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WEATHER
TOMORROW’S FORECAST:
Mostly sunny and mild.
HIGH: 72 LOW: 58
Vol.89 No.128 USPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, April 10,1990
Democratic runoff draws to close
Richards, Mattox talk of party unity; both predict their victory
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Associated Press
The Democratic runoff for gover
nor neared a conclusion Monday
with state Treasurer Ann Richards
and Attorney General Jim Mattox
each talking party unity instead of
swapping allegations.
And both predicted victory in to
day’s balloting.
“When we win, we will not gloat,”
Richards told a crowd of supporters
in Midland. “We will be healers. The
real fight is in November.”
Mattox told backers in Dallas that
he would consider including Rich
ards in his administration. “I think
that there’s a place for all of us
within this Democratic Party, each of
our talents,” he said.
The winner of their race will face
Republican oilman-rancher Clayton
Williams in the general election. Wil
liams won the GOP nomination out
right last month, capturing more
than 61 percent of the vote.
The bitter Democratic campaign
Run-off elections between State Treasurer Ann Richards and At
torney General Jim Mattox for the Texas Democratic gubernatorial
candidate are today as well as runoff's for various local and county
races. See list of voting sites on page 6.
— which included charges of drug
abuse by each candidate — raged
over the last month after Mattox and
Richards bested a seven-person pri
mary field.
A pre-election poll published Sun
day by the Houston Chronicle and
Dallas Morning News gave a slight
edge to Richards, although it
showed a large number of voters still
undecided.
Of 759 Democrats who said they’d
vote in the runoff, 44 percent
backed Richards and 38 percent
Mattox. Sixteen percent said they
were undecided. The telephone sur
vey by the University of Houston
had a margin of error of four per
centage points.
Also on Sunday, Mattox appeared
on national television and accused
Richards of drug use 10 years ago.
“I’m saying that she used cocaine at
the age of 46 and marijuana, and she
used other drugs,” Mattox told CBS-
TV’s “Face the Nation.” The attor
ney general said he obtained the in
formation from mutual friends he
declined to identify.
Richards underwent treatment
for alcoholism in 1980 and said she
has not had a “mood-altering chemi
cal” since. She phoned the program
to deny she’d ever sought treatment
for cocaine use, but declined to ap
pear on the show. On Monday, she
added, “Mr. Mattox is telling lies in
this campaign.”
But much of Monday’s cam
paigning — whirlwind tours of the
state by both candidates — lacked
much of the nastiness that per
meated both campaigns in recent
days.
Richards referred to the fight as
she called in Midland for im
provements in education and bol
stering existing Texas businesses.
“It will have been worth going
through this mean campaign to solve
the problems,” she said. “For those
of us who care about the problems of
Texas, what I have taken (mudsling-
ing) is worth it.”
She ripped Gov. Bill Clements, a
Republican, saying he had failed to
provide leadership to change the
current public school finance sys
tem, which was declared unconstitu
tional by a unanimous Texas Su
preme Court.
“What we are seeing takirig place
in Austin, Texas, is a travesty,” she
said at the University of Texas at Ar
lington later in the day. “Instead of
helping, we have a governor who has
deliberately been a roadblock.”
Mattox, meanwhile, told members
of Dallas’ Progressive Voters League
that while he couldn’t promise to
end drug abuse problems, he said he
would strive to clean them up.
Mattox reiterated his call for a
state lottery, which he says is the only
way to raise needed state revenue
without an additional tax increase.
And he said he expects Democrats
to work together in the fall.
“I’m a Democrat and I’m going to
support the entire Democratic ticket
top to bottom,” Mattox said. “Win or
lose, I’ll walk across the field and
shake hands. That’s the kind of indi
vidual I am.”
The governor’s nomination isn’t
the only statewide race being de
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Balloons wreak environmental havoc
Air releasals
end in litters,
animal deaths
By DEAN SUELTENFUSS
OfThe Battalion Staff
Colorful, festive helium balloons
conjure up images of children’s par
ties, circuses or perhaps a day spent
at the county fair.
But for some people, they conjure
up images of a different kind.
According to the book “Fifty Sim-
I pie Things You Can Do To Save the
$32/35 Earth,” many balloons that have
been released into the air land on
the ocean’s surface and are eaten by
whales and sea turtles, which mis
take the balloons for jellyfish.
The balloons then get stuck in the
animals.’ digestive tracts, resulting in
death.
Balloons that are released into the
atmosphere can be harmful in other
ways, too.
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They can be sucked into airplane
engines and cause damage to the
planes. They also can simply fall to
earth, becoming yet another form of
litter. Metallic balloons are danger
ous because they can become tan
gled in power lines, causing power
outages and creating danger for
people in the area.
