•The Battalion
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is in thei 'ol- 9Q No- 6^ CiSPS 045360 8 Pages College Station, Texas
Lady Ags roll
Basketball team
survives wild night.
See Page 7
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, December 4, 1990
^ated by
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lawsuits,
Fate of LoTrak to be decided Economic sanctions
$14 million bond election Saturday
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
>een able :-;
P with kh
cudved I ^ uture nine independent
j ns proposals valued at more than $14
d *B)illion for College Station could be-
â– ecided Saturday by Texas A&M
â– udents during bond elections.
However, in College Station’s
â– |ond election in 1984, only 52 of the
â– ,120 possible voters cast ballots
â– rom the MSC, University Owned
Mpartments and Northgate area
Brecincts.
â–  The $14,675 million package in-
Lollegefiudes the LoTrak project which
r exas A&lBould lower railroad tracks dividing
1 Re r f ast and West campus.
0 discussti* The Texas A&M University Sys-
Jem Board of Regents agreed to
Ipend $6 million on the proposed
project, while the city of Bryan
Igreed to pay almost $3 million,
of Droble. College Station’s $3 million por-
;ion will purchase right-of-way and
rthgate, t. jtilitv relocations for the expansion
said.
— it’s j
built u
edictec
of Wellborn Road south of George
Bush Drive.
The State Department of High
ways and Public Transportation will
pay the rest of the $39 million ven
ture.
LoTrak will eliminate conflicts be
tween automobiles, pedestrians and
trains along Wellborn Road through
the A&M campus.
Cars and pedestrians will be able
to cross Wellborn Road quicker,
noise pollution will be reduced, and
overpasses will be constructed at
George Bush Drive, University
Drive and Holleman Drive.
If all propositions are passed,
property taxes paid by College Sta
tion residents will increase by 17.84
cents to 58 cents by 1994. Property
owners presently pay 40 cents on ev
ery $ 100 of property valuation.
Sales taxes and city fees will pay
for other expenses.
Bill Harrison, College Station’s
executive director for physical and
human resources, said the sales tax
already is at its limit and would not
increase again before 1994 unless
state law changes.
College Station residents voted
last spring to increase sales tax by
one-half cent. The tax increased the
rate to eight and one-fourth cents
per dollar. The increase went into
effect Oct. 1.
Harrison said ihe property tax
would have a minimal effect on off-
campus students who pay property
taxes indirectly through their rents.
At its worst, a student living in an
average apartment unit valued be
tween $30,000 and $40,000 could
expect to pay $6 more a month in
rent, Harrison said. On-campus stu
dents are exempt from property
taxes.
However, considering the com
petitive apartment market in the
area, it is unlikely landlords would
pass on the full increase, Harrison
said.
See Bond/Page 5
Saturday’s propo
sals In the $14 M
bond election:
• The LoTrak project ($6 mil
lion)
• street and sidewalk im
provements ($4.5 million)
• first phase of Wolf Pen Creek
project ($2 million)
• park land acquisition ($1 mil
lion)
• park improvements ($1 mil
lion)
• new College Station library
($2.5 million)
e public buildings ($300,000)
• early warning weather system
($100,000)
• cemetary improvements
($75,000)
lack force: Cheney
M Presbt:
city’s opt
the cityar.:
g, 'We do;
N'orthg®
the
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as you
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en rule."
Ed Capuano recruits contenders for the Nintendo Campus Challenge. The best player from A&M will advance in the competition.
Taking the Nintendo Challenge
By JAYME BLASCHKE
Of The Battalion Staff
The days of Donkey Kong and Pac Man
fever might be long gone, but don’t tell that
to some Texas A&M students participating
in the Nintendo Campus Challenge Mon
day and today. . . &
Jennifer Carm £ k '%fy'vy.:.P-\ of
Untas/Ceco Commumcatfor s, t/rganizer of
the two-day event, said the video game
challenge eventually will reach more than
50 college campuses nationwide.
All students are eligible to compete in
the games.
She said 12 players will compete against
each other playing “Super Mario Bros. 3,”
“Pinbot” and “Dr. Mario.”
“The rounds are six minutes long, and
the winner receives a Nintendo T-shirt as
well as getting to advance to the next sta
ge,” Carmichael said. “All other partici
pants receive Nintendo cups.”
The campus champion then will go to
the 1992 national finals to compete for a
1991 Geo Storm GSi and $1,000 to $25,000
in scholarships.
Nintendo contacted Pi Sigma Epsilon, an
A&M sales and marketing fraternity, to
help organize the event at A&M.
