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Vol. 83 No. 28 CISPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, October 8, 1987
V?
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Refugee boat
inks, sharks
attack victims
istrations last i
ry is about livri
nesses saidafes'
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About KM
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican
jepublic (AP) — Doomed refugees
om a sinking boat thrashed wildly
bloody water to fend off more
an 40 frenzied sharks, but officials
K — ing overhead could do nothing to
ve them, authorities said Wednes-
T
Estimates of the number of peo-
le killed Tuesday when the over-
aded boat sank ranged from 70 to
ore than 100. Thirteen bodies
ere found Wednesday.
Survivor Eddy Ventura said 168
ominicans crowded onto the old
ig submachine • ^f° ot wooden boat about 4 a.m.
c pistols imnwii
mto trucks,
the arrests, poke
e Tuesday. As
inclothes polices
f the temple MIC
elow as bundle!
shipped inside
ulc&
t good. He sal
to Washington
I'hursday andl'i
relapse, doaoc
would take meth
him to resume i
i by reducing
: stomach,
uesday. They each paid $300 to
500 to be smuggled 100 miles
ross the shark-infested Mona
hannel to Puerto Rico, the most
rosperous U.S. commonwealth.
"Most of those who made the trip
:re women and hardly anyone
new how to swim,” Ventura, 39,
tid. He said he floated 3‘/a miles to
tore clutching an empty gasoline
Ink.
J Eugenio Cabral, civil defense di-
■ector of the Dominican Republic,
sai: recovery operations would con-
|nue today, when bodies of victims
ho sank or were attacked by sharks
robably would begin to surface.
“That takes about 48 hours,” he
tid. “I expect that between today
id tomorrow, bodies will begin ap-
earing in large quantities.”
By Wednesday afternoon, 32 peo-
a period of tesUffl
;ht work is preto
ms followini
plunge
scord
pie had been rescued, said hospital
officials in Nagua and Cabrera on
the the northeast coast of this Carri-
bean nation.
Cabral put the number of passen
gers at 100 to 150 and said about 30
people probably made it to shore but
fled to avoid arrest.
“We would have . . . about 70
missing,” he said. “I would not say
there is no hope. I have faith that
there are two or three (alive) in the
Mona Channel. ... I insist that there
are still people alive.”
Luis Rolon Nevarez, civil defense
director for Puerto Rico, was not so
optimistic.
“I don’t think we’re going to find
more survivors,” he said Wednes
day.
Cabral and Nevarez flew over the
scene Tuesday. Cabral estimated the
number of sharks at “more than 40.”
“People signaled to us with their
hands to please help them, but in
our little plane we could do noth
ing,” he said.
Nevarez said he saw several dozen
bodies in the water, “some alive, oth
ers apparently dead, and sharks of
600 to 800 pounds with bodies in
their mouths.”
Lt. Gen. Antonio Imbert Barrera,
the armed forces minister, said sur
vivors told rescue officials several
passengers started arguing with the
boat’s captain about the fare and the
plank broke after a fight broke out.
Sully shine
Photo by Jonathan A. Poe
Karl Beherendt, an accounting major, is polishing the statue of Beherendt, a sophomore from Seguin, was passing by and happened
Lawrence Sullivan Ross (Sully) in front of the Academic Building. to notice that Sully had lost his shine.
teagem encourages Bork in face of opposition
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi-
ent Reagan told Robert H. Bork on
/ednesday, “I urge you to keep
joing” in the battle for a seat on the
lupreme Court, despite rapidly
owing opposition to Bork’s nomi-
lation and speculation he might
ithdraw.
After a new spate of declarations
f opposition, an Associated Press
|trvey showed 48 senators saying
Right-to-lifers to fight Higginbotham as high-court choice
ley would vote to reject Bork and
IvJy IUII ft saying they would vote for him.
■ifty-one “no” votes would defeat
* nfirmation. Eighteen senators, in-
iding nine Democrats and nine
publicans, have not publicly taken
tance.
In the Senate, ten Democrats de
ls investors dared their opposition: John
interest rate* qreaux of Louisiana, Richard Shelby
ul of pessimist‘ ftlf Alabama, Alan Dixon of Illinois,
| James Exon of Nebraska, Wyche
Jones average,fflowler of Georgia, Lawton Chiles of
novement ofSOWorida, Kent Conrad of North Da-
, plummeted James Sasser and presidential
2,548.63. Tie •peful Albert Gore Jr. of Tennes-
ie previousretotdfteand Bob Graham of Florida,
oint fall intheclft Two Republican senators, Mark
larometer, reatglatfield of Oregon and David
hies of Nebraska, said they would
Ipport Bork.
Meanwhile, one of Bork’s strong
est supporters on the Judiciary Com-
littee, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-
ftva, blamed lethargy by Reagan
d White House officials for Bork’s
DALLAS (AP) — An anti-abor
tion group would fight a nomination
to the U.S. Supreme Court of a fed
eral appeals court judge whose name
has been mentioned by two senators
as a possible replacement for nomi
nee Robert Bork.
