Ihe Battalion
1 2. No. 22
ages
Monday, October 2, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611
College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
Create a course at A&M
• Change doesn’t come easy at this
University. Changes in the cur
riculum must be reviewed and ap
proved from the department level to
the state board that oversees all state
colleges. And that takes time.
See page 5.
• Californians may vote to bar smok
ing in public except at places like rol
ler derby. See page 4.
y
Stadium expansion
awaiting state OK
University officials are meeting with the
State Coordinating Board today seeking
approval for the construction contract to
add a third deck of seats to Texas A&M
University’s Kyle Field.
The University system board of regents
approved that $22,858,600 contract—
which is several million dollars greater
than original engineer estimates for the
addition—during a special board meeting
Saturday. Because the contract the board
approved will cost more than system en
gineers projected, it must receive special
approval from the coordinating board.
The regents awarded the contract to the
H. B. Zachry company of San Antonio.
System Chancellor Jack Williams said
Saturday system officials expect the coor
dinating board to approve the contract
without much opposition.
“They know as well as anyone how
things are in the construction industry,”
Williams said.
A representative from Lockwood, An
drews and Noonan, the Houston-based
firm which designed the third-deck expan
sion, told the five regents present that
rapidly rising construction costs made the
higher-than-expected contract necessary.
Total cost for the Kyle Field expansion
is now estimated at almost $27 million,
university facilities planning manager Paul
Stephens told the board. That expansion
will include new physical education
facilities in a complex joining the east side
of the football stadium with G. Rollie
White Coliseum.
In particular, the price of cement has
doubled over the last three months, in
creasing the price of the Kyle Field project
greatly, he said.
The regents did cut $770,000 worth of
facilities and expenses from the project’s
budget Saturday. The changes involved
the finish to be used on the exterior of the
G. Rollie White addition, the exterior
finish of the concrete columns to be added
to the stadium and the stadium public ad
dress system.
Inmates challenge
Texas prisons in suit
' the Aggies win a football game, tradition dictates
lat the five yell leaders be thrown into the fish
ond in front of Sbisa Dining Hall. With Saturday’s
4n against Memphis State University, these yell
;aders took their first “swim” of the season. They
are, from left, senior Jeff Hancock, junior Brian
Hill and junior Jeff Smiley. Next Saturday the Ag
gies face Texas Tech University in Kyle Field at 1:30
p.m.
Battalion photo by George Rowe
Conclave seeks ‘ideal’pope
United Press International
PIGAN CITY — After the election of
telPope John Paul I, cardinals looked
and agreed that the surprise candi-
roin Venice was perfect for the job.
5 uuestion now is whether another
candidate is waiting in the wings.
; criteria that led to the choice of
Paul cannot have changed much in
ttervening 34 days.
3 cardinals wanted and found an Ita-
iastor acceptable to conservative and
nist alike, doctrinally strict but con-
)r>, neither too old nor too young,
w, as one Roman priest remarked,
ething has got to give.”
casting their net again, the cardinals
have to overlook some of the factors
as age and pastoral experience which
ed important last time,
e ideal “age window” — 62 to 68 —
»n about before the last conclave may
to be extended at either end to in-
i several candidates of unquestioned
y-
65. John Paul seemed to be the right
But after the shock of his death, the
conclave may believe it important to
i younger man more able to withstand
igors of one of the world s toughest
oneliest jobs.
this case the field widens to include
iinal Salvatore Pappalardo, 60, the
bishop of Palermo, Sicily, and a man
considerable diplomatic experience,
irdinal Giovanni Benelli of Florence,
at 57 is another powerful contender among
the younger candidates.
For years Pope Paul Vi’s right-hand
man, Benelli, is generally respected if not
universally popular and was one of the un
disputed kingmakers in the last conclave.
But despite the desirability of finding
someone active and fit, many cardinals
may still shy at the prospect of electing a
pope for the next 20 years or more.
If age is not considered a serious draw
back, Cardinal Corrado Ursi of Naples at
70 emerges as a candidate. In the Italian
hierarchy, he is the only one to possess the
direct, "Simple pastoral charm with which
Pope John Paul captivated the world.
Cardinal Giovanni Colombo of Milan
has vast pastoral experience and is widely
respected but his age, 76, may be consid
ered excessive.
If the conclave decides to play down the
pastoral aspect, Cardinal Pericle Felici,
67, comes to the fore. Felici is a conserva
tive, but the last conclave showed the car
dinals were by no means interested in
electing a liberal.
