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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1987)
<vi. The Battalion Vol. 87 No. 69 GSPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, December 8,1987 Gorbachev hopes for ‘new words 9 in talks irs v a pi :ause rd bool' ame foi He left 13 of 2) 20 halftimi 55-yanl goals b d toud iS 'd Dixo! j, and os e picked s 20 and got izek's# icl y led and a 21 xiod. n ineffet las in ik rs lating iould g on 1164 ation, k at NTS on by ostau- s/lanor id on i/ritten ire by re by an. WASHINGTON (AP) — Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, setting foot for the first time on American soil, said Monday he hopes to hear “new words” about prospects for cutting long-range strategic weapons at the White House summit this week with President Reagan. The Reagan administration rolled out the red carpet for Gorbachev and his wife Raisa, and in a welcom ing statement the Soviet leader wished “peace and well being to all Americans.” “At the center of our discussions Haiti strike pushes junta for elections PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Most businesses were closed in the capital Monday as Haitians observed a general strike called to force the mling junta to allow civilians to su pervise elections thwarted by a ter ror campaign. Although there appeared to have been problems spreading word of the hastily called nationwide strike, most of downtown Port-au-Prince was shut down. There were no reports of vio lence. The four leading presidential can didates endorsed the strike, which initially was called by key labor unions to protest the Nov. 29 cancellation of what would have been Haiti’s first free elections in 30 years. Bands of thugs shot and hacked to death at least 34 people that Sunday morning. Many of the victims had lined up to vote. Soldiers did noth ing to protect people. Shocked by the killings, the inde pendent electoral council called off the voting. Junta leader Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy dissolved the civil ian-run council. The government did not com ment on the strike. Its offices were open and a secretary at the Ministry of Finance estimated 60 percent to 70 percent of the employees were there. Some had called for a two-day strike seeking restoration of the elec toral council. Others demanded an indefinite boycott until the junta steps down. Some Haitians said they would wait to see what others are doing be fore deciding whether to open their businesses or go to work. te pr< States will be the pivotal questions of Soviet-American relations, questions of reducing strategic offensive arms,” Gorbachev said. The White House summit opens today, highlighted at 1:45 p.m. EST by the signing of a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons (INF), the first-ever agreement call ing for the destruction of an entire category of atomic arms. A strategic arms pact eluded Rea gan and Gorbachev at their summit in Iceland last year because of differ ences over the U.S. Star Wars missile defense plan. While there are signs of a lessening of Soviet objections to Star Wars, American officials say there is a lot of negotiating ahead be fore the two leaders could sign a strategic weapons treaty at another summit in Moscow next year. “On behalf of the people and the government of the Soviet Union, I wish to assure all Americans that we sincerely want better relations be tween our peoples and countries,” Gorbachev said. Secretary of State George Shultz, who greeted the Soviet leader, told Gorbachev, “We are ready.” The So viet leader replied, “We are ready, too.” A half-hour after Gorbachev’s ar rival, the treaty was brought from Geneva by Maynard Glitman and Alexei Obukhov, the U.S. and Soviet negotiators, who put the finishing touches on the accord over the week end. It was to be inspected by chief U.S. negotiator Max M. Kampelman and other U.S. officials, sent to the National Security Council to be checked, and was to be printed late Monday at the State Department. The Soviet leader said the signing of the INF agreement completes work “on the question which all of the people, all of the nations of the world have been looking to us to Gorbachev said the center of his talks with Reagan “will be the pivotal questions of Soviet-American rela tions, questions of reducing strategic offensive arms.” Saying he knew what he was going to tell Reagan, Gorbachev said, “We are hoping that we will hear some new words on their side.... “We can neither of us shirk the role that we are to play in world af fairs. We must act with the utmost responsibility to our peoples and the peoples of the whole world.” