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Vol. 90 No. 98 GSPS 045360 8 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, February 20,1991
Bush rejects Soviet proposal
cow’s proposal to end the war, Bush
declared it was inadequate.
“There are no negotiations. The
goals have been set out,” Bush said
at a picture-taking session with the
congressional leaders. “There will be
no concessions.”
Bush sent a cable Monday night to
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorba
chev specifying U.S. objections to his
proposal. “I’ve been frank with him
on this.”
The president said Gorbachev
had asked that details of the plan be
kept secret, and Bush pledged not to
divulge the contents. Gorbachev had
given the plan to Iraqi Foreign Min
ister Tariq Aziz on Monday and re
quested a speedy reply.
MIKE C. MULVEY/The Battalion
Hay, man
A little bit of humor is rolled up in this 500 pound bale of hay real but are sure to get second looks from the motorists travel-
just south of College Station on Highway 6. The legs are not ing on the highway.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Bush on Tuesday dismissed a
Soviet proposal for ending the war
in the Persian Gulf as “well short of
what would be required.” The Penta
gon declared its readiness to fight a
ground war against Iraq and pre
dicted victory “in short order.”
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney
told Congress that any pause in the
war would allow Saddam Hussein to
regroup his army, which has been
weakened by relentless air strikes.
“A cease-fire, a pause of some kind,
would in fact be veij dangerous
from the standpoint of U.S. and al
lied forces,” Cheney said.
Washington was abuzz with specu
lation that a ground war was immi
nent. “The general expectation is it’s
not far off,” Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-
R.I., said as he left a White House
meeting between Bush and congres
sional leaders.
The president was quoted by his
spokesman as telling the lawmakers,
“I obviously cannot say exactly when
a ground operation might com
mence. What I can say is, our prepa
rations are on schedule.”
The Pentagon played the same
tune. “We are ready now (for a
ground war) if the leadership de
cides that’s what they want to do,”
said Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly, director
of operations for the Toint Chiefs of
Staff™
Of the Iraqi forces, Kelly said:
“They will be defeated in short or
der if we initiate a ground cam
paign.”
Marlin Fitzwater, the White
House press secretary, said, “We’re
assuming that the war will have to be
prosecuted to the end. We are mov
ing along that course. ... That’s
where the planning is taking us.”
The administration stepped back
from its announced willingness to
help rebuild Iraq after the war. “We
are not about to pay to rebuild Iraq,”
Bush told the lawmakers. “It’s a rich
country, if they’d just use their re
sources Wisely,” Bush said, according
to one participant.
After a day of silence about Mos-
Red Cross relays family emergency news to Gulf
By Bridget Harrow
The Battalion
The American Red Cross provides a 24-hour
communication service that allows military per
sonnel in the Persian Gulf to receive emergency
messages from family members in the United
States.
“The Red Cross is designated by the military as
the one mean of emergency communication be
tween family members and persons in the milita
ry,” says Bill Thomas, director of the American
Red Cross for Brazos County.
Family members are permitted to send only
emergency messages of birth, death or critical ill
ness because of the volume of messages.
Thomas says since Jan. 16, the American Red
Cross has relayed one message every 26 seconds.
“Out of this chapter, we are running about 40
to 50 messages a month, which is one to three
calls a day,” he says.
Thomas says the Brazos County chapter also
handles case work for surrounding counties,
such as Grimes or Madison, which do not have
American Red Cross chapters.
Thomas says messages are relayed to national
headquarters in Washington, D.C., which has an
immediate link to an overseas location.
“We aim for a 24-hour turnaround respond
time on the messages we send,” he says.
Thomas says the Red Cross sent a message
Monday to a serviceman in Saudi Arabia telling
him he became a father. The local chapter re
ceived a call Tuesday morning that the message
had been relayed.
See Messages/Page 6
Coalition forms
A&M System officials present
plan to solve education woes
By Jay me Blaschke
The Battalion
Twelve Texas A&M University
System officials are in Washing
ton, D.C., today to announce the
creation of a mathematics, science
and engineering coalition between
the System’s universities.
