26,1991
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Cloudy High 85
Don’t buckle up because the law
tells you to. I agree, It’s a govern
mental intrusion into your private
life. But do it anyway, because the
damn things work.’ _ UrryCox
page 2
Successful tune-up
12th-ranked A&M baseball
team destroys TSU14-3,15-0
in non-conference twinbill.
pages
TOEJAM WONDER
Musician overcomes
handicap to become
accomplished guitarist.
pages
The Battalion
90 No. 118 USPS 045360 8 Pages College Station, Texas
'Serving Texas A&M since 1893'
Wednesday, March 27, 1991
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Election allows students to decide future of cable TV issue
By Karen Praslicka
The Battalion
Texas A&M residence hall students
will vote today and Thursday on the
hotly contested issue of whether to in
stall cable in every dormitory room for
a yearly student fee.
The TCA Cable referendum pro
poses a $20 charge per dorm room resi
dent. The charge would be added to
housing rent, and students would re
ceive 34 basic cable channels. Cable
service would be active all year, begin
ning in the 1992-93 school year.
If students vote in favor of the pro
posal, Business Services and the Texas
A&M University System Board of Re
gents must approve the change.
Residence Hall Association presi
dent Kyle Jacobson said he recognizes
both sides of the issue, and although
the extra charge seems unnecessary, it
benefits students wanting cable.
Jacobson said students with cable
might be paying for other students
who are "stealing" cable by splicing
into cable wires. He said students
"stealing" cable services would not
want to pay $20 so all students get a
good rate.
"It's a burden that people who don't
have cable have to face," Jacobson
said.
However, some students said they
have legitimate reasons for believing
cable is an unnecessary expense.
D'J Coughran, a senior resident of
Keathley Hall, doesn't think it's fair for
all residence hall students to subsidize
cable.
"I don't think cable is a necessary
part of college life," Coughran said.
Coughran said if students strongly
favor cable, a better proposal can be
made. She said an automatic payment
from A&M to TCA Cable will lower the
quality of service because the company
won't see any reason to be compet
itive.
"I think if there's more pressure, the
prices will go down," Coughran said.
Freshmen and sophomore members
of the Corps of Cadets are not allowed
to have TVs in their rooms, so the $20
will be a wasted expense for them.
"For anybody it's a waste," said Rob
ert Grygar, a freshman in the Corps.
"When do you have time to watch
TV?"
Other residence hall students said
the proposal is fair and will benefit
most students.
Shelley O'Neal, a sophomore resi
dent of Legett Hall, said students will
get a better cable rate through the pro
posal. She said even students who
don't have their own televisions will
See Students/Page 4
Ag leaves desert heat
for warmth of family
By Liz Tisch
The Battalion
After 15 months in the Saudi Arabian de
sert, Maj. Robert Siegert, Class of '74, re
turned home to College Station Tuesday eve
ning to find waving nags, colorful signs and
open arms from family and friends.
Siegert, a former member of the Aggie
Band, was operations officer for the 210th
Field Artillery Brigade during the 100-day
war with Iraq.
The major, dressed in his Desert Storm fa
tigues, said it was good to be home as he
hugged his tearful 13-year-old daughter Jen
nifer.
Before her father's arrival, Jennifer said she
was anxious to finally talk to him.
"Communication with my dad was really
hard," she said. "He did not receive a lot of
the mail that I had sent him."
Siegert, looking tired but happy, told the
crowd he was not expecting this type of wel
come home party.
"To see all the yellow ribbons gave me a
warm feeling insiae," he said. "All this sup
port has made a big difference in the soldiers'
morale."
Siegerfs father, a retired colonel after 30
years of military service and a Vietnam vet
eran, agreed.
"When I fought in the Vietnam War, the
soldiers did not feel much support from the
nation," Siegert's father said. "The war I ex-
See Loved/Page 7
Major Robert W. Siegert is greeted by his grand
mother Lilian Clary, (right) Tuesday evening. His
daughter, Jennifer Siegert, (below) looks down the
street from her house in anticipation of his return.
KEViN IVY/The battalion
a
State official evaluates cleanup of Bee Creek following contamination
By Sean Frerking
The Battalion
Texas Water Commission field investigator Joy
Watson will return to College Station in a few
days to evaluate cleanup efforts at chlorine-con
taminated Bee Creek.
A half-mile section of the creek near Pepper
Tree Apartments, 2701 Longmire Drive, was con
taminated with chlorine Monday after 15,000 gal
lons of pool water emptied by Mobley Pool Co.
drained into the creek.
