Talcing his position at the /1 uh of things, the writer contemplates the mystery of the universe.
■I
lillllllililii
.
Sully’s Symposium ••
A8cM run-off candidates to face off
Page 4
mii
iiiiitil
Here’s mud in your eye
ggies in baseball series, 2-1
ilfJpageS I """"
MMWTexasA&MW^ m m V •
The Battalion
Vol. 80 No. 123 GSPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, April 1,1985
Rep. Delco
to speak
here tonight
New tuition bill
to be discussed
By JERRY OSLIN
Siuti Writer
The chairman of the House
Higher Education Committee, State
Rep. Wilhelmina Delco, D-Austin,
will speak on the current tuition bill
and higher education tonight at 7 in
Rudder Theater.
The speech is sponsored by the
Black Awareness Committee and the
MSG Political Forum.
The House recently passed a bill,
sponsored by Delco, that would in
crease tuition for state college and
university students.
Under Delco’s bill, resident tu
ition would increase from the cur
rent $4 per semester hour to $8 for
the 1985-86 school year and to $12
for the 1986-87 year.
The bill also would raise tuition
for non-resident students from the
current $40 per semester hour to
$120 for the 1985-86 school year
and to $180 for the 1986-87 year.
The bill also calls for 25 percent of
all tuition to be set aside for student
financial aid.
The bill must be passed by the
State Senate and signed by Gov.
Mark White before it becomes law.
But a plan proposed last week by
Lt. Governor Bill Hobby and sup
ported by State Sen. Kent Caperton,
D-Bryan, would raise resident tu
ition to $ 12 for the 1985-86 school
year and to $16 for the 1986-87
year.
The Hobby plan also calls for 9
percent of the tuition increase to be
set aside for student financial aid.
Gay rights
forum, debate
to be held
By ANN CERVENKA
Stuff Writer
Is the closet open?
The answer to this question con
cerning the civil rights of homosex
uals will be the topic of a forum and
a debate this week.
Monday, members of Gay Student
Services will speak at Rudcler Foun
tain. Political Forum and Great Is
sues will co-sponsor the open forum
from noon to 2 p.m.
Tuesday, a debate, sponsored by
Political Forum, will feature Gara
Lamarche, director of the American
Civil Liberties Union in Texas, and
Houston City Councilman John
Goodner.
The ACLU is known for fighting
to protect the civil rights of any
group, whether far left or far right,
said Jim Schicker, Political Forum
national programs director.
Lamarche said he lobbies and
works through the court to protect
civil rights.
“We exist to support the protec
tions in the Bill of Rights,” La
marche said. These rights include
freedom of speech and press and
due process.
“Our concern is about equal rights
for homosexuals,” he said. “No one
should discriminate on the basis of
personal qualities.”
In January, the Houston City
Council passed an ordinance that
would outlaw discrimination against
homosexuals in city employment.
Once the referendum went to the
voters, Goodner led a fight against
See Gay rights, page 7
Correction
The Battalion incorrectly re
ported Friday that graduation
ceremonies are being held May 3,
at 3 p.m..
Tne ceremonies are at 2 p.m.
May 3. The Battalion regrets the
error.
Petition filed
concerning
voting rights
Hey, Where'd They Go?
Photo by GREG BAILEY
These cadets resort to hiding under cover to
shelter themselves from the cold, rainy
weather that blew in for Saturday’s March to
the Brazos. This year the Corps raised over
$47,000 to benefit the March of Dimes char
ity.
Donations linked to defense?
PACs’ spending rises
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The nation’s
largest defense contractors have
doubled their political donations
since President Reagan took office,
with the top 20 firms pouring $3.6
million into 1984 congressional and
presidential campaigns.
The surge in campaign contribu
tions occurred as government con
tracts to those firms swelled over last
four years by nearly 150 percent to
$69 billion in 1984. Opinions differ,
however, on what effect the dona
tions have on def ense spending.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the top
congressional recipient, said the con
tributions gain the firms no special
attention. But Fred Wertheimer,
president of Common Cause, the cit
izens lobby, called the political dona
tions “a critical part of the lobbying
process.”
An Associated Press review of
contributions by political action com
mittees, or PACs, affiliated with the
20 leading defense contractors,
found that most top congressional
recipients are supporters of Rea
gan’s $1.8 trillion arms buildup, in
cluding many on committees that
handle military spending bills.
Of the 20 House members receiv
ing more than $15,000 from those
PACs, 17 voted last week to approve
the president’s request for $1.5 bil
lion to build 21 more MX missiles.
