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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1989)
•The Battalion 3Utby i S5^ Vol. 89 No.14 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas WEATHER TOMORROW’S FORECAST: Sunny to partly cloudy HIGH: 92 LOW: 70 Wednesday, September 20,1989 ;e The agony of da feet Nancy Gold, center half for the A&M women’s varsity soccer team, and Kim DeVargas, forward, both found themselves on Photo by Scott D. Weaver the disabled list for Tuesday afternoon practice. DeVargas and Gold each sustained sprained ankles. Hurricane Hugo threatens 50,000 Caribbean islanders U.S. coast; left homeless MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Hugo, the Caribbean killer blamed for 25 deaths, seethed past the Bahamas Tuesday on an uncertain path that threatens an area from Florida to North Carolina by Friday. Disaster teams found death and destruction in Puerto,. Rico and a string of resort islands clobbered by the mightiest storm in a decade in the northeastern Caribbean. More than 50,000 people were homeless, and military planes ferried radios, Hugo wreaks havoc/Page 6 P drinking water, generators, chain saws and other equipment to stricken areas that pleaded for more help. “Whole buildings just picked up and left,” said James Grissim, a resi dent of Water Island in St. Thomas. He recalled “sheet metal roofing fly ing through the air, singing as it went, and glass, the sound of glass breaking all over the place.” Forecasters used computers, satel lites and charts of old storms but could not predict Hugo’s wobbly path. It lurched to the north and west because other weather systems seemed to be blocking it from head ing into the open Atlantic. At 3 p.m. EDT, the hurricane’s center was near latitude 22.6 de grees north and longitude 68.6 west, about 175 miles east northeast of Grand Turk Island in the southern Bahamas, according to the National Weather Service. It had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and was moving north west at 12 mph, forecasters said. But Hugo was re-organizing over open seas where warm tropical air fueled its engine, and forecasters expected fluctuations in strength. Hurricane warnings were down graded to storm warnings for the southern Bahamas as Hugo skirted past, but the Bahamian government issued warnings for the central is lands of the archipelago. Islanders boarded up their homes as a precau tion. In Florida, NASA officials said they would wait until Wednesday be fore deciding to move the space shuttle Atlantis, scheduled for launch Oct. 12, from its launch pad and into shelter. They also put off a decision on whether to remove a Navy communications satellite from an Atlas-Centaur rocket on another launch pad until more is known Puerto Rican Student Association collects donations for relief fund The Puerto Rican Student As sociation, in connection with the American Red Cross, will be ac cepting collections on the first floor MSG again today for the vic tims of Hurricane Hugo. Donors are asked to make checks payable to the American Red Cross, Hurricane Hugo Re lief Fund. Donations also may be collected from home or office. For more information, contact the American Red Cross at 822- 2157 or members of the PRSA at 764-1748 or 845-4634 (daytime) or at 846-1228 or 696-1818 (nighttime.) about Hugo’s path. Cruise ships steamed out of the way, while American Airlines’ heavy Caribbean service, which uses San Juan as its hub, was suspended. In San Juan, National Guardsmen with automatic rifles patrolled streets to help police with rescue and to prevent looting. Police spokesman Tony Santiago said 40 businesses re ported looting, much of which oc curred at the height of the storm. Police had arrested 30 people on looting charge, he said. Looting by machete-wielding mobs was also reported on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Is lands. Relief officials asked for cots and plastic sheetings to use for shelters for the thousands of islanders whose homes were crumpled by Hugo. Coast Guard vessels from Puerto Rico would scour the waters off the island because of reports “there are a lot of people stranded (on boats) out in the water,” said Coast Guard Lt. Stan Douglas. Hugo walloped the northeastern part of the island, then skirted its populous northern coast on Mon day. It churned on to the northwest and toward open water. It whirled past but missed the Dominican Re public. Student Senate gives summer school bill unanimous approval By Monique Threadgill and Michael Kelley Of The Battalion Staff Tuesday night the Texas A&M Student Senate unanimously ap proved a bill which will affect the length of summer school sessions in 1991. The Summer School ’91 Schedule Bill consists of a proposal for two five-and-a-half-week sessions and one 10-week session. The bill was introduced at the Stu dent Senate meeting on Sept. 5, but