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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 1987)
Tuesday, November 24, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5 cut along dotted line and present at time of purchase What’s up storms Rain a.m. )mthe y.wair Tuesday BETA BETA BETA: will meet at 6 p.m. in 109 Heldenfels. AGGIE SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: will meet at 8:30 p.m. in 404 Rudder. TAMU HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION: will have a riding meeting at 7 p.m. at the Dick Freeman Arena. CEPHEID VARIABLE: will meet at 8:30 p.m. in 701 Rud der. SPANISH CLUB: will meet at 9 p.m. at the Flying Tomato. INTRAMURAL SPORTS: Entries close for archery singles at 167 Read. ENVE: will meet at 6 p.m. at the Flying Tomato. STUDENT COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN: will meet at 7 p.m. in 704A-B Rudder. ADVERTISING ASSOCIATION: will meet at 7 p.m. in 105 Blocker. AGGIE DEMOCRATS: will meet at 8:30 p.m. in 504 Rudder. TAMU ANTHROPOLOGY SOCIETY: Dr. David Meltzer will discuss “A Tale of Two Periods: Prehistory and Paleoe- cology of the Llano Estacado” at 6:45 p.m. in 302 Rudder. EL SALVADOR STUDENT ASSOCIATION: will meet at 7 p.m. at Godfather’s Pizza. PHI KAPPA PHI HONOR SOCIETY: Scholarship applica tions for graduate study are available in 219 Engineering Physics Building. Wednesday YOUNG CONSERVATIVES OF TEXAS: will meet at 7 p.m. in 402 Rudder. Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, no less than three working days be fore desired publication date. Legal Aid group seeks depositions to find relief funds PECOS (AP) — Texas Rural Legal Aid plans to take depositions from Reeves County officials to ask them what happened to some of the money and materials donated for Saragosa tornado relief, a Legal Aid spokesman said Monday. Testimony from the depositions could be used in any future lawsuits, the Reeves County attorney said. People nationwide sent donations following the May 22 tornado that killed 30 people and destroyed more than 60 buildings. Some Saragosans have voiced concern that some of the cash and building materials were sto len or lost. At least two thefts involving Sara gosa relief donations have been re ported. In July, someone looted a Pecos warehouse containing do nated clothes and appliances, re cords indicate. In late September, district clerk Juana Jaquez reported someone stole her purse containing $4,000 cash in relief donations she said she had planned to distribute in Sara gosa. She has promised to repay it. The Saragosa Foundation, a pri vate organization that has collected and distributed some donations, asked Legal Aid last month to review financial records from the sheriffs office, the Pecos Jaycees, Jaquez and the Saragosa Relief Fund Finance Committee, which was appointed by county commissioners. Legal Aid’s Open Records Act re quest netted some records, such as deposit slips and copies of checks. But after reviewing the records for a week, Legal Aid attorneys want more, spokesman John Muir said Monday by telephone from his Wes laco office. “There’s a feeling it (the county’s response) is inadequate and there are continuing questions,” Muir said, adding that foundation members are concerned about who got how much and on what basis the dona tions were distributed. County attorney Scott Johnson said Legal Aid’s action is a step to ward filing a lawsuit. “What it amounts to is they want to have judicially supervised deposi tions,” he said. Tony Gallego, head of the Sara gosa Foundation, said one such ques tion Legal Aid wants answered has to do with a $200 check given to jailer Sandy Kelly. tear ice of 3 at 10 hip of on wer jorologis teoroloo 1 Demographers cut down estimates of Texas population for next 20 years e c “J Official: Number l U . eking ii ny studi ig lock omethin ft have said ifii es i stadium- is lock turn i when! ties and fed | ncy Mat nters in 1 id later :e said. By Annette Primm Reporter Estimates of what the Texas pop ulation will be in 1990 and 2000 have been revised by demographers because fewer people are moving to the state, said a Texas A&M rural so ciology professor. Falling prices of gas and oil and the farm crisis have stopped many people from coming into Texas, so ciologist Dr. Steve H. Murdock said. “A survey of 10 public and private sector forecasts shows the average projected population for 1990 is 17.6 million,” Murdock said. “For 2000, the average projection is 20.5 million,” he said. After the 1980 census, it was pre dicted that Texas could have as many as 20 million residents by 1990 and 25 million residents by 2000. At the time, these estimates seemed reasonable, but immigration to Texas has fallen from about 350,000 people per year in 1980 to 