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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1989)
^ exas A&M rfhe Battalion Vol. 88 No. 76 USPS 045360 18 pages College Station, Texas Monday, January 16,1989 5 nations adopt new uman rights accord ■ VIENNA, Austria (A P) — M'ATO, the Warsaw Pact and 12 Ollier European nations Sunday wound up more than two years of Bird bargaining by adopting a hu- Han rights and security agreement Biled as historic by both superpow ers. ■ Romania, however, immediately ■ned notice it would not imple ment some provisions intended to enhance freedom lor millions in the Bviet bloc. BA text of Romania’s statement, which was made in a closed-door meeting and distributed later by its state news agency Agerpres, said Bu charest “takes no pledge” to stick to (fbmmitments on greater religious h edom and emigration. B U.S. Ambassador Warren Zim- Bennann dismissed the statement as “illegal” and “absurd.” B “We simply don’t take seriously the Romanian view that they’re at liberty to implement our document Bectively,” he told reporters. “They will pay a price for it if they try.” B In Czechoslovakia, meanwhile, riot police used water cannons, ba tons and dogs to break up crowds of almost 2,000 people at a banned in dependent rally just an hour after the accord was adopted. The document, adopted by con sensus of the 35 nations w ho signed the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, paves the way for new NATO-Warsaw Pact talks in March cm reducing con ventional forces across Europe. Secretary of State George Shultz, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard She vardnadze and their colleagues from 33 other nations are expected to dis cuss preparations for the new arms control talks when they meet in Vienna on Tuesday. The Vienna accord lays down greater freedom for East bloc citi zens to practice religion, travel or emigrate to the West; obtain and dis tribute information; and form groups to monitor government com pliance with human rights agreements. For the first time, the accord also gives Western and neutral govern ments the right to raise human rights issues with East bloc nations at any time. “It’s an excellent document, one that can play a historic role in the de velopment of the Helsinki process,” Zimmermann said. The 1975 Helsinki Final Act signed by the superpowers, Canada and all European nations except Al bania gave Moscow the recognition it long sought of the post-1945 divi sion of Europe. But it also put human rights firmly on the East-West agenda, where they have played an increas ingly important role. Western and East bloc diplomats were unanimous that Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s reforms in the Soviet Union and willingness to disarm contributed to the advances made at Vienna. One of the biggest sticking points of the 27-month conference was a human rights conference in Mos cow, scheduled for 1991. The release of more than 600 po litical prisoners, reunification of more than 100 divided families and a nine-year high in Jewish emigra tion persuaded the United States and Britain to agree this month to go to Moscow. Soviet Ambassador Yuri Kashlev said the agreement to hold the Mos cow conference constituted “interna tional recognition of the policies pursued by Gorbachev.” iTexas could get chance to rewrite abortion laws ■ AUSTIN (AP) — If the U.S. Su preme Com i gives Texas lawmakers the chance to rewrite the state’s abortion statutes, the current legis lature would outlaw the practice, say ai tivists on both sides of the issue. B The Supreme Court agreed last Beek to revisit the Roe vs. Wade else, a Dallas lawsuit that led to the llndmark ruling establishing a worn- ai’s right to abortion. ■ Before the Roe vs. Wade case cl allenged Texas’ abortion law in 1973, the statute was known as one oi the toughest in the United States. It remained virtually unchanged since ii went on the books in 1854 and permitted abortion only when a woman’s lif e w as endangered. ■ The Supreme Court’s decision on Be abortion matter is not expected until summer or fall, after the 71st Begislature adjourns. But activists say if the Supreme bun sent the issue back to the ates, most of the Texas lawmakers >w in of fice would ban abortion as |ng as there were exceptions for pe and incest or to save the wom- '’s life. “I think we’d put it back on the book,” Rep. Dan Kubiak, D-Rock- dale, told the Fort Worth Star-Tele gram. Kubiak, an abortion oppo nent, said his interest is due partly to his adopted children. Phyllis Dunham, executive direc tor of the Texas Abortion Rights Ac- Tganization pycotts A&M MLK day By Holly Beeson At Reporter A [ fubers of the off-campus or- ption Medicine Tribe will T, u ‘Jd Martin Luther Kings Jr.’s jday protesting the fact that *s are being held at Texas N u uNioi on the federal holiday. this day of remembrance of ( oiu" L|i r jgi us leader who was as- fed in 1^68, the mail won’t Tered and banks won't be iMedicine Tribe believes hould likewise observe the tfmd cancel classes. -Btudents deserve to have ! off to think about Martin i ling,” Kalahar