TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
1977
Vol. 70 No. 141
10 Pages
The Battalion
Wednesday, August 10, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Weather
Partly cloudy and hot today and
tomorrow. High both days
upper 90s. Low tonight mid-
70s. No rain.
Man kidnaps employe
of East Texas millionaire
United Press International
TYLER — A few months ago, a 40-
year-old businessman went to the press
with claims he had been cheated by con
victed swindler Billy Sol Estes and an East
Texas millionaire.
But Don Trull took matters into his own
hands yesterday.
Trull yesterday carried a five-gallon can
of gasoline into a third-floor suite of offices
housing Pyron Investments, a land in
vestment company owned by Tyler mil
lionaire Billy D. Pyron, the man Trull said
was involved with Estes.
Police said Trull was aided by his fian
cee and her two children.
Trull took Pyron employe Billy May
hostage and doused the carpeting covering
the Heritage National Bank building suite
with gasoline, police said. He threatened
to blow up the building unless he was
given a $775,000 promissory note signed
by Pyron, the title to Pyron’s late model
gray Cadillac and $10,000 cash.
His demands were met four hours later
and he released his hostage.
A few minutes later, after Smith County
Sheriff J.B. Smith told him “the situation
isn’t worth dying over,” Trull surren
dered. And within hours, all the suspects
had been arrested and the ransom had
been recovered.
Queen’s
riotings ?
visit causes
bombings
Texas
Heeling
ass, ci
ads, w
leir hyl
irthernp
Catting around
Battalion photo by Elizabeth Chio
United Press International
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Queen
Elizabeth arrives in Northern Ireland
today where a British soldier and Roman
Catholic youth have been killed in mount
ing violence that threatens to mar the
monarch’s two-day visit.
Thousands of British troops and part-
time soldiers sealed off all routes leading
gailyfflleanne Smith, a member of Dr. Dobson’s chordate anatomy class,
warden! Lorks on cleaning out the skull of a cat.
I'harital* I
ee bay
eere an
hatcbei
ng in
gisla(ii«|
l autl
ngs
have at
overnors conference
ipports farm program
United Press International
TON, Okla. — A presidential task
should be appointed to review
aWi) ™term stability and health of the food
ucing industry, the Midwestern Gov-
joi s Conference said in a policy state-
pt adopted yesterday,
le statement said proposed farm legis-
n now before Congress was substan-
ly better than present or previous pro-
s but short of the governors’ goals,
[statement also said the secretary of ag-
ture should not adopt the planned
lique of offering a new farm bill on a
jb it or leave it basis” for 1978 and sub-
ent crop years.
'en it jlhi; resolution also rejected the concept
menl ■substantial increases in totally grass-
at the Beef is practical or possible in America
jtiveBarged a reduction in foreign meat im-
braf iris.
:ars. B
;nfor«|
ission “
“We again call for reduction of foreign
meat imports until domestic producers
reach at least their production costs, and a
change in the current import formula
which is unfair to our farmers and ranch
ers,” the resolution said.
The governors said a prime considera
tion must be to assure continued oppor
tunity for young people to enter agricul
ture and “above all, the economic survival
of the family-sized farm, the backbone of
rural America.”
Another resolution approved yesterday
put the conference on record in opposition
to merger of the National Guard with any
federal reserve force.
“In our view, there is a strong need for
both federal and state military back-up
forces and a merger can only result in con
fusion, turbulence and loss of readiness,”
the statement said.
intos called ‘firetraps’
ecause of gas tanks
United Press International
\SHINGTON — More than 500 per-
s have burned to death in pre-1977
Jjl Pintos because the gas tank is located
WTpeh a place that it can explode during a
"r end collision, a magazine article re
td today said.
Ktalso claimed Ford could have avoided
| problem by installing a $1 piece of
Ktic, now used on 1977 models, but de
fied not to do so.
No recall of earlier models is planned,
e report said, and as a residt there could
f at least 70 fire deaths per year in Pinto
feidents in the future since there are
it 2 million of the “firetraps” still on
rican highways.
jhe report was released by Mother
§es magazine in which the article, by
lark Dowie, appeared.