Thirteen of the 14 senators who re
ceived more than $30,000 backed
Reagan on the MX. Sen. J. Bennett
Johnston, D-La., was the only excep
tion.
Through its PAC, Rockwell Inter
national Corp. increased contribu
tions from $59,625 in 1980 to
$328,440 in 1984, a jump of 450
percent, according to Federal Elec
tion Commission figures.
Rockwell spokesman Dan O’Neal
said the firm’s higher PAC spending
came from new employees hired to
work on the bigger defense contracts
and from larger donations by more
senior employees who have an “in
creased awareness of the value” of
political contributions.
Corporate PACs raise their funds
through voluntary contributions
from salaried employees. Trade as
sociations, political interest groups
and labor unions also have PACs.
L,ockheed Corp., the fifth biggest
contractor, was the heaviest PAC
spender among the top 20 defense
firms, contributing $420,191 to can
didates for federal office in 1984.
That total represented a 325 percent
increase over four years earlier.
Lockheed’s Pentagon contracts rose
from $2 billion to $5.2 billion during
that period.
By MICHAEL CRAWFORD
Stuff Writer
The Texas A&M chapter of the
American Civil Liberies Union filed
a petition with the U.S. Justice De
partment Friday requesting an inves
tigation of possible violations of the
Voting Rights Act by the City of Col
lege Station.
Also, the group has asked the
Texas Civil Liberties Union to con
sider filing a class action lawsuit
against College Station and the Col
lege Station Independent School
District for infringing upon regis
tered voters’ civil rights.
If taken, both actions raise the
possibility that the results of the
coming election may be disqualified.
The possible actions against the
city ancl CSISD were prompted by
the city’s combining of precincts 20,
21 and 35 for the April 6 elections.
A&M Civil Liberties Union rep
resentative Chris Bowers said the
consolidation discriminates against
students. The three precincts are al
most entirely composed of student
voters.
The petition filed with the Justice
Department says the city may have
violated section 5 of the Voting
Rights Act of 1965. That section says
any change to existing voting regula
tions must not “have the purpose
and will not have the effect of deny
ing or abridging the right to vote on
account of race or color.” Bowers
said in this case the minority is the
students who don’t have transporta
tion to vote at the designated polling
place at the old College Station Mu
nicipal Building behind Northgate.
The city has used the consolidated
districts for local elections since 1981
because student voter turnout tradi-
tonally has been low. In the 1984 city
elections, only 27 people cast their
ballots at the combined precinct.
However, Bowers said the consolida
tion is not the result of low turnout,
but the cause.
“If you consolidated all the voting
boxes in the school district and put
them in Millican,” Bowers said, “I
guarantee you maybe 200 people
out of thousands of registered voters
would vote. Then the people in the
school district could say, ‘See, there’s
a low voter turnout and therefore
CS council candidates disc uss priorities
By MICHAEL CRAWFORD
Stuff Writer
The quality of life, the devel
opment of the industrial park and
continued area growth were the cho
ruses most frequently sung at Fri
day’s College Station city council
candidate forum.
Two candidates are running for
Place 1 which is currently occupied
by Alvin Prause. Roy Kelly, the
owner of A-l Auto Parts, and Fred
Brown, the owner of Fred Brown
Mazda-BMW, both want tougher
scrutiny of the city’s budget.
Kelly says his top three priorities
for the city are evaluating the city’s
financial position, bringing in more
industry and keeping citizens in
volved in the community. Brown
says keeping the quality of life, solic
iting new industries to come to the
area and running the city like a busi
ness are his top goals.
Kelly says the Industrial Devel
opment Foundation should work
more closely with the council while
Brown says the industrial park
should be turned over to the Indus
trial Foundation and that Texas
A&M should be used as a carrot to
attract new businesses.
Both men agreed, the city should
not use money refunded from elec
trical overcharges to finance a city li
brary. Kelly says the money should
be channeled back into the utilities
department for future use, but
Brown says the money should be re
turned to consumers.
A non-binding questionaire con
cerning the library is on the April 6
ballot. City officials are using the bal
lot to determine if taxpayers would
accept a two cent increase per $100
evaluation in their property taxes.
Place 3 has three candidates com
peting for the position. Roy Hann
Jr., head of the environmental engi
neering divison of A&M’s Civil Engi
neering Experiment Station; Mike
Hachtman, an industrial distribution
major from Dallas; and Terri
Tongco, a one-year member of the
Planning and Zoning Commission,
are battling for the position vacated
earlier this year by Vicky Reinke. Re-
inke moved to Maryland.
