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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1989)
es < the AFL Hilton almoj ^t'ltansas an- th e sale offc s ' n ess to star [y. dines to com liis wealth, at -ported aboii was worth '^nd had per "illion to $1! H nioneyivai ta nt thing m s family, success, to at ie said. Hinds The Battalion WORLD & NATION 11 Tuesday, March 7,1989 Tower gets much-needed boost Democrat crosses party line, backs defense nominee WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Howell Heflin of Alabama became the first Democrat to swing behind John Tower’s confirmation as de fense secretary on Monday, deliv ering a major boost to the troubled nomination a few hours after Presi dent Bush appealed for lawmakers to “put aside partisanship” in the struggle. “I will rely on his pledge and give him a chance to prove himself,” Hef lin said in a speech on the Senate floor, refering to Tower’s promise to swear off drinking if he is confirmed to head the Pentagon. Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia walked to Heflin’s side mo ments after the Dermocrat com pleted his speech and thanked him. Tower, in a statement, said he was “grateful to Sen. Heflin for his ob jectivity and for the clear and lucid way in which he stated the argu ments for my confirmation. He has put the issue in its proper perspec tive.” Heflin, who had been courted by the Bush administration, bucked the growing list of Democrats who have come out against the nomination. He cited Tower’s qualifications; the “uncertain state of the evidence” against the nominee, specifically the allegations included in an FBI re port on the nominee; and the alco hol promise as the reasons for his decision. Heflin’s announcement leaves 47 Democrats and Sen. Larry Pressler, R-S.D., either solidly opposed or leaning against confirmation and 40 Bush backs 6 this decent man,’ asks for stop to partisanship ,'a *•» S/St r&r WASHINGTON (AP) — An angry President Bush said Monday he’s fed up with innuendos against De fense Secretary-designate John Tower — “this decent man” — and called on lawmakers to approve the nomi nation as bitter debate resumed in the Senate. “I stand by this man,” Bush told a wildly cheering Veterans of Foreign Wars audience. “I stand by him be cause he is uniquely qualified as the right man to take charge of the Pentagon.” He asked senators to “use their own experience with ohn Tower as an expert on def ense issues, as a former ^ colleague and as a tough, hard-nosed negotiator to guide them.” Hours after Bush spoke, Republicans and Demo crats, ignoring Bush’s call to “put partisanship aside,” clashed once more on the Senate floor. Republican Whip Alan Simpson of Wyoming called the accusations against l ower "so obviously flimsy” and urged his colleagues not to base their decision on allega tions recounted in the FBI report on Tower. Simpson called on his fellow senators “to walk a mile in John Tower’s shoes before they cast a vote against him based upon the testimony I’ve seen.” Sen. James Exon, D-Neb., retorted that while he had voted with the president on other nominations, he would not support Tower because of “the personal qualifications of the nominee.” Democratic opposition to Tower remained solid. An Associated Press survey showed 47 Democrats and Sen. Larry Pressler, R-S.D., either solidly against the nomi nation or leaning against it, and 40 Republicans either solidly committed or leaning toward confirming Tower. Democrats hold a 55-45 majority in the Senate. There remains the possibility Tower will be allowed onto the Senate floor to answer the allegations against him, which include excessive drinking, indiscreet be havior toward women and his lucrative consulting con tracts with defense contractors. But a majority of the chamber would have to approve the appearance and a vote was unlikely before Tuesday at the earliest. As he began his speech to the VFW, Bush said he wanted to get something “off my chest.” “I’m getting sick arid tired of the rumors and the in nuendo that are used against this decent man,” Bush said. “You know John Tower is a fellow veteran,” he told the VFW. “Now, he and I are fighting for what I think are some very important principles — principles that the Ameri can people understand, like fairness and truth, and principles like the prerogative of a president of the United States to assemble the most talented and qual ified team to guide this nation forward.” Meanwhile, a conservative group said it had raised $100,000 to finance an advertising campaign on Tow er’s behalf in states with Democratic senators who con servatives think might be persuaded to vote for Tower. Brent Bozell III, chairman of the Conservative Vic tory Committee, said the group’s lobbying campaign came after Bush last week urged conservatives to gener ate political heat for Tower. In two days of Senate debate last week, Democrats ar gued that the cumulative evidence made Tower an un acceptable nominee. Republicans said that their col leagues have given too much weight to unproved allegations and that Bush was entitled to a Cabinet of his choosing. The Tower nomination has threatened to under mine relations between the White House and Congress at the outset of the Bush administration. