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Vol. 72 No. 79
10 Pages
Monday, January 22, 1979
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
A&M, UT to play for first place
The Aggie basketball team
came back to beat Texas Tech
68-63 Saturday night and now
shares the conference lead with
the University of Texas. The
showdown between the two is
tonight in Austin’s Super Drum.
See page 8.
avis judge ready
b declare mistrial
United Press International
tOUSTON — A district judge Sunday
l lie was prepared to declare a mistrial
>nd ay in the murder conspiracy case
Ht Fort Worth millionaire T. Cullen
vis if jurors tell him they can’t reach a
diet.
fudge Wallace Moore said a mistrial was
ply if jurors remain split 8-4 and if each
pliiin they doubted further delibera-
pskould dissolve the deadlock.
‘ifthey all say no. I’ll probably wind it
iffldoore said.
Jqjense lawyers have l>een requesting a
1 since Friday when the 8-4 impasse
i disclosed.
loore said he was prepared to release
'i|on $30,000 bond immediately after a
ruling.
have the funds available to post any
bond, whatever it may be,” said defense
attorney Mike Gibson.
Jurors received the case Tuesday night
and said Sunday they still were “diligently”
trying to reach a decision.
“I know that they’re tiying to reach a
decision and I appreciate that,” Moore
said.
Nevertheless, the judge said it would be
fruitless to continue if the vote remained
firm. There was no indication whether the
majority favored conviction or acquittal.
Prosecutor Jack Strickland said the “frus
trating reality” of a mistrial had set in.
“But I m convinced the case shouldvbe
retried and convinced the case can be won.
“I’m not faulting this jury,” Strickland
said. ‘Tin disappointed and discouraged
but I’m not impugning this jury. Obviously
they’re taking their responsibilities se
riously.”
Davis was arrested Aug. 20 after he gave
an FBI informant $25,000. The informant
testified the money was to be passed to a hit
man as a fee for the slaying of Joe H. Eid-
son, Davis’s divorce judge since 1974.
Davis testified he was returning the
money to David McCrory, an employee
and long-time acquaintance of the mil
lionaire. Davis disputed the meaning of
FBI tapes in which he and McCrory dis
cussed having a number of persons slain.
Davis said he was just “playing along”
with McCrory whom he thought was an
extortion suspect.
The jury worked four hours Sunday and
will resume deliberations at 8 a.m.
Monday.
mployees to buy
verly due books, too
By SCOTT HARING
Battalion Reporter
s A&M University students have
laying their books which are ex-
el\ overdue at the library for more
J year, and faculty and staff better
Flout — they’re next,
jimina Perry, head of the Circulation
stun of the Sterling C. Evans Library,
3 first letters will be mailed out to-
I
The first letter, she explained, is a warn
ing. It lists the books that, according to
library records, are more than 15 days
overdue. The recipient of the letter has
three weeks to either return or renew the
books with no penalty.
After the three weeks are up, the person
will receive a bill, Perry said. The bill cov
ers the cost of the books and a $5 process
ing fee per book, she said.
And until the bill is cleared, Perry
ouse bites dust;
an bites mouse
United Press International
|ALLISAW, Okla. — Marijuana
Isc, the sly rodent whose taste for pot
■ ability to evade dope-baited
^straps made him a legend in the dis-
Mttorney’s office, is dead.
Ifficials say the small pothead was
to death this week by inmates in
Sequoyah County Jail,
fe re pretty sure it was him because
had quit stealing the marijuana and ap-
ently had moved on,” said Linda Calla-
i, a secretary in the district attorney’s
P “The jail is right above our office.”
larijuana Mouse earned his name and a
onal reputation last summer by getting
into marijuana being stored in the evi
dence room for future trials. Officials de
cided to move the marijuana, but
Marijuana Mouse found it again and again.
Officials then decided to bait
mousetraps with marijuana, but that didn’t
work either. The mouse went after the
evidence and avoided the mousetraps.
But Marijuana Mouse was not so lucky
this week.
Officials said the rodent wandered into
the county jail, where he was beaten to
death by the inmates.
Callahan said one prisoner, a mental pa
tient, took a bite of the mouse “before they
could get it away from him.”
