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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1994)
ly • September 12, Sports The Lady Aggie soccer team reacts to playing the established powerhouses of No. 1 North Carolina and No. 1 1 Maryland. Page 5 Opinion Aggielife : JOSEF A. ELCHANAN: This country was not founded on | religion, and those who say so lie and tarnish the names of those who sacrificed their lives it. Page 13 •ATIA LION! Ostriches and emus are starting to replace the more traditional birds on people's dinner tables. Page 3 TUESDAY September 13, 1994 Vol. 101, No. 12 (14 pages) “Serving Texas A&Msince 1893" NEWS RIEFS percent of Texans nt casinos, poll says ■AUSTIN (AP) — A new opinion Jll finds 85 percent of Texans sjLing the Legislature should allow vaers to decide whether the state ■alizes casino gambling. ■ The survey, made public Monday bj the Houston-based Tarrance ■oup, also found that 52 percent of ■pendents said they favor allowing ajimited number of casinos in Texas. Bother 36 percent were opposed Bd 12 percent undecided. B "The results clearly show that the ■ters of Texas want the opportunity (participate and to be heard on this important issue,” said the firm's Mike B: elice. The results were based on a Bpt. 6-8 survey of 802 registered Bters. The margin of error was plus or ninus 3.5 percent. E '.arre security breach a Hows plane crash I WASHINGTON (AP) — In a E rarre breach of security, a stolen plane darted unchallenged over the white House fence Monday, slammed down on the South Lawn 2 4'd cartwheeled against the mansion two floors below President Clinton's pavate quarters. y he pjlot, killed in the crash, was hentified as Maryland truck driver " ""“^^^rank Corder, said to have a history me Thompson/TnEBattm If me ntal illness. Clinton and his f; mily were not in the White House I (hen the small, single-engine plane | lit at 1:49 a.m. They were staying in | B government guest house across | Be street because of White House > by cleaning thefool'|iepairs. game. Cleanup tel The Secret Service launched an f immediate review of whether security tBrocedures were followed and how | Be pilot got through. Treasury Sec- Betary Lloyd Bentsen said the review Blso would look at the adequacy of mrocedures to protect the president Bnd first family. ^ ■- 2, 1994 845-i ms 845-m fo 845-M 845M ntal ...545-45H 545 -oose moose moves like Spruce Goose This Outdoors ssons ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) loose wasn’t loose. The 800-pound animal got stuck a rock quarry, giving rescuers fits s gawkers grabbed their cameras. At one point Monday, a crane jjBipped over with the beast dangling ■5 feet in the air from a harness. Its idventure also included a 20-foot iwan dive into water. There was a big fiasco,” Keel temper, a regional state wildlife biol- >gist, said of the rescue. "Fortunate- everything turned out all right.” The episode started Sunday when tie animal got trapped near the edge ys & Thursdays 11,13,18&19 10-7:30 pm K registration fee airy Godfrey, Jr, Ifer Golf Range, nd Clinic it., Oct. 8 11:30 a.m. egistration fee ntermediate Clinic B., 9 q u9r W mRockiand, about 80 “lies north of Portland. Because the noose had attracted a crowd, wildlife fficials decided Monday to tranquil- fee it and move it to a safe area. inny Andrews, olf Course manager, f Course. , 159 Read Bldg. Clinics nimum of eight people red. Participants must Is will be provided. Ref Sept. 26. For more info, mherships ps & the community today's B A” Aggielife 3 classified 4 Opinion 13 >ports 5 [oons 4 A/eather 4 A/hat's Up 10 Southerland to decide grievance case Former food services chiefs to know fate By Michele Brinkmann The Battalion After repeated delays, a Texas A&M administrator will decide if three former Department of Food Services employees who were reassigned by their boss, were wronged by the University. Col. eJames ^Eoore, form.er assistant food services director, Lloyd Smith, for mer director of food services, and George Nedbalek, former business manager, filed grievances against the University after they were reassigned in September 1993 by Robert Smith, former vice president • Sept. 14, 1 993 - Lloyd Smith, director of food services, Co!. James Moore, assistant director of food services, and George Nedbalek, business manager, are reassigned. • Oct. 20, 1993 - Rick Floyd, interim director of food services, announces the Department of Food Services will not be privatized. • Dec. 1, 1993 - The A&M Student Senate passes legislation supporting the University's decision to conduct a review of Food Services. » |an. 10, 1994 - Moore, Smith and Nedbalek file grievances with the University. • Aug. 10, 1994 - The state releases the audit of Food Services. • Sept. 21,1994 - J. Malon Southerland, A&M's vice president for student affairs, is scheduled to announce the decision on the grievances. for finance and administration. Gaines West, the attorney for the three former Food Services employees, said the University told him to turn in any infor mation relating to the case by Friday to Dr. Malon Southerland, vice president for student affairs. Southerland will review all relevant information to the cases after West and the University’s attorneys hand it over to him Friday. In the grievances, which were filed in January, the employees said they were unfairly reassigned because they opposed Smith’s plan to privatize the Department of Food Services. Moore, one of the three employees who filed a grievance, said the three employ ees were never given a valid reason for their reassignments. “We just want to return to our posi tions,” Moore said. Although they were filed nine months ago, West requested the grievances not be reviewed until a state audit into the De partment of Food Services was completed. Moore said he wanted to wait until the audit was completed because he thought it was better for them and the University. “This has been delayed for various rea sons,” Southerland said. After the audit was released Aug. 10, the three employees said they were hope ful that each will be reappointed to their former positions. The three employees also said they are confident they will ulti mately be vindicated. Southerland said by Sept. 21 he will Please see Reassignments, Page 2 Faculty Senate approves new academic calender By Amanda Fowle The Battalion The Faculty