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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1988)
[Texas A&M The Battalion Wednesday, November 2, 1988 j College Station, Texas USPS 045360 14 Pages arties struggle for positions n Israeli parlimentary race tend to •tmaker said. , he recommei ns to target on nool and coi jgrams. g| JERUSALEM (AP) — The right-wing , —,ikud bloc and left-leaning Labor Party l0n ' n ^ ueled head to head in Tuesday’s parlia- at aylorLollt ientar y elections with the small reli- i, reportedthaii j ous p art j es holding the balance of :irm among Art ower become corairi Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir appeared o have the edge in forming a ruling co- dition and said he was convinced he ould stay on as prime minister with the idpof the religious parties. But Foreign Minister Shimon Peres a nation obsess / size. Womei it'd with theirbi • shape,” he said his Labor Party still had a chance of luring religious parties into a Labor-led coalition. The election was widely viewed as a crossroads in determining the future of the occupied territories and shaping Is rael’s policy for dealing with its hostile Arab neighbors. A Palestinian insurrec tion has gone on for 11 months in the oc cupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, claiming the lives of more than 300 Pal estinians and 10 Israelis. Labor advocated an international con ference to talk peace with the Arabs and proposed sacrificing some of the occu pied land for a negotiated settlement. Li kud opposed both. Intense negotiations were expected to take place behind the scenes Wednesday, with Labor leaders wooing the Shas party, projected to be the largest reli gious party with six seats. With 95 percent of the 4,800 polling stations reporting, Israel army radio said ns Marijuana seizures rise 0i ?at El Paso-Juarez border :eel and more f paper with a expresses the trcll said. The that symbolic by the First made in the Tourt case of s School Dis- ten the school h school sh ack armbands ement in the cal science is “Buttons are s back before They afford a tory in an age i a flickering ility.” ransit coordi- olitan Transit sutton coilec- as amassed at ons. we have been got to where . One of his jeorge Wash- “I found it in h Carolina." story buff. EL PASO (AP) — The U.S. Border ’atrol’s El Paso sector nearly set a record ast month for marijuana seizures, offi- ials said Tuesday. Border Patrol agents confiscated 0,622 pounds of marijuana in October n 96 separate seizures, just short of the nonthly record of 10,925 pounds of narijuana seized in April, agent Richard Woodruff said. April and October are marijuana har- resting seasons in Mexico and traffic of ten increases in early spring and fall. A 1,018-pound haul was impounded in Wpril, while last month’s total included seizures of 12 to 800 pounds. About 2,000 pounds of marijuana were seized in October 1987. “1 think we’re seeing more drugs coming across, and also our escalation in fighting the problem,’’ said Gus de la Vina, deputy chief patrol agent of the vast El Paso sector, which comprises southern New Mexico and West Texas. To underscore his point, de la Vina noted the amount of marijuana seized in October eclipsed the El Paso Border Pa trol sector’s figure for all of fiscal year 1986 — 6,594 pounds. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents have been saying for about two years that the El Paso area is becoming more and more popular with drug smug glers, especially marijuana traffickers. Some drive drugs by the truckload across the international bridges, knowing Cus toms can’t check every truck because of the tremendous traffic volume that makes El Paso-Juarez the busiest port on the U.S.-Mexican border. Other smugglers, de la Vina said, float their cargo across isolated stretches of the Rio Grande or use four-wheel-drive vehicles and motorcycles to cross the lonely desert border into New Mexico. “Our agents are out there day and night, and they’re putting pressure on the traffickers and it’s beginning to pay off,” de la Vina said. “We patrol the highways, the river and the desert. ” The Border Patrol’s primary mission has always been to catch illegal aliens, but about two years ago it was charged with the equal responsibility of catching drug smugglers. De la Vina said the first 105 of an eventual 220 new agents for the El Paso sector are scheduled to arrive in Feb ruary, with the rest arriving by Septem ber. He said the sector will get 10 more dogs trained to sniff out drugs and people hidden in vehicles. The El Paso sector al ready has four such dogs. De la Vina said he believes Border Pa trol seizures of narcotics are increasing faster than drug traffic through the re gion. “Somewhere along the line, the nar cotics traffickers are going to get the message they better not come through El Paso,” he said. Likud was projected to get 39 seats and Labor 38 in the 120-seat Knesset, or par liament. Likud and small right-wing parties to gether would have 46 seats. Labor and small leftist parties would have 56. That would mean that Labor and its al lies would not have enough votes to block formation of a coalition between Likud and the religious parties, which appear more ideologically attuned to Li kud and are forecast to get 18 seats. Israel television’s exit polls predicted Likud would have an edge in forming a governing coalition. A smiling Shamir told supporters at campaign headquarters he believed Li kud could get together a majority of 61 seats. “Based on the facts we have before us, it seems that the situation commands and enables the Likud to form Israel’s next government,” Shamir said in a na tionally televised speech. In a later TV interview, Shamir op posed the idea of a