Harvest '91
Grape harvest at
Messina Hof Wine
Cellars
Page 3
"I propose that the federal
government require all hairdressers
and barbers to inform their
customers if they become stricken
with the terminal syndrome."
- Trey Jacobson on AIDS
Page 5
Popcorn
a healthy alternative
Page 2
The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 173 CISPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
"Serving Texas A&M since 1893"
Tuesday, July 23, 1991
MTV will resume airplay on cable channel 98 this August
By Karen Praslicka
The Battalion
TCA Cable announced Monday that
MTV will appear on cable channel 98
sometime in August to give cable cus
tomers the option of blocking the video
channel.
Randy Rogers, general manager of
TCA Cable, said the rock channel will
be moved to channel 98 to prevent
channel interference.
Rogers said when TCA blocked out
MTV on channel 36, customers experi
enced interference problems on chan
nel 35.
Cable customers should receive a let
ter this week describing their option to
have MTV blocked anda postpaid card
that customers can return if they want
the channel blocked.
"If they don't return the card we'll
assume they want their MTV," Rogers
said.
Rogers said he expects MTV back on
the air at least by August 20.
"But if we can get it on a few days
earlier we will," he said.
Several other channels also are being
moved today.
Country Music Television now will
be on channel 98 until MTV returns.
CMT previously was on channel 23, al
ternating with the Consumer News
Business Channel. Both programs now
will be seen 24 hours a day on separate
channels until MTV returns.
ACTS, previously seen on channel
98, will move to channel 37. C-Span,
previously on channel 17, will move to
channel 36. The Community Bulletin
Board, previously on channel 37, will
move to channel 17.
Rogers said moving the Community
Bulletin Board to channel 17 will allow
TCA to run pay-per-view programs on
that channel without decreasing pic
ture quality.
Scrambling the signal of a pay-per-
view program reduces the picture qual
ity of the program. In the past, pay-
per-views were shown on channel 37,
which was high enough in the cable
spectrum to cause even further distor
tion, Rogers said.
Cable customers with full basic serv
ice — 35 channels — will receive a
credit adjustment of 26 cents on their
August bill because of the loss of one
channel for 22 days.
Rogers said only customers with full
basic service will receive the adjust
ment because other customers were
not affected by the loss of MTV.
SCOn D. WEAVER/The Battalion
Watch your step
Casey Ingram, a construction worker from Burton, makes his way grounds maintenance building. The building is being torn down and re-
through a maze of steel ceiling supports of the old construction shop and moved to make space for a new parking lot.
Lawmaker s
responsive
to educator s
University administrators, senators agree
tuition should be increased, Mobley says
By Mack Harrison
The Battalion
University President William
Mobley said lawmakers were re
ceptive to administrators' con
cerns when school officials testi
fied Monday before the state
Senate.
"I think we had good ques
tions from the senators," Mobley
said. "They understand the
numbers we use and the implica
tions of choices they make
(about higher education)."
Mobley said several senators
commended the A&M System,
praising the University's effi
ciency and giving positive com
ments on System programs in
Galveston and Houston.
Mobley and Dr. Ed Davis,
deputy chancellor for finance
and administration, joined rep
resentatives from otner schools
in the A&M System to testify be
fore the Senate Finance Commit
tee on the effects of Senate Bill 1.
"(S.B. 1) is a significant reduc
tion in general revenue appro
priations for all higher educa
tion," Mobley said.
The bill calls for cutting the
state's general revenue funding
for colleges and universities.
Mobley said this could mean
A&M would lose $19.7 million in
state funds next biennium,
funds that cannot be replaced.
"This money does not come
from endowments, private do
nations or federal grants," he
said. "These are dollars that
come from the state."
Administrators and lawmak
ers both see the need to raise tu
ition, but they disagree on how it
should be enacted. Mobley said
the proposal to immediately
double tuition is not getting a
good reception in Austin.
See Tuition/Page 6
Interim head works double-time until replacement found
Department looks for leader
"I've been holding down two plagued the field." engineering department."
Rv CZrvo TVft.Iov full-time iobs since last Tues- Hall said he also would like to The nresent situation is defi
By Greg Mt.Joy
The Battalion
Dr. Kenneth Hall, interim
head of Texas A&M's Depart
ment of Petroleum Engineering,
said he hopes he gets a perma
nent replacement soon because
he is juggling several jobs at
once.
