Speaker’s race
Head backs out; Clayton claims win
AUSTIN (AP) — Bolstered by
Rep. Fred Head’s withdrawal and
the announcement of 24 new sup
porters, conservative Rep. Bill
Clayton claimed victory Tuesday in
the race for speaker of the 1975
Texas House. The claim was quickly
challenged.
Clayton distributed a list of 83
representatives or House
nominees, from 76 districts, whom
ie said have promised to vote for
lim when the House elects its pres-
ding officer in January.
But Rep. Carl Parker, D-Port Ar
thur, his chief opponent for
speaker, disputed Clayton’s victory
statement.
“I can see from a cursory look at
the list that he does not have it
won—absolutely not. He does not
have it won with this list by any
means,” Parker said. He said a
quick check revealed two names of
representatives or House
nominees, who had not pledged to
Clayton, but he declined to identify
them. “They’re just trying to log
roll,” Parker said.
Parker, a veteran liberal with a
record of sponsoring corporate in
come tax, environmental and pro
labor legislation, called a news con
ference of his own for 10 a. m. Wed
nesday.
Clayton’s news conference fol
lowed Head’s withdrawal statement
by eight hours, during which
Clayton and supporters manned
telephones in the Driskill Hotel to
round up new pledges.
He said that in addition to the 63
pledges he announced, he has
commitments that he promised not
to release until after November.
“The ballgame, for all intents and
purposes, is over. I expect to gain
many more commitments before
January, but as you know, it only
takes 76,” Clayton said.
The speaker is regarded as one of
the state’s three most powerful offi
cials because of his influence-
—-through House committee ap
pointments and other means—over
the flow of legislation. But Clayton
said he would not use his powers to
push through pet bills.
“I just don’t believe the speaker
should use the power of the gavel to
control legislation,” Clayton told
reporters.
Clayton will be 46 Sept. 11. He
runs a 2,000-acre corn, cotton and
sorghum farming operation near
Springlake, a small town in Lamb
County northwest of Lubbock.
He said no concessions were
made to Head for withdrawing in his
favor. But he added: “I know what it
takes to win . . . those who played an
important role in putting me there
are going to play an important role
in my administration.”
Head, his support dwindling,
told a news conference Tuesday
morning that he would vote for
Clayton despite Clayton’s role as a
member of the Gus Mutscher
“team” in the 1969 and 1971 legisla
tures.
The elimination of Head from the
race reduced it, for all practical pur
poses, to a two-man contest bet
ween Parker and Clayton, a Demo
crat from Springlake in the South
Plains area of Northwest Texas.
Parker evidently was surprised
by Head’s announcement that 15 of
this backers—predominantly
liberals—were pledging Clayton
their votes.
Three hours after Head made his
announcement. Rep. Bill Sullivant,
D-Gainesville, a former Head
backer, told reporters he and eight
other conservatives would vote for
Clayton.
Clayton previously had an
nounced the names of 26 backer.
r
Che Battalion
Vol. 68 No. 2
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, September 4, 1974
i
Army Chief of Staff dies
from cancer complications
WASHINGTON (AP)—Gen.
Creighton W. Abrams, Army Chief
of Staff and former U. S. commander
in Vietnam, died early today of
complications from lung cancer
surgery, the Army announced.
His death came at 12:35 a.m.
EDI at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center with Mrs. Abrams and his
six children, including two Army of
ficer sons, at his bedside.
Abrams died 11 days before his
60th birthday.
He had been failing Tor several
days and the Army said his death
resulted from “complications that
developed during recovery from
surgical removal of his cancerous
lung,” on June 6.
After Abrams lost that lung, he
returned to duty at his Pentagon of
fice on July 25 and attended a White
House meeting with the new presi
dent, Gerald R. Ford on Aug. 13.
But four days later, he developed
a shortness of breath and re-entered
Walter Reed, where doctors disco
vered two blood clots.
One clot, it was found, reached
the artery of his remaining right
lung. The other was in his right leg.
Walter Reed officials said, as his
condition deteriorated, that his re
maining lung was overworked and
his heart was under great strain.
Secretary of the Army Howard
M. Callaway issued a statement say
ing that “the Army and the country
have lost one of the great men ... of
modern times.”
And in a reference to Abrams last
work of turning the Army around
from its Vietnam war disarray, Cal
laway said Abrams “pointed the way
for the Army in years to come.”
Burial will be in Arlington Na
tional Cemetery, the Army said. Ar
rangements were incomplete.
Abrams, once called by the late
Gen. George Patton “the best U.S.
tank commander in World War II,”
directed the wind-down of U.S.
military involvement in Vietnam.
