he Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 141
10 Pages
Friday, April 21, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Friday
Crafty people in the MSC, p. 3.
Railway deterioration — a time bomb, p. 7.
A one-woman track team, p. 8.
orse race betting in Texas
lo be closely contested issue
United Press Intcmutioiiiil
^^USTIN, Texas — A May 6 vote on
lalizing pari-mutuel betting on borse
: betting in Texas is expected to be a
ra-to-the-wire contest, but three other
erenda presented to a portion of the
jtjtk s voters may produce lopsided re-
_The pari-mutuel referendum is the only
■e issue to be listed on both the Demo-
Itic and Republican primary ballots,
democrats also face a vote on whether
1979 Legislature should increase the
^rest rates on small loans, and Republi-
will vote on propositions concerning
lether Texas should have a presidential
Imary and whether there should be an
trail limit on local and state taxes,
fhe interest rate issue is considered a
Itain failure because of general voter op-
pition to anything that costs more
iiey, and the presidential primary and
Ilimit issues — both popular GOP causes
I probably will carry easily.
I )nly the horse racing question has gen-
jited any active campaigning.
I ien. Bill Patman, D-Ganado, is pushing
1 defeat of the interest rate proposition,
Jich offers voters the choice of voting for
igainst “the 79 Legislature’s authorizing
II [her interest rates on loans under
Togo.”
fhe Texas Consumer Association and
Texas Credit Union League both have
urged Texans to vote against the proposi
tion.
“I think if people understand the issue,
they’ll vote against it pretty convincingly,”
Patman said. “I think it could have some
impact. I think legislators will take heed of
the fact that their districts go strongly
against it if they do, and I think it also
serves to call the attention of the public to
the enormously high interest rates that we
have now as well as the exorbitant rates the
loan companies have been trying to push
through the Legislature.”
The small loan industry went to court in
an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the
proposition from being placed on the bal
lot, but has not actively campaigned on the
issue.
“They re trying to ignore the issue, say
ing the wording is lopsided and will illicit a
negative response anyway,” Patman said.
“I think what is lopsided is the power of the
loan industry when the Legislature meets. ”
State GOP Chairman Ray Barnhart says
he knows of no active campaigning con
cerning the tax limit and presidential pri
mary issues on the Republican ballot.
“They’re there; let the people make of
them what they want to, he said. “There is
no concerted effort one way or another on
those issues.
Barnhart said he supports the proposi
tion asking the Legislature to enact a presi
dential primary bill, and says the tax limit
proposal merits further discussion and
could surface in the GOP platform for the
general election.
“Certainly the golden goose is going to
terminate one of these and the only way to
get government under control is to limit
taxation,” Barnhart said.
He expressed hope a lopsided vote on
the presidential primary proposition will
encourage the 1979 Legislature to establish
such a system to elect delegates to national
party nominating conventions.
Victim goes ‘through hell’
United Press International
CLEBURNE, Texas — Soundra
McCoy’s first thought when she felt the
explosion rock her bunker Thursday was
“Oh my God, not again.”
Five years ago the 38-year-old employee
of the Gearhart Owens munitions plant was
working when the “grenade line” explosion
ripped apart a nearby bunker and killed
four of her co-workers.
y, blat'l
Apartments may have
car washes installed
She was carried away from the blast area
injured, but alive.
Thursday, another bunker at the North
Texas plant was shattered by two quick ex
plosions. Four more person died and she
was taken to the hospital, this time in
shock.
“I feel like I have gone through hell
twice,” she said from her darkened hospital
room.
McCoy said the first blast rocked her
steel and concrete buildig and bathed her
room “in a pink light.”
“Parts of the ceiling started coming down
and we ran out. We looked across the field
and saw its Brende’s building. We then saw
a second explosion. It looked just like a
cloud going up — particles of the building
went everywhere.”
Brende was one of the day’s fatalties —
Elwin Brende, 62. The others were iden
tified as Bobby Troha, 20; Rosemary Sou-
ble, 45; and Billy Clanton, 25, all of
Clebu rne.
They were all friends, McCoy said.
“You work with a lot of good people in
this business,” she said. “You get very close
to the people you work with.
Despite the danger — two explosions in
five years — McCoy said she would con
tinue working at the Cleburne facility.
“We just look at it as a job working with
explosives,” she said. “Somebody has to do
it. And I’m just dumb enough to do it.“
ow
w
By MICHELLE BURROWES
tudents may soon be able to wash their
s in their own apartment complexes, if
artment owners act on a decision made
ursday by the College Station Planning
d Zoning Commission.
