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Vol. 83 No. 20 GSPS 045360 12 pages College Station, Texas Monday, September 28, 1987
Squirrel trips power circuit,
causes campus blackout
By Drew Leder
Staff' Writer
Electrical power in all Texas
A&M campus buildings east of
Wellborn Road temporarily went
out Friday when a squirrel
tripped and shorted out a circuit.
Joe Estill, director of the A&M
Physical Plant, said the power
failure occurred at 9:10 a.m.
when the squirrel found its way
into a power plant substation
near the Bell Building (formerly
the USDA building) and stepped
on two wires to cause the short.
Power in one building was re
stored 45 minutes later and all
power was back on shortly after
noon, he said.
Some classes and scheduled
tests were cancelled as a result of
darkened classrooms.
Estill said a breaker at the
A&M main power plant should
have provided power for most
campus buildings after the short
but failed to do so. Had the
breaker operated, he said, the
loss of power would have been re
stricted to only a few’ facilities on
campus, such as Kyle Field and
the tennis courts. Estill said he
didn’t know’ why the breaker
failed to work.
Power outages frequently oc
cur on campus, Estill said, but the
magnitude of the failure Friday is
unusual.
“Usually only Five or six build
ings are affected,” he said.
Estill said most power failures
affect the campus buildings west
of Wellborn Road because power
lines there are above ground,
whereas the lines on the east side
are below' ground and buildings
there are not frequently affected.
This also isn’t the season when
most power failures occur at
A&M, he said, because the major
cause of failures, the local ani
mals, usually aren’t toco restless in
the fall.
“It usually happens in the
spring when animals get active,”
Estill said.
Squirrels and snakes are often
the culprits that cause the lights
to go out, he said.
Dr. Comer O. Patterson teaches his Biology 113
class in front of the University archives while
Photo by Sam Myers
waiting for the electricity that was temporarily
off to come back on Friday.
Book claims Casey
knew of fund diversion
WASHINGTON (AP) — The late
CIA Director William J. Casey
turned to the Saudi Arabian govern
ment for money and help when it
became clear that his effort to create
a secret anti-terrorist force was not
going to work, according to excerpts
published Sunday of a forthcoming
book by Bob Woodward.
Woodward also provides details of
what he says was Casey’s deathbed
confession of his knowledge of the
diversion of Iran arms profits to the
Nicaraguan Contra rebels.
The book came under attack Sun
day from all sides — from Casey’s
widow, Sophia, from the Saudi gov
ernment and from Sheik Moham-
rn^H t-Tiise^in F^Hlallah leader of the
militant Hezbollah faction in Leb
anon, whom the book alleged had
accepted a $2 million payoff to stop
attacks against Americans.
Woodward said, “He was dying. It
was not the Casey I knew physically.
And so I got one question, and . . .
that question was: ‘You knew about
the diversion, didn’t you?’ . . . And
he nodded. . . . And I said ‘Why?’
And he said, ‘I believed.’”
Asked what Casey “believed,”
Woodward answered, “That we can
change the world. That we can re
shape it. That we can support the
Contras, and we can do what he used
to call ‘these things’ —• covert ac
tion.”
Judge to order disclosure
of A&M football probe results
From Staff and Wire Reports
An Austin state district judge said
he will order Texas A&M University
to release information from its in-
house investigation into possible
football recruiting violations.
Judge Peter Lowry, in a letter sent
to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
and A&M attorneys Friday, said he
would order the school to release de
tails of an inquiry into employment
of former star quarterback Kevin
Murray by alumnus Rodney Lee
Dockery. Murray was unavailable
for comment.
The Star-Telegram filed suit
against University President Frank
Vandiver in January, arguing that
reports about the investigation must
be released under the Texas Open
Records Act. But the University said
the reports are protected by privacy
laws.
Later, the Dallas Times Herald
and several other news organizations
also filed demands for the records
under the open records law.
The National Collegiate Athletic
Association also has fought release
of the records. But it is not a formal
party in the case.
David Berst, NCAA enforcement
director, told The Battalion he was
concerned about the impact of the
ruling in getting information in fu
ture investigations.
“Generally those things adversely
affect our ability to get information,”
he said.
Berst said in an interview with the
Associated Press that if the facts the
NCAA gathers can be released at an
earlier stage people will be less will
ing to help the NCAA.
Micheal Blackman, executive edi
tor of the Star-Telegram, said the
newspaper was pleased with the rul
ing.
“Obviously we’re delighted,”
Blackman said. “Our position all
along has been that it’s a public insti
tution and the investigations are sub
ject to the Open Records Act.”
