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Battalion
ol. 102, No. 175 (6 pages)
Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893
THE BATT ON-LINE: http://bat-web.tamu.eciu
Thursday • August 1, 1996
inton pledges to sign welfare bill
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President
lilton said Wednesday he would sign
Hepublican welfare bill ending the 60-
Hr federal guarantee of open-ended
saistance to the poor, all but assuring
nlctment as the presidential campaign
ntfcrs the final three months.
■'he House quickly passed the bill,
28 101, and the Senate was expected
) aoprove it Thursday.
■linton pledged during his 1992 presi-
Intial campaign to end the current wel-
K system, but he had vetoed two previ-
■ overhaul plans from the Republican-
■ Congress, leading the GOP to accuse
im of reneging on his promises.
Ble said the latest bill had “serious
lav s” but he would sign it because “I
elieve we have a duty to seize the op-
Ikunity it gives us to end welfare as
we know it by moving people from wel
fare to work, demanding responsibility
and doing better by children.”
Campaigning in Nashville, Tenn.,
likely Republican presidential nominee
Bob Dole called Clinton’s move “an elec
tion year conversion.”
“There’s not a dime’s worth of differ
ence between the bill he talked about to
day than the one he vetoed a few months
back,” Dole said. “The only difference is
it’s 97 days before the election.”
But House Speaker Newt Gingrich,
R-Ga., welcomed Clinton’s move. “We
certainly hope that he sticks to this
decision no matter what the more lib
eral members of his party say to
him,” Gingrich said.
“It was inevitable that the present
welfare system was going to be put be
hind us,” Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., a key
author of the bill, said shortly before it
passed. “The degree of success that we
are going to have is
going to be a victory
for the American peo
ple, for the poor.”
The bill — esti
mated to save the
federal government
$55 billion to $56 bil
lion over six years —
would set a lifetime
limit of five years of
welfare per family,
require an able-bod
ied adult to work af
ter two years but allow hardship ex
emptions for up to 20 percent of recip
ients. It also would give the states
CLINTON
block grants to run the programs and
let them set many of the rules, such
as terminating benefits sooner than
five years.
Some liberal Democrats wasted no
time decrying Clinton’s decision, speak
ing out on the House floor even before
he announced it.
“My president will boldly throw one
million into poverty,” said Rep. Charles
Rangel, D-N.Y.
Added Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.:
“Unfortunately, the president has
joined the Republicans now in making
the children the victims of the very sys
tem he said he wanted to reform.”
But Clinton got praise from the De
mocratic Governors’ Association, which
called the bill “a victory for all who be
lieve welfare must provide a second
chance but not a way of life.”
Acknowledging the concerns of the
Democratic left, Clinton said the bill
was “far, far from perfect” and said he
would work to fix what he considered
excessive cuts in food stamps and bene
fits for legal immigrants who have not
yet become citizens.
At the same time, he said the bill
“gives us a chance we haven’t had be
fore to break the cycle of dependency
that has existed for millions and mil
lions of our fellow citizens, exiling
them from the world of work. It gives
structure, meaning and dignity to
most of our lives.”
Clinton’s political advisers predict
ed the decision would take the issue
off the campaign agenda of Republican
rival Bob Dole.
ew computing center to offer
(tudy area, advanced equipment
pMelissa Nunnery
hi Battalion
en renovations are completed at Ster-
jng C. Evans Library, students will have
ccess to a new student computing and
bup study facility.
Bohn Dinkel, associate provost for the
Bnputing Services Center, said the facili-
■s the focal point of computer access for
■dents on campus.
■ It will have a large number of machines
md will be open 24 hours a day in the
Chool year,” Dinkel said. “We will concen-
fate our services in that facility because it
nil always be open.”
iHe said the computing section will have
ibout 600 microcomputers and a group
itudy area on the second floor with connec-
ions for laptops. He said laptops may be
ffovided at the facility.
■The group study area on the second floor
8 meant to be kind of a place where if you’re
working on a project that involves computers,
you don’t have to sit in a standard computer
lab,” Dinkel said. “You can go there and re
lax; it will have lounge-type furniture.”
Stephanie Bevers, a senior English major,
said the group study facility will be useful.
