Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol. 75 No. 135 USPS 045360 36 Pages In 2 Sections
College Station, Texas
Friday, April 16, 1982
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goal attempts in just22b£WASHINGTON — President
to lead Denver. Moses 51 Reagan summoned his National
led the Rockets with 2/pi Seuinty Council into session today
following a telephone talk with the
gjn siHent of Argentina about the sim
mering Falkland Islands crisis.
■ President Leopoldo Galtieri called
Reagan about 5 p.m. EST Thursday
aiu\ both restated their desire for a
Raceful resolution of Argentina’s
dispute with Great Britain, said depu
ty White House press secretary Larry
Speakes.
■ At about the same time, Secretary
o| State Alexander Haig — beginning
;Re second round of his shuttle diplo
macy — arrived in Buenos Aires to
<Rnew discussions with Argentine
Raders in an effort to defuse the
situation.
I Haig was meeting today with F ore
ign Minister Nicanor Costa Mendez
and other officials.
^ “It is dear tonight that the task will
hot be easy,” Haig said when he av-
fived Thursday night for another
found of his peace-shuttle. “The
Stakes are so high that they demand
|he ultimate effort of all participants
in these discussions.”
Li A White House official refused to
I lay whether today’s NSC meeting
| Ivotild deal specifically w'ith the con-
fiontation between Great Britain and
Vrgentina over the South Atlantic is
lands. Warships of both nations were
Reported headed to the areal
Residents of Port Belgrano, 425
miles south of Buenos Aires, reported
at least seven Argentine warships
bailed out Thursday night on a south
easterly course in the clirection of the
fFalklands. The fleet included Argen-
lUna’s only aircraft carrier, “Veinticin-
Jco de Mayo.”
m
The situation has dominated admi
nistration foreign policy attention
since Argentine troops occupied the
contested islands April 2. Reagan had
spoken at length with Galtieri the
night before the invasion in a vain
effort to prevent it.
The NSC meeting highlighted an
otherwise routine schedule for the
president today. It included an after
noon reception for Republican
“Eagles” — contributors of $10,000
or more; lunch with editors and
broadcasters from the Southeast; and
a meeting with the Cabinet Council
on Legal Policy.
Reagan's meeting with the media
executives follows a new exchange of
views with the press on the subject of
presidential errors. In an appearance
Thursday before a civics class in a
school near Chicago, Reagan made
two remarks which were open to
question.
Discussing gun control, he said the
deatli penalty was once effective in
England in keeping down the illegal
use of firearms. Any criminal found
to have committed any sort of crime
while carrying a gun “was tried for
first degree murder and hung if he
was found guilty,” the president said.
“They said that the fact that he car
ried the gun meant that he had pre
meditated using the gun to kill some
one if necessary, so the criminals stop
ped carrying guns over there It all
worked out very well until they eli
minated capital punishment.”
In answering a question about un
employment, he said new Labor De
partment statistics reporting unem
ployment was up in March were in
correct because “statisticians in
Washington have funny ways of
counting.”
staff photo by Peter Rdcha
Unfortunately, Toney, a computer science major from
Fort Worth, did not win the oh-so-sweet, but filling
contest.
Having your cake and eating it too
Junior Chris Toney does his best to devour as many
funnel cakes as possible in 15 minutes. The contest
was sponsored by the Funnel Cakery in Post Oak Mall.
Location of proposed Hilton
raises questions involving taxes
|Daughter key
to indictments
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Un : ted Press International
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A high-
I stakes gambler so dreaded being tried
by a federal judge known as “Max
imum John” that he had him killed,
I said a grand jury indictment of the
narcotics kingpin, a hit man and three
members of their families.
The reluctant testimony of the hit
man’s daughter apparently was the
key to the indictments, which con
cluded a three-year, $4.7 million in
vestigation into the killing of U.S. Dis
trict Judge John H. Wood Jr.
Jamiel “Jimmy” Chagra, 35, an El
Paso gambler serving a 30-year sent
ence in Illinois for cocaine smuggling,
and Charles V. Harrelson, 43, impris
oned in Texas for drug and weapons
violations, were charged Thursday
with murder and conspiracy.
