:yiha MAggielife
Blight with the Bryan Police Department
Bves that being a cop is easier said than done.
Page 3
Opinion
Sports
COLUMNISTS'DEBATE: Should victims' families be
allowed to confront murderers?
Lady Aggie Volleyball downs
Texas Tech in three matches to
end losing streak.
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Page 7
THURSDAY
October 20, 1994
Vol. 101, No. 39 (12 pages)
“Serving Texas A&M since 1893”
Rights Actin’
ments, Amq
s getting ill
Democratic ll 1
•atic
Charges dismissed against former VP
Mosque bombing in
Iraq leaves one dead
I BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — A bomb
exploded Wednesday in the mosque
of Baghdad’s Religious Affairs
Ministry, killing one man and seriously
lounding five.
nocraticstaliB Iraqi television identified the fatality
id, DemocrrB 5 Attallah Mohammed Salah,
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director of the endowments office. It
aid three of the wounded from the
jime bomb, which contained 6 1/2
jounds of explosives, were women.
The television quoted civil defense
fficials as saying the explosives had
een wrapped in batteries and ignited
it 11 a.m. with a homemade
ietonator powered by the batteries.
The TV showed pictures of the
/ictims covered in blood and
andages following the blast inside
he walled compound in the north
Baghdad district of Bab al-Moaddam.
By Michele Brinkmann
The Battalion
All charges of official miscon
duct against a former Texas
A&M vice president were dis
missed at a Brazos County pre
trial on Wednesday, but the dis
trict attorney will refile the in
dictment against him today.
Robert Smith, former vice
president for finance and admin
istration, was discharged from
two Class A misdemeanor counts
of soliciting gifts from Barnes
and Noble Bookstores Inc. while
negotiating a contract with the
company. Smith, who is now the
director of special operations,
was indicted in June and plead
ed not guilty to the charges in
late August.
The charges against Smith
were dismissed because of “funda
mental defects” in the indictment.
"I will refile this case first
thing tomorrow."
—Bill Turner, Brazos County
district attorney
"I think justice will prevail."
—Robert Smith, former A &M vice
president for finance and
administration
Judge Oliver Kitzman, who
presided over the 361st U. S.
District Court for the case,
granted a defense motion to dis
miss all charges against Smith.
Smith’s attorney Dick
DeGuerin, who has represented
David Koresh and Sen. Kay Bai
ley Hutchison, said the prosecu
tion missed some essential ele
ments in the indictment.
“It gave no notice in the in
dictment that the contract was a
government contract,” DeGuerin
said. “There is also no indica
tion that Texas A&M is a gov
ernment entity.”
“Everything the prosecution
wants to prove must be stated in
the indictment.”
The judge denied Brazos
County District Attorney Bill
Turner’s motion to amend the
wording of the indictment be
cause he believed the indictment
could not be properly corrected
by an amendment.
DeGuerin said he would
rather have Smith reindicted
instead of amending the cur
rent indictment.
After much discussion. Turn
er said he had no objection to
dismissing the charges and re
wording the indictment because
he wants to make sure there are
no questions about the indict
ment when the case goes to trial.
Turner said he will refile the
charges with the court today and
plans to keep the previously
scheduled Oct. 31 trial date. He
said the charges will be the
same but the wording of the in
dictment will be more specific.
DeGuerin agreed to keep the
Oct. 31 trial date because
Smith wants the trial over as
soon as possible.
“These indictments could be
done with for now and possibly
forever,” DeGuerin said after
the judge dismissed the
charges. “My client is free and
clear for the moment. The
judge dismissed all charges on
a defect. It is possible that this
is the end of it.”
DeGuerin said Smith has ded
icated most of his adult life to
Texas A&M and to accuse him of
See Smith/Page 10
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20,000 blacks ask
IRS for reparations
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than
20,000 black citizens have filed
reparations claims with the Internal
Revenue Service based on a post-
Civil War proposal to provide former
slaves with 40 acres and a mule.
The claims, for $43,209, are being
denied and the IRS warned that
taxpayers who refile subsequent
claims after receiving a denial notice
could be subject to a $500 penalty for
ig frivolous returns.
Most of the claims have been
received over the past month from
California, IRS spokesman Frank
Keith said Wednesday.
