BATTALION'
Aggie life
In-line skating is providing a new activity for sports
enthusiasts at A&M.
Page 3
THE
Opinion
FRANK STANFORD: Conservatism - an A&M
disease that rots the brain. Like liberalism, any
extremism is the same as beer. A few beers are
OK, but 1 7 beers are bad for your liver - or in
this case - your mind. _
Page 17
ALION
...
S* ^
Hi
Sports
Red-shirt freshman Dat Nguyen becomes
the first Vietnamese player to join the Texas
A&M football team.
Page 9
THURSDAY
September 8, 1994
Vol. 101, No. 9 (18 pages)
“Serving Texas A&M since 1893”
uryear, Law face demolition Area prepares to meet
ADA regulations
ost of renovation
auses committee's
commendation
[Stephanie Dube
If. Battalion
Puryear and Law residence halls are fac-
; demolition as early as this summer,
recommendation to demolish the two
was made by an ad hoc committee
ted to study the conditions of Law and
year. The committee included residence
students and representatives from Busi-
Services, Physical Plant, Residence Life
Student Affairs.
|Ron Sasse, director of student affairs and
pir of the ad hoc committee, said the com-
JTHOUGH, X UMh- ee recommended that the halls be com-
AKR UP AT 5-lately tom down before Fall 1995.
ITERVALS TO HE«Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president
P WITH MV DEtB student affairs, said demolition was the
NOT E.T AK1NG My option.
■“The halls are extremely old, and the
■mey to bring them up would be dramatic,”
■utherland said.
•When the residents of Law and Puryear
_Bgcked in, they received a memorandum ex-
■ .ilflining the details of the recommendation.
aWfA forum was held Aug. 31 to answer any
■estions residents may have had about the
Stacy Cameron/THE Battalion
Several students play volleyball in the sand court between the Law and Puryear residence halls.
demolition.
According to the memorandum, the com
mittee recommended demolition because the
“cost to renovate and repair the buildings far
exceeded the cost of replacement or recovery
of investment expenditures.”
The committee expects the University to
approve the recommendation.
The sub-floor crawlspace areas of the
halls contain asbestos, which poses a health
hazard for students living in those areas.
Sasse said no formal plans are currently
Please see Law/Puryear, Page 7
By Susan Owen
The Battalion
Bryan-College Station and the
state of Texas are gearing up to
meet national regulations man
dating equal access to public ac
commodations for disabled per
sons.
Under the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), which be
came law in 1990, all public
buildings (state, city and govern
ment buildings, as well as pri
vately-owned businesses) must
be made reasonably accessible to
disabled persons.
Still, many local businesses
have not yet made the architec
tural modifications specified by
the ADA.
“I don’t usually take my
wheelchair out into the commu
nity,” said Sarah Mahoney, a
senior psychology major. “It’s a
hassle.”
She said that although many
buildings are hard to get to be
cause they do not have handi
capped ramps, most businesses
are very helpful.
“Everyone’s really nice, but if
you can’t get somewhere, you
can’t get somewhere, and that’s
pretty much it,” Mahoney said.
She said many restaurants
are difficult to enter for persons
who cannot get out of their
wheelchairs, and often getting
into clubs like the Stafford Opera
House in downtown Bryan can be
a problem.
Kyle Kepple, a senior petrole
um engineering major, said older
buildings often pose access prob
lems, but that large malls and
shopping centers are usually very
easy to enter in a wheelchair.
“There are a few places, i.e.,
the Chicken, where it’s possible,
but just barely,” he said. “But
there’s not anyplace I’ve run into
off campus that you can’t get
into. You’ve just got to try.”
Joe Brown, public information
officer for the city of Bryan, said
that although privately-owned
businesses are required to com
ply with the ADA, sometimes of
fering adequate help instead of
modifying the building can be
legally accepted.
“If your building isn’t accessi
ble and you make a reasonable
accommodation, that’s acceptable
in some cases,” Brown said.