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 11-9 along party lines to recommend that the full Senate reject the nomi nation. Representative: Energy Department earns ‘golden wastebasket’ formailout L ;hts ms INI. lat ay si- DU fc jn ed 11 WASHINGTON (AP) — A New Hampshire Republican gave “golden wastebasket” honors Mon- 1 day to the Energy Department for I mailing 17,000 copies of a 26-pound environmental impact statement on the superconducting super collider at a cost approaching $ 1.5 million. Rep. Chuck Douglas called the mass mailing a “ridiculous waste of taxpayer’s money” and an extrava gant misuse of funds. Douglas blasted the Energy De partment for sending several sets of the environmental impact statement, which was so large it had to be bro ken into 23 separate volumes, to some Illinois households that had not even requested the report. “This, in my eyes, is a totally ab surd waste of money and that’s why I think trie DUE is a worthy recipient of the first ‘golden wastebasket’ award for waste in government,” Douglas told a news conference, placing a copy of the 8,800-page re port in the “official golden wastebas ket.” “It is appalling in this day of tight budgets that such a ridiculous waste of taxpayers’ money could have oc curred, but it did,” Douglas said. Douglas estimated the cost of the mailing at $1.4 million, but Energy Department spokesman Jeff Sher wood said the cost was closer to $1.3 million. Then-Energy Secretary John Herrington acknowledged the mail ing late last year was a mistake, but said it was better to err on the side of too much information rather than not enough. The final environmental impact statement included 7,000 comments from 5,700 people who addressed the Energy Department’s draft im pact statement on seven sites that had been in the running for the su perconducting super collider, Sher wood said. A site near Waxahachie was se lected in November to house the gi ant atom smasher, but Congress has yet to approve construction of the $5.9 billion high-energy physics pro- J ect - Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michi gan, North Carolina and Tennessee had also been finalist states. Douglas said Energy Secretary James D. Watkins will be sent a rep lica of the golden wastebasket. Electronic part failure forces NASA to delay launch of shuttle Discovery at least 2 days CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Failure of an electronic part forced NASA on Monday to post pone for at least two days Saturday’s planned launch of space shuttle Dis covery. Liftoff was delayed at least until Monday, space agency spokesman Lisa Malone said. She said a firm launch date would not be set until Wednesday, after a new part had been installed on the shuttle and checked out. The failed system is vital because it separates the booster rockets and fuel tank from the spaceship in flight. Malone said thunderstorms pre dicted for overnight could keep technicians from working on the pad, causing additional delay. The postponement is the fourth for the Discovery launch since an original target date of Feb. 18. NASA has said if Discovery, which is to carry five astronauts, could not he launched by March 18, it might have to yield the pad to Atlantis, set for liftoff April 28. Atlantis has priority because it is to send the Magellan probe to Ve nus. If Magellan can’t be launched sometime from April 28 to May 23, Venus will not in proper position again until 1991. Malone said routihe pre-launch tests of Discovery turned up a failure in a Master Events Controller, one of two such shuttle systems that receive separation commands from the spaceship’s main computer. The controllers arm and fire ex plosive devices that separate the two solid fuel rockets two minutes after liftoff and the external fuel tank af ter the main engines burn out about 8V2 minutes into a flight. Engineers replaced the failed unit with one borrowed from shuttle Co lumbia, Republicans and one Democrat ei ther leaning for or supporting con firmation, according to an Asso ciated Press survey. The Democrats hold a 55-45 edge in the Senate. In addition to Heflin, the Bush administration has courted Sen. Bennett Johnston, D-La., who la beled the FBI report on Tower as “unreliable” but said he has not made a decision on the nomination. Heflin said the FBI report was “not conclusive as to whether he had a drinking problem in the 1980s that impaired his judgment on issues in his official capacities.” Heflin noted Tower’s no-drinking pledge and said the “primaiy safe guard against abuse or the breaking of his pledge is the president him self. I don’t believe that President George Bush would allow a person to serve as secretary of defense whose conduct is a threat to national security.” As for Tower’s knowledge of de fense issues, Heflin said, “I don’t be lieve I’ve heard anyone question his qualifications.” Bush said as much in his own re marks to an enthusiastic Veterans of Foreign Wars audience. Chinese police fire on protesters in 2nd day of riots BEIJING (AP) — Police opened fire on Tibetan protesters who marched through Lhasa and burned Chinese businesses Monday in a sec ond straight day of violence. Four Tibetans were reported killed. Security forces moved into the city’s Tibetan section and pulled people from their homes, taking some away in jeeps, American tour ists said. Chinese troops also beat Ti betans, said the travelers, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of police reprisal. “One boy’s face was completely bloodied,” a man from New Orleans said. “He was no older than 10. Blood was coming from his ears, his . eyes.” The Americans and other tourists were contacted by telephone in the Tibetan capital from Beijing. As they spoke, automatic weapons fire and exploding tear gas canisters crackled in the background. Bon fires burned in the streets, they said. The official Xinhua News Agency reported one Tibetan was killed and eight others, including two po liceman, injured in the violence