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f rebe |Vol.89 No.94 CISPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, Februaiy 14,1990
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Refrigerator explodes
in Chemistry Building
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Of The Battalion Staff
A refrigerator containing
highly flammable chemicals ex
ploded in the old Texas A&M
Chemistry Building early Tues
day morning, blowing out the
windows in the second-floor
room and tossing the refrigerator
door 12 feet.
The explosion in rooms 212
and 213 occurred at 4:42 a.m.,
Bob Wiatt, University Police De
partment director of security,
said. Wiatt said no one was in
jured, even though a student was
busy working on the computer in
an adjacent room.
Harry Stiteler, director of
safety and health at A&M, said
the refrigerator contained a
highly flammable chemical called
diethylether. Diethylether con
tains carbon, oxygen and hydro
gen molecules. The chemical is
used primarily as a means of ex
tracting other chemicals.
Stiteler said the chemical may
have released vapors into the re
frigerator. If the refrigerator’s
compressor kicked on with the
vapors present, it may have
caused the explosion, he said.
A chemist, who requested ano
nymity, said any type of electrical
contact, such as the start of a com
pressor, with diethylether will
cause an explosion. The source
said the chemical is fairly com
mon, but it must be handled care
fully.
Wiatt said both laboratories
suffered heavy smoke and water
damage following the explosion.
Stiteler said the explosion rup
tured a water pipe near the labs,
which helped contain the fire un
til the College Station Fire De
partment arrived.
Ron Carter, the business advi
sor for the chemistry department,
refused to answer any questions
from The Battalion concerning
the contents of the refrigerator.
Also, an unidentified chemis
try department official refused to
allow a Battalion reporter or pho
tographer access to the area.
No damage estimate was avail
able from any chemistry spokes-
n
Tuesday’s explosion in the Chemistry Building
gave maintenance worker Ron Lesher more de-
Photo by Jay Janner
bris to clean up, but it gave THAR 101 students
the day off.
Consul: Europe ’92 requires Japanese help
By STACY E. ALLEN
Of The Battalion Staff
If Europe ’92 is to be completely successful, Europe
and the United States must put pressure on Japan to
play by the rules and trade fairly, the consul general of
France said Tuesday.
Bernard Guillet, speaking about the common market
that will be formed by 12 countries in 1992 and the dif
ferent effects it could have on the world economy, said
he felt the Japanese didn’t beliewe in social justice and
that America needs to stop depending on Japan.
Guillet said that because Japan is buying U.S. trea
sury bonds every month, it gives the Japanese a bar
gaining chip.
“America has got to find a way out of this vicious cir
cle because you can’t go on like this forever,” Guillet
said in his- presentation, which was sponsored by the
American Society of Agricultural Engineers and Agri
cultural Systems Management.
“The Japanese say, ‘We are giving you money and
sustaining you so you must buy our products,’ ” he
said. “And that is where America should gain full con
trol —through trade. Otherwise America is going to be
in a bad position.”
In addition to the actions, of the Japanese, Guillet
said, two important things must take place.
First, he said, a currency must be developed that can
be circulated throughout the 12 countries that are in
volved in Europe ’92. The second thing is to try to get
the people to learn a common language, he said.
Guillet emphasized that activities that take place in
Eastern Europe in the future will also have a big impact
on Europe ’92.
“1992 will meart nothing if we don’t find a solution
for Eastern Europe,” he said. “The only solution would
be to bring the two Germanys together and we could
then have cooperation between the other European
states.”
Guillet said the future of Eastern Europe is unknown
and that this is the first time since 1945 that nobody
knows what the future holds. In 1993 or 1994, he said,
the world may say Europe ’92 had no real significance.
The United States and Europe must work together to
help the countries that may pose major immigration
problems for Europe and America in 1992, Guillet said.
All countries must be strict in dealing with immigra
tion, he said, but the best way to solve the problem is to
ensure that people living in poor countries have a high
quality of life so that they want to stay in their native
countries.