Ford Vice President Herbert L. Misch
id the company was studying the article,
vhich contains distortions and half-
,ths,” and would comment later.
I government agency in the course of
[sting 40 Pintos, all 1976 models, found
1) one that failed a government safety
jdard requiring fuel tanks to have ac-
lable levels of leakage in 30 m.p.h.
Mies.
■There was a measurable fuel leak in ex-
ps of the acceptable level in the one that
Bd’, the official said, and an investiga-
■ — still under way — was opened,
ice then, he said, three more ’76 models
ave been tested without a repeat of the
Mblem and in none of the cars tested was
Pere a fire.
■It’s quite a leap from that to what
Pother Jones is talking about,” he said.
p< had no reason on the basis of our in-
Btigation or complaints from owners to
■anything other than what was done.”
■he article said Ford rushed the Pinto
|to the market because of competition
fom small foreign cars even though “Ford
Sigineers discovered in pre-production
fash tests that rear-end collisions would
[lure the Pinto’s fuel system extremely
(ly”
Because assembly line machinery was
(ready tooled when engineers found this
lefect, top Ford officials decided to man-
liifadure the car anyway — exploding gas
tank and all — even though Ford owned
the patent on a much safer gas tank,”
Dowie said.
“By conservative estimates Pinto
crashes have caused 500 burn deaths to
people who would not have been seriously
injured if the car had not burst into
flames,” the article said.
The government official said the agency
did investigate some cases brought to its
attention by the Center for Auto Safety
but found all involved crashes at excessive
speed. In any crash above 30 m.p.h., the
official said, there is a risk of a fuel tank
rupture regardless of the car involved.
Lynn Ashby
Columnist Ashby
to speak Aug. 13
at commencement
Approximately 1,000 Texas A&M
University students are set to re
ceive degrees Saturday at com
mencement exercises which will in
clude remarks by Houston Post col
umnist Lynn Ashby.
The ceremonies, open to the pub
lic, are set for 9 a.m. in G. Rollie
White Coliseum.
Texas A&M Registrar Robert A.
Lacey noted this will be one of the
largest summer graduating classes
in the school’s history.
Ashby is both a University of
Texas graduate and an honorary Ag
gie. The latter designation was bes
towed on him earlier this year by
Texas A&M’s Association of Former
Students. Ashby received his UT
degree in journalism in 1962.
His column has been a regular
feature of The Houston Post since
1971. He joined the paper in 1968
after six and a half years with The
New York Times.
to Belfast Lough, where the royal yacht
Britannia was scheduled to anchor for the
Queen’s visit.
British troops shot and killed a 16-year-
old Roman Catholic youth yesterday when
he hurled gasoline bombs at a military pa
trol in West Belfast. This came during a
wave of rioting, arson and bombings, an
army spokesman said.
Gunmen of the Provisional Irish Repub
lican Army retaliated hours later by shoot
ing a soldier outside the Moyard army
base, only a few yards from where the
teen-ager was slain.
Britain has mounted one of the biggest
land, sea and air security operations in his
tory to guard the Queen during her Silver
Jubilee visit to Northern Ireland.
The IRA has pledged to give the 51-
year-old monarch “a day to remember.”
Authorities said 32,336 members of the
security forces were on full-time alert for
the visit, described by government offi
cials as “the biggest security exercise ever
mounted to protect the Queen.”
The Queen was accompanied by her
husband. Prince Philip, and their two
younger sons, Princes Andrew and Ed
ward.
Charged with aggravated kidnapping
were Trull, his fiancee, Gleynell Clark
Logan, 42, her son Mark, 21, and her
daughter Julie Anna, 19. Bonds of $15,000
were set for the two men and $5,000 bonds
were set for the women. Only Trull re
mained in the Smith County Jail late yes
terday.
