Discussion centers on
Derek Demere, The Battalion
Stephen Foster, Corps commander, speaks at Saturday
Wit's banquet.
► Friday's round table was the
third and final discussion of
Military Weekend.
By Graham Harvey
The Battalion
Military gender integration was the topic of a
round table forum Friday as Military Weekend con
tinued at Texas A&M University.
A&M cadets and visitors from 16 military acad
emies throughout the United States and Mexico
met in the Governance Room of the Koldus Build
ing for the discussion.
Mark Santos, Company E-l first sergeant and a
junior history major, moderated the meeting.
“This is not a discussion on whether or not we
should integrate,” Santos said. “We are sharing ideas
gender integration
and views so we can integrate the best we can.”
The cadets began by addressing the positives and
negatives of mixed units and living quarters. Opin
ions ranged from keeping halls and units separate
to fully integrating them.
Emerson Franklin, a cadet from Marion Military
Academy, was in favor of separate living quarters.
“Place women in a hall together so they can give
each other mutual support,” Franklin said.
Opponents said separate living quarters and
units create false environments, contrary to the re
alities of military life.
The discussion turned to the effects of gender
integration on military leadership. One cadet
asked whether it is more common for female
cadets to receive leadership positions through
quotas rather than merit.
Catherine Wattendorf, a cadet from Virginia Tech,
said her corps does not do either.
“In my corps, there is a tendency to put a female
leader in a more secretarial role rather than a com
mand position,” Wattendorf said.
Cadets discussed whether lowering standards for
female cadets is harmful or necessary.
Andrew Clark, a cadet at Virginia Military Insti
tute, said VMI is essentially gender-blind where
standards are concerned.
“The decision we made was to keep standards
constant for all,” Clark said. “Our system’s basis is to
treat everyone equally.”
Further topics of discussion included the effects of
gender integration on tradition and military integrity.
Friday’s meeting was the third and final round
table discussion of Military Weekend. Hazing and
the future of national Reserve Officer Training Corps
units were the subjects of the First two.
Santos said these meetings are essentially
“think-tanks.”
See Integration, Page 5
Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion
[Dive On In
Sarah Vestal, a junior psychology major at the University of
Texas, competes in the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Tourna
ment at the Student Recreation Center this weekend. See re
lated stories in Sports, Page 7.
Crane supervisor worked
on Bonfire for 28 years
'Preacher' Thornton passed away last Monday
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
Although some students may not have
heard of Thomas E. “Preacher” Thornton,
Aggies have seen his influence for the past
28 years when Bonfire burns.
Thornton has been the crane super
visor from H.B. Zachry Engineering
Company of San Antonio since 1969. He
died of a stroke Monday, Feb. 24.
Funeral services for Thornton were
held Saturday in San Antonio.
Sgt. Maj. George Thomas, Texas A&M
Corps of Cadets housing coordinator and
a Bonfire adviser for 10 years, said Thorn
ton’s experience made him one of the
most knowledgeable people on Bonfire.
“He (Thornton) probably knew
about the makings of Bonfire more than
anyone,” Thomas said.
R. E. Hopkins, Bonfire 1996 head
stack and a senior agricultural develop
ment major, said Thornton was part of
the tradition of Bonfire.
“To me, that was part of Aggie Bon
fire, [with] PreacherThornton being out
there,” he said. “Him not being there,
we’re going to be missing something.
We’ll all remember him. We’ll all be
thinking of him.”
Thornton was a representative of the
H.B. Zachry Company that donated
some of the cranes to Bonfire.
He was also the supervisbr of the
crew that operated the cranes at Bon
fire and was responsible for overseeing
the equipment.
Troy Smith, a Bonfire 1996 junior red-
pot and an engineering technology ma
jor, said Thornton helped the redpots by
providing them with equipment they
needed at stack.
“He’d always ask what he needed to
do,” Smith said. “Whatever we wanted
done, he’d get it done for us.”
See Thornton, Page 5
MEDALS representatives make
appearance on television show
By Marissa Alanis
The Battalion
A Washington-, D.C., television show
will put a Texas A&M program in the
spotlight at the end of this month.
Twelve representatives of the Mi
norities Enrichment and Development
through Academic and Leadership
Skills (MEDALS) program traveled to
the nation’s capital Feb. 18 -20 for the
taping of Excellence by Choice, a half-
hour educational program which airs
on the Public Broadcasting System and
its Washington, D.C., affiliate stations
weekdays at 7:30 p.m.
Excellence by Choice targets the high
school audience in minority communi
ties and discusses social programs,
prominent community leaders and col
lege preparation. The show’s format is
similar to a talk-show, except there is no
audience present during taping and it is
run by high school students. Two hosts
conduct the interviews.
Lorinda Beekmann, MEDALS advis
er and special projects coordinator in
the Department of Multicultural Ser
vices, said working on the show gave the
members experience outside of A&M.
“We did it mainly for the profession
al development of the students who put
on the [MEDALS] program,” Beekmann
said. “They put on this great conference,
hopefully to motivate other students to
go to college, but this gives the students
here some professional experience.”
MEDALS has coordinated an annual
statewide conference since 1990 to help
guide high school students in their de
cision to attend college.
Beekmann said highlighting a pro
gram, such as A&M’s, on television will
benefit the University.
“I think a lot of the times we (A&M) are
known for athletics, because that’s a na
tionally televised event,” Beekmann said.
Omar Bell, director of public rela
tions for the 1997 MEDALS conference
and a junior industrial engineering ma
jor, said he saw Excellence by Choice last
summer when he interned in Washing
ton, D.C.
Bell said he was interested in the
show so he sent information about
MEDALS to the show’s producer. Repre
sentatives from the program were later
invited to appear on the show.
