be Battalion
Cloudy
and
cooler
Vol. 67 No. 76
College Station, Texas
Friday, February 11, 1972
Today —? Cloudy skies, rain
showers and thundershowers.
Winds between west and east at
5-10 mph. High 59°.
Saturday —- Cloudy skies in
morning becoming partly cloudy
in afternoon. Easterly winds 10-
12 mph. High 66°, low 48°.
845-2226
"IALTI
rat
•iamond
Gus Mutscher trial
still going through
ABILENE, Tex. ttf*) — A dis-
rict judge denied two key de
fense motions Thursday and the
itate announced it would prose-
!Ute Texas House Speaker Gus
'utscher and two associates
ifeb. 28 on charges of conspiracy
o accept a bribe.
Judge Neil Daniel struck down
wo motions to quash the crim-
nal indictments against Mut-
cher, his chief aide, Rush Mc-
linty and State Rep. Tommy
’action is Phannon of Fort Worth.
Travis County District Atty.
lob Smith disclosed then that
le would move first against all
ihree defendants on the conspir-*
icy charge.
Mutscher, 39, is also under
itate indictment alleging he ac-
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bile
ac
MCE
ipment"
Ave.
12
cepted a bribe.
Shannon and McGinty were
named only in the conspiracy
indictment, although the defense
argued that the charge is worded
in such a way as to allege ac
ceptance of a bribe also.
The case, arising from the
Texas stock fraud scandals, was
transferred from Austin on a
change of venue.
The tall, dark-haired, soft-
spoken judge cleared the court
room 30 minutes after the hear
ing began for debate on a mo
tion to quasy supbenas of four
newsmen.
The judge granted the motion
after the four reporters testi
fied separately behind closed
doors.
The defense thus failed in its
attempt to learn the sources of
information for two news stories
that appeared last September be
fore the grand jury indictments
were returned.
In what was interpreted as a
related action, Judge Daniel over
ruled the first two defense mo
tions to dismiss the indictments.
The defense later attacked
the indictment itself as unconsti
tutional, contending also that it
is “overly broad, overly vague
. . . and should be dismissed.”
“I overrule the motion,” the
judge said softly.
Mutscher, flanked by McGinty
and Shannon, sat silently and un-
smilingly behind his attorneys, oc
casionally adjusting his horned-
rimmed glasses while the legal
confrontation unfolded.
IQUES
ssoriee
‘inished
irea
:tions
im
rrace
tion
ice
Vietnam’s Thieu refuses
additional peace
concessions
SAIGON UP) _ President
Nguyen Van Thieu declared
Thursday night that South Viet-
lam will make no further peace
oncessions despite Secretary of
itate William P. Rogers’ asser-
ions of flexibility in the allied
osition.
Wxon
ntice
won’t
Reds
ir Work
■9455
m peace plan
WASHINGTON <A>) — Presi-
ent Nixon said Thursday he
las gone as far as he intends to
0 to entice the Communists to
negotiated settlement of the
ietnam war until Hanoi begins
negotiate seriously.
In an impromptu news confer-
at the White House, Nixon
aid the Communists had not yet
jesponded formally to his Jan.
1 eight-point peace proposal and
[there will be no further conces-
on our part” until or unless
Thieu confirmed a rift between
Saigon and President Nixon’s
administration over the latest
allied peace plan. He sharply
criticized Rogers, saying that if
the secretary meant what he said,
“It is a serious violation of Viet
namese sovereignty.”
“I will talk with Mr. Nixon
about it,” Thieu said in a tele
vision interview with five Viet
namese newsmen.
In Washington, the State De
partment declined comment but
Gerald L. Warren, deputy White
House press secretary said:
“There’s no disagreement be
tween this government and the
government of South Vietnam.”
While saying nothing about a
future Nixon-Thieu meeting,
Warren emphasized the United
States would not indulge in “con
nivance with Hanoi at the ex
pense of the people of South
Vietnam.”
Under the allied eight-point
peace plan, new election would
follow a cease-fire and Thieu
would resign a month before the
vote, in which all political fac
tions including the Viet Cong
could participate.
Rogers told a Washington
news conference Feb. 3 that the
United States was flexible on
the composition of a caretaker
government, on the length of
time that Thieu would resign be
fore the election and on other
unresolved questions.
“Everybody knows that the
proposal is a joint peace plan
of the United States and South
Vietnam,” Thieu declared. “When
we said I will resign one month
prior to the new election, ’we
mean it.”
Thieu said that “we cannot
go farther because if we make
another step, I am sure we will
fall into a bad hole and South
Vietnam will fall into the hands
of the Communists.”
Thieu termed unacceptable two
points of the revised Viet Cong
peace plan — that he resign now
and that the United States set
a troop withdrawal deadline in
order that discussion could be-<
gin on a political settlement.
“The e n e m y’s aim is not
peace,” he said. “It is a domi
nation of South Vietnam. So they
have rejected our proposals, and
they keep presenting their un
acceptable two points. We will
never accept their two points. It
means a surrender.”
