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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1996)
TOURNAMENT TIME The Lady Aggies play Rice in the first round of the SWC Classic. Sports, Page 7 1)1,102, No. 107 (12 pages) CONSERVATIVE HERDS ■ TIMELESS TRUTH Stidvent: There is a big difference between true conservatives and Aggie conservatives. Opinion, Page 11 Abdication is part of a project celebrating female playwrights. Aggielife, Page 4 Battalion Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893 Wednesday • March 6, 1996 Sterling Hayman, The Battalion VISIT OF VISION Former President George Bush, shakes hands with David Washington, a senior political science major, in front of the Clayton Williams, Jr. Alumni Center Tuesday. Bush visited the A&M campus to address par ticipants in the Eisenhower Leadership Develop ment Program and a presidential studies class, and to observe the progress in the construction of the George Bush Presidential Library on West Campus. Bush said he was pleased that the project is well underway. "I'm thrilled," he said. "I couldn't believe the progress that's been made. "It's bigger than I thought. I've seen the plans and dimensions, but it's just so big." Dole seizes lead in GOP primaries □ Alexander and Lugar plan to quit the race Wednesday. (AP) — Sen. Bob Dole swept eight primaries Tuesday and seized an overwhelming lead in the Republican presidential race as GOP voters blocked Pat Buchanan’s conservative chal lenge and turned the party’s at tention to beating President Clinton in November. “We’ll return conservative leadership to the White House,” Dole told cheering sup porters in Washington, acting as if the nomination fight was over. “And I will be very proud to carry that banner.” So overwhelming were Dole’s victories that two lag ging rivals —former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and In diana Sen. Dick Lugar — de cided to quit the race on Wednesday, shrinking the field for the contests ahead. Dole, flush with confidence that his third bid for the GOP nomination would be successful, told The Associat ed Press, “I always felt in my heart it was going to happen, but you never know until the people vote.” He told the victory rally that the mission for Republicans now was to defeat Clinton. Dole won primaries in Geor gia, Vermont, Connecticut, Maryland, Maine, Massachu setts, Colorado and Rhode Is land — a “Junior Tuesday” pri mary sweep. There also were caucuses in Minnesota and Washington to begin choosing their convention delegates. Dole entered the night with 91 delegates and won 185 more. That gave him 276, well over a quarter of the way to ward the 996 needed to clinch nomination. Publisher Steve Forbes was a distant second, with 69 delegates. Dole predicted his lead would bulge even more after New York’s primary Thursday and then again in next week’s “Super Tuesday” contests in Texas, Florida and five other states. New York awards 93 delegates; 362 are at stake the following Tuesday. He was heading to Texas on Wednes day, to pick up the endorse ment of Gov. George W. Bush. Convinced Dole’s lead was insurmountable, Lugar and Alexander decided Tuesday night to bow out of the race. Lugar planned a noon an nouncement in Washington; Alexander was heading home to Tennessee to make his an nouncement there. Buchanan, though, headed to Florida and vowed to fight all the way to the Republican convention. “It’s a very uphill battle,” he acknowledged. But even if he can’t beat Dole, Buchanan made clear he want ed enough delegates to make his mark in San Diego. “I don’t know if I’m going to be the nominee but it’s going to be a Pat Buchanan party,” Buchanan said. “We’re going to write the platform for them.” The results, however, showed Buchanan’s support was wilting. His core support splintered in Tuesday’s voting, and he failed to match his 1992 primary showings in Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massa chusetts and Georgia. Forbes wasn’t falling into line behind Dole either. He criticized Dole as representing Delegate totals Delegates who have pledged support for the Republican presidential candidates. A total of 996 is needed to secure the nomination. Dole 223 Forbes 63 Buchanan 41 Alexander 10 Keyes 1 Lugar 0 Uncommitted 16 Associated Press “politics as usual,” and said, “The field is clearing out. There are these three clear stark choices.” Dole’s victories were all the more striking by their size. In Maryland, Colorado, Connecti cut, Vermont, and Rhode Is land, Dole won by 2-to-l mar gins. In Massachusetts and Maine his lead was over 20 points. Only Georgia was rela tively close — and Dole was beating Buchanan by nine points there, a state where Buchanan had boasted of his conservative appeal. It appeared Dole would add Minnesota to his victory list. With almost half the state’s caucus precincts reporting. Dole had 41 percent to 33 per cent for Buchanan. As Forbes and Buchanan vowed to press on, many GOP leaders said the race was all but over. See Dole, Page 9 Day care safety questioned JConcerns about the site of the future child-care center in the Grenada Building were addressed at Tuesday night's CSC meeting. ty Lisa Johnson Che Battalion A Texas A&M campus child-care center, originally st to open Fall 1996, will not be ready for operation ®)til late 1997 because of unexpected renovations at 4eproposed