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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1989)
ITexasAoMy> - - | • tie Dattalion \Mm/, WEATHER TOMORROW’S FORECAST: Mostly sunny and warm imv HIGH: 84 LOW: 60 S •Hty fo r asked a repay My do- Vol. 89 No.40 USPS 045360 16 Pages College Station, Texas Thursday, October 26,1989 used to ety fea- s likely o store “clean" only a al U.S. coal- > about ng.ex- uels. .ent on iil pro- ■ill be- t fluo- ntral roth- es at ige," row- have ut I ila, I fight sporta- : voted i earth- n Cali- cted to in for utility ■eplace bution listrict lion. he an PARKING PROBLEMS? •n ^ j Are you lata for a class and cant Rnd a ■ place to park? Is it raining and just too ■ inconvenient to park next to the last place on earth? Then just use this FREE PARKING PASS :e service -’omen, actress tnyone trviews nunity ten to notion Harri- wasn’t g her f illiam J 2k J [l Pmkanywhere you want to! 1 Take the last space In a (acuity loti Ttka that reserved space you always wanted! Wwi your car Is ticfcoted or towed, aimpty praaant this coupon to waive al flmol Una ana coupon par iisWcla Buaaa or Vana raquk* Mio cojpon* Coupon va*M2-15-ao n 1-5-00 VoM anara pwWbOad by law . . J la l I These two “coupons” appeared in different issues of Hulla- ! baloo magazine. Angeiique Gammon, co-owner of Insight j Publishing, said the coupons were meant as a joke. Neither students or parking officials were amused. WITH COUPON 50 extra points on your next weekly exam or 25 extra points on your next major exam or 10 extra points on your final exam Free parking coupons are void Magazine published fake advertisements as a joke By Julie Myers Coupon must be presented at time of exam Of The Battalion Staff •Present this coupon to professor or T.A. at the time of your next exam that you are unprepared for. Receive absolutely free, with no obligation, extra points on your exam grade. Students hoping to waive parking fines or tow ing fees with a coupon printed in an Oct. 15 issue of Hullabaloo! magazine will be disappointed — the advertisement is a joke. “We needed to fill a space on the coupon page and attract attention,” Angeiique Gammon, In site Publishing Company co-owner, said. Insite, which publishes Hullabaloo!, printed a similar fake advertisement in the Sept. 15 issue concerning extra points on exams. Both ads, placed near real ads, appeared legitimate. “They were meant to be humorous,” Gammon said. Journalism professor Dr. Doug Starr said in his opinion, the ad was not funny. “It has no place in a legitimate magazine and should not show up beside legitimate ads,” Starr said. The advertisement included a Dec. 15 to Jan. 5 validation date and claimed, “void where prohibited by law.” “I intended the date to be the disclaimer (to the ad),” she said. “Also, nowhere does it say Texas A&M.” Although Gammon said she didn’t anticipate any problems, Director of Parking, Transit and Traffic Services Tom Williams said they had re ceived complaints. “It should not have been done,” Williams said. “I’m afraid that students will look at the dates and think it’s valid.” In addition, Williams said that if students pre sent the “parking pass” to waive fines, they still will have to pay the fines or the towing expenses. “This is going to cause more problems with the students than for us,” Williams said. “We can’t do anything about this (pass) because we don’t have any way to dismiss a ticket with a coupon.” In addition, Williams said that according to University regulations, his department must col lect everything they are owed. Gammon said Sanders Ledbetter, the manager of Administrative Affairs approved the parking pass advertisement. Ledbetter, however, said he did not talk with her personally about the parking pass. “I’m not an expert in dealing with the legality of advertisements,” Ledbetter said. Five bodies discovered |at plant site Cause of blast hidden under mass of debris ithori- nage- en io srried | f fire- jldbel work 48oo[ : Dn; head' , hoi'I e wel-1 it' . of* <11*1 over- |cno*| ■ectof ngj le* tUltl' pil So: PASADENA (AP) — Investigators searching for the cause of the Phil lips Petroleum Co. plastics plant ex plosion discovered three more bod ies in the charred rubble of the plant Wednesday and continued the search for 17 others presumed killed in the blast. In all, five bodies have been found since a series of explosions ripped through the plastics plant. On Wednesday, the body of one of three contract workers unac counted for since the explosions was found in a maintenance area in the morning, Phillip Witt, a company spokesman, said. The two other bodies were found separately later in the day, but both were in the same vicinity near a stor age area for poly-ethyiene pellets, Bill Wicker, another company spokesman, said. Wicker said the first worker who was found Wednesday worked for Fish Engineering, a subcontractor for Phillips, but he did not have his name. There