The Battalion Vol.87 No. 171 045360 8 Pages College Station, Texas Thursday, July 7, 1988 Search begins for Meese’s replacement WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House launched the search for Attorney General Edwin Meese Ill’s replacement Wednesday, say ing President Reagan’s aides were collecting names of candidates “from various sources.” Reagan met privately with Meese, his longtime California friend and political confidant, and the White House said nothing of what had transpired. It said the meeting was granted at Meese’s request. Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater con ceded that White House officials had no contingency plan to find a re placement, even though Meese indi cated some time ago he might leave before the end of the administra tion. “We had an attorney general up until (Tuesday) yesterday,” Fitzwa ter said. “We don’t compile lists for C ions where they’re already Fitzwater had said earlier that Meese told Reagan “some time ago that he might want to leave before the end of the administration. The president left the timing up to him.” Reagan, who conceded Tuesday that he had “nobody in mind” to take Meese’s place, on Wednesday “briefly discussed” a successor for Meese with White House chief of staff Kenneth Duberstein and gen eral counsel A.B. Culvahouse, the spokesman said. He did not say whether Reagan and Meese had talked about whom to select. A Justice Department spokesman, Patrick Korten, was asked whether the attorney general would play an active role in choosing a successor. “1 think he’s already weighed in on the subject,” Korten said in refer ence to Meese’s meeting with Rea gan. As he left the White House, Meese was asked what he had told Reagan. He gestured in the direction of his car and said “I’ve got to go.” Inter viewed later on Cable News Net work, Meese was asked what kind of person he thought should succeed him. “I don’t think anybody would be a clone of anybody else,” he said. But Meese said he hoped the person se lected is “someone who suoscribes to the principles of Ronald Reagan and his administration.” “I think a lot depends on the will ingness of the Senate to fulfill its re sponsibility and confirm someone,” he said. “I would hope that someone would be confirmed and take over the day I leave office.” Meese announced Tuesday that he was resigning, effective in late July or early August. Probe of Gulf tragedy starts Captain’s family receiving calls of support SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Hundreds of callers have but haven’t heard from in a long time. The pho nledeed their support for the USS Vincennes com- hasn’t stopped ringing.” MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — American investigators began their inquiry Wednesday into the shooting down of an Iranian airliner by ques tioning senior officers of the cruiser that fired the fatal missiles, U.S. sources said. The six-member military team of experts arrived from the United States late Tuesday and began their confidential task under a 15-day deadline, which U.S. officers said could be extended. Leading the group is Rear Adm. William M. Fogarty, a senior staff of ficer at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla. It in cludes a lawyer and technical experts who will analyze computer tapes, communications records and other data that could explain the tragedy. Iran says the USS Vincennes, a billion-dollar Aegis cruiser with computerized radar and weapons systems, intentionally shot down the Iran Air Airbus A300 over the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. All 290 peo ple aboard were killed. Iran has accused the United States of premeditated mass murder and pledged revenge in “the same blood- spattered skies” over the Persian Gulf, where Iran and Iraq have been at war since September 1980. The United States says the Vin cennes fired because signals sent by one of two airliner’s transponders were were analyzed in its combat in formation center as being from an F- 14 fighter on an attack bearing. Iranians shouting “Death to America!” held funerals Wednesday for 24 of the victims. SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Hundreds of callers have pledged their support for the USS Vincennes com mander, a former San Antonio resident who ordered the downing of an Iran Air jetliner, family members say. Capt. William C. Rogers III has been called a hero by people who have telephoned from across the state and country, his brother, artist Richard Harrell Rogers, said. “They generally say he did the only thing he could to protect his men,” the brother said on Tuesday. “People consider him to be a hero. But everyone considers it a tragic loss of life.” On Sunday, the Vincennes fired two missiles at an Iran Airbus A300, destroying it and killing 290 passen gers and crew members. “I’ve lost count of the enormous number of calls,” Richard Rogers said. “Most are from people we know, but haven’t heard from in a long time. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing.” Friends of Rogers from his 1957 graduating class at Jefferson High School unanimously voiced support for him. “He was defending his ship and his crew members,” Ben Corbo, a Kelly Air Force Base civil servant, said. “If it were me, I probably would have done the same thing. You can’t fault him for that.” The assessment was echoed by Larry Hansen, owner of ABC Rug Works. “I don’t see where he had any choice,” Hansen said. Hansen and former classmates Jack Wideman, a City Public Service employee, and Monroe “Ben” Nowotny, owner of a Boerne oil and gas contract company, called Rogers a nice guy. Nowotny said he had known him since the seventh grade at Mark Twain Junior High School. A&M Board fails to revise list of president hopefuls By Stephen Masters Staff Writer The Texas A&M Board of Re gents Selection Committee Tuesday released a list of 54 candidates under consideration