Hann says his top priorities are at
tacking problem areas that exist and
improving the quality of life. Hacht
man says maintaining the quality of
life, finishing the industrial park and
improving communication between
the city and the University are his
goals. Financial accountability for all
departments, improving business
growth to help expand the tax base
and maintaining neighborhood qual
ity are Tongco’s top priorities.
Hann says the construction of a li
brary is part of the cultural devel
opment of the city, but he would not
pull funds from one area to finance
the new building. Hachtman says the
new library, if constructed, should
specialize in one particular field so as
not to duplicate services provided by
A&M’s library. Hachtman also says
the money from the overcharges
should be given back to consumers.
Tongco says the money from the
overcharges wouldn’t be enough to
start the library and any proposal for
it should co-operate with Bryan’s
public library system.
James Bond, an attorney, and Jim
Gardner, a councilman from 1974-
78, are running for Place 5, cur
rently occupied by Gary Anderson.
Bond says he wants to improve intra-
governmental cooperation to
acheive common purposes and make
sure government officials ask the
right questions about issues. Gard
ner says he wants to optimize bene
fits from the area’s growth,
strengthen the planning function in
the city and have a thorough review
done on the city’s industrial park.
Bond says he had not studied the
library issue and Gardner says he is
glad the voters are participating in
the decision-making process.
Studenfs campaign
irritates Mayor Halter
By MICHAEL CRAWFORD
Stuff Writer
All is not well in electionland.
With less than a week remain
ing before the April 6 city council
and school board elections, Mike
Hachtman’s campaign for a coun
cil seat has irritated College Sta
tion Mayor Gary Halter.
“I do know that he is trying to
portray me as anti-student,” Hal
ter said last week. “I have told
him that I do not appreciate him
impugning my reputation in or
der to gain some sort of advanta
ge-”
Although Halter would not
give examples of how Hachtman
was portraying him as anti-stu
dent, Hachtman said the problem
surrounds a quote reported in the
Houston Chronicle. In a March 3
article of the Chronicle, Halter is
quoted as saying:
“They’re (students) like the lo
custs that disappear for four
years and reappear to vote in na
tional elections.” In the article,
Halter went on to say that stu
dents don’t get involved in local
politics.
Halter’s student/locust compa
rison has been used by Hachtman
in his campaign for the unoccu
pied Place 3 seat.
Hachtman said he is not trying
to portray the mayor as anti-stu
dent. Hachtman said, “We want
to show the community we’re not
locusts and that we do care about
what’s going on here, so we will
get out and vote.”
Hachtman is counting on a
large student turnout to bring
him victory, but traditionally stu
dents have largely ignored local
elections.
On Wednesday, Hachtman
apologized to Halter, but main-
See Hachtman, page 5
the consolidation is justified.’ ”
Since the last city election, voter
registration in those precincts has in
creased 230 percent, and the space
available for use has been reduced to
one-third of its original size. Also, an
A&M student is running for a seat
on the council in this election. Those
changes, Bowers said, makes the
continued use of the consolidated
precincts unacceptable.
Gollege Station Mayor Gary Hal
ter said last week that the distance to
the voting place is not excessive.
“I don’t think it’s any more to ask
a student whose interested in the city
— and I think students should be —
to go a distance slightly greater than
the Dixie Chicken to vote, than it is,
for example, for a non-student resi
dent to go from the other side of the
bypass all the way to the municipal
court building,” Halter said.
While Bowers doubts the Justice
Department will act on the petition
before the election, he said in the
E ast the results from elections have
een discarded when the procedure
used was unfair. The petition re
quests “expedited consideration.”
The city may have to worry about
more than the Justice Department.
The Texas Civil Liberties Union,
Bowers said, will decide early this
week on whether to sue the city and
the school district for infringement
of voters’ civil rights. The lawsuit-
would be based on the information
submitted to the Justice Depart
ment.
The consolidation may be inten
tionally inconvenient for students,
Bowers said, and he blames the poor
attitude of city officials for the
changes.
“I don’t like this conclusion,”
Bowers said, “but it’s the only con
clusion there can be. ... I would
have to blame the poor attitude of
the officials . . . I’m not saying every
body in College Station or that even
many people in College Station have
a poor attitude about students, but I
think there are a few elected officials
that do. These officials are dividing
the ‘regular people’ and the stu
dents. I think that’s unfortunate.”
Bowers includes Halter among
those officials who, he said, are try
ing to intimidate students.