was no answer at the Fish Engineering office in Houston. Workers used cranes, hyradulic shears and other heavy equipment Wednesday to clear some of the rub ble at the complex, but the process was slowed by the fact that many bodies are believed to be in the wreckage. “There are a number of safety as pects we have to take before we can clear everything up,” Young said. “If there was nobody in there, we’d have 90 percent of this cleared up.” Company officials also learned that another man listed as missing was not at the plant at the time of Monday’s blast, plant manager Rob ert Benz. The identities of the dead have not been released by Phillips. One body was found Monday night and the second victim was discovered Tuesday. I Assistant Secretary of Labor John Scannell, who heads the Occupatio nal Safety and Health Administra tion, toured the plant Wednesday with other federal investigators called in by U.S. Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole. “It’s total devastation,” Scannell said. “In 30 years of experience in the chemical industry, I’ve never seen such massive equipment twisted and strung about. “It’s still a very hazardous situa tion with twisted steel and columns, the total destruction of some parts — you can only imagine the force of the explosion. Bolts were sheared right off and twisted like pretzels,” Scannell said. OSH A had a team of 15 investiga tors, including chemical and structu ral engineers, at the site. Scannell said the federal workers will help with recovery operations and offer technical assistance and advice. “And then we want to determine a cause,” Scannell said. “We want to come up with prevention efforts to keep this from occurring again. Edwards encourages Prop. 21 Senator tells students: Vote for college bonds By Mia B. Moody Of The Battalion Staff Texas A&M students can help counteract the high cost of at tending college by voting for a proposal which would generate $75 million in student loans in Texas, Sen. Chet Edwards said Wednesday Rudder Tower. n Edwards Care packages from home Photo by Frederick D. Joe Michelle Smith, left, a senior kinesiology major, and La Fayne nates the cartons to the Washington County A&M Mother’s Club, Draehn, a senior Spanish major, both of Brenham, pick up their who fill them with cookies. The Mother’s Club sends such care Blue Bell cartons filled with cookies Wednesday. Blue Bell do- packages to A&M once a semester. Police bust UT students for bookmaking operation AUSTIN (AP) — Two University of Texas business students and a graduate with a degree in finance allegedly masterminded a bookmaking operation that drew nearly $100,000 a weekend in sports bets, Austin police said. The three — Adam Don, 20; Dan Sachnowitz, 21; and Christopher J. Trapp, 23 — were ac cused by authorities of running the gambling business out of an efficiency apartment in a neighborhood north of the UT campus. In addition to ledgers police say were used to record the bets, police seized four vehicles, cellu lar telephones, a desk telephone system, and an answering machine used by the three in their ille gal business, said Lt. Jerry Slatton of the Austin Police Department’s vice squad. Don was charged with engaging in organized crime by promotion of gambling, while Sachno witz and Trapp were charged with engaging in organized crime by keeping a gambling place. All three were released from jail after posting $15,000 bail. None of the men could be reached by tele phone Wednesday. Trapp talked with the Austin American-Statesman but declined to discuss the arrest. “I can’t answer anything,” he repeated. The three were arrested Monday night in the apartment by vice officers from Austin police and criminal intelligence officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety. The ledgers and other records seized in the raid" indicated that at least half of the bettors were current or former UT students, Slatton said. Police said they had no immediate plans to pursue charges against the bettors. The arrests ended a two-week investigation that started when officers received a tip about gambling operations going on in the apartment, which they allege was used solely as a headquar ters for the book operation. About $3,000 in bets had been taken within 30 minutes for Monday night’s football game be tween the Chicago Bears and the Cleveland Browns when officers raided the apartment, po lice said. “The cost of going to college has increased 300 percent faster than the average family income in the last nine years,” Edwards said. “Students and parents need to begin to think about how they will pay to educate future graduates.” Edwards, a candidate for lieuten ant governor, said sending a child born today to college will cost $92,000 at a public institution and $231,000 at a private one. Proposition 21 would allow the Higher Education Coordination Board to issue up to $75 million in tax-exempt General Obligation bonds. Proceeds from