for the office of Uni versity president, but more than 25 percent of those listed said, when contacted by The Battalion, that they were not actually seeking the position. Two candidates on the current list — Dr. Ronald W. Roskens, president of the University of Nebraska Sys tem, and Dr. Anderson J. Ward, provost for the National College of Education — were not even aware they had been nominated for the po sition until contacted. Both Roskens’ and Ward’s names appear on a sepa rate list dated March 31. The new list of candidates, dated July 5, is the fifth received by The Battalion since the first list was re ceived in January for the post that University President Frank E. Van diver will vacate Sept. 1. Vandiver will step down to be come director of the Mosher Insti tute of Defense Studies. The January list of 59 candidates has been cut to 54. Several additions and withdrawals have been made, but there has been no change in the list over the past two months. Another candidate, Dr. Don H. Pickrell, said he had written the Se lection Committee in May requesting that his name be removed from the list of active candidates, but it still appears on the July 5 list. All lists, including the most re cent, have a disclaimer saying “per sons who have asked to be with drawn from consideration do not appear on this list.” The Battalion contacted 39 of the 54 candidates on the list. Eighteen claimed they are not even seeking the position, including Roskens and Ward. Another 15 said they are seeking the position, but have not heard anything from the Board’s committees since receiving letters requesting their applications and resumes in March. Six of the candidates declined to comment on whether they were actively seeking the position, but one, Brig. Gen. Ed mond S. Solymosy, chief of staff at Fort Lewis in Washington, did say he had not had any contact with the Board. Although the interviewing proc ess began two weeks ago, the Board declined to release the names of those interviewed in two sessions — one in New York and one in Dallas. Requests by the The Battalion for the names of those interviewed have been denied by the Board or re ferred to A&M’s Deputy Chancellor for Legal and External Affairs. Pres- nal stated that the committee thinks the information is not open to the public under Texas Open Records Laws. The law states that the entity with the requested information has 10 days to respond to written requests, either to approve the request, deny the request or ask for a new opinion. If the information is denied, a pre vious Attorney General’s opinion is to be cited as the reason or a new opinion is to be requested within 10 days. If the request is agreed to, it must be surrendered within 10 days. The Attorney General’s office said no such request had been re ceived from the Board by Wednes day, 12 working days following the initial request. 'The Board has not in dicated to The Battalion which pre vious opinion the Board has relied on to deny the request. The Battal ion requested to be informed by the Board of any applicable court deci sion or Attorney General opinion the Board uses to deny the request. The Battalion mailed a letter Wednesday requesting Texas Attor ney General Jim Mattox investigate A&M’s refusal to release the names and the University’s failure to re quest an opinion. The Attorney General, in a 1986 opinion, said the names of finalists for important positions of lead ership at public institutions must be released. However, Bill Presnal, executive secretary for the Board, said the Board will not compile a list of fi nalists and that not everyone on the current list will be interviewed. Three candidates were inr viewed in New York and “not many’ were interviewed in Dallas, Presnal said. He declined to give the exact number interviewed in Dallas. The Board also has refused to re- See Hopefuls, page 6 For the yell of it Photo by Brad Apostolo Junior Yell Leader Steve Goan whoops it up in Rudder Fountain Tuesday for freshman visiting the University for summer confer ences. These special Aggie yell practices are just a part of orientation for incoming students. Employees face deadline to select health coverage AIDS ‘a touchy issue’ in schools; Awareness up for A&M students By Janet Goode Reporter Texas A&M employees are fac ing a July 15 deadline this year to make health care and other bene fit selections for the 1988-89 fis cal year. Ellen Linder, editorial assistant in A&M’s employee benefits pro gram administration, said em ployees are being required to se lect changes in health coverage, optional life insurance plans and the new “tax saver” plan earlier this year than the usual enroll ment period, which was in Sep tember. Linder said with the new dead line and earlier enrollment pe riod, all the information can be entered in the computers and re ady to go when the first pay- checks come out in September. Linder said the office sent out scantron-type forms this year for efficiency. If an employee does not wish to change from their current ben efit plan, they don’t need to re turn the employee benefit enroll ment book, tax saver enrollment book or the Health Maintanence Organization information that was sent to them June 1', she said. Linder said the biggest isssue is health coverage. People are de ciding if they want to stay with the Lincoln National Insurance (an indemnity plan) or go with one of the plans under the Health Main- tenence Organization. Linder said an indemnity plan is one where the employee pays a deductible such as $200 or $400 and then after meeting that, the company pays 80 percent of the costs. One of the advantages with this plan, she said, is that a person could receive health care any where in the world. An HMO is a specific group of doctors or a specific clinic. A per son can go, without being sick, as many times as they want for a lower, consistent payment such as $5 per visit. The emphasis with