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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1978)
The Battalion Vol. 71 No. 129 14 Pages Wednesday, April 5, 1978 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Deot. 845-2611 Inside Wednesday: Dallas Symphony Orchestra in re view, p. 7. Texas Clipper: School on the high seas, p. 8. Aggies face Houston Astros today at 1:30, p. 12. ft oleman found guilty; entenced to 50 years By TERESA HUDDLESTON falter Joe Coleman was sentenced to ears in the Texas Department of Cor- |tions Tuesday after a jury found him ■ty of murdering Lawrence Baugh, a r|xas A&M University instructor. ■Coleman, 19, was charged with the Jan. 12, 1977 shooting death of Baugh, 32. The was heard in the 85th District Court, he jury deliberated four and a half lours Monday before recessing. They 'ckrcKan again at 9 a.m. Tuesday and re- C D iurned an hour later with their decision, troslphe court then recessed for ten minutes jefore beginning the sentencing hearing. an) District Clerk W.D. Burley was called by k ( . he prosecution to testify. 130RiuI'lcy had Coleman’s police records, .vhich stated that Coleman was on 10 year probation for arson in March 1976. ■.oleman’s probation officer, Fred Mad- jpflc, then took the stand and said Coleman H “a bad reputation as a law-abiding citi- pn.” ■Defense Attorney Fred Davis asked Ktddox if the bad reputation came from goodpis family and friends. Maddox said that it i c pl jvas the opinion of law enforcers. acr( w[ ie < l e f ense then called Coleman’s i hisybter, Rev. James Howard. He told the ■irt Coleman had once been dedicated to Christ and felt Coleman now had rededi- jaied himself. ^fcoward said after Coleman had been in Y tB l° r f° ur months, Coleman had told him ‘he had finally found some peace and was j. ptdy to accept the sentence due him.” ll lulI Bln closing statements, District Attorney greatfloland searcy asked the jury to sentence ■ tinColeman to 99 years, or life. , offtBDavis then asked the jury to show some like»rcy for Coleman. He said Coleman had „ |akcn the only step in rehabilitating him- .. 1V self that he could, that of rededication to (ieldMrist. hes BDavis asked the jury to give Coleman something to strive for; “a light at the end of the tunnel.” The jury began deliberating on the sen tence at 11:04. They returned to the court room at 12:20 with their decision. They sentenced Coleman to 50 years in the pen- tentiary. Forman Ben Crouch said the jury took a long time to reach a verdict because they wanted “to give all the evidence most care ful consideration.” The defense is planning a motion for a new trial. If denied, the case will be brought before the Court of Criminal Ap peals in Austin. Library to begin enforcing policy for overdue books By PAIGE BEASLEY Battalion Staff Because of more than 5,000 overdue books, the University library staff is be ginning to enforce library policy, and is billing persons with overdue material. Emma Perry, head of the circulation di vision, said the division’s main effort is to put books back into circulation. The list of overdue books has been about 5,000 since September, some books being two or three years overdue. The library needs an update record on Polling places Polling places for student elec tions on Wednesday and Thursday will be as follows: (1) Corps guard room, (2) Memorial Student Center, (3) Commons, (4) Sbisa, (5) Soil and Crops Sciences build ing, (6) Zachry Engineering Center, (7) Reed McDonald building bus stop. the location of books. Perry said. In order to do this, students are being billed through the fiscal department, stopping registration, grades or graduation, until the book is returned and the fine is paid. If a book is lost, a person will be charged the assessed value of the book in addition to a $5 processing fee. Faculty members and area library users also are being fined. Library policy states that non-student charges, not promptly paid, result in the suspension of the user’s right to check out materials until the charges are paid. A person is fined, Perry said, if a book is extremely overdue (15 or more days over due) and two notices have been sent to the holder. The only other time a fine is charged is when a book has been placed on hold, and the book is returned late. According to library policy, a person is notified if the book he has checked out has been placed on hold. The notice states the due date for the book, either 14 days after the book was checked out or seven days after the book was requested, whichever is later. Faculty members as well as graduate students may check out material for one month and undergraduates for two weeks. sBOld ironworker's tradition Stnv/HL H L/fl'IX/L/f f O V! LILUVIKJ11 : Library addition ‘grows’ 3 By GREG PROPPS will not go any higher. An Hv lacf FYirtavr from Guyton, who have heen involved On COl tree An evergreen tree apparently sprouted last Friday from the top of the new library addition. Acutally, the appearance of the tree was the work of Ray Guyton and 21 other members of the International Associa tion of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Iron workers; Local 84. Guyton, whose job as a connector is to help raise and connect the steel beams said that it is an ironworker’s tradi tion to mark the last piece to go up with a tree or an Ameri can flag. The practice, called “topping out,” originated from an old Swedish custom, said Walter Higgle, project superinten dent. Higgle added that the appearance of the tree signifies that the outside steel frame is complete and the building Guyton, who have been involved on construction on the Texas A&M University campus for the last eleven years, said that American ironworkers have been keeping the top ping out tradition since the early 1900s. He added that there is generally a topping out party for the workers, on the top floor of the new building. The topping out party at the library hasn’t taken place yet because the workers are not allowed to bring beer on the campus. Guyton was confident, though, that the contractor, Spaw-Glass, would make it possible for the men to have their party. Guyton s^id that the tree at the library, which was provided by one of the ironworkers, would stand until it gets in the way, or falls off. Perry said a book may be renewed indefi nitely as long as no one else has requested it. If a book is returned before a bill is sent, there is no fine. Otherwise, she said, “we will send two notices to the person. If we don’t hear from them after two notices, we assume the book is lost. Then we send a bill. “Once anybody receives a bill from us, they will be charged $5 for our processing of going through, looking for it and mail ing.” The $5 processing fee is required, Perry said, because library personnel must search the shelves to see if a mistake was made and the book was returned. Person nel must