savs. 1 he organization will he on amp us today reminding stu- lents of King's birthday. They dll also be passing out special joupons from Brazos Landing encouraging students to eat off ;ampus. “The protest wall be more like tn economk boycott,” Kalahar ays. He says they will be asking stu- lents not to spend any money on ampus. I: “With support and momentum ie can make a difference,” he ays. Medic ine 1 ribe was founded in esummer of 1988 by W-M stu- ents Derek Kalahar and Todd Joneycutt with the intent to m- ,tease awareness of various is- ues. “We’re an activist organiza- ion,” Kalahar, a sophomore psy chology major, said. We deal lath a variet v of social issues. "We will for the first time since Roe vs. Wade have a new lieutenant governor. That means we may have the first chance to pass an anti-abortion law since 1854.” — Bill Price director, Texas Coalition for Life tion League, said the group has a “tremendous fight” on its hands. “We probably have nine to 11 pro- choice votes in the Senate (among 31 members), maybe 40 to 50 votes in the (150-member) House.” Dunham said. “Draw your own conclusions. It looks grim.” Bill Price, director of the Texas Coalition for Life, said a major obstacle to passage of an anti-abor tion law is Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, w ho has the power to keep such legis lation from coming up for a vote. Hobby, a Democrat first elected in 1972, is considered no friend of the anti-abortion movement and is blamed by Price and others for pre venting several previous attempts to restrict abortion. Hobby will leave office in 1990. That, along with the timing of the Supreme Court's decision, make the 1990 elections important to activists on both sides of the issue. “We will for the first time since Roe vs. Wade have a new lieutenant governor,” Price said. “That means we may have the first cjiance to pass an anti-abortion law since 1854.” Dunham said for abortion rights advocates, the 1990 elections are a chance to choose lawmakers that more accurately mirror public senti ment about abortion. “As far as the Texas Legislature is concerned, in their attitudes toward abortion they are much more con servative — anti-abortion — than their constituents,” she said. “The vast majority of them are Anglo males from affluent backgrounds who may not be able to understand . . . the drastic effect limiting access to abortion has on women’s lives.” Although a major legislative battle over abortion is not expected for at least two years, opponents and sup porters of legalized abortion are planning to officially unveil their 1989 legislative packages later this week, to coincide with the 16th anni versary of the Roe vs. Wade decision Jan. 22. MLK remembered Claudette Arnold of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Choir sings during the fourth annual Gos- Photo by Jay Janner pelFest in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event was held Saturday at Lincoln Park. Texas expects to receive nod for super collider by Friday DALLAS (AP) — Texas could get the final nod as site for the super conducting super collider project as early as Monday, but officials say the confirmation definitely will be made by Friday when the Reagan adminis tration leaves office. A final, 10,000-page environmen tal impact statement officially was noted in the Federal Registry, En ergy Department spokesman Jeff Sherwood said. U.S. Energy Secretary John Her rington in November named Ellis County as site for the approximately $5 billion dollar atom smasher pro ject, pending the outcome of the en vironmental impact study. The 30- day waiting period is permitted for public commentary on the study. Texans passed a bond proposal in 1987 promising to kick in $1 billion to help cover such costs as building the super collider lab, electrical util ity capacity and for higher education and physics research projects. The 53-mile oval-shaped super collider underground tunnel project will yield about 4,000 construction jobs, some 3,500 permanent jobs, prestige in the scientific community and spinoffs for transporation, med icine, communications and defense. The Reagan administration is rec ommending $250 million be spent on the project in the 1990 fiscal year. Some $90 million of that appropria tion would be spent on research and development while the remaining $160 million would pay for initial construction of the project. “If approved by Congress, this will get us off to a strong start on building the superconducting super collider,” Sen. Phil Gramm said. The congressman whose district includes much of the supercollider site, Joe Barton, said he was pleased to see the proposed allocation in the Reagan budget. The Ennis Republican said he would lobby for even more first-year funding of the project. ■ Still, politicians in the six states passed over for the project — in cluding Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina and Ten nessee — are seeking independent confirmation that the site selection was done purely on scientific merits. “The 1 exas decision has a strong smell of White House politics,” Sen. Donald