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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1996)
irch 18, 1996 ion Even Stephens: A&M first baseman excels at the plate and in the field. SPORTS, PAGE 7 Miller: Southwest Airlines doesn't fly high with passengers. OPINION, PAGE 11 ight >ut of Dennis re,” Rodman . “If I butted So suspend Suspend me, /s are so big, Ns i XThe Batta 102, No. Ill (12 pages) Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893 Tuesday • March 19, 1996 /ould review an exam- t care/' IS RODMAN cago Bull forward aking a deci- turn a phone nree games in playing the home to take Puesday night lursday. made up for Iman against 6 rebounds to 37 points as 3 victory. Boehlert, R- ight to soften n environmen- GOP was "go- lurry” but now mtial danger, of the House acknowledged led the issue, rloehlert said, nly Boehlert ouse Republi- t a regulatory denounced by 63 GOP mem- House leader- Democrats to •sial provisions ital Protection >ill. mth, House >ned a more ry reform bill clear it would fight over the sPlIitl :e (llifi 3C Center's d on sale for linder of the du still have ave money! :15-6:15pm 0-9:00pm n. other events, sucl 1 oter. In order to help are guaranteed to be is always open rt for outdoor n ailable for sli courts bv : 4 ! ,7 Tdi Former student indicted for sexual assault SyLily Aguilar The Battalion The man charged with raping two Texas A&M students in 1995 was in feed March 14 by a Brazos County gand jury on four counts of sexual as sault. Bob Wiatt, University Police De partment director, said enough evi dence was found to indict Don Richard Davis, a 22-year-old A&M graduate, after the Department of Public Safety Jetermined that Davis’ blood sample matched evidence found in the cases of two women he raped. Wiatt said the grand jury’s decision to indict Davis on two counts of sexual assault for each victim reflects the se riousness of the crime. “It is unusual to have two counts of sexual assault for each victim,” Wiatt said. “(The attacker) kept both victims for 45 minutes, committing several sexual activities. “The grand jury issued one indictment for each type of sexual act, which is kind of unusual. They wanted to show this was not a hurried instance, but one where the victims were abused extensive ly over a prolonged period of time.” The grand jury recommended a $2 million bond for Davis, Wiatt said, but Judge John Delany reduced the bond to $100,000 on March 15. “The grand jury usually does not recommend a bond for $2 million,” he said. “The judge recognized the grand jury was trying to send a message, but it was without legality. So he reduced the bond.” Wiatt said Davis remained incarcer ated Monday, unable to make the bond. In January, Davis was arrested in Dallas after his first victim recognized "The grand jury issued one indictment for each type of sexual act, which is kind of unusual. — BOB WIATT University Police Department director him in a Bryan supermarket where Davis was working as a cashier. He was later released on a $50,000 bond. Wiatt said UPD hopes Davis’ arrest will deter others from committing sim ilar crimes. “We have had no stranger rapes in several years,” he said. “We really wanted to catch the rapist because the frequency of stranger rapes might in crease if people know they won’t get caught.” Wiatt said that in both rapes, which occurred in January and May 1995, the attacker used a knife to threaten the women but did not harm them with the weapon. Dave House, The Battalion GUIDING THE FRIENDLY SKIES Dylan Sullivan, an air traffic controller, clears two T-37s for take-off at Easterwood Airport. Sullivan has been working at Easterwood for seven months and his job is to keep all planes clear of each other. Salvi receives life in prison The defense s plea of insanity was rejected by the jury Monday DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Rejecting claims that John C. Salvi III was driven by delusions of a vast anti-Catholic conspiracy, a jury Monday convicted him of murdering two women in a shooting ram page at two abortion clinics. The 24-year-old loner received the mandatory sentence of life in prison with no parole for the 1994 attacks in the Boston suburb of Brookline. As the verdicts were read, Salvi, who had repeatedly disrupted proceedings earlier in the case with demands to air his conspiracy notions, stood quietly, staring vacantly or bowing his head, his dark tie crooked. The jury deliberated nine hours over two days. Four of the six women on the jury cried as the verdicts were read, as did friends and relatives of the victims, and Salvi’p mother. The drama was extended as victims and their relatives read “vic tim impact statements” to the court just before the sentencing. “You were A little man with a big gun,” Ruth Ann Nichols, mother of one of the victims, said as she stared at Salvi. “I hope you have sheer misery for every day of your life.” Salvi’s lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., had argued that his client was in nocent by reason of insanity, and he repeatedly had asked Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara to declare Salvi incompetent to stand trial. The defense contended that the aspiring hairdresser envisioned himself a warrior fighting a worldwide, anti-Catholic conspiracy led by the Mafia, Freemasons and the Ku Klux Klan. Prosecutors argued that Salvi was in control of his senses and deliberately planned his crime. They noted Salvi practiced at a firing range the day before the killings, stocked up on 1,000 su per-deadly hollow-point bullets and cut his longish, curly hair hours after the attack. In closing arguments, prosecutor John Kivlan asked: “Every