these plans, she said, is on health maintenence. The advantage here, she said, is the smaller cash outlay. “Sometimes this can be better for people because they feel freer to go to a doctor more often for routine exams,” Linder said. Linder said that in Texas, peo ple are deciding between the same two HMO’s as last year — the Texas Health Plan and the Scott and White plan. “Some people like the idea that they can go to this one place and pay less money consistently,” she said. Another change in area of op tional life insurance is a lower rate for non-smokers, Linder said. Information on a new program on health care spending accounts also were sent to employees. The “tax saver” spending ac count allows a person to set aside a certain amount of money each month to be taken out of an em ployee’s check, Linder said. There are two types of accounts, she said, one for health care and one for types of care such as day care or health care facilities for a spouse. By Janet Goode Senior Staff Writer Editor’s note: This is the second part of a three-part series on AIDS and its impact on the Bryan-College Station community. Part two exam ines the effect the disease is having in local schools and the efforts these institutions are making to inform students about AIDS. Teen-agers are having sex. According to the state’s depart ment of vital statitics, last year in Texas 10,784 unmarried girls from ages 13 to 17 gave birth. Despite this, many school systems aren’t getting the information out about AIDS. School officials, espe cially in this community, say they feel it is hard enough even to imple ment sex education programs, let alone talk about the fatal disease. It’s the age-old slippery-slope argument of “IF WE TALK ABOUT SEX THEN THEY WILL DO IT.” Bonnie Sorenson, a health educa tor at the Brazos County Health De partment, says she feels the facts about sex and AIDS should first be taught in the home and church and then the schools. “But,” she says, “sometimes a child misses out on learning about it (sex) at home. Sometimes parents don’t have time like they used to. “This is when teen-agers need to get clear information from school. If they don’t, kids get their informa tion from television shows such as soap operas, which don’t depict rea listic pitures of society.” Jerry Ellis, principal at Bryan High School, says the schools in this community are teaching about AIDS in the health education classes but are doing little else to combat the disease. “It’s a pretty touchy issue,” he says. “We are teaching it in our AIDS in B-CS Part two of a three-part series health curriculum, but we’re not going into detail about it. “I think there is going to be more and more said and done, but right now it’s pretty much on the back burner.” Ellis says he feels the kids in high schools, in that age group, aren’t too concerned about the disease. “They don’t really think about it,” he says. Charlotte Potters, head of the health and physical education at A&M Consolidated High School says Dr. John Moore, acting associate director of A.P. Beutal Health Cen ter, says the center deals with stu dents worried about AIDS-related problems daily. “We usually refer actual AIDS cases to specialists, but we treat them with whatever services we have,” he says. Moore says the health center has a fair number of students asking for tests. “Our lab does not actually do the tests but we can arrange for them,” he says. Moore says that even though the roblem of fear and the “it can’t appen to me” syndrome is still K “It’s a pretty touchy issue. We are teaching it in our health curriculum, but we’re not going into detail about it. I think there is going to be more and more said and done, but right now it’s pretty much on the back burner. ” — Bryan High School Principal Jerry Ellis she thinks they are thinking about it and are very receptive to informa tion they receive. “We teach them everything from A to Z about communicable dis eases,” she says, “and this includes AIDS.” Potters says they update informa tion each semester with the most current information from the center of disease control and distribute it in the health education class. On the Texas A&M campus, stu dents seem to think about it even more. As the education level rises, so does awareness. Many college stu dents are passing the denial stage, opening up and talking about AIDS. prevalent on campus, a lot of stu dents are taking precautions, edu cating themselves, and getting tested “just to be sure.” John Schnase, chairman of tjF board of directors of the Brazos ley AIDS Foundation, says^ as worried well people ne^ tional much psychological and do eo . support in light of AI T ^ pl 'W or not to be tested if' e, T frightening to many people ’ tl , e s ^y s - r Moore W* the health center of fers pre an d post-counseling, dur ing w>ich students are informed of the Aigh risk groups so the students can decide if they still need testing. Students also are informed of spe cifics of the tests at that time. Moore said the center mainly wants to in form students that a positive test does not mean a patient has AIDS. A positive test means the patient has antibodies in his system and can transmit the disease. Moore says a wealth of informa tion about AIDS is available and still needs to be disseminated. He says the health center is looking into edu cational materials that could be given out free on campus. He also wants to obtain a video for students that depicts a college girl getting infected from her boyfriend, who got infected from someone else Moore said the center has vid^ about AIDS available now th?" m shown in the waiting roor time to time. -4ve re- And University officiask force cently started buildip^y statement that will establish aore says he be- on AIDS, he say.'ple have been ap- lieves about 14rce and are working pointed to thonal statement about on an in'statement should include AIDS.^s for handling situations, gui