Vol.89 No.66 USPS 045360 8 Pages
Battalion
College Station, Texas
WEATHER
TOMORROW’S FORECAST:
Partly sunny, warmer
HIGH: 70 LOW: 50
Tuesday, December 5,1989
Americans remain
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Fighting
tensified on Tuesday between rebels and
ftyal forces in the Makati financial district,
fwhere about 2,000 foreigners, including
ore than 200 Americans, are trapped in
otels.
Efforts to evacuate foreigners held by the
ebels appeared to have stalled early Tues-
ay.
A 60mm mortar round slammed into a
quatter settlement near the Makati Medical
Center about 6 a.m. (5 p.m. EST Monday),
en people were taken to the hospital, in-
luding a 6-year-old girl who died.
Two bombs exploded in the capital late
Monday, wounding two people. It was un-
lear if they were related to the coup at-
:mpt, which began Friday and has killed at
least 71 people and wounded more than
500.
The U.S. Embassy recommended Tues
day morning that Americans living in Ma
kati remain in their homes but avoid upper
floors.
Troops loyal to the government of Presi
dent Corazon Aquino, backed by three ar
mored personnel carriers, began moving
under cover of fire toward the hotel district
where the foreigners are.
“Are we going to win?,” a colonel asked
his men at the end of a briefing. “Yes, sir!”
they shouted back.
He told his men not to fire unless they
had a rebel in their sights.
The Japanese Embassy recommended
trapped in Manila hotels
that Japanese citizens living in parts of the
E osh Makati district not under rebel control
;ave for safer areas of Manila. It estimated
that about 500 Japanese remained in Ma
kati, including about 300 trapped in the ho
tels.
The United States provided fresh mili
tary supplies to the Aquino government
and promised $25,000 in assistance for ci
vilian hospitals, Richard Boucher, a State
Department spokesman in Washington,
said.
Before the fighting resumed, rebel
spokesman Capt. Albert Yen had issued a
statement by telephone to news organiza
tions, saying the insurgents would release
the foreigners to dispel suspicions they
were being held hostage.
The statement said the foreigners would
be free to leave the hotels at 10 a.m. Tues
day (9 p.m. EST Monday) and would be
taken to Manila’s airport aboard shuttle
buses. There was no word if foreign embas
sies had been informed of the offer.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Jerry Huchel
said 215 Americans were believed trapped
in three hotels in Makati. More than 300
Japanese also were believed to be in the Ma
kati hotels.
“Literally, we’re in the middle,” said Bar
bara Julich, a New York businesswoman
trapped in the Intercontinental Hotel.
“(We’re) now low on food. There are babies
in the building, and there is no baby food,
and the mothers are hysterical.
“We saw a group of nuns trying to walk
where the tanks are. They were eventually
shot at and took cover.”
At least three people were killed in Ma
kati on Monday and 15 wounded, including
one American, by rebel snipers and in
fighting between rebel and loyalist forces.
Earlier, spokesmen for the Makati Medi
cal Center said 10 people were killed. They
said the discrepancy was due to an error in
records.
Hospital sources identified the wounded
American as Jerome Weissburg. They said
he was hit in the arm by glass when a bullet
shattered the window of his room at the
Peninsula Hotel. They did not know his
hometown.
Stonehenge?
A row of monolithic portable toilets stand along Jersey Street at bonfire on Friday night to help keep people from urinating on
the bonfire site Monday morning. The stalls were used during nearby lawns.
Regents create center
to aid adult literacy
By Andrea Warrenburg
Of The Battalion Staff
Recognizing Texas’ alarming lag
in adult literacy, the Texas A&M
Board of Regents Monday autho
rized the establishment of the Texas
Center for Adult Literacy and
Learning as part of the University’s
“Commitment to Education” pro
gram.
The executive summary propos
ing the center said Texas lags behind
46 other states in the rate of adult lit
eracy and has one of the highest per
centages of adults, ages 18-64, who
lack basic skills.
“Texas has a present and growing
problem with adult literacy, espe
cially young adults who are attempt
ing to enter the work force or post
secondary educational programs,”
A&M President William Mobley
said.
The center, which will be part of
the A&M College of Education, will
attempt to help solve the state and
national education problems from
kindergarten through college doc
torate levels.
