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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 1992)
h 9, Windy and cool Highs near 60 Lows in the 30s “The Young Conservatives of Texas are politically biased themselves.” — The Battalion Editorial Board Page 9 Women bring issues back to rhythm ‘n’ blues on new releases Page 3 Men’s tennis team prepares for SWC play Page 7 The Battalion Vol. 91 NO. 111 College Station, Texas ‘Serving Texas ASM since 1893” 10 Pages Tuesday, March 10, 1992 Yeltsin's reforms shake up economy Soviet distribution system crumbles MOSCOW (AP) — The price re forms begun this year by Presi dent Boris Yeltsin are destroying the centralized distribution system of the Soviet era, but vital necessi ties are beginning to find new paths to consumers. The painful "price liberaliza tion" that Yeltsin ordered on Jan. 2 was copied by the other 11 former Soviet republics. The three Baltic republics, independent since last fall, had already lifted state con trols on prices. A survey by The Associated Press of 14 cities in the former So viet Union two months after the alias' reforms began found virtual disin tegration of the old central distri bution system. Food was least available in k at itttl northern cities and easier to find nlooka! ^ i n the agricultural regions of the south, except those hit by ethnic unrest. Manufactured goods were as a cm more available in the industrial up wit® north than in the south, hanger Lifting state price controls was if p\; intended to attract more goods to market and stimulate production. So far, the move appears largely to be assisting in the breakup of the I I distribution system, a step that ■ some Yeltsin advisers consider a ■ necessary prelude to the emer- K gence of a new order. Alexander Titkin, the Russian ■ industry minister, predicted Mon- Iday that industrial production ■ would fall through September, but Irise in the last three months of |1992 as manufacturers discover new sources of supply. The AP survey found that pro cess already under way in the con sumer market. Prices in state stores.varied widely from city to city, whereas those in private mar kets were closer. A slight improvement in food supplies was reported in three capitals: Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan, Baku in Azerbaijan and Dushanbe in Tajikistan. But all three cities still suffer from shortages of baby food, veg etable oil, rice and cereals. Overall W l 17 3 13 7 11 9 13 9 11 10 11 9 9 11 ieet aga: nd of ks for ii :h. ROBERT J. REED/The Battalion Flag detail Paul Bandidi, a Squadron 17 freshman, raises a flag in front of the Systems Building Monday morning. Each outfit does “flag detail” once a semester to ensure the flags get raised. Poll indicates Texans favor Bush, Clinton Party delegates align to support front-runners AUSTIN (AP) — Last-minute polls showed President Bush lead ing handily among Republicans and Bill Clinton outpacing a shrinking Democratic field as Tex ans prepared to vote in Su per Tuesday's largest prima ry. Voters also will choose nominees for November elections to Congress, a Railroad Com mission posi tion, the state Gov. Bill Clinton House and Senate, three spots each on the Texas Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Ap peals, and for the 15-member State Board of Education. But presidential campaigning received most of the attention. Texas, with 121 Republican Na tional Convention delegates and 214 Democratic convention dele gates, was the largest prize in the election derby. Every major candi date spent at least a little time in the state, where about 7.9 million voters were registered. Clinton, the Arkansas gover nor, and his wife Hillary both crisscrossed Texas on Sunday looking for last-minute support. Bush, who calls Houston home, was in Washington but counting on loyalists in the Texas party to help turn out his voters. Although TV commentator Patrick Buchanan and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke both are on the GOP ballot, nei ther campaigned much in Texas. Duke made one campaign swing in late February, and Buchanan stumped in San Antonio and Dal las last Friday. A Houston Chronicle poll pub lished Sunday showed Bush fa vored by 80 percent of 328 Repub licans surveyed, while 6 percent were undecided. Buchanan had 12 percent and Duke just 1 percent. All 121 Republican convention delegates will be apportioned based on the vote tally. Monday's withdrawal of Iow r a Sen. Tom Harkin left Clinton and two other major Democratic can didates — former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas and former Califor nia Gov. Jerry Brown. Neither of them spent much time in Texas, where Clinton has locked up dozens of en dorsements. Of the 328 Democratic primary voters surveyed for the Chronicle, Clinton was sup ported by 54 percent, followed by Tsongas with 16 percent and Brown with 4 percent. Undecided made up 24 percent. Of the Democratic delegates, 127 will be determined by the vot ing while 69 more will be picked in a three-tiered caucus process. President Bush KAMU director calls funding freeze misguided conservative reaction By Reagon Clamon The Battalion Putting a hold on a funding bill for public radio and television is a misguided action for a noble cause, said the program director for Texas A&M's public television station. The hold was requested by a group of conservative senators last year and is expected to be act ed on soon. Reportedly, the sena tors have stopped the authoriza tion bill because of what they claim is liberal bias and unac countability in public broadcast