■T^xasASMT> l* _ The Battalion 'ol 83 Mo. 4 CJSPS 045360 32 pages in 2 sections College Station. Texas Friday, September 4, 1987 ake A Dive Sl eldon Lai in, a freshman physical education ma- j|r, practices one of the skills that helped him Photo by Sarah Cowan choose his major. Sheldon is from Canada and is a member of the University diving team. Renewed war claims first Iranian fatalities MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — An other convoy of U.S. warships and Kuwaiti tankers steamed south Thursday through the Persian Gulf, where two supply ship crewmen be came the first fatalities of renewed tanker- attacks by Iran and Iraq. Iraq said its warplanes raided a tanker and shipping sources said Iranian speedboat-borne fighters at tacked a Japanese tanker and an Italian motorship. Fire from Iraqi warplanes or Ira nian speedboats have hit at least 20 ships registered in nine different na tions since Saturday, gulf-based shipping sources said. They say the number at least doubles the average for a month in 1986. Britain reflagged its first Kuwaiti tanker Thursday off Khor Fakkan port on the Gulf of Oman, shipping sources in the United Arab Emirates said. The United States has given its flag to 11 Kuwaiti vessels so the U.S. Navy can protect them from attacks by Iran, which regards Kuwait as an ally of Iraq. Iran and Iraq, which have been at war since September 1980, reported air strikes on each other’s territory Thursday and Iraq claimed its gun ners downed an Iranian plane. The convoy of three U.S.-regis tered Kuwaiti tankers and Navy es- "Corts leaving Kuwait on Thursday were the seventh one-way convoy since the reflagging operation be gan. Shipping sources said they passed Iranian-held Farsi Island, about 140 miles from the sheikdom, in late afternoon. During the first convoy the super tanker Bridgeton hit a mine off the island, which Iran uses as a speed boat base, and the Italian ship was attacked near Farsi early Thursday, the sources said. Later U.S.-Kuwaiti convoys have negotiated the gulf without trouble and fears of more mines have proved groundless. U.S. warships and their mine hunting helicopters have found none and there have been “fewer than five” suspected sightings, a U.S. officer said privately. In Washington, Defense Depart ment spokesman Robert Sims said the latest convoy was “proceeding uneventfully in the central Persian Gulf. . . . We’re into the kind of rou tine escort that we said we were going to have when we began this.” The two crewmen of the supply ship Big Orange 14 were killed Tuesday night when Iraqi missiles hit the vessel, under charter to Iran. Shipping sources said Thursday the ship flew the Panamanian flag and all crew members were Filipino or Sri Lankan. Experts: Higher speed limit may cause more fatalities NEW YORK (AP) — Traffic fatal ities doubled in New Mexico after it became the first state to increase its speed limit on rural highways to 65 mph, but whether the 10 mph in crease is responsible for more deaths is not yet known, highway traffic ex perts say. In Illinois, fatalities decreased on rural highways since the higher speed limit went into effect. “We’re not about to say that is meaningful in any way, any more than we’re willing to say that New Mexico has twice as many fatalities as last year because they were the first to go to 65,” said A1 Lauersdorf, a highway safety specialist with the Chicago-based National Safety Council. “We don’t have anything to back up those statements,” he said. “We don’t know if 65 is working from a safety standpoint or if fatalities have in fact gone up.” Over strong insurance industry opposition, Congress earlier this year allowed an increase of the na tionwide speed limit from 55 mph to 65 mph on rural stretches of inter state highway. At least 25 states have enacted the higher speed limit. A survey of New Mexico motorists shortly after the increase showed nearly half the drivers exceeded the higher limit, according to the Insur ance Institute for Highway Safety. The New Mexico Puolic Safety Department reported Monday that 56 people were killed on interstates in rural areas between April and mid-August, compared with 25 deaths during the same period in 1986. But in Illinois, where the speed limit went up in May, there were 16 traffic deaths on rural interstates be tween May and July, compared with 26 during the same period a year ago- Trooper Dave Sanders of the Illi nois State Police, said, “But this is a three-month total and you really can’t take a lot from three months. Our position essentially is . . . we have to wait and see.” Wyoming also saw a decrease in deaths since the new speed limit was imposed, and state Highway Patrol Capt. Bob Oakes said the higher speeds may actually be contributing to the decrease. Oakes said too many people vio lated the 55 mph limit and were forced to pass slower cars more fre quently than under the new limit. Less passing means fewer accidents, he said. osecutor requests eight-year sentence for flyer ■OSCOW (AP) — The prosecutor ac- -isd! Mathias Rust of taking an ego trip he|i he hedge-hopped his small plane to edjSquare and demanded Thursday that wVest German teen-ager be sentenced to gh- v. ars in a labor camp. was “cheap popularity” ussion with Soviet leader e Robert Tikhomirnov to •ars for violating interna- two for violating the So ur years for hooliganism, itjerms would be served concurrently. VI. iimir Andn lot’s goal in his c t te set vice in Austin 14 years ago th a store called Paradigm, and undies have since extended to Ari na and Louisiana State University, th plans to open soon in Illinois, jv i“Ii’s a good idea, a good concept,” 'ans said. “One (note service) had en started here before, but it il«l. Hopefully, we’ll succeed.” flans began collecting professors’ i(Boris on bringing a note service (■heir classes this summer, reach- £ a quota of 15 interested profes- rs before deciding to open the ire at A&M. Now 30 professors