drew opposition to the proposed overlapping six- and 10-week ses sions. After being sent to the Academic Affairs Committee for discussion the bill was amended to accomodate stu dents who need a second summer term, such as those who study abroad or Co-op during one of the summer sessions. Brennan Reilly, junior liberal arts senator and Academic Affairs com mittee member, led floor support for the amended bill. “Basically what we tried to do with the bill was to insure that students get to express their views to the uni versity committee that Dr. Mobley appointed to deal with the summer school issue,” Reilly said. “I don’t think the student point of view was originally seen by the Faculty Senate or by the committee, which mainly consists of administrators and fac ulty.” “The student concerns were not addressed by the ‘10-six- proposal’ which we thought was far removed from our interests,” he said. “We came up with our own program, a very strong one that we will take with us to the committee meeting in an effort to try and work with the fac ulty and administration toward a common goal. We want to insure that they know what the students want.” Special guest speaker Steve Hodge, University Center Manager, addressed the MSC expansion issue and student concerns over the trees involved in the plans. He said that only five live oaks will be destroyed in the project, and the others involved will be relocated. The MSC expansion includes the Rudder Complex, the MSC and Parking Lot 60. The expansion, which will take approximately three years to com plete, poses two major problems — a limited amount of access to the MSC and a loss of 400 parking spaces. Two open meetings to discuss the MSC expansion are scheduled. One will be held Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. in 701 Rudder, and the other will be held Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Rudder Theater. Other legislation discussed at the meeting included: • Approval of a bill updating “The Student Government Associa tion Constitution For the Student Body of Texas A&M University” and • Approval of an Ad-Hoc Com mittee on International Affairs to be established to work with the Faculty Senate and University Administra tion on the issues of international re search and education. Water commission levies fines against Texas dairies AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Wa ter Commission said Tuesday it rec ommended $500,000 in fines against nine Texas dairies for alleged viola tions of state water quality laws. The proposed fines total $490,660 and range from $96,000 against a Tarrant County dairy farmer to $23,700 against one in Erath County. The average fine is $54,000, more than six times the highest water commission fine ever paid by a Texas dairy farmer. Six of the nine dairies are in Erath County, the state’s top milk pro ducer. Since June, the area has been the target of a crackdown on dairy pollution. Lax enforcement of state water laws has been blamed for dairy pol lution that experts say could threaten Central Texas water sup plies. “There is a concern that if this continues, we certainly could have long term problems,” Clyde Bohm- falk, director of the water commis sion’s division of water quality, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Jim Haley, water commission legal director, said the high fines are in tended to let dairy farmers know “the law will be enforced.” Jerry Clark of the Associated Milk Producers Inc., the state’s second- largest dairy cooperative, said the fines were “out of reason.” State law allows dairy operators to have a hearing before an indepen dent examiner before their cases are considered by the water commission. The dairy farmers can appeal the commission’s decision in state court. A&M selects professor as new Health Center director U By Michael Kelley _ I Of The Battalion Staff A former two-star general in the I U.S. Army Medical Corps was se- B lected last week as the new director ■ of the A.P. Beutal Health Center. Dr. John Koldus, vice president ■ for Student Services, announced I Tuesday that Dr. Kenneth R. Dirks, ■ currently a professor of pathology B and laboratory medicine at A&M, B will become the acting director of B the health center on October 1. Dirks is a 1943 graduate of pre- B sent-day Wichita State University, in B Wichita, Kansas. He received his de- B gree in medicine in 1947 from the B Washington University School of B Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Dirks came to Texas A&M in 1980 fl after serving 28 years in the U.S. ■ Army. Dirks experienced wartime serv- B ice during World War II and the Ko- E rean War, as well as combat duty in fl Vietnam. At the close of his Army career, B Dirks was one of six two-star gener- fl als who was considered for promo- fl tion to Surgeon General of the ■ Army. Dirks w'as a private while attend- B ing medical