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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 1988)
The Battalion ELES(AP)- I raid YoungirQ^ol. 87 No. 155 GSPS 045360 8 Pages s, scored ' ee bases n three runs single as tilt deated theb 10-4 k s had 14 liiti on-high six <1 twice was the ei[ :>ung has stole I, Hillv Hatcb so had steals, hree hits. >er, 7-l,allo»« nnings, stril alking three, died three ii ond save is managed linst Don $u! nings andti dug in the <lro Pena,2-i, v Puhl singled .vas thrown on Young’s tole his lea^ (1 34th bases Hatcher's second ona*i s cored on Dan Colleae Station, Texas Wednesday, June 8, 1988 6 die, 40 hurt following blast in south Beruit BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — A car bomb exploded Tuesday near a Syr ian military checkpoint in south Bei rut and touched off fighting be tween Syrian troops and pro-Iranian militias, police said. At least six peo ple were killed. The blast in the seaside district of Ouzai killed four people and wounded 39, including two Syrian soldiers and two Lebanese police of ficers, police said. Two more people died and another was injured. The explosion occurred about 100 yards from an office of the Ira nian-backed fundamentalist Hezbol lah, or Party of God. It was the third car bombing in Lebanon this year. A gray Renault loaded with Hez bollah gunmen raced to the scene af ter the explosion, but dozens of Syr ian soldiers and Lebanese police surrounding the site stopped the car and ordered its occupants out, police said. The Syrians and Lebanese were manning a nearby Syrian military checkpoint. “When the gunmen refused to step out, troops and policemen tried to haul them out by force,” a police spokesman said. “One gunman fired his pistol, and a shoot-out erupted in which two gunmen were killed and a ring groundfi went aheadj n’s RBI douklfl ow trails Lef games in ti»l West divisioo E ukakis, Bush start search for running mates ■ WASHINGTON (AP) — Prima ries behind them, Michael Dukakis and George Bush now turn to unify ing their parties and picking run ning mates — chores that are com- plieated for Dukakis by the persistent claims of Jesse Jackson. [The next big dates on the elec tion-year calendar are the national conventions — the Democrats July 18-21 in Atlanta and the Republi cans Aug. 15-18 in New Orleans. By then, Dukakis and Bush both hope toj have vice presidential candidates osen if not actually announced. Party unity is a big theme this ek for the likely general election opponents as both Dukakis and Jpish reach out to their vanquished iny Of these!'opponents. i Republican Bush headlines a “Unity ’88” party meeting in Denver on Friday with at least four of his foi ner rivals. The session is the first of three to set the stage for the Re publican National Convention. [Dukakis heads to St. Louis on Wednesday to pick up the endorse- ment of Rep. Richard Gephardt, while Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois will add his support of the Massachusetts Bvernor as well, Dukakis aides said. [Both Dukakis and Bush will also be wrestling with the choice of run- FEE $ 8.00 $15.00 ning mates as they try to set in place the themes for the fall. For Dukakis, that means grap pling with the challenge of Jackson, who stuck it out to the end of the pri maries and threatened to continue his presidential challenge until the convention. In the closing hours of the cam paigning for Tuesday’s primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey and New Mexico, Jackson also talked of challenges on the convention floor on such issues as South Africa. He gave his most definitive an swer yet to the question of whether he would like to be Dukakis’ running mate. “We’ve earned the option,” Jack- son told the New York Times. Asked about that Tuesday, in an interview, Jackson said of Dukakis, “If he were to win, extending the in vitation to me is his option.” He said he did not know whether he would accept, but then added, “It is an op tion my constituency has earned.” Dukakis has said he will spend three days on the road in each of the coming six weeks, touching base in key states for the fall. The rest of the time he will spend in his Statehouse office in Boston or in campaign briefings. Dukakis battles Jackson in primary Michael Dukakis, ready to salt away the 1988 Democratic presi dential nomination, battled Jesse Jackson on Tuesday in a coast-to- coast finale of a grueling primary campaign. Jackson sought a strong showing to reinforce his position for the inevitable pre-convention bar gaining. Dukakis was heavily favored to defeat his sole remaining Demo cratic rival in each of the final con tests, from New Jersey to California with New Mexico and Montana in between. His aides confidently pre dicted the night’s delegate harvest would put the Massachusetts gover nor over the 2,081 needed to guar antee a first ballot victory at the party convention next month in At lanta. Jackson offered no rebuttal to those claims, and already was turn ing his attention to the next phase of a remarkable campaign. Talk of the vice presidential nomination, con vention platform issues and changes in party rules affecting future cam paigns was in the air even before the polling places opened to voters on the final primary day of the year. Vice President George Bush, who has lost ground in the polls since wrapping up the Republican nomi nation more than a month ago, was unopposed in the day’s four GOP primaries. Bush’s primary victories were se cure. But because his campaign was nearing federal spending limits, he