The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 05, 1986, Image 1

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    Former hostage criticizes
media coverage of terrorism
— Page 3
A&M baseball team blanks
Sam Houston State twice
. — Page 11
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College Station, Texas
Wednesday, March 5, 1986
oman chosen deputy commander
"G-u ^Wilkinson, Schubert
to lead A&M Corps
B
K
By SONDRA PICKARD
Stall' Writer
"I The Texas A&M Corps of Ca-
7:1S-»ets announced Tuesday the
■986-87 Corps commander and
7:30-WBamed the first woman to the po-
MBHition of deputy Corps com-
LifliHiancler, the highest rank
TOWfachieved by a woman in the
■orps.
7:3M^ Garland Wilkinson, 20, a ju-
flior accounting major f rom Lit-
Jefield, will take command of the
'•®*morps after Final Review in May,
Ind Amanda Schubert, 20, a ju-
marketiiiK
7:1WJ
majo
from
Houston, will become Corps dep-
uty commander.
I Schubert now holds the posi-
Bon of administrative sergeant,
which, until now, was the highest
7:30-!i:
7’25-!t lf ost a w °man. Wilkinson
currently holds the position of
Tergeant major, the highest rank
for a junior cadet.
I “As a cadet I’m just as excited
as the next person would be,”
[Schubert said. “I try not to place
nyemphasis on the fact that I’m
R female cadet, because to me
Garland Wilkinson and Amanda Shubert were chosen 1986-87
Corps commander and deputy Corps commander respectively.
that’s really not where the differ
ence lies.
“I think of it as a job and as a
responsibililty. If it’s handed to
you, you go after it and take it.”
“I know to everybody else it’s
news that I’m the First woman,”
she said, “but in my mind I try to
block that out totally because it’s a
distraction. I look at it the same
way anyone else would.
Major duties of the Corps dep
uty commander include oversee
ing Corps finances, discipline and
coordinating specialty units
within the Corps such as the Fish
Drill Team, Ross Volunteers and
Parsons Mounted Cavalry.
Schubert says she sees a lot of
positive progress taking place in
the Corps, including a more pro
fessional image. She said the
Corps needs to look for quality in
numbers, because of the recent
decline in recruitment.
Wilkinson said he’d like to see
the Corps open up to the student
body.
“In the three years that I’ve
been here,” Wilkinson said, “I’ve
noticed that people aren’t as
friendly as they used to be —even
the cadets.
“I think we’ve kind of closed
ourselves off from the rest of the
University. We need to allow peo
ple to see more of what we’re
about. A lot of times, people don’t
know about the Corps, so they
don’t like it.”
Wilkinson says a fine choice
was made in Schubert and he’s
excited about working with her.
“I’ve known Mandy for a long
time,” Wilkinson said, “and you
just can’t question her profession
alism or judgement. She always
does an exceptional job.
“If Mandy was a male she’d still
be Corps deputy commander,
just as she will now.”
System reductions set at 7 percent
j Regents to review proposed cuts
| By MARY ANN HARVEY
Stall Writer
I The Texas A&M Board of Re
agents will meet today in a special ses
sion to review the first budget cut
Rroposal submitted to Gov. Mark
BVhite in response to his executive
lorder directing state agencies to cut
spending by 13 percent.
■ The order, issued Feb. 18, called
foi all state agencies to submit bud
get cuts by March 1.
[ Board members will have the op
portunity to review the budget and
[onsider the system’s official re-
iponse to White’s directive in its spe-
bal session today.
I If the plan submitted by A&M
Chancellor Arthur G. Hansen is ap
proved by White, the current System
budget will be cut by 7 percent — a
total of $37 million, Hansen said.
Although the plan calls for a 7
percent cut of A&M’s budget as well,
the budgets of other universities and
agencies within the A&M system
were not all reduced at the same
rate.
“We are nowhere near a uniform
amount,” Hansen said. “Some can
take a 13 percent cut while others
can’t go that far.”
Hansen said this is the first cut
and anticipates a need for more cuts
during the time remaining in the
current two-year budget approved
by the Texas Legislature.
A total of $67 million must be cut
from the System budget if the 13
percent cut is to be met.
“What we are pointing out to the
board is that this is how far we’ve
come toward the 13 percent budget,
short of forced firings,” Hansen
said.
White said when issuing the order
that he thought state agencies and
universities could implement a 13
percent cut without laying off em
ployees.
State Senator Kent A. Caperton of
Bryan sent a letter to the governor
Tuesday, commending the gover
nor’s efforts to address the current
state budget situation.
