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
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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
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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
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“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.