O/S checks out
Corps, federal
personnel here
By CATHY RANDALL
Battalion Staff Writer
They don’t wear trench coats or carry explosive umbrellas,
and the setting is not in a French countryside.
The setting is inconspicuously located in an office in the
basement of the downtown Bryan Post Office. The office is'
occupied by a federal agency known as the Defense Investiga
tive Service (DIS).
The DIS was created in October 1972 by the Defense De
partment to combine the personnel-investigating services of the
Army, Navy and Air Force under one office.
The Bryan branch is run by the Army.
D. Ray Baugh, local resident commander, and his associate,
Merrill Ramsey, investigate all of the federal security clearance
cases in tbe surrounding ten-county area, including Brazos
County.
“Anyone who comes in contact with classified information
might require a security clearance,” Baugh said Tuesday. “We
very rarely know the people we investigate.”
Many of the DIS investigations are conducted on members of
the Texas A&M University Corps that might be going into
military occupations that deal with classified information after
graduation.
The person under investigation is informed about the pro
ceedings and fills out a form similar to a job application. He or
she lists five character references which are checked out by DIS
personnel to determine the moral character, honesty and men
tal stability of the individual.
The person also signs a statement that says he has never bet,"
affiliated with the Communist Party, any Fascist organizatioi '
or any party advocating overthrow of the government.
“We do not adjudicate the cases at this level,” Baugh said. F
said the decision to approve such personnel working for tf I
federal government is made by the head of the military < I
civilian organization that requested the clearance.
“It’s not as exotic as work done overseas or by the CIA
Baugh said. “We are not in the spy business.”
The DIS men do not reveal their ranks, however.
Baugh said he has been with Army intelligence for fiftet
years. He came to Bryan in 1971 after a tour in Germany ar
Viet Nam.
The basement office was the home of Army intelligence
Bryan from 1965 until 1972, when it was replaced by the DP ■
Che Battalion
Vol. 69 No. 19
Copyright (g) 1975, The Battalion
College Station, Texas
Thursday, October 2, 1975
Campus
SENIORS AND NEAR-SENIORS have until October 20 to apply
for Rhodes Scholarships to Oxford University, England.
Students who are Texas residents or have attended Texas A&M
University two years or more may apply through Dr. Paul Van Riper,
Rhodes Scholarship representative at the University and head of the
Political Science Department.
The candidate must be a U. S. citizen between the ages of 18-24 and
an unmarried male with a grade point ratio of at least 3.5. Quality of
intellect and character are the most important requirements, Van
Riper noted.
Applications and further information may be obtained from Van
Riper in Room 130 of Bolton Hall, the Political Science departmental
office.
Although the 1975 Rhodes competition will apply only to males, the
Rhodes Trustees report that the British Parliament is expected to
approve this year a modification of the trusteeship permitting women
to compete equally with men.
•
AUDITIONS FOR THE AGGIE PLAYERS’ production of Robert
E. Sherwood’s comedy-drama, “The Petrified Forest,” will be held
Sunday and Monday.
The production will be presented Nov. 13-15 and 19-22 at Texas
A&M University.
Director Robert Wenck announced auditions in Room 304 of Bizzell
Hall. Tryouts are by appointment and signup is required.
Tbe auditions are open to tbe public, Wenck added. Appointments
can be made at the Theater Arts Section of the English Department in
Bizzell Hall. Information is available at 845-2621.
“The Petrified Forest” centers on Alan Squier, a poet and drifter;
Gabrielle Maple, a young lady with artistic hopes, and their encounter
with a notorious criminal.
•
WORLD PEACE DAY will be celebrated on the A&M campus
Friday.
The program, sponsored by the Baha’i Club, begins at 8 p.m. with a
panel discussion in Room 601 of the Tower.
Doctors Edward Hiler, Murray Milford and Walter Stenning will
discuss progress that could be achieved in a world of peace.
Supplementing the panel will be film clips, slide shows and musical
accompaniment by “Nur,” a night club act.
