Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1988)
irKe Battalion Vol. 87 No. 118 GSPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Thursday, March 24, 1988 andinistas, Contras agree o cease fire starting April 1 o force] Pez Ck ^icw 1J disapptjBSAPOA, Nicaragua (AP) — The leftist Sandi- Ifie C|i|' a goyemment and U.S.-supported Contra re- alks, bd signed an agreement for a 60-day cease-fire n KJoinjjtolstart April 1, both sides announced in a joint f SapoJ colnmuni( l ue - im ra?M r * ie two s ‘ c f es sa * c f l h at during the cease-fire, thi process for negotiating a permanent truce . o ;;pi be worked out. Within the first 15 days of the l ( H-day truce, the rebels agreed to move into '^■■■ufied zones in Nicaragua, i . "Blhe Contras also have agreed to accept only ^'^humanitarian aid f rom a neutral organization. ' AzcotiB The Nicaraguan government said it would grant gradual amnesty and allow all political exiles to return to the country without fear of persecution. The first Sandinista proposal, outlined Tues day by Deputy Foreign Minister Victor Hugo Ti- noco, called for a truce of up to 90 days during which the Contras would lay down their weapons and join a “national reconciliation dialogue.” For every rebel who stops fighting, the Sandi- nistas offered to free a political prisoner deemed eligible by the government. The government is holding an estimated 3,300 political prisoners. Tinoco also said rebels who put down their arms would be free from prosecution without ap plying for amnesty and could take part in Nicara guan political life. They would be permitted to operate uncen sored newspapers, magazines and radio stations, but television would remain a government mo nopoly. Many press liberties were barred for al most six years under a state-of-emergency de cree. orbachev, eagan set summit date ■WASHINGTON (AT) — Presi- dant Reagan announced Wednesday would go to Moscow from May 29 jfWjune 2 for his fourth summit a|b‘iijwfting with Soviet leader Mikhail “■('.orbachev and his first visit to a - ■ ■ion he once branded an “evil em- Visiting hours extension depends on officials’ OK The five-day visit will mark the fnkt trip to Moscow by an American [ jpCpitsident since Richard Nixon's summer meeting with Leonid , Biezhnev. Later that same year, in QIpNovember, Gerald Ford met with Biezhnev in the Soviet port city of Fla Vkidivostok. planta[®T'he summit’s intended cen- hepa terpiece was i he signing of a treaty to ales in Bap 30 percent to 50 percent of the sign Superpowers’ long-range bombers, irus-t missiles and submarines. However, a scii R«agan already has suggested an ■cement will not be ready, saying din time is too limited, imals ^Secretary of State George P. th tk Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister hepat jEduard A. Shevardnadze reported rg o Wednesday night that dif ferences ■r in lirdhiained between the two sides on the accord. the resigThe two said in a joint statement a pnilhpy would meet again in Moscow on plant -April 21-25 and also in May but did ■t indicate where that session ret rid , would be held. stilllx®“Both sides have worked hard, ing i and some progress has been realized spo: in a number of areas, but much Sock mb re needs to be done,” the Mini statement said. dcs afeBAsked Wednesday if a treaty act c would be completed, Reagan said, “I ssent have no way of answering that” and erca added that the two nations were dof> committed to the cutback. ■Visiting Soviet Foreign Minister patiti Eduard Shevardnadze, asked if a tola treaty would be ready, said through ginat a translator: “It is possible. This is nicer no ’ an easy task. This is a very com- andspBcated task, but we are becoming convinced that it is doable. javefoB There are many difficult ques- flrus tious of a technical nature, mostly in r j s |( verification, but in principle this can npot be done,” the foreign minister said , cent as|he left the White House following ase, tv y () hours of talks and lunch with Reagan. ■The summit announcement capped three days of meetings be- T0 tween Shevardnadze and Secretary |v of State George P. Shultz. ■ White House spokesman Marlin ■zwater said the president would spend all of his time in the Soviet | toav capital, following the pattern set by afely. Gorbachev during his December day summit with Reagan, reveal® ccidef® By Tom Eikel Staft Writer A proposal to extend dormitory visitation hours by five hours per week, unanimously approved by the Resident Hall Association, is now in the hands of Assistant Director of Student Affairs Tom Murray . If Murray approves the proposal, it will go to Director of Student Af fairs Ron Sasse and Vice President for Student Services Dr. John Kol- dus, respectively, for approval. Results of a recent RHA campus poll shows that about 82 percent of A&M on-campus residents are in fa vor of the change in visiting hours, RHA President David McDowell said. Present visitation hours are from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. If approved, RHA’s latest propo sal would extend weekday visitation hours to 11 p.m., while weekend hours