TUTSC' 1 ** J-i- < -
The Battalion
Serving the University community
76 No. 61 USPS 045360 14 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, November 24, 1982
onfire falls;
uthouse hits
enior cadet
by Rebeca Zimmermann
Battalion Staff
I ".Vo spectacle is nobler than a
J m. " —Samuel Johnson.
Even when the blaze was a coi
ned bonfire, it still was a noble sight
rmany people Tuesday night, but it
§o prompted gasps and concern
I en the outhouse atop the stack fell
one of the bonfire coordinators,
n The outhouse plummeted to the
|ound as the structure collapsed into
disorganized pile at 8:04 p.m. — just
minutes after the slack was lit.
The outhouse, which hadn’t
ught fire, fell on Air Force Senior
inrdinator Jose Lucas “Pep” Guer-
,but he was unhurt.
"It (the outhouse) just fell on him
d we rolled it off,” said Red pot Joe
:e, a senior engineering technology
ajor. Redpots coordinate the build-
gof the bonfire.
Redpot James Starr, a senior poli-
alscience major, said the outhouse
Jl on Guerra and within three
seconds other redpots had lifted it off
!m.
I Starr said an emergency medical
thnician and a doctor checked
lierra and said he wasn’t hurt. But
lierra was taken to St. Joseph Hos-
lasa precautionary measure.
r in or lose,
class Monday
Texas A&M President Frank FT
wdiver said Tuesday that classes
ill lie held Monday — regardless of
|e outcome of Thursday’s football
|r,te against the University of Texas.
Guerra was treated and released
later Tuesday night.
Redpots disagreed on the cause of
the collapse.
Starr said bonfire could have col
lapsed for any number of reasons.
“There is really no explanation,”
Starr said. “It was built the same as it
always has been.”
Lee said the bonfire began to twist,
which often occurs, but this year the
stack continued to move.
“It twisted from the base where the
second and third cross ties are, and
since everything is attached to the
centerpole, the whole thing twisted,”
he said.
Before the stack collapsed, the
bonfire scene was similar to past
years.
Redpots, yell leaders and Aggie
Band drum majors carried torches to
light the stack while the Aggie Band
played the War Hymn.
Numb fingers, the smell of beer,
little and big kids perched on people’s
shoulders and “humping it” were all
part of Tuesday night’s bonfire.
“This is better than any Girl Scout
fire,” said Peggy Bryan, a freshman
computing science major from Clean,
N. Y., who was at her first bonfire.
University President Frank E. Van
diver and Head Coach Jackie Sherrill
spoke at the yell practice.
Sherrill’s introductions of seniors
on the football team were interrupted
when the bonfire collapsed.
“It (the collapsed bonfire) looks
like a box of pretzels,” said Mary Mil-
lan, a freshman elementary education
major from Houston.
But the collapse didn’t seem to
dampen
“It’s
fell,” Starr said.
open Aggie spirit.
“It’s no less a bonfire because it
Reagan
thinks
The 1982 Texas A&M bonfire
staff photo by Rob Snider
oard names new A&M vice president
by Denise Richter
Battalion Staff
A former student has “come home” to serve
nice president for fiscal affairs.
Dr, Eddie J. Davis, Class of’67, was named to
le position Tuesday by the Texas A&M Board
Regents.
Davis, 37, currently serves as vice president
)r fiscal affairs and treasurer at North Texas
late University.
| The appointment of a vice president for
leal affairs completes Texas A&M President
Irank E. Vandiver’s reorganization of the top
IniVersity administration. Under the reorgani-
Itioiij the position of vice president for plan
ing has been eliminated and the duties of the
|ce president for business affairs have been
Iviaed between the vice president for opera
tions and the vice president for fiscal affairs.
The board also passed a resolution com
mending regents H.C. “Dulie” Bell of Austin,
John R. Blocker of Houston and Dr. John C.
Coleman of Houston for their service as mem
bers of the board. The three regents’ terms
expire in January.
“This isn’t to say these individuals won’t be
back here in January,” Board Chairman H.R.
“Bum” Bright of Dallas said. “The resolution
just expresses the appreciation of the System
for the work, attention and interest they have
given.”
A resolution of appreciation also was pre
sented to Robert G. Cherry, secretary to the
board and vice chancellor for public affairs.
Cherry, who has been with the System for
almost 40 years, will retire in January.
In other business, the board decided to seek
state support for the new Institute for Ventures
in New Technology, known as INVENT. The
institute, which is designed to help small firms
and inventors develop new products, is oper
ated by the Texas Engineering Experiment Sta
tion.
INVENT was recognized in the governor’s
Texas 2000 report as an example to be followed
in the development of a stronger and more
diversified high-technology industrial base.
Other action approved by the board in
cluded:
• a $360,000 appropriation for the purchase
and installation of computer software for an
on-line registration system.
• a $500,000 appropriation for a 128-
terminal system that will provide interactive
computing.
• a center f or engineering geosciences, which
will be established under the Earth Resources
Institute in the College of Geosciences.
• a center for retailing studies, which will be
established in the Department of Marketing in
the College of BTtsiness Administration.
In action Mond'ay, regents selected the west
campus as the site of the Texas A&M industrial
park and approved the establishment of a re
search and extension center in San Antonio.
The board also called for the formation of a
four-member steering committee, made up of
local officials and a Texas A&M System repre
sentative, to oversee the development of a re
gional air facility at Bryan Air Base.
