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/0I.89 No.127 USPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, April 9,1990
One car accident
AIDS activist, 18,
loses life to disease
Uninjured W.F. McFarland explains to a College Station police of
ficer how he rolled his Jeep Cherokee while traveling on Univer-
Photo by Fredrick D.Joe
sity Drive. He said he swerved in order to miss hitting another car
and his right front tire hit the curb, causing the vehicle to flip.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Ryan
White, who won a long court battle
to attend public school and over
came prejudice against himself and
other AIDS victims, lost his 5 Va-year
struggle with the deadly disease on
Sunday. He was 18.
White died shortly after 6 a.m. at
Riley Hospital for Children, where
he had been hospitalized since
March 29 with an AIDS-related res
piratory infection. He had been
heavily sedated and on a ventilator.
White’s mother, Jeanne, and sis
ter, Andrea, 16, had kept a bedside
vigil, joined at times by celebrities
such as singer Elton John and the
Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Dr. Martin B. Kleiman, White’s
physician throughout his illness, said
death followed a slow deterioration
that had begun Saturday.
“At the end, his family and a few
of the others who loved him were
close at his side,” Kleiman said. “He
never regained consciousness, and I
am confident that he suffered no
pain at the end.”
Carrie Van Dyke, a spokeswoman
for Mrs. White, said the family
needed “time to be alone, to recover,
to grieve.”
John, who stayed at the hospital
with the Whites nearly a week, ded
icated the song “Candle in the
Wind” to White during the Farm
Aid IV concert Saturday night at the
‘Superwoman ’ needs a break
usy student creates change
3y JILL BUTLER
3fThe Battalion Staff
She is Texas A&M’s International Student of the
'ear, a member of the Executive Finance Committee,
he president of the Married Student Apartment Coun-
il, a member of the ad-hoc Committee on Interna-
ional Affairs, the director of the international talent
how during International Week, a member of the
ealth insurance committee and a graduate student
fithaLO grade-point ratio.
And she’s decided to take some time off from her ex-
racurricular activities.
Sandra Burke, a graduate student in educational
echnology from Ireland, said since she hopes to get her
naster’s degree next December, she wants to concen-
rateon professional activities and personal endeavors.
“I want to give some time to myself and my hus-
iand,” Burke said.
She said her husband has provided help and support
Buring her activities.
“Being so involved, I’ve had to sacrifice my homeli
ke,” Burke said. “I think the $1,000 scholarship I re
vived for International Student of the Year was used
;oeat-out, since I don’t have much time to cook.”
She said she will not run for president of Married
Student Apartment Council again and also will not par-
icipate in many committees on which she now serves.
Because she has a husband, Burke said she must
eave her future options open.
She said she is looking at the possibility of getting a
’h.D. in management information systems or psychol-
)gy, but might postpone the extra degree and get a job.
“It’s hard to coordinate future plans when you’re
named and both people are career-minded students,”
lurke said.
“Someday, I would like to get a job in management
ind combine my interests in behavioral psychology and
echnology.”
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology
from University College in Dublin, Burke came to the
United States in 1985.
“After the bachelor’s level, there’s not much educa
tion available in Ireland,” Burke said. “I also wanted to
experience life elsewhere.”
Burke attended the University of Southern Illinois,
where she met her husband, and is still working on her
master’s in behavioral analysis therapy from that uni
versity.
Burke came to A&M because her husband came to
A&M as a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering.
She said another future option is starting a family
with her husband.
“We’d like to have a family, but it’s very difficult to
figure out when,” Burke said. “It’s very hard because ei
ther you have the money and not the time or you have
the time and not the money.”
Burke said she got involved with various organiza
tions because she likes being able to create change.
She said she has seen much change in attitudes to
ward international students at A&M.
“A few years ago they (international students) were
an isolated community,” Burke said. “Now the Univer
sity has gone international and I’m delighted.”
She said students at A&M recently have raised their
level of international awareness.
“There’s still room for improvement, but I’ve seen
major change,” she said. “I think now it’s just a matter
of international students and American students fully
opening the doors of communication for one another.”
She said American students should be patient and
give international students time to adjust to the English
language and cultural changes.
Because she is white, Burke said, she has not had a
See Student/Page 10
Photo by Kathy Haveman
Burke
Medal of Honor recipient recounts duties
By SEAN FRERKING
Of The Battalion Staff
As the most recent recipient of the Medal
of Honor, Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez
said he earned America’s highest military ci
tation by doing his duty for the country he
loves so much.
At the annual Outfit Banquet for Squadron
Six of the Corps of Cadets, Benavidez said the
members of the Air Force group should ful
fill their roles in life and help lead America to
amore peaceful future.
Benavidez said he was honored to speak at
Texas A&M University. He said he felt his
peech granted him a special opportunity to
hank the Air Force for saving his life on
miany occasions.
“ We never got to know the pilots and the
nurses that saved our lives so many times,”
Benavidez said. “I guess this speech is just one
small way of saying thanks to you all.”
Benavidez said the cadets should try to
brn as much as they possibly can. He said
skills and a formal education will help any
body be sucessful.
“The more education you have, the more
skills you have, the more successful you can
be,” Benavidez said.
He credits his accomplishments to his ex
tensive training in the Special Forces and the
Army. He said his success proves anyone can
meet their goals.
Benavidez said knowing how to speak
other languages is another important skill ca
dets should learn. Benavidez, who can speak
three languages fluently, said it is very impor
tant to be aware of one’s heritage and cele
brate one’s native culture.
