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The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 35
10 Pages
Friday, October 19, 1979
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
jjj&xed girls might
ut on Bonfire
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Stall
he Texas A&M University Bonfire and
eD Leader Committee is recommending
J women be allowed to work in the Bon-
cutting area.
the recommendation is being forwarded
Dr. John J. Koldus, vice president for
Bent services. It represents a change in
Tlitional Bonfire policies, which have not
Iwed women to cut down and carry out
he trees needed to build the Bonfire.
Ron Hilton, area coordinator for the
ps of Cadets and a committee member,
he requested the meeting which led to
See related story, page 6
e proposed change after some female
lets who attended a mandatory cutting
lass did not receive cutting cards.
was a misunderstanding due to the
Ithat it (the issue of women) had never
|n brought up before,” Hilton said. The
fire supervisors issuing cutting cards
|e not informed that University officials
not made a decision, Hilton explained,
at decision has now been made, he
Hilton said the legal aspects of a ban on
Male participation, as well as a knowledge
Jwhat sort of work is involved in the cut-
ing area, were considered in making the
■sion.
■exas A&M and the Corps currently face
a sex discrimination suit filed by a female
cadet.
Hilton said he thought only female
cadets had requested to work in the cutting
area; no civilian women appeared at any of
the safety classes. He added that there had
been no pressure from any quarter for the
committee to make a particular decision.
Thomas R. Parsons, committee chair
man and University director of security,
could not be reached for comment.
It was unclear when or if women will be
working in the cutting area. Koldus must
approve the recommendation today if
women are to work Saturday and Sunday,
the first cutting weekend.
If Koldus approves the proposal, Bonfire
work supervisors — redpots —- will have to
allow females to cut, according to redpot
James Law.
Law also said that women will be allowed
to work on pulley crews in the stacking yard
this year.
“That was the policy before the propo
sal,” he said. “We’d already agreed to let
them work on pulley crews.”
As recently as last year, redpots denied
women the opportunity to work in both the
cutting area and the stacking yard.
Georgia Hughes, a member of Squadron
14, was one of the seven women who did
not receive a cutting card. She, too, was
unsure of the women s status for the
weekend.
“If we have cutting cards, hell, yeah,
we ll he out there in force,” she said.
exas files lawsuit
gainst SEDCO
Down on the farm
ft
United Press International
| AUSTIN — Attorney General Mark
Vhite Thursday filed a suit contending
jilSDCO, the oil well drilling firm founded
)| Gov. Bill Clements, and Pemargo, a
Bxican drilling contractor, should pay
I^as more than $10 million for damages
Bn oil that spewed from the blown Ixtoc I
I yell.
(White filed the suit in U.S. District
art in Houston, and said he may later
Pemex, the Mexican national oil com-
jiy, as a defendant unless negotiations
ween Mexico and the U.S. State De-
tment result in voluntary payment of
ages by Mexico.
Elements at first declined comment on
ite’s suit, which he had contended ear-
iei was politically motivated, then told re
fers he has nothing to do with SEDCO.
jT don’t have any comment. I don’t think
Is suit is any good against anybody,” Cle-
Ints told reporters as he left the Capitol
t lunch.
Klements placed his SEDCO holdings in
1st when he ran for governor last year.
His son is the firm’s general manager.
■We feel we have no responsibility, ” said
png Davis, a vice president of SEDCO in
“It was under charter to a Mexican
frilling contractor and we have no respon
sibility. We certainly have plans to defend
Tselves in court.”
The state also is seeking $1,000 a day in
civil penalties from SEDCO and Pemargo
ice the date the Mexican oil first entered
ps waters Aug. 1.
[The attorney general rejected Clements’
contentions that the suit is politically
motivated.
“We are treating this suit the same as any
other, and had it been any other drilling
firm we would have handled it the same,”
White told a news conference.
