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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1991)
uary 15, pHHjw TexasA&M _ V 0 The Battalion seful nent lystrophy, tliti muscles wait ack a gene tin i protein cal; ng dystrophr, that processc Vol. 90 No. 96 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, February 18, 1991 ‘Nothing to be lost by talking 9 but... ital first stepi; problems ti s phy patient rapy," Rolr t and executin iscular Dysttt- , said in tielped finanti autioned tk iit require pn: a larger pei iscle cells tk ition, nobodj eatrnent wii r ould provoli ■ system teat Bush promises air war will continue against Iraq nued from pa: — speaker ol te, says duel :it, financial om somewk \ is going toS II the way, t a long wav ed 85 percen: locational sys is trouble if )re money ft ity budgets, ucational ft escape anyi iture’s next line. B 1 cgazine sole ea. •liege Static: ve a sales lift: | hide permia I: ity propertv i complaint! ise. If therefl about ones I be revoke! salespeople f , they will ¥ iting withal v ; attempts f«l fiatt says. •st suscepti people kno* 10 not kno* il.” xer and Jam 11 unauthoi ity in earl) ddress alia : salespeople) ed, he says. .T, are not jazine sales •pie also cat ts often ans rffer monev eaders proi they rarely >rs make « .ve to paytf expenses.!! leader mo: leaders do •eople. The' ack to a uni' e warning, WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration said Sunday that there was “nothing to be lost by talking” but vowed to continue the allied bombing campaign while the Soviets seek a diplomatic solution to the Persian Gulf War. “We say no cease-fire, no pause, get out of Kuwait,” said Secretary of State James A. Baker III. President Bush, vacationing in Kennebunkport, Maine, told report ers, “We are determined to finish thisjob and do it right.” The administration reiterated its resolve as Iraqi Foreign Minister Ta- riq Aziz headed to Moscow for talks aimed at Finding a peaceful solution to the crisis. He is scheduled to meet Monday with Soviet President Mik hail S. Gorbachev. Bush said he did not know what would come of the talks, but he said Gorbachev was “trying very hard to seek an end to this conflict.” “He knows very well that the ob jectives spelled out by the United Nations ... must be met in their en tirety,” Bush said. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said the only thing that could slow the allied military campaign was the start of an Iraqi pullout from Ku wait. “The only thing we can really be lieve is action,” Cheney said on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley.” “We have to see him with draw from Kuwait.” “We have a certain tempo to our military operations now and ... we’re not going to break that tempo unless it is clear that he is complying with the (U.N.) Security Council direc tive,” said Bush’s national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft. Baker, interviewed on CNN’s “Newsmaker Sunday,” said the Sovi ets were welcome to seek a diplo matic solution, but he expressed no See War/Page 6 Troop supporters participate in parade on A&M campus B yJ*ym Students, faculty and Bryan-Col- lege Station residents march in Saturday’s Operation Desert RICHARD S. JAMES/The Battalion Support parade. Many of the marchers have family or friends in the Persian Gulf. te Blaschke The Battalion More than 170 Bryan-College Sta tion residents turned out on a chilly and rainy Saturday morning to par ticipate in an Operation Desert Sup port parade and rally. Singing “My Country ’Tis of Thee” and holding signs that read “God Bless the U.S.A.,” the crowd marched along the streets of Texas A&M to Simpson Drill Field, where several speakers addressed the crowd. Retired Air Force Col. James Ed win Ray, Class of ’64, told the crowd that troops in the Gulf are depen dent on people at home for support. Ray said he was shot down over Vietnam in 1966, captured and held prisoner by the North Vietnamese until 1973. During that time, he was used as a “human shield” to protect military targets, much like the downed U.S. je3 vives have pi periences. retired sen: ;e Station s : people d« e negative It ing Vietnam eople want says the dies to red nk it’s wondi; lomingoud tour men.’ ’ serita Broth] Force bast .band served the Vie® •as a supp: r the conflitt n know Kl ips) were," st e had a gro .h whom to ere the do* pport. t support," r friends." ipport gro: e who heft These grot ties for fai e experieiii through Dogs utilized in search for missing professor; come up empty-handed JAY JANNER/The Battalion The search for A&M professor Dr. Peter John Sharpe, missing since Jan. 24, continued this past weekend, as divers from Montgomery County (top) and specially trained search dogs from Dallas (bottom) were employed by the Bra zos County Sheriffs office. Both the dogs and the divers failed to turn up any clues to the bi oengineering professor's disappearance. By Timm Doolen The Battalion The search for a missing Texas A&M professor in the Brazos River proved fruitless this week end, despite the use of specially trained search dogs. Brazos County Sheriff Ronnie Miller said Dr. Peter John Sharpe, 50, is still considered missing and the search will continue. The bioengineering professor was last seen Jan. 24, the same day his van was found abandoned along the river near a bridge on Highway 21. Miller said officers have searched around the bridge and 30 miles downstream, as far as Highway 105 near Navasota. Four dogs from Children-Edu- < ation Search and Rescue (CE SAR) of North Richland Hills near Dallas covered about eight miles of river downstream from the bridge Saturday and Sunday. Tim Samsill, head of CESAR,' said the dogs — two German shepherds, a bouvier and Labra dor retriever —can smell body fluids. Miller said the sheriffs depart ment is not Certain Sharpe’s body is