Deputy Police Chief Willie Hardy said
Pyron arrived at his office about 11 a.m.
and was ordered to go to a telephone
downstairs and call the man who had taken
over the suite.
Pyron notified authorities and along
with Smith negotiated with Trull by tele
phone.
Pyron told authorities he withdrew
$10,000 cash from his personal account
and had the promissory note notarized at
the Heritage Bank downstairs. The note
and $2,000 were slipped to Trull under a
door and the remainder of the money was
placed in Pyron’s car on the bank parking
lot.
Shortly after Trull’s 3 p.m. surrender,
authorities arrested two women in Pyron’s
car and recovered the $8,000 cash.
As Trull was being placed in a police
car, he turned to Logan — who had been
arrested in the lobby of the building — and
said, “Mark, don’t worry. Don’t worry
about it. They ain’t gonna treat me this
way.”
Hardy said the kidnapping stemmed
from “confusion” over a business deal
Trull said involved himself, Pyron and
Estes.
“He said some people owed him money
and he felt like this was the way to get it
back. He named Billy Sol Estes and Billy
Pyron as owing him money,” said Hardy
Trull, who recently moved to Tyler, was
reportedly planning on opening a man
ufacturing plant.
Trull several months ago went to au
thorities and the press, claiming Estes re
neged on several business transactions.
Estes, convicted in a multimillion dollar
fertilizer tank fraud in the 1960s, is barred
by provisions of his parole from promo-!
tional and self-employed business ven
tures.
Trull told authorities that Estes was vio
lating that parole and had in fact, forged
Pyron’s names to documents used to shore
up a faltering electronics company ak;
legedly controlled by Estes through a sec
ret trust agreement.
Trull told the press he informed PyroJ>
of the forgeries and was told “to go back
and keep it cool.” Trull said he tried to
work out things with Estes, but later ac
cused Pyron of also cheating him.
Cong memo implicates
Bell telephone officials
United Press International
SAN ANTONIO — A suicide note and a
nine-page memo left by a former South
western Bell executive indicates Bell otli-
cials were given $1,000 raises with the ex
press knowledge the money was to go into
a political slush fund.
The information came in testimony yes
terday in the $29 million dollar libel and
slander suit filed against the telephone
company by the family of T.O. Gravitt,
Bell vice president for Texas, and fired
Bell executive James Ashley and his wife.
Mike Gravitt, son of T. O. Gravitt who
killed himself in 1974, took the stand to
read from his father’s suicide note and the
nine-page memo detailing which company
Mexican captain released
after violating fishing zone
United Press International
BROWNSVILLE, — The captain of the
first Mexican shrimp trawler seized for vio
lation of the new 200-mile territorial limit
has been fined $3,000 and released along
with his trawler.
The seizure of the 68-foot trawler Ad
riana July 28 was the first in the Gulf of
Mexico under the new 200-mile territorial
limit that went into effect March 1.
The maximum fine would have been
confiscation of the vessel and its cargo, but
U.S. District Judge Renaldo G. Garza
levied the lesser punishment yesterday.
Jose del Carmen Hernandez-Lopez,
pleaded guilty before Garza to “fishing
without a permit in a U.S. fishery conser
vation zone.” Garza gave the man a
three-month suspended jail sentence.
H ernandez-Lopez’ attorney. Jack
Sanchez of Brownsville, said his client’s
fine was equivalent with fines levied on
American shrimp trawlers seized in Mexi
can waters.
Sanchez said the $3,000 fine, $1,491
worth of shrimp sold at auction by U.S.
marshals and $502 in marshal fees totaled
“just about what we (American) trawlers
get charged when our boats get caught. ”
Robert Mauermann, executive director
of the Texas Shrimp Association, said he
was pleased with the outcome of the case.
“I think it’s only fair that the vessel is
returned,” he said. “A fine of this size is a
little less than what our boats have been
fined. But personally I wouldn’t like to see
an escalation of fines. ”
Mauermann noted 223 American
shrimp vessels were fishing with permits
in Mexian waters this year and said “we
are hoping they don’t violate any laws. But
if they do, we’d like to see minimum fines
and fair treatments.”
