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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1987)
Texas A&M <<fi % Battalion o| 82 No. 168 USPS 045360 8 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, June 25, 1987 re uncoi >ows a 1 attendac: Christ's vi -'e wcariiii ^ in platt e expL ov es the., the bate on the ~asket Photo by Robert W. Rizzo gotthfjiwjjaly Moore, front, and Brian Chester say they don’t like laying on )rex D fn.;»h e i r backs to get sun, so they decided to catch some rays on Thomas Park’s basketball court. Moore, a junior, studies architecture and Chester is a senior accounting major. time." Gleason, 71, loses battle with cancer LAUDERHILL, Fla. (AP) — Jackie Gleason, the rotund “Great One” who got laughs as a blustering bus driver in “The Honeymooners” and an Academy Award nomination as a pool shark in “The Hustler,” died Wednesday. He was 71. Gleason died of cancer at his home in this Fort Lauderdale sub urb at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday, his wife Marilyn said. “He had family and close friends in for Sunday,” Mrs. Gleason said. “He was feeling in good spirits Mon day and Tuesday. He quietly, com fortably passed away.” He was born Herbert John Glea son on Feb. 26, 1916. Gleason was released June 18 from Imperial Point Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale after spending about a month there. Gleason, creator of the Poor Soul, Reggie van Gleason III and Joe the Bartender, was one of television’s biggest draws in the 1950s. When bus driver Ralph Kramden turned to his wife, shaking his fist and threatening, “One of these days, Al ice,” millions of viewers shouted along. In later years, his recurring role as Sheriff Buford T. Justice in the “Smokey and the Bandit” movies won over a new generation. His Falstaffian capacity for enjoy ing life was reflected in his two trademark lines: “How sweet it is!” and “And away we go!” He drove himself hard on the set and played hard off it. His drinking and eating habits became the stuff of legend. Producer David Susskind once said Gleason could “put away more scotch per square hour than any man alive,” and Gleason’s weight at one point ballooned to more than 280 pounds. “You only live once,” Gleason would say. “Let’s live it up.” He admitted to smoking as many as six packs of cigarettes per day, and scarcely cut back after a triple coronary bypass in 1978. Gleason spent much of his time in later years in Florida, where he could indulge his passion for golf. Another passion was music. Though he couldn’t read a note, he wrote the theme for his TV show, composed a ballet called “Tawny” and recorded albums Jackie Gleason Orchestra. He had a reputation for moodi ness, and his weight could swing as well, though he considered 220 pounds to be slim. He never drank while working, but off the set he in dulged in drinking contests with friends. “There is nothing wrong with drinking if you know why you drink,” Gleason said. “I know why I drink. I drink to get bagged.” UH regents plan to divest within 2 years HOUSTON (AP) —- The Univer sity of Houston has two years to rid itself of investments in companies doing business in South Africa be cause of a unanimous board of re gents vote. The resolution, adopted Tuesday, requires the school to sell about $6.4 million worth of investments in com panies with South African ties. “We are the first in the South and probably the Southwest to do this,” regent Xavier Lemond said. “We’ve been working on this for quite a while. “The resolution specifically says our money managers or university officers will not invest university funds in companies that do business in South Africa.” Under the plan, divestment will take place over two years, after which the school would be pre vented from making new invest ments in companies with South Afri can ties. slfiemocratic legislators file resolution for impeachment of Clements USTIN (AP) — Two Demo tic legislators, charging that Re- lublican Gov. Bill Clements’ role in the Southern Methodist University football scandal renders him unfit Uny f° r office, Wednesday filed a resolu- -ansmalaf 011 calling for an impeachment in- Themai| esti g ation - ; ack vessfB I the governor of the state of L'd '.he.'- l exas cons pi re d to break rules and lines and fSP 6 a moc k er y of ethical behav- ie official! ior,” said Rep. Paul Moreno, D-El Paso. “I feel that the governor deceived the voters of the state when he was seeking election,” he said. “Had this thing come into being (during the 1986 campaign), Gov. Clements would not be Gov. Clements right now. He would probably be in jail.” The resolution introduced by Moreno and Rep. A1 Edwards, D- Houston, calls for appointment of a seven-member House committee to look into Clements’ role in the SMU pay-for-players scandal and deter mine whether impeachment pro ceedings should be filed. It would take a majority vote of the Democratic-controlled House to create the special committee. Clements was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but on Tues day dismissed impeachment talk as political rhetoric. “You know, people in that cat egory that are very partisan see an opportunity to bark and make noises, and they do,” he said of Dem ocratic lawmakers who had been talking about impeachment. Reggie Bashur. Clements’ press secretary, Wednesday said there is “absolutely no foundation” for im peachment. “It’s ridiculous,” he said of the Moreno-Edwards resolution. “It’s absurd. It’s preposterous. It’s a two- bit publicity stunt.” Democratic Attorney General Jim Mattox is conducting his own investi gation of Clements’ role in the SMU affair. Clements has said he knew of improper