10
Texas A&M
i man
lelee
ml Cole said no
The suspect was
;s of crack and a
iger in his pod-
enced in 1974 to
xas robbery con-
had a 1967 rob-
ais record, Cole
fid not know the
t case.
med off four in-
e 22-block hous-
and summoned
lice officers and
(|uell the distur-
ought us and
f our detectives
e nose,” Lt. Jesse
officers received
ncluding the de-
n the arrest,who
en nose, police
owner of Bex-
i t he neighbor-
is looted a gro-
it was set on fire,
oke it, it took 10
d they cleared it
me went in, then
ng out windows
1 choir members
a nee Tabernacle
an organ and
nto a truck as a
i 10-gauge shot-
W FLA- I V van,
•ne Moore said.
; empty after the
iid Moore, who
‘‘I almost went
n. That’s what
I guess the little
ball.”
s been the site of
j s. In October
bottle-throwing
d black teen-age
vehicle that ran
he driver fled.
The Battalion
WEATHER
FORECAST tor THURSDAY:
Mostly cloudy with slight chance
of snow flurries or rain.
HIGH:mid 40s
LOW:mid 30s
Vol. 88 No. 91 USPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, February 8,1989
ecord cold spell leaves nation on ice
SOCIATED PRESS
Idaho National Guard troops
Tuesday helped rescue livestock
Banded by 15-foot snow drifts that
have buried hundreds of other ani
mals, while the nation’s deadly cold
Map pushed temperatures to record
(’lows in several states.
■ Some California citrus growers
feared the arctic air has caused mil-
; lions of dollars in crop damage. And
i| Las Vegas, which dropped to a re-
|x>rd-low 16 degrees, sheets of ice
Bvered casino fountains and back-
lyard swimming pools.
B; But Mardi Gras revelers didn’t let
a little cold stop them. Men in mini
skirts pranced through New Or-
Jfeans' French Quarter in near-freez
ing weather, as others pitched tents
|jong parade routes.
H “I live to just go up and down the
preet and get my picture taken,”
pid a man in black lace corset, gar-
prs and goosebumps who declined
• tlbe identified.
I At least 79 deaths have been
Mamed on the cold weather since
Ijan. 31, when frigid air blew out of
Rlaska and into the lower 48 states.
I Schools were closed in parts of Al-
jabama, Colorado, Idaho, Missis-
■ppi, New Mexico, Oregon, and
■exas. Scattered power outages
Here reported in several states, in-
Huding Texas, Utah, Colorado and
pississippi.
I Snow fell over parts of New Mex-
po>, Texas, from northern New York
|ate across northern Ohio, the up-
er Great Lakes, Minnesota and
lorth Dakota.
Weather leads to student death
Freshman Bryan Chee of Squadron 1
braces himself for a hard spill Sunday af
ternoon outside Dorm 5. Chee, on his way
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
to lunch, “fell” victim to the icy conditions
that hit the Bryan-College Station area last
weekend.
ongress, Bush kill pay increase
By Richard Tijerina
STAFF WRITER
A Texas A&M student was killed
and another seriously injured Sun
day night in a traffic collision on
U.S. 190 in Milam County.
Valerie Hurta, 21, a junior mar
keting major from Jersey Village,
was killed when the car in which she
was riding skidded on the icy roads
and collided with an oncoming car.
The driver of the car in which
Hurta was riding, Jana Rae Debord,
20, a junior secondary education
major from Pasadena, suffered bro
ken ribs and a lung injury. She was
in fair condition Monday night at
Scott and White Hospital in Temple.
The driver of the other car,
Thomas Fleck, 40, of Fort Hood,
was listed in fair condition Monday
night. He suffered bruises and possi
ble internal injuries.
Although Hurta’s death was the
only fatality reported among A&M
students because of the weather, icy
roads and extremely low tempera
tures were responsible for numerous
accidents on campus.
Statistics for the total number of
students treated at the health center
for weather-related injuries, and the
total number of traffic accidents that
the University police were called to,
will be made available today.
Dr. Jack Moore, clinic director of
the health center, said most students
who came in for treatment over the
weekend had injuries resulting from
the weather conditions. He said that
none of the injuries were serious,
and most were caused by students’
horseplay on the ice.
