Battle of the Bands
AnNam Tea House to host friendly
competition of local music groups
pages
Water
Health expert
explains importance
of water.
page 2
The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 153 GSRS 045360 6 Pages College Station, Texas
'Serving Texas A&Msince 1893’
Thursday, June 13, 1991
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9
New headquarters to provide more space, A&M planner says
By Karen Praslicka
The Battalion
Texas A&M University System's
new State Headquarters will allow
more space for employees presently lo
cated in the Systems Building, said the
manager of A&M's Facilities and Plan
ning Division.
Charles Caffey heads the construc
tion of the new building currently un
der construction near the College Sta
tion Hilton, which is expected to be
completed by January 1992.
Caffee said the new building will al
low employees in the systems division
to be located in one building instead of
being "scattered around" in different
buildings.
The location of the new building was
B lanned to be farther away from the
Iniversity than the present Systems
Building because employees are not
only dealing with A&M in College Sta
tion, he said.
"The system actually deals with
eight universities," he said. "It (the
systems division) was planned to be
more remote."
The building will house the offices of
the chancellor, vice chancellor and
deputy chancellor, along with the
Texas Forest Service (TFS) and the
Texas Engineering Extension Service
(TEES).
The TFS presently is located in the
Research Park while TEES is located in
Henderson Hall on campus.
The University bought the building
from a savings and loan association in
Little Rock, Ark., after the building's
original developers went bankrupt.
Most of the concrete needed for con
struction was in place at the time of
purchase while all of the exterior walls
were built, but there were no windows
or glass in the building.
A feasability study done by an ar
chitectural engineering firm declared
the building structurally sound.
The cost of the construction contract
was $9.5 million, not including furni
ture for the new building or architectu
ral design costs.
The total cost of the new building is .
unknown.
Caffee said the University saved
money buying a building partly con
structed instead of designing a com
pletely new one.
"There is a savings involved, be
cause costs can add up," he said.
The headquarters mainly will have
office space, but it also will have a li
brary and four conference rooms.
Punishment
reduces crime,
report says
By Jeff M. Brown
The Battalion
The decline in punishment
and lack of prison space have
contributed to the increase in se
rious crimes in Texas, according
to a study done in part by a
Texas A&M professor.
According to the study by the
Dallas-based National Center for
Policy Analysis, a criminal can
expect to spend only 7.4 days in
prison for committing a serious
crime, compared to 13 days in
1980 and 24.1 days in 1960.
The study defined a serious
crime as a felony committed us
ing violence.
Dr. Morgan Reynolds, an
A&M professor of economics
and senior fellow of NCPA, said
criminals are not scared of com
mitting crimes because of the
"marked lack" of punishment.
"They (criminals) realize these
numbers in a large way, so they
are not deterred as much as they
used to be," she said. "I'm not
saying the system has com
pletely broken down, but some
changes need to be made."
Reynolds said that criminal ac
tivity "really does pay today"
compared to the past.
"Any good economist can tell
you, if profits are up business
will continue to rise," she said.
The study compared the Cali
fornia and Texas prison systems
during the 1980s.
In 1980, California had fewer
state prisons and a 21.6 precent
higher crime rate than Texas. Of
ficials in California increased
their prison population faster
than the population growth in
the state and the crime rate
started going down.
From 1980 to 1989, the prison
population of California rose 255
percent while the crime rate fell
See A&M/Page 3
Fun in the sun
Gus Castellanos, an A&M speech communications graduate student, studies Wednesday by Cain Pool.
Philippine
volcano
kills one
Local tribesmen flee mountain home;
large eruptions expected to continue
MANILA, Philippines (AP) —
Tremendous explosions rocked
Mount Pinatubo anew on
Wednesday, shooting streams of
ash and steam 15 miles high and
sending molten rock down the
steep mountain slopes.
Thousands of primitive Aeta
tribesmen fled the lush, green
slopes on buffaloes and ox-
drawn carts after stones as big as
a man's head rained down on
them.
Only one death was reported
from the eruptions, the largest at
Pinatubo in more than 600 years.
A Filipino serving in the U.S.
Navy was killed Wednesday
when his car skidded on an ash-
slickened road north of the Subic
Bay Naval Base and crashed into
a bus. His name was withheld
pending notification of kin.
Delfin Garcia of the Philippine
Institute of Vulcanology and
Seismology said the volcano was
entering "an episode of big erup
tions" that would continue in
definitely.
The institute said the volcano
remained so dangerously active
that nobody could get closer
than 12 miles for a closer inspec
tion.
About 10 miles to the east,
hundreds of Americans fled
Clark Air Base, which was evac
uated by nearly 15,000 American
military personnel and their fam
ilies last Wednesday.
More than 19,000 Filipinos
have been evacuated from three
provinces near the volcano's
slopes.
