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The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 188
20 Pages in 2 Sections
Wednesday, August 23, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Wednesday:
The feel of graduation - p. 3A.
Freshman weekend filled with
activities - p. 7A.
• Two-a-day workouts are hot -
p. IB.
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Local fireman
dies in blaze
Bryan fire investigators were searching
th rough the charred wreckage of a Bryan
apartment complex this morning looking
for the cause of a fire that claimed the life of
a Bryan fireman Tuesday night.
About half the 26 apartments units at
Tropicano Apartments, 2701 Kent St.,
were destroyed in the fire, a Bryan fire
department spokesman said.
Officials were delaying release of the
dead fireman’s name pending notification
of next-of-kin. Two other fireman were
hospitalized, one for smoke inhalation.
Fireman Herman Rice remained in St.
Joseph’s Hospital this morning in satisfac
tory condition. The other fireman was
treated and released.
Fire units from Bryan, College Station,
Hearne, Navasota, Huntsville, Caldwell,
Brenham and the Precinct 3 Volunteer Fire
Departments fought the blaze for almost
three hours before bringing it under con
trol about 2:30 a.m. The first alarm on the
fire was sounded at 11:31 p.m. Tuesday.
A representative of Culpepper Realty,
which owns and operates the complex, said
Culpepper representatives will meet with
insurance officials later today to estimate
the cost of damage done by the fire.
The Tropicano fire is the second major
apartment fire in the area in less than two
weeks. A fire August 10 destroyed or dam
aged 16 apartment units at Doux Chene
Apartments in College Station. No one was
injured in that blaze.
New herbarium
rising from ashes
Fish get their first taste of Corps life
Battalion photos by Pat O’Malley
Dave Staehlin (left), who will be a freshman this fall in outfit M-2,
received the traditional fish head shave at the Northgate Barber Shop
Tuesday afternoon. The new freshmen in Squadron 3 (right) listen to their
platoon sergeant, George Saxon, who is instructing them on the proper
method of making a right pivot. The new fish could be seen in the Quad
Tuesday afternoon going through some rigorous practice sessions.
Hearing may free Davis on bond
Friend testifies Davis plotted 15 murders
United Press International
FORT WORTH — Driven by a passion for vengeance
gainst those he hated most, millionaire T. Cullen Davis
! r ,j 1 umed to his closest friend to plot a total of 15 hired
andlB Ur ^ erS ’ ^ r * ent ^ testified Tuesday.
. 1 David McCrory testified in a hearing to determine if
"Wis, now jailed, should be freed on bond on charges of
King to buy the murder of the presiding judge in his
)vorce case.
Jin secretive restaurant parking lot meetings with
[lavis, McCrory said a young woman who testified in the
Jidustrialist’s trial last year on charges of murdering his
E-year-old stepdaughter was at the top of the list of
i nottlersons he wanted dead.
He said he had thought about it and decided to go
iiead with hiring someone to kill Beverly Bass and I was
mcerni ping to do the hiring,” McCrory testified. “He did not
ant the person who was going to do it to know who was
aying for it.
1 got shook up. He said ‘if you cross me this time —
nd you know I’ve got the money and power to do it —
I ^11 have you and your wife and you’re whole damn family
nent d
piled.’
“I was shook. I started to hit him. He said don’t get
Ixcited.’ He said T know some things you don’t know.
(Miss Bass) is the only one the jury believed. She’s got to
\leavy rains damage dam
rks k
wnsil 1
die. I ve got others who could do it, but you’re the only
one I could trust.
In Davis’ trial and acquittal last year for the Aug. 2,
1976, death of Andrea Wilborn — killed in an assault
that also residted in the wounding of Davis’ estranged
wife, Priscilla, the death of her lover, Stan Farr, and the
wounding of Miss Bass’s date, Gus Gavrel — Miss Bass
identified Davis as the assailant.
Davis was arrested Sunday after allegedly giving
McCrory $25,000 for supposedly killing divorce Judge
Joe Eidson. McCrory had been cooperating with au
thorities since Thursday — when he realized Davis could
not be talked out of the alleged murder-for-hire plot.
Eidson was never harmed and authorities tape rec
orded and photographed the exchange of money.