“It was young people who were
mostly acting foolishly and trying to
ice-skate in their shoes,” Moore said.
“They’d just end up busting their
chins and eyebrows.”
However, Dr. Malon Southerland,
director of the health center, said all
of the accidents reported to the cen
ter were not necessarily caused by
recklessness. Rather, they resulted
from the ice on the ground causing
students to lose their balance.
“A lot of them (accidents) hap
pened just strictly because of the
weather — not because of horse
play,” Southerland said. “You’re
walking down the street and you just
fall down. You fall on your face and
bust your teeth out. There were po
tential broken wrists, light concus
sions and just a myriad of accidents
that were related to falls.”
Southerland said the health cen
ter treated 78 students on Monday,
although most were only minor cuts
that simply required suturing. He
also said the center treated at least
one student with a broken collar
bone.
The University Police Depart
ment also was busy this weekend.
UPD officers on patrol spent much
of their time helping students in
volved in traffic accidents.
Numerous students ran into prob
lems when they lost control of their
cars on the icy roads. FM 2818 was
closed Monday night when condi
tions became too hazardous to drive.
Traveling on area roads was discour
aged by local authorities because of
unsafe driving conditions.
A spokesman for the UPD said
most of the accidents were caused by
hazardous road conditions.
“Obviously, most were caused by
the ice, both getting stuck and by los
ing control and hitting something,”
Mike Buckley, a patrol sergeant for
the UPD, said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress voted
iuesday to take away its 51 percent pay raise,
pel President Bush signed away the controver-
al measure hours before the midnight deadline.
I Lawmakers were anxious to end the public
lutcry against the $45,500 increase, which left
tfiem feeling, in the words of one representative,
like “cannon fodder for trash television and talk
radio.”
First, the House voted to reject the raise by a
[ote of 380-48. Less than three hours later, the
enate followed suit by a vote of 94-6.
The raise would have become law at midnight
ithout Bush’s signature on the resolution reject
ing it. Bush had supported the raise but went
long with Congress, signing the measure hours
fter the congressional votes.
The congressional votes also denied raises for
tbp federal executives and federal judges. Some
lawmakers predicted that defeating the raises
would accelerate an exodus from government
service.
Indeed, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
said in a statement,“I deeply regret the congres
sional action, which has prevented the federal
judges in this country from receiving a well-de-
rved pay raise. ... We will not be able to attract
nd retain the kind of judges we need . . . unless
ire pay our judges fairly and equitably.”
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan.,
said Bush told Senate Republicans Tuesday he
might ask Congress to approve lesser raises for
the judges and executives.
With its votes, Congress rejected raises pro
posed by a presidential commission and en
dorsed by then-President Reagan. Senators and
representatives would have seen their salaries
rise from $89,500 to $135,000.
During less than 30 minutes of debate, the
Senate heard Jesse Helms, R-N.C. and a foe of
the raise, proclaim that the vote shows the Amer
ican people that “you can fight city hall and you
can take on the Congress of the United States
with all its legerdemain and all its legislative abil
ity.”
The Senate last week voted 95-5 against the
raise, but the wording of that resolution differed
from the House version approved Tuesday. Sen.
James Jeffords, R-Vt., who had voted against the
raise, voted for it Tuesday.
Jeffords said he cast his vote Tuesday to make
clear his view that judges are badly in need of a
pay raise and because, unlike last week’s mea
sure, this one did not curtail lawmakers’ rights to
make speeches for fees.
The other senators voting to sustain the raise
were Democrats Christopher Dodd of Connecti
cut, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and
Spark Matsunaga of Hawaii; and Republicans
Frank Murkowski of Alaska and Ted Stevens of
Alaska.
Despite the overwhelming House margin,
members were clearly torn between their desire
for a pay raise and the public scorn heaped upon
them for considering the increase.
The chamber applauded loudly when Rep.
Dan Rostenkowski, D-I1L, told colleagues in a
rousing speech before the vote, “Each member of
this House, Democrat and Republican, is worth a
salary of $135,000 a year.”
