Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1989)
Texas A&M The Battalion Tuesday, November ii>, i98G College Station^ Texas Vol. 88 No. 57 USPS 045360 Pages Jennifer Diehl, a junior journalism major from Houston, steps up Monday to examine one of five statues in the exhibit “Mindless Competition” dis played near Rudder Tower. The statues are part of The First Texas Triennial exhibition brought to campus by the Office of University Art Collections and Exhibitions. The statues are made of foam rubber and steel. Motorcycle chase ends in death, spurs riot in Miami neighborhood MIAMI (AP) — About 75 people burned cars and threw rocks Mon day at police who had fired at a mo torcycle during a chase that ended in a wreck and the death of one suspect and the injury of another, authori ties said. About 125 police officers in riot gear closed off an area about 17 blocks by nine blocks in the predom inately black neighborhood just north of downtown, which has been the site of major racial strife in the past. Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez de clared the riot “contained” about five hours later. School officials an nounced five schools in the area would be closed Tuesday. Several officers hit by rocks and bottles were treated at the scene, po lice said. At least two cars were set afire, two news vehicles attacked with rocks and several people who wandered into the area were hit by rocks, authorities said. Miami police were placed on full alert, with overnight shifts called in early, and the Florida Highway Pa trol and Metro police placed on standby. The incident began about 5:45 p.m. on the Martin Luther King hol iday when police started chasing a motorcycle with two possible rob bery suspects, police Sgt. Michael Mazur said. Police started shooting, and the motorcycle ran into a car, Mazur said. NAACP accuses DPS of racial discrimination AUSTIN (AP) — NAACP offi cials on Monday filed a complaint against the Texas Department of Public Safety, alleging the state’s law enforcement agency discriminates against black employees through an entrenched “good old boy” system of favoritism. The complaint was filed with the federal Equal Employment Oppor tunity Commission on behalf of SO black troopers and support staff, said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Austin chapter of the National Asso ciation for the Advancement of Col ored People. The complaint alleges disparities in treatment between black and white employees in hiring, promo tions, and disciplinary actions at the DPS. DPS officials disputed the NAACP, saying progress has been made to increase minorities in the ranks. The DPS has more than 5,000 em- ployees, of which 2.600 are commis sioned law officers, said spokesman Mike Cox. Cox said that as of last April, 2 1 .<S percent of the personnel in law en forcement were minorities, up from 9.6 percent 10 years ago. “We think there’s been some very positive improvement over the last 10 years. We were working to make things better even before the original NAACP concerns were expressed and will continue to do so,” he said. A recent survey by the Texas State Troopers Association showed that many of its members believe a “good old boy” system exists and promo tions frequently have little to do with an employee’s abilities. “It’s unlikely that a good old bov is going to include a black and it sure isn’t going to include a female,” Bledsoe said at a news conference. That charge was denied by Col. Joe E. Milner, DPS director. “I reject that,” Milner said. “Our promotional system is very fair, and we welcome any examination of it.” Bledsoe said the department’s oral interview committee has dispro portionately disqualified blacks and Hispanics from promotions; that blacks are penalized more harshly than white employees who commit the same violations; and that black recruiting numbers are consistently too low 7 . Bledsoe declined to give detailed examples, saying the EEOC com plaint is an anonymous process and that the NAACP still is gathering in formation. Charles Arnold, a custodian at the DPS, said he has worked there 15 years and w 7 as passed over for a pro motion by a white employee. Arnold said the DPS did not even list the job to inform employees about the opening. “I feel neglected,” he said. “I just wanted to be treated fair.” 1989-90 academic calendar approved by Faculty Senate By Juliette Rizzo Staff Writer The Texas A&M Faculty Senate approved the 1989-90 academic cal endar Monday. The calendar will now be sub mitted to President William H. Mob ley for final approval. Spring break is tentatively sched uled for the week of March 13-17 and final exams for the spring se mester are tentatively scheduled for Friday May 5 and Monday through Wednesday May 8-10. An amendment to the calendar proposed by Sen. Richard Shumway also was approved by the Senate. The amendment, which pertains to upcoming summer sessions, states that “degree candidates in all semes ters and sessions shall sit for final ex aminations with other students in the registered class.” The intent of the proposal is to have all students in a given course take final examinations at the same time to allow professors equal time to grade all exams. The second part of the amendment states that the amount of time for the faculty to grade final examinations shall not be less than the time granted during the fall 1988 semester, when Presi dent Mobley approved the revised finals schedule and a minimum of two days for professors to grade ex ams. Speaker Gary Hart said the ad dendum to the schedule has been proposed because it is impossible for all students to take finals at the same time and for professors to get grades in on time to have actual diplomas distributed at graduation. 