Senator Byrd
TV is politician’s most influential tool
The four reporters, who testi
fied behind closed doors, were
Robert Heard of The Associated
Press Austin bureau, Glen Cas
tleberry and George Kuempel of
the Austin American-Statesman,
and Don Fisher of the Dallas
Times Herald.
The four had written stories
last September linking Mutscher,
McGinty and Shannon with the
indictments before the indict
ments were handed down by the
grand jury.
Judge Daniel told newsmen
that the reporters did not dis->
close the sources of their exclu
sive information. He said that
their answers were immaterial to
the motions presented by the de
fense.
Mutscher’s battery of lawyers
won one battle without firing a
shot when the judge ordered the
jury selection will be on an in
dividual basis, which is unusual
except in capital cases.
It was at this point that chief
defense attorney Frank Maloney
told the judge that the pre-trial
hearing could be excused.
Presumably Maloney intended
to use the articles they published
and broadcast about the case to
support a motion for individual
jury selection.
Smith voiced no objections al
though he had previously said
that he saw “no reason to make
an exception in this case.”
The hearing ended in mid-aft
ernoon.
OPA coeds sell
candy on campus
for mental health
Proceeds from the sale of candy
by members of Omega Phi Alpha,
national service sorority, will
support an OPA national mental
health project.
Delta Chapter President Stewart
Stuart said OPA members will
sell the candy primarily on cam
pus. About 30 TAMU coeds will
be involved.
Projects vice president Sandra
Huebner said the selection in
cludes chocolate mints and a
carmel-almond confection at $1
per box and a chocolate nut bar
at 50 cents each.
The Ross Volunteers are practicing for their performance in the Mardi Gras parade.
See accompanying story. (Photo by Robert Williams)
RVs to escort King Rex
The Ross Volunteer Company
of A&M makes its annual appear
ance in the Mardi Gras Parade
in New Orleans Tuesday, acting
as the escort for King Rex.
While in New Orleans, the Ross
Volunteers will stay on an air
craft carrier docked in the harbor.
Various organizations of former
students in the area host the
cadets at social functions in their
honor during the four-day stay.
Organized in 1887, the unit
consists of junior and senior mem
bers of the Corps of Cadets, se
lected on the basis of leadership,
character and activities.
The Ross Volunteers, named
after Lawrence Sullivan Ross, an
early president of A&M, exists
to provide military training to
members of the upper classes in
the Corps, so that their dress,
bearing and conduct will serve
as examples to the rest of the
Corps.
The company has represented
A&M at many functions, includ
ing San Antonio’s Fiesta, the
Governor’s inauguration and vari
ous campus events. Members also
serve as escorts for important
visitors to the university.
The Ross Volunteers consists
of 122 members, 90 of whom are
juniors. Seniors act as non-com
missioned and commissioned of
ficers. The company is divided
into three platoons.
The company was originally
formed under the name Scott
Volunteers, in honor of Colonel
T. M. Scott. The intention was to
name the unit after each presi
dent of the school, but this idea
was abandoned in favor of the
present name.
Each spring a vote of the jun
iors in the company determines
the members of the Ross Volun
teer Firing Squad. This elite
group is composed of 21 cadets,
seven from each of the platoons.
The Firing Squad appears at the
annual Aggie Muster, in addition
to serving as the salute unit for
Silver Taps ceremonies through
out the school year.
Commander of the Ross Volun
teers for 1971-72 is Mike Wey-
nand of Hondo. Robert Lozano of
Guadalajara, Mexico, is the execu
tive officer. First sergeant is Jim
my Ferguson of Garland.
Platoon leaders are J an
Bertholf of Annandale, Va.,
Frank Hertzog of Huntsville,
Ala., and Tom Stanley of Mount
Pleasant. Stanley is this year’s
Corps commander.
Woman ‘to tell the truth’
about Irving and Hughes
Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia speaks with a member of Political Forum after his
delayed speech Thursday. See accompanying story. (Photo by Mike Rice)
“The medium of television is
the most influential tool availa
ble to a politician,” Senator Rob
ert Byrd told Thursday after
noon’s Political Forum crowd in
the Memorial Student Center
Ballroom.
Speaking on “Political Parties
and the New Politics,” the West
Virginia Democrat called the
“new politics” a media catch
phrase and put it in the same
category as the “Credibility
Gap.” He further described it as
a “disenchantment with the po
litical process in the U.S. which
the new politicians characterize
as having a cynical attitude to
ward the people and disinterest
in critical problems facing the
nation.”
Byrd also said these new poli
ticians proclaim the media have
revolutionized the political proc
ess so the “traditional concept of
parties no longer applies to the
American scene.”
