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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 1987)
Texas m m • The Battalion Vol. 87 Mo. 60 (JSPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, November 23, 1987 ii Cuban inmates take 28 hostage in center Squadron 10 cadets Jason Grier, a junior range science major, left; Trampus Black, a freshman general studies major, and Tom Shanley, a fresh- Photo by Tracy Staton man mechanical engineering major, clean the Twelfth Man statue of E. King Gill after orange paint was splattered on it. Police find Twelfth Man in new coat — orange By Clark Miller Staff Writer The Twelfth Man statue of E. King Gill at the north end of Kyle Field was painted orange late Sat urday night or early Sunday morning, a Texas A&M police of ficial said Sunday. Officers discovered the painted statue shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, said Bob Wiatt, director of University Police. The statue had been com pletely covered with a bright orange paint, he said. He also said University of Texas students may be responsi ble for the painting and UT offi cials will be notified of the inci dent. Wiatt said shrubs and plants around the statue were trampled and spotted with the orange paint. Because of the amount of dam age to the shrubs and plants, Wiatt said the UPD suspects there were several people involved. ‘ “If we catch the people respon sible, they will be charged with criminal mischief,” Wiatt said. Members of the Corps of Ca dets removed the orange paint from the statue Sunday. OAKDALE, La. (AP) — Cuban prisoners who rioted after they found out they might be sent back to Cuba held more than 20 hostages in a smoldering federal detention cen ter Sunday and demanded that they not be deported, authorities said. The minimum-security center was surrounded by law officers after the riot Saturday night. “They’re still asking the same thing — they don’t want to go back to Cuba and they’d like not to be prosecuted for what they’re doing,” said Luenette Johnson, a spokesman for the center. The Cubans seized 28 guards and staff members but released a few who complained of medical prob lems, said J.R. Johnson, warden of the Federal Detention Center. John son did not say how many people were released. “They want information on what will happen to them in the future,” the warden said. He said officers had no plans to go inside as long as the inmates assured them that hos tages would not be hurt. Redpots, NOW discuss females’ bonfire roles By Lee Schexnaider Staff Writer The bonfire controversy flared again Saturday as se nior redpots explained why they did not attend a forum sponsored by the National Organization for Women scheduled for Thursday and rescheduled for Friday. Ned Murphy, a senior finance major and redpot, said there were problems at the cutting site that pre vented them from attending the meeting and they were unaware the meeting had been rescheduled. “We wanted to be there,” Murphy said. “It was an honest mistake.” The controversy occurred when two female photog raphers for The Aggieland said they were verbally and physically harassed while taking picture at the site. Dr. Wendy Stock, the adviser for NOW and an assi- tant professor of psychology, voiced her concern about how women will be treated at the bonfire site. “Do we have vour guarantee that from now on, and the guarantee of whoever is organizing the bonfire that from now on there will not be any further incidents as occurred in the past, to the best of your ability?” Stock asked. orps — who it burns that “Anybody — male, female, non-reg, corf wants to work on this fire and know when they put work in it, can come out,” Murphy said. But Stock was concerned with what the redpots will do to assure women will receive equal treatment, con sidering past anti-female sentiment at the bonfire site. “What are you going to do to protect women’s rights to do that?” Stock asked. Murphy said the way to improve the situation is to have women work on the bonfire. “The best way to protect women’s rights in this is have the women work,” he said. “The women that are out here have respect because of their ability to work.” Class councils, Corps ask juniors to stay away from Elephant Walk A&M’s grounds maintenance will have available today figures for the total cost of removing the paint from the statue as well as the cost of fixing or replacing the damaged shrubs and plants, Wiatt said. Wiatt said the vandalism may be a case of the A&M-UT football rivalry getting an early start. A&M will play UT here on Thanksgiving Day. A spokesman from the UT Po lice Department said there was no vandalism on the UT campus last weekend that could be attributed to A&M students. By Drew Leder Staff Writer In an effort to preserve the Texas A&M tradition in which seniors wan der around campus like a herd of dying elephants, the junior and se nior class councils and the Corps of Cadets are asking juniors not to par ticipate in Tuesday’s Elephant Walk. The customary role of juniors in the event is to track down “dying” se niors and “kill” them before they reach their final destination, or mass dying ground, at the bonfire site. To kill the seniors, or “zips,” ju niors employ such lethal devices as water balloons, shaving cream, toothpaste, water pistols — some times filled with bleach — and al most any other weapon that will mark the termination of their prey. Unfortunately, Senior Class Presi dent Andrea Beshara said that what is intended to be a somewhat solemn occasion for seniors to reflect on their years at A&M often ends up as a free-for-all battle between juniors and seniors, resulting in injuries and a campus that looks like a war zone. Because of these problems, Be shara said, junior involvement this year will be discouraged so the walk can proceed in an orderly manner and the tradition can be maintained. “We’re not saying that they can’t participate, but we are highly dis couraging it for the preservation of Elephant Walk,” Beshara said. “If the problem continued, the El ephant Walk would have been taken away completely.” Jesse Southerland, assistant vice president for Student Services, said although he is unaware of a direct threat coming from the administra tion to get things under control or lose the walk, continued problems could eventually have forced changes in the tradition. “It is very fair to say that it could have reached a point where the ad ministration would have asked for a change,” Southerland said. “But, as usually is the case, the students were one step ahead of us.” Junior Class President Denise Ar- ledge agreed that junior involve ment should be limited in order for the tradition to survive and said she believes most juniors will refrain from attacking the seniors. “We would