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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1992)
Me ops The Battalion 1 in the 'oposalsani ght track, s American k iita this ci iifference) B nsh, aim: landmelmj uci >ig taxes, carry,” Vol. 92 No. 22 (10 pages) ‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893’ Tuesday, September 29, 1992 I mm Perot, Democrats an sough:; I ters into t!j ling PerolV} n their re$>e s, but also! h feelings u idonedhisr y. 'aiga 53 percet j hould coao >sing faithi ■o a polled ^ezavisiM ■ndent Nw i sen, Yells: fallen. Fa of Muscon ice in Yelk rent in Ap ■ provide; accurately! boost his s st deaeer; i 8 millions ant to 1(1,1 ■-owned hs a Busins natives hit ness school nswerq® about the; include: 1 visits ail lommte 1A/Lawb , can getn mission lications nesssd The libra: 'Jetworted gs infori addressee, experiei nts. Mercedes Mimi, 6, rides Bimble the elephant at three-ring circus was in town to perform two the George Carden Circus Monday. The shows at the Brazos County Fairgrounds. etsaa,^ Officials nab drug traffickers asing as b is? in worldwide sting operation Rogers ; d still ha network ft ted. ast; rentsituai Rome were the first rounded up in a vast dragnet that authorities Monday said smashed a worldwide drug and money-laundering operation. "Operation Green Ice" caught some 200 people over the weekend in the United States, Italy, Britain and Costa Rica, Italian authorities told a news conference. Tens of millions of dollars in cocaine, cash, jewels, securities and property were seized. Achille Serra, a top police official, said the ring sent cocaine from Colombia through the United States and Spain, for distribution in Italy and other European countries. George Terwilliger, a deputy U.S. attorney general, called the case "truly a crippling blow to the Colombian cartel." While officials in Rome said 201 people were nabbed, U.S. officials held a news conference in Arlington, Va., and put the number of arrests at 153. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled. Authorities in Rome reported 34 arrests in Italy but gave no breakdown of the others. ited Stale* 1 ; taken [ for prf for pn ist pro beingf d movie* happen th Ame J1 ; ques ulty. » useyof , too," h' ■d seve! ai ? pleasa^ quipmef ssed tf 1 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ROME — Two alleged drug kingpins who walked out of an ice cream parlor in the heart of Robert Bonner, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said seven people arrested account for "most of the key financial operations" for the Cali cocaine cartel in Colombia. Authorities said the operation also struck a deep blow to organized crime groups in Sicily, Naples and Calabria, which have a stranglehold on southern Italy. "Never has there been a strike of such importance against the Mafia, Camorra and 'ndrangheta," said National Police Chief Vincenzo Parisi, referring to the mobs in those areas. Parisi said the operation began Friday with the arrest in Rome of Colombians Jose Duran, whom he described as a Colombian cartel boss, and Pedro Villaquiran, a reputed leading cocaine distributor in Europe and Duran's aide. Authorities were led to them when police trailed a Dutch woman to an ice cream parlor in Rome's famous Piazza Navona, the news agency AGI said. Officers watched as she sat at a table. Duran, reportedly known as "the Pope," and Villaquiran joined her. As they left the bar and walked a few steps past the fountain in the square, police quietly arrested the three. Regents discuss budget cuts ssors i ve di^ 1 , stude^ ask lg the I* Authorities planning for $70.3 million reduction in funding By JULI PHILLIPS Reporter of THE BATTALION With the possibility that up to $500 million of Texas' $5 billion budget shortfall will be made up by cutting funding for higher edu cation, the Texas A&M University Board of Regents began dis cussing contingencies for just such an occurrence at their monthly meeting last Friday. The Texas A&M University System's portion of the $500 mil lion cut in higher education would be approximately $70 mil lion. Dr. Eddie Davis, TAMUS Deputy Chancellor of Finance and Administration, said the System should worry about more than just the possible budget cuts. He said the bigger picture shows enrollment and expendi tures are increasing while the funding is decreasing. "In terms of constant dollars, our general revenue funding has decreased slightly since 1985," Davis told the Regents. "System- wide our enrollments have in creased some 20 percent and we've absorbed several major re ductions and legislatively man dated changes have reduced our funds." As a result, A&M has been forced to make numerous cost cutting adjustments over the last few years including the reduction of equipment purchases, the merging of divisions and the clos ing of three agriculture research