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The Battalion
U.S.S. McCall comes up roses
A&M lineman spends summer
tending flowers, preparing for
1990-91 football season.
See Page 10
Vol. 89 No. 190 USPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, August 22, 1990
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White House refuses to negotiate,
demands withdrawl of Iraqi army
Moving in
. KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) — The
White House on Tuesday rebuffed an offer from
Iraq to negotiate, saying “the world is united” in
demanding the unconditional withdrawal of Sad-
dan Hussein’s army from Kuwait.
White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said
Western nations are willing to talk to Iraqi offi
cials about the welfare of their citizens held in
Iraq and Kuwait.
“But that’s not the same as negotiations over a
U.N. demand to get out,” said the press secre
tary. He declined to respond to what he called
the latest “litany” of criticism of Bush from Sad
dam.
Iraq’s foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, said in Am
man, Jordan, Tuesday that “we are ready to talk”
and “put all the cards on the table” at a U.N. Se
curity Council meeting. Aziz and Saddam, in sep
arate statements, warned that the United States
would be defeated and “humiliated” if it went to
war against Iraq.
Fitzwater said Iraqi officials have refused to
give a U.S. diplomat in Baghdad access to Ameri
cans, and he added, “At this point we see very
little to talk about when all we get are negative re
sponses.”
The White House also announced that De
fense Secretary Dick Cheney, returning from a
trip through the tense Middle East, and Gen.
Colin Powell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, will fly to Maine Wednesday to confer with
Bush at his oceanfront vacation home. Among
the matters they will discuss are a planned call-up
of military reserves.
Fitzwater said Bush will not sign before
Wednesday the order calling up reserves to fill in
the ranks of doctors, cargo handlers and other
specialists depleted by the massive deployment of
U.S. troops to defend Saudi Arabia.
The number of reservists to be called was still
unspecified. One administration official said pri
vately the order may be open-ended.
Chief of Staff John Sununu said it will be a
“very surgical, specialized call-up.”
Fitzwater said 18 Americans got out of Kuwait
Tuesday but “there are still 54 Americans miss
ing” — 13 in Kuwait and 41 in Iraq.
“It does appear that citizens of all nations are
being moved about in Iraq to unknown destina
tions,” he said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said there were “credible re
ports” that Iraq had forced some Westerners to
industrial installations and said an American in
Kuwait was seized in his home and interned in a
hotel.
Boucher said the reports had not been con
firmed, nor was it known whether Americans
were among those taken to plants.
The buildup of U.S. forces continued in Saudi
Arabia.
At the Pentagon, Gen. Hansford T. Johnson,
the top official responsible for getting troops and
supplies to Saudi Arabia, said security rules pre
vented him from disclosing the exact number of
ground troops there or on the way but that
“we’ve moved in essence” the equivalent of a
town the size of Jefferson City, Mo.
Preliminary 1990 census figures put Jefferson
City’s population at 35,408.
An additional 20,000 or so sailors are de
ployed on warships in the area.
Fitzwater spoke with reporters at the Wood
lands Country Club in Falmouth, Maine, while
Bush was out golfing at a tournament raising
$200,000 for Maine Gov. John McKernan’s re-
election drive.
Fitzwater stressed that it was not the United
States alone but “all nations” that were demand
ing Iraq to end its occupation of Kuwait.
“We demand complete and unconditional
withdrawal from Kuwait,” the spokesman said.
“That is the position of the United Nations and
that’s the position of all nations.”
“I’m sure all nations are interested in the wel
fare of their citizens, interested in talking to Iraq
at any point,” he said.
Stance against Iraq strengthens
Associated Press
Arab and Western nations toughened their resolve
against Saddam Hussein on Tuesday, condemning his
threats against the hostages and adding more muscle to
the force intended to strangle his economy and drive
him out of Kuwait.
In a speech directed to President Bush, Saddam de
fended detaining foreigners and promised “a major ca
tastrophe” if fighting breaks out in the Persian Gulf.
Iraq’s foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, called for a nego
tiated settlement, but did not offer to withdraw Iraqi
troops from Kuwait.
Meanwhile, Arab efforts to counter the Iraqi aggres
sion grew. Egypt, which has led Arab opposition to the
invasion, urged Saddam to withdraw from Kuwait or
face a war “that will devour everything.”
Syria formally announced it was sending troops to
Saudi Arabia.
Yemen promised to turn away an Iraqi oil tanker, but
questions about its intentions surfaced when at least two
Iraqi oil tankers appeared in its port.
