The Battalion
lol,92 No. 167 (6 pages) 1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A«&M — 1993 Thursday, July 1,1993
Clinton urges economic growth
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Less than a
iekbefore the economic sum-
;,President Clinton on Wednes-
jybluntly called on Japan to
»its markets, on Germany to
ser interest rates and on all of
irope to end a stalemate over
m subsidies.
It's very hard for the United
ites alone to grow jobs without
Ipfrom other nations,” Clinton
dared as he met with congres-
nal leaders to discuss the July
■9 meeting in Tokyo of the
.irld's seven major industrial-
si democracies.
Leaders of both parties
lerged from the White House
*ting agreeing that the lame-
:tk status of Japanese Prime
linister Kiichi Miyazawa, and
erelative weakness of other
■ders, will make it hard to
jee on a strong statement on
jomic growth.
japan is the world's second
»est economy, after the United
utes.
President looks for world cooperation
while preparing for economic summit
"Obviously, the situation is
complicated by the internal prob
lems in Japan, the situation with
respect to the government there,"
said Senate Majority Leader
George Mitchell, D-Maine.
He added, "that should not
preclude a positive outcome,"
particularly on agreeing on Russ
ian aid. Russian President Boris
Yeltsin will meet with the West
ern leaders at the conclusion of
the summit.
U.S. officials had hoped the
summit partners could agree
jointly at the annual meeting to set
targets for annual growth.
Senate Republican Leader Bob
Dole of Kansas said it wmuld be
hard for Clinton to claim any ma
jor successes. "It's not his fault,
just circumstances,” Dole said.
White House press secretary
Dee Dee Myers conceded that
some goals for the summit might
have to be modified. "I certainly
think that the domestic political
situation in Japan has changed the
dynamics somewhat,” she said.
One casualty, Myers suggested:
a market-opening "framework"
agreement U.S. officials hoped
would be ready by the summit.
That is no longer likely, she said.
"We'll pick up where we left
off" after the Japanese elections
on July 18 and after a successor to
Miyazawa is chosen, she said.
Myers said the United States still
hopes to make major progress on
Russian aid and in moving toward
finally wrapping up a long-delayed
set of new liberalized trading rules
under the auspices of the 114-na-
tion General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT).
Myers suggested that the United
States would like strong statements
on Iraq and Bosnia to be included.
Clinton was asked by reporters
whether the political situation in
Japan would make it impossible
to reach his goals. "It's harder but
it's possible,” he said.
Asked what he would like other
members of the so-called Group of
Seven — the United States, Japan,
Germany, Britain, France, Canada
and Italy — to do to spur a listless
global economy, Clinton said:
"I think Japan ought to stimu
late their economy and open their
markets. And the Europeans
should resolve their own differ
ences about agriculture and other
things and help us to sign (a
long-negotiated international
trade) agreement before the end
of the year.”
"And the Germans have
worked very hard, the German
government has, but I think the
German central bank should con
tinue to lower interest rates there
so that all of us together can ex
pand this economy,” Clinton said.
Is Clinton strong enough to get
the Germans to further reduce
their interest rates? "We'll find
that out when they do it," said
House GOP whip Newt Gingrich
of Georgia.
Suspected mail bomb causes
Reed McDonald evacuation
By MICHELE BRINKMANN
The Battalion
A possible mail bomb on the Texas A&M campus turned out to
be a false alarm Wednesday.
University Police Department was called by Dr. Charles C. Self,
head of the Department of Journalism, around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday
afternoon.
Although the bomb was a false alarm, the package did possess
many of the suspicious characteristics that Texas A&M faculty and
staff were recently warned of in a press release.
The package was loosely hand-wrapped in cellophane, had no
return address, and had a hand-cut label.
Self called UPD after he received the package, and UPD then
called the College Station Fire Department.
"I was just taking a precaution in calling UPD," Self said. "The
package had the characteristics that tire newsletter had warned of."
The entire second floor of the Reed McDonald Building was
evacuated by police and fire officials.
