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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1974)
m ne ILS 0146 Rocky riches cause Demo dilemma WASHINGTON (AP)— Disclosures about Nelson A. Rockefeller’s political philan thropy have created a dilemma for congressional Democrats: if they approve him for vice pres ident in 1974, can they criticize his ethics in the 1976 cam paign? It s another reason why most congressional observers now expect the House and Senate to move very slowly on the Rock efeller nomination, perhaps putting off final action until after the new Congress meets in January. Democratic leaders want to make sure they have fully checked the former New York governor’s background before giving him what amounts to a congressional “Good House keeping Seal of Approval. ” Sen. Howard W. Cannon, D-Nev., indicated Sunday the Senate Rules Committee prob ably will recall Rockefeller for further questioning. And the House Judiciary Committee, which is believed conducting a more extensive background probe of Rockefel Cbe Battalion Vol. 68 No. 25 College Station, Texas Tuesday, October 15, 1974 ler than the Senate panel, hasn’t even set hearing dates yet. In Rockefeller’s case serious ethical questions have arisen tending to mar the “clean” image Rockefeller had when he was nominated. These include the disclos ures that he gave nearly $1.8 million in gifts to present and former aides, reports that the Rockefeller fortune was used to underwrite other ventures such as a newspaper once run by columnist Tom Braden and Rockefeller’s admission that his brother financed a 1970 cam paign book attacking Arthur Goldberg, his opponent that year for governor. Sen. James B. Allen, D-Ala., a Rules Committee member, said Monday the panel should hear from Goldberg and the re cipients of the gifts as part of its re-opened hearings. And the House panel will doubtless go into these matters in detail. Some liberals on the latter panel, such as Rep. Robert Drinan, D-Mass., have talked of asking Ford to withdraw the Rockefeller nomination, but it is unclear how much trouble it is really in. And the likely negative vote so far appears confined to the far left, Drinan and other out spoken liberals, and the far right, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and other strong con servatives. But Rockefeller’s opponents may be helped by the growing impact of the morality-type political issues in the Water gate aftermath. A number of candidates in next month’s elections are run ning “Mr. Clean” campaigns, attacking “politics as usual.” If many of them win, the Democrats are likely to make a big point in 1976 of the Repub lican administration’s scandals. In a morality-based cam paign, the vice president-designate’s back ground could be a GOP liabil ity. But a confirmed Nelson Rockefeller would be able to say, with some justification, that he had been examined and cleared—by the Democrats who run Congress. DOUG KERSHAW poses for the cameras at his performance Friday night in G. Rollie White Coliseum. The performance was the second of the Town Hall series. This Friday Town Hall will present Hues Corporation and Trapeze. (Photo by Douglas Win- ship) Nixon implicated in trial WASHINGTON (AP) — Asst. Special Prosecutor Richard Ben- Veniste laid out his case against the five Watergate cover-up defendants Monday, declaring he will prove an illegal conspiracy among “the most powerful men in the government of the United States.” He said the plan to cover up the break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters more than two years ago “involved the partici pation of even the President him self. ” The 31-year-old dark-haired pro secutor, speaking from a lectern only a few feet from the jury box, said former President Richard M. Nixon was willing to sacrifice a close aide to save himself and closer as-, sociates when the cover-up was un raveling. Quoting from an April 19, 1973, White House tape, Ben-Veniste said Nixon believed that if former White House Counsel John W. Dean were turned over to Water gate prosecutors, they might not try and make a case against presidential aides H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman or Nixon himself. Ag subcommittee ears experts jw on ants, weevils “'V mm TAMU PRESIDENT Jack K. Williams testifies before the Texas Agricultural Research Subcommit tee Friday morning at the Rudder Center. The subcommittee is studying agriculture through testimony of experts so it can make recommendations to the House. (Photo by David Kimmel) Commissioners Court meets . . . Boll weevils and fire ants seem to have two things in common: they bug the hell out of farmers and baffle agricultural research scientists. Those were just two of the items discussed at the first meeting of the Texas Agricultural Research Sub committee Friday morning at the Rudder Center. The subcommit tee, chaired by State Representa tive Bill Presnal (D-Bryan), is part of the Agricultural Committee of the Texas House of Representatives. Three other subcommittees deal with cotton contracting, meat in spection and animal health. “The purpose of these subcom mittees is to hear testimony from leading experts in the field of ag riculture, Presnal said, “and to make recommendations to the en tire House regarding problems in these areas.” Dr. Jack K. Williams welcomed the subcommittee members, point ing out the increasing importance of agricultural research. “Eliminating the problem of boll weevils and fire ants is difficult but I think we’ve had success in control ling the pests to a good degree,” Williams said. A large variety of fire ants has recently been migrating north from Mexico through the state. The ant is the topic of much current research. Boll weevils have been a problem since the inception of cotton farm ing. With a de-emphasis of pesticide controls, researchers are trying to find a natural means of eliminating the pest, the development of pre dator insects to eat the weevils is one aspect of current research. State representatives hearing tes timony were Joe Hubenak, chair man of the House Agricultural Committee from Rosenberg; Elmer Tarbox of Lubbock; Latham Boone of Navasota; and Pete Laney of Hale Center. Dr. H. O. Kunkel, dean of ag riculture, told the subcommittee the quality of agricultural research depends on the quality of the equipment used and the skills of the professors. “Agricultural research must be competitive within itself. There must be competition along lines of scientific thought, not between in stitutions,” Kunkel said. (See AG RESEARCH, page 5) S points oni tied with tin ie Jets atf emedtoeasf