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Bruce KL
The Battalion
Serving the University community
75 No. 173 USPS 045360 14 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, July 14, 1982
-
’hirty-two of the 35 new shuttle buses Texas A&M
University purchased have been delivered. The large
buses, which will replace the Transportation Enterprise
staff photo by Octavio Garcia
Inc. buses, seat 46 passengers. Two buses, which seat
24 people, will run an intra-campus route between the
parking lots across the railroad tracks and the campus.
Pass cost remains same
Shuttle bus service to be first-rate
3
5
jr
by Hope E. Paasch
Battalion Staff
■ Shuttle bus service for Texas
A&M students this fall will be more
efficient and reliable than the sys
tem offered by Transportation En
terprises, Inc., Jim Ferguson, mana
ger of adminstrative services, said
Tuesday.
I “Our objective is to offer more
efficient service and keep the cost
down,” Ferguson said. “We will have
brand new buses, completely new
management and a core of full-time
drivers.
“The system is run completely by
[the University now. We are not con-
acting with anyone.”
In the past, Austin-based TEI has
had a contract with Texas A&M for
providing bus service. Complaints
of poor service and inefficiency
prompted the University to let TEI’s
contract expire.
J “The new buses are more rugged
lian anything TEI ever used,” Fer-
juson said. “These buses were cus
tom-built for Texas A&M by the
Thomas Co. in North Carolina. The
buses will be transit-style, with rear-
mounted diesel engines. They will
not be air-conditioned.”
Thirty-two of the 35 new buses
have been delivered. Two of the
buses are smaller, 24-passenger
models that will be used for intra
campus routes. They were purch
ased for $26,000 each. The larger
buses, which carry 46 passengers,
cost $47,000 each.
The buses for the intra-campus
routes will be used to transport peo
ple from parking lots across the rail
road tracks to the campus. These
buses will operate from 7:30 a.m. to
5:30 p.m. and anyone may ride the
intra-campus buses at no charge.
Despite the cost of the new buses,
the cost of a shuttle bus pass will still
be $40, the same as last year.
“We are able to use facilities that
already exist,” Ferguson said. “And
we don’t have a profit motive. That’s
how we can operate for about the
same cost.”
Students may pick up passes be
ginning the week before the fall
semester begins.
Maintenance for the buses will be
handled by the Transportation Cen
ter on Agronomy Road. A new facil
ity is now under construction to
house the system and is expected to
be finished by April 1983.
Further efficiency and stability in
the new bus system will be gained by
using a core of full-time drivers,
Ferguson said. He said some part-
time drivers will be used to supple
ment the system.
All drivers will undergo training
— consisting of both classroom and
practical instruction — with the De
partment of Safety Education at the
University.
Ferguson said all full-time drivers
will be hired Aug. 9 and the part-
time drivers will be hired Aug. 23.
Two new off-campus routes also
have been added. One, called the
Lincoln route, covers the area
northeast of campus. The route
runs east on University to Tarrow,
to Lincoln and back to campus on
Walton.
The second new route is off FM
2818, near Balcones Drive.
Also, several on-campus stops
have been modified slightly, Fergu
son said.
All the south routes will stop on
Throckmorton, instead of having
one stop on Joe Routt Blvd.
Another change will have all east
routes stopping on Bizzell Street.
Two will stop on the street between
the Commons and the golf course,
and one will stop at the bus shelter.
Ferguson said sidewalks will be
added near the golf course.
North routes will use the same
stops as last year.
“The idea is to get the buses on
the perimeter of the campus and off
the small streets with tight turns and
lots of traffic,” Ferguson said.
Heavy winds, load caused crash
United Press International
KENNER, La. — Federal investiga
tors say a combination of adverse
■find conditions and a heavy payload
apparently caused the crash of Pan
Am Flight 759, a newspaper report-
| ed Tuesday.
I ! The investigators, who asked not
to be identified, said preliminary ex
amination reveals no evidence of en
gine failure or other mechanical
problems, said the copyright story in
Tuesday’s edition of The Times-
Picayune-The States Item.
The investigators also told the
newspaper they found no evidence of
human error in the control tower.
