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Aggies are ready
for No. 4 SMU
See page 15
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The banal ion
Serving the University community
76 No. 43 USPS 045360 34 Pages In 2 Sections
College Station, Texas
Friday, October 29, 1982
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Al.
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^oison, pins are ruining Halloween
•Muo-Tkrv
i n & i
SuadnlQ
.yy p ress International
ialloween will be scarier than ever
■“*••••■ ke.ir because of the Tylenol kill-
|in Chicago and the hordes of
tab in poisonings. Communities
anized alternative fun for disap-
Bd trick-or-treaters while New
[ I enacted a law to clamp down
ople who pass out tainted
Jt
In Washington, representatives of
ffiexas attorney general are trying
ijivfc an ironic ending to one of the
fipfamous Halloween poisoning
es.
nds put
ngers on it.
I in The
45-2611
The Supreme Court is expected
today to consider the state’s request to
execute Ronald Clark O’Bryan, 38, of
Deer Park by poisonous injection on
Halloween. He was convicted of giv
ing his 8-year-old son poisoned Hallo
ween candy allegedly so he could col
lect insurance money. A judge pur
posely set the execution date for Hal
loween, the eighth anniversary of the
boy’s death.
Many communities — especially
those ’where sabotaged food has been
found — banned trick-or-treating be
cause of the poisoning paranoia.
“I think what they’re doing is kill
ing the holiday,” said Bill Smith,
police chief in Atmore, Ala., where a
69-year-old woman suffered burns to
her mouth, throat and stomach after
eating a candy bar.
“I know I’ve got two little girls who
ain’t going trick-or-treating this year.
My 2-year-old doesn’t mind, but my
8-year-old is ready to trade me in on a
new daddy.”
On New York’s Long Island, police
reported five incidents of straight
pins being hidden in Halloween
candy.
“Halloween is a horror and it
shouldn’t be a horror,” said Beatrice
Kern of Bethpage, N.Y., who found
pins in Baby Ruth bars.
Some cities set up centers in chur
ches and police and fire stations to
check the safety of Halloween candy.
Hospitals in Amarillo and Houston
announced they would use X-ray
machines to detect boobytrapped
treats such as apples with razor blades
— a frequent tactic of those who have
ruined Halloween for youngsters.
“I’m not normally one to ring the
bell of alarm but this year I am,” said
Elmer McClung of Pittsburgh’s
Kingsley Association, a community
group that sets up candy inspection
centers.
“We normally don’t make a big deal
of the centers, but in light of what’s
been happening we will make a big
deal of it this year. I suspect that this
year we’ll have an overabundance of
people coming in.”
Fears about poisonings are more
intense this year because of the deaths
of seven Chicago-area people who
took ExtraStrength Tylenol laced
with cyanide. The killings set off a
wave of copycat poisonings, especially
among groceries’ Halloween candy
supplies. Bags of candy have been
taken off the shelves in several cities
where signs of tampering have been
found.
City officials and neighborhoods
organized parties for children to keep
them from making the usual candy
solicitations. To trick-or-treat safely,
parents were advised to take their
children only to homes of friends and
inspect all candy before it is eaten.
1
may host
physicist
^ P c
eldon Glashow, a Nobel Prize-
g physicist, may spend a year-
ibbatical from Harvard Univer-
re.
show, 49, has been at Harvard
1966. He is scheduled to take a
ical from the school during the
4 academic year,
ashow met here Wednesday
niversity officials and returned
ton on Thursday,
ashow, who shared the 1979
Prize in physics with two other
sts, said Wednesday he is “hav-
ritful discussions” with Univer-
ministrators about joining the
s department, “but salary has
Been explicitly discussed.”
show had reportedly been
d a “Jackie Sherrill package” in
-that the six-figure annual sal-
ight entice him away from Har-
[ishow said the discussions had
reel about the “nature of the
ptTexas A&M is going to make in
SRetical physics.”
B$show said he met with Texas
President Frank Vandiver and
lad a long and fruitful discussion.”
In an editorial in Monday’s Hous-
n Chronicle, Vandiver wrote he is
pit peeved” about the media atten-
>ngiven to their talks with Glashow
and with the repeated references to
“Jackie Sherill packages.”
The media attention came about
when the Harvard Crimson quoted
Glashow as saying: “In informal dis
cussions, (Texas A&M officals) indi
cated they would probably match
those arrangements (made with Sher
rill).
“Apparently certain circles didn’t
see that there should he different
valuations of physicists and football
coaches.”
However, in an interview with the
Battalion, Glashow said that was not
the case and he had been misquoted.
“There have been a lot of nonsen
sical statements made,” he said.
The attempt to attract Glashow to
Texas A&M is part of an effort to lure
outstanding faculity members to the
University.