The irony of the House’s dilemma was re
flected when Rep. Vic Fazio, D-Calif., a pay raise
defender, introduced the resolution to reject the
increase — but voted against the resolution.
Fazio chided his colleagues for not having “the
courage to speak out” in their own defense and
said, “We became cartoon cannon fodder for
trash television and talk radio.”
He added, “There are Supreme Court justices
who make less than their clerks the day after they
(the clerks) retire and go into private practice.”
Left dangling by Congress’ action were ethics
reforms that lawmakers had hoped to pass once
the raise became law.
These included a ban on fees for speeches and
appearances in both houses. A bipartisan House
negotiating group also had agreed to do away in
1991 with a legal loophole that allowed 190
House members — those in office before 1980 —
to accumulate $39 million in leftover campaign
cash, which can be converted to personal use.
Blood drive benefits
B-CS area residents
ush budget freezes defense spending
:ard
WELC0W :
I WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi-
fflent Bush plans to send Congress a
■1.16 trillion budget for fiscal 1990
on Thursday that would freeze mili-
»ry spending at the level of inflation
to help pay for new domestic initia-
Bves, administration aides said Tues
day.
i Bush himself said his budget
[Would make a “strong beginning” to
ward the major campaign promises
he made during a 1988 campaign in
which he repeatedly evoked a
Ekinder and gentler nation.”
H In a major change of emphasis,
Mush will reject former President
Reagan’s call for a 2 percent rise in
defense spending above inflation
and propose increases in dozens of
categories that Reagan sought to
slash, said officials who spoke on the
condition of anonymity.
I [ Bush’s budget outline, a 125-page
rewrite of the lame-duck budget
Reagan submitted last month, was
pronounced “pretty well finalized”
oy Bush on Tuesday.
He spoke briefly with reporters
during a final budget session with
Budget Director Richard G. Dar-
Rian, Vice President Dan Quayle,
ll’reasury Secretary Nicholas Brady
and White House economist Michael
Boskin.
Then, Bush went to Capitol Hill,
where he told both Republican and
Democratic groups he would reach
ut to Congress to try to forge a con
sensus budget.
i “I am under no illusions that we
are going to keep everybody happy,”
Bush told a luncheon of Senate Re
publicans.
;? Of his new budget plan, Bush
said, “It will meet my fundamental
commitments made to the American
people in terms of not going out
there and raising taxes. It will make,
I think, a strong beginning in some
of the areas that a lot of us talked
about in the past campaign: the envi
ronment, education, certainly anti
narcotics ...”
Bush also visited with the Senate
Democrats, delivering essentially the
same message, and then met in
closed sessions with House Republi
can leaders and House Speaker Jim
Wright.
House Minority Leader Bob
Michel told reporters afterward that
Bush also mentioned child care in
his list of initiatives that would be re
flected in Thursday’s budget plan.
Bush decided on the defense
freeze in budget sessions over the
weekend, including one attended by
Defense Secretary-designate John
Tower, sources said.
Defense spending would be held
to the rate of inflation for fiscal
1990, then allowed to rise slightly
over inflation in later years, the
sources said.
Reagan, in a budget largely ig
nored by Congress, had proposed
increasing defense spending author
ity to $315.2 billion for the fiscal
year that begins next Oct. 1 from
$298.8 billion in the current year.
In holding defense spending to
the level of inflation, Bush would
free up a potential of about $6 bil
lion in spending authority.
However, in terms of cash “out
lays” that could actually be spent in
fiscal 1990, the amount gained by
Bush from the maneuver would be
closer to $2 billion.
Bush will squeeze another several
billion dollars from other areas of
the budget by making use of what
one budget official described Tues
day as “wiggle room” in the Reagan
plan.
Bush’s combined campaign
pledges would cost close to $6 bil
lion, including proposals for a
$1,000 child care tax credit for low
income families, for a $500 million
National School Merit program, for
beefed-up federal programs for the
homeless and for an aggressive pro
gram to combat acid rain.
By Kelly S. Brown
STAFF WRITER
A blood donor’s job might be fin
ished when the needle is removed
from his arm, but the effects of what
he has done will continue in some
one else’s bloodstream.
Up to seven patients can be
helped by the blood from one do
nor.
