X
A Sc
WL
XJ
N
E
R
T
Y
sent.
Third strike
The A&M Volleyball Team
was defeated by Texas for
the third straight time.
Sports, Page 7
Testy tempers I Executive romance
Hernandez: Stress of finals and term
papers can sometimes grow into violent
dispositions.
Opinion, Page 9
Lovestruck president
faces ruthless foes in
latest Reiner film.
Aggielife, Page 3
mse
alkb
ATTALIO
ISSUf
itde-
DO*
White House, GOP brace for budget talks
j Clinton promised he
would hang tough for
democratic priorities.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With
budget truce revving the gov-
rnment back to life, the White
douse and congressional Repub-
icans pledged Monday to use
December talks to champion di-
ergent spending priorities that
lave so far been irreconcilable.
The GOP signaled possible give
m its prized tax cut.
Democrats and Republicans
Jalike seemed relieved that the
Jongest-ever partial federal shut-
own was ending, a six-day or-
leal that had both parties fear-
ank
u.cdu
ing retribution by disgusted vot
ers. But there was doggedness,
too, and White House
spokesman Mike McCurry
warned, “We’ll be right back
where we were” unless the two
sides strike a budget deal by
mid-December.
A day after bipartisan leaders
shook hands on a pact reopening
government through Dec. 15, the
House overwhelmingly approved
the measure 421-4 and shipped
it to President Clinton for his
signature. The legislation com
mits both sides to seeking a bal
anced budget in seven years us
ing congressional economic cal
culations, which Republicans
h^d demanded for months, and
to protect social programs, as the
White House insisted. It was ap
proved Sunday by the Senate.
Before recessing for Thanks
giving, the
House also
gave final con-
gressional
blessing to the
GOP plan for
balancing the
budget by
2002 on a
mostly party
line 235-192
vote. It would
overhaul
Medicare, slice
scores of programs and trim tax
es for millions.
Clinton’s long-promised veto
of that measure will serve as the
Gingrich
starter’s flag for bargaining that
Republican leaders said they
hoped would begin next Monday.
With those sessions in mind, the
GOP prepared to send a letter to
Clinton asking that he provide
them with a detailed, seven-year
budget-balancing plan of his own
next week.
The president had long said
that the GOPs seven-year, bud
get-balancing timetable would
force overly harsh spending cuts.
Democrats said Monday that to
meet that schedule, the key in
upcoming negotiations would be
to force Republicans to shrink
their planned $245 billion tax
break for families and businesses.
“Well, I think that has to be
on the table,” responded House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.,
on NBC’s “Today” program.
Trimming the tax cut would
make things easier for politi
cians and bureaucrats, but
“harder for parents,” he added.
Clinton met with House De
mocrats in a Capitol basement
meeting room to send them
home for Thanksgiving on an up
beat note, promising to hang
tough for Democratic priorities,
participants said.
But he also warned them that
“everybody can’t have their way,”
said Rep. Barbara Kennelly, D-
Conn., a reference to compromis
es he said would be inevitable.
Both sides said they were
mulling plans for the structure of
their negotiations. But for now.
each stressed that going in, they
had achieved what they wanted.
“If we do what we should do
between now and Dec. 15, it
won’t make any difference who
won and who lost,” said Senate
Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-
Kan. But he couldn’t resist
adding: “I think we won. We
didn’t blink.”
That is not how Democrats
saw it.
“The president got what we
wanted,” boasted White House
staff chief Leon Panetta on ABC’s
“Good Morning America,” saying
the administration got Republi
cans to promise to protect
Medicare, Medicaid, education,
See Budget, Page 5
1£
11
Aggies helping others
Students provide ready reading
□ A library established for
Mockingbird Run will serve
300 school-aged children
and their families.
By Michelle Lyons
The Battalion
Three children sit in front of a small,
hand-built bookcase, poring over color
ful picture books. It is a scene some
Texas A&M students are hoping will be
come common at the Mockingbird Run
apartment complex in a dilapidated part
of Bryan.
A&M educational human resource
development students pooled their re
sources with members of the Bryan-Col-
lege Station community to establish a li
brary for Mockingbird Run.
Dr. Don Seaman, an A&M professor of
educational human resource develop
ment, said the students in his class chose
this library project out of several others.
“We had several projects nominat
ed,” Seaman said. “[The students] saw
the chance to do something in the com
munity; they wanted something that
was doable.”
Because the area surrounding the
complex is in a run-down section of
Bryan and because there are so many
children living there, the class approved
of the project as a means of helping those
who may otherwise be underprivileged.
