H£5 ilVol. 93 No. 87 (10 pages)
The Battalion
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Thursday, February 3,1994
angers question Regents' alcohol purchases
By Kim McGuire
The Battalion
Two Texas Rangers and an FBI agent
made a surprise visit to the Office Board
of Regents last Thursday and questioned
at least two of the office's staff members
iabout questionable alcohol purchases.
I James Bond, A&M System general
counsel, told The Dallas Morning News
the lawmen interviewed Vickie Run
ning, executive secretary of the Board,
about beer and wine purchased for the
regents.
Running confirmed the inquiry but
declined to comment on the nature of
the questioning.
According to an article in The Dallas
Morning News, authorities are investi
gating whether state funds have been il
legally used to buy liquor for the re
gents, and if invoices were altered to
conceal those purchases.
It is illegal to use state funds to pur
chase alcohol.
However, Bond said other officials
have said the money used to purchase
the liquor was "gift money" which can
be legally used to purchase alcohol if the
donor has given his or her permission.
The regents' staff provided The Bat
talion with state vouchers totaling more
than $4,900 for items purchased in 1992
from a business listed as Ruffino Cater
ing.
The staff also provided five separate
bills for alcohol purchases from J.J's
Package Stores.
J.J's is owned by J.J. Ruffino and lists
the same address as the catering busi
ness.
Bills from the liquor store itemize
purchases of Budweiser and Miller beer
and wine.
However, the regents' staff listed the
items on state vouchers as "food, soft
drinks, ice and cups for the board of re
gents."
An invoice from J.J.'s dated Jan. 17,
1992, shows a purchase of five cases of
beer for $113.66 that was billed to the
Board of Regents.
Similarly, a state voucher dated Jan.
17,1992 reflects a purchase of "food, soft
drinks, ice and cups for the Board of Re
gents" from Ruffino Catering.
See Regents/Page 10
fn University shuns Turbo-charged ?
orning-after pill
A&M one of three schools in SWC
to not offer birth control method
By Geneen Pipher
The Battalion
Texas A&M University is one of
three schools in the Southwest
bnference that does not offer the
morning-after pill to its students.
I Baylor University and Southern
frlethodist University also do not
||ffer the pill through their student
||ea 1th centers.
I The morning-after pill, a strong
■ose of birth control hormones,
must be taken within 72 hours of
intercourse to be effective.
owever:
iishingA«
ackofiiJtl don't foresee that
ls b K »l* he morning-after pill
Open Ms anything A&M
'tSwonld ever want to
wersies loffer its students."
ed that m
lot been c
‘ssment of:
not be nut
i ng does
i be positivi
ist dil
- Kenneth Dirks,
director of A&M's A.P.
Beutel Health Center
she and
ye A&M's
iroved by
sic reason
When taken within the time
ame, the pill makes conditions in
e uterus hostile to conception.
Kenneth Dirks, director of
A&M's A.P. Beutel Health Center,
aid there is little possibility that
e morning-after pill will ever be
ntv at TeiB 56 ^ af A&M because its availabili-
A h j p , ty would promote unprotected sex.
V "I don't foresee that the morn-
have ton in g- after P in is anything A&M
, , .j.M'ould ever want to offer its stu-
' j il Dirks said. "If we were to
e ,/ 1 Ipffer the pill, we would be suggest-
Ing to students that we think it is
OK for them to engage in risky be
havior and worry' about pregnancy
' later. We want students to behave
responsibly and prepare for the
rest of their lives."
i| Although RU-486, the French
|tbortion pill, remains the focus of
hot debate between abortion rights
supporters and anti-abortionists,
Use of the morning-after pill has
continued quietly and legally for
ore than a decade.
evel
Yvette Peters, Planned Parent
hood's Family Planning Clinic di
rector, said making the morning-af
ter pill available on university cam
puses does not encourage irrespon
sible behavior.
"How would making options
available to women make them ir
responsible?" she said. "That's like
saying that making the pill avail
able will make women promiscu
ous. That is simply not true."
