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Monday, October 3, 1988
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isneros rallies locally for Dukakis campaign
By Alan Sembera
Senior Staff Writer
San Antonio Mayor Henry Cis
neros made a brief stop in Col-
Station Friday to boost the
campaign of Gov. Michael Duka
kis and Sen. Lloyd Bentsen.
Cisneros stressed the impor
tance of this year’s election, not
ing that this is the first presi
dential race in 28 years where no
incumbent is running for re-
election.
The fact that a new president
11 take office next year makes it
important for people to look to
ward building the f uture and not
base their vote on the perfor
mance of the last president, he
said.
“What we’ve got to do is create
a government that is involved and
energetic — that tries to make
things better,” Cisneros told
about 150 Democratic support
ers.
The mayor focused on the na
tion’s domestic policies when list
ing specific programs that the
next administration shotdd sup
port.
Cisneros supported the cre
ation a national energy policy and
called for increased support for
education, low-income housing
and small farms.
Cisneros blamed the Reagan
administration for a decline in
education, saying the high-school
dropout rate is increasing and
SAT scores are declining.
He gave Dukakis high marks
for his educational policy, saying
that San Antonio’s education pro
gram is based almost exclusively
on the Massachussets program.
San Antonio’s program gives a
four-year financial package to
poor students after they graduate
from high school, he said. The
students must have a B average
and 95 percent class attendance.
Cisneros also criticized the cur
rent administration for a “nonex-
istant energy policy”, saying that
the United States is so dependent
on foreign oil that soldiers had to
be sent to the Persian Gulf “to get
shot at.”
If Dukakis were elected presi
dent,- he would appoint Bentsen
to head a national energy summit
to create a national energy policy,
Cisneros said.
T he mayor said this is just one
of the benefits of having a Texan
as vice president. He said Bentsen
would remember his roots and
bring influence to Texas.
Republican presidential candi
date George Bush claims Texas as
a home for voting purposes, al
though he lives in Maine.
When asked about the influ
ence of Hispanic voters in Texas,
Cisneros said he thinks they will
be an attribute for Dukakis and
Bentsen.
Cisneros, who is Hispanic, said
Dukakis and Bentsen are re
spected by the Hispanic commu
nity, and have generated much
excitement there.
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros shows his support for Dukakis at Jose’s Restaurant in College Station Friday.
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ocal officials debate on policy
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Bell tolls farewell
to Olympic athletes
teepis
By Sharon Maberry
Staff Writer
Massive forest fires burning over
airpoi
be w 0,000 acres of Yellowstone Na-
hewb mal Park since the summer have
ised questions about a National
I irk Service “let burn” policy allow-
g natural forest fires to burn
eely.
Sam Logan, information officer
Ir the Texas Forest Service, which
■ part of the U.S. Department of
■griculture, said fires have been a
■tural part of forest lands through-
lit history, including natural fires
■used by lightning and forest fires
It by Indians to make walking and
liming game easier.
tot | Also, some types of trees’ seed
nes must be exposed to fire occa-
mally to let the seeds out.
The idea behind the “let burn”
licy is to let nature take its course,
owever, forest fires in the western
ates are not burning themselves
acentu “There’s nothing wrong with the
ashiinl plicy as long as it’s flexible,” Logan
said. “It’s my understanding that the
“let burn” policy is inflexible and the
severe drought this year got out of
hand.
“It’s awfully easy to armchair
quarterback after it’s already hap
pened, but the moisture content in
some of those trees was 7 percent or
lower, which is drier than lumber
used to build houses.
“Also, a lot of the timber was al
ready dead because beetles had
killed the trees and left them stand
ing. This rotting wood creates a fire
hazard.”
It is more difficult to fight fires in
mountainous regions than in areas
like East Texas forest lands, which
have a flatter terrain. Forest fires in
East Texas usually can be controlled
faster because more roads reach the
areas, and bulldozers can be used on
the flat terrain.
However, in areas like
Yellowstone where the land is too
steep for bulldozers, fires must be
fought by crews of men and women
with hand tools.
The citews scratch a line — usually
a few feet wide —down to mineral
soil. Then they set a back fire be
tween the line and the head fire to
try to take the fuel out of the big fire,
Logan said.
“There are three things that make
a fire burn: fuel, flame and air,” he
said. “Take any one of those three
away and it won’t burn. We (fire
fighters) try to take the fuel away.”
But this method of fire control is
not working in the western states be
cause high winds blow embers as far
as a mile past the scratch lines, he
said. Also, many of the fires are
crown fires, which burn through
treetops and not on the ground.
