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Aggies in the pros
Former A&M standout signs
pro contract with Pittsburgh.
See Sports Page 5
ol. 89 No. 176 USPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
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Man-made protein molecule blocks
spread of AIDS virus in test tubes
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Researchers have de-
eloped a synthetic protein molecule that will at-
ach itself tightly to the AIDS virus in a test tube
ind prevent the virus from spreading to unin
fected cells.
In a study to be published today in the journal
science, the researchers report that the man
made molecule, called CPF, is able to block a mol-
cdonc ^ cu le on the surface of the AIDS virus from stick-
ng to healthy immune cells in the blood.
“The CPF very effectively prevents the AIDS
virus from binding (sticking to a target cell) and
:his inhibits the spread of the virus,” said Steven
Burakoff, a researcher at the Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Univer
sity.
CPF, he said, “is also very inexpensive and
very simple to synthesize.”
Burakoff said his group found CPF while re
searching the chemistry of how the AIDS virus,
called human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV,
is able to attach itself to T-lymphocytes, blood
cells that are part of the immune system and a
principal target of the AIDS virus.
When HIV attacks T cells, it attaches a gpl20
,, surface molecule to a molecule called CD4 on the
ilorcp
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I he CPF very effectively prevents
the AIDS virus from binding (sticking
to a target cell) and this inhibits the
spread of the virus.”
— Steven J. Burakoff,
researcher
outside wall of a T cell. In effect, the gp!20 acts
as a key to open the lock on the surface of the T
cell. The virus can then move inside.
A molecule that sticks to the gpl20, said Bura
koff, would in effect prevent the key from fitting
in the lock on the T cell surface. This, he said,
would keep healthy cells from becoming in
fected.
In laboratory experiments, Burakoff said, the
Harvard group exposed AIDS virus to CPF and
found that the man-made molecule stuck so
firmly to gpl20 that it could not be washed off.
Burakoff said the group then exposed an
AIDS virus bound with the CPF to healthy T
cells. The AIDS virus, which would normally at
tack the T cells with ease, was unable to cause an
infection.
Next, Burakoff said, AIDS-infected T cells
were put in a test tube with both healthy T cells
and CPF. The synthetic molecule, he said, pre
vented the virus from spreading from the in
fected T cells to the uninfected cells.
“We found it to be very, very effective,” said
Burakoff. “In the test tube, anyway, the CPF
molecules look very interesting.”
The researcher said that tests of the molecule
in laboratory animals are just beginning and that
there are “many hurdles to go over” before the
compound could be tested in human patients.
Another AIDS researcher, Dr. Allen Goldstein
of the George Washington School of Medicine in
Washington, said the research was “very solid”
but noted, “There’s a long way to go before you
could translate that into a clinical application.”
Goldstein said that CPF joins “a whole bunch
of potential antivirals” that need to be tested fur
ther.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Bush administration’s abrupt
change in policy toward Cambodia
came after U.S. intelligence re
ported that the feared Khmer
Rouge guerrillas were making mili
tary gains shockingly similar to those
that led them into power 15 years
ago, say sources familiar with the re
ports.
American intelligence analysts
also have found, contrary to public
assurances by the Bush administra
tion, that supplies bought by the
United States for non-communist re
bels battling the Cambodian govern
ment often flow through supply
lines controlled by the Khmer
Rouge.
The analysis has been offered in
briefings by the Central Intelligence
Agency and by the Defense Intelli
gence Agency for congressional
oversight committees and interested
executive branch officials, according
to the sources who requested ano
nymity.
The Khmer Rouge presided over
a massive social experiment in Cam
bodia during its S'/a-year rule that
resulted in the deaths of more than 1
million of their countrymen from
execution, starvation and disease.
Apparently fearing the resur
gence of the communist guerrillas,
the Bush administration announced
Wednesday it was withdrawing sup
port for a U.N. seat for the three-
party resistance that includes the
Khmer Rouge and open talks with
the Cambodian government’s Viet
namese sponsors.
The sources said U.S. intelligence
sees the events in 1974 and 1975 that
led to the takeover of Cambodia by
the Khmer Rouge as a virtual
“model” for events occurring now.
Events happening now include at
tacks on provincial capitals and
other significant targets, a near-per
manent presence in the northern
part of the country and deeper pen
etration since Vietnamese occupa
tion forces withdrew last year.
