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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1989)
y, April 24,198 :rsity of Houston Sys- possible merger will m, but recently broke ry talks by citinj ion and disagreemeni . Craig Washington, is filed a resolution ibility study to place lantly black Texas ersity under the UT ms, prompting out : TSU students, mhandle, A&M and irking last week to mergers with West niversity in Canyon, hn Smithee, R-Am- duced a resolution to West Texas State and niversity in Lubbock item. rnent of universities ible in their requests n the taxpayers and they don’t become their credibility," he ' Texas and the tax- tinned to putalotof her education solely that high-tech and n are going to bail us k of Texas. At some ; going to be looking it every Universits he best of its ability ids it can get. That's as an Aggie I want the money there is. material candidate, ird of caution. From that comes out of copies pockets, you some results.” the question that .rayle, Williams said, -st official act would : a series of schools oilitation centers so I ly show what I think : said. most of his time in 'f the campaign has eloping a staff and bating campaign is- ers. But his biggest n conditioning him- tudents and alumni ■ of Texas “teasips." onghorn voters out aid. “I spent a long t to say teasips, bull has apparently paid d his first contribu- a conservative Dent- the University of nates he will need >n for his campaign, he will put up him- u tions are definitely 1 ’ achievements that ' do myself, but this m,” he said, “leant telp.” Ip, he might end up g- week. case continues to st on Capitol Hill, week with little else mains out of session extended Passovet louse does not re- rsday when action is tpplemental appro- the current fiscal •use banking panel Dn its version of a up the S&L indus- •mniittee said Iasi report on Wright, nvestigating how a jmpany bought ai i an oil and gas well putting up only — and sold it the ),000. ts history. 3u go in the United r , is new,” she said, el and experience story. You’re walk- t’s incredible, mportant to Mos- and Jews. We all that for recreation ie beach, go skiing, ig, scuba-diving ee weeks there, 1 s been really disap it straight home, t was like a tease 'ant to see much itry. That’s why 1 er the three-week there for a year o me.” program provides e way to get to Is- ound-trip airfare, tours and a free pe are included in vont volunteering obtained from the 'flee or the Hillel snter. The Battalion WORLD & NATION 9 Monday, April 24,1989 Families welcome survivors Battleship Iowa returns home to solemn ceremony NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The scarred battleship USS Iowa made a somber return Sunday to its home port, where about 3,000 family members and friends of the crew welcomed loved ones who escaped an explosion that killed 47 sailors. Sailors in whites with black arm bands lined the rails as the huge ves sel docked at the Norfolk Naval Base’s Pier 5 at 5:41 p.m., just one minute later than Navy officials had estimated. Twenty minutes later, families started filing aboard the ship, exchanging tearful embraces with the returning sailors. “They wanted to get here on schedule and were anxious to get home,” Capt. Steven Karalekas said. The explosion Wednesday flashed through the Iowa’s No. 2 gun turret, which extends six decks down into the ship. There were 11 survivors inside the turret, all on the lowest deck loading powder from the ship’s magazines, the Navy said. The surviving crewmen of No. 2 turret stood on top of the fire-black ened turret as the ship pulled into the pier, with full crews on the ship’s two other turrets. The No. 2 turret was in the same position as when the explosion oc curred, facing right with the left and right guns elevated. The center gun, where the blast occurred, was de pressed. Navy teams who entered the tur ret immediately after the blast found the No. 2 gun’s breech open and un damaged, with the practice projec tile that the gun was to have fired still there, The New York Times re ported Sunday. This indicated the explosion oc curred while the powder bags were still being loaded into the gun, the Times said, citing unidentified sources. When the 887-foot vessel first ap- eared there were scattered cheers y those on the dock, but all re mained silent as the ship pulled into the pier. The somber mood was heightened by the lack of bands, and few waves were exchanged as the ship docked. Adm. Powell Carter, commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet, was on the dock to greet the vessel. As it docked, three Marines raised a flag to half-mast at the stern of the ship. The Navy kept the news media about 300 yards from the families, and reporters were not allowed to talk with the families or the crew men. The violence and power of the turret explosion was shown in an amateur videotape released by the Navy on Sunday. The tape was made by an officer on the bridge of the Iowa who wanted to record the fir ing of the big guns. The detonation, which appears to blast away the gasket-like rubber “bloomers” that seal the turret’s gun slits, is followed by a jet of intense fire and thiqk smoke from the front and base of the gunhouse. The videotape cut immediately to damage control firefighters spraying heavy streams of water onto the tur ret. Throughout the Norfolk area, churches dedicated prayers Sunday morning to the families of Iowa crewmen. “We have lost 47 of our number in a tragic way,” said Cmdr. John L. Fitzgerald, a chaplain, in a service at the Norfolk Naval Air Station. “Our faith helps us to handle what science cannot answer, the mystery of death.” A red rose, a yellow ribbon with the number 47 on it and a book con taining the names of the dead were taken to the altar. We have lost 47 of our number in a tragic way. Our faith helps us to handle what science cannot answer, the mystery of death. — John L. Fitzgerald Navy chaplain Soviets turn critical on space program