Although it is generally easier to
fight fires in Texas than in mountain
regions, Texas forests suffer dam
age from fires each year. So far in
1988, more than 2,000 Texas forest
fires have burned 35,500 of its 22
million acres of forest, Logan said.
The U.S. Forest Service occasion
ally uses the National Park Service
“let burn” policy, but usually it at
tempts to put natural fires out, he
said.
Prescribed burning, controlled by
foresters, is often necessary to re
move dead wood and brush that cre
ate fire hazards, he said.
Also, the fastest way to clear har
vested land for replanting trees is to
burn it.
Texas forests are not at risk for
massive burns like those in the West,
Carl Gidlund, public affairs officer
for National Forests in Texas, said.
“Some areas in the West will not
fight a lightning-caused fire unless
human lives or structures are threat
ened,” he said. “In the South, we
don’t really have a ‘let burn’ policy.
If .a fire starts, we fight it. We also
have a different fuel type and it is
far more moist here.”
manitarianism helps Contras
:oven i
i heirl
"sitol WASHINGTON (AP) — The
agan administration, expects to
e advantage of a minor change in
new humanitarian aid package
•Foi the Contra rebels to institute a
ies of non-military training pro-
ams designed to make the insur-
nts more self-sufficient.
The aid program that expired Fri-
iy said the administration could
Je the $17.7 million package only
for food, clothing, medical services
Ah d shelter.
L/ll The new $27 million six-month
ickage signed into law by President
agan Saturday calls for assistance
in the same four areas but the word
has been deleted, permitting the ad
ministration greater flexibility in
how the money is spent.
In signing the $14.3 billion for
eign aid bill, Reagan criticized what
he said was a minimal amount of hu
manitarian aid for the Contras.
U.S. officials, insisting on ano
nymity, said they envision U.S.-
sponsored “skills training” in areas
ranging from radio maintenance to
record keeping, human rights and
health care.
The officials said sucii programs
should boost the morale of the thou
sands of rebels who are camped
along the Honduran-Nicaraguan
border with little to keep them occu
pied.
Many of the rebels flocked to
these camps from inside Nicaragua
over the past six months to take ad
vantage of the assistance programs
being carried out in the border area
by the Agency for International De
velopment.
No deliveries were made inside
Nicaragua because agreement could
not be reached with the Sandinista
government on an acceptable deliv
ery system.
The officials said they expect op
position to the proposed training
programs from members of Con
gress hostile to the Contras who
don’t want them to survive as a vi
able organization.
The prospects for a renewal of
military aid for the rebels are not
good. The aid,package, initially ap
proved by the Senate in August, au
thorized the release of $16.5 million
in stockpiled military equipment un
der certain conditions.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The
1988 Summer Olympics, kept free
of terrorism but tainted by drug
scandals,. closed Sunday with the
pealing of a medieval bell to symbol
ize the sorrow of parting. The
United States finished third in med
als.
The 1,000-year-old, 72-ton Emille
Bell, which according to Korean leg
end has the saddest tone of any in
the world, tolled farewell to the
more than 9,000 athletes from 160
nations who participated in the 24th
Olympiad.
The 16-day event, conducted un
der extraordinary security, wrapped
up with the Soviet Union winning
the lion’s share of the 237 medals
events.
The Soviets took home 132 med
als, including 55 gold, the most ever
in a Summer Olympics without a
major-power boycott. East Germany
had 102 medals and 37 gold, and the
United States 94 medals and 36
gold.
Many felt that the United States
was robbed of a second-place tie for
golds when judges awarded a bout to
a South Korean boxer over Ameri
can Roy Jones in the 156-pound
event on the final day of competi
tion.
Because of boycotts in 1980 and
1984, the Games were the first meet
ing between the Soviet Union and
the United States since 1976 in Mon
treal, and matchups between the two
nations provided some of the
Games’ highlights.
The U.S. men’s volleyball team
beat the Soviets to defend its 1984
Olympic championship, providing
consolation for America’s upset in
the men’s basketball quarterfinals.
America also defeated the Soviets in
women’s basketball and men’s water
polo.
At least 1 billion people watched
the Olympics via a 115-nation,
worldwide TV hookup. The Seoul
Games had the greatest number of
athletes (9,633), the most countries,
the most gold medals and the most
venues (34).
Communist North Korea, which
demanded a role in the Games, boy
cotted them, but the only sports
power to follow suit was Cuba.
Among the highlights:
• Greg Louganis won the Olym
pic Spirit Award as top American
athlete Sunday for winning gold
medals in platform and 3-meter
springboard diving. He accom
plished the same feat in 1980 and
became the first man to sweep the
events twice.
The 28-year-old Louganis, who
hit his head on the board in the pre
liminaries and received five stitches,
announced his retirement from div
ing and said he wanted to pursue
acting.