school at the end of B World War II. He received his offi- ■ cer commission during the Korean I War. Dirks has served in 17 asssign- ■ tnents that have taken him around ■ the United States and to various JM bases worldwide. Dirks served one year in England as an exchange officer with the Royal Army Medical Corps at the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital in London. He then served three years in Landstuhl, Germany as commander of the 4th Medical Lab oratory, which was the reference lab for diagnostic problems in the U.S. Army theater of operations in Eu rope, the Middle East and North Af rica. During the Vietnam War, Dirks served a one-year tour as com mander of the 406th Medical Labo ratory and as the blood program of ficer for all U.S. forces located in South Vietnam. Some of Dirks’ best administrative experience came from his last three assignments. In 1973, Dirks became command ing general of the Army Medical Re search and Development Command. He was also Assistant Surgeon Gen eral for Research and Development for the Army. In 1976 he took com mand of the Fitzsimons Army Medi cal Center in Denver, Colorado. Dirk’s last assignment began in 1977 as superintendent of the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. Its enrollment consisted of 37,000 students and 6500 faculty and staff members. Its annual bud get was $41 million. Dirks has been awarded 12 mili tary decorations, including the Dis tinguished Service Medal, the Le gion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Com mendation Medal. After military retirement, Dirks joined the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Anto nio where he met Dr. Franz Leidler. It was Leidler who convinced Dirks to become a faculty member at the A&M College of Medicine in 1981. “One of the reasons I came here was that I was attracted by the atmo sphere that pervades A&M,” Dirks said. “I like the friendly spirit, the traditions, the attitude of the student body and the sense of responsibility and belonging that is reflected in the Student Government. The entire ambiance here appeals to me. “To some degree I expect that my military background matches nicely with the Corps tradition on the campus.” While at the A&M Medical School, Dirks was awarded “The Student’s Friend” award in 1982 and was voted as one of the three best lecturers in the College of Medicine from 1981-82. In 1985, he received the Association of Former Students Distinguished Teaching Award for the College of Medicine. He has also served on eight university commit tees. Dirks became interested in the health director position while serv ing as a pathological consultant to the health center. “A great deal of my military ca reer was directed towards providing health care to people of college age,” Dirks said. “I’ve been interested in health care for students for a good while.” Dirks said his objective as health center director is to ensure that stu dents do not have to wait for more than 30 minutes to see a physician. “I think that’s important,” he said. “We’d like our students to be in class because that’s what they’re here for — to get an education. They’re not here to sit in the health center wait ing for a physician to see them. We’d like to see that corrected.” Dirks would like to see a closer relationship between the student health center and the College of Medicine. “By closer linkage, I want to pro vide some services that may have not been readily available in the past,” Dirks said. “It’s advantageous to stu dents to have new physicians . . . helping to care for the health needs of other students. “The health center has done a very good job, but our challenge is to improve on what’s already been done. I am aw'are that there have been long waiting times in the past, but new measures are being taken, such as inaugurating an appoint ment system in order to see a physi cian.” Dirks’ youngest daughter, Melissa Dirks McConnell, is a senior Land scape Architecture major at A&M. She has served seven years as the ex ecutive secretary to Dr. John Koldus, vice president for Student Services. Dirks is active in the Bryan-Col- lege Station community as well, serv ing this past year as president of the Bryan Rotary Club and as a Health Services Committee member for three years on the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce. Starting in June, a search commit tee led by A&M president Dr. Wil liam Mobley and Dr. John Koldus reviewed 42 applicants and choosing six finalists for review. Koldus said that Dirks was the unanimous first choice of most of the search committee members. “It wasn’t the fact that he was on campus here at A&M and in the Col lege of Medecine,” said Koldus. “It was that he had headed up many hospitals while in the military, which in most cases meant working with the same age groups as college stu dents.” Photo by Jayjanner Dr. Kenneth R. Dirks