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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1990)
TheBattalion rk m- Nelson Mandela President Bush prepares for the visit of the deputy leader of the African National Congress to the United States. see page 4 .89 No.159 USPS 045360 6 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, June 19,1990 ed to ‘s pulled- ■ers in ce, nan egged reporter's! 10 miners c Dimitrni B-CS police plan no policy changes after sobriety-checkpoints ruling By CHRIS VAUGHN Mg.Ua Of The Battalion Staff mcrvtcei):- g 0vert j I Repercussions of a Supreme that he l ourt d ec > s r on on sobriety check- et police) P°‘ nts probably won’t be felt much inetherf P 1 Bryan or College Station, local po- ' lice officials said. The Supreme Court, with a 6-3 |yote, upheld a Michigan sobriety- ; U | I j tateot ‘ checkpoint program Thursday by ected btJ lat the ; ' he called.] ling that stopping cars at check points does not violate motorists’ pri- “ ry rights. “The balance of the state’s interest jn preventing drunken driving ... jnd the degree of intrusion upon in dividual motorists who are briefly r rQ,J»°pped weighs in favor of the state odBrogram,” Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote for the majority. | Bryan and College Station police, |o\vever, have never relied on sobri- y checkpoints to catch drunken »i|l ^[rivers, so police expect no real lillil Bhanges in their policing policies. “The idea of a checkpoint is to ave a lot of success,” Lt. Mike Pat- “B It’s another tool police can use to keep drunken drivers off the road.” —Choya Walling, police sergeant terson of the College Station police said. “It needs to be productive, and we don’t think it would be very pro ductive for us.” “I doubt you’ll see a lot of check points now,” Sgt. Choya Walling of the Bryan police said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not enforcing the laws.” Patterson said College Station po lice still rely on officers observing drunken drivers because it gives the department and officers more flexi bility. Bryan police have had great suc cess with videotaping suspected drunken drivers and are not likely to drop that method for checkpoints, Walling said. “The most effective method is the videocamera, as opposed to stopping every vehicle and checking the driv er,” Walling said. Some police departments, includ ing College Station’s, shied away from sobriety checkpoints before the Supreme Court decision, because too many courts had ruled too many ways. “We didn’t address the DWI issue and checkpoints, mainly because the courts have had mixed reviews,” Pat terson said. Police and organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving laud the decision by the Supreme Court for finally clearing up the is sue. “It’s another tool police can use to keep drunken drivers off the road,” Walling said. “Of course, the deci sion makes it that much easier for us. I’m sure the agencies that use them more often are even more pleased.” Anita Friedman, administrator of the Brazos County MADD Chapter also said she believes sobriety check points will help take drunken drivers off the road. “We’re delighted the Supreme Court has come up with this deci sion,” Friedman said. Dr. Kirk Brown, state chairman of MADD, also was pleased with the ruling. “This is just one more weapon in the arsenal we can use to end drunken driving,” Brown, a Texas A&M professor of soil and crop sci ences, said. Patterson and Walling, however, said neither police chief has issued any formal orders on the ruling yet. Both said the ruling probably will be read closely before any formal deci sions are made. “I don’t know if the ruling is to open the door to use more cl points, but we’ll use whatever means possible to keep drunken drivers off the road,” Walling said. laritime & irsday nker Mtp indidon jus ex^kfc. tty Offkti Norwem e/ Tfeitsf uringarot >ril examij ;1, inc imp rooi > ori^inite A&M professor gives Juneteenth speech L Dr. Larke believes extended African-American family is strong iy KATHY COX Df The Battalion Staff c and i very j estified ssive an and specter siE overdue fe however, bether uted to tk The family vs the most important lement to African-Americans an swering the question, “Where do we ro from here?” a Texas A&M pro- essor said during local Juneteenth I® celebrations Saturday. “We have a very beautiful and anique family — the extended fam- y — that we should be very proud )f,” Dr. Patricia Larke, an A&M pro- essor in the College of Education, aid to a crowd of about 40 during uneteenth festivities at the Lincoln lenter. Juneteenth, officially honored to- ay, celebrates the day news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached laves in Texas. Abraham Lincoln issued the proc- amation January 1, 1863, but slaves as injureJSn Texas did not find out until June ood mi, told il i an inter measurai- 1 been do® ast. v inspect* * Brazospor ■I is left kj lebris. ites befott T enginee: oiled in Ik I to open ashing, M 1 not elak s trying te ; plosion* ?re amt® sed the i»- rand day) vf the bte two years