Jennifer Morrow, t’vt fraternity’s vice <;
president of personnel, said the group was
glad to help.
“We did all of the legwork,” Morrow
said. “They needed someone who was fa
miliar with A&M. We are supplying all the
workers and most of the local marketing.”
Shawn Knight, another Pi Sigma Epsilon
member, said A&M was chosen to host the
premiere of the competition because of its
national reputation.
“Our chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon is
ranked number five nationally, and that’s
out of 1 14 chapters,” she said. “A&M is so
big, they felt they could get a good turn
out.”
However, bad weather almost caused the
event to short-circuit, Carmichael said.
“We were supposed to set up out front
of Sbisa Sunday night, but we were coming
from St. Louis with three semis, and got
caught in the middle of a cold front,” Car
michael says. “It took us 22 hours to make
the trip, and it rained every mile of the
way.”
The competition was supposed to begin
at 10 a.m. Monday, but the game tents
were not ready until noon, she said.
“We worked all morning, but it’s finally
ready,” Carmichael said. “The competition
will continue in front of Sbisa until about 4
p.m. Tuesday.”
Guy Garner, a sophomore industrial dis
tribution major, was one of the first stu
dents to begin playing games.
“I don’t know about anyone else, but this
is going to hurt my finals,” Garner said. “It
seems all I do is play Nintendo anyway.
This is terrible. There’s too much tempta
tion.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
United States cannot be sure eco
nomic sanctions will ever force Iraq
out of Kuwait,
and waiting for
such an uncertain
outcome would
risk erosion of
the international
coalition behind
military force,
Defense Secre
tary Dick Cheney
said Monday.
Cheney, laying
out to the Senate
Armed Services
Committee the
administration’s rationale for build
ing up a military force for possible
attack in the Persian Gulf, gave the
most pessimistic view yet on the po
tential of sanctions to work.
“Given the nature of the regime,
given Saddam Hussein’s brutality to
his own people, his very tight control
of that society, his ability to allocate
resources for the military, their abil-
Dick Cheney
ity to produce their own food ... he
can ride them out,” Cheney told the
committee.
Several of the panel’s Democrats,
including chairman Sam Nunn of
Georgia, contended the administra
tion seemed to be dismissing sanc
tions too easily. “If we go to war, we
never will know whether they would
have worked,” Nunn said.
Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, voiced
misgivings about a “Chicken Little
approach to our policy. The sky is
falling and the only option is war.”
Cheney spelled out in detail the
U.S. position that American and in
ternational interests are in jeopardy
in the gulf crisis, contending that
Saddam might gain a stranglehold
on oil, that he is destroying Kuwait
and that his continued military
buildup that could mean further ag
gression.
“It is not so clear that time is alto
gether on our side,” Cheney said, a
statement that appeared in conflict
with earlier administration
nouncements.
pro-
Jets collide in fog
on Detroit runway
Eight reported dead, 20 injured
ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) — A jet
liner clipped another while prepar
ing to take off from the Detroit air
port in heavy fog Monday, igniting a
fire that left one plane in smoking
ruins. At least eight people were
killed and 20 injured, of ficials said.
It was not immediately clear what
caused the collision between a DC-9
and a Boeing 727-200, both oper
ated by Northwest Airlines. A
spokesman for air traffic controllers
said the DC-9 appeared to have be
come lost on a slick, foggy taxiway
and strayed into the 727’s path.
For nearly an hour after the acci
dent, smoke billowed out of the fuse
lage of the DC-9, where passengers
apparently became trapped by the
fast-moving fire. By the time the fire
was extinguished, much of the
plane’s roof was open to the overcast
sky.
Officials had initially said that 19
people were killed, but Northwest
officials and Wayne County Exec
utive Edward McNamara later said
that was wrong.
McNamara said the medical ex
aminer had “swept through the
wreckage twice and found nine bod
ies,” while Northwest spokesman
Bob Gibbons said the coroner “told a
Argentinian
rebels surrender
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)
— The last of several hundred rebels
who tried to force a shake-up of the
army high command surrendered
Monday to end a one-day uprising
that left at least eight people dead,
the government news agency re
ported.
The insurrection by right-wing re
bels occurred two days before Presi
dent Bush was to visit.
Telem, the government news
agency, said the surrender ended a
series of firefights Monday between
loyalist troops and army rebels in
and near this capital city of nearly 11
million residents. At one point, air
Northwest representative that there
were eight dead.”
Gibbons stressed that authorities
were not ruling out further changes
in the death toll. “This is probably
going to go up or down all evening,”
he said shortly after 7 p.m.