In London, British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher urged the United Nations to authorize the
use of military action to stop Iraqi tankers in the Persian
Gulf. Thatcher said she would refuse to negotiate with
Iraq to win freedom for Britain’s 4,500 hostages.
“As President Bush pointed out yesterday, Saddam
Hussein is trying in his tactics to hide behind Western
women and children and use them as human shields
and use them as part of his negotiations,” she said at a
news conference.
Of the 3,000 Americans trapped in Iraq and Kuwait
by the invasion, 54 are believed to have been seized by
Iraqi authorities, the State Department says.
At the first all-European meeting on the crisis, Spain,
Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy said in Paris they
were sending warships to the region.
To bolster U.S. forces depleted by the massive de
ployment of troops in Saudi Arabia, Bush planned to
order thousands of military reservists into active duty.
Turtle lady aids endangered species,
teaches others about plight of turtles
By ISSELLE MCALLISTER
Of The Battalion Staff
The environment seems to be a
popular topic these days, but for
more than a decade before Earth
Day, Ha Loetscher, “the turtle lady”
of South Padre Island, has been
helping endangered sea turtles and
teaching people about how to make
their world a safer place for marine
life.
Loetscher founded Sea Turtle,
Inc. in 1978, said Vice President Di
anne Colley. It is a non-profit orga
nization aimed at protecting all ma
rine turtle species, especially the
Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. Its ulti
mate goal is to restore the endan
gered turtles’ population.
To reach its goal, the organization
sponsors awareness programs to ed
ucate the public about the plight of
the turtles. Perhaps the most popu
lar of these programs are the Meet
the Turtles snows, said Colley.
Loetscher shows the turtles on the
deck of her back yard, where the
tanks are kept. During the show,
people may ask questions and even
touch the turtles.
The stars of Loetscher’s show are
the sick or injured turtles she cares
for who are unable to return to the
wild. All of the turtles are hand
icapped in some way, with the excep
tion of a few, Colley said.
Loetscher and several volunteers
are currently caring for 14 turtles,
said Colley. The number usually in
creases in the winter because the tur
tles, which are used to tropical and
subtropical temperatures, become
immobilized and may die when the
temperature drops too low. They
are released when the danger has
passed.
Money to care for these turtles
comes strictly from donations, Col
ley said. They receive no govern
ment funds.
Through donations, Sea Turtle,
Inc. established a development fund
at Texas A&M that contributes to re
search in the reproductive biology of
the Kemp’s ridley turtles to aid in
the restoration of the ridley popula
tion.
But the key to the future of the
turtles lies in education. Pollution,
for example, probably kills more
turtles than any other factor, she
said.
Loetscher heads the only educa
tional program of its kind in the
area, Colley said.
“If we can teach one person about
the turtles,” she said, “we are suc
cessful,”
Fire engulfs
student’s car
in campus lot
A Texas A&M graduate stu
dent watched his 1972 Volkswa
gen Beetle catch fire and become
engulfed in flames in minutes af
ter he attempted to prime it into
starting Monday afternoon.
The car was in Parking Lot 50
across from the Wisenbaker Engi
neering Research Center on cam
pus when Joel Brent Davis, a
computer science graduate stu
dent, tried to start his car at about
2:30 p.m. Monday.
Davis poured gasoline into the
car’s carburetor in an attempt to
prime it, Gary Stevener of the
College Station Fire Department
said.
After starting the engine,
flames came out of the rear of the
car and Davis ran to call help, Ste
vener said.
When the fire department ar
rived on the scene, the VW Beetle
was engulfed in flames and was
destroyed.
Stevener said the fire depart
ment had the blaze under control
within minutes.
There were no injuries re
ported ajnd no other cars were in
the area of the fire.
: —~
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
Photo by Sdndra Robbins
Daniel Boothe, 8, helps his sister Shannon Boothe, a freshman
from San Antonio, move into Clements Residence Hall Monday.
A&M, UT cosponsor
minority outreach center
San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and
McAllen. The sixth center will open
soon in Austin.
If the students decide to come to
A&M, they have a good chance of
graduating, according to recent fig
ures.
About 86 percent of ail African-
American students and 87 percent
of Hispanic students who come to
A&M earn degrees. This compares
with 90 percent graduation rates for
non-minority students.
Kevin Carreathers, director of the
Department of Multicultural Serv
ices, said A&M leads the state in mi
nority student retention.
