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Senior electrical engineering major Michael Ken
ney, left, and researcher Craig Blanton test the re-
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
sistance vs. temperature characteristics of a high
temperature superconductive ceramic.
Clements: Best place
for collider is in Texas
WASHINGTON (AP) — The En
ergy Department will be fair and im
partial when it chooses the state for
the lucrative super collider, Gov. Bill
Clements said Tuesday after Texas
made its final pitch for the project.
Although Clements and other
high-ranking state leaders claim
Texas has an unmatched commit
ment to the super collider and the
best geological formations for dril
ling the 53-mile underground tun
nel, they said the Lone Star State still
considers its competitors, all six
other states, in the running.
Energy Secretary John Herring
ton expects to announce the site se
lection for the $4.4 billion atom
smasher in Noyember, after the
presidential elections.
Herrington is hearing final pre
sentations this week from all seven
states. Earlier Tuesday, he met with
the Arizona delegation.
At that meeting, Herrington said
politics would play no role in choos
ing the site, Sen. Dennis DeConcini,
D-Ariz., told a separate news confer
ence. The question came up because
of Texas’ prominent role in this
year’s presidential elections — with
the Republican nominee George
Bush an adopted Texan and the
Democratic vice presidential nomi
nee, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, a native
Texan.
The super collider, which will al
low scientists to test exotic theories
of matter and energy, is expected to
create an estimated 3,000 scientific
jobs, thousands of construction jobs,
and provide an economic boon to its
host state.
In addition to Texas and Arizona,
other finalists are North Carolina,
Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, and
Tennessee.
“Over the past 20 months, the De
partment of Energy has conducted
an exhaustive and detailed technical
analysis of each of the sites that are
now under review,” Clements said
after the state’s presentation before
Herrington and other Energy De
partment officials.
“Throughout, the department has
been fair and impartial, and we
know the final seven states will re
ceive the same consideration,” Clem
ents said.
Clements said he believes, how
ever, that Texas’ proposed site near
Waxahachie in Ellis County is supe
rior in all respects for the scientific
endeavor of this century.
The state has an unmatched sense
of cohesion among its congressional
delegation in Washington and back
home in Texas, Clements said, hint
ing
'mong some
of the other six states.
But Clements refused to identify
any state with a split in its ranks, tell
ing a news conference: “That’s your
job.”
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas,
House Speaker Jim Wright, a Fort
Worth Democrat, and Rep. Joe Bar
ton, an Ennis Republican whose dis
trict would include the project also
attended the presentation and gave
Herrington a letter signed by all 29
members of the state’s congressional
delegation.
“The resolve of Texans to host
such a vital facility is great and is
well-expressed,” Clements said.
Quayle, Bentsen
ready for debates
Released hostage cherishes freedom,
mourns those left behind in captivity
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In
dian professor Mithileshwar Singh
said Tuesday his kidnappers treated
him well during his 20 months as a
hostage in Lebanon, but there is no
substitute for freedom and he
grieves for those still held.
Three American colleagues were
kidnapped with the Indian educa
tor, a 60-year-old resident alien of
the United States.
Singh flew from Damascus to
Frankfurt, West Germany, where he
arrived at 2:20 a.m. Wednesday
(9:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday) aboard a
U.S. Air Force transport plane, a
military spokesman said.
Singh did not speak to reporters
at the Air Force’s Rhein-Main Base.
Craig Springer, spokesman for
the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, told
Machine enables boy
to survive at home
AUSTIN (AP) — Julian Alcala’s
trip home this week will cap months
of effort by hospital and social work
ers to find money for the machine
the 11-month-old boy needs to sur
vive outside the hospital.
The machine will help Julian fight
a rare bone disease that weakened
his ribs and affected his breathing. It
won’t cure the disease, but it will al
low him to leave Brackenridge Hos
pital in time to celebrate his first
birthday Oct. 18 with his mother and
grandparents in San Marcos.
“Right now I’m starting to get ner
vous,” said his mother, Cynthia Al
cala, 20.
Julian has hypophosphatasia, a
terminal genetic illness that prevents
his bones from absorbing the cal
cium they need to grow and develop.
His ribs have become too weak to
support his lungs, and he needs the
ventilator to breathe.
Julian’s illness has no known treat
ment, beyond providing ventilator
support and trying to control the
harmful effects of the unabsorbed
calcium in his blood, said Dr. George
Edwards, director of pediatric edu
cation at the hospital.