The stepped-up attacks by the
Khmer Rouge, which has a troop
strength of 30,000 to 40,000, now
threaten the Vietnam-installed re
gime of Hun Sen, and there are re
ports that in some instances the gov
ernment’s soldiers have stopped
fighting, according to the analysis.
Soviet and Vietnamese aid to the
Cambodian government has de
clined, and while Phnom Penh re
mains a bustling capital with a robust
economy, the economy in govern
ment-controlled parts of the coun
tryside is fragile and inflation is ris
ing, the analysts concluded. Some
government workers and military
personnel are not being paid, the
analysts said.
Friday, July 20,1990
The power of electricity
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Photo by Thomas J. Lav in
Albert Kermer of Smetana uses a garden hose in an attempt to
extinguish a fire that destroyed his Brazos Valley home after a
bolt of lightning struck the roof. Volunteer fire fighters from Sme
tana and the Bryan Fire Department answered calls for help at
the household. Lightning from Thursday’s thunderstorms also
damaged another home in Bryan.
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Explosion rips through
chemicalplant, kills two
CINCINNATI (AP) — An explo
sion ripped through a chemical
plant Thursday, killing two people,
injuring at least 45 others and shat
tering windows in nearby houses
and businesses, authorities said.
At least one person was missing,
said Fire Chief Bill Miller. Four of
the injured were listed in critical
condition.
The explosion, which shook
buildings more than a mile away, ig
nited a fire that took 2 1 /2 hours to
contain enough so that firefighters
could enter the four-story brick
building where the explosion oc
curred.
Miller said officials of the BASF
plant told him about 50 chemicals
were used inside the building, but
none were believed to be toxic.
Federal and state officials sam
pled the air in the north-side neigh
borhood “to get a better handle on
the chemicals involved,” said Reu
ben Carlyle, a spokesman for Gov.
Richard Celeste.
Windows in homes and storef
ronts as much as a quarter mile from
the plant were blown out.
A second blast occurred about
2:50 p.m., and it was that blast that
did most of the apparent damage,
Diedenhofer said.
Diedenhofer said about 200 peo
ple work at the plant, which makes
linings for cans.
The names of the two who were
killed were not immediately avail
able, Miller said.
Most of the injured, including an
8-year-old boy, sustained minor in
juries, hospital officials said.
Census considered successful for B-CS
By ELIZABETH TISCH
Of The Battalion Staff
The 1990 census in Bryan-College Station
went well despite criticism of the official count of
America’s population as a whole, said Bill Don
aldson, manager of the local Bureau of the Cen
sus office.
The 1990 Census Bureau’s master list reports
99.5 percent of all U.S. households have been
counted.
A few congressmen at a Senate Governmental
Affairs Committee, however, complained this
year’s count was full of inaccuracies and omis
sions.
Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the 1990
census was “the worst national head count in U.S.
history.”
Donaldson, however, applauded Bryan-Col
lege Station residents for a successful count. He
gave most of the credit to his staff for contin
uously reminding residents to fill out their cen
sus forms.
Donaldson said he realized the 1990 census
fell on Texas A&M’s spring final exam schedule.
Because students make up a large number of the
population of B-CS, his staff called students and
let them complete forms over the phone.
He said he is confident that 100 percent of
A&M’s students have been counted.
But he said the 1990 census is not quite com
plete for the cities of Bryan and College Station.
“We are still pulling quality checks, which is
when we send a new group to make sure every
vacant house is really vacant and to double check
places that may have been overlooked,” he said.
The local Census Bureau should be completed
with its quality checks and last-minute searches by
the beginning of September, he said.
Donaldson stressed the importance of com
pleting the forms correctly because the cities rely
on the results when it comes time for planning
purposes.
“I he city officials need to know the population
of an area, so for example, they know how much
water is needed,” he said. “They need to see the
trend in the population so they know if new
roads should be built.”
Although Donaldson was satisfied with the lo
cal results, some members of Congress and city
officials from around the country still are argu
ing whether this year’s census was the worst yet.
New York City and several other large urban
centers have gone to court to force the U.S. De
partment of Commerce to statistically adjust the
census for an expected undercount.
However, Rep. Tom Sawyer, D-Ohio, who
chairs the House Post Office subcommittee on
census and population, said the 1990 census was
not a failure.
