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exas A&M he Battalion Friday, Oct. 14, 1988 College Station, Texas Vol. 88 No. 35 USPS 045360 16 Pages Hangin 5 in there Workers for Mid-Continental Restoration steady a plat form to work on Rudder Tower. Mid-Continental was Photo by Fredrick D. Joe hired by the Physical Plant to clean and waterproof the exterior of Rudder. Bush, Dukakis clash in campaign debate LOS ANGELES (AP) — George Bush pointed to arms control, defense and the death penalty Thursday night to punctuate his campaign-long description of Michael Dukakis as a liberal. Duka kis, seeking a debate-night break through, rejected labels in favor of a “vi sion of America” and portrayed Bush as an apostle of the status quo. The two White House rivals also clashed over Social Security in their sec ond and final debate of the race. Bush vowed he’d never cut the federal pension program, no matter what Dukakis said. The Democrat cited unsuccessful Reagan administration efforts to do just that, and said, “I’m sure you’ll try to do it again.” Bush was looking to pad a lead in the public opinion polls as the two rivals met on the campus of UCLA. Dukakis went into the encounter looking for a breakthrough to turn the race in his favor in the final weeks. On Social Security, on the environ ment, on ethics in government, Dukakis said repeatedly, “I don’t know which George Bush I’m listening to” and ac cused him of shifting positions. Dukakis said the campaign would turn on the issues if Bush would “get rid of the labels . . . Mr. Bush has used the la bel ‘liberal’ at least 10 times.” The Republican candidate said, “I’m happy with the way it came out,” and his campaign chairman said, “I really be lieve the vice president cleaned his clock.” James A. Baker III said Bush firmed up his own support and “closed the sale with the undecided” voters. Just as predictably, Democrats rated Dukakis the winner. “I think it was a clear win for Mike Dukakis. I thought he did an excellent job,” Sen. Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee said. Whatever else it accomplished, the event marked the end of a long string of debates in the 1988 primary and general election campaigns. Bush, when asked whether he would agree to a third encounter with Dukakis, said, “No . . . People have had it up to here with debates.” Bush strongly defended his vice presi dential running mate, Dan Quayle, and said he could do the job if tragedy thrust him into the Oval Office. Dukakis replied that Bush had said the selection would “tell all. . .and it sure did.” The high-stakes debate 26 days before the election blended political hardball with poignant moments when first Bush, then Dukakis, recalled the death of their own children, many years ago. Bush said that as president he would have no conservative litmus test for Su preme Court justices, and wouldn’t choose judges who would try to legislate from the bench. He then noted that Du kakis once called himself a “progressive liberal Democrat” in order to get pri mary votes. He said President Reagan had made outstanding Supreme Court appointments. Said Dukakis: “If the vice president of the United States thinks that Robert Bork was an outstanding appointment that is a very good reason for voting for Mike Du kakis on the 8th of November.” Bork’s controversial nomination was defeated by the Senate. Dukakis said he has ap pointed 130 judges in Massachusetts based on ability and not because they are liberal or conservative. Bush has never appointed a judge, he noted. Bush said Dukakis had raided Massa chusetts state pension funds to balance the budget, and Dukakis shot back, “You’re dead wrong.” Bush used his closing statement to stress his Republican National Conven tion vision of a “kinder, gentler nation.” On-campus buses start new routes beginning Monday rofessor: Bush, Dukakis tie in final debate By Sharon Maberry Staff Writer The second and final presidential de- i between George Bush and Michael fikakis Thursday was a tie, A&M Polit- Science Professor George Edwards lid. rTherc were no basic slips and no tat victories,” Edwards said. ‘‘Both pdidates have reinforced their own bporters. Those who went into the de bate supporting Bush will continue to pport him and those who supported Ikakis will continue supporting him. bple have very selective perception, ley think that who won it is who they pported.” Residential debates normally do not ave a major influence on voters, Ed- irds said. They usually serve to simply ijnforce existing beliefs. Something bi te must happen to significantly influ- be a candidate. )ne such bizarre event occurred in |S!76 in the presidential debate between ifnmy Carter and Gerald Ford when ford made the misstatement that Eastern Birope was not dominated by the Soviet Bjiion, Edwards said. Although most Jwers did not pick up on the statement, J press made his mistake very visible. The immediate polls after the debate ported that it was a tie. However, a few ys later, after the press coverage, the (Ills showed that Carter was a definate iner. There was no dramatic occurence in lursday’s debate to significantly sway Voters, Edwards said. “The basic strategy of the Bush campaign has been to label Dukakis as a non mainstream American and a liberal,” — George Edwards, political science professor “If there is a use (of a presidential de bate), it is that it offers one more oppor tunity for everyone to evaluate the candi dates,” he said. “It is simply that. There is nothing very enlightening about watching two men standing on a stage.” One value of debates is that people can see the candidates in a slightly less con trolled atmosphere. “Normally, all we see is little snipets on the news and candidate advertise ments,” he said. “The only thing we see is as controlled as possible. When else do we watch them for one-and-a-half