stations. All of the savings pro- f rams have saved the System over 100 million since 1985, and are projected to save TAMUS $25 mil lion annually. To illustrate the impact of the $70.3 million cut, Davis said the loss would be equivalent to the savings generated by cutting 2,400 staff positions or 1,930 faculty po sitions system-wide. "Cuts of this magnitude would severely damage the Texas A&M University System and its ability to contribute to the economic re covery of Texas," Davis said. The mission of the System would be damaged because teach ing, research and technological transfer activities would have to be sacrificed. "The potential reductions also would hinder our intra-system collaboration efforts, reduce the rate of change in South Texas and sacrifice the quality 'of our system as a whole," Davis said. "We sincerely hope these bleak predictions don't come to pass," he said. "But our approach is to plan for the worst, but work dili gently for the best." ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■ wtmmmmmm agree on economy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS — Ross Perot said Monday there was "a lot of com monality" be tween his eco nomic views and Bill Clin ton's as the De mocrat and President Bush made unprece dented over tures to win the support of the Texas billionaire and his follow- Perot ers. Perot said he would decide Thursday whether to enter the presidential race for the final month, insisting the answer rested with the supporters who placed his name on the ballot in all 50 states. State leaders of the Perot movement assembled in Dallas on Monday to hear presentations from both the Clinton and Bush campaigns. On their return home, they planned to poll Perot sup porters on whether the Texan should run, throw his support to Bush or Clinton, or stay out of the race and remain neutral. "They are going to decide what we are going to do," Perot said. Perot had nothing but praise for the Clinton delegation after it spent 2 1/2 hours in a closed meeting with Perot and his sup porters. Participants said the ses sion was dominated by discussion of Clinton's economic growth and deficit-reduction programs. "There is a lot of commonali ty," Perot said. "Where there are differences of opinion they are honest differences of opinion, with both sides looking for an swers and neither side frozen in its positions." But he said it was premature to say whether he could support Clinton, saying he had yet to hear from the Bush camp or assess the reaction of his supporters. The Bush delegation was making its case after a lunch break. Perot runs a distant third in na tional polls now and would have little chance of winning should he enter for the final month. But with a personal fortune to bankroll television advertising, he could significantly affect the race. Opin ions are divided on whether a Perot candidacy ultimately would hurt Clinton or Bush most. The scene in Dallas was as con fusing as it was remarkable, the extraordinary spectacle of both candidates sending high-level del egations to court the Perot. Perot's legions were divided over whether he should run, re gardless of what they heard Mon day. "I have not heard anything that would convince me that we would be better off supporting ei ther Gov. Clinton or President Bush," said Texas Perot coordina tor Jim Serur, among the Perot leaders who is paid by the com puter magnate. "I'm very impressed and deter mined to keep an open mind," said Georgia Perot coordinator Ken Kendrick. Added Tennessee coordinator Steve Frederick, "They gave me a lot to think about." "I see the Democrats and the Republicans gravitating to our po sition," said New Mexico Perot coordinator John Bishop. "The question is: Who would make the best leader? I feel Ross Perot is the best leader and it would be good for the country to have an inde pendent as president." Perot state leaders said they would poll their supporters and fax their recommendations to Dal las by Thursday. Perot said he would then make his decision. As Perot inched closer in recent days to mounting an llth-hour candidacy, some associates said the Texan did not want to run and was looking for a rationale not to run. Both campaigns sent high-level delegations in hopes of keeping Perot on the sidelines, where he has been since announcing in July that he was abandoning plans to run as an independent. Of late, Perot has complained that neither Bush nor Clinton had a credible deficit-reduction plan and has said he would enter the race if his supporters wanted him to. For Clinton, a Perot entry could scramble a race that has been stagnant for more than a month — to Clinton's benefit be cause of his consistent lead in na tional polls. Perot also could hurt Clinton in California, Colorado, Washington and a few other states where Clinton leads but Perot had deep support before opting