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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1977)
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION e Battalion 1977 Vol. 71 No. 2 10 Pages Friday, September 2, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Weather Partly cloudy and warm today and tomorrow. High both days mid-90s. Low tonight mid-70s. Winds from the east 5-8 m.p.h. No rain. Battalion photo by Ken Herrera ‘Saw varsity's horns off. . / Dtball players, band drum majors and yell leaders joined forces to evening at the Grove. Revielle IV, the A&M mascot, watched as lomote Aggie spirit at the season’s first yell practice, held yesterday students ‘sawed varsity’s horns off.’ nita smashes Mexican coast United Press International PWNSVILLE — Hurricane Anita into the coast of northeastern 3 today, battering isolated fishing in the thinly populated area with Be-per-hour winds and tides 15 feet normal. National Weather Service (NWS) lie heavy rainfall frdtn Anita created a is threat of flash flooding as the storm inland. a, described by the NWS as an “ex- ly dangerous hurricane, came e near latitude 24.0 north near the f villages of La Pesca, Las Guayavas, jarco Largo and Soto La Marina, sdcan officials said earlier the resi dents of the villages had been evacuated inland. Anita swung southward yesterday, eas ing the threat to the tip of the Texas coast on the cities of Brownsville, Tex., and Matamoros, Mexico, and headed for the northeastern coast of Mexico. “It is getting to be a tremendous hur ricane as hurricanes go,” said John Hope, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “Every report we get indicates a little further strengthening.” Brownsville, Tex. police Capt. George Acres, who was in contact with Mexican authorities through the night, said it would be “quite a while” before au thorities could enter the rough mountain ous country where the hurricane hit. Sirhan release denied by judge “It’s going to be hard to get in there; possibly only with helicopters,” Acres said. “It’s been raining hard there and the roads will be impassable.” A Mexican weather service official said the rain was expected to flood all of the San Fernando Valley in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas with the San Fernando and Puriticacion Rivers reaching flood stage by daybreak. Anita, which developed into a hurricane Tuesday, first appeared headed towards the Louisiana coast, then shifted in the di rection of South Texas. Thousands of Texans fled the resort area from Corpus Christi to Brownsville. But Anita changed directions again yesterday and moved southward away from the sister cities of Brownsville and Matamoros, the centers of a population area of 750,000. It was the third time in seven years the citrus-rich lower Rio Grande Valley had been threatened, and then spared, with the devastation of a major hurricane. He said the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic and the Gulf were Camille in 1969 which hit the Missis sippi Coast and the hurricane which hit the Florida Keys in 1935, both with sus tained winds of about 200 miles an hour. Before the hurricane moved to the south more than 8,000 persons took refuge in Texas hurricane shelters, most of them in the Rio Grande Valley, Thousands of Mexican nationals fled across the Rio Grande to shelters in Brownsville. But last night as it became obvious Anita was headed south, most Brownsville residents relaxed and nightlife returned to normal. United Press International B ANGELES — Sirhan B. Sirhan |tbe “popped out” of prison to return ■hotel pantry where he assassinated Robert F. Kennedy to jog his cloudy pry, a judge ruled yesterday, nudge said there was. no precedent [ch a trip and no reason to believe it J do any good. (her, said Superior Court Presiding William F. Hogoboom, sending a lefback to the scene of the crime in ;s the visit would clear up debatable its for history would be “to operate the rt under the authority of old wive s !S." were is no scientific evidence I know - medical, psychological, astrological any other evidence — to support the im this would revive his memory.” lie judge denied Sirhan’s request to re- n to the scene, saying he had “abso- |y no jurisdiction to take a convicted pidant already in the custody of the te Department of Corrections and pop iouf to try to jog his memory.” pan’s attorney, Godfrey Isaac, had the court to allow Sirhan to visit the J of the Ambassador Hotel where pnedy was shot in hopes of clarifying ■ second gun” controversy, pirhan said at