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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 1982)
age 14 Ttfe Batta I ion Serving the University community ol. 75 No. 175 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, July 20, 1982 Explosions shake London lot sign ent. 'posal* ast put! tit was i ' Edt l intativeh * draft#® United Press International 1 projiHONDON — At least three bombs sing cjlxploded in central London today, g that iM killing two cavalrymen of Queen an witliMabeth’s ceremonial Royal Horse ling aSrd and another killing six people ■ wounding 20 others in Regent’s Park, police said. HA spokesman for the outlawed ■visional Irish Republican Army ■med responsibility for the first ■tin a call to the British Broadcast- ngCorp. in Belfast. ■Horrified tourists fled in panic ■n one of the bombs exploded in a ■e private car in Hyde Park, less Bn a mile from Buckingham Palace, ■bout 25 guards rode past wearing their high plumes and burnished Baseplates. ■cotland Yard said both the dead were cavalrymen of the Blues and loyals of the Royal Horse Guards, ■only horse cavalry still active in the British army. One of the dead men y ] was an officer, a spokesman said. ■Two hospitals near Hyde Park re- ■ted treating 23 injured, including jour guardsmen. One guardsman iBl a policeman were undergoing igery for severe blast injuries, following the explosion, pistol its rang through the park as the pred horses were shot to end their fery- The carcasses of dead horses co- ltd with black tarpaulins littered South Carriage road, a traffic- leroad inside the boundaries of the Ik, and firemen and detectives in- Iderly spected the debris scattered over 50 square yards. A Scotland Yard spokesman at the scene said the bomb, in a private car, exploded as the cavalry platoon pas sed by wearing their ceremonial armor. The platoon, familiar to millions for their part in ceremonial proces sions, was on its way to the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Bucking ham Palace. “It went off several hundred yards from the gate of the Hyde Park bar racks,” the spokesman said. Streets between Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park were cordoned off by hundreds of uniformed offic ers, some of them spattered with blood. Police said the bomb may have been touched off by remote control. The cavalry troop was an easy target. “They pass this spot at roughly the same time every day,” a cavalry spokesman said. A Cabinet meeting at Prime Minis ter Margaret Thatcher’s residence of 10 Downing Street, where the blast was heard, was interrupted for a re port of the explosion, a spokesman for her office said. The Royal Horse Guards, compris ing two regiments, are Queen Eli zabeth IPs mounted palace guard. Its troops of horsemen take part in cere monial processions at Buckingham Palace and parade at royal occasions. The horsemen are professional sol diers who carry out regular tours of duty. woman auses shootout Israel arms shipments put on hold United Press International WASHINGTON — For the second time in a year, the United States has suspended some arms shipments to Israel because of allegations Israel used U.S.-purchased weapons for prohibited purposes. President Reagan put a hold on cluster-bomb type ammunition for Israel Monday, pending a review of whether Israel misused the weapons in its invasion of Lebanon last month against the Palestine Liberation Orga nization. The action coincides with meetings in Washington between the Reagan administration and representatives of Arab nations about the Lebanon crisis. Last week, the White House noti fied Congress Israel may have com mitted a “substantial” violation of U.S. law by using American-supplied weapons in an operation that goes beyond the strict definition of self- defense. However, no action was ordered by the administration, and Congress is not likely to take any. But the so-called cluster bombs are covered by a separate agreement, which bans their use on civilian targets and in cases where Israel faces fewer than two Arab opponents. Deputy White House press secret ary Larry Speakes told reporters that until a review by an inter-government agency is completed, “there will be no shipments of projectiles or other clu ter-bomb related materials” to Israel. Last summer, Reagan temporarily held up sending warplanes to Israel, after Israel used U.S.-purchased F- 16s to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor and to hit PLO targets in Beirut that reportedly killed 300 civilians. Israel had no comment on Mon day’s action. Immediately involved was a ship ment of 4,000 155mm artillery shells that had been scheduled to be turned over to Israel Monday. The shells splinter into hundreds of small bomb- lets that then rain down over a large area. Other U.S. ipilitary supplies to Israel will not be affected. Pentagon officials said the Israelis have some other items on order, but nothing for delivery any time soon. Reagan has asked Israel repeatedly for more than a month for informa tion regarding charges that the use of cluster bombs during the invasion of Lebanon violated a secret agreement with the United States. _ United Press International gPOQUILLE, Ore. — An 82-year- ’ woman stroke victim who attack- her husband with a straight razor, lly shot a friend and was wounded police shootout was taking drugs t “caused some emotional prob- is,” authorities say. Pattie Nevin was in critical condi- n today, hospitalized with a bullet