The DC-9, Flight 1482 to Pitts
burgh, was carrying 39 passengers
and four crewmembers, according
to the airline. The 727, Flight 299 to
Memphis, was carrying 146 passen-
gers.
Both flights had originated in De
troit, said Patrick McCann, a North
west spokesman at its headquarters
in Eagan, Minn.
“Apparently the right wing of the
727 hit the aft section, the engine, of
the DC9, taking the engine off,” said
Alan Muncaster, another Northwest
spokesman. “That resulted in the
fire. That, at this point, is all we
know.”
At the time of the crash, visibility
was poor and the ground was wet
from a morning snow and sleet
storm that delayed flights at Detroit
Metropolitan Airport. Muncaster
said the airport had been closed to
inbound traffic but that planes were
being allowed to take off.
See Rebels/Page 5
‘Rekindle that spark of the ’60s’
Mobley: Education fundamental to space program
By MIKE LUMAN
Of The Battalion Staff
The Texas Space Commission
must become active rather than ana
lytical in combatting the state’s edu
cation crisis, Texas A&M President
William Mobley said Monday.
Speaking during the commission’s
first meeting at A&M, Mobley said
education on all levels is of “funda
mental interest” to space programs.
The commission’s goal is to ana
lyze and foster space-related activ
ities, which include addressing state
education quality and shortages of
math and science students.
“The challenge is to return a sense
of excitement to math and science,”
Mobley said. “Rekindle that spark of
the ’60s.
“Competitive forces among state,
cities and universities sometimes
Bill Mobley ... says the Texas
Space Commission should be
active, not analytical.
work against us,” Mobley continued.
“This is one area we should get toge
ther.”
Commissioner Oran Nicks, direc
tor of A&M’s Texas Engineering Ex
periment Station, said the commis
sion plans to meet about six times a
year at various locations in the state.
Nicks agreed state agencies
should work together.
He also said the purpose of differ
ent meeting sites was to make con
tacts.
“A problem is lack of awareness,”
Nicks said. “The education crisis is a
long-term thing to fix.”
Mobley said math and science cur
riculum at all levels should be re
vised to integrate related subjects
and make the material more inter
esting.
He said he favors strengthening
the teaching force by having
“superstar professors” from major
universities conduct teaching semi
nars.
“The space industry, and those in
terested in a strong collaboration ef
fort, should look for public schools
to work with the big universities,”
Mobley said.
Sallie Sheppard, A&M associate
provost for honors programs and
undergraduate studies, also ad
dressed the commission.
She said A&M’s University Out
reach Program, established more
than three years ago, provides con
tact with other universities and pub
lic schools.
program, officers in
work with public
Under the
Texas cities
schools.
“We help encourage them to fin
ish high school and go on to higher
education,” Sheppard said.
“It’s not a recruiting ploy.”
Mobley credited University Out
reach with helping minority students
make it to college.
A&M and the University of Texas
also are part of a federal space grant
program.
Commissioner Emyre Robinson,
president of Barrios Technology,
said some of the money is used to
fund scholarships.
Robinson said some money for
the commission’s operating costs
comes from special interest organi
zations, like Americans for Space
Exploration.
ASE proposed raising $50,000 a
month for the commission through a
detailed grocery coupon program.
“I don’t think it will come to that
much, but it recognizes the impor
tance of grass roots organizations,”
Robinson said.
Silver Taps
ceremony
to honor two
The solemn sound of buglers
playing “Taps” and the sharp
ring of gunfire will be heard on
campus tonight as two Texas
A&M students who died during
the past month are hon
ored in a Silver Taps
ceremony
at 10:30 in
front of the
Academic Build
ing.
The deceased
students being hon
ored are:
• Gilbert Garcia, 32,
a junior management
major from Houston,
who died Nov. 3.
• David Erin Setzer,
20, a freshman business
administration major
from Naperville, Ill.,
who died Nov. 17.
Dating back almost a
century, the stately tra
dition of Silver Taps is
practiced the first Tuesday of
each month from
September through April, when
necessary. Names of deceased
students are posted at the base of
the flag pole in front of the Aca
demic Building, and the flag is
flown at half-staff the day of the
ceremony.
Lights will be extinguished and
the campus hushed as Aggies pay
final tribute to fellow Ag gies.
The Ross Volunteer Firing
Squad begins the ceremony,
marching in slow cadence toward
the statue of Lawrence Sullivan
Ross.
Shortly after, three volleys are
fired in a 21-gun salute and six
buglers play a special arrange
ment of “Taps” three times — to
the north, south and west.