Hall holds the position in ad
dition to his duties as associate
deputy chancellor, associate
dean of engineering and deputy
director of the Texas Engineering
Experiment Station (TEES).
Hall recently was named to
the post, replacing Dr. Douglas
Von Gonten. Von Gonten died
July 2 in a farming accident.
"Tve been holding down two
full-time jobs since last Tues
day," Hall said. "So I'm kind of
anxious for the search for a new
department head to begin."
Hall said there presently are
no candidates for the permanent
position, but the department is
being polled to find candidates
for a search committee.
Hall, a professor of chemical
engineering, said there is a lot he
would like to see done within
the department before a perma
nent head is found.
"We need to look where petro
leum engineering will be in the
next 10 to 15 years and be ready
to adapt to it," he said. "We
need to insulate ourselves and
our students from the wild
swings of employment that have
t ied the field.
all said he also would like to
initiate programs the next head
could continue once the search is
completed.
"We need to take a hard look
at the graduate program and em
phasize it, but without detract
ing from the undergraduate pro
gram," he said. "We need to
look at our curriculum and try to
start bringing it in line with a na
tional perspective over the next
year."
Hall said he works as a right-
hand man for Dr. Herbert Rich
ardson, dean of the College of
Engineering.
"It's sort of like he's the CEO,
and I'm the COO," Hall said. "I
handle the day-to-day running
of TEES and assist running the
engineering department.
The present situation is defi
nitely a challenging one. Hall
said.
"From 8 a.m. to noon, I work
eight hours at one of my jobs,"
he said. "Then from 1 to 5 p.m. I
work eight hours at my other
job."
Hall, who began working at
A&M in 1974, was director of the
Thermodynamics Research Cen
ter from 1979 to 1984.
He worked for AMOCO Pro
duction Co. and Chemshare
Corp. He earned his bachelor's
degree from the University of
Tulsa, his master's from the Uni
versity of California at Berkeley
and his Ph.D. from the Univer
sity of Oklahoma.
Saddam Hussein’s ruling coun
cil granted amnesty on Sunday to
government opponents and army
deserters. See Page 6.
Thousands flee into Jordan with pending
allied threat over nuclear disclosure deadline
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — With the approach of
Thursday's deadline for Iraq to fully disclose its
nuclear secrets, thousands of Iraqis have fled to
Jordan, people are stockpiling food and fuel, and
anti-aircraft guns have appeared atop govern
ment buildings.
There is every sign Iraq is taking seriously the
threat of allied action if it fails to meet the dead
line. However, there has been no public declara
tion of a military alert.
"If there was one, they wouldn't tell us," an In
formation Ministry spokesman said Monday.
The Ministry of Defense and Army has been
moving some of its operations to schools, resi
dents say — just as it did before the Persian Gulf
War.
"It is exactly like the previous situation. We are
seeing the army go back to schools and use them
as headquarters," said a storekeeper who lives
near a school. He would only give his name as
Ibrahim.
Sandbagged anti-aircraft machine-gun nests
have appeared atop the gatehouse of the main se
curity police headquarters in Baghdad and other
government buildings in recent days.
Secretary of State Baker and Israeli Prime Minister Shamir met Monday
to discuss face-to-face peace talks between Israel and the Arabs.
Israel remains unclear
about peace conference
JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir told
his Cabinet Monday that he
saw a "revolutionary change"
in Syria's attitude toward Is
rael, but there was no clear Is
raeli response to the U.S. pro
posal for Mideast peace talks.
Secretary of State James A.
Baker HI, after meeting with
Shamir, said there was an
"historic opportunity" for
face-to-face talks between Is
rael and the Arabs.
But the Israeli Cabinet took
no position on the U.S. propo
sal. And Shamir aide Yossi
Ahimier, who told Israeli Tele
vision of the prime minister's
striking characterization of
Syria's attitude, said, "We
want, first of all, to know what
is the true Syrian position — if
there is a real will for peace or
if these are only tactical
changes by the Syrians."
Shamir, addressing the
women's organization Hadas-
sah, put it this way:
"For us, it is not enough
that they (the Syrians) have re
alized that the United States is
the paramount power today.
We nave to know that they
have at the same time, finally,
come to accept the reality of Is
rael's existence and they have
moved peace — rather than
territory —to the top of their
agenda."
Still, when Shamir was
asked by Israeli television
whether he believed a peace
conference could start within
the next few months, he said:
"It's very possible that talks
could be held in the frame
work of peace negotiations be
tween us and the Arab
world."
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