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Photo by Peter Rocha
This runner takes advantage of what appears to be a mis- from Monday’s 90-degree heat. More of the same is expected
placed sprinkler by the floral test gardens to gain some relief today: highs in the 90s with a small chance of rain.
Democrats’ convention opens
_ . ■ United Press International
IVY AN FRANCISCO — The Demo-
ratic Party opened its 1 984 conven-
on Monday as Walter Mondale
elp their Dught to clear the final hurdle to
touse I arty unity by agreeing to a summit
[reeling with his rivals, Sen. Gary
Thursdaylart and Jesse Jackson.
The move came midway in the
it increaSipeuing session of the convention at
for soin9hidr former President Jimmy Car-
i, begin |, |r launched the first volley in what
nS expected to be a four-day con-
lyees Rdeinnalion of the administration of
iate chaiRoirald Reagan.
e eniplojf Mondale, expecting his party’s
m. residential nomination Wednesday
lion of flight, made a triumphal arrival at
districishe convention city earlier in the
11 telepilay, with running mate Geraldine
'imaryc'fenaro stealing much of the atten-
r . .ion.
way agC Mondale, who at first said he
t road (" wanted to meet one-on-one with his
ain exist
■w consi 1 !
rivals, told reporters he relented to
the request for a joint meeting Mon
day evening because it was the desire
of both Jackson and Hart.
“I really had no deep objections so
I went ahead and that’s what it’ll be
today,” he said. “That’s what each
wanted to do.”
“There is no agenda that I am
aware of,” said Mondale. “It will be a
general discussion.”
As a sea of blue “Mondale” post
ers and red “Hart” posters swept
across the vast floor of the cavernous
Moscone Convention Center, Mon
dale aides nailed down the Monday
night meeting.
Both Hart and Jackson insist they
are still battling Mondale for the
nomination even though he has 109
delegates more than the 1,967
needed for nomination, but have
pledged to support the eventual
nominee of the party.
While loyal delegates continued
the Democratic party rivalries, their
wild enthusiasm swept across the
convention floor for Ferraro — due
to become the Democrats’ first-ever
vice presidential candidate. And
Hart said she was his choice too for
vice president.
A big cheer went up when Demo
cratic Chairman Charles Manatt
pounded the gavel to formally open
the session at 2 p.m. PDT — a cheer
sparked as much by Manatt’s surviv
ing a purge attempt by the Mondale
forces as it was marking the begin
ning of the 39th quadrennial con
vention of the nation’s oldest politi
cal party.
The intraparty squabbling largely
over and rapidly forgotten, the
Democrats gathered in rare scripted
harmony to unite behind the pre
acher’s kid from Minnesota and the
daughter of an Italian immigrant
from New York’s Queens in the
uphill battle against Reagan in the
November election.
In the bright sunshine outside the
hall, San Francisco police arrested at
least 100 demonstrators in the heart
of the city’s financial district Monday
for blocking traffic. It was the most
serious incident in the series of dem
onstrations that have led to the con
vention.
Carter launched what was ex
pected to be a steady stream of
speakers who would blast the Rea
gan administration policies through
out the four-day convention.
He said that since 1979 “little real
effort has been made to reduce the
world’s nuclear arsenals. In fact, we
have seen a serious retrogression.”
Carter said that because of the
policies of his successor at the White
See DEMOCRATS, page 3
i the
iagenie ||[ |
I appref]
ate's an"'
'roposed drinking age upsets locals
By SARAH OATES
Stall Writer
K BPresident Reagan will sign a bill
today that could spell the end of one
S>f the strongholds of social activity
ECollege Station for about 14,335
ifijdenls — drinking at the local
nightclubs.
KThe bill issues an ultimatum to
states: raise the minimum drinking
age to 21 or risk the loss of federal
highway funds. The bill has stirred
up a storm of protest among some
legislators, businessmen and college
students.