Veronica Bennett, executive direc
tor of the 1997 MEDALS conference
and a senior interdisciplinary studies
major, said the interview was conver
sational and their responses catered to
the hosts’ questions.
“I feel, because of their attitude and
tone on the set, they made us feel re
laxed and comfortable,” Bennett said.
See MEDALS, Page 5
amboree party aims
bond organizations
1 MSC Council and
i SGA will sponsor
[tonight's event.
f
j By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
The Battalion
The good times will roll
|night as the MSG Council, the
r'Udent Government Association
Mother student organizations
Hive last semester’s jamboree at
fjllwinkle’s.
I Last October, the Student Gov-
''nment Association and MSG
Jouncil began what Brad Russell,
association’s external com-
^nications director and a se-
Lorjournalism major, hopes will
fond student organizations.
I “The first party did not include
organizations,” Russell said.
Was meant to rid any feelings of
r) fnpetition between the two
itoups (MSC Council and Student
nvernment Association).”
The purpose of this semester’s
; a >ty is to join organizations at
i( tasA&M so they can socialize,
^vefun and talk about co-spon-
0 dng programs, he said.
The party is a get-together for
all organizations,” Russell said,
“and I know everyone will have a
good time.”
All student organizations are
invited to attend the party,
which starts at 9 p.m., in Rocky’s
game room. Karaoke singing will
be one of the highlights of
tonight’s party.
Trey Smith, manager of Bull-
winkle’s, said he was happy to
host the second get-together.
“I love having parties that have
anything to do with A&M,” Smith
said. “People love the karaoke.”
Plans for the party at Bullwin-
kle’s brings up memories of last
semester’s party for some stu
dents, especially Nellson Burns,
MSC president and a senior in
ternational studies major.
“I remember the karaoke
singing,” Burns said. “Carl
Baggett (student body president)
and Chris Williams (former MSC
president) sang T Got You Babe’
to the audience. It was so funny.”
For the previous party, Student
Government Association and MSC
Council rented the restaurant, but
this semester Bullwinkle’s will be
charging $1 at the door.
Smith said he is glad to see the or
ganizations mix at his restaurant.
McVeigh's lawyer says he knows where paper got memo
DENVER (AP) — Timothy McVeigh’s lawyer
said on Sunday he thinks he knows how The Dal
las Morning News got what it said was a defense
document in which McVeigh admits he was re
sponsible for the Oklahoma City bombing.
The newspaper cited a memo that said
McVeigh admits driving the explosives-laden
truck that demolished the Oklahoma City fed
eral building in April 1995, and choosing a day
time attack to boost the “body Count.”
“I don’t know everything that The Dallas
Morning News knows, but this is not a legiti
mate defense memorandum, and I don’t know
exactly how they obtained it,” lawyer Stephen
Jones told ABC’s This Week.
“But I have a pretty good idea this morning
and we will be going to the court (Monday) to
inform the judge of what we know.”
McVeigh’s trial, scheduled to begin March 31,
was moved from Oklahoma City to Denver be
cause of pretrial publicity.
Jones said he cannot say whether the
news report is true because of U.S. District
Judge Richard Matsch’s gag order and his
own code of professional responsibility. He
also said the newspaper refused to give him
a copy of the memorandum.
“So the only way that I can tell you an answer
to that question is to say, ‘One, Mr. McVeigh has
pled not guilty, and two, the defense will not
present a false defense,”’ Jones said.
Jones had threatened to seek to have the tri
al moved to Alaska or Hawaii. He said Sunday
that he has not asked for a change of venue, but
conceded the trial may have to be delayed.
Jones previously said his team talked with
McVeigh about the report, and McVeigh re
sponded, “There’s a practical joker every week.”
Legal experts and journalists continue to wran
gle over the propriety of publishing the story.
See Memo, Page 5
'A year's worth of tornadoes' kill 24
► The storms struck
Arkansas on Saturday.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) —
Nicholas Word was standing on his
front porch when the tornado
struck, smashing his tiny wood-
frame house off its foundation and
hurling him and the wreckage into
his neighbor’s yard.
“When I woke up, there was just
rubble — rubble and fog,” Word
said Sunday amid the devastation
of Saturday’s killer storms. "All I can
tell you is, it’s the worst sound that
you’d ever want to hear in your life.
But I guess I cheated death.”
The storms killed at least 24 peo
ple in Arkansas, ripping through Lit
tle Rock, Arkadelphia and other
smaller towns.
It seemed like “a year’s worth of
tornadoes,” Gov. Mike Huckabee
said Sunday.
There was a possibility the death
toll could climb as rescue workers
worked in Sunday’s driving rain to pull
away the wreckage, authorities said.
More than 200 people were in
jured and hundreds of homes, busi
nesses and other structures were
destroyed or damaged along a 260-
mile path from Hempstead County
in the southwest to Greene County
in the state’s northeastern corner. At
least 10,000 electricity customers
had no power.
The same huge system of thun
derstorms also were blamed for as
many as 14 deaths in Mississippi,
Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.
Flooding forced scores of people
from their homes in West Virginia,
Kentucky and Ohio.
Huckabee said he would seek a
federal disaster declaration cover
ing at least 10 Arkansas counties.
“The term I’m using to describe it is
‘apocalyptic proportions,”’ the gov
ernor said after flying over the dam
age in Little Rock and Arkadelphia.
“There is no way to describe the lev
el of damage we have.”
President Clinton will head to his
native state on Tuesday to inspect
the storm damage.
The Battalion
INSIDETODAY
FLYINC DISKS: Disk
golf is becoming a hot
new sport among Ag
gies looking for a some
thing a little different.
Aggielife, Page 7
Sports Page 7
Opinion Page 11
Toons Page 12