The Battalion
. 92 No. 19 (12 pages)
‘Serving Texas ASM Since 1893*
Thursday, September 24, 1992
Quayle looks
at health care
VP supports medical reform package
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Vice President
Dan Quayle said Tuesday that the
Bush administration wants a
package of re
forms including
tax credits,
vouchers and
discounts to
provide better
health care for
more Ameri
cans.
"We want to
make health in
surance avail
able and afford
able to every-
Quayle
one," Quayle told a group of
physicians and other medical pro
fessionals during a visit to Texas
Children's Hospital.
Quayle toured the hospital,
meeting with patients in the renal
dialysis unit and physical and oc
cupational therapy areas, as he
began a daylong tour of Texas
and Arizona.
The vice president later was
cheered wildly by thousands of
Texas A&M University students
in College Station. He left the
Lone Star state for a brief trip to
Phoenix, but planned to return for
an appearance Wednesday in Fort
Worth.
"We want to use tax credits,
vouchers and deductions to make
health insurance available to
everyone and the deductions
would be up to $3,750 up to an
earned income of about $80,000,"
Quayle said in Houston. "If you
were unemployed, it would be in
vouchers, and if you were em
ployed it would be in the form of
tax credits or deductions."
He said the GOP plan would
affect some 95 million Americans
and be focused on cutting costs
See Health Care/Page 10
Family leave bill veto stirs debate
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Democ
rats rushed Wednesday to ac
cuse President
Bush of be
traying "fami
ly values" by
vetoing a fami
ly leave bill,
while congres
sional Republi
cans pressed
an alternative
plan and de
fended the
president's
busy veto pen.
Some Republican sponsors ac
knowledged there was little
chance that Congress, in its wan
ing weeks, would embrace
Gore
Bush's alternative to the family
leave bill — a tax credit to em
ployers who let workers have
unpaid time off in family emer
gencies.
Still, they
used it as a po
litical defense
following
Bush's veto
Tuesday
evening of the
bill that would
have required
many employ
ers to give
workers up to
12 weeks off in
such cases.
"I'm not too optimistic about
this," Rep. Fred Grandy, R-Iowa,
acknowledged at a news confer
ence where Republicans touted
Bush
their alternative. "I do believe,
however, in the next Congress
we will have a spirited debate."
Bush's veto, while expected,
gave Democrats a chance to ac
cuse Republicans of empty
rhetoric on family values.
"After talking interminably
about family values, he vetoed
the family and medical leave bill.
That is not leadership," Democ
ratic vice presidential nominee
A1 Gore said, campaigning in
Georgia.
"Seventy-two countries have
a family and medical leave act,"
presidential challenger Bill Clin
ton said, with Gore on a cam
paign bus tour. "We're being
told by this president we can't. I
was taught to believe that Amer
ica was the we-can country."
It was the second time in three
years that Bush has vetoed a
family and medical leave bill.
Democrats planned an override
vote in the Senate, possibly this
week, but the odds were against
them in the House.
Bush's action put some Re
publicans on the spot, since polls
show overwhelming public sup
port for the idea of family leave
as a minimum labor standard. It
comes after Bush sustained his
veto of a bill aimed at easing vot
er registration and while he faces
a prospective battle over his
promised veto of a popular bill
to regulate the cable television
industry.
The cable bill passed by veto-
proof margins in both the House
and Senate. With a vote possible
just before the election, it may be
the sternest test yet for Bush.
Board to decide
WTSU's name
By REAGON CLAMON
Reporter of THE BATTALION
West Texas State University
may get a name change this Fri
day as the Board of Regents
meet to decide the question
amid some controversy. The
new name. West Texas A&M
University, will be effective im
mediately if the Board votes for
the change.
Dr. Barry Thompson, Presi
dent of WtSU, and the prime
motivator in the move to
change the name, commis
sioned a poll of the Panhandle
area in June and the results
were less than heartening.
According to the poll, con
ducted by the Public Policy Re
sources Laboratory here at
Texas A&M, only 21 percent of
the 482 respondents were in fa
vor of the name change. Forty-
six percent felt either name was
acceptable. One-third of WTSU
alumni surveyed favored the
change while one-third felt ei
ther name was okay. Opposi
tion to the change is expected
and understandable, Dana
Olmstead the director of com
munication services at WTSU,
said. The West Texas university
has changed names five times
since its establishment, and
there has always been some
controversy, Olmstead said.
"I think you just get to know
a university, especially one that
you've attended and care a lot
about, by a certain name," she
said. "When that changes, it's
just hard to accept."
Olmstead said when West
Texas State University changed
its name from West Texas State
College in 1963, there was a
similar reaction.
"According to some of the
research, there was a period of
difficulty," Olmstead said. "A
lot of people didn't like it. West
Texas State College was their
home."
There has been some appre
hension from Texas A&M
alumni in the past over univer
sities changing their names to
A&M, said Penny Beaumont,
vice chancellor for communica
tions for the Texas A&M Uni
versity System.
"The Board of Regents has
told institutions that the name
'Texas A&M at-' is not an alter
native," Beaumont said. "I
think there might be some who
feel that there should only be
One Texas A&M University.
