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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 1987)
MMIT exas A&M mm « • The Battalion Vol.87 No. 61 GSPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, November 24, 1987 uake shakes California with 6.0 reading WESTMORLAND, Calif. (AP) — An brthquake more powerful than the one that caused heavy damage near Los An geles Oct. 1 jolted Southern California on Monday, cracking windows and knocking Items off shelves, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of in- luries or serious damage. The earthquake struck at 5:54 p.m. and kgistered a preliminary 6.0 on the Richter scale, U.S. Geological Survey spokesman Don Finley said in Washington. It was cen tered near Westmorland, about 90 miles east of San Diego, he said. The Oct. 1 quake that caused heavy dam age in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier registered 5.9. Early reports said the earthquake was felt over a wide area, including Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs, Calif.; Yuma and Parker in Arizona, and Las Vegas, 330 miles to the north, said Finley. “It was shaking like crazy up here,” Mike Baker, the maitre d’ at the Sunset Room on the 27th floor of the Landmark Hotel in Las Vegas, said.“There was a big giant rock ing motion. Our biggest chandelier in the dining room swayed for two to three min utes. The customers were sitting down, they didn’t notice much. But anyone on their feet could feel the place rocking like a big boat.” The quake knocked out traffic lights, cracked windows and rattled items off shelves in stores and homes in the desert community of Westmorland, with a popula tion of about 1,500. George Thomas was working in a conve nience store in Westmorland when the quake hit. “A couple things fell off shelves and broke,” he said. “A window cracked a little bit. Other than that, not too bad.” Police Chief Robert Taylor, who com mands four officers, said: “The only dam age that has been reported is some mer chandise falling off shelves — canned goods, bottles — and one resident whose light fixtures fell of the ceiling.” What goes up Steve Lawton, a senior mechanical engineering major from Houston, left; Scott Chapman, a senior animal science major from Kingwood, and J.D. Steward, a senior agricultural economics major from Veri- Photo by Sam B. Myers best, “relax” on stack Thursday afternoon. “Push,” the week immedi ately before bonfire burns during which Aggies haul logs to the pe rimeter to be pushed onto stack, began Thursday night. U.S. offers deal to get Cubans to stop rioting WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States offered Monday to im pose a moratorium on the return of Cubans who came here illegally dur ing the 1980 boatlift if Cuban in mates end their rioting at two fed eral prisons and free all hostages. Attorney General Edwin Meese III said the offer was being made in See related stories, Pages 3,8 expectation that all hostages seized by the inmates “will be safely re leased without delay.” Meese said that the moratorium would be in effect until each depor tation case could be reviewed in a “full, fair and equitable” manner and included “all such Cubans detained in the United States.” There was no immediate word on the inmates’ reaction to the offer. The Cubans’ cases would have been reviewed individually, regard less of the moratorium. But Meese said that “there has been a great deal of apprehension, concern and tension about fair treat ment . . . The clear statement we’ve made today ... is to alleviate those concerns and let all of them know they will receive fair treatment.” Associate Attorney General Ste phen Trott declined to say whether the government would loosen re quirements to allow some of the Cu bans to remain in this country. But Trott did say that “not everybody” in the two institutions “is going back (to Cuba).” By continuing the uprisings, “they’re only hurting their opportu nities of getting what they want,” he said. “The exact criteria . . . will have to be looked at,” Alan Nelson, director of the U.S. Immigration and Natu ralization Service said. Officials look for refugees after escape LAREDO (AP) — Authorities scoured the brush country Monday with the aid of airplanes and a heli copter for Cuban refugees who < caped from a detention center, bu L officials said the escapees may have left the area. Six Cubans still missing were among 17 who broke out of a mini mum security detention center early Sunday. Apparently they broke out be cause of fear they would be returned to Cuba, Oscar Garza, assistant chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector said. Garza said the Cubans who es caped from the Webb County De tention Center 12 miles east of La redo probably would not have been among the 2,500 — mostly criminals or mentally ill — that Cuba agreed to take back, according to a State De partment announcement Friday. A&M to permit times for exams to be reset HEim Because Texas A&M’s final exam ination schedule for this semester has exam times set for both a Friday and a Saturday evening, some stu dents may find that scheduled reli gious activities conflict with their posted exam times. In such cases, exams that are scheduled for the same times as reli gious functions will yield to the activ ities and be rescheduled, according to a memorandum from University President Frank E. Vandiver. The scheduled final examinations this semester begin Friday, Dec. 16, and follow on Saturday, the next Monday and Tuesday. Jerry Gaston, associate provost, said state law requires universities to excuse students from exams when religious events are scheduled at the same time. The University doesn’t have a pol icy outlining which excuses will be deemed acceptable for rescheduling examinations and which won’t, Gas ton said. The decision of whether an ex cuse is acceptable will be made on an individual basis, he said. The president’s memo also states that faculty members who wish to at tend religious functions that conflict with scheduled exams may have proctors administer their examina tions to the students. Gaston said this semester’s exami nation schedule is a trial run to allow students and faculty members to be come familiar with the schedule adopted along with senior finals at A&M. Seniors will