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845.31 Tuesday, April 3,1990
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Associated Press
Before his first debate with Susan Moli-
nari, House candidate Bob Gigante re
ceived an unusual warning from his consul
tants: “Whatever you do, don’t make her
cry.”
Running against a woman can be a deli
cate business. Just ask George Bush.
“Remember 1984? I can’t forget it,” Bush
said recently of his vice presidential race
against Democrat Geraldine Ferraro.
The subject arose after Clayton Williams,
the Republican nominee for Texas gover
nor, said he’d rather run against state At
torney General Jim Mattox than state Trea
surer Ann Richards. The two Democrats
are in a runoff April 10.
“I wouldn’t be as comfortable in battling
with a woman,” Williams said.
“I know exactly what he means and I re
fuse to elaborate on it,” Bush sympathized.
And no wonder. The political landscape
is strewn with faux pas by men — mostly
Men tread carefully around female candidates
older ones — more accustomed to thinking
of women in the kitchen than on the cam
paign trail.
“The men are nervous,” says Democratic
pollster Celinda Lake. “Women running is
just plain different and men sense it.”
“They are very confused,” adds Republi
can pollster Ann Stone. “The rules have
changed very quickly over the last 10 to 15
years. You’ve got to kind of feel sorry for
them. ... Maybe their heart’s now in the
right place but their mouth’s not there yet.”
Bush got himself in trouble six years ago
when he boasted that he had “kicked a little
ass” in a debate against Ferraro. The same
race featured Mississippi agriculture com
missioner Jim Buck Ross asking Ferraro if
she could bake blueberry muffins. “Yes.
Can you?” she replied.
“There are some things you just don’t do.
I think you have to be a little bit more chiv-
alric, if that’s the right word,” said Califor
nia Attorney General John Van de Kamp,
who is vying with former San I rancisco
Mayor Dianne Feinstein for the Democratic
gubernatorial nomination.
A few years later, men told women in
Wisconsin and New Hampshire that they
shouldn’t be running for Congress because
they had young children. One of them, Sen.
Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H., later apol
ogized and called his statement “just plain
stupid.”
Van de Kamp offered only one specific:
he wouldn’t punch his opponent in the
nose. But he still is taking a few swings at
Feinstein, including an attack ad that ends,
“Dianne Feinstein — if she couldn’t manage
a city, how could she manage California?”
In contrast, Martha Layne Collins was
elected governor of Kentucky in 1983 “in
part because her opponents never could
figure out how to run against her. They
never did point out anything wrong with
her,” Democratic pollster Harrison Hick
man said.
“Lesson No. 1 about running against a
woman is if it walks like a candidate and
talks like a candidate, you treat it like a can
didate,” added Hickman, whose clients in
clude Van de Kamp and Sen. Paul Simon,
an Illinois Democrat trying to fend off a
challenge by GOP Rep. Lynn Martin.
Women like Martin and Richards, who
have hired two of the hardest-hitting media
consultants in the business, are making it
easier for men to attack by proving that
they can be as aggressive as the next guy.
They also are coming up with some deft
responses to gender-related missteps.
Richards came up with a good one-liner
after Williams — a self-styled symbol of the
free-wheeling, boot-wearing Texan — con
fessed he wouldn’t relish running against
her. “Even cowboys get the blues,” she said.
Williams, 58, has been even bluer since
he compared the bad weather at his ranch
last month to a rape. “If it’s inevitable, just
relax and enjoy it,” he said. The incident
created a furor and Williams eventually
apologized “from the bottom of my heart.”
Stone attributes Williams’ remarks, both
on rape and running against women, to his
generation and upbringing in Texas. “His
lexicon hasn’t caught up with the times yet,”
she said.
For the record, Molinari did not cry. She
won the election and was sworn in last week
as a Republican congresswoman from
Staten Island.
St. Michael’s Academy
burglarized, ransacked
Burglars ransacked buildings at
St. Michael’s Academy, 2500 block
of South College in Bryan, and stole
more than $ 1,500 worth of electro
nic equipment, according to a Crime
Stoppers report.
