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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1990)
ber 6,19$ Ryan targeted A&M students She secured 52% for 2nd County Court-at- Law See Page 3 Amendment passes Texas voters approve Proposition 1 by 66%. See Page 3 GOP candidates ^ falter fyM V Bush’s dropping / approval rating l H causes voters to lose x\ faith in party See Rage 3 The Battalion IVol. 90 No. 48 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, November 7, 1 990 itin dessert- from artificial etener yot : total amour: 1 too much, estions abou: much sunr VCCH exhibi: 12:15 to 2:;:; visit with us lines and you: rition stuim anie Grogan w idents makt wu SCCH prognr it ion Choicts in itritwn educatwi lien and ukik e suga te ar knowledf lestions. poon of hont; i and carbobl i a tablespoc . ir? Than p >ne 12 oz. s ay in excessi , how long v. gain an extri abels on proc how mucht > contained t Richards wins governor’s race s more calont > than one ar. Sixty-f for granulate: vdered sugat I st their ingte r of their p<: first ingredie: in the large •ecord r up nectioi .. 1 — Business: :ompany rep I to conceal e er accused of: ■velopment of ra lant. rstries: ■■ed late at nif uston Chronic d Durante, li t, contacted :e after learni: ked to rente ed that Durat lals he belie'i destroying r ston office, f ith the busintj he records in t disclosure off now-deceas x>uti, and hist the activities ompanies, t re suspected it trade with ■ in attorney as presenting Hi kruptcy heart e destroyed. oncealing col; i bankrupto se. year identify er of a Lib iant. stroyed in » j intelligence cf Houston-bas' in led to the s ; from New Yoi rtks on grout i allegedly W a in violations By CHRIS VAUGHN Of The Battalion Staff Percent reporting 99 (D) Richards 49.6% (R) Williams 47.1% (L) Daiell 3.3% LT. GOVERNOR Percent reporting 99 (D) Bullock 51.6% (R) Mosbacher 45.0% (I) Owens 3.3% Percent reporting (R) Barton (D) Welch U.S. SENATOR Percent reporting (R) Gramm (D) Parmer (L) Johnson 67% 33% 99 62% 38% 0% STATE SENATOR 7 DIST. 5 Percent reporting 99 (D) Turner 50% (R) Smith 44% (I) Zaeske 6% STATE REP 1 DIST. 14 1 Percent reporting 100 (R) Ogden 53% (D) James 47% ATTY. GENERAL Percent reporting 99 (D) Morales 51.9% (R) Brown 45.2% (L) Dittmar 2.9% AUSTIN — Climbing back from a double-digit deficit in the polls, Democrat Ann Richards emerged victorious Tuesday night from a long, costly and accusatory guberna torial campaign. Richards, who entered the packed Hyatt Regency ballroom at 10:40 p.m. to thunderous applause, be came Texas’ new governor by de feating Republican Clayton Williams by 4 percent. Richards, who becomes the sec ond female governor of Texas, ended up defeating Williams by about 115,000 votes — a 52 percent to 48 percent spread. Her election marks the first by a woman since Miriam “Ma” Ferguson won her second term in 1933. A jovial Richards held a T-shirt that said: “A woman’s place is in the dome” while supporters cheered. As Richards finally calmed down the raucous crowd, she said she didn’t win the governor’s seat alone. “I didn’t win this race,” she said. “You won it.” Just weeks ago, Williams led Rich ards by a wide margin in most politi cal opinion polls, but Richards made up ground quickly after Williams ad mitted he voted for Proposition 1 "I didn’t win this race. You won it.” — Ann Richards, governor-elect but didn’t know the specifics of the proposed amendment. Williams’ comment during the past weekend that he didn’t pay taxes in 1986 also hurt his campaign, analysists say- Richards’ brief speech was not characteristic of the months-long race, which was marred by accusa tions and mudslinging, but she still made several remarks alluding to Williams. She said Texas wants a governor who “gets up and goes to work every day,” a reference to Williams’ ques tion early in the campaign about whether the governor has to work every day. She also said Texas wants a gover nor “who is not going to be dis tracted by other business,” making reference to the many companies Williams operates from his home in Midland. Richards, the present state trea surer, also tagged Williams by refer ring to the millions he spent in the race. “The strength of this campaign is what I believe is the strength of gov- ie pc of r people — not the power ot money, she said. Richards also mentioned the edu cational system, reformation of the insurance industry and toughening the state’s clean air and water laws. “Texas wants a governor com mitted to the freedom of the people of this state and who is not going to allow the government to interfere in people’s lives,” she added. The governor-elect said the el derly need more attention and bet ter health care and now “they’re going to get it.” Richards carried South and East Texas, the state’s major cities and even made the race close in the Pan handle. In Brazos County, however, Rich ards garnered 43 percent of the vote while Williams had a strong 52 per cent. Richards thanked her mother, fa ther and children, and had special thanks for Texas House of Rep resentatives Speaker Bill