vember 23, 1994,
rentiers
JtALTH TIPS: World AIDS Day is the only international day
/\fi levoted to coordinating the worldwide efforts to stop the
nival Usoreadof hiv/aids. Page 2
OH , IT WA5 OLD?
thank &od!
for a Moneur
THERE X THOUGH}
tt pas hew!
THE
Opinion
STERLING HAYMAN: After all, anything done in the
name of God and religion has to be good right? Well,
not really. _
Page 7
Sports
Lady Aggie basketball team
victorious over Arizona
State, 82-69 „ r
Page 5
MONDAY
November 28, 1994
Vol. 101, No. 64 (8 pages)
“Serving Texas AdrM since 1893"
Brad
X THINK Uf
IXITCR ££n«f
My.?! OvCTfA
ME EE
STAKES C'i'EIN^
NEWS
RIEFS
Pope bestows rings
to 30 new cardinals
YOU READ THIS CARTOOH, 1
' SE HOHEXH DMUS. I
A few more 'toons
yAlu this year, soi
thank all mvloml
ts XN A&&IELAND"
AND HOPEFULLY...
J5LE To CONTINUE TO
toons for tke eiwmiiH
STER . LET MEGOMEAD,
ALL; FMJNDAr'j cONiC IS j
UNO OF RHETORIC, 8UT
C* IN TOWN TO DRAW j
w MATejUAl Bt Ti/eSOA?.
)uatro
nun',' HV^H? UH
a me!... eddie.'my
MORE OP k
HIMLWEJlAND!
WORK WITH ntZtf
f
day
b a high near 70.
.hapter of the American
Meteorological Society
I VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope
John Paul II placed rings on the
fingers of new cardinals Sunday and
pointed out their task of leading the
church into the next century and
selecting the next pope.
■ References to the year 2000,
When the church plans a worldwide
Roman Catholic jubilee, are
particularly important to the pontiff,
Who has tried to dispel suggestions
he is seriously ill and has openly
expressed his desire to lead the
Ichurch into the new millennium.
1 The pope on Saturday elevated 30
clergymen to the rank of cardinal,
Jcluding the archbishop of Sarajevo
fid several other clerics who were
lied by authoritarian regimes in the
former Soviet bloc, Cuba and
Vietnam. Two Americans were
:among the group.
I John Paul has named 100 of the
|20 cardinals who are under 80 years
and eligible to vote for pope.
GATT opponents tar
get trade organization
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the
[ench warfare over a new trade
Igreement, no battle has been more
Intense than the one waged over the
international body being created to
police the new rules of global
mmerce.
To opponents, the World Trade
rganization symbolizes everything
at is wrong with the pact — big,
global government that will trample
American laws protecting the
environment, health and safety
| standards.
1 President Clinton and other
f supporters argue that fears about the
WTO are grossly exaggerated. They
,Wist that creation of a new referee
for trade disputes is in America’s best
Interests and will mean more victories
in the fight to open overseas markets
forU.S. businesses and farmers.
Like the North American Free
'rade Agreement last year, WTO’s
pponents represent odd bedfellows,
anging from Ralph Nader and Jesse
ackson on the left to Ross Perot and
’atrick Buchanan on the right.
Three inmates escape
rom Texas prison
ROSHARON (AP) — Three
nmates escaped Saturday night from
he Barrington Unit after throwing the
)rison into darkness and fleeing
through a hole they cut in a fence,
ifficials said.
Prison spokesman David
Nunnelee said Dennis Wayne Hope,
26; Harry Wayne Decker, 41; and
Jason Earl Montgomery, 31, used
wirecutters to cut through an inner
fence, then climbed over an outer
ence about 9:40 p.m. Saturday as
guards fired gunshots at them.
"They apparently were in the unit’s
boiler room, and they managed to
shut off power to the unit,” Nunnelee
said. They escaped on foot after
getting over the prison’s outer fence,
Nunnelee said.
Rosharon is 25 miles south of
Houston.
Officials slow in dealing
with Russian oil spill
led CD's
stations)
up station!
STUFF!
CATIONS
JSE ON
A 2-6 P.M.
:Y 18,1995
9N - $22
EPTINC
3ER2ND
FHE
CE.
today’s T
nmJl | --v- - 1
Classified
6
Frontiers
2
Opinion
7
Sports
5
Toons
4
What's Up
3
Court denies Barone, three players motion to move trial
By Lisa Messer
The Battalion
Texas A&M head men’s basketball coach
Tony Barone and three basketball players
will face assault charges in Lubbock, after
being denied a motion that would have
moved the trial to the Brazos Valley.
Barone and the players face civil as
sault charges stemming from an alterca
tion that occurred between the Aggies
and several fans from Texas Tech Univer
sity after an A&M-Tech basketball game
last year.