E The 27 stales that do not yet have
^minimum drinking age of 21 could
f lose 5 percent of federal highway
funds, an estimated $260 million in
fiscal 1987.
i However, the bill also gives states
ichance to qualify for a 5 percent in-
Rtease in the highway safety grants
|from Washington if they impose
fmandatory jail terms and license re-
pocalions for drunken driving of
fenses.
■ Legislators have two years in
ece scinch to make a decision.
i But Rep. Neeley Lewis and Sen.
S Kent Caperton are not happy with
"the threat of the loss of highway
Ifunds if the bill is not enforced.
■ “I’m violently opposed,” Lewis
taid. “It’s coercion and it’s a poor
jnethod for legislation. If Congress
Wants to raise the legal drinking age,
fine, but this is not the proper way
for legislature to do it.
With estimated losses of up to
$150 million in highway revenues if
the state doesn’t comply with the hill,
Texas legislators probably will con
cede.
“There’s no way out, from a state
standpoint. We desperately need
highway funds,” Lewis said.
Caperton said he thinks “states
can take care of their business with
out Congress telling them how to do
it.”
“I resent Congress’ heavy-handed
approach to this issue,” he said.
Students and businessmen also
have expressed deep concern about
the effects of the bill.
For example, if the bill immedi
ately became law, local nightclubs
would lose a sizable chunk of busi
ness from the 19 to 20-year old stu
dent population at Texas A&M.
“I think it’s wrong,” said Kathy
Barnhart, a 20-year old education
major at Texas A&M. “Unless the
law is retroactive, they’d be taking
away our rights.”
Lewis also said he feels the bill dis
criminates against young people be
cause the problem with drunk driv
ing is not necessarily a function of
age.
“I have never been convinced that
the problem we have is age,” Lewis
said. “They think the solution is to
raise the drinking age,” he said.
“That flies in the face of my experi
ence with people under 21. I know
of many 19 year olds who are re
sponsible.”
But Kirk Brown, president of the
Brazos County chapter of Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, vehemently
disagrees.
“Hogwash,” he said, citing federal
safety statistics showing that people
from between the ages of 18 and 20
are more than twice as likely to be in
volved in alcohol-related automobile
accidents.
Statistics from the National High
way Traffic Safety Administration
predict that 1,250 lives will be saved
per year if the minimum legal drink
ing age is raised to 21.
Brown said statistics from a recent
Callup poll show that 58 percent of
the nation’s 18-lo-20-year-olds ap
prove of raising the drinking age to
21.
“We’re not saying don’t drink,”
Brown said. “We’re saying be re
sponsible. Maturity is a factor.”
“Tough,” was Brown’s reply to the
problem of state loss of highway
funds.
“I’ve been pushing for this bill for
10 years,” he said, “and at the last
legislative session they had a chance
to pass it, but they laughed at us.”
College Station is largely pop
ulated by college students, many un-
Tarleton prof
suing System
By KARI FLUEGEL
Staff Writer
Texas A&M University System of
ficials are waiting for information
about a $10.5 million suit against the
System filed by a former Tarleton
State University faculty member late
last week.
News of the suit, filed by Dr.
James W. Shores, reached System
officials Monday.
System Chancellor Dr. Arthur C.
Hansen and System General Coun
sel Ted Hajovsky Jr. said Monday
they did not have enough details to
comment about the suit.
Shores claims he was denied ten
ure because of his race, United Press
International reported Saturday. He
was denied tenure at Tarleton, a Sys
tem school located in Stephenville,
in 1983.
Shores, formerly an assistant pro
fessor of criminal justice, was the
first full-time black faculty member
at Tarleton. His employment at the
university was terminated when he
was denied tenure.
UPI reported that Shores filed the
suit in a Fort Worth federal court
claiming that Tarleton objected to
his advocacy of black students and
his opposition to a student organiza
tion which he called a “prejudiced,
sexist group.”
