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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1989)
Texas A&M m ^ V # e Battalion Vol. 89 No.17 USPS 045360 12 Pages College Station, Texas WEATHER TOMORROW’S FORECAST: Partly cloudy and cool HIGH: 76 LOW: 50 Monday, September 25,1989 > time: eral. Si 24“ 'etal $99» aker schedules ummit in U.S., igns six accords JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (AP) — ecretary of State James A. Baker jll said Sunday that the success of is meeting with the Soviet foreign inister should silence congressio- al critics and dampen their appetite |or unilateral arms cuts. Despite progress on talks to cut trategic, conventional and chemical capons and the signing of six ccords Saturday, Baker said the So- iet Union still was “a military lireat.” “I think it would be quite naive for iie United States to talk about uni- iteral reductions of its strategic ar- enal,” Baker said on the CBS-TV rogram “Face the Nation.” The Bush administration, he said, emains committed to the Strategic lefense Initiative and deploying ew classes of long-range bombers nd mobile missiles. Slocum continues ‘chalk talk’ luncheons glfor students, players ':-V Df The Battalion Staff 1 I Baker’s four-day session with So viet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze yielded an agreement to hold a summit in the United States next spring or summer. It will be the First meeting be tween President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev since Bush took office, although the two met in New York between’s Bush’s election and his inauguration. In the course of the Baker-She- vardnadze talks, the Soviets also said they would withdraw a demand that the United States agree to curb work on “Star Wars” before conclusion of a Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Baker told a news conference Sat urday the Soviet decision could speed conclusion of START, which See Summit/Page 12 fy Julie Myers Head football coach R. C. Slocum vill hold his third football “chalk alk” Wednesday at noon in Sbisa in in effort to improve relations with he student body. Before every football home game, ilocum invites assistant coaches and me player to accompany him to the nformal luncheon from noon to 2:30 p.m. Slocum then gives a short peech, followed by an open ques- lon and answer session. The buffet unch is $4.25. “I want to have the chance to meet he students, have them meet us and Iso get to know their football team m a first name basis,” Slocum said. It’s also a good opportunity to meet vith the students and from my tandpoint to say that we do care bout you.” Because the football team and the )rogram is all a part of college life at (&M, Slocum said, the players hould feel a part of that also. “I’m really doing everything I can to keep at a minimum the isolation hey have as athletes,” Slocum said. I want them to be able to mix and ningle and enjoy being a college stu- lent at A&M. That’s why I sent the reshmen to Fish Camp.” Although Slocum said he wasn’t aware of any program like chalk talk t other schools, he admitted that nany football programs did have an image problem with students. “As freshmen, players start prac tice before anything else on cam- ms,” he said. “Then their schedules tnd time demands prohibit them from participating in a lot of student ictivities.” Consequently, Slocum said, stu dents perceive them to be aloof or to have their own clique. “If you’re not careful a separation grows between the student body and the athletic team,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be that way.” “In most cases, these boundaries are not real boundaries anyway, but because of their schedules and the way their life is arranged that’s what happens,” Slocum said. “I’m trying to take steps to cross those bounda- During chalk talk, students can di rect questions to anyone on the panel. He said he will answer any question from any student as long as it does not embarrass anyone. In fact, John Lauletta, sophomore po litical science major and 12th Man Foundation spokesman, said Slocum hasn’t declined to comment on any question since chalk talk began. “R.C. Slocum is a truly candid man,” Lauletta said. Slocum said he encourages sug gestions for future plays as well as questions. “Everybody’s got great plays they always want to try,” Slocum said. “I won’t promise to run them, but I do promise to look at them.” In addition, Slocum said he hopes the tradition of active student partic ipation will benefit both the team and its fans. “Our guys are good guys and our students are good students,” he said. “If you mix them up then there will be some natural friendships devel oped. (This is) a healthy thing — what I envision college athletics being.” Scott Weaver, 6, feeds hay to a donkey Sunday at the petting part of the Brazos Folk Festival held Friday, Saturday and Sun- zoo in Central Park. He and his sister Julie, 10, were trying to day at Central Park and was sponsored by the Bryan chapter of catch a glimpse of the donkey’s teeth. The petting zoo was a the Future Farmers of America. Hugo leaves thousands without water, electricity CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Victims of Hur ricane Hugo scrambled to meet life’s basic needs Sunday, fretting over shortages of food, fresh water, cash and electricity. Unable to cook or boil water, people stood for blocks waiting for hot meals. “There’s no bread, there’s no meat,” said Har old Washington, 21, at a supermarket that had doughnuts and peanut butter but lacked staples. “You can’t survive like that. Things just aren’t working fast enough.” Washington, who lives with his mother and four siblings, said the family was burning candles at night and washing clothes by hand. They wor ried that the water they were using to brush their teeth was contaminated. National Guardsmen with M-16 rifles pa trolled the streets of the battered city of 65,000 people, guarding against looters and keeping or der at locations where residents lugged coolers and plasticjugs to get fresh water. An emergency law enacted Saturday night sought to keep profiteers from charging $10 for a bag of ice and $600 for a chain saw. Tempers flared at one location where people sought ice to keep their food fresh. “People were . . . begging for ice,” said Staff Sgt. Bill Petty of the South Carolina National Guard. “There were fistfights in the line. They were down-on-the ground fights — men and women.” Without electricity for a third day, residents were unable to cook, boil water for drinking or get cash from bank machines. At stores that man aged to