The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 16, 1987, Image 1
.3 ? » (0 C . ' 03 0 ! EL £ ro C p* J S’ 0 1. O ^ ^ < » ^ ^ 5T (0 r 3 3 .to D -0 p* 02, 3 0 ^ ^ C ^ ^ {/) 0 g § ? x 0 |.5r| p ro a c/) 0) d '-’■ d 3 ^ 3 3 IQ CD (0^^ ^ S o °£ p ^ <-< r+ > ro P'0 O* <s. y o> ^ 5^ ^ o p 3 1 - <s a.? § s s a 3 B 2.| » 4°- I CJ- £• o O ^ !. p £! ! *■ 2{ 3 ^ r^. ?? > 5 ^ tti : S'!^ 5 s-*! «!» a g- --^xasA&MQ ■■l* l tie tsattalion College Station, Texas Friday, October 16,1987 Airliner carrying 37 down in Italian Alps [he Army ROTC Ranger Challenge team pre mies Thursday af ternoon for the brigade compe tition to be held Nov. 7 at Camp Bullis, north of Photo by Sam Myers San Antonio. The team perfects maneuvers such as grenade throwing and this simulation of cross ing a water obstacle by means of a rope bridge. BARNI, Italy (AP) — An Italian airliner carrying 37 people on a flight from Milan to West Germany slammed into the northern foothills of the Italian Alps during a heavy rainstorm Thursday night, authori ties said. There was no word on whether there were any survivors at the crash site on Mount Crezzo. One witness said he saw “a ball of fire” from where the plane apparently went down. Driving rain, heavy fog and rough terrain hampered rescuers’ efforts to reach the plane, which crashed near Barni, a small town about 40 miles north of Milan. Air traffic controllers lost contact with Flight 460 of the state-run Al italia subsidiary ATI about 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. CD F), 15 minutes after it had taken off from Milan’s Linate Airport for Cologne, West Ger many, airline spokesman Roberto Panico said. Right before the plane vanished from the radar screens at 7:29 p.m., pilot Lamberto Laine radioed the control tower, “We are in emer gency,” the news agency ANSA re ported, adding that nothing else was heard from the plane. News agencies and state-run RAI television quoted some officials as saying the plane apparently struck the 2,300-foot level of Mount Crezzo, near Lake Como. Local offi cials said the exact site had not been pinpointed. “I heard a very loud noise, like a plane flying very low, and shortly thereafter a blast that shook the hotel,” said Cinzia Barni, 25, daugh ter of the owner of the Italia Hotel. “I ran outside and a boy told me that he had seen a flash of light on the mountain.” At the Madonnina Refuge, an inn at about 3,280 feet elevation in the vicinity of Mount Crezzo, proprietor Franco Villa said he was eating din ner with his family when they heard a loud noise. Running to the win dow, they saw “a ball of fire” on the mountain, followed by the sound of an explosion, he said. The plane was carrying 34 passen gers and three crewmembers, Panico said. He said the plane, an ATR 42, was on a special flight carrying mostly employees of a German firm. The crash site was a sparsely pop ulated area between the southern two forks of popular Lake Como, about 16 miles from the Swiss bor der. Frantic rescuers work to save toddler in well MIDLAND (AP) — A frightened toddler trapped for more than a day 22 feet down an abandoned back yard well talked to her mother and cried Thursday as anxious rescuers pounded their way through solid rock with jackhammers. Eighteen-month-old Jessica Mc Clure fell into the well about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday while playing with See related story, Page 6 other children at a private day-care center run by her aunt and her mother. Midland Police Chief Richard Czech said Thursday night the res cuers had hit much harder rock than they had anticipated but that “I’m going to guess that maybe by six in the morning, if the good Lord’s will ing, we’ll be done.” Floodlights were turned on as dusk fell Thursday. Dozens of friends and neighbors gathered to wait and pray with Jessica’s parents. Chip, 18, and Reba Gayle McClure, 17. Jessica is their only child. Earlier Thursday, Midland police Cpl. Jim White said he listened to the child through a microphone that had been lowered to her. “The only thing I heard her say is, ‘Mommy,’ ” he said. “The rest is just crying and moaning.” Rescue workers using hand-held hydraulic drills inside a shaft sunk 64 inches away from the abandoned well had chiseled about 40 to 50 inches through solid rock but still had about two feet to go. Midland Fire Chief James Roberts said. “We don’t have any best estimate” on when rescuers might reach Jes sica, he said. “If you would have asked me yes terday morning early, (I would have said) we wouldn’t be here today,” he said. “The rock has been much harder. Nobody visualized that rock being that hard.” An earlier, smaller pilot shaft was drilled to within six inches of the well, but the later drilling was on a shaft that is 12 to 20 inches wide, one through which a rescuer could fit, he said. Midland police Sgt. Jeff Haile said, “We are just trying frantically to get to the little girl through the rock. The workers are starting to feel anxiety and it’s combining with their fatigue.” 