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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1980)
The Battalion Vol. 73 No. 97 Friday, February 8, 1980 USPS 045 360 12 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611 America faces ^greatest crisis, lements says &> By RICHARD OLIVER Staff Writer be United States faces a greater crisis lay than in late December of 1941 after P Pearl Harbor attack. Gov. Bill Cle- £nts said Thursday. Elements, addressing approximately 400 taons attending the 22nd annual County jpge and Commissioners Conference at sRamada Inn, said the Russian presence the Persian Gulf region is potentially the j&rst threat the United States has ever ed. “Russiacan do more damage to the U.S. 'Rn both Germany and Japan could do in World War II, ” he said in a 40-minute talk. ^^We in the U.S. face a crisis that is more ^^(Serious than this country faced in World ^>War II. gFifty-two percent of our oil comes from ^ U Berseas. It will cost us an $83 billion deficit ^ Bour trade balance this year. This is a root ^^Bise of inflation. It is vulnerable ... it is logistical line of supply. It is our jugular Tin, and it’s threatened by Russia. he Russian invasion of Afghanistan, said lements, has made SALT II a dead issue. "We are in a crisis, don’t let anyone tell iu differently,” he said. “It is imperative we get our house in order. This is a difficult jeriodfor this nation. It shouldn’t be swept under the rug. J 'SALT II, however, is not in the best iterest of the U.S. It’s as dead as a door- jiil, and that’s exactly where it should be. ” J Clements also attacked President Car ters new energy program, calling it a “lack of energy program. ” Kj Clements said the new program calling for a reduction of the nation’s speed limits •from 55 mph to 50 mph is ridiculous, and added he feels the president is not con fronting the real problem, j “I am opposed to this (reduction of speed limit),” he said. “I’m having a bad enough time getting people to slow down fi om 70 to 55 mph.” The governor also attacked a plan to re duce the work-week from five to four days. “The president is also talking of instigat ing a four-day work-week to conserve ener gy,” he said. “The people would all stay home in their cars. I just cannot, cannot believe this. We should be working six days instead of five. He’s (the president) going in the wrong direction.” Clements also said he’s going to ask the next Legislature to pass a law giving the Department of Public Safety the right to wiretap drug dealers to aid prosecutions. “I’m not asking this for the police depart ments or the sheriff’s departments,” he said, “just for the DPS, and only for drug cases. I want you to see the magnitude of this problem. There is a $3 billion-per-year drug business in Texas alone. “If we in Texas are serious about doing something about drug traffic, we need to have wiretaps. Some bleeding hearts are calling this an invasion of privacy; they’re right, it is. It’s an invasion of the privacy of the drug dealer, and I want to see this man locked up. ” Clements said he was approached by fed eral officials last week, and asked to consid er the use of Todd Shipyard in Galveston as a regional dump site for nuclear wastes. He said he disagreed with this idea, caus ing a burst of applause from the audience. “I would fight this in every way possible, and in every means possible. I told them Tin all for nuclear power ... but I would fight the storage of any other state’s nuclear wastes in Texas. “The choice of Todd Shipyard in Galves ton is stupid. It’s as bad a location as any where I can imagine in Texas.” t Texas folk humorist John Henry Faulk endorsed Kent Caperton in his bid for Texas senator. Caperton, a Bryan municipal judge, is running against incumbent Bill Moore and Dr. N.A. McNiel. All three candidates are from Bryan. Staff photo by Lynn Blanco Gov. Bill Clements greets Texas Agriculture Secretary Reagan Brown at being held at the College Station Ramada Inn. Clements spoke on the Easterwood Airport Thursday. Both Clements and Brown were in Col- danger the United States faces due to Soviet aggression in Afghanistan, lege Station to address the County Judge and Commissioners conference staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr CS to computerize traffic lights By DEBBIE NELSON Campus Staff A computer in College Station City Hall will control part of every Aggie’s life — the amount of time spent waiting at traffic lights by next summer. Faulk backs Caperton