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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1990)
t 3,1990 f ie Battalion Students enjoy events at Campus Fest See Page 4 as an in barter oil es. Such rkey, the ike strat- imably to interests m on the o assume ire train- Norman of U.S. d flatly: inless the Vol. 90 No. 2 USPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, September 4,1990 Bush issues global call for donations to aid military WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent Bush is dispatching two high- evel missions this week on a gloljal earch for billions of dollars to sup- aort the economic and military cam paign against Saddam Hussein — a trategy some say is unbecoming of a uperpower. One delegation, led by Treasury secretary Nicholas Brady, leaves fuesday for stops in Paris, London, ieoul, South Korea and Tokyo, sassing the plate in search of as nuch as $25 billion to help defray he expense of the American troop leployment and to aid nations suf- ering hardships from the economic mbargo against Iraq. Secretary of State James A. Baker II leaves later in the week on a simi- ar whirlwind trip looking for assis- ance in the capitals of oil-rich Per- ian Gulf countries. Bush announced the burden shar- ng effort just last Thursday and on donday officials were still scram- >ling to put together itineraries for he hastily scheduled trips. The fact that Bush was sending wo of his closest Cabinet advisers erved to emphasize the importance the president was attaching to the task of getting other countries to share the burden. However, admin istration officials conceded that the sales job was not going to be easy. Bush’s effort has also raised ques tions about the propriety of issuing a global call for donations to support “This is not a rent military. It's not a mercenary force.” — Patrick Leahy, Senator, D-Vt. the U.S. military. Critics charged that it left the appearance that America’s soldiers are up for hire as mercenaries. “I don’t want to leave any impres sion in the world that we pay for our soldiers and our sailors if we send them into another part of the world only through another country’s money,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said. “This is not a rent military. It’s not a mercenary force.” Leahy said a better approach to take would be to boost taxes if nec essary to pay for the Persian Gulf buildup. Bush has vigorously rejected sug gestions that putting pressure on the allies for money to support the U.S. military was improper, and he has received support for this position from other members of Congress. “The Japanese have a hell of a stake in this, and they ought to pay a hell of a share,” Sen. Frank Lauten- berg, D-N.J., said. Many congressmen noted that Ja pan and many countries in Europe are more dependent than the United States is on the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. Still, many private analysts saw the pledge-seeking missions as stark ex amples of where America’s global fortunes now stand. As the world’s largest debtor na tion, burdened by huge trade and budget deficits, the United States no longer has the economic muscle to go it alone. ecrea- new it ire not [eared Is will erson f>12.00 ation, A KBTX cameraman zooms in on MDA Tele thon hostess Laura Willson and 6-year-old Caffrey Lane as Lane dumps out the $35 she Photo by Mike C. Mulvey collected from her neighborhood into the “Fish Bowl” during one of the many live broadcasts of the 22-hour-long telethon. res. Mobley rejects proposal for complex grading system 3y CHRIS VAUGHN Df The Battalion Staff 3ottos J A Texas A&M Faculty Senate pro posal to drop the 4.0 grading system in favor of a more complex, 13-level grading system failed to pass A&M President William Mobley’s final 'exam. Mobley rejected the Faculty Sen te resolution at the end of August after it received opposition from the Academic Operations Committee, Academic Program Council, Student fSenate and Graduate Student Sen ate. The Faculty Senate narrowly aassed the resolution, 36-34, during May’s meeting. The resolution requested the Uni- rersity drop the five-level, 4.0 grad- ng system presently used and re- alaceitwith a 13-level system adding aluses and minuses to the grading scale. Under the proposed system, an A+ w'ould have been equal to 4.33 rade points; an A, 4.0 points; an A-, .67 points; a B + , 3.33 points and so on down the scale. Faculty Senate Speaker Dr. Bill Stout said May’s Senate meeting was busier than most and the vote proba bly was taken without enough time for debate. “Once this vote came out, it doesn’t surprise me the administra tion wasn’t inclined to do anything about it,” Stout said. “But they did give it a fair hearing.” A&M Student Body President Ty Clevenger, who was Student Senate speaker when it overwhelmingly voted against the proposal, said most students will be pleased with Mob ley’s decision. “The new scale would have hurt a lot of people,” Clevenger said. “It would have made grading even more arbitrary than it already is, even though the opposite was inten ded.” The Academic