There is no admission charge.
•
STATE REPRESENTATIVE BILL PRESNAL will address the
semi-annual meeting of the South Texas Chapter of College and Uni
versity Personnel Association Friday.
Presnal will speak to about 50 administrators in the Rudder Tower
about higher education personnel from a legislator’s viewpoint. After
the presentation, there will be a panel discussion for administrators on
legislation. The administrators represent about 30 institutions.
City
A FREE STREET DANCE to the music of Tommy Allen and the
Brazos Sounds will be held at Manor East Mall Thursday at 8 p.m.
The dance is in coordination with the Fourth Annual Brazos County
People’s Festival. The festival includes presentations by 40 countries.
The festival starts in full swing Friday at 6 p.m. when booths open
and entertainment begins.
Texas
THE STATE INSURANCE BOARD staff Wednesday recom
mended a 17 per cent average increase in auto insurance rates while
the industry says it needs even more.
•
DALLAS FBI EMPLOYES Wednesday denied knowledge of warn
ing that President Kennedy was to be slain, as claimed by a former
agent.
•
A JURY IN THE INCOME-TAX TRIAL of suspended District
Court Judge O. P. Carrillo and his brother, Duval County Commis
sioner Ramiro Carrillo, deliberated for 9 hours and 40 minutes Wed
nesday and then retired for the night without reaching a verdict. They
were to resume deliberation again this morning at 9.
THE AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION has awarded
Texas a special citation for reducing pedestrian casualties and for
having one of the lowest pedestrian death rates in the nation.
#
THE 44TH ANNUAL TEXAS PRISON RODEO will be held each
Sunday in October. The rodeo will begin each Sunday at 2 p.m. with
features and speciality acts beginning at 11 a.m. The Statler Brothers
will appear in the arena this Sunday.
National
AUTHORITIES IN NORTHERN NEW YORK were watching
Wednesday for three persons, at least two of them women, who may be
driving from Montreal with the intention of assassinating President
Ford and visiting Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
•
THE WASHINGTON POST said Wednesday it is suspending pub
lication temporarily after a pressmen’s strike, an early morning fire and
vandalism in the pressroom which the Post termed “malicious mis
chief. ”
Marionette director Arnott
Paul Arnott displays one of the marion- fore last night’s performance. (Review,
ettes in his traveling troupe backstage be- Page 4) staff photo by Douglas winship
Senate continues price
controls on natural gas
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Senate refused
Wednesday to end price controls on natural gas
immediately amid indications a more gradual
approach probably will be approved.
By a 57-31 vote, the Senate killed an amend
ment by Sen. Paul Fannin, R-Ariz., that would
have ended controls on all “new” natural gas,
retroactive to July 1.
The next order of business, on which a vote :
will occur on Thursday, is a proposal by Sens.
Lloyd Bentsen, D-Tex., and James B. Pearson,
R-Kan., that would gradually remove most con
trols over a five-year period.
Wednesday’s vote and statements by various
senators indicated there is a good chance the
Bentsen-Pearson proposal will be passed, mean
ing higher prices for home-heating gas and,
sponsors say, greater incentives for increased
gas production.
The Ford administration has urged repeal of
controls on grounds they have held prices so low
that industry’s attempts to find new oil and gas
are being thwarted by a lack of money.
Under a 1954 Supreme Court decision, the
Federal Power Commission regulates the price
of natural gas that is sold outside the state where
it is produced. The current FPC ceiling price is
52 cents per 1,000 cubic feet (mcf), although the
nationwide average price of this interstate gas is
about 3 cents.
The proposal rejected by the Senate on Wed
nesday would have removed price controls, re
troactive to July 1, on “new” gas, which is gas,
most of it still in the fields, that has never been
sold to a pipeline.
But all “old” gas, that already under contract,
would have been freed of price controls as the
current contracts expire. Most contracts are for
1 to 20 years.
Within a few years, virtually all U.S.-
produced natural gas would be free of controls,
and the price could rise to the level of unregu
lated gas, which is sold in the same state where it
is produced.
