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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1990)
The Battalion STATE & LOCAL Wednesday, April 4,1990 Consultant says scientists should work with media By DAPHNE MILLER Of The Battalion Staff Scientists instead of journalists should be gatekeepers of scien tific information, a scientific con sultant and former director of communications for the Ameri can Association for the Advance ment of Science said Tuesday. Carol L. Rogers said scientists should be able to set the agenda of science news because they know more about what is impor tant for the public to be aware of. Rogers, who has spent more than 20 years developing and im plementing public understanding of science and science commu nications, has published several books and directed several radio shows for commercial and public broadcasting on this topic. Pres ently, she is working on case stud ies, consulting and teaching semi nars to scientists on how to work with journalists. “Much of the science informa tion conveyed by the mass media needs to be more broad," Rogers said. The public wants more broad information about science, she said. That is obvious by the amount of scientific information in the media. But, she said, most of the scien- tific information is event- oriented. Rogers said there are not enough investigative and in- depth stories. “There are a number of things scientists and journalists can do to cause a positive impact on the public anout science,” Rogers said. Scientists heed to recognize that they have a responsibility to the public to tell them about tneir work, they need to have a good understanding about how the media works and they need to be able to convey information in lay men’s terms, she said. Journalists should take the time to research and produce more detailed stories, Rogers said. They should develop a good relationship with the science com munity, she said, to keep up with scientific developments. Richards’ politics questioned White calls campaign tactics false, malicious AUSTIN (AP) — Former Gov. Mark White, whose comeback bid was dashed in the Democratic gubernato rial primary, Tuesday accused Ann Richards of dirty politics, likened her behavior to that of the head of the Nazi Gestapo and said he would never vote for her. “I will never endorse Ann Richards,” White told a Capitol news conference. “I will never support Ann Richards. And I will never vote for Ann Richards.” Stopping short of endorsing Attorney General Jim Mattox over Richards in the Democratic runoff for gov ernor, White said he would be voting in that race. And he declined to criticize Mattox’s tactics during the mudslinging primary. “I’ve always thought he (Mattox) was one of the toughest campaigners I’ve ever seen, but what Ann Richards has done would make Himmler blush,” White said, a reference to the Nazi SS and Gestapo leader Heinrich Himmler. That no-vote policy will apply in the general election, should Richards win the nomination to challenge Re publican Clayton Williams, he said. “If she gets the nomination it will be without my help,” White said. “And I think if she’s able to be elected, she’ll have it in the same fashion.” White blasted Richards, the state treasurer, for TV commercials and speeches in which she alleged that he had profitted from public service and helped his old law firm obtain state bond business while he was gover nor. “I think I’ve probably been madder from time to time, but this one ... they pretty well ripped their britches with me,” he said, saying Richards had made remarks that were “patently false, maliciously made and she should have had better judgment.” Richards, the state treasurer, captured the most votes in the primary, 39 percent, while Mattox won 37 per cent. White, governor from 1983 to 1987, received only 19 percent. At a campaign stop interview made before White’s comment, Richards said, “I feel very badly about any time there is hard feelings. I feel badly about any per sonal feelings that ever get into a campaign. I feel sure that all of those wounds will be healed and the Demo crats will be together in November.” Her campaign spokesman, Monte Williams, didn’t immediately return calls from the Associated Press. White said Richards deliberately distorted his record and ran campaign advertisements that lied about him. “Ann Richards willfully and knowingly smeared me with false accusations that she knew at the time to be untrue,” White said. “She didn’t do it just once in the heat of an argument. She did it with inexcusable regu larity in the last days of the campaign.” The former governor said Richards ran the dirtiest campaign he ever witnessed. “I know tough politics ... I have been in some rough campaigns in my career and I know how to dish it out and I know how to take it,” he said. “But there is a dif ference between negative advertising and unfounded, vicious, personal attacks that are out-and-out lies. “I think she overstepped the bounds of decency by smearing my name in such a vicious way.” Despite his crushing loss in the Democratic primary, White said he wouldn’t abandon his party although he has met with Republican Williams. Ping-pong computer virus permeates UTSA campus Census bureau finds Texas incomes low Starr county poorest in state SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A com puter virus known as a “ping-pong” or “bouncing ball” spread through personal microcomputers at the University of Texas at San Antonio, prompting the temporary closing of a computer lab. “It’s basically a little dot or ball that bounces across the screen and gets bigger and bigger,” David Fischer, manager of the UTSA com puter service center, said Monday. “As time goes on ... the computer system’s disk becomes eaten up or overlaid with the virus.” The virus was first detected in January in personal rhicrocomputers in the college of engineering and computer science, Fiscner said. While it hasn’t affected the main campus computer system and no re search information was destroyed, Fischer said the virus now has spread to 12 personal microcomput ers used by students in four build ings. He theorized the