The Battalion
Vol. 80 No. 84 USPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, January 25, 1985
Shelter’s
director
acquitted
Associated Press
CORPUS CHR1STI — Sanctuary
[movement worker Jack Elder was ac-
'(jiiitted 1 hursday of illegally trans-
jporting Salvadoran aliens in a case
[that pitted Reagan administration
[policy on Central America against a
[growing church-led relief effort.
“It is a relief,” said Elder, who si-
[lehtly bowed his head as the verdict
[was delivered. “I’m anxious to get
[back to Casa Romero. I’ve been con-
[fident all along.”
The seven-man, five-woman fed-
[eral jury deliberated less than two
[hours before acquitting Elder, the
idirector of Casa Oscar Romero, a
[halfway house for Central Ameri-
gcans in San Benito.
Jurors leaving the courtroom said
the government failed to prove
pder tried to further the illegal
rney of the Salvadorans by taking
[hem to a bus station in Harlingen.
Elder, 41, faced up to 15 years in
Lrison and fines totalling $6,000 if
ponvicled.
He has maintained he was acting
put of his religious convictions and
ivas being singled out by the govern
ment for prosecution.
Federal officials have repeatedly
Bnaintained Central Americans en
tering the U.S. illegally seek eco
nomic betterment — not political
asylum, as the sanctuary movement
[yclaims.
The case was the second against
anctuary movement workers in
"exas.
Stacey Lynn Merkt, 30, who works
lit Casa Romero, is on two years’ pro
bation for her conviction last May on
imilar charges. She and Elder face
mother trial Feb. 5 in Brownsville
an charges of transporting illegal
aliens.
When asked if he would give un-
Idocumented aliens other rides,
[Elder said: “I think we always try to
take care of people's basic needs and
some folks need rides.”
His wife, Diane Elder, jumped up
and down outside the courtroom,
while Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert
Berg said he was “surprised” at the
eidict.
Jurors were not allowed to hear
any testimony on Elder’s contention
that the Reagan administration is
singling out sanctuary movement
workers for prosecution. U.S. Dis
trict Judge Hayden Head Jr. re
jected defense attempts to inject the
issue into the case during pre-trial
hearings.
However, one defense witness tes
tified religious convictions motivated
[Elder to help Salvadorans fleeing
jtheir war-ravaged homeland.
Prosecutors repeatedly told jurors
[ Elder broke the law in March when
[he drove the three Salvadorans from
[his halfway house to a Harlingen bus
[station fora trip to Houston.
But in closing remarks, defense
1 attorney Steve Cooper said Elder
[was simply giving them a ride.
“This is a simple little situation
[where a man gives a ride three miles
[down the road,” Cooper told the
[jury.
Berg argued that Elder and Coo
per seemea to want to disregard the
law.
“They can’t come in and mock the
! law and have the jury say what a fed
eral case is and have the jury mock
the law,” Berg said.
Three of the four defense wit
nesses testified Thursday for a total
of 20 minutes. T he trial lasted only
four days.
Correction
On Wednesdav )an. 21. The Bat
talion incoiTectlv reported the date
ol the five kilometer race Run
Against Torture. The race will be
jSatmclav at <3:30 a.m., and not todav
; as was reported.
The Battalion regrets the error.
Judge rules
for Zentgraf
in band issue
Taking Time Out
Photo by MELINDA PETO
Parker Atkins, a senior mining engineering
major enjoys a day in the sun while studying
Jury denies actual malice
on the drill field bleachers. Thursday’s tem
perature reached a high of 59 degrees
Time found not guilty
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A federal jury de
cided Thursday Time magazine did
not libel former Israeli Defense Min
ister Ariel Sharon when it linked
him to a massacre of Palestinians,
bui it said some Time employees
were careless in putting together the
story.
T he six-person jury decided Time
did not show “actual malice” in pub
lishing a disputed paragraph, which
it earner found to be both defama
tory and false. For “actual malice,” it
would have had to be proven T ime
published the paragraph knowing it
was false or with “reckless disregard”
of whether it was true or fajse.
Both sides claimed victory.
“A lawsuit is very much like a
war,” Time attorney Thomas D.
Barr said. “Who wins the battle is not
particularly important. Who wins
the war is terribly important. The
war is over and we won.”
