Texas A&M
The Battalion
Tuesday, November 15, 1988
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Su
preme Court, amid speculation it is
prepared to restudy abortion rights,
refused Monday to give husbands le
gal power to prevent their wives
from terminating pregnancies.
The justices, without comment,
rejected arguments by an Indiana
man who said he had “fundamental
rights and interests in his unborn
child.”
The court let stand a ruling last
July by the Indiana Supreme Court
that said allowing a husband to block
a wife’s abortion is barred by U.S.
Supreme Court rulings in 19/3 and
1976.
The justices in 1973, in their fa
mous Roe vs. Wade decision, legal
ized abortion nationwide and three
years later struck down a Missouri
law requiring spousal consent before
a woman could obtain an abortion
during the first 12 weeks of her pre
gnancy.
There has been considerable spec
ulation recently that the high court,
with a conservative majority solid-
ifed by appointees of President Rea
gan, may be prepared to overturn its
landmark rulings on abortion rights.
The Justice Department on Fri
day urged the court to use a pending
case from Missouri to consider
throwing out Roe vs. Wade.
Justice Harry A. Blackmun, au
thor of the 1973 court opinion, said
in September he believes there is a
distinct possibility Roe vs. Wade will
be reversed during the court’s cur
rent term.
But in the Indiana case acted on
Monday, the court gave no indica
tion of a willingness to reopen the
abortion issue.
The case stems from an attempt
last summer by Erin Andrew Conn
of Elkhart, Ind., to prevent his es
tranged wife, Jennifer, from having
an abortion. She was about six weeks
pregnant at the time.
A state trial judge issued a tempo
rary order barring Mrs. Conn from
having the operation performed,
but a state appeals court threw out
that order.
Man’s death angers
civil rights groups
College Station, Texas
Vol. 88 No. 57 USPS 045360 12 Pages
Amtrak representatives Dave Omans and Greg Diggins hold a banner welcoming the new Amtrak service through College Station.
Banners, band, balloons boost
arrival of Amtrak service for CS
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Civil
rights groups expressed outrage
Monday at the beating death of an
Ethiopian man, apparently at the
hands of white supremacist “skin
heads,” and said attacks by such
groups have been growing nation
wide.
Two other Ethiopian men were
injured in the attack early Sunday by
three young men who had shaved
heads and wore military jackets.
Skinheads, bands of young toughs
who espouse white supremacism and
Senate OKs
new classes
in curriculum
By Laura While
Staff Writer
A recommendation for the ad
dition of computer engineering
dasses in the computer science
department was approved by the
Faculty Senate Monday.
The computer science and en
gineering aegree program was
developed and approved in early
September, but has not been
brought into compliance with the
common first year of computer
science curriculum.
The new program will be in
cluded in the next course catalog.
Also approved was a recom
mendation that the signature of
the department head or a desig
nated faculty chairperson, will be
required on all graduate student
petitions.
In other business, the senate
approved a resolution by the
planning committee about resolv
ing conflicts between official
A&M publications.
In the event that a conflict oc
curs between the course catalog
and the official publication of the
Texas AScM University Regula
tions, the Senate voted that regu
lations will prevail.
An ad hoc libraries committee
to aid in the further development
of major libraries on the A&M
campus was formed by the Sen
ate.
A&M’s Sterling C. Evans li
brary presently ranks 48th in the
nation in terms of quality .
The committee will make rec
ommendations regarding the fu
ture development of the Evans
and the Medical Sciences Librar
ies. Results of the study will be re
ported to the Senate by April.
In the Committee of the
Whole, several senators admo
nished Jackie Sherrill for making
“blatant political endorsements
with the 12th Man T-shirt.”
The Committee of the Whole
also discussed the rumor circulat
ing in the College of Architecture
that procedures are being vio
lated with regard to new courses.
In further action, the senate
approved the addition of I I new
courses.
The senate also revised its by
laws.
are prone to violence, have been
linked to two other slayings nation
wide, and a multitude of criminal
acts against blacks, Asians, Jews and
homosexuals.
“I think that what has happened is
very tragic, the ultimate manifesta
tion of racial hatred,” said Avel
Gordly, associate executive secretary
of Portland’s American Friends
Service Committee, which works for
peace and social justice issues.
“It needs to be seen as something
that has occurred because of the
overall racial climate in this coun
try,” Gordly said.
Gordly, who also is a member of
the Black United Front of Oregon
Inc., called for elected officials to
put all their resources to work on
stopping such attacks.
“We need to hear that these acts
will not be tolerated and that the
perpetrators will be prosecuted to
the full extent of the law,” she said.
Herman Brame, executive assis
tant for the Black United Fund, said
local black leaders were discussing
ways to exert pressure on white-su
premacist groups.
