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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1980)
The Battalion our runs on fe Vol. 74 No. 19 ns with at- 28 Pa 9 es in 2 Sections ice fly acw™ < Curtis Serving the Texas A&M University community Thursday, September 25, 1980 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Yesterday Today High 95 High 93 Low 72 Low 66 Humidity . . . . ....... 82% Humidity . . . . 75% Rain . .0.0 inches Chance of rain . . . . . slight and Cditl in the fifth J in the first ii o more. Flu fourth ninofij added the S s Giants, 2-l. LE Irom 20 hem H ilson suspends three football players By RICHARD OLIVER Sports Editor tree Texas A&M University football players lissed from the team after Athletic Department trials conducted a search for drugs in the athletic aitory say they have hired attorneys and plan to lk reinstatement. ae players are defensive backs Elroy Steen and rell Adams, and linebacker Cal Peveto. Sources close to the team hinted that more nissals may be coming, perhaps today. 'Jo charges have been filed against the players. Jder University regulations they have a right to peal any disciplinary action. lie series of events that led to the dismissals jjan when University police towed away Steen’s because of excessive traffic tickets. A search of i car turned up what police and Athletic Depart- fent officials described as a “roach clip” and a pntrolled substance. ” )ther cars and several rooms in Cain Hall, the |letic dormitory, subsequently were searched. Talk about a possible drug problem among foot- players apparently had preceded the searches I dismissals. j We suspected it, yes, ” said one Athletic Depart- fcnt official who asked not to be quoted by name, ye suspected it (at the beginning of the season), it became obvious now.” Be source said the room search was made after bcking with the Department of Student Affairs on legality of the action. I It was our doing,” he said. “As soon as we found ything, we turned it over to the Department of [ident Affairs.” )ther players are “under suspicion” of possessing ugs, the official said. j'We’ve got a problem, obviously,” he said. “We jmd things in several rooms. The coaches could il be watching the game films that something was ong. Three guys tried to tackle a player, and uldn’t do it. I mean, we recruited those and guys know what they can do.” le three dismissed players said Wednesday Elroy Steen they felt team officials designed the searches in an attempt to find an “excuse” for the Aggies’ poor showing this season. “They’ve trumped up the charges,” Peveto said. “They only searched the rooms they wanted to search,” said Steen. “All I want to hear is that I’m back on the team.” One player, not involved in the action, termed the events a ploy by Wilson to “save his skin.” After defeating Mississippi 23-20 in the opening game of the season, the Aggies were demolished 42- 0 by Georgia, and defeated 25-9 by Penn State. One player said the team is behind Wilson’s actions. “I don’t know if they went through everyone’s room,” he said. “I don’t mind them going through my stuff. They’re trying to clean it up; they’re putting their foot down and cutting some people no matter who it is. ” He said he thought the rooms were searched randomly. Darrell Adams “That (drug use) may have contributed to our losses,” he said. “You can’t look back now and say ‘if.’ Now that things are going bad, he (Wilson) can do these things he knows he needs to be doing anyway. Everybody I’ve talked to on the teamis behind him. Of course, those guys who are under suspicion are going to be upset. Team members and coaches had been aware of drug use by team members, the player said. “Definitely I knew,” he said. “I knew, the coaches knew. That’s why they’re doing this. I knew it and they knew it.” Another Athletic Department official reported the department has a list of players who are under watch, and said the department sponsored the searches of the rooms to “clean it up. ” With three players dismissed, the possibility of other dismissals is probable, he said. Associate Athletic Director Wally Groff stressed his feelings that the discipline was necessary. “We’re sorry this type of thing has happened,” he Cal Peveto said. “It’s for the sake of the team, the coaches, the University, the former students and especially the student body. I think they’re (the players) repre senting all of us, and if this kind of stuff is allegedly going on, it’s up to us to stop it. Athletic Department sources said the drug found in Peveto’s room was a “Black Molly,” or an anphetamine pill. Cain Hall dorm supervisor Leroy Sutherland made the room search, the source said. “Yeah, it (the amphetamine) was there,” Peveto said. “I wasn’t going to take it until I was on my way home Friday.” Ron Blatchley, director or student