1HE BATTALION
Tuesday, February 20, 1978
College Station, Texas
Page 5
Illinois Ex-Governor Convicted Of Accepting A Bribe
CHICAGO UP>—Federal Judge
Otto Kerner was convicted Mon
day of accepting a bribe from
racetrack interests while he was
governor of Illinois.
He is the first active judge of
i U.S. Court of Appeals to be
indicted and convicted of a crim
inal charge.
He and his longtime associate,
Theodore J. Isaacs, a lawyer,
were convicted of conspiracy,
fraud, bribery and income tax
evasion. Kerner also was con
victed of perjury and making
false statements to a federal
agent.
Judge Robert L. Taylor of U.S.
District Court set no date for
sentencing. Kerner and Isaacs
were free on their own recog
nizance.
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WEST SCREEN AT 6:45 P. M.
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At 8:25 p. m.
“CELEBRATION
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(Both PG)
EAST SCREEN AT 6:45 P. M.
“YOU’LL LIKE MY
MOTHER”
At 8:35 p. m.
“ANDREMEDIA
STRAIN”
The seven women and five men
jurors who heard the evidence of
71 witnesses in the seven-week
trial began deliberations Satur
day afternoon.
They spent 16\ hours in the
jury room before their verdict
was returned at 12:45 p.m. EST
Monday.
James R. Thompson, U.S. dis
trict attorney who prosecuted the
trial, told newsmen he favored
prison sentences for Kerner, 64,
and Isaacs, 62.
“When the time for sentencing
comes . . . it’s not conceivable
that I would agree to probation,”
Thompson told newsmen.
Kerner’s lawyer said he would
ask Judge Taylor for “a judg
ment of acquittal” and if that
was denied, he would move for a
new trial.
In a statement Kerner declared,
“This battle is even more impor
tant than life itself because it in
volves my reputation and honor,
which are dearer than life itself,
and I intent to continue this bat
tle.”
Isaacs made no statement.
Kerner, author of the 1968
presidential commission report on
violence, faces a maximum sen
tence of 83 years in prison and
$93,000 in fines. Isaacs could be
sentenced to 73 years in prison
and fined $73,000.
Kerner and Isaacs were ac
cused of accepting racing stock
worth $300,000 for the cut-rate
price of $50,000. The government
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said the stock was made avail
able to them to insure that cer
tain racing groups received fav
orable race meeting dates from
the members of the Illinois rac
ing boards who were appointed
by Kerner.
The government also charged
the defendants concealed owner
ship of the stock through compli
cated financial transactions and
they improperly filed tax returns
in 1966 and 1967 when they re
vealed their profits.
Kerner was charged with lying
to a federal grand jury by deny
ing he ever discussed racing dates
with racing board members.
He was convicted of all 17
counts charged and Isaacs was
convicted of the 15 counts against
him.
Kerner, governor of Illinois
from 1961 to 1968, was impassive
in the courtroom. His two adopt
ed children, Tony and Helena,
both in their early 20s, sat in the
first row as they had throughout
the trial.
Kerner spent 3Vz days on the
witness stand denying charges
against him. The defense con
ceded that Kerner and Isaacs had
obtained the stock and made a
profit from it in a six-year per
iod. But Kerner contended the
stock was not a bribe, that he
never committed an act to influ
ence racing dates in Illinois and
that he properly paid taxes on his
stock profits.
Kerner, a former U.S. attorney
and a major general in the Na
tional Guard, was appointed in
1968 by the late President Lyn
don Johnson to the 7th U.S. Cir
cuit Court of Appeals. It was the
same court where his father,
Otto Kerner Sr., served after a
term as Illinois attorney general.
Kerner, a Democrat, is mar
ried to the daughter of Anton
Cermak, a Democratic mayor of
Chicago killed in 1933 during an
assassination attempt on Presi
dent-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The defense for Kerner was
based heavily on discrediting the
government’s two key witnesses,
Marjorie Everett, former head of
Chicago Thoroughbred Enter-
prise, and William S. Miller, rac
ing chairman during Kerner’s ad
ministration.
Miller, 72, was indicted with
Kerner and Isaacs, but the gov
ernment agreed to dismiss
charges against him in exchange
for his testimony.
Kerner has been on leave with
pay from his $42,500-a-year post
on the appeals bench since he and
Isaacs were indicted Dec. 15, 1971.
News Reporting Becoming Difficult
NEW YORK UP) — Censorship,
harassment of reporters and “a
spreading cloak of secrecy” made
news reporting more difficult in
1972 than any time since World
War II, West Gallagher, presi
dent of The Associated Press,
said today.
“Tight control of the news in
many areas by the U.S. govern
ment, coupled with attacks on the
press, were echoed abroad by in
creasing censorship in foreign
states,” Gallagher said in his an
nual report to AP members.
“Three of these states were
closely associated with the Unit
ed States—South Vietnam, South
Korea and the Philippines. But
Latin America, too, came under
increasing dictatorial control with
resulting censorship and secrecy.”
Gallagher said that in the
United States pressure on the
press came from “government,
politicians, self-appointed watch
dog groups and assorted com
mentators who kept up a barrage
of often partisan criticism.”
“In one form or another,” he
said, “the din was bound to erode
further the public’s faith in the
media.”
He noted the Supreme Court’s
decision rejecting newsmen’s First
Amendment rights to withhold
sources from grand juries.
Abroad, Gallagher said, there
were tough censorship measures
by military regimes in Brazil,
Peru and Argentina.