As more people become aware of
dangers involved in releasing bal
loons, some organizations have
taken stances regarding this issue.
For instance, in an effort to make
more people aware of the dangers of
balloon releases, Kappa Kappa
Gamma has requested that all of its
chapters refrain from activities in
volving the release of balloons.
Susie Woelfel, president of A&M’s
Epsilon Rho chapter of Kappa
Kappa Gamma, said many people do
not think about the dangers to wild
life and the environment that can be
caused by releasing balloons.
NASA readies shuttle
for telescope mission
Battalion File Photo by F. Joe
Balloons are released before the start of the Stadium in Lubbock. Research links ballons to
1989 A&M-Texas Tech football game at Jones animal deaths and power outages.
Mary Albert, public relations
chair for Texas Environmental Ac
tion Coalition, said balloon releases
will become less common as more
E eople become aware of potential
azards involved.
She also said many people are un
aware of the problems caused by bal
loon releases.
“I think in the general population,
people don’t think about it, or
maybe they don’t take it seriously,”
Albert said. “In other words they
say, ‘Oh, it’s just a couple of bal
loons.’ Well, if each of those balloons
is mistaken for food ... it’s going to
add up.”
Albert said balloon releases are
probably not as common in Bryan-
College Station as they are in other
areas. In February, universities all
across Texas released balloons to
publicize an anti-drunk driving
event.
Albert said TEAC members did
nothing to prevent the balloon re
lease because they did not know
about it.
“If something like that was to hap
pen again and we knew about it in
advance, we would certainly try to
S :t the word out not to release those
alloons),” Albert said. “In fact, I
didn’t even know that happened.”
Although some communities and
universities have banned the release
of balloons, representatives of
Bryan, College Station and Texas
A&M said they know of no local re
strictions regarding their release.
Peggy Calliham, public relations
and marketing manager for College
Station, said it is important to realize
that balloons can be hazardous not
only to the environment, but also to
humans.
She said the city of College Station
has made an effort to warn children
of the hazards of handling metallic
balloons near power lines.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)
— NASA said there was only a 40
percent chance that weather would
delay today’s launch of the space
shuttle Discovery on its mission to
place a telescope in orbit to look to
ward the edge of the universe.
Launch of the 35th shuttle mis
sion from Kennedy Space Center
was set for 8:47 a.m. EDT (7:47 a.m.
CDT). There was a chance that low
clouds could push that time back.
Once in orbit, the Hubble Space
Telescope, 43 feet long, 14 feet in di
ameter and weighing 24,250
pounds, will be lifted out of Discov
ery’s cargo bay with the ship’s me
chanical arm, given an exacting
checkout, and will be dropped over
board Wednesday afternoon if all
goes well.
The telescope, being launched
seven years late because of the 1986
Challenger accident and technical
problems, represents an investment
of more than $2 billion — $1.5 bil
lion for the telescope itself and $600
million for spare parts, astronaut
training and ground support. It will
cost $200 million a year to operate
and maintain.
The flight is deemed so important
that all five of the crew are veterans
of previous flights. Commander Lo
ren J. Shriver and pilot Charles F.
Bolden each have flown once before.
Mission specialists Bruce Mc-
Candless II and Kathryn D. Sullivan
not only have flown before, but also
have space-walking experience.
They’ll be ready to make space walks
to rectify any problems with the tele
scope. And mission specialist Steven
A. Hawley, whose job it is to operate
the mechanical arm that lifts the
telescope out, has two missions un
der his belt.
The telescope’s 94-inch, mirror,
according to experts, is the most
flawless ever made. It was designed
to capture and magnify light from
nearly the farthest reaches of the
universe — light created billions of
years ago when stars and solar sys
tems were in their earliest stages of
formation.
“Hubble has no rivals,” Leonard
Fisk, NASA’s chief scientist, said.
“Never before have we had a tele
scope or observatory with this capa
bility, and it will not be surpassed
until we begin to establish observato
ries on the moon some day.”
Above the atmosphere, which dis
torts visible light and blocks out ul
traviolet, X-rays and gamma rays,
the telescope will be able to see ob
jects 50 times dimmer than those
that can be observed from the
ground.
With this new tool, astronomers
will see these celestial objects as they
were billions of years ago. That
should help determine whether the
Never before have we
had a telescope or
observatory with this
capability, and it will not be
surpassed until we begin to
establish observatories on
the moon some day.”
— Lennard Fisk,
NASA’s chief scientist
Big Bang that created the universe
was 10 billion years ago, 20 billion
years ago or somewhere in between,
as scientists believe.
Mostly, scientists stress, they ex
pect to get answers to questions they
haven’t asked.