und suffered in the gunfight with ) Coos County sheriffs deputies. "She’s 82 years old and has been d 50 yo lot in the chest with a .357 Magnum lecM vo * ver — nobody knows if she’s . a »ing to survive at this point,” said , strict Attorney Paul Burgett. s a ™ If she lives, however, Burgett said ^ would prosecute Mrs. Nevin in the jlling of Bernice Leaton, 74, who lad been caring for her. JSheriff Veral Tarno said Mrs. [n [Nevin had been under a doctor’s care ^ ■"d recently had a stroke. “That was reason for her friend staying lere. She (Mrs. Nevin) was under edication, which recently had used some emotional problems and ipparently was unable to cope with ne medication.” The drama began Monday when big poi 'ar speii 'ER fiffl Mrs. Nevin’s husband, James, 71, told deputies she had threatened him with a straight razor. Deputies arrived, failed to talk Mrs. Nevin into leaving the house and fired tear gas shots inside. Tarno said deputies broke into the home and tried to take the elderly woman into custody. He said one shot was fired that narrowly missed the head of a deputy and Mrs. Nevin then pointed a rifle at another deputy. The second deputy, the sheriff said, fired once at Mrs. Nevin, who was wounded in the upper right chest. The sheriff said Mrs. Leaton was found dead with gunshot wounds. Nevin and the deputies escaped in jury, he said. Tarno said Mrs. Nevin was “the oldest murder suspect I’m aware of in 23 years in law enforcement. Things never cease to amaze me.” Burgett said he would give infor mation about the case to a grand jury on Friday. “Essentially, we have someone who’s been shot to death. If it appears the suspect is going to survive, I’m going to file the appropriate charges — it’s my job.” staff photo by Octavio Garcia Computer student pleads ‘no contest’ to felony charges And for my next feat Physical Plant employees demonstrate their acrobatic prowess as they replace air filters in Neeley Hall. When dust clogs the filters, campus air conditioners are overworked and must be cleaned to avoid wasting energy. CSISD inquiry may result in suit utomii] etal H eller! lomputer error results In tuition overcharge A problem in the computer prog am which assesses fees for attending summer school courses has resulted B a number of students being over charged for tuition. i | Thomas Taylor, director of ,|lccounting services, said some stu- ! ljsnts who had registered for an 11- Week course and who had paid the ;|5() tuition were charged another $25 or tuition when they signed up for a econd summer session course. “They’re not really supposed to be lilled for the $25,” Taylor said. A computer program error “cre ated a fairly small overcharge.” But, Taylor said, it “is a limited problem. It didn’t happen to all 11- week people.” Taylor said he doesn’t know exactly how many students have been affected but after an audit of the fees, the students who have been over charged will be identified. “Those students who were over charged will be contacted and re funded,” he said. by Hope E. Paasch Battalion Staff An investigation into the recent ex pansion of A&M Consolidated High School was authorized Monday night by school board trustees. The investi gation will determine if the College Station school district has sufficient grounds to file a law suit. In June, the school board found the expansion at the high school did not satisfy city fire codes and had to take emergency action to remedy the problems. The Austin-based law firm of Doyal, Hairston, Henslee and Ryan was hired to conduct the investiga tion. Also during Monday night’s regu lar session, the board voted to delay site improvements at A&M Consoli dated Junior High School until next summer. Trustee Bill Fitch asked the board for the postponement because he said the timing was bad. If it had not been delayed until next summer, the con struction would have started right be fore school starts in the fall. The board did agree to finalize the site plans, which will include modifi cation of the parking area. Procedures for selecting a new su perintendent were also approved Monday night. Nominations will be accepted for the position beginning today. The deadline for receiving ap plications is Oct. 1. Board members have tentatively set Dec. 1 as the date for selecting a superintendent. Sever al board members said they hope to finish ahead of schedule, completing the process by as early as Nov. 1. Board members also approved a drug-sniffer dog policy Monday night. The policy, which refers only to students, authorizes the use of the dogs to locate alcohol and drugs on school property. The question of searching proper ty belonging to teachers, administra tors and visitors was not addressed by the board in the policy. Terry Hammond, a junior high school teacher, asked the board to clarify the policy and specify that teachers be exempt from any sear ches. He said some students may seek revenge on teachers by planting illeg al substances in their cars. Another teacher at the meeting, Sarah Bednarz, said teachers hope the board will show their trust in the teachers by not using sniffer dogs to search their personal property. In closing, the board tabled action on the principalships at the high school and middle school until Wednesday night, when the board will hold an emergency session. The meeting will be held in the Oakwood Middle School library at 7 p.m. by Terry Duran Battalion Staff A Texas A&M student pled no con test today to felony charges of tam pering