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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 1980)
Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Yesterday Today High 95 High 83 Low 72 Low 64 Humidity . . . 80% Humidity . . . 72% Rain . .0.49 inches Chance of rain . . . . . . 60% letters; Adams reinstated Coach Tom Wilson By RICHARD OLIVER Sports Editor Texas A&M University sent letters to five more football players this morning, asking them to appear before a disciplinary administrative hearing, a University spokesman said late this morning. The five players have until Wednesday to reply to the letter and set up an appointment for a hearing. Names of the players cannot be released by the University until the appointments are set. One player suspended earlier this week for alleged possession of illegal drugs will be allowed to return to the team, while two other suspended players appeared before the disciplinary hear ing this morning. Decisions concerning Elroy Steen and Cal Peveto were made this morning, but only Peveto chose to comment. He said simply, “Still in school.” Steen did not discuss his decision, and the; University cannot release it. Cornerback Darrell Adams was cleared by a Department of Student Affairs inquiry Thursday, and Head Coach Tom Wilson said Adams could return to the team today. Adams said the drugs found in his room during a Tuesday search were prescribed for minor heart problems by team physician Dr. H. Dwayne Lagan. Lagan supported Adams in the student affairs inquiry by confirming the prescription. Sources in the Athletic Department also said that the investi gation into drug usage by athletes is far from over, and there is still a good chance that more dismissals will be made. “There’s still an investigation going on,” one department official said. “As long as there’s still a suspect in this situation, you want to keep looking into it.” Although most team officials pinpoint marijuana as the main drug present and suspected, several team members and athletic officials have hinted heavier drugs — including cocaine — are also suspected. “It’s (the cocaine) not confirmed,” said one official. “And what 1 would say would only hinder the investigation. “The athletes are living in a fishbowl,” he said. “They knew when they came as an athlete they would get a lot of attention, both good and bad.” The official added that the investigation is now being handled by the Department of Student Affairs. “It’s not being handled by the athletic office,” he said. “All releases are now coming through them (student affairs).” Other sources said the Athletic Department will continue to watch certain players who are under suspicion of posessing drugs. Wilson said Thursday he feels the problem is widespread in college football. “It may be something that every school has troubles with, but here at Texas A&M I’m not going to stand for it,” he said. “I’m going to clean up this team no matter what it takes.” Fullback David Hill said he feels the team is in a transition now. “With all this about the drugs and everything, it’s hard to work,” he said. “They (the team) have got to regroup.” “I’m behind the coaches in whatever they do. What they gotta do, they gotta do.” Steen, who walked to his car Tuesday while police searched it, was arrested and taken to the campus police station. Steen’s car was being towed for parking violations when a substance tentatively labeled as marijuana and some “roach clips” were found during an inventory of the vehicle. University officials said once a student has five or more outstanding parking violations, the police may tow the car. Officers may take inventories of such vehicles in order to protect the department if a defendant claims something was taken from the vehicle. Peveto told several reporters Wednesday there was an amphetamine pill (a “black molly”) in his top desk drawer. He said he had planned to take the pill on his way home to Vidor today. Peveto and other team members said they felt like the drug incident was “trumped up by Wilson in order to provide an excuse for the Aggies’ poor showing so far this season. After opening with a 23-20 victory over Mississippi, the Aggies were defeated 42-0 by Georgia, and lost to Penn State, 25-9. Many team members expressed resentment at Peveto’s state ments that Wilson is using the incident to excuse the Aggies’ bad start. “Man, he’s (Peveto) stupid,” one player said. “He’s hurting himself and the team. ” Although team oficials reported to The Battalion Wednesday they found “things in several rooms,” one player said he didn’t think anyone would have found any cocaine, even if any players were using it. “They’d keep it low-key,” he said. “That’s big-time drugs you’re talking about there. That’s the first I ever heard of it. I had no idea anything was going on.” Another player, in an interview with a Houston television station, however, indicated that drug usage on the team is not confined to a few players. “They (the three suspended players) know that they’re not the only ones taking drugs. . . They know there’s others and they’re kind of sore they got kicked off,” defensive tackle Arlis James told a reporter for KTRK-TV. Several team members and athletic department officials said one of the three suspended players had had some problems over the summer with his family over the use of drugs. 8 3 5 H IT) 0 I ► 5 > c Defense lawyers say he intended to give it back |L : ^ tapes show Clayton said he would report money 1 United Press International 5 HOUSTON — Tape recordings played in the federal Brilab ^ jlrial depict House Speaker Bill Clayton taking $5,000 from a lan he thought was a big-time insurance salesman, but they also eveal Clayton saying he would report contributions properly 4n| wanted no illegality. I In succeeding days of the trial, prosecutors will try to focus jurors’ attentions on what Clayton did, not what he said. DJense lawyers will present Clayton, who admits taking the money but says he intended to return it, as an innocent victim of i high-pressure convicted swindler working undercover for the Jurors for the first time heard Clayton taking the $5,000 on toes played Thursday of a Nov. 8, 1979, meeting in his office mth Deer Park union leader L. G. Moore and racketeer-turned- informant Joseph Hauser. Hauser counted out the money to Moore who gave it to Clayton. Hauser — who plea-bargained leniency in exchange for helping the FBI find bribe-susceptible officials — was posing as a Prudential Insurance Co. agent offering to save the state $1 million if Clayton could help Prudential take a state employees insurance contract away from Metropolitan. The tapes indicated Moore and Hauser showed Clayton what they said was a better insurance deal for