• Sisters-in-law Florence Griffith
Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee led
an American assault in track and
field.
Griffith Joyner won golds in the
100, the 200 and the 400-meter re
lay, and silver in the 1,600-meter re
lay. Joyner-Kersee won two golds,
taking the heptathlon and the long
jump.
• Kristin Otto of East Germany
won six golds in swimming. Ameri
can swimmer Matt Biondi won seven
medals, five gold, while Janet Evans
earned three golds in the pool for
the United States.
• Daniela Silivas of Romania
dominated women’s gymnastics,
winning three golds, two silvers and
a bronze.
• West German Steffi Graf com
pleted tennis’ first Golden Slam,
winning the gold medal as well as all
four Grand Slam tournaments —
Wimbledon and the U.S., French
and Australian Opens — in a cal
endar year.
timer.
: Regents increase chance of special admission to A&M
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By Juliette Rizzo
Staff Writer
[Students applying for admission
I Texas A&:M may have better
|ances of getting in because of
if ms added to A&M’s special admis-
ms review policy by the Texas
uM&M Board of Regents Saturday,
n, I Under A&M’s special admissions
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■view policy, students who are resi-
:i |ents of Texas and are not admitted
jA litomatically by merit of being in
uii |e top 10 percent of their graduat-
Ig class or for their scores on the
X iholastic Aptitude Test can be ad-
jjitted through a special evaluation
gocess.
Students considered under this
lecial provisions category wall be
'aluated for admission by letters of
commendation, extra-curricular
tivities, planned field of study and
adership experience.
In revising the admission policy,
regents asked Friday that intended
enrollment in the Corps of Cadets be
added as a preference item to the list
of criteria to be considered for spe
cial admissions, although none of
the criteria guarantee admission.
In-state students also may be ad
mitted on the basis of relation to a
former student. For out-of-state stu
dents, the Regents added relation to
a former student to the list of special
considerations.
In other action, the regents
agreed to pay $125,000 in legal fees
to lawyers of former student and
member of the Corps of Cadets,
Melanie Zentgraf, who filed suit
against A&M in 1979 for discrimina
tion.
Zentgraf claimed that she was ha
rassed by male cadets after she was
admitted into the Corps.
The payments were ordered by
U.S District Judge Ross Sterling,
who presided over the Zentgraf case.
A&M already has paid $100,000 to
the law firm that represented Zent
graf.
The Railroad Relocation Concept
Plan also was discussed Friday by the
Regents’ Building and Planning
Committee, led by Chairman Royce
E. Wisenbaker. The Regents se
lected a proposed route for the
tracks, but funding for the $58 mil
lion project is scarce.
Regent John Mobley was the only
Regent not in favor of approving the
relocation before funds are avail
able, to avoid an implication that the
rail lines definitely will be moved, he
said.
In the proposed route, the tracks
would be relocated from south of
Wellborn Road to west of Eas-
terwood Airport toward the east side
of Riverside Campus and connected
with existing rail lines just north of
the intersection of Highway 6 and
FM 2818 north of Bryan.
The Regents said they hope that
the federal government will supply
the remainder of the money needed
for the project since the state can
only come up with about $4 million.
The Regents were asked Friday to
endorse Proposition 3, a proposed
amendment to the Texas Constitu
tion that would create the “Texas
Growth Fund,” a source of invest
ment funds, including venture capi
tal, and job opportunities. Small por
tions of state funds and of the
Permanent University Fund would
be invested in the growth fund.
The resolution passed unani
mously.
The proposition will be on the
Nov. 8 ballot.
Regents also approved the cre
ation of a new company, Technology
Commercialization Inc., or Tech-
Com, which will be owned primarily
by the Texas Engineering Experi
ment Station. Chancellor Dr. Perry
L. Adkisson said TechCom has been
specifically formed to commercialize
technology developed within TEES
and in any part of the University
System that is interested in using its
services.
President William H. Mobley said,
“We are excited about TechCom
and its potential for commercializing
research results from Texas A&M
and TEES. The complexities of
forming companies and licensing
technologies have required the
emergence of a new breed of com
pany based on aggressive technology
transfer.
“Such companies will aid not only
Texas A&M but also the state by
nurturing economic diversification.”
The Board also acted on the fol
lowing issues:
• Approved $10,000 for the first
phases of a “Hall of Honor” for the
Corps of Cadets, which will include
offices for Corps leaders and a visit
ing area.
• Approved an agreement with
the Texas Agricultural Experiment
Station and Renew Development In
ternational Inc. to grant RDI the ex
clusive right to patent an enzyme
that produces light by biolumines-
• The Board also authorized al
lotting funds for use by the veteri
nary medical school.