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Tne Battalion
Vol.89 No.122 USPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, April 2,1990
WEATHER
TOMORROW’S FORECAST:
Partly cloudy and mild.
HIGH: 76 LOW: 57
Lithuanians resist increased Soviet pressure
VILNIUS, U.S.S.R. (AP) — Dozens of
newly arrived Soviet military vehicles lum
bered through Lithuania’s capital Sunday,
but defiant republic leaders resisted the in
creased pressure to renounce their declara
tion of independence.
The Lithuanian parliament’s Presidium
met to consider its next moves, and Deputy
Prime Minister Kazimieras Motieka told re
porters the government “remains ready to
negotiate and discuss any questions with the
Soviet Union except that of independence.”
The last Western correspondents were
ousted from the Baltic republic Sunday
night on orders of the Soviet government,
leading some Lithuanians to express fears
of an impending crackdown by the Soviet
military.
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev
urged the rebellious republic in an appeal
Saturday night to renounce its March 11
declaration of independence and enter into
talks with the Kremlin on the basis of the
Soviet Constitution. He warned that a refu
sal may result in “grave consequences for all
of us.”
The Lithuanian parliament was sched
uled to meet Monday morning to forge a
response.
Lithuanian President Vytautas Lands-
bergis rejected Gorbachev’s appeal, saying
the Soviet leader was demanding “impossi
ble things.”
“It cannot be now demanded that we an
nul everything that we bore in our hearts,”
he said in remarks carried Sunday by the
official Soviet news agency Tass.
But Landsbergis said he would send ne
gotiators to Moscow on Monday to try to set
up a meeting with Soviet officials.
Western reporters counted almost 30 ar
mored vehicles being unloaded from trains
that arrived near the Vilnius airport. Oth
ers drove through the city, their treads slic
ing into the asphalt, apparently on their
way to a nearby base. Soldiers peered out of
the lookouts.
The reinforcement of the Vilnius garri
son came in broad daylight when many resi
dents were out for Sunday strolls to savor
the spring sunshine.
Motieka complained that the Soviet army
had refused to inform the Lithuanian gov
ernment about its activities.
An additional column of some 15 ar
mored personnel carriers had moved
through Vilnius in the early morning
hours, Lithuanian officials said.
Eduardas Potashinkas, an activist and
Lithuanian TV editor, said many con
cerned residents had called the television
station and Lithuanian radio to report
troop movements overnight.
Western journalists saw 30 to 40 armored
personnel carriers, or APCs, full support
vehicles and soldiers being unloaded from a
train near the airport north of Vilnius at
about noon Sunday.
“There was a big transport that came by
train,” a local photographer said on condi
tion of anonymity. “There were a lot of
APCs, over 20 ol them at least, and also
trucks. It looked like they were beginning
to unload.”
Later Sunday, 28 APCs, eight trucks, two
jeeps and a tanker could still be seen at the
station, while other vehicles were driving
through the city.
Gorbachev, in his first formal appeal
Since the Lithuanian crisis began, said the
republic’s chosen path towards indepen
dence was “ruinous and will only lead to a
dead end.”
In an 18-line statement addressed to the
Lithuanian Supreme Soviet, Gorbachev
charged Lithuanian leaders with taking
steps that “are openly challenging and in
sulting to the entire (Soviet) Union.”
“I propose that the Lithuanian Supreme
Soviet immediately annul the illegal acts it
has adopted,” Gorbachev wrote in his ap
peal, which was prominently played Sunday
on the front pages of major Soviet newspa
pers.
List names residence halls,
classes exposed to measles
March to the Brazos
The following is a list of residence
halls and classes that possibly have
been exposed to measles. The A.P.
Beutel Health Center will provide
free measles-only vaccines to stu
dents who live in the affected floors
of these residence halls or attend
these classes.
Residence Halls Possibly Ex-
sed To Measles:
osher Hall: First and third floors
Spence Hall: Third floor
Krueger Hall: Third floor
P°
Classes Possibly Exposed To Mea-
8leS ’ AERS 102-502
BIOL 114-502
BIOL 114-503
BIOL 124-528
CHEM 101-501
CHEM 102-502
CHEM 111-515
CHEM 237-503
CPSC 320-501
CPSC 462-500
ELEN 305-500
ENGL 104-561
ENGL 212-502
HIST 106-509
HIST 105-512
JOUR 102-500
KINE 199-218
KINE 199-400
MATH 161-503
MATH 417-502
London riot blamed
on extremist groups
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher and opposition
politicians on Sunday blamed ex
tremist groups for turning a carni-
val-like anti-tax protest into one of
London’s worst riots this century.
The new local tax went into effect
Sunday in England and Wales de
spite Saturday’s protest by 40,000
people in Trafalgar Square, which
went amok when militants smashed
windows, torched cars and battled
police. Hundreds of people were in
jured.
The so-called community charge
replaces a property tax with a levy
on each adult and increases the
amount many pay by up to a third.
Critics say it’s unfair because Brit
ain’s richest man, the Duke of West
minster, pays the same rate as his
gardener.
Thatcher told reporters of her
“absolute horror” at Saturday’s vio
lence as she left church at her coun
try residence at Chequers.
“People have a right to demon
strate peacefully,” she said. “This
was taken over by some extreme
groups who used violence with no
consideration for others or their
property. Let us hope that justice
will be seen to be done.”
Labor Party chief Neil Kinnock
said those who caused the violence
must be “treated as criminals” and
punished.
“As always, they damaged free
dom and like every other democrat,
I regard them and treat them as ene
mies of freedom,” said Kinnock,
whose party is 28 points ahead of the
Conservatives in opinion polls.
