Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1992)
The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 8 (14 pages) ‘Serving Texas ASM Since 1893’ Wednesday, September 9, 1992 eeting at it 696- tEMENT: Bush asks Congress for $7.6 billion in aid rom7 to match TH 121, ivill be Register ration call it at 845- at 7 p.m. IATI0N: )FES- jpen to all informa- >st lector- labilita- rmation THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - President 5ush asked Congress on Tuesday lo provide more than $7.6 billion lo help Florida and Louisiana re- lover from Hurricane Andrew's ievastation. It would be the liggest federal relief package ever bra natural disaster. "We're going to move it as fast is possible/' said Senate Majority .eader George Mitchell, D-Maine. Pending before the expected Dctober adjournment are major amily-leave and tax bills, which ioth face veto threats from Bush. Congress still has to finish 12 of ts 13 annual spending bills; Bush nas threatened to reject any that ;xceed his budget proposals. On the storm-relief bill. Con gress positioned itself to begin moving quick- 1 Y- The chair man of the House Appro priations Com mittee, Rep. Jamie Whitten, D-Miss., pre pared to intro duce his own version of the bill Wednes day and the Senate Appropria tions Committee planned to con sider its own measure on Thurs day. Senate floor debate was pos sible next week. It was possible that the con gressional bills would contain changes opposed by Bush. One of ficial who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Whitten's bill would probably cost more than Bush's. Bush momentarily abandoned his campaign-trail attacks against the "gridlock Congress" and pre dicted that majority Democrats would cooperate on the measure. "We're together on this one," he said. The most expensive natural disaster in the nation's history, Andrew caused an estimated $20 billion in damage in Florida and $1.5 billion in Louisiana. Fifty-two deaths have been linked to the storm, which also destroyed or damaged 97,000 homes in Florida and 14,000 in Louisiana. About 250,000 people were left homeless; 118,000 Flori da homes and businesses are still without electricity. The president's request for hurricane assistance would pro vide disaster payments, loans and social services to farmers, home- owners, renters, businesses and families. It would also help the federal and local governments re pair buildings, schools, roads, wa terways and sanitation projects. Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat and former senator, lobbied his one-time colleagues, saying his state would need $6 bil lion to $9 billion. And Sen. L. Ben nett Johnston, D-La., said he be lieved Bush's measure has "some gaps in it we will fill in." The biggest federal packages for natural disaster aid have pro vided nearly $2.9 billion to help victims of the Loma Prieta earth quake in California, and $1.1 bil lion in aid for victims of Hurri cane Hugo. Both measures were approved in 1990. Bush Among the measure’s major components are: •$1.5 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants for individuals, businesses and governments in Florida. Louisiana would get $150 million in such aid and Guam would get $100 million. •Money to back $1.6 billion in Federal Housing Authority loans, enough to insure 65,000 mortgages and loans for re building of homes and health-care facilities. •Allowing the Small Business Administration to make up to $1.2 billion worth of low-interest loans. Individuals could bor row up to $100,000 apiece for home repairs; businesses could borrow up to $500,000 for repairs and purchases. •$480.6 million to rebuild Homestead Air Force Base in Florida, which the storm demolished. Included in the proposal is $503.3 million for the Pentagon’s costs of coping with the damage caused by Andrew and by Typhoon Omar, which slammed into the Pacific island of Guam just days after An drew hit Florida. eting of rnational er. ed to the 3 rmation and Stu- Park nyone in- iforma- ^ar show tain area, or Terry eeting at :er at SS: 30 p.m. in at 693- : Infor- ed in Lib- all Eric orma- ip drive id Free mation 1 to The han vn )ne at's Up events first- antee :allthe 1 ne ent cities an hour d the res- le to juri aid Erie marshal initial))' refugees, ill Mon- ut of H as shel- be pre- ses Se^ tant that :hool. If rn bad Nancy spokes- 154 peo- .rmy U ore tent j tents," ho went six days :own." ncludes owers, a ay care nildren, offering visions rs have d stage nd per- Mandela seeks to oust National Party leaders THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BISHO, South Africa — An angry Nelson Man dela called Tuesday for the removal of the black homeland ruler whose troops killed 24 ANC marchers and