Please see ADA, Page 12
i Quati
tikes on patrol
UPD has bicycle officers
Sy Katherine Arnold
The Battalion
The University Police De-
artment is pedaling around
ampus this semester, main-
aining order and enforcing bi-
ycle laws.
The bicycle patrol program
as two full-time UPD officers
in uniform on bicycles 24 hours
[a day performing duties that
[car patrols cannot.
“This year we have our offi-
[cers out in uniform everyday,”
jElmer Schneider, associate di-
■ector of UPD, said. “We have
[had officers on bicycles out at
[Bonfire for the past two years
ecause of the maneuverability
and ability to get where a car
Icannot.”
Officer John Fisher said run
ning stop signs is the most tick
eted bicycling violation.
“Each officer has been hand
ing out 30 to 40 warning tickets
a day,” Fisher said. “The warn
ings now are going to improve
traffic and prevent as many
tickets later in the semester.”
But when stopped, bicyclists
are also reminded that they are
supposed to follow the same
laws as motor vehicles.
“I tell bicyclists that if you
drive your bike the same way
you drive a car by obeying all
the signs, then traffic will flow
much smoother,” Fisher said.
Jeff Livingston, a junior elec
trical engineering major, said
he is concerned about the in
creased enforcement of traffic
laws.
“I saw two students on the
first day of class getting tickets
Additional inform* 1 ^ease see Cycle Cops, Page 12
BANNE
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and
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&M UNIVERSI'
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Stew Milne/THE Battalion
UPD officer John Fisher watches the intersection of Ross and
Spence Streets looking for cyclists breaking traffic laws.
-
id Go Abortion compromise unravels
kbusterwdiolicy might make abortions
’ Thursdaa right, Vatican officials say
9/15
[ CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — A hard-fought compro-
ACCT 23f [nise on abortion unraveled at the U.N. popula-
don conference Wednesday under an assault by
r aft IV allies of the Vatican, which drew increasing crit-
RAWA ^ or tough stance at the meeting.
I! Many delegates complained that the fight o\
Practice Ifaliortion-related wording In a single paragraph
over
of
. ■l 13-page policy document on slowing the world’s
ACCT 22“ffl)pulation growth has distracted the conference
Raft IV ^ rora other important issues.
■ —■'§ The policy statement does not require blanket
MATH 152llpaniinous approval, and the Vatican did not
p ,| -rlUpport documents issued by U.N. conferences in
—_[X_!_L'f974 and 1984. Great effort is being made to
ay 9/25
ACCT 23C r( ' ach compromise because the United Nations
D H l\/1^ 68 consensus when issuing long-term goals.
Haft IV> Whatever statement is finally adopted will not
be binding on any nation, but such U.N. docu
ments influence national and international poli
cies. The Vatican has a delegation because it’s a
permanent observer at the United Nations.
Hours after the compromise fell apart, the Vati
can’s chief delegate delivered a tough speech at
tacking the draft of a plan of action for curbing
world population growth over the next 20 years.
Archbishop Renato Martino said that if adopted
as is, the text “would endorse pregnancy termina
tion without setting any limits” and might make
access to abortions an international right.
Such a right would contradict the laws of many
countries and the “sensibilities of vast numbers of
persons, believers and unbelievers alike,” he said.
The speech continued a months-long campaign
by the Vatican and Pope John Paul II to keep
abortion rights out of the conference’s conclusions.
The campaign has put the Holy See at odds with
the Clinton administration and others.
Speaking at the opening session Monday, Vice
President A1 Gore said the draft document did not
intend to make abortion an international right
and argued it was being misinterpreted.
Agricultural producers fight
laws affecting property rights
By Tracy Smith
The Battalion
Texas agricultural producers are making a
stand for property rights as the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service proposes mandates restricting
what property owners do on their own land.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to
designate 33 counties in Central Texas as critical
habitat for the golden-cheeked warbler, a bird
native only to Texas.
The mandates would affect brush control fires
and the construction of firebreaks, which protect
for homes and land from fires.
People concerned with the restrictions have
formed several new property rights organizations
in Texas to discuss both property rights issues
and how to fight against government interven
tion.
