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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1990)
Texas ASM TSjP^ m m W # e Battalion WEATHER TOMORROW’S FORECAST: Partly sunny and cool HIGH: 63 LOW: 46 [>1.89 No.88 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, February 6,1990 [lle| itarii Native :i ° Pal “ r a ccjij ^ to s«| “cklv &M radio tffers Asian ews program Mail," ^ ° 'LeSfhow brings events " 11 f'tar'iloser to home 2nd in [Jack Bakef ion. 3obbf [y KATHERINE COFFEY If The Battalion Staff Asia might seem like a million miles away to some, but a new meekly Texas A&M radio show will bring events there closer to home. 1 Asia Weekly Review, a news pro- jam created to inform the A&M rmmunity about weekly news ents in Asia and the Pacific Rim, red its second program Friday on \MU-FM. Brad Hicks, executive producer nd creator of the show, said the piogram’s purpose is to provide a news service for the Asian interna tional community and other inter ested KAMU-FM listeners. ■ “When I came to A&M I noticed the availability of information for Isian students and faculty was miss- itjg and that there was a substantial ternational community that would nefit from the program,” said Hicks, who also hosts the show. He said these residents need a Juice of news and information omer than dated newspapers to in form them of developments in Asia. ■ Kate Taggard, editor and pro- jicer of the show, said the program mould be beneficial for staff as well as students. I “I remember when I lived out of lie country and I always wanted to |ear news from home,” Taggard lid. Hicks, a geography Ph.D. candi- ate, said he knew most Americans ave a large interest in Asian coun-. ies such as Japan, Taiwan and Ko- :a. He said most people have a cer- lin respect and wonderment of urrences in Asia and the Pacific im and this is why he proposed the rogram to KAMU. Kayonne Riley, KAMU program ciirector, said Hicks came up with Je proposal in August and played a demonstration tape to her. She said lie demo sounded professional and luunded like a quality, national pro- jram. I The show received Riley’s appro- ialand is scheduled to air Fridays at ■ p.m. for fifteen minutes to review Je weekly events. I Riley said the student-run pro- Jam includes Hicks, Taggard and Jven reporters. The reporters, who Je all journalism students, are: Syd- ■ey Whitlock, Alicia Kitchens, Te- Jsa Benfer, Melinda Cox, Christina lee Asia review/Page 5 Silver Taps -Hours i' i ceremony jrdaf to honor 3 scree- C* S | The solemn sound of buglers piOlO - playing “Taps” and the sharp ring of an (j Jmfire will be heard on campus to- 3> Jgh 1 as three Texas A&M students ag are fiho died during December and Jan uary are honored in a Silver Taps ceremony at 10:30 in front of the Aca demic Building. T he deceased stu dents being honored are: • Kirk Jason Mauthe, 18, a freshman biomedical sciences major from Plano, who died Dec. 26. Marjorie Ann John son, 21, a junior kinesiology major from El Lago.who died Dec. 24. • Timothy D. Hogg, 19, alfreshman business administration major from Lamesa, who died ]an. 1 I Dating hack almost a century, the stptely tradition of Silver Taps is practiced on the first Tuesday of ^“^e^rh month from September through April, when necessary. T he mimes of the deceased students are Jsted at the base of the flag pole in Sontof the Academic Building, and le Hag is flown at half-staff the day ■ the ceremony. Lights will be extinguished and le campus hushed as Aggies pay fi- Jl tribute to fellow Aggies. ■ The Ross Volunteer Firing Squad begins the ceremony, marching in Jw cadence toward the statue of Jwrence Sullivan Ross. Shortly af ter, three volleys are fired in a 21- gun salute and six buglers play a spe- Jl arrangement of “Taps” three htjnes — to the north, south and west. dials' Slip slidin’ away Photo by Mike C. Mulvey Jefferey Pendergruft, 8, slips down the steel spiral slide at Brothers Pond Park in College Station Monday afternoon. Gorbachev urges changes New movement calls for end of absolute power MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail S. Gorbachev declared Monday that Communists must surrender their unchal lenged right to rule the Soviet Union to the tide of dem ocratic reform he has unleashed. The Soviet Communist Party chief, in a historic speech to the party’s Central Committee in the Krem lin, tacitly acknowledged the growing power of the pro democracy movement that has swept away Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, set several Soviet republics on the road to multi-party politics and on Sunday drew a huge crowd of protesters in Moscow. But his move was unlikely to bring about the disinte gration of the Communist Party, and Gorbachev, who is also head of the government, did not address the possi bility of the party losing power. The party wants to remain the leading force in so ciety but must prove