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WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi-
nt Clinton, declaring that Ameri-
ns “want us to be partners, not
rtisans,” challenged Congress in
s State of the Union address Tues-
y night to give the nation’s
hools a big spending increase
ile balancing the budget by 2002.
ae person of Asianl Recycling popular ideas from his
m mpaign, Clinton identified edu-
tion as the top priority of his sec-
d term and said Americans
ould have “the best education in
eworki.” He challenged commu-
ties to measure their students
ainst national standards to lift
f-hievement in math and science.
The president’s proposals would
ge.
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believe him respq
June 1994 slasl
icole Brown Sirai
Goldman.
for fiscal
)98. The increase — including the
3St of tax breaks for college —
lould total 40 percent by 2002.
Two weeks after his second inau
guration, the president lectured the
Republican-led Congress
to “complete the unfin
ished business of our coun
try” — balancing the bud
get, enacting long-stalled
campaign finance reform
and reopening last year’s
welfare law to restore ben
efits to legal immigrants.
In a 60-minute speech,
his tone was both concil
iatory and challenging,
calling for racial and political har
mony but also pressuring Congress
for action. He was interrupted by
applause 69 times.
As Clinton stood before a joint
session of Congress, the nation’s at
tention was distracted by news of a
verdict in the O.J. Simpson civil trial.
He completed his remarks just as the
Clinton
verdict was being read in California.
Balancing the budget by 2002
“requires only your vote
and my signature,” Clinton
said, brushing over the
wide gulf with Republicans
over how to achieve that
goal. “This is not going to
be easy,” he acknowledged,
adding that he believed
Americans gave him a sec
ond term to make tough
decisions about the future.
He said the Republi
can-driven proposal for a consti
tutional amendment for a bal
anced budget was “unnecessary
and unwise,” adding: “We don’t
need a constitutional amend
ment. We need action.” That line
drew groans from Republicans.
Clinton was on strong footing as
he faced Republicans suspicious of
education^ budget
his proposals. His political confi
dence, shaken by the Democrats’
devastation in 1994, was restored by
his re-election, and his recent ap
proval ratings were among the
highest of his presidency.
Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma gave
the traditional Republican response
to Clinton. In his prepared remarks,
Watts struck GOP themes of return
ing power to local communities,
family values and balancing the
federal budget.
“The strength of America is not
in Washington,” said Watts.
For the moment, at least, Re
publicans and Democrats alike
are stressing bipartisanship and
cooperation, although neither
side pretends there won’t be leg
islative fights.
Still, there was none of the bitter
ness and distrust that reigned a year
ago after budget battles forced two
government shutdowns that out
raged Americans and tarred the COE
Indeed, Clinton accepted an invita
tion from Senate Majority Leader
Trent Lott and Speaker Newt Gin
grich to visit Capitol Hill next Tuesday
to discuss the legislative agenda.
“We must work together,” the
president said. “The people of this na
tion elected us all. They want us to be
partners, not partisans. They put us
all here in the same boat. They gave
us all oars and they told us to row.”
Still to come, though, are ethics
and legal investigations that could
cloud Clinton’s administration —
and the bipartisanship. The presi
dent’s vulnerability is mirrored by
Gingrich’s own ethics problems,
and some analysts believe that
may prompt both sides to be more
conciliatory.
State of the Union
Reactions
“The president has proven time
and again that he can talk the talk.
The question tonight is: Can he
walk the walk?’’
— Rep. Tom DeLay, RSugar Land.
“This has the potential for being
one of the most productive ses
sions of Congress ever.”
— Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison,
R-Texas.
“The president wants to get things
done. He wants achievements dur
ing his second term and he wants
to work with both parties. And I
don’t have a problem with that.”
— Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas.
Petal Tips
Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion
Roxanne Peters, a senior journalism major, gets tips from senior lecturer jim Johnson at a floral arrangement
class Tuesday afternoon.
etition drive draws 5,470 signatures
3erm
By Melissa Nunnery
The Battalion
Students petitioning for a refer-
ndum for yell leader run-off elec-
ons gathered 5,470 signatures
hich they turned in to the Stu-
ent Government Association Ju-
cial Board Tuesday afternoon.
