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NO HEADLINER
Uptmor: Buffalo Tom's
new album ensures it a
place in the shadows.
Aggielife, Page 3
Equal opportunity I The bench brigade
Editorial: A&M should be
commended for providing equal
opportunities to disabled students.
Opinion, Page 11
Reserves of the A&M Volleyball Team
keep their teammates up while they're
sitting down.
Sports, Page
Battalio
Vol. 102, No. 37 (12 pages)
Established in 1893
Tuesday • October 17, 1995
Shamburger makes no plea in murder trial
jlhe case will continue
oday at 9 a.m. in the
361st district court at
he Brazos County
lourthouse.
)y Lily Aguilar and
Melissa Keerins
The Battalion
Ron Scott Shamburger went
m trial Monday for the Sept. 30,
1994 capital murder of Lori Ann
Baker, a 20-year-old Texas A&M
accounting major.
Prosecutor Vanessa Muldrow
reviewed the indictment, which
charged Shamburger with murder
,d robbery of a habitation. Sham-
(urger declined to enter a plea.
Prosecutors pointed out that
aker was found wearing a shirt
and underwear at the murder
site, indicating that the murder
er did not gain entry to the
house with Baker’s permission.
Robbie Herndon, roommate of
the victim’s brother, said Baker
wore shorts and a T-shirt that
evening and said she never en
tertained company wearing less.
“Lori never greeted people in
a T-shirt and underwear,” Hern
don said. “Lori was a modest girl
as far as the way she dressed.”
Victoria Kohler, Baker’s room
mate, said that when she came
home that evening, she discov
ered the front door was unlocked.
She said she heard Baker’s
bedroom door open and went to
see her.
“I walked toward (Lori’s)
room to talk to her,” Kohler said.
“I rounded the comer and there
was a guy standing there hold
ing a gun. I said, ‘Who are you?’
He said he was a friend.
“I screamed and tried to run.
He grabbed my hair and threw
me on the ground. Then he sat
on my back.”
Kohler
identified the
intruder as
Shamburger,
and said he
began asking
her questions
while strad
dling her back.
“He asked
me if I was a
Christian, if I
was a believ
er,” she said.
“He asked if I
had a boyfriend and did he treat
me nice. Then he started asking
me about money.”
Kohler said Shamburger
asked if she had any cash or
Shamburger
credit cards, and she told him
she had some money and credit
cards in her room.
She also said Shamburger
held a gun to her back during
the conversation.
“He kept repeating, ‘Don’t
move, don’t scream or it will be
over,”’ she said.
When Shamburger went to re
trieve the money, Kohler said
she did not try to escape and lied
when Shamburger asked if she
could identify him because, “I
was afraid of dying.”
Kohler said she “slithered”
along the floor with a blanket
over her head, and Shamburger
guided her to the bathroom. He
then bound her hands with duct
tape and left her to “talk to
Lori,” she said.
Shamburger returned five
minutes later, Kohler said, put
her in the trunk of her car and
left her again to “talk to Lori
some more.” He returned about
10 minutes later, she said, and
started driving the car.
Kohler said he kept talking to
her and told her casually, “I
guess you know Lori’s dead.”
Shamburger then asked her if
he should commit suicide be
cause he had done something
“very bad,” she said.
Shamburger stopped the car,
she said, opened the trunk and
told her to stay there for a while
or until she heard sirens.
Shamburger told her he was
going to bum down the house and
left her, she said. Kohler said she
waited about 15 minutes before
she climbed out of the trunk and
into the driver’s seat.
She went to the house of her
friends’ neighbors and woke the
women who lived there.
“I was hysterical, screaming
and crying,” Kohler said. “They
let me in once they knew I would
not hurt them.”
Kohler stayed at the house
until the police arrived.
Mark Baker, the victim’s
brother and neighbor, said he
had noticed a strange white car
parked across from his house af
ter he returned home from Bak
er’s, and later decided to investi
gate when he heard a loud bang.
Mark Baker said he and
Herndon walked toward Baker’s
house, saw a person’s shadow in
the garage and smoke pouring
out of the back of the house.
He said he yelled for his sis
ter, and then he heard a voice
coming from the back yard say
ing, “She’s dead.”
Mark Baker said he encoun
tered a man, whom he identified
See Trial, Page 1 2
,hat
ily get
i that,
able to
leak."
Addressing the issues
African-American men dedicate
selves to unity, brighter future
if Affairs
□ Monday's Million
Man March harbored
a generally prayerful
and inspirational
tone.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pray
ing, chanting and reveling in a
day of racial pride and brother
hood, vast numbers of black men
stood united Monday to dedicate
themselves to uplifting each oth
er and their families.
In a dramatic finale. Nation
of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan
proclaimed divine guidance in
bringing to Washington the
largest assemblage of African-
Americans since the 1963 March
on Washington.
The “Million Man March” had
critics who cited Farrakhan’s in
flammatory statements about
Jews, Catholics, gays and Asians,
but he brushed them aside.
