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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1989)
WEATHER diseij; he Battalion TOMORROW’S FORECAST: Mostly sunny and warm HIGH: 84 LOW: 60 i mn Ion; an im;, out SI y key s cr ea mt . have tj. l he coitf. e ®y int i's- seem of Vol. 89 No.38 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, October 24,1989 ayak ^375 The ill pon- plio- Explosions pulverize Pasadena plant PASADENA (AP) — A series of explo sions tore through a Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics plant Monday, showering debris for miles around and sending up a fireball visi ble 15 miles away. Officials said they fear many have died in the accident, but flames and intense heat kept rescue workers from getting close enough to investigate immediately, Dr. Paul Pepe, the director of Houston emergency medical services, said. “We’re betting there’s a lot of fatalities, just because of the nature of the explosion and where it happened,” Pepe said. “We don’t think there’s anybody alive in there.” At least 81 people were injured, and were being treated at several area hospitals for burns, breathing problems and cuts from flying debris, Pepe said. Of the injured, 72 were plant workers, he said. The other nine people were treated for breathing difficulties or injuries from flying debris. Pasadena Mayor John Ray Harrison said he has been told by fire officials that 22 people had not been accounted for by 5:30 f >.m., as firefighters were pumping water rom a sewage treatment plant and the nearby Houston Ship Channel to fight the blaze. The fire was brought under control about a half-hour later, but was expected to take several more hours to extinguish,Pasa dena Fire Chief Jay Coyer said. He said there were still no confirmed fatalities, but only speculation that some had died at 7 p.m. Seismologists at Rice University in Hous ton said their machines went crazy during the initial explosion and that the blast ap peared to be the equivalent of 10 tons of TNT. “It was like somebody just dropped an atomic bomb,” said Kelly Manerly, a pipe fitter who works at the plant. “I’m real lucky. Thank God for that,” Manerly said. He said he heard a hissing sound for about five minutes, then saw a white cloud. “I told a safety man I saw noth ing but gas. Then it exploded. I ran. There were a lot of people running and screaming It was like somebody just dropped an atomic bomb.” — Kelly Manerly, plant employee to get out. It’s like nothing I’ve felt in my life.” Phillips President Glenn Cox arrived at the plant about five hours after the explo sion and said his company has set up two hotlines — one for people to check on the welfare of their relatives who worked at the plant and another for those wishing to file damage claims. Cox said flames were still visible from eight miles away as he arrived. He said com- E any officials are still trying to determine ow many employees and contractors were trapped inside, but have been hampered by the fact they cannot get to the place where records are stored. Maintenance worker Roby Clemons said employees had 20 seconds to escape after a warning message was broadcast over the plant’s emergency radio. “I never saw people run so fast,” said Clemons, who was working about 150 yards from the site of the first explosion. “My first thought was to get near a doorway, but then the building started shaking so bad I thought the roof was going to come down. We all got knocked down. We all ran out. People were running out of every exit.” An elementary school about a mile from the plant sent home more than 700 stu dents after the blasts buckled a ceiling and blew out cafeteria windows. No students were injured, a school employee said. Part of the Houston Ship Channel was closed by the U.S. Coast Guard. The first explosion at Phillips’ Houston Chemical Complex, located on the ship channel just off Texas Highway 225, oc curred about 1 p.m. CDT, Parks said. Several explosions followed the initial blast, witnesses reported. From a command post several miles away, at least a half dozen fires could be seen raging and dark smoke billowed from the site for hours. Phillips environmental director Bill Stoltz, who was at the scene, said the explo sion was caused when a seal blew out on an ethylene loop reactor, releasing ethylene- isobutane, a compound used in making plastics. The reactor is built of tubes where the key chemical reactions take place. tmi&M Reaping golf balls Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack Jim Orr, a senior electrical engineering major and student worker for Intramural Main- Orr said that he has been caught off guard a few times as the P.E. classes regularly tenance, drives the “golf ball picker” around the A&M driving range Monday morning, try to hit the vehicle while it is picking up balls. Ag alumnus says traditions unite past, present By Holly Becka Of The Battalion Staff Today’s Texas A&M student has everyday re minders of the past University. These reminders are traditions. “(From) the initial beginnings of the institution in 1876, there is still a symbol of the past directly connected into the mainstream of today,” Dr. Malon Southerland, associate vice president for student services, said. Southerland, Class of ’65, talked to the A&M History Club on Monday about the history of University traditions. He said traditions are important because they help unite people, build teamwork and bring a sense of belonging to a person in a large group. Plus, traditions give visitors positive, lasting im pressions. Those good impressions are better press than the University could pay for, he said. “Howdy is amazing,” he said. “Think about that. If you ask a high-school student or a fresh, entering student if they’ve had any contact with the institution and about their perception of the University, first on the list will be they think the campus is friendly. “That is important to the institution,” Souther land said. “How much money would we have to spend to try to get a freshman wanting to come to A&M to perceive the institution as friendly? There is no way to add that amount, but it’s a bunch of money. “That applies to everything,” he continued. “From an aaministrator’s standpoint, (I think) it affects the way you come in, the attitude you start with and everything.” Asked if he thought the “howdy” greeting was dying out, Southerland said even when he at tended A&M there were complaints that no one said “howdy.” He said the transition of A&M’s traditions through the University’s changing times is unique. Traditions have been carried on because of students. The Corps of Cadets emphasizes the continuation