Two Tech fans, Christopher Ewing and
Charles Ewing, charged Barone with as
sault and negligence. They also charged
A&M players Tony Barone, Jr., Joe
Wilbert and John Jungers with assault.
Bill Helwig, assistant general counsel
at A&M and coordinator of the defense ef
forts, said the court in Lubbock saw the
site of the fight as the most important is
sue in the case.
“Under certain circumstances, a de-
"The court in Lubbock found the most significant fact of the
evidence to be that the incident occurred in Lubbock. That
was the principal basis for leaving it in Lubbock."
— Bill Helwig, AdrM assistant general council and coordinator of
defense efforts
fendant has the right to be sued in the
county of his residence,” Helwig said.
“However, the court in Lubbock found
the most significant fact of the evidence
to be that the incident occurred in Lub
bock. That was the principal basis for
leaving it in Lubbock.”
Helwig said Barone and the players
have all filed denials in the case.
“We are comfortable with that position
and believe this is a situation that the
players had to react in fear of their own
well-being and the well-being of their
teammates,” Helwig said.
“What occurred lies in the context of
self-defense and trying to extract them
selves from a tensely charged environ
ment and a highly charged fan group.”
Wally Groff, A&M athletic department
director, said he sees no fault on the part
of Barone or the players.
“It’s really not much of a lawsuit,”
Groff said. “They were trying to defend
themselves in the situation and get off
the court.”
Groff said he believes the management
of Texas Tech will be brought into the
case if it goes to court and they will have
difficulty blaming the Aggies.
“Being on the management side at
A&M, I see the closeness of the fans to the
teams running off the court,” Groff said.
“There are strong feelings, but lining the
court with police is totally unrealistic.
“Ninety-nine teams out of 100 would
have done what we did. Their fans were
totally out of order. There is no excuse
for what they did.”
Helwig said Barone and the players
understand that this altercation was not
a typical occurrence.
“The actions of the plaintiffs in no way
represent the good fans and outstanding
student body of Texas Tech,” he said.
“This is an isolated incident.' The two
schools’ fan groups are good fans, and
their players are sportsmanlike.”
Helwig said no trial date has been de
termined yet, but it will probably be
sometime next year.
MOSCOW (AP) — Northern
Russia could be in for a greater
ecological disaster if cleanup of a
huge oil spill isn’t completed before
spring thaws can push more oil into
rivers and streams, a government
commission said Sunday.
The slow pace of building a new
pipeline through the region and of
cleaning up the spill make it doubtful
that cleanup will be completed by
April 1 as planned, the commission
said in a report carried by the ITAR-
Tass news agency.
That raises the possibility that
•spring floods could transport more oil
into the salmon-rich Pechora River,
which flows into the Barents Sea, the
commission said.
It called such a scenario an
ecological catastrophe.”
The spill near Usinsk in the Komi
region, 1,000 miles northeast of
[Moscow, was caused by a series of
leaks in an aging 31-mile pipeline.
Islamic militants kill settler
rabbi in drive-by shooting
Blake Griggs/THE Battalion
Home sweet home
Yolanda McCoy, a junior civil engineering major, carries her backpack and
laundry bag back to her dorm after returning from spending the Thanksgiving
holiday in San Antonio.
BEIT HAGAI, West Bank (AP) — A
rabbi was shot to death and an Israeli po
liceman wounded in a hail of bullets fired
at their car Sunday as they drove toward
a Jewish settlement. Islamic militants
claimed responsibility.
The shooting, on the eve of the Jewish
holiday of Hanukkah, occurred 3 miles
from Hebron, where tensions have been
high since the massacre of 29 Muslim
worshippers by a Jewish settler at a
mosque Feb. 25.
It came a day before Israeli Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres was to meet with
PLO leader Yasser Arafat in Brussels, Bel
gium, and as the cycle of violence in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip is pushing ne
gotiators to speed up the peace process.
Jewish settlers blamed government
peace policies for encouraging Islamic
militants, but members of Prime Minis
ter Yitzhak Rabin’s Cabinet pledged to
continue talks with the PLO.
“We must continue the peace process
and do our best so that such sad events
will not occur in the future,” said Immi
gration Minister Yair Tsaban.
An anonymous caller claiming to be
from the radical Muslim group Hamas
called Israel radio and claimed responsi
bility for Sunday’s shooting. Hamas car
ried out a suicide bombing that killed 23
people in Tel Aviv last month.
“We will continue the attacks,” he
said. The man said the shooting marked
the anniversary of the killing of a Hamas
activist by Israeli forces last year.
Israeli sources said the gunfire came
from a passing car carrying at least two
men. The rabbi’s car drove off the road
and flipped over.
Blood stained the muddy ground and
seeped from cracks in the front wind
shield. Six bullet holes pierced windows,
and 30 shell casings from an automatic
rifle littered the ground.
