The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 16, 1980, Image 11

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    h Nation
THE BATTALION Page 11
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1980
e tyvian kills self in newsroom
fter taping "plea for poor’
war and tinct
abs are seixh
•om the
of dollan
irates sines J , United Press International
CINCINNATI — A drug-crazed artist lamenting the
osque shoolijjssiHg 0 f the “revolutionaries of the 60s seized a
od, crestinjSglevjsjQu station, forced employees at gunpoint to tape
lis plea for the poor, admitted shooting his girlfriend,
to Europe then turned one of his six weapons on himself.
James Ralph Hoskins, 41, was sprawled on the floor of
since thewhe WCPO-TV newsroom when police stormed the
i, sent thert^uilding, ending the 12-hour drama Wednesday. He
3 have losttyas dead of a gunshot wound to the head. An autopsy
vas set for today.
ost of their5 “I’ve been taking weird drugs. I’m out of my mind,”
ic said in a taped interview broadcast over WCPO later
adeheavypA the day. “I’ve taken angel dust and Valium. I blew my
ghting, [irlfriend away tonight. She’s dead. I’m a dead man.
ularintheCdjere is no hope for me. I’m slipping away. I’m gone,
’m gone.”
saidAntk Police found his girlfriend Melanie Finley, 30, a for-
o. SAL invsner nun who was an eighth-grade teacher at a Catholic
htofasamoachool, dead of a gunshot wound where Hoskins said
o. ” hey would — in his fourth-floor apartment in the city’s
erthrowofcxior Over the Rhine section.
in estimated In hour-long phone negotiations with Hoskins, police
by indivuiiaid he expressed remorse over the death of his girl-
ported to keriend but did not indicate a motive. However, in the TV
ing the tenterview, the out-of-work artist did say Miss Finley
iad once schemed with him to take over the station,
tales,"saidft “We planned to do big things together,” he said,
now a pnnThis whole thing was planned back in San Francisco. I
quid depostan’t say if it was the drugs.”
rcenthasg® Hoskins took over the station at about 2 a.m., armed
dth five handguns and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
a shiver dor
d as theuk
He had hundreds of rounds of ammunition “stuffed in
his pockets everywhere,” police said. “He was ready for
anything. ”
Police said apparently Hoskins had just shot his
girlfriend.
He stopped newswoman Elaine Green in the WCPO
parking lot, saying he didn’t want to hurt her but asking
her to videotape an interview with him. Throughout the
interview, Hoskins held his rifle in his hand, aimed at
Green.
Hoskins lamented the “mistreatment of poor people, ”
then rambled onto other topics and his personal plight.
At about 3:30 a.m., he cleared the station and barri
caded himself in the newsroom.
Green notified police.
“When the police come and get me,” Hoskins said in
his broadcasts, “we’re going to shoot it out. They’ve got
their magnums. I’ve got my magnums.”
But police talked to him instead. The phone conversa
tion began at 8 a.m., and “at 9:15, the conversation
abruptly ended,” Police Capt. Edward Ammann said.
“There was a noise that appeared to be a muffled gun
shot.”
Police waited four hours before entering the building.
“We wanted to make sure it wasn’t a ploy,” said
Ammann.
It wasn’t.
Despite the siege, WCPO managed to continue
broadcasting all day via makeshift equipment, with
news director Al Schottelkotte periodically reporting
the takeover of his own station in a parking lot two blocks
away.
Carter; issues will be focus
' said Asstf
een facilltll* United Press International
jt thesenpf BOSTON — With Sen. Edward
f the finaaoKennedy campaigning at his side,
es, or for president Carter Wednesday ac-
n a bank fe'used the Republicans of opposing
‘every great social reform” from the
to stem ixninirnum wage to Medicare.
:y crisis, tie Carter, making his second of three
rodollars ETips to the vote-rich Northeast this
veek, also praised the Mas-
iachusetts senator and the Kennedy
family in a speech at the Christopher
Columbus Community Center.
He said the Kennedy family has
staunchly supported social programs
to help the nation’s poor and oppres
sed. Only a few months ago, Ken
nedy was running for the Democra
tic nomination against Carter and
had labeled the president a “clone”
of Reagan.
Carter attacked GOP nominee
Ronald Reagan and the Republicans
in his talk at the community center.
“If you look back, here is what you
will really find: Republicans
oppposed every great social reform
— Social Security, the minimum
wage. Medicare — and the list goes
on,” said Carter.
^Actress’ son dies
dulcimers un blast
d the otlei. 02
it music and. I United Press International
ing malls an HOLLYWOOD — Richard Carlton Meeker, 24-year-old son of
actress Mary Tyler Moore, died of a shotgun wound to his head
as the first: Tuesday night, Los Angeles police reported Wednesday,
nt, excludiK According to officers, Meeker, a CBS-TV employee, was “playing
r Indian i# with a shotgun” in a home he shared with female students near the
eardonewlrytftiivetsity of Southerti'CalifbWiia campus; ■ ,.r,; , .. j. -,,.
essee asac ' !l “We can’t say yet whether his death was accidental or a suicide,” a
ineightyean spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said,
to make ok Television producer Grant Tinker, Meeker’s step-father said, “It
was an absolute accident. Richard had talked to Mary by telephone a
hobbyist, 1 couple of hours earlier and he was cheerful and totally himself,
ake dulcimc “According to Mary, he was perfectly normal and happy. It was a
a year he ghastly accident. ”
ixComn# Detective Jerry Ferrin said one of the roommates, Judy Vasquez,
dulcimern* 21, witnessed the shooting. The second roommate, Janet McLaughlin,
wasin another room at the time the gun discharged.
| Fefrrin quoted Vasquez as saying, “He was loading and unloading the
short-barreled gun when it went off. It was awful. He must have pulled
the trigger. There was a big bang and he fell on the bed.”
.ji Vasquez said Meeker was talking on the telephone to his girlfriend in
Fresno, Calif., when the gun was fired.
10, Ferrin said Vasquez ran to a neighbor to call for an ambulance at
11:10 p.m. Meeker was pronounced dead at Western Park Hospital 20
minutes later.
•I? Tinker telephoned Moore, in New York on business, to tell her
about the tragic shooting.
“I waited a couple of hours so the shock wouldn’t come in the middle
pf the night,” Tinker said. “Richard was a good guy. Calling Mary was
the most difficult thing I ever had to do.
H “The news absolutely destroyed her. She is catching a plane for Los
Angeles this morning. ”
Tinker said he was trying to reach Meeker’s father, whom he
Believed lives in the Sacramento area.
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Baa
EASE&
Coupon
One Pitcher of Coke
YESTERDAYS
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BIIXIARDS — BACKGAMMON
Next to Luby’s 846-2635
HOUSE DRESS CODE
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HOURS:
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FRI. - SAT. 11 a.m.-1 a.m.
Deliveries 7 days a week
after 5:30 p.m.
PIZZA
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iiiiiii
American Illustration in the Eighties
an exhibition of the works of
JOHN COLLIER JIM SHARPE RICHARD SPARKS
Opening Reception
7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Friday, October 17, Rudder Exhibit Hail
BE THERE TO MEET THE ARTISTS
Sponsored by Texas A&M University Art Exhibits