Caperton, however, said “it has
become apparent that a 13 percent
cut in many agencies cannot be
achieved without significant reduc
tions in personnel and/or essential
services.”
“If colleges and universities are
forced to make personnel reductions
in an effort to meet the 13 percent
target, our competitive advantage
with other states for business, re
search and faculty recruitment could
be seriously undermined.”
Hansen said that while the plan
doesn’t call for dismissing workers,
the payroll would be reduced by
leaving positions open, suspending
all staff promotions and eliminating
positions as they become vacant.
Hansen said savings also will come
from cutting travel and utility ex
penses, delaying equipment pur
chases and limiting pay increases to
the minimum levels authorized by
the Texas Legislature.
Botha: State
of emergency
will be lifted
Associated Press
CAPE TOWN, South Africa —
President P.W. Botha announced
that the 195-day-old state of emer
gency imposed to fight anti-apart
heid turmoil in South Africa proba
bly would be lifted Friday.
His announcement Tuesday was
praised by the United States and was
given a cautious welcome from some
South African liberals. But it pro
voked expressions of concern from
the largest anti-apartheid grouping,
the United Democratic Front, that
the emergency would be supplanted
by repressive legislation.
Botha also made a new offer of
statehood for Namibia, proposing
an Aug. 1 target date for starting
moves toward the territory’s inde
pendence. He made it conditional
on a withdrawal of Cuban troops
from neighboring Angola.
Police reported two blacks were
killed by security officers. They said
police shotgun fire killed a man in
the western Transvaal province and
a youth died of injuries suffered
when police quelled a riot in Pot-
chefstroom, southwest of Johannes
burg.
They also reported that two
whites were seriously hurt when
their car was stoned in the south of
the country.
Botha made his announcements
to a packed parliamentary chamber
in the country’s legislative capital.
He claimed the level of violence
had dropped sufficiently to enable
him to issue a proclamation, “most
probably this coming Friday,” to lift
the state of emergency.
But critics of the system of racial
segregation that keeps power in the
hands of South Africa’s white mi
nority said they could not readily ex
plain the timing of Botha’s an
nouncement. They insisted that the
level of violence had not dropped.
The emergency, imposed July 21
on 30 urban and rural districts and
subsequently lifted from seven, gives
police and troops sweeping powers
to use guns against rioters and de
tain suspects indefinitely without
trial. It has been widely condemned
abroad, and its removal is a primary
demand of anti-apartheid activists.
Botha also said Parliament would
be asked to review existing laws in
See South Africa’s, page 14
Marcos
accused
of taking
billions
Associated Press
MANILA, Philippines — The
government of Corazon Aouino
said Tuesday it has new evidence
that ousted President Ferdinand
E. Marcos and his family and
friends may have plundered up
to $10 billion of the nation’s
wealth.
Former Sen. Jovito Salonga
told a news conference that docu
ments found at the presidential
palace after Marcos hurriedly
abandoned it Feb. 25 link Marcos
to purported illegal purchases of
property in the United States.
Salonga is chairman of a five-
member commission Aquino cre
ated last week to recover all ill-
gotten wealth the Marcos family
and its associates allegedly accu
mulated and secreted under
dummy names during Marcos’
20-year rule.
The $10 billion reported miss
ing is the largest estimate so far.
The 1985 national budget of the
See Aquino, page 14
Zoo study to examine
rhino's mating habits
Associated Press
HOUSTON — The Houston
Zoo plans to spend $57,600 to
find out why Samburu, a rare
Southern white rhinoceros, has
failed for 15 years to impregnate
his mate, Marsabit.
The City Council on Tuesday
approved without comment the
study of the rhinos’ mating hab
its.
The zoo will apply for a
$25,000 grant from the U.S. In
stitute of Museum Services and
seek $32,600 in private dona
tions.
The study, which could take up
to two years to complete, would
also investigate developing a
method of artificial insemination
and establishing a central stud
farm in Houston for the beasts,
said veterinarian Terry Blasdel, a
reproductive physiologist and zoo
research curator.
Samburu and Marsabit — one
of 25 pair of white rhinos in cap
tivity in the United States — were
captured in 1966 in Africa and
brought to the Houston Zoo five
years later.
But Marsabit is 18 years old
and her biological clock is wind
ing down.
White rhinos are reproductive
only until their mid 20s.
Zoo officials think Samburu
needs a little competition to stim
ulate his interest in Marsabit
again, especially next month
when Marsabit is in heat.
Shultz says U.S. has duty to aid Contras
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State George
Shultz told a House panel Tuesday the United
States has a moral duty to supply aid to Nicara
guan rebels trying to overthrow the leftist Sandi-
nista government.