site. Mary Miller, associate vice president for adminis- tfation and chair of the child-care center advisory Kunmittee, said the Grenada Building, which was Sirchased by the University to house the child-care •enter, has to be gutted to replace a cracked slab •atisedby shifting in the underground water table. ‘I knew that when we announced that the center Jould be ready in 1996, that that was a little ambi tus,” Miller said. “We are having to make a lot of Ganges to the building both exteriorly and interiorly. “Hopefully, the facility will be finished next spring and operational that fall.” Last night at the Graduate Student Council meet ing, Miller addressed concerns about the building and the child-care center raised by Shanna Collie, a GSC member and graduate student in veterinary medi cine, and Stepheni Moore, GSC president and a grad uate student in meteorology. Collie said she has been accused by Miller and John A. Shadduck, dean of veterinary medicine, of spreading “false rumors” concerning the center. Collie sent e-mail to people on campus inquiring about the structural state of the building, saying she had heard of “large, scary cracks” in the walls. Miller said all problems with the structure of the building should be resolved once the slab is replaced. “Once the slab is corrected, there shouldn’t be any more structural problems,” she said. “Any cracking in the walls is purely cosmetic and poses no danger whatsoever. “Only an earthquake would cause problems like that to be of any significance to the building’s safety.” Collie, a mother and prospective center user, said See Day Care, Page 10 Old building lives on despite problems JThough Heaton Hall k not been condemned least one Texas A&M %iinistrator hopes it i be torn down within fyeto seven years. Kendra S. Rasmussen t Battalion condemned. Leonard Smith, assistant depart ment head of construction science, said there are not any condemned buildings on the A&M campus. “If it was condemned, (employ ees) couldn’t be in it,” Smith said. Heaton Hall, built in 1926 as a bookstore, now houses the regis trar’s office. Don Carter, University regis trar, said that because of an inci dent a few years ago in which in the building (during winter break) and the chilled-water pipes burst,” he said. Since the computers in Heaton Hall were ruined, Carter said, they now cover the equipment with plas tic as a common-sense practice. “We have been burned once be fore,” he said. Carter said that though the building is old, it serves its purpose. “The building is in good shape as far as our use of it,” he said. When Texas A&M closed during Kard freeze at the beginning of fonary, the staff of Heaton Hall not leave until all computer ^praent was secured with plastic Prevent possible water damage. .Daily, Heaton Hall employees ^1 with leaks in the roof, cracks J interior walls, mold in the air ^ts, doors that will not shut, in cold-water pipes, air con doning outages and the shifting dtidation of the aging building. Vet, the building has not been "The building is in good shape as far as our use of it." — Don Carter University registrar equipment was ruined, employees are required to cover all computer equipment before leaving for holi days and extended weekends as a precautionary measure. “Several years ago, for whatever reason, the heating was not left on Glenn Dowling, executive direc tor for planning, evaluation and institutional research, said Heaton Hall’s problems are not unique for a building of its age. See Building, Page 10 BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS Beutel teaches campus leaders to eat healthy □ A computer program called Computrition that evaluates nutritional intake is available to A&M students. By Heather Pace The Battalion Students who have to drag themselves out of bed to make their 8 a.m. classes often do not think about eating breakfast. Heather Korb, student assistant at Texas A&M’s A.P. Beutel Health Center and a ju nior nutrition science major, said a poll con ducted last semester found that only 20 per cent of A&M students polled eat breakfast, though benefits of a morning meal include improved concentration and endurance. Nutrition specialists advise students to eat at least something light, such as a bagel and orange juice, each morning. Several campus leaders were invited to the health center Tuesday morning to eat breakfast and learn how to improve their nutritional intake. Patrick Conway, MSG Council president; Toby Boenig, student body president; and Natasha Pfrommer, chair of the health cen ter’s Student Advisory Board, were among breakfast guests. Carlos Melgoza, a chef with A&M’s Food Services, provided the breakfast of hot cere al, fruit, fat-free muffins and orange juice. Earlier in the week, the participants en tered a typical day’s food intake into a com puter program, Computrition. Based on the program’s analyses of their food intakes, Korb gave participants various suggestions at the breakfast for improving their eating habits. Breakfast suggestions included eating nonfat yogurt, cereal and low-fat muffins and drinking juice. Korb found that most participants consumed an abundance of vitamins A and C. They ate adequate amounts of protein, See Breakfast, Page 10 Gwendolyn Struve, The Battalion Dr. Ray Bowen, Steve Miller, Rhonda Kogut and Kathy Durso eat breakfast at the Health Center Tuesday.
