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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1988)
Texas A&M he Battalion I DOTTID LINE »A) *n H Irva «»fcjd>} ION, TX phone 'lerks ns: Wednesday, November 1988 Harvey R o5 i ' Peach Cree| t, left on Fos TAMCI car wood Valle) College Station, Texas USPS 045360 Pages ush winner of presidency Associated Press Republican George Bush took control Of the race for the White House on Tues- [ay, routing Michael Dukakis across the xith. Democrats picked up a Senate at in a drive to cement control of the longress that will govern alongside the 41st president. The vice president won handily from ine end of Dixie to the other and added ew Jersey to his column as the vote to- 1s mounted. The final results show Jlush won 426 electoral votes to Duka- is’ 112, and Bush garnered 54 percent the popular vote to Dukakis’ 46 per- |ent. Dukakis, uttering predictions of an un- fkely upset even as his rival piled up the o states, won at home in Massachusetts and led in 5 other states, including New York and Pennsylvania. He won the Dis trict of Columbia. Dukakis said in Boston that he phoned his congratulations to Bush and con ceded defeat in a nationally televised rally. “The nation must work together” to solve its problems, he said. Bush won Indiana, the home state of Quayle, to get off to a running start, and piled it on in Dixie. He won Ohio, Mich igan, New Jersey and Texas — four key states which had been crucial to Dukakis’ hopes for a ‘‘November surprise. ” Missouri put Bush over the top in the AP tally. It was a singular triumph for Bush, but ticket-splitting voters denied him Repub lican majorities on Capitol Hill. In the Senate, the Democrats have control of 56 of the seats opposed to the Republicans’ 43 seats, with Florida still undecided as of 8 a.m. today. The Dem ocrats also have control of the House with 261 seats opposed to the Republi cans’ 174 seats. The Democrats appear to be adding to their ranks of governors, as well. Seven Republicans and five Democrats were elected to governorships, which is a gain of one Democratic governor. Democratic vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen had his Senate seat to go home to. He won handily as Democrats moved out smartly to renewed control in Congress. Pick a win nor Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhact< Senior electrical engineering major Anne Murray casts her vote at the MSC polling booths late Tuesday afternoon. jB-1 bomber explodes, crew ejects ABILENE (AP) — A B-1B bomber on a training flight exploded in a fireball Tuesday near Dyess Air Force Base, but not before all four crewmen ejected from [the plane safely, officials said. Witnesses said flames from the crash tose 10 stories in the air, smoke could be seen as far as 20 miles away and the fire Scorched miles of pastureland. “All of them were taken to the Dyess hospital and are in good condition” with undetermined injuries, Air Force spokes- nan Linda Gellnere said. The crash oc curred about 2 miles north of Interstate ZOnearthetownofTye. Dyess public affairs spokesman Lois |A. Morrell identified the crewmen as: ICapt. Michael E. “Muddy” Waters, 29, JofNewbern, N.C., aircraft commander; ICapt. George M. Cover, 31, of San iDiego, pilot; Capt. Charles M. Zarza, 37, of Hialeah, Fla., offensive systems operator; and 1st Lt. Anton Eret Jr., 26,. of Northglen, Colo., defensive systems operator. All four men are from the 337th Bomber Squadron at Dyess, Morrell said. A crash witness, Lou Paulsen of Abi lene, said the plane appeared to be mak ing a routine training flight from Dyess when smoke spewed from the left engine of the circling plane. “At first there was just a puff of smoke, then fire,” Paulsen told the Abi lene Reporter-News. “It looked like it started to go out, then it flared up big.” Joe Swarts, 23, said he originally thought the orange glow on the left side of the B-l was a reflection of the af ternoon sun. Then he realized the bomber on fire. “It wasn’t jumping flames, but solid flames, and they were getting bigger and bigger and spreading,” said Swarts, who said the problems appeared within a min ute of the bomber’s takeoff from Dyess. Paulsen, who is an Air Force reserve member, said the pilot apparently aban doned hope of returning to Dyess and de cided to ditch the plane in an unpopu lated area. The bomber had completed a half-cir cle and was eastbound, several miles north of 1-20, when it crashed, he said. “It banked back toward the left, then they started ejecting,” said Paulsen. “Three chutes came out, right after an other. Then the plane started veering left into the country. “The last parachute came out seconds before the plane crashed in a ravine in an unpopulated area,” he said. Republican Senate Leader Bob Dole conceded a new, probably stronger Dem ocratic majority, and in an extraordinary declaration, said Bush bore some of the blame. “I must say we could have used a little help from the vice president in some of those states — Florida. We pleaded with them to go to Florida,” where a close race was unfolding. Dole, assuming a Bush triumph, said it was “probably correct” that there wouldn’t be a mandate to go along with it. But that wasn’t the Reagan view. In a statement, he said of Bush and Quayle: “Their mandate will continue the changes that create jobs, prosperity and peace for all Americans. ’ ’ “This has been a long and vigorous campaign,” Reagan noted. “Governor Dukakis and Senator Bentsen rep resented their party with strength and te nacity. Now we must pull together and help the Vice President lead America into the 1990s. I look forward to working with George and his team on a smooth transition.” The most prominent Republican Sen ate casualty was in Connecticut, where three-term Lowell Weicker fell to Jospeh Lieberman. Former Democratic Gov. Robert Ker rey defeated incumbent David Karnes in Nebraska while Charles