TexasA&M - - V •
The Battalion
ol. 82 No. 178 USPS 045360 8 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, July 17, 1986
.S. military readies for Bolivian drug raids
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A PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — U.S. heli-
:opters with American military pi-
are expected to begin Hying anti-
■g police on raids this week
|inst cocaine laboratories hidden
the Bolivian jungles, officials said
Tdnesday.
merican officials said six Black
Hawk helicopters with pilots and
iulport personnel were at a jungle
;amp in Beni province awaiting the
ailer to begin operations against the
clandestine laboratories. At least 100
American soldiers based in Panama
were expected to arrive in the next
B or two.
j§\ U.S. Embassy officer, who
spoke on condition of anonymity,
said about 80 members of the Boliv-
■ anti-narcotics force known as the
Hapards would take part in the
raids, which could last up to two
months.
Olympic
flame to
visit A&M
This impoverished, landlocked
country of 6.4 million people pro
duces half the cocaine that reaches
U.S. and European markets, accord
ing to U.S. Drug Enforcement Ad
ministration figures.
Edward Djerejian, deputy White
House press secretary, said in Wash
ington that 160 army personnel
would participate, and confirmed
that six Black Hawks were involved.
He said President Reagan approved
the operation.
U.S. troops “will not participate in
the actual operation, per se,” he said.
“They’re in a support role, and I
have to underline that. Every effort
is being made to avoid placing U.S.
personnel in situations where they
might become involved in a con
frontation.”
American pilots will fly the heli
copters, but Bolivian police wall di
rect the operation, he said.
The U.S. pilots have been ordered
to shoot back if fired upon, one U.S.
official in Bolivia said.
President Victor Paz Estenssoro
has given the soldiers diplomatic im
munity.
American officials here had said
Tuesday that the U.S. Drug En
forcement Administration would
coordinate the raids. Djerejian did
not comment on the agency’s role.
About 15 DEA officers are in Bo
livia. The American officials here
said they were expected to go along
on the raids.
The operation comes one month
after Reagan signed a directive de
claring drug trafficking a threat to
U.S. national security.
Bolivian officials expressed anger
about the breach of secrecy and an
Interior Ministry spokesman said
that consideration was given to call
ing off the operation because the el
ement of surprise was lost.
Officials of both governments had
requested a news embargo until the
raids began, but reports appeared in
Bolivian dailies Tuesday, citing the
arrival of U.S. Air Force Galaxy C5-
A transport planes carrying the heli
copters.
First reports of the operation
from Washington came later Tues
day.
U.S. officials say this is the first
time the American military is being
used in anti-drug operations on for
eign soil.
Campaign against narcotics escalates
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The
arrival of U.S. troops and aircraft
in Bolivia to help eradicate clan
destine cocaine laboratories is the
latest salvo in a war against the
narcotics trade in the Western
Hemisphere.
Drug traffickers’ wealth and
power are so great that Latin
leaders suggest only an interna
tional ef f ort can combat it.
President Miguel de la Madrid
of Mexico has called for a hemi
spheric conference of law en
forcement officials this year to
discuss the problem.
“Any strategy that any country
. . . attempts to develop in isola
tion, would be, I fear, insufficient
or ineffective,” Attorney General
Sergio Garcia Ramirez recently
told foreign correspondents.
Mexican officials also have ex
pressed concern about using the
U.S. military along the border to
help stop narcotics traffic from
Mexico.
Major drug scandals have
ranged from the Bahamas and
tiny Belize to Panama and such
major nations as Mexico and
See Campaign, page 8
,
By Mary Frances Scott
Staff Writer
a Na
me a
:ago's
f the
he Olympic flame will pass
1 through Bryan and College Station
Thursday as part of its 4,600 mile re
lay from its permanent home in
Pikes Peak to the Olympic Festival in
Houston.
■It will enter College Station about
3 p.m. at the Southwood Valley Ath
letic Park on Rock Prairie Road and
will wind through the city and parts
ladin bflthe A&M campus.
