Vol. 88 No. 166 USPS 045360 8 Pages College Station, Texas
WEATHER
FORECAST for FRIDAY:
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Thursday, July 6,1989
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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.