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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1992)
The Battalion Vol. 91 No. 184 (6 pages) “Serving Texas ASM Since 1893” Wednesday, July 29, 1992 Inside Rap songs voice frustrations toward larger problems Page 5 Instructor races in Death Valley By Mark Evans The Battalion The highest recorded tempera ture in Brazos County is 110° F, but when Mike Sandlin began the High-Tech Bad Water-146 race last Wednesday in Death Valley, CA the temperature was a siz zling 127 degrees. Sandlin, a kinesiology assis tant lecturer, finished third out of 15 participants in the 146-mile race from Death Valley (elevation -282 ft. below sea level) to the top of Mt. Whitney (elevation 14,494 ft.), the highest and lowest points in the continental United States. The race included runners from the United States as well as sev eral foreign countries. The race started at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening. Sandlin reached the top of Mt. Whitney 31 hours lat er after stopping once for an hour and a half nap. The temperature at the top of the mountain was 15° F. He finished four hours behind the sec ond place runner and four hours ahead of the fourth place winner. "This race was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I have ever done," Sandlin said. The race is invitational with runners being invited on the basis of their past performance in ultra races (an ultra race is any race be yond the traditional marathon distance of 26 miles), Sandlin said. He spent eight months preparing for the competition, running 100 miles a week during the heat of mid-afternoon. "As the weather became warmer, I would start to run around twelve to three o'clock in the afternoon," Sandlin said. "I aimed for the heat of the day be cause that's the conditions most of the race is in." College Station's sweltering summer fit well into his training, he said, though the heat still made the race difficult. "I was surprised at how much the heat affected you early in the race," Sandlin said. "Even in the first 20 miles, I could feel the draining effects of the heat." The mountainous terrain of the race caught him off guard as well. College Station's flat terrain made training for a mountainous course all the more difficult, he said. What surprised me the most was how hilly the course was. In my mind, I thought it would be flatter than it actually was." The race crossed several mountain ranges with elevations of 6,000-7,000 ft. "I really was not anticipating many problems for the first 50 or 60 miles," Sandlin said. "But by the time I reached the first check point, 18 miles into the race, physically, I felt as if I had run 50 miles." Because of the toll this type of race can take on a person's body, race officials required each run ner to have a crew which fol lowed the runner throughout the race in a car, providing them with water, ice and food. Sandlin's wife and daughter served as his crew. "I had the best crew there," he said. The top of Mt. Whitney served as the finish line for the race, though once the runners reached it they still had a seven-mile walk before them, back down. Cars cannot reach the top of the moun tain. Back home, Sandlin has al ready returned to work. "I feel pretty good consider ing," he said. I'm not stiff at all, but my legs are real tired . . . not as bad as I thought I would be." Sandlin may participate in a 100-mile race in September, but he hasn't decided yet. Each year, he participates in at least one ul tra race and about three 50-mile races. He has been racing for 15 years. "After I graduated from col lege, I was looking for something to do because I like the spirit of competition. "One of the nice things about running is you don't need a part ner, and you can do it on your own time," he said. Sandlin believes that it is im portant for people to challenge themselves, or to at least try, es pecially as they get older. They shouldn't fear failure. Participants in ultra races, in cluding Sandlin, take part for that reason: they relish the challenge. "A lot of people think we're strange for doing these things, and I agree with them to a point, but it's just a challenge. That's what it's all about." High-Tech Bad Water 146 Race Nevada Ml. Whitne'A elev. 14.494 ft> 1 Bad Water Basin, Death Valley' elev. -282 ft. California GARY CARROLL, JENNIFER MAXWELL/ The Battalion MICHAEL MARSHALL/The Battalion Cooling off Nane Werner, a graduate student in ocean pool to work out. Werner says she swims for engineering, swims laps in the Wofford Cain enjoyment and exercise. Two-party politics on way out, experts say WASHINGTON (AP) - In a post-Perot post-mortem, experts on the politics of discontent contended on Tuesday that the two-party system is bound to give way over the next 10 years to a multi-party structure in America. "We've found a level of discontent in American politics and American institutions that simply knows no parallel since the beginning of polling in the 1930s," said pollster Gordon S. Black, seeking to measure the public's appetite for trying something new. "Over half the people are willing to bolt the party system." Analysts said future third-party movements are likely to grow from the ground up/electing local and state officials and members of Congress before trying to capture the White House. Ross Perot's supporters tried to elect him with no party at all. "The American love affair with the two-rparty system is just about over," said John B. Anderson, a former Republican congressman from Illinois who bolted his party to run for president in 1980. After a strong start, he wound up with only 6.6 percent of the popular vote. If a new party starts in 1996, "it may take six years before they can elect a president," Anderson said, citing the history of the Republican Party. It was founded in 1854, six years before Abraham Lincoln came along to lead it into the White House. Any new parties that evolve, the experts said, were likely to champion a variety of causes. Most commonly