hours?” Edwards said the Bush campaign strategy dwelling on Dukakis’ policy of weekend furloughs for convicted crimi nals has been very effective. “The basic strategy of the Bush cam paign has been to label Dukakis as a non mainstream American and a liberal,” he said. “Once you’ve got that label, people in Texas won’t like him. “That’s why we see these ads being run heavily in Texas. They are not run ning in every state. They run where they will appeal to people. Dukakis has no chance to win in the South, including Florida.” The facts that most states have a fur lough program and that the Massachu setts furlough policy has been changed will not sway Southern opinions about Dukakis, Edwards said. Congressman Richard Smith, who is the area coordinator for the Bush cam paign in Bryan-College Station, said the presidential debate is not a true debate. “It’s a press conference more than anything else,” he said. “But strictly on who enhanced their position, Bush is better off now than he was before the de bate. He’s continuing to define the issues and the differences between the candi dates. “Dukakis did a good job. He is clearly a competent and intelligent individual, but he didn’t have the personal touch for the American people that Bush did.” One of Dukakis’ biggest successes was avoiding a tough question that no politician likes about which taxes he would raise if necessary. He also blunted some difficult questions by interrupting the journalist, Smith said. Brazos County Democratic Chairman Ron Gay said that Dukakis added clarity to his campaign by expanding on an swers he gave during the first debate. “I was glad to see Dukakis clarify his stand on defense,” Gay said. “He showed that he has a reasoned approach to the defense policy and he is not against unilateral defense. “Those answers showed that Dukakis has given a great deal of thought to the problems facing America and how he would solve those problems. It was sur prising to me that Bush doesn’t seem to have given very much thought to what he’ll do when and if he wins.” Both candidates scored strong points when they talked about the children they had lost and what they suffered. Gay said. Their love of family was evident. By Fiona Soltes Staff Writer Texas A&M on-campus shuttle bus routes will be modified during the next few weeks as a result of residence hall construction. Modules for the north side residence halls will be delivered next week, which will necessitate the temporary closing of Houston and Hogg streets, both near Sbisa Dining Hall. Asbury Street will be come a two-way street to accommodate on-campus traffic. Doug Williams, manager of bus oper ations, said the new routes will begin Monday. “The modules won’t be delivered until Thursday, but we’d like to tiy to get ev eryone oriented with the new system be fore the streets actually close,” Williams said. The Rudder and Cotton Bowl routes will remain the same, but the others will change completely, he said. “Because of safety reasons, Houston Street from University Drive to Asbury Street has been closed,” Williams said. “This means none of the current routes can go near the Fish Pond. We’ve had to find a way around it.” Bus operations has designed four new routes to work around the problem: Coke, Green, Blue and Red. The Coke route is the only route of the temporary routes that will go inside the campus perimeter. It will cross the rail road tracks at Albritton Bell Tower and go by the Coke Building and the MSC. Mexican national storms Consulate, takes U.S. hostage VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — A gun- wielding man complaining of mistreat ment by Mexican authorities stormed into the U.S. Consulate Thursday and took the consul hostage, officials said. U.S. Embassy spokesman William Graves said Edwin Culp is being held by a Mexican national. We have notified Mexican authorities and they have been in touch with the individual who is in Culp’s office. Culp is not a foreign service officer but a civilian consular agent serving as consul. Graves said. The building housing the consulate was surrounded by about 50 federal, state and local police officers late Thurs day night, according to Jose Antonio Herrera, night editor of El Dictamen. A federal judicial police spokesman in Veracruz said Cmdr. Isidro Landa Men doza was at the consulate. The spokes man could not provide details on the sta tus of negotiations. U.S. Embassy duty officer Robert Hu- gins said the man who seized Culp was identified as Francisco Delfin Perez of Cordoba, which is near Veracruz. xpert: U.S. tops Soviets in space race By Alan Sembera Senior Staff Writer Jibe United States still is ahead of the jSoviet Union in the space race despite : two-and-a-half-year delay in the U.S. lace program caused by the Challenger explosion, according to a Texas A&M pipert on Soviet technology. (Richard E. Thomas, head of A&M’s Jenter for Strategic Technology, said (at although the delay caused by the Challenger mishap has hurt the U.S. pee effort, the superiority of Western jchnology has helped the United States Itain its overall advantage. [But Thomas said the Soviets put a kater emphasis on their space program, which receives a vast amount of funding (id involves some of the country’s best scientists and engineers. is a truly national effort, somewhat m contrast to our program which is a Srombination of the Air Force and NA SA,” Thomas said. “I think the Soviet program carries almost the same kind of commitment to it as we had in the ’60s when we challenged them to a race to the moon.” It is difficult to compare the progress of the Soviet space program with the United States’ program, Thomas said, because the countries concentrate on dif fering aspects of space technology. “Their program has emphasized put ting large stmetures in space,” he said, “and they have emphasized