Robb claimed an open seat from the Republicans in Vir ginia. Herbert Kohl kept a Wisconsin seat in the Democratic column. Rep. Buddy MacKay led narrowly in Florida as Democrats worked to replace one Democratic senator with another. Republican House Whip Trent Lott claimed a Senate seat for the GOP in Mississippi, while in Vermont, Rep. James Jeffords kept a Senate seat in Re publican hands. Not even Republicans had dreamed of upsetting the Democratic majority in the House, and few incumbents of either party were in difficulty. Rhode Island’s Fernand J. St Ger main, accused of ethics lapses, was a striking exception. The chairman Of the, House Banking Committee lost his seat to Ronald K. Machtley after 14 terms. In a closely watched gubernatorial race, 32-year-old Democrat Evan Bayh claimed the Indiana governor’s office and ended 20 years of Republican occu pancy. Gov. Arch Moore, on-again, off- again Republican governor of West Vir ginia, was off again — at the hands of Gaston Caperton. Bush’s campaign manager crowed about the Southern fortress erected for the vice president. “He got a clean sweep there on Super Tuesday (in the primary campaign) and he got a clean sweep in the general election,” said the South Carolinian. Horse-racing legislation passes in Brazos County By Juliette Rizzo Staff Writer In the final stretch of horse racing leg islation in Brazos County, the pari-mu tuel horse racing proposition passed by more than a nose with 24,948 votes in fa vor of it and 14,531 against its passage. The approval of the proposition will legalize local county options for citizens to bet on horse racing. Citizens now may apply to build racetracks in the commu nity. Brazos County has the option to open a Class 2 track, which can have up to 44 racing days or a “county fair” track, which can have up to 16 racing days. Sheriff Ronnie Miller said the passage of the proposal did not surprise him, al though he said he expected a closer race because of the controversiality of the is sue. Although some argued that the pas sage of pari-mutuel gambling in the Bra zos County would increase the crime rate in the area, he said he does not think it will affect the crime rate significantly. “I don’t think the passage of the prop osition will have a major impact on crime, because the track won’t be open for enough days,” he said* “The Texas World Speedway, as an auto racetrack, didn’t generate much of a problem. I don’t feel that the opening of a horse racetrack will be much different.” Miller said that the track provides its own security guards, so funds for secu rity will not have to come from local tax payers. As the withering Texas economy re covers from the oil slump, pari-mutuel betting on horse racing may boost the lo cal economy and help the state regain its economic strength. Commissioner Gary Norton said he does not believe that the racing season will be long enough to attract the crime element that some fear. He said that it may help the economy, however. As a law enforcement officer, he said, “For the length of time we would actu ally be able to run a track here, I don’t think it would be detrimental. I honestly don’t think it would hurt our society and it definitely would help our economy by raising revenue.” The cost of supporting a racetrack would be defrayed by admission fees charged to get into the track, said Nancy Fisher, deputy secretary of the state rac ing commission. As a strong supporter of agriculture and the horse industry, Texas A&M may benefit from the passage of the proposi tion. The University has been named the horse testing facility for the state by the Texas Legislature. William C. McMullan, professor of large animal medicine and surgery in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Med icine said, “In general, the veterinary science department and the animal sci ence department will benefit.” He said students will have more hands-on cases to work with, and they will be able to see real orthopedic prob lems in horses, he said. The opening of a racetrack near the University would bring money into the area and increase the tourist industry. McMullan said the track may supply another reason for alumni to come back to the area. Greg Chard, a sophomore electrical engineering and computer science major, said that if the track is open in the spring, “It will give me and my parents some thing else enjoyable to do during Par ents’ Weekend.” Party officials trade charges over election law violations By Timothy J. Hammons and Scot Walker Staff Writers The chairman of the Brazos County Republican Party charged his democratic counterpart with entering a polling site in violation of election law, while Demo crats said that some Democratic voters were incorrectly led to believe they could vote by phone. Rodger Lewis, the Republican Party chairman, said that Democratic party chairman Ron Gay illegally entered the Precinct 14 polling site at Ben Milam el ementary school in Bryan Tuesday af ternoon. Lewis said that federal election law prohibits anyone without official business from entering a polling site. Gay said he went into the polling site to speak with local television reporters about possible voting irregularities. “I knew I wasn’t supposed to be in side,” Gay said. “I felt that it was more important to set the record straight about the incidents in North Bryan.” Gay was referring to reports that at least two women were incorrectly told they could vote by phone. Gay said that Democratic block walk ers were told by elderly black women in two separate incidents that they had voted by phone. Block walkers are party workers who travel the precincts to en courage citizens to go to the polls. Gay said that someone had made an apparently sucessful ploy to keep tradi tionally Democratic voters away from the polls. “Both incidents were in poor, predom inantly black neighborhoods,” Gay said. “We are going to follow up