mounted only a shoestring effort in New Jersey and California, possibly placing himself at a disadvantage in two important battleground states in the fall campaign. Advisers predicted that the vice president would begin sharpening his attacks on Dukakis as soon as the Democratic nominating war was of ficially settled, perhaps beginning at the Texas GOP Convention on Thursday and a party unity event in Denver on Friday. Bush sounded like he was ready, telling reporters he “can’t wait for this primary season to end.” Dukakis was looking beyond the primaries, as well. He arranged to pick up endorsements on Wednes day from former rivals Richard Ge phardt and Paul Simon, and said he hoped Jackson would also work for the ticket. The Massachusetts governor will travel this weekend to Utah to speak to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Republican Bush finds his cam paign strapped for cash, but aides are planning a variety of strategies to keep the vice president on the road and in the news at party fund-raisers and conventions across the country. The aides said he can spend only about $1.3 million more before hit ting the federal ceiling on pre-con vention campaign spending. Republican officials said Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont and former Secretary of State Alexander Haig have all agreed to attend the Denver unity meeting. $TBA $15.00 African strike causes violence, eight deaths ■JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — Widespread violence and — < eight deaths were reported Tuesday, MORE INFO tht' second day of a nationwide gen- . ip ai c eral strike that organizers claimed U . involved 2.5 million people, itailed inforin[E m pl 0 yers and transport cornpa- T1S Of the InWInfes said support for the strike had Sports [; dw indled and that more workers ~ c Jwtre on the job in many areas. U bystem0 W In y) ur t- )an however, the Feder- Dne who I® ated Chamber of Industries said the amp tprmifial strike had intensified around the na- S^stenl. 115 ‘h'rd-largest city. 16 INFO Sm Black labor unions and anti-apart- Helo Deskij ht d groups called the three-day Y r protest, which the government says is illegal, to oppose the 2-year-old sfcte of emergency and proposed Hgislation to restrict the rights of unions to strike. ■ The Congress of South African l[rade Unions, the largest black la- ,. fbpr federation, said at least 2.5 mil- vl and rri03) lijp n people were staying away from 'GS. Classestjohs and schools. It called the strike lasses will most significant to date. ■ General secretary Jay Naidoo denied government claims that the Fee piotest was being sustained by intim- | $35.0' 'dat ion. I eqOOtl He to id reporters the strike was “a Y , reflection of the wide-scale resent- I $301' iJenf anc j anger” about orders is- ■ed in February that barred his or- I, ganization and other anti-apartheid groups from political activity. I President P.W. Botha’s govern- estaughtb 1 in the Intf- ment imposed the emergency June 12, 1986, to combat a black uprising against apartheid, the policy of race discrimination that preserves priv ilege for South Africa’s 5 million whites and denies the 26 million blacks a voice in national affairs. In Lusaka, Zambia, the exile headquarters of the outlawed Afri can National Congress guerrilla movement declared “unequivocal support” for the strike. The ANC is the main group fighting white domi nation in South Africa. In Washington, State Department spokesman Phyllis Oakley said: “The strike appears to enjoy the over whelming support of the disenfran chised majority in South Africa and has so far been peaceful. “We hope all parties will continue to avoid violence. The strike under scores the urgent need for negotia tions among South Africans to re place apartheid with a democratic constitutional order.” The three-day strike is the largest black protest under the emergency. A report by state-run South Afri can Broadcasting Corp. said partici pation declined by 45 percent Tues day but gave no estimate of the number of people involved. It said in an editorial that the strike rep resented the strategy of “radical ac tivists who want to make South Af rica ungovernable.” Study shows students perform poorly in math WASHINGTON (AP) — A gov ernment-sponsored study concluded Tuesday that American students are doing miserably in math, and ex perts laid some of the blame on the redundant, slow-paced way math is taught in most schools. The National Assessment of Edu cational Progress reported that al most half of the 17-year-old students tested in 1985-86 proved incapable of handling math commonly taught in junior high, and nearly 27 percent of 13-year-olds were stumped by ba sic computations. “Our ninth graders are taking what other people’s seventh graders are taking,” Chester Finn Jr., the as sistant U.S. secretary of education for research and improvement, told a news conference. “We’ve got to get it going faster, repeated less and make sure that it’s learned more.” The study was based on exams given to nearly 15,000 students ages 9, 13 and 17 in 1985-86, and to a to tal of nearly 35,000 students in grades 3, 7 and 11. This was the fourth national as sessment in math. The study, “The Mathematics Re port Card: Are We Measuring Up?,” said all three age groups made mod est improvements in recent years, but mostly on low-order skills. Fewer were capable of advanced work in 1986 than in 1978. “Despite signs of their progress across time, the 1986 performance of 17-year-old students was dismal,” the report said. “Only half the high