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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 1982)
‘Annie’ has no hard knocks Ex-Panther changes ways see page 4 Battalion Serving the University community >■35. Pea 76 No. 68 USPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, December 7, 1982 rooks nation’s first die by injection pair. toe; t D-E-F. United Press International HUNTSVILLE — Charlie Brooks, Ivicted of murdering a bound-and- |ged auto mechanic six years ago, executed with a lethal dose of Jugs early today, making him the first inmate in the nation to die by [•injection. Brooks, 40, the sixth man — and irst black — to be executed since the J.S. Supreme Court ended its mora- rium on capital punishment in jiy, was given a lethal drug injection 12:09 a.m. today and was declared id seven minutes later. |0ne witness said the death was ry peaceful.” Another witness said oks briefly gasped for air and in fell silent. Brooks’ last words were “I love 'bu,” spoken to his girlfriend as he ras wheeled, strapped to a hospital [Urney, into the red brick death Ember that until 1964 held the late’s electric chair. iiAmerican Civil Liberties Union ssic pleat! tomeys Monday made seven de- lOCk ra I 61316 a PP ea l s U P to ^e final mi- , ...lies of Brooks’ life. pOlyeSli|a bid before the U.S. Supreme 3-11 |urt to stay the execution failed a VOW ■ ® r or ted ers 79 few hours before midnight when the justices voted 6-3 not to intervene. Texas Gov. William Clements could have stopped the death sentence, but left his office early Monday evening — having refused a last ditch appeal. Lawyers also made pleas to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and other pleas to the Texas Courts of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and U.S. District Judge David O. Be- lew in Fort Worth. The final rejection came from the 5th circuit court at 11:55 p.m. By then Brooks already was in the death chamber. Doctors pierced his arm with a nee dle attached to a tube that led into another room where an unknown ex ecutioner waited. A neutral saline solution began running through the tube at 11:30 p.m. At 12:09 a.m. sodium thiopental was injected into the tube. Experts said the sodium thiopental numbed the pain center of the brain and stopped involuntary breathing. Correction officials said other drugs — pavulon to relax the prison er’s muscles and potassium chloride to cause cardiac arrest — were on hand as backup, but could not im mediately say whether or not they were used. “He was nervous as if he was wait ing to feel a change,” said Dick Reavis, a Texas Monthly magazine reporter who also was one of the official wit nesses. “He looked up and he yawned. It was a long deep yawn. Af ter that he wheezed, maybe 15 seconds. I would say that by the time he finished the yawn he was gone.” Brooks had said he did not want to die although as a recently converted Moslem he believed in capital punish ment. Brooks was the first of 172 Texas death row inmates to be executed. He was the first person executed in Texas in 18 years. On Dec. 14, 1976, Brooks and accomplice Woody Loudres, who also is black, abducted 26-year-old Fort Worth auto mechanic David Gregory. The victim was taken to a hotel where he was bound, gagged and shot in the head. Loudres pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and is serving a 40-year prison sentence. Staff photo by Irene Mees Rudolph Finds the MSC Knowing about unpredictable Texas weather, the reindeers of squadron K-2 dressed appropriately — in long-johns. Santa was pulled in a sleigh for an unannounced visit to the Memorial Student Center after the Christmas tree lighting. K-2 sang to the audience after the Singing Cadets finished their Christmas program. ONLY . Texas A&M University President Frank E. Vandiver opens his door to hear the beautiful music of the MrOv Residence Hall Association carolers Wednesday night. Let the music in ige bu/rtfR ? c-clng ! . jes wift heavy- bu\l ervice commemorates ^earl Harbor bombing MV Ion 11" n 9 United Press International HONOLULU — Forty-one years jo today, a precision three-wave tack by Japanese torpedo planes •o' lid dive bombers laid the U.S. Pacific Fleet in ruins in less than two hours and plunged the United States into florid War II. The anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, was to be commemorated today by the blow ing of a shipyard whistle, a moment of silence, a gunfire volley and a Hawaiian Air National Guard “fly- )ver” above the recently restored USS Arizona memorial. Private services were to be held |board the Arizona Memorial to hon- r the men killed in the surprise hack. Joseph K. Taussigjr., deputy assis- s deb 8 panf$ 0 d ste^ cooW iant sec etary of the Navy, who was , fcverely wounded on the USS Nevada uring the attack, was to give the ynote address at the ceremony. Taussig was seriously injured while banning an anti-aircraft battle sta tion. He refused medical evacuation and took control of all the ship’s bat teries. The scheduled ceremony also in cluded floral wreath presentations by various military, patriotic and civic organizations. Beneath the memorial, in the sunk en hull of the Arizona, the bodies of 1,178 men remain entombed. For many years the count was one less, but an urn containing the ashes of a for mer crewman, who asked to be buried with his former shipmates, was lo wered into the hull last year. In less than two hours that Sunday morning 41 years ago, the United States’ Pacific Fleet was shattered. Japanese planes sank or damaged 18 of the 96 ships in the harbor. The three destroyed include the memorialized Arizona, the Utah, which was being used as a target ship and remains where it sank, and the Oklahoma, which was raised and sunk again off Honolulu to clear the harbor. Five captured Texas prisoners face extradition, felony charges United Press International MCKINNEY — Five Collin County prisoners who sawed their way out of jail only to be captured after a few hours freedom, faced felony escape charges and extradition to Texas from jails in Kansas and Louisiana. Two of the escaped inmates, one of whom was being held in a McKinney murder, were captured Sunday in Monroe, La., following a stop for a routine traffic violation. Authorities in McKinney late Mon day said extradition proceedings would be initiated for all five escapees. Johnny