The Battalion
Vol. 90 Mo. 76 GSPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, January 21,, 1991
Playoffs decided
Bills annihilate
Raiders, Giants
ease past 49ers
See Page 8
Head over heels
SCOTT D. WEAVER/The Battalion
Jason Harris, of the Little Aggies Ball Handlers his balance during the half-time entertainment
Group, keeps up his concentration despite losing for the Lady Aggies match with Baylor on Friday.
U.S. forces suffer fatality
Military historian deems
nuclear strike unlikely
By MIKE LUMAN
Of The Battalion Staff
An Israeli nuclear strike
against Iraq is possible but “very
unlikely,” the director of Texas
A&M’s Mosher Institute for De
fense Studies said Sunday.
Dr. Frank E. Vandiver, mili
tary historian, said Israel proba
bly has nuclear capability but is
trying to cooperate with U.S.
Middle East policy.
“I suppose Israel has a nuclear
weapon, out I doubt they will use
it knowing that would destroy the
Arab coalition,” he said.
U.S. and British estimates
place Iraq five to 10 years from
developing nuclear weapons, he
said.
Vandiver, former A&M presi
dent and a distinguished Univer
sity professor, predicted in
Thursday’s issue of The Battalion
the Desert Storm offensive would
trigger the launching of Iraqi
Scud missiles at Israel and Saudi
Arabia. Iraqi missile attacks on
the Jewish state began Thursday
about 6 p.m. CST.
Israeli officials repeatedly have
said they will retaliate against
Iraq, and will choose the time,
method and target.
Vandiver said he would be sur
prised if Israel did not retaliate.
He said they are compelled to
fight back because of domestic
and political reasons.
The Iraqi attack on Israel was
entirely political, intended to
draw Israel into the war, he said.
“I think he (Saddam Hussein)
will use any biological or chemical
weapons he has, if Israel remains
on the sidelines,” Vandiver said.
He added, however, any Iraqi
Air Force attack on Israel would
be suicidal and would indicate
Hussein was becoming desperate.
Hussein probably plans to ride
out the allied attack, surrender
“tattered but brave” and come
out an Arab hero, for standing up
to the coalition, Vandiver said.
He said hostilities likely would
go on for two or three months,
giving allied forces time to knock
out Hussein’s communication
and transportation networks.
Hussein probably now is using
“middle-tecn” communications,
less-sophisticated networks laid
down to reach troops when high-
tech communications are out,
Vandiver said.
If allied forces can destroy
those communications and scatter
Hussein’s elite troops with bomb
ing runs, the only thing left will
be the front line, he said.
“We need to knock out his lo
gistics, control and supplies,” he
said. “Then there will be one
wave — the front line — and
that’s it.”
Iraq may be hiding some of its
air force in underground shel
ters, though, Vandiver said.
Even so, he said most of Hus
sein’s money and supplies go to
his ground troops.
Hussein sees air power as sup
portive in a ground war, and does
not consider the Iraqi Air Force
of paramount importance, he
said.
IN SAUDI ARABIA (AP) — One
American has died and 12 are miss
ing in action in the Persian Gulf
War, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf,
commander of the U.S. forces in the
Persian Gulf, said Sunday.
He also said he believed that 16 of
Iraq’s 20 mobile missile launchers
had been knocked out by U.S. and
allied forces. Iraq apparently used
those weapons to launch Scud mis
siles against Israel on Friday and Sat
urday.
Speaking on GBS-TV, “Face the
Nation,” the commander said U.S.
military officials suspected Iraq was
risis in the Q ulf
□ Related letters/Page 2
Q Former governor gives
views on gulf war/Page 3
holding two U.S. prisoners of war.
His comment came after Baghdad
TV reportedly showed what it de
scribee! as two captured U.S. pilots
being paraded blindfolded through
the streets of Iraq.
Asked about the Baghdad TV re
port, he said: “I’ve heard the same
reports you’ve heard. I sincerely
hope that’s not true. We’re doing
our best to abide by the Geneva Con
vention (which demands humane
treatment of prisoners of war) and I
would certainly hope the Iraqis do
also.”
Schwarzkopf also commented
about four primary nuclear research
facilities in Irao that have been tar
geted in the coalition air assault.
“I have very high confidence that
those nuclear reactors have been
thoroughly damaged and will not be
effective for quite some number of
years,” he said.