United Press International
SANT A BARBARA, Calif. — Pres
ident Reagan today began the first
full day of a holiday vacation trying to
decide what measures beyond a job-
creating highway repair program to
recommend to stimulate the eco
nomy.
Reagan arrived in California Tues
day to spend Thanksgiving with his
family at his secluded mouhtaintop
ranch and prepare for a five-day trip
to Latin America next week.
Aides expect his stay to be sub
dued, but before leaving Washington
Tuesday he made a splash by
announcing support for a 5-cent
gasoline tax hike to finance a $5.5
billion program to repair the nation’s
deteriorating roads and bridges.
Reagan said the program would
cost the average motorist $30 a year.
And while insisting the bill is a re
sponse to the state of the federal road
system and not 10.4 percent unem
ployment, administration officials
estimated it would help spawn
320,000 jobs.
Aides said the gas-tax increase is
one of several initiatives Reagan will
recommend for congressional action
during the post election-session that
begins Monday.
After appearing on short notice in
the White House press room to en
dorse the gas-tax rise, Reagan prom
ised “a series of other measures that
would help give our economy a fresh
boost as we head into 1983.”
Presidential counselor Edwin
Meese told reporters accompanying
Reagan to California there are “a few
things floating around” that could be
used to stimulate the economy, but
provided few details.
Said Meese, “It will not be a vast,
extensive package, but will be a num
ber of things Congress should look at
in a comprehensive way.”
One option still under considera
tion, aides said, is a six-month acceler
ation in the 10 percent tax cut sche
duled for next July 1.
Reagan and some top advisers be
lieve speeding up the cut would be a
boost to the economy, but the propos
al is opposed by other members of the
administration and congressional
leaders because it would add to a de
ficit many already consider unaccept
ably large.
Administration officials said
Reagan also may offer a proposal to
attack high unemployment among
young people, possibly in the form of
a “subminimum wage” to encourage
the hiring of teenage workers.
White House aides went to lengths
to dispute suggestions Reagan had
been a “Johnnie-come-lately” to the
gas tax plan, which he endorsed only
after it had received broad bipartisan
support in Congress.
Staffer to sue System
over pay held for IRS
by Robert McGlohon
Battalion Staff
An assistant training specialist for
the Texas Engineering Extension
Service says he plans to file suits today
against both the Texas A&M System
and J.R. Green, an Internal Revenue
Service agent.
Jim B. Hendrix said he will file the
suits because the TEES f iscal office, at
the request of the IRS, is withholding
money from his paycheck to pay for
delinquent taxes.
Hendrix said that according to his
contract he can be fired only for in
competence or moral turpitude —
both of which fail to apply in this case,
he said. By withholding his pay with
out his consent, the System is, in
effect, firing him without a legitimate
reason, he said.
John Skrabonek, TEES fiscal offic
er, said the agency is bound by law to
comply with the IRS request.
William Briggs, controller for the
Business Office of Engineering Ser
vices, said: “If we were to give this
check to him, we could be liable to the
IRS.”
Hendrix said the second suit
charges Green with denying him due
process in filing a levy on his
paycheck. The levy was not court-
ordered and therefore is illegal, Hen
drix said.
Green was unavailable for com
ment.
But, Bob Branson, public affairs
officer for the Austin district of the
IRS, said that while he is not familiar
with Hendrix’s case, IRS agents do
have the authority to place a levy on
the paychecks of people who owe the
government tax money.
The Internal Revenue Code states
that an agent can place a levy on a
person’s property, property rights or
paycheck 10 days after he has been
notified that he is delinquent in the
payment of taxes.
Hendrix does not deny that he has
not paid his income tax. In fact, he
said, he has not paid income tax since
1976.
Hendrix said he does not pay in
come tax — or file a return — because
he disapproves of such governmental
actions as government-supported
abortions. He said income tax laws are
unconstitutional and he does not plan
on paying taxes again.
“I think I can safely say that I will
never file another income tax return
as long as I live,” Hendrix said. “I
don’t care whether they put me in jail,
take my possessions or what they do.
“I’ve come too far now. I’ve gone
through too much. And I’m not going
to give up.”
MSA
t ir
Bond set for men
charged in kidnap
inside
Say goodbye to summer
photo by Karen Giles
Now that fall’s here, this
of us won’t be enjoying.
McGhee of the Aggie
is a sport most
Sophomore John
swimming team
demonstrates his diving form — just a
few warm days ago. McGhee is a biology
major from the Woodlands.
United Press International
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Bond has
been set at $1 million cash for two
Texans facing federal charges in the
“Army of God” abduction of an Illi
nois abortion clinic owner and his
wife.
Authorities continued their search
for a third suspect described as poss
ibly armed and dangerous.
Wayne A. Moore, 18, appeared
before U.S. Magistrate Charles Evans
in Springfield while his 20-year-old
brother, Matthew M., went before
U.S. Magistrate Frank Waltermire in
Houston Monday.
Both men, formerly of New
Caney, are charged with extortion.
Classified
Local
National. .
Opinions .
Sports. ...
State
What’s up.
10
3
9
2
ll
7
9
forecast
Today’s Forecast: Cloudy skies
today with cool temperatures and a
30 percent chance of rain. High in
the mid 50s, with tonight’s low in
the upper 30s.