He was U.S. commander in Viet
nam for four years, until the sum
mer of 1972, when he turned over
the job to Gen. Frederick Weyand,
who later became vice chief of staff
of the Army under him.
Abrams, son of a Springfield,
Today
■:<:<
Today in the Batt
Politics p. 2
Amnesty p. 4
Exchange funds . .p. 6
Weather
Clear to partly cloudy thru
Thursday. Warm after
noons and cool nights. High
Wednesday in the lower
80’s. Tonight in mid 50’s.
Mass., railroad hand, was one of the
few U.S. senior military officers to
come out of Vietnam experience
with his reputation intact.
This may have been because his
assigned job, when he took over
from Gen. William C. Westmore
land, was to disengage U.S. forces
with minimum loss of life rather
than to win a war, as Westmoreland
had been assigned.
In World War II, the cigar-
chewing Abrams made his reputa
tion for gallantry when he led the
U.S. tank column which relieved
the encircled defenders of Bastogne
in the Battle of the Bulge.
With that in mind, Secretary of
Defense James R. Schlesinge
cently spoke of Abrams as “
America’s authentic heroes.”
Abrams leave,s his widow, Julia;
three sons, Creighton, John and
Robert; and three daughters, Noel,
Jeanne and Elizabeth.
r re-
one of
STUDENTS GATHER the supplies needed for their classes in
the new branch of the MSC bookstore. The old exchange store is
now open as an extension of the bookstore. (Photo by Jack Holm)
Judge orders reforms
Reform schools said brutal
TYLER (AP)—A federal judge
ordered radical changes Tuesday in
the way Texas deals with its juvenile
delinquents.
The order, if upheld, would mean
the closing of the two largest and
most troublesome reform schools
for boys, at Gatesville and Mountain
View. The judge accused school
personnel of brutality.
The order also calls for commun
ity handling of its own juvenile
problems locally rather than shifting
them sometimes hundreds of miles
- • */,
V' '
*• •
Discipline
hearing
set today
TAMU System Attorney James
A. Amis Jr. will defend the *
university’s disciplinary action ||
today.
He pleads with the Student Dis- i
ciplinary Appeals Panel in Room
401 of the Rudder Tower.
The TAMU student appealing the
university’s decision will be accom
panied by his own attorney. The
panel will hear all witnesses and
evidence, then vote by secret ballot
to either approve or disapprove of
the administration’s previous ac
tion.
The panel’s decision will be
hand-carried to President Jack K.
Williams, but is not binding upon
him.
The appeals panel consists of fa
culty members appointed by Presi
dent Williams and students ap
pointed by the student body presi
dent with Williams’ approval.
Faculty members are Dr. Wil
liam R. Smith, professor of psychol
ogy and chairman of the panel; Dr.
Bonnie V. Beaver, assistant profes- f
sor of veterinary anatomy; Dr. Lan- %
nes H. Hope, professor of eduea- 8
tional psychology; Dr. Allan C.
Ashcraft, professor of history; and
Dr. Melvin B"! Calliham, depart
ment head for veterinary medicine
and surgery.
Student members include seniors
Debi Blackmon, Michael Perrin
and John Nash; junior Don Hegi;
and sophomore David Hampe.
All the panel members take part
in the appeals hearings, but only
two students vote with the five fa
culty members. The remaining stu
dents serve as panel alternates.
A second disciplinary appeal
Wednesday will not involve lawyers
and will be closed to the public.
away to the reform schools.
Whether Texas will appeal the
order issued by U.S. District court
Judge William Wayne Justice was
not known.
Ron Jackson, executive director
of the Texas Youth Council (TYC)
which takes charge of delinquents,
declined comment until he can read
and digest the 200-page court order.
Already the council has been
moving toward local control of de
linquents.
The number of inmates at the
schools has dropped, and Forrest
Smith, TYC chairman, has sought to
shift financing to local facilities in
anticipation of Tuesday’s order.
Judge Justice ordered that Gates
ville and Mountain View schools be
phased out as quickly as possible.
He did not issue a similar order for
the girls’ school at Brownwood.
He ordered the TYC to establish
facilities such as group homes, fos
ter homes, day care centers or other
community-based programs to care
for delinquents.
The judge, detailing a long list of
brutalities, declared that the two
boys’ schools are “places where the
delivery of effective rehabilitative
treatment is impossible and that
they must not be utilized any longer
than is absolutely necessary as
facilities for delinquent juveniles.”