“I don’t believe the Census Bureau has failed
to execute the best census it could,” Sawyer said
in an Associated Press story. “What I am pre
pared to say at this juncture is that the design of
the census appears inadequate to measure a so
ciety as diverse and complex as ours.”
Ganter transforms Old Campus Theater into
By KATHY COX
Of The Battalion Staff
It was built at Northgate in
1939, showed X-rated movies in
the late 70s and early 80s and
soon will be a rock ’n’ roll night
club.
The Old Campus Theater, on
the corner of University Drive
and Boyett, is a College Station
landmark being transformed into
a nightclub by its owner, Don
Ganter.
Speculation arose when
Ganter, who also owns The Dixie
Chicken, Alfred T. Hornback’s,
Chicken Oil Co. and Sticky Chins
Ice Cream Parlor, bought the the
ater from Bill Schulman in March
1987.
Ganter bought it when one-
screen cinemas were being
pushed out by multi-screen the
aters.
Schulman refused an offer to
turn the theater into a five-tier
parking garage before selling the
theater to Ganter.
“We want to see something
good go in there ... We’re inter
ested in seeing the (theater) and
Northgate survive so Aggies can
go back years from now and say,
‘Yeah, that used to be The Old
Campus Theater,’ ” Schulman
said in a February 15, 1987, arti
cle in The Eagle.
Schulman got his wish, right
down to the name.
Ganter will call the nightclub
The Old Campus Theater.
“We’re not trying to cover up
the fact that it was a theater,”
Ganter said. “A tourist driving by
will probably think there’s a
movie playing.”
Ganter announced plans to
build the club in April 1987, but
completion dates kept getting
pushed back. The idea of the the
ater being turned into a club
faded from the limelight.
Part of the reason for the slow
completion is the expense,
Ganter said. He is paying for the
renovations himself, instead of
taking out a loan.
The theater needed new elec
trical wiring, air conditioning and
a sprinkler system, among other
things, he said.
“We hope to be done by
Christmas,” Ganter said. “But
we’ve been saying that for years.”
Ganter plans to refurbish the
outside of the building and use
movie posters to add to the cin
ema effect.
The movie house nostalgia also
is felt inside the building.
Inside, Ganter knocked down
the dropped ceiling, revealing a
huge, arched, wooden roof.
Chandeliers Ganter bought from
an old opera house in Fort Worth
will loom from the arches..
Three wooden tiers are built
over the sloped movie-theater
floor. The lowest tier will be the
dance floor.
Tables and chairs cover the
other two tiers, and the bar is on
the top tier. The bar will not serve
nightclub
Photos by Thomas J. Lav in
(Left) Renovations are underway
for the inside of The Old Cam
pus Theater in Northgate.
(Above) The theater’s exterior
still holds the old-fashioned look
of when it was first built in 1939.
hard liquor, Ganter said.
Upstairs is another bar and a
horseshoe-shaped balcony that
hangs over the club. Ganter plans
to put more tables and chairs on
the balcony.
The club will feature rock ’n’
roll music from the 50s, 60s, 70s
and 80s, Ganter said, with live
band performances six to eight
times a year.
“We want every Aggie to come
in here at least once every six
months,” he said.
Double-decker
bus overturns
with Americans
OXFORD, England (AP) — A
double-decker bus carrying 58
American teen-agers at Oxford Uni
versity, including five Texans, over
turned on a highway Thursday, kill
ing at least one person and seriously
injuring 32, police said.
Twenty-four others suffered
lesser injuries, they said.
“I saw a lot of people running
about. There were bodies every
where and I went to help,” said one
witness, John Welch. “I got one chap
out and saw another girl badly cut
about her head and I helped to get
her out.”
The American students, all about
16 years old, were taking a summer
school course at the university’s
Magdalen College, said Thames Val
ley Police spokeswoman Anne Jack-
son. None of the victims was imme
diately named.
The Oxford Advanced Studies
Program in New York organized the
summer school course for gifted stu
dents from all over the United
States, U.S. Coordinator Paul Beres-
ford-Hill said by telephone from
New York. He said most were be
tween their junior and senior years
in high school.
Beresford-Hill would not release
the names of the students but said
the five Texans were from Odessa;
Houston; Dallas; Bellaire, a suburb
of Houston; and Edgewood, 50
miles east of Dallas.
“They’re all okay. It looks as if
most of them required treatment for
minor cuts and bruises, but none of
them are seriously injured,” he said.