Marshall Kuykendall, who heads Take Back
Texas Inc., a property rights group in Austin,
said Texans are fed up with government intru
sions, and that it is time to draw the line.
“This is our land, our state, our country, and it
is simply wrong for the government to attempt to
control everyt-hing that the citizens do,” Kuyk
endall said.
Ralph Meriweather, president of Trans-Texas
Heritage Association, said that making a stand
now will let Texans voice their opinions and let
:
the government know they cannot just be ig
nored.
“Government will always take from its citi
zens as much as they allow it to take, and desig
nation of critical habitat marks the limit,” Meri
weather said.
Rick Perry, Texas agricultural commissioner,
said that until now property owners have man
aged to co-exist on the land for generations with
out intervention.
“Now some folks, usually from Washington,
D.C., want to come tell us how to manage our
land,” Perry said. “Our private property rights
don’t belong in the hands of the EPA or the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service — they belong in the
hands of Texans.
“We’ve had enough, and we are fixin’ to take
Texas back!” he said.
Dorthy Deas, of the Fish and Wildlife Service,
said that putting the warbler on the critical habi
tat list should not really have an effect on prop
erty owners.
“Several species in the past have been on this
list, and property owners weren’t affected,” Deas
said. “Our service is to protect the property own
ers, as well as protect wildlife species.”
Dr. Keith Arnold, an A&M wildlife science
professor, said the response many agricultural
Please see Property Rights, Page 7
Washington memorial to honor
178,000 black Civil War veterans
WASHINGTON (AP) — In
this city of monuments, 360 com
memorate episodes in American
history, a quarter of those honor
ing events and participants in the
Civil War. But not one honors the
178,000 “colored” soldiers who
fought in that war.
Interior Secretary Bruce Bab
bitt pointed
that out on
Wednesday as
he took part in
the ground
breaking of an
African Ameri
can Civil War
Memorial in
one of Wash
ington’s oldest
black neigh
borhoods.
Not one.
Babbitt said,
‘‘‘makes even a passing refer
ence to the herdism and the
role ... of former slaves, the vic
tims of centuries of oppression
and injustice.”
The memorial will be on a
plaza created by construction of
an undeground subway stop in
the Shaw neighborhood, at
10th and U Street, N.W. The
area is named after Col. Robert
Gould Shaw, commander of the
54th Massachusetts Volunteer
Babbitt
Infantry, which figured in the
movie “Glory.”
“It marks the beginning of a
new thrust of tourism beyond
the monuments and memorials
on the Mall,” said Frank Smith
Jr., a member of the District of
Columbia city council who was
the driving force behind the
memorial project.
The memorial will be a semi
circular three foot-high curved
stone inner wall holding stainless
steel plaques with the names of
the black Union soldiers and the
7,000 white officers who led them.
It was designed by architects
Paul S. Devrouax Jr. and Edward
D. Dunson Jr.
It was a collaborative effort be
tween the District of Columbia,
the National Park Service and
the Metro transportation system.
This monument will be pri
marily a tourist attraction, Smith
told about 400 people assembled
under a tent at the site.
A Family Heritage Center, at a
middle school across the street,
will be established to educate the
public about blacks’ role in the
Civil War. It will house a library
and a computerized database that
will make it possible to trace
some of the 3 million descendants
of the servicemen.
Students at the Gamet-Patter-
son Middle School will be trained
to do historical research at the
National Archives, including the
struggles of the great freedom
fighters past and present.
Civil war historian Jack
Harr told the audience that 131
years ago the biggest parade in
history — with 200,000 march
ing troops — was held on Penn
sylvania Avenue.
“There were no black sol
diers in that parade,” he said.
“The only blacks in that parade
were labor batallions with
picks and shovels. That was the
beginning of our long ignorance
about the role of the black sol
dier in the Civil War.
Today's Bat
gjl p
Aggielife
3
Campus
2
Classified
8
Opinion
17
Sports
9
Toons
8
What's Up
8