and see what we can do about it, if anything. (But) it would be improper to speculate at this time who was behind it,” Bart Dunsford, a block walker, said a woman in Precinct 4 told him she was called by a man who knew her name, sounded official and asked for whom she wanted to vote. Dunsford said the woman told the man she wanted to vote for Gov. Michael Dukakis, and the caller told her that her vote was registered and that she didn’t need to go to the polling site. Dunsford said he tried to convince the woman she had not yet legally voted, but she could not be persuaded. “It is a shame that someone would stoop so low to win an election,” Duns ford said. Lewis said that he was certain no one on his staff was behind the phone calls. “I guarantee it didn’t happen from our phone banks, if it happened at all,” Le wis said. Kay Schulze, who was in charge of the Republican Victory ’88 phone cam paign, said that no one on her staff was responsible for keeping any voters away from the polls. “As a matter of fact, we drove around town today and picked people up to carry them to the polls,” Schulze said. “We were picking up Democrats as well as Republicans.” Gay said that the extent of the problem is unknown. “All we know is that it is a problem of grave nature and we will be following it up,” Gay said. [Voters ecounter election-day problems By Fiona Soltes Staff Writer Local residents complaining about not [being eligible to vote upon reaching the [polling sites were only a part of the many [problems local officials faced during [Tuesday’s election. Buddy Winn, Brazos County tax as- jsessor/collector, said he heard many [complaints from voters who said they [had registered but didn’t appear on lists, had moved but didn’t realize they had to re-register or had lost their registration cards. Many also had registration rec- [eipts but never received a card, he said. But, he said, these problems occur in |most elections. “We got a lot of calls from people who [said they had mailed in their cards on [time, but their forms didn’t show it,” Winn said. “The post office does stamp a date on the cards. Granted, the deadline date followed a weekend and a federal holiday (Columbus Day). But the truth is, no one seems to remember to update their cards until the time of the election. They need to remember 30 days before.” Winn said some voters who moved re cently were surprised to find their regis tration was not updated automatically. “If a person moves, does not let us know of a change in precinct and tries to go to his new site to vote, he won’t be registered there,” Winn said. “Some people say they’ll just go ahead and register at their old site, but that’s a violation of the law. It’s getting better, but we need to educate the voters.” Winn said he has sought aid from Texas A&M students since 1977 in edu cating the public. “When I look at the student body, I don’t see the political parties,” Winn said. “I see the energy. Rather than hav ing them come to me to register, I de cided to go to them.” Winn started using students as deputy registrars, but problems have arisen in that area also. “Some deputy registrars didn’t give receipts for registration,” he said. “The law says a receipt must be given as regis tration proof. But we had instances on campus where whole classes were regis tered without getting receipts.” However, many residents with prob lems were not kept from voting. “Anyone who believed they had a bona fide reason to be eligible could tell the election judge at the site and fill out an affidavit,” Winn said. Chris Kling, a local attorney and poll watcher for this election, said political patronage was the largest problem in this election’s voting system. “The county commissioner’s court is responsible for choosing voting judges in each precinct,” Kling said. “These judges decide the eligibility of the vot ers. This year, there are three Democrats and one Republican on the court.” Kling said that in student precincts, Democrats generally discourage people from voting. In non-student precincts, they usually allow everyone to vote, sometimes even those not qualified, he said. “In some cases, these judges even as sist in the voting process,” Kling said. “It is evident that a great number of these people could not vote without the help.” Kuboviak successful with re-election bid By Alan Sembera Senior Staff Writer Brazos County residents over whelmingly rejected the idea of abo lishing the position of county attorney Tuesday by giving incumbent County Attorney Jim Kuboviak 78 percent of their write-in votes. Kuboviak’s challenger, Hub Ken- nady, ran a write-in campaign based on a promise to consolidate the county attorney’s office with the dis trict attorney’s office and then resign from the $43,000-a-year position. Apparently Kennady’s idea did not go well with Brazos County voters. Both candidates ran write-in cam paigns, with Kuboviak gamering 11,313 votes, and Kennady winning 3,194. Only two precincts gave Kennady a majority. The Texas A&M-MSC precinct, which encompasses most on-campus students, gave Kennady a 191-104 advantage, and the Hensel Park pre cinct, which includes the Married Student Apartments, voted 29-21 in his favor. Kuboviak won the Democratic pri mary earlier this year, but was dis qualified from the ticket after he voted in the Republican primary to affect the sheriff’s race: The Democratic Executive Com mittee decided not to replace Kubo viak on the ticket, which cleared the way for his write-in attempt. Kennady, with the backing of the Republican Party, filed as a write-in candidate at the last minute to oppose Kuboviak. Kennady had said he wanted to abolish the county attorney position in order to save money and to make both misdemeanor and felony pros ecution more efficient. Brazos County is becoming a ma jor metropolitan area, he said, and most metropolitan areas in Texas have a consolidated prosecutor’s of fice.