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WEDNESDAY
March 8, 2000
Volume 106 ~ Issue 107
10 pages
IW4 =f:l * i 1 rw I Vi
Bush, Gore win big in primaries
'Super Tuesday’ gives front-runners large lead over rival candidates
ELECTION 200
SUPER TUESDAY
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
i]
(AP)—A1 Gore swept past Bill Bradley in Su-
ierTuesday primaries from Maine to California,
ushing his rival to the brink of withdrawal in the
emocratic presidential campaign. “We need to
jildon our record of prosperity,” the vice presi-
lentsaid, turning his focus toward November.
“He won, 1 lost,” said Bradley, all but conced-
ig his challenge was over.
Gore won from New England to Georgia to Ohio
California and at several stops in between, regu-
iy gaining 60 percent of the vote or more. Mis-
iri, where Bradley wus bom; New York, where he
Jayed pro basketball — they, too, went for Gore.
A Bush candidacy would set up a general elec-
i matchup between two 50-something scions
fpolitical families. Gore’s father served as sen
ior from Tennessee before him; Bush’s father
nas president and his grandfather represented
Connecticut in the Senate.
T'
Blacks preferred Gore over Bradley by a mar
gin of 6-1; and Hispanics by 8-1. The margin
among union members was smaller, but a healthy
3-1. Gore also won the vote of independents, a key
element of Bradley’s electoral strategy, and a group
that the Democratic nominee will need in the gen
eral election race. The exit polling was conducted
by Voter News Service, a consortium of the Asso
ciated Press (AP) and television networks.
To voters concerned about education,
abortion rights, environmental protection and
other issues, he insisted, “our campaign is
your cause.”
(ieorge W. Bush accelerated his drive to the
Republican presidential nomination Tuesday,
winning California, New York and live other
primaries as he rose to vanquish John McCain.
Praising his insurgent challenger. Bush said,
“Soon our party will unite and turn to the main
task at hand —ending the era of Clinton-Gore.”
McCain was considering whether to drop out of
the race and an aide said he expected the Arizona
senator to pull the plug as early as Thursday. The
Arizona senator won four states Tuesday but none
beyond independent-minded New England. Retold
supporters that he and Bush “may meet again,”
leaving plenty of room for doubt.
“We’re very pleased with the victories we won
and disappointed with the ones we lost,” McCain
told AP. lie said he’ll meet with his aides Wednes
day “and talk about our future.”
In a reflective mood, McCain said, “We’ve
changed the face of politics mid put refonn on the
agenda. We’re proud of what we’ve done.”
Forging familiar coalitions, Bush relied on par
ty faithful while McCain drew from independents
and moderate Republicans. McCain’s gamble of
criticizing conservative Christian leaders may have
backfired in key states, while Bush’s visit to a South
Carolina university with a history of anti-Catholic
views seemed to be a beneficial campaign issue for
McCain in some states.
In a late-night rally, Bush enthused, “We have
a national victory. Republicans and conservatives
across American have said they want me to lead the
Republican Party to victory come November, and
1 am ready and eager to do so.”
The governor won California, Ohio, Georgia,
Missouri and Maryland by double-digit margins —
and broke McCain’s hold in the Northeast with nar
rower victories in New York and in Maine. I le won
the Minnesota caucuses as well. McCain took
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Ver
mont as voters in 13 states participated in the year’s
largest night of Republican presidential contests.
See Primaries on Page 2.
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Amanda Cooper, a junior animal science major, and Lindsay Maberry, a sophomore management major, eat crawfish at
Alicia’s restaurant to celebrate Fat Tuesday.
Pradhan jailed for
breaking parole, theft
PRADHAN
BY STUART HUTSON
The Battalion
Dhiraj Pradhan, formerly
A&M’s top-paid computer sci
ence professor, was sentenced to
60 days in jail and ordered to im
mediately pay $38,(XX) in restitu
tion to the Texas A&M Universi
ty System Tuesday for 26 charges
of theii and violation of probation.
