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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1989)
Vol. 88 No. 166 USPS 045360 8 Pages College Station, Texas WEATHER FORECAST for FRIDAY: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain HIGH: 90s LOW: 70s Thursday, July 6,1989 ■ ! Witnesses describe horror of Beijing massacre Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack Suk-yi Yau, a Chinese journalist, shares her experience as a witness to the Tianan men Square massacre with students in a program at the MSC Sunday evening. Seated next to her, from left, are So-Chum Cheng and Lang-Lang Chang. By Mia B. Moody STAFF WRITER More than 500 students and community members lis tened attentively Sunday night while speakers told sto ries of friends dying and friends banding together all in the effort to bring democracy to China. Four witnesses of the Beijing massacre told their ac counts of the slaughter because they said they owe it to the people who died in the square to tell the world what went on. Lang-lang Chang, 24, an author; Suk-yi Yau, 27, a journalist; and Hong Kong university students So- Chum Cheng, 23, and Shim-shing Yam, 21, told the crowd in the Memorial Student Center what went on before and during the massacre in Tiananmen Square more than a month ago. Yam said propaganda about the massacre has been successful in China, but they want to make sure that it isn’t successful anywhere else. “Papers in China said that nobody was killed so peo ple in other cities and towns believed that nothing hap pened,” Yam said. “I was a witness that people died.” Cheng said when she went to the square at 10 p.m. everything was peaceful, but at midnight things began to change. “A tank appeared in the east part going very quickly,” Cheng said. “Soldiers passed by me with machine guns. Then very quickly the whole square was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. North of the square, tanks had run over many people. “The other students insisted that I leave at this point so that I could tell the world what had happened. Be fore I left, I took one last look and what I saw was unbe lievable — nobody looked scared. They all looked calm and ready to continue their battle for democracy.” Yam said it was difficult to estimate how many people died because most of them died outside of the square. “An ambulance would come by and pick up the wounded but soon there were too many wounded peo ple,” Yam said. “The ambulance driver was given in structions not to try to save everybody. The students were very angry as they began to beat on the ambulance because they didn’t want their friends to die.” Yam said that he and a group saved one soldier and one citizen. “We surrounded the soldier to protect him, then we carried him to the medical center, where he was trea ted,” he said. “The student that we saved had been hit near Tiananmen Square and his neck was cut open. We transported him successfully in a jeep. I was covered with blood from holding his neck up.” Yam’s shirt still had a trace of blood on it, though he said he had washed it several times. The speakers said they believe the government’s at tack was successful because most people didn’t believe the government would attack them so viciously. Yau said as a reporter she got a lot of protection, but others were at the mercy of the soldiers. “I couldn’t believe that the government would do what it did,” Yau said. “I could see the happenings from my hotel room and it looked like the soldiers were just killing anybody. . “There had been over one-half million people in the square before the attack, but that night there were only soldiers and tents.” Chang said he didn’t want to get involved in the pro test at first because he worked for the government, but he changed his mind because the students were so peaceful. He said that is why he can’t believe the gov ernment attacked so brutally. “Beijing had never been so peaceful and nonviolent,” Chang said. “Even the thieves and robbers were on strike. I thought the government would arrest the pro testors or put them into prison at the worst, but instead they killed them.” Cheng said that people should not overlook the role that workers are playing in the fight for Democracy. “Citizens and workers were arrested during the pro test before the massacre, but they always went back,” Cheng said. “They wanted to persist until we succeeded in our fight for democracy.” North trial ends; judge gives fine, probation for Iran-Contra crimes I WASHINGTON (AP) — Oliver North, expressing regret and pleading for leniency, was placed on two years probation and fined $150,000 Wednesday for Iran-Con tra crimes. The judge told North sending him to prison “would only harden your misconceptions” of how government should work. U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell sentenced the 45-year-old for mer Marine and White House aide to suspended terms of three, two and one years for the three felony convictions by a jury two months a g°- “Your punishment will not in clude jail,” Gesell said. During his three-month trial, North contended that in the Iran- Contra affair — in which U.S. arms were secretly sold to Iran and profits were diverted to the Nicaraguan re bels — he only acted on behalf of Reagan administration superiors. “I do not think in this area you were a leader at all, but a low-rank ing subordinate carrying out the in structions of a few cynical superiors . . .,” the judge said. “You came to be the point man in a very complex power play developed by higher ups.” Still, the judge said, North re sponded “willingly and to some ex tent even excessively” to their re quests. North, speaking almost inaudibly, told the judge, “I grieve for what has happened and I truly regret it every day. I have dedicated nearly two de cades of service to my country. I would never knowingly do anything to hurt it or its institutions. “I recognize that I have made many mistakes and as a result of these mistakes, I have been con victed of serious crimes. I have lost the chance to ever again serve as a Marine.” As a result of the sentence, the Navy said it is suspending North’s $23,000-a-year pension earned in 20 years of service, but is recommend ing that it be restored by Comptrol ler General Charles Bowsher, who has the final say. Oliver North North spoke of the trauma “this 2- and-a-half year nightmare” caused his family, and said to Gesell, “I ask only you consider these things when you weigh the sentence: That you be lenient and merciful so that they may have a chance to rebuild their lives.” After the sentencing, North walked to his wife Betsy in the front spectator row, kissed her cheek, whispered in one ear and they both smiled broadly. Clements unsure about adding abortion law changes to agenda AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clements, who says he op poses abortion in most cases, hasn’t yet decided whether to add abortion law revisions to the agenda of the Legis lature’s current special session, an aide said Wednesday. Clements has been vacationing in Taos, N.M. He is due to return to the Capitol