Texas A&M University System
Board of Regents Chairman Wil
liam McKenzie, Interim Chan
cellor Edward Hiler and Dean of
the College of Engineering Her
bert Richardson head the group
presenting the education plan.
President and Mrs. Bush, as well
as Texas’ congressional represen
tatives, have been invited to at
tend.
The coalition is to serve as a na
tional model to increase the num
ber of degrees earned by minori
ties and women.
McKenzie said in a University
press release that the coalition’s
main goals will be to solve the
country’s education problems.
Without improved education, the
nation’s economic future is uncer
tain, he said.
A&M’s “Commitment to Educa
tion” program created by Univer
sity President William Mobley last
year will be a main component of
the coalition.
A&M’s designation as the leader
in a statewide effort for $10 mil
lion for programs to reform sci
ence education at all levels also will
play a role.
All eight universities of the
A&M System — which have a com
bined enrollment of more than
71,000 students — will take part in
the coalition.
The universities will receive
funding expected to exceed $50
million to operate seven different
programs to attain the coalition
goals.
Hiler said the unique makeup of
of the System lends itself to such a
program.
Prarie View A&M has Texas’
largest percentage of black stu
dents and is a national leader in
producing black engineers.
Laredo State has the largest per
centage of Hispanic students in
the state, while the main campus
produces more Hispanic engi
neers than any other university in
the nation.
Hiler said these factors make
the A&M System an ideal model to
improve national education.
Study says caffeine
jolts folks differently
By Mack Harrison
The Battalion
College students consume caf
feine and sugar for the rush they
provide, but the compounds might
not give everyone the same jolt, says
a Texas A&M psychology professor.
Dr. Larry Christensen, author of
“The Food-Mood Connection: Eat
ing Your Way to Happiness,” says
even though people believe caffeine
and sugar act as stimulants, the sub
stances might actually cause depres
sion in some people.
“It was really a fortuitous find
ing,” he says.
For the past 10 years, Christensen
has been observing the effects of diet
on behavior.
In a study of refined carbohy
drates, Christensen did not get re
sults in test subjects like he desired.
In a “shotgun diet” that elimi
nated sugar, caffeine and other sub
stances, the subjects in the study did
not show signs of depression.
When a participant who worked
as a waitress told Christensen she felt
jittery when drinking coffee at work,
he knew he was on to something.
“I gave her a cup of coffee and by
the time our conversation was over,
she was showing signs (of nervous
ness),” he says.
Christensen then began focusing
on caffeine and sugar as causes of
depression.
KEVIN IVY/The Battalion
Christensen says symptoms of de
pression can include mood fluctua
tions, constant tiredness and head
aches.
He says caffeine or sugar might be
the cause of these problems in some
people, but not everyone who suf
fers from these ailments is sensitive
to caffeine or sugar.
Christensen uses a psychological
inventory to test people who might
be sensitive to the substances.
The easiest way to control the
symptoms is to avoid caffeine and
See Caffeine/Page 6
Campus projects urge recycling
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a
three-part series in The Battalion on
recycling and its increasing impor
tance on our future. Today’s focus is
on the University and the students’
efforts to recycle.
By Greg Mt. Joy
The Battalion
Recycling on the Texas A&M
campus still is in its initial stages, de
spite far-reaching plans for the fu
ture.
Joe Sugg, director of the A&M
Physical Plant, says support for the
plant’s white office paper recycling
program has been overwhelming.
“We’ve taken these first steps very
slowly to make sure we don’t make
any catastrophic errors that could
cost a lot of money,” Sugg says.
“Working everything out in advance
has really helped us. You can’t just
start up at Mach 2.”
Efforts by the Environmental Is
sues Committee of Student Govern
ment have been equally successful.
Collection of alumminum cans be
gan Feb. 9 and plans for expansion
are being finalized.
