The Battalion
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ol. 82 No. 183 CISPS 045360 6 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, July 23, 1987
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|l0S*elly Walraven, a volunteer firefighter from
B Heart of the Pines Fire Department, works on a
Connection of a hose running between two fire
Photo by Robert W. Rizzo
trucks. liy connecting two fire trucks together,
firefighters are able to achieve the maximum wa
ter usage efficiency out of a single Tire hydrant.
Clements declares
victory in budget war
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem
ents, saying his signature on the
largest tax increase in Texas history
was written grudgingly, declared vic
tory Wednesday in his battle against
state government spending.
“We stopped the growth of state
government,” Clements said, repeat
edly admonishing news reporters to
get his message straight. “Now that’s
no small goal, and it’s no small ac
complishment.
“I think our Texas taxpayers will
be happy to hear that if you will just,
please, repeat it.”
Clements last year campaigned on
a “no-new-taxes” theme and this
year pledged repeatedly this year to
veto any tax increase larger than
$2.9 billion. But Tuesday night, he
signed into law increases in the sales,
motor fuel and other taxes that to
taled nearly twice that — $5.7 bil
lion.
“I reluctantly signed die tax bill
last night,” Clements said. “The
deed was done, so to speak.”
The Republican governor said he
had run out of options. Democrats
control the Legislature, and the end
of the state’s fiscal year, Aug. 31, is
approaching.
“We had to open the schools,
“We did what we had to
do. I don’t think we had
any choice in the matter. ”
— Gov. Bill Clements
Clements said. “We had to continue
state government on some reasona
ble basis. And we had to address the
problem in the federal courts on
mental health-mental retardation
and the prison system.
“We cl id what we had to do,” he
said. “I don’t think we had any
choice in the matter. I would appre
ciate reading that in print some
where, or hearing it on television.”
Clements argued that the 1988-89
state budget — totaling $38.3 billion
— represents only a 2.4 percent in
crease over the $37.4 billion spent
for 1986-87. That represents a 1.2
percent annual increase, he said.
“And please,” he urged, “write
that down.”
Clements has 20 days to review
the budget before signing it. He has
the power to veto individual items
and indicated he probably would.
“When I see the bill and I con
sider it, I will consider vetoes at that
time,” he said. “I will consider each
item on its own merits.”
As the state’s only 20th century
Republican governor, Clements has
been at odds with Democratic legis
lators since taking office for the sec
ond time on Jan. 20.
He said the 1988 legislative elec
tions — in which half the Senate and
all 150 House seats up are up for
grabs — will be important to the
GOP.
U.S. Navy tanker escort
reported on ‘high alert’
bique
? ports
;is figtaf
IK lit j
ile
of N
Alzheimer’s victim loved serving
God, helping Aggies, wife says
By Kirsten Dietz
Edits r. ' Senior Staff Writer
iass acret wyhile Mike Mistovich will be re-
ie I(, " !1 tnembered for a long list of accom-
1 plishments in the 40 years he lived in
) y Sl Brvan, his wife says he was proudest
‘ on ‘j l i l of two.
vijH'He loved the Aggies and broad-
? I”' casting football and baseball games
^ and serving the Lord,” Mary Jane
I 1 ' Mistovich said Wednesday. “The
lU “ Lord came first with him.”
V' ||HMistovich, 71, died Tuesday
, morning from heart failure caused
;’j, by pneumonia.
7 A memorial s
ihe' ’ uffiar
president of the Bryan-College Sta
tion Rotary Club.
Mrs. Mistovich said Cod came
first with her husband, as his in
volvement in religious programs at
tests. He conducted devotional serv
ices at a local nursing home and was
a member of the Gideon Society and
of a Sunday school class at the First
United Methodist Church of Bryan.
Memorial contributions can be
made to the Mike Mistovich Memo
rial Fund at the Aggie Club or to Gi
deon Living Memorial Bibles.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two Kuwaiti
tankers sailed swiftly up the Persian Gulf on Wednes
day, escorted by U.S. jet Fighters and Navy warships on
high alert for Iran’s high-speed gunboats and helicop
ters.
Iran has vowed to strike the convoy, take American
sailors prisoner and burn the Stars and Stripes Hying on
the fantails of the reflagged Kuwaiti tankers if any of its
ships are attacked.
The supertanker Bridgeton and the smaller oil prod
ucts carrier Gas Prince were surrounded by three and
at times five U.S. warships as they passed within range
of an Iranian missile battery in the Strait of Hormuz,
considered the most perilous part of their three-day,
500-mile journey to Kuwait.
