I
The Battalion
Vol. 92 No. 143 (8 pages)
1893 - A Century of Service to Texas A&M - 1993
Monday, May 3,1993 $
booster
Gilbert family questions punishment of A&M
Disassociation from foundation fair treatment, 12th Man executive says
By JULI PHILLIPS
The Battalion
The strain of an impending
NCAA ruling on rules violations
by several Texas A&M University
football players has even reached
the University's 12th Man Foun
dation.
According to A&M's internal
investigation, the players accepted
pay for work not performed from
A&M booster and 12th Man mem
ber Warren Gilbert of Dallas.
Gilbert was "disassociated" from
the Athletic Department by the
University for one year.
Since the violations were re
ported in December, 12th Man
contributors and members have
asked the foundation numerous
questions about the rules viola
tions that led to the suspension of
four A&M players from playing in
the 1993 Cotton Bowl.
The Foundation's executive
committee will release a resolu
tion to its members this week
commending A&M officials for
their handling of the situation.
"Our executive committee felt
it was important to issue a state
ment of support for the Universi
ty's prompt and thorough investi
gation and to restate that the 12th
Man Foundation encourages all
our donors to comply with
NCAA, SWC and TAMU rules
and regulations," 12th Man Foun
dation Executive Director Frank
Shannon said in a release to The
Battalion.
Shannon would not comment
about Gilbert, who is a former
president of the 12th Man.
Members of the Gilbert family
released letters accusing the Uni
versity of treating Gilbert unfairly
in its investigation and punish
ment. The letters were sent to
University President William H.
Mobley and the 12th Man Foun
dation in March.
In a letter addressed to Mobley,
Gilbert's son-in-law, Byron
Wrotenbery, agreed with the pun
ishment of the athletes - suspen
sion from the Cotton Bowl and
possible suspensions in the up
coming season.
Wrotenbery also agreed that
the suspensions and embarrass
ment was a fair punishment for
the players. But, Wrotenbery
questioned the University's treat
ment of Gilbert.
"Is it not important to under
stand and consider what embar
rassment this has caused him in
the city of Dallas not to mention
throughout the state of Texas,"
Wrotenbery wrote. "For an Aggie
(who lives every fall in the hopes
of a Cotton Bowl) to have been
asked to avoid the activities even
when he knew he did nothing
wrong, isn't that worth consider
ing?"
Wrotenbery also wrote that
A&M failed to acknowledge that
Gilbert knew nothing about the
payments, which magnified the
injustice of his disassociation.
In the report released to the
NCAA in late January, the Uni
versity stated that the players
See Gilbert/Page 4
Aggies - Southwest Conference champions
Baseball team clinches SWC
title in 6-2 mastery over UT
DARRIN HILiyThe Battalion
Two fans at Olsen Field display a banner over the Aggies' dugout Texas Longhorns. The fans paraded the sign from one of the stadium
during Friday's Southwest Conference title-clinching win over the to the other during the eighth inning of A&M's 6-2 victory.
By WILLIAM HARRISON
The Battalion
T he Texas A&M baseball
team out-pitched, out-
slugged and out-gloved the
University of Texas at Olsen Field
Friday night, 6-2, to clinch their
first outright Southwest Confer
ence championship in 15 years.
A&M won co-conference
championships with the Long
horns in 1986 and 1989, but has
not won the outright SWC cham
pionship since 1978.
The Aggies, the consensus no.
1 ranked team in the nation,
rocked Texas' ace pitcher Brooks
Kieschnick for 10 hits with three
of the six runs earned, and
A&M's Jeff Granger shut down
Kieschnick and the rest of the
Longhorns' bats, scattering six
hits in a full nine innings on the
mound.
Four UT errors led to A&M's
three unearned runs, and the Ag
gies came up with big plays de
fensively to help Granger out-
duel and match Kieschnick's lead
in the SWC at 12 victories.
Granger, who helped the
A&M football team win two SWC
championships as a quarterback,
said this championship on the di
amond was more meaningful
than his two on the gridiron.
He said the feat meant more
because people weren't prepared
for the team's success this year.
A&M started out in the preseason
polls ranked tenth and thirteenth
and spent a good part of the sea
son ranked below UT.
"The football team was expect
ed to go out and win - it was not
a given, but everyone expected us
to go out and win," Granger said.
"I'm not saying (the baseball
team) got no respect, but people
didn't count us in."
Shortstop Robert Harris led
A&M at the plate, scoring A&M's
solo run in the first inning after
punching a one-out double to the
gap in right-center field.
In the eighth, Harris blasted a
Kieschnick fastball over left-cen
ter field that landed in the far re
cesses of the construction work
on the former Penberthy Field,
scoring three runs. The team
jumped out to greet A&M first
baseman Billy Harlan, second
baseman Eric Gonzalez and Har
ris as they crossed the plate.
Harris said he had been look
ing for Kieschnick's fastball, and
that the trip around the bases af
ter the long shot was one of the
best experiences in his life in
front of Olsen's screaming fans.
"It felt great," Harris said.
"At the bat before that (Ki
eschnick) got a fastball by me,
(and) I figured he was going to
come at me with another fastball.
He gave it to me on the first
pitch, and I was swinging all the
way."