In an appearance before a House Appropria
tions subcommittee, Shultz painted the situation
in Central America in stark and simple terms,
calling the Contras “the good guys,” and the
Sandinistas “the bad guys.”
He said the administration believes it has a
moral imperative to “support those people . . .
willing to fight for freedom and independence.”
Although the administration’s request for
$100 million in aid to the Contras is its immediate
priority, Shultz’ appearance before the subcom
mittee was mostly to lobby for the administra
tion’s overall foreign aid budget.
The panel chairman, Rep. David Obey, D-
\Vis., told Shultz that Congress will not approve
President Reagan’s request for a $15.5 billion
foreign aid budget and directed him “back to the
drawing board.”
Obey said the proposal for fiscal 1987 is 16.2
percent above actual foreign aid spending for fis
cal 1986. The proposed military aid package to
the Contras is already intensely controversial,
and Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd of
West Virginia on Tuesday named a group of 11
senators, headed by Sen. James Sasser, D-Tenn.,
to help form a Democratic policy on the issue.
In the House, Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill Jr.
called on the administration to reopen negotia
tions aimed at producing a peaceful solution to
the problems rather than rely on “military fire
power.”
Shultz acknowleged that the administration
has had problems delivering to the Contras $27
million in so-called non-lethal logistical aid al
ready approved by Congress.
He said all of the money now has been com
mitted and that initial problems in sending the
assistance through such countries as Costa Rica
and Honduras have been resolved.
However, Shultz acknowleged that only $10
million of the assistance actually has been deliv
ered so far.
Obey asked how the administration can justify
asking for $100 million in direct military aid
when it has had difficulty delivering a far smaller
amount of non-lethal assistance.
Shultz said there should be little future diffi
culty in providing the aid. He blamed past prob
lems on the fact that Congress insisted the past
assistance be provided overtly rather than se
cretly.
Obey said he has serious doubts as to whether
the administration’s aid program for the Contras
will achieve its goal of destabilizing the Sandinista
government. Instead, he said the result is likely
to put the United States on “the slippery slope”
of direct military involvement.
50 senators tell Reagan tax overhaul must wait
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Seeking to
build pressure for an early budget
I compromise, 50 senators Tuesday
| signed a blunt letter to President
I Reagan, saying tax overhatd legis
lation should be set aside until a
firm, definite budget agreement has
been reached between Congress and
the White House.
The latest evidence of flagging in
terest in the tax bill — which the
I president has called his top domestic
I legislative priority — came a day be-
jfore the Senate Budget Committee
was scheduled to begin drafting a
budget for fiscal 1987.
Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M.,
the Budget Committee chairman,
said meeting a $144 billion deficit
target required by a new balanced
budget law will require $12 billion to
$20 billion in new revenues as well as
domestic spending cuts and less mili
tary spending than the administra
tion is requesting.
Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, R-Minn.,
who initiated the letter to Reagan,
denied the effort was aimed at either
derailing the tax overhaul effort or
putting senators on record as favor
ing a tax increase to shrink the bud
get deficit. Instead, he said, the let
ter reflected the Senate’s primary
concern this year.
Boschwitz said, “The budget, in
deed, is the most important thing
that we can do for the American
economy, the most important thing
that we can do for all American peo
ple.”
Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., an
other signer, said, “These 50 sen
ators and many other senators be
lieve the most important challenge
facing this country to be budget defi
cits and reaching the Gramm-Rud-
man budget deficit-reduction goal in
a fair and a rational fashion.”
Boschwitz said another 30 or 35
senators who did not sign the letter
nonetheless support its message.
There were 37 Republicans and
13 Democrats signing the letter to
Reagan. Seven signers serve on the
20-member Senate Finance Commit
tee, where the tax bill is pending.
Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., the
Finance Committee chairman, said
“we’re going ahead” as planned to
begin drafting a Senate version of
the tax bill March 19. The House
passed its version of the measure last
year.
The president has argued that the
strict deficit targets of the new bud
get law can be met primarily with do
mestic spending cuts and no general
tax increase while he continues a
military buildup.
Domenici and others in Congress
reply that some tax increase will be
necessary to help shrink the deficit.
Although there is some sentiment
in the House for a tax increase to
help reduce federal red ink, House
Democratic leaders have made it
clear they will not take the political
risk of initiating any tax increases so
long as Reagan maintains he will
veto any tax increase Congress may
vote.
House Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill
Jr., D-Mass., reiterated Tuesday,
“When the president of the United
States says that we will have a tax, I
am willing to go along with it.”
Thus, O’Neill suggested, any
move to a tax increase will have to be
initiated by Reagan.