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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1988)
The Battalion Vol.88 No. 4 LISPS 045360 26 Pages In 2 Sections College Station, Texas TVu, S^ \- 1 -Wcdnesday;-Augu3t 10, 1086 Delta jet crash at D-FW kills 13, injures 94 Survivors tell tales of horror aboard Flightl 141 Associated Press Survivors of Delta Flight 1141 recounted their escape from on board the fiery aircraft, saying they knew they were going to crash and simply hoped they wouldn’t die. “You’re hoping you weren’t going to die,” said Penn Waugh, a Dallas attorney who was on the Boeing 727 when it crashed on takeoff from Dal- las-Fort Worth International Airport, en route to Salt Lake City. “It’s getting smoky and you're just trying to get the hell out of the plane.” “We were just terrified,” Mona Thomason, who escaped with scrapes and bruises, said. “We jumped on the wing, hut it looked like we were jumping into a pit of fire.” She reported seeing a woman with two children: “She got one of them out, but I’m afraid the other one was caught in the fire.” Passenger Peter Wright of Dallas said the air craft veered to the right on takeoff, and he heard a banging noise under the carriage. “Then someone said, ‘We’re not going to make Graphic by Tom Eikel it!”’ he said. “After the crash someone kicked the door open.” Wright’s traveling companion, Geoff Parkes, said the plane lost power as it took off, and he saw the right wing tip hit the ground. Flames shot past his window, and jet fuel dripped down the windows. “People were saying, ‘Let’s get out of here! Let’s get out!”’ Parkes said. “I jumped on the wing following Peter and got out.” Jane Wood, who is six months pregnant, and her sons, Adam, 2, and Evan, 5, escaped without serious injury by leaping through a crack near the bulkhead. “It was a big fire,” Evan said. “We jumped out, but we weren’t seat ed.” Jim Hammock of Garland said the plane bounced three times on takeoff and skidded off the runway. “We didn’t make it 50 feet in the air,” Ham mock said. “We skidded and then the engine ex ploded. There was pandemonium. People were jumping on the plane’s wing and burning them selves on it because it was so red-hot.” Melissa Jane Lewis of Tupelo, Miss., said she remembers praying out loud and saying, “Oh God, here we go” as the jet went down. “I felt the engines losing power and noises like tires blowing out on takeoff,” Lewis, who suf fered only a bruise on her leg, said. “The fuse lage filled with smoke and there was a lot of noise. “I hung on until the emergency door next to me opened, then I climbed out on the wing and hit the ground running.” GRAPEVINE (AP) —Thirteen >eople were killed Wednesday but )4 others miraculously survived as \ Delta Airlines jet crashed and Hinted while taking off from Dal- as-Forl Worth International Air- jort, officials said. Flight 1141, which originated ;arly Wednesday in Jackson, Miss., was en route to Salt Lake City with 17 passengers and seven crew members, Delta officials said. A See related stories throughout paper ew of those aboard the aircraft rere babies and not included on he passenger list. “You heard the thing crumple, o you knew you were going to rash the whole time,” said passen- er Penn Waugh, a lawyer from lallas. “You were just looking for way to get out of the plane. Wre hoping you weren’t going a die. “You’re not scared. It’s getting moky and you’re just trying to get he hell out of the plane." Sixty-one people were treated and released from at least six area hospitals, Della spokesman Henry Conley said. Passengers and witnesses said the Boeing 727 appeared to be in trouble as soon as it began to lift off the runway in hazy sunshine at 9:03 a.m. CD F., about a half-hour later than scheduled. The accident is the second at DFW involving Delta in three years. On Aug. 2, 1985, Delta Flight 191, an L-1011 jet, crashed as it approached a runway during a thunderstorm, killing 137 people and injuring 25 others. “For something like this, you’re never fully prepared,” Conley said when asked if the airline had changed any procedures since the 1985 accident. “You just do the best you can.” Wednesday’s accident was at the opposite end of the sprawling air port, the world’s fourth-busiest with nearly 42 million passengers last year. At 17,800 acres, the air port is the nation’s largest. A National Transportation Safety Board team was being as sembled to investigate the crash. “We werejust terrified,” passen ger Mona Thomson said. “We jumped on the wing but it looked like we were jumping into a pit of fire. There was a lady with a child and she got one of them out, but I’m afraid the other one was caught in tfie fire.” “On takeoff the plane bounced three times and skidded off the runway,” Jim