■■HBUBIUIUHI
mmmmsimmm
TO
Battalion
ol. 72 No. 59
2 Pages
Wednesday, November 22, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
t Business Dept. 845-2611
Plethora of poultry
Turkeys aren’t the national
bird, despite Ben Franklin’s
wishes. But they have survived
better than the symbol that was
picked, and those who wish to
gobble a wild turkey on
Thanksgiving will find the pick
ings plentiful this year, state
game commissions say. See page
7.
llSten to H
!' lous| y Mi
l|lm Phillips
ljust gettk (
out the clod
!l ent def eii
a de, b
? "ugnifo
tr,,ll ed tlicjj
touchdown
>1 63,
’’ marched
I drives ofSi
s,
great offeie
II and they
lc h other,"
Kinersaid
said Shi
V said about
the loss, fti
"'w Engiani
ia mpionship
astern _
■•e 9-3 and
1 four
t. remained
I AFC Ce,
di but rent
ion to vie
I berth. Hoi
C teams wit
r fivewii
Will
since Ri
ig several (
J won hvop
Richland
i remains h
number
vas —Ten least one Aggie hunter was successful during Texas’ deer season
dent plays ening weekend. This fresh set of whitetail deer antlers was hanging
he is not« t s jd e a second story window of Aston Hall. Texas has the largest herd
led well whitetail deer, an estimated 3.3 million. The season opened Saturday,
inous time
rent junto
Consol school head fired;
board still pays $54,400
Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
It s fall, all right
By DOUG GRAHAM
Battalion Staff
Fred Hopson, superintendent of the
A&M Consolidated Independent School
District, will be looking for a new job June
30, 1979.
But he will be $54,400 richer when he
does.
The A&M Consolidated school board
terminated his old contract and wrote a
new one Monday night in closed executive
session.
It agreed to pay Hopson $34,400 for sal
ary and $20,000 damages for terminating
his contract two years early. The school
district will also provide $2,500 in reloca
tion expenses should Hopson move.
Last year the board voted to extend
Hopson’s contract one additional year, to
June 30, 1981.
Hopson’s firing was announced by
School Board President Bruce Robeck at a
specially called press conference Tuesday
morning. Robeck said that due to dis
agreements “concerning educational pol
icy and policy implementation,’’ the dis
trict decided to terminate Hopson’s con
tract.
Hopson, who was present at the press
conference, gave no moor his firing, saying
only that he would work to make the ad
ministrative change a smooth one.
No one would say why Hopson’s con
tract was terminated.
Elliot Bray, board vice president, said
that in the best interest of the school dis
trict the board would not discuss the mat
ter.
Robeck said the board wanted to avoid
possible slander from discussing personnel
matters in public.
Other officials of the school district were
also reluctant to talk, although some won
dered why Hopson had been fired.
Many expressed surprise at the an
nouncement. “We cannot, individually or
as a board, criticize the administration,’’
Robeck said.
He said the board’s legal counsel, Jack
Woods, advised the board to remain silent
on why the contract was ended. “The
board does not have the privilege, or im
munity, to discuss personnel matters like
the state legislature or Congress does,”
Robeck said.
Robeck said the board decided that a
good working relationship was of such
immediate importance that the costly ter
mination of Hopson’s contract was jus
tified.
“It is critical that a board and the
superintendent be able to work together
in complete harmony,” he said. “And it is
better for both to find alternatives where
there is not complete harmony.”
Robeck said he wished the board could
further explain the termination of Hop-
son’s contract to the public since the tax
payers will be paying that action’s $54,400
cost.
“It is a Catch 22 situation and we re
caught right in the middle of it,” he said.
“We have to make our decisions and let
them stand on the basis of their own
merits and demerits, and that puts us in a
squeeze, obviously.
“Ultimately, we may have to take what
criticisms may come from not dragging the
laundry out,” he said.
Robeck said the board will not offer an
explanation for Hopson’s firing at a later
date, although many school officials Tues
day anticipated such a meeting.