national unity govern ment like the one formed after 1984 elec tions ended in deadlock, with Labor winning 44 and Likud 41 seats. The 65-year-old Peres, grim-faced, said at Labor headquarters his party was still in contention. “The results of the election are not yet final,” he said. He urged his followers, “Let’s not lose faith, and let’s consider the options for forming a government in the next 24 hours.” Peres noted that for Likud to win, it would have to join with the Moledet, or Homeland party. Any requests? Photo by Kathy Haveman Aggie Band member John Caton, a senior environmental design major from Mesquite, relaxes by playing his acoustic guitar outside Dorm Two on Tues day afternoon. The sun finally broke out after a rainy start to the week. Bush looks to White House, Dukakis struggles George Bush campaigned like a president-to-be Tuesday, saying he hoped for a meeting with So viet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev soon after moving into the Oval Office. Democrat Michael Dukakis said “Made in America” was the only label he cared about as he bid for union support. The polls one week before Election Day showed Bush a solid leader, and the contrast in campaign styles between the front-runner and the underdog couldn’t have been plainer. The vice president struck an above-the-fray pose in a speech at the University of Notre Dame, say ing he wanted to meet Gorbachev for a serious and direct examination of superpower relations. Dukakis was in the political trenches, blending his appeal for blue collar support with an attack on alleged Republican influence peddling. His aides said their private polls pointed to a race that was narrowing. Privately, some Democrats expressed doubts, while ABC said its survey of California showed Bush a leader by seven points in the nation’s big gest state. Dan Quayle, Bush’s running mate, expressed ir ritation with GOP campaign managers after they abruptly switched his schedule to cancel a trip to South Bend, Ind — the same city Bush was visit ing. Democratic vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen climbed into the cockpit of an F-16 fighter for the benefit of television cameras as he renewed his campaign to persuade Texans that Dukakis would be strong on defense. President Reagan was on the road for the benefit of Bush and other Republicans, ripping into Duka kis for describing himself as a liberal in the mold of Roosevelt and Truman. Dukakis is no “Harry Tru man and he’s no FDR,” the outgoing president said — and then depicted this year’s Democatic candidate as a man pursuing the “Carter-Mondale liberal agenda.” Bush said much progress has been made in su perpower relations during the Reagan years and added it was important for him and Gorbachev to “size each other up” correctly. He said he would ask his secretary of state to “make it clear that I am prepared to meet with General Secretary Gorbachev at the earliest time that would serve the interests of world peace. ” “My purpose in such a meeting would not be to achieve any grand breakthrough but to engage in a serious and direct examination of where we are and how we can best go forward toward further arms reductions, a decrease in regional tensions and fur ther adherence to human rights and thus toward a surer peace,” he said. The vice president was heckled periodically by about two dozen people, but he told the rest of his audience of 2,000 that he had come to expect it as a part of life on the campaign trail. In a sidelight to the campaign, a top Bush fund raiser denounced as “rotten” a report implying that he was trying to use his position to land a pub lic relations contract for his firm with the govern ment of Haiti. Fred Bush, who is not related to the vice presi dent, said he had told his partner Michael Go van to “forget it” when it came to Haiti, but his partner had ignored the admonition and had written the na tion’s new president using Bush’s name. b VO A network urges freedom of airwaves ■) Mistakes disqualify some voters By Alan Sembera Senior Staff Writer The free flow of information is essen tial to the effort to loosen up totalitarian societies around the world, the director of the Voice of America radio network said Tuesday at Texas A&M. “Information is a vital force in today’s world,” VOA Director Richard Carlson said. “How our country uses its present advantage in information and its lead ership role in the information age is going to determine the presence or ab sence of democratic principles globally over the next century.” Carlson was appointed by President Reagan in 1986 to head the agency, which broadcasts to an estimated 130 million people in 44 languages world wide. “Voice of America is committed to providing truthful and accurate news and public interest programs to a world, which in some cases, works against the free flow of information,” Carlson said. “The Voice of America's task is not to glamourize or minimize the United State’s accomplishments, it isn’t to pre ach democracy, it’s not to degegrate other governments that are not democrat ic.” he said. “The Voice of America’s job is, within the framework of human frailty, to tell the truth as best we can. “. . . to offer a variety of viewpoints on a variety of topics of the day and to give a balanced perspective of life in the United States and the society that com prises the United States.” The intended by-product of all this ef fort, Carlson said, is to make concepts such as the free flow of information and participatory democracy less intimidat ing to people who have no such tradi tions. Objectivity and accuracy are required by the network’s charter. These requirements are the foundation of Voice of America’s credibility, Carl son said. If the network is not