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Today Tomorrow
See extended forecast, Page 2.
ume 103 • Issue 179 • 6 Pages
College Station, TX
Monday, August 11, 1997
Briefs
eteor shower to
ake appearance
immencement set
Friday, Saturday
lineal exasA&M will hold summer com-
icement ceremonies Aug. 15 at
sblaj )p.m. and Aug. 16 at 9 a.m.
panics riday’s ceremony will be for de-
Inewa icandidates from the Colleges
igriculture and Life Sciences,
cation, Science, Veterinary
licine and the Dwight Look Col-
of Engineering. James R.
bediims, chair of Texas Instruments
|ol$.Le! .will be the speaker.
Saturday’s ceremony will be for de-
\ino(j ‘candidates from the Colleges of
litecture, Geosciences and Mar-
eStudies, Liberal Arts, Medicine
4 the Lowry Mays College and
uate School of Business. Robert
ioodwin, president and CEO of the
its of Light Foundation in Wash-
\tefsM on, D.C., will be the speaker.
Members of the Corps of Cadets
eringthe military will be commis-
ledat Saturday’s ceremony, also.
ffexas
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KJr. criticizes
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e Battalion will resume
' 0 blication for the fall
of Hester August 29.
See Page 3.
/. Let*'
; may 1
LAST ISSUE
OPINION
ttp://bat-web.tamu.edu
ONLINE
eck out
eWire,
|nf s 24-hour
'ine news
P r vice.
El Nino may cause Texas drought
Warmer temperatures help keep tropical storms from forming
Photograph: Tim Moog
El Nino is causing a drought in Texas this year, withering corn and
other crops in the dry heat.
By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
The Battalion
A hurricane has not hit the Texas Gulf Coast since 1991,
and the U.S. Weather Service’s National center for Atmos
pheric Research says this is because of a strong El Nino.
El Nino is the period of warmer water temperatures
in the Eastern Pacific Ocean along the equator. The rise
in water temperature causes strong winds that typically
shear off developing hurricanes. The strength of El Nino
varies every year.
But El Nino also may cause droughts in some parts of
the United States and flood other parts of the nation.
Dr. Kwang Kim, a Texas A&M meteorologist, said El
Nino is strong this year, and the effects of the period are
beginning to appear.
“El Nino changes each season,” Kim said. “But this year
El Nino will have a dramatic effect on Texas weather.”
Ping Cheng, an A&M climatology professor, said warm
El Nino temperatures may lead to fewer tropical storms in
the Atlantic Ocean.
Although Gulf Coast residents may not have had to
board up windows or evacuate their homes this year, Texas
A&M Agriculture Specialist John Wards said agriculture is
suffering from the effects of El Nino.
In early August, the Atmospheric Research Center in
Oklahoma said that El Nino has the potential to cause bil
lions of dollars in damage to key agriculture regions world
wide, including the Southern United States.
Wards said that in the fall, Texas may experience an in
crease in temperatures, making the it feel like summer, and
rain shortages may be common because of El Nino also.
“El Nino not only has an impact on the weather,” Wards
said, “but it greatly affects agriculture income-based fam
ilies as well. Some years crops go dry because of a lack of
rain and high temperatures.”
Donna Kent, public relations officer for Brazos County
Farm Bureau, said more than 13 percent of families in the
Brazos Valley rely on farming for income. This year, she
said, some are worried about losing crops.
Please see El Nino on Page 2.
NEWYORK (AP) — The Kennedy
frVNhose marital and extramar-
wsivities have filled tabloid
flines for years, are being pil
led by one of their own — none
lerthan JFK Jr.
the September issue of
3, the magazine he founded
longflledits, John F. Kennedy Jr. calls
j^is lofhis cousins “poster boys for
ibehavior.”
Rep. Joseph R Kennedy II,
(lass., accused by his ex-wife
trying to have their marriage
fulled for political expediency,
IMichael Kennedy, accused of
affair with an underage baby
£r, “chased an idealized alter-
iveto their life,” JFK Jr. says in
signed article.
Ofthe ensuing notoriety, he writes:
rhaps they deserved it. Perhaps
! l Jy should have known better.
To whom much is given, much is
avel1 scted, right? The interesting
paring
was the ferocious condemna-
of their excursions beyond the
mds of acceptable behavior.”
he adds, cryptically: “I’ve
rued a lot about temptation re-
itly, but that doesn’t make me de-
iany less.”
konf
Gov. Bush:
Tax battle
not over yet
AUSTIN (AP) —Texas voters have giv
en homeowners a slight tax break, but
they need to speak up if they want to
keep property tax rates and values from
continuing their steady rise, Gov. George
W. Bush said.
“This is definitely a step,” Bush said,
celebrating the overwhelming victory
Saturday of a $1 billion property-tax cut
for homeowners.
