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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1989)
he Battalion WEATHER TOMORROW’S FORECAST: Partly sunny HIGH: 80 LOW: 52 Vol.89 No.52 USPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, November 13,1989 Leftist guerrillas in El Salvador launch new offensive e i I SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Leftist rebels launched their biggest offensive in the 10-year-old civil war, battling troops in San Sal vador and other cities in fighting in which at least 127 people were killed, the military said Sunday. President Alfredo Cristiani an nounced a state of siege. Cristiani’s official residence was among the tar gets of the rebels’ offensive launched Saturday night. He was at his private home and was not hurt. The armed forces said at least 155 people were wounded. An American teacher was among the dead. Rebels claimed 400 soldiers were killed or wounded. There were reports of fighting in four of the country’s 14 provinces, including the northern section of San Salvador. , Cristiani announced a curfew and the state of siege in an address on ra dio and television Sunday. The state of siege restricts the freedom of ex pression, transit within the country, rights of assembly and privacy of correspondence. His Cabinet approved the mea sure and the legislative assembly will vote on it Monday, the president said. He said a curfew would bean ef fect from 8 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday and after Monday morning from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. Movement on foot and in vehicles is banned from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. beginning Sunday. Cristiani said, “The terrorists must know that there are judicial tools to fight these irrational at tacks.” Addressing the people, he said, “You must heed the call to not go out in the streets, to stay in your houses or where you are right now. It’s just a question of a short time.” Cristiani is the leader of the right ist Nationalist Republican Alliance, or Arena, and was installed in office June 1 after winning the presidential election. Gunfire, explosions and sirens rang out throughout San Salvador when the guerrillas launched the of fensive Saturday night, and the “X I oday we are fighting against misery, against those who stay in power through savagery.” — Leftist guerilla broadcast sounds of fighting could be heard into Sunday. Cristiani’s private home and his* official residence both were at tacked, military officials said. He was at his private home and was unhurt, they said. The international airport was St. Joseph Hospital announces plans for two-year renovation By Holly Becka Of The Battalion Staff St. Joseph Hospital and Health Center announced Friday it will be gin a two-phase construction and renovation plan Dec. 1. The hospital will spend $11.6 mil lion on construction, plus $3.3 mil lion for new equipment during the two-year expansion plan, which is called Project 90-92. The project will be funded from tax-exempt revenue bonds issued through the Brazos Valley Health Facilities Devel opment Corp. Sister Gretchen Kunz, hospital president, said the expansion is for people needing medical service and care, for their families and for those - i Ambassadors > 1 represent University |Program also seeks 1 to reach minorities who work at the hospital and health center. She said medical services will not be interrupted during construction. “We’re working with the people on the project to make sure it’s con venient,” Kunz said. “Our goal is to make sure nobody will even notice the project is going on.” The first phase of the project will be construction of a new 57,400- square-foot, three-story building which will connect to the existing front of the hospital building. Con struction will begin on Dec. 1 and is expected to end by November 1990. The entrance and atrium lobby will be relocated to the new building. The new building will house busi ness and support services offices, the trustee board room, staff and ad ministrative offices, a pharmacy, an education and conference center, an expanded gift shop, a new coffee shop and an expanded dining area. Dan Buche, assistant project di rector and vice president of profes sional services, said space in the hos pital was not appropriate for the number of patients seen. With the new building, and the moving of offices and services from their existing locations in the current building, more space will be pro vided for patient care, Buche said. The second phase of the construc tion is expected to begin in 1991 and end in 1992. This renovation phase includes the remodeling of 44,000 square feet in the existing facility. Four operating rooms will be added, bringing the total to 10 oper ating suites, a crisis room and an other private family room will be added, the lounge area and registra tion area will be enlarged, and the radiology, physical therapy and car diopulmonary departments will be expanded. Outpatient services also will be expanded from 13 to 15 beds during the renovation. Buche said the hospital will ex pand from 196 to 204 T>eds overall. Eight intensive care unit beds will be added, and 30 beds for critical care will exist after renovation. Parking also will be enlarged from 100 to 345 spaces. Alice Luttbeg, vice president for E atient services, said 50 new jobs will e available because of the project. In addition to the many professional positions, she said support jobs also will be available. Luttbeg said St. Jo seph will recruit heavily in the local area for people to fill the positions. closed after military installations there were attacked by mortar fire. Cristiani, speaking over nation wide radio and television, said he called a meeting of the Council of Ministers to consider declaring a state of siege. He said seven civilians were killed and 41 injured during the two-day offensive. Hospital officials speaking on condition of anonymity said at least six soldiers and four guerrillas were killed in the fighting. A teacher at the American High School in San Salvador was among those killed Saturday night in the at tacks, U.S. Embassy spokesman Barry Jacobs said. Jacobs would give no details and said the victim’s name was being withheld pending notifica tion of family members. The leftist Farabundo Marti Lib eration Front has been fighting a succession of U.S.