Police spokesman Dave Simpson
said Monday that investigators had
no leads in finding the men who at
tacked Mulugeta Seraw, 27, Wond-
wosen Tesfaye, 24, and Tilahule
Antneh, 31. He said they may be
skinheads.
The Northwest Coalition Against
Malicious Harassment last month
identified Oregon as a “hotbed” of
skinhead activity. In Portland, skin
heads have been linked to various
acts of vandalism and at least two as
saults, including the beating of an
Asian man in March.
About 2,000 skinheads are active
in 21 states, according to a report is
sued last month by the Anti-Defama
tion League of. B’nai Brith, which
surveys race- or religion-motivated
crimes.
Portland and the Northwest are
ripe for such activity because so few
members of minority groups live
here, Brame said. The Northwest
has been targeted by white suprema
cist groups as the site for an Aryan
“homeland.”
Asked if Portland police were tra
cking skinhead activity, Simpson
would say only that the intelligence
unit is aware of some of their activ
ities.
“Being a gang member isn’t
against the law,” he said. “We deal
with people who violate the law.”
Seraw was pronounced dead at
Emanuel Hospital & Health Center,
where the two survivors were treated
and released.
Antneh and Tesfaye told police
that three men and two women
pulled up in a car when they
dropped Seraw off at his apartment
in a primarily white neighborhood
early Sunday.
The three men beat Seraw with a
baseball bat and kicked him, Antneh
said, and beat the other two when
they tried to intervene. He said the
attack lasted no more than two min
utes.
“The women inside the car were
shouting. They were saying ‘Let’s kill
him. Kick him,”’ Antneh told The
Oregonian newspaper. “They (the
men) never said anything. They just
jumped us.”
By Fiona Soltes
Staff Writer
The crowd waited anxiously along the sides of
a crimson carpet leading to the new station’s plat
form as balloons and banners fluttered in the
breeze.
The A&M Consolidated High School Band be
gan an upbeat march, and with a long whistle,
the train pulled into the station.
But the cheers of the crowd weren’t from the
scene of small-town America years ago. They
came from about 500 Bryan and College Station
residents welcoming back a piece of history —the
first passenger train to stop in College Station for
30 years.
Amtrak’s Texas Eagle line, which begins its
first public run today, made an inaugural trip
Monday for about 100 dignitaries from Bryan-
College Station, Dallas, Corsicana and Houston,
stopping for a ceremony in College Station at
12:45 p.m.
Fred Brown, College Station City Council
member and liaison between Amtrak and Col
lege Station, was master of ceremonies for the
event.
“This train brings with it a lot of opportunities
for the community,” Brown told the crowd. “Be
fore, it brought short-term visitors and long-term
residents to the community. History can now re
peat itself.”
Brown said the last passenger train that
stopped at College “Station,” thus giving the
town its name, was the Southern Pacific Owl that
ran until June 8, 1958. It ran for 86 years, but
ended its run because other transportation meth
ods became more practical, he said.
The new station, on Marion Pugh Boulevard,
eventually will become a railroad museum about
the first station in the area, then located on Well
born Road.
Robert Smith, vice president of finance and
operations at Texas A&M, told the group that
the first train to stop in College Station was espe
cially important to A&M.
“The passenger rail brought students by the
thousands home for the holidays, to football
games and was responsible for bringing young
ladies in to the University for dances and other
events,” Smith said. “Without the rail service, the
school would not have survived. It certainly
wotild have been more difficult for it to flourish.”
College Station Mayor Larry Ringer and
Bryan Mayor Marvin Tate also gave speeches,
both saying they were pleased with the Amtrak’s
decision to add the new stop and excited about
the opportunities it presents to the community.
“The excitement throughout the community is
evident,” Ringer said. “Especially exciting is the
fact that this is happening in College Station’s
50th year. It sure makes explaining the name a
lot easier.”
The crowd, which included dignitaries about
to board the train bound for Houston, those who
had arrived on the train from Dallas and many
Bryan-College Station residents, seemed equally
enthusiastic about the new service.
E.C. McLarty was especially excited because
his father was the engineer of the last passenger
train to stop in College Station.
“He would be delighted,” McLarty said. “As
for me, I’m tickled to death. I’m pleased to see
them bringing passenger service back to the area.
And today’s turnout indicates there’s a lot of in
terest.”
Those who rode the train in from Dallas said
they also were pleased with the new service.
Raymond Bates, London coordinator for Con
tinental Airlines, was one of the dignitaries on
the train.
“Everyone was very personable and caring,
and the service was great,” Bates said. “This new
service is going to give the airlines a run for their
money, and I’m glad to see it.