Hi he flame then will be carried to
fhe Chamber of Commerce building
on University Drive.
■The last leg of the College Station
Hrtion of the route will be manned
H College Station Mayor Larry
r Rihger, City Manager King Cole and
former Aggie football star Dave El-
Hndorf.
■Elmendorf is a former AU-Ameri-
, .rail in baseball and football for A&M
'"'"'' who went on to play nine years as a
an defensive back for the Los Angeles
Rams.
;ed the»|.: The trio, along with more than 30
155, B'lfier local runners, should arrive at
■d State Be Chamber of Commerce at 4:45
tegories pin. for a celebration recognizing
local athletes and coaches participat
ing in the Olympic Festival. Music
Hd refreshments will be offered
( ( free of charge.
ark j ||HBy the time it leaves the area,
I 1 more than 80 local participants will
j f tdB ve P asse< d >he torch from hand to
^ e . Hud. After leaving Bryan the torch
' will continue toward Houston for
<in 11 - the completion of its “Run Through
Texas History” and the opening cer
emonies of the festival.
womcii
ngles li-
a 15-
ian.
On Target
Photo by Tom Ownbey
n
ilThe festival, which will begin in
Houston ]ulv 25, showcases the na
tion's best amateur athletes during
non-Olympic years.
Tricia Pacilio, a senior Spanish major, practices her shooting
Wednesday afternoon. Pacilio, who shoots for the Texas A&M
Target Archers, was talked into buying a bow by her physical edu
cation instructor last year and has been shooting ever since.
Officials argue over hazard
of A&M toxic waste landfill
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Stuff Writer
Officials at the Texas Engineering
Extension Service and the Texas
Water Commission are at odds over
the hazard posed by a toxic waste
landfill at the Texas A&M Fire
Training School.
The school is among 14 possible
hazardous waste cleanup sites
named Tuesday by the Texas Water
Commission.
The Commission’s main object of
concern is a 9,000-cubic-foot landfill
at the site of the training school,
according to Max Woodfin, environ
mental coordinator of the Texas
Water Commission.
Woodfin said Wednesday that the
landfill was created in 1980 to dis
pose of soils contaminated by PCBs
and other hazardous substances.
The contaminated soils were
scraped out of a drainage pond at
the training school site.
Milton Radke, associate director
for programs at the Texas Engi
neering Extension Service, said that
fuels contaminated with the hazard
ous substances and donated to the
University by oil companies were re
sponsible for the soil contamination.
Radke said the landfill was cre
ated immediately after the the haz
ardous substances were discovered
in the drainage pond.
He said representatives of the En
vironmental Protection Agency, the
Texas Department of Health and
the Texas Water Quality Commis
sion all were consulted and on-site at
the time the landfill was constructed.
But the Texas Water Commission,
which did not take part in the con
struction of the landfill, is now dis
satisfied with the disposal method
for the contaminated soils, arguing
that there is no lining beneath the
landfill to prevent the wastes from
leaching into the groundwater. In
addition, Woodfin said, the ground-
water at the site is not monitored.
Radke, however, said an imper
vious layer of clay underlies the
landfill and that no wastes leach into
the groundwater.
“The laws at that time allowed on
site disposal of the wastes because of
the soil conditions at the site,” he
said.
Radke said an independent com
pany in Hearne, Aqua Tech, per
forms about 10 kinds of tests on wa
ter samples drawn from several
monitoring wells at the site and sub
mits the test results to the Texas Wa
ter Commission’s regional office in
Waco on a monthly basis.
Bill Colbert, public relations di
rector for the Texas Water Commis
sion, said no type of groundwater
monitoring takes place at the site.
“Mv information says that there is
no groundwater monitoring, so
we’re in disagreement on that,” he
said in response to Radke’s
statement. “Where the pond sedi
ments went and around the unlined
pit there is no ground water monito-
ring.”
Another disagreement centers
around an accident which the com
mission claims took place on July 24,
1979.