The National Right To Life Com
mittee has written Attorney General
Edwin Meese warning that all its re
sources would be used to fight any
nomination of Judge Patrick E. Hig
ginbotham of Dallas.
“Were the president to make such
an ill-advised nomination, the Na
tional Right to Life Committee
would have no choice but to devote
our full resources to opposing Judge
Higginbotham’s confirmation,” Da
vid N. O’Steen, the group’s exec
utive director, wrote Monday.
The 48-year-old judge, who sits
on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap
peals in New Orleans, has been
touted by Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-
Texas, and Sen. Dennis DeConcini,
D-Ariz., as the kind of jurist they
could support wholeheartedly.
The Senate Judiciary Committee
recommended against Bork’s confir
mation to the court Tuesday, Bork is
awaiting the Senate’s vote on his
nomination.
Noting how easily the Senate con
firmed conservative U.S. District
Judge William Sessions of San Anto
nio as FBI director, some senators
have suggested that a similiar South
erner be placed on the high court.
But Higginbotham may not be as
easily accepted.
“We believe that a number of pro
life senators would find themselves
unable to support Judge Higginbo
tham,” O’Steen continued. The let
ter suggests that the White House
should select a nominee who reflects
Bork’s philosophy, not one who is
acceptable to the special interest
groups fighting Bork.
The abortion foes’ opposition to
Higginbotham stems from a 1986
opinion he wrote striking down pro
visions of a Louisiana abortion stat
ute. The opinion held unconstitu
tional a provision of the law
requiring a doctor to “personally” in
form any woman, within 24 hours of
having an abortion, of her right to
have the fetus cremated, buried or
otherwise disposed.
In the opinion, Higginbotham
called “unconstitutionally vague” a
criminal provision of the law prohib
iting any party from “experiment
ing” on an unborn child or a child
born as a result of an abortion.
•86. On thaidafi
86.61 points
about rising
confirmation difficulties, com
plaining, “While Ron and Nancy
were riding horses in August, the
opposition was mobilizing.”
At the White House, Marlin Fitz-
water, the president’s spokesman,
said there was no indication from
Bork that he intended to withdraw,
despite Tuesday’s 9-5 rejection by
the Senate Judiciary Committee and
the growing list of senators publicly
opposed to the confirmation.
“As far as we’re concerned, he’s in
it,” Fitzwater said.
One key administration strategist,
however, conceded that Bork’s nom
ination was “not in good shape” and
said that “a certain reality is setting
in” despite public insistence Bork
still has a chance.
“They outplayed us, outhustled
us,” this source said of Bork’s oppo
nents, speaking on condition he not
be identified.
Reagan and Bork met for 25 min
utes, Fitzwater said.
Asked whether Bork had asked
that his name be withdrawn, the
spokesman said, “Absolutely not.”
Fitzwater quoted the president as
telling Bork, “I urge you to keep
going.”
Later in the day, while presenting
awards to minority enterprises in the
Rose Garden, Reagan said, “I have
no doubt that Judge Bork would be
a widely respected force for justice
and civil rights on our highest court.
But, unfortunately, not everyone
agrees with me.”
At a separate ceremony, present
ing the Presidential Medal of Free
dom to Judge Irving R. Kaufman,
the president did not mention Bork,
but said, “Keeping the judiciary in
dependent and protecting the courts
from political pressure is noble
work.”
When asked after the ceremony if
Bork still had a chance of confirma
tion, Reagan replied, “I am talking
today about one judge,” referring to
Kaufman.
Dole, in remarks on the Senate
floor, said after one meeting with
Bork on Wednesday, “He is ob
viously looking at all of his options.”
The Republican leader said there
are 10 or 12 undecided senators,
“still enough to confirm the nomi
nation.”
However, Senate Democratic
Leader Robert C. Byrd of West Vir
ginia said at the Capitol, “It’s becom
ing very dear that this nominee is
not going anywhere but down.”
He suggested the Republicans
were hoping to force Democrats to
go on record in a vote against Bork
as a way of setting up a campaign is
sue in 1988 and 1990. But he said
such a strategy might backfire, add
ing, “They should remember that
there are some Republicans who
have come out against this nomi
nee.”
A majority of Republicans who
have taken public stances have an
nounced support for Bork. Five
GOP senators are opposing him so
far.
Most Democrats are opposing
Bork, generally arguing that his past
positions and his testimony in confir
mation hearings indicate his views
are out of the judicial mainstream in
such areas as women’s rights, rights
of privacy and freedom of speech.
/ITE|crash spurs Air Force
to inspect bombers
ynam
Oct. 9tl
is book
JT’S
Qna Techfoo
the Bynam}
employes noti
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Air Force Wednesday grounded
its fleet of 68 new B-1B bombers
for a brief inspection of the
lanes’ crew ejection system fol-
owing a' recent crash in which
tmly three of six crewmen on the
iircraft were able to escape,
ft T1lJf\| In a statement, the service’s
itrategic Air Command said “this
irecautionary inspection is an
f Level M; •“•growth of the Sept. 28 acci
dent” at a training range in east-
rn Colorado.