Pradhan’s probation
stemmed from a Nov. 24, 1998, plea bargain in
which he plead guilty to the charge of Abuse of
Official Capacity for misusing $38,000 of Texas
A&M University System money in return for a
sentence of five years probation during which he
could repay the amount in monthly installments.
Upon a secondary investigation at Pradhan’s
request after the plea bargain, the District Attor
ney’s office discovered that Pradhan had contin
ued to use $8,000 ofTexas A&M University Sys
tem money after his probation had started.
“We ended up talking with the A&M Gener
al Council who led us to these instances. After
some investigation, we felt these violated the
terms of [Pradhan’s probation],” Brazos County
District Attorney Bill Turner said. “[This ruling]
is just a revocation of his probation.”
The charges of the $8,000 theft consist of
copying and mailing over 130,000 pages of ma
terial and use of a phone card for personal gain at
the University’s expense.
“Pradhan said that he is being persecuted for
just making a few copies,” Turner said. “But I
think that it is significant to realize that this
amounts to $8,000 of state money that he took
while not even an employee.”
Turner said the $8,000 was added to the $30,000
left unpaid from the original plea bargain and was
ordered to be paid immediately. He also said Prad-
han was ordered to turn himself over to police cus
tody at Brazos County Jail by 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Pradhan said he had permission from his former
supervisor Wei Zhao, a computer science professor,
to use the University’s facilities to make 2,000
copies of a paper which he intended to submit to
various scientific publications. As proof, Pradhan
said he presented payment authorization forms tor
the expenditures bearing Wei Zhao’s signature.
“A few of the forms were properly filled out,
but we have determined that the remainder ap
pear to be falsified duplications,” Turner said.
Pradhan said he feels as though Zhao was
See Pradhan on Page 2.
t I
Prairie View’s program funding inadequate, under question
-lot
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BY APRIL YOUNG
The Battalion
The Feb. II Prairie View A&M University’s
len’s track team car accident, which killed four
Jstudents, has raised questions on whether Prairie
[Viewreceives adequate funding for its programs.
The driver of the van en route to Pine Bluff,
|Ark., for an indoor track meet was a 21 -year-old
pdent athlete at Prairie View. Students and spec-
Jlators are now questioning why this state-funded
lool could not afford a charter vehicle for its
t-of-state trip.
“We do not have pockets as deep as
College Station, therefore one has to par
ticipate in athletics using transportation as
safe as possible but also as economical as
possible — and that entails the lease of
vans,” said Larry Raab, vice president of
finance at Prairie View A&M University.
Since state money cannot be used for
athletics, money used for athletics must
be raised or donated by alumni or private
companies.
“Football programs pay for the ma
jority of all other athletic programs at any
“We do not have pockets as deep
as College Station, therefore one
has to participate in athletics us
ing transportation as safe as
possible but also as economical
as possible ...”
— Larry Raab
vice president of finance at Prairie View A&M University
university, so if you have a viable, large,
well-funded football program, those
monies normally cover all other sports at
the university,” Raab said. “We, like all
the other schools in the A&M System,
have to rely heavily on gate revenue and
fund raising activities from alumni, the
corporate world and others.”
B.J. Crain, associate vice chancellor
for budgets and accounting for the Texas
A&M University System, said the A&M
System does not have a say in distribu
tion of money contributed to the univer
sities by the state ofTexas.
“Money in the system is distributed by the
Legislature, and it never comes to the Texas A&M
University System,” he said.
Crain said the formula used by the Legislature
is based on detailed calculations, but can be over
simplified to three basic building blocks: semes
ter credit hours, whether it is undergraduate, grad
uate or a doctoral program; the type of institution,
such as liberal arts, engineering or agriculture;
and square footage.
See Prairie View on Page 2.
3xperiment
dance
tation
lignment
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Pope to apologize
for church’s sins
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spted.
707 Texas Ave.
Bryan
822-2141
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope
John Paul II plans to deliver a his
toric, sweeping apology for the sins
of Roman Catholics over the cen
turies, Vatican officials said today.