his trial, and again to two county supervisors who visited him in prison in June, hi* “blacked out” and re membered nothing of the assassination, but a trip to the scene might jog his mem ory. “I felt there was, in fact, a possibility he would recall he was the gunman and he alone killed Kennedy,” Isaac said. “If that was so, it would put some of the doubts to rest. “On the other hand, if, in fact, he did recall other people or if he recalled inci dents he didn’t before, I felt that would be a help in setting the matter to rest before history. “Unfortunately, we re not going to be able to find out one way or the other.” Sirhan is serving a life sentence in Sol- edad State Prison for shooting Kennedy June 5, 1968. Scores of people saw Sirhan empty his .22-caliber revolver into Kennedy at close range and Kennedy’s bodyguards seized Sirhan with the gun. However, conspiracy theorists argue that too many bullets were fired for all to have come from Sirhan’s gun, indicating there was a “second gun.” Three investi gations failed to find grounds for such a theory, but could not conclusively rule it out. Isaac said he would not appeal. Parking shuffled Effective this week, some 123 day student (blue sticker) parking spaces in lot No. 5 will be reserved for faculty and staff parking. University Police Chief O. L. Luther said yesterday. Lot No. 5 is located on the north side of campus, running parallel to University Drive next to the Cyclotron Building. Luther explained that university police officers will be issuing warning tickets to violators in the faculty spaces through next Wed nesday, Sept. 7, to allow for adjustment to the new regulation. About 1,100 new spaces for permits of any color have been opened on the west side of the campus, across the railroad tracks, he added. Canal suit planned United Press International DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Attorney General Richard C. Turner said yesterday he and the attorneys general of three other states plan to file a U.S. Supreme Court suit to block signing of the Panama Canal treaty. “We claim that they can’t give up the Panama Canal without an Act of Con gress,” Turner said in an interview. “There are indications they’re trying to do it without an Act of Congress.” Turner said he will be joined by Indiana Attorney General Ted Sendak, Idaho At torney General Wayne Kidwell and Louisiana Attorney General William Guste. He said the suit will seek to temporarily block the signing of the treaty, scheduled to take place at ceremonies in Washington Wednesday. Turner said the suit will ask the Carter administration to furnish a copy of the pact, which proposes to turn over control of the canal to Panama in the year 2000. The suit contends the administration, in agreeing to the Panamanian takeover of the canal, will be violating Article IV, Sec tion 3 of the Constitution, which provides that Congress “shall have power to dispose of... territory or other property belonging to the United States,” Turner said. He said he and the other attorneys gen eral argue that article forbids any change of control over the canal that has not been approved by both houses of Congress. fiteve Powell, Tae-kwon-do karate instructor, breaks boards the hard ivay during yesterday’s karate demonstration in front of G. Rollie White coliseum. Kidnap flight over United jpress International DES MOINES, Iowa — A fugitive from a Michigan prison farm who dragged a woman hostage on a week-long flight ac ross three states has been captured in a Des Moines hotel. The hostage was freed unharmed. The fugitive, Douglas Henry, was ar rested last night by FBI agents and plainclothes Des Moines police who infil trated the Downtown Ramada Inn and stopped him as he waited for an elevator. His hostage, Evelyn L. Vantassel, 58, Marquette, Mich., walked away un harmed shortly after Henry was wrestled to the floor of a hotel corridor and hand cuffed. Mrs. Vantassel was abducted by Henry when she and her husband entered their summer cottage near Marquette last Thursday. Henry, who was hiding in the cottage, tied Vantassel to a tree and left with the woman and the couple’s car. The search for the two had centered in the Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., area since Tuesday, when the suspect bound a couple and their son at a rural cabin, stole two guns and their truck and left with his hostage. But the truck was spotted at the motor inn by a policemen, who summoned other officers to close in on the fugitive. FBI agents and plainclothes police of ficers spotted the