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/ol.89 No.154 USPS 045360 6 Pages College Station, Texas
I — — ——
Superconducting
super collider '
Finances and projects finally
take shape for the scientific
tool.
State & Local Section page 3
Friday, June 8,1990
:«De Klerk raises |
^emergency state,
lifts restrictions
a thret
saw pd
port. Hi
te mor- 1
of abi JOHANNES BURG, South Africa
; sofJ(AP)— President F.W. de Klerk on
ibouiMiursday ended the 4-year-old na-
returrtf ^onal state of emergency that had
■eluded some of the harshest politi-
toniiirjo a l restrictions ever imposed by the
enSMCOimtry’s white rulers.
■ The end of the national emer-
fear aiii!g enc y helps pave the way for black-
etheij white negotiations on dismantling
States apartheid. But de Klerk said vio-
■nce-torn Natal Province will re-
Tayloil a ‘ n un der emergency rule.
mtofJ “The net result of the lifting of
ut jtj|. the state of emergency is that one of
)rt Dot the main stumbling blocks (to consti-
■tional negotiations) has been re-
Tre U M° ve d,” de Klerk told Parliament in
iana ? : Cape fown.
■ despit!
In Paris, African National Con-
ress leader Nelson Mandela said de
Jerk’s action was “a victory for the
ople ... both black and white.”
But he said he would continue to
I miiy
adedlL
urge Western governments to main-
pin economic sanctions against
■mth Africa, arid he criticized the
■tendon of the state of emergency
in Natal.
■ The White House welcomed de
Klerk’s move, calling it a sign of “the
remarkable progress” in recent
■onths in South Africa.
■ Right-wing whites, who have op-
: Hased recent reforms, criticized the
■tion.
Ap\_p. During the state of emergency,
[aupr more than 30,000 activists, most of
■ ■em black, were detained without
P charge for varying lengths of time.
ed
Thousands more went into hiding
after former President P.W. Botha
imposed the restrictions on Tune 12,
1986.
About 300 activists were being
held under the emergency regula
tions as of Thursday, most of them
in Natal.
In announcing the end of the
state of emergency, de Klerk also
held out the prospect for other re
forms.
He said the government was con
sidering changes to security laws that
“could possibly inhibit the free con
duct of peaceful politics” and said he
was taking unspecified actions that
would allow thousands of exiles to
return home.
The ANC says it has more than
15,000 exiled members.
De Klerk also said that as a “good
will gesture” he would release 48
prisoners convicted of politically mo
tivated crimes.
The ANC has said the lifting of
the emergency, the release of politi
cal prisoners and the return of exiles
are the main obstacles to full nego
tiations.
De Klerk defended the decision to
keep Natal under emergency rule,
saying the violence there “cannot be
countered with the ordinary laws of
the land.”
More than 4,000 blacks have been
killed in factional fighting in Natal
since 1986, including some 500 who
died in the first three months of this
year.
yAV
: ' ; - : s ; '
Photo by Thomas J. Lavin
The Rugby Club perfects its skills on the Polo field Thursday afternoon. Members of the club also play for the A&M Rugby Team.
able TV system considers removing channels, adding FOX
:le costs
id Sail'
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taurar,:!
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nx wilt I
ines as| E KEVIN M. HAMM
k)f The Battalion Staff
xiatic:
prop| TCA Cable TV is considering adopting
achineirtV.0 nev.’ channels into its cable family, but
but olhUo avoid a rate increase they must disown
io were|two others.
The new channels are a FOX network
Jhannel, KWKT-FOX 44 out of Waco, and
20-Vision KTXH out of Houston.
FOX 44 would probably replace CBS af-
liate KHOU of Houston (cable channel 7),
le which is unnecessary because of the local
over toBlBS affiliate, KBTX Channel 3 in Bryan.
I Houston’s 20-Vision would probably re-
monthi lilace cable channel 10 KHTV of Houston,
’s fiftb-ifoth ofwhich are distant independent sta-
nvolves lions.
s, Sait- i Any changes will he implemented July 1.
■ TCA General Manager Randy Rogers es-
:a-Colf timated 70 percent of KHTV’s program-
ntified,Bring is available on other cable channels.
Onego: He said five and one-half hours of
lispute KHTV’s programming is available in the
ed thalBame time slots on Dallas’ KTVT, cable
rredto-rShannel 2, both ofwhich are owned by the
le than';
6 6
Fhe possibility
similar cost would
same company. Rog
ers said other dupli
cated programs
were available on
other channels also.
“That’s certainly a
factor in why we’re
looking at this
(KHTV) channel,”
he said.
In June 1989,
Cooke Cablevision, ———
then the cable company in the area,
dropped 20-Vision from its ranks. Many
viewers were angered at the deletion.
According to a survey conducted in July
1989 by the local newspaper. The Press,
99.2 percent of respondents wanted 20-Vi-
sion back. Cooke, however, stood by its de
cision.