Bazan, 24, the murder sus pect, and Mitchelle Triche, 22, were arrested in Monroe without incident by Kelley Smith Battalion Reporter Draft registration at Texas A&M University is about the same as the national percentage, but a telephone poll shows that the compliance rate would drop if registration wasn’t mandatory. Of 100 Texas A&M freshman men surveyed, 97 said they have registered with the Selective Service. The na tional average is 96 percent. Since the Justice Department started prosecuting draft dodgers, the national registration rate has in creased, but it still is down about 2 percent from past registration eras. “Compliance increased drastically after each major prosecution,” said Col. Ronald Andreen, senior opera tions officer with the Selective Service in Chicago. For each highly publi cized prosecution, the national rate rose about 1 percent, he said. The first prosecution for failure to register was in June 1982. Since then, more than a hundred men have been indicted nationwide, but only six have been convicted. “We are not out to prosecute any body — we just want to see them com ply with the law,” Andreen said. “Convictions are not our goal.” Although the absence of an actual draft may be one reason for the de crease in compliance, many men don’t register because they don’t know about registration require- after an officer stopped a van for an improper turn. Both men were being held on fugi tive warrants out of Collin County. All five suspects escaped from the Collin County jail early Friday by saw ing through bars on a cell window. “After they broke out here, they stole a van and drove to Dallas, where they split up. The three of them stole an old Cadillac and drove to Kansas. They stole some plates in Wichita (Wichita Falls, Texas). The other two headed for Louisiana in the van,” Terry Box, Collin County chief depu ty said Monday. The three other inmates were arrested Saturday after the stolen ments, Andreen said. “We are continually trying to notify people through the media of the requirement,” he said. Most media efforts are made in larger cities where compliance is a lit tle lower than the national average. The lower registration rate in large cities results from higher unemploy ment levels, he said. In addition, the higher concentration of minorities in larger cities may not be aware of re quirements because of language bar riers, he said. Texas A&M students who have not registered gave different reasons for not complying. One 19-year-old said the post office was out of forms when he went to register and he just has not been back. Another said he does not support a registration system and has not decided whether he will register. The freshmen surveyed were selected systematically from the 1982- 83 Campus Directory. One freshman male was selected from each of 100 pages of the student directory. When the students were asked if they still would have registered if re gistration wasn’t mandatory, the com pliance rate dropped more than 20 percent. Only 75 percent said they would have registered, 24 percent said they would not have registered and 1 percent was undecided. The main reason for not register- Cadillac crashed and rolled following a chase by a Kansas trooper. Nicholas Joseph Rahaley, 39, of Texarkana; Brett Channing Malone, 21, of Dallas, and Joe Nathan Tho mas, 25, of Dallas, were being held in Hays, Kan., following their arrest in nearby Gorham, Kan. “We have officers in Kansas and will be sending someone to Monroe,” Box said. “It’ll probably be (Tuesday) afternoon before we get them back to Texas.” Monroe authorities said Bazan and Triche gave them false names. Police Maj. Don Hill said the men identified themselves as Inex Ayala Bazan of McKinney and Wayne John son of Monroe. ing cited by the 24 percent was that they did not want to be drafted. Others who opposed registration said the decision to serve in the armed forces should be an individual’s choice. Others said they were against war and anything related to it. Many of the students who said they would not register if the draft was not mandatory did agree, however, that some registration system was needed in case of emergency. Of the students surveyed, 91 percent said they sup- f iorted the registration system and elt it is necessary. Social Security records and Inter nal Revenue Service records are sear ched to find men who have not regis tered. Sometimes, however, finding the draft evaders is not too difficult, Andreen said. “Some people wrote in to us saying they refused to register,” he said. “Some were reported by friends, neighbors and family.” In one case, a federal judge dismis sed charges against David Wayte, 21, of California, who refused to register. The judge ruled that the presidential order reinstituting registration was invalid, but the decision will be appealed. see DRAFT page 6 “I don’t know how to explain the differences in names, but the people apparently were trying to give false names and addresses,” Hill said. “I think they were trying to see if they could buy out of it.” Kansas Highway Patrolman Larry Smith, whose foot was run over dur ing the pursuit of three of the prison ers in western Kansas, said he wanted all three charged with aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and eluding an officer. Bazan was charged with driving without a license in Louisiana and Box said additional charges would probably be filed against the five, in cluding auto theft. No Silver Taps Silver Taps will not be held tonight because no Texas A&M stu dents have died since the last cere mony. Silver Taps is held the first Tues day night of each month, unless no student deaths are reported to the Student Affairs Office. The cere mony honors currently enrolled stu dents who have died. Editor renamed Diana Sultenfuss has been re nominated as editor of The Batta lion for the spring semester. The Student Publications Board made the selection at their Dec. 3 meeting. The nomination must be confirmed by the vice president for academic affairs. inside Classified 6 Local 3 National... 8 Opinions 2 Sports. .. , 11 State 5 What’s up 9 forecast Today’s Forecast: Clear skies through today. High of about 65, with tonight’s low in the 40s. Cool front coming in Wednesday, possi bility of a few showers. High Wednesday in the upper 50s. University draft registration equals national percentage