Scotland Yard launched a top-
level investigation into the six-hour
street battle which sent 58 police and
75 civilians to the hospital, injured
22 police horses and caused hun
dreds of thousands of dollars of
damage.
Detective Chief Supt. Roy Ramm,
leading the investigation, said 341
people had been arrested for of
fenses including arson, robbery, se
rious assault, criminal damage and
looting.
The heart of London looked like a
war zone after a battle on Sunday.
Clean-up crews cleared rubble
and burned-out cars from the streets
and strollers wandered past
boarded-up restaurants, pubs and
shops whose windows had been
smashed.
Many victims were among Brit
ain’s most exclusive names: Liber
ty’s, Burberrys, Mappin and Webb,
Dickens and Jones.
The Independent on Sunday
newspaper called it the worst riot in
central London this century. Scot
land Yard said it was one of the
worst but nobody had yet researched
whether it was the worst.
David Meynell, Scotland Yard’s
deputy assistant commissioner,
blamed the “sustained and savage vi
olence” on about 3,500 people who
were among a crowd of 40,000 at a
rally in Trafalgar Square.
Law students at UH
seek equal funding
HOUSTON (AP) — University of
Houston Law School students, tired
of the carpet being plusher at the
University of Texas Law School, say
they’ll ask the Legislature for more
equitable funding.
“We’re kind of lost in the back
wash of UT,” said Ron Oi lman, 37,
a second-year UH law student who
helped form a political action com
mittee, Student Union. “We’re chro
nically underfunded.
“I would not stand up and say
they should fund the University of
Houston at the expense of the Uni
versity of Texas,” Ortman said. “It’s
not realistic. It’s not practical. What
they should do is find some method
of funding us up to par with the
University of Texas at Austin.”
The three-member PAG, orga
nized in early March, started a news
letter, initiated a letter-writing cam-
E and made a video to send to
itors and the Texas Higher Ed
ucation Coordinating Board.
The video shows Ortman stand
ing in a hallway under an umbrella,
some chalk boards spewing water
and leaky roofs allowing water to
MATH 417-503
MATH 433-500
PETE 413-500
PETE 415-501
PETE 417-500
PHIL 240-501
POLS 206-502
POLS 206-511
POLS 207-505
PSYC 107-501
PSYC 107-507
SCOM 305-500
SCOM 404-507
SOCI 205-505
SOCI 404-500
SOCI 420-501
VPAT 412-501
VTPP 429-500
Photos by Mike C. Mulvey
Members of the Texas A&M
Corps of Cadets held their an
nual March to the Brazos Satur
day to raise money for the
March of Dimes.
Right: Talon 12 members Jer-
mey Nobling (L) and Clay
Graves (R) carry their new first
sergeant Mike Sutherland
through a pool of water.
Below: Members of K-1 walk
arm-in-arm at the campsite.
flow over electric sockets and over
head lights.
Dean Robert L. Knauss said the
UH Law Center facilities need about
$1 million in immediate structural
repairs and maintenance, including
a new roof.
“Most of the safety-hazard ones
have been taken care of,” Knauss
said. “It’s not as if (repairs) haven’t
been happening. Repairs have con
stantly been going on, but it’s kind of
Band-Aid repairs.”
University officials say they began
deferring maintenance policy with
financial cutbacks in the mid-1980s.
They say the university needs at least
$17 million in repairs.
Mark G. Yudof, dean of UT’s law
school, said Texas students have not
been exempted from cutbacks, but
he said both law buildings are in
“very good condition.”
“UT’s been on a rather low-main
tenance budget,” Yudof said. “We’ve
had a lot of problems with that.”
But, he said, “I think the (UH)
students are barking up the wrong
school.”
Students to help redevelop suburb
Architecture students contribute designs to Houston Heights
By BILL HETHCOCK
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M architecture students
are putting their skills to work and
gaining practical experience in their
field by helping redevelop an area of
Houston.
David Ekroth, a professor in the
architecture department, is heading
the program in which 11 environ
mental design and 16 landscape ar
chitecture students are contributing
their design ideas to residents of
Houston Heights, the oldest suburb
in Houston. Ekroth lives in Houston,
and said he is glad to have the op
portunity to be involved in this pro
ject.
“The Heights area is architectu
rally rich,” Ekroth said, “It is a
planned community, so the growth
is not haphazard. We’re looking at
areas within the Heights that are
primed for redevelopment.”
Ekroth said both students and
have an impact on the community,”
he said. “They (the community) can’t
afford to pay professionals to do fea
sibility studies, so we’re doing this
for them.”
“X
I his is a chance for university architecture students
to engage in a real project where their work does have
an impact on the community.”
—David Ekroth,
professor
Houston Heights residents benefit
from this arrangement.
“This is a chance for university ar
chitecture students to engage in a
real project where their work does
The environmental design stu
dents helping with the restoration
project are in Ekroth’s senior design
class. The landscape architecture
students involved are in Phil Pregill’s
fourth year design class. The stu
dents get 6 hours credit for the class.
Creighton Bennett, a senior land
scape architecture major from
Waco, said he enjoys the cross-disci
plinary nature of the project.
“This is the first time we’ve been
able to work with the environmental
design students,” Bennett said. “The
collaboration is beneficial to us both,
because we can learn from each
other. We can come up with more
effective designs if we have input
from different backgrounds.”
Tom Troegel, executive director
of the Greater Heights Chamber of
Commerce, said he is pleased to
have the services of the A&M ar
chitecture students. Troegel works
See Architecture/Page 13