The petition drive gained mo-
entum as concerned student’s
etition to the j-board asking for
forcement of last spring’s refer-
dum was denied. The ruling
d Student Senate-initiated ref-
endums are not necessarily
nding, but that students can by
pass the Senate through a petition.
They needed signatures from
3,929 students, 10 percent of the
student body, for another referen
dum to be considered.
Erin Mozola, a senior applied
mathematics major, helped gath
er signatures for the petition. She
said the decision to hold another
referendum depends on how
many signatures the j-board
throws out.
“We’ve been told they (the j-
board) would pick random names
off the sheet and verify the social
security numbers to be sure that
person is indeed a student,” Mo
zola said. Kevin Jordan, student
government judicial board chair
and an accounting graduate stu
dent, said the petitioners were told
what constitutes a valid signature.
“If the message of the petition
has been changed on a sheet, we
will invalidate the [signatures on
the] sheet,” Jordan said.
The front each sheet had
spaces for the names, signatures
and social security numbers of 25
students. Jordan said signatures
on the backs of sheets will not be
counted.
If a signature, name or social se
curity number is unreadable, it
will not be counted, Jordan said.
Mozola said it would be hard to
believe that over 1,000 signatures
could be thrown out.
“It depends on how things work
out,” she said. “We did get 5,470 —
well over the 3,900 we needed.”
She said student government
has been cooperative in the effort
to hold another referendum.
“ [Student government] tried to
work with us (petitioners) and to
help us see the wishes of the stu
dent body implemented,” Mozo
la said.
See Petition, Page 10
Jury finds Simpson
liable on all counts
► After finding Simpson
liable for the slayings
of Nicole Simpson
and Ronald Goldman,
the civil jury ordered
him to pay $8.5
million in damages.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) —
A civil jury found O.J. Simpson li
able Tuesday for the slashing
deaths of his ex-wife and her
friend, a moral victory for grieving
relatives who felt the football great
got away with murder.
The jury ordered him to pay $8.5
million in compensatory damages
and will return Thursday to decide
whether to award millions more in
punitive damages.
The mostly white panel, forced to
start deliberations anew last Friday
after a juror was removed for mis
conduct, snatched away some of the
vindication Simpson claimed when
he was acquitted of murder by a
mostly black juiy in 1995. That tele
vised murder trial divided the nation
over issues of police racism, domes
tic violence and the quality of justice.
This civil jury, using the lesser
standard of “preponderance of evi
dence” rather than “beyond a rea
sonable doubt,” was unanimous on
all counts in blaming Simpson for the
June 12,1994, deaths of Nicole Brown
Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
The dramatic reading of the ver
dict was delayed more than three
hours to allow the lawyers and fam
ilies to get to the courthouse. Simp
son’s trip — in a black Suburban in
stead of a white Bronco — was
televised live nationally on a split
screen just as President Clinton be
gan his State of the Union address.
The $8.5 million represented the
value of Goldman’s funeral and the
loss of Goldman’s companionship, to
his parents. Ms. Simpson’s family did
not seek compensatory damages.
Simpson
The jury’s findings of malice and
oppression triggered the second phase
to determine punitive damages —
money assessed to punish Simpson.
Already, plaintiffs’ attorneys have
asked for, and received Simpson’s lat
est financial
records in prepa
ration for a puni
tive phase.
Christopher
Darden, a prose
cutor in Simp
son’s criminal tri
al, told CNBC:
“We said all along
that O.J Simpson
committed these
crimes and all we
asked ... was our day in court. A fair
hearing. A fair hearing on the issues.
And I believe that we’ve done that,
that that’s been accomplished.”
The jury reached the verdict after
17 hours of deliberations over three
days — more than five times as long
as the criminal jury deliberated.
That was on top of the 14 hours
over three days that were inter
rupted Friday when the judge re
placed the only black member for
failing to disclose that her daugh
ter was a secretary in the district
attorney’s office that prosecuted
Simpson at his murder trial.
The final six-man, six-woman jury
consisted of nine whites, one His
panic, one Asian and one of Asian
and black heritage.
In its last day of deliberations,
the jury spent three hours listening
to readbacks of some 200 pages of
testimony focusing on Simpson’s
opportunity and motive. It heard
testimony about Simpson’s alibi, a
bruising argument with his ex-wife
and a limousine driver’s time line.
Jurors were particularly attentive
when they heard the testimony of
limo driver Allan Park, the only wit
ness whose testimony the jury at
Simpson’s murder trial asked to
hear again before it acquitted him.