The commission decided that car-wash
ilities could be installed in area com-
jxes, if they were used only by tenants,
ammission members suggested that ten
ts'be given a special key to operate the
hdq$
• ••
2 |
5 I
5 I
if
-y
4
car washes.
In other actions, a LaQuinta motel,
planned for construction in the Texas Av
enue and Live Oak area, was denied a
permit for landscaping and parking lot
plans. The owners received the building
permit, but cannot meet the eight-foot
easement required by the city around the
property. The commission expressed con
cern about setting a precedent of ignoring
the city ordinance.
Moro letter asks
for prisoner swap
CHURCH/LL
U Looismjva D
\ ^
Race horse drugging
investigation begins
United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — Federal officials expect more indictments in an
extensive investigation into drugging of Louisiana race horses with
cocaine and other painkilling chemicals.
Two special grand juries Thursday indicted seven persons on
charges of possessing or selling cocaine and painkillers for use on race
horses. No race tracks or track officals were named in the indictments.
Cornelius Heusel, chief of the Justice Department Organized
Crime Strike Force, said some people still under investigation have
Mafia connections.
“This is just the beginning of an extensive investigation, ” said U.S.
Attorney John Volz at a news conference announcing the indictments.
Five persons were indicted by a federal grand jury in New Orleans,
including James Joseph Duet, Edwin Henry Rivepe, Tony J. Cuccia,
Lonnie B. Abshire Sr., and Edmund J. Fabacher. The men were taken
before the federal magistrate Thursday for arraignment.
Dr. John W. Lambert and Stephen Lee Lalande were indicted by a
special grand jury in Alexandria, La.
Lalande, a former jockey and horse trainer at Evangeline Downs,
was taken to Lafayette Parish Jail. Lambert, director of the Evangeline
Veterinarian Clinic, was booked on one count of illegal distribution of
cocaine and three counts of distributing a drug called Fentanyl.
Lalande is accused of one count of distributing cocaine.
The suspects could receive up to 15 years in prison and $25,000 in
fines for each violation.
Volz said an FBI agent worked undercover as a trainer for nearly a
year to develop the case.
“Cocaine was used in effect to make the horses run faster, ” Volz said.
He said the drugs Sublimaze and Dilaudid soothed injuries to allow the
horses to run without pain.
Albert Stall, head of the Louisiana Racing Commission, said he was
concerned with the use of illegal drugs on thoroughbreds and quar-
terhorses running at Louisisana tracks.
“Sublimaze is an effective painkiller, much stronger than
morphine,” Stall said. “We are also concerned over the excessive
amounts of drugs such as Dilaudid coming onto our race tracks."
United Press International
ROME — Ruling Christian Democratic
Party officials said today a new handwritten
letter had been received from kidnapped
ex-Premier Aldo Moro outlining details of a
prisoner swap demanded by the Red
Brigades in return for his life.
The latest communique added further
confusion to the crucial issue of whether
the frail 61-year-old president of the Chris
tian Democrats, who earlier was reported
to have been “executed” by “suicide” was
even alive.
No text of the new communique was re
leased but Christian Democratic sources
said it spelled out in greater detail the
ultra-leftist terrorist group’s demand for
the release of jailed comrades in return for
Moro’s life.
The new message from Moro coincided
with the first public appeal by his wife for
the Christian Democrats to state what
terms they would accept for the release of
the five-time premier.
No details were made available on how
the latest message from Moro reached
Christian Democratic Party Secretary Be-
nigno Zaccagnini. But sources said it spel
led out in greater detail the terrorists’ de
mand that all or some of about 160 Red
Brigades prisoners now in Italian jails be
released.
As the letter was being studied, Premier
Giulio Andreotti called a cabinet meeting
to discuss what reply the government
should send to the Red Brigades ul
timatum that prisoners be released within
48 hours to save Moro’s life.
The Red Brigades Thursday issued a
snapshot of Moro with a copy of a Wednes
day newspaper and vowed to “execute”
him unless an unknown number of “Com
munist prisoners” were released by 9 a.m. -
EST Saturday.
An earlier message purportedly from the
Red Brigades said Moro had been tried by a
“people’s court” and “executed”. But
Thursday a new communique, believed by
officials to be authentic, said the earlier
message was a hoax and affirmed that Moro
still was alive.
Andreotti and his advisers met late into
the early morning hours at Christian Dem
ocratic Party headquarters across the
square from the baroque Church of Jesus
where they all prayed for Moro’s life late
Thursday.
In her first public appeal for the life of
her husband, Mrs. Eleonora Moro asked
the Christian Democratic Party to find out
the exact conditions laid down by the Red
Brigades for Moro’s release.
