1 Texas A&M - - m 0
tie Battalion
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Vol. 89 No.29 USPS 045360 10 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, October 11,1989
Anticipated talks
may signal hope
for E. Germans
BERLIN (AP) — Communist offi
cials met opposition leaders in Dres
den and talks were expected soon in
Leipzig in the first sign of a shift in
the East German government’s
hard-line stance, pews reports said
Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in East Berlin, Promi
nent Lutheran official Hans Otto
Furian said the Communist Party
“must give up its grip on total
power.”
Also in East Berlin, pro-democ
racy activists said at least 500 protes
ters arrested in Dresden were freed
the past two days. The activists, who
spoke on condition of anonymity,
said those freed were among about
1,000 people arrested in Dresden
during demonstrations last week
and over the weekend.
The activists did not say if any of
the demonstrators faced charges.
Officials in Dresden have said all
demonstrators not involved in vio
lence will be released.
Some Compmnist Party officials
showed increasing signs of will
ingness Tuesday to talk with pro-de
mocracy activists. But East German
leader Erich Honecker reiterated his
hard-line position.
Conflicting reports also emerged
on Tuesday as to whether the Lu
theran Church had taken up a dia
logue with the central government
or whether the contacts remained on
the local level.
West Germany’s ZDF television
network, quoting high-level church
sources, said that “talks had begun
with central offices” in the East Ger
man government about the unrest.
It did not elaborate or identify the
participants.
ZDF said talks between local Com
munist leaders in Leipzig and pro
democracy activists also are set to be
gin. It gave no timetable.
Talks between Communist offi
cials and opposition activists already
have been held in Dresden.
West German radio reported
Dresden’s mayor, Wolfgang Berg-
hofer, told activists that all demon
strators who are still jailed “who
were not accused of violence would
be freed.”
Several hundred people, and pos
sibly thousands, were arrested in
weekend demonstrations.
Communist officials in Dresden
first met with opposition leaders on
Monday. Berghofer said another
meeting was scheduled for next
week.
In a meeting Monday with
Chinese Vice Prime Minister Yao Yi-
lin, Honecker repeated allegations
that Western “imperialists” are
poised to threaten his country.
Gotcha!
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
A cell biology teaching assisstant spends Tuesday afternoon collecting grasshoppers at the Research Park. The insects will be used
in a chromosome study.
Ross Volunteers elect 72 new cadets
By Holly Becka
Of The Battalion Staff
Seventy-two junior cadets will don the charac
teristic crisp, white uniforms and join the presti
gious ranks of the Ross Volunteer Company af
ter a formal induction banquet at 6 p.m. today in
List of Cadets elected / page 10
Executive director:
Hb''' : ' i
Strategic planning
nothing new at A&M
By Pam Mooman
the Clayton Williams Alumni Center.
The inductees were notified of their selection
as Ross Volunteers, the official honor guard for
the governor of Texas, on Monday.
The company is comprised of 144 junior and
senior cadets. A new RV is elected by returning
senior RVs.
Each interested junior submitted an applica
tion with his name, grade-point ratio, activities
and awards earned. A picture is included with
the application to link a face with a name. Appli
cants alsq answer two “thought questions” about
upholdirte the standards of the RVs.
Of The Battalion Staff -
I’m definitely not here to do any
body’s planning,” he said. “I will be
more involved in attempting to help
Strategic planning has come to organizations think through a pro-
Texas A&M.
Anthony G. Dempster was hired
by A&M Oct. 1 to fill the recently ap
proved position of executive direc
tor of strategic planning.
Dempster said that although the
position is new, A&M was solving
planning problems before he came.
A&M President William Mobley
wanted to increase strategic plan
ning, Dempster said.
“He wanted some staff expertise
on hand to help him do that,”
Dempster said. “It’s a matter of me
trying to be helpful.”
Dempster said he will be involved
in helping deans from all A&M col
leges decide what improvements are
needed. He said that he will help
A&M officials form a process for
making decisions that will lead to a
better future for the University.