McCrory said he and Davis had been close friends
since 1969 and he and his then wife, Judy, frequently
went out socially with Davis and his now estranged wife,
Priscilla Davis.
McCrory said Davis paid for the trips because “I didn’t
have the money.’’
McCrory said he met with Davis throughout the'early
part of this year to discuss the killing of Miss Bass. Then,
at a meeting in June, he said Davis added more names.
“He told me he decided to add some names to his list
and rather than just Beverly Bass he wanted Beverly
Bass, Gus Bubba Gavrel and Bubba s father and Judge
Eidson killed.
“I never thought he was serious. I thought he was
halfway serious, but I didn't think it was something that I
couldn’t control or talk him out of. I never had any inten
tion of doing it.
“He said he felt very sure that Judge Eidson was going
to try to break him and he knew Judge Eidson was in
cahoots — was in bed with Ronald Aultman and Jerry
Loftin was the way he put it — who I knew to be Priscil
la’s (divorce) attorneys. He said that unless I did some
thing quick that old son-of-a-bitch was going to try to
ruin him. He said it was time for something to start
happening.”
McCrory said he met again with Davis later and the
list again was expanded.
“He told me he had 15 he wanted killed,” McCrory
testified. “He named those people or most of them at
that time. We went over the list. I told him ‘maybe it
would be easier if you tell me who you don’t want
killed.’”
McCrory said the expanded list included Mrs. Davis,
Miss Bass, Gavrel, (pavrel’s father, Eidson, District
Judge Tom Cave (whb has jurisdiction in charges still
pending against Davis from the shooting spree), W.T.
Rufner (a former boyfriend of Mrs. Davis) and Davis’
younger brother Bill.
United Press International
HUNTSVILLE — On Feb. 3 Claude
McLeod smelled smoke and saw fire in the
herbarium at Sam Houston State Univer
sity. He saved a stack of near-extinct
plants, but that was all.
He watched as 15,000 plants — care
fully selected and dried, some rare, all un
usual and difficult to replace — burned,
taking 30 years of McLeod’s work and ded
ication with them.
Included in the collection were speci
mens gathered by Dr. S.R. Warner,
former head of the biology department at
Sam Houston; the collection of F.M.
Thurow, a botanist who worked along the
Gulf Coast from 1862 to 1925 and hun
dreds of plants gathered by McLeod — an
authority on the plants of the Big Thicket
— or under his direction.
"It’s all burned; it’s gone,” McLeod, in a
daze, said later that day to Dr. Maynard
Yoes, chairman of the Department of Life
Sciences, “If you want this space for some
thing else, it’s all right with me.”
That was despair talking. Concern, hard
work and re-dedication have rebuilt
McLeod’s herbarium.
“We re coming along very nicely,
McLeod said. “We hope to be back in the
herbarium within a couple of weeks. We
are very cheered. Very optimistic. We are
back in business.”
The effort began within a few days of the
fire. University President Elliott T. Bow
ers led the support and encouragement
which has raised the money to rebuild the
herbarium. McLeod has supplied the
work and leadership.
The Sam Houston student government
donated $300. The Beta Beta Beta biology
honor society coordinated the raising of
$1,000 from former biology students.
Other persons donated money with the
largest donation of $16,500 from Wilbourn
S. Gibbs, senior partner of Gibbs Bros. &
Co. of Huntsville.
The money was used to build the her
barium in its original location and to buy
file cabinets, stereoscopic microscopes,
specialized containers, bigh quality her
barium paper, insecticide for tbe cabinets,
presses, books — some no longer in print
— and to employ students to mount, label
and file plants.
“Were lacking plants,” McLeod said.
“It will take a matter of years and years
West Texas lake to be drained
United Press International
CANYON — The U.S. Department of
bterior ordered the drainage of Buffalo
ake to begin Tuesday because of struc-
oC |toi Iral damage to the spillway. The project
fall schedules
or late-payers
in fiscal office
Fall semester schedules for Texas
A&M University students who paid
their fees late are being held in the
fiscal office.
Assistant controller Robert Smith
said the University did not mail out
those schedules and they can be
picked up in the fiscal office.
