Page 9
Have you done anything wrong? Are
you having problems getting your life
together? Do you not get enough
attention?"
- David Nash on America's talk show
topics
' Page 7
Comedian Ron Shock jump starts
audiences with his storytelling comedy.
Page 3
Aggies lose
opening
exhibition game
to Marathon Oil
96-83.
The Battalion
Vol. 91 No. 52 College Station, Texas “Serving Texas A&M since 1893” 10 Pages Tuesday, November 12, 1991
Professors express displeasure about Bonfire at Faculty Senate
By Chris Vaughn
The Battalion
Annual concerns about bonfire resur
faced Monday during Texas A&M's Fac
ulty Senate meeting.
Several professors expressed displea
sure over bonfire during Committee of
the Whole, but the annual tradition had
its defenders. Committee of the Whole,
conducted at the conclusion of regular
business, offers senators a chance to voice
concerns or problems not on the agenda.
Dr. Ben Aguirre, a professor of sociol
ogy, said bonfire is a good tradition and
should be preserved, but he said bonfire
was more appropriate in its early years
when it was constructed of trash.
"Now we have the technology to
build this humongous thing, irrespective
of the consequences," Aguirre said. "I be
lieve it is a misuse of technology and a
mismanagement of our resources."
Aguirre said the enthusiasm and spirit
of those building the current bonfire
would be better served if it was spent re
pairing dilapidated homes or building
houses for the needy.
"To continue the current practice of
destroying trees at the rate we are now is
a terrible disappointment to me," he said.
But Dr. Max Stratton, a senior lecturer
of health and physical education, said
bonfire does more good than harm. He
said the tree-clearing improves the health
of other trees and the tradition provides
leadership opportunities for students.
Stratton also told the Senate that its
members need to be more tolerant.
"It is not right to say, Tt seems foolish
to us, therefore, it is barbaric/" he said.
"This is something the students want."
Dr. Larry Hickman, a professor of phi
losophy, disagreed, saying almost every
one is tolerant of bonfire. Hickman, who
lived near Duncan Field for several years,
said Southgate residents are tolerant, even
though many must hose down their hous
es, deal with loud noises for weeks and
clean soot off their cars.
"But blaring country music from loud
speakers from dusk to dawn at Duncan
Field isn't very tolerable," he added.
A Faculty Senate committee studied
the bonfire issue last year and compiled a
report calling for a tree-planting cam
paign to replace trees and a reduction of
the size of bonfire. Many of those recom
mendations are now in place, including a
campaign to plant trees each spring at the
cut site.
Bonfire also is gradually being re
duced in size and will be moved next fall
to the Polo Fields in front of A&M's Sys
tems Administration Building.
Other issues raised during Committee
of the Whole included:
• A proposal by Dr. Michael Green-
wald, an associate professor of theater
arts, to establish a committee to investi
gate complaints against Parking, Transit
and Traffic Services, and a committee to
adjudicate appeals on parking tickets.
• A proposed resolution by Dr. Car-
roll Messer, a professor of civil engineer
ing, to congratulate former A&M student
and baseball player Chuck Knoblauch,
who was named American League Rookie
of the Year last week.
HUY NGUYEN/The Battalion
Model Citizen
Kathy May, a junior environmental design major from Hospital while watching "Highway to Heaven" Monday
San Antonio, works on a model of St. Joseph's afternoon in the Langford Architectural Center.
Up to 5,000
infected
each day
Heterosexuals cause spread
in 75 percent of all AIDS cases
GENEVA (AP) - Heterosexu
al sex has caused the infection of
75 percent of people with the
AIDS virus worldwide, and the in
fection is now rising in Western
countries, the World Health Orga
nization said Monday.
The majority of the heterosexu-
ally infected people are in the de
veloping world, particularly in
Africa, and it still remains only a
small percentage of cases in North
America and Europe, the Geneva-
based agency said in an extensive
report.
The U.N. group says up to
5,000 people are infected each day
around the world, and officials
fear an increase in pregnant wom
en infecting their babies.
Concern about heterosexual
transmission of the AIDS virus
was heightened after basketball
star Magic Johnson announced
Thursday he had the HIV virus
and said he had no homosexual af
fairs.
In the United States, 3 percent
of men and 34 percent of woman
who contracted the virus did so
from a person of the opposite sex,
according to the Centers for Dis
ease Control in Atlanta.
"It is not easy to change sexual
behavior, but hopefully with more
people like Magic Johnson coming
out and talking about their illness
everyone will realize they are at
risk and take more care," said Dr.
Michael Merson, head of the U.N.
health agency's AIDS program.
Merson said tests of possible
AIDS vaccines are planned for
Thailand, Uganda, Rwanda and
Brazil — nations with some of the
highest AIDS rates. The tests —
which will involve several thou
sand volunteers — mark a depar
ture from previous approaches fa
voring early testing on animals.
About a dozen potential vac
cines to slow or halt the onset on
AIDS are being tested in the Unit
ed States and Europe, and several
more may be available.
