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Haunting Horror
Halloween goblins
infest movie screens.
See Page 4
Soviet multiparty elections
mark changes in republic
lAUCE
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CHICKEN
19
TBILISI, U.S.S.R. (AP) — Voters
n Georgia flocked to the polls Sun-
lay for parliamentary elections ex
acted to pave the way for the south-
m Soviet republic’s independence.
About 35 parties, most of them
[rouped into coalitions, were taking
iart in the contest, the first true
nultiparty elections in Soviet his-
ory. At stake were 250 seats in the
epublic’s Supreme Soviet legis-
ature.
Non-Communists have been
ilected in several cities and republics
ilsewhere in the Soviet Union. But
liinday’s race marked the first time
hat formal parties, created under
lew Soviet laws, have competed and
tere listed on the ballot.
Long lines formed at ballot boxes
10th in Tbilisi, the capital, and in the
iurrounding countryside. There are
ibout3 million eligible voters.
Official results of the balloting
were not expected until the end of
the week, the official Soviet news
agency, Tass, reported.
Maguli Latariya cast her ballot
dressed from head to food in black
mourning clothes. Her 16-year-old
daughter was one of 19 Georgians
killed on April 19, 1989, when Soviet
troops used sharpened shovels to
break up a peaceful nationalist dem
onstration in downtown Tbilisi.
The incident fired strong senti
ment for independence from Mos
cow. Even the ruling Communist
Party of Georgia was forced to adopt
independence as part of its political
platform.
Latariya wept as she cast her bal
lot. It was “as if my daughter’s voice
was telling me what to do,” she said.
She said she voted for the the
Round Table for a Free Georgia, the
largest non-Cpmmunist bloc.
The head of the Round Table,
Zviad Gamsakhurdia, standing near
Latariya, nodded with approval as
she spoke to reporters in School No.
50 in Tbilisi’s Mtatsminda district.
Gamsakhurdia said that his coali
tion of seven political parties would
win up to 70 percent of the legis
lative seats if the elections are fair.
A poll released by the Sociological
Center of the Georgian Academy of
Sciences a week before the election
suggested the Communist Party was
supported by 32 percent of the vot
ers, with 21 percent backing the
Round Table and the rest divided
among other non-Communist
groups.
Many voters said the Communists
had gained ground because they
represented stability.
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The U.S. Senate confirmed President Bush’s ap-
icintment last week of Texas A&M University System
chancellor Dr. Perry Adkisson to the National Science
loard.
Adkisson, also a distinguished professor of entomo-
gyat A&M, first was appointed to the Board in 1985
y President Reagan.
The National Science Board establishes policy for the
'iational Science Foundation, which was founded to
trengthen research in U.S. universities.
The 24-member Board is the only federal body with
esponsibility for research in the United States.
Board members are selected for distinguished serv
er in science, medicine, engineering, agriculture, edu
ction, research management, public affairs or indus-
ry.
enate confirms appointment
hancellor Adkisson to serve on science board
Adkisson, who joined A&M in 1958, is internation
ally renowned for research achievements in insect pest
management and crop protection.
Other honors include being the first A&M faculty
member elected to the National Academy of Sciences
for research conducted at A&M and membership in the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In addition to formal reports to the president and
Congress, the Board submits to the president its views
on scientific and engineering subjects of major impor
tance to the nation.
The Board also is considered an integral part of the
science policy and management structure of the federal
government’s executive branch.
Israel bans
about 8,000
Palestinians
JERUSALEM (AP) — Most
Palestinians returned to work in
Israel Sunday after a four-day
ban, but some found they had lost
their jobs to Jews and others were
turned back at roadblocks.
Police had new orders barring
Arabs with a record of hostile ac
tivity against Israel. About 8,000
Palestinians carry green identity
cards that ban them from Israel
as security risks, according to the
daily Haaretz.
“We will increase the list of
those not allowed into Israel,” Sh-
muel Goren, government coordi
nator in the territories, said on Is
rael radio.
The Cabinet, meanwhile, left
its police minister to decide the
fate of senior police officers crit
icized by an official inquiry into
the Oct. 8 killings of 20 Palestin
ians.
The killings on Jerusalem’s
h allowed T e m pie M oun t
prompted a wave of Arab-Jewish
clashes inside Israel, leading to
the four-day closure of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip.
The closure was lifted Sunday.
But Defense Minister Moshe
Arens warned he might reimpose
it If violence continues.
‘T hope we won’t, have to take
such a step,” he said on army ra
dio. “There are tens of thousands
who work in Israel who are trust
worthy ... and we want to allow
them to make an honorable liv
ing.”
The U.N. Security Council has
passed two resolutions condemn
ing Israel: one for the shooting
and one for rejecting a U.N. in
vestigative team.
Israel has said its own investi
gation was sufficient.
A&M creates first women’s dance team
ly ELIZABETH TISCH
)fThe Battalion Staff
Five, six, seven, eight... DANCE!
Twenty-three female students
•ere chosen Monday as members of
lie 1990-91 Texas A&M dance team
-the University’s first recognized
lance troupe.