“It made them all sick in jail,” she said.
added, the person loses all his library
privileges.
The program has been nabbing students
since September 1977, Perry said, adding,
“It has been very effective.”
In the 1977-78 school year the library
received between $15,000 and $20,000 in
fines through the policy. Perry also said
many more students were motivated to re
turn missing books than before.
Perry said some of the books which
were returned when the policy began
dated back to the late 60 s.
Students who ignore their bills are re
ported to the Fiscal Department, where
they are blocked from registering for
classes or receiving transcripts until the
bill is settled.
Perry said they can’t do that to faculty
and staff, but, “We hope they’ll cooperate
as much as they can.”
At the end of the semester, however,
the names of staff and faculty who haven’t
taken care of their bills will be sent to their
department chairmen. Perry said she
hopes that the chairmen will put a little
pressure on their staffs to clear up the
problem. ,
The new system will also help library
efficiency. Perry said, because it will help
the circulation division identify which
books are lost for good. Once that’s done,
the library can take the card out of the card
catalogs and reorder the book.
Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Catching 40 winks
George Arnold, who keeps G. Rollie White Coliseum’s basketball court
swept clean for Aggie basketball games, finds time for a little sleep during
Saturday’s game between the Aggie women’s team and Lamar College.
The Aggie team lost that game 75-63.
Freshmen
surveyed
nationally
United Press International
WASHINGTON —Today s average col
lege freshman is a political moderate who
favors legalized abortion and homosexual
rights, but also believes in ending pre
ferred admission for disadvantaged
classmates, a nationwide survey indicated
Saturday.
The study also suggests the A-student
may not be what he used to be.
The survey of 289,641 new freshmen at
566 colleges and universities was con
ducted by the University of California at
Los Angeles and the American Council on
Education. It was the 13th annual look at
college freshmen.
Survey director Dr. Alexander W. Astin
said “grade inflation” continues to in
crease, providing the class of 1982 with the
highest school grades of any previous
freshman class.
"When these grade increases are con
sidered in light of declining scores on col
lege admissions tests, it seems clear that
the secondary schools’ grading standards
have been steadily declining since the late
1960s,” said Astin.
For example, nearly one in four stu
dents among the 1978 freshmen was a
straight A student compared to only 12.5
percent a decade ago. C-students, on the
other hand, make up just 17.6 percent of
the incoming class, compared to almost a
third in 1969.
Even 63.7 percent of the students, said
Astin, agree that “grading in the high
schools has become too easy.
As for political labels, 57.8 percent —
the highest number in the history of the
survey — describe themselves as
“middle-of-the-road.” The trends show
that while conservative students are hold
ing fast at around 16 percent, the number
of liberals has declined more than 10 per
cent since 1970.
Here is what the freshmen think about
current political issues:
—There was a 1 percent increase — up
to 56.7 percent — in the number of stu
dents advocating legalized abortions.
— Support for outlawing homosexuality
dropped from 48.6 to 46.3 percent.
— Support for legalizing marijuana de
creased.
GOP to pick convention site
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Republican Na
tional Committee meets this week to pick a
site for its 1980 presidential convention,
with Dallas and Detroit viewed as the lead
ing competitors.
RNC sources say New York and New
Orleans also have a chance to get the con-
New A&M regents
invested at meeting
Oath of office ceremonies for the new
members of the Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents were adminis
tered here this morning by State Senator
William T. “Bill Moore.
Royce E. Wisenbaker of Tyler and
Norman N. Moser of DeKalb were named
earlier this month to the nine-member
board and Clyde H. Wells, who has served
as board chairman for the past 10 years,
was re-appointed. The appointments were
confirmed Wednesday by the Senate.
The oath of office was to be adminis
tered at 11:30 a.m. in the board’s meeting
room in the University Center.
The ceremonies coincide with the re
gents’ regularly scheduled meeting
Monday and Tuesday. Committee meet
ings are scheduled Monday, with the for
mal business session scheduled for 8:30
a.m. Tuesday.
Construction items and recom
mendations for faculty promotions and
tenure highlight the agenda facing the re
gents.
In addition to their various meetings,
the regents will dine with the Corps of
Cadets this evening and attend cere
monies commemorating the opening of
the Corps’ refurbished guard room.
vention, with Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul
and Kansas City virtually ruled out.