A&M President William Mobley
and UT-Austin President William
Cunningham were featured speak
ers at the opening of the center in
Bonilla Plaza.
Representatives from the A&M
University System Board of Regents
and Corpus Christi Independent
School District also participated in
the ceremonies.
Attending college could become a
reality for more Hispanic and Afri
can-American middle-schoolers in
Corpus Christi since a new minority
outreach center opened there Tues
day.
The center, jointly sponsored by
Texas A&M and the University of
Texas, is the fifth outreach program
location to open since A&M and UT
agreed in 1987 to increase minority
enrollment in their institutions using
the centers.
Students also are prepared to at
tend colleges other than those in the
two sponsoring university systems.
The centers focus on counseling
and direct contact with students,
parents and school personnel.
Last year, outreach center person
nel contacted more than 50,000 stu
dents, parents, teachers, and junior
high and high school counselors in
Professor’sprediction comes true
Rudder Oak transplant fails
By SEAN FRERKING
Of The Battalion Staff
Dianne Colley, vice president of Sea Turtle, Inc.,
holds Gerry, a 25 pound female Atlantic Green
Photo by Isselle McAllister
turtle, at a show on South Padre Island. Colley
substituted for “the turtle lady,” lla Loetscher.
A Texas A&M horticulture professor strongly op
posed to the transplanting of the MSC trees said he was
not surprised by the death of the “Rudder Oak” last
week.
After months of intense summer heat and several
transportation problems, the tree known as the Rudder
Oak died and was chopped down by A&M Grounds
Maintenance crews.
“My prophecy is coming true,” said Dr. J. Benton
Storey, a professor in the Department of Horticulture.
“I had hoped it wouldn’t happen and that I would be
wrong, but it happened anyway. It was a foregone con
clusion that the Rudder Oak would die.”
Storey said the tree was too large, the soil too poor
for transplanting, and the summer too long and hot for
it to survive.
He also said the Rudder Oak had two extensive root
systems and neither totally was saved during the trans
plant.
Dennis Busch, assistant University Center manager,
said the tree had been transplanted in early March and
moved about 60 feet north to its most recent location
near the MSC.
The Faculty Senate, led by Storey and other senators,
asked the A&M administration last fall to find an alter
nate plan to save the trees, but the administration did
not act on the recommendation.
Eugene Ray, director of A&M Grounds Mainte
nance, said Instant Shade, the company contracted to
handle the move, used the “boxing method” to trans
port the trees near the MSC.
Ray described the boxing method, saying the con
tractor used a large wooden box to move the tree and its
root system.
Ray said this method is an alternative to the tradi
tional bind-and-burlap system used to move smaller
trees.
Busch said several trees had to be transplanted be
cause of the MSC expansion project.
He said, however, unlike the four trees left in their
boxes on the southwest corner near the MSC post of
fice, the oak tree quickly had been replanted.
“The tree was transferred quickly to avoid any un
necessary stress on the root system,” Busch said.
Ray said the oak had not been doing well since late
July because of the unusually early summer heat and
other transportaion problems.
“The tree was transferred four months late,” Ray
said. “We wanted to move it in December but a contract
problem delayed the move until in March.”
He also said after the tree had been placed in the
box, a large concrete structure was discovered under
neath the planned spot for the tree. Ray said all of these
factors led to the deteriorating health of the tree.
“We tried almost every method to save the oak,” Ray
said. “But it was too late, it would just not respond to
any treatment.”
Storey said Instant Shade did its best to save the Rud
der Oak, but he said it was tough for him to watch the
tree die.
“There were too many strikes against that tree,” he
said.
But Storey said he doesn’t think the Rudder Oak will
be the last of the transplanted trees to die.
Ray said A&M chose Instant Shade, which is a nurs
ery based in Houston, because the company had an ex
cellent record of transplanting trees.
“This (tree)' is only one of a very few trees that In
stant Shade has lost,” Ray said.
Officials at Instant Shade could not be reached for
comment.
The oak which died early last week came to be known
as the Rudder Oak when Maj. Gen. J. Earl Rudder,
A&M’s 16th president, fought to save the tree when the
MSC first was under construction in the late ’50s.
Since then many A&M students have reffered to the
tree as the Rudder Oak.
However, that oak tree near the MSC might not be
the only Rudder Oak on campus.
Busch said another oak tree on the University Presi
dent William Mobley’s yard has a plaque stating it is the
Rudder Oak.
“Any way you look at it, A&M lost a lot of tradition
when that tree died,” Busch said.