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-Jon DeShazo
Battalion columnist
Page 11
Health Tips:
Beutel Health
Center offers
advice on use
of caffeine
Longhorns
extend SWC
lead after
two victories
over A&M
Page 2
The Battalion
Vol. 91 No. 114 College Station, Texas
'Serving Texas A&M since 1893"
12 Pages Monday, March 23, 1992
to ease Tatarstan's fears, reaffirms tie to Yeltsin
Ruler seeks
KAZAN, Russia (AP) — Tatarstan's
president, in seeking to allay fears that his
region's overwhelming vote for indepen
dence could help splinter the Russian
Federation, said Sunday he will move
swiftly to reaffirm ties with Boris Yeltsin's
government.
"Our first step will be to announce a
tighter union with Russia, to strengthen
and intensify ties, to create new relations
with a reformed Russia/' President
Mintimer Shaimiyev said in an interview
with The Associated Press.
He spoke a day after citizens of the re
gion voted nearly 2-1 in favor of declar
ing Tatarstan a sovereign state.
The referendum raised fears that the
so-called "autonomous republic" of 3.7
million people would secede from Russia,
starting a process that could unravel the
Federation's patchwork of ethnic home
lands.
The Russian government has refused
to accept the Tatarstan referendum, which
was declared unconstitutional by a Rus
sian court and strongly opposed by
Yeltsin.
Shaimiyev said previously that the re-
gioi|, 500 miles east of Moscow, was sim
ply trying to gain control of its oil and
other natural resources to benefit its own
people.
He contended Sunday that the referen
dum could save Russia — rather than de
stroy it — if Yeltsin's government took
the opportunity to grant real autonomy to
territories that have been autonomous in
name only.
Tatarstan's prime minister, Mukhamat
Sabirov, said in a separate interview Sun
day that "it is impossible to maintain the
unity of Russia by force."
The only way to preserve the Russian
Federation is for Moscow to negotiate
new relationships with its constituent ter
ritories, he said.
A Tatar separatist leader, Marat Mu-
lyukov, told reporters Sunday that
Tatarstan should now receive diplomatic
recognition, join the United Nations and
become a full-fledged member of the
Commonwealth of Independent States.
The huge Russian republic, stretching
across 11 time zones from the Baltic Sea to
the Pacific Ocean, dwarfs and completely
encircles Tatarstan — a territory the size
of West Virginia.
. But Russian leaders fear that if
Tatarstan tries to break away, so will
many of the 16 other "autonomous" re
ions — such as Karelia on the Finnish
order, Tuva on the Chinese border and
Yakutia in eastern Siberia.
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NEW YORK (AP) - A USAir
commuter jet carrying 47 people
crashed in a snowstorm Sunday
after an aborted takeoff from La
Guardia Airport, coming to rest
partly in the waters of Flushing
Bay. Police said at least 13 people
were killed.
An eyewitness said the plane
left the ground, then fell back and
burst into a "huge fireball" before
sliding part way into the water.
Radio reports said rescue
divers were in the water for sur
vivors.
USAir Flight 405, bound for
Cleveland carrying 47 passengers
and four crew members, skidded
down the runway at about 9:30
p.m., said fire department
spokesman Jerry Sanford.
The plane caught fire and was
half submerged in the water, he
said.
Police Department Lt. Robert
Nardoza confirmed eight people
were dead. Survivors, many of
them burned, were being taken to
hospitals.
Snow had been falling since
about 5 p.m.
The aircraft was an F-28 4000
commuter jet, USAir spokesman
John Bronson said in a tape-
recorded message.
Witness Patrick Silver said the
plane lifted off briefly, then
slammed back down onto the run
way, bursting into flames.
"It catapulted three or four
times before it went into the wa
ter," Silver said. "It lit up the liv
ing room. It was a huge fireball."
Federal Aviation Administra
tion spokesman Fred Farrar de
scribed the plane as a "relatively
small two-engine jet with both en
gines on the rear of the fuselage."
It was the second time in three
years a plane has skidded off a
runway at La Guardia. Both times
they were USAir flights.
On Sept. 20, 1989, USAir Flight
5050 bound for Charlotte, N.C.,
skidded off the end of a runway
into the East River and broke into
several pieces in an aborted take
off.
Two people were killed in that
accident.
Clinton defends
wife, integrity
Democratic candidates launch assault;
Brown attacks opponent's credibility
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -
Democratic presidential front-run
ner Bill Clinton defended his wife
and his integrity Sunday as he and
rival Jerry Brown dueled over the
airwaves and across Connecticut
in preparation for their first head-
to-head showdown.
Clinton kept his focus on Presi
dent Bush, saying Connecticut and
other states that rely heavily on
military work were "about to be
blindsided" by defense cuts be
cause Bush had no plan for con
verting to a civilian economy.
"No other nation would con
sider the kinds of cuts we are
about to have in defense without a
plan for what these people will be
able to do," the Arkansas gover
nor told a community meeting in
Bridgeport, an impoverished city
that filed for bankruptcy last year.
But during a national televi
sion appearance, Clinton was pep
pered with questions about his in
tegrity, and Brown used a separate
television interview and his later
events to attack Clinton.
