:tober22-
The Battalion
n which'.!
issy secty
eneighbc : ii
' s pro-Arl
)nt forci
d the infJ
5 checkinJ
was oneJ
; denoiintj
r efusedi;|
; in which.1
point to
; r the con]):
iblic. Hon*]
ked byati
^esdune
Valley.
'* u y tjiool'
Vol. 93 No. 41 (8 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Monday, October 25,1993
Margraves targeted by DPS probe
w
eekend
rap-up
enjoy sm
eir hometoJ
. 'JH
, some isrJi
said so fc
signers i
ere aren
n which hi
visit Way
iem.
all the his?j
astern Wall.
i unempfea
heads as thr
sorters toti
equired at is
U.S. promises aid
to Kazakhstan
ALMA-ATA, Kazakhstan —
Secretary of State Warren Christo
pher brought a pledge of in
creased U.S. aid to this oil-rich
former Soviet republic Saturday,
hoping it would provide an in
centive to get rid of more than
1,000 nuclear warheads left over
from the Cold War.
Kazakhstan is to receive $85
million to dismantle the warheads
from long -range missiles and
ship them to Russia. To qualify, it
also must carry out a pledge to
sign an international treaty de
signed to stem the spread of nu
clear technology.
Christopher was also ready to
promise President Nursultan
Nazarbayev a boost in aid to $140
million for the fiscal year that be
gan Oct. 1. This includes $15 mil
lion to reverse environmental
damage to the Aral Sea, U.S. offi
cials said.
ners cautin
return nexlij
funds
loped to ar“
itions aboutj
>y observin;
-light spec:
nmic parti;
he collide;
tunnel,
unhappine;
iaid Sen.
"Texas hai
? proud offl j
,g to get toil'
has lost a
irtant foritsf
is of tunnei:;
nmplex of Id
Texas to be repaid
for super collider
AUSTIN — Gov. Ann Richards
said Friday that Texas has a money-
back guarantee from the federal
government over the super collider.
Richards said the state will
pursue “whatever is necessary"
to make the U.S. government re
imburse the state for what Texas
has paid into construction of the
atom smasher that was shut
down by Congress.
She declined to put a dollar
amount on how much Texas has
spent on the project near Waxa-
hachie, but super collider offi
cials say more than $400 million
of a $1 billion state bond issue
has been expended.
Richards said she will meet
next week with Energy Secretary
Hazel O'Leary and possibly Pres
ident Clinton on where to go
from here.
facilities e:ff
r site 35
3ome 2,0i
; and other;; |
ow must pi
nout these
13,000 job;::
jd to the ate
h would lia
largest sciea:
tempt to md |
I maximize: 1
use to be ml j
ty," said ]o.1
U v wenttoel
se conferee;.,
isure maxim*
employees" |
others affeSj ■
crafts, day
ailing from;
1 round
jve the yo'jf
'its hope t
ut," Polk ss
e hope
to £
xp
10/31®
UT School of Law
subject of lawsuit
AUSTIN — Four white appli
cants denied entrance to the Uni
versity of Texas School of Law are
suing, saying minority students
with lower academic credentials
were admitted.
"The injury is not that they
didn't get into law school," said
Terral Smith, a lawyer for the ap
plicants. "The injury is that they
didn't get to compete equally for
positions in the law school.”
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks
refused to end the reverse-dis
crimination case Thursday and in
dicated it would likely go to trial
next summer.
Smith contends the law school
"has a target" for minority admis
sions, with minority enrollment
hovering at 14 percent of the total
enrollment over the past four years
Juvenile attempts
theft by pellet gun
PASADENA - A 12-year-old
Pasadena boy has been arrested
for allegedly trying to rob a
restaurant with a pellet gun.
The sixth-grade student
walked up to the drive-through
window of a Checker's Restau
rant Wednesday and motioned
to an employee with the gun, ac
cording to Pasadena authorities.
That person then went to the
back of the restaurant and called
police,
A police officer who hap
pened to be near the restaurant
chased the boy and caught him
on nearby school grounds, au
thorities said.
The youngster, whose name
was not released because he is a
juvenile, has been referred to Har
ris County juvenile authorities.
By Jennifer Smith
The Battalion
Texas A&M University System Board
of Regents Chairman Ross Margraves
called allegations that he has personally
benefited from several of the system's
business deals " bull" and the anony
mous letter containing them "hateful."
