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Vol.89 No.58 USPS 045360 8 Pages
s Salvadoran rebels
rs.;.
s See to mountains,
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army gets control
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador
|AP) — Leftist guerrillas withdrew
om San Salvador’s outskirts Sun-
ay, winding down their biggest of
fensive of the civil war and pulling
ack to their mountain strongholds.
Archbishop Arturo Rivera Damas
laid that with the guerrilla withdra-
al “a dreadful wave of revenge, re
pression and witch hunting may fol-
ow.” The attorney general said
hvera Damas and a Roman Catholic
mxiliary bishop should leave El Sal-
ador for their own safety.
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About 800 mourners meanwhile,
ittended the burial of six Jesuit
>riests and two others who were
lain and mutilated early Thursday
t their residence at Jose Simeon Ga
las Central American University.
The United States has pressed
ightist President Alfredo Cristiani
or a full investigation of the killings,
ind a U.S. senator warned U.S. aid
o El Salvador could be curtailed if
mstiani cannot control right-wing
death squads from operating in the
mmtry.
There was virtually no gunfire in
he capital as troops regained con-
rol of the working-class districts of
Sacamil and Metropolis on the north
side, Mejicanos in the northeast and
Soyapango on the eastern edge of
the city.
Army patrols moved through the
shattered streets, strewn with the
rubble of fighting. On some streets,
several burned bodies could be seen.
Later Sunday, security troops
raided for the second time in a week
a small church in the capital habor
ing refugees from the fighting.
A military news release gave a ten
tative count of nearly 1,000 soldiers
and guerrillas killed since the rebels
launched their offensive in San Sal
vador and other cities in the country
Nov. 11.
The military said 784 guerrillas
were killed, 527 wounded and 129
captured and government forces lost
208 killed and 627 wounded.
Radio Venceremos, the Fara-
bundo Marti National Liberation
Front’s clandestine radio station,
claimed 827 soldiers were killed or
wounded but gave no breakdown.
Neither the military nor rebels
gave an estimate of casualties among
civilians, who suffered heavily in the
block-by-block fighting. The Red
Cross said an estimate was difficult
because many bodies are still in the
streets.
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, November 21,1989
Bad bull
An A&M student stares at a message left in the grass on the front was apparently made with a chemical that killed grass to make a
lawn of the MSC Monday morning. The message, “UT #1 love” stupid message sometime during the weekend.
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Biochemistry professor claims he has found
Stradivari’s age-old secret to violin-making
By Cindy McMillian
Df The Battalion Staff
Hidden at the end of a dirt road
behind the Texas A&M Veterinary
Medicine School is a laboratory mak-
ng waves in the science community
— and making music in the middle
rfa cattle field.
A&M biochemistry professor Jo
seph Nagy vary says he has discov
ered the scientific secret to making
violins like the instruments made
centuries ago by Antonio Stradivari.
“Stradivari is revered as a semi-
a;od in the music world, but he was
just a lucky fellow,” Nagyvary said.
The famous Italian craftsman fin
ished his instruments with varnish
bought at a local drugstore, Nagy
vary said, and used wood that was
soaked in the lagoon surrounding
Venice to make the instrument bod-
Nagyvary believes these two com
ponents, wood and varnish, were
crucial to the quality of the famous
violins made in the 17th and 18th
centuries by Stradivari and his col
leagues. Crystals contained in the
Dr. Nagyvary instructs student David Malcolmson.
gemstone varnish filter out irritat
ing, high-sound components, and
the porous, water-soaked wood gives
the instruments a light structure
with quick response.
Fewer than 700 Stradivarius vio
lins are known to exist today, and
modern instrument makers so far
have been unable to recreate the
beautiful, rich sound of those instru
ments. But Nagyvary thinks he has
found the secret.
He starts with wood bought in Or
egon, Washington and Alaska —
spruce for the belly and sides of the
violin, maple for the top — and
soaks it in water. Since he does not
have the luxury of waiting many
years for the wood to age, he speeds
up the process by treating the wood
with enzymes.
Next, the violins are carved by
machines run from computer pro
grams. One of Nagyvary’s assistants,
a former surgeon from China, car
ves a prototype violin by hand, and
then enters the measurements of the
prototype into the computer.
After the instruments are assem
bled, they are finished with many
coats of a special gemstone varnish
— made mostly from crushed quartz
crystals, Nagyvary says, not precious
stones — and dried under ultraviolet
light.
The result? An instrument that
Nagyvary claims is equal to, if not
better than, the famous Stradivarius.
