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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1989)
Texas ASM mm « • e Battalion J |>fol. 89 No.12 USPS 045360 14 Pages ie was it be- ie tni- e said > con- College Station, Texas Monday, September 18,1989 Williams reiterates plans for major drug crackdown as campaigning continues By Melissa Naumann Of The Battalion Staff College students at state schools caught with drugs could be expelled if Clayton Williams, Class of ‘54, is elected governor of Texas. Williams, addressing the Brazos Valley Republican Club Friday, reit erated his gubernatorial campaign pledge to get tough on drug offend ers. He said high school students who get caught using marijuana will have their driver’s licenses revoked, and first-time offenders will be sent to a type of boot camp for 90 days. “I want to teach those young crim inals the joy of busting rocks,” Wil liams said. After the boot camp, he said, offenders will be sent to a six- month work camp. Another problem, Williams said, is that convicted drug dealers in Texas typically serve only one out of every twelve days of their sentences. “I’m old-fashioned,” he said. “I think a 10-year sentence means a 10- year sentence.” Williams said the “cost-effective part” of his plan involves prevention through drug education. “Like you put in a quart of oil to keep the engine from burning up, I want to start educating children in kindergarten,” he said. Williams, who teaches a course on entrepreneurship at A&M, ap proached the education issue by say ing he didn’t have all the answers but that legislators should let parents make more decisions. “Here, the best government is the least government,” he said. “The parents care more about those kids than those people in Austin.” He promised to veto all new taxes, including those involving education. “I will veto any further mandates for the school board to do anything unless Austin gives you the money,” Williams said. . Williams called on Republicans to stand behind him in the race for governor. “We’ve got to replace those liber als in the Senate with good Republi can men and women,” he said. at :hange. e. sets art f exec- Tenet, r costs, mental iy,"he for to- would > have Mex- nental preneurship at A&M, ned the education issue by Freshmen need to file for office if they want to run for Senate By Michael Kelley Of The Battalion Staff The agony of defeat Texas Christian University free safety Ste phen Conley looks on with disgust as the Ag gies claimed their seventeenth straight victory over the Horned Frogs with a 44-7 win Satur day at Amon G. Carter Stadium. The Aggies are now 1 -0 in conference play. Freshmen interested in running for one of seven at- large Student Senate seats or for a Class of ’93 office must file by 5 p.m. Friday in 214 Pavilion. There is a $5 filing fee. The campus-wide elections, to be held Oct. 5, are be ing run by the Student Government Election Commis sion. Once freshmen have filed for office, they must then get signatures on a petition and turn in the petition by Friday’s deadline. The amount of signatures required depends on the office being sought. “I highly recommend that those freshmen interested in running in the 1989 freshmen elections file as early in the week as possible,’’.Perry Liston, an election com missioner said. “This is to allow them plenty of time to get their petition signatures and then to return their pe titions to Room 214 of the Pavilion by 5 p.m. on Fri day.” Freshmen are limited to running for one place in Student Government and for one seat on Class Council. They may, however, run for positions in both organiza tions. Seven senate seats will be voted on to elect represen tatives of the freshman class to the Student Senate. As student senators, the freshmen will work to represent student interests during general and committee meet ings. The single-member offices of the Class Coucil in clude president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, so cial secretary and historian. These officers will lead the Class of ’93 during the 1989-90 school year. “All of these offices are a major time committment, so we hope that the freshmen take this into consider ation as they decide if they are going to run or not,” Lis ton said. “It’s important that we get some really good student leaders from the freshman class, so we encour age all those freshmen who are interested to apply.” Campaigning officially begins at 6 p.m. Sept. 27 and closes at midnight on Oct, 4. , Voting will take place Oct. 5 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the MSC, Blocker, Kleberg and in the Academic Plaza adjacent to the Academic Building. In the case of a runoff in the Class Council elections, Oct. 10 has been designated as runoff election day. Liston said he expects a good filing turnout. “We’ve already had a lot of freshmen inquire about elections so far this year, and about how to get invol ved,” he said. tudent Senate seeks ignatures on petition to get Bush library UPD works to increase campus safety through creation of security foot patrol By Pam Mooman By Michael Kelley Df The Battalion Staff he Texas A&M Student Senate seeking student signatures on a ition asking President George jlish to choose Aggieland as the Jme of his presidential library. ■Ty Clevenger, Speaker of the Stu dent Senate, said the idea for the pe tition drive came shortly after Bush wa--inaugurated in January. I“lt was the administration’s idea ■ consider trying to bring the li- ■ary to A&M,” Clevenger said, fyhen the Student Senate found for what the administration was try ing to do, we decided to throw our Support behind them, since the li- ]ary would be a big asset for Texas ‘We started distributing petitions ■the end of the spring semester, af- tei we found out that President ipsh would be coming here to speak alcommencement. In the week-and- alialf that we did so, we were able to ge a couple thousand signatures; considering the short amount of tinie we had, it was very impressive.” jClevenger said he hopes to have 20.000 signatures before November, ■ that the petition can be presented Bs spring. jWnile working as an intern for Congressman Joe Barton this sum- Br, Clevenger spoke with members of the White House staff to schedule Btudent presentation of the peti- Bn to the president. 