At a refugee center in Olong-
apo, 35 miles southwest of the
volcano, survivors told of the
sky growing dark, then of hear
ing a tremendous explosion fol
lowed by a rain of ash.
"There was panic everywhe
re," said Manuel Romualdo.
"Children were crying. We had
to grab whatever we could."
Ash fell over about seven
towns in Zambales province
west of the crater and the San
Miguel naval installation, which
the United States turned over to
the Philippines this year but
where many Americans as
signed to the Subic naval base
still live.
Ash was so thick that at noon,
motorists were driving with their
headlights and windshield wip
ers on. Workers used giant rakes
to clear ash from city streets.
The huge plume could be seen
in Manila, 60 miles to the south.
The cloud drifted westward into
the South China Sea, raining ash
over a wide area of southern
Zambales province on the west
ern slopes of Pinatubo.
Heavy rains drenched the area
late Wednesday, and scientists
warned that mudflows threat
ened the slopes and nearby
plains.
After three eruptions during
the day, the volcano calmed,
then exploded late at night with
a fury.
Metcalf believes officials
planning to clear charges
Ti
Shelby Metcalf
A&M officials Tuesday, for
mer A&M basketball coach
Shelby Met
calf said he
believes he
was cleared
of charges
that he con-
trolled a
slush fund
used to pay
A&M basket
ball players.
"I can't speak for the school,
but I thought things went
well," Metcalf said.
Metcalf was A&M's basket
ball coach for 27 years, until he
was removed in 1990.
The Austin American-
Statesman, however, reported
Sunday that four sources said
Metcalf operated the fund for
more than a decade, tunneling
thousands of dollars to his
playe
Tw
layers.
Two former players and two
A&M administrative sources,
all speaking on the condition
of anonymity, said cash pro
vided by A&M boosters was
f iven to players in the late
980s.
They said the money was
spent on clothes, parties, din
ners, beer, cigarettes, air fare
and an abortion for one play
er's girlfriend.
Metcalf, his assistants and
two former players have den
ied all the allegations.
A&M spokesman Lane Ste
phenson does not know
whether the school will con
duct its own probe. But Mark
Jones, director of enforcement
for the National Collegiate
Athletic Association, said the
organization would respond
to the charges. Jones dia
elaborate.
not
Area museum to open new building
By Mack Harrison
The Battalion
The Brazos Valley Museum is
roaring into the present by ex
panding to hold robotic dino
saurs, learning centers, and new
exhibits in a $600,000 building
set to open this fall.
Ron Young, museum director,
said the building should be fin
ished by the end of September,
but will take an additional two
years to install all the exhibits.
"We're opening Oct. 5
whether it's done or not," Young
said. "The big picture is that a
small community museum is
growing up."
The site is located next to Bra
zos Center and was privately
funded by donations, grants,
membership dues and program
revenues.
The museum will feature Di-
namation — half- to full-size ro
bot dinosaurs — from Oct. 5 to
Dec. 1. The main purpose of the
robots is raise money, but they
have other benefits. Young said.
"In the process of (fund rais
ing) we see to it an awful lot of
education goes on," he said.
The new building also will fea
ture classrooms and a new col
lections room with the environ
mental controls, security and fire
suppression necessary to ac
credit the museum with the
American Association of Mu
seums by 1996.
As a member of the AAM, the
Brazos Valley Museum can ap
ply for federal funding with a
better chance of success.
"This means that when I apply
for a national grant, I can play on
a level field," Young said.
Accreditation also means the
museum will be able to bring in
traveling exhibits from any
where in the world, which it can
not do with its present facilities.
It will also be able to attract new
employees. Young said.
"What's really important, we
will have an equal shot at hiring
museum professionals," he said.
One of the museum's goals is
to educate local children. In ad
dition to its present summer pro
grams, the museum will have
several rooms dedicated to en
lightening adults as well as chil
dren.
The museum will promote a
hands-on appproach to learning
in its Nature Lab. The room will
be a "wet lab" where area school
children can work with speci
mens from a nearby creek.
"It's where you can teach
classes that are really messy,"
Young said.
The Discovery Room rep
resents the opposite of what
people think a museum is, he
said.
The room will have five sta
tions, each with a different
theme. Visitors of all ages will
learn about the solar system, en
dangered species, ecosystems,
survival and nonbiological cy
cles.
"You don't take a tour, with
someone answering your ques
tions," he added. "You discover
the answers yourself."
The Astin Gallery will have
3,500 square feet devoted to ex
hibits. Young said the room will
focus on the natural history of
the Brazos Valley. Exhibits will
show how the area looked mil
lions of years in the past.
"It will be a walk through
about 66 million years of Brazos
Valley history," Young said. "It's
a logical way to present things."