foreseen was the development of a "Green Party" devoted to protecting the environment. Also envisioned were a party dedicated to preserving family values; a private enterprise party and a citizen- legislator reform party out of the term-limit movement. Gore attacks Bush Iraq allows U.N. weapon search Democrats criticize ATLANTA (AP) - The Democrats counterattacked Tuesday in the increasingly bit ter political de bate over for eign policy ex perience, with A1 Gore declar ing that if President Bush and Dan Quayle "are such whizzes . . . why is it that Saddam Hussein is thumbing his nose at the entire world?" Former President Carter joined the assault, blaming Bush for the "politicizing of foreign policy" and saying it would be "a traves ty" if Secretary of State James A. Baker III quit such a vital post to lead the president's re-election campaign. In contrast, the White House was all but silent on the issue, a day after Bush's spokesman called a statement by Bill Clinton on Yugoslavia "reckless" and Bush- Quayle campaign aides attacked Clinton as lacking both ability and experience in foreign policy. Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater reiterated Bush's appre ciation of the Democratic presi dential nominee's general support on the Iraqi situation. Asked if the White House weren't sending an inconsistent message, Fitzwater smiled and presidential policy said, "Nobody gets our blanket endorsements." Clinton took a verbal shot at Bush's Monday suggestion that he alone had "the experience, the seasoning, the guts" to stand up to such foes as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Bush should show such quali ties "a little more consistently," Clinton said. Gore, appearing in Atlanta alongside Carter, accused the Bush administration of focusing on foreign policy to the detriment of domestic matters — and still failing to dislodge Saddam. Although Americans do have concerns about world affairs, he said, "the dominant issue in this campaign is going to be how we're going to get our country moving forward." Carter, too, said the "recent success" of Saddam in his nation's standoff with the United Nations over military inspections "doesn't show to me any particular advan tage to having experience in the White House." The former president, during a news conference at the Carter Library, said, "One thing that con cerns me very deeply is the politi cizing of foreign policy." About Baker's possible move. Carter said it would be "a very sad day and an unacceptable precedent if the secretary of state does step down from his role and assumes the role of political cam paign manager." MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Iraq opened up its Agriculture Ministry to U.N. weapons experts Tuesday after a three-week stand off, but also unleashed anti-U.S., pro-Saddam demonstrations in Baghdad and other cities. Protesters were kept away from the ministry, the scene of re peated demonstrations that forced an earlier, predominantly American team to end a vigil out side the building. Under the cease-fire, Iraq must surrender its weapons of mass de struction under U.N. supervision. A nine-member U.N. team was systematically going through the Agriculture Ministry to look for documents and other materials on Iraq's weapons of mass destruc tion Tuesday, and was prepared to spend the night to complete its work. Experts said Iraq likely had re moved significant material during the period inspectors were barred. Two American members of the inspection team remained outside under a compromise worked out between Iraq and the United Nations. None of the experts in side were from countries that went to war last year to force Iraq to reverse its invasion of Kuwait. Tim Trevan, a spokesman for the U.N. commission on Iraqi dis armament, said after nightfall that the inspectors were still in the building and he did not discount the possibility they would remain around the clock. He said the inspectors had not yet reported discovering any weapons-related materials. U.N. officials suspect the ministry con tained documents on Iraq's chem ical, biological, nuclear and ballis tic weapons. "When I met the members of the government this morning I underlined the importance of se curity and safety for our people," Swedish diplomat Rolf Ekeus, the chairman of the disarmament commission, told Cable News Network in Baghdad. "I got a very strong promise.” Ekeus led weekend negotia tions that allowed inspection of the Agriculture Ministry, then ac companied the inspectors to Baghdad to try to ensure Iraqi compliance. Ekeus had been backed by U.S. threats of force, but he accepted conditions on the make-up of the team similar to a demand Baghdad made shortly after the inspectors' vigil outside the min istry began July 5. At the time, Iraq said it wanted only neutral- country inspectors in the building. The United States remained poised to strike if Iraq continued its foot-dragging on compliance with U.N. cease-fire resolutions that ended the Gulf War. Gore Explosion damages Riverside Campus By Robin Roach The Battalion A gas explosion at the Texas A&M Riverside Campus occurred yesterday at 3:25 p.m. injuring Lone Star Gas employee Danny Meadors. Meadors was repairing the gas lines in the Gas Regulator House after they had been cut off during construction on Highway 21. Meadors heard a leak and ran from the building. "He could foresee something was wrong," Lieutenant Russ Kline, University Police Department, said. "He heard a leak and got out of the building." There was no fire involved in the explo sion. A build up of pressure from the gas leak in the building caused the sides and roof of the Gas Regulator house to blow out. "There was extensive damage to the build ing," Kline said. "The sides of the building were pushed out and the shingles were blown up." Meador was taken to St. Joseph Hospital where he received medical attention for a possible broken leg and other injuries. Further investigation will be conducted to identify the cause of the explosion.