Hobby and former U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan. Her final remarks were to tell the crowd to be careful as supporters left the Hyatt in downtown Austin, a reference to the amount of alcohol flowing during the celebration. “Be careful,” she said. “A lot of work is ahead of us. I need everyone of you. Have fun, but sloV down.” PHELAN M. EBENHACK/The Battalion Ann Richards Williams pledges Voter confusion continues to stay in politics By SUZANNE CALDERON Of The Battalion Staff By JULIE MYERS Of The Battalion Staff OTHER RACES State Treasurer Percent reporting 99 (R) Hutchison 49.9% (D) Van Hightower 46.6% (L) Love 3.5% Agriculture Commissioner Percent reporting 99 (R) Perry (D) Hightower 49.1% 47.9% AUSTIN — They came to the party in suits and black velvet dresses and boogied to a mariachi band and gospel singers, but the party at the Stouffer Hotel never got off the ground. Republican gubernatorial candi date Clayton Williams, Class of ’54, conceded defeat to Governor-elect Democrat Ann Richards at 11:05 p.m. Tuesday. “The people have made their choice, and we must all join together to work with Richards to attain our dream of making Texas great again,” Williams said. Amid yells of “recount” and chants of “ ’94,” Williams stood with his family and thanked supporters, family and voters. “We love you,” Williams said. “For Ann Richards and those who voted for her and worked long and hard and ably for her, I say congrat ulations,” Williams said. “The bad news is we lost. The good news is Modesta and I will continue to stay involved to improve education, rid our state of drugs and create new jobs — and I think I know how to do that. “The principles we stressed in the campaign are worthy of the fight — and I promise you we will continue to fight. I’m sorry I let you down. I did my best.” The crowd of Williams supporters appeared bitter about the election’s Clayton Williams Jr. outcome and seemed hostile toward Richards. Aggies in the crowd led yells against the new governor-elect. Williams said he particularly was proud of the increased voter partici pation of Mexican-Americans, Asian-Americans and African- Americans. “I hope I have tried to open some doors for all Americans to play a broader role in our public system.” Bill Kenyon, deputy chairman for the Williams campaign, said Wil liams was more successful than any other Republican gubernatorial can didate in Texas history in attracting the Hispanic vote. See Williams/Page 10 Texas A&M students caught in the voter registration card confusion and forced to vote by affidavit in Tuesday’s elections probably will not face criminal charges if races are contested, the chairmen of local Democratic and Republican parties agreed. Bill McGuire, Brazos County Democratic chairman, and Rodger Lewis, Brazos County Republican chairman, said students most likely will not have to worry about facing criminal charges should problems arise with the legality of their affida vits. McGuire and Lewis said that con sidering the circumstances under which the affected students had to vote, the chances of any judge filing perjury charges is relatively small. Lewis said it is unlikely any stu dents will get in trouble. However, this was the only point in the debacle the chairmen agreed on. Each had reasons for problems faced by more than 1,800 A&M stu dents who mistakenly registered to vote in another county. The controversy began when some students accidently registered in counties other than Brazos County by listing their parents’ ad dresses in the “permanent address” portion of their voter registration cards. This automatically registered the students to vote in the county listed as their permanent address, To vote in Brazos County, stu dents had to sign affidavits at polling sites swearing their original inten tion was to register in Brazos County. A new development came Tues day when election judges from pre cincts 10, 20, 21 and 35 were served with injunctions and restraining or ders requiring them to mark ballots of those voting by affidavit. John Paschall, the attorney who filed the orders, said ballots needed to be marked in case there was a problem with affidavit votes. Tying an affidavit to a ballot would be necessary if a race was con~ tested and there was a question of whether people voted legally, he said. He said election judges in pre cincts 10, 20, 21 and 35 were served orders because the most affidavit voters were anticipated there. Paschall said the secrecy of the ballot is maintained because affida vits are sealed and won’t be opened unless a race is contested and the le gality of voters comes into question. Lewis, however, does not agree and said “the rights of student voters were trampled today.” He said marking ballots, and therefore making it possible for a person to be tied to their vote, is tak ing away the rights of students to vote by a secret ballot. The problem, in Lewis’ opinion, is in the wording of the voter registra tion cards’ “permanent address” portion. He added the predomina tely Democratic Texas Legislature determines the wording