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater was asked if the White House is ready with “new words.” “There are areas in which new ideas can flourish,” he replied. “I don’t want to pre-judge bow the talks will go. But we’re willing to bar gain and we’re willing to talk.” Christmas shopping Nancy Gold, a Houston petroleum engineering major, sells a Christmas tree to Patrick Maslanka, a Fort Worth business major. Lambda Sigma Honor Photo by Shelley Scbluter Society sold the trees trom Nov.30 through Dec.4 for $2.50 per foot. The group is raising money for a its national convention here in the spring. FAA fears 44 dead after jet crashes at California site HARMONY, Calif. (AP) — A Pa cific Southwest Airlines commuter jet carrying 44 people crashed Mon day after crew members reported hearing gunfire inside the plane, and all aboard were feared dead, federal officials said. The four-engine jet en route from Los Angeles to San Francisco went down on a ranch at 4:14 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said. “There’s airplane parts and body parts and luggage all over a 15-mile area,” said cattleman Bill Hartzell, on whose property the jet crashed. “I don’t know how anyone could have survived.” There were 39 passengers and a crew of five aboard the night, PSA spokesman Jeremy James said. FAA spokesman Fred Farrar in Washington, D.C., identified the plane as PSA Flight 1771. “Just west of Paso Robles, the crew reported gunshots in the back of the plane,” Drucella Andersen, a spokesman for the National Trans portation Safety Board, said. The FBI sent agents to the scene, spokesman Fred Reagan said. “It’s fair to say the first portion of our inquiry will be to determine the circumstances of the crash and if it was caused by criminal activity,” Reagan said. At San Francisco International Airport, about a dozen people wait ing for the plane to land have been placed in isolation, Myron Schroer, PSA operations manager at the air port, said. The crash site was about 175 miles northwest of Los Angeles, Morro Bay police dispatcher Debbie Pascua said. Tornado victims receive federal financial assistance CEK ELT- 3TE- slOR Paris rounds up members of Iranian group PARIS (AP) — Police rounded up dozens of People’s Mujahedeen of Iran members for possible expulsion in a sweep Monday that the leading anti-Khomeini Iranian group de scribed as part of a deal to free French hostages in Lebanon. The crackdown came 11 days af ter pro-Iranian kidnappers in Leb anon released two French hostages. At least three other Frenchmen still are held there. Mujahedeen leader Massoud Ra- javi said in a telexed message to Pres ident Francois Mitterrand the ar rests “demonstrate the ugly deal” between Iran and France. Premier Jacques Chirac’s govern ment denies any deal. “There is no bargaining at all,” Security Minister Robert Pandraud said. An Interior Ministry statement said several dozen Mujahedeen were detained during identity checks at the group’s French headquarters in Auvers-Sur-Oise, north of Paris, and at homes of members in the area. It said the detainees might be ex pelled for “taking part through this organization in militant actions which seriously disrupt public or der.” Mujahedeen spokesman Behzad Naziri said those rounded up were political refugees whose papers were in order. A statement from the group claimed police beat and insulted people during the arrests. At least one of those taken in is known to have a heart condition, it said. France is home to many Iranian exiles, but it expelled Rajavi in June 1986 to fulfill one of three condi tions set by Iran for normalizing re lations with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fundamentalist Shiite Moslem regime. Two French hos tages were freed two weeks later. Rajavi has headquarters in Bagh dad, capital of Iraq, with which Iran has been at war since September 1980. It maintains a presence in France, other European cities and the United States. Officials deny allegations that France it bargained for the releases Nov. 27 of journalists Jean-Louis Normandin and Roger Auque or has made a deal to free its other cap tured citizens. Iran admits to influence over the Shiite groups holding hostages in Lebanon, but denied a role in the re leases of the Frenchmen by the group calling itself the Revolution ary Justice Organization. Extremist groups in Lebanon hold eight Americans and at least 12 other foreigners, including the three French hostages. Pandraud, the security minister, said the right to asylum in France is conditional. He told a news conference politi cal refugees