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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1992)
ctober] tie those, { idl6Asi, !s the sta| ! ystem a s tthei 'e action ial. The, ongtol* S l a Wsc| fe ask' that ii The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 25 (8 pages) ‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893’ Friday, October 2, 1992 there are; Perot rejoins presidential race that this, law). ]J[\ ration," y ter )n ays > and wet irtmenllii few feetfa ross 1966, senta 'ainsthimi n proseciii s already !ii ial and’tlu sby'snmii aoout lompetal ;troactive. edom dm awaitin': THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS — Ross Perot plunged belatedly into the presi dential race on Thursday, setting the stage for a three-way, month long struggle with President Bush and Bill Clinton. “Government is a mess," he said, and vowed to re pair it. The Texas billionaire said he was joining the race because “nei ther political party has effectively addressed" economic and other concerns that are on the minds of the voters. “We gave them a chance; they didn't do it," he said of his rivals. He made his remarks at a news conference 11 weeks to the day af ter he announced he would not run. He said at that time he be lieved he could not win and did not want to be a disruptive influ ence on the campaign. He didn't address the likeli hood of victory in his announce ment speech before family, friends and supporters in his home state of Texas. Instead, he looked beyond the election, pledging to dedicate himself to the public opinion polls. But his backing dwindled through a se ries of spring controversies, and his support now runs a distant third to the other candidates. Even so, his entry, coupled with the prospect of a series of Independent supporters ready for Texas campaign "Our people are good; the Ameri can people are good, but their gov ernment is a mess." - Ross Perot solving the nation's problems and rallying the public to the cause. “Looking forward, working to gether, we can fix anything," he said. Perot once had support rival ing that of Bush and Clinton in October debates, had the effect of injecting uncertainty to a race that Clinton has led consistently since July. Perot cast his announcement as See Candidate/Page 4 in a doze n derailf jritiesi* 1 and biu jus mate* ills, railed can materials to be M 2 Fire Da Id. urlingt® i derailei jowntotf : Dallas, and stores st westoi ated, sail jpartmerf nea . said tta i^n oild f rels tffrf outheai ist Gua' 1 Tuesda* Guafl id. noon thatj^ than fofMe* ve-i TwoW and^ ; -e thr^' - e \yas ,,, ironi^ tedb fter •e no s ropj &Co0 ! mfr 0 ” ti to c3 l nm took* Tie Go 5 ! DARRIN HILL/The Battalion Cody Burke (left), a freshman chemistry major from Ft. Worth, and Derek Wood, a freshman ocean engineering major from Southlake, polish up the statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross outside the Academic Building on Thursday. Wood’s dad polished the statue when he was in the Corps of Cadets in 1969, and Wood wants to carry on the family tradition. “It’s good bull to do things for the school before a home game because it shows our school spirit to visitors. It shows our respect for tradition.” By REAGON CLAMON Reporter of THE BATTALION Perot supporters in Brazos and surrounding counties are geared up and ready to go following Ross Perot's announcement that he will re-enter the presidential race. Lou Zaeske, coordinator of the movement in cen tral Texas that helped get Perot on the ballot, said the Perot supporters that had contacted him since the announcement are "enthused and want to know what they can do to help." Zaeske is the chairman of the Independent Texan Network, a group of volunteers that support inde pendent candidates. He said the network would be gin mobilizing soon with the goal of getting as many votes for Perot as possible. The network will begin a state-wide direct mail campaign to the 150,000 names on its database, Za eske said. The mail-outs are designed to convince voters that a vote for Perot won't be wasted. "If somebody votes for principle and conviction, they don't waste their vote no matter how they cast it," Zaeske said. "If we vote for Ross Perot, we'll be sending a very clear message to the two parties." Zaeske isn't bothered by the possibility of Perot supporters only swaying a close race to one candi date or the other. "I for one don't care for Bush or Clinton," he said. "It's unbelievable how many people agree that if you add up all the pluses and minuses for Clinton and Bush, you don't come out with a dime's worth of dif ference between the two." Zaeske said he and many supporters felt "be trayed" by Perot's "political blunder" on July 16 - when he withdrew from the race, saying he didn't want to be a "disruptive candidate" - but his reasons for originally supporting Perot haven't changed. "We want to be disruptive," Zaeske said. "We don't care if it goes to the House of Representatives. Those congressmen are our elected officials and we want to hold their feet to the fire." Many of the common complaints that supporters had during the petition drive were addressed during Perot's speech on Thursday, Zaeske said. He faxed some of those complaints to Perot's headquarters in Dallas on Wednesday. The memo stated that Ross Perot should stop say ing "if the volunteers want me to run" because his name has already been put on the ballot in all 50 states. "The operative word should not have been 'if,'" Zaeske said. "The operative word is 'since' they want me to run. The volunteers have already spo ken." According to the memo, Texas law does not allow Perot's name to be removed from the ballot once it's on, so the decision "is already out of Perot's hands." "Many of us in Texas are going to vote for Ross Perot regardless of what he does," Zaeske said. "We are fed up with the Democratic and Republican blame game . . . we want to shake the bush and see what comes out of it." Candidates discuss issues via satellite Aggie Democrats sponsor Clinton, Gore telecast in MSC By CHERYL HELLER Reporter of THE BATTALION More than 90 Texas A&M stu dents gathered in the Memorial Student Center