Operations Com mittee (AOC), which unanimously recommended the system not be im plemented, stated that the proposed system would hurt students with lower grades since students with a C- Oil companies’ facilities in Houston may become targets for terrorist attack HOUST ON (AP) — Several major oil companies are bolstering security at their facilities because they fear the Middle East crisis may spark terrorist attacks on Texas soil, analysts say. Mike Guidry, a crisis analyst to five major oil firms, said Houston is a prime target of Middle East terrorists because many U.S. petroleum giants have offices and refineries here. “Our intelligence sources tell us we would have a very good chance of seeing terrorism here if we do S > to war with Iraq,” said Guidry, president of uidry and Associates CRG, an international consul ting service with offices in Houston and Washington. “But whether terrorists actually bomb a facility or just threaten to, they could shut the plant down and stop production,” he said. Pary Perry, a security consultant for Trinity Secu rity Corp. in Houston, is advising his five oil com pany clients to take extra precautions now. He said he’s already seen a marked increase in the number of requests for uniformed guards, “Based on the information I’ve gotten from ex perts on terrorism, I think it (terrorism in the United States) is overdue,” Perry said. Bob Campbell, president of Advanced Informa tion Management Inc., an international security firm based in Virginia, agrees, saying that a terrorist at tack in the U.S. “is just a matter of time.” “It’s definitely not business as usual,” he said. “Oil companies are very high on the hit list. We’re telling our clients they need to be on alert to cover their fa cilities and resources.” Some major oil firms with offices or headquarters in Houston have declined to discuss any facet of their security plans. “The saying around here is, if you talk about your security, then you don’t have it,” Les Rogers, a spokesman here for New York-based Exxon Corp. said. Nations shed traditional reluctance Persian Gulf states approve U.S. bases Thirty die this holiday WASHINGTON (AP) — Several smaller Persian Gulf states are allow ing the United States to base combat aircraft on their soil, shedding a tra ditional reluctance for close military ties with America, Pentagon sources said Monday. “It’s very important to the United States that our aircraft be able to op erate out of these nations in the Per sian Gulf,” one source said. This source said Defense Secre tary Dick Cheney was able to nego tiate “a variety of agreements” with the nations bn the Arabian Penin sula during his trip there last month. Because of the threat posed by Iraqi forces because of Saddam Hus sein’s invasion of Kuwait a month ago, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have allowed U.S. warplanes to operate on their soil. Cheney was able to extend those relationships to include other Per sian Gulf states, such as Bahrain and Oman, as well, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The sources did not have specifics on their aircraft deployment. Some nations have allowed for re fueling rights, others have allowed for the stationing of aircraft and oth ers have allowed cargo operations to be maintained at their bases. Bahrain has agreed to accept Ma rine FA-18 attack planes, A-6 attack aircraft, AV-8 Harrier jets and EA-6 electronic jamming planes, The New York Times reported in its Tuesday editions. In addition, the United States de ployed a “sizeable number” of F-16 fighters in the United Arab Emi rates, the newspaper reported. Also, the United States has F-15E ground attack planes based in Oman, the Times reported. The United States already has ac knowledged stationing a squadron of F-16C fighter planes in Qatar. Prayers sent to military CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) —More than 100 people took time out from Labor Day parades, picnics and par ties to pay homage to servicemen and women hard at work in the Per sian Gulf. Henry A. Liguori, a Roman Cath olic Navy chaplain, urged the crowd at a bayside park to “remember our military men and women in Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.” During the 45-minute evening prayer service for military personnel and hostages, Ligouri expressed gratitude “to our fellow countrymen for the sacrifice ... and tenacity.” Naval Air Station Chaplain Max Dunks prayed that “the specter of war which has cast its shadow over us, now be turned away.” Irene Cipriano, of the Ladies League of United Latin American Citizens, which organized the prayer vigil, asked that “something can be resolved quickly and we can have our loved ones back.” A wreath of yellow flowers was set afloat in Corpus Christi Bay. A color guard bore United States, Texas, Army, Navy , Air Force and Marine Corps flags to the accompa niment of the Corpus Christi Veter ans Band. Annual MDA telethon raises $104,679 in Brazos Valley average would have less than a 2.0 GPR. Clevenger said excellent students might have been hurt more than av erage students under