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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 1993)
v 13,1393 ale oud :ars leaving blic tele- eported \’ere res- tel. 'e ablaze slant! of >f houses ; by tidal ; wed fires athering ply it.” Saturday il friends to make eir teeth ist learn- ally. owl, and to flush, t buckets r, which itely. ay inorn ate Mon- o I don't going to jobs, so The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 173 (6 pages) 1893 - A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Wednesday, July 14,1993 University officials fight to keep records closed A&M resubmits request to withhold results of Corps assault investigation By JENNIFER SMITH The Battalion Texas A&M University officials dis agreed with the decision of the state attor ney general's office last week to open the results of a Corps of Cadets sexual assault and sexual harassment investigation and have resubmitted their request to keep the records closed. Scott A. Kelly, assistant general coun sel for A&M, said the issue in this open records dispute is not that A&M is hiding something, but that A&M is charged un der FERPA guidelines to protect the edu cational records of its students. "It's not a question of do we have to re lease it," Kelly said. "It's can we release it." The Battalion filed an open records re quest in March for the information after A&M refused to release reports on the University's hearings because it would vi olate the Buckley Amendment. The Buckley Amendment, formerly ti tled The Family Education Rights and Pri vacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, states that edu cational records are private and belong to the university. The student does have ac cess to his or her records, but they are in possession of the university. Kelly said one of the two students in volved in this incident has recently con tacted the University requesting that the information not be released. In response to A&M's request for an opinion, the attorney general's office or dered A&M on July 2 to release the records as long as the students' names are not released, and they cannot be person ally identified. Kelly sent the documents back to the attorney general July 9 because he dis agreed with this opinion. Kelly said in a letter to the attorney general that "the hearing record of this student's discipli nary hearing is, in its entirety, personally identifiable to this particular student." To support this claim, the University sent two affidavits to the attorney general from students who know the identity of the two students. The University also said there are statements within the hearing records from 17 other students other than those directly involved with the incident. The letter states that A&M "has found that the identity of the student accused of violating university regulations ... is gen erally known to many students on the Texas A&M University campus." "No amount of removing of words or phrases from this disciplinary hearing record can dilute or eliminate the person ally identifiable characteristics of this par ticular record." In the letter to the attorney general's office, Kelly said he had discussed the case with Sharon Shirley, a program spe cialist with the Family Policy Compliance Office of the Department of Education. "Ms. Shirley stated that 'even if one student could identify the students in volved, it would be an improper disclo sure,"' as Kelly states in the letter. Under FERPA guidelines, a university may not release education records to any one except the individual student or his or her parents. Kelly said the Department of Education can deny or reduce funding to any institu tion that releases information that the de partment feels is an education record. Kelly sent a letter to Shirley asking for an opinion from her office as to whether A&M can release the record of the hear ing, release the record of the hearing without names, release the records of the hearing if the names are generally known See Investigation/Page 4 Jury selection made in Greenwood case Bryan youth on trial for stabbing death By JASON COX The Battalion A jury was selected Tuesday in the trial of Sherron Dante Green wood, a 16-year-old Bryan youth accused of killing a classmate at Bryan High School's Lamar campus last March. Counsel for the defense and prosecution led potential jurors through a series of questions in an attempt to pare their numbers and establish their impartiality. Questions ranged from whether jurors were affected by the fact that Greenwood is an African-American to if they had already developed an opinion based on information dis seminated by the media. judge John Delaney, a district judge for the 272nd court, outlined the processes for the guilt/innocence phase and the punishment phase of the trial, both of which the jurors will take part in. During the proceedings. Greenwood stared at his desk and spoke only occasionally to his lawyer. Greenwood is accused of the May 26 stabbing of 16-year-old Billy C. Williams at Bryan High's ninth-grade campus. Greenwood will stand trial as an adult and could face a penalty of five to 99 years or life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 if convicted. During Greenwood's adult certification meeting, it was revealed that the stabbing was gang-related. The night before the stabbing. Greenwood and members of another ang argued during a track meet. The next day, during a special class a the school's cafeteria, another exchange ensued. According to testi mony, Greenwood was the only member of his gang present. Witnesses testified that Greenwood pulled a knife from his sleeve and waved it at rival gang member, before moving toward Williams and stabbing him. Defense attorney Michelle Esparza intends to argue that Greenwood acted in self-defense because he feared an attack from the rival gang. Judge Delaney thanked jurors for their patience at the end of the unusually long day. An official with Delaney's office said this is the first time they have had such a high-profile case, and that anything could happen. The jury consists of nine women and three men. There is one African-American on the panel. Cain Park to be completed Friday BILLY MORAN/The Battalion Alberverto Garcia (left) of Bryan and Jaspar Davis of Groesbeck put next to Cain, the park is scheduled to be completed Friday and the finishing touches on a section of concrete in Cain Park. Located dedicated before the first home football game in the fall. I