“This is the initial stage,” says
Amy Todd, co-director of the com
mittee. “We have many more out-
reaching goals, things we have never
tried before. It all depends on the
response of the students.”
Todd says efforts by A&M stu
dents will determine recycling’s rate
of expansion.
R-ecyc/zV?#
a three-part series
M Recycling at A&M
□ Recycling in B/CS
□ Why we recycle
“If students are totally psyched,
we can grow quickly,” she says. “If
they are not willing to give the ef
fort, we can’t do anything without
them.”
Todd says the committee has 100
aluminum can receptacles spon
sored by about 20 organizations
laced around campus. She says,
owever, the receptacles are only in
about 0.1 percent of the planned
campus locations.
“We are currently operating in
Blocker, the Corps of Cadets dorms,
and a few other buildings,” Todd
says. “Our ultimate goal is to have
sponsored receptacles in every
building on campus.”
The Environmental Issues Com
mittee is pursuing more sponsors.
Organizations wishing to sponsor a
receptacle can call Student Govern
ment at 845-3051.
David Wieland, a Student Gov
ernment vice president, says most
organizations do not realize the
amount of money they could gener
ate by sponsoring a receptacle.
Wieland says recycling’s benefits
also could be a great supplement to
an organization’s funding.
Todd says she estimates that the
initial $5 fee could be raised or even
surpassed within a week.
“The fee is only a token to show
commitment on the part of the orga
nization,” she says. “The money goes
directly back into the program. Since
we’ve never done this before, we
really don’t know how much money
can be made.
“I assume the sponsors would call
us if the receptacles weren’t being
filled up,” she says. “We have not
had a single complaint yet.”
Todd says efforts have been made
to notify all University-recognized
organizations of the recycling effort.
She says she hopes eventually each
of the almost 200 organizations will
sponsor receptacles.
Both Student Government and
the Physical Plant have more pro
grams planned.
Sugg says the Physical Plant’s
white office paper collection was a
three-month pilot program.
He says the six buildings in the
program have collected about
31,500 pounds of paper, even
though some of the buildings only
participated in the program for
three weeks.
“The pilot is officially over,” Sugg
says. “We have already expanded to
21 buildings, and we are continuing
to expand almost daily. Our goal is
to make the program University-wi
de.”
Sugg says he is unsure how much
money has been made through recy
cling, but the program was not in
tended to be a huge money-maker.
“Our first goal is to preserve re
sources,” he says. “Our second goal
is to save the landfill, which the 15
tons of paper we collected in the pi
lot certainly did. Money is only our
third goal, and we really only plan
on just breaking even.”
Initial response has been great,
and the program should be able to
pay for itself, Suggs says. The reason
for the program’s success is the cus
todial service’s involvement in pick
ing up the paper, he says.
“People only have to sort the pa
per at their desk, and their part is
through,” he says. “Custodial serv
ices does the rest.”
Sugg says, however, there are
more ways to save resources than by
just collecting them.
“You save them by using recycled
materials,” he says. “That is some
thing we are pushing very strongly.
“Recycled paper can be bought at
the Printing Shop,” Sugg says. “It
doesn’t cost any more than regular
paper. All it takes is the initiative to
demand the recycled paper.”
Sugg says pilot programs pres
ently are underway to recycle both
transmission oil and plastic bottles
from cleaning supplies.
KARL STOLLEIS/The Battalion
Custodial worker Johnnie Delley
empties one of the white paper
recycling bins in Evans Library.
“The oil program has been 100
percent effective, since we change
the oil for every one of the 600 vehi
cles the University runs,” Sugg says.
The bottle program also has
worked well because suppliers sim
ply pick up empty bottles when new
ones are delivered.
Sugg says plans also are in the
See Recycle/Page 6
Inside
2 column /I What's
'the itch' Up
5 Cartoons w Wudel
Police / column
Beat
Weather Outlook
Thurs Fri Sat
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Focus
Aggie baseballers
win again
A&M blanks Westmont
8-0 Tuesday in
Olsen Field. n£|P6