Alcala said her son loves attention,
loves people talking at him. Getting
him out of the hospital and into her
home is important to her. She has an
extended family willing to help, she
said. Julian is tentatively scheduled
to go home Wednesday.
The problem of paying for and
coordinating the infant’s move from
the hospital has been extraordinary,
said social workers who have worked
with the Alcala family.
Alcala is single, without income or
health insurance and ineligible for
the local health district’s Medical As
sistance Program because she is not a
Travis County resident.
Under state rules governing Med
icaid payments, pediatric hospital
care is covered for a maximum of 30
days. Julian, born in San Marcos,
spent more than 30 days in other
hospitals last year, and a brief period
at home beginning in late Novem
ber.
After suffering seizures on New
Year’s Eve, he was admitted to
Brackenridge, where the illness was
diagnosed.
Brackenridge has been paying for
Julian’s hospital stay because “there’s
no one else who can do it,” said Sha
ron Larson, assistant administrator
at Brackenridge. “It has been expen
sive care. It’s well into six figures.”
Later, Homespun, a state-funded
program that helps Hays County
families with disabled children at
home, helped locate funding for the
Alcala family through a new pro
gram in the Texas Mental Health
and Mental Retardation Depart
ment.
In addition, Brackenridge offi
cials agreed to supply the $7,616
home ventilator if Hays County
would pay for medical supplies, an
expense estimated at $1,000 a
month.
Julian was ineligible for indigent
health care because he had access to
Medicaid funds, even though his
Medicaid funds were exhausted,
said Eva Cruz, the county’s indigent
health care coordinator.
But the Hays County Commis
sioners Court committed the county
to pay for half of the monthly ex
penses for Julian’s care at home.
The MHMR program wall provide
the other half.
Alcala said she w’ants to get a high
school General Equivalency Diploma
and study nursing at Austin Com
munity College.
“I’m going to need all the luck I
can get,” she said.
reporters at the base that Singh
would undergo a medical checkup
and then a State Department de
briefing team was scheduled to in
terview him later Wednesday.
“This is a two-fold operation,”
Springer said. “No. 1 is to insure the
physical and mental health of Mr.
Singh, but at the same time to find
out about other contacts he may
have had.”
They are anxious to talk to him
and see if he has any information
relevant to the remaining hostages
and their conditions.
Singh was taken to a military hos
pital in Wiesbaden, 24 miles west of
Frankfurt, Air Force Lt. William Dil
lingham said.
His release leaves nine Americans
and seven other foreigners still miss
ing in Lebanon and believed held by
extremist Moslem kidnappers.
Held longest is Terry A. Ander
son, chief Middle East correspon
dent of the Associated Press, who
was abducted March 16, 1985.
Lalmani Singh was reunited Tues
day with her husband at the U.S.
Embassy in Damascus.
Mrs. Singh did not go with him to
West Germany, but said she expects
to join her husband very soon.
Singh was freed Monday night in
Beirut and driven to Damascus by
Syrian army officers, then turned
over to U.S. Ambassador Edward
Djerejian.
Djerejian, Indian Charge d’Af-
faires B. Balakrishnan and Syrian
officials saw Singh off at the airport.
Djerejian said Singh asked to be
allowed to rest, and “given the cir
cumstances, he is feeling relatively
well.”
A Syrian doctor pronounced
Singh fit for travel.
Although Singh is an Indian citi
zen, he was considered one of nine
American hostages held in Lebanon
because he taught at the American
University and lived in America
prior to his teaching position there.
Vice presidential nominees Dan
Quayle and Lloyd Bentsen polished
their debate lines Tuesday in prepa
ration for their 90 minutes in the
campaign spotlight. At the top of the
tickets, George Bush said he wanted
to inspire affluent youths “to help
our poor,” while Michael Dukakis
said the GOP offers only “slogans
and symbols.”
Republican Quayle and Democrat
Bentsen were flying to Omaha,
Neb., the site of Wednesday night’s
debate.
“We’re ready,” Quayle said dur
ing a tour of the Bush-Quayle cam
paign headquarters.
A new poll released Tuesday sug
gested that the debate would give
Quayle a chance to overcome some
of the negative images about him
that are driving undecided voters
away from Bush.
The CBS News-New York Times
poll of 1,034 probable voters found
48 percent support for the Bush-
Quayle ticket and 46 percent for the
Dukakis-Bentsen ticket. But when
voters were asked about their presi
dential preference only, the support
for Dukakis slipped to 43 percent.
