Battalion
2 No. 80
Pages
Tuesday, January 23, 1979
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Firemen, police visit council
Members of Bryan’s police
and fire forces got what they
asked for when they visited the
City Council Monday night —
placement of a civil service act
on the April 7 ballot. Wayne
Gibson is one of three council-
men whose term expires this
year. See page 5.
strial declared
avis on bond
botheredi
but
ii‘ was satiq
mbert. '%
fits now -if
I) ring.” Bl United Press International
back MdfPUSTON — A district judge Monday
s began I Bd a mistrial in the murder-for-hire
Idly late il 7. Cullen Davis and within
c got p, ites the Fort Worth millionaire posted
■0 bond in cash and walked away
s t ribbingB le J a if arm-in-arm with his mis-
Ae were*
but a p 1V > S - 45, charge with paying an FBI
g 0 out an jHmt $25,000 to arrange the murder
te judge in his divorce case, Joe
de receiv on ’ smiled and waved as he left the
:>f HenJ t | h()u f • , , , ,
utiful I m S a d to he out. That s the main
Hi m going skiing, pretty soon, but
lid he did: J? ni £ ht >” he said.
il the Strict Judge Wallace Moore ordered
nistrial after jurors, who had heard 11
pset Hi ;s testimony and deliberated 43
0 f : s, insisted they could not resolve the
that we km' 7hey said they had voted 14
ilkln t nialH n ^ *hat the vote was eight to four
,1 . /Hne. They would not say which way
najonty leaned.
ivis, 45, partner with his brother in a
n-dollar industrial empire headquar-
ii[ Fort Worth, was acquitted in 1977
urder of his stepdaughter, Andrea
, during a sensational murder trial
rillo. Davis was also accused of
'ft leifing his estranged wife’s lover, Stan
p j^ 1 '^ wounding his wile and a family
Rlla Davis, who still lives in the
Horth mansion Davis built for her,
lor
said she put flowers on the graves of her
daughter and lover earlier Monday.
“Today was Andrea and Stan’s birth
day,” said Mrs. Davis.
In the Amarillo murder trial, Haynes
argued Mrs. Davis named her husband as
the assailant even though she was not sure
who shot her. In the Houston murder-
for-hire trial, Haynes argued Mrs. Davis
and her friends conspired to frame Davis.
“I think (Davis) is a very dangerous
person,” she said. “The only way he’s
changed since we separated is he’s gotten
meaner. I made the statement after the
vedict in Amarillo that he would try again
and I was right.
“It’s incredible. I think this time there is
more than enough evidence. There is a
problem with Haynes dragging things out
and I knew that. Haynes has two long
suits: he drags things out and tries to
divert people’s attention to smut that has
nothing to do with it.”
Jury foreman Mary Carter, 47, a
medical secretary, said the jurors were fair
and worked hard and conscientiously.
Jurors contacted by UPI said they felt
evidence against Davis — particularly
audio and video tapes of meetings with the
FBI informant — was strong, but some
said other testimony undermined the
tapes.
(Please see Jury, page 7.)
Norman Moser, left, and Royce Wisenbaker chat just before being Regents,
sworn in as members of the Texas A&M University System Board of in.
Clyde Wells, reappointed for his fourth six-year term, listens
Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Regents hear San Antonio plans
iks
IARGE
iund for profs -
17 million goal
I
A&M University officials have
ced plans for a $17 million fund-
igl campaign to endow academic
Fand professorships.
Hnitial goal is at least one endowed
R| 2 f n eac b °f the university’s 10
smic or professional colleges and at
He endowed professorship in each of
Q-.aaemic departments, said Dr. Jarvis
93-y/tiler, Texas A&M president.
"msi; endowments are the top priority
■■■^development program,” Miller said,
■ve, we feel, put together one of the
\ fendowed scholarship programs in
Bion and it has been instrumental in
pg top academic students to the
rsity.
Ijiiow must concentrate on retaining
attracting outstanding scholars who
l3ltf$ ha,lenge and stimulate our brightest
■ mts. Chairs and professorships
the resources and prestige to
FRY tior retain outstanding faculty,” he
Hs A&M currently has one chair and
i professorships, Miller said.
|rt L. Walker, vice president for
^opment, said a minimum of $500,000
bijdow a chair amd a minimum of
000 will endow a professorship,
pr reported several commitments
jtding for chairs and professorships
(established through trusts, wills,
nth retained life income and
ions to current gifts.
ts
ts
This is an exciting long-term program,
one with potential far beyond our initial
$17 million goal, and we expect it will
especially interest individuals considering
estate planning,” Walker said. It very
effectively supports Texas A&M’s
academic excellence goals.”