wounded 196. The killings Monday sparked a major confronta tion between black and white leaders in South Africa and dealt a severe blow to efforts to resume power sharing talks. South Africa controls most affairs in the home lands — established under the apartheid system as separate nations for blacks — and the African Na tional Congress and other black groups consider most homelands puppet states of Pretoria. Religious leaders, including Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, urged the ruler of the Ciskei home land to hold a referendum on returning the territory to South Africa. They said the ruler. Brig. Gen. Oupa Gqozo (pronounced OO-pah KOR-sah), refused. Earlier, Tutu and other church leaders went to the field where the killings took place, kneeling and praying between police armored vehicles. Hundreds of ANC members huddled around campfires in an overnight vigil at the site. The normally' quiet South Africa-Ciskei border was sealed with barbed wire and guarded by Ciskean and South African troops. It was reopened after dusk. The killings on Monday deepened South Africa's political crisis, making it unlikely Mandela's African National Congress will return soon to stalled talks on giving blacks the vote and ending apartheid. ANC leaders said President F.W. de Klerk's govern ment bore direct responsibility for the killings. The ruling National Party lashed out at the ANC in one of the harshest attacks in recent months, say ing the opposition group was hying to seize power. The National Party called ANC leaders "hard-lin ers hooked on the Communist shortcut of trying to force the country to its knees and seizing power by force." The talks collapsed in June after 39 blacks were massacred in Boipatong township. The ANC has ac cused the white minority government of encourag ing fighting between black factions. De Klerk denies that. ANC leaders in Johannesburg called for the re moval of two other homeland rulers who are major foes of the ANC — President Lucas Mangope of Bo- phuthatswana and Mangosuthu Buthelezi, chief minister of KwaZulu. Buthelezi heads the Zulu-dom inated Inkatha Freedom Party. See S. Africa/Page 12 A&M College Republicans welcome Fields By MELODY DUNNE Assistant City Editor of THE BATTALION The College Republicans came out in full force Tuesday evening to welcome Congress man Jack Fields to Texas A&M and organize Republican cam paigning in the Bryan-College Station area. Fields emphasized that Texas A&M students could make the difference between President Bush winning Texas and the election in November. "Students have to make the difference at the polls," he said. "Eighteen to 20-year-olds make the difference between whether Bush wins in '92" Fields said the presiden tial election might be ex tremely close, and the Aggie campaign could deter mine Bush Fields winning the state of Texas. "And if George Bush does not win Texas, he will not win the presidency," he said. In order to make all of this happen. Fields encouraged the College Republicans to get in volved and make the sacrifices that are necessary for changes to occur. "One person with courage makes a majority," he said. "One person really can make a difference." Fields said that when decid ing between the candidates vot ers should look at what each candidate can do for them dur ing the next four years. "I don't agree with every thing the president has done, but I look at the composite," he said. The College Republicans have distributed over 5,000 voter reg istration cards around Bryan- College Station since June. Be fore the election they hope to register over 20,000 voters. Trade debate in Senate Lawmakers upset about Bush's use of pact in campaign THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic senators sig naled Tuesday to U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills their anger over the Bush administration's use of the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement on the campaign trail. "What I've seen over the last two weeks isn't responsible — it's pure politics and the adminis tration knows it," Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, told Hills dur ing an appearance before the Sen ate Finance Committee. "Politicizing this agreement Mil not help its prospects in Con gress," cautioned Bentsen, who chairs the committee. Congressional Democrats have been irked by President Bush's repeated free trade-related attacks on Democratic rival Bill Clinton. Bush has stepped up his claims in recent weeks that the Arkansas gov ernor is straddling the fence on the trade pact. Clinton has said he favors the concept of free trade with Mexico, but wants to make sure environ mental and labor standards are addressed before en dorsing an agreement. Bentsen noted that a conclusion to the treaty, which was made public Tuesday, was only reached Aug. 12. The 2,000-page text underwent revision un til recently, he added. "No responsible person should make a decision that quickly on an agreement of this complexity and this magnitude — and no one should responsibly ex pect it," Bentsen said. Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus also de fended Clinton. "For President Bush to suggest that Gov. Clinton or any of us in this Congress should endorse a treaty which we have not had the opportunity to review would be the height of irresponsibility," said Bau cus, who chairs the international trade subcommit tee. Hills' recent appearances in Texas and other states on behalf of the Bush-Quayle campaign also have been viewed with disfavor. None of the committee Republicans defended Bush by name. Only Sen. John Danforth addressed the Democrats' ire. "It should be debated in connection with an elec tion year," said Danforth, R-Mo., citing the treaty's impact both nationally and in the world economy. "I have absolutely no qualms on that score at all." Baucus also contended that American negotiators rushed conclusion of the pact to coincide with the Republican National Convention, which began five days after a deal was announced. But Hills rejected that claim. "There was no rush See Trade/Page 12 Bentsen ROBERT /. REED/The Battalion Shelly Jones, a sophomore finance major looks at the names posted for Silver Taps Tuesday. The monument is a new addition for displaying the names of those to be honored on the day of the ceremony. Gore answers questions in El Paso THE ASSOCIATED PRESS EL PASO — Students in a barrio school told A1 Gore Tuesday that drugs and gangs were their big concerns and asked him his views on U.S. immigra tion policy and what he'll do about welfare recipi ents who lose benefits when they get jobs. Gore, running mate to presidential candidate Bill Clinton, toured Roosevelt School in downtown El Paso and endured a blazing sun to address a crowd of about 1,000, including several schoolchildren brought in from area schools. The Tennessee senator encouraged the children to get involved in politics. "You can make a tremendous difference in the campaign, even if you are not old enough to vote," he said. He also told the school, which has an all Hispanic student body and some children of recent immi grants, that immigration policies should be compas sionate and leave families in tact. "We should place that in a much higher priority in looking at the immigration policies and enforcement," he said. The tiny elementary school had been decorated in red, white and blue paper chains, and its hallways were plastered with campaign slogans and letters to Gore written by students. One Gore girl, Lupita Rodriguez, had said she hoped to meet Gore someday. Gore obliged and brought her up to the stage, but Lupita was too shy to answer any of his questions. Ruben Ontiveros showed Gore a computer lan guage skills game in which he won points for un scrambling words: See Gore/Page 12 Dallas judge vies for seat on Texas Supreme Court By GARY P. CARROLL City mtorofTHE BATTALION For Republican Judge Craig Enoch, integrity, fairness and a solid commitment to judicial re straint comprise the cornerstone of his bid for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court. Enoch will be battling democ rat Oscar Mauzy for his seat on the court this November. Currently, Enoch serves in Dallas as the Chief Justice of the Fifth District Court of Appeals. He began in Dallas as a judge nearly eleven years ago. Enoch said he wants to re store judicial restraint to the court while removing Mauzy, one of the court's leading judi cial activists. "People will realize that some judges try to make laws — and Oscar Mauzy is one of those judges," Enoch said. Our judicial system is set up to balance the executive and leg islative branches of our govern ment and to do so the judge Enoch must be free from political ideol ogy while ruling on cases, he said. "A good judge is not neces sarily a judge without prejudice and bias," Enoch said. "A good judge is one who is able to set them aside." "And a bad judge is not nec essarily a judge with prejudice and bias/' he said. A bad judge doesn't know when to set these "I believe I fit the people's definition of what a judge is. I'm a referee, an umpire..." -Judge Craig Enoch beliefs aside and decide a case based on its merits. Enoch said a true judge won't let people know how they would vote. "It's like saying 'vote for me and I'll rule this way on a case' — and that's not right," Enoch said. You give me the case and I can tell you how he (Mauzy) would rule, Enoch said. "Some judges wield the pow- See Enoch/Page 12