The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, July 12, 1991, Image 1

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Cougar vs. Cougar
Klingler and
Detmer square off
for Heisman in ’91 _
page 3
"I believe it would take
another period of intense
activism like the 1960s to
instill the kind of racial
equality synonymous with
true democracy.”
-Michael Worsham page 5
All Year
School?
page 2
The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 168 (ISPS 045360 6 Pages College Station, Texas "Serving Texas A&M since 1893"
Friday, July 12, 1991
Security officers act as eyes and ears of police department
By Jeff M. Brown
The Battalion
Security guards on campus are the
eyes and ears of the police department,
so when patrol officers are busy an
swering calls, security guards are there
to pick up the slack, a security official
said.
Maj. J. Michael Ragan, assistant di
rector of Texas A&M Field Operations,
said security guards use many differ
ent methods to maintain security, from
cameras to mopeds. He said his de-
artment considered using bicycles,
ut mopeds give them enough mobil
ity.
Security guards are not as obvious
on campus because they have different
duties than UPD patrol officers, he
said.
Patrol officers investigate criminal
offenses, fire alarms, people locked out
of their cars and any other calls they re
ceive.
Security guards monitor parking ga
rages 24 hours a day, check doors in
buildings and keep an eye out for any
suspicious activity.
Tne engineering department con
tracts Field Operations to patrol their
buildings from 3 to 11 p.m. During
these hours, guards also check resi
dence hall doors to make sure they are
locked.
From 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.. Field Opera
tions patrols the Sterling C. Evans Li
brary, the Riverside Campus and the
McKenzie Airport Terminal, in addi
tion to residence halls and engineering
buildings.
Ragan said each shift always has ex
tra guards on duty walking the halls,
keeping an eye out for anything suspi
cious.
"We encourage everyone to report
anything that looks wrong on camp
us," Ragan said. "A lot of people don't
want to bother us, but that is our job."
Lt. Bert Kretzschmar of the Univer
sity Police Department Crime Preven
tion Unit said UPD officers are helping
Field Operations with security in a new
program called Park, Walk and Talk.
When officers have "slack" time,
they get out of their patrol cars in areas
where there has been an increase in
crime and talk to people to make them
aware of what's going on.
Once faculty members realized noth
ing was wrong when police officers
were walking through campus build
ings, they responded positively,
Kretzschmar said.
Chancellor
final choices
to be named
A&M System faculty leaders angered
by their exclusion from decision process
By Chris Vaughn
The Battalion
The Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents is ex
pected to announce the finalists
for chancellor today, but System
faculty leaders are not pleased
they have been left out of the
process.
A&M Faculty Senate Speaker
Pat Alexander said it is impor
tant the faculty be involved in se
lecting the System's top leader,
but it has not happened yet.
"No, we're not pleased," Alex
ander said. "Our bottomline goal
is helping the System find the
best chancellor to move us for
ward. If that's achieved without
our help, fine. But we would
prefer being involved."
A&M, however, is not home
to the only group of faculty that
has been ignored in the chan
cellor search.
Faculty leaders from Texas
A&M at Galveston, Tarleton
State University and Prairie
View A&M have been left out to
the extent they are not familiar
with the names of the leading
candidates.
"It's unconscionable," said Dr.
Tom Johnson, chairman of the
faculty advisory committee at
A&M-Galveston. "It's a total vio
lation of every concept of shared
governance. It's a terribly foolish
thing to do to exclude the faculty
from at least some involvement
in the process."
President of the faculty senate
at Tarleton State Don Keith also
said faculty should have some
input in the leaders of its Sys
tem.
"It probably bothers the fac
ulty at College Station more, but
it should bother all of us the sa
me," Keith said. "We would like
to have more input in the gov
ernance."
The list of finalists is expected
to include Dr. Herbert Richard
son, System deputy chancellor
for engineering and University
dean of engineering, and Dr. Ed
die Davis, deputy chancellor for
finance and administration.
Also rumored to be on the
short list is retired Gen. Thomas
C. Richards of San Angelo and
current interim chancellor Dr. Ed
Hiler. <
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf,
once considered a candidate,
dropped out of the race several
weeks ago to spend time with
his family and to write a book.
Faculty members at A&M
complain that the regents have
already conducted interviews
with candidates, shortened the
list and announced the finalists
See System/Page 6
RICHARD S. JAMES/The Battalion
Eclipse dims
area skies
George Shearer, (right) with the
Harrington Television Lab, sets
up a camera Thursday to record
the solar eclipse. The photo
above was taken in College Sta
tion about 2:15 Thursday af
ternoon. The eclipse plunged into
darkness a 160-mile-wide swath
stretching from Hawaii to Mexi
co's Baja Peninsula, central and
southern Mexico, Central Amer
ica, Colombia and Brazil.