Walker expects contributions from
alumni, friends of the university, busi
nesses, corporations and private foun
dations. The chairs and professorships can
be named to honor individuals, companies
or foundations, he said.
The Robert A. Welch Foundation of
Houston endowed a chair in chemistry 15
years ago.
The university has recently received
funding for the following endowed profes
sorships: the Dresser Industries Professor
ship in Business Administration and
Engineering, from the Dresser Industries
Foundation, Dallas and the E.D. Brockett
Professorship in Business, Engineering
and Geosciences, from the Gulf Oil Foun
dation honoring the corporation’s former
chairman and chief executive oflicer.
Also, the Roy B. Davis Cooperative
Agriculture Professorship, from friends
honoring the Lubbock agricultural leader;
the T. A. Dietz Memorial Professorship in
Mechanical Engineering, from the Gulf
Oil Corp.; and the Joseph H. Shelton
Professorship in Medicine, from his son,
Robert Shelton of Houston.
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Staff
Committees of the Texas A&M System
Board of Regents approved two extension
projects Monday -4- one in San Antonio,
U.S.A., and one in Kataka, Liberia.
The board’s committee for service units
voted to accept 260 acres in land gifts in
San Antonio on which to build a vocational
training school.
The committee for academic campuses
approved an agreement for Prairie View
A&M University to assist the Republic of
Liberia in upgrading a technical high
school in the African country. Prairie View
A&M helped in development of the
school, the Booker Washington Institutue,
from 1955 to 1961.
The full board was scheduled this
morning to approve or disapprove this and
other committee action from Monday.
They also were to announce the newly-
elected chairman of the board and
committee assignments.
Although Clyde Wells, who has been
chairman of the board 10 years, was
reappointed by Gov. Briscoe, the regents
had the option to elect a new chairman
during the executive session Monday
afternoon.
The two new regents and Wells were
sworn in Monday. State Sen. Bill Moore,
D-Bryan, gave the bath to Wells, Norman
Moser of DeKalb and Royce Wisenbaker
of Tyler.
Moore is dean of the Texas Senate and
as chairman of the Senate State Affairs
Committee is one of the most influential
members of the Legislature. He is also an
Aggie.
For the first time the ceremony was on
campus. Usually it’s in the governor s
office in Austin.
Moore said little during the ceremony
except that the men were on Briscoe’s final
list of six potential regents.
Several other state representatives and
senators from the regents’ home districts
also attended.
Following their usual pattern, the
regents were scheduled today to vote on
recommendations made by the board’s
committees. Generally the full board
follows the suggestion of a committee.
Any disagreement over proposals usu
ally occurs at the committee meetings on
Mondays, when regents who are not
members of the called committee often
attend the session.
Yesterday afternoon the most heated
discussion concerned expansion of the
South Central Texas Regional Training
Center in San Antonio. The Texas
Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), a
part of the Texas A&M System, has
administered the training center since last
January. During the summer the regents
were offered land by groups in San
Antonio for construction of a new regional
training facility. They did not accept the
land then, and the board was split over
whether Texas A&M should continue in
that direction — teaching vocational skills
or other subjects that junior colleges
usually offer.
At the meeting Monday, Regent Alfred
Davies of Dallas objected to the San
Antonio Center because, he said, the local
junior college should be teaching those
couxses.
“Why should we go in and be big papa,”
he said, when a junior college exists and
when rural areas still need the extension
service. He said the center would dupli
cate courses already offered in the area.
Chancellor Jack K. Williams and Texas
A&M President Jarvis Miller defended the
center, saying that San Antonio Junior
College had dropped the center and asked
the system to administer it.
“The junior colleges refused to offer the
skills program,” Williams said. “They had
first chance at it.”
James Bradley, director of the Texas
Engineering Extension Service, said that
it was his practice to stop teaching courses
when local colleges offer them.
The order approved by the committee
states that the Coordinating Board and
institutions in San Antonio have been
assured that the programs “will not
duplicate existing programs and will not
depart from the published xole of the
Texas Engineering Extension Service.”
The 260 acres of land offered comes
from three sources: the Southeast De
velopment Foundation, 30 acres; H.B.
Zachry, 30 acres or $100,000; and the
Bexar County Commissioners, 200 acres.
The Zachry land is several miles from the
other two parcels, which are at the
intersection of IH 37 and Loop 410 in
south San Antonio.