However, Dempster stressed that
he will be merely guiding A&M’s
planning; he is not going to take
over the process.
ipholdirtg i
t
Bryan Lilley, an agricultural economics and
journalism major from Hurst, and a member of
Company F-2, said he was proud to be a part of
an organization that is honored throughout-
Texas.
“I wanted to be a part of it because it’s the
longest-standing student group in the state and
because of the prestige and honor that goes with
it,” Lilley said. “I’m the first member of my fam
ily to make it. My dad didn’t make it — he grad
uated in ’55 — and I have four uncles who grad
uated from here and none of them made it. So
I’m very proud.”
Lilley said he had wanted to be an RV since he
was a freshman.
“The guys who have been RVs ahead of me
are a bunch of guys I’ve really respected and
looked up to, and what they represent has always
meant a lot to me,” he said. “I hope I can set the
kind of example to the freshmen this year that
they can look up to also.”
Malcolm Delovio Jr., an industrial distribution
major from Houston and a member of Squadron
17, said tfe was ecstatic when he fohnd out he had
been chosen.
“I was so happy,” Delovio said. “I was calling
my parents and everybody I knew.”
Kevin Fitzgerald, an industrial distribution
major from San Antonio and a member of Com
pany E-l, said he applied to be an RV because of
the nonor.
“(RVs) represent Lawrence Sullivan Ross be
ing a soldier, statesman and knightly gentleman,
and when you accept the title, you’re accepting
the traditions of A&M that go with it,” Fitzgerald
said.
Fitzgerald said he accepted the position with
mixed emotions.
“My first reaction was that I was really excited
when I found out I had been picked,” he said.
“After dinner we went back to our dorms and
there were letters on our desks telling us if we
made it.”
“The first thing I saw on my letter was ‘con
gratulations,’ ” he said. “I went out into the hall
and out of the four people in my outfit who ap
plied, two of us made it. So along with being
happy I made it, I was upset for my friends who
didn’t get it. I didn’t know what to say.”
“I was real happy, but “at the same time I felt
like ‘why me’ when all these other guys could
have done just as good a job,” he said. “There
were mixed emotions. I can’t say I’m not happy
but I do feel for my other buddies who didn’t
make it. They (the returning RVs) told us,
‘You’re not better than any of the others who ap
plied, you’re just luckier.’ It was all in the hands
of fate.”
For the past 23 years, Dempster
worked for Shell Oil Company. He
was Shell’s director of strategic plan
ning for 12 years.
Dempster is chairman of the
board for the Planning Forum, an
organization with 50 chapters in
America and Canada. He is also
president of the International Affil
iation of Planning Societies.
Dempster was hired from among
more than 300 applicants. The new
position was advertised in the Wall
Street Journal and several other
publications, he said.
Dempster said he is learning his
way around campus, and he hopes
his experience will be useful to
A&M.
“I have successfully found my
parking space,” he said. “(But) there
is much, much more I need to learn
about how things work here.”
Fewer people injured at first cut this year
However, improved record may be due to less time in woods
By Kelly S. Brown
Of The Battalion Staff
Aside from a few minor injuries,
the first bonfire cut came and left
fairly quietly compared to last year,
when twice as many accidents oc-
cured.
Three of the four students w-ho
wert treated and released from the
A.P. Beutel Health Center Sunday
had varying degrees of lacerations to
their feet from the. ax cutting
through their shoes to the skin. An
other student suffered from heat ex-
huastion.
Tony Godinez, the senior red pot
and building construction major,
said “things are running smoothly so
far,” as nearly 1,800 students partici
pated in the cut at Texas Municipal
Power Agency owned land.
“Considering the large number of
people out there,” he said, “the
number of injuries is about expec
ted.”
Something that wasn’t expected
was a jeep accident that happened
while six students were driving out
to the bonfire site.
