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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1993)
The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 108 (8 pages) 1893 - A Century of Service to Texas A&M - 1993 Friday, March 5,1993 U.S. sergeant faces charges for shooting 17-year-old Somali THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MOGADISHU, Somalia - The first court martial hearing of Op eration Restore Hope began Thursday in a dusty, flyblown room where Sgt. Harry Conde faced charges for shooting a 17- year-old Somali who snatched his sunglasses. Conde, a 13-year veteran born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, could be charged with the military equivalent of an aggra vated assault for wounding the teen-ager as well as a bystander hit by buckshot from Conde's un. If the court martial proceeds, e could face up to 10 years in prison. A power generator provided a droning background to the testi mony from nervous Marines in the room at Mogadishu's airport. Their words frequently were blot ted out by the roar or planes tak ing off and landing. Capt. Chris Wesely, the investi gating officer, sat behind a bat tered table. Only a few folding metal chairs were available, so some spectators sat on wooden drawers turned on their sides. Sheets of bare plywood served as a partition. This was not the sharp-creased world of "A Few Good Men," the movie, starring Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore, about two Marines court-martialed for the death of another Marine. There wasn't a dress-blue uni form in sight Thursday. The Marines wore their bat tered camouflage fatigues with sleeves rolled up and sand-col ored boots, standard issue of the Somalia relief mission that began Dec. 9. The courtroom Marines lacked cinematic bravado: They were nervous, uncomfortable men who had to be told often to speak up. There's no dispute that Conde shot a youth, identified only as Omar, who grabbed the soldier's sunglasses through the window of a moving Humvee military vehi cle that was returning to the air port. At issue is whether Conde fired on the spur of the moment, fear ing for his safety, or if the shot came as Omar was fleeing and was fired in revenge. Omar, hit in the abdomen by several pellets, was treated at a Swedish field hospital but later vanished. No one is even sure he's still alive. Aggies observe Lent, Ramadan to honor God By BELINDA BLANCARTE The Battalion Many Texas A&M University Catholic and Muslim students are celebrating their traditional religious holidays despite the fast-pace of college life. Catholic students observe the 40-day Lent season while Muslim students fast during the month of Ramadan. Both holidays are celebrated to bring members of each faith clos er to the god they worship through fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday, Feb. 24, be gan the Catholic Lenten period that continues through the day before Easter called Holy Satur day. The season is celebrated through fasting, prayer, study and worship. Carol Riedel, president of the Catholic Student Association, said, "It's a time of reflection, to see what worldly things we de pend on. We give them up and depend on Goa." Lent does not include the six Sundays between Ash Wednes day and Easter, the Christian cel ebration of Jesus Christ's resur rection. "Each Sunday is supposed to be like Easter, and we don't mourn Christ's death," Riedel said. Magdalena Pala, Catholic Stu dent Association adviser, said Lent is a special time for Catholic people. "Lent is a preparation for the most significant time - Christ's death and the resurrection," she said. Although fasting for Lent does not require people to stop eating or drinking, people observing it abstain from eating meat on Fri days and give up other luxuries. "If you give up something you really enjoy, you are recognizing that you are a sinner and are giv ing that up for Christ," Pala said. "The death of Christ occurred on Friday, and meat was always considered a luxury." Traditionally, people give up some material things during Lent See Aggies/Page 3 Five heads are better than one JOSEPH GREENSLADE/The Battalion Gail Colby, a graduate student in anthropology Thursday afternoon. The skulls are actually plaster form College Station, displays and discusses four castings made from real human skulls, skulls from the genus Homo in Anthropology 202 Former student hangs himself in Walton Hall Freshman violated housing regulations by residing on campus after suspension By GINA HOWARD The Battalion A former Texas A&M Univer sity student who was still living in a Northside residence hall com mitted suicide by hanging himself in his room Wednesday night. The former student, who was suspended after one semester, was found by his roommate in Walton Hall shortly after 11 p.m., said Bob Wiatt, director of Uni versity police. Wiatt declined to reveal the student's name. Justice of the Peace Carolyn Hensarling pronounced the death a suicide early Thursday morn ing. Wiatt said an autopsy was still conducted as a routine require ment for any death by unnatural cause. The results of the autopsy will be released today. "We do these things to be sure someone can't come out later and say it was a different cause of death," he said. "Parents some times have trouble thinking their child could kill themselves." The former student had been suspended from the University af ter fall 1992 but had moved back into Walton Hall in January. Wiatt said he was likely pre tending to be a student. "Maybe he was just trying to act like everything was still OK," he said. Bill Kibler, an associate direc tor of student affairs, said former students have lived in the resi dence halls before even though they were no longer enrolled. In many cases, students were seeking readmittance, but Kibler said this was not the case with the former student. "He was well aware that he was not a student, and that he was not going to become one," Kibler said. Student Affairs learned several days ago the former student was living in the residence hall against University regulations. Kibler said his office was in the process of taking steps to resolve the situation. Student counseling services will offer counsel to those Walton residents who request it. Dr. Wade Birch, director of stu dent counseling services, said two members of his counseling staff See Student/Page 3 FBI makes arrest for N.Y. bombing THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - A man de scribed as a follower of a radical Muslim cleric was arrested Thurs day in last week's World Trade Center bombing when he coolly tried a third time to