i
76 No. 92 USPS 045360 14 Pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, February 8, 1983
Jury acquits Chagra
in Wood murder case
United Press International
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — With two
witnesses and a 12-minute defense, a
Las Vegas lawyer left in shambles the
government’s $11-million investiga
tion into the killing of U.S. District
Judge John Wood.
A jury of 10 women and two men
late Monday found Jamiel “Jimmy”
Chagra innocent of masterminding
the murder of the San Antonio judge
known as “Maximum John” for the
long sentences he meted out to drug
offenders.
Chagra was the principal target of
an investigation the government said
was the costliest since the assassina
tion of President John F. Kennedy.
The hitman in the case, Charles V.
Harrelson, was convicted of the mur
der in December. Chagra’s brother,
Joe, pleaded guilty to conspiring with
him in the killing; his wife was con
victed of conspiracy to murder.
“My brother was forced to lie,”
Chagra said as he left the courthouse.
But the jury — which was not
allowed to hear about the previous
convictions — apparently believed
defender Oscar Goodman’s conten
tion that Chagra’s tape-recorded
statements that he engineered the
killing were merely prison bragging.
The Las Vegas gambler said he was
thankful for two things — Goodman
and the change of venue from San
Antonio, granted due to the enor
mous publicity generated by the case
there.
The government claimed Chagra
had Wood killed on the day he was to
appear before him in a drug smug
gling case, fearing the length of the
sentence he might receive.
Chagra, 38, who already was serv
ing a 30-year prison sentence for nar
cotics and racketeering convictions,
was found guilty of two lesser charges
— conspiracy to obstruct justice and
conspiracy to possess, with intent to
distribute, 1,000 pounds of mari
juana. Both charges surfaced largely
from secretly taped conversations in
which he discussed smuggling 1,000
pounds of marijuana into the country
to finance an escape from Leaven
worth prison.
The jury spent nearly 20 hours
over four days deliberating after a
four-week trial.
Chagra was indicted on charges he
paid Harrelson $250,000 to kill
Wood, who was slain with a high-
powered rifle as he was getting into
his car outside his San Antonio home
May 29, 1979.
Goodman, in his 12-minute de
fense presentation and in his final
arguments, attacked the credibility of
Jerry Ray James, a “habitual criminal”
serving time at Leavenworth who
taped his conversations with Chagra.
Goodman brought out that the
government had promised James his
release from prison and rewards of
up to $250,000 if Chagra was con
victed.
He admitted that Chagra paid Har
relson $250,000, but claimed his
client was being blackmailed, and that
all the incriminating statements
gleaned by James were nothing but a
new inmate wanting to look like a
“tough guy.”
U.S. District JutJge William H. Ses
sions scheduled Chagra’s sentencing
on the obstruction and marijuana
counts for March 8 in San Antonio.
That is the date Harrelson, Chagra’s
wife and Harrelson’s wife also are set
for sentencing.
Chagra still faces another trial for
federal income tax evasion involving
alleged failure to declare gambling
winnings between 1976 to 1979. That
trial is scheduled for March 14.
Soviet-made rockets fired
at Mideast negotiation site
aid
111
First safety precaution
Students in Health Education 216 (First Aid) learn how
to help save lives through cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR). Leslie Hendricks, a junior physical education
major from Corpus Christi, practices cleaning out a
victim’s mouth on a dummy here. Students in the class
will be learning CPR techniques during February.
\ Soviet
inally
satellite
down
United Press International
Two Soviet-made Katyusha rockets
were fired from inside Beirut toward
the site of the Israeli-Lebanese troop
withdrawal talks in Khalde Monday,
falling just off the coast from where
the negotiators met, police said.
The rocket attack coincided with
new artillery battles between Christ
ians and Moslems in the mountains
east of Beirut that shattered an
Israeli-mediated cease-fire only
hours after it was announced.
Police said the Katyusha rockets
were fired from inside Beirut and
landed in the sea off Khalde, where
Israeli, U.S. and Lebanese nego
tiators held their 13th session on
troop withdrawals Monday without
reporting progress.