would remain the same, he said. The proposal, put together by McDowell and presented at the March 9th meeting, is the culmina tion of a lot of research and the revi sion of previous proposals. “We’ve been working on this for the past three years . . . but this (proposal) is different from the last two,” McDowell said. First, if approved, the new hours would ideally go into effect in Fall 1988 on a one-year trial basis, he said. Second, the proposal calls for the formation of a special oversight committee to help prevent and/or solve any problems that might arise. The committee, under the direction of the RHA vice president, will con sist of tw’o residence hall presidents, two RHA delegates, two resident di rectors, two resident advisers, two members of Student Affairs and one RHA executive board member. Finally, if the proposal is ap proved, each hall will vote on whether or not it wants the extended hours. Three-fifths of the hall resi dents will have to vote in favor of the proposal before the hall will adopt the new hours. The longer hours will mean that dorm resident advisers will have to make their rounds an hour later than usual. Despite this, McDowell said most advisers have shown a great deal of support for the propo sal. “There have been a few who are against it,” he said. McDowell said the opposition said the proposal possibly would increase staff workloads, roommate conflicts and security problems, particularly in women’s dormitories. RHA’s latest proposal includes a 35-page report outlining the find ings of three years of surveys con ducted at A&M,’as well as other col leges and universities around the country, he said. The report also makes references and comparisons to the two previous proposals that were made in 1985 and 1986, he said. Photo by Mike C. Mulvey Under the weather Jenna Harden, a senior agricultural economics major, walks across Olsen Field on her way to work in the MSC Wednesday.The wet weather came af ter almost a week of daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Student Government sponsors events to spread information on Aggie Muster By Andrea Halbert Reporter On April 21, Aggies will gather throughout the world, as they do on this date every year, to pay homage to all students and former students who have died during the year. The tradition of Aggie Muster began in 1883 and is considered one of the most sacred Aggie traditions. At the Muster ceremony, a roll call is read for those who have passed on. A candle is lighted as each name is called, and someone at the ceremony answers “here” to symbolize that the Aggie always will be present in spirit. Gerald Griffin, Class of ’56, will speak at Muster. Griffin is president of the Houston Chamber of Com merce and former director of the Johnson Space Center. The Muster committee is holding activities this week to focus student attention on the tradition. The Mus ter committee is sponsored by Stu- Battalion file photo A woman attends the Aggie Muster ceremony. dent Government and exists to pro mote the tradition of Aggie Muster on campus. A Muster Awareness subcommit tee was formed two years ago to keep the growing student body in formed . “Pass it on” is the theme for Mus ter Awareness Week, Subcommittee Chairman Barbara Graham said. She said the committee is encourag ing students to pass on the tradition with “pass-it-on” cards. Students sign the cards -— which are printed with the date of Muster — and pass them on to someone else. The big event of the week is the Muster Awareness Presentation to be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in Rud der Theater. John Adams, class of ’73, will speak about the history and evolu tion of Aggie Muster. A slide show about tradition at Texas A&M also will be presented. Adams is author of “We Are the Aggies,” a book about the history and evolution of Aggie traditions over the last 100 years. As an undergraduate, Adams was a member of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets and the Muster commit tee. He has master’s and doctorate de grees in history from A&M. He is currently president and chief exec utive officer of Meiller Co. in Col lege Station. Adams said he plans to discuss “e- verything anyone could possibly want to know about the tradition,” including a lot of what he called “gee-whiz” information. The presentation is free and ev eryone is encouraged to attend, Gra ham said. The Muster Awareness subcom mittee also held a Fountain Forum on Tuesday and will have an infor mation desk at the MSC all week. The Fountain Forum was held Tuesday at Rudder Fountain. Charly Carrinton, a senior speech communications major, and Melissa Van Dyke, a junior accounting ma jor, spoke about Muster activities and answered questions from listen ers. The Muster Awateness subcom mittee plans to make Muster Aware ness Week an annual event to help Aggies keep the Muster tradition al- ggies help put out fire on Galveston Island By John H. Neill Reporter ■ Playing the good Samaritan may not come naturally to most people, especially during a vacation, but 10 A&M students did stop and helped to put out