Hammack, of Gar land said. “I was sitting by the emergency exit. I couldn’t believe that the pilot didn’t go ahead and land the plane. We didn’t make 50 feet in the air. We skidded and then the engine exploded.” Hammack described the scene as pandemonium. Magazine holds promotion in CS tor models who posed from A&M A&M model posed on a dare from a friend By Alan Sembera Staff Writer Heather Marion, one of two rnod- Is representing Texas A&M who ppear in Playboy magazine’s newly eleased “Girls of the Southwest inference” pictorial, said Wednes- aythat she has enjoyed bas ing her icture published. Marion, who was at a local Jookstore promoting Playboy's lewly released October issue, said tie had gone to the first interview lith Playboy photographers last jiringon a dare. I “A friend of mine didn’t think I’d o the interview, so I did it,” she jid. “I was really casual about it. i “I didn’t think I had a chance. )nce I was selected, it just really joored me. The publicity surrounding the ictorial hasn’t affected her much, le said, because she has been living i Austin during the summer. “It’s really remote,” she said, “be- luse this all got a big buildup round here, but I don’t live in town aymore so I felt really closed of f jrom it.” Marion said she will stay in Austin ) work this semester so that she irn enough money to return to &M in the spring. Heather Marion, a Playboy model, Hastings Record store. Posing for Playboy has sparked an interest in modeling, she said, so she will try working as a model in the Austin area. signs autographs Wednesday at When she returns, she said, she will probably continue singing with the band “Behind the Times,” and will continue her studies in the area of theater arts. The 18-year-old has been studying theater arts at A&M for one year. On her return she will get an un listed phone number, she said, but she acided that she doesn’t expect any problems because of her posing for Playboy. When an autograph seeker asked her if she already had encountered any problems with “guys, jerks or anything like that,” she replied, “Yeah, but I had that before.” The San Antonio native said pos ing hasn’t caused any problems with her family. “They’re not real happy, but they all know about it,” she said. Leigh Sternbaum, the other Aggie who appears in the Playboy pictorial, was not at the promotion. Don Donovan, the southern divi sion manager for Playboy, said he was unable to reach Sternbaum be cause she had been out of town this summer. Playboy held similar promotions at the eight other SWC schools, Do novan said. A&M, along with Texas Christian University and Rice University, only had two students appear in the pic torial. The University of Texas had the most students appearing, with six. Enrollment up slightly overfall ’87 First-day Texas A&M enroll ment figures remained stable this semester with 3&,440 students registered, an inc rease of just 22 students from the first day of fall dassesin 1987. Official enrollment figures will not be compiled until Sept. 13, the 12th day of class. Although preliminary figures show a slight increase in regis tered graduate and minority stu dents, only about 6,000 freshmen have registered — 1 1 percent fewer than last year. A freshman registration cap of 6,600 was set after last year’s record-breaking enrollment of 7,433. A&M Registrar Donald Carter predicts that several hundred more students will enroll before registration closes on Sept. 13, but the previously-estimated en rollment figure of 40,000 still may be slightly high, he said. An earlier application deadline for freshmen and transfer stu dents and changes in admission requirements made predicting enrollment figures difficult, he said. “We may not reach 40,000 stu dents,” Carter said, “but it will be close.” Although about 1,000 jtrere- gistered students have withdrawn or have been dropped for not paying their fees, Carter said many have re-registered. “Everything is positive from where we stand,” Carter said. “It has been a fairly routine opening of a new semester.” A&M president answers questions about plans for University’s future (Editor’s note: The following is the first part of a two part series which gives Texas A&M president William H. Mobley’s views about is sues, problems and challenges facing A&M during his presidency and be yond. The interviews for this story were conducted on Aug. 18 and Aug. 81.) By Stephen Masters Senior Staff Writer After former Texas A&M presi dent Frank E. Vandiver’s announc- ment that he would step down, the Board of Regents began a search for the next president. The search was officially closed July 18 when former Senior Ful- bright Scholar William H. Mobley was named the 20th president of A&M. Mobley took of fice on Aug. 1. Q: What are your