Harvard has been outbid for sever
al other “star” professors in recent
years. Steven Weinberg, who shared
the Nobel Prize in physics with
Glashow and another scientist, was
hired by the University of Texas two
years ago for a salary reported to be in
excess of $100,000 per year.
At Harvard, the top salaries —
$80,000 per year — go to professors
holding the title of “university profes
sor.” Glashow is not a “university pro
fessor.”
Big money is being spent
to solve campaign worries
by Gary Barker
Battalion Staff
Mark White: “Bill Clements has
run the state’s business for the good
of big business, big utility companies
and big oil companies.”
William Clements: “I’m a busi
nessman, not a politician.”
Clements: “Mark White’s cam
paign financial reports show that he
attempted to keep the source of a
politically embarrassing contribu
tion secret.”
White: “You’ll say anything and
do anything to get re-elected.”
The 1982 Texas race for the gov
ernor’s office is nearing its end and
as usual, both sides are claiming vic
tory. But the winning candidate in
this year’s election won’t win be
cause of clearly defined issues.
The key to this year’s election is
mud — hot, bubbly, dirty mud that
has been thrown back and forth like
two five-year-old boys shouting:
“are too; am not; are too!”
But a Texas A&M political scien
ce professor says it’s just a sign the
race is close.
“It (the mudslinging) is a good
sign that things are fairly close be
Republican candidate Gov. William P. Clements
Democratic candidate Attorney General Mark White.
and
tween the two candidates,” Dr.
Bruce Robeck said. “Otherwise they
wouldn’t be coming out with the
kind of advertisements they’re com
ing out with.”
The main problems each candi
date faced also may have contri
buted to the mudslinging.
Clements’ main problem, Robeck
said, is voters’ perception of his per
sonality; many voters see him as
arrogant, stubborn and uncaring.
“He wouldn’t he emphasizing
some Mr. Nice Guy kinds of adver
tisements and this ‘I’m just plain
Bill, I’m not a politician’ unless he
had poll data indicating that he’s got
a personality problem with a lot of
voters,” Robeck said.
But White has had his campaign
problems, too. He hasnT found a
key issue, and he has failed to excite
the Democratic party, Robeck said.
“White hasn’t found a successful
issue and he’s been struggling to
find some leverage,” Robeck said.
“People don’t perceive any parti
cular dimension of Clements’ as
being bad; there’s no unifying kind
of opposition and so White’s been
searching around switching issues
and switching things around. You
can tell he doesn’t have any lev
erage.”
But White has spent a hefty sum
trying to get leverage and Clements
has spent an even heftier sum trying
to alleviate his image problem.
Clements raised $1 1.8 million —
including a $2 million loan — and as
of Wednesday had spent $11.5 mil
lion. White raised $6.4 million —
including a $2.2 million loan — and
See RACE, page 14
hie year’s come and gone
SMU fans look back, commemorate with foam sabers
' a
pi
by Carol Smith
Battalion Staff
e only sabers that will be bran-
d when the Texas Aggie football
meets the Southern Methodist
niversity football team this weekend
plbe foam rubber sabers — “Saggy
pie Sabers” to be exact.
|t’s been one year since Greg
, an officer of the day at last
srls Texas A&M-SMU football
e, pulled his saber when the SMU
Headers ran on to Kyle Field af-
Ha touchdown to spell S-M-U.
ccording to Texas A&M tradition,
ft only people allowed on Kyle Field
feting the game are members of the
‘ggie band, officials, coaches and
layers.
This year the cheerleaders can
spell S-M-U, Southern Methodist
University or the entire SMU fight
song at Texas Stadium in Dallas with
nothing to fear — except the foam
sabers held by their own fans.
The “Saggy Aggie Sabers” were
created by two SMU graduate stu
dents and Bonnie Wheeler, director
of the Medieval Studies program at
SMU. The idea for the “sabers” was
conceived at a late-night dinner be
tween Wheeler, Roger Siverson and
Mike Tomlin.
“Our mottos are ‘honor with
humor’ and ‘we droop to conquer,”’
Wheeler said. “We felt that with a
president named Shields (SMU presi
dent L. Donald Shields) and a quar
terback named Lance (Mustang quar
terback Lance Mcllhenny), we
needed to commemorate an impor
tant event in the proper spirit.”
Joe Dooley, SMU student body
president, said the sabers are meant
to be fun and humorous. The sabers
aren’t meant to revive the hostility of
the incident, but only to take the sting
out of it, Wheeler added.
“We hope that this is something
that the Aggies will enjoy,” she said.