2 Dallas teens remain in jail for murder of police officers DALLAS (AP) — Two teen-agers remained in cus tody Monday while police prepared to present the dis trict attorney with formal charges for the youths’ role in a car chase that led to the deaths of two police officers. The youths, 17-year-old Ray Earvin McLin Jr. and a 16-year-old whose identity won’t be released because he is a juvenile, were held on probable cause charges of murder, police spokesman Bill Bateman said. Officers Lisa Sandel and Mark Fleming were killed when their police cruiser went out of control and crashed into an oncoming pickup on a rain-slickened street during a chase Friday night. An officer-trainee riding in the back seat of the car and the driver of the pickup were injured. McLin was in the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in lieu of a $100,000 bond and the 16-year-old was in Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center. Bond has not been set, but police will try to have the teen-ager certified as an adult, Davis said. Bateman said the police units investigating different facets of the case would have to get together to decide what charges would be formally presented to the dis trict attorney. Police arrested McLin early Monday after question ing the 16-year-old, who was brought to them by his mother Sunday night. Police believe the youths were in the stolen 1985 Old- smobile 98 Sandel and Fleming chased, but detective Roy Hodgens said it was too early to discuss the specific roles the youths may have played in the car theft and chase. “The one person who’d probably be the best witness is the officer who is still in the hospital,” Bateman said. The recruit, Nathaniel White, 25, was in serious con dition Monday in the intensive care unit at Baylor Uni versity Medical Center, officials said. Police have been unable to question White because he has been heavily sedated, Bateman said. Police said the juvenile had stolen two cars Friday. Both cars were recovered Saturday and property miss ing from one was found in the other. Texans honor King with parades, vigils Official: MLK passed torch to new leaders About 15,000 people, marching from four directions, converged on Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza in San Antonio Monday for the largest Texas commemoration of the holi day honoring the civil rights leader. Marchers gathered at sites up to four miles away from the plaza and met at noon for speeches by city leaders and Numonde Ngubo, a rep resentative of the Black African Miners from South Africa and United Mine Workers of America End Apartheid in South Africa. The Texas Senate adopted a reso lution Monday on the “joyous yet solemn occasion” commemorating the life “of one of the most influen tial men of the 20th century, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” Co-sponsors were the Senate’s two blacks — Eddie Bernice Johnson, D- Dallas, and Craig Washington, D- Houston. “Probably Dr. King was one of the greatest friends of this nation and this world, for he fought for the rights of all while teaching to love all at all times,” Johnson said. Johnson and state Rep. Ron Wil son, D-Houston, have filed legis lation to make King’s birthday an of ficial state holiday. Federal and many municipal and county workers had the day off, but state agencies were open. During the last legislative session, lawmakers made King’s birthday an ‘optional’ holiday for state employ ees, allowing them to observe it in lieu of another state optional holi day. Washington said the state should make King’s birthday a full holiday By Richard Tijerina Staff Writer Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered 21 years ago this April, he has not been forgotten, and the torch he carried promoting civil rights has been passed on to the black leaders of today, a Texas A&M official says. Kevin Carreathers, coordinator of the A&M Multicultural Services Center, said today’s civil rights lead ers such as Jesse Jackson and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young are paving the way toward racial equality while carrying the dreams of King. “(The leaders) are doing an excel lent job because they have a clear fo cus on what goals need to be accom plished and they are well-respected by society at large,” Carreathers said. Carreathers said King’s legacy of promoting racial equality was espe cially crucial to blacks in the 1960s by bringing the issue to the public eye. and suggested combining it with an other optional holiday, Confederate Heroes’ Day, celebrated