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The Battalion
Vol. 92 No. 12 (8 pages)
‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893’
Tuesday, September 15, 1992
Gore stresses job
security on campaign trail
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARLINGTON — Democratic vice pres
idential candidate A1 Gore emphasized
protecting jobs Monday
during a campaign stop
in Tarrant County to
counter recent visits to
Texas by President Bush
and his wife.
Gore told about 300
workers at Bell Heli
copter Textron, which
jointly develops the
V-22 Osprey with Boe
ing Helicopter, that Re
publicans have opposed
the tilt-rotor aircraft "tooth-and-nail,"
threatening jobs in Tarrant County.
"The only time they start worrying
about your jobs is when their jobs are on
the line," said Gore, who was flanked by
Democratic Reps. Martin Frost and Pete
Geren.
The Pentagon, after skirmishing with
Congress for years over the controversial
V-22, announced recently it would free
up money that it had been holding back
from the program. The Tennessee law
maker, a member of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, dismissed the move
as an election year flip-flop.
"Whenever I hear George Bush say the
principal issue in this election is whether
or not he can be trusted, I think of the his
tory of his statements and actions with re
spect to the tilt-rotor technology," he
said.
Gore said the Bush administration has
overlooked the domestic applications for
the Osprey, which he said has the possi
bility of "untying the knots in America's
air transportation system."
"In air corridors of 500 miles or less,
one of the major problems we face today
is congestion, long waiting times for lim
ited runway space . . .," Gore said. "This
technology holds the promise of solving
those backup problems."
Antonio Morelli, 58, a worker at the
Defense Plant Representative Office at
Bell, didn't buy it.
"It was a good speech, but I don't be
lieve the words (politicians) say," he said.
"Don't you know? It's a political year."
Gore said he anticipates reduction in
military spending no matter who is elect
ed in November. He said the skills of dis
placed workers could be used to improve
the nation's transportation and communi
cations industry. Rep. Joe Barton, R-En-
nis, held a news conference across the
street to attack proposed Democratic de
fense cuts.
"These defense cuts in the
Clinton-Gore budget are unspecified," he
said. "We need to know where they're
going to make those cuts."
The Gore swing through Fort Worth
and later to Lubbock was quickly
arranged last week to counter recent vis
its by Bush and his wife to Tarrant Coun
ty. The area has been pummeled by the
expected closure of Carswell Air Force
Base and layoffs at the Fort Worth Gener
al Dynamics plant.
Gore said America's economic perfor
mance under the Bush administration is
the worst since the Great Depression.
"We thought that we got rid of the
Hollywood approach when Ronald Rea
gan left," he said.
"Well George Bush has made a movie.
He calls it, 'Honey, I Shrunk the Econo
my.'"
Texas, with its 32 electoral votes, is
crucial to both candidates.
The latest polls show both candidates
in a tight race here.
Gore
President refuses to sign
endangered species pact
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLVILLE, Wash. — President Bush battled De
mocrat Bill Clinton for votes in the Pacific Northwest
on Monday, declaring environ
mental laws should be changed to
"make people more important
than owls."
Bush vowed not to sign an ex
tension of the Endangered Species
Act unless it's rewritten to give
more emphasis to economic priori
ties and timber harvesting.
Clinton maintained that he was
the candidate who could best pro
mote economic development while Clinton
at the same time preserving the en
vironment.
"I know that you can be pro-growth and pro-en
vironment," the Democratic nominee told a crowd in
Portland, Oregon.
Bush told a cheering audience at a lumber compa
ny near the Canadian border that the balance be
tween the environment and jobs has been lost.
"It is time to make people more important than
owls," he said. "It's time to put the mills back to
work."
Bush delivered his promise on a trip through tim
ber -and spotted-owl country of Washington and
Oregon, accusing Clinton of favoring the environ
ment rather than jobs. Thousands of timber workers
have lost their jobs because of protection of the owl
and an industry slump. Clinton maintains that the
Republicans are asking voters to make a false choice
between jobs and the environment.
"Bush gave us neither. We think
you can have both," said Bruce
Reed, one of Clinton's domestic
policy advisers. "The choice is be
tween George Bush and jobs."
Clinton traveled to Eugene,
Ore., where he was visiting with
five families whose lives have been
affected by changes in the timber
industry.
He has called for a summit on
the spotted owl — an idea that
Bush Bush derided as "false hope." "No
more studies, let's change the
law," Bush said. "My opponent will not fight to
change the law to restore balance."
The 19-year-old Endangered Species Act has pro
tected more than 500 animals and plants, including
the bald eagle, grizzly bear, peregrine falcon and
whooping crane.
The Fish and Wildlife Service declared the north
ern spotted owl a threatened species in June 1990,
citing excessive logging of old-growth forests as a
threat to its survival. Logging of the Northwest's na
tional forests has come to a virtual standstill as feder
al courts have found government harvesting prac
tices to be in violation of U.S. environmental laws.
Iniki costs islands $1 billion
in damages, governor says
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LIHUE, Hawaii — Military police cleared roads
of palm fronds, telephone poles and roof shingles
Monday, and residents whose homes were smashed
by nature's whim wondered when their lives might
return to normal.
Hurricane Iniki had turned the tropical paradise
of Kauai topsy-turvy, and an approaching storm
threatened to add to the disorder.
Neighboring islands in the Hawaiian chain were
ferrying in field kitchens and portable showers,
bulldozers and generators, engineers and carpen
ters.
Limited phone service was restored for some of
Kauai's 52,000 residents. About half the island had
running water. And electrical power was expected
to be restored to the largest town of Lihue by next
Monday.