“I am filing suit against Pemargo and
SEDCO for injuries and damage to the
beds and bottoms of the lagoons, bays and
inlands of this state and to their products,
and to its territorial waters, caused by the
negligence, trespass and other fault of the
defendants.”
White said the state also suffered a loss of
tax revenue due to the impact of the oil spill
upon the state’s tourism and seafood indus
tries, possibly in excess of $10 million.
The attorney general said specifics of
negligence by SEDCO and Pemargo will
be developed during the trial of the suit,
but told reporters, “These events do not
occur in the absence of negligence. ”
SEDCO had filed suit Sept. 11 to limit its
liability in the case to $300,000.
The attorney general has corresponded
with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance about
the suit, and said Vance had advised him
against naming Pemex in the suit at the
present time.
“In the interest of our international rela
tionships with Mexico, at this time I am not
bringing legal action against Pemex. Since
it is not imperative that Pemex be included
in the suit at this time, we are refraining
from doing so until it is certain that all
negotiations by the U.S. Department of
State for damages from Mexico in regard to
the oil spill have been exhausted,” White
said.
Chad Kruger, left, a Brenham first-grader, learns first-hand about pigs
at Texas A&M University’s Swine Center. Chad was one of 2,700 area
youngsters visiting the University for the Saddle & Sirloin Club’s annual
Children’s Barnyard. Gina Burgett, right, seems to enjoy meeting a
Brahman calf. For more on the Children’s Barnyard, which continues
through today, see page 3.
Battalion photos by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Witness saw man in area before slaying
Police seek suspect in CS stabbing
By ROY BRAGG
Battalion Staff
College Station police have found no
motive in the LaShan Muhlinghaus mur
der, hut a witness claims to have seen a man
in the vicinity shortly before the slaying last
Friday, Detective Ronnie Miller said
Thursday afternoon.
Muhlinghaus, a junior from Rowlett, was
stabbed to death in her Travis House
apartment Friday night.
According to police, Muhlinghaus, who
worked at Montgomery Wards in Bryan,
had been complaining about feeling sick all
day Friday. She left work at 7:30 p.m. Fri
day. She arrived home, police said, at ap
proximately 7:45 p.m. Her nude body was
discovered in her roommate’s bedroom by
her roommate around 9:20 p.m.
Police and medical reports say she died
around 8 p.m. She had been stabbed over
twenty times in the abdomen, chest and
pelvic area, said Pathologist Dr. J.C. Lee.
Earlier this week, College Station police
and a Texas Ranger hypnosis specialist from
Waco questioned a witness who claims to
have seen a man in the area a few hours
before the murder.
Police now have a composite sketch of
the man based on the information supplied
by the witness, Miller said.
“This guy (in the drawing) was seen in
the area and he is a suspect,” Miller said.
Police have spoken to several other sus
pects in the case, he added. In addition,
Miller addded, a man is being sought for
questioning based on his resemblance to
the composite sketch.
The man being sought for questioning,
Miller said, was not a friend or acquain
tance of Muhlinghaus or of her roommate.
“Were questioning anyone who
would’ve had a reason to kill her,” Miller
said. \
According to a story in the Eagle earlier
this week, Muhlinghaus told fellow work
ers she was afraid to go home.
Miller said he questioned several Wards
employees and none of them told him she
was afraid to go home.
Miller also would not comment on
whether or not there were signs of forced
entry in the apartment, whether the sus
pect was a Texas A&M student, or the exact
number of stab wounds on the body.
Miller said certain information is being
held from the public because of the nature
of the crime.
“Anytime you have multiple stab
wounds, you’re dealing with an angiy per
son or a nut,” Miller said.
If the killer is a psychotic. Miller said,
any extensive release of facts about the case
could cause him to flee town or commit
another murder.
China: U.S.-Taiwan treaty a problem
United Press International
WASHINGTON — A federal judge’s
ruling that President Carter cannot end the
Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan with
out approval from Congress raises a “seri
ous problem” in U.S.-Chinese relations,
the Peking government said Thursday.
