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Texas A&M
The Battalion
Monday,
1988
College Station, Texas
Vol.
USPS 045360
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Algerian army
opens fire, kills
demonstrators
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Soldiers
ired into crowds of demonstrators Sun-
lay who refused to disperse, and police
md hospital sources said at least 200
oeople had died in rioting over rising
prices and a government austerity pro-
jam.
Clashes between the army and demon
strators grew more violent late Saturday
and early Sunday. Soldiers were ordered
lo shoot at protesters who did not dis
perse and fired repeatedly.
The government confirmed deaths
smong security forces.
The worst violence was reported in the
outhem and eastern suburbs of Algiers
and in the western port city of Oran.
: ighting also was reported in a dozen
provincial centers.
In the capital, Algiers, army helieopt-
:rs armed with rockets flew low, appar-
:ntly to discourage the formation of
irowds.
The city was mostly calm. After mid
day prayers at the city’s mosques, some
sand Jeople gathered and chanted, “Chadli
idemcit vlust Go!” a reference to President
openfee -hadli Bendjedid. They dispersed
disclose juickly when soldiers charged.
Hospital and police sources in various
jarts of the country providing fragmen-
ary information said more than 200 peo-
)le had been killed and several hundred
njured in the past five days. The govern-
nenthas given no official death toll,
itionsfa From the accounts of sources, as well
it cte is descriptions from citizens who wit-
iropcra lessed clashes, it seemed likely the final
reacto
nineic
decat
)flk
iistiv
the
operant
above 40 percent in the capital, and food
prices have risen by as much as 40 per
cent since January.
Algerian radio reported Sunday that
crowds of young people confronted tanks
in violent outbreaks in the Kabyle moun
tain region east of Algiers — where
about 2 million Berbers claim they are
discriminated against for their non-Ar
abic language — as well as in towns in
the southern desert. The radio did not re
port casualties.
The largest number of casualties were
reported in the town of Kouba, on south
ern fringes of Algiers, where the army
fired into a crowd that ignored calls to
disperse. Hospital sources, who spoke
on conditon of anonymity, said more
than 60 people were killed.
Witnesses who also demanded ano
nymity said soldiers fired with machine
guns mounted on tanks and jeeps.
In Bachdjarah, in the eastern suburbs
of Algiers, 30 people were reported
killed, and in the western district of Bab-
el-Oued, nine protesters reportedly died.
Hundreds of other demonstrators were
injured in the Algiers area, hospital offi
cials said.
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On the road again!
Company K-2 marches down Main Street in downtown Houston Saturday be
fore the Texas A&M - Houston football game. The Corps of Cadets makes
two trips out of town every
the University of Texas vs.
year. The second trip this year will be to Austin for
A&M game.
ieath toll could be much higher than
100.
A 26-year-old government official,
liouane Fadela, said she saw gen-
ics in riot gear “charging bystanders
ho were doing nothing, and then kick
lem once they were on the ground.”
e gendarmes are police under military
ntrol.
Authorities on Thursday imposed a
ite of emergency with overnight cur-
:ws and arrested more than 900 people
for looting .
The official APS Algerian news
igency gave a list of reasons for the
hunting unrest — crop failure, the col
apse of oil prices, the global economic
risis and Algeria’s enormous population
increase — from 9.4 million in 1954 to
lore than 23 million.
The unrest began about 10 days ago,
hen industrial workers staged strikes
for higher wages. The government said it
ould not break with its austerity plan to
ise wages, and youths began rampag-
hg in Algiers and other cities.
The austerity plan is aimed at resolv-
hg an economic crisis made worse by
ie fall in the price of oil, the nation’s
ain source of revenue. The plan, an-
ounced in January, aims to line up food
irices with world markets and cut sur
plus workers in the state-owned indus-
ies that dominate the economy.
The unemployment rate is estimated at
Symposium sheds light on Sunshine laws
By Alan Sembera
Senior Staff Writer
Experts on Texas’s Freedom of Infor
mation laws attempted to clear up some
of the confusion surrounding the laws
during a symposium conducted Saturday
morning at Texas A&M.
Attorneys from the State Bar of Texas
and the Texas Attorney General’s Office
focused on the public's right to gain ac
cess to government information under
Texas’s Open Records Act and Open
Meetings Act.
They reviewed the types of informa
tion covered by the laws, how the courts
are interpreting them, and what journal
ists and other members of the public can
do to enforce them.
The symposium first covered the
Texas Open Meetings Act, which re
quires that all actions at government
meetings must take place in view of the
public unless the action falls under an ex
ception listed in the law.