By LAURA CORTEZ City Staff John Henry Faulk, noted folk humorist, said he is endorsing Kent Caperton for state senator, and will take an active role in the Bryan Democrat’s campaign. “As a citizen of the 5th Senatorial District who has been deeply in terested in the well-being of the peo ple of this district, I proudly endorse Judge Kent Caperton’s candidacy for the Texas Senate, and I will not rest until he has been elected,” Faulk said at a news conference Thursday. The Madisonville resident said the general attitudes of the people in the district are not being properly re flected, but said he feels Caperton will do something about this. “Kent Caperton will bring a fresh outlook to our government, and is dedicated to the people’s interests — and I mean the people,” Faulk said. “This man has qualities that seldom appear on the political horizon. Faulk is the author of a book enti tled, “Fear on Trial,” about blacklist ing during the McCarthy era. He was blacklisted in the 1950s and lost his job at CBS as a result. Faulk now appears weekly on the television show “Hee Haw.” Faulk referred to Caperton, a for mer Texas A&M University student body president, as a “very solid citizen who takes his duties of citizenship seriously.” He said he first learned of Caper ton about three months ago when the Bryan municipal judge was still de ciding whether to resign his post and run for the Senate. A group of Madison County resi dents approached Faulk and asked him, since he is a well-known figure, to call Caperton and ask him to run for office. He said he did, and has supported Caperton ever since. Caperton will run against Sen. Bill Moore and Dr. N.A. McNiel, both of Bryan, in the May 3 election. Moore, a Democrat, has held the Senate seat for 31 years, and has been unchallenged for the past 14 years. McNiel, aretiredTexas A&M pro fessor of genetics, recently resigned as Brazos County Republican Party chairman to run in the Senate race. Work started in November on replacing traffic lights at 16 intersections around the outside of the Texas A&M University cam pus. When fully installed, the $754,000 system will be connected to a computer in City Hall. Timing of the lights can be pre-set for different parts of the day for light or heavy traffic patterns, Peggy Krohn, engineering technician for the Texas Department of Highways and Public Transportation said. The computer can easily be reprogram med for busy traffic days like Aggie home football games, Krohn said. Sampling detectors recording traffic pat terns will eliminate periodical checks by the Highway Department. By DOUG GRAHAM Special to the Battalion Officers in Bryan’s National Guard unit, C Company, first battalion of the 143rd Infantry, are claiming they have been either transferred, forced to resign, or re lieved of command over an investigation into Guard corruption. The corruption involves a platoon de tachment of C company that is stationed in Cameron. During the unit’s two-week training midsummer at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, many of the minority soldiers from Camer on signed sworn statements that the full time armory technician, Sgt. John Lansford used the military 2 1/2 ton truck for hauling garbage from his personal place of busi ness. Some statements said checks were sent to the armory instead of to the troop ers’ homes, and that some were never re ceived by the men in question. Others wrote about men being fined in cash in amounts of up to $50 for missing the weekend drills or not having haircuts. 1st Lt Pat Phillips, who was the Cameron commander until a transfer, said there was no record of any fines other than one $25 fine in the records. The guard has maintained that due to an ongoing investigation of Lansford, the re cords were not subject to the Texas Open Records law. However, sources in the highest com mand levels of the Texas National Guard in Austin have said the investigation has been completed for some time. Other charges have concerned fraudu lent enlistments. One black member of the Cameron detachment, L.V. Miller, was found mentally incompetent by an Air Force military judge to stand trial. Miller said Lansford helped him pass the recruit ing test. “He said I didn’t score high enough, but he’d help me anyway,” Miller said. Examination of medical records reveal a forgery of documents allowing a diabetic to enter the Guard. Texas Adjutant General, Maj. Gen Wil lie Scott said that an investigation is under- Krohn said the decision to install