Page
me battalion
Serving the University community
76 No. 46 USPS 045360 16 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, November 3, 1982
s sparked ri
that
e $20.8 mj ist
for, islefttt
s Fair ends.!
r have tdbti
iVhite wins; Democrats sweep state
the fair
everal!
inoxville
r apartraeii
dwellings a
tourists,
f tourists
hefair'slodj )U ™g economy Tuesday to oust
' : ne-term Republican Gov. William
lementsand regain the stranglehold
teyhad held on state politics for the
" years
I think that certainly there was
United Press International
Texas Democrats used apparent
oter dissatisfaction with the state’s
ix-storypa
lat the m )meresentment to the unsuccessful
olicies we’ve seen in Washington
ver the past year,” said Democratic
ttorney General Mark White, 42,
ho beat Clements by a 54 to 4b per
mit margin.
Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, (32,
turned back an ideological attack by
arch conservative Rep. Jim Collins,
R-Texas, to easily win re-election to a
third term in the Senate.
White, who won despite being out-
spent $11.8 million to $6.3 million by
multi-millionaire oilman Clements,
led a statewide sweep by Democratic
candidates.
“I think it was a straightforward
vote for the nominees of the Demo
cratic Party,” said GOP state Sen. Bill
Meier of Euless, who was beaten in his
race for attorney general. “The peo
ple have had their say.”
The united Democrats turned out
the votes — something they failed to
do when Clements, 65, won four
years ago — to offset the millions of
dollars the Republicans spent.
With White’s mildly surprising vic
tory, the Democrats appeared to re
gain the ground they lost in 1978 with
Clements’ election and the resound
ing win by President Reagan in 1980.
Political analysts predicted earlier
that Clements’ defeat could portend
trouble for Reagan if he seeks re-
election in 1984.
With 84 percent of the vote
counted, White had 1,379,212 votes
or 54 percent to 1,379,212 or 46 per
cent for Clements.
Bentsen tallied 1,473,631 votes or
59 percent to 1,023,516 votes or 41
percent for Collins.
Clements apparently suffered
from a downturn of the Texas eco
nomy over the last three months. But
he sought to buffer the state’s record
8.2 percent unemployment by com
paring it with other states with worse
statistics.
Vice President George Bush, cam
paigning on election eve in Dallas and
Houston, hailed Clements as the
architect of the strongest state eco
nomy in the nation. But apparently
voters didn’t buy it.
White said he won because “we
dealt with the issues, we talked about
the problems that faced the people of
Texas and had solutions for those
problems.”
Bentsen said in Austin that he won
because voters were concerned about
economic and social problems. He
called on Republicans and Democrats
to join hands in addressing the na
tion’s problems.
Collins, 66, had centered his cam
paign around attacks on Bentsen as
an ultra-liberal. His defeat ended a
14-year career in Congress.
“Victory still isn’t the most impor
tant thing in the world,” he said. “We
have a plan for the future and we still
have it.”
Democrats also swept the races for
lieutenant governor, attorney gener
al, treasurer, comptroller, agriculture
commissioner, railroad commission
er, land commissioner.
The GOP held on to the five con
gressional seats it held in the last Con
gress.
Texas voters also elected two new
appeals court judges, a new Legisla
ture and added six new amendments
to the state Constitution.
Austin headquarters:
some glad; some sad
y IT
i Pizza
RY
by Robert McGlohon
Battalion Staff
AUSTIN — Tuesday, Nov. 2,
1982, was a day that will not be soon
forgotten. For some, it will be remem
bered as a day of dreams coming true.
Others will remember only defeat
and regret.
Perhaps the people with the fon
dest memories of Tuesday will be
those who attended Governor-elect
Mark White’s election night recep
tion. It was a wild one.
As the night wore on, and the re
turns came in, the hotel hosting what
became White’s victory celebration
became packed with people — cam
paign workers, party loyalists, repor
ters, photographers and the idly cu
rious.
As it became more and more ob
vious that White had ousted Texas’
first Republican governor in more
than a century — and with a comfort
able margin at that — the atmosphere
grew giddy and excitement ran ram
pant.
Hundreds of people crowded
around the platform at which White
was to give his victory speach. They
were impatient for their hero to
appear.
They shouted, cheered, chanted —
with no results. Were they discour
aged? No. Theyjust shouted, cheered
and chanted some more.
