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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1997)
Texas A&M University 90 Tomorrow Today See extended forecast, Page 2. ume 103 • Issue 177 • 6 Pages College Station, TX Wednesday, August 6, 1997 iveoo igmei EWS Briefs penct pack' rvict. pngei more more pant PS is neis Hogg Foundation les funding grant ae Texas A&M University System received a $790,000 grant from fl/.K. Kellogg Foundation to fund ership development programs the next three years, le programs’ aim is to improve ersities' responsiveness to the Is of their students and other s residents. r. Edward A. Hiler, System vice icellor for agriculture and life sci- s, will oversee the project team jout 40 System faculty and staff. )uston employees spitalized by fumes iOUSTON (AP) — Twenty manu ring employees were taken to hospitals Tuesday after they overcome by carbon monoxide s,afire official said. 11:14 a.m., the Houston Fire artment was contacted after em- ees at Webb Tool and Manufac- iglnc. reported a strange odor was making employees ill, said larris, spokeswoman for the fire artment. larris said officials determined odor was carbon monoxide that lefrom a forklift. nadequate ventilation trapped fumes inside the facility, Harris light employees were taken to , ingBranch Hospital; 12 were tak- toHermann Hospital. | iAIIofthe ailing employees com- of dizziness and nausea. | ine of them was thought to be se- uslyinjured, Harris said. California strikes town consent law SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — After near- a decade of legal battles and a cru- ilchange in court membership, the ■i ate Supreme Court Tuesday struck |1 wa parental consent law for mi ll rs' abortions, saying it violates Ung women’s right to privacy. The law denies a pregnant minor ontrol over her own destiny," said ief Justice Ronald George in the S ruling. The ruling reversed a 1996 deci- h by the court that never became sl.The law was originally to take ect in 1988 but was blocked by urt order. It would have required an unmar- d minor to get consent from one rent for an abortion. As an alter- iive, she could have sought to per- bdeajudge, in a confidential hear- Lthat she was mature enough to ike the decision or that an abortion sin her best interests. Past law, which remains in effect, isthem make the decision on their fiifa doctor finds they are capa- e of giving “informed consent” af- being advised of the options. TODAY SPORTS tano: President Clinton Ians ahead for Democrats mowing his presidency. See Page 5. OPINION I %://bat-web.tamu.edu kfor evious 'ttalion tides in 16 archives. A&M to disband Fish Drill Team earin’ Up: Cowboys get lady for ’97 season at lining camp in Austin. See Page 3. Staff Report The Corps of Cadets Commandant Maj. Gen. M.T “Ted” Hopgood announced yes terday that the Texas A&M Fish Drill Team is disbanded for the 1997-98 school year. The decision was made by Hopgood; Dr. J. Malon Southerland, the vice president of student affairs and Danny Feather, the Corps commander. See related editorial. Page 5. “We were all in agreement the Fish Drill Team should stand down as a Corps unit,” Hopgood said in a press release. Hopgood said the drill team could be re activated in the future. “I think it is appropriate to have a military drill team to cany the banner of Texas A&M in competition with other schools,” he said. Hopgood said University officials and Corps leaders will study the composition of the team and whether freshmen cadets should participate in the rigorous training and competition of the team before the de cision to reinstate the team is made. Dr. Ray M. Bowen, the University president, said the decision to not have a Fish Drill Team this year will give the Corps an opportunity to evaluate recent hazing accusations. “Hazing is a very serious kind of thing,” he said. “The experience theyhad this year suggests that they need to break the se quence of events.” Bowen also said the absence of a drill team will not have a negative impact on the image of the University or the Corps. He said the Corps has made contributions to the University and the United States, and they will continue to do this. Hopgood said the Fish Drill Team has rep resented A&M well since it began in the 1940s. “It’s unfortunate the actions of a few mis guided individuals will now deprive others of that opportunity [to be on the drill team],” he said. The Commandant’s office referred ques tions to University Relations, and Southerland was out of the office yesterday afternoon. A University Relations press release said the future of the team had been in question since freshmen cadets on the team accused nine former advisers of hazing and assault. The University suspended eight of the former advisers and expelled one for haz ing after A&M judicial hearings in July. The nine former advisers also were indicted by a Brazos County grand jury in May. Sixteen other A&M students are facing University hazing charges that arose during the hearings for the nine former advisers. Battalion File Photo Corps of Cadets Commandant Maj. Gen. M.T. “Ted” Hopgood has disbanded the Corps’ Fish Drill Team for the 1997-1998 school year. Findings may hold water Research hopes to link intoxication and body water '■ mi By Robert Smith The Battalion The Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M is conducting a study that may suggest body water, not weight, most determines the effects of alcohol on a person. Becky Davies, an assistant re search scientist atTTI, began the study in June. “I was hoping that it would show that body water is the primary factor, and so far the study shows that it is,” Davies said. After studying 40 people in the 21-25 age group, Davies found that body water level can be used to determine the effects of alcohol 73 per cent of the time. Davies is studying three different age groups: ages 21-25, 38-48 and 60-70. Davies said that varying body water level made it necessary to observe different age groups. “Younger people usually have less body wa ter, and middle age people usually have the most,” Davies said. “As people get older, they gen erally have less body water.” Each study is done individually and lasts ap proximately four hours. Participants are required to abstain from al cohol 24 hours prior to the study session and are requested to not eat or drink anything after mid night the day before the session. They consume an alcoholic beverage