rather not participate so we can have one next year, and so far I haven’t talked to a single junior who said they would participate any way,” Arledge said. Although the problems associated with the walk necessitated a change, Cadet Commander Pat Thomasson said they weren’t the only reasons ju niors were asked to not participate. The tradition of Elephant Walk, which began during the ’30s, didn’t originally involve junior partici pation, Thomalson said. The role of juniors as hunters didn’t begin until about 10 years ago, he said. To provide alternative entertain ment on the day of the walk, there will be a yell practice at the Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue at 1 p.m. There also will be live elephants at the bonfire site with which students may have their pictures taken. The plan to limit involvement, which was initiated by members of the Corps, is drawing praise from many who have had to deal with the aftermath of the walk in past years. Claude Goswick, director of the Uni versity Health Center, said by keep ing juniors away from the seniors, many of the usual injuries can be avoided. “The participation of the juniors leads to some of the bigger problems — primarily fights resulting from tempers that flared,” Goswick said. Last fall, six students were treated at the health center for injuries sus- tatined at the walk, he said, and two more were treated this spring. Although most injuries result in minor scrapes and bruises, he said, there have been more serious inju ries, some incurred in ax-handle fights. Bob Wiatt, director of the Univer sity Police Department, said he ap plauds the idea, which should re duce the confrontations that normally occur during the event. While no arrests have been made in recent years, Wiatt said, the police have frequently been called in to break up fights. Wright: Budget pact will WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Jim Wright predicted Sun day that the $76 billion deficit-re duction plan will win congressional approval, but only if President Rea gan persuades members of his own party to back the negotiated pact. Reagan announced Friday that White House and congressional ne gotiators had worked out an agreement that cuts the deficit this fiscal year by about $30 billion and in fiscal 1989 by $46 billion through higher taxes, an increase in fees for many government services and sales of some public assets. Later Friday, the president signed an order putting $23 billion in auto matic federal spending cuts under the Gramm-Rudman law into effect. pass if Reagan helps But if the negotiated pact becomes law, the Gramm-Rudman cutbacks will be largely negated. Wright, D-Texas, appearing on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” said he expects to gather enough Demo cratic support for the negotiated budget-cutting plan, but it has to have Republican backing to win in Congress. “It will have to have votes on both sides of the aisle,” Wright said. “We probably cannot pass it all by our selves. I believe I can produce a ma jority, or will produce a majority of Democratic votes for it in the House. But it is going to have to have some support on the Republican side as well.” A&M student reports rape to College Station police A Texas A&M student told College Station Police that she was raped at her apartment Thursday at about 1:30 p.m. The CSPD report said the woman was sexually assaulted by a man with a knife. The student reported that she was in her apartment in the 1600 block of Valley View Drive in Col lege Station at the time of the rape. The CSPD is investigating the case. Friends remember former professor for helping Aggies By Janet Goode Staff Writer Dr. Richard C. Potts, former A&M professor, researcher and as sociate dean of agriculture, is re membered as a “super friend” who helped many Aggies achieve their goals. Potts, 75, died Thursday evening at a local hospital. His career span ned 42 years, and when he retired in 1977, he was named professor eme ritus in A&M’s soil and crop sciences department. “He was definitely not just an other dean,” Howard Filers, asso ciate professor of journalism, said. “He was a super friend. “He was always finding agricultu ral journalism students for us. He was able to spot the students who were in animal science and agricul ture but were really interested in writing. “He was constantly finding money for the students. One could almost say there wasn’t one agricultural journalism student who didn’t have a scholarship when he was here.” He was the “students’ ” dean, Fil ers said. Clifford Leabo, retired professor and once-journalism department head, described Potts as the “last of a breed” — someone truly dedicated to teaching. He was an adviser to everyone, Leabo said. The first thing that comes to mind, Leabo said, is how totally com mitted Potts was to making the stu dents better. But, he says, people also need to remember how ded icated Potts was to improving how the faculty teaches the students. “On my second day here as de partment head in 1967,” Leabo said, “Potts was one of the first people to call me up, and he said, ‘what can we do to make the agricultural journa lism department better?’ “His belief was, fundamentally, to make education happen.” Leabo said there were three stu dents in agricultural journalism when he was department head. Dur ing the time Potts was associate dean of agriculture, the number of stu dents majoring in agricultural jour nalism rose to about 80, although the number has dropped since. Leabo attributes the increase en tirely to Potts’ belief in total educa tion. Potts became the associate dean of agriculture after serving as a profes sor and researcher for 20 years. Orginally from Oklahoma, Potts had degrees from Oklahoma State University and A&M. He did his doctoral work at the University of Nebraska in plant ecology and agronomy. While at A&M, Potts received nu merous awards and honors, includ ing the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Student Re lations in 1964. He received a distin guished service award for outstand ing service to youth of the state from the State Association of Young Farmers of Texas in 1967. Potts traveled extensivly and had numerous articles published and was a past president of the American So ciety of Agronomy. Bob Rogers, editor of the Bryan- College Station Eagle, and also a for mer journalism department head, said Potts was extremely interested in helping students. “I never knew anyone who went out of his way so much to help a few students,” Rogers said. “He was in terested in every single student.” Potts was also the adviser for Agri culture Communicators of Tom- morrow. “When ACT had picnics,” Rogers said, “he loved to be the hamburger chef. He was just that kind of per son.”