Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1989)
Friday, April 21,1989 The Battalion Pages ott McCul \ NOT LISTEN MIC ITHING,! TUST l SINGING NEIL VT LOUP. vin Thomi Senators stress border drug woes WASHINGTON (AP) — South west senators want national drug czar William J. Bennett to declare the U.S.-Mexico border a “high-in- tensity drug trafficking area.” Three grisly, drug-related mass murders in the past month are a “brutal reminder that drug cartels have expanded and mpved west,” they said. Such a designation would allow the temporary reassignment of fed eral personnel to the region and would funnel assistance to state and local agencies. “Law enforcement officials in Ari zona and Texas who have been in volved in the (murder) investigations say the situation is reminiscent of south Florida in the late ’70s and early ’80s,” according to the letter Thursday from the border-state sen ators. The letter is signed by Sens. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, Phil Gramm, R- Texas, Pete Wilson, R-Calif., Alan Cranston, D-Calif, Dennis DeCon- cini, D-Ariz., John McCain, R-Ariz., Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. The eight senators argue the 2,000-mile stretch of border qualifies as a center of illegal drug produc- World briefs Chinese students march for democracy y Paul road has been sent to tl untry for review, draft* of the pr.r. it week in Septemte iroject is due thefts ober. tings for consuta Abroad Office beci first meeting is 11 BizzellWest. wants to work doss s to give advice a lines,” Schuttsaid. nting more inform le Study Abroad Of >44. loviets when they start mi gsters. “We'll seeib years. If we can ler, then we can mi >ur two countries.’ hool children, Knot ian youngsters reff ecember’s devastaM and reds of colons Is to perk up thespij itural & black ^goo st OakSquaie 693-0 BEIJING (AP) — About 1,500 students braved a day-long down pour and marched for democracy in the Chinese capital Thursday, and authorities threatened harsh measures to crush four days of dissent. About 1,000 students marched in the central Chinese city of Nanjing, and students in Tianjin, a port city east of Beijing, plas tered posters on walls. Other marches were reported in Shang hai, Wuhan and Hefei, but details were sketchy. Nationally televised news led with a stern warning that the pro tests, the biggest since the pro-de mocracy demonstrations of 1986- 87, would no longer be tolerated. “These activities have gone be yond the limits of the law and the taking of harsh measures to end the disturbances has become nec essary,” the announcer said, quot ing from an editorial by the offi cial Xinhua News Agency. “These protesters do not really care about the future or happi ness of China, all they want to do is overthrow the Communist Party and the government,” the editorial said. The protests were prompted by the death Saturday of Hu Yao- bang, an outspoken reformer who was ousted as Communist Party chief in 1987. Hu was ac cused of encouraging liberal ideas and failing to crack down on the 1986-87 student demon strators. The Beijing city government issued regulations that restricted commemoration activities for Hu to inside universities, businesses and factories. The regulations also said “riot ers and other lawbreakers would be dealt with severely, according to the law.” Early Thursday, thousands of security forces rushed into crowds of students as they pro tested near the headquarters of the ruling Communist Party. Wright accuses committee of dragging feet WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Jim Wright ac cused the ethics committee of dragging its feet on the allega tions against him Thursday, while the Republican leader who brought the charges in the first place suggested Democrats will try to nudge Wright aside before his case can reach the full House. “I would be very surprised if the senior members of the Demo cratic leadership d&n’t try to talk the speaker into stepping down before going through the agony of a public defense, public cross examination,” said Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, the GOP whip. Gingrich said he still believes that Rep. Thomas Foley of Wash ington, now the majority leader, will be speaker before the end of June. Meanwhile, published reports indicated that a Texas oil deal which brought a huge profit to ; Wright last year involved busi nessmen with an interest in a $3 billion Air Force jet trainer pro gram now being studied by Con gress. On Capitol Hill, Wright said “we’ve met all the requirements” to move to the next phase of the case, in which the Texas Demo crat wants to confront his accus ers personally and try to knock down the 69 formal allegations