The newspaper, in its arguments,
cited a 1986 Texas court decision
that noted there is “a nationwide
scandal engulfing intercollegiate re
cruiting practices” and that “the
public has a legitimate, indeed com
pelling, interest in that.”
The University in April released a
heavily edited version of its in-house
report, missing half its pages and
lacking almost all mention of alleged
recruiting violations.
Published reports said Dockery al
legedly paid Murray at least $3,500
between January 1983 and January
1984 for cleaning printing presses.
The Star-Telegram reported that
two former employees of Dockery
told the NCAA Murray never did
the work for which he was paid — a
violation of NCAA rules.
A&M committee tries to close salary gender gap
By Cindy Milton
Staff Writer
National Census Bureau figures show
that U.S. women still earn less per dollar
than their male counterparts, but the strug
gle for equal pay continues, and Texas
A&M’s Faculty Senate Committee on the
Status of Women is working to close the sal
ary gap and stop any gender-based pay dis
crimination at A&M.
Gender-based pay inequity
^arton^^twj^gar^serie^
A July article from the Chronicle of
Higher Education said that the male-female
wage gap definitely exists on the national
level, but it is less evident in the academic
world.
“Colleges and universities . . . are actually
ahead of the nation’s businesses in adjust
ing to the pay gap,” the article said.
The Census Bureau study shows that,
overall, women earn 70 cents for each dol
lar men earn, while figures released by the
American Association of University Profes
sors show that women faculty members re
ceive 88 cents for every dollar made by
their male colleagues.
Last spring the Committee on the Status
of Women presented a report to the A&M
Faculty Senate that shows an approximate
10 percent disparity between the usual sala
ries drawn of male and female faculty
members at A&M.
According to an April 1987 Battalion ar
ticle, the Faculty Senate debated for more
than two hours before approving a version
of the resolution that recommended that
the University “remedy (salary) inequity by
setting aside sufficient funds to correct sal
ary discrimination.”
The resolution recommended that im
mediate raises be granted to women found
to be victims of salary discrimination and
that annual salary studies be conducted by
the Committee on the Status of Women to
ensure that no salary discrimination occurs.
Dr. Walter Buenger, chairman of the
committee, said he is convinced there is
gender-based wage inequity at A&M, but
that it’s not as obvious as it once was.
“The discrimination is no longer built
in,” he said.
Now, male and female faculty members
on an equal level start with the same sala
ries, Buenger said, and any disparity proba
bly occurs in the process of career advance
ment.
Buenger said the committee will look at
the University’s hiring and retention prac
tices as a solution to this problem. Identify
ing discrimination, he said, can be the hard
est part of the job.
The committee checks for discrimination
by using a statistical technique called mul
tiple regression analysis, which takes factors
besides gender into account.
The technique looks at the salary of an
individual faculty member in light of fac
tors such as experience, rank, highest de
gree attained, ethnicity, age and college and
department within the University. It then
compares the result to other faculty mem
bers with similar professional backgrounds.
Buenger said the regression analysis is
time consuming but is a useful tool in ex
plaining and identifying salary differences.
The committee will present results to the
Senate in the spring. If the results do not
prompt the Senate to take further action in
closing the salary gap, he said, the commit
tee will go through the process again until
the gap is closed.
Although Buenger said he and the com-,
mittee have high hopes that the salary ineq-.
uity will decrease, he also said permanent
changes will take time to evolve.
“We can’t afford to waste the brain
power and talent of women,” Buenger said.
“I hope that we can make everyone more
aware of this problem.”
Former student invokes A&M spirit to get money for liver transplant
By Janet Goode
Staff Writer
In keeping with the age-old Texas
A&M tradition of “Aggies helping
Aggies;” John Stone, Class of ’84, is
calling on the spirit of Aggieland to
come through for him.
“John’s in a life-or-death situation
-either he gets a lot of money and
gets an operation, or he will cease to
exist,” said Porter S. Garner III,
field director for A&M’s Association
ofFormer Students.
Stone, 25, was born with Alpha-1-
Anti-Trypsin Deficiency and now'
needs a $250,000 liver transplant.
The deficiency keeps Stone’s body
from stabilizing the actions of his
critical digestive enzymes.
“Basically, I’m digesting my liver,”
Stone said.
Stone said the liver then tries to
repair itself by creating scar tissue,
'vnich creates circulation problems.
All the blood in the body passes
through the liver before it goes to
the heart, he said. Scar tissue blocks
the blood’s path, he said, which
causes swelling of veins in the legs
and organs to the point of bleeding.
