30, 1995
he first
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finished
3, whose
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exas and
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Practice
lightly.”
/ol. 101, No ; 84 (14 pages)
AGGIES VS. SMU
The men's basketball team hopes to bounce
back from Saturday's loss against TCU.
Sports, Page 10
STUCK ON SENSATIONALISM
Americans are captivated by stories
like the OJ. Simpson murder trial.
Opinion, Page 13
“Serving Texas AdrM since 1893”
THE VINYL REVIVAL
Bands such as Pearl Jam are helping
vinyl albums make a comeback.
Aggielife, Page
Tuesday • January 31, 1995
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Parsons
funding
□ Funding reductions
will not affect members'
annual dues.
By Gretchen Perrenot
The Battalion
The funding Parsons Mounted
Cavalry receives from the Fiscal
Department may decrease by up
to half the current amount for a
second time in 1997.
The current $25,000 of fund
ing is almost half of what the
Cavalry received from the Fiscal
Department in 1992-1993.
Col. Don Johnson, assistant
commandant for the Corps of
Cadets, said funding was re
duced because A&M’s invest
ment interest has gone down,
causing a decrease in money
available for funds.
The Cavalry is not the only
A&M group whose funding has
been affected, Sgt. Maj. Tom
Epting, assistant recruiting co
ordinator and adviser for the
Cavalry, said.
Cavalry members’ annual
dues, another source of the Cav
alry’s annual funds, will not be
increased to supplement any
Mounted Cavalry
faces reduction
funding problems, Epting said.
Members’ dues range from $60
to $100 a year, depending on the
student’s classification.
The Cavalry also receives
funding from the Memorial Stu
dent Center bookstore and the
Office of the Vice President for
Student Affairs. These funds
will also not be affected, he said.
To supplement funds, the
Cavalry set up a daily opera
tional fund and endowment fund
several years ago.
Anyone can contribute mon
ey and equipment to the Caval
ry’s need. Members of the Cav
alry are asked to solicit help to
ward these funds from others,
especially former members,
Epting said.
The daily operational fund has
a goal of $50,000 a year to pro
vide for the operational mainte
nance, feeding, travel, insurance
and veterinary expenses.
The endowment fund, which
has a goal of $1 million, cur
rently has about $51,000 and
was set up for the Cavalry’s fu
ture expenses.
“Ultimately the Cavalry
wants to be totally self-support
ing,” Epting said. “We’re a long
way from that goal.”
The initial endowment fund
was established by the Parsons
Mounted Cavalry
Association(PMCA), a group
made up mostly of current
and former members and
their parents.
“The PMCA helps us in a lot
of ways,” Epting said. “They
feed us on Corps trips and at
livestock and rodeo shows.”
Epting said that one way or
another, there will always
be a Cavalry.
There will also not be a re
duction in the size of the Cav
alry because of reduced fund
ing, he said.
The Cavalry’s expenses have
gone down because of a substan
tial reduction in insurance costs,
inventive budgeting such as
finding a less expensive pasture
for the horses during the sum
mer and Cavalry members doing
their own hay hauling, he said.
An additional donation from
the Office of the Vice President
for Student Affairs aided the
the Cavalry’s recent participa
tion in the state governor’s inau
gural parade.
HH
Roger HsiehfTHE Battalion
The famous Parsons Mounted Cavalry stables are located off Highway 2818.
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Proposed federal budget cuts threaten
KAMU, other public 1 V stations
□ The Corporation of Public
Broadcasting faces
elimination of funding.
By Brad Dressier
The Battalion
Public broadcasting stations like KAMU
will face major changes if calls to eliminate
funding to the Corporation of Public Broad-
| casting(CPB) are carried through.
| If the federal funding is cut, the smaller sta
tions such as those at Texas A&M would most
likely have one option, to gain local sponsors for
all the programming, KAMU officials said.
Only 10 percent of the programming at local
public broadcasting stations is supported by
local sponsors.
Local public broadcasting relies on the CPB
for the majority of its funding.
See Editorial, Page 13
Dr. Richard Schaefer, assistant professor in the
Department of Journalism, said federal hinds are
directed through the CPB to the local stations.
“The majority of the federal funding is seed
money put toward local programming,” he
said. “The money is used to purchase the ne
cessities such as scripts, sets and equipment.”
Schaefer said federal funding allows quality
shows to air that might not otherwise survive
in the world of commercial broadcasting.
“The problem with commercializing the
public broadcasting industry is essentially
that the programming has not been proven to
sell products,” Schaefer said. “If the programs
do not draw enough of a purchasing audience,
then commercials are not a true option.”