The Fire Marshall Office sent out a special bomb training team to
the scene. Representatives with the office said they followed the
specific procedures they learned in training.
The package ended up containing books that journalism profes
sor Dr. Don E. Tomlinson had edited and was sending to Self.
These extra precautions are because of two mail bombings that
occurred last week. One mail bomb was sent to a geneticist at the
University of California at San Francisco and the other was sent to a
computer scientist at Yale University.
No more rain
RICHARD DIXON/Thc Battalion
ieRay Hall, a senior elementary education major from Fort Worth, catch up on her reading. The weather is expected to stay partly
lakes a break from school Wednesday afternoon to get some sun and cloudy throughout the week with highs in the 90s.
Officials stress fireworks safety on the Fourth
By CARRIE MIURA
Tlje Battalion
Although the Fourth of July is a
for celebration, it is also a
3iefor safety, say College Station
i)’officials.
In 1992, 65 percent of fire-
Wks-related injuries in the Unit-
^States involved people under
5fage of 20. A fourth of those
iople were children under the
tyofl4.
It. Brad Clark, of fire protec-
:i) n in College Station, said a ma-
% of the children involved in
tyorks accidents were injured
I'en playing with sparklers.
Sparklers burn at approximate
ly 2000 degrees and are very dan
gerous to handle without adult
supervision, Clark said.
"If you are going to use fire
works out of the city limits, it is
recommended that there is adult
supervision," he said.
In 1992, 13,000 people were in
jured or killed due to fireworks-
related accidents, Clark said.
Anne Easterling, public informa
tion officer for the Texas Commis
sion on Fire Protection, said, "If
you are going to use fireworks do it
in a safe area, and remain sober.
"Keep in mind with how fire
works should be used and read
the labels and follow the direc
tions," Easterling said.
In 1992, the state of Texas re
ported 641 fireworks-related fires,
an increase of 200 from 1991.
Clark said, "With all the rain
that we've had it will be very
helpful, but people will still need
to be responsible."
Last October, a city ordinance
was passed making the possession
of fireworks illegal within 5,000 feet
of the Bryan and College Station
city limits. Lt. Stephen Smith, of
fire protection in College Station,
said this ordinance was established
to create a buffer zone which fire
works cannot be transported into.
Fireworks have been illegal
within the city limits for several
years.
Clark, said, "Many people do
not realize that fireworks are ille
gal, including sparklers."
Clark said there were no major
fires caused from fireworks in the
College Station area last year.
"We were very lucky," Clark
said.
For four or five years, the city
of College Station has been hand
ing out citations to people for the
possession of fireworks.
"Last year, we wrote approxi
mately seven citations, which in
cluded confiscating their fire
works," Clark said.
See Fireworks/Page 2
Dinosaur cloning?
'Virtually hopeless'
Scientists reject Jurassic Park possibility
By LISA ELLIOTT
The Battalion
Mainstream America has been invaded by dinosaurs. Dinomania
has struck and dinosaurs can be seen on everything from children's
clothes to McDonalds French fry holders, however Texas A&M scien
tists say don't hold your breath for a real-life Jurassic Park.
Dr. Ry Young, professor of biochemistry and biophysics, said the sci
ence fiction movie, Jurassic Park, is more fiction than science. He said
the only type of research being done on dinosaur DNA has nothing to
do with cloning it but using their DNA to study evolution and the life
of the dinosaurs.
"The idea of re-creating dinosaurs is extremely far-fetched," Young
said. "It's virtually hopeless."
Steven Spielberg, director of Jurassic Park, said in a recent
Newsweek article he believes "without a doubt" that science is capable
of re-creating a dinosaur.
However, Young said scientists have only recently found preserved
DNA from the Jurassic period in an insect, but the possibility of recreat
ing that creature is slim.
Young said even the possibility of cloning small animals and insects
from the Jurassic period is virtual
ly impossible let alone something
as large and complex as a di
nosaur.
"It is mathematically impossi
ble to re-create something so
large," he said.
According to the Newsweek
article, scientists have so far found
ancient DNA belonging to a
40,000 year-old woolly mammoth
and DNA belonging to a long-ex
tinct African quagga. They have
even cloned a 40 million year-old
bee that was preserved in amber.