“We came in order to prove that
Time magazine lied and we man
aged to prove that they lied,” Sharon
said of his $50 million lawsuit.
Sharon claimed a Feb. 21, 1983,
Time cover story libeled him in re
porting he “discussed” revenge for
the assassination of Lebanon’s presi
dent-elect, Bashir Gemayel — who
headed the Phalangists — one day
before the Christian militiamen mas
sacred hundreds of Palestinians at
two refugee camps in Israeli-occu
pied west Beirut.
After announcing the verdict, the
jury foreman, Richard Peter Zug,
read a statement in which the jurors
said certain Time employees, espe
cially Jerusalem correspondent Da
vid Halevy, acted “negligently and
carelessly in reporting and verifying
the information which ultimately
found its way” into the disputed par
agraph.
The jurors were not immediately
available for comment.
Halevy, 43, a native Israeli who
testified at the trial, was not present.
Thursday’s verdict was crucial be
cause although the jury, which had
been deliberating since Jan. 14, had
found for Sharon on the two earlier
points, he also had to show malice
and damage to his reputation to
prove libel.
If the jury had found “actual mal
ice,” a mini-trial would have been
held to determine if Sharon’s repu
tation was injured by the article and
how much in damages he should be
paid.
“We’re most pleased with the ver
dict,” said Ray Cave, Time’s manag
ing editor, who appeared at the
courthouse at key points during the
trial. “We remain confident the story
is true and in due course it will be
shown that it was true.”
“I’m extremely happy that we
won,” Time’s editor in chief, Henry
Grunwald, said. “I’m not totally
happy with the jury’s earlier findings
on defamation and on falsity be
cause with all due respect to the jury
... I believe that they were wrong
about defamation and the falsity.
“We believe that our story was
substantially true, but the important
thing is that Mr. Sharon was not able
to defeat us in an American court
for his own purposes.”
Sharon, 56, now minister of in
dustry and trade, said, “I feel that we
achieved what it was that brought us
here.”
By SARAH OATES
Staff Writer
A Federal judge ruled Thursday
Texas A&M must encourage women
to join all organizations in the Corps
of Cadets, including the all-male
marching band.
During a brief hearing, U.S. Dis
trict Judge Ross Sterling approved
an agreement settling a lawsuit filed
in 1979 by Melanie Zentgraf, a se
nior in the Corps at that time. The
lawsuit charged organizations in the
Corps discriminated against women
on tne basis of their sex.
“I find that it’s fair, just, reasonab
le,” Sterling said of the settlement.
“The people of Texas elected an at
torney general who has settled this
case,” he said. “I recognize the
alumni. There’s a lot of tradition,
but traditions change.” .
The ruling also denied the right
of the Texas Aggie Band Associa
tion, a group of band alumni, to in
tervene in tne case. In September,
the Houston law firm Reynolds, Al
len & Cbok filed a motion to inter
vene in the suit on behalf of the
group.
John Tyler, the attorney rep
resenting the alumni, said he would
appeal Sterling’s decision to the 5th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
New Orleans.
“I’m disappointed at the court’s
ruling,” he said. “I’ve no question
that if we’d been given a trial we
would’ve won.”
Tyler argued during the hearing
that a settlement requiring all outfits
in the Corps to accept female mem
bers could lead to the disbanding of
the two all-female outfits.
But Sterling disagreed, saying the
decree “just says that outfits have to
let those who qualify in, not that they
(women) must be taken out of their
• outfits.”
Tyler also is representing seven
A&M students who filed motions
blocking settlement of the suit,
which was negotiated last October
between Zentgraf’s attorney and
lawyers from the state attorney gen
eral’s office.
The students, three of whom are
members of the Corps, declined to
comment on the hearing.
Suits are pending against four in
dividuals also named in the Zentgraf
suit.
T he 26-year-old Zentgraf, now a
captain in the U.S. Air Force, said
she was “thrilled” by the ruling.
“T his is far from over at A&M —
it’s only just begun,” she said. “It
won’t be terrible at A&M. I think it’s
going to be exciting.
“This will allow women to do all
the activities in the Corps. That’s im
portant for growth, acceptance in
the Corps and for the things you
want to do in college and in your li
fe.”
The A&M Board of Regents ex
pressed disappointment that Texas
Attorney General Jim Mattox settled
the case without University input or
approval.