“My preference would be free discus
sion as a matter of public policy to debate
these questions,” Robeck said. “I think it
is a serious public policy problem that
public officials are so burdened by these
(legal) restraints.”
Robeck said that five years is about av
erage tenure for school superintendents,
adding that Ron’s dismissal after four and
one-half years is not unusual.
Hopson has been with the school dis
trict since 1960, and has served as superin
tendent since 1974.
Feds OK Brazos County
reapportionment plan
great dept!
’ Santinia
■★★★★♦♦I
DOING
DRY?
do it tor yoi
rannies
Iromat
tate illegal
lay involve
food stamp use
Brazos County
09 Placi
EastMtH
By JAIME AITKEN
Battalion City Editor
vestigators with the Texas Depart-
of Human Resources have com-
the first phase of a state-wide
down on illegal food stamp traffick-
and one case is expected to be filed in
County.
{HR officials said Tuesday that 16 com
ets are being filed with prosecutors in
central Texas counties,
ecase involving a Brazos County res-
t has yet to he filed with Brazos
nty District Attorney Travis Bryan III,
|ispokesman with the local DHR office
Tuesday the complaint should be filed
by the end of the week.
Twelve of the complaints are classified
as felonies, which could bring as much as
10 years in prison upon conviction.
The name of the Brazos County suspect
has not been released, and it is not known
whether the case is one of the 12 felonies.
Seven persons were arrested in Waco
Tuesday in connection with the food stamp
abuse. Five complaints are expected to be
filed in Travis County, two in Bell County,
and one in Williamson County, in addition
to the Brazos County case.
Bryan Chenault, DHR supervisor of in-
vstigations,. said those being sought have
illegally purchased food stamps from qual
ified recipients for less than face value and
cashed the stamps at full value at local
banks and grocery stores.
Qualified food stamp recipients use the
stamps for grocery purchases. Grocers re
ceive government reimbursement for the
stamps.
Chenault said the illegal purchases were
made by a barber, a liquor store owner, a
college instructor, and various merchants,
including grocers. It is against the law to
buy or sell food stamps.
A DHR spokesman in Waco said Tues
day that the college instructor is from
Waco.
By SCOTT PENDLETON
Battalion Staff
The U.S. Department of Justice has
withdrawn its letter objecting to last
spring’s reapportionment of Brazos
County.
That objection was the cause of action
for a suit that challenged the reapportion
ment plan and prevented three of the
Nov. 7 county elections from being cer
tified.
The current Brazos County commis
sioners and certain other county officials
are the defendants in the suit. The com
missioners redrew the county precinct
lines to balance the population among the
four precincts.
Steve Garza, Steve Gongora and Jesse
Flores filed the suit in August, when they
learned that the Justice Department had
objected to the reapportionment plan as
possibly diluting the minority vote in
violation of the Voting Rights Act. The
three plaintiffs are Mexican-American res
idents of Brazos County.
Their lawyer, Joaquin Avila, Tuesday
said that the plaintiffs would have to dis
miss the objection as their cause of action.
Avila, who works for the Mexican-
American Legal Defense and Educational
Fund (MALDEF), said that the plaintiffs
may drop the suit if there is an alternative.
“Our ultimate objective is a new reap
portionment (of Brazos County),” he said.
Avila said he will contact the defen
dants’ lawyer next week to investigate the
possibility of a settlement out of court.
If the plaintiffs want to continue the
suit, Avila said, they can do so by amend
ing their current letter of complaint. That
way they wouldn’t have to refile the suit.
Now that the Justice Department has
withdrawn its objection, the suit would no
longer be an administrative proceeding
based on the Voting Rights Act, Avila said;
Instead, it would be a “constitutional at
tack” on the reapportionment plan in fed
eral court.
