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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1996)
ley rmill Battalion eal 8 done Vol. 102, No. 160 (6 pages) Houston Chrr- public. ^ Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893 THE BATT ON-LINE: http://bat-web.tamu.edu Monday • July 8, 1996 ' an y Proof t de sources sa; >g to sign Mt 5 out for Hon; 'eagreau,, 1 think it’s gj has narrowe; teams to threi to Houston - and Miami, r > I've got o look at ttf •her two migh abating,” saii asking print ion for four o: for more thai ly to lure m ve got to givi 1 get me awa; got to the £• n averagini ; a season fo: •ratorium ini' on signings, ations wen: n After noot e free aget: for business vould like to luickly so ke ihe time tie s in Orlando npic trainiri Senate set to vote on minimum wage WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is poised to vote at last on a minimum wage increase, but there’s no guarantee that will end partisan gridlock over the elec tion-year issue. Before lawmakers left town for their Fourth of July recess, Sen ate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Minority Leader Tom Daschle broke a long stalemate by agree ing to start debate Monday and vote Tuesday. But an amendment crafted by conservative Republicans could leave the Senate still hung up in the partisan hammerlock that held it before Lott, R-Miss., and Daschle, D-S.D., cut their deal. Meanwhile, the House is plan ning to take up two spending bills — one financing Congress itself and a second covering the depart ments of Labor and Health and Human Services. It already has passed seven of the 13 spending bills for fiscal 1997. If time per mits, the House also will turn to legislation aimed at discouraging same-sex marriages. And both chambers will con vene in a joint meeting Wednes day to hear an address from newly elected Israeli Prime Min ister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Clinton has threat ened to veto the minimum-wage legislation if the chairman of the Senate Small Business Commit tee, Christopher Bond, R-Mo., succeeds in attaching an amend ment exempting employees of companies with less than $500,000 in gross receipts. In a letter to congressional leaders, Clinton said the provision would exempt two-thirds of Amer ican businesses and branded it a “poison pill.” “Don’t be fooled. It’s a cruel shell game,” Labor Secretary Robert Re ich told the National Press Club. “This is their response to the invisi ble workers of America: ‘Here’s 90 See Senate, Page 6 Clinton again testifies before video cameras WASHINGTON (AP) — President Clin ton sat before video cameras again Sunday for another Whitewater trial, this time tes tifying in the case of two Arkansas bankers accused of making political contributions with bank funds. After attending morning church ser vices with daughter Chelsea, the presi dent returned to the White House for two hours and 20 minutes of closed-door ques tioning by attorneys for Herby Branscum Jr. and Robert M. Hill and cross-examina tion by prosecutors. Afterward, the White House issued a statement reiterating that Clinton is not the first president to testify in a criminal trial and citing U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright’s order that officials not discuss Clinton’s deposition until after it is shown in court. “The president has consistently stated that he will provide the court with whatever infor mation he can offer, and today’s deposition fulfills that promise,” the statement said. Branscum and Hill are accused of reim bursing themselves for contributions to polit ical candidates — including Clinton in 1990 when he ran for governor and in 1991 when he considered seeking the presidency — with funds from their Perryville, Ark., bank. While Clinton is not charged with wrongdoing, the White House hoped Sunday to minimize politi cal damage from his sec ond testimony before a federal judge in 10 weeks. In April, the president tes tified for just over four hours in the Whitewater trial of Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and James and Su san McDougal, all of whom were convicted. The president’s critics said Sunday that the sight of Clinton testifying again over Whitewater sends a message to the nation that he isn’t being honest about his involvement. “When’s Bill Clinton going to stand up be- CLINTON fore the American people and tell them the truth?” Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chair man of the House Republican Conference, said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “The public needs to be able to trust the president.” Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and member of the now-defunct Senate Whitewater Com mittee, defended Clinton, telling CNN that the president did not abuse his power of of fice — unlike the “direct presidential involve ment in the abuse of power” of the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration. “There is nothing to suggest that either Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton has done anything wrong,” Simon said. “I think we’ve wasted a lot of money and I don’t think the American people have gotten anything out of it.” Clinton’s testimony began at 2 p.m. EDT in the Map Room on the ground floor of the White House residence. The room, filled with historic maps, was the place where President Roosevelt held top-secret briefin gs during World War II. Jay II other U.S- ig a full nil' ilth bom&es forced to ft is they ente :ret Neva!: logy fronH name actoij id The Rotn ed cast let! the alien h .n by Sifiitii fan Solo a: . Hiller at et and cro; ne. Russel » years agi d the mos 1 s, dayligt ■rs and th f nense mil 1 II has nev be, but thi; le extrater ter plane; are unbe the scene; the aliens Stew Milne, The Battalion STUDIOUS STUDENT Krista Marshall, a freshman business administration major, studies for a history final at Sterling C. Evans Library on Sunday. Department works to alleviate class shortages R ecently, The Battalion has run four stories on the shortage of seats in Spanish class es; three of the articles focused on the hard ships faced by graduating seniors in securing seats. However, I want to assure readers the Mod em and Classical Languages department acts in a most responsible manner to ensure graduating se niors are accommodated and everything is done to satisfy student demand. During the preregistration period, 80 percent of all seats in Spanish are made available to stu dents. I hold back 20 percent to make seats available for students who need them: majors, minors, teaching field students and graduating seniors. On the first day of class, at 9 a.m., the remaining 20 percent of the seats are opened up for terminal registration at the Pavilion. This process accommodates nearly every student who seeks a seat in a Spanish class. For those gradu ating seniors unable to secure the class they need, they can sign a force list in the depart mental office. On the second day of class and every day after that, I personally run a degree audit on each student and force any graduating senior in the class needed. See Oberhelman, Page 5 STEVE OBERHELMAN Guest Columnist Students, faculty react to Russian election results By Amy Protas The Battalion The Russian presidential elections, held last Wednesday, sparked an old rivalry — democracy versus communism. By a margin of 54 percent, democracy won. Mark Douglass, a sophomore international studies major, said be was relieved when he heard of Boris Yeltsin’s victory over Communist Gennady Zyuganov. T thought it was great Yeltsin won,” Douglass said. “If Zyuganov would have won, it would have been a major set back for the Russian people. This was a point where the Kussian people could have decid ed to not progress with the re forms of the late ’80s.” Zyuganov’s supporters claimed they were better off eco nomically under Communism. George Edwards, a distin guished professor of political sci ence and director of the Center for Presidential Studies, said it is easy to be impatient with the economic reforms. “You can see the difficulty of trying to impose an alien politi cal system on a country,” Ed wards said. “The complexity of capitalism and the necessity for infrastructure is difficult to do. It takes a lot of time. This isn’t something that happens fast.” Edwards said the United States should continue to sup port Yeltsin. “Our stance has been to em brace Yeltsin as the best hope for the continuation of democ ratic reforms,” Edwards said. “We have a huge stake in the transformation of Russia. In the long run, it will save us a lot of money if we help them de velop markets rather than build nuclear weapons.” Although Yeltsin was viewed as the more democratic of the two candidates, some feel his victory should not be seen as a victory for democracy. Stjepan Mestrovic, a sociolo gy professor who has written four books about developments after the Cold War in Russia and the former Yugoslavia, said Yeltsin is not the reformer many believe him to be. “Russia dominated the Soviet empire and wants to restore that empire back,” Mestrovic said. “I see no good reason to think just because communism ended, this country would all of a sudden turn democratic. Yeltsin has become a national ist and is willing to use military force to expand Russia’s bor ders. I don’t see this election as a victory for democracy at all.” In the initial election, held See Election, Page 6 Aggie Moms president first A&M graduate to serve in top By April Towery The Battalion he first Aggie graduate to serve as president of the Federation of Texas A&M Mothers’ Clubs, Susie Powell, has been selected for the 1996-1997 school year. Powell, a 1993 graduate with a de gree in British literature and British history, has been serving on the Aggie Mom’s federation board since 1988. Powell said she was an Aggie even then, although she had not yet earned her degree. “There’s an old saying that Aggies are born and not made,” Powell said. “My husband is an Aggie, and two of my daughters Eire Aggies, so I feel like I’ve been a part of Texas A&M for years.” Powell has no children who are cur rently at A&M, but she is a firm be liever in the old saying, “Once an Ag- position gie, always an Aggie.” “Many people do not realize that they can be an Aggie Mom without a child currently enrolled,” Powell said. “We have Aggie Moms who are in their late seventies. There is a very broad age range, which really provides a lot of different perspective and insight.” President of Aggie Moms is a full time job with a variety of duties. During the 1995-1996 school year, the Aggie Mothers’ Clubs donated over $1 million for A&M scholarships and gifts to the University. “The organization has a little over 7,000 members and 106 clubs in Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, Nebraska and the Washington, D.C., Eirea, so basically I will assist the clubs,” Powell said. “I also will interface with the University and go to functions to represent Aggie Moms and support the University.” In order to serve as president of Aggie See Powell, Page 6 Gwendolyn Struve, The Battalion Susie Powell, class of '93, is the first A&M graduate to serve as President of the Federation of A&M Mothers' Clubs. l i i l 1 1 l l 1 J i