payments to football play ers while he served as chairman of the SMU board before taking office in January. A Methodist bishops’ report re leased last Friday indicated Clem ents participated in a cover-up of the payments that led the National Col legiate Athletic Association to ban football at SMU this year. “The governor’s credibility has been damaged extensively,” Moreno told a news conference. “And I be lieve that he cannot continue serving in the office as governor of the state of Texas.” See Impeach, page 8 f KuwaiJ in is ptfff aptains > camif xpert: Animal research needed better understand medicine frigaie 'I By Sandra Voelke .built f (l l Reporter 1 37 ^I|]f Texas A&M is to be a “world university” and at the same time make medical advances for both . V man and beast, animal research is a r 17vPu ssar y ev ^’ some ex P erts sa Y- I '' IlThe National Science Foundation , I , has ranked A&M the number 11 re- Afn’search institution in the nation. And hi,, trial research,” says Norbito Espitia, supervisor of A&M’s small animal clinic. biomedical research is one area in bich A&M is trying to excel. ruling^ t beGr#H Using animals in research 1 Part two of a two-part series n where’l” th e P T|A better understanding of bi- (omedical research is essential if so- ,quire fciety j s t0 balance the need to protect Jy thrf 5 llaboratory animals with the need to ^hic (improve the health and well-being of [,2S al^Mmans and animals. [a vorP, f “You can name just about any as- jigns Kct of medicine and you will find publicthere has been some kind of ^ver iHwork done with an animal in the way e £or#jof initial research and in the way of Many people in the area and throughout the state don’t under stand that research is done for a spe cific purpose, not just for the sake of experimenting on animals, he says. “A&M’s Laboratory Animal Re search and Resource facility doesn’t take animals off the street and put the animals in some type of teaching program in laboratories,” Espitia says. A&M spends roughly $6 million each year on animal research, according to Feenan Jennings, exec utive director of University research management. Ethical and legal considerations require that animals receive proper care in accordance with human stan dards. The care and use of animals is regulated by federal laws and, in cer tain situations, by the U.S. Depart ment of Health, Education and Wel fare. The Animal Welfare Act, the Na tional Institutes of Health, the Ani mal Welfare Policy of 1970 and the Good Laboratory Practices Act pro vide most of the regulator guidelines that A&M or any research institute must follow, mals in research projects. The research process starts when a scientist decides to examine a prob lem, such as cancer, he says. The laws require that A&M be registered as a research facility with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that A&M submit an annual report on animal usage to the USDA and that A&M follow professionally ac ceptable standards. Jennings says about 4 percent of A&M’s total research budget is de voted to research involving animal experimentation. Each facility housing animals is subject to inspection by the USDA and the University Committee on Laboratory Animal Care. Federal laws and regulations require that re ports of animal usage be filed an nually. Espitia says the Laboratory Ani mal Care Committee is required to review all requests for the use of ani- “Assuming that the use of tissue culture and all other alternatives are inappropriate,” Espitia says, “then the use of a live animal is indicated.” The next step is to determine, from available literature, the species of animal to be used, he says. Espitia says some of the questions which should be asked of research ers before they use an animal for a research project are: Can an alternative method be used? Is using a live animal the only way to arrive at the desired answers? Are these results worth putting a live animal through pain and dis tress? Will these results be accurately transferred for human use? An examination of available facili ties, cost, space, time and manpower See Animals, page 8 11 killed in 2 accidents during Guard training at Fort Hood this week FORT HOOD (AP) — Eleven people have died in two accidents during National Guard training maneuvers this week, the latest when a tank accidentally fired on another tank, officials said Wednesday. One guardsman was killed and seven others injured in the acci dent Tuesday night, a day after a military helicopter skimming over treetops crashed in a clear ing, killing all 10 reservists and National Guardsmen aboard. Both accidents occurred dur ing the two-week Starburst ’87 training maneuvers at 339- square-mile Fort Hood in Central Texas, the largest military instal lation in terms of land in the free world. The tank accident occurred during night target practice when one tank exceeded its left firing limit, said Gen. James B. Mc- Goodwin, commander of the 49th Armored Division of the Texas National Guard. The tank was firing at a cam ouflaged target about 900 meters away. The 152mm gun launcher went too far to the left, firing a practice round at two other M-60 tanks that were illuminating the area with infrared searchlights, McGoodwin said. He said a prac tice round is less lethal because it is not as fully-charged as a regu lar round. The soldier who was killed and the other who was seriously in jured were outside the tank when the practice round was fired, Mc Goodwin said. Six other soldiers were injured. All eight men were taken to Darnall Community Hospital, where one died at 2:52 a.m., one was hospitalized in serious condi tion and the other six were See Accidents, page 8