“I’m proud to be an American, and I’m
even prouder of being of Hispanic descent,”
Benavidez said. “I know my culture. I under
stand who I am and where I came from.”
Being patriotic is another part of under
standing one’s culture, Benavidez said. He
said he is concerned with the lack of patriot
ism in the United States today.
“Is it a sin to be patriotic anymore?” Bena
videz said. “Children no longer respect the
flag or even know what it stands for. Many
men have died to keep America free. That is
nothing to be ashamed of.”
Benavidez was born in Cuero in 1935. He
dropped out of school in the seventh grade
and joined the Army National Guard in 1952.
He later transferred to the Army in 1955.
He served several tours in Korea and later
in Berlin. He then attended Military and
Jump school at Fort Bragg. In 1965, he went
to Vietnam with the Special Forces as an ad
viser to the South Vietnamese government.
While serving four tours in Vietnam, he was
seriously injured on several occasions.
On May 2, 1968, Benavidez said he volun
tarily led a 12-man Special Forces team on a
rescue mission. The soldiers were conducting
an intelligence-gathering mission and had
been trapped behind enemy lines by intense
enemy gunfire.
During the six-hour rescue and recovery,
Benavidez saved the lives of at least eight men
and loaded 17 men onto a helicopter. Benavi
dez was seriously injured by gunfire and
shrapnel more than 50 times during the res
cue mission.
When the disabled helicopter landed at an
American base, Benavidez could not be iden
tified because of the severity of his wounds.
He was placed mistakenly with two dead
North Vietnamese soldiers who had been
Benavidez
loaded on the aircraft. He then was put in a
body bag.
Benavidez said he mustered his remaining
strength and told the doctor he was alive in
the only way he could: he spit in the doctor’s
face.
Once the doctors realized he was alive, Be
navidez said, they sent him to Saigon for
Photo by Kathy Haveman
medical treatment. He spent over a year in a
Texas hospital recovering from the mission
that had earned him the Medal of Honor.
“I may have earned the Medal of Honor,
but all of us are what’s keeping America
free,” Benavidez said.
“I lived by the motto of Duty, Honor,
Country. It’s a good standard to live up to.”
Hoosier Dome, about a mile from
the hospital.
“This one’s for Ryan,” John said
to the cheers of 45,000 fans at the
concert to raise funds for financially
troubled farmers.
President Bush, who last week
planted a tree in White’s honor in
downtown Indianapolis, said he and
his wife, Barbara, were “deeply sad
dened” by White’s death.
“All Americans are impressed by
his courage, strength and his ability
to continue fighting,” Bush said in a
statement. “Ryan’s death reaffirms
that we as a people must pledge to
continue the fight, his fight, against
this dreaded disease.”
White was 13 when he was diag
nosed with AIDS in December 1984.
He had contracted acquired immune
deficiency syndrome through a
blood-clotting agent used to treat his
hemophilia. It is estimated that more
than half of the nation’s 20,000 he
mophiliacs were infected with the
AIDS virus before better blood do
nation screening procedures were
adopted, and 1,200 have developed
AIDS.
In 1985, White was barred from
Western Middle School near Ko
komo after school officials and par
ents rejected health authorities’ reas
surances that AIDS cannot be
spread through casual contact.
Students
recognized
for spirit
Buck Weirus award
honors participation
Fifty-two students who have
contributed significantly to stu
dent life at Texas A&M were
honored Sunday with the Buck
Weirus Spirit Award.
The award selection committee
is made up of students, faculty
and staff who vote on each appli
cant. The award is based on con
tinual involvement and devel
opment in student organizations.
Five freshmen, 10 sopho
mores, 15 juniors, 20 seniors and
two graduate students were se
lected.
The following students are the
Buck Weirus Spirit Award win
ners:
FRESHMEN:
April Sheree Garrett
John Eric Ansbach
Dana Kathleen Graesser
Donald Edward Dinnerville
Wilhelm “Bill” Christian
Benker
SOPHOMORES:
Rene Ruth Stewart
Phyllis Elaine Janysek
Angie Arrona
Daniel Peter West Jr.
Jason Dean Scott
Philip Brian Chen
Stephen Gerard Ruth
Vernell Johnson III
Charles Edward Phipps
Kendra Cherise Gillespie
JUNIORS:
Laurrie Ann Wittig
Timothy F. Doolen
Joanne Elizabeth Flanagan
Matthew Scott Wood
Beth Marie Ammons
Philip Craig Sandlin
Ann Marie Cotman
Douglas Brennan Reilly
John Craig Garrett
Clare Rochelle Redig
Brant Conrad Ince
Jennifer Lynn Park
Kyle R. Jacobson
Harolyn Denise Nance
Kathryn Elaine Kattner
SENIORS:
Michael Alan Leuck
Kimberlea Ann Ward
Brent Ray Adams
Wendy Gay Turk
Perry Aubrey Liston II
Katherine Louise Smith
John Leroy Albers
Salli Kay Preston ’
Edward William Allred
Hallie Marie Giles
Damon William Arhos
Gillian Grant
William Bradford Ashburn
Chong Hsu Liu
Kirsten Michele Baker
Jo Ann Hickel
Kellye Michelle Bowman
David Paul Dupre
France B. Brown Jr.
Diane Purinton
GRADUATE STUDENTS:
Darby Michelle Roberts
Edward Brown Silverman