“Chile, while avowing press
freedoni, monitored corespond
ent’s outgoing copy and occasion
ally threatened vague ‘sanctions’
against AP correspondents whose
Freshman Wins
Essay Contest
Eddie R. Pearey, a freshman
from Conroe, was honored Mon
day at the Freedoms Foundation
in Valley Forge, Pa., for his
winning essay in national compe
tition sponsored by the Marine
Corps ROTC program.
Pearey, a pre-veterinary medi
cine student, received the Free
doms Foundation’s George Wash
ington Honor Medal, one of the
organization’s top awards.
His prize-winning paper is en
titled “The Price of Freedom.”
He wrote it last year while at
tending the Marine Military
Academy at Harlingen.
He is the son of Marine Col.
and Mrs. Eddie E. Pearey. His
father is currently assigned to
the Pentagon in Washington,
I). C.
FREDDIE HART
Top Country-Western Entertainer
IN CONCERT
with
THE HEART BEATS MISS TEXAS 1971-
BELINDA MYRIC
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 23, 1973 — 7:30 P.M.
G. ROLLIE WHITE COLISEUM
RESERVED TICKETS:
A&M Student and Date $2.75 & $3.00
Patrons $4.50 & $5.00
GENERAL ADMISSION:
A&M Student w/Activity Card FREE
A&M Student Date $2.50
Patrons $3.00
TOWN HALL SEASON TICKETS HONORED
Tickets & Information — MSC Student Program Office
845-4671
A TOWN HALL SERIES PRESENTATION
In Cooperation With Military Weekend
factual dispatches irritated the
regime,” he said.
Gallagher said there was “per
vasive censorship” in the Philip
pines. Egypt, he said, “main
tained close surveillance of out
going copy though dispatches
were not tampered with.”
For the second year, AP was
not allowed a correspondent in
Iraq, he said. Andrew Torchia,
AP correspondent in Nairobi,
Kenya, was held several days in
a military prison in Uganda
where he was covering a story.
“There was no censorship in
Vietnam, but newsmen’s move
ments in the field became more
circumscribed as the American
presence, and logistics support,
waned,” Gallagher said.
“At times, for example during
the heavy bombing of the north,
official secrecy was imposed on
information that had been readily
available before.”
Gallagher said AP’s coverage
of the presidential campaign and
election was faster and more ac
curate than ever. He said chan
neling all copy through a special
desk in Washington provided
better backgrounding and co
herence, and the use of computer
ized copy processing provided
vote tables “virtually without er
ror — something unheard of in
the days of manual punching.”
Bulletin Board
TUESDAY
Peace Corps and Vista will be
recruiting in the Memorial Stu
dent Center from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. through Thursday.
Electrical and Electronics En
gineers will hear R. K. Campbell
in Lecture Room 2 of the Zachry
Engineering Center at 7 p.m.
Engineering Technology So
ciety will hold elections in Room
107 of the Mechanical Engineer
ing Shops at 7:30 p.m.
Air Force Student Wives will
meet in the apartment of Shery
Hale, V-3-K Hensel. Sgt. Ches
ter Holland will speak on moving
in the Air Force.
Pre-Vet Society will view a
program on horse lameness at
7:30 p.m. at the Zachry Engi
neering Center.
Women’s Awareness invites
both men and women to a meet
ing at 7:30 p.m. in Room 402 of
the Library.
American Society of Mechani
cal Engineers will hear George
Boroughs and Jim Mitchell in
Room 203 of the Zachry Engi
neering Center at 7:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Black Awareness Committee
will meet in Room 2B of the MSC
at 7:30 p.m. to see a movie, “Too
Late to Wait.”
Human Issues Discussion
Group will meet at 7:30 p.m. in
Room 2A of the MSC.
Accounting Society and Resi
dence Hall Association will pro
vide free income tax preparation
from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Social
Room of the MSC. This service
will be given the same time
Thursday.
THURSDAY
Cepheid Variable Science Fic
tion Committee will meet at 7:30
in Room 112 of the Plant Sci
ences Building.
Pictures by AP’s Horst Faas
and Michel Laurent of a public
execution by bayonet in Bangla
desh won a Pulitzer Prize in
1972—the sixth Pulitzer for pho
tography by AP staffers in the
last eight years.
The AP sports department met
its biggest challenge in history
in 1972, the report said, dealing
with such stories as the Olympics
and the first baseball players’
strike, while expanding the sports
wire by four hours to a 24-hour
circuit, and further computeriz
ing the processing of sports copy.
In World Services, AP hit a
new high in the number of sub
scribers, and expanded satellite
circuits to Tokyo, speeding re
lay of Asian news.
In the technical field, Galla
gher said, the extension of ca
thode ray tube editing of major
trunk wires reduced errors and
increased the number of words
transmitted, accompanied by a
one-third reduction in the New
York teletype operating staff.
Since the first computers were
introduced in 1970, the AP has
eliminated 150 teletype operating
positions, Gallagher said.
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CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION
Each Tuesday, 5:30 p. m.
Holy Eucharist and Supper
EPISCOPAL STUDENT CENTER
904 - 906 Jersey Street
(Southern Boundary of Campus)
846-1726
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
FEBRUARY 28
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LINCOLN'S
BIRTHDAY
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WASHINGTON'S
BIRTHDAY
20
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We will have our representative on Campus February 28 to discuss Career Oppor
tunities with a MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR insurance company. Contact the Place
ment Office for an appointment with our representative.
INSURANCE COMPANY
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