The inspections will require
»nly about two hours per plane
nd are beginning immediately,
eaning the planes will be re-
iurned to service quickly, SAC of
ficials said.
I “The Strategic Air Command
is performing a precautionary,
pae-time inspection of each B-1B
rcraft’s emergency escape sys-
m prior to the aircraft’s next
- » —‘ghc” l he statement said.“Air
=>ofcsto7ei|° r ce maintenance personnel are
erforming the inspections . . .
i and each aircraft will be returned
to flying status upon completion
of the inspection.”
The Associated Press reported
st week that the Air Force, in in-
Jit
vestigating the crash, had begun
trying to determine why only
three of the six crewmen on the
plane ejected from the crippled
aircraft.
Sources said at the time the Air
Force was concerned because
based on initial reports, it ap
peared that at least four and pos
sibly all six of the crewmen
should have been able to bail out
safely.
The three who ejected escaped
with minor injuries, but the other
three went down with the plane
and were killed.
The issue is a particularly sen
sitive one for the Air Force be
cause when a B-1B carries six
men instead of its normal crew of
four, two of them are always
going to face a more difficult time
escaping a damaged plane. The
B-1B carries four ejection seats
for the four primary crewmen;
extra passengers have to bail out
through hatches in the plane’s
belly.
The B-1B that crashed was car
rying six men because it was on a
training flight and instructors
were on board.
Spence Street to close permanently
for new $10 million construction site
By Janet Goode
Staff Writer
Since the completion of Texas
A&M’s new Chemistry Building last
spring, many students have been
waiting anxiously for the infamously
closed Spence Street to reopen.
Instead, the sounds of jackham
mers and bulldozers have returned
to A&M’s campus — this time to
make room for a $10 million Aero
space Engineering and Computer
Science Building.
“Regardless of whether the build
ing was put in or not, the street
would have been closed to reduce
the traffic in inner-campus areas,”
Elmer E. Schneider Jr., chief of Uni
versity Police, said.
Glen Williams, interim head of
the computer science department,
said the building is needed to accom
modate the yearly enrollment in
crease in computer science.
He said both the aerospace engi
neering and computer science de
partments need additional research
and laboratory facilities.
Walter E. Haisler, head of the aer-
sospace engineering department,
said the department was being crit
icized by tne accreditation agency
for not having enough laboratories,
and that enrollment in the depart
ment has increased 25 percent this
year.
The computer science depart
ment temporarily is located in the
Zachry Engineering Center and the
aerospace engineering department
is in the old Engineering Building.
Construction of the new building
was approved in July by the Texas
A&M Board of Regents and is pro
jected for completion in January
1990.
Moffatt D. Adams, chief architect
of A&M’s facilities planning division,
calls the building a “new, innovative
concept in space-sharing.”
Adams said 6,000 square feet of
the building will be joint-use space
between the two departments, so no
classrooms will be left empty.
This arrangement is new to A&M,
which often keeps one department
per building, he said.
The $10 million, plus money for
furniture and other equipment, will
come from the Available University
Fund.
“This is a very reasonable price,”
Adams said. “If you divide the total
148,837 square feet into the cost of
the construction, it only comes to
$65 per square foot.”
Adams said during the construc
tion of the building, a pedestrian
walkway will remain open along
Spence Street, between tne site and
the new Chemistry Building.
When the building is finished, he
said, Spence Street will be trans
formed into a pedestrian “mall”
area.
It will consist of patterned walk
ways, landscaped with benches and
lights — much like the area be-
tweeen the Blpcker Building and the
Engineering-Physics Building, he
said.
Schneider said limiting traffic
through Spence Street will make it
easier for students to travel by foot
across campus.
Bob Wiatt, director of traffic and
University Police, said the street was
originally blocked off in 1985 be
cause of construction on the Chemis
try complex and the main reason the
street will remain closed is not for
aesthetics, but for safety.
“For safety reasons, we never in
tended to re-open it,” he said. “Our
intention, even back then, was to
keep it forevermore blocked off. We
wanted to close that intersection off
because it was being used as a speed
way through campus.”
Wiatt said construction in the area
provided an opportunity to cut
down on the vehicle traffic that
made the street unsafe for pedestri
ans.
“We know it’s inconvenient for
people,” he said, “but we cannot let
our inner-campus streets be used as
thoroughfares to get from point A to
point B in the quickest way. With
50,000 people here in a congested
area, I think it’s just prudent that we
do this.”
Wesley E. Peel, vice chancellor of
facilities planning and construction,
agreed that A&M should strive for a
more pedestrian-oriented campus,
with less danger of traffic.
“I don’t know how we’ve kept
from killing kids up until now,” Peel
said.