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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1993)
The Bai i ai ion ^ The Battalion Vol. 93 No. 18 (10 pages) 1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Wednesday, September 22,1993 ■I————^11111111111111111111111» A&M athletic booster sues Dallas newspaper The Associated Press DALLAS — A Texas A&M supporter said Tuesday a newspaper's contention that he had been banned as a booster was one of several false claims that caused his company to lose millions of dollars. Rod Dockery, identified in an article as an "ex-banned booster" whose associa tion with an Aggie quarterback was blamed partly for the school's 1988 proba tion, filed suit against The Dallas Morn ing News Inc. and a staff writer. Papers filed in the defamation lawsuit by Dockery and his company, Dockery House Publishing Inc., contend the June 24 newspaper article on him was false, malicious and defamatory. Attorneys for Dockery filed the lawsuit in Judge Eric Moye's 101st State District Court. "We have yet to be served with this lawsuit, but we stand behind the accura cy of our story," Marian Spitzberg, assis tant general counsel for A.H. Belo Corp., The Morning News' parent company, said Tuesday afternoon. According to the newspaper, Dock ery's dealings with A&M quarterback Kevin Murray in 1988 partly led to Na tional Collegiate Athletic Association pro bation for the Aggies. The News had identified Dockery as one of four boosters banned for at least two years from associating with Texas A&M's athletics. Dockery said his company had hired A&M athletes, including Murray, and students over the years. But he said they did work, were properly paid and that the NCAA later found no evidence of wrongdoing. In an unrelated announcement, the NCAA earlier this month said two-time all-Southwest Conference running back Greg Hill and four other Aggies had been suspended because they were paid thou sands of dollars by a prominent Texas A&M booster in Dallas for work they didn't perform. But players working for Dockery re ceived "nothing other than pay — no cars, gratuities, anything," he said at a news conference at his attorney's office Tuesday. He later said he had leased an import car for Murray — but for an amount higher than prevailing lease rates. "I leased a car and that was totally cor rect as per the NCAA," he said. "There was no question about the car lease. In their opinion, as they stated to my attor ney and myself at that time, that was not a problem in any way." Dockery, 49, also said his contract to sell memorabilia in honor of Texas A&M's 100th year of football was harmed by negative publicity that resulted from the newspaper article. "In the Texas A&M project, we were projected to raise millions and millions of dollars, and we've had many people tell us they don't want to do business with us — high profile companies that have had the reports from The Dallas Morning News that we've had," Dockery said. Dockery said he and his attorney, Gary L. Richardson, believe that a jury award in the case could be substantial "based on the damage that The Dallas Morning News has done to our business and to me personally." But Richardson said his civil pleadings did not allege a specific damage amount. Hot diggity dog Amy Browning/Tm Battalion Two contestants in the Oscar Mayer hot dog eating contest race to four hot dogs and won a cordless phone. The contest was held see who can eat the most hot dogs in 93 seconds. The winner ate Tuesday in the MSC courtyard and will continue today. Yeltsin announces parliament elections Opposition threatens impeachment The Associated Press MOSCOW — President Boris Yeltsin moved to seize control of the Russian state in a coup against his enemies Tuesday, ousting the hard line congress and announcing December elections for a new parliament. The opposition called Yeltsin's action a "coup d'etat" and threatened to impeach him. Lawmakers said they would name Vice President Alexander Rutskoi acting president. Yeltsin warned that any attempt to stand in his way would be "pun ished by law." In a national TV address, Yeltsin claimed he was amend ing the constitution by decree, but his action effectively suspended the charter. In Washington, the Clinton administration held out support to Yeltsin and President Clinton said he would try to call the Russian pres ident. Yeltsin's main opponents, Rutskoi and parliament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, were inside the Russian White House. By midnight, several hundred anti-Yeltsin protesters gathered out side the building, many waving red Soviet hammer and sickle flags and erecting makeshift barricades as police stood nearby. If Yeltsin succeeds in dissolving the parliament and conducting Dec. 11-12 elections, the vote could give him a Congress more in tune with his reformist policies. Yeltsin's action to break his longstanding stalemate with lawmakers will need the strong backing of the military and security services. Thirty-five military trucks loaded with soldiers and policemen were parked near Russia's Central Bank late Tuesday. Khasbulatov urged the police and military to ignore orders from the president and appealed for a nationwide general strike. "Do not fulfill any illegal decrees coming from the president," Khas bulatov said. "These decrees are considered invalid." Russia's top jurist. Constitutional Court chairman Valery Zorkin, joined Khasbulatov at the White House and offered his support. Khas bulatov said he was organizing the defense of the building. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin told reporters the Cabinet sup ports Yeltsin. He also said there were no unusual troop movements and that there would be no attempt to storm the White House. "All troops remain in their garrisons," Chernomyrdin said. "Of course, they are ready for anything, but God save us from doing that." The constitution does not specifically give the president authority to dissolve parliament or call elections. Panel chosen to find new A&M president From Staff and Wire Reports Texas A&M University Sys tem officials announced Tues day the names of the 21 people who will serve as members of the Presidential Search Adviso ry Committee, interviewing candidates for the position of Texas A&M University presi dent. "This group of individuals represents a good mixture of leaders from throughout the university community who will devote the necessary time, effort and forethought to the very important job of recom mending a new president for Texas A&M University," said Dr. William Mobley, system chancellor. The committee's tasks in clude recommending the selec tion criteria, recruiting and screening qualified candidates, and recommending to Mobley a short list of qualified candi dates. Dr. Don Hellriegel, manage ment professor, will serve as committee chairman. "The Search Advisory Com mittee is dedicated to fulfilling the charge to conduct a nation al search open to both internal and external candidates and to present a short list of highly qualified candidates to the chancellor and regents," Hell riegel said. Student Senate to vote on core curriculum bill By Kim McGuire The Battalion The Student Senate will vote Wednesday night on the bill mandating the addition of an international and American minority require ment to the University core curriculum. Ben Dale, student senate academic affairs committee chairman, said the committee voted 11-2 in favor of bringing the bill to the Student Senate for a final vote. He said the committee decided to present the bill because it had gone through all the channels he and Student Body President Brian Walker deemed necessary. Dale said the committee notified key admin istrators, worked with the Faculty Senate, con tacted the Association of Former Students and held an open forum on the issue. Dale said the committee amended the bill so that at all times there will be a minimum of 100 classes available. "We took into consideration the requests by the College Republicans and Young Conserva tives of Texas at the open forum last week to raise the number," Dale said. "We want to try to work with everyone and implement their de sires." Dale said the committee adopted the 261 class list that was proposed in last week's Facul- See Senate/Page 2 Israel, PLO must make sacrifices, official says By Jan Higginbotham The Battalion The treaty signed last week be tween Israel and the PLO could greatly benefit both sides if they are willing to make necessary sac rifices, said an expert in foreign policy in a speech at Texas A&M University Tuesday night. Dr. Alex Mintz, director of the program in foreign policy deci sion making, said the internation al community must make signifi cant contributions to the situation in order to inject stability into the area. "The international community needs to create incentive for the Palestinians to maintain the peace," said Mintz, who is an Is raeli citizen. Although some people have their doubts about the success of the treaty, Mintz said he believes the accord could lead to an eco nomic boom for the area. "Hopefully, the arrangement will lead to an economic par adise," he said. Mintz said last week, the world "witnessed the greatest historical moment in terms of the Middle East." Several factors facilitated the development of the peace agree ment, he said. Mintz said the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the re cent end of the Cold War and col lapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the circumstances surrounding the Persian Gulf War, all helped create a climate where peace was desirable for all parties. Mintz said leaders play a two- See Mideast/Page 2 Retired Lt. Col By James Bernsen The Battalion Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North will pay a vis it to the Texas A&M College Republicans at their meeting at 8 p.m.Wednesday in Rudder Auditorium. Phil Meuret, president of the College Re publicans, said it was important that the or ganization recruited someone of such nation al prominence to speak. "We can all remember the hearings," Meuret said. "They had an effect on all of us." North gained national attention during the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings. He is currently considering running for the U.S. Senate. College Republicans and the Republican Oliver North to speak tonight Party of Brazos County worked together to raise money to bring North to A&M. The Friends of the College Republicans are holding a dinner Wednesday night to raise money to pay for North's visit. To many democrats, however, North is far from the hero that many Republicans portray him as, said John Velasquez, secretary of the Aggie Democrats. "He did lots of unethical and unconstitu tional acts," Velasquez said. "He's more of a blot and a disgrace than something to rally about." Velasquez said the Aggie Democrats have no plans to protest North's speech. "Me being there, as a democrat, would just draw more attention to him," Velasquez said. "We're more interested in educating stu dents than protesting and being ugly." North will also sign copies of "Under Fire," his book about the Iran-Contra Affair. His speech is the first speech in the William H. Flowers, Jr. lecture series, in which North will visit 10 universities across the country. The series was organized through the Young Americas Foundation, which helped the College Republicans contact North. Dr. Richard Stadelmann, faculty adviser for the College Republicans, said North's vis it is unique; however, the organization is planning more speeches for later in the year. Stadelmann said College Republicans is also looking into the possibility of getting former president George Bush's son to speak to the organization. North's speech will be free and open to the public. Inside Sports Feature: Davie and Toledo Winder: Oilers need to get rid of run-n-shoot offense Page 5 Opinion Scroggs: Womens studies program needs attention Page 9 Weather •Wednesday: partly cloudy, scattered showers, highs in 90s •Thursday: same as Wednesday •Your Battalion extended forecast: partly cloudy, lows- 70s, highs - 90s