Beirut newspapers said Antoine
Fattal, Lebanon’s chief negotiator
and adviser to President Amin
Gemayel, would continue to insist on
a complete withdrawal of an esti
mated 30,000 Israeli troops from
Lebanon.
Italian peacekeepers found two
more Katyushas on a rack on the roof
of a building in the southern Beirut
suburb of Ouzai, police said.
It was the second attack on the
tpeeting site since the talks tuegan in
December. On Jan. 24 an explosion
occured only 400 yards from the hotel
where the negotiators meet. The
Lebanese army said it was a bomb, but
Israel said it also was a Katyusha.
In the Shouf-Aley mountains east
of Beirut, artillery battles between
Christians and Moslems resumed late
Monday afternoon near Aley, a key
town 10 miles southeast of Beirut
which was overrun Sunday by Druze
Moslems.
Christian Phalange radio said mili
tias from the Druze village of Aitat
battled fighters from the Christian
village of Souk-alGharb with all types
of weapons, including artillery.
The latest fighting came only hours
after Brig. Gen. Amnon Lipkin, the
Israeli commander of Aley, told re
porters that Christian and Druze
.leaders had. agreed to stop-carrying
arms and exchange prisoners to end
the bloodshed.
He said if the cease-fire was not
respected, “we will intervene.”
Lipkin also told reporters his
troops were in full control of Aley
Monday after Sunday’s fighting.
Aley’s capture by Druze militias
Sunday was the first serious setback
for Christian militias of the Lebanese
Forces who moved into the predomi
nantly Druze mountains after Israel
invaded Lebanon June 6. Israeli
forces have occupied the mountains
since shortly after the invasion.
Reporters Monday visiting Aley, a
mostly Christian town of 10,000 peo
ple, said it was deserted except for
Druze militiamen. They said it was
heavily damaged. Unconfirmed re
ports said the town was hit by numer
ous-artillery-baerages.
In a statement published Monday
by Beirut newspapers, the Druze said
their forces captured Aley after driv
ing “the last of the rightist (Christian)
militiamen out of the town Sunday.”
The Druze said 25 Phalangists were
killed in the fighting.
Beirut’s An Nahar reported 30
homes were burned and as many as
40 people were killed or wounded in
the fighting.
E. K)'l
Rudde
United Press International
(WASHINGTON — The nuclear
eaitor of a shattered Soviet spy satel-
3vaporized Monday as it re-entered
f atmosphere over the South Atlan-
,100 miles east of Brazil, the Pen-
Jon reported.
The Pentagon also said U.S.
father reconnaissance planes will
beck the atmosphere in the area for
m signs of increased levels of
alflioactivity. A spokesman said sam-
ptaken by the aircraft will be analy-
cd later.
NORAI) (the North American
iir Defense Command) confirms the
jfjmaining portion of Cosmos 1402
e--entered the atmosphere at appro-
iinately 6:10 a.m. EST Monday,
miles east of Brazil over the
kjuth Atlantic,” said a Pentagon
0«
statement that affirmed an earlier
estimate that the debris broke up at 19
degrees south latitude, 22 degrees
west longitude.
A short time after the projected re
entry time, Pentagon officials said,
“We assume it has re-entered the
atmosphere and burned harmlessly.”
The largest part of Cosmos 1402
split from its nuclear reactor last
month. The main section, weighing
3,000 to 4,000 pounds, fell in the In
dian Ocean Jan. 23, about 1,000 miles
from the nearest land. The radioac
tive fragment, estimated to weigh ab
out 1,000 pounds, circled Earth erra
tically for 15 days before its orbit fin
ally deteriorated.
Cosmos 1402 was a maritime sur
veillance satellite used to track the
movements of ships, mainly those of
the U.S. Navy.
Judges to decide
election question
United Press International
SAN ANTONIO —A U.S. District
Court judge Monday deferred to a
three-judge federal panel the ques
tion of whether an election to fill a
Texas congressional seat should pro
ceed as scheduled on Saturday.