Senate approved a revised academic calendar Monday, giving students six days of finals and two reading days in the fall semesters. The spring semesters will still have four days of finals so that graduation and military commissioning will not be dis rupted. Jeb Jones, Student Senate representative to the Faculty Senate, said the new calendar will take effect in fall 1997. “We are k-eally pleased that we are getting extra reading days,” he said. “The Student Senate has worked for this for a long time. The six final days and two reading days will re lieve a great deal of pressure for students.” Philip Yasskin, a senator from the College of Science, said that having more days of finals will benefit both the students and the faculty. “Finals will end at noon on the last day, so the faculty will have an extra half day of grad ing time,” he said. “It will be less likely that students will have three exams on one dav.” One reason for revising the academic calendar was to make a formula for setting the sched ule each year. The new calendar designates Good F^ iduy ns a University ho! fday". In the past whether or not this day was a holiday varied from year to year. Often, if it was not a University holiday, Please see Senate, Page 2 Mourners remember US Air crash victims ludge denies inmates’ »quest for hearing AUSTIN (AP) — A state judge loday denied a request by death row Ihrnate Gary Graham to order the exas Board of Pardons and Parole onduct a clemency hearing. State District Judge Pete Lowry aid he would not order a clemency [earing in light of a Texas Court of riminal Appeals ruling that could ive Graham judicial review of his entence. Texas Civil Rights Project Uorney Jim Harrington, who epresents Graham, said he would ppeal Lowry’s decision to the 3rd ourt of Appeals in Austin. Graham claims he was wrongly onvicted in the 1981 robbery- urder of Bobby Grant Lambert in a ouston grocery store parking lot. Years after his conviction, several [lleged witnesses came forward to dispute trial testimony of the witness pho identified Graham as the killer. PITTSBURGH (AP) — Hymns echoed softly through a crowded downtown square Mon day as 2,000 people gathered at lunchtime to mourn the victims of USAir Flight 427. “Maybe God will give me some answers to what hap pened,” said Pam Kastelmeyer, whose neighbor’s daughter was among 132 people killed when the jet crashed Thursday in a wooded ravine. Some of the victims’ loved ones were stoic through several prayers, but they broke down and sobbed when a priest read the names of the dead. A wreath adorned with red carnations and tiny white flowers stood alone in front of a stage set up on Market Square, in the city’s business district. About 20 miles away at the crash site, investigators contin ued their search for clues. They were trying to determine whether the right engine of the Boeing 737-300 inadvertently went into reverse before the plane nose-dived six miles short of Pittsburgh Interna tional Airport. A flight crew reported prob lems with the engine’s reverse thrust 2 1/2 months ago. When activated, the reverser closes across the rear of the en gine so hot exhaust is deflected to counteract the plane’s for ward motion. Passengers can hear the process as a roar from the engines just after the plane touches the ground. Four actuators, which control the position of an engine’s thrust reverser, were recovered from the right engine. Three were in the deployed position, but it wasn’t clear whether they were in that position before the plane hit the ground at more than 300 mph. The fourth was n’t deployed. Tim Moog/THE Battalion It'll be a triple somersault with a half turn. Graduate student Stacy May of Rosenberg performs a back dive from the 3 meter spring board at Cain Pool Monday. B-CS may not gamble on casinos Casinos may have no appeal for students, official says “I think the voters of Bryan-College Station ought to be able to determine for themselves di rectly by a public vote if they want a casino in the By Katherine Arnold The Battalion Casino gambling may have no appeal to resi dents in Bryan-College Station, one College Station city official said. “We would have to do a lot of research into what the eco nomic and social impacts would he in the communi ty,” Tom Brymer, College Station assistant City manag er, said. “We have Louisiana and other states to use as ex amples. I don’t think there would be much appeal to 18- to 25-year-olds for a casino in this area.” Dan Morales, state attorney gen eral, issued a statement last month proclaiming that the operation of slot machines in Texas will not be allowed until voters approve a constitution al amendment. community,” Morales said Sunday. “I happen to be against all forms of gambling, but even so, I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to decide what is best for this community.” According to current lavq lotteries and other ac tivities involving lottery ac tivities are illegal. Howev er, an amendment approving a state lottery was approved by Texas voters in 1991. The operation of slot ma chines does not fall under the approved definition for a lottery. Morales said. “It is clear that operation of a slot machine is, as a matter of law, a lottery for Please see Casino, Page 2 on 20-year CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — After seven days of hard bargaining, delegates to the U.N, popula tion conference agreed Monday on the last tricky points of their 20-year plan for curbing world population growth. See Editorial, The plan goes before the full 180 country session on Tues day. No country that votes for the pla.n is obliged to follow any of its recommendations. Plan drafters tried to recognize the Vatican’s objections to abortion while laying out re productive rights. ates agree ation plan The Program of Action breaks new ground by urging that population be controlled not just by family planning but by economic development, em powerment of women and pro tection of the environment. The document urges that unsafe abortion be treated as a “major public health concern,” proclaimed as a victory by women’s and abortion, rights groups. “The world is never going to be the same after Cairo,” said Tim Wirth, a U.S. undersecre tary of state and head of the American delegation. The drafting committee said reproductive health should Please see Conference, Page 12