1 met with Joe Watkins of the ^hite House staff while in Washing ton, and we’re going to be staying in touch to coordinate how we will pre- $ei t the petition to the president,” Hkvenger said. “The staffers I've spoken to seem to think everything (ks very positive right now and thu we’re doing everything about as ||llascan be expected.” •Clevenger appointed Adriana Benchaca as the presidential library coordinator for the Student Senate. Menchaca is presently creating a steering committee that will consist of members from various areas and organizations of campus. “We are enlisting the help of stu dent volunteers to attend the meet ings of student organizations so we can familiarize the members of these organizations about what we are doing,” Menchaca said. “Hopefully, we will be able to get their signatures on the petition by doing so. “On Sept. 24, 25 and 26, we are going to have tables set up from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in key areas where stu dents congregate, such as in the MSC, Blocker and Sbisa, for a signa ture drive.” Clevenger said President Mobley is “strongly in favor” of the senate’s efforts to encourage student support for the petition. “President Mobley is very inter ested in the progress of the petition drive,” Clevenger said. “He’s kept in contact with us all along so as to stay informed about our progress. He’s been very supportive and very en couraging.” Clevenger said he wants commu nity involvement in the petition process, but he wants to focus on stu dents first. “Basically we’re targeting stu dents,” Clevenger said. “But we have considered eventually getting signa tures from the faculty, staff, and even from Bryan-College Station residents, since Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station are one whole community.” Clevenger said the chancellor’s of fice has handled most of the plan ning for the administration. Shirley Joiner, an assistant to the chancellor, is heading a steering committee con sisting of former students, members of the Board of Regents and Cle venger. “The intent of the commit tee is to coordinate an approach that will hopefully convince Bush to place his presidential library here at Texas A&M,” Clevenger said. Of The Battalion Staff In an effort by the University Po lice Department to increase campus safety, a new on-campus security foot patrol will hit the streets in late September or the first week of Octo ber. “We are starting a security patrol that will supplement our regular po lice force,” Bob Wiatt, director of Se curity and University Police, said. “They’re going to add eyes and ears for our officers.” Members of the security patrol will walk through designated areas of the A&M campus, such as the MSC, the Sterling C. Evans Library, the parking garage, parking lots and residence halls during “the dark hours,” Wiatt said. The University Police want to increase campus visi bility and security, he said. “The only way you can do that throughout campus is on foot,” he said. The new security officers will be non-commissioned as opposed to the University Police force, which is made up of commissioned officers, Wiatt said. This means that the secu rity officers cannot carry guns, drive a patrol car, make arrests or detain suspects. They will carry a two-way radio, Wiatt said. “They will simply get on their ra dio and talk to the dispatcher,” he said. “But if they see a crime in pro gress, they’re just like any other citi zen.” s type tirely an entirely new idea. In May, the University Police began the Park- Walk-Talk Program with their com missioned officers. An officer parks his car, walks through designated areas, and talks and asks questions, Wiatt said. “We wanted the campus popula tion to feel the police officers are ac cessible to them,” Wiatt said. “Yom can’t feel an officer is accessible if he’s always riding around in a 4,000- lb. car.” The security officers are still in training and are rotating patrol duty in the parking garage, Wiatt said. A&M President William Mobley and Vice President for Finance and Ad ministration Robert Smith in August gave Wiatt funds to hire 12 security officers. Seven officers are currently in the program, and Wiatt is looking for five more to fill the quota. Wiatt read more than 125 applications for the 12 positions. But Wiatt said he knows what he is looking for in his security officers. “They don’t have to be a ‘Rambo’ type,” Wiatt said. “We’re looking for people who can talk or communica te.” If this security program is success ful, funds to hire additional security officers will be granted, Wiatt said. “There’ll be a great need for these security officers,” Wiatt said. “It’s another effort to enhance campus security.” When the program goes into op eration in two to three weeks, Wiatt will have two types of officers on foot — his commissioned officers and the security patrol. “That kind of random, roving pa trol discourages bad guys who are walking around,” Wiatt said. “Any time you have someone representing law and order, it’s a comforting fee ling.” Hurricane Hugo pummels resort islands; rushes toward Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Hugo lashed the resort islands of the north eastern Caribbean with 140 mph winds Sun day, tearing off roofs, knocking out commu nications and reportedly leaving 3,000 people homeless. The region’s most powerful storm in a de cade then swept toward the U.S. Virgin Is lands and Puerto Rico. Both governments mo bilized the National Guard, and residents rushed for last-minute supplies and taped and boarded windows. At 3 p.m. EDT, Hugo’s center was located near latitude 17 north and longitude 63.6 west, about 185 miles east-southeast of San Juan, said the National Weather Service in Florida. The storm caused widespread damage early Sunday as it passed near the island of Guadaloupe, where 80 people were reported injured. Damage also was reported on the is lands of Martinique, Antigua and Dominica. The storm was moving at 12 mph and was expected to hit the Virgin Islands Sunday night and Puerto Rico Monday morning, the National Weather Service said. In San Juan, the Port Authority announced that it was closing the Munoz Marin Interna tional Airport to all flights at 6 p.m. It said all international carriers had removed their planes from Puerto Rico except for one American Airlines A300 left behind for emer gencies. The Virgin Islands’ population is 106,000 and Puerto Rico has 3.3 million people. Civil defense officials said up to 15,000 peo ple could be evacuated from flood-prone areas of western Puerto Rico, and hundreds had already been moved into a sports stadium in Mayaguez, the island’s third-biggest city. National Guardsmen and volunteers drove through San Juan, the capital, on Sunday issu ing emergency instructions over loudspeak- First reports indicated that the French is land of Guadeloupe, the most southerly of the Leeward Islands, was the hardest hit of the string of islands forming a 600-mile arc from the Leewards to the Greater Antilles. Jocelyne Vandvurdenghe, a French gov ernment official in Martinique, said 80 people were reported injured in Guadeloupe. There were no immediate reports of deaths, she said. Hugo slammed into Guadeloupe, which has a population of 337,000, shortly after mid night, downing power lines and blacking out the island’s 30,/00 telephones, state radio and television and and telex service.