the new system was made “because of the growing traffic volume — trying to physically cope with the problems. There is some question about the traffic light at College Main and University Drive, near the post office. Krohn said Uni versity officials had talked of realigning the section approach (semi-circular drive) in front of the post office to make it a standard square intersection. Daniel T. Whitt, assistant director of Facilities Planning and Construction, said the Board of Regents authorized a study of the intersection at its meeting last week. Whitt said several alternatives will be studied in the “long-range study,” but way and is being conducted by the Guard s Inspector General’s office. The primary in vestigator is Col. O.B. Franks. Franks’ investigation has come under fire by Cpt. Bruce A. Olson, former C com pany commander. Olson claims Franks is racially biased. The personnel removed from C Com pany include 1st Sgt. Richard Crawford, a special forces-trained Vietnam veteran; Cpt. Olson; his executive officer, 1st Lt Leslie Lyons, a Texas A&M University alumnus; 1st Lt. Phillips, and 2nd Lt. Doug Graham, both of whom also attended Texas A&M. Cpt. Fermin Miranda, head technician for the first battalion, said Crawford was fired for inefficiency. Crawford maintains he was fired for, “pressing for an investigation into techni cian inconsistencies, and recruiting and hiring irregularities.” Cpt. Olson said the 36th Brigade com- ander, Col. James Herbert fired him for “supporting my 1st sergeant.” The first battalion commander, Lt. Col. Richard Perot, said that Olson, and Lyons, who had gone to the Governor’s Office seeking an investigation of Col. Franks, were both being transferred from C com pany “as a matter of normal career progres sion.” “I’ve had my eye on them for a long time. No injuries were reported in a ground incident involving a Rio Airways plane at Easterwood Airport Thursday morning. The right landing gear collapsed as the DeHavilland Twin Otter taxied prior to take-off, setting the plane down on the right side of the fuselage, Federal Aviation Administration investigator Travis Boren said. Thirteen passengers were on board Rio Flight 316, headed for Dallas, when the accident occurred at about 11:30 a.m., Rio there is “no high priority” for it. Whitt said he expected results from the study no sooner than next spring. Kronm said the highway department would be happy to reprogram the traffic- light to accommodate this change. Of the 16 intersections under construc tion, two will not be hooked up to the com puter. One of these is in Bryan, at Texas and Rosemary; the other at Agronomy Road. Krohn said the two lights may later be hooked up to the computer, too. Weather has held up construction. The 200-working-day contract should be com pleted this summer. I regarded it as a promotion to ask them to join my staff, he said. However, tape-recorded conversations reveal the reason Olson was fired by Col. Herbert was because Olson had attended a court hearing when Crawford attempted to get an injunction against being fired. Her bert termed Olson’s action “disloyalty.” Lyons’ visit to the Governor’s Office was described by Herbert as “bordering on gross insubordination.* Lt. Phillips was transferred from C Com pany during the November ’79 drill to what he described as a “nothing” job with the combat support company. “It isn’t the transfer that I question so much,” said Phillips, “It’s the timing. ” Lt. Doug Graham was relieved of all duties during the next month for what Perot termed “a conflict of interest. ” He said Graham’s attempt to secure re cords through the Texas Open Records law was “out of place, ” and could not be toler ated. Captain Bruce Olson, who commanded the paratroop unit until November, 1979, said he has been relieved of command for, “supporting my first sergeant in pressing for investigation of technician irregular ities.” He and Crawford are anticipating filing a joint civil action suit against the Guard in Houston civl court. president Mark Connell said. The passen gers were put on other flights later in the day. H.E. Raisor, aviation services manager at Texas A&M University, said the failure was caused by “metal fatigue in the landing gear. ” He explained this as being similar to when a piece of metal is bent in the same place several times, finally resulting in a break. Boren estimated repairs to the 19-seat plane will cost $15,000-18,000. Local Guard members fired after complaints Plane falters on takeoff