Also named were Chagra’s lawyer
and brother, Joe, 35, of El Paso; Jim
my Chagra’s wife, Elizabeth, 28; and
Harrelson’s wife, Jo Ann, 41.
The indictment said Chagra gave
$250,00()4to Harrelson to kill Wood,
making Him the first federal judge
slain in more than a century.
The three others were held Thurs
day in El Paso and Dallas, having
failed to post bonds ranging from
$250,000 to more than $1.5 million.
Attorneys for the accused called
the indictments amoral and claimed
their clients were being made scape
goats by the government.
Grand jury testimony from Harrel
son’s stepdaughter, Teresa Starr Jas
per, 24, apparently allowed the gov
ernment to conclude its investigation.
She had spent three months in jail last
year for refusing to testify, before fin
ally appearing before the jury in
October. A short time later reports
circulated that indictments could
come within a few months.
Jasper went before the grand jury
again Wednesday — 24 hours before
the indictments were returned.
The indictments claim Jimmy
Chagra’s wife and brother encour
aged him to have Wood killed and
that he hired Harrelson, the son of
former state prison guard, to do the
job. Harrelson was acquitted of a
murder-for-hire charge in 1968 and
convicted in another hit killing in
1973.
by Hope E. Paasch
Battalion Staff
The investigation into the building
of the proposed University Hilton
Hotel has raised some important legal
questions, with one of the most prom
inent concerning property taxes.
The proposed site for the hotel is
the northeast corner of the Texas
A&M University campus. The six
acres for the hotel would be leased
from the University, meaning the
hotel would be built on state-owned
property and, some have said, might
be exempt from property taxes.
Property taxes are the primary
source of funds for municipal ser
vices, including street maintenance,
police and fire protection, and sewer
services, Brazos County Tax Asses
sor-Collector Buddy Winn said.
Joe A. Ferreri, owner of the Rama-
da Inn in College Station, said: “I wel
come the Hilton Hotel... if it will com
pete on the same basis that all hotel
and restaurant owners do in this com
munity such as paying taxes, becom
ing a member of the Chamber of
Commerce and contributing to all loc
al functions.”
Ferreri expressed his views con
cerning the Hilton Hotel in a state
ment dated March 25 and printed as
an advertisement in The Battalion
April 5.
“It would be of concern to all tax-
paying citizens of this community and
the state if the Hilton Hotel were built
on the University because no ad
valorem (property) taxes would be
paid to our city and school system, yet
the city has to provide municipal ser
vices free,” Ferreri said.
Winn disagrees: “I don’t believe
(the proposed University Hilton)
would be exempt from any taxes that
other local hotels pay.”
Brian Brown of the State Property
Tax Board agreed with Winn.
“The (proposed University Hilton)
building would be fully subject to
property taxes,” Brown said. “The
lease-hold interest itself may even be
taxable, especially if it is a very long
term lease, which it most likely would
be.”
Ferreri said: “The Hilton Hotel
should secure private property ...
Twenty years ago, I applied to the
Faulty scaffolding tentatively
blamed in fatal bridge collapse
United Press International
EAST CHICAGO. Ind. — High
way experts said faulty scaffolding
may have caused an unfinished ele
vated expressway ramp to collapse
during concrete-pouring, killing 12
workmen and injuring 20. Searchers
were told to look for more bodies
today.
Three spans of the 50-foot-tall
bridge, each about 150 feet long and
15 feet wide, collapsed one-by-one in
a chain reaction Thursday morning.
The scaffolding that was supposed to
support the structure until the con
crete hardened, apparently buckled,
officials said.
The search for victims was called
off at dusk. Eleven of the dead —
some who tried to escape by jumping
and were crushed beneath the rubble
— were taken to a temporary morgue
but the twelfth, who was not identi
fied, was entombed in a slab of con
crete. Officials planned to wait until
daylight to attempt to free his body.
At least two of the injured, who
were taken to three area hospitals,
were in critical condition.
John Kouris, attorney for the Lake
County Coroner’s Of fice, said more
bodies might be found at the site
when a search of the wreckage re
sumed today.