Four freshman in A-l, an Army
company, were injured when the
jeep they were in flipped over. The
accident occurred a few miles from
the bonfire site.
David Riggs, a senior political sci
ence major in A-1 who arrived min
utes after the accident, said the jeep
was doing a U-turn when the driver
might have overcompensated to the
right, accelerated and then flipped
over.
“Three of the students were
pinned under the jeep, while the
other three managed to get out,”
Riggs said. “The roll bar probably
saved the lives of the three pinned
in.”
Riggs said all but one have been
released from the hopital. Gary Bur
nett, who received a fractured right
arm, is expected to return to his resi
dence hall from the health center to
day. James Wil Imarth suffered a
fractured clavicle, Gary Morris re
ceived 13 stitches after his chin was
cut and Edward Vogelpohl chipped
a bone in his wrist.
Although there were only half as
many accidents this year compared
to last year at this time, it may have
had to do with the time period. The
first cut lasted two days last year, but
due to rain, Saturday’s cut was called
off, making the weekend cut a one-
day event.
Photo by Scott D. Weaver
Wounded in action
Michael Shane Arnaud, a freshman electrical from the pain of a severely injured ankle he re
engineering major from Nederland, winces ceived Tuesday afternoon playing volleyball.
Center looks beyond the stars
to encourage space research
By Bob Krenek
Of The Battalion Staff
Promoting space research at
Texas A&M is the main purpose of
the Space Research Center, SRC As
sistant Director Dr. Frank Little told
the Students for the Exploration and
Development of Space Tuesday.
The center, along with its asso
ciates, the Center for Space Power
and the Regenerative Concepts Lab
oratory, also seeks to develop and
appply knowledge that will enhance
benefits gained from space explora
tion, Little said.
“We provide a focal point for
space-related activities and we try to
coordinate interdisciplinary re
search,” Little said. “We are part of
the Texas A&M system, but not of
the university itself so we don’t have
to worry about parochial interests.
This enables us to cut across depart
mental lines and better coordinate
research.”
The center received a formal
charter in 1985 with an agreement
with the Johnson Space Center in
Houston to provide research pro
jects. The JSC still provides projects.
Little said, but now the center re
ceives ideas from other sources as
well.
Little said the center’s areas of re
search include space power systems,
microgravity experiments, space
materials and structures, robotics
technology, life support systems,
space transportation and space sta
tions, lunar bases and missions to
Mars.
The life support research, Little
said, is a particularly good example
of how the SRC coordinates differ
ent disciplines to aid research. The
SRC assembled a team of agricultu
ralists, scientists and engineers from
10 different departments to work on
a closed life support system that is
capable of regenerating waste prod
ucts, Little said.
Little said the Space Grant pro
gram will have an impact on the
space research activities of the uni
versity. A&M is a member ot the
Texas consortium that will coordi
nate space research at universities
across the state.
NASA provides $225,000 per
year to the consortium and that fig
ure is matched with funds from
members. An additional $100,000 is
provided for a felllowship program.
“The Space Grant program is not
a research thing,” Little said. “It is
primarily for education. The idea is
to build interest in space from the
ground up by putting space into the
curriculum from kindergarten
through high school.”
Students for the Exploration and
Development of Space was formed
to get students involved in space ac
tivities and is open to students of all
ages, said President Steven Deter-
ling.
Japanese officials arrive for meetings
Representatives from Ko-
riyama, Japan, where Texas
A&M will open a branch univer
sity next year, will arrive at A&M
today to discuss the final plans for
the overseas campus.
Project leader Kosaku Ohba,
city treasurer Nobuo Takagi and
city attorney Yoshiko Koizumi
will visit with Yusuke Katakoa
and Kouichi Muramoto, exec-
utive officer for international re
lations and executive director for
international relations, respec
tively, from the U.S.-Japan Com
mittee on Promoting Trade Ex
pansion.
In addition to meeting with
A&M officials, the Japanese offi
cials will attend the football game
this weekend and visit the Texas
Hall of Fame.