The center will address five areas:
developing an information network
with those organizations which are
engaged in adult literacy; determin
ing research needs and seeking
funds from appropriate sources; dis
seminating research findings and re
lated information; becoming a re
gional resource center for adult
literacy information; and developing
collaborative research, staff devel
opment and evaluation activities
with appropriate interested units
within the Texas A&M University
System.
“X
I exas has a present
and growing problem with
adult literacy, especially
young adults
— William Mobley,
A&M President
Funding for the center initially
will come from project awards from
the Division of Adult and Commu
nity Education in the Texas Educa
tion Agency. The center also will
seek additional funding from fed
eral agencies, foundations, private
corporations and non-profit organi
zations.
A director of the center to serve as
its chief administrator will be ap
pointed by Mobley at a later date.
Czechs gather en masse,
reject new government
In support of opposition
PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia (AP) —
More than 150,000 demonstrators
chanting “They must go!” rejected
the new Communist-dominated gov
ernment Monday and demanded
free elections in a roaring show of
support for the opposition.
Also on Monday, thousands of
[tourists from Czechoslovakia freely
visited the West for the first time in
decades after the government lifted
imost travel restrictions.
Demonstrators massed in central
Wenceslas Square for the first time
since Nov. 27, when a nationwide
general strike forced the govern
ment to grant historic concessions.
That demonstration capped 1 1
straight days of rallies in Czechoslo
vakia.
Monday’s demonstrators waved
red, white and blue national flags
and applauded opposition demands
for elections by July and a second
general strike on Dec. 11 if there is
no new government by Sunday.
“Resign! Resign!” they chanted.
The turnout at the rally and
smaller ones elsewhere was a clear
signal to the government that the
opposition has massive popular sup
port for its demands for real democ
racy.
They were protesting the new co-
dition government named Sunday,
which brought only five non-Com-
munists into the 21-member Cabinet
nd left Communists in control of all
:ey ministries. Thirteen were hold-
)vers from the previous Communist
Cabinet.
In an indication the government
nay respond to demands for new
ninisters. First Deputy Premier Bo-
tumil Urban met with two opposi-
ion representatives to negotiate a
lew meeting with Communist Pre-
nier Ladislav Adamec later this
veek.
Frantisek Pitra, the premier of the
zech republican government,
sked for more time to consider
changes at the republic level, post-
xming an announcement originally
cheduled for Monday night.
The governments of the Czech
Slovak republics control key
teas such as justice and education
n their respective regions.
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Eleven of the 17 ministers under
Pitra in the Czech republic have sub
mitted their resignations, including
the unpopular ministers of educa
tion and justice, the state news
agency CTK reported.
A parliamentary commission re-
[ jorted on its investigation into po-
ice brutality against student demon
strators on Nov. 17. It concluded
that police used inappropriate force
and seriously injured peaceful dem
onstrators. It said some police on
duty then may face charges of as
sault and abuse of office.
According to CTK, the report
blamed “high political figures” for
the repression, which “was one of
the decisive reasons” for subsequent
mass protests. CTK listed no names.
The hour-long Prague rally,
broadcast live on state radio and
television, was a triumphant show of
national unity in the fight for de
mocracy. That unity was symbolized
at the end, when protest singer Ka
rel Kryl, who has lived in exile in the
West for years, and Karel Gott, the
nation’s best-known officially sanc
tioned pop singer, led the singing of
the national anthem.
The people loudly cheered Civic
Forum spokesman Vaclav Maly
when he announced that the opposi
tion hoped to field its own candi
dates in elections.
“Thanks for your help and sup
port!” Maly shouted.
“That’s it! That’s it!” the crowd
chanted back in a roaring show of
support for Civic Forum, the na
tion’s leading opposition movement,
and its counterpart in Slovakia,
called Public Against Violence.
Adamec has promised “radical
changes” with the new government
but has given no specific pledge of
free elections, which top Commu
nists said last week were likely within
a year.
Igor Pleskot, a spokesman for
workers’ strike committees, told the
Prague rally official that trade
unions had lost the trust of people
and said it was time to set up inde
pendent ones.
At least 50,000 people rallied in
the Slovak capital Bratislava to ex
press their anger at the government.
Hazardous waste appeal rejected
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The
Supreme Court today left intact a
ruling that limits the power of states
and tlieir citizens to block shipments
of hazardous waste from other
states.
The court, without comment, re
jected an appeal by Alabama officials
who failed to prevent shipments of
hazardous waste from an abandoned
Texas chemical refinery to Alabama.