later. Larke, head of A&M’s Minority Mentorship program, said the ex tended African-American family is strong. “Historically, it has been the strong African-American family, re inforced by the church, that has Photo by Sondra N. Robbins Dr. Patricia Larke speaks in Lin coln Center on Saturday. been a shield against external preju dice and kept the family going,” she said. But Larke said this shield is being weakened by today’s society. She said African-Americans should work to stop children from having children because the percent age of teen mothers is increasing, along with the poverty rate. The divorce rate also is increasing for everyone, Larke said, as is the number of young African-American men who can’t get married and sup port a family in the midst of high un employment. “However, I must focus on the large number of black couples who have kept their families together, through good and trying times,” Larke said. “Hard working, and many times deeply religious families have given their children plenty of love, affec tion and whenever necessary, disci pline. “They have often scraped and saved to feed, clothe and educate their children, and efforts have paid off,” she said. “Many of you are products of those families.” Larke said African-Americans also should march forward educatio nally, politically and economically. Larke urged African-Americans to lower the high school dropout Senior Aggies return to class AggieHostel welcomes alumni By JAMES M. LOVE Of The Battalion Staff tes It’s back to school for almost 70 former Texas A&M University students. For a full week, the se nior alumni and their spouses will live in Lechner Hall, eat in Sbisa and attend classes ranging from Mark Twain humor to ocean dril ling and agriculture. AggieHostel will be hosting their visit this week. It’s a pro gram for senior Aggies that com bines the excitement of campus life with the opportunity to at tend intellectually stimulating courses. Sponsored annually by eria's vok t forcec MagW ; centra 1 id fragilel A Bap ewspa? North a* Photo by Sondra N. Robbins Barney Barnes, class of ’42, from San Antonio participates in AggieHostel hosted by the Association of Former Students the Association of Former Stu dents, AggieHostel is in its third year and is now an Aggie tradi tion. Beginning with a campus tour and reception on Sunday, the week includes an informal social at President William H. Mobley’s home, a square dance/western night, dinner in the Kyle Field press box and graduation cere monies on Friday. There’s even a visit to the Dixie Chicken sched uled for Wednesday. H.C. Heldenfels, class of ’35, is on his second AggieHostel visit. He said it’s a real joy to be back in the classroom again. “We have had outstanding intructors in our classes,” he said. “They’ve seemed to enjoy it better than we have.” For many of the alumni, this was not the first visit with Aggie Hostel. John Yartz, class of ’43, said he has been to all three and plans on returning again. “It keeps getting better,” he said. “I’m looking forward to next year.” Also among the group is one of the men responsible for adopting the first Reveille. J.U. “Two-gun” Parker, class of ’32 and a former head yell leader, recalled the night they brought her to A&M. “During the summer of 1931, six of us snuck out in my Model-T Ford to go drinking near Wellborn,” he said. “On the way home, we found her in a ditch, and she was sick from lack of food. “She had not been hit by a car as some legends will have it,” he laughed, “But we brought her back, and she mostly stayed with Rip Collins, who should be cred ited for taming her,” he said. “By the fall, Reveille was leading the See AggieHostel/Page 6 rate and get involved with their chil dren’s educations by contacting tea chers, praising children for aca demic intelligence and making sure educators stress academics as well as athletics. Larke also said parents should ask school board members to hire more African-American teachers. Only 3 percent of the teachers in this area are African-American, Larke said. “Why are you letting the present educational system promote failure for your children?” Larke asked. “Get involved ... don’t be intimidated by the system.” Larke said African-Americans also should become more politically active. “The culturally diverse group of people makes the best decisions,” Larke said. People can make a difference, she said, by running for office and vot ing in elections. “Everyone who has some political experience at one time started with zero,” she said. “Where are we going politically? I hope on the boards as See Juneteenth/Page 6 Office gunman kills eight, shoots self JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A gunman “loaded for war” stalked through an auto loan company Mon day, firing at customers, shooting under desks at hiding employees and leaving eight dead before killing himself. Five others were listed in critical but stable condition after the late- morning shootings by semiautomatic gunfire at the General Motors Ac ceptance Corp. office south of downtown. Richard Langille, an employee, said