must not “foment at tacks outside (France) from French territory and not compromise French diplomatic interests by their presence or their statements.” France broke diplomatic relations with Iran on July 17 after Iranian Embassy employee Wahid Gordji re fused to turn himself in for question ing about a series of bombings in Pa ris in 1986. GIDDINGS (AP) — Victims of tornadoes that swept through East and Central Texas last month have received more than $65,000 to help repair the damage, officials say. The tornadoes Nov. 15-16 killed 10 people in Texas, injured 160 and destroyed scores of buildings, in cluding more than 80 businesses in Palestine. To help pay for the rebuilding ef fort and provide help during the process, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other gov ernmental bodies have set up Disas ter Assistance Centers in the af fected areas. Mary Ficklen, a spokeswoman for the federal Disaster Assistance Of fice in Palestine, said 456 people have visited the Palestine center, 85 have gone to Giddings and 49 to Caldwell. So far, 205 people have applied for temporary housing assistance, which consists of three months’ rent for a, displaced homeowner and one month’s rent for a renter. Ficklen said 172 people have asked for rebuilding loans from the Small Business Administration, while 251 people have applied for grants, each of which has a $5,000 ceiling. In more storms in East Texas Sunday, homes were destroyed and buildings damaged in rural areas of Anderson and Polk counties, but no injuries were reported. Bowl tickets still available Although many students spent the weekend camping in front of G. Rollie White Coliseum, Cotton Bowl tickets still are available, an Athletic Ticket Office spokesman said Monday. “There are plenty of tickets left,” said Kristen Lydahl, ticket office student worker. “There haven’t been lines since 8:30 this morning.” Juniors can buy tickets today, sophomores can buy them Wednesday and anyone else can buy them Thursday. All tickets will be sold for $25. No guest tick ets will be sold; only ticket-book holders may purchase tickets. A&M dedicates cyclotron, holds symposium By Richard Williams Staff Writer Texas A&M officials dedicated one of three existing supercon ducting cyclotrons in the world on the A&M campus Monday night in front of more than 200 people. The dedication of the cyclo tron was held in conjunction with a symposium on “hot nuclei” cur rently being held at A&M. The $8 million Texas A&M su perconducting cyclotron was offi cially accepted by A&M Provost Dr. Donald McDonald, who re minded the crowd the cyclotron was not “a Sears-Roebuck item” to be ordered from a catalog. A&M’s cyclotron was finished after 10 years of planning and three years of construction and will be used to research activity of an atoms’ nucleus. The cyclotron will accelerate atoms to almost the speed of light and then crash them into a thin sheet of aluminum, causing a flurry of atomic collisions. The A&M cyclotron is smaller and less expensive than those of similar power because it uses liq uid helium-cooled superconduct ing electromagnets instead of conventional electromagnets. David G. Eller, Chairman of the Texas A&M Board of Re gents, said equipment like the cy clotron is important for the ad vancement of human knowledge. “It is basic research that en ables education and technology to move forward,” Eller said. “The partnership between Texas A&M and the Welch Foundation has demonstrated the strong local commitment to go all the way with cyclotron research.” The Robert A. Welch Fouda- tion provided the first funds for the original cyclotron and the new superconducting cyclotron, Eller said. “Researchers around the world benefit from nuclear investiga tions conducted at A&M,” Ellers said. Helmut A. Merklein, Adminis trator, Energy Information Ad ministration, U.S. Department of Energy, said the cyclotron will be a drawing card for A&M that will bring in distinguished professors and scientists. A&M’s University System Chancellor Perry Adkisson said the cyclotron “is the culmination of a long-term project and we are very pleased this is now one of the three finest facilities in the world for this kind of study.” The symposium on hot nuclei began Monday. Hot nuclei are atomic nuclei that reach high energy levels when bombarded by heavy ions. Dr. Dave Youngblood, Cyclo tron Institute director, said more than 130 scientist, nearly half from overseas, will be attending the symposium. The symposium will continue until Thursday afternoon. Photo by David Elmer Visitors attending the cyclotron dedication get a tour of the facility.