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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 1987)
STO. k Re I o-2 1 [ cr", I o ^ I 2^ I 0 tti 3 3 0) 0 TheBattalion |ol. 82 No. 176 USPS 045360 6 pages 0)3 0 JT College Station, Texas Friday, July 10, 1987 Dancing Queen Jerilyn Woodard, 2, dances at the second annual fish fry for the Retired Senior Volunteer Program Photo by Sarah Cowan (RSVP). The theme was Hawaiian and Woodard was doing the hula. Iranian boat attacks U.S.-run tanker in gulf MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — An Iranian gunboat sped alongside a U.S.-operated supertanker in the Persian Gulf and attacked without warning Thursday. Rocket-pro pelled grenades started a fire, but no casualties were reported. Iran’s official radio said that if the United States puts Kuwaiti tankers under the protection of the U.S. flag, it will need more flags “to deco rate the boxes containing the corpses of American military personnel who enter this perilous place.” In Wasnington, Reagan adminis tration officials said the United States will not retaliate for the attack on the 268,891-ton Peconic. But they said it underscored the need for giving the Kuwaiti tankers U.S. flags and having U.S. warships escort them. The attack “shows the risk in volved to unescorted ships in the area,” Defense Department spokes man Robert Sims said. “It is certainly less likely that ships would be at tacked if they are under military es cort than if they are not.” Eighteen rocket-propelled gre nades hit the Peconic 60 miles south east of Kuwait’s Al-Ahmadi oil ter minal, its destination at the gulfs northern end, the owners said. Iran began regular attacks last September on ships owned by or serving Kuwait, which supports Iraq in its 7-year war with Iran. A marine salvage executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Iranians also raked the su pertanker with machine gun fire during the 11 a.m. attack. The gunboat caught up to the tanker and “just opened fire,” a crew member told the Associated Press. “He gave no warning, no questions about where we were bound or where we were from.” The crewman, who refused to give his name, said the Iranians fired nine rocket-propelled grenades into the Liberian-registered vessel, then reloaded and nred another nine, starting a fire that the crew extin guished. Lloyd’s Shipping Intelligence in London said the tanker headed to ward Bahrain, under its own power and escorted by tugs. Texaco Inc. in White Plains, N.Y., said the Peconic was under 20-year charter to its subsidiary Texaco Pan ama Inc. and that there were no Americans among the crew. It said the ship was not loaded with oil when attacked and was carrying sea water for stability. The Peconic is owned Gray Ship ping Co. of Monrovia, which is oper ated and managed by New York- based Universe Tankships Inc. of Delaware. S. Korean president resigns from office after student’s funeral SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Chun Doo-hwan resigned as president of the ruling Demo cratic Justice Party on Friday. A day earlier, up to a million people filled Seoul’s streets in a mass tribute to a student slain by police. After Thursday’s funeral proc ession, riot police used tear gas to stop a march on the presidential pal ace. That set off street battles be-, tween rock-t browing protesters and police, who took prisoners and beat some of them. Chun’s announcement Friday was the latest development in his prom ised plans for political reform. A new party president was not named, but it was considered certain the post would go to Roh Tae-woo, the party’s chairman and Chun’s designated successor to be the par ty’s candidate in presidential elec tions later this year. “A new epoch of democracy is be ing ushered in,” Chun told a party meeting. “We are now liquidating a shameful legacy of the past and opening a new chapter of demo cratic development and national harmony.” On Friday, the political rights of 2,335 opposition activists were to be restored as part of Chun’s agreement July 1 to yield to opposi tion demands including direct presi dential elections. Opposition leader Kim Dae-jung was included in the amnesty. y. crowds chanted “Down with the mili tary dictatorship!” and “We want de mocracy!” as tney surged into the City Hall square behind the coffin of Lee Han-yul, 20. He died Sunday of injuries suffered during a protest a month ago. Chun’s decision to accept reforms ended the worst political turmoil since the former general gained power after President Park Chung- hee was assassinated in 1979. Presidential elections are to be held after talks on revising the con stitution. Chun’s seven-year