Jan. 19. “I know that my colleagues on this side of the rotunda have the courage to combine Confederate Heroes Day with Martin Luther King’s birthday because there’s nothing wrong with it — they’re both heroes in the eyes of people who love freedom,” Wash ington said. Most Texas colleges were open as were some school districts. “He raised the conscience level of the country,” he said. “He was very instrumental in promoting access for equal employment and educational opportunities. “Specifically, he did a whole lot to improve (blacks’) self-concept and their self-pride, to be able to feel good about themselves and to chal lenge the system they were under in those times.” Reginald Martin, a member of Al pha Phi Alpha and co-chairman of the Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference at A&M on Jan. 26-29, said King was not only instrumental in helping the country find its way toward civil rights, but helped black Americans be proud of themselves. Martin said Medicine Tribe, a group of A&M students advocating a boycott of all classes and food serv ices on campus, was wrong for pro- The Corpus Christi Independent School District, after giving students the day off last January, voted in March to drop the King birthday and Memorial Day from the list of school holidays. Responding to protests of local black leaders, CCISD officials voted to compromise and hold class Mon day but dismiss students two hours earlier than normal. “But rather than take a holiday, the district decided to have a regular testing the University’s decision to hold classes on King’s birthday. “I respect them (the group) be cause they have a goal they want to accomplish and they’re working to ward that goal,” he said. “However, I think they’re going about it the wrong way because I don’t think Martin Luther King would have wanted that.” The Multicultural Services Center provides many means of helping mi nority students at A&M, including scholarship and internship informa tion and different ethnic programs. He said more services such as the ones the Center provides should be offered to minorities at A&M. “You can increase the amount of scholarship money,” he said. “We can do more to see the courses being taught are from a more multicultu ral perspective. We can change the tenure progress for minority fac ulty.” Carreathers and Martin said even day and early dismissal so kids could participate in any community activ ities going on,” Chris Garcia, CCISD information officer, said. About 50 people marched in an hour-long demonstration organized by the NAACP outside the Grand Prairie school district office, police said. The district held classes Mon day. “There was a small opposition group, but they stayed across the street,” Grand Prairie police Sgt. with King’s fight toward civil rights, racial discrimination is still evident today. Martin said he feels discrimi nation will never go away. “Discrimination is discrimina tion,” Martin said. “I think it is a problem that will never go away, be cause it will never be universally ac cepted that there is no difference (between blacks and whites).” Carreathers said even though there is still discrimination today, so ciety must realize blacks and hispan ics are no different than whites. “I think people need to realize we are moving toward a more global so ciety,” Carreathers said. “People have to realize the minority of today is fast becoming the majority of to morrow. And until you are able to come to grips with that, it’s going to be very difficult for you if you are a white in America in the year 2000 because you won’t be in the majori ty” Ron Meine said of the demonstation. “Everything was quite orderly.” Meine said police did not identify the opposition group. In Houston, the holiday was marked with a parade through downtown and various church serv ices and vigils throughout the city. Ovide Duncantel, of the Houston Black Heritage Society, said black people should do their best to recog nize King’s birthday. Gunman opens fire at day care PLANO (AP) — A gunman at a day care center opened fire Mon day on a woman who had come to pick up her children, and the wounded mother fled to a bowl ing alley for help and later died of her wound at a hospital, police said. Laurie Lee Newman, 25, of Richardson, died at a Plano hos pital of a gunshot wound to her right side, said Jon Giddings, a police investigator and public in formation officer in this North Dallas suburb. He said police were securing warrants for the gunman’s arrest. “We know who he is, we are getting warrants for his arrest and we are looking all over for him,” Giddings said. He said that officers were caUed to the Plano Super Bowl, a bowling alley where Newman had driven while fleeing from her at tacker. “She drove to La Petite Aca demy at 4:30 p.m. to pick up her two children,” Giddings said in a statement. “When she pulled into the parking lot, the suspect pulled up directly in front of her, exited his vehicle and began fir ing a large-caliber handgun.” Giddings said the first bullet apparently lodged in the wind shield of Newman’s car, while the second pierced a passenger-side window and struck her.