See Editorial
Page 7
A&M System Board of Regents Chairman
Ross Margraves has described an anony
mous letter, which makes allegations
against him, as "bull" and "hateful."
This letter, which makes sweeping al
legations against Margraves, was sent to
members of the A&M System Board of
Regents about a month ago.
Margraves took the letter to Gov. Ann
Richards, whose office forwarded the doc
ument to the Department of Public Safety.
The Texas Rangers have been investigating
the letter for about two weeks.
The Associated Press reported Sunday
that sources close to the investigation say
the Texas Rangers are investigating
whether Margraves had a role in helping
award a contract in June to A&M booster
Rod Dockery for a book commemorating
100 years of Aggie football.
The AP reported the letter also con
tained allegations questioning Mar
graves' involvement in the awarding of
the contract for the Texas A&M Bookstore
to Barnes and Noble.
Margraves said he receives four or five
anonymous letters a month, and he usu
ally throws them away.
"But when you accuse a member of the
Board of Regents of a wrong doing, then I
take it to the Governor," Margraves said.
"This letter makes serious allegations."
A representative with the DPS said the
investigation is well underway, and re
sults will be announced as soon as the in
vestigation is complete.
"We will take our findings to the ap
propriate district attorney," the represen
tative said. "Or if nothing is found, will
will reveal this information too."
Margraves said he meets with represen
tatives from the DPS "periodically" to be
informed of the investigation's progress.
"There's a good chance we will never
find out who wrote the letter," Margraves
said. "It's just very unfortunate that
some people have to conduct their busi
ness this way."
DPS Director Col. James Wilson told the
AP Margraves "has cooperated fully."
"Ross Margraves has been up front
and concerned about these things and im
mediately made contact with us and of
fered his assistance in trying to resolve
Watch your back ...
Kevin Ivy/The Battalion
Texas A&M rugby first team member, Leo Perez, pulls away Texas' second team 21-12. The rugby team takes on the
from a Southwest Texas player in a 19-10 loss Saturday af- Old Maroon rugby team (a former A&M student team) Satur-
ternoon. A&M's second team went on to beat Southwest day at 2:00 p.m. at the rugby field.
these matters," Wilson said.
James Bond, interim general counsel
for the A&M System, told the AP an in
ternal inquiry also is being conducted.
"The letter elevated the need to make
some checks," Bond said. "But no pattern
has turned up other than an awarding of
contracts in a very objective process."
Margraves admitted to the AP Sunday
that Barnes and Noble paid for him and
Robert Smith, A&M vice president for fi
nance and administration, to travel to
New York to complete the deal.
Margraves said there were at least four
trips in July 1990 including stays at the
Waldorf Astoria and the New York Helms-
ley Hotel, which are considered two of the
city's finest hotels, meals, limousine service
and tickets to Broadway shows.
Margraves called this practice "stan
dard procedure" and said saw nothing
wrong with it.
Sarah Woelk, of the Ethics Commis
sion in Texas, told the AP that these type
of trips were legal in 1990.
"The law is much more restrictive
now," Woelk said. "A lot of trips that
were legal then are illegal now."
Open records
requested in
System chair
investigation
By Michele Brinkmann
The Battalion
Ross Margraves, chairman of the
Texas A&M University System Board of
Regents, is the subject of open records re
quests filed by the the Associated Press
and The Battalion.
Chip Brown, a reporter from the AP
office in Austin, filed a 13-item request
Oct. 7, and The Battalion filed a request
Friday identical to Brown's request.
The University responded to Brown's
request with a letter stating he must con
tact each office involved in the request.
Brown has requested information
from the offices of Margraves, Robert
Smith, vice president of finance and ad
ministration, Wally Groff, A&M athletic
director, Gen. Wesley Peel, vice chancel
lor of facilities, planning and construc
tion, Rex Janne, director of procurement
and material services, Joe Sugg, director
of maintenance contracts and Greg An
derson, director of treasury services.
Most of Brown's requests involve
records, memorandums, reports and cor
respondence during Margraves' term
that began in 1989 and will end in 1995.
Some of the other people and agencies
mentioned in the request are Coca-Cola,
Pepsi, Merrill Lynch, ARA Services,
Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros,
Barnes & Noble and A&M regent mem
ber John Lindsey.