Overhead, aircraft from the carrier USS Constella
tion stationed outside the gulf flew a rotating air cover.
In Washington, the Pentagon said the Navy had not
detected any move by Iran to ready any of its Chinese-
made Silkworm anti-ship missiles and that the ships
were out of range after the convoy cleared the strait.
“So in reality, the ships are already safely through the
passage and on their way to Kuwait,” one official
added.
By midafternoon, they had passed within 12 miles of
Abu Musa, an Iranian island used by Revolutionary
Guards, fanatical followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Kho
meini, to launch gunboat and helicopter attacks on
commercial shipping.
As night fell on the gulf, the convoy cruised past the
long shoreline of the United Arab Emirates and the
port of Dubai.
“They are moving fast in close convoy,” reported one
shipping source as the cluster of ships traveled through
the strait at about 16 knots, the approximate top speed
of the 401,382-ton Bridgeton.
Capt. David P. Yonkers, who commands the Navy es
cort dubbed “Operation Earnest Will,” said the U.S.
ships would come no closer than one or two miles to the
“exclusion zone” declared by Iran along its side of the
gu'f-
“Remember, this is the real thing — this is not a
drill,” Capt. William W. Mathis told the 476-member
crew aboard the Navy cruiser USS Fox before it entered
the Strait of Hormuz.
Both the Bridgeton, formerly the Al-Rekkah, and
the 46,723-ton Gas Prince, formerly the Al-Minagish,
ran up the American flag Tuesday off the United Arab
Emirates. The ships, with American captains, left the
United Arab Emirates port of Khor Fakkan on
Wednesday morning for Kuwait’s Al-Ahmadi oil termi
nal.
The Fox led the convoy, while the frigate Crommelin
and the destroyer Kidd steamed nearby. An Associated
Press reporter who was part of a Pentagon media pool
on the Kidd said the convoy maintained a condition just
below General Quarters, the highest state of alert.
The United States says Iran, at war with Iraq for
nearly seven years, is the major danger to shipping in
the gulf, and it allowed Kuwait to register 11 of its state-
owned tankers under the American flag to safeguard
the flow of oil.
The Reagan administration sent a 15-vessel naval
task force to the gulf after the Soviets leased Kuwait
three tankers and promised military escorts for them.
U.S.-supplied Saudi Arabian AWACS planes are hand
ling reconnaissance.
Iranian President Ali Khamenei vowed Wednesday
that his nation would “strike blows to the ominous alli
ance” of the United States and Kuwait. Iran accuses Ku
wait of helping Iraq in the gulf war.
Shipping sources and gulf area diplomats, all of
whom spoke on condition of anonymity, said they
didn’t expect the Iranians to take any action against the
convoy.
Support groups con help fomilies cope
day at 3:30 p.r
Methodist Gnu
service will be held to
rn. at the First United
rch in Bryan.
Stages of Alzheimer’s frustrate victims
[M^oBHis body will be donated to the
1 .. Tevas A&M medical school for re-
V# rch -
net isilMistovich had double-bypass
<l r |()() , : h(»art surgery 15 years ago, his wife
hrx^ $»d. He could not have another
nrt operation, she said, because he
——'go has been suffering from Alz-
Jf|imer’s disease for the last eight
years.
■However, she said, after a trip to a
ftuston doctor, Mistovich said the
■ctor told him he had had a stroke.
||B's. Mistovich said she doesn’t know
Hw her husband got that idea, but
■ used it to explain his behavior to
others.
■“That was the way he could cope
with it,” she said.
■Mistovich was involved in numer
ous A&M, community and religious
activities.
'li
■mr 30 years he did play-by-play
broadcasts for the A&M football
earn and announced A&M baseball
janes for many years. He also en-
iowed several scholarships for A&M
itudents. He was honored for his
lontributions to the University with
['■honorary membership in the As-
ociation of Former Students and
'lection to the Letterman’s Associa-
ion’s Hall of Honor for Distin
guished Service. Mistovich also be-
onged to the Aggie Club.
■le was the former owner of
(ORA radio and Mistovich Business
Machines. In 1970-71 he served as
By Janet Goode
Reporter
Gladus Couchman’s mother, a
former resident of the Four Sea
sons nursing home in San Antonio,
died of Alzheimer’s disease in Feb
ruary 1986.
Couchman watched her mother
Effects of Alzheimer’s disease
Part two of a two-part series
regress through all of the stages of
the disease until her death.
From her experience, she
learned that the stages an Alzheim
er’s patient goes through are the
exact reverse of the developmental
stages of a child.
And, if patients live long enough,
they often end up dying in a fetal
position, she says.