David J. Brugger, president of the Associa
tion of America’s Public Television Stations,
said public television is a beneficial return on
federal tax dollars.
“For about 80 cents per person, 99 percent
of American households with television receive
the highest quality noncommercial broadcast
programming and services available anywhere
in the world.”
The local Educational Broadcast
Serviees(EBS) has provided a number of ser
vices to the surrounding community for 29
years in the areas of instruction, research and
public service.
Among the services offered are KAMU, the
Trans-Texas Videoconference Network and
Texas A&M classes via satellite.
The 1994 total budget of $1.6 million for
BBS came from four major areas. University
support, income from audio and video produc
tions for outside clients and viewer donations
provided part of the funding, while Federal
Community Service Grants provided approxi
mately one third of the total funding for EBS.
During the 1994 fiscal year, KAMU received
28 percent of its funding from federal grants,
28 percent from the University, 17 percent
from contract productions and 17 percent from
viewer donations.
Bush works to find support for
proposed Mexican rescue package
Governor meets with Clinton,
other governors, members of
Congress in Washington
WASHINGTON (AP) — During his first official
trip to the nation’s capital since becoming gover
nor, Texan George W. Bush is focusing much of
his attention on rallying support for a plan to
shore up Mexico’s battered peso.
In town for the winter meeting of the Nation
al Governors Association, the Republican has
been making the case for the $40 billion loan-
guarantee package with members of Congress
and other governors.
“A lack of confidence in Mexico and its currency
will be disastrous for Texas,” Bush said Monday in
a sitdown with Texas reporters.
As a border state, Texas would be directly hit by
a long-term Mexican economic setback. Bush noted,
pointing to the twin dangers for Texas of rising ille
gal immigration and declining exports to Mexico.
“I have taken what I believe is a very strong
pro-Texas position in regards to making sure that
our neighbor to the south is provided enough well-
collateralized credit to get them over this short
term crisis,” the governor said.
The Clinton administration’s proposed rescue
plan — amounting to the United States cosigning
Mexico’s loans, with Mexican oil revenues pledged
as collateral — has suffered an erosion of support
on Capitol Hill in recent weeks.
President Clinton’s failure to line up Democrat
ic support is being blamed for the tepid support in
Congress, where skittish Republicans also are
withholding their backing.
“I realize it is not politically popular back
home,” Clinton conceded Monday in a speech to
the nation’s governors. “It’s a rather complex issue
but it is clearly in the interests of American work
ers, American businesses and the United States
See Bush, Page 7
Bart Mitchell/THE Battalion
Searching for the perfect one...
Nathan McFall, a sophomore business adminis- dants for sale in the MSC breezeway. The sale
tration major, examines one of hundreds of pen- will continue through the week.
Two Texas inmates executed early today
First multiple execution in 44 years
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP)
— Two convicted killers were
executed early today 88 min
utes apart, marking the first
time in 44 years Texas carried
out back-to-back capital pun
ishment on the same day.
Clifton Russell, 33, con
demned for the robbery-murder
of an Abilene man in 1979, was
the first to be strapped to the
death chamber gurney.
He was followed nearly an
hour and a half later by Willie
Williams, 38, sentenced to die
for a 1980 robbery-murder at a
Houston convenience store.
“I want to thank my friends
and family for sticking with me
through all this,” Russell said
in a final statement.
After a couple of deep
breaths and a single gasp,
there was no further move
ment. He was declared dead at
12:29 a.m. CST, eight minutes
after the lethal drugs began
flowing into his arms.
A crowd of about 40 people,
most of them students from
nearby Sam Houston Universi
ty, applauded and cheered as
witnesses emerged from the
prison. A few people carried
candles to protest the punish
ment.
Corrections officials removed
Russell’s body from the cham
ber, replaced the needles and
tubes that carried the lethal
chemicals and changed the gur
ney sheet while Williams was
driven the 15 miles from the
Ellis I Unit prison, home of
death row, to the Walls Unit in
downtown Huntsville, where
the death chamber is located.
“Time never was without
love and peace in Islam,”
Williams mumbled quickly in
his brief final statement.
He gasped once, coughed a
couple of times and wheezed as
the drugs took effect. Eight
minutes later, at 1:57 a.m., he
too was pronounced dead.
By the time of his punish
ment, the crowd outside had
dwindled to just a silent hand
ful of death penalty opponents
carrying candles.
‘What is remarkable about
this situation is not that two
people were executed this
evening, but that for a com
bined 29 years the people of the
state of Texas were waiting for
justice to be done,” Drew
Durham, an assistant attorney
general, said.