Monday. Xinhua had said 10 Tibetans and one Chinese policeman were killed in anti-Chinese demonstrations Sun day. Western travelers quoted Tibet ans as saying that many more had died on Sunday and that at least four Tibetans had been slain Monday. The U.S. State Department on Monday deplored the use of weap ons on pro-independence protesters in Tibet and called for a restoration of order. Police in Lhasa fired from roof tops near the city’s main square late Monday afternoon, killing at least two Tibetans, an American tourist quoted Tibetans as saying. Several hours later, security forces fired on a group of 40 independence activists as they threw rocks at a building near the Jokhang Temple, another tourist said. He quoted Ti betans as saying at least two protes ters were killed in that incident. On Monday morning, thousands of Tibetans flooded the old city, breaking into the small Chinese- and Moslem-run stores that fill the area, pulling out their contents and burn ing them in bonfires along the main thoroughfare in the city. The protests began Sunday when 13 Buddhist monks and nuns started marching near the Jokhang, shout ing “Independence for Tibet.” Po lice opened fire. A crowd of Tibet ans then began ransacking Chinese buildings. The bloodshed occurred days be fore the 30th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against the Chinese on March 10. It marks the fourth vi olent outburst in 18 months against Chinese rule. Scores have died in the earlier protests. # AM/PM Clinics CLINICS Our New College Station location 9 * offers Birth Control Counseling Women’s Services Female doctors on duty Student 10% discount with ID 693-0202 Spark Some Interest! Use the Battalion Classifieds. Call 845-2611 Economics Society presents Prof. Morgen Reynolds Director of Graduate Studies on graduate school opportunities •Bring old tests •Discuss Austin trip •For information call: Bill Cullpepper 764-8280 Tonight Rudder 501 7:00 pm $3°° OFF Oil Filter & Lube 10 Minute Oil Change 14 Point Courtesy Check & up to 5 Qts. Pennzoil 30w, 1Ow30, 10w40 with this coupon. Reg. $21.95 Limit one coupon per customer per ad. Expires 5-31-89 Post Oak Mall Hours Mon.-Fri. 8:30-6:00 Sat. 8:00-5:30 693-3742 $10 00 OFF All Tune-ups In Our College Station Store. We service your car with the latest technology in the auto industry. Call for appointment with this coupon. Tune-ups start at $54.95 Limit one coupon per customer per ad-. Expires 5-31 -89 HOURS Mon.-Wed. 4:00-1:30 Thur.-Fri. 4:00-2:30 Sat. 11:00-2:30 Sun. 11:00-1:30 76-GUMBY (764-8629) 1702 South Kyle Suite 101 College Station FAST FREE DELIVERY! CHOICE OF CRUSTS: Original Homestyle or Whole Wheat DOUBLE DAMMIT 2 12” Cheese Pizzas $7 $1.25 per item covers both pizzas ■ini ■■■■■■■■ AGGIE SPECIAL 16” one item pizza & 2 sodas * $6.84 GUMBYZAP 16” one item pizza for only $6.37 ■■■■■■■■■■■■ AGGIE DELIGHT 12” 3 item pizza & 2 sodas $4.93 Mon. thru Wed. only The story of a successful, ordinarily sexist businessman who discovers that his wife has rejected his own irresistible self in favor of an obnoxious Bohemian artist.Men... is a shrewd reworking of the principle of screwball comedy. (In German with English subtitles) 7:30 pm Tuesday, March 7 701 Rudder - Tickets $2.50 Purchase tickets at Rudder Box Office Cosponsored by the MSC Jordan Institute for International Awareness IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME STUDY $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 Wanted: Symptomatic patients with physician diagnosed $100 Irritable Bowel Syndrome to participate in a short study. $100 $100 incentive for those chosen to participate. $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 sloo SORE THROAT/STREP THROAT STUDY $100 For individuals 12 years and older with sore throat willing $100 t0 participate in a study to treat strep throat. Diagnosed $100 strep throat welcome. $100 incentive for those chosen to $100 participate. $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $1 0Q $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 ACUTE BRONCHITIS/PNEUMONIA Do you have any of the following? 1. Productive cough 2. Fever 3. Rattle in chest. Call for information about a three week antibiotic reseach study with close MD supervision. $100 incentive for those who qualify. $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 PEDIATRIC SORE THROAT STUDY Children 3 to 12 years with sore throat pain to participate in a currently available over-the-counter pain relief medica tion study. No blood drawn. Free strep test. $75 for those who qualify. Evenings & weekends call 361-1500. $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 ll™ HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE STUDY ggg $300 individuals with high blood pressure medication $300 daily to participate in a high blood pressure study. §200 $300 $300. incentive for those chosen to participate. 5300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 Consumer Studies Wanted: Healthy volunteers (26 years and older) to evaluate la beling information or taste-flavor of currently available medica tion. No blood drawn. Bonus incentive for the first 100 pa tients chosen to participate and who complete study. $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 SPRING ALLERGY STUDY $100 Looking for tree and grass allergic individuals (12 years $100 ar| d older) to participate in a short allergy study. $100 in- $100 centive for those chosen to participate. Free skin testing $100 available to determine eligibility. $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 CALL PAULL RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 776-0400