Congress passed a bill in 1866
requiring Confederate property be
confiscated to provide former slaves
with 40 acres and a mule but the bill
was vetoed by President
Andrew Johnson.
CJinton approves aid
for disaster victims
HOUSTON (AP) — President
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Clinton’s declaration of 26 Texas
counties as a national disaster area
clears the way for a variety of
assistance for affected residents.
Help with rental payments, grants
for simple repairs and low-interest
loans are just some of the types of
aid available, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
said Wednesday.
The counties designated are
Angelina, Austin, Bastrop, Brazos,
Burleson, Chambers, Fayette,
Galveston, Grimes, Hardin, Harris,
Houston, Jasper, Jefferson, lee
Liberty Madison, Montgomery,
Nacogdoches, Polk, San Jacinto,
Trinity, Tyler, Walker, Waller
and Washington.
In addition, the Treasury
Department’s Bureau of Public Debt,
to assist flood victims, said it would
speed up replacement and payment
of U.S. Savings Bonds for affected
residents. The action eliminates usual
six-month holding period for Series
EE bonds. The bonds can be taken to
banks. Bond owners also can get
replacement bonds at banks or the
Federal Reserve Bank.
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FORT WORTH (AP) — A teen
ager who police say was unhappy
living with her father after her parents’
divorce has been arrested and
charged in his poisoning death.
Marie Robards, an 18-year-old
freshman at the University of Texas,
is accused of poisoning her father
with barium she“obtained from a high
school chemistry lab.
She was arrested Tuesday in
Austin and transported to the Tarrant
County juvenile detention center,
where she was being held because
she was a juvenile at the time of her
father’s death.
Steven Robards, a 38-year-old
rural carrier for the U.S. Postal
Service, died Feb. 18, 1993. At the
time, authorities ruled that he died of
natural causes.
Police now believe that Ms.
Robards took poison from her high
school chemistry lab and put it in
Mexican food that her father ate.
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Robyn Calloway/THE Battalion
Yell leaders in training
Jesse Farnsworth, age 7, and his friend Jeb Brown, age 8, during a match last night in G. Rollie White Coliseum. The
help the yell leaders support the Lady Aggie volleyball team Aggies beat Texas Tech in three matches.
Administrators
prepare for state
legislative session
By Jan Higginbotham
The Battalion
With a new legislative session approach
ing in January, Texas A&M officials are
preparing for a difficult appearance in front
of the state’s legislators.
Dr. Jerry Gaston, interim vice president
for finance and administration, said he
thinks some of the recent controversy sur
rounding A&M could be a factor in the leg
islative hearings.
“Since universities are funded on a formula
basis, they (legislators) would be given an op
portunity to ask questions about things in the
headlines this year,” Gaston said. “We hope
that the changes that have occurred in the
last few months will make a difference.”
Dr. Barry Thompson, chancellor of the
A&M System, said he is concerned about the
upcoming legislative session, but is opti
mistic about the outcome.
“One of the key issues will be dealing
with some people’s hostilities toward the
System concerning some of the recent issues
in the news,” Thompson said. “The other
problem will be competing for funds.”
The results of a state management con
trol audit completed recently could have an
effect on legislative decisions, he said. The
audit will determine whether management
controls are in place to measure efficiency
and economy of operations The results of
the audit could be released next month.
See Legislature/Page 6
Former student pleads not guilty to murder charges
Moore faces pretrial
hearing for March
death of newborn
By Michele Brinkmann
The Battalion
A 21-year-old former Texas A&M stu
dent accused of murdering her newborn
child pleaded not guilty Wednesday at a
Brazos County pretrial hearing.
The trial for Stephanie Moore is sched
uled to begin Feb. 7.
Moore is charged with killing her new
born in March and disposing of the child’s
body in a Mosher Hall garbage chute.
Judge J.D. Langley, of the 85th Dis
trict Court, set the final pretrial for Feb.
3 at 9:00 a.m. and the jury selection for
Feb. 6. at 9:00 a.m.
Jim James, Moore’s attorney, declined
to comment on specifics of the case or
what the defense will focus on in the trial.
“This is not L.A.,” James said. “We try
our cases in the courtroom.”
