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WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — Texas
v. George W. Bush said Thursday
was arrested and pleaded guilty
nearly 25 years ago to driving while
.Ider the influence of alcohol. “I’m
njji proud of that,” he said.
■ Confirming reports that surfaced in
:hi media five days before Election
bty, the GOP presidential nominee
i|$aiil,in a hurriedly arranged news con-
ifplence, “I’ve oftentimes said that
larsago, I made some mistakes. I oc-
Kionally drank too much, and I did on
lit night. I regret that it happened.”
I The Sept. 4, 1976, incident was first
sorted by Fox News, based on a re
lit prepared by a local affiliate in
jaine. Bush, who was 30 years old at
I I time, said he had chosen to keep the
f ident private, but his hand was
ced by the news outlets.
Suggesting that politics may have
liyed a role in the incident surfacing
Iw, Bush said, “I think that’s an in
to sting question. Why now? — (five)
lys before the election.”
(“I’ve got my suspicions,” said
sh, not sharing them with a crowd of
porters surrounding him.
ied.
in (T tabMFor months, the GOP nominee has
is suclu« ltse( ^ t0 answer questions about any
> the J°uthful indiscretions,” including
lead v P e ther he used illegal drugs in the
' unenw^Os and early 1970s. He continued to
ne mu §oid specifics Thursday night, saying
ibedic if ,c has “been straightforward with the
i accKieople, saying that I used to drink too
ical wijrmch in the past. I’m straightforward
dies.niMf^hhpeople saying I don’t drink now.”
i Chris Lehane, spokesman for the
fore campaign, said, “We had ab-
|olutely nothing to do with this.”
Bush’s campaign staff jumped into
iction after the news broke, tracking
[own the arresting officer and quickly
ranging a rare news conference for the
Jexas governor — his first in a month.
) people' 1 ! Aides said Bush was pulled over
i werefe ear his family’s Kennebunkport,
:d minors name, summer home after visiting a
,Cliaiigst L with friends and a family member
aboard"' tiring the Labor Day weekend,
irs.
Welding power
KEVIN BURNS/Thh Battalion
Welder Mike Matchett replaces the domestic hot water line to Hart
Hall Thursday evening.
Palestinian-Israeli
conflict continues
Car bombing in Jerusalem market kills two, injures 11
Prime Minister’s
•* Office
Supreme Court
4 Knesset
JERUSALEM (AP) — A
powerful car bomb went off
Thursday near a crowded out
door market in the heart of
Jerusalem, killing two by
standers on the day that Israeli
and Palestinian leaders were
scheduled to announce a truce.
The blast went off around 3
p.m., killing a man and a
woman, “apparently Jews,” said
Israeli Police Commissioner %
Yehuda Wilk.
Flames burst from the car,
which witnesses said moments
earlier had been chased by police.
Huge black plumes of smoke
rose into the sky as wailing ambulances rushed to
a narrow side street nearUhe Mahane Yehuda mar
ket, which sells food, vegetables and clothing in
Jewish west Jerusalem.
Eleven people were injured, paramedics said.
Wilk said the assailants parked the car, rigged
Campus organizations help
students cope with situation
Ae *»^Sl Km
Mahane Yehuda
market
Car bomb
exploded in
Jerusalem
market
New
City
Jerusalem
Old City H
I V
Al Aqsa
Mosque
Mount
Zion
Hinnon
Valley
By Courtney Stelzel
The Battalion
As the death toll
continues to rise in the
Middle East due to con
tinued Palestinian and
Israeli fighting, it is
easy to look at the situ
ation from a political
perspective. The issue
may not seem to hit
close to home, but it
does for hundreds of
Texas A&M Jewish and
Muslim students.
Campus organiza
tions such as the Hillel
Jewish Student Associ
ation and the Muslim
Student Association
(MSA) are supporting
their members during
this situation. The Jew
ish Association and the
MSA have placed ad
vertisements in The
Battalion calling for
peace and prayer.
“The [Jewish Stu
dent Association] is cur
rently formulating some
groups that will orga
nize statements on the
association’s behalf,”
said Greg Meyer, a fel
lowship recipient for the
National Hillel Jewish
Association assigned to
help A&M Jewish stu
dents. “We also have
student committees at
tempting to organize a
peace march.”
Meyer said that Rab
bi Tarlow, adviser for the
Jewish Student Associa
tion, has been holding
everybody together dur
ing this emotional time,
“Rabbi Tarlow takes
care of everybody,” he
Wm. J. Gastello, S. Hoffmann/AP
with large quantities of explosives, on a side
street near the market. He said heavy police pres
ence apparently deterred the assailants from try
ing to explode the bomb in the crowded market.
Police said they were checking whether the as
sailants got away.
University officials praise
U.S. mediation in Mid East
See Mid East on Page 8.
By Courtney Stelzel
The Battalion
The mediator role the
United States is taking in
the Middle East conflict
is the appropriate stance,
said Dr. Avraham
Zilkha, director of the
Center for Middle East
ern Studies at the Uni
versity of Texas-Austin,
and Nehemia Geva, a
Texas A&M political
science professor.
The two spoke at a
panel discussion hosted
by the Current Issues
Awareness (CIA) com
mittee and the Wiley
Lecture Series (WLS)
about the Middle East.