the scale since students with an A- would be unable to achieve a 4.0 anymore. AOC also said honors students might request bonus points for hon ors courses, which would further complicate the scale. The SIMS Advisory Committee did not support the resolution ei ther, primarily because the conver sion of the SIMS software to a 13- level scale would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Faculty Senate Academic Af fairs Committee first proposed the new grading scale, which Rice Uni versity and Cornell University use, in order to provide more flexibility in distinguishing student perfor mance. “Truly exceptional (A +) work is not recognized currently in final grade submissions to distinguish it from the more common (though ad mirable) performances of A- work,” the resolution read. By JULIE HEDDERMAN Of The Battalion Staff Citizens of Brazos Valley opened their hearts and their pocketbooks this weekend for the annual Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Associa tion Telethon. By 6 p.m. Monday, the official closing time, $104,679 was raised in the Brazos Valley, according to KBTX-TV. However, as long as the phones kept ringing, they kept tak ing donations. Lois Simpson, a registration offi- cal, said that last year they raised $106,000, and that they wanted to beat that this year. Simpson said that a lot of Aggies turned out to help, including mem bers of the Corps of Cadets and members of the Kappa Alpha, Al pha Phi Omega and Phi Beta Lambda fraternities. Even Reveille showed up. John Draeger, Reveille’s handler, said they were all there to give support. Between midnight and 5 a.m., all those answering phones were Ag gies, Simpson said. Man dies despite A&M student’s CPR efforts The Bryan resident a Texas A&M student pulled from the Bryan Utili ties Lake this weekend died Monday morning due to complications from the incident, a spokesperson from the Memorial Funeral Home in Bryan said. Zeferion Medellin Rojas, 24, died around 8:15 a.m. Monday in St. Jo seph Hospital. Rojas had been listed in critical condition and remained in a coma after he was transported to the hos pital. A&M student Robert Green, a sophomore civil engineering major from Austin, retrieved Rojas from the lake Sunday evening and admin istered CPR to him until medical professionals arrived. Green said he found Rojas about 30 feet from shore in five feet of wa ter. He administered one-man CPR while his friends called for help. The A&M student estimated he performed CPR on Rojas for more than 20 minutes. A Bryan Police Department offi cial said Rojas would have died at the scene if Green had not known CPR. By JULIE HEDDERMAN Of The Battalion Staff The Texas Department of Public Safety reported that by 5 p.m. Mon day, 30 people, including two from the Brazos Valley, died on Texas highways this Labor Day weekend. The holiday counting period be gan at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, and ended at midnight Monday, Sept. 3. The DPS estimated that at least 40 persons could be killed in traffic ac cidents during the weekend. DPS Director Col. Joe E. Milner said in a press release that this num ber is lower than last year’s final count of 52 deaths. Silver Taps ceremony to honor 9 The solemn sound of buglers playing “Taps” and the sharp ring of gunfire will be heard on campus to night as nine Texas A&M students who died between May and August are honored in a Silver Taps ceremony at 10:30 in front of the Academic Building. The deceased stu dents being honored are: • Scott A. Nall, 19, a freshman business adminis tration major from San An tonio, who died May 2. • Christina Ann Meti- vier, 22,a senior industrial engineering major from Denton, who died May 5. • Asfia Agha, 25, a graduate stu dent in electrical engineering from Karachi, Pakistan, who died May 16. • Keenan Marsh Mayfield, 23, a junior agricultural engineering ma jor from Houston, who died June 10. • Raj Kishore Saxena, 27, a giad- uate student in finance, who died June 13. • Justin Donald Spencer, 20, a sophomore business administration major from San Antonio, who died July IT • John Paul Rector, 23, a senior civil engineering major from New Braunfels, who died July 27. • Jessica Ann Schroeder, 21, a ju nior civil engineering major from Austin, who died Aug. 9. • Robert Charles Phillips, 22, a senior marketing major from Du mas, who died Aug. 22. Dating back almost a century, the stately tradition of Silver Taps is practiced on the first Tuesday of each month from September through April, when necessary. The names of the deceased students are posted at the base of the flag pole in front of the Academic Building, and the flag is flown at half-mast the day of the ceremony. Lights will be extinguished and the campus hushed as Aggies pay fi nal tribute to fellow Aggies. The Ross Volunteer Firing Squad begins the ceremony, marching in slow cadence toward the statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Shortly af ter, three volleys are fired in a 21- gun salute and six buglers play a spe cial arrangement of “Taps” three times — to the north, south and west.