The poll, conducted Saturday
through Monday, had a margin of
error of plus or minus three per
centage points.
“We are very, very proud of you,”
Republican campaign chairman
James A. Baker III told Quayle. “We
are very, very proud of the job
you’re doing for this campaign.”
When asked what tactics he’d use
against Bentsen, Quayle said, “My
debate strategy? Tune in tomorrow
night.”
“Feeling good,” said Bentsen,
while walking from a practice studio
to his hotel in Austin.
Spokesman Mike McCurry said
Bentsen was working on “the best
way of making a point memorable or
punchy.”
Dukakis campaign manager Su
san Estrich, who was in Austin help
ing Bentsen, said, “We’re not teach
ing him new positions on issues. ... I
think that’s what the Quayle people
have to do.”
Bush was in Sacramento, Calif.,
and he outlined his plan for a quasi
public foundation called Youth in
Service to America to encourage
young people to volunteer in com
munity activities.
“I want our affluent to help our
poor,” he said. “I want the young
men and women of our tree-lined
suburbs to get on a bus, or the sub
way, or the metro, and go into the
cities where the want is.”
The Republican presidential
nominee described his proposal as
an alternative to massive federal
spending.
He said years of federal programs
designed to help the poor had pro
ven that “we can’t buy our way out.”
A fact sheet distributed to report
ers said Bush would ask for $100
million in federal funds to match
private donations to the foundation.
Dukakis spoke at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Ill., and at
tacked what he called Bush’s “record
of failure.”
County crisis center lends hands,
ears to help victims of rape cope
By Kelly S. BroWn
Staff Writer
Ninety-four cases of rape have been reported
in Brazos County since January.
And those 94 lives will never be the same.
When people are raped it does change their
lives, but they need help to cope with the change.
Sometimes it’s just a listening ear or a hand to
hold — but it’s something — and victims need
that kind of support.
The Brazos County Rape Crisis Center func
tions as such a supportive structure.
Support is given by the staff and volunteers
who dedicate their time to helping victims re
cover from the trauma of rape or child molesta
tion.
But the Crisis Center needs more volunteers.
It has 46 volunteers now — half of whom are stu
dents. Six are males.
Linda Castoria, executive director of the Crisis
Center, said volunteers must be able to genuinely
understand the pain victims are undergoing.
“They don’t necessarily have to have been vic
tims themselves, but they must have an innate de
sire to help others, and it takes a certain strength
and courage to deal with the victims. The issues
are very volatile — very sensitive,” Castoria said.
And because of the nature of this sensitivity,
training sessions are given to volunteers so they
can learn how to deal with the situation and de
velop a trust with a victim.
Such a lesson takes time and experience.
The time the Crisis Center asks a volunteer to
give is usually two or three eight-hour shifts per
month, Castoria said. There are three different
programs a volunteer can assist with — hotline
advocates, escort advocates or Friends of the
Family advocates.
The training is basically the same for each pro
gram, but the volunteers do separate tasks.
One hotline advocate is on duty each night,
but the volunteer works at home - calls are for
warded there.
Castoria said working the hotline requires be
ing calm in panic situations, as well as being a
quick thinker.
“Sometimes the victim has just been raped and
she is bleeding. The volunteer must be able to
cope with that, while calling the hospital and re
sponding immediately to whatever comes up.”
When someone is raped and it’s reported, an
escort from the hotline is often called. Escorts
carry pagers and if they’re needed they go
wherever the victim is and provide comfortm. Es
corts answer questions and tell the victim what
exactly is going on.
Sometimes it’s hard for the family to tell what
is going on, and that’s why Friends of the Family
advocates exist. They support the family and an
swer any questions they may have.
Castoria said some volunteers have been vic
tims themselves, while many know someone
whose been a victim.
“But all have a sense that there is a definate
need for such volunteers,” she said.
Volunteers are in demand as sexual assaults
are on the rise.
Since the Crisis Center began five years ago,
there have been 650 reported rapes.
More and more rapes are being reported, Cas
toria said.
“But sometimes when college students are a
victim of date rape, they don’t press charges with
the police. What they should know is that they
can report it to the Judicial Board of Student
Government, and if they think there is enough
evidence to justify rape, the suspect will be dis
missed from school.”
The 36-hour training class for new volunteers
will be conducted the weeks of Oct. 10 — Oct. 20,
meeting Monday — Thursday evenings from 6
— 9:30 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 15 from 9 a.m. -5
p.m. To obtain an application call 776-7273.