Brown said Clinton's Arkansas
administration "will go down in
the history books for what not to
do in American politics. It either
comes out now or George Bush
and his samurai warriors make
mincemeat of Mr. Clinton."
Clinton, interviewed on NBC's
"Meet the Press," dismissed such
suggestions.
"I have been subjected to at
tacks in the press that are unprece
dented for anybody running for
president," Clinton said. "I don't
have any reservations about the
strength of my character or my
ability to be president."
Both Democrats headed from
New York television studios to a
day of campaigning in Connecti
cut, including a joint appearance
at a church anti-violence rally with
Jesse Jackson — where Jackson
was greeted with chants of "Run
Jesse Run" by the predominantly
black audience.
Jackson stole the show from
the Democratic candidates, lead
ing a spirited sermon in which he
denounced the grip of drugs, vio
lence and decaying families on
America's inner cities.
Floating heads
Craig Sicola (left) and Brian Tripplehorn swim Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park. They
across the Rio Grande River just below Santa swam across the river to get to Mexico.
Re-election team stresses
repairing president's image
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi
dent Bush's re-election team sees a
race against Democrat Bill Clinton
as a battle against a resilient candi
date with untapped vulnerabili
ties. But first, the campaign has to
shore up the president's faltering
image.
Campaign officials insist that
Clinton's emergence as Bush's
likely opponent will not change
Bush's primary campaign strategy
for several weeks.
"Our approach is going to be
to focus on the president and his
record and his plans," said
Charles Black, a top Bush strate
gist.
That does not mean re
searchers are not gathering infor
mation on Clinton.
"It's really a race to see who
can define themselves first . . .
then you can start defining the
other guy," said aides.
With the persistent "protest
vote" dogging him in primaries,
the Bush team is well aware it
must do a better job of portraying
Bush as capable of pulling the na
tion out of economic doldrums.
At the same time, the president
is expected to underscore subtly
his areas of accomplishment in un
spoken contrast with Clinton's
perceived shortcomings — i.e. for
eign policy leadership.
"We have in mind to do that at
some point," said Black. "We
don't need to specifically reference
him. If we do our job, it doesn't
matter what he does."
Bush used that approach
against GOP primary rival Patrick
Buchanan. Without mentioning
his opponent's name, he railed
against the perils of protectionism
and attacked bigotry in general,
highlighting two of Buchanan's
weak points.
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Grocery store plans to 'check out'
By Alysia Woods
The Battalion
One of four AppleTree gro
cery stores in the area will check
out its last customer this Satur
day as the store permanently
closes its doors.
The store, located on 1010
Texas Avenue in Bryan, is one of
several stores in a chain owned
by AppleTree Markets, Inc.
The decision, which was
made by store executives in
Houston, reflected a combina
tion of factors said Dan Feldman,
assistant store manager for the
College Station AppleTree.
"It had to do with the lease
agreement and, also, the overall
condition of the store," he said.
The building is owned by
Weingarten's, a chain that
housed a Weingarten's store
there before leasing the building
to AppleTree.
Feldman said the recent
openings of other grocery stores
in the area, such as Randall's, Al
bertson's and H.E.B. Pantry
Foods, probably did not help
matters.
"You could definitely tell a
difference when they came to
town," he said.
There are approximately 40
employees at the store. Most will
be transferred to the other three
stores in the area, Feldman said.
Two stores are located in Bryan
and one is in College Station.
"They'll take care of them,"
he said.
Mada Tyer has worked at the
location for thirty years, when it
was Weingarten's and through
the change to AppleTree. Tyer, a
cashier, said the employees who
have been there the longest will
have a stronger chance of getting
an equivalent position in another
AppleTree store.
"It's sad to see the store close
and I've worked with these peo
ple a long time," she said. "We'll
just have to see what works out."
Bush, Kohl end informal talks
U.S., German leaders agree to open global trade discussions
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi
dent Bush and German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl wrapped up a week
end of infor
mal talks Sun
day by reiterat
ing their re
solve to break
the deadlock
on global trade
talks.
Kohl said a
new General
Agreement on
Tariffs and
Trade is "of
paramount im
portance for
the world economy."
"Obviously, when we talk
about compromise, it means both
sides have to move," Kohl said in
alluding to the U.S.-European dis
pute over agricultural subsidies.
Kohl said he hopes the new
global trading rules can be com
pleted "at the very latest by the
end of April."
The two leaders, in a two-day
retreat at Camp David, also re
viewed the troubles inside the for
mer Soviet Union.
"We agreed that as Russia and
other new democracies adopt re
form programs, we and the rest of
the G-7 (Group of Seven) coun
tries should take the lead in ex
panding financial support
through the international financial
institutions," Bush said.
Kohl said they discussed a co
ordinated Western approach to
provide "self-help" to Central and
Eastern Europe.
Noting relief packages that the
United States and Germany have
extended to the former Soviet
states. Kohl said, "Obviously we
cannot go on doing this kind of
thing indefinitely."
The six-year-old trade talks
have been hung up on disputes
between the United States and the
European Community over Euro
pean agricultural subsidies.
Helmut Kohl