[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
â–  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
â– 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.”