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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1990)
le Battalion ORLD & NATION 9 fuesday, August 28,1990 ^8 at! tevie Ray Vaughan died Monday South African blacks per in m.in and a Wis. (AP) —Grammy-winning blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan was among five people killed early Monday when their helicopter slammed into a hill in dense fog af ter leaving a concert, authorities said. The other victims were three members of rock star Eric Clapton’s entourage and a pilot. Clapton, who played with Vaug han at tf e concert Sunday night, landed safely in Chicago on another helicopter. His publicist, Ronnie Helicopter crashes after leaving concert, claims four other lives I his is the worst accident to happen to Texas music since Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper went down in the ’50s.” —Casey Monahan, Dir. of Texas Music Office Lippin, announced Vaughan’s death. Lippin said there was no truth to a report that Vaughan had begged to get on the helicopter that crashed because it would arrive at its destina tion earlier. Clanton said the victims, who in ions, my associates, and my friends. This is a tragic loss of some very spe cial people.” Tne helicopter, owned by Omni Flight Helicopters Inc., crashed into a field shortly after leaving the Al pine Valley Music Theater, an open- air stage and ski resort near East Troy, 30 miles southwest of Milwau kee, said Omni spokesman Phil Huth. Wreckage and bodies were scat tered over 200 feet, authorities said. Clapton’s manager, Roger Forres ter, told Britain’s Sky News: “We had four helicopters and Eric and I were in one directly behind it when it suddenly disappeared from vision. “Obviously we were not aware of the tragic circumstances until the early hours when daybreak broke and they discovered it on a ski slope directly behind the building in which we had just performed.” Among the victims was Bobby Brooks, 34, Clapton’s agent at Crea tive Artists Agency, whose clients also included Crosby, Stills & Nash; Whoopi Goldberg; Pat Benatar; Jackson Browne and Dolly Parton. Grammy awards and the musician of the decade honors in his home state of Texas, gained popularity in the middle 1980s with his guitar jam ming and blues sound, borrowed much from music legends B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Albert King. B.B. King said he was “saddened beyond words” after learning of Vaughan’s death. “Stevie Ray Vaughan was like one of my children, and I felt a great loss when I heard the news,” B.B. King said in a statement. “The loss is a eat loss for blues music and all ans of music around the world. He was just beginning to be appreciated and develop his potential.” Chicago blues guitarist Buddy Guy, a longtime friend of Vaughan who had participated in Sunday night’s concert, choked back tears af ter learning about the crash. “He was one of the greatest I ever met,” Guy said. “My head ain’t right yet.” “This is the worst accident to hap pen to Texas music since Buddy Hollv and the Bier Booner went fice in Austin, where Vaughan got his musical start. “It’s a hole no one can fill.” Andy Schwartz, a spokesman for Epic Records in New York, which owns Vaughan’s label, said Vaughan had toured this summer with blues singer Joe Cocker and was to release a new record in September with his brother, Jimmie. Jimmie Vaughan had been at the on strike in Soweto tai Otevie Ray Vaughan was like one of my children, and I felt a great loss when I heard the news.” —B.B. King, Blues Guitarist weekend concert, Schwartz said. “They were really looking for ward to the release of the record, had completed some video and were having some discussion about tour ing as the Vaughan brothers,” Schwartz said. Vaughan had a platinum album with his band Double Trouble in SOWETO, South Africa (AP) — Tens of thousands of blacks went on strike Monday to demand an end to factional fighting that has killed more than 500 people. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu angrily blamed police and pro-apartheid whites for the violence. Tutu called for creation of a new police force acceptable to blacks as le addressed about 6,000 people gathered at a funeral for seven ANC supporters killed in the battles. “The evidence is overwhelming chat the police have not been impar tial,” he told the cheering listeners. Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok later rejected charges that po lice took sides in the conflict. He said in a statement that individual offi- :ers may have acted improperly but that the force as a whole tried to maintain order. The strike left the streets of So weto, a 2.5 million peopl Many businesses in Soweto neighboring Johannesburg were forced to close or operate with skele ton staffs. Most trains and buses were almost empty or did not run. sprawling black township of lion people, nearly deserted. and to “protest the violence, police be havior and to mourn our dead.” Res idents in several neighboring town ships also took part. Heavily armed South African troops and police in armored vehi cles patrolled the townships. Police commanders reported no new vio lence in the Johannesburg area. Savage fighting erupted in the townships around Johannesburg on Aug. 12, pitting Xhosas and other blacks loyal to the African National Congress against Zulus tied to the conservative Inkatha movement. Po lice said at least 515 people were killed. Police said Monday at least 10 blacks were killed during the week end in the eastern province of Natal, which has been the scene of factional fighting since 1986. More than 5,000 people nave died there. Tutu, a top anti-apartheid leader, passionately denounced the govern ment and police for the violence. He charged the unrest was fomented to frustrate blacks’ struggle to be free in South Africa, where the black ma jority has no voice in national affairs. Report says SAT scores sink again and <ams con- visit iked ition nent esat lents ;ten- id natcai pers i! Cri« sped r ides- up it is teas :nt, ingus i pro ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The 50 women competing to be Miss America 1991 arrived Monday, us ing a train for the first time since 1959 as the pageant began its two- week 70th anniversary celebration. “Since it was my first train ride, I was quite excited,” said Miss Indiana Brenda Alyce Bassett. “It reminded me somewhat of an airplane.” The contestants’ arrival for next week’s competition differed from years past when competitors came by plane and car at staggered times. Suzanne Lawrence is-representing Texas this year. ~ Pageant director Leonard Horn said the pageant wanted to return to train travel to commemorate the an niversary of the program, which first began in 1921 as a public relations gimmick by seaside merchants to eke out an added weekend of tourists af ter Labor Day. The pageant has gradually placed greater emphasis on brains over beauty, but Monday’s arrival — like most first days — shifted the focus to contestants’ looks and what they were wearing. After lining up in front of their chartered train, they waved on cue for about 20 photogra phers and assumed the pageant pose of left leg slightly forward and right foot at a 45-degree angle. Reporters were kept away from the women when they arrived, be cause interviews were allowed later in the day. Miss Alabama Resha Riggins, whose state is first alphabetically, led the line of contestants entering the Atlantic City Rail Station amid ner vous giggles and perpetual smiles. Unlike last year when purple seemed to be the color of choice, this year’s contestants’ clothes spanned the spectrum from canary yellow to flaming red. Hostesses — women volunteers who will accompany the contestants during every appearance in public — immediately latched on to their charges with a hug as they entered the station. The roughly 200 spectators who gathered in the depot decorated with red, white and blue balloons for welcoming remarks by Mayor Jim Whelan didn’t seem to mind being kept away from the participants. “We’re the ‘World’s Playground’ again,” said Victor Marsdell, of nearby Ventnor. “Isn’t it wonder ful?” This year, the contestants spent the weekend making public appear ances in Philadelphia. Between 1935 and 1939, the contestants first stopped in Philadelphia before they came to Atlantic City. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Police were instructed Monday to use trun cheons and tear gas if necessary to prevent further violence after anti- Communist protesters torched and ransacked the governing Socialist Party headquarters. Hundreds of police stood guard around the partly gutted building, blocking access to nearby govern ment offices and the presidential palace. The Socialist Party held a rally nearby Monday evening, apparently to show its strength despite the at tack on its headquarters. Thousands attended, a state radio reporter said. A small group of demonstrators broke away from a larger anti-Com- munist protest late Sunday and threw torches into the party build ing’s windows. They were incensed by the red star — the symbol of Communist, one-party rule — on top of the building. The Socialist Party is made up of reform Communists who renamed themselves earlier this year. They re tained the headquarters and became the only former Communist Party in Eastern Europe to win multiparty elections after the region’s demo cratic upheaval. But the Socialists have seen their popularity erode as the economy