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The Battalion
Vol. 92 No. 7 (12 pages)
‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893’
Tuesday, September 8, 1992
Silver Taps honors
seven, pays tribute
By M. WILLIAM EVANS
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Staff Writer of THE BATTALION
At 10:30 tonight six buglers
and the Ross Volunteer Firing
Squad will pay tribute to seven
students who have died over the
past five months as part of the
first Silver Taps ceremony of the
fall semester.
The ceremony honors those
students who have passed away
in the previous month, but
tonight's ceremony will honor
those who have died since Aggie
Muster last April.
"It's our way of showing how
much Aggies care for one anoth
er," said Tammy Brown, chair
man of the Traditions Council of
Student Government.
"It's a time for us to leave be
hind our busy schedules one day
a month to commemorate some
one that we not have even
known."
The first Silver Taps was held
in 1898 to honor Lawrence Sulli
van Ross, founder and first presi
dent of the University. The cere
mony is held in front of the Aca
demic Building on the first Tues
day of every month during the
school year.
The MSC chimes will ring at
10:15 p.m. as the lights around
campus are turned off out of re
spect for those students honored
at the ceremony. The Ross Vol
unteers march in at 10:30 p.m.
and fire a 21-gun salute. "Silver
Taps" is played by six buglers to
the north, south and west.
For Brown, one Silver Taps
stands out. It was about this time
last year when a friend of hers
was among the honored.
He was in the Corps. His bud
dies bought his senior boots for
him, placing them by the statue
of Sul Ross the day of Silver
Taps. They guarded the boots all
day before giving them to their
friend's parents after the ceremo-
ny.
"It's an experience to go your
first time, but it's a very different
experience when you go and
someone you know is being rec
ognized," Brown said.
Silver Taps is a way of re
minding others of the impor
tance of one person at Texas
A&M, Brown said.
"It doesn't matter if you're the
student body president or just at
tend classes," she said. "Every
single person is important at
Texas A&M."
The following people will be
honored at tonight's Silver Taps
ceremony:
- Jennifer M. Cammack, a ju
nior sociology major from
Richardson, Texas. Cammack
died on May 14 as the result of
an auto accident.
- Joseph T. Mendes, a gradu
ate counseling psychology stu
dent from Winnipeg, Canada.
Mendes died July 13. He had dia
betes.
-Lisa K. Karle, a senior animal
science major from McAllen,
Texas. Karle died on July 15. She
had pancreatic cancer.
- Carlos E. Mendiola, a sopho
more aerospace engineering ma
jor from San Antonio. Mendiola
died on Aug. 7.
- Jeffrey D. Cardwell, a senior
chemical engineering major from
Victoria, Texas. Cardwell died on
Aug. 27 as the result of an auto
accident.
- Janet L. Greer, a graduate
poultry science student from
Buna, Texas. Greer died on Aug.
29 as the result of an auto acci
dent.
- Lee Yong-Hun, a graduate
electrical engineering student
from Seoul, Korea. Yong-Hun
died Aug. 25 of a brain tumor.
The following former students
died over the summer but will
not be honored because they
were not registered at A&M at
the time of death. The two will
be honored at the next Aggie
Muster.
- Miguel A. Perez, a 23-year
old former Texas A&M student
from Weslaco, Texas. He died in
a motorcycle accident on June 6.
- William C. Nichols, a 25-year
old senior in environmental de
sign from San Antonio. Nichols
died April 16 after being in
volved in a car accident.
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Homeland troops
open fire on ANC
marchers; 24 killed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa— Troops in the black homeland of
Ciskei opened fire Monday on an ANC march against the homeland's mil
itary government, killing at least 24 people and injuring almost 200.
The South African government said it was sending troops to Ciskei at
the request of the homeland's government to guard important installa
tions from possible retaliatory attacks.
The bloodbath threatened to plunge South Africa into a major crisis
and block efforts to revive stalled talks between the African National Con
gress and the South African government on giving blacks the vote and
ending apartheid.