affairs, noted University rules and regulations state that a Univer sity staff member may enter a dorm room when he has “reasonable cause to believe that a violation of University regulations or housing policies is occur ring.” Blatchley added that he acted merely as a consul tant to the team, not as a participant in the search. He said the Athletic Department sent the alleged controlled substances to the student affairs office for inspection immediately upon their discovery. Wilson received a report from student affairs Wednesday at 8 a.m., stating that drugs found in two of the searched rooms were illegal. Adams denies that a substance found in his room was illegal, saying that it was a drug prescribed for his heart by the team doctor. No University or legal action has been taken against the three, Blatchley said. “This is strictly a University thing,” he said. “In effect, they’re notified in writing of an alleged offense. The person then has three school days to set up an appointment for a hearing with our office. Then, it’s a matter of the student telling his side of the story. All the information is out on the table. We don’t do any type of charging at all.” The three dismissed players said they have hired lawyers to represent them, and Peveto said his lawyer said the searches and dismissals could not stand up. Blatchley disagrees. “Attorneys are often not familiar with University regulations,” he said. “Federal courts don’t hold universities under the same rules as everything else.” He added that if outside forces had searched the rooms, they would have needed search warrants. “I just have something against people looking around in other people’s rooms,” Adams said. One coach confirmed the sequence of events surrounding the dismissals, and said the actions are probably “the best thing that has ever happened to this team.” Steen, a 6-2, 197-pound free safety, is a three- year letterman from Gonzales. Peveto, 6-2, 220 pounds, is a senior two-year letterman from Vidor. Adams, a sophomore cornerback from Houston, is a 5-10, 174-pound one-year letterman. Steen is a regular starter for the Aggie defense. Peveto started at linebacker prior to a knee injury in the Georgia game; he was scheduled to start the Texas Tech game Oct. 4. Asked if the three players would be allowed back on the team if they were cleared, one athletic official said, “Hell, no.” .5. workers Student senate OKs budget \issing in trail blast United Press International WASHINGTON — Three American orkers are reported missing and feared ad in an Iranian bombing raid that parently killed 10 foreigners at an oil pnery. Hundreds of other Americans fleeing the growing border war by Jis, buses and cars, U.S. officials say. \bout 700 Americans were in Iraq at s start of the border war Monday, some of them working in the oil refinery nplex at Basra, which was raided by |nian warplanes. Arnold Vogel, a spokesman for the |mmus Construction Co. of Bloomfield, ., identified the three missing Ameri- s as Harvey Johnson of Dickinson, Ixas; Sidney Grant of Tucson, Ariz.; and pke Cline of Johnson City, Tenn. Wogel said the three Americans were fiong a total of 10 foreign workers mis- fig. Ten bodies later were found at the |ant site, but their bodies were not gsitively identified. be others missing included four Bri ns, two Germans and an Indian. The bulk of about 1,000 non-Iraqi work- were evacuated by bus on the com- kny’s orders across the border to Kuwait |ty, Kuwait, a few hours after the attack, j We found 10 missing during the head |unt in Kuwait City and there were 10 lies at the plant site, Vogel said. |The victims were being kept at the ppital on the Basra site where the com- ny recently completed a $1.1 billion fctrochemical plant under contract to the pqi government he said. I Maybe we re being overly cautious,” Pgel said, “but we can’t confirm their paths.” The State Department began lacuating dependents of the 21 Foreign trvice employees at its interest section in Bghdad but said there were no plans to ler a general evacuation of all Ameri- tts. [Many Americans in Iraq are women parried to Iraqis who work for U.S. firms pvolved in petroleum and chemical in- Pstry. j Although the U.S. government has not iganized the departure of private Ameri- Ins there (Basra) we certainly concur that |is withdrawal is a prudent measure ven the air raids that have taken place,” Apartment spokesman Jack Cannon said. I In Kuwait U.S. Embassy spokesman py Peppers said 150 Americans fled Bas in taxis, buses and private cars to openhagen and Amsterdam. J The Iranian state radio reported its prces had captured four Americans in the arder fighting. A department official said ke report was “implausible.” |The United States has not had an am- ssador in Baghdad since the 1967 Mid- le East War. Relations with the govem- lent