□ Thousands gather to view
eclipse/Page 4
PENNY DELOS SANTOS/The Battalion
Oil spill cleanup equipment
'drop in bucket/ expert says
By Greg Mt.Joy
The Battalion
Oil spill cleanup equipment
purchased for the U.S. Coast
Guard as a part of the 1990 Oil
Pollution Act is only a small
step, although one taken in
the right direction, a Texas
A&M oil spill expert said.
Dr. Roy Hann, a professor
of civil engineering, said the
equipment purchases an
nounced Wednesday would
give the Coast Guard only a
nominal cleanup capacity.
"Before, the Coast Guard
had a lot of responsibility and
could only direct oil spill
cleanups," Hann said. "They
were very poorly equipped
and couldn't do much on their
own."
The equipment consists of
about 2,500 feet of boom and
two skimming systems to be
distributed to 19 ports across
the nation, including Galves
ton and Corpus Christi.
Money for the equipment
came from a federal 5-cent-
per-barrel tax created as part
of the 1990 Oil Pollution Act.
"A typical spill takes about
40,000 to 50,000 feet of boom
to contain," Hann said. "So
this new equipment is only a
drop in the bucket.
"it does give the Coast
Guard the capability to do
some things without having to
turn to outside contractors,
however."
Hann said a more unified ef
fort to purchase equipment is
needed to handle larger spills.
He added that the creation
of the Marine Spill Response
Corporation by 20 of the larg
est oil companies will help, as
will a 2-cent-per-barrel state
tax established! to create a $4
million reservoir of cleanup
equipment.
"In the next year the state
should get enough tax money
to do what they've said they
want to do with the equip
ment reservoir," Hann said.
See Coast/Page 6
On the edge of the future
A&M teacher works to improve cooling, heating system
By Melissa Vyvlecka
Special to The Battalion
A Texas A&M faculty member
is developing what could be the
non-polluting cooling and heat
ing system of the future, the Liq
uid-Piston Stirling Engine/Stir
ling Heat Pump.
Dr. Mark Holtzapple, an assis
tant professor of chemical engi
neering, and a group of A&M
students are working on the
high efficiency, low polluting
heat pump.
The Stirling Engine uses he
lium, a gas that is not harmful to
the environment, whereas other
systems use Freon, a chlorofluo
rocarbon (CFC) gas that has been
linked to the deterioration of the
ozone layer and contributes to
the greenhouse effect.
Holtzapple's cooling and heat
ing system burns natural gas to
power the system.
Holtzapple estimated that in
five to 10 years power plants will
reach maximum of power-gener
ating capacity and that additio
nal plants will have to be built to
keep up with the amount of en
ergy being used.
Holtzapple said he believes his
Stirling Heat Pump could pro
vide a solution to this problem.
Holtzapple estimated the price
of his system at $1,000 to $2,000,
comparable to today's electric-
powered heat pumps.
But because there are no mov
ing mechanical parts, the system
could go without repair for at
least 15 years, he said.
Consumers could cut winter
utility costs almost in half be
cause not as much gas is nec
essary to heat during the winter,
he said.
However, there would not be
much of a change in summer
utility costs, he said.
Robert Stirling, a Scottish cler
gyman, invented the Stirling-cy-
cle engine in 1816.
The engines were used to
pump water on farms and gener
ate electricity for small commu
nities until about 1920.
In 1922, the engine became ob
solete because of its high cost,
but its high efficiency and low
pollution has created renewed
interest.
Holtzapple said he is person
ally funding the project but that
the engine belongs to the Uni
versity.
He has invested $15,000 and
anticipates spending almost
$30,000 to complete his experi
ment. If the project is a success,
the University will receive one-
half of the proceeds.
"I believe in my ideas, so I'll
risk my own money to do this,"
Holtzapple said.
His ideas about the Stirling
Cycle began eight years ago
while working on the Stirling
Engine in the U.S. Army.
Holtzapple said he came up
with a plan to make his ideas
work three years ago and one
year later began construction of
the project.
This summer project manager
Jon Miegs, who graduated from
A&M with a bachelor's degree in
Chemical Engineering, and six
undergraduate engineering stu
dents are contributing to build
ing the Liquid-Piston Stirling En
gine/Stirling Heat Pump this
summer.
"I think it's part of my respon
sibility as a teacher to get stu
dents involved in research,"
Holtzapple said.
The prototype of the Liquid-
Piston Stirling Engine/Stirling
Heat Pump should be built by
August, and the data completed
by December.
Holtzapple said, however, it
will be at least five to 10 years be
fore this cooling and heating sys
tem is put on the market, and
the engine will first be used in
new homes.