Shores claimed his civil rights
were violated, in part, because he
challenged the Purple Poo, a campus
spirit organization formed 85 years
ago. The members of the Purple Poo
wear purple hooded robes, and their
identities are kept secret.
Tarleton President Dr. Barry B.
Thompson, however, said that
'Shores misunderstood the function
of the group and described it as a
“society that promotes the spirit of
Tarleton State University.”
Shores’ suit was filed as a chal
lenge to the entire Texas A&M sys
tem, and asks relief for a whole class
of minority academicians he says has
been discriminated against in the
granting of tenure, which guar
antees university-level teachers a job
for life.
Drought threatens
Texas ‘water war’
United Press International
The worsening Texas water crisis
has forced large-scale livestock liqui
dations and water rationing across
western and central portions of the
state, and threatens to erupt into a
full-fledged “water war,” pitting ur
ban against rural interests, authori
ties predicted Monday.
“We’ve had bad droughts before,
but we’ve never faced one which
caused such an impact on urban
areas,” said Martin Wilson, staff at
torney with the Texas Department
of Water Resources.
“In the past, drought has been
mostly an issue for farmers and
ranchers,” he said. “But the latest
census shows Texas is more urban
than rural. Cities, with their greater
populations and industrial needs,
are demanding priority.
“We could see a major water war,”
he said.
The opening salvo came when the
agency issued orders halting the
pumping of water for irrigation
from the Brazos River and has
threatened to duplicate the action
elsewhere, despite reports ranchers
have had to liquidate herds and stock
ponds have dried out.
In related developments:
• Austin Monday joined more
than 65 cities in enacting tough con
servation measures, prohibited lawn
sprinkling and car washing between
noon and 8 p.m. Landscapers have
threatened suit, claiming their busi
ness will shrivel with the shrubs and
grass.
• The state’s largest cattle organi
zation predicts many ranchers must
liquidate “100 percent” of their cattle
and sheep herds, and grasslands
have been scorched “plumb to the
roots.”
• Authorities report an outbreak
of “water piracy” in South Texas,
thefts which have robbed down
stream waters users on the Guada
lupe, Nueces, Rio San Antonio and
Atascosa rivers.
• Citizens of Corpus Christi, en
tering their third week of mandatory
controls, held special weekend
prayer sessions to bring rain. But the
director of the city’s water supply
said it may take a major tropical
storm to solve the crisis he .termed
“damn scary.”
In Today’s Battalion
der 21, and liquor sales in both clubs
and stores provide a substantial per
centage of city revenues.
For example, in 1983 the state
comptroller’s office received
$995,219 from bars and restaurants
in Bryan and College Station under
the state’s 10 percent mixed drink
tax.
That doesn’t include revenues
from beer and wine sales at conve
nience and grocery stores. The state
comptroller’s office cannot provide a
breakdown of sales taxes from those
stores.
Some local businessmen feel en
forcement of the bill will lead to
clandestine drinking.
“Young people are getting the
short end of the stick,” said Edmund
-Mah, owner of the Malibu Beach
club.
“This bill takes away their right to
choose. If you’re old enough to fight
for your country, you’re old enough
to choose whether or not to drink.
Hopefully, the public will make a ju
dicious decision. It’s a matter of pub
lic awareness and education,” he
said.
He said he thinks raising the
drinking age would cause a “slight
decrease in business.”
Ben Bailey, owner of Ben Bailey’s
liquor store in College Station, said
he isn’t sure how much his sales will
be hurl if the drinking age is raised.
Local
• John Hatch, director of the Texas A&M Legislative
Study Group, tells why the group is not allowed to lobby on
national issues. See story page 3.
• College Station-area apartment rents may be as low as
they will get. See story page 4.
State
• Owners of 1979 or newer vehicles who have to renew
their license plates in July or August will save money if they
do so before Aug. 1. See story page 3.
World
• Secretary of State George Shultz defends the United
States’ defense alliance with New Zealand and Australia,
while the New Zealand Labor Party is calling for renegotia
tion. See story page 3.
■all