icies de- its in re- ;rial, the f the De- y appro- response nsidered 5 institu- is A&M, no other the mat- imon re do speak heir jobs of disci- that if it rcause of Rain continues disastrous flooding in Midwest Des Moines faces 'critical situation THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Up to an inch of rain fell Tues day within six minutes in the satu rated Midwest, creating "extremely dangerous" conditions in the Des Moines area while the swollen Mis sissippi surged against levees and tore loose barges. "This disaster is getting worse by the hour," Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar said. President Clinton said he would visit the region Wednesday on his way back to Washington. About 6,500 National Guards men were on duty in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, where some 30,000 people were flooded out of their homes along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Heavy rain fell Tuesday in al ready-saturated parts of Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Wood Riv er, Neb., got 3.3 inches of rain and an inch fell in just six minutes at Papillion, just south of Omaha, the National Weather Service said. Adel, Iowa, about 20 miles west of Des Moines, reported 1.75 inches in 20 minutes. The extra rain was enough to make streams rise again in cen tral Iowa, threatening to restore drinking water to more than 250,000 people in Des Moines and its suburbs. 'The historic Valley Junction district along the Raccoon River in West Des Moines had dried out Monday after weekend flooding, but by midday Tuesday 4 feet of water covered the district just as a result of the rainfall inside the protective levee. "This is an extremely danger ous situation," the National Weather Service said. Officials asked 3,500 people in West Des Moines and nearby ar eas of Des Moines to evacuate. "Mother Nature did not deal us a very favorable hand today," West Des Moines Mayor Dino Rodish said. "We've got a critical situation." L.D. McMullen, general man ager of the shut down Des Moines Water Works, said water from the Raccoon River had receded to about 5 feet from the top of the levee. Asked if that would he sufficient to hold back expected flooding, McMullen said, "I don't know, our plan is to continue to work." Until drinking water is re stored, the Corps of Engineers and National Guard have set a target of providing 2.5 million gal lons of water per day to the city and nearby communities. That works out to about 10 gal lons per day per person. As of Tuesday, residents were allowed up to 5 gallons of water at 60 distri bution points, 2 gallons if they did not bring their own containers. Along Missouri's section of the Mississippi, all or parts of river towns from Alexandria, near the Iowa line, to Cape Girardeau in southeast Missouri have been hit. An estimated 15,000 people were out of their homes. Wilson controversy subsides By MICHELE BRINKMANN The Battalion Last spring's controversy over Texas A&M's executive di rector of the George Bush Presi dential Library has diminished on campus, and Director Don W. Wilson says "all is quiet around here now." The investigation of Wilson has been completed, but the for mal report is still being drafted. National Archives Inspector General Floyd Justice said he believes the report should be completed within the next 30 days and Wilson will be noti fied of the outcome of the in vestigation when the formal re port is completed. Because of Wilson's privacy rights, it is not certain if the re port will be available to the pub lic, Justice said. Wilson received criticism for granting former president George Bush control of 5,000 White House computer tapes from the Iran-Contra era shortly before Wilson was appointed ex ecutive director of the library. "I have no idea what has be come of the investigation, ! have not been contacted at all," Wil son said. "The National Archives Inspector General was supposed to conduct an investi gation on the issue, but no charges were filed against me, it was just an investigation." "It was a nothing story, peo ple made a lot out of it that wasn't really there," he said. fering a terested started is to be •08. For Carrie on ser- -profit Items be sub- ee days n date, and no- nd will If you e news- S PORTS •Racing great Davey Allison dies in helicopter crash •ALwins All-Star game, 9-3 •SWC update Page 3 Opinion •Editorial: Mandatory minimums - cruel & unusual? •Column: Don't you dare try to stop Vasquez from singing Page 5 Weather ►Wednesday: morning cloudiness, partly cloudy and hot in the afternoon highs in the mid 90s Forecast for Thursday: artiy cloudy and hot, ighs in the mid 90s ►Your Battalion extended forecast: Same old stuff, partly cloudy, highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s Tomorrow in TV networks agree to parental advisory plan By JANET HOLDER The Battalion Television stations affiliated with the four major networks say they have very few com plaints about television violence, but members of family activist groups say they are still con cerned with the content of programming. Last week, the four major networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox agreed to The Advanced Parental Advisory plan, which is designed to protect children from televised violence. In September, the system will put the following warning at the start of programs the networks decide are too violent for younger viewers: "Due to some violent content, parental dis cretion advised." According to the Associated Press, the agreement between the networks was worked out under intense pressure from U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., and U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. Simon and Markey pursued a feder ally imposed ratings system. The agreement is seen by some as a way to ward off governmental control of television content. "The industry should police itself so the government won't dictate," said Raymond Britton, program/operations manager of KCEN-Waco, an NBC affiliate. Lyn Wilund, director of operations at Bryan's CBS affiliate KBTX-TV Channel 3, said,the sta tion has had no complaints in the last four and a half years concerning TV violence. See Violence/Page 4 ABC NBC FOX ANGEL KAN/The Battalion Barney: Local parents and their children describe how the purple wonder has affected their lives. Reviews: "The Element of Fire, ” a fantasy novel by A&M professor, Martha Wells & Clint Black's new album "No Time to Kill’’