its worthiness, Gorbachev said. In the future it “intends to struggle for the role of ruling party, but do it strictly in the framework of the democratic process, rejecting any kind of legal or politi cal advantage,” Gorbachev said. Political reform that has strengthened the Soviet gov ernment at the expense of an all-controlling party ap paratus, “has been accompanied by a growth in political pluralism,” Gorbachev said, presenting a draft platform to the 249-member Central Committee. “This jarocess can lead to the creation of parties at some stage.” Central Committee sources said Gorbachev told the closed meeting that political changes he has pushed through in almost five years in power have in effect cre ated a multiparty system already. He called into question a tenet of Leninism — demo cratic centralism, the theory that requires strict adher- ance by the party’s 20 million members to decisions once they have been made at the top. “The party’s renewal presupposes its thorough, com prehensive democratization and rethinking the prin ciple of democratic centralism with emphasis on democ racy and power of the party masses,” Gorbachev said. He proposed the Central Committee meet again in about three weeks to consider new party rules. Gorbachev indicated he did not foresee the reform overturning the country’s socialist system as well as the communists’ assurance of power. The party was “ready to act with due account for these new circumstances, cooperate and conduct a dia logue with all organizations honoring the Soviet Consti tution and the social system it endorses,” he said. The Soviet president said he had hoped 1989 would be the turning point for his economic reforms, but ac knowledged that “recent events have shown there has been no change for the better.” Tanks approach command post of Lebanese Forces commander BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Gen. Michel Aoun’s tanks broke into a stronghold of his Christian militia ri vals Monday, after a week of battle, and advanced toward the command post of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, police said. They said the tanks, with cannons blazing, drove to within 300 yards of the Kassardjian militia base in Ein Rummaneh, a working-class district of Christian east Beirut. Witnesses in hills above the Chris tian sector, reached by telephone from Cyprus, reported heavy fight ing in Ein Rummaneh south of the Karantina quarter, where Geagea has his headquarters. Explosions echoed across the city as militiamen crouching in alleyways fired armor-piercing rockets at the tanks and their comrades hurled grenades from rooftops. Shells hit hospitals, schools and churches. They set fuel tanks, power lants, factories and apartment ouses ablaze. Fires burned out of control be cause pumping stations were knocked out and no water was avail able to fight them. Several hospitals said they could not function for more than two or three days because water, blood, plasma and oxygen' supplies were virtually exhausted. Shellfire slackened in some dis tricts at dawn Monday, allowing tens “V ■ ou can’t believe what those monsters have done to us. They’ve ruined us. Ashrafiyeh looks like it was hit by a hurricane.” — Youssef Khazen, Beirut resident of thousands of civilians to leave basements and underground bomb shelters where some had lived for six days. Youssef Khazen, 35, said his elec trical tools store in the east Beirut residential district of Ashrafiyeh was destroyed. “You can’t believe what those monsters have done to us,” he said. “They’ve ruined us. Ashrafiyeh looks like it was hit by a hurricane.” In Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross asked for an immediate truce so it could help civilians. Geagea has said the 6,000 regu lars and 30,000 reservists of the Leb anese Forces, the largest Christian militia, would “resist unto death ... to end the dictator’s reign of terror” in Christian territory north and east of Beirut. Aoun, who has been dismissed as army commander but refuses to step aside, commands nearly 20,000 Christian troopers and is trying to gain complete control ove:r the 310- square-mile enclave, where 1 million Christians live. On Monday, his paratroopers se cured the key coastal town of Dbaye, 5 miles north of Beirut. They seized it Sunday in a fierce hand-to-hand battle. The Lebanese Forces conceded its 80-man Dbaye garrison had been overrun and made a “tactical re treat.” Police said 59 soldiers and mili tiamen were killed in Dbaye. Grandmother teaches A &M man important life lessons First black enrollee recalls college days ' Multicultural Services Center/Page 4 ► Black History Month activities/Page 4 •African-American fraternities and sorqrities/Page 4 ■ Special KAMU radio program Page 5 • MSC Black Awareness Committee/Page 5 : ^ - ffsapplg * * i'" ? i "i i ' James Courtney, the first African-American admitted to A&M and the third to graduate, is pictured in the 1967 Aggteland. By CHRIS VAUGHN Of The Battalion Staff Every chance Cindy Courtney ■ i, she told her grandson James it if he wasn’t prepared for life, he was going to be left behind. She told him over the dinner table night after night that there was no difference between a rvhite man and a black man. James didn’t listen much to her, though. He had too many other things to do. James, upset at his mother’s re marriage when he was a young teen, ignored his grandmother and rebelled. After run-ins with police in Galveston, James dropped out of high school at 15, forged his birth certificate and joined the U.