“Whether you like it or not,
God brought the idea through
me, and he didn’t bring it
through me because my heart
was dark with hatred and anti-
Semitism,” Farrakhan said.
“If my heart was that dark,
how is the message so bright?”
The throng stretched for
blocks from the foot of the Capi
tol down the grassy expanse of
the national Mall. The day was
chilly but bright, the mood seri
ous yet buoyant.
“There is no violence here, no
racism,” said Omar Holt of De
troit. “It’s very moving.”
Young men dressed in jeans,
sweatshirts and jackets domi
nated the crowd. But men of all
ages were jammed shoulder-to-
shoulder in front of the stage.
Others climbed onto statues,
light posts and trees for a better
view. A few waded through the
Reflecting Pool.
“It’s a healing feeling to see
so many black men come togeth
er, and not a whole bunch of vio
lence or drugs or all that stuff,”
said Donald Simms of the
Brooklyn borough of New York
City. “This whole thing is about
self-respect.”
People lined up 10-deep
around the food vendors, and
the mixed aromas of barbecue
and vegetarian curries filled the
air. Scores of Nation of Islam
members, standing erect in suits
and their trademark bow ties,
lent an air of solemnity.
Civil rights veterans Jesse
Jackson, Rosa Parks and Dick
Gregory were among dozens of
back-to-back speakers who
See Washington, Page 10
Group holds “mini march”
□ The event brought the
issue of Washington's
Million Man March closer
to home.
By Kasie Byers
The Battalion
More than 50 African-Ameri
can men marched from Rudder
Fountain to the University Ad
ministration Building Monday,
sparked by the Million Man
March in Washington, D.C.
Darius Morris, a senior busi
ness analysis major, and
Cheezz Washington, political
co-chair for Texas A&M’s
NAACP chapter and a junior
computer engineering major,
addressed the crowd about the
importance of the D.C. and
campus march.
Morris said this is the time
in America when African-Amer
ican men need to focus on
changing their image.
This starts with strengthen
ing their relationships with
women, he said.
“Black men need to condition
themselves to respect not just
African-American women, but
all women, because they are the
ones bringing forth future gen
erations,” he said. “All physical
and verbal abuse of women ulti
mately affects the mentality of
the child.”
Monday was the time for
See Campus, Page i o
Shane Elkins, The Battalion
Yikes!
Junior animal science major Mandy Blackmon is startled when Jennifer Wahrmund, junior
agricultural development major pulls out one of Bossy's teeth. Bossy is the resident cow skele
ton in the Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center.
Support Services works to
make A&M more accessible
Clinton claims country at crossroads
□ The president asked whites and
African-Americans to become
educated of each other's history
and fears.
By Wes Swift
The Battalion
President Clinton urged African-Americans and
whites to work toward racial harmony and “clean
our house of racism” Monday in Austin, while
thousands of African-American men marched on
Washington, D.C. for unity.
The president told a crowd of more than 11,000
at the Frank Erwin, Jr. Special Events Center at
the University of Texas that the United States is
at a crossroads of race relations.
“Today, we face a choice,” Clinton said. “One
way leads to further separation and bitterness and
Sterling Hayman, The Battalion
President Clinton addressed a UT audience Monday.
See Clinton, Page 10
□ The department offers such
benefits as extended-time testing,
interpreters and registration
assistance.
By Melissa Keerins
The Battalion
Texas A&M facilities and services are readi
ly accessible to students with any kind of dis
abilities, Donna Williams, Support Services for
Students with Disabilities accommodations co
ordinator, said.
See related EDITORIAL, Page 11 i
“A&M is doing very well with handicap ac
cessibility, considering the age of the Universi
ty,” Williams said.
The Americans with Disabilities Act pro
vides that all facilities constructed before June
3, 1977 do not need to be made accessible as
long as program and activities are accessible to
persons with disabilities.
If a building is modified, it must be made
accessible to the maximum extent feasible.
Buildings constructed after that date must be
readily accessible and usable to individuals
with disabilities.
“If someone needs accommodations in our
older buildings, the class is moved to an acces
sible building,” Williams said. “We don’t need
to go and tear up buildings that have been
here prior to 1977.”
Support Services maintains a physical ac
cessibility guide that describes access to build
ings on campus.
Several residence halls have handicap-ac
cessible rooms, Williams said. The rooms are
held for students with disabilities, but those
students must come to Support Services so
they can work with the housing department.
“There are enough rooms, and they are held
in reserve until I make sure they are not need
ed,” she said. “Then the rooms can be released
for other students to use.”
Support Services not only helps students in
wheelchairs, but blind, deaf and other disabled
students who need services.
Academic accommodations are provided to
allow students with disabilities to have an
equal education opportunity. These accommo
dations may include extended-time testing, in
terpreters, note-taking services, reader ser
vices and registration assistance.
Reggie Deal, a senior speech communication
major, is a blind student who takes advantage
of Support Services.
“Basically Support Services works with me
See Services, Page 4
Stew Milne, The Battaiion
The Academic Building is handicap accessible.