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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 1994)
>er 5151 ampus &M waits for approval of journalism Iduate program. Opinion MELISSA MEGLIOLA: The national debt is not going to bankrupt us, but it is not going away. Page 11 Sports Wide receiver Ryan Mathews leads a new air attack against SMU this Saturday in San Antonio. Page 7 FRIDAY October 28, 1994 Vol. 101, No. 45 (12 pages) ince 1893” NEWS RIEFS Clinton turns down Visit to shrines ■JERUSALEM (AP) — President Glmton opted out of a visit to Jerusalem’s holy places Thursday ler a tentatively planned tour stirred up a political ruckus between Israelis anc Palestinians. ■ Both Palestinians and Israelis claim the city as their capital, and both insisted on being Clinton's sole jscori on a walking tour of Christian, Muslim and Jewish shrines in the mailed Old City. 1 Jerusalem’s Jewish mayor, Ehud Ejlmert, said he was sorry the tour ps scrapped, and the Palestinians aimed a diplomatic victory. ]Clinton's wife, Hillary, however, jus not bound by the same rules of ptocol, and she went to the Old City jseethe Western Wall, Judaism’s iliest shrine. *AND®j ; When the tour first turned up in cANfwtoi' official Israeli schedules of Clinton’s ernightstay in Jer salem, it caused 1 P 86 - N° serving U.S. president has ne to the holy sites, to avoid being jen as recognizing Israeli sovereignty r yi Ben as it M uer Arab east Jerusalem. ■h near! ilogical W lo good news for Denver airport I DENVER (AP) — It's not funny lymore. The soaring new Denver iternational Airport has worse blems than a baggage system that juts bags. Ten independent ivestigations are looking into ilegations of shoddy construction, uence peddling, misled bond dealers end mishandled government funds. Beleaguered city officials are responding to the cascade of bad news by hunkering down, trying to information and turn criticism ick on the critics. Mayor Wellington Webb last month |l)voked executive privilege to deny a Wuest for city records from U.S. Sen. Hank Brown, R-Colo., then had staffers deny he had done so. I One Denver radio station’s legal jfialyst says city attorneys threatened osue him after he reported on air this sommer that the mayor’s office was refusing to produce documents regarding delays at DIA. Bolivia gears up for solar eclipse LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — A solar eclipse will plunge an area from Bcuthern Peru to Brazil into darkness lext week, and thousands of tourists end scientists are coming to Bolivia a good view. Bolivians boast that the clear skies often found on the altiplano highlands in the Andes make it the perfect place ferviewing next Thursday’s eclipse. Chile feels otherwise and Bolivian scientists and politicians angrily eccuse their western neighbor of trying to steal their show. 'Some Chilean officials in a abusive and malicious manner are making Bolivia disappear from the South American map across which Ibe eclipse will pass,” said the National Committee for the Solar Eclipse in a statement. "They want people to believe that jjhile will be the privileged area to 'atch the eclipse and that Bolivia fees not exist.” looding caused $700 million in damages Community works to rebuild Bonfire Students, residents of B-CS, merchants pitch in to complete stack in seven days Stew Milne/THE Battalion Aggies look on as the rebuilding of Bonfire takes shape. By Lisa Messer The Battalion Hundreds of members of the Texas A&M community are of fering time, food, money and equipment in the dash to rebuild Aggie Bonfire in the next week. Zack Coapland, chair of the Bonfire Advisory Committee, said people’s reactions to the de cision to completely rebuild Bon fire shows the true Aggie Spirit. “The response from the com munity and Aggies everywhere since Wednesday’s decision to dismantle the Bonfire and start over again has been tremen dous,” Coapland said. Kathryn Noser, a junior pinkpot, said 500 to 600 people came out Wednesday night to start rebuilding Bonfire. “That’s in comparison to the 100 to 200 people that come out at most regularly,” Noser said. “We’re hoping that many people continue coming out. “We want everyone to know that it doesn’t matter if you’ve never helped build before, if this is your first year or if you’re a seventh year senior, everyone is welcome. Without everyone’s help we can’t get it done.” Matt Segrest, commander of the Corps of Cadets, said the Corps is canceling night forma tions and shortening call to quarters by one hour through next Thursday so the cadets will be able to help rebuild. “We want every cadet out there at least one to two hours each day,” Segrest said. “Most people are out there five hours a day. The Corps will be out in mass. Until Bonfire is built, the Corps is in constant push.” Coapland said the students working to rebuild Bonfire are es pecially appreciative of the food and drink donations coming in. “They’ll be working 24 hours a day from now on, so everyone will be very grateful for food and drinks,” Coapland said. Noser said area businesses, such as Domino’s Pizza, Albert son’s and Wings N’ More, are do nating breakfast, lunch and din ner each day for the 30 to 35 Bonfire coordinators. Stephen Williams, a manager at Domino’s on Holleman Drive, said Domino’s wants to support Bonfire the best it can. “We’re all a bunch of Aggies over here,” Williams said. “Since we can’t get out and work, this is the next best thing we can do.” Noser said students and members of the community have brought trays of sandwiches to the Bonfire site. She said people are calling with money donations, bringing money by the Bonfire office and dropping money off at the Bon fire site. She estimates hun dreds of dollars have been do nated so far. Kathy Vonderhaar, with the Association of Former Stu dents, said they have received work and money offers from Aggies across the state who want to be a part of the re building of Bonfire. Noser said H. P. Zachry Con struction has donated cranes, the city of College Station drilled the new hole for centerpole and the city of Bryan donated the new centerpole. Noser said the work that reg ularly takes 24 days will be fin ished in only seven because of the dedication and determina tion of everyone involved. “Too many people have worked too long and too hard not to have a Bonfire,” Noser