As secretary general of the Vatican
Ecumenical Council, Felici could be ex
pected to continue church reforms of the
past decade in a measured fashion, but he
might also find it possible to reconcile the
traditionalist wing of the church that now
threatens to fly off into schism.
Otherwise, there do not appear to be
any serious contenders from the Roman
Curia, the church’s central bureaucracy.
The names so prominently mentioned
before the last conclave — Cardinal Sebas-
tiano Baggio, Sergio Pignedoli and Paolo
Bertoli — apparently were immediately
passed over once voting got under way.
Now, Vatican sources say, they look like
losers.
Cardinal archbishops, wrestling with
pastoral problems, seem to be looking for
someone who can personally identify with
their difficulties, as John Paul so obviously
could.
United Press International
HOUSTON — What began six years
ago as a handwritten complaint by a 35-
year-old repeat offender goes to trial today
as a major federal court lawsuit challeng
ing the constitutionality of the Texas
prison system.
David Ruiz, now serving 25 years for
robbery, wrote the first of eight inmate
suits against Prison Director Jim Estelle,
other officials and the prisons they run.
U.S. District Judge William Wayne Jus
tice of Tyler consolidated the cases.
The Justice Department has involved it
self and officials say the trial that starts
Monday could res'ult in major changes in
the Texas Department of Corrections. The
FBI has been investigating.
“We ve had agents crawling all over our
place,” said Assistant Prison Director
D.V. McKaskle. “One was measuring cell
blocks and even the toilets. We’ve copied
thousands of documents they’ve asked for.
Food fight may
fewer eating at
mean
Sbisa
By PAT DAVIDSON
Battalion Reporter
The exhibition of spirit in the form of
food fights and rowdiness at Sbisa Dining
Hall last Friday evening may have been
greater than usual. And some students
may be removed from the board plan be
cause of food fights, said Ron Blatchley,
director of student affairs.
He said people showed up at 4:30 p.m.,
fully intending to outdo any past rowdy
experience in the dining hall. Blatchley,
who was at Sbisa, said the disruption
started with an exchange of residence hall
Clements says Ford fired Schlesinger
for lying about security, budget
By DOUG GRAHAM
Battalion Staff
Gubernatorial candidate Bill
Clements said he knows the real
reason why former Secretary of De
fense James R. Schlesinger was fired
in 1974.
The candidate flew to College
Station Saturday morning to com
bine campaigning with a Texas
A&M University football weekend.
Clements said a forthcoming book
by former President Gerald Ford
will reveal that Schlesinger was
fired for lying about national sec
urity and budget matters to Ford.
Schlesinger also misrepresented de
fense matters to the president, he
said.
“I know because I was there,”
Clements said after a press confer
ence at Easterwood Airport. He
served four years as deputy secret
ary of defense.
Clements said the popular view is
that Schlesinger was fired for his
outspoken opposition to the way the
Strategic Arms Limitations Talks
were conducted.
“I can’t tell you what he lied
about because that involves national
security,” Clements replied to a re
quest for specifics.
But he said some details should
be coming in Ford’s book.
The multi-millionaire also de
nounced his opponent, Attorney
General John Hill, saying the attor
ney general is neglecting his duties
while campaigning.
Bill Clements
He said Hill has been running for
governor since his unsuccessful first
try in ’68. Clements claims Hill has
increased the bureaucracy of the at
torney general’s office 300 percent
and still has a backlog of cases.
“Hill is a career politician,” Cle
ments said.
Clements, owner of Southeastern
Drilling Co., stressed to the small
gathering,“This is my first time to
run for elected political office. ”
Clements also criticized the Car
ter energy programs, criticising
Schlesinger, Carter’s top energy ad
visor. “I think Schlesinger is bad for
this country; bad for the energy de
partment,” he said.
Clements said he believes the
energy program is faulty and one of
the reasons is the oil storage project.
The program is in the process of
storing oil in underground salt
domes as a reserve against future oil
embargos similar to the Arab oil
embargo in 1973. He said paying
money for one billion barrels of oil
to be stored is not wise. He ques
tions investing in “dead oil” in the
event of a crisis.
“It is my judgment there will not
be a crisis, but if we do have a crisis,
it would dilute our freedom of action
to have a billion barrels of oil,” he
said.
Recently at one of the salt dome
storage projects a fire broke out.
The blaze occurred near Hackberry,
La., and burned for several days be
fore being extinguished.
Clements said the gas deregula
tion bill that has passed the U.S.
Senate and is now before the House
will extend federal control over
Texas’ intrastate natural gas.
“Texas will be subsidizing the
East Coast,” he said.