The federal court in Houston, where the
suit was filed, had served only to enforce
the Justice Department’s letter of objec
tion, Avila said. But if the plaintiffs con
tinue without that objection, he said, the
judge will decide the suit’s outcome.
The suit would still argue that the
minority vote was diluted, Avila said.
Avila told his clients Monday that he re
ceived a form letter from the Justice De
partment. The letter said that the objec
tion was withdrawn “based on new infor
mation,” Avila said. The letter did not give
more specific reasons.
Although Avila was not expecting the
objection to be withdrawn, he said that is
not unusual for the Justice Department.
And, he said, the department does not
usually state its reasons in detail.
No sellout for TCU;
tickets still available
The Aggie football team, accustomed to
playing in front of a sold-out Kyle Field,
may see many empty seats Saturday.
Eulata Miller, athletic ticket manager,
said only 13,000 tickets for the game with
Texas Christian University had been
drawn by Tuesday.
She said 11,000 to 12,000 tickets are
usually drawn on senior day alone.
Because of the Thanksgiving holiday,
seniors were to pick up their tickets last
Thursday, juniors on Friday, sophomores
on Monday, and freshmen on Tuesday.
Miller said many students did not know
about the date change on the ticket draw.
She said the freshmen that picked up
their tickets today were definitely getting
better seats than they usually would.
Seventeen hundred tickets were picked
up Tuesday, Miller said.
Miller said she could not estimate how
large the crowd would be at the game. “It
is a totally new experience. We have never
played TCU on a Thanksgiving weekend
before, so we have no way to estimate the
number. ”
Today is the last day to pick up tickets
for Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. game.
5 ion says members
bclricked into suicide
ost
m
^ominga 8 ;
^fdniega
United Press International
'GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Steven
es, 19, said Tuesday he believed his
ir the Rev. Jim Jones had tricked the
ical members of his Peoples Temple
into mass suicide by telling them it
only a “drill’ when he offered them a
lire of grape-flavored Kool-Aid laced
cyanide.
yanese police and army troops said
had found the bodies of 409 men,
en and children sprawled through the
town jungle commune where they
died alongside each other in a scene
jht out of hell.
Even their pet cats and dogs were dead,
lice said they had found 36 survivors
he surrounding jungle and in
getown as well as Jonestown and that
were still searching for some 600
hers who disappeared into the bush.
not known whether they were dead
Kve.
[ease see related story, page 6.
eve said his father, a onetime city
Jing official in San Francisco, had not
'well lately and had been taking drugs
had turned him into a paranoic. He
[he did not know what kind of drugs
ather was taking.
[hated him,” Steven told newsmen in
fgetown. “He became a Fascist. He
oyed everything that we lived and
fed for. He has discredited socialism. ”
leve Jones said his father’s followers
Imost likely been tricked into suicide
png it was a “drill. ” He confirmed re-
of “white night” suicide drills in
i simulated poison was drunk by the
[members as proof of loyalty and brav-
U.S. team aided by Guyanese au
nties and some survivors were trying
[day to identify the victims. They said
[f the victims were Americans from
Jornia with the exception of seven
lanese adopted children. Most of them
] poison in the suicide rite. A few were
dead by fanatics at the Jonestown
commune, 150 miles northwest of
Georgetown.
The cult leader was found shot in the
right temple but it was not clear whether
his death was murder or suicide.
Police reported a woman in Georgetown
in radio contact with the commune 150
miles away slit her three children’s throats
and then her own to fulfill her part of the
mass suicide pact.
The mass suicide took place Saturday
night, after Temple members massacred
Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., and four other
American visitors on a fact-finding tour to
the commune in Jonestown.
The body of the 46-year-old Jones —
namesake of the town and leader of the
Temple — was found face up among his
lifeless followers. His mistress was found
dead in bed with another woman, inves
tigators said.
Officials said the bodies of the cultists
were scattered around an altar along with
hundreds of dogs, which were poisoned
first.
“We keep finding bodies in isolated
places,” assistant Police Commissioner
C.A. Roberts said.