Riegle, D-Mich., said at the time of the November announce ment. Train crash kills more than 100 pilgrims MAIZDI KHAN, Bangladesh (AP) — A fast-moving train carrying pilgrims to a reli gious festival crashed head-on into a mail train Sunday, killing at least 110 people in Bangladesh’s worst railroad accident, off icials said. As many as 1,000 people were injured, in cluding 100 hospitalized in critical condition, they said. “Oh, God! Give brother back!" wailed 23- year-old Sunil Daniel, beating his chest and sobbing for his brother Susanta, who was killed. He was among thousands of anguished people who thronged fields near the wreck age of four derailed cars. Police tried to keep relatives and friends from trying to find loved ones among rows of bodies laid alongside the track in central Ban gladesh. “Hundreds of bodies were lined up on both sides of the two shattered trains,” said Syed Sirajul Huq, a businessman from Chitta gong who suffered minor injuries in the crash. Communications Secretary Manzurul Ka rim estimated at least 2,000 people were trav eling on the trains. It was difficult to be exact because many people were riding on roofs of the trains and between cars, he said. Government officials immediately ap pointed a commission to investigate the crash. Some railway of ficials said operators may not have known how to work a signaling system installed on Tuesday. “Human failure and wrong signaling may have caused the two trains to come on the same track, leading to the collision,” a senior railway official said on condition of anonym- ity. The express train, headed for the southern port city of Chittagong, and the Dhaka- bound mail slammed into each other outside Maizdi Khan village. “I saw coaches flying up to 15 feet as the collision occurred,” said one soldier, who did not want to be named. “It was a terrible scene with hundreds of passengers — men, women and children — shouting for help.” He was with 250 soldiers holding winter exercises nearby who arrived within moments of the accident to rescue those trapped inside the wreckage. Soldiers helped police, firefighters and vil lagers pull 100 bodies from the mangled coaches, according to the senior railway offi cial. Hundreds of injured were taken to hospi tals at Tongi, five miles north, and the capital Dhaka, 22 miles to the south, said Commu nications Minister Anwar Hussain. Railway officials said many involved in the crash were pilgrims traveling to Tongi, where hundreds of thousands of Moslems have gathered for Biswa Ejtema, or World Congre gation, Islam’s largest gathering after the Haj in Mecca. Prior to Sunday, the worst train crash in Bangladesh occurred Jan. 26, 1981, near northern Chuadanga, and killed at least 75 people. Bush advisers focus on changes in USSR WASHINGTON (AP) — George Bush's foreign policy team plans a sweeping review of U.S. strategic in terests to key on changes in the So viet Union and cope with economic competition from other countries, according to top aides. Bush has said that such a review would delay the resumption of arms talks with the Soviets from their scheduled resumption on Feb. 15. And the review is expected to change the Pentagon budget that President Reagan sent to Capitol Hill this month. Senior Bush aides, interviewed on condition of anonymity, said the goal is not a radical shift in U.S.-So- \iet relations or in American strate gic forces. Rather, the neyv administration wants to “do some long-range plan ning, to sort of look out ahead, to hy pothesize the kind of world that yve yvould like to see, and then to look at the kind of forces that are at yvork for or against that kind of world,” said one man who has been named to a senior post. T he neyv administration also plans to seek a diplomatic solution in Cen tral America, said a second senior foreign policy adviser to Bush. If the diplomatic effort fails to bring greater democracy to Nicara- am impressed with what Mr. Gorbachev says and I really think he wants better relations. ” — George B ush gua and end the leftist insurgency against U.S.-backed El Salvador, then the Bush administration might ask Congress to resume military aid to the Contra guerrillas, who have been fighting Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. In the Middle East, the adminis tration also will be seeking to deter mine yvhether an international peace conference is possible in the wake of statements by Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Ar afat that he opposes the use of ter rorism, said an aide. U.S.-Soviet relations likely yvill oc cupy center stage early in the new' administration.Bush has said that the reform policies of Soviet Presi dent Mikhail S. Gorbachev present new opportunities for the United States, but that the Kremlin leader has not changed the basic nature of the communist state. “I am impressed with yvhat Mr. Gorbachev says and I really think he wants better relations,” Bush said in a recent television interview. The improved climate in U.S.-So viet relations under Reagan and Gorbachev has started to change the shape of the world, said one Bush aide.