Merson advised against hav-
See Agency /Page 10
Aristide remains in exile
Haiti's leaders provide list of abuses
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)
- Political and military leaders
opposed to Jean-Bertrand Aristide
on Monday gave foreign envoys a
long list of supposed abuses by
the deposed president, parliamen
tary sources said.
The head of the Organization
of American States delegation said
he was trying to convince Aris
tide's opponents to allow the re
turn of Haiti's first democratically
elected leader.
Aristide, 38, a former parish
priest who is extremely popular
among the masses but despised by
the military, was deposed in a
Sept. 30 military coup, after only
seven months in office.
On Monday, Aristide was in
Cochabamba, Bolivia, to meet
with pro-democratic supporters
from Latin America.
The 14-member OAS team
held a two-hour talk with interim
Prime Minister Jean-Jacques Hon-
orat, who described the session as
"cordial" but declined further
comment. The diplomats later met
with the military chief. Brig. Gen.
Raoul Cedras.
The country's provisional gov
ernment hopes to persuade the
OAS to drop its demand that Aris
tide be reinstated and halt an eco
nomic embargo of Haiti, according
to parliamentary sources who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
They said parliamentary lead
ers and Honorat presented the
delegates with a list of abuses al
legedly committed by Aristide.
EC criticizes efforts of U.S., Japan
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -
The European Community on
Monday accused the United States
and Japan of shirking their re
sponsibility to nurture budding
democracies in Eastern Europe
with cash.
"It is still very difficult to get
the United States on board," Hen
ning Christophersen, the EC Fi
nance Commissioner, told re
porters. "The Japanese are more
forthcoming, but the result so far
is a lack of commitments from
non-community members."
Christophersen spoke as senior
officials from 24 wealthy nations
niet to evaluate a multi-billion-
dollar program of economic, tech
nical and food aid for Eastern Eu
rope's new democracies.
The 24 countries have commit
ted $32 billion in grants and cred
its to help rebuild the former
Communist nations.
EC officials complained that
the 12-nation European Commu
nity should only by shouldering
half the total.
In their wide-ranging session,
the officials of the so-called Group
of 24 also suspended Yugoslavia
from its aid programs to protest
the civil war there.
The United States, Canada and
12-member European Community
already have announced plans to
cut off aid to Yugoslavia and im
pose trade sanctions.
Yugoslavia wasn't invited to
the meeting, but four East Euro
pean nations — Albania, Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania — sent rep
resentatives for the first time. The
were admitted to the program ear
lier this year.
Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Poland, Bulgaria and Romania
also are beneficiaries.
The United States had given
$2.1 billion through June, the last
month for which detailed statistics
were available. Japan had given
$1.6 billion.
Lottery substitutes taxes
Economists see benefits only for the short-term
By Jay me Blaschke
The Battalion
Although Texas voters overwhelmingly ap
proved a state lottery November 5, Texas A&M
economics professors warn the lottery won't be a
cure-all for the state's budget woes.
Dr. Art James of the A&M economics depart
ment, said the lottery, at best, is a temporary sub
stitute for taxes. The expected $375 million rev
enue from the lottery's first year of operation will
be used to stave off controversial tax bills.
"They've gone to the lottery in lieu of passing a
state income tax — political suicide in Texas,"
James said. "This allows the government to spend
more for the services the public demands, without
forcing the public to pay more."
Dr. Morgan Reynolds, an expert on state rev
enue at A&M, agreed that most benefits would be
of the short-term nature, and said most Texans
would probably not notice them.
"The lottery might free up some money, but
the state's not about to start repealing taxes," he
said. "Even the advocates of the lottery have
downplayed expectations to some extent. There
haven't been any overly buoyant claims."
The biggest criticism opponents have with the
lottery, James said, is that it acts as a regressive tax,
because lower-income people are drawn to it by
the chance of instant fortune.
"If it (the lottery) was presented to the voters
as a regressive tax, it would be overwhelmingly re
jected/' he said. "The lottery's appeal is that no
one is required to play."
That appeal is also the lottery's weak point,
said James. Since no one is required to play, the
lottery income is not guaranteed.
"Other states have shown that lotteries do best
in their first few years, then their growth levels
out," he said. "If a lottery doesn't continue to
grow and keep pace with state spending, there will
be tax problems down the road."
Reynolds agreed, pointing out that despite its
potential benefits, the lottery is no sure thing.
''Lotteries are designed to bring in money for
the state, but I read recently where one state lot
tery is operating at a deficit," he said. "Texas,
however, is contracting out to an experienced pri
vate firm to run the lottery. If there's a right way
to run a lottery, Texas is doing it the right way."
James said despite everything, the lottery
could be a very useful tool for helping the state get
over the budget crunch.
"If the state uses the lottery as a device to get
through the recession, to hold down taxes until oil
and other industry starts to boom again, they've
done taxpayers a big service," he said. "Unfortu
nately, I don't foresee any kind of boom in the near
future."
Reynolds said many groups are willing to give
the lottery a chance, but are taking a wait-and-see
stance.
"There is some strong skepticism in Texas
about the lottery," he said. "Two years from now
we're probably going to see all the old tax issues."