See Aggies/Page 8
Investigators identify
cult leader's remains
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WACO — Investigators identi
fied Sunday the body of David
Koresh, the doomsday prophet
who died with many of his devot
ed followers when their home and
fortress burned to the ground af
ter a 51-day standoff with authori
ties.
The 33-year-old Houston-born
Koresh, whose given name was
Vernon Howell, led a flock of be
lievers in the Branch Davidian
church. The sect held federal and
state law enforcement officers at
bay after a bloody siege Feb. 28 at
their fortress east of Waco.
Officials said that preliminary
findings included a gunshot
wound to the head. Koresh's body
was burned and he was found
near the kitchen area of the com
pound. Many of the other bodies
were found in the same area.
Cause of death was not re
leased.
Koresh's remains were identi
fied by X-rays and dental molds,
said Justice of the Peace David
Pareya.
Koresh had often identified
himself as the Lamb of God and
many of his followers considered
him Jesus Christ. But Koresh in
sisted at one point he was offend
ed by such media references. He
said he was just a mere prophet.
The 9th-grade dropout seized
power over the Branch Davidians
in 1987 and ruled the splinter
group of the Seventh-day Adven
tist Church with various tech
niques. The Davidians, or "Kore-
shians/' spoke reverently of their
leader's charisma, magnetism,
ministry and biblical knowledge.
BISD offers Special Opportunities School
RICHIE DIXON/The Battalion
Students at the Bryan Special Opportunity School participate in rope
activities to help learn to support each other in a group.
Students with behavioral problems
given alternative to dropping out
By MARY KUJAWA
The Battalion
T he Special Opportunities
School (SOS) may be the dif
ference between staying in school
or becoming another statistic for
students who are experiencing
behavioral problems in the Bryan
Independent School District.
The school district implement
ed SOS in response to the large
dropout rate. This is the first
year of its existence.
"This (dropout rate) costs the
school district money," said Peg
gy Evans, SOS counselor. "Plus,
it's the children we're losing.
"All (these students) have
been recommended for expul
sion, but this is an alternative,"
she said.
Evans said students who at
tend the SOS have usually gone
through a discipline management
plan at their schools. The princi
pals of each school recommend
which students will attend the
school.
Behavioral problems can cover
a wide range of possibilities from
individual fighting to gang-relat
ed activities.
"Many are abused, sexually
and mentally," Evans said.
Upon entering the school, the
students are presented with the
SOS discipline management plan.
This outline spells out minor and
major offenses and the conse-
See BISD/Page 8
Gays, lesbians attempt to break old stereotypes
Homosexuals try to gain acceptance from fellow Aggies
This article is part one of a three-
part series on gay life at Texas A&M.
By ANNE WOODS
Special to The Battalion
You've heard the stereotypes.
Gay men swing their hips and lisp
when they talk. Lesbians wear
flannel shirts and hiking boots
and act like badly-behaved men.
They'll hit on you if they can,
corrupt your children and under
mine family values. You've heard
the names: fag, dyke, butch,
queen, queer.
In the last decade, gays, les
bians and bisexuals have become
more politically and socially ac
tive; struggling to beat those
stereotypes and earn equal rights.
They are coming out of the closet
- being openly homosexual - in a
national climate both of increas
ing acceptance and increasing
hostility.
Gay issues are being addressed
on the national level more than
ever before. President Clinton
made the acceptance of gays in
the military his first goal in office.
More and more companies are of
fering spousal benefits to gay and
lesbian couples. Gays have made
appearances in TV shows such as
"First Person with Maria Shriver,"
"20/20," "Roseanne," "Melrose
Place," and even in the comic
strip "For Better or For Worse."
On April 22 the Texas sodomy
law, penal code section 2106, was
repealed, making homosexuality
legal in this state. On April 25,
one million gay Americans gath
ered for the March on Washing
ton to show their numbers and
lobby their civil rights.
Gayfe also are struggling with
the backlash to their new found
acceptance.
Navy seaman Allen Schindler
was beaten, mutilated and killed
in Japan last October - allegedly
by a shipmate - for being homo
sexual. Closer to home, Paul
Braissard, a former A&M student,
was killed outside a gay bar in
Houston by high school students
from the Woodlands who came to
town looking for gays to bash.
These murders are frightening,
and stopping them is exactly what
gays mean when they say they
want equal rights.
GAY AGGIES
In a conservative climate such
as Texas A&M University, with its
rich background in tradition,
many gays and lesbians say that it
is especially important to be
"out.'' Each year the Opinion
page in The Battalion offers testi
mony to the misunderstanding
and anger directed toward the
gay community. Although most
gays are accepted or simply ig
nored on campus, other gays say
they have been taunted, shoved
off dance floors and even beaten.
Many gays and lesbians at
A&M say that the best way to
stop discrimination is to educate.
One of the goals of the Texas
A&M Gay and Lesbian Student
Services (GLSS) is to provide a fo
rum for questions by organizing
panel discussions .on request.
These panels are an organized
form of what openly gay Aggies
do every day: and show by their
simple presence that they are just
like everybody else.
They are your students, class-
See Stereotypes/Page 3
Sports
•Baseball: Aggies no longer
bridesmaids
•Column: Minor leagues hold
key to true spirit of game
Page 5
Opinion
•Editorial: Voter turnout
surpassed by number of
purchased Lotto tickets
•Column: Everything thaf you
never wanted to know . . .
and more.
Page 7