Mary Jane Mistovich, whose hus
band died Tuesday, is a member of
the local Alzheimer’s support
f roup. Mistovich had taken Mike,
1, to the support group meetings
to help them both deal with the
hopelessness of his disease.
At (he time, he was still in the
early stages of the disease and still
recognized everyone.
She says she doesn’t know how
much of the meetings he under
stood, but he listened intently and
often nodded to the speaker.
Mistovich considered herself
lucky because her husband never
became violent, wasn’t a “wande
rer” and wasn’t readily agitated.
Part of the reason for this is the
long periods between the progres
sive stages of his disease, she says.
Another reason for Mike’s grace
ful acceptance of Alzheimer’s may
be because he didn’t know he had
it.
Mistovich decided it would be
easiest for her husband to handle
the disease if he thought he had
suffered a stroke.
Also, he was suffering from
heart disease and' she felt this was
enough for him to deal with.
Since Mike was in the early stages
and progressing without violence,
Mistovich kept him at home like
most “care-givers.”
Mistovich lists the rising costs of
nursing homes as one reason for
home care. The standards for re
ceiving aid involve requiring a per
son to be dirt poor and poverty
stricken, she says. And most pro
grams won’t give aid unless a pa
tient has lost control of all bodily
functions.
Sarah Jackson, who works with
senior citizens at Humana Hospital,
says this is very stressful to the Alz
heimer caregiver, who must put in
a “36-hour day.”
“It just goes on and on forever
with no end in sight, ” she says.
Bette Jackson, social activities di
rector for the Brazos Valley Geriat
ric Center, says that less than 5 per
cent of Alzheimer’s patients are in
nursing homes. She says in addition
to high costs, an age-old stigma is
attached to the homes.
She says this image of old people
ignored in nursing homes is a myth
and that nursing homes have had to
work hard to overcome this reputa-
ton.
Bette says the worst part is that
usually the elderly, brought up
when the rumors were common,
are the ones most afraid of the
homes. She says this places a great
amount of guilt on the children or
loved ones who must place a family
member in a nursing home.
“Years ago they (nursing homes)
were bad,” she says. “They were
hideous dumping grounds.”
But at the Brazos Valley center, it
is hard to believe that the pink ta
pestries, flowers and smiling in
terns could ever conjure fear.
The center also has one of the
few complete Alzheimer’s units in
the state — which puts some family
members at ease.
Bette says these specialty facilities
are growing rapidly to combat the
growth of the disease.
Much literature lists Alzheimer’s
as the fourth leading cause of death
in the United States today, behind
heart disease, cancer and stroke.
Alzheimer’s disease affects about
10 percent of Americans over 65,
nearly 2.5 million adults, more than
100,000 of which die of the disease
anually.
As the population becomes
older, more and more risks for the
disease develop.
According to the Milbank Memo
rial fund Quarterly on Health and
Society, the elderly population has
grown by 9.3 million from 1960 to
1980. There currently are 2.6 mil
lion people over the age of 85. And
36.3 million people over the age of
65 are expected by the year 2000.
But whether care is given in a
nursing facility or at home, Bette
says the first step to helping Alz
heimer’s patients is understanding
them.
She says this comes easily for her
since she is in her 60s and ap
proaching old age. When patients
tell her they are old and tired, she
nods her head and says, “I am too.”
Mistovich says the most impor
tant thing a person can do in deal
ing with Alzheimer’s patients is to
give them a sense of accomplish
ment.
“Let them know they are nee
ded,” she says. “Try to let them do
things on their own.”
Mistovich says her husband once
was wanting to hold his own glass.
i Uai one little uimg meant so
much to him,” she says, “It let him
feel he was accomplishing some
thing— that he wasn’t completely
dependent on me.”
At the center, Bette says the best
remedy in dealing with these pa
tients from day to day is humor.
She demonstrates this when she
walks through the television room
of the center.
“They’re all unloading in their
pants right now,” she says laug
hingly, holding her nose and wav
ing a hand in front of her face.
But Mistovich says at times it was
hard to keep a happy face, knowing
what lay ahead.
For some peace of mind, Misto
vich recently told her husband’s
doctor that she wants his brain
given to science for research on
Alzheimer’s disease.
Bette agrees that it is extremly
hard to deal with people she knows
are going to die.
She takes classes on death and
dying and tries to help patients deal
with it. She sometimes sits in their
rooms at lunch and talks those who
know they are going to die soon.
“Most of the people in here know
that they came here to die,” she
says. “They know that when they
leave it will be from here.
“Sometimes there are tears,
sometimes happiness and some
times it’s peaceful, but you never
get used to it.”