release of Palestinian
prisoners.
The attack was the most serious
infiltration since April 7, 1980,
when guerrillas entered the border
kibbutz of Misgav Am and killed
three Israelis, including a 2'/2-year-
old boy. An army anti-terrorist unit
stormed a nursery where hostages
were being held and killed all five
guerrillas.
News of Sunday’s border pen
etration was blocked by the military
censor for nine hours to allow the
army time to notify families of the
slain soldiers. The two were later
identified as Sgt. Yosef Allon, 21, of
Arad, and Lt. Yoav Sharon, 22, of
Haifa.
Soldiers searching the guerrillas’
bodies found knives, grenades and
missiles, the army said. The guerril
las also were carrying water, food
and pamphlets calling for the re
lease of Palestinian prisoners jailed
in Israel.
Sunday’s infiltration followed a
fierce battle Saturday in which up to
60 guerrillas attacked a military post
in Israel’s so-called security zone in
south Lebanon. Israel established
the strip after ending its 3-year inva
sion of Lebanon, carried out to halt
terrorist attacks on northern Israel.
foposed low would protect apartment security deposits
(Inutfi
3-Thru
OH,
Stef
11
By Frank Smith
Senior Staff Writer
Apartment tenants will have their secu
rity deposits placed in escrow accounts
Separate from landlords’ general revenues
IT state Sen. Kent Caperton and a Texas
IA&M student group get their way during
‘thecurrent legislative session.
Currently, the security deposits tenants
host when they sign leases can be mixed
dth landlords’ other revenues.
But those seeking reform have found a
Sponsor for the escrow idea in Caperton,
TfBryan.
In the current law there are provisions
lhat deposits have to be returned within
JO days, but there is not any protection
■hat those funds are separate funds that
Belong to the tenant,” says Jerry Threet,
legislative aide to Caperton. “Those are
Ihought of as the funds of the landlord
until such time as he is obligated to return
them.
“And with that sort of situation, if a
landlord is in debt to someone or to a
number of people, those funds can be at-
|tarhed by those creditors and can be
seized by them in a court proceeding.
I “What the bill does is make clear that
those funds will be the property of the
tenant, and the landlord will hold them
only as a fiduciary for those tenants. That
will protect those funds from any attach
ment or distribution in bankruptcy (pro
ceedings).”
Proponents of the legislation include
the Legislative Study Group, a branch of
A&M’s Student Government that re
searches issues and lobbies the Legis
lature. LSG has been researching the issue
since the end of the 1985 legislative ses
sion.
Caperton’s bill has been referred to the
Jurisprudence Committee, which he
chairs. The committee heard testimony on
the bill Tuesday, but couldn’t vote on it
for lack of a quorum. It likely will be voted
on at the next committee hearing early
this week. No one testified against the bill
Tuesday.
Similar legislation in the House of Rep
resentatives is being sponsored by Albert
J. Price, D-Beaumont, and has been re
ferred to that chamber’s Business and
Commerce Committee.
LSG spokemen Carolyn Foster and
Mark Browning say the group first be
came interested in security deposit legis
lation after Sypcon Construction Corp.
declared bankruptcy in October 1985,
jeopardizing tenants’ deposits for some
700 local rental units.
The idea of separating security deposits
“Your deposit is to guarantee
your good faith to uphold the
terms of the lease. So until you
violate the lease, it’s still your
money. ”
— LSG spokesman
Carolyn Foster
from landlords’ general revenues isn’t
anything veteran lawmakers haven’t
heard before. At least two other bills seek
ing similar action have been defeated in
past sessions, including one sponsored by
Price in 1985.
Price’s 1985 bill contained a provision
saying that when a tenant moves from a
rented unit, “the security deposit and any
accrued interest remain the property of
the tenant unless the deposit and accrued
interest are forfeited by the tenant.”
But the current bills would allow the
landlord to keep the accrued interest
from security deposits.
Threet says that provision allows land
lords to cover any administrative costs in
curred by having to separate funds.
Browning says opponents of past secu
rity deposit bills have cited the accounting
burdens that would arise from turning
over the interest to tenants.
“When you earn interest like that, it’s
earned income,” Browning says, “and, like
a bank, you’d have to send out a W-2 form
to every one of your tenants showing how
much income they earned off their secu
rity deposit. And that would create a
nightmare around the first of the year
when the W-2s have to go out.”
Shirley O’Brien, president of the
Bryan-College Station Apartment Asso
ciation, says her group originally had
some reservations about the bill, but that
problems were hashed out last week in a
meeting with Caperton.
“Unless they make some major changes
and alterations in the committee, and if
the hearing goes the same way we dis
cussed, then we don’t have any problems
with the way it reads now,” she says.
O’Brien says the meeting with Caper
ton helped resolve several problems, in
cluding the interest question and the mat
ter of how security deposit accounts would
be set up.
She says landlords were concerned that
each deposit would have to be kept in an
individual account. However, it was clar
ified that all of an owner’s deposits could
be kept in one “master account,” she says.
The current bill also differs from past
proposals in that it would subject land
lords to civil penalties for failure to com
ply, a provision Foster says was included
“partially to help passage.” Past proposals
would have subjected those not complying
to criminal penalties.
Browning says LSG thinks the law
should target large-corporation owners
and absentee owners, “especially silent
owners who live out of state and turn it
over to a manager.”
“It’s those people who don’t take an ac
tive interest in their property that we want
to see affected by this law,” Browning
says.
He says he didn’t think regulation un
der the proposal would be excessive.
Foster says she thinks the legislation is
reasonable.
“It’s not a ridiculous demand to require
that these security deposits, which are le
gally still the tenants’ money, (be escro
wed),” she says. “Your deposit is to guar
antee your good faith to uphold the terms
of the lease. So until you violate the lease,
it’s still your money.
“When they commingle it with their
own operating revenue, they’re jeopardiz
ing your property.”