“It will be more convenient because
everyone lives in all different places,” Bev
ers said. “Having a more relaxed place to
study is good.”
The computers will have the same pro
grams that are accessible on campus now.
Students will be able to use word process
ing and spreadsheet programs and will
have access to the Internet. Electronic li
brary databases can also be accessed
through the Internet.
“It will be kind of like the computer labs
on campus now, only hopefully more mod
em,” Dinkel said.
See Computers, Page 6
Stew Milne, The Battalion
The Evans Library computing center
will be completed in Fall 1996 or
Spring 1997.
proups work to reduce energy usage
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
Stew Milne, The Battalion
e Physical Plant and the
nergy Systems Lab are
brking to reduce cam-
iiJs energy consumption.
The Texas A&M Physical
Plant and the Energy Systems
Lab have created an energy
management program to save
money and reduce energy con
sumption on campus.
Dr. Jerry Gaston, interim
vice president of finance and ad
ministration, said the A&M
campus lacked an efficient ener
gy conservation program.
“There was no aggressive
program on campus on conserv
ing energy,” Gaston said.
Charles Darnell, the energy
manager of the Physical Plant,
said they are recommissioning
several buildings on campus
and trying to optimize how the
heating, ventilation and air con
ditioning systems operate. The
Physical Plant is also making
efficiency improvements in the
chill water control systems in
several buildings.
HVAC upgrades have al
ready been completed in the
Zachry Engineering Center, the
Harrington Education Center
and the Kleberg Animal and
Food Sciences Center.
Dr. W.D. Turner, director of
the Energy Systems Lab, said
Zachry Engineering Center has
been the primary energy-saving
campus building. Eight hundred
seventy-seven thousand dollars
has been saved in Zachry alone
from late 1990 to May of 1996.
Although several buildings on
campus need cost-effective ener
gy improvements, some buildings
are being targeted first.
“We are trying to identify
the biggest energy users, the
ones that are the least effi
cient,” Darnell said. “Zachry is
a perfect example; it was a big
building designed in the late
’60s, early ’70s.”
Zachry was designed for
comfort, Darnell said, not for
energy conservation.
Upgrading of the chilling ca
pacity in the main plant in
volved replacing old, inefficient
single-effect steam absorption
chillers with new double-effect
steam absorbers.
Darnell said the HVAC sys
tems in the Blocker Building
See Energy, Page 6
Pat James, The Battalion
HANDCRAFTED WITH CARE
Robert Reyes, a cobbler at Holick’s Boots, shapes a boot being made for a
senior Corps of Cadets member.
O C K E T
—Atlanta ’96-
Olympics head into final weekend
Pat James, The Battalion
lr. Walter Boles is helping with the
mar soil excavation experiments.
By Brandon Hausenfluck
The Battalion
Someday soon humans will
be able to live on the moon.
On July 25 and 26, two grad
uate students at Texas A&M
conducted research during
flights aboard NASA’s KC-135,
a cargo plane converted for use
in gravitational research.
The aircraft simulates
weightless conditions on the
moon. Known as “the vomit
comet,” it was used in the film
ing of Apollo 13.
To achieve zero-gravity dur
ing in-flight research, the air
craft traveled in parabolas of
only 20 seconds of lunar gravity
at a time. Over forty parabolas
were flown each day, giving re
searchers at least 40 periods of
20-second weightless intervals
to conduct research.
The research studied the
amount of force it would take to
excavate lunar soil in reduced
gravity, a practice necessary in
placing a structure on the moon.
Wesley Scott, a doctoral can
didate in industrial engineer
ing, said it is important to exca
vate the soil because it is rich in
oxygen and aluminum and
useful in construction.
“Composition of the soil is 20
or 30 percent aluminum and be
tween 15 to 18 percent alu
minum oxide,” he said. “If you
can process that, you can use it
to build on the moon and also to
breathe or make fu,el.”
Scott said the machines used
for excavation will also be capa
ble of extracting the elements
from the soil.
Dr. Walter Boles, a faculty
adviser and assistant professor
of civil engineering, said be
cause of lower gravity on the
moon, it is difficult to design a
tool to excavate lunar soil.