is sued by the ethics committee on Monday. The speaker particularly blamed special outside counsel Richard J. Phelan for what he termed the delay. “I’m puzzled as to why he is dragging his feet,” Wright told a reporter. “We’re very anxious to have the matter resolved as soon as possible.” Papers: Hunts almost cornered silver market WASHINGTON (AP) — A sil ver-buying binge by Nelson Bun ker and William Herbert Hunt came within weeks of cornering the world’s silver bullion market in 1980, the U.S. government says in previously secret docu ments. But attorneys for the Hunts say the silver shopping spree was nothing out of the ordinary for the sons of legendary Texas oil man H.L. Hunt. “H.L. Hunt was a wildcatter” who “raised his sons with a wild catter’s philosophy, which in volved risk-taking and rapid deci sion-making,” according to the now unsealed documents filed by the brothers’ attorneys. In 1987 filings with the Com modity Futures Trading Com mission, the attorneys said the brothers’ investment stemmed from their preference for invest ing in hard assets as a hedge against inflation and monetary uncertainty. And, they said it was natural for the Hunts to invest “on a relatively large scale in light of their substantial wealth.” In a previously sealed submis sion by the CFTC to an adminis trative law judge, the agency con tends that had the scheme by the Hunts and others not collapsed, “by the end of May 1980, they could have owned virtually the entire available world supply of deliverable .999 silver bullion.” The filings in the quasi judicial proceeding were released by the agency this week in re sponse to a Freedom of Informa tion Act request by the Associated Press. '\ tion, manufacturing, importation and distribution, a prerequisite to re ceiving the emergency drug desig nation. They point to the fact that Mexico is the primary producer of mari juana and heroin entering the United States, that California is one of the largest domestic producers of maijuana, and that California, New Mexico and Texas are three of the largest U.S. producers of metham- phetamine. The Border Patrol has seized more cocaine and marijuana in the first six months of fiscal 1989 than in all of fical 1988, and the Customs Service reports cocaine seizures are up 425 percent in the past three years, the senators said. In Los Angeles alone, the Drug Enforcement Adminsitration said 15 tons of cocaine were seized in 1988. The senators also say Federal Re serve figures show Los Angeles as the new center for collection of drug profits. The city’s Federal Reserve Bank has a $3.8 billion cash surplus — a 2,200 percent jump since 1985. During the same time, Miami’s Fed eral Reserve cash surplus declined by $1.2 billion. Although state and local agencies have committed dramatically in creased assets and personnel to drug enforcement, they are being over whelmed by drug-related crime, said the senators from California, Ari zona, New Mexico and Texas. The senators also argue drug-re lated activity on the border is having a harmful impact on other parts of the country. They point to crack op erations set up in 50 major cities around the country by two violent Los Angeles gangs, the Crips and the Bloods. Texas, California and Arizona are three of the top five distribution cen ters of illegal drugs in the United States, they said. Texas Senate OKs nominees; Clements denies deal-cutting AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Sen ate confirmed Gov. Bill Clements’ controversial Public Utility Commis sion nominees Thursday, and the governor firmly denied a key sen ator’s assertion that approval came after political deal-cutting. Sen. Chet Edwards, Senate Nomi nations Committee chairman, said, “I’ve never seen this kind of deal making at this level in the nomi nations process before, I hope it doesn’t set a precedent.” Clements said, “That chairman happens to be guilty of saying a lot of things that are not true ... So that’s just one of them.” Edwards said he did not want to “impugn” the decision of the Senate, which voted 25-6 for PUC Chairman Marta Greytok of Taylor Lake Vil lage and 24-7 for William Cassin of Houston. “I think generally the vast major ity of senators voted their conscience and made a responsible effort to try to review these appointees,” said Ed wards, D-Duncanville. But he added, “I’ll be honest, I was disappointed that on this impor tant of an issue that some votes may have been affected by trade-offs.” Other senators also referred to deals being made. After they were confirmed, Grey tok and Cassin hugged, then gave the Senate a thumbs-up sign from their seats in the gallery. Both said they looked forward to continuing their work on the commission, which