with government records, but said he plans to fight disciplinary grade changes administered by the computing science division of the De partment of Industrial Engineering. James Hallers II, 19, a computing science major from Houston, was a freshman at Texas A&M last spring when he was accused of making grade changes in freshman chemistry course computer records. Hallers was arrested in early May and charged with tampering with government records, a third degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in a state penitentiary or up to a $5,000 fine or both. However, Brazos County District Attorney Travis Bryan III said Mon day that Hallers had agreed to accept deferred adjudication: two years probation after which, if there are no further convictions, the offense is wiped from the individual’s record. Hallers said in a telephone inter view Monday that the decision to plead no contest to the felony charge stemmed from the high cost of taking the case to trial. “The cost is incredible,” Hallers said. “(The deferred adjudication) was so much easier to take, rather than having to pay a minimum of $15,000 in legal fees.” University officials charged Hal lers with scholastic dishonesty. He did not contest the charge and got a semester’s suspension and a fine not to exceed $327, the amount of com puter time involved in the tampering. However, Hallers said Monday that he had received notification from the Department of Industrial En gineering that his A’s in the Comput ing Science 204 and 205 classes were being changed to F’s. A Department of Industrial En gineering policy memorandum dated August 22,1979, states that the penal ty for unauthorized use of Data Pro staff photo by Colin Valentine James Hallers cessing Center facilities is a letter of reprimand in the student’s file and a grade of F in the course for which the computer work is being done. The use in question here is what the memo terms “unauthorized account number usage.” Industrial Engineering Depart ment Head Newton C. Ellis said today the grade change penalty has been used “six or eight times” since the policy took effect in 1979. Hallers, however, says he thinks he is being treated unfairly. “What the biggest problem is,” he said, “is that I went along with the administration. Now I feel like it’s double jeopardy — they’ve gone back and added something extra. “If I’d done something involving my computer classes, sure. But I worked real hard to get those A’s. I’m going to contest this as much as pos sible.” Hallers said the matter is “current ly resting” with Assistant Dean of En gineering Stan H. Lowy, with whom he will meet in early August. Local officials: insanity plea must go r s by Terry Duran Battalion Staff The latest Texas murder defen dant to plead innocent by reason of insanity was found guilty Monday afternoon in Taylor. Arcadio Torres, 27, was con victed of the March 30, 1982, stab bing death of Regina Reichenbach, 18, of Taylor. Reichenbach, who would have been a high school senior next year, was killed on the school athletic field. The jury took only about three hours to bring back the guilty ver- Idict after hearing conflicting testi mony by mental health experts. Those testifying for the defense said Torres was unable to control his ac tions, but experts on the stand for the state said Torres was simply angry that Reichenbach rejected him. Torres received a 99-year sent ence and a $10,000 fine, the max imum penalty possible. Torres had been committed sev eral times to various mental health facilities, including within the penal system, but was released each time. Taylor Police Chief Stafford Bengtson says the state’s case was solid: “We took the position that twice we had committed him and twice he had been released and therefore he had to be sane,” Bengtson said. He said two state psychiatrists had ex amined Torres, one a few days after the killing and one shortly before the trial; both found him competent to stand trial. “We’ve got a good court system here in Williamson County,” Beng tson said. “Juries are just not going to stand for this kind of crime being committed.” The Torres conviction stands out against the background of a recent wave of defendants escaping convic tion due to insanity. To be found not guilty by reason of insanity, a defendant must be proven to have suffered from a mental disorder or disease which made him incapable of disting uishing right from wrong or unable to keep his actions within the bounds of the law. On June 22, John W. Hinckley, J r -> was judged innocent by reason of insanity — and therefore not cri minally responsible — for the March 30, 1981, shooting spree which wounded President Ronald Reagan and three other men out side the Washington Hilton Hotel. In accordance with the District of Columbia’s mandatory commitment law, Hinckley has been committed to a mental hospital for evaluation. On June 11, Vivianne H. Cook, 57, a Houston interior decorator charged with murdering her hus band, was acquitted by reason of in sanity by a state judge after a non jury trial. On June 18, a jury acquitted Emmett White, 32, a Houston architect, of murdering his brother- in-law. The verdict was innocent by reason of insanity. The judge in the case has since ruled that White is now sane and does not require com- See INSANITY page 10 inside Classified 6 National 5 Opinions 2 Sports 7 State 3 Whatsup 4 forecast Partly cloudy skies through Wednesday with highs in the upper 90s and lows in the upper 70s.