Judge H.F. Garcia said the three-
judge panel convenes at 9 a.m. today
in Austin.
Former Gov. Bill Clements called
the election the day Gramm resigned
his seat as a Democrat to seek re-
election as a Republican in the 6th
Congressional District.
The election date has been chal
lenged by the Texas Rural Legal Aid
Society, which claims it violates the
federal Voting Rights Act because it
was not cleared ahead of time with the
Justice Department.
Gramm faces nine Democrats and
one Libertarian in the special elec
tion.
inside
Classified
8
local
3
National
8
opinions
Sports
11
Slate*
6
that’s up
10
almanac
United Press International
Today is Tuesday, Feb. 8, the
jjphday of 1983 with 326 to follow.
Union Gen. William Sherman,
Ifho put the torch to Atlanta dm -
Big the Civil War, was born Feb. 8.
■820. Also born on this date were
■lm stars Lana Turner in 1921,
lack Lemmon in 1925 and James
Tean in 1931.
| On this date in history:
In 1587, Mary Queen of Scots
[as beheaded after being charged
[ith conspiring to murder Britain's
)ueen Elizabeth I.
forecast
tartly cloudy and warmer today
, or }|l; vith the high reaching 59. The
Bands will be southeast at 5 to 10
iph. Partly cloudy tonight with a
<nv around 45. Continued partly
budy and warmer on Wednesday
nth a high of 67.
’isi<V
Black history must examine
entire race, activist says
by Donn Friedman
Battalion Reporter
Black people have been made to
feel ashamed of themselves because
they have been denied their heritage
by historians, says black political activ
ist Ron Wilkins.
“When we talk black history, we’re
talking about world history,” Wilkins
said in a lecture Monday. “It doesn’t
make sense to leave out the accom
plishments of the black people.”
Wilkins, speaking to a group of ab
out 25 in a small room in Rudder
Tower, said the leaders of the black
liberation movement have been
ignored at major universities — in
cluding Texas A&M.
Wilkins said blacks must overcome
the myth that Africa is a wild land of
jungles and savages and realize that it
is a land of rich heritage.
“The study of black history should
not be a superficial study of indi
vidual black achievers,” he said, “but
rather should show the mass achieve
ment of the black race as a whole.”
Wilkins’ speech was the first in a
series of four educational programs
that will be presented by the MSC
Black Awareness Committee during
Black Awareness Month. It is ironic,
Wilkins said, that the people with the
longest history in the world picked
the shortest month of the year, Febru-
Black political activist
Ron Wilkins
ary, to celebrate their heritage.
“When we talk of black history it is
important that we do not just see it
simply through black eyes, but we
should see it through the (native) peo
ple of this country,” Wilkins said.
This country was built on stolen
Indian land and the exploitation and
enslavement of Africans brought to
U.S. shores to develop this society, he
said.
“Blacks created the economic basis
for this country to rise to power — we
helped create the tools that are used
to control us,” Wilkins said.
“What better way to enslave a man
than give him a vote and call him
free,” he said, quoting the African
philospher Camu.
Blacks in America must become
conscious of their oppressed state and
become bitter, Wilkins said.
“If a cat has kittens in an oven, do
you call them biscuits?” he asked. “If
an African woman has a baby in the
United States, it is still an African.”
Blacks in this country should over
come their day-to-day existence and
form a unified black consciousness,
he said.
The movement for black liberation
— including increased awareness of
African roots — has been linked by
some to communism, he said. In the
United States anything that goes
against the mainstream is considered
to be “red-baited,” he said.
But the U.S. government offers no
solutions, he said.
“The United States political system
is unredeemably corrupt,” he said.
“The solution is international not loc
al. Separation and integeration are
false arguments.
“The real question is power. Poli
tical power is a small part. Blacks must
strive for economic development if
they are ever to rise from oppres
sion.”
staff photo by Octavio Garcia
It almost looks like surfing
There’s more than one way to go down the stairs at
Zachry Engineering Center, as Allen Heath, a junior
electrical engineering major from Longview, demonstrates.
He rides his skateboard in between classes for relaxation.