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Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 9 USPS 045360 14 Pages
Fall into fitness
Intramurals offer
exercise options.
See Page 4
College Station, Texas
Thursday, September 13,1990
Nazi documents contain oil secrets
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Of The Battalion Staff
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storing more than 170 tons of Nazi
Germany documents containing in
formation that could help decrease
the United States’ dependency on
foreign oil.
Dr. Arnold Krammer, a Texas
A&M history professor, brought
copies of original Nazi Germany
documents to A&M in 1975 after
learning the documents revealed a
liquid fuel alternative to the expen
sive, imported petroleum oil.
The public reacted enthusiasti
cally because of the negative ripple
effects from OPEC’s decision to raise
oil prices in the mid-1970s.
Krammer says the information
from these records could allow the
United States to produce its own fu
els from coal instead of importing oil
from the Middle East.
But as soon as gasoline prices
dropped in the early 1980s, the
United States’ interest in synthetic
fuel alternatives diminished.
Only 10 percent of the documents
were translated into English before
they were placed in Evans Library
where they remained for 15 years,
Krammer says.
The present crisis in the Middle
East, however, has aroused Kram-
mer’s interest again in the German
documents which could lessen the
United States’ vulnerability to fluc
tuating oil prices.
But, Krammer adds, as soon as
the Persian Gulf crisis ends and gas
prices stabilize, the nation’s interest
in synthetically produced fuels will
cease again.
If gas prices drop below a dollar,
everybody will be happy and won’t
worry about conservation,” he says.
“But what they don’t realize is this is
going to happen again and again.”
Scientists in Nazi Germany real
ized this possibility after witnessing
the economically damaging effects
of World War I.
So German scientists worked to
make Germany self-sufficient to pre
vent further economic damage if an
embargo occurred.
Friedrich Bergius, a German sci
entist, created a method where ordi
nary brown lignite coal converts into
gasoline through a process called hy-
Irogenation.
Candidate opposes methods
of arsenic removal in Bryan
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Of The Battalion Staff
State representative hopeful Jim
James said Wednesday that Brazos
County citizens should stand up to a
chemical company that wants to
pump almost 62 million gallons of
arsenic-contaminated water into
Bryan’s Municipal Lake.
James, a Democrat opposing Re
publican Steve Ogden, spoke out
against local chemical company Ato-
chem North America, formerly Pen-
nwalt.
The chemical company wants to
empty No Name and Pinfeather
lakes, which are arsenic-contami
nated, and transport the water to the
Municipal Lake. Municipal Lake is
near the Bryan Municipal Golf
Course.
“It’s time for all of us to take a
firm stand and say, ‘No,’ ’’James said
as he stood on the banks of Munici
pal Lake. “We as citizens are entitled
to clean air and water.”
Atochem North America, which
manufactures arsenic for insecti
cides and herbicides, petitioned the
Texas Water Commission in Decem
ber to dump the water in Municipal
Lake because of possible leakage of
contaminated water into the city’s
drainage system from the two other
lakes.
The Texas Water Commission al
ready has recommended denying
the request, but it will have a public
hearing Sept. 19 in Austin.
James, a Bryan attorney, said the
arsenic-contaminated water will pose
serious health problems unless it is
treated to nullify the effects of the
arsenic before it is dumped.
“We certainly don’t need a Love
Canal in Brazos County,” he said.
He was referring to a piece of
land in upstate New York where sev
eral companies dumped toxic waste
after World War II, deeded the land
to the U.S. government and told it
not to build anything there.
The government built homes on
the land anyway and allowed people
live there until the 1970s when it be
came known the homes were built
on a toxic waste dump. The land
now is known as Love Canal.
James said business and the envi
ronment should not oppose one an
other.
“We must continue to seek new
businesses,” he said. “Will new busi
nesses want to locate in Brazos
County — home of Texas A&M and
Arsenic Lake? Or in Brazos County
— home of Texas A&M and a
healthy environment?”
James also outlined plans to help
the environment he intends to carry
through if elected to the House in
November.
Among them is support of man
datory deposits for bottles and cans
to aid the recycling push, and giving
preference in state purchasing to
companies who sell recycled
material.
“We cannot be a society that uses
something once and then discards
it,” he said.
Six nations sign treaty; allow
Germanys to unify by Oct. 3
Bergius was awarded the Nobel
Prize in 1931 for this process which
involves placing coal into a high-
pressure, high-temperature reactor
that introduces hydrogen as a cat
alyst and creates gasoline.