of traditions, Southerland said. “We may have more (traditions) in number and they may be more specific than other univer sities’, but that’s because we’re doing them,” Southerland said. He said because of changing times, sori.c peo ple would argue that a few of the traditions are unnecessary, such as bonfire. “It has certain levels of problems, but I don’t know anything that doesn't,” Southerland said. “But how many times do you see bonfire pre sented as an image of A&M? You see it every Sunday on the R.C. Slocum Show and on every brochure that can find a color photo and get the permission to use it.” He said bonfire shows the world the together ness of the Aggies. One of the lesser known traditions of A&M that Southerland mentioned was the practice of A&M students and their dates “scoring” at foot ball games when the team made a first down in stead of a touchdown. “When I went to school we didn’t win too many games,” he said, laughing. “We liked that tradition so we scored on the first downs.” He said when he attended the University, one of the senior yell leaders was required to be a non-Corps student. “In my days, you had to be in the Corps for two years and then you could elect to stay in or get out,” he said. “So one of the three senior yell leaders had to be a civilian. In ’68 or ’69 the stu dent body changed that.” Photo by Frederick D.Joe (Right) Dr. Malon Southerland A&M student was first to leave tribe for education By Todd Swearingen Of The Battalion Staff Photo by Scott D. Weaver Rogelio Cansari Imagine that you suddenly found yourself in the jungle. Imagine the strange sounds, the strange smells and sights. Now, reverse the situa tion. Rogelio Cansari is from the jungles of Panama, and the first member of the Ember a tribe to re ceive a college education. Cansari, a junior anthropology major, gave a presentation to fellow anthropology students Monday on his people’s culture. “I am the first representative of my culture,” Cansari said. “I am the first jungle man that you can see in this jungle, which is the United States.” Cansari said that his people, num- “I I am the first jungle man that you can see in this jungle, which is the United States.” — Rogelio Cansari, bering about 110,000, live in the jun gles of Panama and Colombia. His people consist of the Embera and Wounan tribes, who share the same customs and rituals but speak sepa rate languages. The system of tribal government is very democratic, he said. “We are organized by chiefdom,” Cansari said. “There are three big chiefs — two regional and one gen eral. “After them, we have the head of the village — there are almost 55 vil lages.” Beneath the village leader is an as sembly consisting of the entire tribe, Cansari said. The assembly, he said, is the conscience of the tribe and is responsible for changes in law. Cansari presented a slide show of his village and described the Embera way of life. He said villages are al ways located near rivers and the houses are built above ground using trees that are harvested at a certain time of the season so that they will not rot. Cansari said the Embera diet con sists largely of fish. He also showed a slide that pictured both modern and traditional food bowls. “This is our car (a canoe), this wa ter is our highway,” Cansari said. Cansari, showing a slide of a mas sive tree, described the jungle as his people’s garden. “For us, this our shelter,” he said. “And we protect them (trees). Who ever wants to come in and kill one of these is taking a big risk. “We could give our life for one of See Student/Page 5 Student killed in auto accident Jan Ellen Hering, a senior el emental^ education major from McGregor, died at 2:30 a.m. Sun day in a car accident while return ing to McGregor. Funeral ar rangements are pending. Study shows sleepwalking not a disorder Stress, fatigue cause many to roam at night By Kelly S. Brown Of The Battalion Staff They go bump in the night and don’t even know it. While sleepwalkers have an un usual habit, they should know that, psychologically,they are no different from anyone else, a Texas A&M study of young adult sleepwalkers revealed. Dr. Jim Dupree, who conducted the research for his Ph.D. disserta tion in counseling psychology, said although no single explanation ex ists for why people sleepwalk, stud ies have shown fatigue, stress and medications contribute to the epi sodes. Dupree’s study, which included 97 sleepwalkers from nine universi ties, contradicted a theory that psy chopathology was the underlying problem with sleepwalkers. “I think previous studies have been premature to say sleepwalkers have an abnormal personality,” he said. “Young adult sleepwalkers from my study had no indications of this. “They did not appear to have any more problems in their lives that would make them different from someone who was not a sleepwal ker,” Dupree said. The study required each person to complete a two-part questionnaire about their childhood and sleep hab its. Those who had been sleepwalk ing recently took another test — the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory — where two separate control groups were used. Dupree, now a psychologist with the Humboldt State University Counseling Center in Areata, Calif., said he found the sleepwalkers in his study to be more open about family conflict during childhood than non sleepwalkers. “But that may not have any bear ing on why they’re sleepwalking,” he said. “There’s still much to be un veiled about the mysteries of sleep walking.” One thing he did discover and was surprised about in his findings was that as a group, sleepwalkers were not concerned about what they did while they were asleep, as few re ported injuries to themselves or oth ers. “It’s typically friends and family members who have more concerns about sleepwalking behavior,” he said. Susan Tisch, a sixth-grade teacher at Allen Academy, said it used to frighten her when her sister would get up in the middle of night and walk around, “in a different world — I thought something was wrong with her. “One time we had a conversation about chicken skin,” Tisch said. “She kept telling me to look at it while was going on about how wrinkled it was. I didn’t know what she was talking about, and neither did she after I woke her up later.” Many myths float around about waking sleepwalkers. Tisch said whenever her sister sleepwalks, her family tells her to go back to sleep. Dupree said a verbal reaction is the best to have w'ith a sleepwalker. “Either tell them that or wake them up gently — very gently,” he said. “You can throw something light at them, but don’t shake them. If you touch a sleepwalker, some See Sleepwalking/Page 5