The ANC said the killings could trigger an explosion of popular anger.
The Ciskei government is an ally of South African President F.W. de
Klerk, and the ANC promptly blamed de Klerk's administration for the
killings.
"It seemed so absolutely unnecessary. If this is a taste of things to
come, then God help us all/' said John Hall, head of the National Peace
Secretariat, who was on the scene. The secretarial monitors political vio-
:e. The Ciskei troops apparently opened fire without warning on the
inarch by some 20,000 ANC supporters calling for the removal of Ciskei
ruler Brig. Gen. Oupa Gqozo.
The march began in King William's Town, approximately 4 miles from
the Ciskei border. Soldiers with semi-automatic weapons fired waves of
bullets into the crowd as terrified people ran screaming for cover. Some
witnesses said the troops fired for at least two minutes before throwing
tear gas grenades.
Dead and wounded people littered the road as survivors tried to care
for them. Some struggled to crawl away, dragging dead or injured friends.
"People were paralyzed — even the ANC leadership," said local jour
nalist Guy Jepson. "It was absolutely terrifying."
Political leaders taking part in the march, including top African Nation
al Congress officials, dived for cover as troops blazed away on the out
skirts of Bisho, capital of the nominally independent homeland.
Witnesses said the first of two bursts of gunfire erupted when the
marchers stormed through a back'ventrance of a stadium on Bisho's out
skirts. lll®!i!!!lllll
Firm violates rules in airline case
the associated press Federal court ousts Houston attorneys,
says group switched sides in dispute
GALVESTON — Attorneys for
American Airlines say they are
elated with a federal appeals court
ruling that Houston's Vinson &
Elkins law firm cannot represent
Northwest Airlines in an airlines
industry antitrust lawsuit.
A three-judge panel of the Fifth
Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in
New Orleans ruled Friday Vinson
& Elkins must be disqualified
from representing Northwest.
While it based its ruling on oth
er legal issues, the court specifical
ly said Vinson & Elkins violated
ethics by switching sides in the
dispute.
On June 10, Vinson & Elkins
agreed to represent American Air
lines in the legal battle.
On June 11, the law firm in
stead hired out to Northwest Air
lines in the same case.
"Vinson & Elkins' withdrawal
from the American representation
and acceptance of the Northwest
representation on June 11 was a
switch of sides in the same case, a
clear violation of legal ethics," the
panel said.
American is the defendant in
lawsuits filed in June by North
west and Continental Airlines.
The two smaller carriers accuse
American of predatory pricing
practices designed to increase ri
val airlines' costs and drive com
petitors out of certain markets.
The lawsuits were filed in
Galveston U.S. District Judge Sam
Kent's court.
On July 24, Kent denied Ameri
can's request to oust Vinson &
Elkins from the case on grounds
that the law firm was privy to de
tailed information about Ameri
can's business and operations that
could help Northwest in its case.
Among other things, Kent
ruled the law firms involved were
large and sophisticated enough to
prevent unfair or improper use of
information acquired during earli
er cases.
The federal court disagreed in a
55-page ruling issued Friday and
issued a writ of mandamus re
versing Kent's ruling.
"We hold that Vinson & Elkins'
prior representations of American
in substantially related matters re
quire the disqualification of Vin
son & Elkins in this case," the
court concluded.
Harry Reasoner, a Houston
Vinson & Elkins partner who
agreed to represent Northwest af
ter his firm was contacted by
American, told the Houston
Chronicle Sunday the prior repre
sentation issue was the specific
reason the firm was disqualified.
He said the firm believed it was
well within ethical bounds in its
decision to take on Northwest af
ter another partner, Alison Smith,
had discussed the case with
American officials.
"I'm deeply disappointed we
can't represent Northwest," said
Reasoner. "I think they have a just
case."
Galveston attorney Ross Citti,
one of American's lead attorneys
in the case, said the court "found
that if it had not granted the writ,
irreparable harm would have re
sulted to American Airlines."