The second method is called the
Fischer-Tropsch Process, which is
successful in producing oil.
"If gas prices drop
below a dollar,
everybody will be
happy and won’t
worry about
conservation, but
what they don’t
realize is this is going
to happen again and
again.”
— Arnold Krammer,
history professor
By World War II, the Germans
had created 22 synthetic fuel facili
ties, which provided fuel for more
the
de-
than 90 percent of Germany’s
planes.
By the end of World War II
synthetic fuel facilities were
stroyed, and the documents were
seized by Americans and later stored
in the National Archives in Washing
ton, D.C.
Discoveries of large oil supplies in
the Middle East shortly after the war
lessened America’s interest and con
cern about finding alternatives for
oil.
The discovery of these vast oil re
serves also increased the United
States dependency on Middle East
ern liquid fuels by 50 percent.
Krammer says he does not think
coal conversion, however, is the an
swer to the depleting sources of pe
troleum. But he adds that convert
ing coal into liquid fuels will buy the
United States another 100 years of
ample amounts of fuel.
In the meantime, scientists and
See Nazi/Page 14
MOSCOW (AP) — The victors of
World War II on Wednesday signed
one of the most important docu
ments of the postwar era, giving in
ternational sanction to both German
unity and a major reshaping of the
East-West balance of power.
Secretary of State James A. Baker
III proclaimed the signing a “ren
dezvous with history.”
“This represents the end of a 45-
year journey,” Baker said after he
and the foreign ministers of the So
viet Union, Britain, France and the
two Germanys signed a treaty set
tling the global aspects of German
unification.
At the signing ceremony inside
Moscow’s posh October Hotel, So
viet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev
watched West German Foreign Min
ister Hans-Dietrich Genscher affix
the first signature, followed by East
German Prime Minister Lothar de
Maiziere, who is also foreign min
ister.
The Allies were next: French For
eign Minister Roland Dumas, Soviet
Foreign Minister Eduard A. She
vardnadze, Baker and British For
eign Secretary Douglas Hurd.
The seven men shook hands and
drank a champagne toast immedi
ately after the signing.
The sweeping document, called
the Treaty on the Final Settlement
with Respect to Germany, climaxes
seven months of tough bargaining
between the six nations.
In it, the same four powers that
defeated Germany in 1945 give their
seal of approval to German unity. It
will lead to scrapping their special
rights in Germany — such as their
control of air corridors into Berlin.
The treaty was the last major doc
ument needed to clear the way for
merging the two Germanys on Oct.
3.
Under the document, the Soviet
Union loses East Germany as its
most valued military ally. The six na
tions agreed all of Germany can be
long to NATO.
The Soviets will be allowed to
keep their estimated 370,000 troops
in East Germany for a maximum of
four years.
C.S. man suffers broken leg in motorcycle accident
By SEAN FRERKING
Of The Battalion Staff
A College Station man suffered a
broken leg after his black 1983
Honda motorcycle and a tan 1990
Plymouth Lazer collided last night at
the 100 block of University Drive
near the intersection of Jane Street,
police said.
George Anthony Vordenbaum,
430 Southwest Parkway, College Sta
tion, was thrown from the motorcy
cle after hitting the passenger-side
door of the car, two blocks east of
the intersection of University Drive
and Texas Avenue, at 8:30 p.m.,
said Sgt. B.W. Sims of the College
Station police.
Sims said the driver of the car,
Sheri Lynn Alexander, an A&M
freshman general studies major, 410
S. Texas Avenue, and two female
passengers were not injured, al
though the Plymouth’s passenger-
side door was severely dented.
Paramedics placed a neck brace
on Vordenbaum and transported
him to Humana hospital by ambu
lance to treat his broken left leg and
other injuries, Sims said. Vorden
baum was in stable condition at Hu
mana as of early Thursday morning,
a nursing supervisor said.
College Station firefighters
sprayed foam on the damaged mo
torcycle, which had leaked gasoline
onto the pavement.
Observers of the accident, Shari
Garrett,and Bryan and Vickie Tun-
nell,of Snook, said they did not see
George Anthony Vordenbaum was taken to Hu
mana Hospital for injuries he suffered in a motor-
Photo by Fredrick D. Joe
cycle accident Wednesday evening. He was
thrown from his motorcycle after hitting a car.
the accident but heard it while they
were eating at Sonic Drive In at 104
E. University Drive.
“We were eating and talking to
each other when we heard the
crash,” Garrett said. “When we
turned to see what happened, we She said he quickly grabbed his knee
saw a man flipping through the air.” and collapsed in the street.