This unregulated intrastate gas now sells for
an average of $1.30 per mcf — or 2V2 times the
regulated price.
But under any proposal for removal of federal
price controls, there would be two cushions to
protect gas consumers from skyrocketing prices
overnight.
—First, since about 92 per cent of the gas
used in most states was sold to pipelines under a
long-term contract, it could be several years
before the higher field prices were felt by
homeowners and industries.
—Second, less than one-fifth of the monthly
gas bill paid by U.S. homeowners represents
the cost of gas. Most of the bill is for such items
as transportation and distribution.
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — The
AFL-CIO opens its biennial
convention today, determined
to throw labor’s full weight into
an effort to change White House
economic policies that its lead
ers believe have caused record
unemployment.
To help gain the muscle it
needs to carry out its goal, the
14.1 million-member labor fed
eration is seeking its first dues
increase in six years. The con
vention delegates will be asked
to raise dues from the current 1
cents per member per month to
13 cents.
Inflation has caused the fed
eration to slip into the red in
recent months, but the dues in
crease will pour about $5 mill
ion more into its coffers —
money it can also use in the 1976
elections.
During the two years ended
June 30, AFL-CIO expendi-
ing to the federation’s financial
statement.
Political action, the largest of
the AFL-CIO headquarters’ ac
tivities, cost nearly $3.8 million
in 1974-75, compared with $3.5
million in 1972-73.
This is money used for mem
bership political education,
voter registration drives and
other related activities not con
nected with the funding of indi
vidual candidates’ campaigns
for which the use of dues money
is barred by federal law. Volun
tary contributions from mem
bers are used for this purpose.
In an advance report to the
convention, the AFL-CIO
Executive Council called for “a
total commitment at all levels of
the labor movement to achieve
victory at the polls in 1976.’ It
urged every union member and
every voting-age member of his
tures increased nearly 20 per
cent, to $33.9 million, accord-
family to contribute $2 to
COPE, the AFL-CIO’s political
arm.
The new federal campaign
fiance law limits the amount of
political donations for each can
didate in federal elections. But
the AFL-CIO still is free to use
its vast manpower resources to
aid favored candidates without
having the work count as a polit
ical donation.
During the four-day conven
tion, the 2,000 delegates will
hear from four Democratic
senators — all potential presi
dential nominees next year. In
vited were Indiana’s Birch
Bayh, Henry M. Jackson of
Washington, Minnesota’s
Hubert H. Humphrey and
Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. of Texas.
Arms salute,
t
as terrorists
kill another
AFL-CIO opens
biennial convention
Associated Press
MADRID — Arms out :
stretched in the Fascist salute,
hundreds of thousands of
Spaniards massed in tribute
Wednesday to Gen. Francisco
Franco. But terrorists killed
three more policemen in bloody
defiance of his authoritarian re
gime.
Franco, celebrating the 39th
anniversary of the start of the
civil war that brought him to
power, accused the rest of
Europe of mounting a “leftist
. . . conspiracy’’ against his
government in the wake of the
firing squad executions of five
men convicted of killing police.
Hours before the crowd was
declaring that “a united Spain
will never be vanquished,
gunmen struck in three areas of
Madrid. The separate attacks
came within five minutes of
each other, police said, four
days to the hour after the Satur
day executions.
A 22-year-old policeman died
instantly, two died in hospitals
of their wounds, and a fourth
was seriously wounded. The
new attacks raised to 22 the
number of policemen killed in
political violence since January
1974. Fourteen civilians died in
the same period.
Security forces launched a
massive hunt for the killers,
throwing roadblocks around the
city and checking all traffic.
From the balcony of the Na
tional Palace, Franco'thanked
the crowd thronging the Plaza
de Oriente for “serene and vir
ile demonstration of support,”
which he said made “amends for
the attacks abroad” on Spain
and Spanish property.