The sabers are being sold on the
SMU campus and several different
types are available, Wheeler said. The
20-inch foam weapons are available in
different styles — a special “com
memorative edition complete with
the munitions box” that was given to
school officials, a “game edition” for
$3 and the “impressive droop” avail
able through the mail for $5.
“It’s really much less than meets the
eye,” Wheeler said.
In addition to sales on campus, the
sabers also are being sold by mail
through an advertisement in Texas
Monthly, she said.
The sabers have received a consid
erable amount of publicity in the local
media. The Dallas Morning News ran
a photograph of SMU president L.
Donald Shields, chairman of the
board Edwin L. Cox, SMU dean Hal
Williams and Dooley all holding the
sabers. WFAA-TV in Dallas had a
story about the sabers on it’s Tuesday
night telecast.
Dooley said he gave the sabers to
Shields, Cox and Williams at the
Board of Governors meeting earlier
this week. They thought the idea was
clever, Dooley said, and were happy
to see the students have fun with it.
Tom Joseph, head yell leader at
Texas A&M, said he’s not expecting
much hostility from the SMU crowd
this weekend in Dallas.
“I’ll try to get over to their cheer
leaders before the game and talk to
them a little — tell them not to give us
too hard of a time,” he said. “But, I
don’t see any problems with it (the
game). I think it’s all in the college
spirit of fun, but there may still be
some hostility.”
Joseph said no officers of the day
will go to the game, though they
usually attend all away games.
“It was not my decision to make,
but I agree with it,” he said.
Texas Stadium officials suggested
that the ODs not carry their sabers so
the decision was made to not take ODs
at all, Joseph said.
Wheeler doesn’t see a potential for
hostility at the game.
“On one hand we don’t want to
forget the incident, but on the other
hand, violence isn’t our answer —
humor is our answer,” she said.
inside
B)unrl town
4
C|ssified
12
Hpmal
9
Binions
2
'Sports
15
Stile
6
whit’s up
11
forecast
| Today’s Forecast: High around
low around 45. Partly cloudy
today with a chance of rain.
Houston ‘throw down’ suit remanded
United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — A federal
appeals court has ordered a new trial
to reassess damages awarded to the
family of a 17-year-old killed in 1977
by Houston police who then planted a
gun in his hand.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled Thursday a lower
court jury and judge erred by award
ing punitive damages against the city
of Houston and by not awarding
actual damages to the family of Randy
Webster, whose constitutional rights
were violated.
Webster, a Shreveport youth who
stole a van in Houston and drove it
through a storeroom window, was
caught by police after a high-speed
chase and fatally shot while he lay un
armed on the ground.
Police then planted a gun in the
victim’s hand and tried to cover up
the entire incident by disregarding
witnesses’ accounts and resisting
efforts by Webster’s father to deter
mine the truth.
A federal jury found the officers
and the city guilty in a suit brought by
Webster’s parents and awarded the
family significant amounts from the
individual officers and more than
$2,500 in actual damages and
$200,000 in punitive damages from
the city.
Acting on an appeal brought by the
city, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of
Appeals Thursday agreed the jury’s
verdict w’as correct, based on the
police department’s policy of planting
the gun and covering up the incident.
But the three-judge appeals court
panel said U.S. District Judge George
Cire of Houston wrongly allowed the
family to recover punitive damages in
a suit brought against a city and did
not compensate the family in actual
damages for the violation of Webs
ter’s civil rights.
The opinion, which remanded the
case for a new trial only on the issue of
damages, also harshly criticized the
actions of the Houston police depart
ment.
“The innocent, far from being pro
tected, lay on a city street, dying, while
Houston police officers debated
whether to cover up their misdeeds by
placing a ‘throw down’ gun at the vic
tim’s side,” wrote Circuit judge John
Brown.
Basing its decision on a 1981 U.S.
Supreme Court ruling that punitive
damages cannot be assessed against a
municipality except under extremely
abnormal circumstances, the appeals
court found the $200,000 award was
incorrect.
“The plight of Randy Webster,
however reprehensible, however tra
gic, does not rise to the level of out
rageous conduct” necessary to sup
port an award of punitive damages,
Brown wrote.
The appeals court also found the
jury and Judge Cire erred by not
awarded any damages to the family
based on its finding that the police
had violated We? ter’s constitutional
rights.
“Randy Webster had violated the
law, for which he could legitimately
be punished,” Judge Brown wrote.
“Yet no offense can justify the shoot
ing of an unarmed 17-year-old and
the subsequent cover-up by a not in
significant segment of the HPD.
“In taking Randy’s life, the officer
violated his consitutional right to live,
to be free of excessive force, to face
the charges against him and to defend
himself on those charges,” the judge
continued.
“In tacitly condoning the use of
throw downs and then in covering up
this instance of a throw down, the
HPD implicated itself in that constitu
tional violation.”