school stu dents demonstrated an understand ing of even moderately complex mathematical procedures” usually introduced in junior high. The report said math classes are “dominated by paper-and-pencil drills on basic computation. Little ev idence appears of any widespread use of calculators, computers or mathematics projects.” More than a quarter of the 17- year-olds reported they usually do not understand what is talked about in mathematics class. Math instruction is “dominated by teacher explanations, chalkboard presentations, and reliance on text books and workshops. More innovative forms of instruc tion, such as . . . small group activ ities, laboratory work and special projects, remain disappointly rare.” “The early emphasis on practicing computations may serve to divorce mathematics from real-world obser vations,” the report said. “Once students learn to rely on procedures, they tend to give up on common sense. . . . This can lead to preposterous answers.” The report said 98 percent of the 9-year-olds and 100 percent of the older students knew simple arith metic facts, but virtually none of the younger students and only 6.4 per cent of the oldest could solve multi- step problems and algebra questions. Black and Hispanic students, as well as those living in the Southeast, gained ground, but remain far be hind the white majority. The National Assessment, admin istered by Educational Testing Serv ice, tests a sample of American stu dents in basic subjects every other year. Finn, whose department pays for the testing, said that despite mi nority gains, only one black 17-year- old student in 300 and “barely 1 per cent of the Hispanic kids” scored at the advanced level, compared with 7.6 percent of the whites. The tests indicated girls and boys “had identical average mathematics proficiency” at age 9, but boys out- scored girls at 13 and 17. civilian passer-by was wounded.” Syria deployed about 2,400 troops in south Beirut last month to quell fighting between Hezbollah and the rival pro-Syrian Shiite Amal militia for control of the area. Most of the 18 foreigners kidnapped in Lebanon are believed held in south Beirut. One of the slain gunmen was identified as Abu Ali Assaf, a Hez bollah official. Reporters and photographers watching from a distance saw troops and police beating the gunmen with rifle butts through the car’s open windows before the shooting began. One gunman was seen drawing a pistol and firing at the officers, who opened fire with submachine guns. Panicked onlookers fled. The brown Datsun, loaded with 33 pounds of explosives, was parked outside an automobile repair shop. The shop owner, Hussein Jam- mal, who was wounded in the blast, told police the young man who left the car told him he wanted its radia tor repaired and he would be back to pick it up. Jammal said, “The man walked away. Minutes afterwards, the car exploded and I saw blood all over me. I looked around for the man, but there was no trace of him.” hostages. Texans fight to keep aliens part of census AUSTIN (AP) — Texas asked Tuesday to join the fight against a lawsuit that would bar the govern ment from counting illegal aliens in the 1990 census, a move it says could cost the state federal funds and con gressional seats. Texas Attorney General Jim Mat tox said the U.S. Census Bureau has always been required to count all “persons,” not just citizens, in the na tional head-counting conducted ev ery 10 years. The census report is used for sev eral purposes, including the appor tionment of U.S. House seats. Texas, which now has 27 House members, could gain as many as four more in the 1990 census, Mat tox said, adding that a court decision ordering the Census Bureau not to count illegal aliens could mean fewer additional seats for the state. “It is essential these people be counted as they have been for the last 200 years,” Mattox said of illegal aliens. “The term ‘persons’ is all in clusive. We want everybody counted.” The Mexican American Legal De fense and Education Fund also asked to intervene as a defendant in the federal lawsuit, filed Feb. 18 in Pittsburgh, brought by 41 congress men. And Mattox said the state of New York and the cities of Chicago and New York have asked to intervene as defendants as well. He said there could be as many as 1.2 million “undocumented work ers” in Texas that would not be counted if the plaintiffs prevail. They are people for whom the state has been ordered to provide a vari ety of services, including free educa tion. “This lawsuit would threaten our ability to do that if it is successful,” he said at a news conference. MALDEF lawyer Jose Garza said the lawsuit, if successful, could have a “devastating” effect on the His panic community. “We’ve had a great deal of diffi culty convincing the Hispanic pop ulation that they should cooperate (with the Census Bureau) and that it is in their best interests to cooper ate,” he said. Garza added that some illegal aliens have feared information they gave to census officials would be turned over to immigration officials. The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is U.S. Rep. Thomas Ridge, R-Pa., who is concerned his state will lose U.S. House seats as a result of the 1990 census if illegal aliens are counted. Projections by the bipartisan Con gressional Research Service Study show that Texas and California are certain to gain House seats if illegal aliens are counted, while Pennsylva nia and Connecticut will lose seats. Alabama, North Carolina, Michi gan and Missouri also are at risk of losing seats, according to the study.