Bee Creek flows directly into Carter Creek,
which flows into the Navasota River.
Watson, a field investigator in the Waco divi
sion of the TWC, said Tuesday her office had re
ceived test results from the creek and found "ele
vated levels of chlorine" in the water.
The higher-than-normal amounts of chlorine
might have caused the death of fish in the area,
but her department could not assess what killed
the fish until further tests could be conducted, she
said.
Texas A&M scientists in the Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries are analyzing fish tissue to
determine the exact cause of death, she said.
"Right now, we don't know what it was," Wat
son said. "It could have been a lot of things. But
with the evidence we have, it (the cause of death)
See TWC/Page 7
Official urges boycott of grapes
Spokeswoman cites
working conditions
By Timm Doolen
The Battalion
Consumers should boycott
grapes because of the damage
pesticides inflict on farmworkers
and their children, a leader of
the United Farmworkers of
America said Tuesday.
Rebecca Flores Harrington, di
rector of the Texas branch of the
UFA, told several dozen stu
dents in the MSC about her
knowledge of the plight of fruit
Workers in the United States.
"Farmworkers lead a terrible
life to bring food to your table,"
s he said. "Of all workers in the
United States, fruit pickers are
some of the lowest-paid workers
with the worst working condi-
tions."
Rebecca Flores Harrington
She said they make about
$3,000 a year for about six
months of work. Little or no field
sanitation is provided for work
ers, and no guarantees are given
that pesticides will not harm
workers.
Harrington said many workers
bring their children to pick fruit,
which exposes them to danger
ous pesticides such as Captan,
Parathion, Phosdrin, Dinoseb
and Methyl Bromide.
She said companies told the
workers the pesticides were safe
— "if it is good for the plants it
must be good for the workers
too."
But she said research into the
pesticides has not resulted in
discovering if the pesticides are
safe or not.
After giving a brief back
ground of her organization's
struggle against fruit companies
in California, Texas and Florida,
she showed a short film urging
people to boycott grapes.
The film depicts life in Califor
nia for the grape pickers, includ
ing several families whose chil
dren had developed cancer,
most likely due to pesticides.
Harrington said all grapes
should be boycotted, even if
they are grown "organically."
She said California law allows
the use of synthetic chemicals on
fruit that is labeled organic.
Pesticides contaminate water,
land and air, she said.
She said it is more difficult in
Texas than in California to iden
tify how much pesticide is used
because Texas companies do not
have to report pesticide use to
Austin.
However, Texas does have a
law that calls for companies to
post signs near fields which have
been sprayed recently.
But the law is weak because it
only applies to pesticides with a
seven-day or more waiting pe
riod before the fields are safe,
she said.
"We need to recognize we
have a lot of strength in what we
choose to buy," she said.
Strawberries, peaches and
other soft fruits also should be
avoided, because the pesticides
permeate the skin, she said.
Fruits with thicker skins, like
apples and oranges, keep pesti
cides from penetrating the fruit.
Cesar Chavez, a national fig
ure in the fight against pesti
cides, will be speaking April 17
in Rudder Auditorium.
Summer sections closed
The following is nearly a complete list of courses that have
been closed indefinitely for the summer terms.
Section numbers beginning with a "1" are first summer ses
sion courses, and those beginning with a "2" are second sum
mer session courses. Courses followed by an asterisk have all
sections closed.
ANTH 205.100
ECON 202.102,200
ECON203.100
ECON 311.100
ECON 323.102
ENGL 103.101-104, 201,202
ENGL 104.101-103,107,110,
111,113,114
ENGL 203.102,201,202,204
ENGL 210.100,200 4
ENGL 212.100
ENGL 221.100*
ENGL 227.100*
ENGL 228.101,202
ENGL 231.101,200
ENGL 301.101,102,106,
109,110,113-115,117
FREN 101.100 *
FREN201.100*
SPAN 101.101,102,103*
SPAN 201.101,102,103*
nisi 105.101,200
| HIST 106.100
HIST226.202
HIST’ 345.100 *
HIST 368.100*
HIST 402.150*
JOUR 214.101
JOUR 273.100*
POLS 206.101,201
POLS 207.101,201,202
POLS 331.100,200*
POLS 442.100*
PSYC107.102,103,202,203
PSYC 307.100
PSYC315.200
PSYC 345.100 *
PSYC 351.100*
PSYC 485.100,108,115,
120,124,131,133,136,144,
200,208,215,220,231 *
SCOM 403.101-103,107,
110-113,203
SOCI205.103,104,201,204
SOCI304.100*
SOCI315.100
THAR 110.200
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