Iracj said, meanwhile, that U.S.-
led allied bombers fired Sunday on
Saddam Hussein’s hometown. In a
statement, the Iraqi army’s general
command said other raids focused
on his ground forces and elusive mo
bile missile launchers.
“We’ve had 13 Americans either
killed in action or missing in action,”
since the war began on Thursday,
Schwarzkopf told “Face the Nation.”
He said another nine servicemen
from the coalition forces were also
missing or dead.
In its first detailed description ot
allied air raids, Baghdad listed 14 at
tacks, including two on the Iraqi cap
ital and one on the city of al-Qu’im,
the site of a nuclear and chemical
weapons research and development
center.
It said a missile was fired at Tikrit,
the hometown of President Saddam
and most of his top leadership, but
did not report any damage.
New Regents
Governor appoints to Board
first African-American woman
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
The first African-American
woman appointed to the Texas
A&M University System Board of
Regents said she is just realizing the
magnitude of her appointment.
Alison Leland, an investment
banker, lawyer and vice president of
Shearson Lehman Hutton in Hous
ton, was appointed to the Board Fri
day by Gov. Ann Richards.
Richards also appointed Mary
Nan West of Batesville to the A&M
Board of Regents and reappointed
Royce E. Wisenbaker of Tyler to an
other six-year term.
Pending Texas Senate approval,
the three regents will assume their
posts Feb. 1. Their terms expire Feb.
1,1997.
“Alison Leland and Mary Nan
West will bring a fresh, new perspec
tive to the Texgs A&M University
System Board of Regents,” Richards
said. “Royce E. Wisenbaker will help
maintain the continuity on this very
important Board of Regents.
A There were numerous outstand
ing applicants for the A&M Board,
and mere were difficult choices that
had to be made,” the governor said.
“But I believe we have appointed
three outstanding Texans.”
The Associated Press reported
former state Sen. Kent Caperton
had been mentioned as a possible re
gent.
Leland, 32, graduated in 1980
from Spelman College in Atlanta
and received her law degree from
Georgetown University Law Center
in 1985.
She is a member of the Advisory
Council International Affairs Center
at Spelman College and the Texas
Opera Theatre.
Leland is an active Richards sup
porter.
Although Leland said she is inter
ested in University finance matters
and minority issues, she said she
does not have a particular agenda.
“The operations of any university
of this size are so complex, I will
probably be in a learning mode for a
while,” Leland said. “Getting used to
the role of a regent will be difficult
enough without having an agenda in
mind.”
Leland’s husband, U.S. Rep.
Mickey Leland, was killed in a plane
crash in August 1989 while trying to
deliver foot! and supplies to famine-
stricken areas of Ethiopia.
Leland replaces L. Lowry Mays of
San Antonio.
Mays was appointed to the Board
six years ago by former Gov. Mark
White and supported White in last
year’s Democratic primary.
West, a San Antonio native, grad
uated from St. Mary’s Hall before at
tending the University of Arizona
and University of Colorado. When
she was 18, West took over her
grandfather’s 36,000-acre south
Texas ranch, the Rafter S, near Ba
tesville.
She also owns 10,000 acres in Val
Verde County.
West also was the first woman to
serve on the Texas Animal Health
Commission and was named to the
board of the San Antonio Zoo in
1977.
She worked as a volunteer for the
San Antonio Livestock Exposition,
Inc., for 20 years before becoming
the Chairman of the Board in 1985.
West has served on the A&M Col
lege of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Development Council since 1985.
She replaces John A. Mobley of
Austin. Mobley, also a White appoin
tee, supported the former governor
in the Democratic primary.
Wisenbaker, 73, has served on the
Board of Regents for the past 12
years. He is president and owner of
Wisenbaker Production Company in
Tyler. He also is president and co
owner of Southern Utilities Com
pany.
Wisenbaker earned his Bachelor
of Science in Engineering from
A&M in 1939 and also received a
master’s from A&M in 1940. He has
been a member of the State Board of
Health.
Wisenbaker, a Democrat, also
supported Richards in the gover-
See Regents/Page 10
Fraternity supports soldiers Mendenhall wins
by passing out khaki armbands and Gold
By JULIE HEDDERMAN
Of The Battalion Staff
A group of Texas A&M students
is showing support for U.S. service
personnel in Saudi Arabia in a new
way — khaki-colored arm or wrist
bands.
Members of Sigma Nu fraternity
will be handing out arm or wrist
bands on campus and in class to any
one who asks for one, says Jimmy
Beard, a member of Sigma Nu.
Beard and his roommate, Rob
Thorpe, not a member of the frater
nity, initiated the activity called Op
eration Storm Home.
Beard says Storm Home means,
“Support To Our Returning Mili
tary from Home.”
Thorpe says they first thought of
SOS — Support Our Soldiers — as a
name for the activity. That slogan,
however, seemed to imply a cry for
help which he says was not the
meaning intended.
Beard says Operation Storm
Home is not making any political
statements by taking a stance for or
against the war.
He says he respects everyone’s
point of view and would like this ac
tion to be a unifying factor for both
sides of the issue.
“This is an opportunity to show
we support the soldiers,” he says.
“We want them to know that we
want them to do their jobs and get
home safely.”
Thorpe says military personnel
have said in interviews they are con
cerned about support in the United
States.
However, Beard says he has no
ticed that almost everyone, even
those opposing the war, support the
troops. He says by wearing the arm
or wristbands, students publicly
demonstrate support for U.S forces
in the Persian Gulf.
Although Operation Storm Home
is not set up to be a support group,
Beard says the group will be there
for families of U.S. service people.
Beard also says he organized this
effort to try to avoid what happened
after the Vietnam War.
“This is our generation’s chance
to take a stand,” he says. “We want
them to be welcomed with open
arms.”
Thorpe says they chose desert
khaki as the color for the bands as a
positive reminder of Desert Storm.
Thorpe says he would like the
See Armbands/Page 10
Activities honor King
Music, speeches and a video
history are among the activities at
Texas A&M today in honor of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the
slain civil rights leader of the ’50s
and ’60s.
Though King was born Jan.
15, the nation celebrates his birth-
Q Columnist considers
King’s message/Page 2
□ Dallas parade honors
Iwng/Page 3
day on the third Monday of Jan
uary.
To honor King's work in help
ing to achieve equality in the
United States, a celebration will
begin at 3 p.m. in the Commons.
T he birthday celebration will
include a skit by C.P. Time Play
ers, speeches by Dr. Norma
Guerra of the University of
Texas-San Antonio and the Rev.
Delvin Atchison of the Progres
sive Baptist Church, music by the
Voices of Praise and closing re
marks by Ron Sasse of A&M’s De
partment of Student Affairs.
A reception will follow the cele
bration in Krueger Lounge.
A video about King and his life
will be shown at 9:30 and 11 a.m.
today in 401 Rudder. The video,
titled “In Remembrance of Mar
tin,” features L’.S. Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., Bill Cosby
and other important educators
and leaders paying tribute to
King.
By ISSELLE
MCALLISTER
Of The Battal
ion Staff
After sur
viving rigor
ous interviews
and dazzling
the audience
with a dra
matic mono
logue, a Texas
A&M sopho
more won the
fourth annual
Miss Black and
Gold schol
arship pageant
Saturday night
at Rudder Au
ditorium.
Dana Le-
juan Menden
hall, a chemi-
c a 1
engineering
major from Ir
ving, had to
think quickly
during prelim
inary selec
tions as she
was asked
questions
about current
events and her
values in spe
cific situations.
“I thought it
was a very formal, prestigious and
strict interviewing process,” she said.
For the talent portion of the com
petition, Mendenhall performed the
inspirational monologue, “I’m De
termined To Be Somebody Some
day,” by William Herbert Brewster.
The other 10 contestants sang,
danced, played musical instruments
and performed other dramatic
pieces, she said.
SONDRA ROBB I NS/The Battalion
Dana Lejuan Mendenhall competed against 11
other contestants to win the crown Saturday.
Ham Price, pageant director.
“We don’t exploit them,” he said.
“There is no swimsuit competition.”
The contest is a learning experi
ence for women, he said.
“We’re not so much concerned
with the winner,” Price said. “We are
concerned with each contestant get
ting something out of it. They all
learn something.”
The women were scored by five
Mendenhall became interested in judges in the following four catego
entering the Alpha Phi Alpha-spon
sored pageant last year because she
was impressed with the treatment
and presentation of the contestants.
“The purpose of the pageant is to
find a woman to represent Alpha, a
woman who embodies all the charac
teristics of the fraternity,” said Wil-
ries: introduction, talent, modeling
and an evening gown portion. The
women were asked questions during
the evening gown session.
“This is a scholarship pageant,”
Mendenhall said. “Not once did they
See Pageant/Page 10