ing. Allegations also have been raised that the move is a reprisal against National Public Radio's Nina Totenberg, who last fall was the first reporter to release Anita Hill's claims of sexual harassment by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Totenberg has refused to release- the name of her source to a Senate committee. Roger Lewis, program director for KAMU-TV, said the hold on $275 million of federal money ear marked for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — which sup ports public television and radio stations — is an understandable reaction. Lewis said the senators were reacting to a move by Public Broadcasting Services to gain more power over local public sta tions. Previously, stations could purchase programs one show at a time. "In the past I looked at the pro graming from PBS and cast a vote on which (specific) series our sta tion was willing to buy," Lewis said. "That has all changed now. The only option we have now is to buy 100 percent of PBS programs — which this year 'would have cost us $206,000 — or 50 percent. Money talks." Lewis said by selling their pro grams to the local stations in lump sums, instead of individually, PBS usurped control over what can be shown and what cannot. "The senators are reacting to what they believe is the centraliza- See NPR funding/Page 2 Learning, teaching top A&M dean's priorities By Melody Dunne The Battalion force- Giving >Corv| Offic- aSe-l 3 post Iktirne imu- tthe dget and | DER, i Dr. Jane Stallings A Texas A&M dean, and newest member of the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee for Engineering, said she wants to be a learner and a teacher in her new job. Dr. Jane A. Stallings, dean of A&M's Col lege of Educa tion, said she looks forward to reaching goals and working with the other 22 members of the committee. "We should see how we might achieve President Bush's national goal of being number one in math and science by the year 2000," she said. "This is a great challenge which can only be met if scientists, engineers, mathematicians and ed ucators work together collaborat ing with schools and industry." Stallings is unique to the group because she is the only one with an education background. The other committee members are engineering or technical spe cialists. The National Science Founda tion initiates and supports basic scientific research and programs to strengthen research potential and science education programs. The advisory committee Stallings was appointed to plays a key role in providing advice, rec ommendations and oversight to the National Science Foundation's activities. Education is not as popular a career choice for math and science specialists as it used to be, she said. "A&M used to produce the greatest amount of math and sci ence teachers, but that is no longer true," Stallings said. The people who are stronger in these specialties go into careers other than education. Raising teacher pay is one way to motivate students to become teachers. Children need more software programs designed specifically for them so they can have the oppor tunity to learn the basics of com puters before they complete ele mentary school, Stallings added. "Children need technological equipment in the classroom, rather than only in the lab," she said. Stallings taught school for 10 years and has been the A&M Dean of Education for 18 months. If she were to teach again, Stallings said she definitely would try to bring computers into her classroom. Barone On Break KARL A. STOLLEIS/The Battalion You have to understand, with basketball there was never a spring break." - Tony Barone, A&M head basketball coach Spring Break Memorjes □ Dr. John Koldus, V.P. for student services - Monday ■ Tony Barone, basketball coach - Tuesday □ Dr. William Mobley, A&M president- Wednesday □ R.C. Slocum, head football coach - Thursday Coach recalls hitching post-tourney ride to Miami in '66 Editor's note: This is the second of a four-part series on Texas A&M administrators reflecting on their past and present sprmg break experi- By Bridget Harrow The Battalion "Basketball." It's 11 a.m. and Tony Barone, head coach of Texas A&M's men's basketball team, an swers the phone in his office. His secretary has gone to lunch, and he is trying to contend with a new phone system. "That was it, I'm done," he says as he hangs up the phone, clasping his hands be hind his head and reclining back in his c^iair. "What was my most memorable spring break?" Barone says, repeating the question just posed to him. Then, leaning forward he continues, "You have to understand, with basketball there was never a spring break." Barone says ever since his college days, his spring breaks have centered around basket ball. His most memorable spring break in volved a trip with two fellow teammates to Miami. It was Barone's sophomore year at Duke University in Durham, N.C. and the Blue Devils had just returned from a third place finish in the 1966 NCAA Tournament. "We decided that we were going to hitch hike from Durham to Miami for spring break," Barone says. "We walked outside of our dorm, down the highway and stuck our thumbs out." The first car that went by Barone and his two teammates, Joe Kennedy and Mike Lewis, stopped and picked them up. "It was absolutely incredible," Barone says. "The guy (driver) was a college gradu ate student who had been on vacation in N.C. and was going back to Miami." The trio stayed at a friend's house on a beach in Miami and did a lot of sightseeing. While the weather in Durham had been de cent, the weather in Miami was superb. See Never/Page 10