goals for your first year in office? A: One, we’re expecting over 40,000 students in the fall, which is an opportunity and a challenge. We want to ensure that as we grow, we really work hard to preserve the quality of life on the campus. By quality of student life I mean both the academic quality of the institu tion as well as all the other things that make this a great institution: the Corps, student activities, parking (laughs). Just a full range of things that make this a positive place to go to school. So one of my goals is not only to protect, but to enhance the quality of the experience for the stu dents. Second, we’re clearly a major re search institution and we want to Frank E. Vandiver and Willian H. Mobley continue to develop our research programs. We have a number of really exciting opportunities: bi otechnology, energy, materials, ma rine and ocean sciences. I could just go on and on. We have top-notch people, faculty and students. We can really make a difference in those areas. I’m com mitted to seeing that in the coming year and beyond we continue to de velop our research programs. In doing that, we’ve got to ensure that we continue to emphasize the instructional side of our University. I suggested to tfie Boafd of Regents when I was appointed that teaching and research are not mutually exclu sive; they are not argumentatives. It takes attention to make sure that they are both done well. It can be done well. It is to students’ advan tage to have faculty who are cutting- edge people in their field. We want to continue to encourage the devel opment of our research programs but at the same time continue to de velop our instructional programs. Third, the phrase “global village” gets used frequently. It is not a trite phrase and it is not a f uturistic com ment. The global village has arrived. We see it all around us. Transporta tion and communications are such that you can be in another part of the world later today and you can certainly know what’s going on in any part of the world right now. The economy is increasingly a global economy. The problems. of political and economic challenges are global in nature. I believe that we need to help all of our students, no matter what theit major, discipline or career goals, while they are in col lege, to become well-prepared to be enlightened citizens and leaders and decisions makers in this global envi ronment. We need to know more about what’s going on in the world to ap preciate and understand different cultures and to know more about ge ography. It’s appalling to see some of these surveys where people have no idea where Nicaragua is, or (think) the Contras are associated with Europe. In a democracy where elected officials help matters through this complicated maze, we need to know more about it. I think an increasing number of us in our careers, students in school now, students who are just graduat ing, henceforth, no matter what their career path, may never leave the United States, but are likely to be involved in professional work activ ities that in some way are related to international activities. So we’ve taken action to inf use more into our curriculum, to create opportunities for students to get abroad while they’re students, to make it afforda ble or have sufficient resources to al low students to profit from interna tional experiences. We as an institution need to be- See Mobley, page 17 Walesa wants settlement of labor strife GDANSK, Poland (AP) — Solida rity leader Lech Walesa called on Po land’s striking workers Wednesday to settle their local grievances and end the country’s worst labor unrest in seven years. Walesa made the appeal hours af ter meeting with government lead ers on the wave of strikes that began Aug. 16 calling for higher wages and the legalization of Solidarity. He said the national issues of guaranteeing trade union pluralism and legalizing his outlawed trade federation would be taken up in round-table discussions promised by the government in the near future, according to a statement read by an aide, Piotr Konopka. Walesa said he raised the impor tance of Solidarity in his three-hour meeting with Poland’s interior min ister, Gen. Gzeslaw Kiszczak — his first with government leaders in six years. “The participants in the dis cussion recognize that all affairs re lated to trade union movement would be discussed by the round-ta ble,” Walesa said. “I propose therefore that we sus pend the current strikes,” Walesa’s statement said. “I accepted further talks with central authorities and turn to the strike committes for the actual ending of the negotiation of other postulates and the suspension of the strikes.” After giving the Walesa statement, Konopka added: “I hope that it will appear as a historical day.” ■If