Garrett said the man landed near
the curb on his back and the mo
mentum of the fall made him sit up.
Police blocked the westbound side
of University Drive and divei ted tra
ffic onto Jane Street.
Sims speaks to BAC
Photo byjayjanner
3tte Sims, host and producer of Houston talk show
iroads”, talks with sophomore biology major em ®
3r of Dallas before giving a presentatinn on/^ 10 ^
e African-American family during the Black war
’s first meeting last night.
Clevenger ties activities
to Student Government
By ELIZABETH TISCH
Of The Battalion Staff
When he enrolled in Texas A&M
in 1987, Ty Clevenger had no idea
he would be student body president.
“I got involved with the Student
Government Legislative Study
Group as a freshman and continued
my involvement as being speaker of
the Senate in 1989,” he says.
One reason for Clevenger’s con
tinual involvement in Student Gov
ernment was to finish programs he
implemented as speaker.
Clevenger worked with A&M’s
food services to allow students to re
ceive refunds for the amount of
unused Aggie Bucks in their meal
plans during a semester.
Food services and Student Gov
ernment still work together to serve
students’ needs, he says.
During his term as student body
president, Clevenger wants to see
several goals accomplished.
To do this, he appointed several
special assistants to monitor the
needs of various areas.
These areas range from food
services and parking and transit to
the international students office.
A major concern of Clevenger’s is
the lack of involvement from mi
norities on campus.
“One of the reasons why there is
little involvement among these stu
dents is because many student lead
ers on campus show little interest to
them,” he says.
He urges A&M student leaders to
be especially aware of this when re
cruiting new members to join.
Clevenger finds little fault with
A&M’s student body but says the
dwindling of the howdy tradition
bothers him.
Photo by Fredrick D. Joe
Ty Clevenger
“One of the reasons
why there is little
involvement among
these students is
because many
student leaders on
campus show little
interest to them.”
— Ty Clevenger,
student body president
“I try to promote A&M’s tradition
whenever I speak or make guest ap
pearances,” he says.
The Student Government presi
dent commends A&M for its strong
sense of community and identity
when compared to other universi
ties.
Relay Texas aids
hearing impaired
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M students who are
hearing impaired can participate in
the telecommunications network
since the installation of Relay Texas.
Relay Texas is a new statewide
service offering links between peo
ple who are hearing or speech im
paired and people who can hear.
Jerome Duderstadt, a senior
counselor with the Texas Rehabili-
tion Commission, and Sue McBeth,
director of the TRC student center
field office, estimate their caseloads
consist of about 30 A&M students
who can use the network.
The service was mandated by the
71st Texas Legislature in 1989 to
provide equal access to the telephone
network.
“This service will open segments
of our economy to individuals who
have felt they have been isolated for
so long,” Marta Greytok, public util
ity commissioner, says. “We have
taken a giant step in opening up the
rapidly advancing world of telecom
munications to all Texas citizens.
“Most importantly, jobs should
open up that have previously been
closed to people who could not use
the telephone. They will no longer
be dependent on others to make
calls for them.”
The relay system is funded by the
universal services fund to which long
distance carriers and local telephone
companies contribute, public utility
commission spokesman Bill Dunn
says.
Although not supported by tax
revenue, these costs will be passed
on to consumers, Dunn says.
A utilities commission committee
estimated each taxpayer will pay 64
cents a year, so about 250,000 peo
ple can access the network.
“This will end up being a tremen
dous economic benefit to the state
because thousands more will be
making long , distance phone calls
and paying for them,” Dunn says.
In March, the commission se
lected Sprint Services as the relay
carrier because its bid was the lowest
offered. Sprint Services is a subsid
iary of United Telecommunications,
which also owns US Sprint.
A 13-member advisory committee
with members from various disabil
ity groups assisted with implementa
tion of the relay service.
Following the committee’s advice,
operators receive sensitivity training
from agencies representing the
hearing-impaired and learn about
deaf culture.*
They also are trained in American
Sign Language structure and gram
mar.
Before relay services, hearing and
speech impaired telephone custom
ers could use computers or TDDs
(telecommunications devices for the
deaf) only to communicate with
other individuals who had such
equipment.
With Relay Texas, these custom
ers no longer will have restrictions
placed on telephone use.
Relay Texas is available 24 hours a
See Phone/Page 14