See Simpson, Page 6
ommittee cracks down on
inors who drink and drive
AUSTIN (AP) — Alice London
Id state senators that she want-
to put a human face on the fact
at Texas leads the nation in alco-
-related traffic fatalities involv-
g minors.
The Senate Criminal Justice
ommittee voted 7-0 on Tuesday to
prove a bill by Sen. Royce West,
Dallas, that would crack down on
fensive
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The Battalion
INSIDETODAY
FAMILY AFFAIR: Nancy
and Lisa Dingwall are
together again on the
A&M Tennis Team.
Sports, Page 7
Aggielife
Toons
Opinion
Page 3
Page 6
Page 9
underaged drinkers who drive.
The bill now goes to the full Sen
ate for consideration. Rep. Allen
Place, D-Gatesville, is sponsoring
the bill in the House.
Testifying before the committee,
Mrs. London gave senators pictures
of her 19-year-old stepson, Daniel,
who was killed last June, along with
his girlfriend, Bethany Early 17, in a
head-on crash involving a 19-year-
old driver who police say was drunk.
Andrew Papke was charged with
two counts of intoxication
manslaughter and one count of in
toxication assault after his 1991
Acura crumpled Daniel London’s
red, 1974 Volkswagen Beetle on a
winding Austin road. Papke’s case
has not yet gone to trial.
“There is no reason why Texas
should lead the nation in drinking
and driving,” Mrs. London said.
“And there is no reason that Daniel
and Beth should have died the way
they did. This bill, more than any
other bill, has the likelihood of sav
ing lives.” .
While Texas law prohibits mi
nors from buying or consuming al
cohol, it allows drivers under the
age of 21 to operate a motor vehicle
with a blood alcohol content of up
to .07. A reading of. 10 is considered
legally in toxicated.
“If it’s against the law to purchase
and consume alcohol under 21, it
should be equally against the law to
drink and drive under the age of
21,” West said.
Under West’s bill, anyone under
21 who is found to have “any de
tectable amount of alcohol” while
driving would be subject to com
munity service and having their dri
ver’s license suspended for a mini
mum of 120 days.
A minor who refused to submit
to a breath test also would face los
ing his license for 120 days.
The bill would put in place a
“zero-tolerance” initiative that West
said the state must adopt by Oct. 1,
1998, or face the loss of federal high
way funds.
Texas is one of only 13 states
.that have not yet adopted zero-tol
erance laws, making it illegal for
drivers under age 21 to drive after
any drinking.
Statue depicts Berlin Wall collapse
George Bush Library to display bronze-cast monument
By Benjamin Cheng
The Battalion
Amidst the foliage of Georgia’s Stone Mountain
Park stands a bronze-cast monument destined to be
permanently displayed at the George Bush Library.
The monument, titled “The Day the Wall Came
Down,” commemorates the collapse of the Berlin
Wall, which was destroyed during Bush’s presidency.
The monument depicts four mares and a stallion
leaping over a torn-down section of the Berlin Wall.
Artist Veryl Goodnight of Santa Fe, N.M., sculpted
the monument. When the Berlin Wall fell on Nov.
9,1989, Goodnight was working on a monument of
five horses for a development in Florida. During her
sleep that night, Goodnight received inspiration for
the monument.
“In the middle of the night I had a dream that my
horses were jumping over the Berlin Wall,” Good
night said.
Goodnight grew up hiking and riding horses in the
Rocky Mountains.
“For me, the biggest feeling of freedom is to be on
the back of a horse,” she said.
The monument conveys the joy and freedom ex
perienced around the world after the Berlin Wall’s col
lapse, Goodnight said.
“The vast majority of people will just see the hors
es jumping over the Berlin Wall,” she said. “They’ll feel
Photo provided by Tim Donathen
The monument "The Day the Wall Came Down" is
currently on loan to the state of Georgia.
the surge of joy that comes with freedom.”
Goodnight wants viewers to note the subtleties on
the monument, like the graffiti and the dove. Inscribed
on the dove are the names of people who have given or
spent their lives fighting for human rights.
Goodnight spent five years completing the mon
ument. The casting and assembly took 18 months.
The monument is currently on loan to the state
of Georgia.
See Statue, Page 10