the state and urged him to help pressure his appointee to the State Employees Retire ment Board to support reopening bidding on the insurance. When Moore started talking about giving money to Clayton and his political allies in return for the pressure, Clayton sounded enthusiastic about the insurance plan, but hesitant about taking money which he said would have to be reported. Moore and Hauser pressed. “Could I, L. G. Moore, knowing Billy Clayton all these years. . . give you a contribution. . . and you do with it whatever the hell you want to?” Moore asked Clayton. “Oh yeah, that’s no problem” Clayton said. “Give me the deal. I want to give it to you and you do whatever you want,” Moore said. With paper rustling in the background, Hauser then said “All right, let me see — make sure I got. . . one, tw r o, three, four, five thousand dollars. Ah now, this is just peanuts. “Well, let me tell you, we appreciate the heck out of it, responded Clayton. “... Where you can save the state money. . . well, by God, I’ll go to battle for you.” Moore told Clayton he was offering him $600,000 toward AMU places first oth Texas A&M University’s television it) radio stations have been honored with Educational awards from the Texas Associ- |on of Broadcasters. • At the broadcast group’s 27th annual Invention in San Antonio, KAMU-TV Non a second place in station promotion ■ instructional programming, while ^AMU-FM captured both first and sec- md place in station promotion. KLRN-TV and KLRV-TV of the Univer sity of Texas at Austin took both first and second places in cultural programming and public affairs programming, and first place in station promotion and instruction al programming. KETR, East Texas State University’s radio station, received a first in cultural programming, and KUT-FM of UT Austin took a second. brgotten residents how Titan effects United Press International ITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Residents of > “forgotten Guy, Ark. Thursday still ffcred from breathing chemical fumes U the Air Force denied their health ohlems were caused by the explosion of Bitan II missile last week. ir Force Maj. Ed Neunherz confirmed it Guy Mayor, Bennie Mercer, “showed ptoms of having been exposed to com- Jstible material” but stuck with the Air force’s stand that it could not have been "Om the missile. Neunherz said tests on j mayor would not be released. UlSuy is six miles from the underground s ilo where the missile exploded early last iriday. It was just outside the five-mile ^cuation ring and received no official ■armation on the blast. Mercer said an Force officer privately “admitted they forgot us. " ■Many of the town’s 200 residents said ifiev still suffered from the fumes a week a «ir the explosion. ■The results belied the word of an Air Brce general who said toxic fumes were a hlem “only at the site” because most of Titan’s fuel was consumed in the losion. Fuel that leaked before the losion was not expected to travel more than 2,600 feet he said. The Air Force sent a team to Guy, Thursday, “seeing if there’s any damage providing assistance if they can,” Neunherz said. The same was done earlier in Damascus closer to the silo but resi dents there apparently have not suffered many ill effects from the fumes. Mercer said it was evident the Air Force did not believe his story that a gaseous “fog” settled on Guy about an hour after the explosion near Damascus. But he said he and other residents are still suffering its effects. “That thing evidently had a mushroom effect and it came down in a fog here,” Mercer said in a telephone interview. “We could see fog and ash,” he said. “When you’d smell it it would bum your nose, your throat and your eyes would burn. Your lips would feel like they were going to break into fever blisters. Skin was dry and itchy.” “I feel rotten — nauseated still got a sore throat,” he said. “My wife is the same way only she’s got diarrhea real bad. My youngest son is having stomach pains. Some other families are running fever. We’ve still got a lot of people sick. I don’t know how long it’s going to last. ” Juggling fool Photo by George Dolan Sophomore, Daniel Orozco, shown here juggling axes, tion. Members practice daily in front of the Academic enjoys juggling knives, pins, and lacrosse balls as well. building and attend meetings every Thursday night. He is a member of the Texas A&M Jugglers Associa- financing a race for governor in 1982, and Clayton agreed gubernatorial campaigns took a lot of money. But Clayton told Moore and Hauser the law required him to report contributions and that he wanted to avoid doing anything illegal. “You know our only position is we don’t want to do anything that’s illegal or anything to get anybody in trouble and you all don’t either,” Clayton said. “No no, God no. That’s the last thing in the world that I need,” said Hauser. After meeting Clayton, Moore and Hauser met Clayton’s co- defendents, Austin lawyers Donald Ray and Randall “Buck” Wood, who are accused of helping Moore and Hauser approach Clayton. Moore will be tried separately. N ew policy, loan fund established By WAYNE COOK Battalion Reporter The Office of Student Financial Aid has started new application procedures for short-term loans and a new loan fund that is available to freshmen, transfer, and graduate students. The old application procedure for short term loans required applicants to be inter viewed by a loan officer before a decision was made on their application. During the beginning of each semester, when hundreds of students apply for short-term loans, it sometimes took three weeks before an interview could be sched uled and a decision reached on the stu dent’s loan application, said Director of Student Financial Aid Dr. William E. McFarland. The new application procedure requires no interview for requests of $400 or less that can be repaid in three months. A decision is reached in less than 48 hours, McFarland said. The maximum short-term loan is $750, with a yearly interest rate of 6 percent. Loans repaid within three months carry only a minimum service charge. An inter view is necessary for loan requests of over $400 or if the proposed repayment is more than three months. Before this semester, short-term loan assistance was available only to students who had completed at least one semester of full time enrollment at Texas A&M. This semester, with the establishment of a new loan called the G. Rollie White Loan Fund, new students who are ad mitted to the University for the first time and have not yet established an academic record at Texas A&M are eligible for short-term loan assistance. Students apply for the G. Rollie White Loan Fund in the same manner as all other short-term loans and has the same maximum of $750.