Test results revealed no alcohol,
drugs, or other chemicals in the
bodies of the airliner’s crew, National
Transportation Safety Board spokes
man Brad Dunbar told the news
paper.
The expected legal avalanche from
the crash started Tuesday with law
suits in Louisiana and California seek
ing nearly $90 million.
In U.S. District Court in New
Orleans a man and his “miracle baby”
sought $15 million in damages for
their “suffering, pain and grave men
tal anguish.”
In the eight-page document, Gab
riel Trahan Jr. of Kenner claimed
negligence on the part of Pan Amer
ican World Airways, United States
Aviation Underwriters, the Boeing
Co., ABC Insurance Co. and the Fed
eral Aviation Administration.
“The accident is the kind of
tragedy and disaster that does not
Ex-student
not guilty
by insanity
by Terry Duran
Battalion Staff
A former Texas A&M student ac
cused of the stabbing death of his
roommate was found not guilty by
reason of insanity Tuesday — but will
not have to undergo psychiatric treat
ment.
District Judge Bradley Smith de
clared Leighton Hurst, 21, not guilty
of the May 8, 1981 stabbing death of
Joseph Dill after three psychiatrists
and a psychologist — three of whom
were witnesses for the prosecution —
said Hurst was insane at the time of
the killing.
However, he will not be committed
to a mental institution or other man
datory treatment because Smith de
cided Hurst was not currently mental
ly ill.
Dill, a freshman accounting major,
was found dead — stabbed 48 times
— in his Tanglewood South apart
ment in College Station. Hurst was
arrested in the apartment shortly af
ter discovery of the body and charged
with the death.
District Attorney Travis Bryan III
decided to let Judge Smith determine
Hurst’s sanity after three psychiatric
reports found Hurst insane.
“The judge,” Bryan said, “did the
only thing he could have, given the
status of the law and the evidence pre
sented. I have no argument with the
judge’s decision.”
Bryan said he thinks the insanity
defense “should be abolished.
“We ought to have some psychiat
ric unit type prisons and some regular
facilities, but they ought to go to pris
on regardless.”
Bryan said no appeal can be made
by the state to change the court’s deci
sion.
Two psychiatrists and a psycholog
ist for the prosecution, along with a
defense-hired psychiatrist, testified
that at the time of Dill’s death Hurst
suffered from a form of schizophre
nia which could strike and leave sud
denly.
Psychiatric reports said that in the
weeks before Dill’s death Hurst began
seeing glimpses of monsters, thought
birds, radios and televisions were talk
ing directly to him, and believed the
U.S. Air Force had set up surveillance
equipment in his apartment.
The reports said that on the night
of Dill’s death, Hurst thought Dill was
a Russian spy with a gun who had
come to kill him.
Hurst’s attorney said Hurst has
been under treatment since the inci
dent, taking medication to reduce the
chance of another schizophrenic in
terlude, and is working in an Austin
supermarket.
Hurst was defended by Roy Min
ton, who successfully defended Texas
House Speaker Billy Clayton in the
federal Brilab case.
FBI investigates
Braniff kickbacks
United Press International
DALLAS — At least one former
high-ranking official of Braniff Inter
national was involved in a kickback
scheme, sources told United Press In
ternational, and the FBI confirmed it
was investigating.
Several kickback schemes or
equipment thefts — in the fuel ser
vices and maintenance departments,
and perhaps others — may have cost
Braniff between $50 million and $60
million during the last decade, one
source told UPI.
Sources said BranifFs plunge into
bankruptcy in May could have been
hastened by employees taking mil
lions of dollars from the airline be
cause they suspected it would soon
become insolvent.
Thomas C. Kelly, agent-incharge
of the FBI in Dallas, confirmed an
investigation was under way, but
could not comment further.
Sam Coats, BranifFs senior vice
president and spokesman, Tuesday
said Braniff was aware of an investi
gation, but he could not divulge any
other information.
“Yes, we requested an investiga
tion,” Coats said. “We have cooper
ated with that investigation and will
continue to do so.”
The information on the kickback
schemes was given to UPI by an air
line industry executive and con
firmed by two former Braniff execu
tives and two Dallas fuel brokers.
The reported initial target of the
FBI investigation is Jack Ward,
sources said, but they indicated the
investigation could go higher. Kelly
said the FBI had not made an attempt
to interview Ward “to date” — indi
cating agents would likely want to
speak with him later.