“We deliberately didn’t send out
some of these for fear that the stu
dents would be in transit,” Smith
said. “We’ve got literally hundreds
and hundreds of them that are wait
ing to be picked up. ”
“Obviously, there’s a date past
which we can’t process a schedule
and get it to a student, ” Smith said.
Bills were sent to students in July.
Deadline for fees payment was Aug.
1. The University sent out schedules
^upon payment by the student.
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was expected to take four months to com
plete.
The decision to drain the body of water
for the second time in five years was
reached after the spillway was declared
unsafe by Parks and Wildlife engineers,
the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of
Reclamation and the Texas Department of
Water Resources.
A department spokesman said Monday
the lake, widely used for recreation pur
poses by residents of the Amarillo and
Lubbock areas, is suffering from structural
damage caused by recent heavy rains
which boosted the water level to within
three feet of the spillway.
“Because of the structural weakness in
the spillway we will have to drain the lake
and control the release of water through
the dam,” said W.O. Nelson, regional di
rector of the Parks and Wildlife Depart
ment in Albuquerque, N.M. Nelson said
Monday the spillway would be unsafe if
flash flooding occurred.
Following drainage of the lake, negotia
tions will begin with the Bureau of Recla
mation to study what corrective measures
can be taken at the spillway. The dam was
built in the 1930s by the Soil Conservation
Service.
Government officials have known of the
structural weakness for years and it was for
that reason the lake was drained five years
ago. But no funds have been made availa
ble for repair of the spillway and the water
level in the lake has gradually increased
because of rains in the area.
Heavy rains this year brought the level
of the lake dangerously close to the spill
way.
Man killed trying to save dog
United Press International
BOSTON — Steven Johnson, 26, died
early Saturday along with the dog he was
trying to save from a heavily traveled
highway when a taxi cab struck both of
them.
A Metropolitan District commission
spokesman said Johnson parked his car on
the shoulder of the outbound lane of Stor-
row Drive when he saw the dog crippled
in the center of the highway. He walked
back and, in an effort to get the animal off
the road, darted into the passing lane
about 2 a.m. near a pedestrian overpass.
Witnesses said the cab struck him and the
dog, killing both of them.
Cab driver John Carroll Jr. and his
passenger told police he saw Johnson in
the highway, but didn’t have time to apply
his brakes. Carroll was not charged.
Battalion photo by Mark Penny
Practice makes perfect
Albert Pedulla, 16, helps friend of the family Jake session was held at the Art Adamson Pool in Bee
Adas, 4, master the art of floating. The practice Creek Park last weekend.
collecting plants to get these things back.
It takes a lot of time. You don’t just go out
and get the volume. Some were quite
rare. We lost a few plants over 100 years
old.
“Collecting is difficult. Some are seen
very infrequently. Some are only collected
on a seasonal basis.
“But, despite all that, we hopefully will
have, by the end of the summer, a teach
ing herbarium. About 5,000 to 6,000
plants. We ll have a good cross-section of
plants in East Texas. ”
Donations established the foundation
for the new plant collection.
Sul Ross State University in Alpine sent
what McLeod described as a “fine trans-
Pecos collection.” Texas A&M University
and Lamar University — which were as
sisted recently by McLeod in establishing
herbariums — and St. Edwards University
in Austin, Southwest Texas State Univer
sity in San Marcos and Southwest Texas
Junior College in Uvalde also contributed.
Reward posted
for missing pair
United Press International
DEL NORTE, Colo. — Authorities
hope a $3,000 reward will cause more vol
unteers to join the search for a newlywed
Texas couple missing in the southern Col
orado mountains.
Undersheriff Barnett Bauer Jr. said
Tuesday that Connally Lockhart, an
Amarillo, Texas, attorney, offered the re
ward for information leading to the discov
ery of the honeymooners.
Lockhart is a family friend of James
Judge Jr., 26, and his wife, Meanette
Margene, 24, of Amarillo. They have not
been heard from since Aug. 8, when they
were in South Fork, Colo., on a camping
trip.
The couple’s van was stolen by a gang
comprised of Arizona prison escapees
Randy Greenawalt, 29, of Thornton,
Colo., and Gary Tison, 41, and three of
Tison’s sons.
Bauer requested any volunteers wishing
to search for the couple to check with the
Rio Grande County sherifFs office in Del
Norte and tell officers where they will be
searching.