The administration quickly readied an
appeal of U.S. District Judge Oliver
Gasch’s ruling late Wednesday nullifying
Carter’s independent action to terminate
the treaty. Unless overturned, the court
ruling would block Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance from terminating the 1954 pact on
Jan. 1, as scheduled.
Asked about Gasch’s ruling, First Secre
tary Yu Zhizhongofthe People’s Republic’s
Washington embassy said in a brief two-
sentence statement:
“It is a serious problem. We think the
United States government will take neces
sary measures.”
The Peking government had for years
made the opening of full relations with the
United States conditional upon a cutoff of
U.S. ties with Taiwan.
During court hearings in the case — a
lawsuit challenging Carter’s action by Sen.
Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., and 25 other
conservatives — Justice Department
lawyers warned relations with Peking could
be irreparably harmed by a ruling blocking
the Taiwan treaty termination.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Democratic
leader Robert Byrd, holding a copy of the
Gasch decision, said: “I find it awfully hard
to understand how any appeals court could
uphold the ruling.”
There was no indication Byrd would
luring the issue to a confrontation on the
Senate floor until the administration has
exhausted the appeals process.
Senate GOP leader Howard Baker said
he was not “greatly surprised” by the deci
sion .
“I think it’s so important that if the courts
uphold the ruling, it will have to come up
here (to the Senate) this year or next —
election year notwithstanding, ” Baker said.
‘King s English’ band to play
for memorial scholarship fund
Fleeting fall flowers
With autumn here and cold weather not far away,
the flowers in Texas A&M University’s floral test
garden are putting on a final brilliant show before
disappearing for several months. The gardens are
on Houston Street, just south of G. Rollie White
Coliseum. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
By BECKY MATTHEWS
Battalion Reporter
Contrary to popular belief, the English
department at Texas A&M University
doesn’t get all its kicks from butchering
term papers. Eight English teachers take
out their frustrations by playing music.
The King’s English String Band, com
posed entirely of members of the English
department, has arranged a benefit for the
Greg Cowan Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Cowan, a former associate professor of
English at Texas A&M, died in July.
The benefit will be at 6 p. m. Saturday at
Grins Beer Garden.
'Members of the band, formed in April,
include Marynell Young, Gene Young,
Dennis Berthold, Clint Machann, Sylvia
Grider, Doug Street, Malcolm Richardson
and Rose Norman. The band performs
music that varies from old-time mountain
music to traditional Irish jigs.
Berthold said the band likes to perform
because “we get to respond to students as
human beings.” He said it is easier to relate
in an informal atmosphere, like Grins, than
it is to relate in a classroom.
Marynell Young, one of two band mem
bers who has had formal music training,
said the first time they performed together,
the students didn’t believe they were really
English teachers.
“That’s the kind of reaction we probably
want, said Gene Young, Marynell’s hus
band and an English instructor.
The Buzzard will follow the King’s
English at 7 p.m. The Buzzard plays west
ern swing, progressive folk and bluegrass
music. It is composed of three A&M stu
dents who can regularly be seen playing by
the statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross at the
Academic building.
A one-act melodrama will also be per
formed Saturday night following the Buz
zard. The play, an original Aggie produc
tion, was written by Tom Jordan of the
English department.
The $1 admission charge will go toward
the scholarship fund. However, extra dona
tions will Ire accepted at the door.
Boston schools seek peace
United Press International
BOSTON — School officials hoped
promises of tighter security would restore
calm today in Boston’s racially tense high
schools, where already this week four stu
dents have been arrested and one has
been stabbed.
Thursday morning before classes began,
police were sent to East Boston High
School to break up a riot there. At least
two buses were targets of rocks hurled by
students; the window of a police prowl car
was smashed, and two private cars were
damaged by the mob.
Four white students were arrested on
charges of disorderly conduct.