Houston attorney Kelly Frels said
some of these exceptions include the dis
cussion of real estate purchases, the dis
cussion of an individual employee and
meetings with an attorney to discuss pen
ding litigation.
These actions can take place in a pri
vate executive session, he said. How
ever, he added, no final vote can be
taken in these closed sessions.
Frels said problems occur in these ex
ecutive sessions when officials stray
away from what they are supposed to be
talking about and discuss other issues.
The Open Meetings Law also requires
governmental bodies to post an agenda
of what actions will take place at a meet
ing, Frels said.
The agenda must be posted in a public
place 72 hours in advance of the meet
ing. Even actions to occur in closed ex
ecutive sessions must be listed on the
agenda, Frels said.
Frels said it’s hard for a member of the
public to stop a government body from
breaking the Open Meetings Act if it in
sists on ignoring it.
Bad publicity for the officials who vi
olate the act is the only practical means
of prevention, he said, because the local
district attorney is unlikely to file crimi
nal charges against local officials.
He said the main enforcement tool
used against offending government bod
ies is to have their actions voided by a
court if. they weren’t in compliance with
the law.
Jennifer S. Riggs, chief of the open
government section of the Texas Attor
ney General’s Office, also was at the
symposium to explain how the Texas
Open Records Act works.
She said when someone wants a copy
of a government document and the offi
cial who is in charge of the record will
not comply, the person seeking the docu
ment should submit a written request.
The request should be as specific as pos
sible, she said.
When the government agency receives
that request, Riggs said, they have to ei
ther release the information or ask for an
opinion from the attorney general on
whether the document is an open record.
One of these two things must be done
in a reasonable amount of time, which
cannot exceed 10 days, she said. If no at
torney general’s opinion is requested
within this time, the record is automat
ically assumed to be public, she added.
All records are public she said, unless
they fall under an exception listed in the
Open Records Act.
Protecting the privacy of government
employees and students and concealing
investigations by law enforcement agen
cies are some of the reasons a document
would be considered non-public.
When an agency requests an attorney
general’s opinion, Riggs said, they must
include a copy of the request for the re
cords and should give the reason they do
not want to disclose them.
If an agency does release copies of re
cords to someone, the requester has to
pay the costs of producing the informa
tion, she said.
Howard Swindle, a Pulitzer Prize
winning journalist from the Dallas Morn
ing News, also spoke at the event. He
called for a tougher Open Records Act,
saying the attorney general should have
the power to penalize agencies that rou
tinely subvert the act’s purpose by stal
ling and charging excessive fees.
The symposium attracted about 125
people from the Central Texas area, in
cluding a large number of government
officials and journalists.
Tension between these government of
ficials and the media was one of the pri
mary reasons for organizing the sympo
sium, said James B. Sales, president of
the Texas Bar, which cosponsored the
symposium along with the Texas Free
dom of Information Foundation.
Sales said there is too much misunder
standing in the local area about what
government bodies are required to tell
the public.
This was the fourth of six symposiums
to be presented around the state, he said.
A&M, Texas Medical Center will
benefit from biotechnical institute
Official: Rumor of problems
with new garage unfounded
By Richard Tijerina
Staff Writer
Rumors about spacing problems in
the Northside Parking Garage are un
true, said Wesley Peel, Texas A&M
Vice Chancellor For Facilities Plan
ning and Construction.
Rumors had been spreading on
campus that trucks would not be able
to use the ramps in the parking garage
without severe problems making the
turns.
Peel said the worries about the situ
ation are unjustified.
“Isn’t it funny how that (rumors)
works out?,” Peel said. “We’re not
having any problems whatsoever get
ting trucks up and down those ramps.
I myself have a big Chevy truck and 1
drive up and down there every day.”
He said that even vehicles the size
of small campers would be able to
maneuver within the ramps.
The Battalion was allowed to pho
tograph Peel’s truck using the ramps.
The truck appeared to have no prob
lems making the required turns.
Tom Williams, A&M director of
parking, traffic and transit, said
trucks would be able to use the garage
with no problems.
Peel and Williams said that consid
erations are underway to widen the
parking spaces to make parking in the
garage more convenient.
Peel said that the state standard for
parking space width is eight feet six
inches. Widening the spaces to eight
Photo by Mike C. Muivey
General Peal drives his full size truck through the new parking garage.
He did this to prove trucks could park in the garage.
feet nine inches is being discussed.
“Considerations are still under
way,” Peel said. “We thought if we
increased that (width), it would give
people more room to get in and out of
their cars.”
In addition to making the parking
spaces wider, plans are being dis
cussed to change the angle of the
spaces to make it easier to park. Such
changes would reduce the number of
spaces available by about 100. The
garage was planned to hold 2000
cars.