begin taking finals in the spring. Official charges student with assault in photographers’ harassment case By Lee Schexnaider Staff Writer A male A&M student has been charged with assault in connection with the Oct. 30 incident in which two Aggieland female photogra phers said they were verbally and physically harassed at the bonfire site, Student Affairs Judicial Super visor Brent Paterson said. The incident occurred while the photographers were at the bonfire site for the raising of centerpole. While the pole was raised, Marie Mc Leod, a senior journalism major, said she was pelted with dirt while taking pictures of the bonfire from outside the perimeter. According to University policy, the student affairs office is not re quired to release the names of stu dents charged with or receiving Uni versity-related disciplinary actions. But in a telephone interview, Peter Parker Altice, a sophomore physics major from California, said he has received a letter from Paterson charging him in the dirt-throwing incident. Altice said he will not discuss the incident until he consults with his at torney. Paterson said the disciplinary ac tions the University can take range from a verbal warning to expulsion. But he said in this type of case a stu dent is likely to be placed on conduct probation. A student on conduct probation is deemed “not in good standing” with the University. A&M University regulations state that a student on conduct probation will receive notice of probation in his permanent file and be ineligible for the following activities: • Holding an elected or ap pointed office with the University or any student organization. • Representing the University off campus of at any University func tion. • Receiving a University-adminis tered scholarship. Bill Kibler, associate director of student services and adviser to the bonfire, said that conclusions from his investigation of the incident show that there was definitely harassment against the female photograpers going on at the bonfire site. One point of disagreement, Kibler said, is whether male year book photograper Eric Swellander, a junior finance major, was allowed to return to the inside of the perimeter when all photographers were asked to leave. The female photographers present were McLeod and Jennifer Friend, a senior journalism major, who said they were unfairly re stricted from the perimeter. “One of the other conclusions I reached was that the bonfire lead ership ... is aware of the non-dis crimination policy that must exist,” Kibler said. Whether the bonfire leaders tac itly or actually gave preferential treatment to the male photographer is unclear, Kibler said. “I don’t know if that will ever be resolved,” he said. Handicapped students complain of illegal use of parking spaces By Judy Black Reporter Some handicapped students at Texas A&M say handicapped park ing spaces on the A&M campus are misused by delivery trucks, Univer sity employees and students — most | of whom use the excuse, “I’ll only be a minute.” Seargent D.J. Dunlap of the Uni versity Police said the campus offi cers issued 342 tickets to vehicles ille gally parked in handicapped spaces from September 1986 through Au gust 1987. Students must have a University parking sticker as well as a state-issued handicapped sticker to park in a campus handicapped space, he said. The University’s official penalty for parking in a handicapped space without the correct indentification is iv a $50 fine and towing if possible. The state of Texas fines violators from $50 to $250, and also tows. Charles Schoonover, a junior in computer science, said he thinks handicapped parking on the A&M campus generally is abused. “Myself, being in a wheelchair, handicapped parking is the only way that I can use my car,” Schoonover said. “If I can’t open my door all the way, I can’t get in or out of my car.” The reason for handicapped parking places, Schoonover ex plained, is not to get handicapped people close to the store, but to give them enough room to park and have access to the building. “I don’t care where the parking space is, so long as I can get my door open all the way,” he said. Schoonover indicated he doesn’t think police officers, University em ployees or students put a high prior ity on following or enforcing hand icapped parking restrictions. “I’ve even called the police,” he said. “I waited over 30 minutes on one occasion trying to get a truck See Handicapped, page 7 A&M police, TABC officers to patrol bonfire to prevent alcohol consumption by minors By Clark Miller Staff Writer Plainclothed University Police and Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission officers will patrol the bonfire site Wednesday night to stop minors from drinking, Bob Wiatt, director of University Police, said. “There will be several TABC agents, as well as our own offi cers, who will issue citations to any minors caught drinking or any one giving alcohol to a min or,” Wiatt said. Tickets will be issued to minors for possession of alcohol and con sumption of alcohol by a minor, Wiatt said. Tickets also will be is sued to people who supply mi nors with alcohol, he said. Director of University Police Bob Wiatt said that there will be busing available from Olsen Field to bonfire site Wednesday night. Wiatt said the University will rovide busing from the Olsen ield parking lot as well as the lots next to Olsen Field. The buses will begin running at 6 p.m. and will run continuously until after 11 p.m. ? Wiatt said the citations will be Class C misdemeanors that carry a fine of up to $200 for first-time offenders. Supplying alcohol to minors could cost a person up to $500, he addded. Wiatt said if people 21 or older drink at bonfire, officers won’t bother them as long as they are well-behaved, although alcohol isn’t authorized at the site. Wiatt said about three-fourths of A&M’s students are under the legal drinking age of 21, so offi cers and TABC agents will have plenty of work just concentrating on minors. “We need to cut out the rowdy ism that has been here in recent years,” he said. “The last two bon fires turned into drunken or gies.” Wiatt said his office has re ceived bonfire-related complaints of obscene language, fights and people running into other peo ple. “We want to keep bonfire as a family event,” Wiatt said.