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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 1996)
The Battalion Vol. 102, No. 152 (6 pages) Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893 INTERNET ADDRESS: http://bat-web.tamu.edu Thursday • June 20, 1996 DeWare demolition temporarily delayed Pat James, The Battalion joe Routt Boulevard is temporarily closed while DeWare Field House is demolished. Demolition has been temporarily delayed on an A&M building that served as the original recreation center. Destruction of DeWare Field House has been halted because of cracks in the structure. Joe Estill Jr., manager of construction for the A&M system, said the delay is for safety reasons. “There are structural cracks in the brick, and we wanted to make sure it comes down in an orderly manner,” Es till said. Mary Jo Powell, Associate Director of Pub lic Information for A&M, said the contractors are waiting for equipment. “The project contractor is expected to re sume demolition of both the pool and the field house once new equipment has ar rived,” Powell said. “That will probably be later this week or this weekend.” Joe Routt Boulevard to Clark Street in front of Cain Hall to Wellborn in all directions will be closed during the demolition. Estill said the demolition should be com pleted sometime in early August. Feds, communities rally against church torchers Clinton met with governors to discuss the fires WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeing racial motives but no conspiracy. President Clinton met Wednesday with Southern governors looking for ways to stop the torching of black churches. Those responsible must know, declared North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt: “We’re gonna get you.” The president, the governors and Congress rallied federal, state and community pressures into the effort. Chief executives from seven states, police, state attorneys general and members of Congress gathered at the White House to discuss prosecuting those who bum churches, rebuilding the ruins and preventing future arsons. Officials briefing reporters said the Clinton administration promised to fry and arrange a fund guaranteeing up to $10 million in private loans to rebuild churches damaged by arson or terror ism. It also is distributing a “church threat assessment guide” to help com munities protect places of worship. Additionally, prosecutors and police were assured that federal agents would not pull rank on state and local investigations. “The commitment that came out of the meeting was that we would work to gether,” said James Johnson, assistant treasury secretary for enforcement. Governors emerged pledging community-based work to stop the fires, including for mation of “church CLINTON watch” groups to guard churches much like “neighborhood watch” patrols monitor communities. “There will be no holding back. We’ve got to protect the churches,” said North Carolina’s Hunt, a Democrat. “The peo ple who are committing these crimes need to understand, we’re coming after you. We’re gonna get you.” The White House released a tally of 43 suspicious fires at churches in Southern states since Jan. 1, 1995, with arrests in eight cases. Wednes day, two black men were arrested in the May 23 burning of a church in Whiteville, N.C. Those arrests were not among the eight cases cited. The president said he did not believe the fires resulted from a conspiracy. But he said he assumes a number of the at tacks were racially motivated, “and they tend to play off of one another.” “Just because they’re not connected doesn’t mean there’s not a feeling there that we need to all reject togeth er,” Clinton said. “Whether they’re black churches or white churches or synagogues or the mosque that was burned in South Carolina, we cannot tolerate any of it.” The ties that bind Leasing can be risky business By Amy Protas The Battalion Signing a lease is a lot like signing a marriage contract. A late rent check or neglected repairs can immediately put an end to the honeymoon. Victor Romero, lease specialist for the department of student life, said before choosing a place to live, students should make sure everything about the house or apartment is agreeable. “Before moving in, don’t settle for anything you do not want,” Romero said. “If it’s something you really don’t like, it’s just going to amplify after living there for nine months. Don’t sign a contract unless you plan on living there for the entire time.” Jenny Allum, a junior political science major, said when she moved into Kraft Place Apartments (not the real complex name), she was deceived by the model apartment the management showed her. “Before you sign a lease, go and look at your par ticular apartment before you move in,” Allum said. “Don’t just go by the demo because it’s always nicer. Demand what’s in the demo for your apartment.” Among the problems Allum experienced were mal functioning electric gates, a shifting foundation and poorly constructed apartments. Allum said the management was unwilling to cor rect the problems and wrongly took money out of her and her roommate’s security deposit. “They