term ex pires in February and his Demo cratic Justice Party has chosen Roh Tae-woo, its chairman and the presi dent’s personal choice, to succeed him. More than 500 political prisoners were freed earlier this week and offi cials have said more cases are being reviewed. The 61-year-old Kim was stripped of his civil rights and barred from political activity after he was con victed by a military court of involve ment in a 1980 uprising in Kwangju. Kim, who denied the charges, was sentenced to death. Kim said he would make an an nouncement next week about his po litical plans. Either he or Kim Young-sani, leader of the main op position Reunification Democratic Party, is expected to be the opposi tion’s presidential candidate. ^Regents find Ramada inn ‘not suitable’ for dorm r $ By Kirsten Dietz Senior Staff Writer I The Texas A&M Board of Regents must back to the drawing board to create needed on-campus housing now that it has lecided not to purchase the Ramada Inn and convert it into dormitory space. I The decision not to buy the College Sta tion hotel was made Wednesday by a three- niember Board committee which has been ; Considering the property for about a ■month. Regent John Mobley, a member of the committee, said the Ramada Inn “was not a good deal for our purposes. I “The building wasn’t really suitable for conversion to dormitory space at a cost that would have permitted us to rent rooms at usual dormitory rates,” Mobley said Thurs day. Dr. John Koldus, vice president of the Department of Student Services, which oversees housing, agreed, saying the hotel was constructed for short-term, rather than long-term, stays. “Everything is constructed in a different way than it would be constructed in a resi dence hall,” Koldus said. For example, both said, the hotel’s eleva tors could not handle the large number of students who might try to use the elevators at the same time, such as before a class. In addition, Mobley said, while the room size was adequate, the bathrooms, lighting and closet space was not. thing that wouldn’t work,” he said! A bare minimum of $2 million would be needed to convert the 363-room hotel into a dormitory, Mobley said. If bought, the hotel could have been ready for occupation as a dormitory by Fall 1988. The Board now is studying the future construction of residence halls, Mobley said. Increasing enrollment and renovation of existing dorms currently are straining a housing department that already turns away many on-campus housing applicants each year. For the 1987-88 school year, 440 fewer rooms will be available because of Corps dormitory renovations, Koldus said. At the same time, an estimated 2,500 more stu dents will attend A&M in the fall. But, Koldus said, whether new housing is built depends on whether the capital can be raised and whether the demand for on- campus housing continues. The state does not provide money for dormitory construction, he said, so capital to build the halls must be obtained from fees paid by students who live on campus. “Our concern is if we can do it wit! mt making it an additional cost to the studen s on campus now,” he said. Koldus also said that, before money is committed to new buildings, the Board must consider if competition from off-cam pus housing sources will decrease future demand for on-campus housing. Most uni versities have stopped building new resi dence halls, he said, depending on the com munity to supply needed housing. If off- campus housing becomes cheaper, he said, students will live where it is more economi cally feasible. The Ramada Inn is owned by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and 13 Gulf Coast area banks. The FDIC, which owns 53 per cent of the Ramada, obtained the property April 30 when United Bank-Houston, the former owner, failed. The bank had pur chased the hotel just three weeks earlier in a foreclosure sale when Joe Ferreri, the origi nal owner, declared bankruptcy. Mayor calls landfill site good option after considering costs of recycling By Yvonne DeGraw Staff Writer Both sides agree on two facts: the city of Bryan will need a new landfill, nd no one wants to drink contami- ated water. Bryan Mayor Marvin Tate says, jThis bond issue was passed in 1984, Options to traditional landfills Part three of a three-part series it should be no surprise that Jryan needs a sanitary landfill.” Dr. Kirk Brown, a Texas A&M fcrofessor of soil and crops sciences Pays, “We will always need land dis- posal.” Beyond that, the agreement ends. While Brown says there are nu- terous options to a hole-in-the- rround landfill that haven’t been looked at, Tate says the city studied the possibility of recycling waste and