TCA Cable bought the local system from
Cooke in July 1989.
On May 31, TCA sent out its own survey
asking subscribers if they would like to see
20-Vision replace KHTV. The results are
still being tabulated.
TCA also surveyed consumers in late
of adding te channel by dropping a channel of
allow TCA to get 20-Vision back without a rate
increase.”
— Randy Rogers,
TCA general manager
April, including the form with the May
bills, about the possibility of adding a FOX
network channel to its lineup. More than 84
percent of the respondents were in favor of
the addition.
Rogers estimated 20 percent of TCA’s
subscribers are students. Although sub
scriptions fluctuate, he said TCA currently
serves about 28,000 subscribers.
“We got quite a few student opinions,” he
said. “I think we got a real good cross sec
tion on our FOX survey.”
Rogers said the new distant independent
station, 20-Vision, must replace an existing
distant independent station or the cost to
subscribers would
increase.
“The prohibitive
copyright costs asso
ciated with 20-Vi
sion have not
changed since
Cooke Cablevision
dropped the chan
nel in June 1989,”
Rogers said. “But
■ the possibility of
adding the channel by dropping a channel
of similar cost would allow TCA to get 20-
Vision back without a rate increase.”
The three distant independent stations
TCA currently carries are Houston’s
KHTV, Chicago’s WGN and Atlanta’s TBS.
“Those are definitely the most expensive
channels we have,” Rogers said. “It’s a sub
stantial cost for us.”
He added the copyright costs are the re
sult of a Federal Communications Commis
sion regulation.
Rogers said it makes more sense to re
place KHTV rather than drop WGN or
TBS, neither of which have duplicate pro
gramming.
“Both of them look to be more popular
than the Houston channel (KHTV),” he
said.
Since the FOX network channel out of
Waco is replacing one of two CBS affiliates
on TCA’s lineup, few programs will be lost
if they are switched.
But he estimates 30 percent of KHTV’s
programming will be lost if it is replaced by
20-Vision. Rogers said, however, that many
of those programs are reruns and late-night
shows.
TCA has received some negative feed
back from subscribers about the loss of
KHTV’s “Star Trek: Next Generation.” He
said cable channel 5 sometimes carries the
show and it could be picked up by another
station at a later date.
The FOX network airs such shows as
The Simpsons, Married With Children and
21 Jump Street.
“We’re trying to provide as much diver
sity as we possibly can,” he said.
TCA Cable is accepting customer com
ments through today. A final decision on
any changes will be made by Monday.
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Geosciences dept,
creates storm map
By ELIZABETH TISCH
Of The Battalion Staff
i. The 5
in be s
'he or*
The Texas A&M geosciences
department has created a com
puter program that finally can
outwit Mother Nature during
hurricane season.
The program is called
HAZMAF (Hazards Mapping)
costs i
Jl offe»
an
near
$40 ;■ | and i- ^ igned to turn a numen-
s co#! cal analysts of a storm search into
an “aesthetically pleasing” graph
ical map.
Dr. Kenneth White, an A&M
associate professor who Speciah
• ’ zes computer software pack-
ieoffc ; ages called geographic infortna-
telp uon systems, said the average
citizen can interpret the graphics.
"The American public seems to
respond mote to pictures than
die written or spoken wordy’ he
said.
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orred
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jiTeiH
One aspect of the program is
its ability to simulate, m a matter
of minutes, a hurricane’s pro
gress during a three-day period.
Emergency planners can pro-
■ a model of a three-, four- or
orce hurricane and receive a
graphical picture estimating how
high waters will get in specific
areas at specific times during a
hurricane, White said.
"The geographies system
should be a pretty powerful tool
for disaster planning and emer
gency management,” he said.
Conforming to this, a Galves
ton evacuation procedure during
a hurricane takes 28 hours. :
“The best advanced warning
from the National Hurricane
Weather Service Bureau out of
Miami gives us 24 hours; so we
are looking at four hours of when
people are stuck o« Galveston is
land during a hurricane/’ White
said.
With the information from
HAZMAF, disaster planners can
organize both physical and hu
man resources and redirect them,
he said.
The HAZMAF program was
designed in 1986 and 1987 by
Laura Schomick, a systems engi
neer for Digital Equipment Cor
poration.
White and Dr. Earl Hoskins,
associate dean of the College of
Geosciences, helped Schomick
with information she borrowed
from Dr. M. Bunpapong while
she was working on a master’s de
gree at A&M.
Bunpapong, an oceanogra
pher, created a numerical model
defining the variable heights of a
storm surge. Schomick took Btm-
papong’s data and created a way
the data could lie read through
graphic pictures.
Although HAZMAF has been
tested only' on data from histori
cal hurricanes, the program
promises valuable information
for future weather disasters,
White said.