on Thursday, where law makers are meeting in a special session scheduled to end July 20. Although it stopped short of overturning the land mark 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week to uphold a Missouri law gives states greater freedom to regulate abortions. Press Secretary Reggie Bashur said Clements had di rected his legal advisors to review the court’s latest rul ing and the state’s current abortion laws. “The governor is reviewing the Supreme Court deci sion,” Bashur said. “He has also directed his legal staff to review it and to lay out various options.” They’re looking at the ruling, what it means in terms of the impact on state law and what the existing law is in Texas. “Apparently, there are going to be other cases before the Supreme Court in the fall, and they’re looking at what possible effect those might have. “But no decisions have been made yet,” he said. The governor controls the agenda for any special ses sion. He called the current session on June 20 to reform the state workers’ compensation system, which pays benefits to employees injured or killed on the job. Lawmakers so far have failed to resolve many of the differences that kept them from passing a workers’ compensation bill during the regular session that ended in May. Clements has said reform of workers’ comp is a must. Since any abortion legislation would be highly con troversial, the possible impact of that kind of debate on <fi T I he governor is reviewing the Supreme Court decision. He has also directed his legal staff to review it and to lay out various options.” —Reggie Bashur, Governor’s Press Secretary the Legislature’s other business'would have to be con sidered in deciding whether to add abortion to the agenda, Bashur said. “There’s no question that is one argument which needs to be considered,” the governor’s spokesman said. In a statement issued after the Supreme Court ruled on Monday, Clements, a Republican, described his own views on abortion. “I am opposed to abortion, except in the case of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in danger,” he said. Bill Price, president of the Dallas-based Texans United for Life, said pushing anti-abortion legislation through right now would be difficult. Senate committee favors outlawing flag burning AUSTIN (AP) — A Senate committee Wednesday approved a resolution that would exempt flag desecration from the constitutional protection of free speech. The 8-1 vote of the State Affairs Committee was taken after Chairman John Montford, D- Lubbock, overruled a point of order by Sen. Craig Washington that the resolution had not been included on the agenda for the special legis lative session. Washington, D-Houston, said he would raise the same point of order on the floor of the Sen ate and, if necessary, attempt to defeat the pro posal through a filibuster, “I’m opposed to burning the flag, but I’m op posed to amending our Constitution .... Our flag is not nearly as important as our Constitu tion, but we’re going to change our Constitution because of our flag, which doesn’t make sense to me,” Washington said. The House adopted the resolution last week in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that flag burning was protected under the First Amendment. It calls on Congress to propose an amendment that would protect the American flag and 50 state flags from willful desecration. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Plano, and a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, and Sen. J.E “Buster” Brown, R- Lake Jackson. Sen. Hugh Parmer, D-Fort Worth, told Brown he shares his concern but thought the Legislature simply could pass a bill making it illegal to burn or desecrate the flag. Parmer said he would in troduce such a bill Thursday. Among the witnesses supporting the resolu tion was Samuel Bier of Austin, representing Dis abled American Veterans and American Ex-Pris oners of War. He called the Supreme Court decision “despicable.” Glen Gardner Jr. of Austin, representing more than 260,000 members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, said, “We did not fight so that some could burn the symbol of our country.” A&M receives four agriculture project grants Texas A&M has received four Science and Education grants from the U.S. Department of Ag riculture. The grants include: •$55,000 for a project titled “Dissemination of Seed by Cattle: Potentials for Rangeland Revege tation;” •$72,000 for a project titled “Succession on Mixed Shrub- lands: Reconstructing the Past and Predicting the Future;” •$34,000 for a project titled “Molecular Probes for Drought Stress in Native Range Species;” •$48,000 for graduate fellowships in food and agricultu ral sciences. Destruction of Pershing 1A missiles eliminates class of nuclear weapons KARNACK (AP) — The U.S. Army’s destruction of its last Pershing 1A ballistic missile, scheduled Thurs day, will eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons for the first time ever. Weather permitting, in separate firings at the Long horn Army Ammunition Plant, two missile sections strapped horizontally on reinforced stands will con sume their solid fuel propellant. After the firing ren ders the missile useless, the sections are to be crushed. The operation comes under provisions of the Inter mediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, signed in Decem ber 1987 by President Reagan and Soviet leader Mik hail Gorbachev. A ten-member Soviet inspection team was scheduled to monitor Thursday’s event, which marks the destruc tion of the 169th and last Pershing 1A, plant spokes man Dorothy Grant said. The INF treaty, which took effect June 1, 1988, re quires elimination of 859 American intermediate-range and shorter range missiles and 1,752 similar Soviet mis siles within three years. 1 he missiles marked tor destruction are not armea. Nuclear warheads and electronic guidance systems were removed. The warheads are being stored by the Department of Energy. The destruction of the 5,500-pound Pershing 1A is being handled by Utah-based Morton Thiokol Inc., which built many of the Pershing motors at Longhorn. Larger Pershing 2 missiles will continue to be de stroyed under terms of the treaty. At Longhorn,Grant said nine Pershing 2 missiles have been eliminated, with 234 more headed for the junk heap worldwide. Besides Longhorn, Pershing 2 missiles also are being eliminated from an Army depot near Pueblo, Colo. Other missiles are being taken out of service at Davis- Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and near Frankfurt, West Germany. The Soviets began destruction of several classes of similar missiles a year ago. The treaty allows the missiles to be burned in place and then be crushed, to be destroyed with explosives or to be launched without warheads. American officials have said they chose burning in place because it is the cheapest and cleanest method. Texas A&M starting quarterback Lance Pavlas married Bethany Bowman, his high school sweetheart, Sunday afternoon at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. The newlyweds went to San Diego for their honeymoon.