Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1994)
Sports Highlighting A&M Soccer's five seniors Page 7 Opinion EDITORIAL: People who continuously choose leaders on the basis of a straight-line ticket, should reconsider the rationale behind their votes. Aggielife The Texas A&M Wranglers get in the swing of things Rage 2 TUESDAY November 1, 1994 Vol. 101, No. 47 (12 pages) "Serving Texas A&M since 1893” College Station city I manager resigns I College Station City Manager Ron I Ragland resigned Monday citing a desire to seek new challenges. I "It has been my pleasure to serve i the City of College Station ... and it has I been a rewarding and valuable time for | my family and me to be a part of this community," Ragland said. Ragland has served as city manager for the last six years and was also the assistant city manager for two years. Ragland said that he had no immediate plans to leave the community, at least until the end of the school year, but will be looking at new opportunities in the private sector, consulting and city management I A search has begun to replace Ragland whose resignation was | effective Monday. ADs Groff, King plead no contest Judge orders fine, three months probation By Michele Brinkmann The Battalion Two Texas A&M administrators were each placed on three months probation and ordered to pay $250 fines Monday af ter pleading no contest to charges of tam pering with government records. A&M Athletic Director Wally Groff and Associate Athletic Director Penny King en tered the pleas as part of an agreement reached with Brazos County District Attor ney Bill Turner. Groff and King entered their pleas be fore senior judge Oliver Kitzman, a visiting judge who is presiding over the trial in the 361st District Court. Both were given deferred adjudication, a form of probation that means no conviction will appear on their record if the three month term is completed successfully. Groff said although the charges brought against him were false, he decided to accept a plea bar gain. “I feel that I would be totally ex onerated being convicted of a crime, I have accepted this arrangement.” Groff and King were two of four A&M HMMHHlNNNHM employees "I feel that I would be totally exon- June 6 for eared if I went to trial. However, be- IjjB cause the plea bargain will result in JL coho^pur my not being convicted of a crime, I 1 Jf'|jRi chases as have accepted this arrangement/' jj, mM of 1 ™ food! - Wally Groff, A&M athletic director . ' flU drinks and ice. if I went to trial, and I have not taken this decision lightly,” Groff said. “However, be cause the plea bargain will result in my not Four others were also charged but not indicted because they opted not to go through the grand jury process. “It has been alleged that I made false statements on the purchase vouchers,” Groff said. “I did not originate the vouchers, I made no entries on them, and I did riot tamper with nor alter them in any way.” Groff said these invoices and vouch ers were handled in the usual and cus tomary fashion and in accordance with longstanding University policy. “I feel that it is unfair that innocent University employees have been made to suffer in order to bring a change to these policies,” Groff said. “My every instinct is to pursue vindication through every level of our judicial system. However, my re sponsibilities to my family, both finan cially and emotionally, must take overrid ing precedence.” Jim James of Bryan, King’s attorney, See Groff, King/Page 5 White House shooter to have psychiatric tests WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused of firing a semiautomatic rifle at the White House was charged with four felonies and ordered to undergo a psychiatric exam Monday. Prosecutors said a letter taken from his truck "raises questions whether he is competent.” I U.S. Magistrate Deborah Robinson I refused to release the handwritten | letter, which was taken from Francisco I Martin Duran’s pickup. She ordered | him returned to court Wednesday, after the exam, for a competency hearing. | U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. said authorities have a second letter Duran | was carrying when he was seized I outside the White House. I Also found in the truck, according I to prosecutors, was a shotgun, an larsenal of ammunition, a gun magazine, a machete, sleeping bags and a stuffed animal. Officials have previously indicated the letter in the truck was an, explanation of how Duran's possessions were to be distributed to his wife and son in event of his death. I Russia to test all I foreigners for AIDS I MOSCOW (AP) — Russian I legislators, trying to safeguard their ' country from the threat of AIDS, | want to test all foreigners for the virus and deport those who test | positive or refuse testing. The bill sailed through Russia’s I usually fractious 450-seat Duma, the I lower chamber of parliament, with only I ihree deputies opposed. It must still be | approved by the upper chamber and by President Boris Yeltsin. But the bill’s strong Russia-first appeal, which reaches across deep I political divides, makes passage likely. I Many Russians blame the West for Uerise in prostitution, pornography j and other social ills since the collapse ofthe Soviet Union. Some even accuse | the CIA of creating the AIDS virus. This is clearly a discriminatory I measure aimed at foreigners,” Boris , Mikhailov, a political scientist at the 'Russian Institute for USA and jCanada, said Monday. "The nationalist tendency in the Duma is | petting stronger every day.' Confusion still reigns in Aristide’s Haiti I — PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — I Re came home to a mess after three I tears in exile. The National Palace was teshed, the parliament fractured, the i 'eluctant caretaker prime