At the end of December, Nagy
vary and his assistants will have pro
duced 12 violins this year. Much of
the time was spent ironing out prob
lems with the computer system, he
said, so production should be faster
in the future. But speed is not his
See Violin/Page 6
Czechs march streets
calling leaders to resign
PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia (AP) —
About 30,000 demonstrators Sun
day denounced police brutality and
demanded that the government and
top Communist officials resign. Au
thorities arrested 10 dissidents but
left the marchers alone.
The government denied reports
that police killed a student in bloody
clashes Friday, when hundreds were
beaten, tear-gassed and attacked by
dogs in the largest demonstration in
20 years.
Sunday’s rally began with a few
thousand protesters gathering on
downtown Wenceslas Square, but
the crowd grew to 30,000 as demon
strators reached Narodini Street,
where white-helmeted riot police
beat demonstrators Friday.
“We don’t let you murder us!” the
crowd chanted. They also chanted
such slogans as “Write Truthfully,”
“Free Unions” and “Jakes to the
dustbin.”
Milos Jakes is the hard-line leader
of the ruling Communist Party and,
unlike other East bloc leaders, has
resisted reforms orchestrated by So
viet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
Jakes is joined in his intransigence
by Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania’s
leader.
About 2,000 demonstrators split
away and crossed a bridge over the
Vltava river in an apparent attempt
to reach the hillside presidential resi
dence.
Police did not interfere in the
march but did block access to the
hill. The smaller group eventually
returned to Narodni Street, from
where some 10,000 streamed back
into Wenceslas Square.
Those arrested included Petr Uhl,
a leading human rights activist, who
was charged in connection with the
spreading of news about the alleged
death of Martin Smid at police
hands Friday. The state news agency
CTK said he was charged with “the
crimes of harming the interests of
the republic abroad and spreading
alarming news.”
Uhl, a veteran member of the
Charter 77 group, is associated with
VIA, a dissident news service active
in several East European countries.
If convicted, he could be sentenced
to three and a half years in prison.
Dissident sources in Prague and
Vienna told the Associated Press
that police also arrested a woman
claiming to be Smid’s girlfriend.
Ecstasy drug inhibits mind, endangers lives of abusers
By Melissa Naumann
Of The Battalion Staff
Ecstasy may not be all it’s cracked
up to be.
The drug ecstasy, also known as
X, XTC, Adam, MDMA and MDM,
has moved out of the doctor’s office
and into home laboratories, night
clubs and the bloodstreams of col
lege students, leaving behind it a
trail of controversy and uncertainty
concerning its harmful effects.
Ecstasy, or 3,4-methylenedioxy-
methamphetamine, is a psychosti
mulant causing hallucinogenic ef
fects, such as changes in sensory
rerception as well as stimulant ef-
ects like those produced by amphet
amines or cocaine, said Dr. Steve Pe
terson, associate professor of
pharmacology and toxicology in the
Texas A&M College of Medicine.
Ecstasy, invented as an appetite
suppressant in 1914 in Germany,
causes people to lose their inhibi
tions. Because of this, it was used by
psychiatrists for many years. In
1984, however, ecstasy became ille
gal in the United States and the
Drug Enforcement Agency pro
posed that it be added to the list of
Schedule I substances, which in
cludes heroin and LSD.
A Schedule I substance has three
characteristics: it has no accepted
medical use, it is believed to have a
high potential for abuse and it has
not been shown to be safe even when
used with medical supervision.
The three DEA characteristics
^ have been the source of much de
bate in the medical world.
Peterson said that while some peo
ple abuse the drug, it is less addictive
than other drugs.
“People don’t throw their lives
away for ecstasy like they will for,
say, coke,” Peterson said. “Most just
try it for a little while.”
Peterson said the definite medical
dangers of ecstasy in humans stem
mainly from its stimulant effects so
people with heart problems and
high blood pressure are in particular
danger. With the normal dose,
though, serious health problems sel
dom occur, Peterson said.
“In terms of killing you, it’s a lot
less dangerous than something like
crack,” he said.
Dehydration is another problem,
he said. To combat this and to make
the drug’s effects last longer, users
drink plenty of liquid.
An article in the February 1988 is
sue of Science magazine said the
drug has caused brain damage in
rats and monkeys. It injures nerve
cells in the brain that use serotonin
as a neurotransmitter, but whether
this toxic effect is permanent and
whether ecstasy damages these neu
rons in the human brain is un
known.
Peterson said the neurons that are
affected control appetite, sex func
tions, sleep patterns and hormone
production.
Sgt. Rick Stewart, head of the
Texas Department of Public Safety
Narcotics Task Force, said three
things can trigger suspicion that
someone has taken ecstasy. A user
may be hallucinating, be excited and
talkative or be sleepy and groggy, he
said.