1982, Murdock said. Now it stands at about 100,000 people per year. “The growth rate has slowed sub stantially,” he said. He attributed this sharp decline to problems with the oil and gas indus try and agriculture. Gas and oil con cerns are the state’s largest industry, he said, followed by agriculture. Houston and the Midland-Odessa area have suffered the most from the gas and oil industry, he said. The Dallas-Fort Worth area, however, still is growing. During the 1970s, the population of Texas grew about 2.7 percent per year, Murdock said. From 1980 to 1982, it grew 3.6 percent per year. From 1984 to 1986 the state’s population growth slowed to 1.8 percent primarily because the num ber of persons migrating to Texas decreased, he said. “Historically, the state’s popula tion has grown by natural increase,” Murdock said. However, from 1970 to 1980, 60 percent of the state’s growth was due to immigration from other states, he said. In the 1980s, two-thirds of the state’s population growth occurred by natural increase again, but the rate of growth is still more rapid than the nation’s growth, Murdock said. “The state is growing twice as rapid as the country as a whole,” he said. “The nation’s current growth rate is .9 percent.” Murdock said although Texas still is growing, the increase has leveled off since 1982. Demographers say immigration will be similar to the 1982-1985 level and slightly higher than that level until 2000. “Most people doing estimates are doing them more cautiously now, re vising downward,” he said. [IS > e is Ags urns UV0 turdi! MSC of state visitors expected to rise AUSTIN (AP) — The number of “Winter Texans” visiting the Rio Grande Valley is expected to rise to 125,000 this year, officials from the Texas Tourist Bureau in Harlingen says. The visitors had a $154.4 million impact on the area last year. The tourist bureau is register ing 500 to 700 winter visitors per week, a 6 percent to 7 percent in crease over last year, Linda Rath of the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce said Monday in a re lease from the Texas Department of Commerce tourism division. “Our count depends on the weather in the Midwest, but the weather isn’t bad and the holidays are not here yet,” she said. “We’re not sure what the higher count means —- if they’re coming earlier or there are more people.” Rath predicted a 7 percent to 8 percent jump in the number of Winter Texans, residents of colder climates who travel south, usually between November and April, to live temporarily in South Texas. Chuck Snyder of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce said, “This looks like a good year. Win ter Texans are arriving earlier than last year and in sizable num bers.” The McAllen Amigos Center where Winter Texans register their arrival in the city, opened Nov. 9. Its count for the first week was well above last year’s Snyder said. At its welcoming party for Winter Texans on Nov. 5, the Brownsville Chamber of Com merce registered 100 more par ticipants than a year ago. Steve Bosio of the Brownsville chamber said, “Both our infor mation center and our mobile home parks are ahead of last year. And I expect the drop in the peso will have a positive effect on tourism.” More than 75,000 Winter Tex ans were counted in Valley recre ational vehicle parks at the peak of the season last year in a study by Pan American University at Edinburg. Gilberto de los Santos, who compiled the study with Vern Vincent, said that figure is not complete since Winter Texans us ing other accomodations and those not in the Valley in Feb ruary were not counted. Attempted murder charges filed against wounded man FORT WORTH (AP) — Police filed attempted murder charges Monday against a man accused of stabbing five worshippers at a Ro man Catholic Mass, before being critically wounded in a struggle with ushers. The suspect, Pavel Dragonirescu, 28, remained in critical condition at John Peter Smith Hospital Monday. Two of the victims also remained hospitalized. The charges were sent to the dis trict attorney’s office Monday, Sgt. Paul Kratz of the Fort Worth Police Department said. A parishioner who was late to Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Sun day said he was the first to be wounded in the scuffle. Rudy Galvan, 55, who said he usually arrives 10 minutes late for Mass, said he stepped into the aisle after seeing an usher pursue a man with a bag, which Galvan mistakenly thought contained church funds. “The usher said, ‘This guy’s cre ating a disturbance,’ so I just sort of grabbed the man and said, ‘Come on, let’s go outside,’ ” Galvan said. After the man refused to leave, “I grabbed him by the back of the coat,” Galvan said. “I just said, ‘We’d better go out.’ He apparently got me on the hand right then. I was the first one he cut and I didn’t even know it.” Officials said the knife-wielding man cried, “Oh God, oh God, oh God!” as he was wrestled to the floor of the cathedral, and police specu lated that he fell on the pocket knife used in the stabbings. Police Sgt. Ken Francis said, “He had gone berserk inside the church and stabbed several people before being subdued.” The Rev. Gonzalo Morales, who was conducting services at the cathe dral, said a disheveled man arrived for the 8 a.m. service, the first of three morning Masses at the down town church, which operates several programs for the homeless. Shortly after the 11 a.m. Mass be gan, Morales said, the man stood and hurried up the middle aisle, car rying his bag and something con cealed in paper. The man was well known to offi- QQ ANY SING TOPPING LARGE PIZZA Original Crust Only. Good for dine-in, take out, or delivery! Not valid with any other coupons or special otters. Good only at participating Mr. Gatti's. Offer Expires 12-15-87 Thebe*tp4zutntcnvTi.7/*MC-/ 268-BEST Skaggs Center Spring Break Special Cruise on the "Fun Ship" Mar. 17-20 ITB& TRAVEL 1055 Texas AYE. EDUCATIONAU TOUR COORDINATOFtS ' Limited Space Call today Group discounts avbl. 764-9400 cials at local shelters for the home less, police officers said. He was charged with assault last month and was a robbery victim on Nov. 4, po lice said, refusing to elaborate. Galvan said he did not realize the man had a knife. He said the man quickly walked away from him and then went up to (usher John Sheedy) and gave him “a thrust to the stomach.” Sheedy, an 80-year-old former prizefighter who was stabbed in the rib cage, was listed in stable condi tion Monday, and David A. Yaniko, 54, who was wounded in the abdo men, was in good condition at Fort Worth Osteopathic Medical Center, spokesman Tulisha Langford said. Felix Lozano, 45, was treated at Harris Hospital for an abdomen wound, while Galvan and an uniden tified man were treated elsewhere for less serious cuts, officials said. Galvan said the attacker was tackled by about a half-dozen peo ple. “I must have been there because God put me there, I don’t know,” he said. “I felt afterward that I was very glad I was there.” UT ophthalmologist says infection can cause blindness in AIDS victims AUSTIN (AP) — An infection that causes a bad cold in healthy people is blinding many AIDS sufferers, according to a University of Texas ophthalmologist. Dr. Gary Cowan, a physician, retinal specialist and as sistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, said eye problems associated with AIDS are so new that many doctors do not consider the possibility of AIDS in their diagnoses. “But an eye disorder may be the first sign that AIDS has begun in a patient infected with the human immu nodeficiency virus,” he said. “Diagnosis is further com plicated by the fact that the eye disease symptoms may mimic those caused by other diseases. “We now have a significant number of patients who are going blind a long time before they die. So their quality of life is further diminished.” During a recent fellowship at the Jules Stein Eye In stitute at the University of California, Los Angeles, Cowan saw many AIDS patients with eye problems or severe blindness. He said eye disorders in patients with acquired im mune deficiency syndrome, which cripples the immune system, often stem from organisms that would cause only mild, temporary symptoms in people with healthy immune systems. Now Open Saturday till 3 p.m. The main infection involved is called cytomegalovi rus, or CMV. In healthy individuals, Cowan said, CMV might remain dormant or cause no more illness than the symptoms of a bad cold. In AIDS patients, however, it can cause retinitis, which can lead to blindness or other severe disorders that would not necessarily occur without the AIDS virus involved. Prior to the spread of AIDS, “these infections were seen only in transplant patients whose immune systems were compromised by the drugs they were taking to prevent organ rejection,” Cowan said. Dr. Ken Blair, an Austin physician who has treated many AIDS patients, said he has had patients whose vi sion was threatened by cytomegalovirus. He said the disease also complicated their treatment with AZT, or azidothymidine. AZT is the only federally approved drug for AIDS patients. It has helped prolong the lives of some pa tients, but it is not a cure. He said some of his patients have been willing to accept going blind rather than stopping treatment with AZT. “People always say that if they get AIDS, they’ll just go ahead and check out,” Blair said. “But you never know what you’d do unless you’re in those shoes. Even blindness gets pretty philosophical. 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