The pope’s homily for the
Day of Pardon Mass in St. Pe
ter’s Basilica on Sunday is ap
parently still being written. The
officials, briefing reporters on
Ike event, also appeared to be
setting limits on how such an
apology should be viewed.
No pope has ever gone to such
lengths to seek forgiveness for past
sins, Vatican spokesperson Joaquin
varro-Vails said.
A document prepared by an in
ternational group of theologians,
which was released in Paris last
'veek, and statements by officials
May suggested the pope will at
least allude to responsibility by the
Catholics in the Holocaust, the In
quisition, the Crusades and for acts
against other Christians in wars of
teligions.
The theological document re-
sed last week broke little new
ground and was instead intended to
provide the context for the pope’s
for a “purification” of the
church.
POPE JOHN PAUL
On the I lolocaust, the docu
ment said it was important to keep
a “moral and religious memory”
on the injury inflicted on Jews.
“In this
area, much
has already
been done,
but this should
be confirmed
and deep
ened,” the
document said.
Some
Jews were up
set that the
Vatican’s landmark 1998 document
on the Holocaust did not condemn
the church hierarchy for any fail
ures to save Jews.
The Vatican has consistently
defended Pope Pius XII, who
served during World War II and is
a candidate for beatification.
Israeli Chief Rabbi Israel Meir
Lau said the latest Vatican docu
ment on the Holocaust was “quite
disappointing.”
“It is impossible to correct a
crime of the past without any men
tion, for example, of Pius XII when
he stood on the blood of the victims
and did not say a word,” he said.
Ross St. renovation in need of funds
INSIDE
BY RICHARD BRAY
The Battalion
Students who have been waiting for years to use both sides of
Ross Street between Ireland and Spence Streets will be waiting a
while longer.
Mary Miller, the associate vice president for administration, said
Ross Street has been blocked off from vehicle use because of faults
in the street’s foundation.
“It’s been blocked off for a few years, and that’s because the sub
structure of the street is caving in and it wasn’t safe for vehicles to
drive on it,” she said.
David Godbey, associate director for engineering and design
services, said “the supporting soil underneath it was not com
pacted properly.”
Godbey said Ross Street is just part of a larger project being
planned.
“It is under consideration now to be part
of a large project that would include re
building New Main Drive and upgrading
all the storm water drainage between Uni
versity Boulevard and George Bush Dri
ve,” he said.
Miller said the tentative schedule calls
for construction beginning in fall 2001.
Due to the project’s size, it will not be
completed until May 2003.
“The timing is very long because we
have a lot of issues that are being addressed
at one time,” she said.
Miller said the estimated cost is about
$4.5 million for the entire renovation pro
ject, which would be paid for with state
bonds.
“It is a very expensive repair because it
is a major street renovation,” She said.
Godbey said the orange cylinders blocking off one side of Ross
Street are “not a sign that construction is starting because first we
would have to hire engineers and do plans of specifications in de
tail. All we’ve done so far is have a preliminary study on it.”
Godbey said New Main Drive will be rebuilt in concrete to im
prove its appearance.
“New Main has deteriorated and is really not suitable to the main
entrance of a major university,” he said. “It is a blacktop street and
our intentions are to rebuild it in concrete so it is a first-class street.”
Godbey said the storm drains are to blame for the flooding that
occurs on Bizzell Strect,following heavy rains.
Godbey said the stonn drains must be improved in order to meet
the requirements of an agreement with College Station.
“We have an agreement with the City of College Station to re
duce our runoff to their system on George Bush Drive by 20 per
cent,” he said.
JP BEATO/The Battalion
Ross Street, between the Reed McDonald Building and the Chemistry Building has
been closed off to two-way traffic for several years due to its faulty foundation.
The misconceptions
of spring break
Media paints false
picture of stu
dents on break
Page 3
•Political parties on the beach
Spring break offers students
opportunity to get to the elec
tion polls.
Page 9
• A&M baseball rebounds
vs. No.5 Cougars
Aggies hang on for a 9-5 le
against Cougars
Page 7
Page 7 M,
^ JHP
(EUUKtBm
• Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at
1:57 p.m. for details
on Internet taxation.
• Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu