lune 21,198
Wednesday’s
Forecast: Mid 90s
Isolated
Thunderstorms
Summer Movies!
'Dying Young, 1
'Jungle Fever' get
favorable reviews.
page 3
p/
Summer
Health Fair
1991
j§L
The Doctor Is
<$>
page 2
here are a smorgasbord of
alternatives for meat, chicken,
and other ecologically destructive
animal products.
-Mike Worsham
page 5
159 USPS 045360 6 Pages
cooperatively
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:hat I have m
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ility to work
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ush that hisel
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ng in Russ:
ry —wasan WASHINGTON (AP) — A biparti-
rracy and ‘f san national commission on Monday
c and social unanimously recommended giving
£[Hrents a yearly $1,000 tax credit for
We stilllme|ch child, saying "the best way to
The Battalion
College Station, Texas
"Serving Texas ASM since 1893"
Tuesday, June 25, 1991
■■n
mm
Commission proposes tax credit for families with children
.1. x.
id
jme that war help children is to help their families,
times of stay:But the proposal drew immediate
skepticism at the White House.
:his will notk The National Commission on Chil-
ilist leader idfen, which for two years has studied
interpreter, fle needs of America's youth, said eco-
nc mic security is crucial to protecting
i accounts foidiiidren from despair. It also recom-
gross nafc mended specific improvements in
soviet Union health care, education and moral train-
d to demociing for children,
low any rev
of a f n of“”U niversity
'dmgmon 6 (J 0 nside rS
At the White House, spokesman
Marlin Fitzwater called the panel's re
port "a very constructive effort." But
when asked specifically about the pro
posed tax credit for children, he said "I
think big-ticket items for any purposes
are going to have a very tough time be
ing enacted."
The 34-member commission's 500-
page report said that "Most American
children are healthy, happy and secu
re." But "at every age, among all races
and income groups in communities na
tionwide, many children are in jeopar
dy," it said.
It noted one of every five children is
poor, one in four is raised by only one
parent, a half million are bom annually
to teen-agers ill-prepared for paren
thood, and an increasing number are
bom impaired by their parents' drug
and alcohol abuse.
The panel was unanimous in its sup
port for the $40 billion tax credit, but it
reached no consensus on how to pay
for it. It suggested various mixes of
spending cuts and tax increases as pos
sible options.
The proposed $l,000-per-child tax
credit, which would rise with inflation,
would replace the existing personal
exemption for dependent children. Be
cause it would be a refundable credit
rather than an exemption, families that
did not owe taxes would get a check
from the government.
Present law allows all but the
wealthiest families to exempt from tax
ation $2,150 for each dependent child.
That results in a tax saving of $666.50
per child for families in the top bracket
— 31 percent — but only $322.50 for
the majority of families, which are in
the 15 percent bracket.
For those families, the credit would
be worth three times the amount of
current exemption, the commission
noted.
"Poverty is hard enough on adults,
but it's devastating for children," said
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who
chaired the commission. "It robs many
young people of health, hope and op
portunity. ... The best way to help chil
dren is to help their families. "
; to a reporti
fhey know li
enees on Cli
mrt my feelir.
ff all foreign: -
King holiday
By Susan Maguire
The Battalion
) Bush, Yefc |
nerce Seae: ITexas A&M administrators
bacher ani Will decide if Martin Luther King
an busines; Jr. 's birthday will be a holiday
uss expandfoi the University later this sum-
aent in the Inter, an A&M official said.
■ Patricia Couger, assistant vice
Biancellor for numan resources,
■d at the the A&M system deals with
i Defense ^ holidays separately from the
state.
M.L. King Jr.
"Institu-
J tions are au-
_ thorized by
law to rear
range their
holiday
schedules, so
long as they
take the same
number of
holidays," she
said.
i Texas presently has 12 official
Holidays.
I Couger cited the fact that
A&M has not made Labor Day a
holiday in the past as a prime ex-
ple.
The anniversary of King's
lirthday recently became a state
holiday after Gov. Ann Richards
fflgned the bill into law.
I The new law allows state em-
f loyees to celebrate King's birth
day on the third Monday in Jan
uary as a paid state holiday. It
ifill replace Columbus Day,
Ivhich will become an optional,
■npaid holiday.
I Each year, A&M's human re
source department puts together
| schedule of suggested holi
days, and the Texas A&M Uni
versity System Board of Regents
votes on the schedule.
I The holiday schedule will pos
sibly be approved at the regent's
meeting in July, Couger said.
* A&M's office has not begun a
roposed schedule yet because
e state Legislature might pass
additional legislation that affects
holidays, she said.
1 "Someone may pass another
bill that names another state hol
iday," Couger said. "We simply
do not have all the information
available to prepare holiday
chedules yet."
SONDRA ROBBINS/The Battalion
Fore!
Trace Durham, a junior in high school from New about 15 men was practicing Monday on the polo field
Braunfels, takes a swing in golf camp. A group of next to the System Administration Building.
Law erases
voter card
confusion
Bill makes resident status more clear
By Greg Ml. Joy
The Battalion
Confusion caused by voter
registration cards should be
completely eliminated now that
House Bill 879 has become law,
state Rep. Steve Ogden said.
Ogden, R-Bryan, said the law
becomes effective Sept. 1 and
should clear up problems that
led to the disqualification of
many votes cast at Texas A&M
and the University of Texas dur
ing 1990 elections.
"The key to the bill is the elim
ination of the word 'permanent'
from the card," said Ogden, who
also sponsored the bill. "Accord
ing to the old wording, George
Bush couldn't vote from a hotel
room in Houston."
The registration card's word
ing was modified and now con
forms to the legal definition of
resident, which does not use the
word permanent, Ogden said.
A portion of the bill calling for
county registrars to notify voters
if their cards had been for
warded to another county was
amended, Ogden said.
The law now calls for regis
trars to notify voters only if the
card is sent to a non-contiguous
county.
"The Travis County registrar
said the original plan would cre
ate too much of a burden," Og
den said. "I didn't think that was
correct, but I had to compromi
se."
A third portion of Ogden's
original bill was eliminated. It
would have created a section of
the registration card asking ap
plicants to fill in the city they
wished to vote in.
"This would have created a
way to double-check the cards,"
Ogden said. "If the county listed
did not match the city, then we
would know we had a problem.
Unfortunately, the Senate didn't
think it was necessary."
Ogden said the law would also
clear up the language in the vot
ing code, which erroneously
listed falsification of voter regis
tration cards as a felony. The of
fense is now listed as a misde
meanor.
In other legislation affecting
A&M, a bill establishing a fee for
a recreational sports center
passed, paving the way for the
construction of the $40 million
center, Ogden said.
"One of the most significant
parts of that legislation was a
part requiring that A&M stu
dents get first priority when us
ing the center," Ogden said. "I
wanted it to be clear that if the
students pay for it, they will
have the opportunity to use it
when it is completed."
Ogden said projections call for
construction to be completed by
1994, and that the student fee
will not be imposed until the
center is finished.
The University borrowed
bonds to fund the center but
could not secure them until the
fee had been created. Ogden
said it was important to him that
the students be asked to pay
only when they could actually
use the center.
Several other fee bills were
passed during this legislative
session, including one that in
creased the building use fee and
MSC fee.
"Several fees were raised," he
See Rep./Page 6
ormer student recalls war experiences
Editor's note: Michael A. Kel-
ffey, a Class of 1989 political sci
ence graduate, worked for The
battalion as a reporter in the fall
of 1989. What follows is a chroni
cle of some of his experiences as
an M1A1 tank platoon leader
luring the Persian Gulf War.
The night of Dec. 30, "C"
ICharlie) Company 4th Battalion
the 66th Armor Regiment
i loaded up on buses in snowy As-
chaffenburg, Germany.
As loved ones waved goodbye
jto each other, the Charlie Com
pany "Hobos" went forth to join
sister elements of the 7th Corps
freeing Kuwait, while adding
to the history books another
American first — forward de
ployment of an already-forward
deployed combat unit.
We rode to Rhein-Main Air
Force Base in Frankfurt, just 30
minutes up the autobahn,
where, at 4 a.m. the next morn
ing, we boarded a C141 Cargo
plane.
We flew eight hours, knee to
knee in cargo-net seats, during
which time all 65 men in the
company tried to sleep while
pondering thoughts of war.
I couldn't help but wonder
which of us would return knee
to knee and who would go home
lying down — in a body bag.
Our company was an all-vol
unteer force, well-trained and
equipped to defend Germany
Analysis of the
Persian Gulf War
from a Warsaw Pact threat.
We were a cohesive fighting
force, making the thought of los
ing even one man painful and
terrifying.
What bothered me was that,
according to the history of war
fare, at least nine of us — or 15
percent of our unit — were sup
posed to get killed. I've always
hated statistics.
We touched down at King
Fahd International Airport in the
Saudi Arabian captial of Riyadh.
An Air Force sergeant opened
the door to a bright, sunny day.
"If you hear sirens or alarms
going off," he said in a deep, au
thoritative voice, "put on your
protective mask and seek cover
— you will be under Scud Mis
sile attack. Welcome to Saudi
Arabia, gentlemen."
As we off-loaded the plane, all
we could see were sand dunes
galore. We carried our gear to
buses, breaking our first beads of
sweat in the process.
It was only 75 degrees outside,
not hot, but certainly not freez
ing-cold Germany.
Saudi government buses took
us past rows of Army helicopters
and onto a highway surrounded
by large sand dunes and an occa
sional palm tree.
As we were leaving the air
port, traffic got held up by a herd
of camels prancing across the
roadway, giving all of us camera-
happy GIs some photos to send
home. So far this was classic
Saudi Arabia — by the book.
We were taken to the port city
See Desert/Page 6
CHIEF OF STAFF
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi-
dent Bush gave another vote of
confidence Monday to his em
battled chief of staff, John Sun-
unu, as the
White House
dampened
speculation
that his job
was endan
gered by em-
barrassing
new disclo
sures over
free-wheeling John Sununu
travel.
For the first time, though,Su
nunu said he envisioned leaving
his job sometime after the next
presidential inauguration in Jan
uary 1993. He had said he would
stay as long as Bush wants him.