Texas A&M
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o| 82 No. 168 USPS 045360 8 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, June 25, 1987
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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
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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