A&M students Terry Valladarez
md Mary Lou Armador decided
l&M needed a dance team after
1HA Casino Dancers received a
[teat response during annual Par-
mts’Weekend performances.
The team, which performs kick,
azz and a variety of other dance
outines, already is booked for per-
lOrmances ranging from sports to
pedal events.
The group’s first scheduled per-
ormance will be at halftime during
' eNov. 28 basketball game between
A&M and Oklahoma.
“Our goal is to win a national
dance competition,” junior Dance
Captain Valladarez said.
She said the dance team contrib
utes not only to the woman’s image
AMY REYNOLDS/The Battalion
at A&M, but also to the entire Uni
versity. A&M is one of the last
schools in the Southwest Conference
to organize a recognized dance
team.
Valladarez and Armador said the
the team’s evolution, however, has
Monday, October 29, 1990
S&L documents
reported missing
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens
of letters are missing from the spe
cial file of correspondence from
members of Congress to savings and
loan regulators, according to the Of
fice of Thrift Supervision.
Most of the letters were written by
lawmakers on behalf of constituents
who complained about problems in
their dealings with S&Ls, such as ac
counts that were transferred from
one thrift to another as the result of
mergers.
But some letters provide evidence
of members of Congress pressing
regulators on behalf of S&L opera-,
tors, some of whom contributed to
the lawmakers’ political campaigns.
There are thousands of letters, all
maintained by the OTS and filed al
phabetically under the names of the
nological order.
Cohen declined to say what file is
missing or who may be suspected of
taking it.
The agency has only one copy of
each letter in the centralized ar
chives, although individual regula
tors may have kept their own copies,
Cohen said.
“I know something’s missing and
it really bothers me,” she said. “I
think it’s real important to the
agency” to make the files secure, she
added, saying she has complained
about the situation to high-level
OTS officials.
“There is a problem; we’re trying
to address the problem,” Robert
Schmermund, director of public af
fairs for OTS, said.
S&L contributions and the role of
Some letters provide evidence of members
of Congress pressing regulators on behalf
of S&L operators, some of whom
contributed to the lawmakers 9 political
campaigns.
senators and representatives who
sent them. The thrift supervision of
fice, the federal agency created by
last year’s S&L bailout legislation,
keeps the letters for its own use and
opens them to members of the pub
lic by appointment.
There is no supervision of people
perusing the letters, which are kept
in an area of OTS’ Washington
headquarters that is out of view of
agency employees.
Nancy Cohen, OTS’ director of
congressional correspondence, said
she is aware of at least one entire file
that is missing. Each file contains
dozens of letters written by a mem
ber of Congress arranged in chro-
some lawmakers have become a hot
issue in this election year. The esca
lating S&L crisis has made the letter
file a sought-after source of infor
mation.
Reporters have been the most fre
quent users of the files, but in recent
months congressional aides, political
consultants and law firms also have
looked at them, Cohen said.
“It’s an election year; everyone
wants to see their own file,” she said.
People wishing to examine the
files are asked to make an appoint
ment arjd bring with them a letter to
OTS making a Freedom of Informa
tion Act request for access to files of
specific members of Congress.
Wave tank dedicated
to research, teaching
The United States’ largest wave
tank for teaching, research and in
dustrial use opened Saturday in the
Offshore Technology Research Cen
ter at Texas A&M’s Research Park.
A&M and University of Texas of
ficials joined petroleum industry ex
ecutives in dedicating the $30 mil
lion research center and its new
facility.
The wave tank, a joint academic
and research project between A&M
and UT, was built to simulate off
shore tidal and wind conditions to
test the stability of offshore struc
tures.
The center of the new facility is a
100-foot long, 150-foot wide, and
20-foot deep wave tank which can be
programmed to produce multi-di-
rectional waves for use in testing
structures such as oil platforms.
The $6.5 million wave tank was
built by the state and offshore petro
leum industries.
The Offshore Technology Re
search Center, partially funded by
the National Science Foundation, re
searches ways to explore and pro
duce deepwater petroleum in an en
vironmentally safe manner.
John Flipse, director of the cen
ter, said initial research will focus on
the potential of several large petro
leum reservoirs 6,000 to 10,000 feet
deep in the Gulf of Mexico.
caused both negative and positive re
actions.
“One thing people keep telling us
is that a dance team is breaking tra
dition at A&M,” Armador said. “We
like them to think about it as a start
of a new tradition.”
Mike Carrusso, Athletic Depart
ment publicity director, said he is
pleased with A&M’s dance team.
“There is nothing new about it,
actually, because we have always had
dancers come and perform for va
rious sports events,” he said. “Now,
we can have a team that will rep
resent A&M.”
The team, under the direction of
faculty advisers Kirstin Brekken and
Shawnee Jones, practices four nights
a week for two hours.
Brekken said the dance team is
not a showcase to promote its mem
bers, but is meant to represent and
promote the University.
Steppin’ out
HUY THANH NGUYENAhe Battalion
Drum major Elton McWashington leads the Prairie View A&M
marching band in a performance at the A&M vs. Rice halftime.