regulates telephone and electric rates. The Republican governor’s nomi nees to the three-member PUC have been under fire for a number of ac tions. State leaders have criticized a rate -cut and customer refund or dered for GTE Southwest Inc. that the company said would result in layoffs, while consumer representa tives said the GTE order did not go far enough. Edwards voted against both nomi nees, saying, “Some of us have felt that the public interest is not being adequately protected by this commis- While some were critical, others praised the nominees’ qualifications, experience and integrity. “Both are honest and hard-work ing,” said Sen. John Whitmire, D- Houston. Another Houston Democrat, Sen. Craig Washington, voted for confir mation after making what he said would be his last Senate statement touting the importance of affirma tive action. “We need black, brown and white people because they’re all capable of making contributions,” Washington said. He said it is the responsibility of every senator to ensure no one is be ing excluded from the process. Two Clements staff members were talking to senators until shortly before the votes but said they were not making deals. “In the legislative process, you’re always willing to listen, and we ap preciate the help of the senators to day, and if we can return a favor down the way. I’ll be happy to sit down and to talk,” said George Bay- oud, Clements’ chief of staff. But Bayoud — who was in the Senate chamber with James Huf- fines, Clements’ appointments direc tor — emphasized there were “no deals made” on such items as future appointments by the governor. Cabbie sparks protest after toppling toilet DALLAS (AP) — A cab driver ar rested for knocking over a portable toilet sparked a five-hour sympathy protest from about 150 drivers al Dallas-Fort Worth International Air port. “That is our bathroom,” said Abraham Jooshani, pointing to the toilet he knocked over Wednesday in protest of working conditions for taxi drivers. “We sit out here for hours under the hot sun, and there is no shade. We are not allowed to get out of our cab while we wait on the terminal ramps. We are not al lowed to use the airport bathrooms or eat in the restaurants. We are treated like animals. We are hu mans, riot animals.” Jooshani was arrested in a lot where the drivers await dispatch to airport terminals. He was released from jail about 4 p.m. But fellow drivers who shared his frustrations about drivers’ working conditions quit taking fares while Jooshani was incarcerated. Airport spokesman Joe Dealey said the airport “discourages the providers of ground transportation from using the (terminal) restroom 1 facilities.” Restrooms are provided for taxi drivers at the central queue, I where drivers are dispatched. MIDNIGHT \aggi 9:45 FRIDAY inema/ 7:30 & 9:45 SATURDAY A SCIENCE FICTION CLASSIC FANTASTIC IN FRIDAY AND SATURDAY APRIL 21 & 22 RUDDER AUDITORIUM $2.00 W/TAMU ID DIE HARD Starrix? BrUCC Willis PARTY SPECIAL 10 LARGE PIZZAS 1 topping (each) $79.99 $1.99 Pitchers The best pizza in town. ?/*■«• Skagg’s Shopping Center Expires 4/3/89 IM.J Neeley Hall & 707 Texas\ proudly present (Brides and (Beaus —A Bridal Show and Fair — April 23rd Rooms 212 & 224 Sunday Texas A&M University 2:00 p.m. Memorial Student Center Services and Door Prizes provided by Petal Patch dfisipe/HC Memorial Student Center Catering Cljax*H ^LADIES AND LORDS kinko'S Bridal Center Contact Lenses Only Quality Name Brands (Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-Hinds-Hydrocurve) $ "TrQOO P r - *-STD. DAILY WEAR SOFT LENSES SPARE PR. $5.00 99 00 pr. *-STD. EXTENDED WEAR SOFT LENSES $0000 pr.*-STD. TINTED SOFT LENSES DAILY WEAR OR EXTENDED WEAR SALE ENDS MAY 19,1989 and Applies to clear std. Daily Wear Soft Lenses Only Call 696-3754 for Appointment with purchase of 1st pr. at reg. price CHARLES C. SCHROPPELjO.D., P.C. DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY 707 South Texas Ave., Suite 101D College Station, Texas 77840 1 block South of Texas & University Eye exam & care kit not included Just in time for those June brides! WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY Steve White of Barker Photography Studios Monday, April 24 502 Rudder 7 p.m. Photo Contest Winners will be announced. MSC CAMERA w LADIES & LORDS Have the Time , of Your Life Special Purchase Sale exclusively DEMETRIOS of New York o from $39.95 to $149.95 □ over 500 new designs □ sizes from 3-20 Daily arrivals from New York Extended hours - 'til 8 p.m. weekdays Saturdays 10-6 and Sundays 1-5 We Guarantee to Beat the Competition's Prices on identical Merchandise* :'!H? 'Where looking good is stylishly affordable' 707 TEXAS AVENUE - COLLEGE STATION 764-8289