“The moon has one-sixth the
gravity of Earth,” he said. “With
less weight, you couldn’t push
anything because your foot would
slide. And it actually takes one-
third the force to move some
thing rather than a sixth.”
Boles said the experimenta
tion is crucial because a machine
See Research, Page 6
ATLANTA (AP) — Gail Devers cleared all the
hurdles but the last — she didn’t win the gold
she barely lost in Barcelona. Pole vaulter Sergei
Bubka knew how she felt after leaving Atlanta
with his own case of disappointing deja vu.
U.S. decathlete Dan O’Brien, though, was
halfway through exorcising his demons of four
years ago.
Devers, who appeared a lock for the 1992 hur
dles gold until tripping at the final hurdle, sailed
clearly above the last barrier Wednesday night.
But she couldn’t catch gold medalist Ludmila En-
gquist of Sweden. Devers finished fourth, one
spot better than she did in Barcelona.
“Obviously, it was not to be,” Devers said. “But
I finished ... better than I did in Barcelona. And I
finished on my feet.”
The U.S. track star already won the gold in
the 100 meters. She was hoping for the first
sweep of the women’s events since Fanny
Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands did it in 1948.
Bubka’s shot at a Centennial Games medal
never got off the ground. The 1988 Olympic gold
medalist and five-time world champion pulled
out of the pole vault Wednesday with an injured
right Achilles tendon.
“For me, it is great tragedy,” said Bubka, who
has set 35 world records — 18 indoors and 17
outdoors. “It was incredible pain, pain not only in
my injury, but in my heart.”
For the 32-year-old Bubka, in what may be
his last Olympics, it had to be a familiar feel
ing. Favored for the gold four years ago, he won
nothing in Barcelona after failing to clear any
height in the finals.
This time, the Ukrainian’s aging body let him
down. He injured his Achilles tendon April 12,
See Olympics, Page 2
^ 1996 OLYMPIC
TELEVISION
SCHEDULE
THURSDAY
AUGUST 1
09 a.m. - Noon
Track & Field
Equestrian-Jumping final, team
Gymnastics-Rhythmic.
individual
Canoeing-Semifinals
6:30 pjn.-11i)0p.m
Track & Field-Finals indude:
-Decathlon, final day
-Men’s and women s 200m
-Men's 400m hurdles
Basketball-Men's semifinal
Diving-Men's platform
Gymnastics-Rhythmic, group
11:41 a.m.-1:11 am.
Volleyball-Women's semifinal
Equestrian-Jumping final, team
Boxing-Semifinals
Wrestling-Freestyle matches
FRIDAY
AUGUST 2
09 a.m. - Noon
Track & Field
Diving-Men's platform semifinal
Gymnastics-Rhythmic, individual
Canoeing-Semifinals
6:30 p.m.-11:00 pm
Track & Field-Finals, including:
-Men's pole vault
-Women's long jump
-Men's 3000m steeplechase
Diving—Men's platform final
Volleyball-Men's semifinal
Gymnasucs-Rhythmic fmai. group
Wrestling-Freestyle finals
Synchronized swimming-Team
final
11:41 am.-1:11 am.
Boxing-Semifinals
Basketball-Women's semifinal
Wrestling-Freestyle finals
Tennis-Finals
SATURDAY
AUGUST 3
11:00 am.-5 p.m.
Volleyball-Women's final
Boxing-Finals
Canoeing-Finals
Tennis-Finals
6:30 pm.-11:00 pm.
Track & Field-Finals, including:
-Men's and women’s 1500m
-Men's and women's 4x100m relay
-Men's and women’s 4x400m relay
Basketball-Men's gold medal game
Cycling-Men's individual time tnal
final
Gymnastics-Rhythmic semifinal,
individual
11:30 pm. -1 am.
Soccer-Men's final
Cycling-Women's individual time
trial final
SUNDAY
AUGUST 4
6 a.m. -4:30 p.m.
Track & Field-Men's, marathon
Volleyball-Men's final
Gymnastics-Rhythmic final,
individual
Equestrian-Jumping final.
individual
Boxing-Finals
Basketball-Women's bronze
medal game
Canoeing-Finals
5:30 pm.-10:30 pm.
Basketball-Women's gold
medal game
Closing Ceremony