Ward was BranifFs director of fuel
administration until his unexpected,
forced resignation from the airline
Sept. 22, 1981 —only weeks before a
new management team headed by
Howard D. Putnam assumed respon
sibilities at Braniff.
Forum to host critic
normally occur except in the presence
of negligence of those persons in
charge,” the suit said.
The second worst aviation disaster
in U.S. history killed all 145 passen
gers on the Boeing 727 and at least
nine people on the ground.
Trahan’s suit asked $7.5 million for
himself and $7.5 million for 16-
month-old Melissa, who was pulled
from the rubble after more than three
hours. The crash killed her mother
and older sister.
MSC Political Forum will host Dr.
Russell Kirk, a noted historian, poli
tical and educational theorist, literary
critic and novelist tonight at 7:30 in
Rudder Forum.
Kirk’s topic will be “The Nature of
Freedom: An Academic Perspective.”
Kirk has been described by Time
and Newsweek “as one of America’s
leading thinkers” and has been a dis
tinguished professor at several uni
versities and colleges since 1948.
Gary Hickman, Political Forum
services coordinator, said he was in
terested in getting Kirk to speak at
Texas A&M after hearing students in
his English course discuss book ban
ning practices.
“His basic idea is that you cannot
have academic freedom if you don’t
have some rules,” Hickman said.
Author of 23 books, Kirk holds a
bachelor’s degree from Michigan
State University, a master’s degree
from Duke University and a docto
rate from St. Andrews University in
Scotland.
Admission is free.
[‘Whorehouse’ opens; Reynolds apologizes
United Press International
AUSTIN — Burt Reynolds is
tying to cool his feud with playwright
arty King — author of “The Best
Little Whorehouse in Texas” — by
Apologizing for threatening to “hit
|im so hard his parents are going to
Reynolds and his leading lady,
[Dolly Parton, were in Texas this week
for the premiere of the $25 million
musical-comedy based on the real-life
[story of the famed Chicken Ranch
Jrothel of LaGrange, Texas.
King, who penned the original
Broadway play, has been outspokenly
critical of the casting of Reynolds as
the town sheriff and Parton as the
bawdy house madame. He has
blamed Reynolds, whom he described
as an egomaniac, for the fact that the
movie strayed from the stage version.
That criticism prompted Reynolds
to lose his temper this week, telling a
local newspaper “that I’ll meet him
(King) anytime, anywhere, and I’ll hit
him so hard his parents are going to
die.”
But the actor apologized for the
remark in a news conference
Tuesday.
“I just reduced myself to his level
the other day and I’m ashamed of it,”
Reynolds said. “I’m sorry and I
should have kept my mouth shut.”
The premiere audience responded
enthusiastically to the movie Sunday
night, interrupting it several times
with loud applause, cheers and laugh
ter. But both Reynolds and Parton
said they were disappointed the
movie contained several nude scenes
involving the Chicken Ranch prosti
tutes.
“I was surprised at the premiere. I
didn’t know there was any nudity at
all,” Parton said at the news confer
ence Tuesday. “It kind of embarras
sed me to a degree. I don’t think it was
in bad taste, I just was really sur
prised. I didn’t think it was neces
sary.”
“I thought it went too far,”
Reynolds said.
Parton, whose flashy clothes
prompted her to describe herself as
“the polyester princess,” said she en
joyed the role of Miss Mona, the kin-
dhearted madame.
“I thought I was Miss Mona and I
didn’t have to act,” she said. “The
women they called trash in my home
town were the women I always
thought were really pretty. I wanted
to grow up and look like they did.”
She and Reynolds both said they
planned to make another movie
together, perhaps a film that Parton
will write and Reynolds will direct.
Parton also said she had written a
screenplay for a movie she hoped she
could co-star in with equally-flashy
singer-actress Bette Midler.
inside
Classified 6
Local 3
National 7
Opinions 2
Sports 11
State 3
forecast
Partly cloudy skies with a 20 per
cent chance of rain today; high in
the mid-90s; low in the mid-70s at
night. Thursday’s forecast calls for
a slight chance of rain with highs in
the mid-90s.