were being very uncooperative with us,” Al lum said. “They took $40 out of our deposit because of a rust stain, but we had that place cleaner than when we moved in. We called and asked them to correct the problems but with the foundation shifting, there was n’t anything they could really do about that.” Unrefunded security deposits and poor mainte nance are the two biggest tenant complaints. "Before moving in, don't settle for anything you do not want." — VICTOR ROMERO /ease specialist for the department of student life Rick Powell, coordinator of student legal ser vices, said tenants can sue for their security de posits if they do not receive them within 30 days of moving out. “It is called the Treble Damages law,” Powell said. “The law allows that if a landlord has acted in bad faith, the tenant can sue for up to three times the se curity deposit plus $100 penalty. This also covers court costs and attorney fees.” There are also other reasons which allow a tenant to legally break a lease. See Lease, Page 6 making waves Pool simulates oceanic weather conditions By Brandon Hausenfluck The Battalion I t’s amazing what Texas A&M University and the University of Texas can accomplish when they combine their knowledge able resources. In our own Re search Park on West Campus, the Offshore Technology Research Center (OTRC) houses a large pool with the capability of produc ing scaled-down weather condi tions such as waves, underwater currents and high winds to test cutting edge models of offshore deep water drilling rigs. This phenomenal tool aids large oil companies such as Shell, Amoco, Mobil and Texaco in their hunt for black gold in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico. In a joint venture, and with the help of about 40 sponsors from the oil industry, A&M and UT built the pool, which has a depth of 19 feet and a deep pit which can ad just its depth from 19 to 55 feet. The wave generator consists of 48 wave boards capable of rocking I the l00-by-150 foot pool with : every wave type imaginable. Twenty-five underwater nozzles create currents which can flow in any direction relative to the waves. Sixteen variable speed j fans, which can be placed in any j direction relative to the waves. Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion The wave generator, located in Research Park, produces simulated oceanic weather conditions. are capable of simulating hurri cane strength winds. In order to prevent the world’s oil supply from drying up, petrole um companies must be capable of reaching the abundant reserves un der thousands of feet of water and sea floor sediment. The only way to do this is to build floating rigs at tached to anchors by steel pipes. Simply testing a 32-million- pound, multi-million dollar struc ture for durability against hurri cane force winds, immensely pow erful currents and mammoth waves might seem inconceivable. Enter A&M’s Offshore Technol ogy Research Center (OTRC) on West Campus. Teaming up with the crew at the OTRC, oil compa nies can build scale models of the floating rigs and subject them to See Wave, Page 6 Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion PAPER PILE Joe Gonzales, a worker at Junction Five-O-Five, stacks up newspapers for recycling Wednesday afternoon. Texas Republicans poised for battle over abortion at state convention SAN ANTONIO (AP) — In a city known for its historic battle, Texas Republicans appear headed for a fight of their own when their state party convention kicks off here today. Abortion, not the Alamo, will be at the center of this week’s confrontation. Presumptive GOP presi dential nominee Bob Dole has asked for tolerance among party members when it comes to abortion. But many of the conservative delegates at tending this week’s conven tion have said no way. The most significant fall out from the fray is likely to involve U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a confidant of Dole who supports a woman’s right to choose and is scheduled to speak to the convention on Friday. Abortion foes have targeted her defeat as a dele gate to the GOP National Convention in San Diego. In a show of solidarity, longtime abortion op ponent U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm sided with Mrs. Hutchison, saying that if she isn’t selected as a delegate, he won’t be one either. While other states have had similar contro versies, including Alabama and Washington, Mrs. Hutchison would be the highest-ranking official to be targeted for exclusion from a na tional convention delegation. Neither side is backing down, and Dole won’t be moderating the debate because he is not at tending the convention. “Bob Dole won’t be in Texas this weekend, but he is going to be in Texas a number of times before now and the election,” said Brian Berry, a Dole campaign aide. “On abortion, we are going to let the Texas Republicans craft their platform and leave it at that.” Bill Price, president of Texans United for Life, has led the crusade to make all of Texas’ 123 delegates to the national convention sign a platform that calls for prohibiting abortion ex cept when a woman’s life is at risk. HUTCHISON