"I'm really surprised at the speed at which they
are doing it," said Hawaii Civil Defense Planner
Glenn Soma. "They have so much aloha spirit from
the other islands, people sending in equipment, sup
plies, everything else. It's incredible."
Iniki, the most powerful hurricane to hit Hawaii
this century, roared across the lightly populated
western end of Kauai on Friday, leveling sugar
plantations and churning up the eastern and south
ern shore where most people live, and where luxury
hotels and tourist bungalows abound.
Federal officials said 10,000 of the island's 21,000
homes were badly damaged by sustained wind of
130 mph and 160 mph gusts. Most of the 70 hotels
sustained serious damage. More than 7,000 people
were crowded into shelters.
The hurricane was blamed for at least three
deaths, including one in a town east of Honolulu on
Oahu Island, which lies across the 80-mile-wide
Kauai Channel. About 100 people were injured.
The Coast Guard searched between Kauai and
Niihau, a small neighboring island that sustained
only minor damage, for two people reported aboard
a sailboat that sank as Iniki hit. A 50-year-old Kauai
man who also was on the boat was rescued Satur
day after clinging to an ice chest for 21 hours.
Authorities said later that the search was sus
pended indefinitely.
Federal and state officials planned to begin
ground surveys of the damage, which Gov. John
Waihee estimated at $1 billion.
Oahu escaped the worst of the storm, with an es
timated $2.5 million damage to 163 private build
ings.
Moderate rain from a tropical depression south
of the islands was forecast to reach Kauai by mid
day, along with 10-25 mph wind.
The only danger was that "we may get a little
wet," said Civil Defense Vice Director Roy Price.
Heavy showers caused minor flooding on Hawaii
Island's eastern coast early Monday.
Federal disaster officials directed a round-the-
clock airlift of supplies.
More than 800 members of the National Guard
were brought in to assist.
Full electrical service could take about four
months to restore, but 60 percent of the lines should
be working within a week. Soma said.
Chuck Johnson, Moses Hall Crew Chief, of the hair on his head. Johnson said the first
sharpens an axe in preparation for the first cut classes will be held on Tuesday and
Bonfire cut on Sept. 26. A sophomore business Wednesday of this week at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. at
major from Mansfield, Johnson has a "M” cut out the Grove.
Bush to fight Congress on budget
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON— President Bush, primed for a
showdown with Congress over spending, will veto
any congressional appropriation "that goes one
penny above his request," Vice President Dan
Quayle said.
"If Congress doesn't think he's going to veto it,
go ahead, George Mitchell/send these bills down
there above die president's budget, and we'll veto
them," Quayle said on ABC's "This Week With
David Brinkley."
Mitchell, the Senate Majority Leader, earlier on
NBC's "Meet the Press" accused Bush of "incon
sistency/'
"Here's the President going around the country
doling Out a billion here, a billion there, a billion
there, the Maine Democrat said. "Meantime back
in the Capitol, the House of Representatives has
appropriated $13 billion less than the president
has requested and now we see in the front page of
the paper that the president is talking about some
way to rein in spending."
Attorney blames students for parking violations
By REAGON CLAMON
Reporter of THE BATTALION
If there is a natural enemy to the col
lege student, some believe it would have
to be the tow truck. Year after year, an
gry students lash out at what they feel to
Be unfair practices on the part of towing
companies and local businesses who tem
porarily destroy their lives with one
phone call.
Most cases, however, turn out to in
volve more confusion than con, according
to Rick Powell, an attorney at the Texas
A&M Student Attorney's office.
Students usually don't actively seek
out signs that might denote a parking
place as restricted, said Powell, nor do
they anticipate the bloodthirsty tactics of
'a business that runs entirely on cash.
"Usually it's the student's fault," Pow
ell said. "The student shouldn't have
parked there and they knew it. They lose
a lot in court because of it."
Powell said the few cases that have
had merit involve the business not mark
ing the parking area properly.
"The best argument is that the signs
weren't up where they are supposed to
be," Powell said. "Then the students
have a Case."
Powell said wrecker services are cash
oriented, and they sometimes cross the
line between ethical and unethical prac
tices.
"They hide behind cars and around the
side of buildings and wait for students to
leave their cars," Powell said. "They
want to tow. They make a lot of money
and they're towing as fast as they can."
Powell said some students complain
towing companies have damaged their
vehicles in the process of impounding it.
"They can break power door locks to
get in the car," Powell said. "Sometimes
parts of the car are torn off. Sometimes
transmissions are ruined when front-
wheel drive vehicles are towed wrong."
These complaints are hard to prove,
however.
"The tow truck people claim that it's
not their fault. . .that they didn't do it,"
Powell said. "If nobody saw it, there are
no witnesses.
"They'll swear that it's not their fault.
They're professionals."
Powell said students do try to prove
towing companies are guilty of damaging
their cars, rarely ever receive compensa
tion.
"It is so hard to get money out of these
companies," Powell said. "They don't
just pull out their wallet and give away
their money."
Extravagant storage expense is another
common complaint, said Larry Lightfoot,
executive director of the Brazos County
Better Business Bureau.
"Many towing companies charge a
storage fee from midnight to midnight,"
Lightfoot said.
"If the car is towed at night, say
around eleven, the student may not find
out till around one. Then, the towing
company will charge for two days of stor
age."
The Better Business Bureau offers arbi
tration between consumers and business
es, and Lightfoot said this is a good idea
for students who have disagreements
with wrecker companies.
Powell had a special message for visi
tors to business on Northgate.
"Northgate is the worst," Powell said.
"You're taking a risk every time you dri
ve your car there."
The best advice for students, Powell
said, is to keep their eyes open for wreck
er signs.
"They need to be looking for signs,"
Powell said. "If they can't find a sign,
they need to ask merchants if they tow.
Students never seem to do this."