After the vote, Davies, who chairs the
committee, continued his objection.
Another regent, John Blocker of Hous
ton, was also concerned that the system
was taking on additional, unnecessary
duties.
“We need to decide where we re taking
this school,” he said. President Miller
suggested that the regents visit the San
Antonio facility and set aside some time in
a future meeting to consider the role of the
TEEX. They agreed.
Repoxtedly, the regents also discussed
tenure and promotion of faculty in
executive committee and “had no ques
tions” about any the 90 professors up for
tenure or 88 promotions. Other business
during the Monday meetings including
building contracts, a new option in
“engineering geology” at Texas A&M and
the system investment policy.
Texas ex-felon voter system upheld
United Press Internationa]
WASHINGTON — The Supreme
Court Monday let stand Texas’ system of
granting ex-felons convicted in state courts
the right to vote but denying that privilege
to persons convicted of felonies in federal
courts or those of other states.
The justices turned down appeals by a
Texas couple convicted on federal felony
counts of lower-court rulings that uphold
their disenfranchisement — denial of their
right to vote.
The couple, Claude and Eva Shephexd,
were convicted in federal district court.
Claude Shepherd, 56, was found guilty of
smuggling liquor and received an 18-
month suspended sentence and five years
probation. Eva Shepherd, 65, was con
victed of misappiopriating postal funds
and placed on five years probation.
Each was discharged early from proba
tion for good behavior, but in 1975 their
voter certificates were canceled.
The Shepherds filed a class action suit,
seeking to regain their right to vote,
against the Hidalgo County voting regis
trar, the county chief deputy of voter
registration and the Texas secretary of
state, the state’s chief election officer.
The Texas Constitution denies the right
to vote to all convicted felons but permits
some exceptions, which, under the Texas
election code, include “those restored to
full citizenship and right of suffrage or
pardoned.” Under the state criminal
procedure law, former felons convicted in
state court who have successfully com
pleted probation may have their citizen
ship — including voting rights — re
stored.
The Shepherds claimed this law, which
provides no mechanism for successful
felony probationers from fedexal or other
state systems to regain the vote, denies
ttiem equal treatment under the law
because they were “permanently and
unconditionally” denied the right to vote.
The federal district court dismissed
their suit and the 5th U. S. Circuit Court of
Appeals affirmed, saying the Texas scheme
was “rationally related” to the state’s
interest in limiting the franchise to
responsible voters. A three-judge panel
noted that the court in which a person is
convicted is “in a particularly advantage
ous position to gauge the progress and
rehabilitation of a convicted felon. ”
The couple appealed to the Supreme
Court, saying that Texas system is
arbitrary because it denies or restores the
right to vote on “a wholly arbitrary basis,
having no relation to the gravity of the
crime charged or the circumstances under
which it was committed.”
23
lonsol priorities need attention
By KAREN ROGERS
267 "|| Battalion Stall
&M Consolidated School Dis-
t should begin taking care of top
jority maintenance needs as soon
|possible, said John Hoyle, chair-
of the Maintenance Needs
ssment Tearri, at a school board
Meeting Monday.
Hoyle and his staff visited each
tiool in the district and assessed
items that need immediate
ention. He said he is not suggest-
|lg how the problems be solved but,
essed that “unless these priorities
5 taken seriously, then it’s going
be very difficult to take care of
|ilding custodial needs building-
-building.
“However, the personnel and
■ uipment are not sufficient to do
what the committee feels needs to
be done.”
Trustee Elliott Bray said cost for
some of the items may be prohibi
tive. “It may be a high priority item,
but I don’t know if we can get to
them all in order until we know the
cost.”
President Bruce Robeck
suggested the board “look at the
resources we have so we re working
on preventive maintenance and not
simply putting off problems for the
future. ”
After a unanimous vote, the board
directed Superintendent Fred Hop-
son to draw up any necessary
admininstrative policy decisions to
proceed with the work.
Some members of the board
expressed interest in beginning the
actual work.
Trustee Bill Wasson urged mem
bers “not to get bogged down in a
discussion process” while Trustee
Bill Fitch suggested the board “not
itemize and take bids, but approxi
mate the cost so the board can take
action at the next meeting.”
In other action, the board agreed
to “draft a somewhat reluctant
recruit” to take Bill Springer’s
position on the Board of Equaliza
tion. The position must be filled by
May 1, when the board will begin
property assessments for district
residents.
High school faculty members
discussed the possibility of offering
additional vocational programs to
students. A survey taken last week
indicated that 61 students would
enroll in the new programs.