found it would cost too much. The proposed landfill site on Old San Antonio and Sandy Point roads has sparked controversy. The city approved a $59,472 purchase option io insure that the property will be available if tests show its soil is suita ble for a landfill. Bryan funded two studies on op tions to traditional methods of waste disposal. The first considered the use of solid waste to generate heat and produce either steam or electric ity. The second looked at compost ing. Marvin Norwood, deputy city manager, says both studies con cluded that the options would be feasible under certain conditions, but the city would still need a land fill. Recycling is justified only in cit ies larger than Bryan, College Sta tion and Texas A&M combined, Tate says. Brown says this conclusion is “hogwash.” “There are communities of 5,000 that use recycling,” he says. “They just have a mindset against it.” The studies show Bryan needs to open a new landfill within five years. The possibility of expanding the current landfill on Pleasant Hill Road was considered, but there is not enough clay surrounding the present site. Other options Brown wants the city to consider include under drained, capped landfills and source separation. Capped landfills are used in Wis consin, Alabama and Florida, he says. Garbage is tightly baled and stacked under a large roof. Because drainage is diverted away from the garbage, rainwatef cannot flow through the site and contaminate lo cal water supplies. Brown says this is more expensive initially, but a leaking roof is less ex- ensive to repair than a leaking clay e; Source separation would allow people to keep paper, glass and metal trash separate so the city could recycle these materials. Non-recycla- ble materials would still go to the landfill. Brown says this option may even bring the city a profit. He thinks people would be willing to help the city by keeping their gar bage separate. Since the landfill is sue arose, he has received several calls from people asking how they could help. He tells them the Humane Society collects newspapers and Bryan Iron & Metal buys metal and glass. The Battery Warehouse on Texas Ave nue buys used automobile batteries. But concerns over water quality aren’t only a local problem — they also are a national issue. The July issue of National Geo graphic contains a story about pol lution in the Great Lakes. It says the worst pollution occurs where rivers empty into lakes. The contamination comes from factories and landfills, the magazine says. The San Antonio City Council re cently considered refusing to allow a shopping mall to be built over the city’s aquifer, according to an article in the June 24 issue of the Wall Street Journal. Although the Coun cil approved the project, the debate led Mayor Henry Cisneros to ap point a committee to study possible contamination of the aquifer. Tate agrees that pure water is im portant. “The bottom line is, I drink the same water too,” he says. North: Investigators searched my office as I shredded papers WASHINGTON (AP) — Lt. Col. Oliver North testified Thurs day that he shredded evidence as part of a long-planned cover-up of his role in the Iran-Contra af fair even as investigators from the attorney general were searching his office 10 feet away last No vember. North said he shredded docu ments until practically the mo ment he was fired by President Reagan at mid-day on Nov. 25. He described one incident that occurred a few days earlier in which three investigators for At torney General Edwin Meese III were in his office next door to the White House looking for evi dence relating to secret arms shipments to Iran. In the meantime, North said, he was combing his files and re moving “documents that could demonstrate U.S. control of a co vert operation” — the use of Ira nian arms sales profits to aid the Nicaraguan rebels. As he found them — including some that identified “people in Europe who helped get weapons for the Contras” — he carried them to the shredder just outside the door. Meese’s men saw him and could hear the machine but didn’t ask him to stop, North said. Asked by Senate Iran-Contra committee counsel Arthur Liman “do you deny you were destroy ing documents to avoid the politi cal embarrassment of having them seen by the attorney gener al’s staff?” North replied: “I do not deny that.” Justice Department spokesman Terry Eastland disputed North’s story about the shredding. “I have talked with both John Richardson and William Brad ford Reynolds in detail about that Saturday morning, and it is their firm recollection that at no time did Oliver North shred any docu ments or turn on the shredding machine,” Eastland said.