Six nations forge two-stage plan
to unify East, West Germany
OTTAWA (AP) — The United States and its Euro
pean allies forged an agreement with the Soviet Union
and East Germany Tuesday on a two-stage formula to
reunite Germany 45 years after the World War II vic
tors divided it.
The nations’ foreign ministers released a terse
statement on the agreement, and U.S. officials added
detail.
In the first stage, East Germany and West Germany
would meet on legal, economic and political issues,
according to the statement. The talks would begin soon
after East Germany holds its March 18 national elec
tions.
In the second stage the foreign ministers of the two
Germanys would meet with the foreign ministers of the
United States, France, Britain and the Soviet Union “to
discuss external aspects of the establishment of German
unity, including the issues of security of the neighbor
ing states.
The statement, hammered out at an East-West “open
skies” conference, added that “preliminary discussions
at the official level will begin shortly.”
Although the statement was not specific, among the
“external aspects” to be considered by the Big Four al
lies of World War II — who defeated Nazi Germany
and its allies in the most devastating war in history —
will be whether the new Germany is a member of the
main Western military alliance, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization.
The agreement on German unification was one of
two at the NATO-Warsaw pact conference capping an
extraordinary eight days of diplomacy that saw U.S.
Secretary of State James A. Baker III confer with allies
and others in Ireland, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet
Union, Romania, Bulgaria and finally in Ottawa.
More conference news/Page 11
Technological commitment
Speaker: Soviets look to space
By PAM MOOMAN
Of The Battalion Staff
Despite terrible technological lim
itations, the Soviet Union always
points to its space program with
pride, a Texas A&M professor of
space engineering said Tuesday at a
meeting of Students for the Explora
tion and Development of Space.
“They firmly believe it is that area
where they are equal to or better
than the West,” Dr. Richard Thomas
said.
Space development is a high-tech
industry, Thomas said, and this con
cerns the Soviets.
“That is the single driving force
behind perestroika,” Thomas said.
The Soviets are strong in theory but
weak in application, he said.
The Soviets are focusing on pro
grams to enhance the national econ
omy, he said. The three main areas
are space information systems, such
as mapping and monitoring the en
vironment; space construction and
production; and production of high
energy from space in the form of so-
l^r powered satellites and a space
transportation system.
“As far as I can assess it, the Soviet
space program is still a focal point
for national prestige,” Thomas said.
“The space program is one of their
main claims to superpower status.”
The United States, however, does
not put such great importance on its
space program, he said.
The Soviet and U.S. space pro
grams differ in two other ways. First,
the countries just think differently,
he said.
“The Soviet Union is not the
United States,” Thomas said.
Also, space development is largely
a military program/although the So
viets generally say their space pro
gram is for science and the enhance
ment of their national economy,
Thomas said.
The Soviets review their space
program annually, he said.
“Obviously, perestroika and the
restructuring effort is influencing
many things in the Soviet Union,”
Thomas said.
It is logical to ask what effect the
restructuring is having on the space
program, he said. It's difficult to tell,
he said, but pointed questions are be
ing asked.
The Soviet people have begun
asking their government why elab-
See Space/Page 12
Speakers question ‘peace dividend’
By KEVIN HAMM
Of The Battalion Staff
The political changes in the Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe will
cause the United States to slash de
fense spending, former Texas A&M
president Dr. Frank E. Vandiver
and Rep. Joe Barton told Barton’s
Student Advisory Committee Tues
day. The question is where the
“peace dividend” should be spent.
“With what’s happening in the So
viet Union and Eastern Europe,
there are a lot of very key questions
about our defense policy,” Barton, a
Republican from Texas, said. “I
think that the majority of the Ameri
can people feel that it is time for us
to cut back on our defense expendi
ture level and not spend as much on
defense as we have in the past.
“If we cut defense (spending)
back significantly, and there’s a good
possibility that we’ll do' that, the
3 uestion then becomes what do you
o with that money.”
The majority of student leaders
attending indicated the peace divi
dend should be used to reduce the
federal budget deficit, which will ex
ceed $1.23 trillion in the next budget
year, Barton said.
Interest on the debt, which is
about $275 billion annually, is the
See Defense/Page 12