In unofficial results, 690,678 Texans,
about 94 percent of those who cast ballots,
voted in favor of the measure that triples
the homestead exemption from $5,000 a
year to $15,000; 41,338
voted against it. The
tax break will save the
average homeowner
about $140 a year.
Bush, who for two
years has pushed an
effort to lower and cap
school property tax
rates, said the issue is
hardly resolved.
“Hopefully during
the course of this campaign, Texans will
make their sentiments known to those of
us who are seeking office,” said the gover
nor, who is seeking re-election next year.
Lawmakers tried to limit the number of
times a home’s value can be assessed and lim
it the increase in appraised property values.
In November, voters will be asked
whether hikes in property value should be
capped at 10 percent a year. Voters also
would be allowed to defer property tax pay
ments if values rose more than 5 percent,
but would pay 8 percent interest to do so.
Since 1995, Bush has said rising prop
erty tax rates and values pose a looming
threat to home ownership in Texas. He
said the state’s healthy economy, the new
ly approved tax cut and increased state
funding for education could take the pres
sure off of rising local school tax bills.
But he added that if Texans want more
to be done, they will have to make that
known to elected officials.
The constitutional amendment ap
proved Saturday raises the minimum
homestead property tax exemption by
$10,000, giving most homeowners a
roughly $12 a month tax cut. Renters and
business property owners were left out of
the savings.
Gov. Bush
Killing Time
Photograph: Rony Angkriwan
lesha Camper, a 2-year-old, buys a gumball while waiting for her mother to do laundry Sunday af
ternoon at Wash-n-Go.
A&M changes overassignment policy
Students will be able to accept or reject the room at an earlier date than previous years
ffin: People learn the most
luable lessons from the
latest heroes: parents.
See Page 5.
Cycling shop
owner killed
in accident
Wayne Bryan, owner of Aggieland Cy
cling and Fitness and 41 -year-old Bryan
resident, was killed at 8 a.m. Sunday two
miles east of College Station on Texas
Highway 30, the Department of Public
Safety said.
Bryan was riding a bicycle on the
westbound shoulder of Hwy 30, the DPS
said, when a 1992 two-door Honda trav
eling westbound in the outside lane
crossed the line and struck the bicycle
on the shoulder of the road.
The DPS said four other people were
bicycling with Bryan, but they were not
injured.
By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
The Battalion
In the next few weeks, Texas
A&M students will be busy meet
ing their roommates for the fab se
mester and scrambling to find fur
nishings for their dorm rooms.
On-campus residence hall as
signments have been given to stu
dents, and the number of overas
signments will be known during
the first week of school.
The Texas A&M Department of
Residence Life said it expects the
same number of overassignments
for the fall as last year.
In Fall 1996, 80 percent of
housing applicants received room
assignments, and 20 percent were
overassigned.
Residence Life began mailing
letters to students who received on-
campus housing last month. The
letters inform students of their
room numbers, roommates and if
they have been overassigned.
Dan Mizer, assistant director of
facilities and planning for Residence
Life, said overassignment is under
control and should not be a prob
lem this year because of revisions to
the overassignment process.
“Memos have been sent out [to
students] which show revisions to
overassignment,” Mizer said. “We
shouldn’t have problems as we did
in the past.”
The revisions require that
overassigned students either ac
cept or reject the room assign
ment at an earlier date than previ
ous years.
This year four A&M students
will live in an apartment-style
room on the first floor of McFad-
den Hall. Three modular rooms
were combined and designed
with a living room, a kitchen, two
bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Please see Halls on Page 2.
Photograph: Tim Moog
Four students will live in an apartment-style room on the first floor of
McFadden Hall this fall. The suite has a living room, kitchen, two bed
rooms and two bathrooms.
U.S. peace envoy says mission goal is security cooperation
JERUSALEM (AP) — President Clinton’s
Mideast envoy focused on Israel’s security de
mands Sunday, shuttling between Israeli and
Palestinian leaders in a drive to salvage the
battered peace process.
Dennis Ross’ task is delicate and difficult:
Trust is at a low point after a five-month crisis,
with Israelis bitter about bombings in their
cities and Palestinians livid Israel is building
settlements and imposing travel bans.
Ross said his orders from Clinton were to re
store the “security underpinning” of the peace
process and resume security cooperation be
tween Israeli and Palestinian security forces.
The strategy appeared to make some head-
The political issues
that divide the parties are
going to have to be
addressed and resolved.”
Dennis Ross
Mediator
way: Ross succeeded in bringing Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat and his security officials
together with Israeli Shin Bet security chief
Ami Ayalon and other Israeli officials for a
meeting, Israel Radio said.
The meeting began around midnight in the
autonomous West Bank city of Ramallah and
continued into Monday. U.S. officials also were
participating in the meeting.
David Bar-Illan, a top adviser to Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said such
meetings alone “are not going to be enough.
... The question will be, ‘Did we get the in
telligence that we need and that we know
they have?”’
Please see Envoy on Page 2.