See Records/Page 3
Super collider shutdown devastates physicists
By James Bernsen
The Battalion
The congressional vote to shut down the
superconducting super collider is a serious
blow to the future of science, a Texas A&M
physics professor said Sunday.
Dr. Peter McIntyre, who has promoted
the super collider since 1983, co-authored
the Texas site proposal and helped devel
op the design for the project, said the de
cision seems to be part of an alarming
trend in government against science.
"The future of our civilization hinges, in
the long-term, on our ability to see beyond
the present and sustain a constant level of
support of science," McIntyre said.
Congress, in the last few years and
particularly in this administration, he
said, has had a declining ability to under
stand science.
"If we decide as a society that that
(science) is of no use to us, we are
doomed as a society, and Congress is
moving in that direction," McIntyre
said. "That worries me."
Congress is only concerned with
things that will result in short-term bene
fits, he said.
McIntyre said the super collider
emerged out of a lengthy period of self-
examination in high energy physics. He
said a similar collider in Batavia, Ill. and
another near Geneva, Switzerland will
not be able to do what the Texas one
would have.
"Each has contributed very fundamental
new knowledge," he said. "But what we're
searching for, primarily the top quark, are
beyond the reach of those colliders."
McIntyre said the decision will also
threaten the future of cooperative projects
between the U.S. and other nations.
"A few years ago, the Japanese com
mitted to the space station and delivered.
The House killed it, so they were not like
ly to help with the SSC," he said. "The
perception is that the U.S. cannot commit
to a project, and we've just proven those
fears were justified.
"That's not the way science funding
works in other parts of the world," he
said. "Others evaluate a program, make
value judgments, and make a decision,
and once that's made, it's honored."
The decisions of one congress are not
allowed to tie the hands of another so
projects like this are killed after having
been started, McIntyre said.
The project has already cost $2 billion.
and is one-fifth complete.
"Congress could have submitted an or
der to re-evaluate the project to the de
partment of energy," McIntyre said. "But
they just killed the largest science project
in history.
"People don't see the long-term bene
fits," he said. "It's like some of the
progress in chemistry and electromagnet
ism in the last century that we now take
for granted. It was viewed that way too."
The cancellation is also a major blow
to Texas A&M, McIntyre said, because
the University has committed to bring
ing in faculty with expertise in high-en-
ergy physics.
"It's personally agonizing, agonizing for
the university, a deep blow to the state and
a bitter blow to the national and world
wide science communities," he said.
Hutchison aides to assist Treasury inquiry
The Associated Press
Associated Press
DALLAS — The second of two aides indicted
along with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says
he will assist prosecutors in their investigation of
alleged wrongdoing within the
state Treasury, according to a
published report.
Chris Gunter, an attorney
for former Deputy Treasurer
Michael Barron, says his client
will cooperate with Travis
County District Attorney Ron
nie Earle in his probe of the
Treasury under Hutchison.
"He has cooperated up to
this point and intends to co
operate fully and complete
ly," Gunter said in Sunday's
Hutchison
editions of The Dallas Morning News.
Another indicted Hutchison aide, David Criss,
said in published reports Saturday that he
"won't be the scapegoat" and also would coop
erate with prosecutors.
Hutchison, 50, was indicted last month on
charges of using state employees and equip
ment for political purposes while serving as
state treasurer, then destroying records as part
of a cover-up.
She resigned her 21 / 2-year tenure as treasurer
after winning landslide election to Lloyd
Bentsen's vacated Senate seat June 5 over Demo
crat Bob Krueger.
Criss and Barron also were indicted on
charges of official misconduct.
Their promises to help in the Treasury probe
come just days after Earle announced he would
seek to throw out the indictments because a
grand juror was found to be ineligible.
Inside
Campus
•Revised student financial
aid forms easier to use
Page 2
Sports
»"He's going to do it again!"
McElroy stars as A&M
dominates Rice, 38-10
Page 5
Opinion
•Column: computers pose
threat to personal privacy
Page 7
Weather
► Monday: partly cloudy,
high in the 70s near 80
►Forecast for Tuesday:
partly cloudy, not too cold
Texas Lotto
•Saturday's winning
Texas Lotto numbers:
10, 39, 14, 1, 48, 50