Alabama officials said they were
denied a fair opportunity to oppose
the shipments.
The plans for removing the waste
to Alabama were approved by the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency under the so-called Super
fund law of 1980, aimed at helping
clean up toxic waste.
The EPA included an abandoned
Geneva Industries Inc. petrochemi
cal plant in Houston among priority
sites to be cleaned up. The site is
contaminated with polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) and other toxic
chemicals.
EPA officials in 1986, in cooper
ation with Texas officials, approved
removal of the waste to another loca
tion.
Texas officials signed a contract
with Chemical Waste Management
Inc. (CWM) to have 47,000 tons of
the waste shipped to the company’s
treatment facility in Erhelle, Ala.
Alabama officials, led by Gov. Guy
Hunt, said they unlawfully were
denied a chance to participate in the
process that led to the selection of
the Emelle facility.
A federal judge temporarily
Gage fills provost position
Mobley names McDonald head of Japan campus
By Todd L. Connelley
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M Provost/Vice Presi
dent for Academic Affairs Donald
McDonald has been named exec
utive director of A&M’s new campus
in Koriyama, Japan.
McDonald will be temporarily re
placed by Dr. E. Dean Gage, exec
utive assistant to President William
H. Mobley, until the provost position
is filled on a permanent basis.
Both positions were approved by
the Board of Regents on Monday.
According to Dr. Mobley, McDon-
Donald McDonald
aid has been a key figure in the de
velopment and planning of the Ko
riyama Campus. He also said that
McDonald is uniquely qualified to
provide the proper leadership for
the Koriyama initiative.
McDonald, 59, recently returned
from Koriyama, where he headed
the Texas delegation in signing cere
monies formalizing the campus
which has been in the planning and
negotiation stages since 1987.
McDonald, who has been at A&M
since 1973, said he was excited about
organizing a campus and its pro
grams from the ground floor.
City officials in Koriyama have au
thorized 2.5 billion yen — approxi
mately $18 million — to support
construction and operating costs for
the new campus.
Dr. Mobley emphasized that no
general revenue appropriations
from the state of Texas will be used
for the Koriyama campus.
McDonald will remain at A&M
but will make frequent trips to Japan
to make sure things are running
smoothly, Mobley said.
The new campus is scheduled to
begin instruction in temporary facili
ties by May 1990. The permanent lo
cation is expected to oe completed
sometime in 1992.
McDonald’s successor, Dr. E.
Dean Gage, will become the highest
ranking academic official on cam
pus.
Gage said that he will rely on his
15 years of administrative assistance
to help him succesfully coordinate
the missions of the university. He
said he will remain committed to
A&M’s administrative goal of achiev
ing top 10 status among universities
in the nation.
Gage, class of ‘65, believes that
working closely with the administra
tion, and especially the students, is
crucial to his role as temporary pro
vost.
Mobley stated that a Search Advi
sory Committee will be formed in
the next several weeks to assist in an
internal and external search to iden
tify A&M’s next provost and vice
president for academic affairs.
blocked the shipment of the waste.
But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals overruled the judge in
April and permitted the waste to be
deposited at the Alabama site.
Silver Taps
ceremony
to honor 3
The solemn sound of buglers
playing “Taps” and the sharp ring of
gunfire will be heard on campus to
night as three Texas A&M students
who died during the past month are
honored in a Silver Taps
ceremony at
10:30 in front
of the Academic
Building.
The deceased stu
dents being honored are:
• Michael David Hart
man, 32, a senior building
construction major from
Bryan, who died Nov. 25.
• Allen C. Ludwig Jr.,
22, a senior civil engi
neering major from San
Antonio who died Nov. 24.
• Michelle Yvette Men-
diola, 21, a freshman gen
eral studies major from Montgom
ery, who died Nov. 12.
Dating back almost a century, the
stately tradition of Silver Taps is
practiced on the first Tuesday of
each month from September
through April, when necessary. The
names of the deceased students are
posted at the base of the flag pole in
front of the Academic Building, and
the flag is flown at half-mast the day
of the ceremony.
Lights will be extinguished and
the campus hushed as Aggies pay fi
nal tribute to fellow Aggies.
The Ross Volunteer Firing Squad
begins the ceremony, marching in
slow cadence toward the statue of
whatsLawrence Sullivan Ross.
Shortly after, three volleys are fired
in a 21-gun salute and six buglers
play a special arrangement of “Taps”
three times — to the north, south
and west.