terrorist in this country we should excuse because they have strange beliefs?” See Salvi, Page 5 Vaccinations offered at Beutel By Danielle Pontiff The Battalion Texas A&M students, faculty and staff who have never had chicken pox or who will travel abroad this summer might benefit from a new ser vice offered at the A.P. Beutel Health Center. In January, the latest chicken pox and hepatitis A vaccines were made available at Beutel. The vac- tines, which can be billed to student fees, cost $110 and consist of two shots. The chicken pox shots are spaced four to eight weeks apart, and the hepatitis A shots are spaced six to 12 months apart. Sharon Arnold, Beutel assistant director for nursing services, said the vaccines will protect stu dents who come into contact with the diseases. “Sometimes chicken pox can be serious and cause a person to become severely ill,” Arnold said. ‘Adults who get the chicken pox risk complications like pneumonia and bronchitis.” The new chicken pox vaccine is a live, diluted sample of the varicella virus that causes the disease. Chicken pox is spread by direct contact with someone who is infected or with respiratory tract secretions. The communicability rate among adults who did not have the disease as children is 86 percent. Lois Carpenter, a Beutel registered nurse, said the chicken pox vaccine causes minimal side effects. “Severe reactions are rare,” Carpenter said. “The most common are pain, redness or swelling at the injection site. It is injected in the upper arm or in the thigh.” Beutel policy requires people to stay at the health center 20 minutes after receiving the shot to make sure they do not have severe reactions. Patients are administered a live virus in the he patitis A vaccine as well. Hepatitis A is a serious See Vaccinations, Page 12 FDA unveils new tobacco evidence Affidavits detail nicotine research, allege levels adjusted WASHINGTON (AP) — Philip Morris created a Machine to watch smokers’ brain waves react to ticotine, former company scientists contend — Part of a rash of fresh allegations that the world’s largest tobacco company has researched and con- 'folled nicotine in cigarettes. Affidavits by former employees, unveiled Monday V the Food and Drug Administration, contradict 'tinpany executives’ sworn testimony to Congress tat they have not manipulated nicotine content. Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro cigarettes, ! aid it had not reviewed the affidavits, but it [ailed the latest allegations “similar to those made Vothers in the past.” The Justice Department opened a perjury in stigation of tobacco executives based on the ear- bar accusations. Last week the industry’s fifth-largest company, jbe Liggett Group, settled its part of a'nationwide Writ claiming tobacco firms manipulated nicotine !°hook smokers. And the new accounts by company Aiders could help plaintiffs in the continuing law suit against Philip Morris and other firms. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a longtime in dustry critic, said Congress should conduct further investigations in light of the latest findings, but he asserted lawmakers had “been silenced because of payoffs from the tobacco industry.” “It’s important for the Justice Department to conduct its inquiry because Congress is not going to do its job,” Waxman said. Philip Morris’ stock skidded $4 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. Other tobacco stocks also tumbled. The FDA released the statements by two former top scientists and a newly retired plant manager under a federal law that requires it to make public evidence it plans to use in its pending crackdown on cigarettes. The scientists alleged Philip Morris built an “ol factometer” to give smokers precise amounts of nicotine and other chemicals. The machine, when See Investigation, Page 12 Republicans dominate state local, primaries By Michelle Lyons The Battalion The Texas Republican Party had reason to celebrate last week after pulling in over one million votes in the Republican primary, the largest Texas Republican primary turnout in history. Besides breaking records by obtaining a whopping 1,017,000 votes, the Republican primary received 94,000 more voters than the Texas Democratic primary. This trend was apparent in Brazos County as well. According to the Brazos County Voter Registration Office, as of March 1, almost 61,000 Brazos County citizens were registered to vote. Of that number, the Democratic primary pulled in 2,585 votes and the Republican primary pulled in 7,850 votes. These numbers do not include Brazos County residents who voted from Feb. 21 to March 8 in the early election, in which 758 people voted Democrat and 2,646 people voted Republican. Tom Pauken, Texas Republican Party chairman, said the dramatic numbers were encouraging for his party. “We are clearly now a two-party state,” Pauken said. “For the first time ever, more people voted in the Republican primary than in the Democratic party.” Pauken said there has been a significant increase in the number of Republican voters since 1992, attributing the increase to the number of conservative Democrats who are changing parties. These Democrats are discontent with the ideals of their party leaders, Pauken said, and are looking to the Republican party for a solution. In addition, Pauken said it is becoming more “acceptable” to be a Republican now than it was in past years when Texas was predominantly a Democratic state. Pauken said Texas is experiencing a significant growth in the Republican party, especially in rural areas and mid-sized cities. Dave Brown, College Republicans president and a junior political science major, See Primaries, Page 5