Despite being accepted as safe
by the international medical com
munity in 1982, use of the pill re
mains limited to Planned Parent
hood affiliates, emergency rooms
and some university health clinics.
"It just isn't common knowl
edge," Peters said. "The reason it
isn't widely known about is be
cause of a lack of exposure. All pri
vate clinic directors know it is
available, but it just isn't talked
about."
Susan Leitner-Prihoda, nurse
manager at the University of Hous
ton women's clinic, said UH only
offers the pill as an emergency
birth control method.
"I think the pill is an excellent
option for students to have," Leit
ner-Prihoda said.
"Some universities don't make it
available at all, and I think that is a
mistake. We always counsel our
students that it is not to be used as
a birth control method and in fact,
we have never seen the same pa
tient twice."
Nina Gates, director of nursing
at the University of Texas Student
Health Center, said UT has offered
the pill since the early 1980s.
"This pill helps prevent concep
tion and implantation on the
uterus," Gates said.
"It is not an abortion pill. We
test the woman before administer
ing the pill and if we find that she
is pregnant, we do not give it to
her."
Peters said nearly all unwanted
pregnancies could be prevented
with the use of the pill.
"The important thing is that
students know they have a safe,
non-abortive option," Peters said.
Jennie Mayer/THL Battalion
Martina Altschul (left), an intern at the small animal clinic, and Grant Butler (right),
a visitor from New York, walk Martina's dog Turbo, a basset hound, through Texas
A&M's Research Park Wednesday afternoon.
College Republicans
hope for fall rush with
conservative Limbaugh
By James Bernsen
Limbaugh
The Battalion
T he Texas A&M College Republicans are
wrapping up a campaign to bring Rush
Limbaugh, an ultra conservative and
controversial figure, to the University.
Dr. Richard Stadelmann, faculty advisor for
the College Republicans, said the campaign is
a long-range project to convince Limbaugh to
speak to the student body.
Limbaugh is not likely to come this semes
ter, but Stadelmann is confi
dent he will visit A&M next
fall.
"It's really against his
policy to come and speak at
colleges," he said. "But I
think we're more likely to
get him than any other uni
versity in the U.S."
Carolyn Hensarling, vice
president of programs for
College Republicans, said
the club put together a
packet about A&M show
ing conservative trends in
local voting records and information about the
club, which has almost 2,000 members.
The College Republicans are also circulat
ing a petition to show Limbaugh the support
he can expect at A&M.
Hensarling said the club has obtained about
2,000 signatures, and expects to get about
3,000 when done.
Next week is the final week for the petition,
and the club will have a table in the MSC to
get signatures.
The club has also been helped by WTAW,
the local radio, station that carries Limbaugh's
radio program. This station also helped bring
Ret. Lt. Col. Oliver North to the A&M campus
last September, Hensarling said.
"We've gotten through to him, I think," she
said. "One of our members said they heard
Rush mention A&M and how conservative it is
on the radio."
Hensarling said there is a good chance Lim
baugh will decide to speak at A&M, although
he only makes about four speeches a year.
If Limbaugh does decide to come, the
speech will have to be approved by the direc
tor of the MSC and the director of student ac
tivities.
Heather Hartman, president of the MSC
Council, said the approval is not an attempt at
censorship, only a way to assure there is no
conflict with other meetings, and to work out
the logistics of the event.
"We are not allowed to determine content,"
See Rush/Page 2
tarving kids found in filthy apartment
The Associated Press
I CHICAGO — Police barged into an in
ner-city apartment before dawn Wednes
day looking for drugs. What they found
was far more horrific.
1 In four rooms littered with feces and
crawling with cockroaches were 19 chil
dren — the youngest 6 months old, the
oldest 14. Five children slept in their un
derwear on a bare floor, while others
fought with a German shepherd dog for
food scattered on the floor.
: Six adult relatives of the children —
four mothers, a father and an uncle —
were charged with contributing to child
neglect, a misdemeanor. Another mother
of some of the children was in custody but
had not been charged, police said.
