y/April 23,1951
cstore
rom Page 1
i them,” Marot-
il also is trying
snts by coordi-
the Sterling C.
try to improve
lity.
the library we
vn lists of the
tly checked-out
looks that are
Spearowsaid.
e bookstore can
ooks accessible
by at least hav-
r sale that can't
ie library,
aid he ho r .
ccomplish its..
of establishing
f communication
y, students and
administrators,
il’s minutes can
the bookstore's
and are pub-
month in the
me’s newsletter,
PRIMED FOR UT
The Baseball Team
blows by UTSA.
SPORTS, PAGE 9
Hayman: Four years at
Aggieland teach lessons
about A&M and about life.
OPINION, PAGE 13
A&M students are working
to save the Attwater prairie
chickens.
AGGIELIFE, PAGE 3
r ol. 102, No. 136 (14 pages)
V
The Battalion
Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893
Wednesday • April 24, 1996
adioactive sparks fly in Russia
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Fire
aced through deserted villages
round the Chernobyl nuclear
lant Tuesday, sending wind
hipped radioactive particles
kyward 10 years to the week
fter the world’s worst nuclear
ccident.
Monitors flown in helicopters
ver the area of the fire recorded
nly a slight radiation increase,
aid Nikolai Komshensky, a
pokesman for Ukraine’s nuclear
egulatory agency.
"We see no reason to be con-
amed now,” he said.
Plant officials said the fire
losed no danger to the Cher-
lobyl plant, still in operation a
decade after a reactor exploded,
killing at least 30 people out
right. Another 5 million people
were exposed to radioactive fall
out, mostly in Ukraine, Belarus
and Russia.
No injuries were reported in
the fire, which burned several
acres before being put out after
about 7 1/2 hours. It was not
clear how much damage was
done to the villages, officially off
limits since the plant disaster.
Firefighters said the blaze
was probably started by a ciga
rette dropped by one of the fami
lies visiting graves near the vil
lage of Tovsty Lis, about six
miles northwest of the plant.
Victims’ pain
not forgotten
Michelle Lyons
[he Battalion
National Crime Victim Rights
leek is being observed at Texas
i&M and in Bryan-College Sta-
ion with the dedication of a liv-
ng memorial, a candlelight vigil
and a children’s art contest.
Bob Wiatt, University Police
)epartment director, said the
veek’s events are important be
muse crime victims are often for-
Amy Browning, Thf Battalion
Sherry Hostetter and Sgt. Betty
lemay, a UPD officer, tie a yel
low ribbon around the memorial
tree on West Campus.
gotten.
The criminal justice system fo
cuses on catching the perpetrator,
he said, which makes victims feel
forgotten.
“Victims should be acknowl
edged,” Wiatt said. “We in the
community and in the criminal
justice system are aware of the
hurt they have endured.
‘We want to make sure the vic
tims know there are places out
there in the community devoted
to them and their welfare.”
A red oak tree was planted on
the A&M campus Tuesday in
memory of crime victims.
Sgt. Betty Lemay, University
Police Department Crime Preven
tion Unit, said the tree planted on
West Campus will serve to honor
anyone who lost their lives to vio
lent crime, whether it be domestic
abuse, random violence or a cal
culated crime.
Lemay said the memorial
serves as a reminder that victims
are real people.
Beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thurs
day, a candlelight vigil will be
held at Wolf Pen Creek Am
phitheater.
Balloons inscribed with the
See Victims, Page 8
Old women sobbed and tried
to shield grandchildren from the
smoke as flames engulfed homes
they were forced to abandon to
radioactive contamination from
the April 26, 1986, disaster.
The fire spread quickly
through five villages in the 18-
mile exclusion zone around the
plant, carried by strong winds
blowing toward Kiev and its 2.6
million residents. It burned
pines and buildings in one of the
areas most heavily contaminated
with radioactive cesium.
The West has long pushed for
Ukraine to close Chernobyl, but
the energy-starved former Soviet
republic says it needs the electric
ity and jobs the plant provides.
Dr. Fred Mettler, a University
of New Mexico professor who led
a 1990 study into the health haz
ards of the Chernobyl disaster,
said the risks from radiation
were minimal.
The cesium contamination
from the 1986 accident mostly
is in the soil, and not likely to
be carried by smoke from burn
ing buildings, Mettler said by
telephone.
“I would be surprised if any
body would get enough of a lung
ful to significantly change their
normal cancer risk,” he said.
The environmental group
Greenpeace, however, said fires
can carry radioactive material to
previously uncontaminated areas.
“This is clearly a danger to
the health of people, and not
only in Ukraine,” spokesman
Antony Frogatt said in Kiev.
Firefighters from Chernobyl’s
fire station rushed to the cluster
of villages after the fire broke
out at noon.
Small forest fires are not un
common in the exclusion zone
around the plant. But Vasily
Melnik, chief of the Kiev region
al fire service, called Tuesday’s
blaze the “most significant” since
the 1986 accident.
The Group of Seven industrial
ized nations has pledged $3.1 bil
lion to help close the plant by
2000, but the Western democra
cies set no date for delivering the
aid at their summit last weekend
despite an appeal from Ukrainian
President Leonid Kuchma.
In Kiev, the Ukrainian capital,
19 activists from around the
world were arrested Tuesday at a
demonstration demanding the
plant’s immediate closure. Twelve
were released. Among the seven
still in custody were an American
and a Dutchman, police said.
Only two of Chernobyl’s four
reactors are in operation. The No.
4 reactor is encased in a concrete
sarcophagus that some experts
say has deteriorated badly.