de teriorates. Increasingly vehement protests preceded the one Sunday. Last week, the party promised to remove red stars and other Commu nist symbols from buildings after an anti-Communist activist threatened to set himself on fire. But the sym bols had not actually been removed. Flames licked at the top story of the sprawling eight-floor granite structure, the largest in Sofia. The fire was put out shortly after 3 a.m., about five hours after it began. The general prosecutor’s office announced Monday that of the more than 50 people arrested in connec tion with the arson, 39 were being held but had not been charged. State radio said vandals attacked the building before the fire, and that looters carried off television sets and computers. Police turned dozens of people away from the square in the morning apparently on orders to prevent fur ther demonstrations. Some 400 to 500 people engaged in debate out side the police barricades but appar ently were not part of an organized demonstration. Police blocked roads into the capi tal, and travelers from the airport had to take a circuitous route into the city. Police chief Col. Hristo Velichkov issued a statement saying police had been ordered to “use the whole range of ways and means to restrain extremism and law-breaking.” “When peaceful means prove in effective, (police should) resort to physical force and truncheons, crowd-control by mounted police, dogs, watef cannon and, in an emer gency, tear gas,” Velichkov was quoted as saying by the state BTA news agency. Socialist Party leader Alexander Lilov charged that “reactionary forces” were behind Sunday’s attack on his party’s headquarters. He said these included “the hawks that are among the (political) opposition.” The assault was condemned, how ever, by the Union of Democratic Forces, the opposition coalition of 16 parties. Party leader Petar Beron said Monday that the arson was com mitted by “irresponsible elements.” “Do not let yourselves be pro voked, keep the public peace, calm down the impatient,” said a statement by the coalition, which holds 144 seats in the 400 member Parliament. The Socialists won 211 seats in the June elections. UDF spokesman Stoyan Ganev charged there was a power vacuum in the country. NEW YORK (AP) — Warning reading could become a “lost art” among high school students, the College Board reported Monday that SAT scores sank for the third consecutive year. Verbal averages dropped to their lowest levels in a decade. Scores on the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test last year fell 3 points to 424 — the lowest since 1980 and equal to the lowest levels since annual averages were first compiled in 1971. Scores on the math section aver aged 476, unchanged for the fourth straight year. The steady, four-year slide in ver bal scores from a recent peak of 431 in 1986 is “disturbing but not partic ularly surprising,” said College Board president Donald M. Stewart. “Students must pay less attention to videogames and music videos and begin to read more.” Blame for the poor verbal scores rests with parents and schools, Stew art said in an interview. “The requirement to read through homework has been re duced. Students don’t read as much because they don’t have to read as much,” he said. jr tiit lepart '0U ii yom g We’rt goot we'rf ;ntol d dial exam- beini s, >c)yK s uni- offer ,r has >ok trot wee! thin* Jail or re- effre hear dtk< itiot atei ityo; L«0l ; >r«s | ' a da' o"' i: oM it# jbe- gli : J# i tin _ te, 1 Three choices that deliver great results The deeper you delve into math and science, the more important it is to choose the best possible scien- || tific calculator. And now that’s an easier decision than ever. 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To find the calculator that’s ideal for your courses, check with your nearest TI calculator dealer. © N40TI 1H00077 Tfxas Instruments “Reading is in danger of becom ing a lost art among too many Amer ican students — and that would be a national tragedy.” Among the few bright spots in the gloomy report: Women’s math scores reached their best levels in 16 years, scores of American Indians rose a combined 13 points, and black test-takers continued a 15-year trend as the most improved ethnic group. The SAT, taken by 1.03 million college-bound high school students, is a two-part multiple-choice exam, each scored on a scale of 200-800. It is sponsored by the College Board, and administered by the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. It is the predominant college entrance exam in 22 states. Scores on the ACT, the college entrance test that predominates in 28 states mainly in the Midwest and West, will be released Sept. 11. 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