There is a Texas A&M at Galve
ston, but it reports directly to
the president of Texas A&M
University; and I think there are
some former students that think
the only Texas A&M University
should be in College Station."
The objective for changing
the name, Beaumont said, was
to bring WTSU to its par
ent university.
"Those people who support
the name change very much
want something that reflects the
linkage with the Texas A&M
University System," she said.
DARRIN HILL/The Battalion
Annie Godwin, a senior nutritional science Wofford Cain Pool. Godwin prefers to run, but
major from Houston, finishes a lap at the she swims about once a week to stay in shape.
Free trade
to readjust
work force
Job loss expected
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - His-
panics in California and South
Texas will reap some of the bene
fits of free trade with Mexico and
Canada but also stand to be dis
proportionately hurt as the Amer
ican work force adjusts to shifting
trade patterns, a Latino think tank
said Wednesday.
The conclusions were drawn
from two studies conducted for
the Southwest \Voter Research In
stitute, a non-profit Hispanic
group based in San Antonio,
Texas.
The proposed North American
Free Trade Agreement "is not as
good as it's being made out to be
in terms of jobs and it's not as bad
as it's being made out to be," said
Andrew Hernandez, the insti
tute's president.
The Texas study, conducted by
researchers at the University of
Texas at San Antonio, projects
that over five years the trade pact
would result in a net gain of 1,617
jobs for Hispanics in the 37-coun-
ty South Texas area.
The South Texas gains would
come in electronics, transporta
tion, communications, public util
ities and the service sectors, said
Avelardo Valdez, one of the
study's authors.
South Texas job losses will be
experienced in agriculture, trade
and the apparel and textile sec
tors, Valdez said.
Valdez' study finds that His
panics will have less access than
Anglos to new jobs created by in
creased trade with Mexico, with
on average 1.23 jobs going to an
Anglo for every job created for a
Latino.
"Disproportionately, Mexican-
Americans will lose more jobs
than non Mexican-Americans,"
Valdez said.
Battle for the bench
Incumbent faces re-election
By MELODY DUNNE
Assistant City Editor for THE BATTALION
After two terms on the bench. Democrat John
Delaney is facing his first contested election for
judge of Brazos County's 272nd District Court.
Bryan attorney John Hawtrey is running as a Re
publican against Delaney in the November election.
Delaney said he hopes voters will look at his record
instead of his political party.
About one-third of the voters on the A&M cam
pus voted straight-ticket in the last election. De
laney said straight-ticket voters show poor judg
ment.
"I think all of them are making a mistake," De
laney said. "They could crush some of us. A vote
is just too precious to waste or to cast in the blind."
The best way to decide on a candidate is to look
at their past record, Delaney said.
"Hopefully voters are informed on all the races,"
he said.
"I'm confident if they study the record, they will
choose the right person."
Delaney said he enjoys his job — especially help
ing people escape the stress linked to court cases.
"Unresolved conflicts create recurring pain," he
said. "The faster
the case is over,
the faster the peo
ple can get on
with their lives."
During his
eight years on the
bench, Delaney
said he introduced
a computer-assist
ed case manage
ment system and
telephone hear
ings, innovations
that reduced the
civil case backlog
by more than half.
"Lawyers from
Houston, Austin,
Dallas and other places can opt for a telephone
hearing to save time and money," he said.
Delaney has also used a tape recorder in place of
a court reporter, which he said saves Brazos County
about $31,000 a year, speeds up appeals and re
duces the risk of trial reversals due to incomplete
trial records.
Judge John Delaney of the
272nd District Court
Lawyer seeks seat in court
By TANYA SASSER
Staff writer of THE BATTALION
Republican lawyer John Hawtrey will oppose
two-term Democratic incumbent John Delaney for
Bryan's 272nd District Court bench position in No
vember.
Hawtrey is running for judge because he feels
he has something to offer the people of Brazos
County.
Hawtrey has tried cases in about one-third of
the state's counties and in all of the state's federal
districts, he said.
He has had the experience of appearing before
the United States Supreme Court.
Hawtrey said although he is staring out at a
disadvantage by running against an incumbent, he
is more qualified based on the variety of experi
ence he possesses.
"I think I am much more qualified based on tri
al experience," Hawtrey said. "To have a wide va
riety of lawyers appear before you is not the same
as appearing before a wide variety of judges."
Hawtrey has his own ideas about the role of a
judge. He favors tradition in the courtroom.
He likes to "play by the rules" and opposes dras
tic change.
"1 decided to
run against Judge
Delaney because I
didn't agree with
his judicial philos
ophy," he said.
"He's what we
judges call a judi
cial activist. He
tries to do innova
tive procedures
that I don't much
care for."
As judge,
Hawtrey sees his
job as the admin
istration of rules
that already exist,
not to change
them.
"Those of us
who administer the system shouldn't experiment
with it," he said. "We shouldn't be making our
own rules. We should be the first ones to follow
the rules."
John Hawtrey, candidate
forjudge of the 272nd
District Court