"The only remorse they showed was
they didn't want to be arrested," said
Maggie Gutierrez, one of the first police
officers on the scene.
Police raided the West Side apartment
after watching suspected drug dealers do
business outside the building through the
night. Instead of drugs they found, as one
officer put it, "babies everywhere."
"The apartment was cold, the apart
ment was filthy," police officer Linda
Burns said. "I'm talking feces, garbage,
food on the floor. I don't even know how
to describe it."
"They were eating food off the floor out
the bowls the dogs were eating out of,"
said police Lt. Fred Bosse. "The remaining
food that was on the floor was being
fought over by the dogs and the children."
One of the children, a 4-year-old, was
hospitalized in fair condition; the others
were taken to a shelter for neglected chil
dren after being examined at hospitals.
One child had cigarette burns, cuts and
See Neglect/Page 10
A&M experiences power outage
The Texas A&M University campus
east of Wellborn Road experienced a
power outage Wednesday that lasted
for 30 minutes.
A1 Baxter, power plant superinten
dent in the Physical Plant Department,
said the outage was the result of a
combination of factors.
The University's largest generator
was out of service for routine mainte
nance, but power was being adequate
ly supplied prior to the outage by two
smaller generators and an outside
source, he said.
An upgrade was also under way on
the campus electrical system.
The power load, a part of the distri
bution system upgrade, was being
transferred from one feeder to another
when a vacuum switch failed.
That failure caused two breakers
to open, which in turn halted the
power coming from the outside
source.
The two smaller generators were
insufficient to handle the demand
and shut down as well, Baxter said.
He said University employees were
able to isolate the problem and return
service within 30 minutes.
Inside
Aggielife
| •Club prepares to ring in
Chinese New Year
Sports
•A&M garners greaj
recruiting class
Opinion
Page 3
•Stanford: Addressing the
world population explosion
Page 9
RHA approves Bonfire wake-up call policy
By Eloise Flint
Page 7
The Battalion
Texas A&M University's Resi
dence Hall Association approved a
bill that would give each resident
hall authority to set its own policy
concerning Bonfire wake-up calls.
RHA President Chris Thompson
will propose the new bill to the De
partment of Student Affairs.
The bill states that the current
wake-up policy should be dis
solved and each residence hall be
given the right to vote for one of
two options.
The first option would allow
wake-up calls to consist only of
telephone calls and normal door
knocking to wake up individuals
who have previously stated that
they the wish to volunteer to help
build Bonfire.
The second option available
would allow Bonfire leaders no
more than the previous set time as
agreed upon by the Resident Direc
tor and Bonfire Crew
to "make noise" and door-knock
in order to wake people for the
purpose of encouraging them to
help build Bonfire.
Both options will require bonfire
coordinators to sign a contract tak
ing responsibility for those in
volved in their halls wake-up.
The vote will take place at the
beginning of each fall semester in
order to give new residents the
same opportunities.
Thompson said the resolution
was passed by a large majority.
"Everybody had a chance to
say what they wanted," Thomp
son said. "I would say about 94
percent of the votes were in fa
vor of it."
Thompson said it is his job to
take the RHA bills to the Residence
Life Staff and let them know what
the residents want. -
"My job is to see that it goes as
far as possible through the student
affairs chain of command,"
Thompson said.
In other business, a bill, de
scribed by programs director
Owen Ross as a "take it or leave it
bill," was passed.
The bill states that the resident
director will provide the opportu
nity to hall councils to have input
in the selection of resident advisors.
If the bill is passed, hall coun
cil representatives will have the
opportunity to attend the staff
social, the staff selection of resi
dent advisor candidates, or any
other way that the resident direc
tor may solicit suggestions from
the hall council.
Ross said the key words in the
bill are "suggestions" and "oppor
tunities" and that it would not
force the resident director to do
anything.
It would provide an opportuni
ty for the hall council to get to
know potential staff members and
vice versa.