Police searching the commune found
800 U.S. passports, 30 to 40 automatic
weapons, hundreds of thousands of rounds
of ammunition, $500,000 in gold bullion,
another $500,000 in mixed currencies and
envelopes stuffed with uncashed U.S. So
cial Security checks, Roberts said.
In Washington, the Pentagon said
Tuesday three C-141 jet transports and
two UH-1 Huey helicopters would fly to
Guyana to transport bodies back to the
United States.
The bodies of Ryan, a legislative aide
and three newsmen who accompanied him
were flown to the United States Tuesday.
Steve, a son of the cult leader, arrived in
Georgetown from the United States
Monday.
“We were taught to be loving and non
violent,” he said. “But for some time I
have suspected an element of insanity in
the leadership.”
Children discover therapy of horses
By LIZ BAILEY
Battalion Reporter
Horses are strong medicine.
That’s what some handicapped
children and members of the Texas
A&M Horseman’s Association have
discovered.
The first three Saturdays of this
month, Horsemen’s Association
members taught 23 mentally and
physically handicapped students
basic horsemanship skills as part of
the TAMU Horsemen’s Association
Special Students Riding Clinic.
The students, from ages 7 to 16,
were from the Bryan-College Sta
tion area.
Doug Householder, staff adviser
to the Horsemen’s Association and
also horse specialist with the Texas
Agricultural Extension Service, said
he got the idea for a riding school
here after taking part in a similar
school sponsored by the Equestrian
4-H Club in Brazos County.
Karl Little, student coordinator of
the program and a member of the
Horsemen’s Association, said the
school’s purpose was also to help the
students improve their balance,
coordination and develop confi
dence and muscle strength. “I guess
horsemanship was just our way to do
it,” he said.
The students came to a one and
one-half hour session at the Texas
A&M University Horse Center each
Saturday morning during the first
three weeks of November.
They were divided by age into
two groups. Those from 7 to 12
years old rode from 8:30 a.m. until
10 a.m.; 13 to 16-year-olds rode
from 10:30 a.m. until noon.
Each riding student was assigned
a group of three instructors, all from
the Horsemen’s Association.
Basic grooming techniques, how
to stop, back and turn horses, trot
ting and relay races were all part of
the sessions.
During the races, designed to
make the students think while rid
ing, the students had to walk their
horses over poles on the ground and
walk or trot around several upright
poles.
Throughout the races, students
and instructors alike cheered for
their teams.
At the end of each riding session,
students unsaddled and groomed
the horses. By the end of the third
session, most of the students were
almost able to saddle and bridle
their own horses.
T-shirts were presented the third
day to signify their completion of
the riding school.
Householder said instruction was
individualized.
The goal of the clinic. Little said,
was to teach riding and trotting on a
horse. But some were successfully
loping their horses on the third day.
Many of the instructors. House
holder said, called their students
frequently during the week and
some brought them to the sessions.
One instructor said one of her stu
dents asked if his horse was a boy or
girl horse. When she stooped down
to look, he burst out laughing.
A participant asked her instructor
if horses ears were cleaned with
Q-tips.
Householder said most of the stu
dents’ parents were very enthusias
tic.
Donald Farris, Professor of Ag
ricultural Economics, said his son
took part in the clinic and “he
thoroughly enjoyed it.”
“It was a nice way to spend three
Saturday mornings,” Farris said.
He said he was impressed with
the Horsemen’s Association mem
bers because they had their horses
and were ready to go at 8 o’clock. “I
have some kids that can’t make it to
class by 11 o’clock,” he said.
Householder said the future of
the riding school is not yet certain,
but there may be another one next
spring.
Andrew Clark, 16, participated in the TAMU Horsemen’s Association
Special Students Riding Clinic for three weekends this month. Larry
Nausle, left, and Kathy Wilson of the Horsemen’s Association were two
of Andrew’s three instructors. Battalion photo by Liz Bailey