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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1998)
larch t flothes. I wtheti lasmuti 'n whai * ; How, lm„l a Tiowdyl ' Kwifpipwpw* mm. bm year • ISSUE 108 • 12 PACES Texas A & M University w ?MmmL COLLEGE STATION • TEXAS 3 34 TODAY TOMORROW WEDNESDAY * MARCH 11 • 1998 primary pits Bush against Mauro in 1998 I JSTIN (AP) —Tuesday’s pri- jelections set up a gubernato- ice pitting possible presiden- ^andidate George W. Bush ~tst friend of the current presi- 5Ga|ry Mauro. ^ auro, who twice headed Pres- Clinton’s campaigns in >, was unopposed in the De- atic primary. Ish, who has raised more than hillon for his re-election bid, aed aside one token oppo- llighway contractor R.C. Tord, in the GOP primary. |3 percent ol precincts count- kish had 152,395 votes, 97 percent, to Crawford’s 4,984. Both parties were choosing nominees for other statewide of fices, but few races excited voters. Only about 13.4 percent of the 11 million Texans registered were be lieved to have voted, said Secre tary of State A1 Gonzales. With recent opinion polls showing him 40 percentage points ahead of Mauro, Bush is looking to become the first Texas governor elected to a second consecutive term since Democrat Dolph Briscoe won in 1974. After that? The eldest son of the former president is widely viewed as a leading GOP prospect for the White House in 2000. Bush insists he is focused only on re-election. Just last week, he topped a pres idential straw poll of the Southern Republican Leadership Confer ence, but he continues to say, “Hon estly, I haven’t made up my mind.” Mauro, who has served four terms as state land commissioner, hopes to capitalize on Bush’s coy ness. “I will promise here and now that I won’t run for president in 2000,” he said, laughing, in a re cent interview. Mauro also has been hitting Bush hard on the issue of doctor choice. The Democrat favors a constitutional amendment to re quire health insurance plans and HMOs to offer Texans the option of choosing their own doctors. “If you want to choose your own doctor, you’re going to have to choose a new governor,” the Demo crat said Tuesday as he challenged Bush to a debate on the issue. Incumbent Democrat Dan Morales, who won a $15.3 billion settlement against the tobacco in dustry, is bowing out of politics after two terms as the state’s top lawyer. Former attorney general Jim Mat tox had 68 percent of the early De mocratic primary vote as he bid to get the job back. Also seeking the nomination were Morris Overstreet, a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge, and perennial candidate Gene Kelly, a Universal City lawyer. On the Republican side, Railroad Commissioner Barry Williamson led former state party chairperson Tom Pauken and former Texas Supreme Court justice John Cornyn. State Rep. Richard Raymond, D- Benavides, was unopposed for his party’s nomination to replace Mauro as land commissioner. In a three-way Republican race, Houston business man David Dewhurst had 53 percent of the early vote to 40 percent for state Sen. Jerry Patterson of Pasade na and 7 percent for Bastrop busi nessman Don Loucks. Current Agriculture Commission er Rick Perry is the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor and Carole Kee ton Rylander, now a railroad com missioner, won the party’s comptrol ler’s nomination. Current Comptroller John Sharp, a Democrat, will seek to keep the lieutenant governor’s chair in his party’s hands, while the son of a former lieutenant gover nor, Paul Hobby, is the Democrat ic nominee for comptroller. fast & Present Miens’ History Month: Pondering vances in contraceptive measures !• Amanda Smith | Staffwriter panel will discuss past and temporary methods of contra- on in 308 Rudder today from Ip 1 p.m. The discussion is sort'd by Student Health Ser- , the Beutel Health Education er and Aggie REACH as part jmln’s History Month. ;rri[Porter-Gross, a student tant in the health center and .senior muni- leal i h ir, said jpafiel idssijon pp)- ■ a • pan, - : ook at ra- ion of ppst pp-e- “We don’t realize the plight of our foremothers when talking about the history of contraception. ’ Terri Porter-Gross Senior community health Ne IVIlf reil1 - major the it it of our foremothers when ng about the history of con- iption,” Porter-Gross said. 15-minute video will pro contraceptive options avail- for women today. This will dement the look at previous kon more difficult contraception aods, Porter-Gross said. The presentation will pro- a great opportunity to see yWrfhow far we have come and a f or /v.er understanding of the ad- cements and the limitations . ()| mtraception. [Although] we come a long way, we still i a ways to go.” ?ople in attendance can ask 'el members questions con cerning contraception following the panel discussion. Margaret Griffith, a panelist and assistant health education coordi nator, said she hopes individuals can gain an appreciation for the ad vances made in contraception. “We have come along way in the options for contraception,” Griffith said. “We are going to in troduce some of these options available for women today and compare these to the options of their mothers and grand moth ers.” Dan ny Bal lard, a panelist and an associ ate health educa tion profes sor, said individ uals need to consider a number of options when considering a contraception method. “I hope that when consider ing contraception methods, they consider the effectiveness, the reversibility, the ease of use and the cost of the method,” Ballard said. “[The panel] will be avail able to hopefully answer some of the questions.” The panel will include Grif fith, Ballard, Regan Brown, a nurse practitioner in Women’s Health Clinic, Heather Clark, an HIV counselor from Planned Parenthood and Jaclyn Pruitt, a representative of Aggie REACH. A bang-up job ■ \ RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Manda Hays, a senior agricultural development major, peers into the wreckage displayed in front of Rudder fountain Tuesday afternoon. The car is being displayed by Omega Delta Phi as part of their national B.A.D.D. campaign and in general promotion of alcohol awareness. Computer bug taking byte in 2000 WASHINGTON (AP) — Problems as broad as a scarcity of skilled work ers and as specific as the Year 2000 computer bug threaten to dampen the productivity growth enjoyed by American workers and businesses during the past two years. Judged by recent standards, the productivity advances in 1997 and 1996,1.7 percent and 1.9 percent, re spectively, have been pretty good. “The next surprise for productivi ty is down, not up,” said economist Everett M. Ehrlich of ESC Co. in Wash ington. “The tight labor market is bringing lower-skilled people into the labor force and placing important skills in short supply.... And the mil lennium bug is a major distraction.” Like the Arab oil embargo before it, the Year 2000 problem is diverting tal ent and money from improving pro ductivity. Rather than creating soft ware to improve business efficiency, thousands of highly skilled program mers are scanning code to make sure computers don’t mistake the year “00” for 1900. “We could have new and fancier ways to get stuff done on the Internet instead of just training computers to read four-digit dates instead of two- digit dates,” said economist David Wyss of DRI-McGraw Hill of Lexing ton, Mass. He estimated the cost of curing the problem at $120 billion. Conse quences of failure range from the triv ial — the wrong date on a fax— to the lighway Safety Day promotes afe driving over Spring Break S-5557 By Katy Lineberger Staffwriter Members of Texas Aggies Making danges (TAMC) said they hope to prevent iffic fatalities this Spring Break through |: day’s Highway Safety Day. TAMC High ly Safety Committee members will give /ay 200 T-shirts donated by the Depart- )/2 ent of Student Life, along with stickers ,d bumper stickers. Committee members have posted flyers "Dund campus and have spread an e-mail essage with the campaign’s theme, “Keep e spirit alive—Aggies don’t let Aggies drink id drive.” “I’m hoping that we come out of Spring ’ eak without any losses of Aggies to the ads,” said Courtney Curtis, a TAMC ghway Safety Committee member and a ishman political science major. “Spring eak is a time when partying is at an all- nehigh and the chances of drunken dri- ng are a lot greater. We want to remind |ily lople to arrive alive.” Curtis Bunger, a junior mechanical engi- /iering major, said the organization aims to omote safety. “We just want everyone to have aware catastrophic — the breakdown of the payments system. Ehrlich said the productivity trend in the next century is an open question and depends on the na tion’s schools. “The economy depends on litera cy, numeracy and problem-solving— the ability to work with data and in formation. That’s true whether you’re a truck dispatcher or an insurance claims adjuster,” he said. “It’s prema ture to be optimistic.” INSIDE Destinations unlimited for thrill-seeking Spring Breakers ness,” he said. “Everyone thinks they’re in vincible, but they’re not.” Helen Gutierres, coordinator of campus wide alcohol education with the Department of Student Life, said the greatest number of traffic deaths are alcohol-related. According to the most recent study con ducted in October 1994 by the Harvard School of Public Health, 42 percent of Ag gies said they had driven drunk at least once. The study, which included 140 col leges, said 26.5 percent of college students have driven drunk at least once. “In addition to preventing drinking and driving, we also want to remind people not to ride with someone who has been drink ing,” she said. The same study found almost one-third of Aggies had ridden with a driver they knew was under the influence, compared to 18.4 percent nationally. Gutierres said safety is especially im portant over Spring Break, considering the increased amount of highway travel. “I hope that people will take the mes sage and apply it in their lives,” Curtis said. “We want people to drive safely and to be careful.” The TAMC was formed last year. By Stacey Becks Staffwriter With the start of Spring Break Friday, Aggies will leave College Station for many different destinations from the snowy mountains of Breckenridge to the rainy streets of London. Marge Jancek, manager of Aggieland Super Travel, said the hottest vacation spots for Aggies this spring are Cancun, South Padre and Breckenridge. “Every once in a while there is a can cellation, but everything’s pretty much booked in these places,” she said. “Every one wants to go skiing or to the sun shine.” The students going on the MSC Lon don trip are not opting for sunshine. The weather will more than likely be cold and rainy when 23 students tour London next week. Danny Feather, Corps commander and a senior economics major, said the weather will be a change from the climate of his usual Spring Break vacation spots, but the trip will be action-packed with in tense sightseeing. “It will be a blast,” he said. “A lot of stu dent leaders are going. We’re going to see ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Les Miser- ables,’ and we’ll have one free day.” Other Aggies are choosing to rough it for Spring Break on Sports Rec trips to Big Bend and the Rocky Mountains. Kevin Schiffer, a senior mechanical en gineering major, said the three-day trip will take the group through Big Bend on horseback. The students will learn about horse manship, eat good food prepared by an on-trail cook and have a good time, he said. Ten wildlife fishery science students were invited to compete in the Western Students Conclave Quiz Bowl next week. T.J. Williams, a senior ecology major who will compete in the quiz bowl, said the group is prepared for the competition. “A&M came in second place at the Texas Chapter of Wildlife Society Quiz Bowl,” he said. “We did well there, and we’re as ready as we’re going to be for the Conclave.” The group will compete for one day and will have the rest of the week open to visit timber industries and see spotted owls and marshes. aggie life Students take to the tanning salon in preparation for Spring Break. See Page 3 sports Baseball team splits double- header with Southwest Texas Bobcats. See Page 7 opinion Lemons: Beutel promotes sexual responsibility and moral choices. See Page 11 online http: / /battalion.tamu.eciu Hook up with state and na tional news through The Wire, AP’s 24-hour online news service.