-7,1991
5-0280 for
Caribbean'
for regis-
•E. at 845-
Itural Serv-
m. in Can-
3-4245 for
e future of
udder. Call
Cloudy High 88
Naomi Campbell and Christi Brinkley
certainly are beautiful women, but
what have their bodies done for the
progress of women’s equality?"
-—Kevin Cole ’91
page 2
Weekend fishing report
Read Kevin McDaniel’s
thoughts on white bass and the
area fishing report.
page 10
GOIN’ TO TOKYO
Texas A&M student
wins trip to Japan
by winning speaking
contest
paged
The Battalion
90 No. 119 USPS 04536014 Pages College Station, Texas
'Serving Texas A&M since 1893'
Thursday, March 28,1991
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State legislature rejects controversial school finance reform plan
Staff and Wire Reports
Despite a court threat to cut off state
school spending in just five days, the
lexas House rejected a school finance
reform plan Wednesday that backers
said would at least buy lawmakers
more time.
The 87-63 vote put lawmakers on a
collision course with the Texas Su-
C me Court, which twice has ordered
makers to equitably fund poor
school districts.
"1 am begging you, if you believe in
legislative control of your schools, vote
for this bill today," said Rep. Ernestine
Glossbrenner, an Alice Democrat who
heads the House Public Education
Committee.
But opponents, including Rep. Steve
Ogden, R-Bryan, called the measure
unconstitutional and too costly, and
some said it would give the state too
much power over school districts.
"I voted against the bill," Ogden said
Wednesday. "This bill is probably un
constitutional. It is way too complex.
It's fiscally irresponsible."
"Reading the provisions of Senate
Bill 351 (the reform measure) is like
coming face-to-face with your worst
socialistic nightmare," saia Rep. Glen
Repp, R-Duncanville.
The bill would shift hundreds of mil
lions of dollars in local property tax
money from wealthier to poorer school
districts within 183 new taxing dis
tricts.
One estimate put its state and local
tab at $13.9 billion over the next five
years.
That estimate, along with other
much lower estimates that put the cost
at between $5 and $6 billion, is the rea
son Ogden voted against the bill.
"One of the reasons for this is that
the state government can't predict
what things will cost and the Legis
lature will not set a limit on what it will
spend," he said. "We need to stop
passing legislation that will have open
ending spending commitments be
cause we don't have the money to fund
them."
Senate Education Committee Chair
man Carl Parker, D-Port Arthur,
slammed the House's action as "irre
sponsible."
Senators had approved the bill, de
veloped by a House-Senate conference
committee, on Tuesday. Some sup
porters said lawmakers could later
change school funding law, but they
needed to pass something to meet the
court's deadline.
House Speaker Gib Lewis said he
would like to see another try at reform
before Monday's Supreme Court dead
line, but Parker said lawmakers are
"pipe-dreaming" if they think they can
quickly come up with a new plan.
Regardless of the court order, Lewis
See School/Page 14
• " ■
v
SCOTT 0. WEAVE FlThe Battalion
Highly mow-tivated
Samuel Baker, a worker for the Texas A&M landscape department, rides ogy Research Center In the Research Park early Wednesday afternoon,
under a lonely oak tree as he mows the field behind the Offshore Technol- Baker said he mows the field about once a week.
i
Noise complaints force cafe's closure
By Jayme Blaschke
The Battalion
The Front Porch Cafe became popular
with Texas A&M students by featuring a
strong lineup of live music, but what made
it popular is now forcing its closure.
Hugh Steams, owner and operator of the
Front Porch Cafe, said the duo will close at
its present location May 18.
Tve gone through several rounds of bat
tles with the zoning commission over our
parking lot," Stearns said. "But our biggest
problem has come from noise complaints."
The building, located in a largely resi
dential area on College Main, opened in
July 1978. It continuously has housed clubs.
most of which featured live music as the
main attraction.
Over the past years, the number of noise
complaints nave increased, making it too
mucn trouble to continue operating, he
said.
"Most of the complaints have been anon
ymous," Steams said. "I've talked to my
neighbors closest to me, and they don't
seem to have any problems. Since the com
plaints have been anonymous, I have to
question their validity. The police think
otherwise."
The closure, however, will not mark the
end of the Front Porch Cafe. Plans are being
made to reopen in a new location.
"It looks like we're going to move to
downtown Bryan," he said. "This is all
speculation, of course, but we could be
open again by the time classes begin again
in the fall."
Because of Bryan's zoning laws, there will
never be live music in the building again
once the Front Porch Cafe is dosed. Steams
said.
"The bands are the ones that are the most
upset about the situation, espedally the folk
acts," he said. "This is one of the best
sounding acoustical rooms in the state. We
can move to another location, but it will be
hard to get a place that sounds as good."