-backed govern ments in El Salvador for 10 years. In a broadcast over their clandes tine rebel Radio Venceremos, guer rillas called the offensive part of a national maneuver called “Remove the fascists, Febe Elizabeth lives.” This offensive is named after union leader Febe Elizabeth Velaz quez, who died in an Oct. 31 explo sion at the National Federation of Salvadoran Workers. The rebels ac cuse the military of being behind that attack that killed 10 people and injured more than 30. “Today we are fighting against misery, against those who stay in power through savagery aimed at churches, universities, opposition political parties, guilds, unions and dissident sectors . . .,” the broadcast said. Rebels attacked Cristiani’s resi dence Saturday night and other offi cial buildings and occupied several sectors of the northern part of San Salvador. Kremlin continues to deploy nuclear weapons, says Cheney WASHINGTON (AP) — Top ad ministration officials insisted Sunday that the Kremlin continues to deploy new strategic nuclear weapons, al though a published report said some deployments had been cut in antic ipation of an arms control deal. “The fact of the matter is the Sovi ets have continued to modernize their strategic forces,” Defense Sec retary Dick Cheney said on the NBC-TV program “Meet the Press.” Cheney did not flatly deny a re port published Sunday in the Wash- Cardenas predicts Mexico to enter market By Holly Becka Of The Battalion Staff Dr. Enrique Cardenas, president of Universidad de las Americas, pre dicted during an economic confer ence at Texas A&M Thursday that the Latin American countries, in cluding Mexico, will enter the North American common market to save themselves from massive debts. Cardenas, an economist, spoke during the first of a three-day Latin American debt conference. The third annual conference was hosted by the Mexican Student Association and the College of Business Admin istration. Students and faculty from across the United States and Latin Amer ica, bankers and business people and government officials attended the conference. Cardenas said Latin America is preparing for the North American market with growing trade agreements and the integration of many economic sectors. “If the United States wants to compete with the European market, which will now be broadening be cause of the opening of borders, the United States will have to count on cheap,'skilled labor,” he said. “It’s no longer a confrontation of ideolo gies.” Cardenas also compared Latin America’s debt problem to the drug problem. “There seems to be a feeling that blaming the debtor countries of cor ruption and misuse of loans has led nowhere and that blaming the banks and irresponsible banking practices has not worked either,” he said! “Ap parently, this is like the drug prob lem. “For many years the United States has blamed other countries for drugs produced there,” Cardenas continued. “Producer countries ar gue if there was no demand, there would not be a supply. They both share the notion that both see the trash only in the other people’s gar den and not in their own.” Cardenas said structural changes in the economies of Latin American countries will have to be made to curtail the debt. ington Post that quoted unidentified government sources as saying. the Soviets had stopped producing four new weapons, the SS-18 and SS-24 missiles, the Blackjack Bomber and the Typhoon submarine, and had suspended work on an aircraft car rier. The Post said the reports, appar ently based on satellite photography, conflicted with recent statements by Cheney and Vice President Dan Quayle that the Soviets continue to deploy new weapons. Responding to that assertion, Cheney said the Soviets might have slowed deployments of some new systems in order not to exceed a ceil ing proposed for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which would slash long-range superpower nu clear weapons by 30 percent to 50 percent. That treaty is not expected to lie the centerpiece of a summit planned for Dec. 2-3 in the Mediterranean Sea. Senior U.S. officials have said the START deal might be ready for another meeting between President Busji and Mikhail S. Gorbachev slated for next spring or summer. Cheney said the Kremlin was re placing many of its older nuclear weapons with more modern bomb ers, ballistic missiles and submarines. “In effect what I think would be fair to say is that by the late ’90s, even if you have a START agreement, the Soviets will have changed out, completely replaced, modernized, every single leg of the triad,” Cheney said. Secretary of State James A. Baker III said “the Soviet Union still re mains a very heavily armed super power.” By Selina Gonzalez Of The Battalion Staff The Texas A&M Multicultural Services Center has started an Am bassador Program to help further the goals of the Multicultural Serv ices Center, ambassador Mark Figart said. Figart said the primary reason for the formation of the Ambassador Program, which started three weeks ago, is to represent the Center and the University at official luncheons and receptions. The program, which works closely with the Office of School Relations and the Office of the Vice President, also will design and implement pro grams geared toward high school minority students interested in fur thering their education, Figart said. “There are big implications for an uneducated — what is now a mi nority sector — because soon they are not going to be in the minority with the birth rate as high as it is,” he said. Figart said the percentage of mi norities at A&M is not representative of the population and the Ambassa dor Program will try to boost recruit ment of minorities at A&M. “Something