Finally, at midnight — with more
than 75 percent of the votes counted
— White, along with his wife and
three children, mounted the platform
and claimed victory.
He also reaffirmed his promise to
lower electric bills in Texas.
“I will maintain my pledge and my
commitment I made throughout the
campaign and that is to make sure we
have a Public Utility Commission that
is not a lap dog but will be a watchdog
The crowd at Gov. William Clements’
reception wasn’t quite as joyful.
Shortly after the returns began to
come in, it was clear Clements was
fighting a losing battle. With only 10
percent of the votes counted, White
already was leading by about 30,000
votes. The margin fluctuated, but
Clements never pulled ahead.
Clements, who won the 1978
gubernatorial race by less than one
percent of the vote, wasn’t going to
concede the election prematurely,
though.
But by 2 a.m. the reults were inevit
able.
Two hours alter White claimed
victory, Clements, with his wife at his
side, admitted defeat.
“If the returns continue as they are,
we will indeed have a new governor in
Texas,” he said. “And Rita and I wish
Mark White success for all Texans.
There is nothing else to say. That’s
the way it is.”
Hog-wild about bonfire
staff photo by Jorge Casari
Junior redpot Craig Barker, a range
science major from Corpus Christi,
proudly displays Sergebutt, the bonfire
mascot. Sergebutt, alias Cheesebreath,
arrived Monday and replaced the
temporary mascot, an armadillo.
Democrats carry county;
turn-out tops 50 percent
ys
Pizza
" or 20"!
Plane crash kills evangelist
Pizza
IY
> , s
Lester Roloff
4zza
■■■
20"
Pizza
[Y
•izza
A
antee
liveredin
ites fro®
lered
J
IC1A
W**
United Press International
N0RMANGEE — Evangelist Les-
:f Roloff, who gained national rec-
gnition in his battle against state
:ensing of his homes for girls and
)ys,died Tuesday with four others
the crash of a plane in central
exas.
Leon County Justice of the Peace
eddy Rodell said Roloff and the
oiir women were dead at the scene
(a pasture 3 miles north of Nor-
Mgeein Leon County, midway be-
•een Houston and Dallas.
Federal Aviation Administration
wkesman George Burlage said
ierewere thunderstorms in tire area
hen the FAA Houston flight control
enter lost Roloffs plane from its
adarat 10:18 a.m.
We’ve not established a cause for
'ecrash,” he said.
Leon County sheriff s department
trials said there was no apparent
ite, but the fuselage of the single-
ngme Cessna 210 landed upside
own and wreckage was scattered
*er the field.
Irene Patterson, a secretary at
iloff Evangelistic Enterprises in
-orpus Christi, said Roloff, 68, was
to Kansas City for a speaking
engagement. She did not know where
he was scheduled to speak.
Also killed in the crash were Susan
Lynn Smith, 28, a resident of Roloff s
Jubilee Home; Elaine Wingert, 30, a
staff member at the Jubilee Home;
Cheryl Palmer, early 20s, a Jubilee
resident; and Enola Slade, early 20s, a
Jubilee resident.
The women were to sing at the
Kansas City engagement, Patterson
said.
All the bodies were taken to Green
Funeral Home in Centerville.
Patterson, who has been Roloffs
secretary for one year, described the
man as “a very, very wise man.
She added: “I can’t think anything
in my mind at the moment. This is
terrible and very traumatic ”
The plane was registered to Roloff
Evangelistic Enterprises. Patterson
said Roloff was an experienced pilot.
Gov. Bill Clements, busy with last
minute campaigning in major urban
areas in the state on the election day,
said he was “shocked and grieved to
learn of the untimely death of brother
Lester Roloff.”
“Brother Roloff was a singularly-
dedicated and committted individual
whose ministry and devotion gave
dies
productive new lives to thousands of
wayward, neglected and underpri
vileged youngsters who had been li
terally written off by society,” he said.
“He was a great Texan doing God’s
work.”
Roloff, a fundamentalist preacher,
drew national attention during an
eight-year fight against state licensing
of his three South Texas homes for
delinquent children.
Roloff resisted, and sometimes de
fied, state-ordered licensing. He was
twice jailed for contempt for refusing
the court order, and his Rebekah and
Lighthouse homes were shut down in
1979. They later reopened as part of
his People’s Church of Corpus
Christi.
Of his continuing fight against the
licensing procedures, Roloff said,
“We’re living in a welfare, socialistic
sort of government and they’re taking
over. When they step over and re
place God they’re out of place.”