“Amtrak has a different attitude — they have a
commitment to care. If the customers will sup
port it, the new line will definitely succeed.”
Amtrak’s assistant vice president for opera
tions, Jim Larson, also attended the inaugura
tion.
“Today, we present you with the Texas Eagle,”
Larson said. “In plans made in 1971, we had a
dotted line running from Dallas to Houston say
ing, ‘start up date to be announced.’ It took us 17
years to make that happen, but we finally made
it.”
And after 30 years without a station in College
Station, many think it’s about time.
Radio Moscow declares launch
of space shuttle Buran success
MOSCOW (AP) — The Soviet
Union successfully launched its
space shuttle Buran on its first, un
manned voyage early Tuesday, offi
cial Radio Moscow said.
The radio made the announce
ment just minutes after the sched
uled 6 a.m. launch Tuesday (10 p.m.
EST Monday) from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Soviet Central Asia.
It gave no details of the launch,
but the timing indicated the count
down had gone smoothly despite
fears that rising wind and ice would
halt the launch for a second time.
Technicians were concerned that
the shuttle 'Buran — which is Rus
sian for snowstorm — and its giant
booster rocket, Energia, might get
covered with a coat of ice.
Correspondent Sergei Slip-
chenko, referring to a failed attempt
to launch Buran last month, said, “If
the wind rises into a squall and the
orbital vehicle (and) Energia become
covered with a crust of ice, then
launch time will be changed again.”
U.S. officials won’t launch their
space shuttle if there is ice on the
booster rocket or orbiter, and cold
temperatures contributed to the fail
ure of booster rocket seals that led to
the Challenger disaster in 1986.
Technicians began fueling the
198-foot Energia — the world’s
mightest booster rocket — with
nearly 2,000 tons of liquid hydrogen,
oxygen and kerosene, state-run Ra
dio Moscow reported Monday night.
Workers at the Soviet space center
in the republic of Kazakhstan, toil
ing in the glow of nearly 700 spot
lights, labored overnight to prepare
the gleaming white, triangular
winged Buran for its computer-pi
loted flight, Tass said.
Buran is to separate from the En
ergia once it is aloft, fly twice around
the Earth on fully automatic control,
then land at a special 2.7-mile con-
HOUSTON (AP) — Rice Univer
sity student Michael Grubbs says he
entered the homecoming queen con
test as a joke, but he still wants the
privilege of representing the school
at the annual Cotton Bowl game pa
rade New Year’s Day.
Thejunior from Plano said he be
lieves Cotton Bowl officials have re
acted by deciding, “It’s a joke, we
want it to end here.” But he has no
plans of dropping the matter until
he understands why he can’t have
the honor he was voted to receive.
“I’d love to go,” Grubbs said. “I
deserve to. I won.”
However, school officials have
been unwilling to play along with the
joke that began when Grubbs’ friend
started distributing a petition that
enabled him to win.
Crete runway eight miles from its
launch pad at Baikonur.
The first try at putting the reusa
ble space vehicle into orbit was
scrubbed Oct. 29 with only 51 sec
onds left in the countdown, when an
access arm did not pull far enough
away from the spaceship and com
puters automatically stopped the
launch.
V. Filin, the deputy chief engineer
“I was supposed to be presented
at the homecoming game, but that
didn’t happen,” Grubbs said of Sat
urday’s match against Baylor.
“I have no idea why,” he added. “I
tried to call some people, but I got
the big run-around.”
The athletic department directed
Grubbs to the student association,
which sent him to talk to Rice
cheerleaders. “They said, ‘We have
nothing to do with it,’” he said in
frustration.
The snub comes from a school
whose students elected a refrigera
tor as their homecoming queen seve
ral years ago.
Rice’s homecoming queen usually
represents Rice at the Cotton Bowl
in Dallas, but the Cotton Bowl com-
for the booster rocket, blamed the
failure on a joint between the access
tower and the spacecraft.
Few technical details have been
made public about the Buran, a
lookalike to the U.S. shuttle, and
state-run media have only indirectly
indicated its cost.
The Buran can carry up to 10 cos
monauts, Tass said.
mittee vetoed his appearance,
Grubbs said.
“I’m not really mad about it,” he
said. “It was kind of a joke. I ran, I
had fun, but I don’t think it’s right to
get jerked around ... I won fair and
square.”
Rice President George Rupp said
to the Houston Post, “He has not
talked to me, and I have no com
ment about it.”
After his friend started circulating
the nominating petition, Grubbs
said, “I got a lot of encouragement,
so I ran and won,” he said of the ac
complishment he is not embarrassed
of receiving.
His parents were among those
who appreciated the joke, sending
him a congratulatory bouquet of
long-stemmed red roses.
Rice homecoming ‘queen’
denied traditional honors