The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 04, 1990, Image 3

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    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
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1100 Harvey Rd. • Next to Post Oak Mall • 693-0947