Scientists say extracting DNA is
the easy part in cloning. Finding
a cell in which to inject that DNA
is the tough part.
Even if re-creating dinosaurs
were possible and science had the
ability, serious ethical questions
would come into play, said Dr.
Gary Varner, assistant professor
of philosophy and research associ
ate with the Center for Biotechnol
ogy Policy and Ethics at Texas
A&M.
Varner said all the concerns
raised in the movie, such as con
cerns about the rights of the ani
mals, the environmental impact
and human safety, are accurate.
"If we really could re-create
things from a long time ago, we'd
face the problem of their own well
being," he said. "These animals
would not be able to survive in
See Dinosaurs/Page 2
Program helps
teachers learn
about cloning
By LISA ELLIOTT
The Battalion
High school teachers in
Texas are gaining valuable ex
perience in cloning, using di
nosaur DNA to study evolution
and the life of the dinosaurs,
this summer at Texas A&M
with the Texas Biotechnology
Teacher Enhancement Project.
The program, which is fund
ed by the National Science
Foundation, is sponsored by the
Texas Alliance, a statewide sci
ence education network head
quartered at A&M.
It is designed to train biolo
gy teachers to teach other teach
ers, through workshops and
sessions, how to do experi
ments in cloning to perform for
students during lab exercises.
Thirty high school teachers
from all over Texas are taking
part in the program, which Dr.
Bob James, director of the Texas
Alliance, said in a press release,
was designed to give 1,000
See Program/Page 2
Inside
Sports
'NBA Draft: Orlando, Golden
State swap first, third picks
'Wimbledon: Sampras beats
crowd favorite Agassi
Page 3
Aggie life
'Review: The Firm' with Tom
Cruise and Gene Hackman
'Weekend preview of Fourth
of July activities in Texas cities
Page 4
•Thursday: partly
cloudy, nighs in the 90s,
lows in the 70s
•Forecast for Friday:
same as Thursday, partly
cloudy, highs in the 90s
Texas Lotto
•Winning lottery numbers:
36, 28, 30, 37, 16,4
•Lotto jackpot: $15 million
filler' bees not overly aggressive, experts say
Entomologists warn against provoking Africanized bees, but 'no need to panic'
By MATTHEW J. RUSH
The Battalion
Although many people are frightened by
killer bees, experts say popular misconceptions
about the bees have heightened this fear.
Sightings of Africanized killer bees have
been more frequent in the past two years. It
has been almost three years since these bees
entered the United States.
Misconceptions about killer bees began to
generate when they entered the U.S. Oct. 15,
1990 at Hidalgo, Texas. The bees were de
scribed as aggressive and willing to attack any
thing in sight.
Dr. Charlie Cole, A&M professor of ento
mology, said he believes the media has made
the Africanized bee into a black clouded myth
that is headed directly for us. There is no need
to be disturbed over the bee's recent invasion
of the United States, Cole said.
"There is not a need to panic," Cole said.
"Their activity has decreased tremendously, and
the good news is that their northward expansion
has slowed considerably over the past year."
Cole also said beekeepers are the first line of
defense to combat these bees.
The spreading of these bees is near an end be
cause of the climate and the watchful eye of bee
keepers in the south Texas region, Cole said.
"There are a number of theories as to where
they will stop," Cole said. "Most agree that
within 50 to 75 miles of the 32nd parallel looks
to be where they will stop. However, I
wouldn't be surprised to find Africanized
colonies in the Brazos County area in the fall."
Cole also said "because 4 percent of all peo
ple are hypersensitive to bee and wasp stings,
all people need to be aware of the situation."
Paul Jackson, a state entomologist at A&M,
said killer bee attacks could have easily been
prevented and were probably caused by pro
voking the bees.
"Fifty percent of the attacks that have oc
curred could have been prevented if people
would have had these bees removed," he said.
Cole said unless these bees are disrupted,
there is no immediate danger of random at
tacks on people.
See Bees/Page 6