of Saddam Hussein have been cool bd the State Department has accused the cialist government of supporting inter- ational terrorism. By NANCY ANDERSEN Battalion Staff The Texas A&M student senate Wed nesday approved the 1980-81 Student Government budget and unanimously ap proved a bill to commend Dr. Jarvis E. Miller, former president of Texas A&M University. The $37,120 budget was allocated in the following way: administrative $21,730; ex ecutive branch $10,190; speaker of the senate $1,810; external affairs committee $1,785; student services committee $750; rules and regulations committee $250; academic affairs committee $380 and fi nance committee $225. The budget is only 0.5 percent higher than the 1979-80 budget, and it is funded by a $32,000 student service fee allocation and profits from Student Government re frigerator rentals. In legislative action, the senate voted to express on behalf of the student body its “deepest and most profound regret con cerning the removal of President Miller, commend and express our sincerest ap preciation to him for his leadership and outstanding efforts for the University, and wish him the best in all his future en deavors.” Miller will be invited to a regular meet ing for presentation of a plaque, the bill said. The senate also approved the following appointments: Muster Chairman Thad Jarrett, Parents’ Day Chairman Mike Bo nin and Executive Assistant Larry War- nock. Judicial Board appointments were also approved. They are graduates John Har din and Maureen Kerrigan; seniors Mike Smiley and Amy Amstutz; juniors Lance Wright and Geralyn Bednarz; and sopho mores Robert Mayfield and Jeff Royce. J-Board duties include deciding ques tions concerning constitutional interpreta tion, legislation and elections. The senate also heard two bills on first reading: documentation of an academic minor, and row indication of Texas A&M parking lots. Bills on first reading cannot be acted on unless placed on emergency. The first bill would require the regis trar’s office to record a student’s minor on his official transcript. Currently there is no documentation if the minor is outside a student’s major field of study, said Phil Hannah, senior liberal arts senator and bill sponsor. Hannah is also sponsoring the second bill, which would recommend that the University Police put row indicators in nine of the larger parking lots. Hannah said students parking their cars for extend ed time periods have problems finding their cars. Deadline for announcements on Friday The deadline for ordering announce ments for December graudation cere monies is 4 p.m. Friday. Students who plan to graduate at the end of this term may order announcements in 217 MSG. Relaxed studying Kelley Yancey, a senior from Ft. Worth, studies in the quiet area surrounding the Biological Sciences Building. Staff photo by Jeff Kerber Titan vent refused United Press International WASHINGTON — The Air Force ac cepted a contractor’s urging to “do no thing” immediately to bleed off fuel fumes from the damaged Titan missile that blew up in Arkansas during the weekend. Air Force Secretary Hans Mark disclosed Wednesday. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Mark strenuously defended the safety record of the 17-year- old missiles and said the 52 remaining Titans remain essential to the nation’s defense. “The accident is unrelated to the age or state of this missile” Mark said. “The accident could have happened on the first day after deployment. “The Titan system is required. It carries one-third of the destructive power we have and there is no near-term replace ment.” But Mark startled committee members when he disclosed the Air Force Emergency team had differed with the Martin Co. over how to deal with the serious fuel leak caused by a falling wrench at the Titan silo in Damascus Ark. The Air Force team recommended “venting” fuel fumes into the atmosphere to avoid the buildup of a spontaneously combustible mixture of gaseous fuel and air in a confined space. The missile contractor urged nothing be done immediately in the hopes the situa tion would stabilize by itself Mark said. “The ‘hazards control team’ recommended we vent the tank. This means to open it and let fuel escape,” Mark explained. “For reasons we don’t understand, the contractor the Martin Co. disagreed with that recommendation. “Their recommendation was to do no thing and let it stabalize. That was done.” The decision to accept the contractor’s recommendation was taken at Strategic Air Command headquarters in Omaha, Neb. hundreds of miles from the scene. Rep. Jim Lloyd D-Calif. commented, “I’d have to say that was a bum recom mendation coming out of that contractor. ” Mark avoided placing the blame direct ly. He said it is still unclear whether it was technically feasible to bleed off the fumes as urged.