Sometime during the night of Fri
day, March 3, thieves broke the win
dows of three buildings at St. Mi
chael’s Academy and gained
entrance, the report said.
They ransacked buildings and
stole electronic teaching aids, includ
ing Sony Walkman stereos, a Wards
AM/FM cassette player (owner iden
tification number 04287117), a
Spectricon 19-inch color TV (owner
identification number 0703793), a
G.E. VCR (serial number
6H2S54303) and a Commodore
computer.
Detectives believe more than one
person was involved in this burglary.
Blood stains were found at the
scene, which lead investigators to be
lieve the persons involved were in
jured by broken glass.
During the past 18 months, the
academy has been the victim of six
STOPPER;
7 7 5-tips
burglaries, all involving electronic
and computer equipment. Investiga
tors have exhausted all leads in these
offenses and have not identified any
suspects.
This week the College Station Po
lice Department and Crime Stoppers
need your help in identifying the
person(s) responsible for this bur
glary. If you have information that
could be helpful, call Crime Stop
pers at 775-TIPS. When you call,
Crime Stoppers will assign you a
coded number to protect your iden
tity.
If your call leads to an arrest and
grand jury indictment, Crime Stop
pers will pay you up to $1,000 in
cash. Crime Stoppers also pays cash
for information on any felony crime
or the location of a wanted fugitive.
Church celebrates Century of Progress
Original property deed found after commemorative service
BEEVILLE (AP) — A church on land do
nated to three former slaves has served its
black congregation for more than a century.
Last month, the Jones Chapel United Meth
odist Church held a “Century of Progress”
service to honor the church’s 101 years in Bee-
ville.
But just before the service, the Rev. Earl Al
exander, part-time pastor for the past eight
months, discovered that no one connected
with the congregation held the papers for the
property near Juarez and Corpus Christi
streets.
“All these years, they have never ha^l a copy
of the deed for their church,” Alexander said.
The minister searched through volumes of
Bee County records, finally finding a copy of
the original, handwritten deed to the church
property, after the church’s celebration.
The original deed was entered into county
records on Oct. 26, 1889.
The lot donated by Capt. A.C. Jones, a Bee
County rancher and banker, was placed un
der the stewardship of three trustees, Ben
Lott, I.E. Starves and Charles Steward, who
were all former slaves.
The congregation was first organized in
1888, with the Rev. M.C. Caviness as its first
pastor, according to a history prepared by
Nealie Martin, the congregation’s most senior
member.
The congregation worshipped in a school
before the land became available in 1889 and
the first church building was constructed,
according to Martin’s history.
At the time, the church was part of a three-
city circuit that included Beeville, Goliad and
Corpus Christi. In the past, Alexander said,
Methodist ministers traveled by stagecoach or
wagon, serving churches in several commu
nities on rotating Sundays.
“This was a unique feature in the Methodist
church years ago,” Alexander said, adding
that the circuit concept still prevails in some
rural areas.
Construction of the present building, a
white wood-frame structure, began in 1926
and was completed a year later by a San Anto
nio contractor.
Alexander said Jones Chapel is the only
church in which he has preached that has
existed at the same location for 100 years or
more.
“A lot of the black churches have been
moved for several reasons,” he said, citing
population shifts and eminent domain laws
that led to seizure of land for highways and
other public uses.
“I do consider it a special privilege ... it’s a
hallowed area and it’s been that way for all
these years,” said Alexander, who came out of
retirement to serve congregations at Jones
Chapel and another church in Kingsville.
The Beeville congregation hopes to find a
permanent minister after the Southwest
Texas Conference of the United Methodist
Church meets in June, he said.
However, the 40-member congregation’s
main concern is keeping the church active into
the next century, the minister said.
Quency Davis, a 40-year member of Jones
Chapel, said many in the congregation are in
their 40s and 50s but the church has some
members in their 30s, and a handful of teen
agers.
“We’re hoping that the younger generation
under us will have interest in the church and
keep it going.”
OING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE
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Texas 6
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