The group also chose the project, Sea
man said, because the results could be
easily observed.
Seaman said he enjoyed this particu
lar project because it went beyond A&M.
“This is the first time I’ve ever had
a project that went outside the cam
pus,” he said. “It’s bridging the Univer
sity and the community, and that’s
what I like. I think everybody has a
pretty good feeling,”
Jacque Taylor, Federal Women’s Pro
gram manager for the Bryan federal
prison camp and a student in the class,
said the class chose the project with the
hopes of increasing the reading rate at
the complex, especially since so many
school-aged children live there.
See Library, Page 5
Gwendolyn Struve, The Battalion
Nicholas Hall, age 3, browses books
Monday in the new library set up at his
apartment complex.
Environmental design majors devote
energies to local health-care center
□ The project prevents the isolation of senior
citizens by integrating the surrounding
community into the facility.
By Heather Pace
The Battalion
Daniel Bertrand and Stephen Tarnoki, senior environmen
tal design majors, created a health-care center design that
prevents the isolation of senior citizens by integrating the
surrounding community into the facility.
This project and seven others were the focus of a “Compre
hensive Facility for the Elderly of Brazos County,” which were
presented last night at the Education Center of St. Joseph Re
gional Health Center.
Students began their eight-week projects by gaining an un
derstanding of the hospital’s vision for the future.
Shane Elkins, The Battalion
ilM Vinh Nguyen and Charles Johnson, both senior environmental
majors, make the final touches on their facility's design
Each team, composed of two students, developed a logo, pur
pose and clay model before getting feedback from the hospital.
The projects include sections for independent living, assist
ed living, skilled nursing, home care services, Alzheimer’s and
hospice care.
Michael Reeder, a senior environmental design major, said
they talked to different people and visited the E.F. & Bertha
Kruse Memorial Lutheran Village in Brenham, Texas to gain
a better understanding of the facility’s needs.
“Our project became more detailed as they told us if it was go
ing well or if we should go in a different direction,” Reeder said.
Mitchell Ruiz, a junior environmental design major, said
the project will be beneficial in the future because it provided
him with practical working experience.
“The project helps up because solving problems prepares us
for the true problems of architecture,” Ruiz said, “when you
have to deal with real needs, real budgets and real people.”
Although students had the same problem to solve, they
tackled their problems in different ways.
Chuck Johnson and Vinh Nguyen, senior environmental
design majors, left a 100-foot setback to sublet for future re
tail expansion, kept vehicles to the perimeter of their project
and designed a miniature golf course.
They focused their center around a recreation center, a
community center and a chapel, which ties together those liv
ing in independent or with assistance.
Johnson and Nguyen structured their project around the
environment by utilizing natural vegetation and planning a
lake that extends throughout the community.
Bertrand and Tarnoki decided to create a dual day-care
center for elders and children.
“The day-care center adds to the elders’ enjoyment,” Bertrand
said, “by enabling them to mingle with children.”
The site of the future facility would be a 21.3 acre lot locat
ed on 29th Street and Villa Maria.
Sister Gretchen Kunz, St. Joseph Regional Health Center
president, said financing is currently preventing the plans
from becoming a reality.
“I dream and pray for the money,” Kunz said. “That is the
main thing holding us up.”
1
IT 1 ir« ii i i #
i
imm. &
1 SlI llllw
Shane Elkins, The Battalion
Free? At A&M?
-N
Renee DeCarlo, a senior marketing major, gave out free popcorn and
candy in the MSC Monday. The goodies were provided by the MSC Pub
lic Relations Committee.
Court case stalls B-CS
utility rates
□ College Station residents
may face higher electric
bills.
By Tara Wilkinson
The Battalion
Depending on the outcome of a
court dispute between the cities of
Bryan and College Station, residents
of some College Station annexes may
have to pay Bryan utility rates, and
all College Station residents may
face higher electric bills.
Judge J.D. Langley of the 85th
District Court in Bryan made a par
tial ruling on the utilities disagree
ment in October. The judgment,
which favored Bryan, has little effect
until a final decision is made. A
court date for the final ruling has not
yet been set.
The dispute concerns a two-part
agreement made in 1980 when Col
lege Station annexed land located
on Highway 30 past the intersection
of Harvey Road and Highway 6, on
which a Texas Instruments plant
was being built. Until it is annexed,
rural Brazos Valley falls under
Bryan’s jurisdiction.
The agreement specified that
though College Station would annex
the land in question, Bryan would
continue to provide utility service for
See Dispute, Page 5
i