Sanchez said when the Adriana was
caught just north of the Rio Grande
Hernandez-Lopez was fishing without any
navigational equipment.
“He only had a radio and a compass and
was fishing with a pack of four other Mexi
can trawlers,” Sanchez said. “They beat it
back to the river before the Coast Guard
got there. He (Hernandez-Lopez) as
sumed he was in Mexican waters, but
that’s no excuse, of course.”
records and books should be subpoenaed
in case of his death.
Gravitt testified that after his father
died, he found several Bell executives
going through his father’s study and when
one executive found the nine-page memo,
Gravitt said, the executive told him,
“These notes could be dangerous and ex
plosive so you’d better talk to me before
you do anything.”
Ashley and Gravitt’s family claim the
two executives were harassed by Bell for
wanting to stop alleged illegal campaign
contributions by the company.
They claim the harassment included the
tapping of Ashley’s phone and hounding
Gravitt until he committed suicide. The
Ashleys previously won a $1 million judg
ment against Bell for the wiretapping alle
gations.
The younger Gravitt read from his
father’s notes, “When I was in Kansas, I
was given a $1,000 raise with the under
standing it would go to the slush fund.”
Gravitt said the notes also contained
other references to Bell executives receiv
ing raises that were also to be deposited in
the “slush fund” used to gain favors for
Bell by circumventing federal campaign
finance laws in the late 60 s and early 70 s.
The jury was sent out of the room while
the younger Gravitt testified that his
father said he knew about an internal in
vestigation into his activities and that it
was being directed through AT&T national
headquarters in St. Louis. The elder
Gravitt reportedly said the investigation
began after he complained about the slush
fund and illegal rate setting procedures to
both Southwestern Bell officials and AT&T
but he got nowhere.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Pat Maloney won the
argument to have accepted as evidence
Gravitt’s suicide note and the nine-page
memo.
Bell attorneys argued the material was
not relevant to the case but State District
Judge Peter M. Curry said he would admit
the note and memo as evidence because
they were authored by Gravitt and not be
cause of the possible truth of their allega
tions.
Archeological field school
near Taylor ends training
The Texas A&M Archeological Field
School will end its second field project on
August 12.
Fifteen students are attending the
school which is training them in archeolog
ical techniques, said Dr. Harry J. Shafer,
assistant professor of anthropology at
Texas A&M.
These students and other excavators
have been living at the site in Williamson
County at the Hoxie Bridge near Taylor
since July 11. Ed Baxter, research as
sociate in the anthropology laboratory said
that the students live there five days a
week, all day, and come home on week
ends.
Baxter said that this school involves an
thropology 330 which is set up for majors
and minors in anthropology but not re
stricted to them.
This site was chosen, Baxter said, be
cause it has several interesting features
which will be good to explore. He said that
all questions are never answered on the
details of a site and he finds this particular
site very challenging.
His interest surrounds the discovery of
two types of hearth appearing at two levels
on a ridge along the San Gabriel River.
The area was carbon-dated and disco
vered to have been inhabited two different
times, 500 A.D. and 1150 A.D., Baxter
said.
This is intriguing because this one spot
on the site was intensely used over a long
period of time by two different sets of in
habitants, he explained. Why it was used
is the question the excavators are trying to
answer.
The school is sponsored by the an
thropology lab, Baxter said. Students en
rolled in anthropology 330 pay their ex
penses in their fees and also a living ex
pense for food while on the site, he said.
Clell Bond is the resident archeologist and
will write up the contract for the site, he
said, and the university pays the director’s
salary.
The purpose of the six hour course is to
work on a site and learn from what you do,
he said. Baxter added that they prefer that
students enrolled have some background
in archeology. The catalog indicates that
six hours of anthropology and the consent
of the instructor is required for enrollment
in the course.
Some of the students in the archeological field County. The
school at the excavation site in Williamson near Taylor.
Battalion photo by Jan Williams
exact location is Hoxie Bridge