jv<- their classes covered by Hote liers in subjects including animal f fence, history, psychology, market- 1 jlnd chemistry. A3i hough response to the note vice is generally favorable, Evans dlsome professors don’t like it. “They say it will really come down on class attendance,” she said. “They say people will not want to go to class because the lecture notes are avail able.” Claude Gibson, assistant professor of English, said the note service gives students options. “They can decide whether they want to go to class or not,” he said. “But if they rely on those notes, they’ll miss out on the interaction in class.” Sophomore Andrew Gardner agreed, saying students relying heavily on the notes could miss a sig nificant part of class. “If the class is geared toward dis cussion and the professor is interest ing, you’d miss out on a lot,” he said. “However, if it’s a lecture class with a boring professor, using those notes would be fine.” Evans said the service stresses to students that the notes are a supple ment — not a substitute — to their own notes. “Students will skip class,” Evans said. “That’s a known fact, with or without lecture notes. The puipose of our study notes is to reinforce what they’ve already picked up.” “You still have to go to class, you have to hear the lecture, you have to take your own notes.” Arthur James, visiting instructor of economics, registered concern that a note service might not always work smoothly. “It just depends on how well the notes are taken,” James said. “I’d hate to sanction someone else’s notes without even seeing them.” Trey Mitchell, a senior marketing major in charge of bookkeeping and advertising, said, “We don’t want to take anything away from the profes sor. We don’t want to take away his ‘lord and master’ privilege. “But if the professor does ever disagree with our service, we’ll take the subscription and refund it.” So far, Evans said, “we’ve been really encouraged by the professors — they applaud our entrepreneurship.” “And the professors that are really for it are sending their stu dents in,” she said. The note-takers are all graduate students, a requirement “because graduate students usually take the best notes,” Evans said. “They’ve spent more time in classes and they seem to be more thorough in their note-taking.” Beyond graduate classification, note-takers preferably have some knowledge of the subject they cover and perhaps have taken the course before, Evans said. “They really en joy it because some of them work in classes that they are interested in but haven’t had time to take.” They must also be able to type well in order to provide a quick turn around time in preparing notes for sale. . The notes are sold on a class-by class basis or by a semester subscrip tion. Those students with subscrip tions pick up their note packages ev ery few days. In addition to lecture notes. Notes n’ Quotes also sells Cliff Notes and xtudy guides for foreign languages and the GRE and MCAT and has an exam file with tests from other uni versities. Evans has plans to expand the A&M branch of Notes ’n’ Quotes, covering ten more professors’ classes and eventually offering additional photocopying services, Scantrons and some engineering supplies. “I think we have a definite service that’s needed,” Evans said. “I’d like to see it remain here for as long and longer than (the store in) Austin. It will provide good opportunities for students close to campus. “I’ve learned an awful lot here. Some of the people working for me have been working on degrees in marketing, finance, advertising, and they’re getting to use a lot of those things in here.” Mitchell said, “It has been hard, but we’re all learning a lot. We just hope to make good contacts with the professors. We want to offer them the best service possible. That’s what our goal is right now.” Texas buckles down with new legislation about driving safety By Cindy Milton Staff Writer Recent Texas legislation — in cluding new rules governing ap proval to use a defensive driving class to avoid paying a traffic ticket — may be changing the way the state’s drivers are thinking on the road, said George R. Gustaf son, president of the Texas Safety Association. Several changes in statutes con cerning the safety of Texas driv ers went into effect Monday and Tuesday. One bill will clarify vague legis lation regarding the use of taking a defensive driving course to wipe out traffic tickets, said Rep. Rich ard Smith, R-Bryan. Smith said the changes will make it easier to make a plea of no contest or not guilty to the court by making an oral or writ ten request to take a driver’s safety course. “Before now,” Smith said, “there was a more complicated process to go through to take the course in lieu of paying a ticket.” However, in a new stipulaton, the law does not allow dismissal of a ticket when the driver was trav eling more than 25 mph over the speed limit. It also requires a per son requesting the safety course to certify to the court whether he has previously taken a driver’s safety course or if he currently is taking a course to wipe out a ticket. Smith added that the law al ready limits drivers from using the course to dismiss tickets more than once every two years. “Any ticket for two years after the completion of a driver’s safety course must be paid and cannot be wiped out by taking a course,” he said. Another of the new statutes which went into effect this week prohibits drivers from drinking alcoholic beverages while behind the wheel of an automobile. Gustafson said, “We’re taking measures to slow down the DWI problem and this seems like a good first step. “This change in the law will put Texas drivers on notice that they shouldn’t be drinking while driv ing.” This safety measure, however, does not say passengers in a car cannot consume alcohol. In addition, Gustafson said, fu ture licenses will be stamped “under 21” in red ink, which should slow down the purchasing of alcohol by minors.