the sale of these bonds would be used to make loans to needy students. Lower and middle class families will be encouraged to purchase these bonds, he said. They would be sold for as little as $250 and would have maturities ranging from five to 25 years. Edwards said one of the reasons Proposition 21 is important is the possible extinction of a popular loan source for students. “The Hinson-Hazelwood Loan, a fund which has allowed 170,000 stu dents to attend colleges and univer sities in Texas, may become extinct in the next few years,” Edwards said. “The demand for the loan has in creased, but funds haven’t.” Edwards said the fund also is im portant because it will let high school students know that they have a chance to go to college. According to polls taken at Texas high schools, students say they won’t go to college because they can’t afford it, he said. Educator charges discrimination kept her from tenure By Julie Myers Of The Battalion Staff Testimony began Wednesday in the open tenure hearing of Assistant Professor of Biology Lynn Lamo- reux, who claims age and sex dis crimination as the basis for contest ing her 1988 tenure denial. partment of Biology, as in most de partments, assistant professors up for promotion and tenure are voted on by all tenured professors within the department. Two votes were taken; both times a majority sup ported Lamoreux’s promotion and tenure. tion and tenure in 1987. In the De r >gy if, i thy Half, however, did not support that action. Lamoreux subsequently appealed the decision and was directed to the Tenure Advisory Committee, where both sides presented their cases. The Tenure Advisory Committee also supported Lamoreux and her charge of sex discrimination and vio lation of due process, although they did not find evidence of age discrim ination. Lamoreux charges discrimination on three grounds. She contends she was denied the use of necessary re search equipment. She also cites age and sex discrimination as reasons she was not allowed to attend a sym posium in Germany. Lastly, she was required to write research grant pro posals ahead of the deadline. In general, Lamoreux has been criticized for an apparent inability to communicate effectively with stu dents and in work submitted for publication. After the Tenure Advisory Com mittee completed its review of the case, the matter was referred to the Provost and Vice President for Aca demic Affairs Donald McDon ald.The Committee on Academic Freedom, Responsibility, and Ten ure will make tne final decision after the hearings adjourn Nov. 3. Miles of twisted strings of pipe are iled haphazardly around the plant. me buildings are gone and eight giant reactors now look like huge, battered tin cans. “Virtually every piece of material is being looked at as a piece of the puzzle,” Scannell said, adding the 0SHA crew expects to remain at the site for several days. “We’ll be here as long as it takes.” The area where authorities be lieve most of the 19 missing workers are is a twisted jumble of rubble and debris. Scannell said the recovery of victims “could be days, could be weeks. It’s very complicated.” Three Texas cities rate low on ‘livability’ list FROM STAFF & WIRE REPORTS T he way folks in Odessa, Laredo and Victoria look at it, Places Rated Alma nac must think bark chips, rain and earth quakes are just dandy. All of those things — especially rain — abound in both Seattle and San Francisco, listed by Places Rated as the two most-livable cities in the nation. The list was drawn up be fore second-ranked San Francisco suffered a killer earthquake last week. Odessa —where it hardly ever rains and where earthquakes are something you read about —ranked 332nd on the list of 333 cities, better only than a town in Arkansas. How Texas cities ranked/pg 4 Laredo ranked 331st and Victoria was 328th, making Texas the only state with more than one city in the bottom 10. Bryan-College Station ranked 268th. “I just don’t understand how they did that,” a baffled Mona Foust said W’ednesday. Foust, director of Victoria’s convention and visitors bureau, said it was evident that Places Rated Almanac didn’t visit her city, and said she wondered about the criteria used by the publisher, Prentice Hall Travel Books. The criteria apparently didn’t include the ability to walk outside barefoot without being immobilized by splinters. Folks in Seattle like to cover the ground with bark chips that make walking outside without shoes a painful adventure. The ground in Odessa, Laredo and Victoria is covered with plain old dirt. The Places Rated rankings were based on scoring in categories including crime, health care, environment, transportation, education, the arts, recreation and climate. “The climate in California —well, this past week said something about that,” Foust said. The mayors of Odessa and Laredo were out of town for the week, though officials were quick to say they hadn’t left because of See Cities/Page 13