virus was pur posefully inserted into the micro computers. “Sometimes students have time on their hands and they are very crea tive with computers,” Fischer said. “I don’t think they meant anything bad or malicious by it.” But, he said, if the prankster is identified, charges of destroying state property are likely to be filed. UTSA officials said they hoped to purge the virus from the computers by Wednesday. Computer viruses are hidden pro grams designed to destroy computer files. The programs often duplicate themselves and are spread by con taminated diskettes. Three students discovered the vi rus late Friday in microcomputer labs in the library and the multidisci plinary studies building, Fischer said. Later, the same virus was discov ered in personal computers in the ROTC building. The library lab was closed Mon-" day while technicians worked to eliminate the virus, but labs in the other two buildings continued oper ating because only a few computers in each were affected, Fischer said. Other departments across the campus were checking their per sonal computers for the virus, he said. And Fischer recommended that students who used their own floppy disks in the personal computers have virus-check programs run on any other computers in which they used the disks to prevent further spread of the virus. WASHINGTON (AP) — Texans saw their incomes rise at a slower rate than the national average dur ing most of the past decade, accord ing to a Census Bureau report Tues day that found Starr County residents are the state’s poorest and those in Sherman County earn the most. The report also finds Texas has the country’s least populated county — little Loving County on the Pecos River in West Texas, and the coun try’s poorest county — Starr, an iso lated stretch of land along the Rio Grande in South Texas. Statewide, the Census Bureau said per capita income in Texas grew at a rate of 47.8 percent between 1979 and 1987, while nationally, per ca pita incomes grew by 63.4 percent. Texans had a per capita income of $10,645 in 1987, compared with earnings of $7,203 in 1979. Nation ally, per capita income grew to $11,923 in 1987 from $7,295 in 1979. Texans’ earnings put them in 34th place nationally in 1987, a 10- place drop from 24th in 1979, the Census Bureau said. The earnings picture was espe cially bleak for three counties in South Texas, which the Census Bu reau said were among the 10 poorest nationwide in 1987. In Starr County, residents had a meager per capita income of $3,464. The nation’s fourth-poorest county was also along thq Rio Grande in South Texas: Maverick County, with per capita earnings in 1987 of $4,269. The nation’s seventh-poorest county was neighboring Zavala County, with a per capita income of $4,646. The state’s richest county with a population over 100 was Sherman, in the Panhandle, with a per capita income of $16,260, earning it a 35th- place ranking nationally. Pro-choicers put Williams atop hit list AUSTIN (AP) — The state’s largest pro-choice group Tuesday placed Republican gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams atop its 1990 election hit list, saying his recent joke about rape showed in sensitivity to women’s issues. “Clayton Williams has amply demonstrated in the last seveial weeks that he is dangerously out of touch with the lives of Texas women,” Phyllis Dunham, exei - utive director of the Texas Abor tion Rights Action League, said. Citing the veto of a strict am abortion bill in Idaho late last week, the TARAL leader said electing a pro-abortion governo; is crucial to preserving women s rights. She said Williams’ remark — in which he likened bad weather to rape and said if it was inevitable to “relax and enjoy it” — showed that he doesn’t care about worn en’s issues. “How can we expect a man who doesn’t understand that rape is no pleasure to comprehend that abortion is no mere conve nience?” Dunham asked. Williams has repeatedly apol ogized for the rape remark — made to three male newspaper reporters during a cattle roundup on his West Texas ranch. The Republican has said he op poses abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger. “Clayton believes in such things as parental consent in cases where minors are seeking an abortion,” press secretary Bill Ke nyon said Tuesday. “He anticipates this will be a major component of his legis lative package dealing with the is- sue. Fie recognizes that TARAL disagrees with that and so it’s no surprise they’re choosing to en dorse another candidate,” Ke nyon said. Dunham said Williams is the “No. 1 threat” on an evolving TA RAL 10 list of abortion oppo nents. She said nine more poli ticians will be added to the hit list before the November general election. Williams didn’t receive the en dorsement during the Republi can primary of the state’s largest anti-abortion group, Texans United for Life. But Dunham said a strong pro- abortion governor could be the last line of defense should a bill restricting abortions pass the Leg islature. The Association of Former Students Spring Senior Induction Banquet Tuesday Wednesday, April 10 11, 1990 6:30 p.m. MSC-rooms 212-226 All May St August ’90 graduates are invited. Complimentary tickets may be picked up in the NSC Flag Room / Student Lounge April 3, 4, 8f(5) 9 a.m.-4 p.m. LAST DAY TO PICK UP TICKETS TICKETS GIVEN ON FIRST COME ■ FIRST SERVED BASIS Student I.D. Required to Pick Up Tickets. This is your invitation to the induction of the Class of '90 Compliments of The Association of Former Students AM/PM Clinics • Minor Emergencies clinics • General Medical Care • Weight Reduction Program 10% Student Discount with I.D. Card (Except for Weight Program) 846-4756 693-0202 779-4756 3820 Texas 2305 Texas Ave S. 401 S. Texas (next to Randy Sims) (next to U Rent M) College Station (29th & Texas) RING DANCE SPECIAL! BASIC BLACK TUXEDO *25.95 BASIC BLACK TAILS *39.95 Choose from a complete selection of fine tuxedos, shoes, and accessories, starting as low as $25.95, from After Six, Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, Lord West, and others. F/H& FORMAL WEAR COLLEGE STATION 1100 Harvey Rd. • Next to Post Oak Mall • 693-0947