$. Marine Corps. The Marines gave James Courtney a chance to think about what his grandmother had said all those years. She was, after all, born under slavery in 1863. Maybe she was much wiser than I thought, Courtney pondered. So after serving his four-year stint in the Marines, almost all of it while underage, Courtney be gan to correct his wrongs and prove to himself that his grand mother was right. And that lie did. Courtney eventually graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor of science in veterinary science in 1967 and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1970. His accomplishments would be extraordinary if they ended here, but they don’t. Courtney was the first African- American to he admitted to A&M and the third to graduate, accord ing to research done by the regis trar's office at A&M and The Bat talion. Courtney, who is now an area supervisor in Jef ferson City, Mo., for the Department of Agricul ture, gives much of the credit for his success to his grandmother. “My grandmother gave me the determination to keep going,” he said. “She was very wise, and she taught me the ways of people. She knew things were going to change for Blacks and those who were prepared would reap the benefits. She had the most to do with whatever I’ve become.” Courtney came to A&M in 1964 when he was almost 25years old. It was the culmination of years of hard work and a few lucky breaks. After his discharge from the Marines, Courtney worked at a hospital in Galveston during the raveyard shift and attended igh school during the day lor two years. One night at the hospital, Courtney came across Dr. Hank Jameson, Class of ’41, a veterinar ian in Galveston. Courtney ex plained to Jameson that he wanted to attend college, but that he couldn't afford it. Jameson told Courtney there was one scholarship left from the Galveston County Aggie Club, but that Courtney would have to take the Scholastic Aptitude T est and do well. “I was pretty nervous," Court ney said. “Up until that time 1 had depended on my physical skills and not my academic skills. But I prepared myself for it, and I did quite well for a black kid back then. It was a beginning." Courtney earned the schol arship from the club, but the one scholarship was not enough money for him to go to school. Jameson and his wife, Grace, came through again. Jameson steered Courtney to Harris and Eliza Kempner who had a foundation to help young people attend school, ft was through the Kempner Founda tion that Courtney was able to ful fill his and his grandmother’s wishes. “It was because of them that 1 was able to go to school,” he said. “They lent me every penny. And I made sure I paid every penny back.” Courtney, a pioneer for other black students, endured name- calling, taunting, discrimination and other racist slurs during his time at A&M. He said he realizes now that the bigotry was not Uni* versilv-wide. “There were some individuals who didn’t want me there.” he said. “It took me some years to re alize that. It was not the Univer sity, just some people. A&M is the greatest school in the world.” Courtney hasn’t remained an active A&M alumnus, but he said it is not because he wants to for get his experiences at A&M. “It was a wonderful experien ce;” he said. “T here were enough negative things to cause problems for me, but ! wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.” The last 20 years have been busy for Courtney, They began when he got married one week after graduating with his DVM, and then moved to California to establish a private practice. He joined the Department of Agri culture in 1971 with the intention oT returning to his private prac tice shortly after, but he never has. Courtney and his wife, Alva Evelyn, have moved six times in his rise within the ranks of the U.S.D.A. His last move took him to Missouri’s capital, where he is an area supervisor for the food safety inspection service of the meat and poultry office. His office in Jefferson City is responsible for the meat and poultry activities of 270 employ ees, including 60 veterinarians, Courtney, years later, can still hear his grandmother telling him over dinner that he had better be prepared for life or he will get left behind. Grandma would be proud.
