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The Battalion
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Vol. 93 No. 105 (8 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Wednesday, March 2,1994
Bosnian Muslims, Croats near federation accord
iilvin
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Bosnian Muslims
and Croats worked on the final details
Tuesday of a U.S.-brokered agreement,
aiming to establish a federation that could
move Bosnia a significant step closer to
peace.
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic
said that he and Muslim officials "are just
now in the final stages of negotiations."
The agreement would bring together
two of the three parties in a bloody two-
year ethnic conflict that has cost the lives
of more than 200,000 people.
Missing from the equation are the
Bosnian Serbs who have gained military
control of 70 percent of the former Yu
goslav republic.
However, in another promising step,
Serb leader Radovan Karadzic announced
in Moscow an agreement to open the air
field at Tuzla in Bosnia and said the first
relief plane to the city would be Russian.
The Serbs are under threat of NATO air
strikes if they refuse to allow opening of
the airport by next Monday.
At the White House, Clinton bade
farewell to British Prime Minister John
Major, and the two leaders told a brief
news conference that they planned to
work together "for a resolution of the cri
sis" in Bosnia.
Major said the United States and
Britain would send a "joint civil planning
mission" to Sarajevo, presumably to help
put the city back together now that "the
cease-fire there is holding."
At the start of a meeting with Vice
President A1 Gore, Granic commented on
the Muslim-Croat negotiations and said a
preliminary agreement could be signed
by the end of the day.
Granic and Bosnian Prime Minister
Haris Silajdzic, a Muslim, have been ne
gotiating in Washington over the past
three days.
Throughout the discussions in the U.S.
capital. Secretary of State Warren Christo
pher and other administration officials
steered clear of sounding overly optimistic.
Christopher said he did not want "to get
into the optimism-pessimism business."
Even as Granic was predicting an
agreement, a senior administration offi
cial cautioned that issues remained to be
resolved.
Granic did not discuss the details of
the possible accord other than to say it
would lead to a federation between the
two parties who would then have close
ties with Croatia.
Late last week, the Clinton adminis
tration unveiled a proposal for uniting
Bosnian Muslims and Croats into an en
tity. The next step would be an attempt
to link that federation with a Serbian en
tity and form a country comprising two
republics.
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Anjanette Kirkland, a sophomore general studies major from Anderson Track and Field Complex. She is provisionally quali-
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No-smoking policy
hits B-CS restaurants
Move follows state, national actions
By Stephanie Dube
The Battalion
Many restaurants in the Bryan-College Station area are implement
ing a no-smoking policy in reaction to a state and national movement
against the once common practice.
Texas Attorney General Dan Morales has sued McDonald's; Ken
tucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppes and
Burger King claiming the chains do not properly warn customers and
employees about the dangers of secondhand smoke.
McDonald's recently announced that its corporate-owned restau
rants would become smoke-free and franchise restaurants would be en
couraged to do so also.
Many restaurants and businesses in Bryan-College Station are fol
lowing suit.
Don Baker, owner of the local Burger King, said he and his wife de
cided to make their restaurant smoke-free long before secondhand
smoke became a political issue.
"We have a smoke-free restaurant because of the type of clientele we
service," he said. "The type of people in the College Station area pretty
much favor a non-smoking ehvironment."
But Baker said the decision cost them a few smoking customers.
"It would make it a lot better for small businesses if we had a city or
dinance for all to follow rather than having to make a hard decision on
where to stand on an issue," Baker said.
If all businesses had to follow an ordinance, then no business would
stand out, Baker said.
See Smoking/Page 3
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UPD 'standard procedure'
unprofessional, student says
By Eloise Flint
The Battalion
Philip Adell just wanted to take a walk around the Texas A&M
campus on the morning of Feb. 13.
He walked to Research Park on A&M's west campus at about 5
a.m. and was on his way back to his dorm room in Dunn Hall when
he was stopped by officers with University Police Department.
Adell, a freshman electrical engineering major, said an officer
stopped him on University Drive and asked him to present some
form of identification, which he did not have.
Adell said another officer arrived on the scene and questioned
him about where he had been that night, and then the officer in
spected his hands.
"He checked out my hands like he was looking for blood," Adell
said.
Adell said he did not feel comfortable with the way UPD handled
the situation.
"When I asked her what was going on I was answered with a very
vague answer to the effect that something had just happened and
someone was seen going in the direction I was coming from," Adell
said.
Officials with UPD would not comment specifically on Adell's
case, but Lt. Bert V. Kretzschmar said it sounded like standard pro
cedure.
"When a crime occurs in an area, they have to stop people in the
general vicinity that match the description for questioning," he said.
"That's standard procedure. Officers must have reasonable suspi
cion or probable cause to question someone."
But Kretzschmar said officers are taught not to come out and
specifically accuse somebody of lying.
"Generally speaking, students are supposed to carry their A&M
I.D. with them on campus, but if not, then the police can call in for
information," Kretzschmar said. "It would help a lot if students
would carry their I.D. or a driver's license."