MOSCOW (AP) — Soviets once danced in the streets to celebrate their country’s space suc cesses, hailed by the party as proof of the superi ority of socialism. But with chronic shortages of everything from toothpaste to housing, the cheers are now drowned out by calls to spend available rubles on Earth. The Soviet space program has become the lat- esttarget of criticism as President Mikhail S. Gor bachev’s policy of “glasnost,” or openness, un leashes long-suppressed public complaints. Untold billions of rubles were spent to put the first Sputnik satellite in orbit in 1957, to make Yuri Gagarin the first man in space in 1961, and to achieve other space feats. On April 12, the anniversary of Gagarin’s flight in Vostok-1, a newspaper recalled how So viets celebrated the news by singing and dancing through the streets. But more than 31 years after Sputnik circled the globe, Soviet space exploration has not real ized the prediction of rocket pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who said said harnessing the cosmos would bring “mountains of bread and enormous power” to those who mastered it. Soviets began soul-searching about space ex penses after a series of problems with their coun try’s space program. The problems coincided with official pressure tocuta$162 billion budgef deficit and grdwing impatience with shotttuges of food, consumer goods and housing. In part for economic reasons, the Mir space lab will be without a crew for three months start ing Thursday when three cosmonauts return to Earth. The debate on Soviet space spending is remi niscent of the American public’s questioning of the billions of dollars spent on the Apollo project in the 1960s and 1970s to put men on the moon while some Americans lived in poverty. Controversy over space spending spilled into the open early this year in the campaign for a new Parliament. Candidates, including maverick communist Boris N. Yeltsin, received some popular support when they suggested the space program be put on hold for a few years. The Kremlin already has reduced outlays for another institution once outside public criticism, the military. Last year, Soviet leaders announced that some defense plants will be converted to produce consumer goods, food and building supplies to parry chronic shortages. Adding fuel to the space-spending controversy were the November launch of the $10 billion shuttle Buran; the loss in September and March of two unmanned Mars probes, Phobos I and II, at a cost of a half-billion dollars; and embarrasing delays caused by technical problems and human error in the landings of the last two crews from Mir last year. Opposition grew when space offiykds hungry for foreign currency last month chose a Japanese for the first commercial trip to Mir. The price tag was $11 million. Defenders of space exploration emphasize the benefits of technology and information transfers to the Earth-bound economy. The Tass news agency recently reported that more than $2 billion was spent on space research in the Soviet Union last year and that economic benefits totaled $3.2 billion. Satellites have gathered weather information, extended television and telephone service, aided navigation of ships and located mineral and oil deposits, according to articles in state-run media. But media reports have said industry is not ad equately using the information and technology, and they have criticized the spendthrift attitude of government agencies involved in space tech nology. Pravda and other newspapers say public sup port has declined because space officials tout suc cesses and hide problems. Space scientist Roald Sagdeyev said officials must work hard to save the space program and also acknowledge failures. “We have one very serious task: to restore the people’s faith, though glasnost, through truthful information that is honest to the end,” he told colleagues at a recent meeting about the Phobos problems. “We must show and prove to the peo ple that without space, mankind doesn’t have a future.” Mexican government urges dissident teachers to end strike MEXICO CITY (AP) — The government has urged dissident teachers to go back to work Mon day and end the strike provoked by a bitter struggle inside one of Latin America’s largest and most powerful unions. The Presidential Palace issued the back-to-work call from the Federal Conciliation and Arbitra tion Tribunal shortly before mid night Saturday. The call was rebuffed by the dissident National Coordinate, which announced a mass march for Monday. A similar demonstration last week rallied tens of thousands of people to the Zocalo, Mexico City’s huge central plaza. Coordinate leader Teodoro Palomino told the newspaper Ex celsior the strikers would not go back to work until their demands for democratic reforms in the union were addressed. He said strikers weren’t break ing any laws.“We aren’t stopping students from going to school,” he said. “The parents are backing us by keeping their children home.” Dissident teachers nationwide walked off the job last Monday in what they called an indefinite strike aimed at democratic re forms in the union and higher wages. The strike, which began Mon day, shut down thousands of schools and riveted national at tention on a long and bitter battle inside the National Education Workers’ Union. The union, with a membership of more than 1 million, is one of the largest and the most powerful in Latin America. The dissident National Coordi nate claims about half the union members as adherents. The union battle centers on longtime union chief Carlos Jonguitud Barrios, probably the most important, of the old-style Mexican union bosses still in power now that the head of the oil workers is in jail. pr MSC Political Forum SARAH WEDDINGTON featured speaker on ROE v.WADE Xrl Where It's Been Where It's Going Monday, April 24 MSC 201 8:30 p.m. Reception to follow This program is presented for educational purposes, and does not neccessarilv represent the views of MSC Political