find the author, title and price of each book. Besides, she said, “we send two notices before we send a bill.” The main problem. Perry said, is trying to clear the backlog. Eventually, everyone on the overdue list will hear from the de partment by notices and perhaps a bill. “When we clear our backlog, we will be able to set up a system,” she said. “We can then say specifically when each notice or bill will be mailed. Another problem the library has is in mailing, Perry added. The library has an identification number for each student, but not always their correct address. “We mail from the fiscal office address listing,” she said. “If it is not a current address, we can not contact them. “Students complain that they did not receive a notice,” Perry said. “That is not our problem, because we put a date due slip in every book and you abuse the sys tem when you depend on us for sending you a notice. A copy of the library policies is available at the library’s circulation desk and on each floor, she said. These policies were accepted by the Library Council, which consists of 18 members. Of these, two are graduate students, one is an under graduate student, and the rest are faculty members. No fanfair Battalion photo by Carolyn Ellis Got it! Legett Hall resident Mark Kawamura Jr. is ready for action during Tuesday’s flickerball game against Schumacher. Although Kawa- mura’s catch was successful, his team lost in playoffs to Schu macher. Kawamura is an industrial distribution major from San Benito. Mowery conducts grassroots campaign at Texas A&M By ANDREA VALLS No speeches, no streaming banners, not even campaign bumper stickers. Wes Mowery, Republican candidate for sixth Congressional District, simply ming led with the troops and conducted a grassroots campaign at Texas A&M Uni versity. Mowery shook hands and spoke to students in the Memorial Student Center and dined with the Corps of Cadets Tues day evening. Mowery said he is focusing his campaign for Olin Teague’s position in Congress on the major issue of “stability of the dollar. The tree on top of the new library is not a freak of nature, but was placed there as part of the Battalion photo by Greg Propps “topping out” ceremony of the ironworkers. It signals that the outside steel structure is finished. Democrats making trite Republicans By PAIGE BEASLEY Battalion Staff The 1968-76 Democratic Congress has stereotyped Republican presidents as irresponsible by using “cheap partisan politics,” said sixth Congressional District candidate Carl H. Krohn Tuesday. Krohn spoke at a regular meeting of the Texas A&M College Republicans. Krohn, a 28-year-old Bryan native, is a newspaper carrier and a disabled veteran of the Vietnam War, where he served in the Marines. He received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Baylor University in 1973. Republican presidents became known as “veto presidents,” Krohn said, because the Democratic Congress purposely introduces several bills which “any person in his right mind would have vetoed.” In support of the Democratic party. Congress is not pushing “irresponsible” legislation at President Carter, he said. The Democratic Congress votes for the party, not for the bill, Krohn added. “I’m not going to support a bill for my party, but for the people back home,” he said. “I favor the deployment of the neutron bomb, because our NATO forces are far outnumbered,” Krohn said after allowing time for questions. He said the bomb is an effective weapon and will help to stabilize the national defense of the United States. In regard to the Tongsun Park Scandal, he said, the U.S. has enough evidence to bring Congressmen to trial. “I think those people should be prosecuted, but that is as far as it should go, he said. “The Democratic Congress is looking for an excuse to get out of Korea,” Krohn said, giving no reasons why. He promotes keeping troops in Korea regardless of the one scandal. ^ Turning to domestic issues, Krohn said, “I think we should put a limitation on the length of time welfare can be drawn by an able-bodied recipient. ” If a time limita tion is set, he added, the payments should be adequate for the person to live on. The U.S. needs solid welfare reform before approving an urban policy such as the one recently proposed, he said. “We have too many big farmers, and not enough small ones, Krohn said. “I believe the small family farmer is the backbone of any economy and has been neglected for far too long.” He said that if the U.S. has programs for price support, crop disaster relief or conservation assistance, these need to be subsidized for small farmers. All farmers, he added, should be helped by the opening of all international markets for export ing crops. Farmers also should be given government guarantee of extended loans on equipment, he said. “If we solve this problem, then we solve virtually all of the nation’s economic prob lems, he said. The root of dollar inflation is uncontrolled federal spending, said Mowery. Stabilization of government spending could provide extra funds for retired citi zens, said Mowery. “By allowing the dol lar to become unstable, we have betrayed everyone who is on a fixed income,” he said. Referring again to retired citizens, Mowery said he opposes mandatory re tirement at any age. He said that it is man agement’s prerogative to keep or to dis miss citizens who are eligible for retire ment. Mowery said he is concerned over Pres ident Carter’s national defense budgetary cuts. “I think we are falling behind other countries in national defense. I don’t like to spend more money than we have to, but I certainly don’t want our defense strategy to fall behind,” he said. “In real dollars we re spending less for defense than we did five years ago because of the inflatio nary spiral,” he said. Even more important, said Mowery, is the need to consider advantages of the B-l bomber, cruise missile, and the neutron bomb. “I’m not advocating the use of these weapons, but I’m sure not advocating tel ling the world we re not having them,” he said. “Just having these weapons could be a trading advantage with other countries,” he said. “Welfare is an area where we could sal vage out some taxpayer’s dollars,” said Mowery. “I’m convinced there is a need for people to work. No able bodied person should be able to draw welfare unless he’s down at the employment office on a regu lar basis,” he said. Taking a stand on other issues, Mowery said he is opposed to any further gun con trol legislation. He said he supports the citizen’s right to keep weapons at home for defense purposes. He also said he opposes the execution of the Panama Cu, : /. Even though individual welfare is im portant, Mowery said, he is equally con cerned about corporate welfare, especially deregulation of airlines. Mowery said he is pleased with his campaign and his volunteer support of more than 200 people.