“The purpose of the
program is to inform
students about the issues
occurring in the Middle
East today,” said Rani
Hauth, chairwoman for
the WLS and a sopho
more business major.
“We want students to be
able to learn about im
portant issues outside of
the classroom.”
The recent violent
uprising between Pales
tinians and Israelis and
their ongoing dispute
over control of Israel
and the holy sites with
in its territory was the
topic at hand.
The discussion was
moderated by Barry
Hammond, a WLS and
CIA committee mem
ber and a sophomore fi
nance major. The
evening opened with
Zilkha and Geva com
menting on the history
of Israel and Palestine.
See Panel on Page 2.
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Planet Northgate to showcase culture
SEUSO GARCIA/The Battalion
By Arati Bhattacharya .
The Battalion
The road home for Juan Borrego is not down High
way 6, Highway 21 or Highway 35. For Borrego to go
home, he has to cross national borders.
“I definitely miss home,” said Borrego, a native of
Mexico and a sophomore electrical engineering major.
“The entire culture is different. I have to go back to
Mexico to get real Mexican food and cherish the Te-
jano music and lifestyle.”
His nostalgia will be somewhat satisfied this week
end, when a dash of multicultural flavor and festivities
will envelop Northgate in Planet Northgate, sponsored
by the International Student Association (ISA).
“We hope to make Planet Northgate a huge Aggie tra
dition, and this is just the start,” said Monica Pena, pres
ident of ISA and a senior industrial engineering major.
Planet Northgate will have an array of festivities
today and Saturday, targeting
all age groups. Booths host
ed by various international
and cultural organizations
will line the Northgate Prom
enade, selling ethnic food
and housing cultural displays
and decorative artwork.
Borrego said he plans to at
tend the event to learn about
different cultures, while cher
ishing his own.
Pena said it is unique to
have so many cultures in such
a small area.
“The purpose of Planet Northgate is to show
everyone what’s here and to build awareness,” Pena
said. “There’s going to be stuff for everyone to enjoy.”
Six bands — Peruvian flute players, a reggae band
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BRANDON HENDERSON/The Battalion
from Austin, Arabian gypsy-style music, jazz, Mex
ican pop and an alternative band — will entertain
crowds this weekend.
Tiago Bitdinger, vice president for ISA and a senior
See Northgate on Page 2.
Third-party candidates continue campaigning
Buchanan focuses on Reform Party funding Ralph Nader makes third bidforpresidency
By Noel Freeman
The Battalion
While Reform Party candi
date Pat Buchanan has accepted
almost certain defeat, he and the
Reform Party have their sights
set on getting federal funding
for the Reform Party for the
2004 presidential race.
As the Nov. 7 election draws
near, the goal to win at least 5
percent of the popular vote,
which will qualify the Reform
Party for $ 13 million in federal funding for its presidential candidate in 2004,
has been adopted by the Buchanan campaign.
Wes Anderson, Buchanan’s deputy press secretary, said the party is moving
to build a permanent populous third party.
“We want more political choice for the American people,” Anderson said.
The. Nov. 7 election is Buchanan’s third try for the presidency after being
defeated for the Republican nomination in 1992 and 1996. This is his first bid
on the Reform Party ticket, which received $12.5 million in federal funding
following Ross Perot’s 9 percent showing in the 1996 election.
By Arati Bhattacharya
The Battalion
While most voters are making their final
choices between the Democratic and Republican
parties, a few Americans are placing their bids
on a newly emerging political party. Fighting to
join the political mainstream, Ralph Nader of the
Green Party is the most prominent third-party
candidate in the 2000 presidential election. The
Nader 2000 campaign says it “strive to clean up
and clean out the political decay that has turned
our government over to a plutocracy and politi
cians who take its marching orders.”
Holding a different perspective from the two
larger parties, Nader and the Green Party take
pride in a concentration on environmental is
sues and consumer rights.
“I want to be president for a very simple reason,” Nader said. “Because this
country needs a very strong progressive movement that challenges the accepted
concentration of power and wealth in the hands of global corporations who
dominate our government, our workplace, our environment and many other ar
eas of our political economy.”
See Buchanan on Page 8.
See Nader on Page 8.
Bomb suspects
attack, stab guard
NEW YORK (AP) — Two U.S. embassy bombing sus
pects attacked a guard at a federal lockup, stabbing him in
the eye and leaving him in critical condition, authorities said.
A federal law enforcement source, speaking on condi
tion of anonymity, told the Associated Press that the guard
at the Metropolitan Correctional Center was stabbed in the
eye Wednesday with some kind of plastic instrument.
The thrust was believed to be so severe that the man
lost his eye and the instrument penetrated the guard’s
brain, the source said.
The 43-year-old guard, whose name was not released,
was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he underwent surgery
for more than 12 hours, said Lorinda Klein, a spokeswoman
for the hospital. He remained in critical condition Thursday.
“Our thoughts and our prayers are with the family,”
said Attorney General Janet Reno, who was asked about
the incident at a Thursday news conference in Washing
ton, She said she understood he was expected to recov
er, but gave no details on his condition.
The suspects were identified as Khalfan Khamis Mo-
hamed and Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, who have both been
indicted in connection with the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings at
See Attack on Page 2.