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bm year • ISSUE 108 • 12 PACES
Texas A & M University
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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
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news service.