“The ‘Fighting Texas Aggie Band’
is worth preserving as a very distinc
tive and \mique organization unlike
any other volunteer organization in
the country,” the regents said in a
prepared statement delivered dur
ing a scheduled meeting Thursday
afternoon.
Mattox, in a prepared statement,
said the ruling will “bring the Uni
versity’s band in line with other long
standing practices at other Texas
universities.
“This settlement upholds our
Texas Contitution and its equal
rights amendment,” he said. “That is
important to all citizens of Texas, no
matter whether they are male or fe-
niale because it says there is equal
opportunity for everyone and that
persons will be judged upon then
own merits and not their sex."
In the suit, Zentgraf asked that
the Corps be forbidden to refuse
membership to women in its organi
zations. These groups include the
Ross Volunteers, an elite honor
guard, and the Fish Drill Team.
Zentgraf said she applied to become
a Ross Volunteer, but was not ac
cepted.
“When I was there women were
extremely harassed,” she said. “If
you wanted to try to join an organi
zation, you’d lose friends just by
making it known. There was no
point m trying to join the band. I
had enough harassment just for try
ing to join the organizations I tried
to join. I saw no point in setting my
self up further.”
See Judge page 5
Regents hear committee reports
Mattox dismays board
with Zentgraf settlement
By PATRICE KORANEK
Staff Wiiter
Members of the T exas A&M
Board of Regents Thursday ex
pressed dismay that Attorney
General Jim Mattox settled the
Zentgraf case without Texas
A&M input or approval.
In a prepared statement given
Thursday afternoon in a sched
uled meeting of the board, the re
gents said Mattox was “not a
fighter.”
“There’re all kinds of lawyers,
some are fighters and others turn
over and play dead,” Regent Joe
Reynolds said. “You figure out
what kind he (Mattox) is."
The statement also said “the
unique ‘Fighting Texas Aggie
Band’ is worth preserving as a
very distinctive and unique orga
nization unlike any other volun
teer organization in the country.”
U.S. District Judge Ross Ster
ling approved a consent decree
earlier Thursday requiring A&M
to actively encourage female stu
dents to join the all-male Aggie
Band and other Corps of Cadets
organizations which bar women
from membership (see related
story).
The regents spent the remain
der of the afternoon hearing re
ports from various committees.
The board approved the rec
ommendation of the name selec
tion committee to name the build
ing under the stands of Kyle Field
after Thomas A. and John Reed
who have made many contribu
tions to the University. Approval
also was given to the committee’s
recommendation that the portion
of FM 60 from Welborn Road to
FM 2818 be renamed West Uni
versity Drive.
T he budget advisory commit
tee chaired by Regent William
McKenzie gave several recom
mendations on attaining the pro
posed budget cuts by the state
while serving the enrollment of
Texas A&M.
IT. R. ‘Bum’ Bright, chairman
of the board, challenged Univer
sity administrators to go out and
raise money rather than use
money from state appropriations.
The board also passed 18 items
including the approval of Dr.
Herbert Richardson as interim di
rector of the Texas Engineering
Experiment Station, the appro
priation of $1.5 million from the
Available University Fund for en
hancing excellence in the engi
neering program.
Board hears proposal
from legislative group
to trim A&M’s budget
By ANN CERVENKA
Staff Writer
“Cut out the fat,” H.R. “Bum” Bright, chairman of the Board of Re
gents, said Thursday in reference to the budget proposal given to the re
gents by the Legislative Budget Board.
Although cutbacks will be made, the board is prepared to meet them
without letting the quality of education slip.
“We must enhance what we are doing, but do it at a lower cost to the
taxpayers,” Bright said during committee meetings of the board Thurs
day.
The board has taken the budget figures seriously, Chancellor Arthur
G. Hansen said. Cuts will be made through enhancing efficiency in non-
critical areas such as travel and publications while maintaining education
and research quality, he said.
Bright received a letter from Gov. Mark White asking the University
“hire no new people, not even replacements” without the approval of the
LBB or the designated chief executive, Bright said. In a later meeting,
Hansen was given the responsiblity of chief executive.
“We are under severe budget restrictions,” Bright said. “This Univer
sity and this System has always responded to the needs of the state.”
Texas A&M President Frank Vandiver emphasized the severe effects
of the cuts on the Bryan-College Station community.
See Budget, page 8