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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 1978)
strike continues may be over soon aid. "But pay morti ts. Memli nlw are ply involi faraway r two reaso rs say sh« to he conti (“> is rippe ction. Set LS to gO a new jei le game. ;her to in *s w'ho am sjxirtt e the .eaguehai! iary injui ’L from I he could fit) or 90 he league ote on il ill come said United Press International HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A non-violent sit-down strike at the maximum security unit of the state prison Sunday showed signs of weakening with only 108 of the original 400 inmates still refusing to return to their cells. The strike, now in its fifth day, involves inmates at the Ellis unit of the prison and is in support of lawsuits filed by prisoners against the Texas Department of Correc tions. The lawsuit seeking better conditions and treatment for prisoners is being heard in Houston and is expected to take four months. The strike began Thursday at the Ellis and Darrington units with workers refus ing to return to their cells. At the Darrington agriculture unit, three of 209 prisoners received minor in juries when they began moving toward guards in one of the fields. TDC spokes man Ron Taylor said the guard fired two shots to stop the advance, one in the air and one at the ground. Taylor said the three injured inmates were hit by richocheting buckshot and gravel. The prisoners then agreed to re turn to their cells but do no more work. The injured were James T. Richardson, 23, serving a two-year term for forgery out of Harris County; Thomas Shelby, 24, serving 99 years for aggravated robbery out of Guadalupe County; and Charles Shaw, 23, serving 20 years for aggravated robbery out of Washington County. At the Ellis unit, Taylor said, 108 in mates were in the south exercise yard. He said there had been no violence and no destruction of property. About 300 convicts returned to their cells Saturday, leaving the 108 to maintain the strike. The convicts have gone without food and the minimal amount of water provided the protestors was shut off when most of the inmates returned to their cells, Taylor said. Ellis confines 2,388 prisoners. A spokesman for the inmates was quoted as saying the strike would continue until they saw some “definite differences” at Ellis. Taylor said the strike had not af fected operations at Ellis. The strikers’ complaints are generally those of the federal suit being tried — lack of communication, brutality, inadequate legal assistance and inferior medical serv ices. The state disputes the allegations. Taylor said 339 prisoners at the Ramsey Unit south of Houston also refused to work Friday, but did go to their cells without incident. They have been charged with department violations. The total number of prisoners involved in the disruptions at the units — 956 — represents about 4 percent of the total population of 25,000. PoUce^find no bomb CS apartments threatened A bomb threat at Briarwood Apartments Sunday night sent hastily clad residents into the streets to wait for the all clear. It came about an hour later at midnight when police found no bomb. The scene looked like a fire drill in a coed dormitory. Several people stood on the curb and tried to wake up while others demanded to know the reason for being rousted out of their beds. The College Station Police Department dispatcher received the threat call at 10:50 p.m., says Sgt. Winfred Pittman. “An unidentified male advised there He explained that the man did not say who he was or give any clue as to where the bomb was hidden. He did not say he was the one who had set the bomb, but the po lice department assumed it was the same man. Police tried to awaken the residents of Briarwood, 1201 Highway 30 in College Station, by using public address systems from their patrol cars while circling the apartments. “I thought it was just cops coming to get someone who was having a loud party,” said one resident who asked to remain anonymous. “Then I heard a lot of shout ing and looked out my window and saw a bunch of people standing across the street. I went to check it out and heard the police warning us to get out of our apartments.” Several residents left for nearby friends’ houses while others decided to wait out the excitement. Pittman said he discussed the threat with Bill Sisson, Briarwood manager, and it was agreed to evacuate the apartments until a check could be made. The search began at 11:05. Residents were permitted to return to their apart ments at midnight. "We gave the all clear after checking all areas accessible to the public like the laundry rooms and the recreation room,” Pittman said. The threat was probably a prank, Pittman said, “but we have to take these things seriously.” This is the first bomb threat the College Station Police Department has received in relation to an apartment complex, Pittman said. an: ier the 1 birth odor wet ihoina would o she wn the OH I Saturda) I a Iittle< I dirt un(| ud. Nicaraguan president says U.S. requested overthrow ‘Ticket sit-in?’ After the Aggies defeated Texas Tech Saturday, some students followed the band for yell practice. Others, like these, began lining up in front of G. Rollie White Coliseum to get tickets for the game against the University of Houston. Only 4,672 tick ets are available for the game in the Houston As trodome this Saturday. For those who stand in line m vain, the Houston game will be televised live in G. Rollie White Coliseum. Kick-off time is 7:30 p.m. The doors of the coliseum will open at 6 p.m. Seniors and graduate students may pick up $2 gen eral admission tickets for the telecast today, with juhibrs on Tuesday and sophomores and freshmen on Wednesday. Students must have coupon books to buy tickets for the telecast. Date tickets are also $2. United Press International MANAGUA, Nicaragua — President Anastasio Somoza says Washington once urged him to carry out a coup and he blames President Carter’s human rights staff for leading Nicaraguans “to believe they could overthrow my government.” The West Point-educated Somoza, in an exclusive interview with UPI last week, also warned that lacking a peaceful way out of the Nicaraguan crisis, “We will have a military dictatorship.” ■ Some students still waiting, to move in 2S By LYLE LOVETT _ Battalion Reporter atl^o? 6 W ^° £ oes away to college can i n l- 16 wor k °f moving. It isn’t much P a Vt ng VP ^ le man’s Studebaker p e t U ,. aU and making the trek to Col- W 3 IO j no matter from where. .„ i S UCen t has given himself two or I to ^ s , at most to move in before hav- |L ea die rigors of classwork. jail re packed everywhere and there’s S nothl ng i n the refrigerator, nv 0011 c Rave gone through this as Bum Sev ?" or ^ times. . ^ could be worse. )v e t £ ud .r S at l eas t have a place to allvfT .f t ^ ,sor Sanization“ to when they it W C ° t() ^ vn ' And most students take " t tor granted. mbernfT eg ' nning °* this semester, a tunau. ^ exas A&M students weren’t so ice to liv' e k t K, i Ught they wou ld have a artmo„* i ’ ,t tor various reasons the II under ^ three months before They say they have been inconvenienced by living in hotels and out of suitcases since school started. They also object to the expense of eating every meal out. At the beginning of the semester. Court yard, Timber Ridge and Village Green apartments had units within ttieir com plexes under construction — not ready for habitation after the original move-in date. Students complained that dates were postponed from week to week. You EY ityds MARI* r construction. onf> W< t U ^ n * R e R ev e what a hassle it low wh 11 e . nt sa 'd.“I just don’t even seksok e / e la ^ m y stuff is.” For six od s }? u ffled between the Aggie- riting for' 1 ] 1 bends’ apartments while eted 161 own apartment to be corn- students have similar feelings. jayJjI lEB RNE f Analysis In the meantime, they had to find a place to stay. For many, hotels were the only choice. “Some students got written agreements, some oral,” said Students’ Legal Adviser Gaines West, “from ‘we’ll pay’ to ‘You go find a place to live and we’ll reimburse the amount.” He said interpretation of the agree ments by apartment managers sometimes differed from that by the student. But, West said, most complaining students say legal action would be too much trouble because of school work. Village Green is the only complex that has yet to accommodate all of its tenants. Of these tenants, most have moved into temporary housing at Village Green and about 10 are still living in hotels or motels, a spokesman for the complex said last week. Some students interviewed have hotel bills of $500-600. West said about 24 students have sought his help in negotiating their rent-lodging credit agreement. He said some students say they have spent their entire semester’s budget on lodging and are now short of money, al though they will receive compensation la ter. “(Problems) could have been avoided just by the student being educated enough as to his rights,” West said. “But the student has the responsibility to read and understand (lease agree ments). We want them to know that we re here and we can help.” West has scheduled a Landlord-Tenant law seminar for Monday, Oct. 23. The time and place has not been set. Of the students who have moved into new apartments, many are unhappy be cause their apartments are not completely finished. One Timber Ridge tenant said he just got his doorknobs installed last Thursday. Scott Jamail, an owner of Timber Ridge apartments, said the complex is doing ev erything it can to finish the apartments quickly. For now, students wait. Those living in hotels must give up their rooms on home football game weekends because of reser vations. They can either move back during the week or move in with a friend. Apartment complex workers hurry, but one woman waiting to move into Village Green since August said, “I’m not holding my breath.” Somoza, 