Throughout the problems. Steams said
his patrons have remained loyal.
"Everyone's been supportive," he said.
"They've said they'll follow us wherever we
move to."
Gorbachev
bans rally
in Moscow
Police seal off Red Square,
haul away Yeltsin supporters
MOSCOW (AP) — Police
hauled away supporters of Boris
Yeltsin and sealed off Red
Square Wednesday, on the eve
of a banned rally to defend the
Russian republic leader from
hard-liners' efforts to oust him.
Authorities said they would
stop the rally. Helicopters hov
ered over the city and armored
vehicles stood by at a military
base not far from the Kremlin.
"Don't shoot, brothers, we are
of the same blood!" the radical
newspaper Kuranty said in a
front-page appeal to police and
soldiers.
In Washington, the Bush ad
ministration in an unusual action
reminded the Soviet Union of its
commitment under the Helsinki
accords to allow public demon
strations.
As a signer of the 1975
accords, Moscow "reaffirmed
the right of peaceful assembly
and demonstrations," said State
Department spokeswoman Mar
garet Tutwiler. However, restric
tions on the right of peaceful as-
sembly "are sometimes
necessary for public safety and
other legitimate grounds," she
said.
Yeltsin, the popular chairman
of the Russian federation parlia
ment, faces a possible no-confi-
dence vote at a congress of 1,063
deputies from across the largest
and most populous of the 15 So
viet republics. He made no com
ment Wednesday on the demon
stration or the no-confidence
See Yeltsin/Page 14
Expert: Soviet demonstrators
risk 'Bloody Thursday' outcome
Editor's note: Dr. Ronald Hatch
ett is the deputy director for the
Mosher Institute for Defense
Studies at Texas A&M.
Analysis
By Dr. Ronald Hatchett
Today could well become
known as "Bloody Thursday" in
the Soviet Union just as Sunday,
Jan. 22, 1905 became known as
"Bloody Sunday" in the twilight
of Imperial Russia.
On Bloody Sunday, peaceful
demonstrators asking for liberal
reforms were cut down by mili
tary forces of the ruling conser
vatives. Today history might re
peat itself.
Advocates of liberal reform
have pledged to take to the
streets today to press their de
mands of a continuation of per
estroika, an end to conservative
rule, and to show support for
Boris Yeltsin, the liberal leader of
the Russian Republic Parliament
whom the conservatives will try
to oust from office today. The
conservatives have made prepa
rations to stop the protesters.
President Mikhail Gorbachev
has banned all street demonstra
tions in Moscow for the next
three weeks, and has concen
trated Ministry of Interior secu
rity forces in the city to
See Soviet/Page 12
*
1
A&M athletes counsel area youth
AAI motivates troubled B-CS teenagers
By Bridget Harrow
The Battalion
Some Texas A&M athletes are taking time out
of their schedules to encourage and motivate
troubled youth in the Bryan-College Station area.
Aggie Athletes Involved, which started last se
mester, gives athletes a chance to serve as postive
role models, said Karen Hoffman, a coordinator
for student athlete development.
So when one A&M graduate student in coun
seling psychology was looking for someone to
s peak to a group of adolescent boys, she ap
proached members of Aggie Athletes Involved.
Mary Ann Moore is a group leader for Prepara
tion for Adult Living (PAL), a program for adoles
cent boys in foster homes.
Moore said she was familiar with A.A.i.'s re
cruiting of athletes to work in community projects
and services.
"I was looking for someone to speak about drug
and alcohol issues, peer pressure, leadership,
school and a variety of different topics," Moore
said.
Kevin Smith, a defensive back for the Aggie
football team from Orange, is president of Aggie
See Athletes/Page 12
District realignment
gives Barton concern
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton might find
his back up against a Democratic
wall after the Texas Legislature
draws new Congressional district
lines using 1990 Census figures.
The Texas Constitution and the
Federal Voting Rights Act require
the Texas Legislature to reeva-
luate Congressional, Legislative
and State Board of Education dis
tricts after each census to reflect
populaton shifts and ensure
proper representation.
Texas will gain three congres
sional seats for a total of 30 rep
resentatives.
Redistricting concerns House
members because they could find
their districts deluged with voters
of the opposite party.
In states that will lose seats, like
New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois,
Joe Barton, R.-
Ennis, may find
himself compet
ing with a dem
ocratic incum
bent if the
expected redis
tricting takes
place.
Michigan and Ohio, neighboring
districts must merge, often forcing
an election between incumbents.
Although Texas will gain three
seats. Barton, R-Ennis, might find
himself competing with a Demo
cratic incumbent.
The Democratically-controlled
See Redistricting/Page 14