Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1990)
[he Battalion TATE & LOCAL 3 e^onday, April 23,1990 illiams’ admission about prostitutes causes concern AUSTIN (AP) — The admission J^doiki) Republican gubernatorial candi- r ad of sin IB 116 Clayton Williams that he paid Jmputer p ostitutes ^° r sex as a y° un ? man ’ re surety n g on the 5 yourworli 'ils and lises new questions about his atti- des toward women, his opponent’s mpaign said Sunday. “In recent months, the Republi- in nominee has made several com- icnts which taken together drive is wedge between men and [omen, and I think that’s unfortu- ate,” said Glenn Smith, manager of ate Treasurer Ann Richards’ gu- 1 time tocol ernatorial campaign, would ' Richards was vacationing and not I ^ railable to comment on Williams’ Imissions, which appeared in a u p With yd jpyright story Sunday in the Hous- m Post. “I’ve never claimed to be a perfect ian,” Williams told the newspaper discussing his patronage of prosti- tes. “It’s part of growing up in cith your 'bHge to lx is. i committij| le a year and I 3 the plana j ii nionoxidfl ament heajf gyout vurnalim West Texas. ... It’s like the Larry Mc- Murtry book, The Last Picture Show,” said Williams, a 58-year-old Fort Stockton native. Williams’ campaign reacted an grily to the newspaper report, saying that Richards also should be closely scrutinized by the media. “One of Clayton’s greatest strengths as a person is one of his greatest ‘weaknesses’ as a politician; he always tries to be honest,” his press secretary, Bill Kenyon, said in a statement. “When Clayton was tra cked down by a reporter chasing outlandish rumors about Clayton’s past that have been fanned by the Richards campaign and other Dem ocrats, he dismissed them as absurd. “Most politicians would have stopped there,” the statement con tinued. “But when the reporter went further and asked if he had ever vis ited a prostitute, Clayton surprised some folks by conceding once again that he’s not perfect and by telling the truth about incidents earlier in his life, even when it wasn’t politi cally expedient.” Williams was in Arizona and not available to answer questions. Ke- During an interview at an inde pendent oil group meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Saturday, Wil liams told the Houston Post that he paid prostitutes a number of times in Texas and Mexico. He said it had been at least 35 years since he visited “I It was kind of what the boys did at A&M. It was a lot different in those days. The houses were the only place you got serviced then.” — Clayton Williams, gubernatorial candidate nyon said he hoped that when Rich ards is subjected to the same type of scrutiny, “she displays the same kind of candor when questioned about her personal life, past and present.” a prostitute. “As a teen-ager, it’s part of grow ing up in West Texas. You go to Mexico. It’s part of the fun,” he said, adding that he also patronized pros- razos Valley Museum to change directors, ew location; accreditation may be in future By SEAN FRERKING flhe Battalion Staff ■ ithouthail me to i Ibumjadeil warnings on I liberals ami yourselves, at you tali . They cart Although many people don’t |now about it, the Brazos Valley Mu- |eum has a lot to offer. Randy Smith, museum program boordinator, said most people don’t even know that Brazos County has a nuseum. sur- our Co-op of- il ArtsMa- lie biggest bowed up fact, their for a sum- Iternatingj our favor- elight. i gracious while hf i parking en leave. ; parking j solution ajustifia- illegal to I ; looks at ] jsion. , edit ItWi ■antee fM iddress oid mpw “Most people are pleasantly prised when they find out about nuseum,” Smith said. “The museum i supposed to serve the residents of Irazos County and the sooner they what and where we are, the etter.” Smith said the museum has been it its present location at 3232 Briar- est for more than eight years. The useum was orginally founded ore than 20 years ago by the Asso- iation of University Women, he aid. The museum is a private, non- irofit organization that receives inding from Asdn Trusts and the Wted Way, and the Arts Council of razos County contributes to the useum as well. People from the ryan-College Station area also sup- rt the museum by buying mem- rships. With these contributions. Smith aid, the museum does not need to :harge a general admissions fee. “We only charge for programs hen an instructor is involved with he presentation,” Smith said. The area funding, Smith said, al lows the museum to provide the ounty with a variety of programs. Although the museum’s main em- hasis is natural science, Smith said [itcan offer many different exhibits. Smith said the museum offers ipecial classes for children in the atural history and culture of Brazos :ounty. He said he estimates that 75 lercent of the audience who attend irograms are children. “I think that about 2,500 kids go oour programs a year,” Smith said. The museum also goes to schools In Bryan and College Station to edu- :ate students in both cities about the istory of Brazos county. Smith said. “Our biggest program of the year lis our Summer Nature Camp,” he isaid. The camp is seven weeks in the ummer starting on June 11. The museum will have Springfest Saturday and Sunday. Smith said the annual event at Messina Hof is the museum’s largest fundraiser. “Springfest is a lot of fun,” Smith said. “There’ll be a 10K run, a lot of rts and crafts, live music and a jgrape stomp.” Besides all of the fun. Smith said, [the museum offers practical applica- Jtions for students. The museum [even provides internships to qual- [ified students. The faculty members at Texas M W Photo by Jay Janner The Brazos Valley Museum’s Discovery Room, fossils and other objects found in the Brazos Val- marked by a huge mural of a mammoth, features ley area. Children can touch the room’s artifacts. titutes while he was a student at Texas A&M University. “It was kind of what the boys did at A&M,” he said. “It was a lot differ ent in those days. The houses were the only place you got serviced then.” Richards’ campaign said the Dem ocrat