jrw^fjr Texas A&M _ _ *« •
Tnie Battalion
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Vol. 93 No. 119 (16 pages)
Serving Texas A&M since 1893
Tuesday, March 29, 1994
Zulu nationalists’ protest ends in bloodshed
The Associated Press
\ Kali
— JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —
Black factional fighting spread to the heart
of South Africa’s main city for the first
tine Monday when a march by Zulu na
tionalists set off gunbattles, stabbings and
beatings that killed at least 3 1 people.
A rBG un fi re echoed off skyscrapers and
i shattered windows around a park near
r y\0? cly hall where thousands of Zulus carry-
spears rallied to protest the all-race
election next month. Several blocks away,
guards fired on more Zulus outside of
fices of the rival African National Con
gress.
Leaders of the ANC and the Zulu-dom
inated Inkatha Freedom Party accused
each other of starting the violence.
People sprawled in the dirt and under
cars, cowered behind pillars and trampled
each other trying to escape the shooting.
There were blood stained streets and side
walks in at least three areas. Hospitals re
ported more than 200 wounded.
Late Monday, leaders of the main polit
ical parties were trying to arrange a sum
mit between President F.W. de Klerk,
ANC leader Nelson Mandela, Zulu King
Goodwill Zwelithini and Inkatha leader
Mangosuthu Buthelezi. They were ex
pected to meet later this week to con
front the worsening crisis over Zulu de
mands for autonomy after the April 26-
28 election.
The ANC rejects Zulu demands for a
separate homeland, saying the country’s
racial and ethnic groups must learn to
live together after generations of segre
gation under apartheid.
ANC leaders are demanding that
troops of the white-minority govern
ment take over KwaZulu to ensure the
election can proceed.
Soldiers recently seized control in two
other black homelands.
Monday’s march was intended as a
show of force by Zulu nationalists,
whose ethnic group is the largest in
South Africa, and many stores did not
open for fear of violence.
Reports of clashes linked to the march
and to a Zulu strike call began filtering
in at dawn from nearby black townships
where factional fighting has gone
unchecked for years.
Zulus trying to stop people from go
ing to work fired along the streets of the
Soweto and Kagiso townships, police
said.
h Wjfortune 500 companies
make comeback with
$63 billion 1993 profits
Get well soon
TIk Associated Press
NEW YORK — After losing money in 1992,
America’s biggest industrial companies earned
$(>2.6 billion in 1993 while slashing thousands
of workers, Fortune magazine reports.
I The profit figure in the magazine’s annual
.ranking of the top 500 corporations would be
enough to wipe out the 1993 U.S. trade deficit
?vjith Japan.
y fl The magazine called the results a business-
t Bpmeback version of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s
■ iMirld War II return to the Philippines, Richard
AHixon’s 1968 resurrection and “the reheating of
.wing rock star Meat Loaf in time to win a 1994
Cirammy Award.”
/TB Extolling what it called the ingenuity of U.S.
’-- business, Fortune attributed the improvement
pirgely to “American industry’s steady, relentless
drive to raise productivity, improve quality and
lost competitiveness.”
Also helping were a decline in long-term in
terest rates that lowered the cost of borrowing, a
iroad pickup in the U.S. economy and the ex
pensive Japanese yen, which made U.S.-built
Iproducts ranging from cars to computers more
ile farmer affordable than comparable Japanese goods,
miners i: The improvement didn’t benefit the US. job
fflicture, however. Total employment among the
nbly most: S00 fell for the ninth straight year, from 11.8
row it, bit: million to 11.5 million. The trend confirms a
its all over* pattern of dwindling employment opportunities
who orgii as businesses get more efficient with fewer
workers.
anically: || Fortune’s annual corporate ranking, which
uly loan: f appears in April 18 editions on newsstands next
■ Monday, is one of the twice-monthly business
undthei: glossy’s best-selling issues and has been widely
” SternM ; » mu l ate d by competitors. The list helped spawn
'ofanefffiphe term “Fortune 500” to describe corporate
all fan®®
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size and stature.
Fortune said the earnings improvement was
Nortfel | s P ecia lly significant because it was achieved de
spite stagnant growth in sales. In 1992, by com
parison, the 500 lost $196.2 million, the first
Jime the roster as a whole has ever lost money.
I Much of the 1992 loss was due to a required
accounting adjustment that changed the way
companies report retiree health benefits, and
hat same adjustment also detracted from earn-
ngs in 1993.
When the effects of the accounting adjust-
” jw. nent aren’t included for both years, the Fortune
that's^0 earned $81.7 billion in 1993 — 15 percent
r nore than the comparably adjusted $71 billion
n 1992.
The rankings of the 500, based on annual
ales, contained no significant surprises this year.
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See Fortune 500/Page 7
Brandy Schellhase, a sophomore biomedical science major from New Braunfels,
spray paints a basket Monday afternoon to make a get-well gift for her Fish Camp
DC partner. Her friend is about to undergo a root canal.
Rally supporters
march for ‘strength’
Group hopes to make campus safer
By Angela Neaves
The Battalion
Texas A&M students and faculty
members marched through the
campus Monday during the “Take
Back the Night” rally in an effort to
create a safer environment for
women and children.
Tiffany Farha, president of the
Texas A&M chapter of the National
Organization for Women which
sponsored the event, said participat
ing in the rally was the first step for
women to demonstrate their
strength.
“We live in a country which
prides itself on freedom,” Farha
said. “We need to create a voice that
will be heard throughout this cam
pus and show that we have the in
ner strength to walk without fear.”
The group marched through
campus and to Northgate. Al
though most comments received by
the group were favorable, some
negative comments were also ex
pressed, Farha said.