joy the gai»' ichdown w# y Jones. Th of coursed 1 15 yards eat ; on a run ^ n was set a[ nd intercep o Middle® the score 11 ,es hitforsii die big ni# offensive P uperb won eJackTacM night but 11 e up- J erl ^ andinggaf dense for^ On the tape, Nixon said Halde man and Ehrlichman should “give the investigators an hors d’oeuvres Dean, maybe they won’t come back for the main course,” the prosecutor said. Ben-Veniste said that in mid- April 1973, Nixon, Haldeman and Ehrlichman “considered a strategy of pushing Dean outside the circle of wagons around the White House. On April 19, Dean issued a statement saying be would not allow himself to become a scapegoat. He was fired by Nixon on April 30, after months of handling the White House response to the various Watergate investigations. Dean will be the first prosecution witness Tuesday once three of the defense lawyers have made their own opening statements in the trial, which is expected to last three or four months. Ben-Veniste presented the now- familiar story of the cover-up in a courtroom jammed with reporters, about 35 spectators and some rela tives of the defendants. He spoke for just more than three hours, de scribing the cover-up in short, sim ple sentences, describing hundreds of meetings, phone calls and actions which compromise the complicated conspiracy case. Hearing date set By STEVE GRAY Staff Writer A Nov. 4 hearing date was set by County Commissioners Court Monday morning for the county’s annual budget. The court must file a proposed budget in the county clerk’s office within 10 days of the hearing. The commissioners also approved the appointment of Kathy Hill as assistant county auditor. Hill, 22, 1207C Holik Dr., received an ac counting degree from TAMU in Au gust. She will assist the auditor’s of fice in its switchover to a new prop osed computerized bookkeeping system. Her salary will be $425 a month. She will remain temporarily with the auditor’s office through December when the system is ex pected to be completed. Members of the temporary Bicentennial Committee of Brazos County appeared before the court and submitted a list of 28 persons to serve on the Bicentennial Executive AMPI board ‘participated in illegal political funding’ SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (AP) — The former general manager of As sociated Milk Producers, Inc., claims the board of directors of the cooperative “acquiesced and par ticipated in his illegal political funding activities. Harold S. Nelson, who was re moved as general manager in January 1972, made the claim in an answer filed Monday to a suit by the cooperative which said Nelson acted dishonestly. Nelson’s claim contradicts past statements of the cooperative, the nation’s largest, which has sought to Today % Today in the Batt | Sports pullout p. 3 County court p. 7 |OPAS p. 8 | Weather Fair and cool Tuesday with £ a high of 67°. Winds from &: the north 10-16 mph. Low tonite 45°. Clear and mild ^ Wednesday; high 69°, blame its involvement in the milk fund controversy on “a small number of employes or agents” no longer with AMPI. Nelson’s answer brings into the controversy the AMPI board as an alleged participant to the $330,000 in illegal corporate contributions from 1968 to 1971. As late as Aug. 1 of this year, AMPI President John E. Butter- brodt was maintaining “There is no evidence that the membership or the directors were aware of these acts until long after their commis sion.” Butterbrodt himself was presi dent of AMPI in 1970 and a majority of the 1970 board remains as direc tors today, although the co-op has a different general manager. AMPI is seeking in its suit filed in state district court to have a consultant’s contract with Nelson through 1979 cancelled by the court and to have its action forfeiting i Nelson’s retirement benefits up held because Nelson allegedly con cealed dishonest acts from the board. However, Nelson says “when the parties hereto entered into the con sulting and counseling contract, the plaintiff AMPI, its officers, directors and stockholders were well aware of all the activities of defendant in which they acquiesced and participated. . .” Nelson’s attorney, Anthony Nicholas of San Antonio, said the activities referred to in Nelson’s answers were the political activities “including that $100,000 that went to Herbert Kalmbach,” a Nixon fundraiser. “Harold wouldn’t act without the board’s consent,” said Nichols. He said the defense intends to prove the political activities were discussed and approved at board meetings. Both Nelson and AMPI have pleaded guilty in connection with the illegal contributions, which went to Democrats as well as Nixon’s re-election campaign. Nel son is awaiting sentencing and AMPI, saying it was “compelled to pay the penalty for the mistakes ol prior management,” was fined $35,000. Nelson says in his answer to the AMPI suit that his actions were not “injurious to the company” but in stead that “any and all actions of Nelson “were in good faith intended for and in fact worked for the benefit of AMPI.” Nelson says he “had no reasona ble cause to believe that his conduct was unlawful”. AMPI is seeking reimbursement from Nelson of money it says he di rected to be sent illegally to Kam- bach, former Democratic presiden tial hopefuls Sen. Hubert Hum phrey of Minnesota and Sen. Ed mund Muskie of Maine, various federal candidates in Iowa, James Abourzek’s campaign for U. S. Senator from South Dakota, Rep. Page Belcher’s campaign in Ok lahoma in 1970 and the 1970 senate campaign of Phillip Hoff in Ver mont. for annual budget Committee. The committee, ap pointed by the court in July, is re sponsible for planning local ac tivities in celebrating the nation’s 200th anniversary. The list was approved by the court. The committee chairman, Walter C. Jones, 3707 N. Texas Ave., said there will also be three city and county officials selected serve on the committee. The committee nominated County Attorney Roland Searcy to represent the county. Bryan City Councilman Lloyd Joyce was selected to represent Bryan. Joyce was an unsuccessful candidate for the democratic nomination for state representative earlier this year. Fred Brison, a College Station city councilman, was nominated to rep resent College Station. “This project is a county-wide undertaking,” Jones said. “That’s why it is so important that both cities participate in the activities.” (See COMMISSION, page 6) A member of the Soviet Georgian troupe performs one of the intricate routines characteristic of the group which entertained a capacity house in the Rudder Auditorium last night. (Photo by Jack Holm)