didn’t wish to comment on Wil liams’ admission of patronizing pros titutes. “His private behavior is best left to him and his family,” Smith said. “We don’t believe it’s a legitimate subject for discussion in the context of a public, political debate.” Women’s groups, including the National Organization for Women, did not immediately return tele phone calls Sunday from the Asso ciated Press. Many NOW officials were out of state and unavailable, said the organization’s Washington office. Prostitution is legal in some areas of Mexico, including most border cities. Officials said such women must have health cards and undergo weekly checkups. In Mexico City and some other areas, prostitution is illegal but toler ated. Richards won the Democratic nomination on April 10 after a mudslinging runoff campaign in which her opponent. Attorney Gen eral Jim Mattox, accused her of us ing illegal drugs as recently as 10 years ago but offered no evidence. A recovering alcoholic, Richards declined to give a yes-or-no answer when asked about drug use, saying her addiction had been alcohol and that public discussions might dis courage others from seeking treat ment. A&M also volunteer their time and grown its present housing, Smith receive national accreditation within expertise, Smith said. said. On May 1, Dr. Ron Young the next five years. Smith said. The “We’ll take as many volunteers as from the state museum of Nebraska new building will elevate the status we can get,” he said. will become the new director of the °f the museum, he said. With all of the programs and museum, he said. A new facility is events the Brazos Valley museum Young’s first priority, Smith said. “It’s nice to grow and improve al- has going on, the museum has out- Young also wants the museum to ready a high quality museum.” Director says new Japanese campus step toward increasing students’ global awareness By BILL HETHCOCK Of The Battalion Staff A new Texas A&M campus in Koriyama, Japan, will be an im portant step toward increasing in ternational awareness in the stu dent body, Dr. Jaan Laane, director of the Texas A&M Insti tute for Pacific Asia said. “This type of campus will be very good for both sides because it will be an educational process where Texans learn about the Japanese and vice versa,” Laane said. The A&M branch in Ko riyama, a city of 310,000 located 120 miles north of Tokyo, will open for classes May 28. Laane said about 75 students are ex pected to enroll in the first semes ter of classes there. The Koriyama branch will of fer a 27-month program of core curriculum classes. Courses will be taught in English and will be equivalent to the courses taught here. Students at the Koriyama campus must come to A&M’s main campus in College Station for their last two years of study. Laane said he does not expect language barriers to be a problem in Koriyama classes because Japa nese students typically study En glish for six or seven years before enrolling in college-level courses. As part of a program to en courage global cultural aware ness, students from the College Station branch of A&M would be eligible to attend classes in Japan, Laane said. “One of the big advantages of the program is that it will allow Texas A&M students to spend a semester or more over there,” Laane said. “The courses that are going to be offerred in Koriyama are fundamental core courses so many students could easily find a full semester of courses to take. “Instruction over there is going to be in English, so you don’t have to be a specialist in the Japanese language to go.” Courses will be taught by fac ulty members that are now teach ing here, Laane said. Dr. Donald McDonald, executive director for Texas A&M University in Ko riyama, will be in charge of deter mining which faculty members will travel to Japan. “This program will allow some of our faculty to rotate in and out of Japan,” Laane said. “It will be especially good for anyone doing research in Asian studies or histo ry. An opening ceremony on May 19 will highlight more than three years of planning and negotiation between A&M administrators and Koriyama officials. There have been two major visits to the College Station campus by Ko riyama officials and several trips by A&M officials to the Koriyama site. 1 Laane said the idea for an A&M branch in Japan stemmed from a bi-national congressional committee called the U.S.-Japan committee for promoting trade expansion. “They (the committee) thought that one of the better things the United States had to export was its higher education system, so they proposed this idea,” he said. The committee asked munici palities in Japan to provide incen tives such as free land and money to bring U.S. universities to that country, Laane said. U.S. univer sities were informed of the possi bilities of a project of this type by the committee, he said. Initially, 80 American universi ties and 30 Japanese cities ex pressed interest in the program. A&M officials then went to Ja pan to look at possible sites for an overseas campus. After looking at all the possibilities in Japan, A&M officials decided that Koriyama was the best place to locate its Jap anese branch, Laane said. Ko riyama officials also chose A&M as the university it was most inter ested in working with, he said. Since that time, Laane said, Koriyama and A&M officials have worked together to develop the plans and start the program in Koriyama. The first group of students will attend classes in a temporary fa cility, which will be used for two years until the permanent cam pus is completed. The maximum student population at the perma nent campus will be 900 students. The entire cost of the campus in Koriyama is being funded by the Japanese, Laane said. “This program has no net costs to Texas A&M,” he said. “The costs come from the Japanese side, either from Japanese stu dent tuition or from contribu tions from the city or local indus try. We’re not using Texas state taxpayer’s money to run a cam pus in Japan. “The bottom line is that it will be very nice for us, it won’t cost us anything and we think we’ll have a valuable program.”