a fire on Galveston Island Tj dui in g spring break. Donnie Boehnke, a senior agricul- i' K ttiral economics major from Tom- ball, said he and some friends were driving on the road that leads to the city of Crystal Beach about 12:30 CHORllP-m. last Monday when they saw smoke coming from the side of the road. The group turned on a dirt toad and saw three firefighters ( struggling with a grass fire. I Although initially reluctant to ac- .gjoK cept assistance, the Galveston Island 1 BiSrefighters agreed to allow the it 2 ■ A&M students to help. yes' 5 ' | Crystal Beach Police Chief Farris Collier said the fire started as a trash fire that started burning out of con- trol. He said the firefighters appre ciated the help from the A&M stu dents. “They were super,” Collier said in a Battalion phone interview Wednesday. “We would have lost a couple of houses if it wasn't for them.” Chris White, an A&M freshman and volunteer firefighter from Friendswood, was among the group. Boehnke said White took over the firehose while the others worked with “flappers,” heavy material con nected to mop-like handles used to press out fires. Brad Isenhart, a 21-year-old ju nior from Tomball, said, “We had to do most of the work and one of the Galveston firemen had to rest.” Collier said the fire covered two to three acres of land. The fire, on a 15- to 20-acre lot of waist-high grass, was being blown to ward some beach houses when they arrived, Boehnke said. “It was spreading pretty fast to ward those beach houses because of the wind,” Boehnke said. “We saved at least one beach house, if not more, because we were there.” The Aggies noticed the fire was spreading despite the firefighters’ efforts, Isenhart said. “They (the Galveston firefighters) were fighting the fire from the north end and it was moving south toward the beach houses,” Isenhart said. White, a volunteer firefighter for two years, said he believes that the people who were there have a better outlook on college students because the men had the courtesy to stop and help. He said that some of the peo ple believe that students will help in certain situations instead of going to the beach to get drunk. “It felt good,” White said. “You get a sense of accomplishment and self-fulfillment.” Isenhart said the experience of fighting the fire was demanding. “It was pretty exciting,” he said. “It gets your adrenaline pumping and we were pumped at the time.” Although there were not many people there, Boehnke said the ones watching were thankful for the Ag gies’ efforts. “It was a good experience for all of us,” he said. “It was fun.” Photo by Brad Isenhart Steve Fuqua, Robbie Legg, Joe Isenhart and Chris White fight a fire at Crystal Beach on Galveston Island Monday, March 14. They were on spring break when they saw the fire and decided to stop and help. Court OKs Texaco plan to restructure WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — Texaco Inc. on Wednesday won fi nal bankruptcy court approval for a plan that would settle its multibil- lion-dollar dispute with Pennzoil Co. and bring it out of Chapter 11 pro tection early next month. After a day and a half of closing arguments, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Howard Schwartzberg con firmed the reorganization plan, which features an agreement by Texaco to pay Pennzoil Co. $3 bil lion to drop a $ 10.3 billion judgment held by Pennzoil against the nation’s third-largest oil company. When the plan goes into effect on April 7, Texaco will deliver the money to Pennzoil and will be offi cially free from the legal constraints that have limited its operations since the company filed for protection from its creditors last April 12. It was the largest corporate bank ruptcy in U.S. history. Texaco said it took that action to avoid having to pay a potentially ru inous $11 billion security bond while appealing the judgment. A Houston jury awarded the judgment to Houston-based Pen nzoil in November 1985, after find ing that Texaco had improperly in terfered with a Pennzoil acquisition of part of Getty oil company so Tex aco could buy Getty itself. Schwartzberg’s approval marked the last step required for Texaco to emerge from bankruptcy protection under federal law. Texaco officials and Pennzoil Chairman J. Hugh Liedtke ex pressed profound relief that the four-year ordeal of litigation that had paralyzed both companies was finally over. Liedtke said he never doubted that the jury’s verdict would be vin dicated, despite lingering criticism from some quarters. “Quite frankly, all the smoke aside, people don’t pay $3 billion for something who don’t have some lia bility, ” he said. Told of that remark, Texaco Chairman Alfred C. DeCrane — who at Tuesday’s hearing had stoutly defended Texaco’s view that it had done nothing wrong — said, “What we did here today is to settle this matter.” In announcing his decision to con firm the plan, Schwartzberg noted that 96 percent of Texaco’s shares were voted in favor of the package, which was laboriously worked out among Pennzoil, Texaco, and com mittees representing Texaco’s cred itors and shareholders.