Visibly moved by the show of
support, the 82-year-old
generalissimo spoke for five mi
nutes, but his words were
drowned in the crowd singing
the Falange anthem, “Face to
the Sun.”
According to the official text.
Franco told the crowd the in
ternational outcry over the
executions “shows, once more,
just what we can expect from
certaiti corrupt countries now
giving perfect proof of their con
stant politicking against us. ” His
wife stood on his left and Prince
Juan Carlos, the heir-designate,
on the right.
Women in the plaza em
braced policemen, some of
whom wept as the demonstra
tion also became a show of sup
port for them.
The government claimed one
million persons massed in the
plaza, but newsmen and photo
graphers estimated the crowd at
about 300,000. The Madrid
labor organization had issued
orders for members to appear,
and the mayor had also put out
the word. Madrid has a popula
tion 3.6 million.
As Franco spoke, gangs
roamed downtown Madrid
threatening foreigners.
Two photographers working
for The Associated Press were
pistol-whipped by militants of
the right-wing organization
“Guerrillas of Christ the King. ”
One was told: “We lost four this
morning,” an apparent refer
ence to the killing of the police,
“and the foreign press is to
blame.”
Franco supporters chased
two youths up a side street after
spotting a German flag on their
backpack. An AP reporter who
saw the incident said the
Spaniards surrounded and beat
the two boys until police inter
vened.
Shops in the area dropped
their shutters. Armed police
stood by in truckloads and pat-
roled every street. Police
helicopters flew overhead.
Foreign embassies remained
open, but were heavily guarded
by assault forces armed with
tear gas and submachine guns.
More slayings
linked to SLA
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Top-level government prosecutors
huddled around a conference table Wednesday to consider addi
tional charges against Patricia Hearst and her Symbionese Lib
eration Army associates.
SLA members have been linked to a number of violent crimes
in the Bay area, including two bank robberies and a number of
terrorist bombings. Prosecutors have said they expect additional
charges stemming from some of those incidents.
The meeting was hosted by U.S. Atty. James L. Browning Jr.
of San Francisco and included U.S. Atty. Dwayne Keyes of
Sacramento, California, Atty. Gen. Evelle Younger and district
attorneys from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento and
Alameda counties.
They discussed the massive evidence obtained through
searches of the San Francisco houses where the newspaper
heiress and her SLA companions William and Emily Harris
were arrested Sept. 18.
Robert L. Stevenson of the U.S. attorney’s office said the
prosecutors met to “coordinate and exchange information on the
Patricia Hearst case and on other cases of concern to them. ” He
declined to specify which other cases he referred to.
“Without regard to who might be charged, I think it is proba
bly inevitable that additional charges will be filed in various
jurisdictions, and that of course is what this meeting is about, ”
said Younger, who left the meeting after 15 minutes because of
prior commitments.
Younger said prosecutors would discuss a Sacramento savings
and loan robbery and a bank holdup in nearby Carmichael, in
which a woman was killed. Sacramento authorities said earlier
this week they were investigating the holdups for possible SLA
links.
The hideouts of Miss Hearst and the Harrises yielded 17 guns
and thousands of rounds of ammunition, explosives, a ski mask
similar to one used in the Carmichael robbery, phony identifica
tion and literature of the New World Liberation Front, a group
closely associated with the SLA.
Before the meeting began, Stevenson said the government
had received intelligence reports that Black Muslims expressed
interest in the floor plan of the Stanford University Medical
Center, where Miss Hearst underwent medical and psychiatric
exams earlier this week.
“We have no knowledge of why the interest was expressed,”
Stevenson said. He also said U.S. marshals stepped up security
after learning of the Black Muslims’ interest.
Miss Hearst has been undergoing the testing by court-
appointed doctors because her attorneys say she is too fragile to
be cross-examined at a bail hearing about her affidavit swearing
the SLA tortured and brainwashed her.
Miss Hearst faces federal bank robbery charges in San Fran
cisco and is charged, along with the Harrises, on state charges
out of Los .A ■ • ’ ■
deadly weapon.