4-day football strike ends; union goes to court WEW YORK (AP) — The 24-day '(FI strike ended Thursday when the union capitulated and went to court instead of trying to fight the club owners at the bargaining table, ■"earns began reporting back en masse even without a new contract agreement, but left after being told thee had missed the deadline to play l|gnd get paid — for this weekend’s > " ' ■ [related stories, Pages 9,10,11 ames, and again would be replaced ' rton-union players and their tea- nmates who went in earlier, j “{t was unfair to the players to tontnue to sacrifice any more,” said anion head Gene Upshaw, who said player representatives from all 28 teams voted to end their strike. Upshaw said the union would pursue its aims in an antitrust suit filed against the league in Minneap olis. “We tried bargaining, now we’ll let the courts decide,” he said. The union statement came almost five hours after teams started re porting amid chaos and confusion in city after city. The deluge started in late morn ing, shortly after a telephone dis cussion between Upshaw and man agement negotiator Jack Donlan ended without accord on a back-to- play agreement. Many player rep resentatives claimed they had been told by the union that management might waive the 1 p.m. Wednesday deadline to report for this week’s games. “We sent the players back,” Up shaw said. “They are ready to play. They want to play.” When they arrived, however, they found management telling them, in effect, “thanks, but no thanks,” and most left as quickly^as they had ar rived. The fallout from management’s hard line was immediate. Harry Carson, captain of the Su per Bowl champion New York Gi ants, said, “Some people are very, very bitter. And it’s not just here, it’s across the league.” The Giants were one of many teams to walk in, then walk out when they found they wouldn’t be paid. Much of the chaos stemmed from the union’s apparent misunder standing that the owners would ad just the deadline. But the owners said that was a misconception. “They came back too late,” said Dan Rooney, president of the Pitts burgh Steelers and a member of the NFL Management Council executive committee. “We set a deadline two weeks ago to come in so we wouldn’t have a situation vvhere the players could come, in at any time. We had to have a date.” John Spagnola, player representa tive of the Philadelphia Eagles, led his team into, then out of, Veterans Stadium. “Apparently their deadline is a true deadline,” he said. Indeed it was. Not only did the Eagles and Gi ants leave, but so did the Redskins, Browns, Falcons, Rams, Dolphins, Bills, Cardinals, Patriots, Bengals, Chargers and Saints, all after meet ing with team officials. Most said they would be back next week, when they can play and get paid. “We offered our services to play Sunday,” said Mike Kenn of the Fal cons, a union vice president. “They said they would not pay us, so ba sically that’s a lockout. So we went back out.” But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings didn’t show up at all. Player representative Steve Jor dan of the Vikings, said, “Until I hear from Gene Upshaw that the strike is over, the strike isn’t over.” Player representatives Keith Fahnhorst and Keena Turner of the San Francisco 49ers met with Coach Bill Walsh in the morning and said the players would come back in the afternoon. Fahnhorst accused the owners’ Management Council of wanting “to rub our noses in it” by not paying the players or allowing them to play. “We have to report to show them we’re back,” he said. “If they don’t pay us, there might be some legal re course.” Management said players could practice and be paid at the per diem rate, $750 a week for veterans and $500 for rookies, plus $38 a day for meals. But there was only the slightest chance that they would play this weekend in place of the replace ments who have played for the last two weeks. That’s even more impor tant this week, because once a player has been in three games, he becomes eligible for at least a half share of playoff money. Management Council spokesman John Jones said, “They’re welcome to report.” Director: Computer system will help Placement Center run more smoothly By Cindy Milton Staff Writer "Ainew $ 17,000 scheduling and fili ng [computer system installed at tacas A&M’s Placement Center this 'emtster should help the center run hori smoothly, Lewis Van Pelt, the nter's director, said. The system will file student re- mes and schedule interviews, ning less hassle for students and eCenter’s personnel, Van Pelt said, ^■he new system will do things <|>ld one didn’t,” he said. “It will n ore adequately monitor the stu- ■entg and let us know of their pro cess. ’ D’Ann Wheeler, administrative secretary at the Placement Center, said the new system is expected to save at least $18,000 each year. “We’re saving money by making our own data sheets intead of letting the data-processing center do it,” she said. Wheeler said the savings might not show up on paper for a few years because of the equipment’s initial cost and the costs