“Investigators from our office
talked with workers at the scene at the
time of the crash,” Kouris said. “We
will work on the presumption there
are more out there.”
Authorities cautioned that because
there were numerous contractors and
sub-contractors at the site, it was diffi-
A&M profs to offer ideas on New Federalism
by Jennifer Carr
Battalion Staff
Two Texas A&M University professors have been chosen to
serve on Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby’s Texas Academic Conference on
New Federalism.
Dr. Donald A. Sweeney, a professor in the Department of
Urban and Regional Planning, and Dr. Arnold Vedlitz, a political
science professor, will meet with scholars from 41 Texas colleges
and universities to discuss specific issues and problems resulting
from President Reagan’s proposed New Federalism policy.
Under the policy, the federal government will give block
grants to states, and will not specify how the money should be
spent.
The conference, which will meet in Austin May 28 through
May 30, will make recommendations to be used by Hobby’s Task
Force on New Federalism. The task force was established to deal
with the challenges resulting from Reagan’s proposal.
Sweeney, who also directs a graduate program in health plan
ning, will address the issue of Texas health policies and prog
rams.
Texas, like most other states, has different ideas than the
federal government on how money should be spent, he said.
“Instead of categorical grants,” Sweeney said, “in which the
federal government said ‘This is the way the money has to be
spent and you either spend it that way or you don’t take it,’ the
block grants say ‘Here’s a pile of money for health, and you can
spend it any way you want.’
“I think there will be some significant changes from the way
the money has been allotted in the past, and some of them I think
the people in the state may not be real happy with.”
For example, he said, the Emergency Medical Services prog
ram, which includes ambulance and emergency medical techni
cian service, is now regarded as a municipal service. And, he said
it is probably one of the programs that will be cut back.
Vedlitz also has experience in the health and social services
area, but sees his role in the conference as more of a policy
analyst. Because of his experience in state and local politics, he
said he will try to serve as a communications link between the
scholars who will be providing the information, and the decision
makers.
He said he has worked for some time to establish a program
similar to the one Hobby has set up, because he feels government
should take advantage of the analytic and research skills scholars
possess.
“I think it (the conference) is a good opportunity for not only
us at Texas A&M,” he said, “hut for policy scholars and social
science scholars from around the state to participate and help our
politicians make better decisions.”
Many people consider New Federalism a budget-cutting de
vice as well, Vedlitz said. Not only are states given responsibilities
previously dictated by federal mandates, but they are given less
money, he said.
One idea behind New Federalism is that those closest to the
issues will be able to decide how money should be spent. Both
Sweeney and Vedlitz are concerned about how Texans will be
able to affect the decisions.
“I’m not sure that we really have a clear understanding of how
the people in Texas want their money to be spent,” Sweeney said.
“They’ve never really been asked that like they’re going to be.”
inside
forecast
Today’s Forecast: Partly cloudy
and breezy with a high near 90; low
tonight in the upper 50s. Satur
day’s forecast calls for partly cloudy
skies and temperatures in the mid-
70s.
(Texas A&M System Board of Re
gents) for an on-campus hotel, and
they turned me down. What makes
this time different?”
Eric J. Hilton Jr. of the Hilton
Hotel Corp. said he is not aware of
any tax exemption the hotel might
receive because of its location on state
property.
The corporation will not consider a
franchise hotel in the Bryan-College
Station area unless they can build on
campus at the requested location.
“It’s the best site because of the ex
posure and significance of being on
the campus,” Hilton said. “If it were
any other location, (the Hilton Hotel)
would be just another hotel. We want
it to be more than just another hotel.”
cult to determine exactly how many
workers were on the job when the
structure fell.
“It was like a chain reation,” Lewis
Conley, a carpenter, said. “The first
section fell — boom — without warn
ing. The other sections hung for a
while before dropping.”
“It looked to me like the scaffold
ing buckled,” said James Brannock, a
carpenter and project safety repre
sentative. “If you would have asked
me yesterday, I would have told you
the scaffolding would have held. But
it didn’t.”
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