The victim was Rabbi Ami Olami, 35,
the spiritual leader of Otniel, a nearby
settlement with about 50 families. He
was heading back to Otniel from another
Jewish settlement.
A policeman riding with him was shot
in the back of the head, but managed to
get out of the car and fire at the attack
ers, settlers said. He was in hospitalized
in fair condition.
Seminary students at the scene were
led away sobbing. One recited prayers
as the rabbi’s body lay under a gray
ISRAEL
Site of shooting,
three miles away
EGYPT \
25 miles
25 km
ii
'w.
ISRAEL l ,
rp< 'xirt IRAN
\\ JORDAN
A SAUDI 2
v \ ARABIA f
' x > ' ^ "Arabian
C-- : gga.
AP
blanket nearby.
“May God avenge his blood,” Moshe
Rabinovich of the Beit Hagai settlement
said as he stood next to an ambulance.
Noam Arnon, a spokesman for the
Jewish settlement in the nearby city of
Hebron, blamed Rabin’s peace accord for
the attack.
“They are responsible and will be re
sponsible for every dead victim and all
that is going on here,” Arnon said. “They
will not get away with it. The people will
find justice.”
The West Bank Settler’s Council,
which speaks for many of the 120,000
settlers, said the attack was encouraged
by government promises to expand au
tonomy in the West Bank and withdraw
troops. Palestinians now control the Gaza
Strip and Jericho in the West Bank.
At their meeting Monday, Peres and
Arafat are expected to discuss problems
facing the expansion of autonomy.
Houston horse racing track struggles six
months after opening due to slow business
HOUSTON (AP) — The giant green
tote board flashing numbers to a smat
tering of race fans on an overcast No
vember afternoon sums up the short
history of Sam Houston Race Park.
Track conditions are fast. Business
is slow.
Nobody promised that Texas’ first
foray into big-time horse racing would
be easy. But managers of the shiny,
new $84 million track never fathomed
it could be this difficult, and investors
never dreamed it would be this costly.
When Gov. Ann Richards helped in
augurate the track on a sun-soaked af
ternoon last April, some 16,500 race fans
bet $1.3 million on a 10-race card. It was
a glorious opening for Texas’ first thor
oughbred track in 57 years, and Sam
Houston seemed poised for success.
Said one track official: “The Big Mo
(momentum) is on now, so you just need
to get out of the way and let it happen.”
Seven months later, any momentum
from opening day seems long-faded.
Attendance, which averaged a dis
appointing 7,500 for the initial 45-day
thoroughbred meet, has sagged to less
than 4,000 per day for the current
meet. Average betting fell far below es
timates from the start and is down by
a third since then.
Top track management was swept
aside in October. Investors have pro
vided an additional $6.5 million just to
make ends meet. Purses, racing days
and expectations have all been slashed.
New track president and general
manager Jim Noteware recently said
the track has lost about $15 million
since opening, but dismissed persistent
rumors that bankruptcy is imminent
as a $4.4 million January debt pay
ment looms.
Byron Wade, a member of the Sam
Houston board of directors and an at
torney for major stockholder Maxxam
Corp., said the board is committed to
avoiding bankruptcy, but will file
Chapter 11 proceedings “if we were
forced by some third party.”
Wade said the track is negotiating
with creditors regarding the January
debt payment. If bankruptcy were
sought, it would be to avoid shutting
down the track, he said.
“We’re planning to try to avoid it.
That’s our objective,” Wade said. “But
if we were to seek it sometime next
year, if it comes about at some point,
it’s not to close down. It’s to stay open.”
Maxxam president and board chair
man Charles Hurwitz, strolling
through the track pavilion among less
than 3,000 spectators Nov. 20, declined
comment on the track’s performance or
whether his company planned to seek
complete control through bankruptcy.
Hurwitz, who commands about 45
percent of Sam Houston stock, would
say only that he was optimistic for the
track’s survival.
“I’m optimistic. Always optimistic,”
See Racing/Page 8
Somp*
JL JLJL JL
Texas law will boost
cattle rustling
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Texas has come a
long way from the days when cattle rustlers
were summarily hanged.
Too far, some say.
In the past, theft of livestock valued at
$1,500 or more was a third-degree felony
packing sentences of up to 10 years in prison.
But a change in the Texas penal code that
took effect Sept. 1 made cattle-theft losses of
$1,500 to $20,000 fourth-degree felonies.
Such crimes are punishable by a year in jail
or, if no violence or weapon is used during
the crime, mandatory probation.
“The new law is not even a slap on the
wrist for rustlers,” said Steve Munday, a
spokesman for the Texas and Southwestern
Cattle Raisers Association. “It is a green
light for the decriminalization of that of
fense.”
In 1993, the most recent statistics avail
able, 145 theft cases were solved by special
See Rustlers/Page 8