reclaim a rental deposit on a van wrecked in the blast. Other suspects were being sought. Law enforcement sources said the bombing appeared to be a terrorist act. Papers that the suspect pre sented the rental agency were covered with nitrates, a govern ment source, speaking on condi tion of anonymity, told The Asso ciated Press. Nitrates are found in some explosives; traces of nitrates were found at the blast site. The arrest was a sudden, major break in the most notorious U.S. bombing in years. Just a day earli er, the FBI had said it could take months to crack the case. Friday's enormous blast in a garage beneath the twin towers killed five people, injured more than 1,000, left one missing and sent fear through the nation's largest city. The 110-story towers — the world's second-tallest buildings, home to hundreds of businesses with thousands of workers — aren't expected to re open for a month. WNBC-TV in New York identi fied the suspect as 26-year-old Salama Mohammed of Jersey City, N.J., but the station wasn't sure exactly how the name was spelled. His arraignment, initially scheduled for Thursday evening in New York City, was post poned. The arrest came after an army of investigators spent the past week combing through piles of rubble at the blast site, fielding thousands of phone calls and pur suing scores of leads. Detectives systematically checked garage payment stubs and viewed video tapes of entering vehicles. Investigators turned up charred pieces of the rental van around the perimeter of the blast site, indications that the van might have held the explosives, a source said on condition of anonymity. The suspect had rented the van from a Ryder truck agent in Jersey City on Feb. 23 and returned less than two hours after the explosion Friday afternoon to say it had been stolen from him in Jersey See FBI/Page 8 Corps conflict Professors disagree about in-house investigation of sexual assault charges By GINA HOWARD The Battalion Philosophy and political sci ence professors offer different points of view about whether the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets has a conflict of interest in its internal investigation of sexual assault and sexual harassment charges. Some professors say the Corps is properly handling an internal problem while others say it is in vestigating and judging on a mat ter in which it cannot be impartial. Dr. Peter A. French, professor of philosophy and ethics at Trinity University, said an organization cannot serve as its own judge and jury and remain impartial. "A standard principle of Amer ican justice, or any law, is the principle of judiciality," he said. "This says you can't be a judge in your own case." A female cadet, whose name has not been released, filed a com plaint with the University Police Department Dec. 14, 1992, stating she had been sexually assaulted last April and sexually harassed this fall by a senior member of the Aggie Band. She did not file crim inal charges. Following the complaint, the Corps initiated its own investiga tion and hearing. Dr. Judy Baer, associate profes sor of political science at A&M, said a conflict of interest may ex ist, but since the female cadet has not pressed charges, the investiga tion can stay within the Corps. "These complaints go through University grievance procedures first and then if the victim is will ing to bring a case, only then will the case necessarily go outside." French said both the female cadet and the accused male cadet are at a disadvantage if the judge has an interest in the investiga tion's outcome. "In any case, there must be sep aration between the litigants, which are the disputing parties, and the persons making the judg ment," he said. He said although the Corps may conduct a fair and impartial investigation, the appearance of bias exists. "Because the Corps clearly has an interest in the outcome, this suggests suspicions of bias or lack of impartiality," he said. However, Dr. Paul Thompson, professor of philosophy at A&M, said the Corps' investigation is not a source of bias. The Corps has an internal re view policy that makes judgments about cadets and Corps policies, he said. "I'm not sure there's a conflict See Corps/Page 2 Gov. Richards names three new A&M regents 21 student leaders demonstrate support for non-voting student regent position By GINA HOWARD The Battalion Gov. Ann Richards announced Thursday the appointment of three new regents to the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. M. Guadalupe Lopez Rangel of Corpus Christi, John H. Lindsey of Houston and T. Michael O'Con nor of Victoria should begin serv ing immediately upon confirma tion by the Texas Senate, said Dr. E. Dean Gage, Texas A&M Uni versity senior vice president and provost. "They will probably begin serving before the next meeting in March," he said. "It depends on how quickly the Senate acts." The new regents will replace William A. McKenzie of Dallas, Douglas R. DeCluitt of Waco and Wayne Showers of McAllen. Their terms expired Feb. 1. Gage said he was pleased with the appointments whose terms will run until Feb. 1,1999. "1 have the utmost respect for them," he said. "I believe they will provide the kind of leader ship that Texas A&M needs. We are pleased to have them and think they will be extremely effec tive." Richards said in a prepared re lease that the three regents are ready to handle the challenges of the A&M System. "All three have a proven com mitment to higher education in Texas, and they understand the budget constraints this state is op erating under in 1993," she said. Rangel, 43, has taken a leave of absence as an English instructor from the Corpus Christi State School. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston and a master's degree See Regents/Page 3 By REAGON CLAMON The Battalion University student leaders from across the state testified be fore the state's higher education committee Wednesday night to help keep alive a bill that will cre ate a non-voting student position on the Texas A&M Board of Re gents. Steve Beller, Texas A&M stu dent body president, joined 20 other students to demonstrate their support for the bill. Beller also spoke before the committee. Todd Sluder, chairman of Texas A&M University's Legisla tive Study Group, also attended the committee hearing and said the representatives seemed recep tive. "There were a few representa tives who voiced concern," said See Leaders/Page 4 Inside Sports •Baseball: 'BT' carrying big stick for A&M •Volleyball: Corbelli chosen to replace Givens Page 5 Opinion •Abracadabra! Budget plan magic: Numbers don't lie but Clinton's smoke, mirrors do Page 7 i