FUN IN THE SUN
Travis Gulbis, a senior kinesiology major from Dublin, Ohio, digs a spike at the Student Rec Center Tuesday afternoon
S
Set
18
mg
.)>
.in.)-
; cash-
Got a question?
Physicists
look for
answers
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
For millennia, man has
searched for answers to the
fundamental questions of life.
Now, several Texas A&M
physicists from the Center for
Theoretical Physics are helping
pave the way toward an all-en
compassing theory that will aid
man in his quest for answers.
Dr. Michael Duff, an A&M
physics professor, said a the
ory that the building blocks
of the universe change from
points to bubbles, sheets, and
tubes is attracting the atten
tion and respect of the scien
tific community.
The mathematical equations
that describe this process could
become part of a “theory of
everything.”
“Theoretical physicists are
so excited because the ultimate
theory that would explain all of
these ancient questions is with
in our grasp,” Duff said. “... For
many years, physicists have
looked for a theory that would
explain all physical phenome
na, including the beginning of
the universe.”
Because theoretical physi
cists seek to reduce complicated
phenomena to simple formulas,
they are hoping to find one or
perhaps several equations to
explain the fundamentals of
the universe.
“The hope is that the theory
of everything would explain all
of this in a simple way,” he
said. “We want to have just one
equation that would fit on the
front of a T-shirt.”
The M Theory, one piece of
the larger theory, says the fun
damental objects of the uni
verse are not dimensionless
point-like objects as once be
lieved, but membranes that
take many forms.
The idea is that membranes
exist in 11 dimensions, not just
the four that most people typi
cally think of — length, width,
height and time.
A&M’s research has gained
recognition as many physicists
have begun accepting the theo
ry of an 11-dimensional uni
verse.
“In the last year, many peo
ple have come to believe there
are 11 dimensions, which has
vindicated our work here at
A&M,” Duff said. “The reason
we’re excited is we think we
See Answers, Page 8
CS shaves utility bills through Oct.
The average residential customer will save about $3 per month
By Kendra S. Rasmussen
The Battalion
College Station utility cus
tomers will soon share a
$990,694.40 refund from the
Texas Municipal Power Agency
for fuel cost overpayment.
Bob Pohl, College Station
electric division manager, said
that when the city’s contract
with TMPA expired on Decem
ber 31, 1995, actual costs were
compared with estimated costs
and reconciliation adjustments
were made.
“When the contract ended,
they found that they had over
collected about $990,000,” he
said. “TMPA gave us an
$800,000 (overpayment) esti
mate and deducted it from our
last bill. Then, as they did the
final reconciliation, they deter
mined the balance to still be
about $190,000 and refunded
that to us as well.”
Pohl said the refund will be
reflected on May through Octo
ber utility bills. The average
residential customer will save
about $3 per month.
“By the time it is all paid
back, the average residential
customer will have saved about
$22,” he said.
Bruce Albright, College Station
utility office manager, said only
current customers will receive the
refund, and the amount will de
pend on their electricity usage in
1996, not 1995, when the over
payment occurred.
Current customers will re
ceive a refund regardless of
whether they were customers
during the overpayment period.
Those who were College Station
utility customers during the
overpayment but are no longer
will not receive refunds.
“We tried to (locate previous
customers) once before,” he said,
“but chasing down power cus
tomers is a serious problem. In a
lot of cases it is unsuccessful.”
Pohl said College Station’s
contract with TMPA included a
fixed rate for electricity and a
power cost adjustment. The
overpayment occurred in the
power cost adjustment area.
The purpose of power cost
adjustment charges is to cover
variations in gas and TMPA
power plant prices.
Pohl said the power cost ad
justment charge is billed to Col
lege Station customers.
“Since that was a cost that
we passed on to our customers,
we figured that we should pass
the refund back,” he said.
Since January, the power cost
adjustment charge to College Sta
tion customers has been $0,003
per kilowatt hour. This charge
will be reduced to $0 per kilowatt
hour until the $990,694.40 has
been folly refunded.
Bomb set to explode inside human cells
The experimental cure for cancer identifies cells by the protein produced
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists fight
ing cancer have engineered what they call
the first genetic time bomb, set to go off in
side tumor cells when they blow their cover
by producing telltale proteins.
The approach is intended to deliver its
killing force to cancer cells with pinpoint
accuracy while sparing the normal healthy
tissue around them.
The idea is still in the test tube and
probably years away from human use. It is
notable for its novelty, but whether it will
eventually lead to a cancer cure, as its de
velopers hope, remains to be seen.
Ordinary chemotherapy uses a scatter
shot approach: Toxic medicines kill not
only cancer cells but plenty of innocent by
standers, too. Many scientists have been
trying to identify landmarks that make tu
mors unique, then tailor medicines that
zero in on them.
The gene bomb scans the innermost
workings of the renegade cancer cells look
ing for proteins that only they make.
“As with any bomb, it has an explosive
part and a trigger,” said Luis da Costa of
Johns Hopkins University.
“You can put this bomb into a cell, and if it
is normal, nothing happens,” he said. ‘We en
gineered the trigger so it can only be pulled by
a cancer protein. This will make the bomb go
off and kill the cancer cell.”
Da Costa described the innovation Tuesday
at the annual meeting of the American Associ
ation for Cancer Research. A report is also be
ing published next week in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
While researchers have talked excitedly
for years about using gene therapy to cure
cancer and other ills, they are confounded
by one serious drawback: How do you get
the killer genes into the cells you want to
eliminate?
One strategy is to use viruses as Trojan
horses to carry them in. But cancer cells
seem especially hard to penetrate. In the
clump of tumor cells, only a few may ab
sorb the transplanted genes. Even if these
die, the others survive and spread.
It might even work for viral diseases,
too, such as AIDS.