truthful or slants Anyone who registered to vote before the Oct. 8 deadline and has not received their voter registration card may need to find out if they are on the voter rolls be fore going to vote Nov. 8. Many people who think they are regis tered to vote may not be eligible because they made a mistake in filling out their registration form, Buddy Winn, county tax assessor-collector, said. Although he hasn’t counted them yet he said, there are about 700-800 applica tions on file that have been rejected since March 1. He said the most common mistake was people putting a post office box as their residence. He said a residence has to be the place at which the person is living, Mailing ad dresses are not acceptable as a residence, he said. It is too late to correct the forms in time to vote Nov. 8, he said. The only way that somebody might be able to be added to the voter rolls, he said, is if they go to the voter registrar’s office and find that something had been overlooked on their application. People will not be allowed to vote this year by signing an affidavit that they have registered, Winn said. They don’t need a card, but must be on the voter rolls. Organizations sponsor crime prevention panel; focus on personal safety Photo by Frederick D. Joe Richard Carlson gives a lecture on the Voice of America radio network on Tuesday at the MSC. Carlson was named director of VOA by Ronald Regan in 1986. the news, he said, people will begin to lose trust in it. News is the networks primary func tion, he said, but the network also fea tures other services. “The Voice of America broadcasts generally resemble in format a modern full-service American radio show,” he said. “We have newscasts, public affairs broadcasting, music, interviews, short features — we even have soap operas.” One of the more effective Voice of America broadcasts is in Haiti, he said, where news is broadcast in the form of rap music. He said one of the networks functions is to keep oppressed cultures in other countries alive by broadcasting literature and other related works from that cul ture. They also devote airtime to English lessons around the world, he said. Another major function of Voice of America is to set up training centers in developing countries around the world to help journalists. The foreign journalists are taught the concept of an independent press and learn how to use it effectively, Carlson said. The Voice of America’s two largest efforts are in Eastern Europe and The So viet Union, Carlson said. There are about 30.5 million listeners in Eastern Europe and about 32 million listeners in the Soviet Union, he said. Until a few years ago, he said, the So viet Union spent about $500,000 per year jamming foreign broadcasts, includ ing other Western networks such as the BBC. Now they’ve discontinued jam ming the broadcasts, he said. The Voice of America network has 114 broadcasting transmitters around the world and has a budget of almost $170 million per year. By Sherri Roberts Staff Writer Awareness plays a key role in prevent ing crime. This point was emphasized by a four member panel last night in a program fo cusing on personal security and date rape. The program, sponsored by the De partment of Student Affairs, Leggett Hall and Sigma Chi fraternity, had the format of a talk show in which an audi ence of approximately 50 posed ques tions to panel members. Representatives from the University Police Department, Rape Crisis Center, Student Counseling Service and the Col lege Station Police Department ad dressed the questions. “Be alert, be aware, get smart, and don’t be embarrassed to protect your self,” Officer Betty LeMay of the Uni versity Police Department advised indi viduals. LeMay said people are often hesitant to take precautionary measures against strangers because society indoctrinates people to be polite to everyone, includ ing strangers. Self-protection, LeMay said, should take precedent over politeness in any sit uation, including dating. “Nobody has a right to touch your body,” she said. “Don’t be embarrassed to say no.” Linda Castoria, director of the Rape Crisis Center, said one out of every four women will either be sexually assaulted or have an attempt made on them. Eighty-four percent of the assailants are acquaintances or dating partners. “It’s not the stranger jumping out of the bushes,” she said. “It’s people you know.” Allan Campbell, a psychologist with the Student Counseling Service, em phasized the importance of being firm in dating situations. “Males sometimes don’t hear ‘no’ as quickly in a situation involving sex,” he said. “Say ‘no’ very clearly, not with a smile on your face.” Officer Mike Patterson of the College Station Police Department said women should avoid situations which make them vulnerable to rape such as jogging alone in the morning or walking alone to a car. LeMay urged students to utilize the es cort services available on campus. Students can ask UPD officers they see on campus to escort them, she said, or call UPD at 845-2345. Escort services are also provided by Aston Hall, which can be reached at 845- 9822, and the Guard Room at 260-1155. Safety tips Additional safety tips offered through pamphlets distributed at the program include: • Walk in open areas away from walls, shrubs, doorways and alleys. • Walk purposefully and look confident. • Check back seat before entering a car. • Avoid walking alone. Walk with someone or walk in areas where other people are near. •Stay in well-lighted areas. Avoid shortcuts through vacant lots and other deserted places. • Let someone know where you are going and when you will return. • Have keys ready when you ap proach your car or home. • If you have car trouble, raise the hood and remain in your vehicle.