“We would like to fine tune it
before we test it on a real basis.”
Bush appoints A&M professor to board
By SEAN FRERKING
Of The Battalion Staff
Dr. Patrick A. Domenico, a geol
ogy professor at Texas A&M, is
President Bush’s first appointment
to the Nuclear Waste Technical Re
view Board.
Domenico is the ninth member to
join the board after its creation in
1987. Members are first nominated
by the National Academy of Science,
and after an extensive investigation
a select few are appointed to the
board by the President. Domenico,
who will serve four years on the
board, was one of 22 nominated ap
plicants.
According to the Nuclear Waste
Policy Amendments Act, 11 mem
bers are appointed by the President
to evaluate the scientific and techni
cal work at Yucca Mountain at the
Nevada test site, which is 80 miles
north of Las Vegas.
The project is the potential site
for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel
and high-level radioactive waste.
The Nevada test site, an area larger
than the state of Rhode Island, has
been used Tor nuclear testing since
the late 1940s.
If the Yucca project is completed
on schedule in 2010, over 72,000
metric tons of high-level nuclear
waste from civilian nuclear power
plants will be stored over 1,000 me
ters below the surface of the moun
tain.
Domenico said the board’s main
responsibility is to see if the site at
Yucca is suitable for safe storage of
nuclear waste.
“We are basically now reviewing
the scientific validity of the investiga
tions that they are making to say if
- this thing (the Yucca project) is good
or not,” Domenico said.
He said the board also meets as
specific panels several times during
tne year to consult with government
contractors at Yucca and to make
suggestions to improve the manage
ment of the project and the safety of
the site.
Although the board does not have
any formal power to tell any contrac
tor what to do, Domenico said the
NWTRB is still very powerful be
cause it reports directly to Congress
every six months.
“They (the contractors) don’t have
to listen to us, but they usually do be
cause we report directly to their bos
ses,” Domenico said. “We report ev
erything to Congress. If they don’t
listen, we report that, too.
“Then Congress jumps on the De
partment of Energy, who is in
charge of the construction at Yucca.”
Domenico said the board also has
to deal with many political realities
that often conflict with scientific
facts. For example, he said the site at
Yucca is not the best place in the
United States to store nuclear waste.
“It is already a contaminated area,
and the rock we are working with
(volcanic tough rock) is not the best
for nuclear disposal,” Domenico
said.
He said salt or granitic rock more
adequately controls radioactive
waste, but the states where this type
of rock is located are politically
against the construction of nuclear
disposal sites.
Domenico said over $1 billion has
been spent on the Yucca project. He
said the site has had many problems
including the state of Nevada refus
ing to work on the site. However, he
said work and study must continue
to deal with the nuclear waste dispo
sal problem.
“It’s not going to go away,” Dome
nico said. “We have to deal with it,
and the sooner the better.
“We’ve got our jobs cut out for us,
and hopefully we can better orga
nize the project and determine if
Yucca should be the site for our na
tional nuclear waste,” Domenico
said.
Domenico is an authority on
ground-water hydrology, the study
of the properties of water and its un
derground sources. He was officially
appointed to the agency on April 27.
However, he had been doing consul
ting work for the board for over a
year before joining the NWTRB.
Domenico has been a professor at
A&M since 1982 and is widely pub
lished in the field of hydrology. He
is the recipient of several scientific
awards including the O.E. Meinzer
Award for distinguished contribu
tions to hydrology and the Distin
guished Teacher Award from the
College of Geosciences at A&M in
1986.
Companies react to bookstore leasing proposal
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
Proposals for the privatization of the Texas
A&M University Bookstore are due Monday,
A&M’s director of purchasing and stores, said.
Rex Janne said there has been a good response
so far to the idea of leasing the bookstore.
“There have been a lot of good questions
raised, and we have responded to them,” Janne
said.
In the May 4 Battalion, Robert Smith, A&M’s
vice president for finance and administration,
said requests for proposals were sent to private
companies April 27 to “test the waters” and de
termine if enough interest existed in the private
sector to lease the bookstore.
Requesting proposals, however, is a “far cry”
from discussing a future lease, Smith said.
“We will review and carefully assess any offer
made,” Smith said. “Any proposal would have to
provide an advantage over what we are doing
now. If it’s not in our best interests, we won’t do
it.”
Don Powell, director of business services at
A&M, said a proposal is not a bid.
“A proposal is simply asking what th**’'
do if they had the opportunity to operate the sto
re,” he said.
“Even if we sent one (request) out, it would not
be a sure thing that we were going to lease it,”
Powell said.
By privatizing the store, A&M could contract
out the day-to-day operations of the bookstore to
a private firm and still retain profits. The
bookstore profits presently help support student
activities.
“If somebody came in, they’d have to guar
antee an amount of money that would enable us
to continue providing this support,” Powell said.