2
The Battalion
STATE & LOCAL
Monday, March 5,1990
Corps members run annual Bloody Cross
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By BILL HETHCOCK
Of The Battalion Staff
The quest to determine the most physically
fit outfit in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets
started this weekend with the annual Bloody
Cross competition, Corps Public Relations
Sergeant Mike Graham said.
The Bloody Cross competition is a 2.8 mile
footrace held every spring, he said. Cadets
circle the quadrangle six times, running in
formation with their outfit, Graham said. The
quad is shaped like a cross, he said, which is
how the race got its name.
Each outfit in the Corps runs as a group,
and must finish the race together, Graham
said. The outfit is penalized by having time
added to its finishing time for any outfit
members who do not finish the race. The
number of seconds added to the final time
depends on how many outfit members drop
out of the race, and how far they run before
they drop out, he said.
Graham said the purpose of the event is to
foster a spirit of competition between differ
ent units within the Corps.
“Healthy rivalry within the Corps brings
out the best in everyone,” Graham said. “We
try to work on developing well-rounded peo
ple. This includes military, academic and
physical training. Bloody Cross is a means of
finding out which outfits are the top units in
the physical area.”
Corps Sergeant Major Jonathan Whittles
said the competition was started to add an ac
tivity to the spring semester.
“This gives us something else to do in the
Spring,” Whittles said. “After the fall semes
ter, there are no football games and no
march-ins, so we can concentrate on other
things, like Bloody Cross. It provides motiva
tion for individuals and outfits to get in
shape.
“There is always incentive to go farther,
since the amount of time added to your out
fit’s score depends on how far you make it. A
good outfit can finish the race and only lose
one or two people, or maybe none at all.”
After the original competition is over there
is an all-star bloody cross event in which the
best runners from each major unit of the
Corps compete. Whittles said. There also will
be a relay race as part of the competition this
year, he said.
Special legislative session
addresses school finances
AUSTIN (AP) — There’s good
and bad news as the second week
of a special legislative session on
school finance starts, says a
spokesman for poor school dis
tricts that helped prompt the ses
sion with a court challenge to the
public education funding system.
It is encouraging that measures
have been filed in the Senate to
put significantly more money into
public schools, Craig Foster, exec
utive director of the Equity Cen
ter, said. A bill co-sponsored by
Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby would give
education $783 million more in
1990-91.
But Foster said most legislative
proposals wouldn’t make signifi
cant enough changes in the way
money is allocated to meet the
court ruling, but instead “ba
sically put more money into the
same system.”
If sufficient funding and a fair
system aren’t both provided, he
said, the Texas Supreme Court
ruling that the current system is
unconstitutional won’t be ad
dressed.
“I would say it’s better than a
50 percent chance” that poor dis
tricts will wind up back in court,
appealing whatever the Legis
lature does, Foster said.
Lawmakers may be betting that
such an appeal will take until the
1991 regular session, getting
them past the November general
election, he said.
“It appears to me that the lead
ership has decided that they want
to do something fairly quickly,
something that they can do with
out radically changing the tax sys
tem at this point, and sort of get
out of town,” Foster said.
Gov. Bill Clements called law
makers back to Austin last Tues
day — two weeks before the
March 13 primary elections — to
deal with the school finance rul
ing and a federal judge’s decision
that some state judicial elections
discriminate against minority vot-
The first week of the session,
Clements repeated his vow to
veto any new taxes to meet the
Supreme Court ruling, which
noted glaring disparities between
property-rich and poor school
districts and gave lawmakers a
May 1 deadline for changing the
finance system. The $13.5 billion-
a-year school finance system re
lies on a combination of state and
federal aid and local property
taxes.
City dwellers take advantage
of 6 no excuses’ absentee vote
New law prompts heavier voting in urban areas
DALLAS (AP) — While many city dwellers in Texas
are taking advantage of a new “no excuses” absentee
voting law by casting early ballots for the March 13 pri
mary, turnout is lower than expected in rural areas.
A 1987 law that allows in-person absentee voting
through Friday is being used for the first time in
statewide and local elections.
In Dallas County, more than 6,000 people already
have voted — 2,4/9 in the Democratic primary and
3,769 in the Republican primary, Elections Administra
tor Bruce Sherbet said.
In the first week of in-person absentee voting, turn
out is already three times higher than it was in the
March 1988 Super Tuesday primary, Sherbet said. He
predicted that as much as 25 percent of the county vote
will come from absentee ballots.
According to reports to the secretary of state’s office,
1,948 Democrats and 2,123 Republicans have voted in
Tarrant County.