manned op erations in space. They hold many re cords for cosmonaut endurance and that sort of thing. “They have a very active program aimed at putting man in space and keep ing him there.” The Soviet’s MIR space station plays a large role in the man-in-space program, he said. The MIR station was launched in 1986 to replace the aging SALYUT-7 space station. Thomas said it seems that MIR will be manned constantly, with a rotating crew. The constant occupation will help the Soviets learn more about how living in space affects the human body, he said, which will enable them to create better life-support systems. The Soviets are emphasizing such areas of space technology in an attempt to “industrialize” space, Thomas said. “They talk about wanting to do man ufacturing in space in the low-gravity en vironment,” he said, “which is a great boost in terms of developing superpure metals or superpure medicines.” To help achieve the industrialization, the Soviets also are working on a space shuttle similar to the one built by NASA. Thomas said the Soviets did not dis close that they were working on the shut tle program until about four years ago. When the shuttle finally appeared, he said, it was almost an exact copy of NA SA’s shuttle. The Soviet shuttle is almost exactly the same size as our shuttle, he said, and it has the same delta-wing shape. “It has a different propulsion system arrangement on it so it’s not an exact du plicate of ours,” he said. “I’m sure that inside it’s different, but nobody knows.” He said he did not know when the So viets would launch their shuttle. “They move ahead very deliberately,” Thomas said, “they don’t take many risks. “There was some speculation that they might try to launch their shuttle before we got the Discovery off the ground, but they didn’t get that done. “There’s some indication that they’re having computer problems on board that shuttle.” The Soviets also need to make another test of their new SL-X-17 heavy lift booster before they can launch the shut tle, Thomas said. This booster, called “Energiya”, will be used to launch the shuttle into orbit, he said. They have only tested the booster The Green route will serve the veteri nary school. Ocean Drilling Building, University Drive and Kleberg Animal and Food Science Center. The Blue route will be similar to the Green route, but will not go all the way to the Ocean Drilling Building. The Red route will travel the perimeter of the A&M campus as the Cotton Bowl bus does, but it will not go to Bus Opera tions. The buses still will be based at Olsen Field. The Villa Maria exterior bus route also will be modified during construction. The bus will stop on Ireland Street near Zachry Engineering Center instead of on Asbury Street to alleviate some traffic. Williams said the routes will return to tlfeir original pattern as soon as the dor mitory modules have been delivered. Maps of the new routes have been posted in all interior-route buses. Elsewhere on campus, construction has been completed on Parking Annex 88, near Jersey Street. The lot, reserved for dormitory students with red parking stickers, will be open for parking during this weekend’s football game. once, in May 1987. The test was suc cessful, Thomas said. The Energiya booster is a heavy-lift vehicle that can lift more than 100,000 kilograms into a low orbit. Previouly, the Soviets’ largest booster could lift only 19,500 kilograms. The United States’ largest lift vehicle, the space shuttle and its boosters, has a payload of about 26,000 kilograms. But the superiority of the Soviet boosters can be decieving when trying to compare their capabilities to ours, Thomas warned, because more does not necessarily mean better. “Because of technical problems,” he said, “their satellites don’t last as long as ours, and they aren’t as capable. Microe lectronics is an area where they’re very deficient, so they have to put up larger packages.” The Energiya booster represents an advantage in one aspect, however, be- See Space, page 9 Student found after 1-day search By Holly Becka Staff Writer A Texas A&M MBA student re ported missing Thursday was found at a friend’s house Thursday night af ter the University Police Department received a call telling of her location. Bob Wiatt, director of the Univer sity Police Department, said Sudha Muddepu was reported missing by a friend Thursday after she missed a test. Wiatt said the department had is sued a multi-state missing person no tice for Muddepu, who is from Loui siana. The College Station police report states Muddepu said she had reached her vehicle in the Mud Lot and had unlocked it when she was attacked from behind and blindfolded by someone. The report states her hands and feet were tied and she was placed in her own vehicle and driven away from the Mud Lot. The report states Muddepu escaped from the perpetrator and drove her vehicle to a friend’s home. The College Station police report calls the disappearance an abduction that lasted from 11:45 p.m. Wednes day until 7 p.m. Thursday. The investigation has been turned over to the College Station Police De partment since Muddepu’s abduction occurred in the Mud Lot located at the 300 block of Nagle. Wiatt said Muddepu had called her roommate at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday from the Blocker Building to say she was coming “straight” home. She did not go home Wednesday night, Wiatt said. He also said the department re ceived a call after Muddepu was re ported missing from someone who said her car was in the Mud Lot at 11:15 p.m. but was gone at around 11:40 p.m. “All I can say is that she gave us a detailed account about her alleged ab duction,” he said. Muddepu’s friends had formed a search party and posted fliers in the Blocker Building Thursday to aid in the search. The fliers were taken down after Muddepu was found.