53, whose family once was one of the staunchest U.S. allies in Latin America, admitted that U.S. human rights charges against his regime had plunged re lations with Washington to an “uncomfort able” level. “I believe there are some people in the Carter administration who believe the Somozas have been in power too long,” he said in reference to a recent U.S. cutoff of official credits and arms sales to Nicaragua because of human rights charges. “They took a series of actions to under mine my administration and caused people in Nicaragua to think they could overthrow my duly elected government,” Somoza said. Somoza also charged that Washington urged him to stage a coup against Nicaragua’s three-man ruling junta in 1972 to break the bureaucratic logjam that was slowing relief for victims of the Managua earthquake. He said U.S. Embassy first political offi cer James Cheek “proposed to me that I stage a coup de etat and oust the junta, andf I said ‘No’,” Somoza said. At the time. Cheek was National Guard commander. Cheek, who went to Managua last week to advise a U.S.-dominated mediating commission trying to negotiate a political settlement between Somoza and his oppo nents, told the same story with a different twist. Cheek said that at the time the junta was falling apart because of internal bick ering and he went to talk to Somoza, the real power behind the government, to dis cuss ways of resolving the crisis. “We talked for about three hours. Cheek said. “I listed all the options open to him such as taking over effective control of the government, replacing one member of the junta or staging an out-and-out coup.” Asked about the future of Nicaragua, Somoza said, “If we have a democratic so lution to this crisis, we will have free elec tions. “But if we don ’t have a democratic solu tion,” he said, “we will have a military dic tatorship.” Kennedy says ERA will be ratified in 3 years ^ess International d a jubil-, ^ — Edward Kennedy fganizatinr, 11 f cc ^ lvention of the National e Equal R i ^ / ° inen weekend that itution « -n 1 1 S Amendment to the Con- t ars W 'U be ratified within three ,Unt rv can g ° k e ratified because this )a d while n0t p , reach human rights ab- ill denier! ° Ver i^ a j^ our population is It j s ar, 6 ^ 113 ’ Kennedy said. Ieri cans e mg to , be ratified because talents 30 i* 10 on 8 er afford to waste ° me n whn f nC i ^ ner £ ies millions of Ppartunin/ru *' standing at the door of V that is still marked men only.” Kennedy, D-Mass., spoke to the group one day after the Senate voted 60-36 to extend the ratification deadline for the ERA for 39 months. The NOW, a prime mover in the fight to ratify the amendment that would ban discrimination on the basis of sex, has until June 30, 1982, to convince three more state legislatures to approve the amendment. “Three years from today, when you meet again, let it be said the United States Constitution was written not only by founding fathers, but by founding mothers as well,” Kennedy said. The Massachusetts Democrat said the organization and other women activists groups cannot afford to wipe out discrimi nation on the basis of sex with the mere ratification of the ERA. He called for improved health and maternity leave benefits for women, ex panded child care facilities, and better treatment and understanding for women victimized by rape. Kennedy, who becomes chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee next year, said Congress will soon establish 152 new federal judge posts. Kennedy said he was committed to seeing a significant number of qualified women and minorities are ap pointed to the new positions. Some caneck, some kayak, some canoe Outdoor Recreation’s shortcourse on canoeing and kayaking was attended by a few students who found out they had a lot more to learn about the sport. John Schwartz and Kari Smith, both graduate students in recreation and parks, taught the practical aspects of getting wet in a canoe Friday afternoon on Carter Lake in Bryan-College Station. The stu dents worked with conventional canoes and kayaks. They also tried negotiating an Olympic racing course. Smith specializes in wilderness canoe ing and Schwartz in competitive canoeing and kayaking. Schwartz hopes to go to the 1980 Summer Olympics. He has been racing for five years and was the national champion for three years. He said he canoes about 4,000 miles a summer. Schwartz and a partner also took the world championship on the Ausable River in northern Michigan. They went 240 miles in just over 15 hours and 14 min utes. Schwartz said he wasn’t sure about his chances to go to the next Olympic Games. He said he has a brother who has a better chance to go than he does. “But I hope all the time,” he said, ad ding that school takes a lot of time away from working out. “Even if I never get to go,” he said, “it’s fun training people that might.” Charlie Walter, a junior wildlife biology major, paddles an Olympic racing canoe on Carter Lake in Bryan-College Station.