minister mpatientto leave on vacation. With this, President Jean-Bertrand Jristide was supposed to build democracy. More than two weeks after Aristide’s 'eturn, confusion still reigns behind ealace walls. "You cannot expect it to be workable just in 24 hours,” government spokesman Jacques Gourgue said Monday. "That’s not possible. No way. Noway. "You have to realize that everything iias been totally disorganized and it will '.ake a couple of weeks before things can run smoothly.” When Aristide and his contingent arrived at the National Palace on Oct. 15, they found chaos. Today's Bai-t Aggielife 3 Classified 8 Opinion 11 Sports 7 Toons 10 Weather 10 What's Up 6 Jury selection begins in A&M VP’s trial By Michele Brinkmann The Battalion Jury selection begins today in the trial of former Texas A&M Vice President Robert Smith, who is accused of using his public of fice to solicit gifts. Jury selec tion is sched uled to begin at 9 a.m. in the 361st District Court and the trial is expect ed to begin im mediately af ter. D i c k DeGuerin of Houston, Smith’s attor ney, filed a motion to have prospective juror^ fill out a lengthy questionnaire because he wanted to make sure the jury will be fair to his client. Because of the high level of at tention put on Texas A&M and Smith its ongoing investigations during the past year, DeGuerin said, the attorneys in this case need to take more care in selecting a jury. “Mr. Smith has been specifical ly mentioned several times,” DeGuerin said. “The jury ques tionnaire will help us. It is an en lightened way of selecting a jury. “This has been widely publi cized in a relatively small com munity,” he said. The judge said he thought the questionnaire was too long and could be detrimental in the selec tion process. “This will confuse the possible juror more than it will enlighten you,” Kitzman said. He decided to allow the questionnaire because both at torneys agreed to use it. How ever, he said he will instruct possible jurors on the funda mentals of the law before they answer the questions. He encouraged both attorneys See Smith/Page 5 Rift within GOP hampers some election campaigns WASHINGTON (AP) — Prominent Republicans are re jecting and undercutting their own candidates in remarkable fashion this year, exposing fault lines within the party and hampering GOP campaigns in some states. Republicans stand to make substantial electoral gains next Tuesday. Some prominent party members are engaged in what could amount to political fratri cide in several states. The latest Republican defec tor is Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who endorsed Democratic Sen. Dianne Fein- stein over the weekend. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani led the way last week with his dramatic verbal embrace of De mocratic Gov. Mario Cuomo. Some Democratic candidates are aggressively promoting their independence from Presi dent Clinton. That type of dis tancing is more routine in a midterm election year than the high-profile defections plaguing the GOP. The crossovers are drawing charges of treason from infuriat ed Republicans and appear to be helping create momentum for some Democrats. Oliver North’s Senate race in Virginia has created a deep in traparty rift and attracted the most national attention. The number of North’s GOP critics grew last week to include Nancy Reagan, who asserted the for mer national security aide had lied to her husband about the Iran-Contra affair and couldn’t tell fact from fantasy. The North dispute is less sig nificant than the two mayoral See GOP Fighting/Page 5 Silver Taps Silver Taps will he held in memory of one Texas A&M student tonight at 10:30 p.m. in front of the Acade mic Building. The campus will be darkened at 10:20 p.m. for Rose Ann Rosales, a sophomore busi ness major from Houston. The Ross Vol unteers honor guard will fire a volley salute and buglers will play a special arrangement of “Taps.” Gallery previews Bush Library gifts Gorbachev, King Hussein among contributors By Lisa Messer The Battalion For the next seven weeks, vis itors to the J. Wayne Stark Gallery can get a sneak preview of some of the many treasures that will be displayed at the new George Bush Presidential Li brary and Museum. “Head of State Gifts: High lights from the George Bush Li brary and Museum Collection” showcases over 80 gifts Bush re ceived from visiting world lead ers during his term as president. The collection ranges from the simplistic to the elegant, from displays of cultural talent to dis plays of abundant wealth. A brightly painted rock pic turing the city of Managua dis plays the folk art of Nicaragua, and huge hand-woven rugs were donated from Chad. Gifts of grandeur include an elaborately ornate leather sad dle with a silver repousse pom mel from Mexican President Carlos Salinas and a silver, gold and marble statue of a camel and its rider from King Hussein of Jordan. Beverly Wagner, curator of the University Center Galleries, said the Cyclone tennis racket, donated by President Roh Tae Woo of Korea, and the model of a 51-canon frigate, donated by President Mikahil Gorbachev from the former Soviet Union, which are on display, were two of President Bush’s most fa vorite gifts. “President Bush loved to play tennis,” Wagner said. “He used that tennis racket very often. He really liked the ship model, too, because he kept it in his of fice.” However, most of the 40,000 gifts that President Bush re ceived never belonged to him. Wagner said federal law now prohibits the president from per sonally accepting any gift valued at over $280. Patricia Burchfield, curator of the George Bush Library and See Bush Gifts/Page 5 A porcelain candelabra given to Bush by German President Richard von Weizsacker will be one of the displays in the Bush Library.