not to run. A&M visit not on agenda Clinton coming to campus just rumors, volunteer says By TANYA SASSER Staff Writer of THE BATTALION Despite recent rumors that Democratic presiden tial nominee Gov. Bill Clinton is planning to visit Texas A&M, he is not scheduled to appear in College Station anytime this week, said a volunteer at the Clinton/Gore Texas Campaign Headquarters in Austin. Clinton volunteer Ann Dennis said she is not aware that Clinton will visit A&M this week and he is not scheduled to be in Texas in the next two weeks but he may be planning a visit at a later date. "As far as I know, that is not happening," she said. "All that Clinton means is that as of now, we haven't heard that. Sometimes we don't find out un til a couple of days before the event." Jim James, Democratic Party chairman for Brazos County, said there is no truth to the rumors and they might have been sparked as a result of Vice Presi dent Dan Quayle's recent visit to campus. He said a local radio station had broadcast that Clinton would be here on Sept. 30, but that is absolutely not true. "We are working to get either (Clinton) or Gore here," he said. "There is a good possibility that one of them will be here but there is nothing scheduled at this time." Ann Chase, a volunteer at the Brazos County De mocratic Headquarters, said Clinton has been invit ed to visit College Station but there is no word about his decision. "Several people have asked him to come but it takes awhile," she said. "We're trying. The more people that ask him, the better." Ron Going, chairman of the communications committee for Aggie Democrats, said according to Texas Land Commissioner Gary Mauro, either Clin ton or Gore will visit A&M. "We're really not sure," Going said. "It's all kind of up in the air." Clinton's scheduling department in Washington, D.C. would not release campaign trail plans more than 24 hours in advance. Neither the Bryan or the College Station Police Departments are aware of the possibility of a con firmed visit from Clinton. Seminar to give assault tips By CHERYL HELLER Reporter of THE BATTALION An assault prevention workshop to educate Texas A&M students on the methods used to avoid and stop sexual assault will begin Tuesday, Oct. 6 in the Grove. The four-session workshop will be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7-9 p m. beginning Oct. 6 and continuing through Oct. 15. The workshop will combine both verbal and hands-on instruction in common sense prevention and resistance techniques. The concept of combin ing hands-on experience and lectures is new to Texas A&M, said workshop instructor John Athey. "We're breaking a lot of new ground," Athey said. "This is the first workshop A&M has done that combines experience with the warnings." Athey, who became involved with assault pre vention at another college, feels that the workshop is necessary at Texas A&M because of the number of assaults on and around the campus. "The most high-risk time for attacks is generally from the beginning of school in September until Thanksgiving," Athey said, "so I think now is the best time to hold this kind of workshop." The sponsoring of the workshop by some col lege organizations is also a first for Texas A&M. Workshop sponsors are the Golden Key National Honor Society, which is sponsoring the workshop as one of its three service projects for the semester, the Off-Campus Aggies, the Panhellenic Council, the Interfratemity Council, the Residence Hall As- sociation and the National Organization of Women. "This is the first time there's been a workshop of this kind at A&M that involves any of the big organizations, and I'm really glad that they've de cided to take part, because there is a definite need for education about rape at A&M," Athey said. The first workshop session will be a lecture se ries and will include a speech from Athey, an offi cer of the Golden Key Honor Society, who will give the introduction and discuss the safety ser vices that the University provides. A representa tive of the University Police will also be present to talk about the services the police department pro vides to students. An officer of the guard will in form students of the services that the Guard Room provides, and Kappa Sigma, supported by their national organization, will concentrate on personal situations, such as date rape and parties. Later sessions will concentrate on hands-on safety techniques that will allow students to prac tice and gain experience in the demonstrated tech niques. "Each session deals with a separate specific subject, so if you miss one, there's absolutely no reason why you can't attend the next one," Athey said. "I think that this workshop can provide something for everyone, male or female, and 1 think we're dealing with services that are neces sary for all students to learn in order to keep them selves sate."