The opinion emphasized the
rights of youngsters under TYC care
to be free from cruel and unjust
punishment and to receive re
habilitative treatment. The court
also ordered the TYC to hire more
qualified staff and maintain a much
higher staff-pupil ratio than at pres
ent.
Further, it said the council emp
loyees must observe strict proce
dures in the use of solitary confine
ment.
The judge ordered all parties to
the suit, including the Justice De
partment, to meet within a month to
prepare a plan to comply with his
orders.
He further said he believes the
court should monitor progress in
carrying out his orders. The order
was the latest growing out of a six-
week hearing in the summer of 1973
whereby 11 inmates and former in
mates sued James Turman, then the
director, claiming they received no
rehabilitative treatment.
Witnesses told of extensive, se
vere disciplinary methods which
many called brutality. Judge Jus
tice, in . an interim order, had or
dered a sharp curb in use of solitary
confinement as a means of discip
line.
Turman blamed this change in
discipline for ensuing riots and
building damage at Gatesville.
The order forbids indiscriminate
use of major tranquilizers on
juveniles, and says the TYC must
upgrade its academic and vocational
education program.
It further ordered bilingual edu
cation for Mexican-Americans.
Peter Sandmann of San Fran
cisco, one of the plaintiff’s lawyers,
said, “I think the order will have a
national impact.
“For one thing, it established a
principle—that large institutions for
delinquent children simply do not
work. They are merely prisons in
which children are locked away, at
least in Texas. I would hope that it
will serve as a model for other
juvenile systems all over the coun
try.”
Sandmann said, “I think it would
be unfortunate for the state to ap
peal this. It establishes minimal
constitutional requirements for
juvenile treatment programs.
“It seems to me it is the state’s
interest to maintain meaningful
treatment programs instead of
junior prisons.”
The girls school at Brownwood
was not ordered phased out, al
though Sandmann said the court’s
order indicated that the delinquents
whether boys or girls should be
treated nearer their homes.
The lawyer said Brownwood long
has been noted as having a much
better program.
The TYC also was told to end cen
soring of inmate mail except to re-
(See BRUTAL, Page 7)
Committee on ambulances
questions service quality
SPECTACULAR LIGHTNING announced the arrival of the first cold front of the season. This view
looking south over the YMCA building was one of several such sights. (Photo by Steve Ueckert)
Ed Sherrill put Sherrill’s Ambul
ance Service into operation March
1, as the ambulance service for
Brazos County. Since then, a
number of complaints have been
aired regarding the quality of ser
vice rendered and the employment
of minors for ambulance runs.
Members of the Brazos County
ambulance committee met with
Sherrill on Aug. 29, to discuss the
complaints.
Present were County Judge W.
R. Vance, J. Louis Odle, Bryan city
manager, and North Bardell, Col
lege Station city manager.
The meeting, which lasted sev
eral hours, resulted in Sherrill agre
eing to make certain improvements.
Sherrill said he will enroll his emp
loyes in an Emergency Training
School as soon as a state approved
course can be established, hopefully
by October.
Currently, Sherrill is the only
Emergency Medical Technician
(EMT) in the employment of
Sherrill’s Ambulance Service. One
of Sherrill’s attendants is a licensed
practical nurse. Sherrill stressed
that no one, regardless of his train
ing, may administer anything but
first aid until the patient is under
doctor’s supervision.
Sherrill informed the committee
that his 15-year-old son will no
longer be allowed to make ambul
ance runs, but he may use him as a
dispatcher.
The three officials noted that
EMT training is presently not a
state requirement for ambulance at
tendants but that it probably will be
in the future.
The 81-hour EMT course as
taught by the American Red Cross is
in the process of being updated to a
120 hour course requiring 40 hours
of in-hospital practical training, ac
cording to Odle.
Mass murder jury
sets sanity trial
HOUSTON (AP)—The jury will
assemble Nov. 4 to decide if a de
fendant in the Houston mass mur
ders case is mentally competent to
stand trial.
District Court Judge William M.
Hatten today set a sanity trial for
Nov. 4 for David Owen Brooks, 19,
a young father accused in four of the
27 deaths discovered last year in
Houston. It was a case of what offic-
‘ers said was homosexual rape-
torture executions.
The jury will determine if Brooks,
whose 7-month-old child was born
after Brooks was jailed, is now com
petent to help in his defense against
the charges. If the jury finds him
sane, a trial on the first of four cases
would be set.
Ted Musick, Brooks’ lawyer, said
if the defendant is ordered to stand
trial, he will seek a change of venue
and enter a plea of temporary insan
ity. A ruling of insanity would pre
clude prosecution and Brooks could
be sent to a mental hospital.