Texas A&M faculty, students and
staff will have the opportunity to
give blood today through Friday at
Rudder Fountain and the Com
mons.
“A Gift From The Heart” is this
semester’s theme for The Central
Texas Red Cross Blood Center’s
drive sponsored at A&M by the Ag
gie Blood Drive Committee.
The A&M drive helps push Bra
zos County toward the Community
Blood Services’ goal to have blood
collections equal blood usage.
Officials* are hoping the Brazos
County collection deficiencies will
disappear.
Brazos County met its goal of do
nating the amount of blood used in
1986 and 1987, but this year Brazos
County is behind in blood donations.
Lynda Faulkenbery, assistant ad
ministrator and director of donor
resources, said Bryan-College Sta
tion has used more than 1,000 more
units than the community is donat
ing and that other communities are
having to meet the needs of Bryan-
College Station.
Officials said every 17 seconds
someone is in need of blood, and in
order to maintain a stable blood sup
ply in the Central Texas Red Cross
Region, 170 units must be collected
per day. It serves more than 30 hos
pitals in 29 counties.
The goal for this week’s drive at
A&M is 800 units.
“This is where students should re
alize that they can make the differ
ence,” Faulkenbery said. “What
many students and faculty don’t re
alize is that whether they give or not,
they and their immediate families
are covered by the Central Red
Cross Blood Program on the basis
that they have residency in Brazos
County.”
Faulkenbery said even if a patient
needs blood outside the area, tjiey
merely need to notify the Central
Texas Red Cross to arrange it.
“All we ask in return is that able
residents place back in the system
what the community is using,” Faul
kenbery said. “And the community
can not do that unless the University
is helping them.”
Julie Wall, a senior Spanish major
See Blood drive/Page 10
GOP senators: FBI report clears Tower
Nunn says concerns lingering about allegations
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Democratic chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Committee said
Tuesday he has lingering concerns
about allegations against John
Tower, but GOP senators said an
FBI report provides no grounds to
disqualify the defense secretary-des
ignate.
Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., said he
has “general concerns” and that
while they include the most recent
allegations of drinking and wom
anizing, they are “not limited to
them.”
“As much pressure as there is, we
ought to do something that is un
usual in Washington — we ought to
let the facts support the conclu
sions,” Nunn said. “What we have to
do this once is to let the time-hon
ored procedures go forward.”
Sen. John Warner of Virginia, the
ranking Republican on the commit
tee, said he was briefed by the White
House and, in turn, briefed the GOP
members of the committee about the
latest FBI inquiry into the allega
tions.
“The preliminary report pro
vides, at the judgment of White
House counsel, no basis on which
senators could find the factual situa
tion that would amount to any dis
qualification,” Warner said.
The allegations center on wom
anizing and drinking by the twice-di
vorced Tower, according to congres
sional sources. The committee last
Thursday put off a vote on whether
to recommend full Senate confirma
tion and asked the FBI to review the
allegations.
President Bush met with Nunn
for about 45 minutes — a meeting
requested by the committee chair
man, Warner said. The Tower nom
ination was among the topics dis
cussed, he said.
Warner said he has asked that
Nunn be briefed by the White
House and that the full committee
assemble to see the written FBI re-
As much pressure as
there is, we ought to do
something that is unusual
in Washington — we ought
to let the facts support the
conclusions.”
— Sam Nunn,
Senate Armed Services
Committee chairman
port, which was expected later in the
day.
But Nunn expressed irritation at
not being informed about the brief
ing.
“Obviously, there have been some
unofficial briefings going on that I
as chairman of the committee have
not been part of,” he said.
Nunn said he won’t be satisfied
with an oral report.
“I like to read the answers and re
flect on them,” he said. “You have to
put the whole picture together and
make your conclusions from it.”
Sen. James Sasser, D-Tenn.,
emerging from the Democratic cau
cus, said Nunn had told senators co
operation inside the panel was
“breaking down on partisan lines.”
Sen, John McCain, R-Ariz., a
member of the committee, said that
all the charges “that I know of were
without substance.”
“We can’t have an open-ended sit
uation where we’re going to wait un
til all the allegations are in,” he said.
“We have to have a vote.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who is
See Tower/Page 10