said. “It’ll bum on Thursday.” A&M football player faces assault charge in court By Lisa Messer The Battalion Texas A&M linebacker Antonio Armstrong faces an assault charge Thursday in the College Station Municipal Court. The assault charge stems from an early morning altercation on April 10 between Armstrong and A&M senior Jason Wirt at J.D. Wells on Harvey Road. Armstrong is charged with a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to $500. No jail time is in cluded in a Class C misdemeanor. According to a College Station Police Department report, Wirt re- ceived a cut on his lower lip and a BMn \ —y bump on the lower left side of his Armstrong head. Wirt said his injuries, however, ended up being much more extensive. “When I went to the doctor because of headaches, I found out I had a bruised skull,” Wirt said. “I was bleeding from my eye, too.” Armstrong, who is a finalist for the Butkus Award, an award given to the nation’s top line backer, confirmed that he received a court sum mons Monday, but denied he was charged with an offense, saying he was being called as a witness. Alan Cannon, sports information director, said he thought that Armstrong’s summons to appear in court is the only information Armstrong received from the city. A&M head football coach R. C. Slocum said he See Trial/Page 4 Nick Rodnicki/THE Battalion Halloween Corps style Juniors and seniors of Company C-2 march toward Duncan Dining Hall while guarding the ‘Great Pumpkin’ so that he can break through a wall of freshmen in the Aggie Band late Thursday night. tmmm vmmtmmm nsBgsBaMe&mMMonoeoMMoc HOUSTON (AP) — The torrential in and floods that gripped Southeast was has exacted a $700 million toll >far, according to state estimates. There have been 23,000 claims Jbmitted to private and federal surers for damage to homes, vehicles id property, but that number could imb to 35,000, J. Robert Hunter, Wnissioner of the Texas Department j Insurance, said Wednesday. | The total doesn’t include still- idetermined uninsured losses, and I unter cautioned that the tally was only n estimate based on an expected wage of $20,000 per claim. Flooding spawned by three days of eavy rains last week killed 20 eople, forced some 14,000 people om their homes. Classified ixtra Mail Call Opinion iports loons leather Mat's Up _8 10 11 7 _9 9 “6 Operation Lone Star to inform state about Texas A&M system By Michele Brinkmann The Battalion Texas A&M Chancellor Barry Thomp son is ready to launch Operation Lone Star in a statewide effort to reconnect the Texas A&M System with the people of Texas. Thompson said the Texas A&M Sys tem needs to “get back to its roots” and improve its service to the people of Texas. Thompson said he designed Operation Lone Star to be a simple plan to execute. “We need to concentrate on teaching, re search and helping college graduates suc ceed,” Thompson said. “This is a publicly supported system so we need the trust, confidence and affection of the people.” The purpose of Operation Lone Star is to tell people specific information about what the A&M System does. “We need to let them know that their lives will be better because of us,” he said. Thompson said he will ask System uni versities to gather materials, including general information about the A&M Sys tem to send to citizens of Texas, but said his goal is to talk to people to make the communication more personal. “I do not want a sterile approach,” Thompson said. “I want a hands-on approach.” He plans to make statewide television and radio broadcasts explaining how what goes on within Texas A&M actually affects people outside of the System. For exam ple, the broadcasts will inform people of the lat est technology being de veloped and the latest re search being done that could affect the lives of the people of Texas. He plans to reach every county, senatorial district and school dis trict explaining what A&M’s complex sys tem does. Thompson, who said he is cautiously optimistic about the upcoming legislative session, plans to hold town hall meetings around the state so A&M officials can ad dress concerns of legislators and citizens. Thompson thinks these meetings will give A&M a chance to answer concerns and explain what A&M is doing to help solve these problems. Thompson See Lone Star/Page 3 Student groups debate political platforms of Richards, Bush By Amy Lee The Battalion Aggies for Gov. Ann Richards and Ag gies for George W. Bush touted the cre dentials of the candidates they will en dorse during the upcoming governor’s race at a debate Thursday. The debate was part of an on going ef fort by both clubs to more fully inform students about the two gubernatorial candidates and their platforms. Moderated by Dr. Kurt Ritter, a speech communications professor, the debate was attended by about 50 people. Aggies for George W. Bush kicked off the debate by lauding Bush’s plan to im prove the economy of the state of Texas. Travis Leonard, a freshman bio-engi neering major, said Bush’s plan will set Texas on the course it should be on. “He has a 17-point plan,” Leonard said. “First hold the line on taxes. Sec ond, pass tort reforms. Third, stop explo sive growth of government jobs by cut ting back.” Richards’ supporters said the best way to improve the economy is to boost job growth. Kris Krueger, a junior political science major, said Richards’ current programs will be sufficient to accomplish the feat. “Project Quest and the Smart Jobs Fund cost the public nothing,” Krueger said. “The Smart Jobs Fund provides people who want a job a chance to get trained for a future job. It is paid for by private corporations.” Leonard said, however, the only way to boost job growth is through tort reforms. “No more frivolous lawsuits will help keep jobs in Texas,” he said. “It will also 1 limit state government and encourage ■ businesses to come to Texas.” Both Democrats and Republicans! agreed that education will be a major’ factor in the upcoming election. Woodrow Wagner, a junior speech i communication and political science ma- - jor, said that education is the most im- - portant issue to Richards because of her' past as a school teacher. He said Richards has already had a positive impact on education. “Test scores are the highest they’ve been in 14 years,” Wagner said. “The num ber of dropouts has gone down by 43,000.” See Debate/Page 5