“We have to be consciously ex
pecting that we may be surprised,”
said William Jeffreys of the Univer
sity of Texas, leader of the astrome
try team, and one of 1,200 scientists
who will work with results from the
Hubble’s observations.
In the 15-year life expected of the
telescope, scientists hope also to find
planets around other stars.
Engineers will spend about five
months calibrating the instrument
once it is in orbit, but the first photo
graphs are expected within two
weeks of launch.
Senators object to Corps integration committee
By CHRIS VAUGHN
OfThe Battalion Staff
A resolution asking the president
to appoint a committee to oversee
the full integration of women into
the Corps of Cadets was sent back to
committee again Monday during the
Texas A&M Faculty Senate meeting.
The resolution was sent back to
the Committee on the Status of
Women for the second time because
many senators expressed concerns
that the resolution was too negative
and that the Corps didn’t need a
committee to oversee the integration
of women.
Dr. Patricia Alexander, chairwo
man of the committee, said she was
disappointed in the vote.
“Of course, we’re disappointed,
but it’s just a temporary setback,” Al
exander, an associate professor of
education, said.
The resolution, which also was
sent back to the committee after the
March meeting, states that A&M
President William H. Mobley will ap
point a committee to evaluate and
oversee the integration of women in
the Corps.
Alexander said during the
citations voted down
By CHRIS VAUGHN
OfThe Battalion Staff
propos
Rules and Regulations eliminating parking ci
tation appeal boards and giving the director
of the Parking, T ransit and Traffic Services
the final say was voted down by the Faculty
Senate Monday.
The proposed revision, which was voted
down vociferously, would have eliminated ap
peals panels which hear complaints by stu
dents, faculty and staff about parking cita
tions.
The revisions relating to parking services
also stated, “The decision of the Director or
the designee is final,” which troubled some
faculty members.
“That sentence makes me simply uneasy,”
Dr, Larry Wilding, a soil and crop sciences
professor, said.
During the discussion, WTlliam Kibler, asso
ciate director of Student Affairs, said Parking,
Transit and T raffic Services was attempting to
do away with the appeals panels in its move to
ward a completely administrative process.
The Faculty Senate, however, did pass a re
vision from Parking and Transit that will
make parking permits mandatory for bicycles
beginning in the fall. The price for the bicycle
permits was not announced.
The Senate also failed to approve a revision
in die section outlining student rights during
disciplinary review.
Students currently have the right to remain
silent during meetings with University offi
cials concerning disciplinary action, but the
revised section would have stated. “However,
an adverse inference may be drawn from a
student’s refusal to speak.”
When questions arose about the legality of
the proposed revision, Kibler said it did not
conflict with the Fifth Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution because most student cases were
not criminal cases.
He said in those disciplinary reviews that
could become criminal cases, anything said
during the meeting could not be used in a
court of law.
“It (proposed revision) creates an air of
compulsion,” Kibler said. “It sufficiently taints
it so it could not be used by law enforcement,”
But most faculty members agreed that no
inference of guilt should be made based on a
person’s silence.
“I think we would be giving a very bad civics
lesson to the students if this passed,” Dr. Larry
Hickman, a philosophy professor, said.
lengthy debate about the resolution
that the Corps currently discrimi
nates against women by not offering
them the same opportunities as men.
She said the Corps discriminates
by permitting women to join only
seven out of the 39 Corps units.
There are currently women in five
Corps units, two of which are Aggie
Band units.
She also questioned why A&M
does not have fully integrated units
when the armed forces and the serv
ice academies do.
“It’s difficult to believe A&M
could not achieve what the Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marines, West
Point, Air Force Academy or the Na
val Academy could achieve,” Alex
ander said.
Alexander said the Corps has
been trying to integrate its Units
since the early 1970s and that with
out the resolution, progress would
continue to be slow.
But Corps Commandant Gen.
Thomas Darling said the Corps is
moving toward integration and a
committee is not needed.
“We’re making good progress
now,” Darling said. “I’m not at odds
with the committee’s wishes, but I
don’t think I need a committee to
evaluate it.”
Brennan Reilly, the A&M Student
Senate liaison to the Faculty Senate,
said the Student Senate does not be
lieve it is in the student’s best inter
ests for the Faculty Senate to over ><
Corps problems.
The Corps instituted a pilot pro
gram this spring to study the effects /
of companies containing men and
women.
Darling said he wants to eliminate
the all-female units by the fall, but
he didn’t go so far as to say when full
integration would occur.
“This is something significantly
different than anything else,” he
said. “We need to work at it cau
tiously. We can’t use a sledgeham
mer approach.”
Alexander said the Committee on
See Senate/Page 5