James said he expects a fair trial and,
therefore, did not think a gag order was
necessary for the trial.
The judge also granted a defense mo
tion for discovery, which is a request to
see the prosecution’s files.
A Brazos County grand jury upgraded
charges against Moore in September.
Moore was indicted in July on a charge
of voluntary manslaughter, but was
charged in early September with murder.
Brazos County District Attorney Bill
Turner said that after the grand jury
indicted Moore in July, his office decid
ed to upgrade the charges after an in
ternal investigation.
“Two people in my office did an in-
depth investigation into the law,” he said.
“We found that the evidence was suffi
cient for the charge of murder.”
The district attorney’s office re-pre
sented its evidence to the same grand
jury that decided in July to indict Moore
on the charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Turner saifl no new evidence was present
ed to the grand jury.
The University Police Department con
ducted the investigation and reported its
findings to Turner earlier this year.
Bob Wiatt, director of the University
Police Department, said the child appar
ently was bom before 2 a.m.
A' Mosher Hall resident called Emer
gency Medical Personnel, who found
Moore in her room with blood on the floor.
Wiatt said the woman told EMS that
she was “just ill” and did not mention
the birth.
Moore was taken to A.P. Beutel Health
Center and then to St. Joseph Hospital
and Health Center in Bryan where it was
discovered she had given birth.
Wiatt said Turner thought the origi
nal charge of voluntary manslaughter
was inadequate.
“Turner thought the original evi
dence presented to the grand jury war
ranted a greater charge,” Wiatt said.
“He presented the same evidence to the
grand jury, and it returned a higher de
gree of charge.”
Under the new Texas Penal Code,
which took effect Sept. 1, the penalty for
first-decree -murder is .five 1=0 99 jvears or
life in prison and a possible addition of ai
fine not to exceed $10,000.
Minority leaders ask Southerland for changes around campus
Students request diversity workshop, inclusion in MSC
wood carvings, Northside mural, multicultural programs
By Amanda Fowle
The Battalion
Minority student leaders
asked a Texas A&M administra
tor on Wednesday to help them
make the University reflect the
diversity of its students.
Incidents involving racially
offensive fliers posted by the Col
lege Ftepublicans and racially of
fensive music played at Bonfire
site prompted the meeting with
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice
president for student affairs.
David Washington, president
of Alpha Phi Alpha, said that
these incidents are symptoms of
a greater problem, a deficiency
in diversity at Texas A&M.
The group proposed that all
presidents and vice presidents of
student organizations be re
quired to attend a cultural diver
sity workshop each year.
“We feel that these workshops
will help make students aware of
things that may be offensive to
minorities,” Washington said.
The group also wants
MSC programs and artwork
to be more representative of
minorities.
The minority students also
asked to be included in the wood
carving that will be placed in the
MSC and the mural that will be
in the food court on Northside.
“Seeing something that ac
knowledges my presence on cam
pus will help me feel more a part
of it,” Washington said.
Southerland said that he will
work with the students to help
them be included in the projects.
The students also want the
Wiley Lecture Series and MSC
Town Hall to work with them to
bring more minority speakers
and entertainment to campus.
Patricia Morales, president of
the minority student leadership
forum, said that it is not feasible
for the Black Awareness Com
mittee or the Committee for
Awareness of Mexican-American
Culture to fund groups they
want to come to A&M.
Kevin Carreathers, director of
multicultural services, said that
there are not enough students
interested in these concerts for
the groups to make any money
from them.
He said that Town Hall
should help them sponsor these
concerts so that minority stu
dents can have groups they want
come to A&M.
“Students should not have to
graduate from A&M without
having some concerts that they
enjoy,” he said.
The group also asked for a
larger office and increased fund
ing for the Department of Multi
cultural Services.
Southerland said that is more
of a long-term goal, but that he
is open to short- term solutions
to give the Department of Multi
cultural Services more space.
“There are some of these
things that we can put into mo
tion soon,” Southerland said,
“and there are some that are
more long-term goals.”
Carreathers said that if stu
dents do not follow up on the is
sues brought up in this meeting,
no progress will be made.
“Unless people are willing to
make an effort to change the
policies of an institution,” he
said, “these things are not going
to happen.”
The students demanded
a public statement from
the University condemning dis
crimination.