In April 1981, a state district judge
in Austin ruled that as part of the
church, the homes were exempt from
licensing or inspection by state wel
fare officials.
rW
fsloY ^
J
-
hi
inside
Around town
Classified....
National
Opinions....
Sports
Slate
t’sup....
4
6
11
2
13
7
12
forecast
Today’s Forecast: High in the
iid-60s. Low in the low 50s. Partly
oudy today with a 50 percent
lance of rain today, increasing to
JOpercent chance of rain tonight.
Pope urges Spain
to defend system
United Press International
MADRID, Spain — Pope John Paul
II urged Spain’s politicians Tuesday
to defend the nation’s fledgling
democratic system that elected a so
cialist government last week despite
threatened rightwing military plots.
Addressing Spain’s political and
military leaders during a royal palace
reception hosted by King Juan Car
los, the pope said he wanted no one to
doubt his respect for duly elected gov-
erments.
“Though my visit has an eminently
religious character,” John Paul said,
“I want to greet and pay my respects
to the legitimate representatives of
the Spanish people — respects that I
wanted to express with no shadow of a
doubt well before I arrived in Spain
and which I now repeat openly before
you.”
The pontiff, on the first papal visit
to Spain, congratulated Prime Minis
ter-elect Felipe Gonzalez and military
leaders for building freedom within
“legitimate options” days after Social
ists swept to victory at the polls.
Gonzalez, 40, a self-avowed agnos
tic, bowed respectfully as he shook
hands with the pope in the red-and-
gold reception room of the Royal
Palace.
From stafT and wire reports
Brazos County voters elected
Democratic candidates to nearly ev
ery local office Tuesday.
Despite heavy rains, more than 50
percent of the registered voters in the
county turned out to vote — a higher
than expected percentage.
County Clerk Frank Boriskie had
predicted that about 18,500 voters
would turn out to vote Tuesday. The
final count was more than 19,800 bal
lots cast — a 52 percent voter turn-out
for Brazos County.
Voting results in Brazos County
are as follows:
Democrat Carolyn L. Ruffino was
elected Judge, County Court at Law,
over Republican Steve Smith. Ruffino
received 59 percent to Smith’s 40 per
cent. On campus, Smith took 74 per
cent of the votes to Ruffino’s 25 per
cent.
Incumbent County Treasurer B.V.
“Bill” Elkins, a Democrat, defeated
Republican John T. Leverette. Elkins
took 62 percent of the votes to
Leverette’s 37 percent. On campus,
Leverette was the winner with 74 per
cent to Elkin’s 25 percent.
In the race for county commission
er, Precinct 4, Democrat Milton Tur
ner handily beat Republican Betty
Miller by 66 percent to 33 percent.
In the county’s only GOP victory,
Republican Hugh Lindsay won over
Democrat E.W. Sawyers for Justice of
the Peace, Precinct 7. Lindsay re
ceived 61 percent to Sawyers’ 38 per
cent.
Incumbent Democrat Phil Gramm
easily won his race against Libertarian
Ron Hard for U.S. Representative
from District 6. Gramm received 90
percent of the votes to Hard’s 9 per
cent.
State Sen. Kent A. Caperton easily
won re-election from District 5 over
Don Stallman. Caperton received 88
percent of the vote to Stallman’s 11
percent.
In statewide races, Brazos County
voted as follows:
For governor, local voters chose
Democrat Mark White over incum
bent Gov. William Clements by 1 per
centage point. Clements received 48
percent, 9,388 votes, to White’s 49
percent, 9,641 votes. On campus in
Precinct 20, Clements carried 77 per
cent of the vote to owhite’s 19 percent.
Local voters favored the Democra
tic incumbent, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby,
over Republican George Strake. Hob
by took 52 percent of the local vote to
Strake’s 42 percent. Strake won the
on-campus vote in Precinct 20 with 71
percent to Hobby’s 27 percent.
Incumbent U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bent
sen, a Democrat, carried the county
against Republican challenger Jim
Collins. Bentsen took 55 percent of
the votes to Collins’ 42 percent. On
campus, Collins beat Bentsen 68 per
cent to 29 percent.
staff photo by Ronnie Emerson
Man on the street
Maggie Dromgoole, a graduate student Fairfax, Va., about the election,
studying radio-TV newswriting, asks John Dromgoole was doing a project for a
Dungan, junior marketing major from journalism class.