Clements said he will try to be
nationally active if elected. Asked if
a Texas govornor should not be na
tionally active, Clements said,“No
way. If the Governor of Texas can
not be nationally active, he’d do a
disservice to Texas.”
yells interspersed with Aggie yells. Each
dorm tries to outdo the rest.
Toward the end, the yells became in
creasingly “grody” or obscene, he said. At
the conclusion, there was a barrage of
napkins and paper, followed by dropping
cups and pounding trays with forks and
finally throwing food.
“ On Friday night,” Blatchley said, “food
of every kind was thrown, including
spinach, ice cream, chicken, pizza — even
whole plates of food.
“The dining hall was an absolute mess.”
Todd Shipley, president of Schumacher
Hall, said he didn’t think Friday was much
worse than usual.
“It was traditional Sbisa,” he said.
“Everybody looks forward to Friday, be
cause it’s the time when the dorm resi
dents get together.
He said there was more noise than
usual, but he did not see the food fight
itself.
He said he thinks “Animal House,” a
movie about a college fraternity, has
caused Sbisa employees to be more con
cerned with the conduct of the diners.
Blatchley said there were some “unfor
tunate consequences” to the incident. One
student’s grandparents were in the midst
of the fight, he said. A food service worker
slipped on some food and was injured, and
at least three students slipped and drop
ped their trays, he said.
But there may be even greater con
sequences for the diners at Sbisa.
“As a result of (what happened) Friday,”
Blatchley said, “there are definitely going
to be fewer people on the board plan at
Sbisa.”
A number of students caught participat
ing in the disturbance will face a discipli
nary hearing. If found guilty, they will be
removed from the board plan.
Costs for meals also may increase to pay
for more maintenance and wasted food, he
said.
In the future, Blatchley said, he would
recommend calling the University Police
for assistance in controlling food fights.
“We have experienced more problems
in the dining hall (Sbisa) than is represen
tative of A&M,” Blatchley said, noting that
Sbisa is the only dining hall on campus
with these problems.
He said the student services staff
thought it could deal with dorm yells and
other exhibition of Aggie spirit. He said
the administration supports the develop
ment of residence hall yells, but activities
are getting out of hand to the point that
they are a source of embarrassment to the
University.
“It is just not like Aggies at all,” he said.
There’s no end in sight.”
The state and the federal government
have hired experts with opposing opinions
about the quality of the 15-unit, 24,000-
inmate Texas prison system.
“We expect to successfully meet all the
allegations that are being made in the law
suit,” said Ron Taylor, administrative as
sistant to the TDC director. “However,
we re very reluctant to become involved in
a public debate over those allegations. We
just simply can’t.”
Arnold Pontesso of Austin. 64, a former
federal prison warden who is now a consul
tant, describes the state’s prisons as
“probably the best example of slavery re
maining in this country.”
He complains the system s goals are
confinement and production and says that
“if rehabilitation occurs, it is more by acci
dent than design.”
The state s expert, Fred T. Wilkinson,
66, a former deputy director of the U.S.
Bureau of Prisons, says the Texas system is
“superior to any other state system in
physical facilities, quality of personnel and
operational programs.”
The consolidated complaints charge vio
lation of inmate constitutional rights in the
form of poor medical care, food and sanita
tion; discriminatory job classification; in
adequate inside-the-prison security and
overcrowding.
In th e case file are interviews with doz
ens of inmates, many of whom detailed
horror stories for investigators.
One said he was an inmate enforcer with
special privileges, including a homosexual
in his cell and the authority to beat other
prisoners in order to keep them in line.
Other stories detailed the strong preying
on the weak, homosexual rape, self-
mutiliation in escape attempts and suicidal
hangings.
Some inmates complain Texas Depart
ment of Corrections employees interfered
with their access to the courts and took
vindictive action against inmates who filed
suits or agreed to be witnesses.
One inmate told investigators that, as an
inmate dental technician, he pulled teeth
and performed oral surgery even though
he had little training.
Ruiz, first imprisoned in 1960 for armed
robbery and reimprisoned in 1968 on
another robbery conviction, charged his
treatment in solitary confinement was so
bad he slashed his wrists to get out.
One report said guards once raped a
woman inmate and that another inmate
who became pregnant by a guard was
placed in solitary confinement and nearly
died of a miscarriage.
Battalion photo by Steve Lee
‘When you re hot, you re hot!’
Jerry Reed received a warm reception from Aggies Friday
night in G. Rollie White Coliseum. Reed entertained the
Town Hall crowd with jokes and down home country music.
For a review of his performance, see page 6.