“It affects different people differ
ently,” Stewart said. “You never
Users say effects may be fantastic, frightening
By Melissa Naumann
Of The Battalion Staff
One person’s ecstasy is another
person’s nightmare.
Like scientists, students disagree
about the drug ecstasy and its ef
fects.
Scott and Cindy are A&M stu
dents who have tried ecstasy with
different results.
Scott, 20, tried ecstasy for the first
time in July and uses it about twice a
month. Cindy, 22, on the other
hand, tried it twice three years ago
and she said she would never try it
again.
Scott said he was attracted to the
drug because he had heard nothing
bad about it. He has tried LSD, co
caine, crystal, marijuana and alco
hol.
Cindy used alcohol, marijuana
and “mandies,” Mexican prescrip
tion tranquilizers that have effects
similar to alcohol.
For as little as $6 to as much as
$15, Scott said he could buy an
ecstasy tablet that would produce ef
fects for up to five hours.
“No matter what you buy or who
you buy it from, they always say,
‘This is good stuff,”’ he said.
About 45 minutes after taking the
drug, Scott’s heart starts to beat fas
ter, he starts to grind his teeth and
his sensations become magnified.
“You can actually feel the blood
rushing through your veins,” he
said. “Something sweet tastes ten
times as sweet as it is and soft feels
even softer.”
Scott said the psychological effects
of ecstasy sometimes overpower the
physical effects.
“It lowers that barrier that you
put up to people because you’re afr
aid,” he said. “You have a lot of fun
but at the same time, you’re very se
rious.
“I forget all my problems and if a
problem comes up, I just think, ‘Oh,
it’s not as bad as I thought it was.’
You can sometimes see ways out of
problems that you thought were too
massive.”
Cindy’s experience, however, was
less than ecstatic. She first tried the
drug in a dry, gelatin form with a
friend at a small party. Because she
hadn’t eaten earlier, it began to af
fect her before it did her friend.
“The walls started breathing,” she
said. “I had to lie down and close my
eyes. I tried to go to sleep because it
was really bad and I wanted it to
end.”
Suddenly, a charge went through
her and, for about an hour, she felt
content.
“It was a perfect feeling,” she said.
Soon, however, she said she began
to feel withdrawn and antisocial and
for a week after taking it, she and
her friend were paranoid.
“We cried out of the blue,” she
said. “At night, I would hear things
and one time, I screamed because I
thought something was coming
through the door.”
The only “hangover” effect Scott
had was trouble concentrating the
day after.
Because the good part was so
good, Cindy tried ecstasy again but
with bad results.
Cindy said her short-term mem
ory has never been the same, but
Scott said the only long-term effect
he has noticed is increased hunger
without weight gain.
know — that’s one of the sad things
about it.”
Bob Wiatt, director of security of
the University Police Department,
said no one at A&M has been caught
with ecstasy, but UPD does hear ru
mors of ecstasy use on campus.
Several years ago, during an in
ventory search of some towed cars,
ecstasy, in addition to other con
trolled substances, was found, Wiatt
said. But the owners of the cars
claimed they didn’t know how it got
there, so UPD could not prove pos
session, Wiatt said.
No one has conducted a formal
study about how widespread the use
of ecstasy is across the United States,
but an informal survey at Stanford
University showed that roughly one-
third of its undergraduates had tried
ecstasy at least once, the Sciencema-
gazine article said. Because of this.
the university is planning an infor
mation program on ecstasy.
Peterson said ecstasy, which is
manufactured in home laboratories,
is cut, or stretched, with other drugs
for street use and these drugs can
change the effects of the drugs.
Usually amphetamines and PCP are
used, he said.
“But it’s hard to say with street
drugs,” he said. “What else goes in
there depends on who’s selling and
what’s available. Some people just
don’t use pure chemicals to cut ecsta-
sy.”-
Death resulting from ecstasy is
uncommon, but it has happened in
Brazos County.
On Aug. 21, a 15-.year-old Bryan
boy was arrested for burglary of a
habitation, during which he stole 20
ecstasy tablets, said Ernie Wentrcek,
chief of the Brazos County Juvenile
Probation Office. Wentrcek said
that, after being arrested, Timothy
Castillo smuggled the tablets into the
Juvenile Probation Center and gave
tablets to three other boys.
Wentrcek said one boy took three,
another took four and the third one
turned his in immediately. Castillo
took the remaining 12 tablets at 5
p.m. and died at 9:30 the next morn
ing, he said. All three boys who took
the drugs went into convulsions and
the two who lived were hospitalized
for several days.
The tablet that was turned in was
sent to the DPS lab in Austin, where
it was identified as ecstasy, Wentrcek
said.
See Ecstasy/Page 7