of the cards. He says a “multi-staged effort” made voting difficult for students. McGuire, however, sees the issue differently. The Battalion reported Monday See Affidavits/Page 10 Local election runs smoothly, despite lines By SUZANNE CALDERON _ Of The Battalion Staff Besides confusion about affi davits, election officials said busi ness ran smoothly at polls in the MSC and the A&M Presbyterian Church where many Texas A&M students cast votes in Tuesday’s elections. Raul Saldivar, alternate elec tion judge for Precinct 20, at the MSC, said besides long lines of people waiting to vote and to sign affidavits, election day went well. He said most students didn’t complain about waiting in lines. “Everyone wants to get out quickly, so they are being pa tient,” Saldivar said. Even students who wrote in candidates for various races were reasonable about candidate choices, he said. “We’ve only had one Bart Sim pson for governor,” he said. At A&M Presbyterian Church, Precinct 35, election judge Jon Beeler was served an injunction and restraining order Tuesday afternoon. Although he said he was shocked by the order requiring him to mark affidavit ballots, the day went well. See Polls/Page 10 Unstable nations close to creating nuclear weapons By MIKE LUMAN Of The Battalion Staff Nations that can “scarcely be de scribed as rational” are on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, a Texas A&M military strategist said Tuesday. Dr. Richard E. Thomas, director of A&M’s Center for Strategic Tech nology, and Dr. Ronald L. Hatchett, deputy director for programs at A&M’s Mosher Institute for Defense Studies, were speakers during a MSC Wiley Lecture Series program titled “The New Nuclear Threat.” Hatchett said no new countries have joined the “nuclear club” — ob tained nuclear strike capability —for about 26 years. “There are a lot of nations right on the threshold,” Hatchett said. “It’s impossible to put the genie back in the bottle. We’re going to have to live with it.” Hatchett gave several examples of international efforts to limit nuclear danger, one of which he did not take seriously. He said there are those who advo cate giving nuclear weapons Co coun tries that want them, including Israel and Iraq, thinking the balance of power will deter war. “That’s like saying if we put a bot tle of nitroglycerin on the front and back of cars, people would drive safer,” he said. Thomas said any nation with in dustrial capabilities could covertly develop nuclear weapons. “If a nation is determined to de velop a nuclear device, there are rel atively few technological barriers if uranium can be found,” Thomas said. Plutonium or enriched uranium are needed to produce nuclear weapons. Thomas said plutonium can be re covered from spent nuclear reactor fuel, but the process is expensive and requires advanced technology. Enriched uranium is easier to ob- He said that from a nuclear view point there are four types of coun tries. Five countries are known to have useable nuclear weapons — the United States, Soviet Union, United “There are a lot of nations right on the threshold. It’s impossible to put the genie back in the bottle. We’re going to have to live with it (smaller nations developing nuclear weapons.)” — Dr. Ronald L. Hatchett, Mosher Institute for Defense Studies tain in terms of facilities needed, but the process is more time consuming, he said. Hatchett said there are about 25 countries able to produce nuclear weapons in varying amounts of time. Kingdom, France and China. Countries including Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada have tech nology and are capable of producing nuclear weapons in about 30 days. Israel, South Africa, India and Pa kistan likely have nuclear weapons but have not demonstrated it, Hatchett said. Other countries like Iraq, Iran and Libya want nuclear weapons but are not capable of producing them, he said. Thomas said technology plays a rapidly increasing role in today’s world. “We need a whole net of new poli cies that come out of recognition of technology-based issues,” he said. An older policy, the Non-Prolife ration Treaty adopted in 1968, has been signed by 130 countries. The treaty is a contract in which nations without nuclear capability vow not to seek nuclear weapons. Nations with nuclear weapons agree to reduce their stockpiles. Part of the treaty with some coun tries says the United States will de fend the non-nuclear nation if that nation is attacked with nuclear weap ons. Iraq has signed the treaty. Israel has not. “Theoretically, if Israel attacks Iraq (with nuclear weapons) the United States is obligated to come to the defense of Iraq with nuclear weapons,” Hatchett said. The treaty requires member coun tries not to make or receive nuclear explosives. Reactors for “peaceful uses” are permitted, he said. Countries are subject to Interna tional Atomic Energy Agency in spections. “Still, a lot of people are trying to develop nuclear weapons,” Hatchett said. “We (the United States) can’t be drawn into the process (of) selling things that could come back and hit us.”