The RNC’s site selection committee will
make a final review of all the convention
bids Monday evening and then meet
briefly Tuesday morning to select the city
they will recommend to the full committee
an hour later.
The RNC normally accepts the recom
mendation.
As is usually the case, none of the seven
locales in the running can give the Republi
cans everything they want, and the com
mittee has to decide what tradeofis can be
made.
With its huge Cobo Hall, Detroit comes
closest to providing everything the GOP
needs, although some delegates would
have to be housed in Ann Arbor, 38 miles
from downtown.
“I’d say Detroit has a 50-50 shot, and I
really believe that,” said Ron Steffens of the
Detroit Convention Bureau.
Dallas also has adequate facilities, but its
convention hall is not free on the Republi
can’s preferred date of July 14. If the GOP
picks Dallas, it will have to be for its backup
date of Aug. IJ.
Many in the party would like to go to
Dallas to showcase the fact that Texas now
has its first Republican governor in 105
years.
New York City was a late starter in the
race and some Republicans argue the con
vention should not be held on either coast,
or in the northeast, which has generally
voted Democratic in recent elections.
“Our understanding is it’s down to us,
Dallas and Detroit,” said a spokesman for
New York’s Deputy Mayor, Peter Sol
omon. The city is offering free use of Madi
son Square Garden, site of the 1976 Demo
cratic convention.
Many Republicans would love to go to
New Orleans, and the Superdome might
have won hands down if it were not for a
major political problem. Louisiana is one of
15 states being boycotted by women’s
groups because they have not ratified the
Equal Rights Amendment.
The argument will boil down to whether
the Republicans can politically afford to
overlook the ERA problem in order to get a
convention site that is both attractive and
has all the facilities needed.
Miami Beach has all the facilities, but
Florida has the ERA problem and a
psychological disadvantage as well: Repub
licans can’t work up much enthusiasm for
returning to the city where they twice
nominated Richard Nixon for president.
Kansas City was the GOP convention
site last time around. There is a feeling the
party would rather go somewhere else.
And Missouri hasn’t ratified ERA either.
Minneapolis-St. Paul is considered too
small for the convention, and it also cannot
offer the GOP its preferred date.
up and over
After faking a shot to drawoff Texas Tech’s Joe Baxter, Aggie guard
David Britton (30) passes off an assist to Rudy Woods, The Aggies’ 68-63
victory was seen by 7,763 people in G. Rollie White Coliseum, plus an
additional 600 in Rudder Auditorium. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Fan can’t get in,
returns with gun
United Press International
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A football fen
denied admission to a tavern party where
the Super Bowl was being televised re
turned Sunday evening and opened fire
with a submachine gun, killing one man
and wounded two other people, police
said.
Police said the suspect, Raymond L.
Wilson, 35, of Louisville, fled immediately
after the shooting but returned later and
surrendered to police at the scene. He was
charged with one count of murder and two
counts of assault.
Police said Wilson, a self-employed
concrete worker, was denied admission to
a Super Bowl party at Kelley’s Bar earlier
in the afternoon and showed up later,
about 5:30 p.m., with the weapon.
“Numerous” shots from a .45-caliber
submachine gun were fired into the Bar
from outside of the tavern. There were
about 20 to 25 people inside the bar watch
ing the Super Bowl at the time.
Police said the shooting was followed by
“screaming and panic” as the patrons fled
for safety.
‘An invisible car came out of
nowhere, struck my car and vanished’
United Press International
NEW YORK — “The pedestrian
had no idea which direction to go, so
I ran over him.”
That, says the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Co., is among a list of ex
planations the company has re
ceived for automobile accidents.
Others include:
— “The other car collided with
mine without warning me of its in
tention.”
— “I pulled away from the side of
the road, glanced at my mother-in-
law and headed over the embank
ment.”
— “The telephone pole was ap
proaching fast. I attempted to
swerve out of its path when it struck
my front end.”
— “The indirect cause of this ac
cident was a little guy in a small car
with a big mouth.”
But Metropolitan says strangest
reason of all is: “An invisible car
came out of nowhere, struck my car
and vanished.