"The court ruled that American
had a clear and indisputable right
to the disqualification of Vinson &
Elkins.
The court said this case gener
ally and the iss aes we raised were
of grave importance to the attor
neys and their clients throughout
Texas because of the ethical con
siderations involved," Citti said.
Bait receives national award
The Texas A&M football team is
not the only Aggie institution to
gain national recognition.
The Associated Collegiate
Press and the Newspaper Associ
ation of America named The Bat
talion one of 12 regional Pacemak
er winners in the nation for 1991-
92.
Pacemaker, the top award in
the nation for student newspa
pers, considers the overall consis
tency of the journalism in each is
sue. Robert Wegener, manager of
Student Publications, said the
award is the result of hard work
and long hours.
"We've shown a good amount
of solid, local stories from the city
desk and strong leadership in our
editorial and opinion page," We
gener said. "Tying this together
with our design is what wins
awards."
The judges requested four is
sues from each newspaper, three
from specific dates and one "edi
tor's choice" from any date dur
ing the school year. Topics cov
ered in these issues of The Battal
ion included fall coverage of sexu
al harassment in the Corps of
Cadets, features on the Bolshoi
Ballet, sports and outdoors stories
and a column by Stacy Feducia.
Spring topics included a Spring
Break series, a student govern
ment election voters' guide,
"thought police" monitoring of
professors' political bias and a
satirical "Don't Vote" column by
Brian Boney.
Fall Editor in Chief Timm
Doolen said although the newspa
per faced many difficulties that
semester. The Battalion also pro
duced some of its best journalism
in the past five years. He said
more newsworthy campus events
occurred during that time than in
most full academic years.
"It (the Pacemaker award) vali
dates everything we strived for
last fall," Doolen said. "It says
that despite all the controversies
we were creating good journalism
last year."
Other Pacemaker award win
ners included newspapers from
Harvard, Indiana University,
Michigan State , University of
Kansas, University of Nebraska,
University of Oklahoma, Okla
homa State, University of Texas-
Arlington, University of North
Carolina, University of South
Florida and University of South
ern California.
The five national finalists will
be announced in October.
Labor Day marches
protest Bush's views
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Labor Day celebrations in
cluded as many protests as pic
nics, all marking the unofficial
end of the summer season and
the heating up of the presiden
tial political season.
Thousands of union mem
bers marched in New York's
Labor Day parade along Fifth
Avenue, many carrying plac
ards criticizing President Bush
and supporting Democrat Bill
Clinton for president. Teachers
and New York City employees
lacking contracts turned their
wrath on Mayor David Dinkins,
with some carrying signs read
ing: "Our mayor can spell pota
to, but can he spell c-o-n-t-r-a-c-
t?" Contracts with nearly all
union city workers expired a
year ago.Gray skies didn't keep
people away from the New Jer
sey shore, but many didn't
swim. The holiday was a wet
one in much of the nation.
"It was not a normal Labor
Day weekend/' said Lt. Woody
Ferry of the Ventnor City Beach
Patrol."
We had people in the water
over the weekend, but only a
couple of hundred total. We
usually had maybe 35,000 to
45,000."
In Los Angeles, hundreds of
school teachers, students and
supporters donned black garb
and followed a hearse in a
mock procession that slowed
traffic along the Santa Monica
Freeway and clogged streets
around Los Angeles Interna
tional Airport.
The hearse carried a coffin
filled with students' letters
protesting education budget
cuts approved by the Legisla
ture last week. In South Central
Los Angeles, former gang
members led a march between
housing projects to support ef
forts to keep the holiday week
end free of violence.At a rally in
Philadelphia, AFL-CIO Presi
dent Lane Kirkland reminded
union members of the labor slo
gan "An injury to one is the
concern of all."
DARRIN HILL/Tlte Battalion
Linda Adams, a senior exercise technology major from Irving, runs stands at Kyle field on Monday.