Dr. Ted Rea, a gastroenterologist
at St. Joseph Hospital, said Stone
needs a transplant as soon as possi
ble because he could bleed to death
at any time.
Stone said the cost to even get on
JohnStone Photo by Jay Janner
the waiting list for a donated liver is
$120,000.
Stone also said his student health-
insurance policy with the Univeristy
of Texas Medical Branch in Galves
ton won’t cover all his medical costs
because they just don’t have enough
money.
All the money donated for Stone's
transplant goes to the American
Transplant Associaton and toward
his operation; none of it includes ad
ministrative fees, he said.
Garner has written a personal let
ter to all A&M club presidents
asking for their support.
“That was the most trying letter I
ever had to write,” he said. “Asking
the support of another individual —
specifically an Aggie.
“This isn’t the type of situation
where John can pass or fail and say,
‘Golly gee, I tried my best.’ ”
Porter said although Stone was
hesitant to ask for money, he told
Stone there’s nothing to be embar
rassed about.
“He needs a liver — that’s the bot
tom line,” Porter said. “There’s no
doubt he’s going to have trouble
raising that kind of money.
“He needs our help — I mean the
assistance of every Texas Aggie. If
each one of the A&M clubs donated
$100 each, that would only be about
$25,000. If each of his classmates
contributes $5, that would only be
$20,000.”
When Stone was a freshman at'
A&M, the first symptom of his liver
enzyme deficiency appeared. He
went to A.P. Beutel Health Center in
April 1981 because he said he knew
something wasn’t quite right. He was
diagnosed as having diabetes, but
the center also found some enzyme
deficienries in his blood.
“If people have these types of de
ficiencies, about 90 percent of them
will have pulmonary problems such
as emphysema,” Stone said.
“About 10 percent develop liver
problems. And the diabetes that I
have is due to my liver dysfunction.
Stone dropped out of school the
next semester for furthur tests at
hospitals in Dallas and Houston. Fi
nally, in December, Stone was diag
nosed as having anti-trypsin — a ge
netic disease he had unknowingly
battled his entire life.
Stone said for the next five or six
years, he really didn’t have any phys
ical problems besides his diabetes.
He even was an active member in the
Corps of Cadets’ Company C-2.
Stone graduated with his class,
majoring in biology and now is a sec
ond-year medical student at UTMB
at Galveston.
Stone returned to A&M Nov. 14
to visit his girlfriend and had mas
sive esaphageal hemorrhaging —
five veins spontaneously swelled and
ruptured and filled his esophagus
with blood, which then spilled into
his stomach cavity.
“I was completely unwarned that
that could happen,” Stone said. “I
u'as told something could happen,
but I didn’t know what.”
To stop the swelling and control
the bleeding, Stone said, doctors in
ject a substance — via his throat —
into his veins.
But the disease has progressed to
the point where his blood isn’t clot
ting normally, so the injections
aren’t helping, he said.
“They (doctors) want me to have
the transplant because they are
afraid that I will bleed again,” Stone
said. “And they are afraid that if I '
start bleeding, they won’t be able to
stop it.”
That is the criterion for a liver
transplant, he said.
Rea said Stone is an excellent can
didate for a transplant recipient.
“The exciting thing about John’s
case is that he is young and relatively
physically fit, ” Rea said.
If Stone has the operation and
makes it through the first couple of
months, Rea said, he would have an
80 percent chance to live during the
next five years. After that, he said,
Stone has the chance to live a per
fectly normal, happy life.
“But without the operation, his
chances of dying within the next
year are 70 percent,” he said.
When asked what he fears most,
though, Stone answers matter-of-
factly, “What I’m worried about
right now' is the money.”
But Stone says he is hopeful A&M
students will help him.
One such student is coming
through for him in the only way he
can — by spending all his time and
efforts in coordinating the fund
drive for Stone.
Scott Donahue, a one-time para
medic and now a prechiropractic
student, said he became friends with
Stone through their mutual interest
in medicine.
Donahue describes Stone as quiet
and courageous.
“He’s staring it (the disease) in the
face, as either he has surgery or he
dies,” he said. “I don’t know how he
does it. Most people would be going
to pieces right now'.”
Stone said once he gets on the
waiting list, the average wait for a
liver donor is only three to four
weeks.
Once Stone gets on the list, he wall
have a beeper and be on constant
call. He will have to live in the Dallas
area, near the Baylor University
Medical Center, where he will be
scheduled for surgery the minute a
suitable liver is found.
"The waiting is the worst part,”
Stone said. “Once I get that beeper,
then I will be nervous.”
There will be a table set up in the
MSC this week to accept donations
for Stone.