last night to watch Gov. Bill Clin ton and Sen. A1 Gore dis cuss issues of the upcoming election during a nationally simulcasted young peo ple's forum. The pro gram, which Clinton was co-hosted by Rock the Vote, a non-partisan organization registering young voters, and "Rockline," a national ly-syndicated FM call-in show, was broadcast to over 150 stations around the country via satellite feed. "We wanted a chance to bring the candidates to the students and give them a chance to see the is sues for themselves," said Patrick Gendron, president of the Aggie Democrats. Gendron, a junior political sci ence major, believes that students need to get involved with the elec tion regardless of the side they are on. "It doesn't matter how the stu- Gore dents are going to vote in the elec tion," Gendron said. "They need to look closely at the issues and learn what's going on." During the broadcast, Clinton and Gore discussed election is sues, including environmental concerns, revi talizing inner cities, rebuild ing respect for laws and regu lations and cre ating new high-tech jobs. They also dis cussed nation al problems, such as the lack of capital for re search and development and the issue of aerospace carriers cur rently being built in Japan. "The broadcast was very im promptu," said Greg Denby, a se nior civil engineering major. "Clinton and Gore discussed is sues that are important to the American people and what the Democratic Party wants for Amer ica. They talked to college stu dents and answered questions about what they want to know." The Aggie Democrats attempt ed to call in questions during the broadcast but were unable to get through. "I'm not surprised that we weren't able to call in," Gendron said. "With about 150 colleges tuning in to the broadcast, there wasn't a good chance that we'd be one of the dozen or so calls that were taken." After the broadcast, Gendron spoke to the gathered students about the ways they could get in volved with the issues, and stu dents were given the opportunity to register to vote. "I was really pleased with the turnout," Gendron said. "We found out about the broadcast Wednesday afternoon, and I'm amazed at the amount of people we were able to reach in just a day's time. I think this shows how much the students really care about doing something for our country." Former A&M boxing adviser awaits trial University of Nebraska-Lincoln police arrest associate professor on sexual assault charge By GARY P. CARROLL City EditorofTHE BATTALION Clifford Walton, a Texas A&M former student and former advis er of the A&M Boxing Club, re signed as associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lin coln after being charged with the sexual assault of a member of the UNL boxing club. Walton, who received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Texas A&M in 1987, was arrested in his UNL office on Sept. 22 and arraigned Sept. 30 on charges of third-degree sexual assault. A member of the UNL boxing club claimed he was sexually as saulted by Walton, who was the boxing club adviser, following a private boxing lesson at Walton's home Sept 10. Walton gave the student a box ing lesson, and following the les son, asked the student to disrobe so he could weigh him. After the weighing, Walton told the stu dent he was going to massage him, and assured the student it was "a normal thing because of tight muscles," according to re ports in the Daily Nebraskan. The student told his parents and UNL police that after the massage he felt uncomfortable, and that Walton had massaged him "in an inappropriate manner and areas." UNL police arrested Walton and charged him with third-de gree sexual assault. In Nebraska, third-degree sexual assault carries a punishment of up to $1,000 and one year imprisonment. Walton's court date is scheduled for Oct.19. Walton would not answer questions, and his attorney was unavailable for comment. Walton left the A&M boxing club in 1987 amid allegations of the same sort. Jimmy Area, Class of '87 and former A&M boxing club presi dent, said he asked Walton to re sign his position after several box ing club members complained of Walton's behavior. "I'd heard of (Walton's behav ior) before, but I thought it was over with and I wasn't going to have to deal with it," Area said. But following a boxing match in early 1987, some boxing club members spoke with Area and other club members about Wal ton. "These guys had a party after Fight Night . . . and they started talking and they said, 'there's some shit goin' on,' (with Walton), and that's when I said it's gonna stop now," Area said. Area called the officers of the boxing club together and told them he was going to ask Walton to resign his position with the boxing club. He said Walton told him he would quit on one condition: that if the club needed him back, they would ask him. "I said fine, but I had no inten tion of doing that," Area said. "I would have folded the club up and gotten rid of it as opposed to asking him back." Area reported the incident to Paula Opal, sports club director in A&M's Recreational Sports De partment. "She was shocked; she couldn't believe it," Area said. "I told her I'd take over in the interim until we could get a re placement, and they ended up asking me to stay." Opal would not comment on the incident but did say that no formal charges were ever brought against Walton, and there are no records regarding the incident. She refused to confirm or deny whether she talked with Area five years ago. "I'm not going to comment on anything," Opal said. "Any infor mation I would have would be unverifiable because nothing is written down." Area claimed Opal called the University of Nebraska in 1987 and told officials there about Wal ton's activities at A&M. Opal would not say whether or not she called Nebraska, and reit erated that because officially there was no incidence of any wrongdo ing regarding Clifford Walton five years ago, she could not comment. "I never heard of that (phone call) and I really can't comment on this right now," said Eric Jolly, di- See Walton/Page 4 11M2 uaitauon GAMEDAY U The r/ ? k Killer Bs You Wouldn’t Want To Miss It Look for it Saturday, Oct 3