“The family and friends renew the firm
request that the life of Aldo Moro be saved
that was given yesterday by Mrs. Eleonora
Moro to the Christian Democrats and the
government,” the statement said.
“This asked the Christian Democrats,
adopting a realistic attitude, to state their
readiness to ascertain what the concrete
terms are for the release of their presi
dent.”
Moro was kidnapped March 16 after ter
rorists killed his five police guards.
10,000 people in space.
Battalion photo by Tim Drinkwater
Licking the problem
These two twins, Sally and Jacob Elliot, seem to have found
the perfect way to cool off on a hot day. Both are enjoying an
ice cream cone from the Texas A&M Creamery.
Heavyweight boxer
booked for drug use
United Press International
ST. LOUIS — Heavyweight boxer Leon
Spinks, victor over champion Muhammad
Ali, was arrested early today and booked,
suspected of possession of cocaine an
Space colonies predicted
By GREG PROPPS
Self-supporting space colonies of 10,000
people could be a reality by the turn of the
century, said Dr. J. Peter Vajk.
Vajk, a staff scientist for Science Applica
tions Inc., spoke at a Great Issues presenta
tion Thursday night.
Vajk said these colonies could serve as
bases for solar energy collecting stations,
space factories, or mining operations on the
moon.
Vajk said improved communications via
satellites is the only practical application of
space exploration at present.
“If you want to do things in space with
economic gain, then the cost of space ex
ploration has to come way down,” he said.
In the past, space vehicles were used only
once, making each mission expensive. The
space shuttle will mean a vehicle could be
used over and over again, which would
bring the cost of each mission down, said
Vajk.
He added that every part of the shuttle
could be reused. The empty propellant
tanks could be used for living quarters. The
cost of moving material in space would de
crease with a proposed schedule of 60 shut
tle flights per year by 1985, he said.
Vajk said once the shuttle operation is
working smoothly, giant solar-energy col
lecting panels, staffed with about 100
people could be constructed to beam
energy back to earth.
The space operations could then expand
into manufacturing and production, lunar
mining, agriculture and recreation said
Vajk.
He said it is possible to use existing
technology to build a space facility that
could snare and hold an asteroid and put it
into an Earth orbit. Mining operations
could then begin on the asteroid.
Living quarters would be needed for
several thousand people to keep these op
erations going, said Vajk. A comfortable
environment could be created in a giant
rotating wheel with its own gravity and at
mosphere.
Vajk mentioned the possiblity of provid
ing “mood rooms” complete with soft lights
and music, trampolines on the walls, floors
and ceilings.
For operations such as these to work,
either several governments or giant corpo
rations would have to collaborate he said.
Vajk discounted the idea that several coun
tries would work together on such a
project, but predicted corporations would
band together within the next year.
Thieves take
Ruben painting
United Press International
FLORENCE, Italy — Art thieves who
entered through a skylight stole a major
work by painter Peter Paul Rubens and
nine other Flemish-school works from the
famed Pitti Palace, gallery officials said to
day.
The theft occurred last night in the
Palace’s Palatine Gallery and was discov
ered this morning, officials said.
The most important work of Rubens sto
len was his “Three Graces,” bought in
Antwerp.
marijuana.
Spinks, who shares the heavyweight
crown with Ken Norton, was stopped about
4 a.m. in St. Louis, his hometown, for driv
ing without headlights, Sgt. Francis
Corona, who said he did not recognize
Spinks, approached him and asked him for
his driver’s license.
But Spinks, who had been arrested two
months ago for driving without a license
and traveling the wrong way on a one-way
street, again had no license.
“I asked him for his license, Corona
said, “and he said something to the effect
of, ‘Come on, man. I’m Leon. You know I
still don t have one.”
Spinks threw his hat onto the top of the
car as he got out, Corona said, and a search
of the hat uncovered in the hatband a foil
packet containing a substance believed to
be cocaine.
Spinks, 24, was handcuffed along with a
companion, Charlean Gunn, 26, who was
booked, suspected of interfering with the
arrest and possession of marijuana. A
search of Spinks in a police holdover cell
turned up what police thought to be
marijuana and a hand-rolled cigarette.
Corona, who was assisted by policemen
Ronald Strothman and Stanley Mier-
zejewski, said Ms. Gunn became abusive
when he tried to arrest Spinks.
“She started cursing us,” he said. “You
know, the usual routine — if he was white,
you wouldn’t be arresting him.”
The last time Spinks was arrested the
NAACP protested the manner in which he
was handled, including his being handcuf
fed. But Corona said the handcuffs were
necessary again because he was being ar
rested on a suspected felony.