that is the equivalent to 2-3 beers. After the alcohol is consumed, Davies measures the person’s blood-alcohol level several times. The peak blood-alcohol level is also recorded. Davies then uses bioelectrical impendence analysis (BIA) to measure tissue properties, in cluding resistance and reactance. BIA measures body water, body fat and body lean. During the study, two black electrodes are at tached to the hand and foot and a current is run through the body’s water. Two red detecting elec trodes are attached to the wrist and ankle to mea sure the body’s resistance and reactance to the cur rent. The resistance is lowered when there is more water in the body. Davies also measures other factors against blood-alcohol level. These are impedance (height squared divided by resistance), weight, body mass and percent body water. Impedance was second in determining blood-alcohol level in with 70 percent. Weight was third with 66 percent, body mass was fourth at 28 percent and percent body mass was fifth with 9 percent. Davies said she wants people to know that weight may not be the primary factor in deter mining the effects of alcohol. “It’s not so much body weight as it is body wa ter,” Davies said. “That seems to explain more than anything else.” Davies said she decided to do the study be cause she believes most publications dealing with alcohol effects have misleading results. “A journal may say that the average blood-alco hol level is 6 percent, but it does not mention that it may vary from 2 to 10 percent,” Davies said. Davies aims to study 40 people from each age group. Davies said it has been difficult finding old er people for the study. “In a town like this, it is hard to find older people,” Davies said. Davies said she is still needs people in the el der age groups for the study. Participants are given $20 and receive a lunch after the study is completed. them cake Photograph: Derek Demere Ben King builds a bridge that is part of the landscape of a cake. The cake titled “Paradise Lost” won first prize in the “Largest cake” category of a cake contest held at the Rec Center Tuesday evening. Strike leads to rising tensions ATLANTA (AP) —Tensions rose Tuesday on United Parcel Service picket lines and at hospitals and small businesses that depend on UPS for on-time delivery of everything from surgical supplies to live lobsters. There was no hint of a settlement in the second day of the Teamsters’ walkout against UPS over pensions and the use of lower-paid part-time employees. No talks were scheduled. UPS, the nation’s largest package deliv ery service, normally moves the equivalent of 6 percent of the U.S. gross national prod uct each day, and so the strike’s effects were beginning to ripple through the economy. Hospitals kept a close watch on med ical supplies as deliveries dropped off sharply. A seafood company stopped shipping lobsters after some of them were dead on arrival. Pickets were arrested at several UPS sites around the country, and there were angry confrontations at others as management employees and other non-union workers drove the big brown delivery trucks. The walkout by the 185,000 Teamster- represented employees is the first nation wide strike in UPS’ 90-year history. UPS spokesperson Mark Dickens esti mated the Atlanta-based company was running at less than 10 percent capacity. “We’ve got a lot of management folks out there making every attempt to oper ate as best we can, but it’s a fraction of what we’ve been doing,” he said. He said UPS was focusing on critical shipments such as medical supplies. UPS’ competitors couldn’t handle all of the overflow packages and put restrictions on customers and new business. In Des Moines, the Briggs Corp. usual ly ships about 3,200 packages of medical supplies each day to more than 40,000 hospitals, nursing homes and other cus tomers across the country. On Monday, only 300 packages went out. “The thing that’s really scary is, our cus tomers serve the people who are the most elderly and sick and frail in the country,” project manager William Hipwell said. “It endangers their well-being and even their lives if they can’t get certain items.” Please see Strike on Page 6. Korean jet crashes in Guam Navy locates 32 survivors, search continues AGANA, Guam (AP) —A Ko rean Air jet carrying 254 people crashed and burned in a rain storm early Wednesday, and rescuers who trudged through the jungle with flashlights found at least 32 survivors. Navy crews were trying to crack open the fuselage to see if anyone else could be saved. Flight 801, a Boeing 747 from Seoul, South Korea, was carrying mostly Korean tourists, including several couples on their honeymoon, when it went down in the lush green hills as it was coming in for a landing in the middle of the night. At least 13 Ameri cans were on board. “There was a big ball of fire just before the crash,” said Rudy Delos-Santos, reporter at radio station KOKU who lives near the crash site on Nimitz Hill, three miles from the airport on this U.S. island possession. “The plane plowed through the jungle for a minute or so before it came to a rest.” He said he ran to the area through the darkness and got within about 80 or 90 yards before law enforcement offi cials stopped him. KSRE4NA1R TOORASH CHINA Korean Air Flight 801 crashed in flames Wednesday while trying to land on Guam. Boeing 747-300 •• • jgjgjprj Type: Long-range transport Accommodation: 496 passengers (typical) Length: 231ft. 10 in. Height: 63 ft. 5 in. Maximum speed: 619 mph Range: 7,710 miles fe U.S. Naval Station rff Detail 4 mites A.B. Won Pat International — Airport Fligh! path of North 'Korean Air . Flight 801 • • •- , PHILIPPINES A * 4 km gP .*>. T $$ a •Nimitz Hill 2TV Y eOrrlnt f Guam Source: Boeing Aircraft l Pacific Ocean ‘ PAF newgG iffp pPNi| ^ AUSTRALIA “The fire was still going, and I could see the silhouettes of bodies in and around the plane,” Delos-Santos said. “It was like a giant bonfire.” Rescue workers had to take breaks to get fresh air because the smell of burned fuel and flesh was unbearable, he said. The survivors came from the front of the plane, which was largely intact. The back was in ruins. “It’s flaming and smoking. There’s quite a bit of smoke. There’s a military helicopter hovering overhead providing light,” said Edward Poppe, own er of radio station KSTO. “They’re carrying them one at a time up the hill, those that sur vived — and there’s only a few.” Please see Guam on Page 6.