office workers dived under desks when the first of about 50 shots rang out. “And then we realized the guy was pointing his gun underneath peo ple’s desks and killing them one by one,” said Langille. “I just saw the bottom of the carpet and just prayed.” Some of the wounded were shot seven and eight times each, hospital spokesmen said. “The suspect apparently went in the front door and shot a couple of customers,” said Jacksonville Sheriff James McMillan. “Then he went right through the office indiscrimi nately shooting employees, then turned the weapon on himself.” The gunman, James Edward Pough, 42, of Jacksonville, had re cently had a vehicle repossessed by GMAC, the sheriff said. McMillan said it was not known if that was the sole motive. The company said the car was a 1988 Pontiac Grand Am repossessed in January. Pough began firing almost as soon as he walked through the door, Mc Millan said. After shooting two customers, one fatally, he methodically went from desk to desk firing his rifle, witnesses said. McMillan said the rifle may link the suspect to two other fatal week end shootings in Jacksonville. Photo by Sondra N. Robbins Mark Delashaw, a senior engineering technology major from Ar- gyle, Texas, flies a power-controlled sailplane last Sunday eve ning on the Polo field across from the Systems Building. A&M scientists return after studying oil spill By KATHY COX Of The Battalion Staff A team of Texas A&M scientists returned to College Station after a week of collecting samples and studying dispersal of oil in the Gulf where the Mega Borg tanker spilled millions of gallons of crude oil. Explosions caused the Mega Borg to catch fire Saturday, June 9, leav ing two crewmen dead and two oth ers missing. The tanker has spilled an esti mated 4.5 million gallons of light crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists and technicians from A&M’s Geochemical and Environ mental Research Group arrived at the scene as early as Sunday, June 10, Dr. Mahlon C. Kennicutt II, head of the research team, said. “That was a decision on our part to go ahead and get in the field even before we had any direct authoriza tion from any of the agencies,” Ken nicutt said. “We made a decision that this needed to be done and that we should go ahead and mobilize our selves and not wait for someone to ask us to do it — to be there when they needed it. Kennicutt said he thought this ac tion helped accomplish various tasks in a more timely and comprehensive fashion. An A&M vessel, the HOS Cita tion, happened to be returning the Sunday after the spill, and it already had much of the needed equipment on board. The ship was restocked and the group was on its way to the spill by Monday morning, he said. GERG members are using sam ples to study: • the fate of the spilled oil • the effects of the oil on the ecosystem • the level of contamination in the area before the spill. When oil spills from a burning tanker, many things can happen, Kennicutt said. Oil can burn up at the source, evaporate as it spreads, be consumed later by organisms (known as micro bial degradation), filter into sedi ments on the floor, or invade the tis sues of organisms, he said. Kennicutt said by tracking the fate of the oil, his team hopes to discover which process is fastest and which portions of the ecosystem are ex posed. Researchers also hope to deter mine the harmful effects of the spill on the ecosystem. “Ideally in a situation like this, you would know what the present struc ture of the ecosystem was previous to any contamination,” Kennicutt said. “And then you could look or monitor with time the changes you might see.” The team is looking for specific effects of the oil, including the death of organisms and changes in the structure of the ecosystem, he said. In order to determine the effects, researchers also must know what portions of the ecosystem were ex posed to the oil, how long they were exposed and the amount of oil to which they were exposed. Insights into the level of contami- See Spill/Page 6 •> Gulf spill spares Galveston campus Light crude oil leaking from the Mega Borg tanker, which caught fire June 9 in the Gulf of Mexico, is not presenting any di rect problems to operations at Texas A&M University at Galves ton. Dr. William J. Merrelf, presi dent of A&M-Galveston, said he doesn’t expect the oil to wash up in the area near the university. “This was a medium-sized spill in the central Gulf,” Merrell said. “The problems we might see now are tar balls and maybe some sludge which will probably wash up south and west of here.” Merrell said some faculty and graduate students from the uni versity have been in the Gulf to collect data and observe the spill. “Of course we’ll want to study the effects of the spill,” he said. A&M-Galveston, founded in 1959 as the Texas Maritime Aca demy as part of the Texas A&M University System, has a training facility capable of handling small spills. The Oil Spill School of the Texas Engineering Extension Service is on the campus at Gal veston, and officials at the school can enact emergency procedures when necessary.