of disks and other student equipment. But the system is certain to save money in the long run because it is centralized and cuts back on expenses, Wheeler said. Students using the Placement Center to find a job are issued a pre formatted floppy disk — all the stu dent has to do is fill in the blanks and return the disk to the Placement Center, Van Pelt said. Before, stu dents had to fill out a set of forms, including placement registration and resumes for the center’s files, he said. These forms were made into data sheets at the University’s data- processing center and then sent back to the Placement Center files. In the new system, Van Pelt said, all information about the student is plugged into the computer disk with a PC- or IBM-compatible computer — in the library or computer center on campus — and the student auto matically is put into Placement Cen ter files. Students can update their regis tration information and resume at any time during the semester simply by changing the information on their disks and returning them to the center. The center keeps hard copies of the disks and printed cop ies of the student information are filed. But the new system doesn’t stop here — it also makes interview schedules from “bid cards” turned in by registered students, Van Pelt said. Job recruiters send the center See Computer, page 12 no use OKs plan to notify workers of health risks WASHINGTON (AP) — The louse voted Thursday to establish a e\v|S25 million program for the overnment to individually warn Uncj(ieds of thousands of workers ichlyear that they face a high risk | cancer and other disabling dis- tses from exposure to hazardous ibstanceson the job. Voting 225-186 largely along >rty lines, Democrats pushed the tigh-risk occupational and disease ttification” bill through the House ‘spite a threatened veto from Pres ident Reagan and vehement objec tions from business groups fearing massive liability suits. Republicans succeeded in attach ing an amendment by Rep. William Dannemeyer, R-Calif., that would automatically include health-care workers in the high-risk group-he- cause of their possible exposure to the AIDS virus. For all other workers, the bill would establish a nine-member panel of medical and scientific ex perts in the Department "of Health and Human Services to determine which groups are most at risk. The National Institute of Occupa tional Safety and Health would then be required to send individual no tices to between 100,000 and 300,000 of them every year. “This is a cost-effective-pr-ogra.m that, in the long run, can prevent de bilitating occupational diseases that cause 100,000 deaths and 400,000 disabilities each year,” said the bill’s sponsor,4lep. Joseph Gaydos, D-Pa. NIOSH officials estimate nearly one-fourth of Americans have been exposed to carcinogens and other hazardous substances on the job, and that most of them are unaware of it. The Labor Department in 1984 said in a study that occupational dis eases “are costing the government alone about $5.4 billion a year in So cial Security disability, Medicare and Medicaid payments. State agrees to pay $204 million to reform mental health care DALLAS (AP) — Attorneys for the state and plaintiff mental pa tients signed a historic agreement Thursday that officials predict will improve state facilities and services for the mentally re tarded. The Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retar dation will receive about $204 million in federal and state money to improve its care under See related story, Page 3 the agreement signed in U.S. Dis trict Judge Barefoot Sanders’ court, an attorney said. Under the agreement, staff-to- client ratio at state schools will be inGreased-by T5_percent over the next three years, including doc tors, nurses and physical thera pists, the department said. The department also will be re quired to begin the process of complying with the Accreditation Council on Developmental Defi ciencies’ standards at the Austin, Denton, Fort Worth and San An tonio state schools. In the 18-month period prior to the initial accreditation at the four schools, interim im provement measures will be es tablished for medical services, be havior treatment programs and the prevention, reporting and in vestigation of client abuse and ne glect, the department said. David Ferleger, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said the state agreed to include all 13 state schools in its planned improvements. The original 1983 case had named only three schools to re ceive extra funds. Ferleger says the state was muscled into the agreement be cause Friday is the deadline Sand ers set for a settlement. He had threatened to hold the state in contempt if one wasn’t reached. “We proposed that the judge look into holding contempt hear ings for the other schools, one by one,” Ferleger said. “And the re sult politically would have been a disaster for the state.” Also under the agreement, the court will continue monitoring the state’s progress and mainte nance over the next 10 years, Fer leger said.