"When walking by Walton Hall,
someone said, ‘Come up here and
let me show you what rape is’,”
Farha said. “Whoever made that
comment must not have a mother,
definitely doesn’t have a sister, and
hopefully not a girlfriend. I pray he
doesn’t have a wife. When he’s
“There is no differ
ence between being
raped and being
pushed down a flight
of cement stairs.”
- Tiffany Johnson,
rape survivor
holding his newborn daughter in
his arms, I pray that he changes his
mind.”
Speakers also addressed the
group before the march.
Tiffany Johnson, a sophomore
biomedical science major, is a sur
vivor of rape.
“There is no difference between
being raped and being pushed
down a flight of cement stairs,”
Johnson said. “There is no differ
ence except that when you are
raped, the wounds bleed inside.
“There is no difference between
being raped and flying through a
windshield, except that instead of
only being afraid of cars, you’re
afraid of half the human race.”
Johnson was stalked and eventu
ally raped in 1991.
See Rally/Page 5
Student body presidential
candidates debate issues
By Kirn McGuire
The Battalion
he
be cut
Violence causes some gang members to quit
The Associated Press
late sum
ed, so:
<94
FORT WORTH — Marcus Davenport used to
irte di run with a neighborhood gang where he sold
guns and crack, had shootouts with rival fac
tions and sometimes robbed people.
Now that he’s out of gangs, Davenport’s ad
vice to gang members is to examine the lures
that may have attracted them, like the opportu
nity for quick cash.
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“The fast money, it’s a circle,” he said. “You
make fast money and it goes fast, because we
were involved in the drug trade, too, and we
made a lot of money, but right to this day, I
don’t have anything to show for it.”
Davenport said he was literally scared from
the gang by the fear of God.
“I don t want to be fighting against the
almighty creator,” he said.
Police say the fear of death or injury has
many others looking to sever their ties to
gangs, which are becoming increasingly vio
lent.
Yet, getting out is tougher than it seems. The
threat of retaliation from hard-core gang mem
bers is a significant deterrent to those hoping
to escape.
“More and more of them are becoming
See Gang/Page 7
Student body presidential candi
dates Jeb Jones and Brooke Leslie
squared off Monday night to debate
issues facing Texas A&M.
Candidates were given four min
utes to introduce themselves and
explain their platforms. Introduc
tions were followed by a question
and answer session moderated by
Election Commissioner Michael
Crain.
Seven representatives from vari
ous campus organizations asked
3 uestions that concerned them and
leir organization.
Don Belknap, a member of the
Corps of Cadets, asked the candi
dates how the student body presi
dent could assist in recruiting to
strengthen the Corps.
Jones said he thought high
school students could benefit from
spending the night with Corps
members when visiting A&M, and
he said he would also embark on a
campaign to increase good publicity
about the Corps. t
Leshe responded to the question
by citing one of her platform issues,
the strengthening of student gov
ernment’s Public Information Of
fice.
See Related Story, Page 12
She proposed having PIO mem
bers establish contacts with major
newspapers such as the Dallas
Morning News and Houston
Chronicle and television stations to
publicize and improve the percep
tion of A&M.
“I’d have PIO contacts publicize
the positive event the Corps takes
part in such as March to the Brazos
and Military Weekend,” she said.
Mark Evans, summer editor of
The Battalion, asked the candidates
which issue in higher education
they will address when the Texas
Legislature convenes next January.
See Debate/Page 12
Officials may shut down facility
involved in Brenham explosion
The Associated Press
AUSTIN — State hearings’ ex
aminers Monday recommended
revoking Seminole Pipeline Co.’s
Dermit to operate an underground
lydrocarbon storage cavern near
Brenham that was rocked by a fatal
explosion in 1992.
“Seminole failed to prove that
the Brenham storage facility is a
safe facility that will be operated
in a safe and prudent manner to
protect fresh water, the public
welfare, and physical property,”
the examiners report to the Texas
Railroad Commission said.
Seminole, a Tulsa, Okla.-based
company, did not have an imme
diate comment.
“We have not had a chance to
really read it,” said Rick Neal, a
Seminole spokesman said. “We are
not in a position to give a substan
tive response.”
The company will have 15 days
to file a response to the hearings’
examiners’ recommendation. The
three-member commission will
make the final decision on the
permit.
Seminole is seeking permission
See Brenham/Page 8
;peCl5 ,
assif;
Aggielife
Health Tips
Pg- 3
pg. 12
Opinion
Sports
Pg-
Pg- 8
Students search for off-campus bargains
Apartment prices
expected to rise
despite growth
in construction
By Margaret Claughton
The Battalion
May is coming — the month
when school is over and housing
leases come to an end. Now is
the time students must strike
forth and stake claim on their fu
ture dwellings.
In both Bryan and College Sta
tion, 95 percent of rental units
are occupied during the spring
and 99 percent during the fall,
according to local experts. With
so few apartments to go around,
any veteran B-CS renter knows it’s
first come first served and every
Aggie for himself.
The peak leasing months of
May and August find most stu
dents searching the city for fairly
inexpensive housing.
“Students are looking for a
place as cheap as they can get, but
in an area they like,” said Carol
Thomas, a graduate student with
Off Campus Housing.
But in the past few years, the
high demand for rental housing
has caused rent prices to soar.
Dr. Ted Jones, chief economist
of the Real Estate Center at Texas
A&M, said rent prices saw a sig
nificant increase in 1989 and have
continued to rise.
According to Jones, one factor
increasing demand is the lack of
new building activity in Bryan-
See Apartments/Page 4
Number of New Dwelling Units
Dwelling Units
4,000
3,000 -
2,000
1,000
TIK
z.
1
T/ 7T|
1
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93
Year
0 Single Family H Apartments, Duplexes, Condos, Townhomes
Source: Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University