Adell said the officers then tried to get him in their car.
"They asked if I would mind being driven back to campus, and I
said I would rather walk," Adell said. "Then they asked if I would
See UPD/Page 2
Inside
Sports
•Men's basketball loses to
Baylor 95-92.
Page 5
Opinion
•Editorial: A&M has become
more safety-conscious
•Clay: Indictments may only
be the beginning of more
trouble
Page 7
Observers evaluate
By Nicole Cloutier
Special to The Battalion
Observers of the modern
presidency evaluated President
Clinton's first year in office
Tuesday in a round table discus
sion and said his election may
have been more of a vote
against George Bush and a de
sire for
change rather
than a vote to
get Clinton in
the White
House.
Tony Col-
heo, former
U.S. repre
sentative and
majority
whip, said
the American
people are
seeking a
change.
"There is a
transition taking place," Colheo
said. "People are looking for
something to change, something
to happen, and it all boils down
to politics are local."
Colheo said the media has
been unduly critical of Clinton
during his first year in office,
and this is surprising because
Clinton has stuck to most of his
campaign promises.
Dr. George Edwards, director
of the Center for Presidential
Studies and professor of politi
cal science at Texas A&M,
agreed Clinton has endured an
unusually unpopular beginning
of his presidency.
Clinton should be credited
with placing new issues on the
agenda, Edwards said.
Thomas DeFrank, senior
White House
correspon
dent for
Newsweek,
said the con-
gressional
staff is w r eak
and has been
in a trial and
error period
that has hin
dered their
progress.
"Their
performance
has been er
ratic," DeFrank said. "They do
good on some tilings and bomb
others, but it's early and they're
learning."
DeFrank said the main thing
hindering the new administra
tion is having a president that is
better than the staff.
"They don't know what they
don't know," Colheo said.
Despite Colheo's praise of
"People are looking for
something to change,
something to happen,
and it all boils down to
politics are local."
- Tony Colheo,
former U.S. representative
and majority whip
Clinton's progress
Tony Coelho, former majority whip in the U.S. House of Represen
tatives, speaks about President Clinton's progress in the White
House at the Clinton Forum Tuesday afternoon in Rudder Theater.
Clinton, he believes the polls
will determine the president's
future with the U.S. Congress.
"It's the same game, but now
Congress is being pushed from
a different side," he said.
Colheo said Clinton has fo
cused more on domestic issues,
and most of the panelists agreed
CNN is responsible for motivat
ing Clinton and the public to
feel morally responsible for situ
ations like the conflict in Bosnia.
"If it weren't for CNN, the
American people wouldn't be
concerned for the people in
Bosnia at all." Colheo said.
"The public responds to
CNN, and Clinton responds to
the public."
Israel releases Palestinians in hopes of talks
The Associated Press
HEBRON, Occupied West Bank — Israel
released more than 500 Palestinian prisoners
Tuesday to coax the PLO back to peace talks
suspended after the Hebron mosque mas
sacre.
Officials said another 500 prisoners will be
freed by the weekend.
"I think the Israelis are releasing us now
to make the Palestinians happy," freed pris
oner Wael Salameh, 38, said when he arrived
in Hebron. "This is not a real step for peace."
Samir Ghosheh, a member of the PLO's
ruling Executive Committee, dismissed the
release as "irrelevant to the real issue of pro
viding protection for our people."
He called it "cosmetic surgery" to damp
en the violence that has swept the occupied
territories and parts of Israel since Friday's
massacre.
The PLO won't resume peace talks with
Israel unless "certain guarantees are provid
ed" to protect Palestinians living under occu
pation, he said.
Israeli sources were optimistic the sus
pended talks will resume following Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin's offer of a package
of concessions that go partway toward meet
ing PLO demands.
Western and Arab diplomats in Tunis,
Tunisia, the PLO's headquarters, said Israel's
concessions include strengthening a Palestin
ian police force being deployed under the
Sept. 13 PLO-Israeli peace accord in what
will be self-rule areas in Gaza and the West
Bank town of Jericho.
Israel also would disarm settlers in those
areas.
Rabin also offered to allow international
observers into the territories for the first time
since Israel captured them in the 1967
Mideast War.
The PLO Executive Committee, the orga
nization's ruling body, rejected the package
early Tuesday in Tunis, saying it did not go
far enough, said PLO Executive Committee
member Ali Ishak.
The worst stumbling block, said Ishak,
was the offer of observers. The PLO wants an
armed multinational protection force in the
occupied lands.
Israeli officials indicated the observers
would be empowered only to supervise Is
rael's military withdrawal from Gaza and
Jericho and oversee the handover of authori
ty to Palestinians.
"They won't have a military presence or
have the power to interfere," Gad Yaacobi,
Israel's U.N. ambassador, told Israel radio.
Rabin has ruled out putting the future of
Jewish settlements on the agenda now. Some
Cabinet ministers appear more flexible and
proposed closing settlements in Hebron and
other heavily populated Arab areas.