The survey also indicated that
about 26 percent of the students
Bruce Robeck
plan to enter the work force upon
graduation.
“This would seem to indicate the
need for additional vocational pro
grams,” said Dr. H. R. Burnett,
assistant superintendent of instruc
tion.
Robeck suggested that the stu
dents should have some way of
knowing exactly what the program
involves before they enroll. No
action was taken.
Overcrowded school buses and
too few drivers have been a problem
in the district for several months.
The overcrowding has been
eliminated in all but the Dowling
and College View I routes, where
there have been up to 75 and 91
students counted on each route.
Parking, grass — Volatile’ issues
to be heard by student senate
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Staff
Two perpetually volatile issues — the
Memorial Student Center grass and
on-campus parking — will be considered
at Wednesday’s Texas A&M University
student senate meeting.
Whatever decisions are reached on the
two proposals, the outcomes are certain to
disturb a significant number of students.
One bill asks the University officially to
recognize the grass surrounding the MSC
as a “living memorial” to Aggies who have
given their lives in defense of the United
States.
The bill recommends that shrubbery be
planted around the entire perimeter of
University Center grounds, although only
the grass surrounding the MSC would be
memorialized.
J.C. Colton, vice president for academic
affairs and co-author of the bill, says that
officially recognizing the MSC grass as a
memorial is the bill’s basic intent.
Long-standing tradition is the main rea
son, he said.
“We’ve been able to talk with people
from as far back as 1955 who remembered
the grass as a traditional memorial,” said
Wayne Morrison, vice president for
finance, and the bill’s other author.
Tradition holds that the grass is a
memorial.
However, many students don’t share
this point of view. As a result, several
conflicts have occurred in recent years
between those who view the grass as a
memorial and those who don’t.
Colton said opposition to the proposal is
from two major groups — those who don’t
think of the grass as a memorial, and those
who don’t recognize Texas A&M’s tra
ditions at all.
“There are lots of people coming into
this University with different ideas. Can
we traditionalists coexist in a time of
progress vs. tradition?” he asked. “I don’t
know.”
Preserving the aesthetic value of the
grounds is another of Colton’s motivations
in presenting the bill.
“We’ve always had comments made to
us about how beautiful our grounds are
compared to other universities,” he said.
Grounds get torn up through student use,
he added, especially with the heavy clay
type of soil prevalent on campus.
The parking bill, submitted by Brian
Gross and Steve Hageman, suggests
several changes in he on-campus parking
regulations for male dormitory students.
Under the bill, all freshmen and
sophomore males would be classified as
“underclassmen,” while juniors and
seniors would receive “upperclassmen”
designations.
Underclassmen would be required to
park across the railroad tracks on the West
Campus.
Currently, sophomores are included
with juniors and seniors in the upperclass
category, and only freshmen are required
to park across the tracks.
There would be no proposed change in
the current system of female dormitory
student parking.
If passed by the senate, the bill would
be forwarded for approval to either the
University Traffic Panel or Dr. John
Koldus, vice president for student serv-
MSC council president:
a memorial to he used
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Staff
“Respectful use” of the Memorial
Student Center grass was a term used
frequently by Ray Daniels, president of
the MSC Council and Directorate, in
describing his opposition to the student
senate grass resolution.
“In my mind, it’s a memorial, but that
doesn’t mean you can’t use it in a normal
manner,” Daniels said, speaking of the
grass.
A resolution to be voted on Wednesday
by the student senate would recognize the
grass around the MSC as a memorial to
Aggies who died in the armed forces. The
bill would also ask for shrubbery to be
planted around the University Center
grounds to discourage their use.
Such activities as sitting, studying, and
playing frisbee “fall well within reasonable
and respectful use,” Daniels said.
“We shouldn’t be so uptight about its
use that people can’t use it in a reasonable
fashion,” he added.
Wednesday’s senate vote is crucial,
Daniels said, because defeat of the
measure could draw attention to the fact
that the grass has no official designation as
a memorial.
However, he said, “I doubt that people
will take it as an encouragement to use it,
because there are enough good Ags’
around to still discourage its use.”
Daniels was unhappy with the student
senate for taking action on something he
says is under the MSC Council’s jurisdic
tion.
Legally, the council cannot declare the
grass a memorial, Daniels said. That is the
responsibility of the Board of Regents.
However, in the past, the grass policy
has been set by the MSC council. The
council’s curreny policy says that the grass
is a “living memorial, ” but that its use will
not be discouraged.