has got to be done to increase recruitment because eco nomically, it makes sense to educate minorities to prepare for the futu re,” Figart said. The Ambassador Program’s first official activity will be a phone-a- thon Nov. 21 in conjunction with the Office of School Relations, he said. The ambassadors will call minority students who have applied for ad mission at Texas A&M or have shown interest in attending. Figart said the high school stu dents will have the opportunity to ask the Aggie ambassadors questions about the University. The other ambassadors are Mich elle Adams, David Benavidez, De- metria Chester, Perthelene Garnett, Agueda Garza, Vernell Johnson III, Leah Matthews, Cynthia Rincon, Marcus Stevenson and Roger Ven tura. Penny Penington, who is a graduate assistant for the Center, serves as the Ambassador Program adviser. Aggie Band hosts high school band contest By Michael Kelley Of The Battalion Staff The sights and sounds of 26 military marching bands filled Kyle Field Saturday as more than 3,000 high school musicians from around Texas attended the sec ond annual National Association of Military Marching Bands’ high school competition. The competition, the only one of its kind in the world, was hosted and run by the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band. According to literature from the National Associa tion of Military Marching Bands (NAMMB), the contest is to promote and preserve the military precision style of performance among bands of America. “This is the alternative to the state marching contest in Austin which will occur on Monday,” said Lt. Col. Ray Toler, director of the Aggie Band. “That contest primarily will feature drum and bugle corps-style bands. This contest, on the other hand, has bands that are primarily precision-style marching bands that march in the same style as the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band.” Hubert Almany, NAMMB president and Lindale High School band director, said Texas A&M was cho sen to host the contest because it is the only major uni versity with a band that still does military marching and still plays military marching music. “There’s been a trend in the last few years away from the military marching toward more of the corps-style,” Almany said. “This contest is to promote military marching and traditional march-type music. “The contest is growing and we hope next year to even have a larger group of bands.” Almany said NAMMB is the only organization of its kind in the United States, having started last year by eight directors of military-style marching bands. “We now have hundreds of band directors that are members and we feel like this shows that the pendulum is swinging back toward military style of marching and military music,” Almany said. The 26 bands, which performed from noon until 6:30 p.m., were graded by three judges, one of which was Joe T. Haney, Aggie Band Director Emeritus. Ha ney, who retired last year after directing the Aggie Band for 17 years, is the first lifetime member of the NAMMB. He has been directing military-style march ing bands for 40 years, having directed high school bands in Mexia, Calvert and Wharton before coming to A&M in 1972. “The whole idea of the NAMMB is to try to promote military marching bands in the state of Texas and hope fully eventually around the United States,” Haney said. “We started it last year when some of the high school band directors and I met to get it organized. I went to see the proper authorities and arranged to have the contest here at Kyle Field, and the rest is history.” Dan Gibbs of Monahans and Jerry Longwell of Hurst also served as judges Saturday. The bands were judged based on alignment, spacing, consistency of foot place ment, originality in the overall drill with the formation of patterns and the precision of the music. Awards were presented for outstanding first division bands in each classification. New Diana High School won best in class for Division 2A, Lindale High School for Class 3A, Carthage High School for Class 4A and Kingwood High School for Class 5 A. The “Colonel Joe T. Haney Award” for best perfor mance of traditional march music was presented to Kingwood High School, while Longview High School won the “A&M University Award” (presented on behalf of the Aggie Band) for outstanding drill design. Janice Welty, a senior drum major from the Long view High School Band, said the NAMMB contest is im portant to the Lobo Band because military style march ing bands have problems competing against corps-style bands. This is due to the difference between the two styles of bands, which cannot be easily judged based on a similar rating system. “It was really great getting to come here because it means a lot to be able to win a state contest where it’s all military bands and you’re judged on the same level, in stead of having it be judged along with corps bands,” Welty said. Eric Gruetzner, a senior in the Lindale High School Band, said the contest gets observers excited about mili tary marching style and has helped him personally stay motivated about going into the Aggie Band when he comes to A&M next year. “Since I was about four years old, I’ve wanted to come to A&M and be in the band,” Gruetzner said. Longview High School band director Bobby Richard son said that the contest is an educational experience for band members. “I think educationally this contest is the best thing military bands have had in a long time,” Richardson said. “Being able to see the Aggie Band, which is the epitome of what we’re trying to do, and then put our kids in a contest where it really means something to make a first division rating and do a good job, I really think teaches the kids a lot. “To be able to watch all those other bands that do what we do at a contest that’s geared to w'hat we do, you can’t ask for any more than that.” Photo by Kathy Havanan Tuba player Brad Conaway, a sophomore at Gilmer High School, plays a song during the second annual National As sociation of Military Marching Bands contest held Saturday.