couple having dinner at the motor inn’s restaurant. The officers entered the dining room and when Henry stepped out of the room, leaving Mrs. Vantassel alone, they followed him to the elevators. Henry, who had been serving a six-to- 15-year term for breaking and entering and carrying a concealed weapon when he escaped from the Mangum Prison Farm near Marquette Aug. 22, was being held in the Polk County Jail last night pending an appearance before a U.S. magistrate. Mrs. Vantassel was led from the dining room a short time later. Krupinsky said she was “extremely shaken but in good physical condition.” She remained in pro tective custody last night and officials said she would be examined by a doctor. Police said Henry and Mrs. Vantassel were registered at the inn under the name Bill Willson. Authorities have speculated Mrs. Van- tassel’s fear of Henry may have prevented her from trying to escape when she had the opportunity. As she walked down a hotel corridor with the agents, she asked, “You’ll have somebody with me all the time?” “You don’t have to worry anymore — we’ve got him,” an agent replied. P&Z cleared Confusion cited for building delay By GLENN A WHITLEY Battalion Staff The construction delay plaguing one of College Station’s apartment complexes re sulted primarily from a communication problem in the planning and zoning pro cess, the apartment owner said yesterday. A. B. Syptak Jr., owner of Cheyenne Apartments on Anderson, said a proce dure involving the public hearing on per mits was new to him and caused some con fusion. The hearing rule was implemented Jan. 27. Chris Longley, planning assistant for the Planning and Zoning Commission, said the Cheyenne project followed all re quired procedures to build the apart ments, and he didn t recall the complex being delayed by commission action. Syptak agreed the city planners were not at fault in the construction delay that has put the apartment complex eight days behind in its leasing agreements. Steps involved in the city approval pro cess for the building of apartments in clude : •Applying for a conditional use permit. •Supplying the commission with the names of all property owners within 200 feet of the proposed site. •Displaying legal notices in The Eagle. •Meeting with city planners to review the plans. •Receiving a public hearing 15 days after the planning commissioners meeting. Cheyenne Apartments received its permit May 19. Longley said there haven t been any apartments denied permits. Various other delays also hampered construction, Syptak said, noting that sub contractors other than Sears Roebuck — mentioned in a related article in the Sept. 1 Battalion — had problems meeting con struction deadlines. “We re not blaming the PixZ (Planning and Zoning Commission) or singling out Sears, either, he said. Sheetrock, for example, was in short supply, he said. Gale French, Sears spokesman, said yesterday the company had trouble gain ing access to the unfinished apartments to deliver unit fixtures. Also in the Sept. 1 article, an Texas A&M student, Reed Jones, reportedly stayed in the unfinished apartments for more than a week when the units had yet to be certified for occupancy. Jones said yesterday he had spent con siderable time working in the apartments to help complete them, but had actually slept in a friend’s dormitory room. It is illegal to occupy an apartment not inspected and certified for occupancy. Student hit by car. treated for A Texas A&M University student suf fered only superficial abrasions when he was hit by a car yesterday. P. M. Ngowi, from Tanzania, was in good condition at A.P. Beutel Health Center, said a spokesman from the center. Ngowi was hit at about 1:45 p.m. by a blue Mazda driven by John Edward Black of Rt. 2, Box 172A, .Caldwell, said College Station officer T. E. Todd. The car was turning north on Nagle from University Drive, when it hit Ngowi, abrasions who was walking alongside the road, Todd said. Nurse Angie Nowieki said she saw the accident and that the car “just picked him up and threw him.” She said she adminis tered first aid by applying pressure to his bleeding forehead. Ngowi was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Hospital and then transferred to the Health Center. An investigation of the aecident is pend ing, Todd said. Returning the bell Workmen yesterday hoisted A&M’s replica of the Liberty Bell into place in the Academic Building. The bell will be suspended from the rotunda roof and hang 18 feet above the floor. It was previously on display in the state capitol in Austin.