Letters were sent to students over
the summer informing them that they
could reserve spaces in the new park
ing garage by mailing back the card
enclosed with the letter.
Williams said that allocation of
spaces is beginning now from reser
vations made during the summer.
Spaces are being reserved on a first-
come, first-served basis, he said.
The garage is scheduled to open
Jan. 1, 1989. Williams said that con
struction and planning is on schedule
and that everything should be ready
by the opening date.
“That date is pretty much set in
stone right now, so we’ve been shoot
ing for it and we’ll make it,” Wil
liams said. “We’re starting to allocate
all the parking spaces now so we can
be ready by then.”
Security for the new garage will be
extremely tight, both Williams and
Peel said.
“It’ll be safer than Fort Knox,”
Williams said. “There’ll be security
guards there 24 hours a day, plus
there’ll be video cameras on hand to
record everything.”
By Sharon Maberry
Staff Writer
Texas A&M will be at the forefront of
biotechnology with the Institute of Bios
ciences and Technology (IBT), to be
constructed in Houston in conjunction
with the Texas Medical Center.
“The purpose (of the IBT) is to inter
face Texas A&M and the Texas Medical
Center in ways that will complement
both units so we can each do more,”
John Shadduck, dean of the A&M Col
lege of Veterinary Medicine, said.
“We hope to be funded primarily by
federal funds, private gifts and Univer
sity support,” he said.
The IBT’s first project will be the
study of comparative animal genetics in
hope of gaining a detailed understanding
of the human genetic composition, he
said.
“Genetic information (in living orga
nisms) is provided in four building
blocks,” he said. “All of our inherited in
formation is determined by the sequence
of those four blocks.
“There are about three billion different
ways they can be arranged. Sequencing
human genes is to know which block is
in which place.
“Imagine being in space looking at the
earth and wanting to know where every
single person is, physically. There are
about five billion people in the world.
“That is the same as looking at a cell
and wanting to know the order (of the ar
rangement of genetic information). It is
very expensive and time consuming.”
Shadduck said the IBT researchers
will study mice for the key to genetics
because much already is known about
their genetic maps.
This genetic research will be useful for
the Texas Medical Center in learning
about humans and for Texas A&M in
learning about animals of agricultural
importance, like cattle and sheep, he
said.
“Our overall goal for animals of eco
nomic importance is to produce foods
tuffs of greater nutritional composition
for people,” Shadduck said. “We would
also like to determine the genetic basis of
resistance to disease and genetically en
gineer disease-resistant animals.
“This is nothing that hasn’t been done
before,” Shadduck said of the genetic re
search to be conducted at the IBT.
“Crops and animals have been improved
(by man). The difference is that previous
genetic engineering has been by selective
breeding (which takes several genera
tions). Now it’s being done by gene in
sertion (which can bring about the de
sired change in one generation).”
A difficulty of gene manipulation for
desired traits in animals is that many tra
its probably are controlled by multiple
genes and scientists do not know the lo
cation of most of these genes, Shadduck
said.
The IBT, which will be constructed in
two or three years, will involve people
on the A&M campus directly, he said.
Shadduck said he hopes the IBT will
provide opportunities for student in
volvement, such as bringing guests to
campus to give seminars.
Author orders Aggie Players
to stop play’s performance
By Stephen Masters
Senior Staff Writer
After what appeared to be a successful performance Thurs
day, the Aggie Players’ presentation of “A Question of Identi
ty” was canceled before Friday night’s show.
Roger Schultz, director of the Theater Arts program, said
the play was canceled because of “artistic and creative differ
ences” between the play’s producers and the playwright, Pat
FTeiffer.
Dean Daniel Fallon of the College of Liberal Arts said be
cause the play is the property of the playwright, the play
wright has the option of stopping production at any time.
In this instance, he said, because changes were made to
Pfeiffer’s original script and A&M made no disclaimer of the
changes, Pfeiffer decided not to allow further presentations of
the play.
Martell Stroup, a Texas A&M junior theater arts major,
was to play the lead role of David Stein.
Stroup said none of the performance was done “open
script,” but Schultz said the second act of Thursday’s show
was done script in hand, with actors reading from Pfeiffer’s
original version rather than Director Charles Gordone’s ver
sion.
According to Stroup, the cancellation of the play was
caused solely by problems that existed with the playwright,
Pat Pfeiffer.
Pfeiffer was unavailable for comment Sunday.
Gordone, a distinguished lecturer in the theater arts pro
gram, was also unavailable for comment Sunday.
Schultz said ticketholders should call the Rudder Box Of
fice at 845-1234 for information on refunds.