Byrd cited the University of
Michigan Survey Research Cen
ter as a believer that the inde
pendent voter feels no strong loy
alty to either major party be
cause he is poorly informed, and
uninterested in politics. He op
posed this viewpoint saying these
“swing” voters could be appealed
to via “slick television spots and
highly charged campaigns”
whose origins are the “copy
rooms and production studios of
Madison Avenue and other ad
vertising complexes.”
In the 1940’s about 80 per cent
of the electorate could be count
ed on to vote a straight ticket
whereas today only half of the
voters will go down the line for
their party, shows that uncom
mitted Americans are “apt to be
better educated and much more
politically aware than the voter
who pulls a single lever.”
Byrd believes that important
changes are taking place in the
voting habits of the American
people, and both old and new pol
iticians must heed these changes
or suffer the consequences.
He went on to say that the
proponents of the new politics
are really asking for what they
consider the “closed-shop charac
ter of the party machinery” and
cited that too much flexibility
would create a mess of splinter
parties which would become
weaker as power became dis
persed.
“The power,” Byrd said, “in
representative, democratic gov
ernment comes from people work
ing together, not at cross-pur-
poses or for selfish interest.
Divisiveness would cause such
political fragmentation that co
hesive government would be im
possible.
“In addition, it is through the
parties that minorities are able
to share the power from which
they could very well be excluded
if the party system were ever
to disappear.”
Byrd is convinced that the
party structures will continue to
absorb pressure for change, make
necessary future adjustments and
continue to be the operative forc
es in the political activities of
our nation.
NEW YORK <A>) _ Nina van
Pallandt flew in from London
“to tell the truth about Clifford
Irving, even if it means him go
ing to jail.”
On arrival at Kennedy Airport,
she told reporters, “I do not want
to answer any questions.”
The blonde Danish cabaret
singer is scheduled to testify
Monday before a federal grand
jury probing possible mail fraud
in the mystery surrounding Irv
ing’s purported autobiography of
billionaire Howard Hughes.
Irving claims he collected the
material in 100 hours of meet
ings with Hughes and that one
of them was in Mexico just a
year ago.
Miss van Pallandt, who has
said she loves living, disputes
that claim, saying she was with
Irving on the Mexican trip and
that he could not have met
Hughes during the less than two
hours they were apart.
The fraud question was also
being investigated in Zurich,
Switzerland, where Robert G.
Morvillo, chief of the criminal
division in the U. S. attorney’s
office, and Asst. U. S. Ttty. John
J. Tigue Jr. arrived earlier in
the day. They were trying to
clarify just what happened to
$650,000 intended for Hughes,
but deposited in banks there by
a woman Irving has acknowl
edged as his wife, Edith.
The money was paid by the
McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. to
Irving for relay to Hughes as
advance payment for rights to
the book. A voice purporting to
be that of Hughes said in a tele
phone interview with a group of
reporters that he had never re
ceived it.
Irving later admitted that his
wife Edith, using the name
“Helga R. Hughes,” endorsed the
three checks making up the
amount “H. R. Hughes” and de
posited them in a Zurich bank
under that name. She later is
said to have withdrawn the
money and put $442,000 of it in
another bank calling herself
Hannah Rosenkrantz, the name
of her previous husband’s pres
ent wife.
The U. S. prosecutors said they
went to Zurich in connection
with statements made by Mrs.
Irving to the grand jury. This
appeared to conflict with other
reports that she had pleaded the
Fifth Amendment to avoid self-i
incrimination.
Although the federal grand
jury is in recess while the two
men from the U. S. Attorney’s
office are in Switzerland, the
Manhattan district attorney’s of
fice announced a New York
County grand jury would begin
its own investigation Friday.
It will look into possible grand
larceny, forgery and perjury.
Asst. Dist. Atty. Leonard New
man of the fraud division will
lead the investigation.
Graduate Council will ask
for a student on the board
The Graduate Student Council
agreed in Thursday’s meeting to
formally ask the A&M Board of
Directors to consider having a
student on the board as a non
voting member.
The council voted to send
copies of the proposal to the gov
ernor, lieutenant governor and
legislature.
Ron Tomas, GSC president,
feels, however, that there is little
to be gained from having a stu
dent on the board. “Most of the
action taken that affects stu
dents is done on an administra
tive level,” he said.
The council previously consid
ered asking that the GSC presi
dent, the Student Senate Presi
dent and possibly a faculty rep
resentative sit on the Board of
'^Directors. After much debate
and a speech by Ed Cooper, as-»
Isistant to President Williams,
the Jan. 27 GSC meeting of the
council decided to ask that
only the Student Senate Presi
dent be a part of the board.
A committee has been formed
from the GSC to study the pos
sibilities of having language re
quirements optional.
Also under study by the coun
cil will be the parking lots
planned for construction in front
of the Systems building. Coun
cil members feel that these lots
will detract from the beauty of
the campus.
The two newly elected mem
bers of the GSC are Marvin Dan
iels and Jim Walsh.
University National Bank
“On the side of Texas A&M.”
—Adv.