in the river. “We’re keeping an open mind,” Miller said. “The door’s always open something else happened, but the way everything points is that he’s in the river.” He said at least eight men a day have been looking for Sharpe since his disappearance more than three weeks ago. They have searched by boat, plane, helicopter and on foot, and have dragged several miles of the river. The dogs showed some signs of activity at a few points, but divers See Search/Page 6 Brazos County complies with state DWI regulation n other peof t * ons P er y ear an d som e do not report at all. By Mike Luman The Battalion A driving-while-intoxicated conviction in Brazos County means a permanent black mark on the offender’s statewide record, but many Texas counties are letting repeat DWI offenders roam the state’s highways unno ticed. State law requires all 254 Texas counties to report DWI convictions to the Department of Public Safety in Austin. The conviction goes on a motorist’s perma nent record. When a driver is stopped, a state trooper or local peace officer can retrieve the information from the DPS computer in min utes. Robert Owen, Austin DPS assistant man ager of driver improvement and control, says many counties report only a few DWI convic- id s He says Brazos County regularly reports DWI convictions to Austin. Ann Morris, a Brazos County deputy dis trict clerk responsible for sending felony DWI convictions to Austin, says about 99 per cent of local DWI convictions are sent to DPS headquarters. Barbara Johnson, a chief deputy with the county clerk’s office, says her office sends all misdemeanor DWI convictions to Austin. Brazos County Attorney Jim Kuboviak says a repeat DWI offender could be picked up in Bryan-College Station and treated as a first time offender, if prior convictions never were reported. “Theoretically, it could be a problem if other counties don’t report,” Kuboviak says. “It would stop the driver from getting higher punishment.” First and second DWI offenses are misde meanors that carry fines and short manda tory jail terms. Third and subsequent offenses are felonies and carry larger fines and longer mandatory jail terms. An Austin DPS official, on condition his name not be used, released the names of some counties that “have problems reporting convictions.” Duval County in South Texas has not re ported a DWI conviction since 1981, and Ed wards County, also in South Texas, has re ported only one DWI in 10 years, he says. Other “problem” counties include Hemp hill, Colorado, Kenedy, Glasscock, Borden, Crane, El Paso and Caldwell, he says. Owen says reasons other than negligence contribute to lack of reporting in some court- ties. Some counties, including El Paso, use a pretrial diversion plan, Ow ? en says. Under the plan, DWI offenders can avoid a conviction by going through a counseling and probation program. He says motorists can rack up several DWI “first” offenses by using a pretrial diversion system. pilots in Iraq. “As much as we hate to send troops to war, there are times when such values as justice and the protec tion of the innocent must override peace,” he said. “That’s why I’m glad to see events like this, to let them know the job they’re doing is appre ciated.” Matt Hedding, one of the organiz ers of the parade, said Operation Desert Support was created to focus community support for soldiers in the Gulf. “It looks like the war is going to continue, so we’ll keep this organiza tion up all semester,” Hedding said. “Hopefully, it won’t be needed much longer than that.” Becky Conner, a Bryan High School student, said the war con cerns many high schoolers because of the possibility of escalation. “Everyone’s very supportive of See Parade/Page 6 Donations exceed goal of telethon By Twila Waddy The Battalion The Give Five Telethon Saturday raised more than 700,000 volunteer hours — more than double last year’s total — for nonprofit and vol unteer organizations in the Brazos Valley. The telethon, sponsored by Texas A&M’s KAMU-TV and co-spon- sored by Post Oak Mall, asked com munity members to donate time in stead of money, said Rod Zent, director of educational broadcast services at KAMU-TV. This is the second year of the tele thon. Last year 2,000 Brazos Valley residents pledged 348,000 hours. This year’s goal was 2,500 individ uals and 450,000 hours of dona tions, but the results far exceeded expectations. “There was a lot more awareness of the campaign this year since it was the second year and more people got involved,” Zent said. Donations were phoned into the KAMU studio or given at the mall at one of the 20 different booths rep resenting the organizations. Some of the organizations in cluded the American Heart Associa tion, Boy Scouts, Brazos Beautiful, Brazos Valley Head Start Program, Girl Scouts, March of Dimes, MADD and Twin City Mission, Inc. “We identified 20 organizations that we featured in the telethon, but we try to raise hours for any organi zation,” he said. People were asked to donate five hours a week, but organizations ac cepted any amount of time. The low est amount of time donated was one hour a week, Zent said. “There were a lot of people, dif ferent groups out trying to gather hours before hand,” he said. “And there are still people bringing in pledges.” Zent said names of people who donated time will be sent to the orga nizations they volunteered for and that organization will contact them. Different bands and groups pro vided entertainment and increased people’s awareness, Zent said. Mail Call /f What’s ’the itch’ Cartoons 4 7 Up Lehmann column B ATTIPQ A. x lx Anyone with story suggestions can call BATTIPS, The Battalion’s phone line designed to improve communication between the newspaper and its readers. The BATTIPS number is 845-3313. Ideas can include news stories feature ideas and personality profiles of interesting people.