The new law is prompting heavy early voting in ur
ban areas, Mark Toohey, executive assistant to Secre
tary of State George Bayoud, said.
Turnout is high in Travis County, where 2,129 Dem
ocrats and 1,422 Republicans have voted.
In Bexar County, 5,705 Democrats have cast early
ballots, compared with 5,168 Republicans.
Turnout is light in Harris County, however, where
only 808 Democrats and 1,100 Republicans have cast
in-person absentee votes.
“Overall, we’ve maintained all along that Bexar
County would lead the way,” Toohey said. “But Harris
County sure looks very low.”
“That might be a sign that a lot of people haven’t
made up their minds yet,” he said. “But this is the big,
heavy weekend. This is the big push.”
Polls were open Sunday in counties with more than
200,000 population and will be open for 12 hours each
day this week. Absentee voting ends Friday.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Marco A.
“Tony” Gomez said as many as one-third of his county’s
We’re doing great on absentee
voting. I’m predicting we are going to do
about 25 percent of the vote in absentee.”
— Dana DeBeauvoir,
Travis County clerk
registered voters could vote absentee before the polls
open on election day.
When the new no-excuse absentee voting law was in
effect for the first time in the 1988 presidential election,
38 percent of Bexar County’s voters cast in-person ab
sentee ballots.
In Travis County, the governor’s race is prompting
very heavy turnout. County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir
said.
“We’re doing great on absentee voting,” DeBeauvoir
said. “I’m predicting we are going to do about 25 per
cent of the vote in absentee.”
Area disabled
participate
in tournament
By ANDY KEMOE
Of The Battalion Staff
The Brazos Valley’s Devel
opmental Recreational League
had its second mixed basketball
tournament Saturday in the Read
Building.
Six teams made up of devef-
opmentaify disabled people from
the Bryan-College Station area
and Texas A&M students com
peted in a nine-game round robin
tournament.
“Everyone had a really good
time,” Ann McGowan, instructor
of the health and physical educa
tion department and coordinator
of the event, said. “Both our dis
abled persons and the A&M stu
dents enjoyed the games. ”
First, second and third place
trophies were awarded to the fi
nal three teams.
MeGowan says that tourna
ments such as these can serve as
social tools for the disabled.
“For the disabled, it allows so
cial activity through competi
tion,” she said. “Hopefully, they
will enjoy themselves and become
active m some of the community’s
sports leagues.”
The student players were vol
unteer members of the Aggie Al
liance, a group designed for
Health and Physical Education
majors.
McGowan said she sees an ad
vantage in the mixed teams.
“They (the disabled) are not
very aggressive players,” McGo
wan said. “They tend to play a lot
harder, show a greater interest in
the game when the teams are
mixed.”
In conjunction with a student
service program, the Big Event, a
similar mixed softball tourna
ment is scheduled for the week
end of March 23. Anyone inter
ested in participating must apply
by Friday.
Tuesday
March 6 7:00 pm
Rudder Auditorium
Gordon Fort '77
Outfit B2, Ross Volunteer
Missionary in Botswana, Africa
Tim & LaDonna
of Dallas Holm and Praise
? STEVE
SMITH
Elect an experienced, conservative judge
to the County Court at Law Number 2
Steve Smith is the most ex
perienced candidate running for
the Republican nomination for
judge of Brazos County Court at
Law No. 2. As a municipal judge
of College Station, he has heard
almost 4,000 cases involving a
variety of misdemeanor criminal
matters. Judge Smith has earned a
reputation for being firm and fair
and he shows equal concern for the
rights of the victims of crime as he
shows for those accused of criminal
acts.
Judge Smith’s professional credentials are outstanding: he is
the only Republican candidate certified by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization (Civil Trial Law) and is the only candidate selected to
help train Texas Municipal Judges at the state Municipal Judges Courts’
Training Center. He is also the only candidate to serve as a law instructor
to the Brazos Valley Study Group of the AIB.
Judge Smith has an enviable record of public service in the com
munity. He has served many, many civic and charitable organizations
with distinction including OPAS, Leadership Brazos, Crimestoppers,
Optimists and the March of Dimes, among others.
He and his wife, Becky, have two children: they are concerned parents
and involved citizens.
Qualified • Experienced • Committed • Concerned
Promote Judge Steve Smith to
JUDGE, COUNTY COURT AT LAW No. 2
PD. POL. ADVERTISEMENT BY Steve Smith Campaign, Ann S. Brown, Treasurer, Box 9642, College Station, TX 77842.
Vote Absentee Before Spring Break