reopen Saturday, people waited in lines for up to four hours. The Red Cross dished out hot meals from lunch wagons. At the Citadel Square Baptist Church, the line stretched for three blocks, spokesman Brian Ruberry said. Officials said six branches of the South Caro lina National Bank would reopen Monday to ease a money shortage. The city also planned to re sume trash pickup Monday, officials said. As a cold rain fell Sunday morning, church bells pealed above the hum of generators and the buzz of chain saws. “We have no roof and we’ve got three feet of water in the living room,” said Jimmy Bailey, a state lawmaker who attended services. “But we all have what we were born with and that’s good health. . . . Anything else is just gravy.” Hugo clobbered Charleston for six hours late Thursday and early Friday with 135 mph winds and a storm surge of 17 feet of water. The death toll from Hugo’s six-day rampage stood at 51 — at least 27 people in the Caribbean and 24 in the Carolinas, Virginia and New York. A South Carolina woman and her two children died Sunday when their rural wood-frame house caught fire from candles, officials said. Damage estimates were in the billions of dol lars. In the three-county area around Charleston, 75,000 people were still out of their homes, Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said. Schools are closed until further notice, and a dusk-to-dawn curfew remains in effect. “It’s scary out there,” said National Guard Staff Sgt. James Shugart after coming off night patrol. “You don’t know what to expect. There are no lights. You don’t see anything open.” At least 775,000 people in the Carolinas re See Hugo/Page 12 Mobley dedicates program’s first tree President William Mobley has dedicated the first tree in the University’s new commemorative tree-planting program, honoring the first dean of business adminis tration Dr. John E. Pearson. Pearson, who died in 1984, came to Texas A&M in 1963 as head of the School of Business Administration. Five years later, the school became a college, and Pear son served as dean for 10 years. Pearson left A&M to become senior vice president and chief financial officer for 3D/International and, at the time of his death, was vice president of Gulf Re search and Development Co. in Houston. Mobley, dean of the College of Business Administra tion from 1983 to 1986, said Pearson’s early work had a lot to do with the college’s recent growth and program enhancement. The tree that will bear Pearson’s name will be planted near the Blocker Building, where the College of Busi ness Administration is located. The commemorative tree-planting program was in stituted earlier this month to honor A&M students, for mer students and past and present faculty, staff and friends. Donors can give from $1,000 to $125,000 to plant new trees on campus, attach names to existing trees and establish endowments for the maintenance of fiower beds and other planted areas. Bonfire cutting classes held this week at Grove Students who wish to partici pate in cutting down trees for this year’s Bonfire must attend one of the three mandatory cutting classes scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The classes are held from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. at the Grove. Stu dents should bring their I.D. cards. At the end of each class a cut ting card will be issued. Messages from home Radio club gathers information on Hugo’s victims Photo by Mike C. Mulvey trsi Brian Maves, a meteorology graduate stu dent and HAM radio operator from Dixon, Il linois, attempts to reach Puerto Rico so fie: Maria Morales (right), a special education major from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico can communicate with relatives there By Julie Myers Of The Battalion Staff W hen Hurricane Hugo slammed into the Caribbean and knocked out all phone com phone communication, HAM radio operators world wide filled the information gap by sending and receiv ing information about stranded friends and relatives. The all-volunteer Texas A&M Amateur Radio Club sent more than 40 messages to the Caribbean from Col lege Station area residents and students. Jeff Maca, freshman applied mathematics major and radio club trustee, said that from the time the Carib bean was hit, the club was transmitting messages 24 hours a day to Montserrat, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Most of the calls, Maca said, were “health and welfa re” requests from people who wanted to know if their family and friends were all right. “Luckily, we didn’t have to send anything bad back — like deaths,” Maca said. “I don’t know if ‘family’s OK, house destroyed’ is good; I guess it’s good in the sense that they’re alive.” Maca said that although some messages were trans mitted and received in less than an hour, most took about a day. Maria Morales, a junior special education major, said she was relieved to find out that her mother, who re sides in Puerto Rico, was fine. “There was no other way to find out since all the phone lines weie uown, sne said. '* 1 ne area wnere my mother lives didn’t receive too much damage, but the island as a whole was beat up.” Anytime a disaster hits an area, making normal routes of communication useless, the radio club will probably be sending messages. Maca said they usually transmit following tornadoes and hurricanes, with the most recent being Hurricane Gilbert last fall. When someone calls and requests information about a disaster, they are asked for the name, address and phone number of the party being contacted, as well as their own phone number. The radio operator then con tacts another radio operator in that location and asks them to find out the condition of that person. When and if the radio operator is able to find the necessary in formation they call back and the radio operator at A&M contacts the original person placing the request. The A&M HAM radio station operates one of the largest stations in the state and is capable of contacting any country in the world. In fact, Maca said that the sta tion, using mostly used equipment donated by former club members, has contacted all but seven countries. The Amateur Radio Club’s office is located on the third floor of the MSC, down the hall from the Metzger- Sanders Gun Collection. Although Maca said that being a HAM radio opera tor is addicting in some ways, the primary reason he was involved in helping those caught up in hurricane Hugo was the satisfaction he received from helping others “If you ever talk to someone on the telephone and tell them that their mother is OK, that’s a good feeling,” he said.