Colbert said 300 gallons of waste
oil comtaminated with PCBs, ben
zene and toluene overflowed a stor
age tank and spilled onto the site as a
result of improperly operated equip
ment.
“Apparently a dike that contained
the spill was accidentally opened and
the spill got into White’s Creek,” he
said.
Radke said he is not aware that
anv such accident occurred.
“I know that no such spill has oc
curred since 1979,” he said, adding
that if such a spill had occurred, the
contaminated soils would have been
disposed of in the landfill.
The commission also claims that
water from one of the drainage
ponds spills into White’s Creek dur
ing heavy rains.
Radke acknowledged that runoff
has occurred “once or twice in the
last three or four years,” but said
that only a foam used in the fire
fighting drills spilled into the creek.
The foam degrades completely
within about 30 days and poses no
threat to the environment, he said.
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Soviets: Nuclear test ban talks to resume
S’ LONDON (AP) — Soviet Foreign
Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze
said Wednesday that Moscow and
Washington had agreed to resume
nltclear test ban talks.
§• A U.S. spokesman in Washington
said, however, that the two countries
had agreed to resume talks about
liniiting nuclear tests rather than
banning them.
|| Speaking through an interpreter,
Shevardnadze told a news confer-
•
ence that Moscow had “fundamen
tally an agreement from the United
States to resume negotiations, to re
sume talks in Geneva on banning
nuclear tests.”
White House spokesman Edward
Djerejian made it clear in Washing
ton that the United States has no in
terest at the moment in discussing a
ban on all nuclear tests, as the Sovi
ets want.
“A comprehensive test ban re
mains a long-term objective of the
United States,” Djerejian said.
He said that in the meantime, the
United States has to rely on nuclear
deterrents to ensure international
security.
The United States, the Soviet
Union and Britain broke off formal
test ban treaty talks six years ago, af
ter making considerable progress,
because they could not agree on the
issue of verification.
In 1982, the United States de
cided that instead of a test ban
treaty, substantial cuts in super
power nuclear arsenals would be
sought.
A British official familiar with the
new accord said it was wrong to sug
gest that the treaty negotiations will
resume.
The official, who insisted on ano
nymity, said he understood that
weeks ago the United States and the
Soviet Union had agreed to hold
“general talks including nuclear test
ing issues.”
He said there was no suggestion
that formal treaty talks would re
sume.
A U.S. official in London, who
also spoke on condition of anonym
ity, said the talks would be held in
the framework of regular U.S.-So
viet arms control negotiations sched
uled to resume Sept. 18 in Geneva.
Inadequate
wind shear
training
led to crash
DALLAS (AP) — A weather
expert says he agrees with the Na
tional Transportation Safety
Board’s finding that lack of wind
shear training was partly to blame
for the crash of Delta Air Lines
Flight 191.
Spokesmen for Delta and the
pilots’ union have said pilots of
the flight were unaware of the se
verity of the storm and cannot be
faulted. The airline and the
union contend there was a break
down in communication between
government-contract forecasters
and air traf fic controllers.
But the board’s report Tues
day found that inadequate wind
shear training contributed to the
Aug. 2 crash at Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport that killed
137 people.
John McCarthy, a wind shear
researcher at the National Center
for Atmospheric Research in
Boulder, Colo., said he 'agrees
with the board’s conclusion that
inadequate wind shear training
was one of the crash’s probable
causes.
“I believe that this was an ex
ample where an earlier decision
(to abort the landing) clearly
would have saved the airplane,”
McCarthy said. “In my opinion
from reading the record, this in
formation was available to the
crew.”
He said he believes wind shear
was present at the time of the
crash and said the crew did not
recognize obvious signs, includ
ing lightning, that it was hazard
ous to enter the storm.
Trio convicted of kidnap conspiracy
Jury returns verdict in torture trial
KERRVILLE (AP) — A
rancher, his son and an ex-ranch
worker were convicted Wednes-
day of conspiring to kidnap drift
ers and forcing them into slavery
in a plot that led to the cattle-
prod torture death of a hitch
hiker.
The three face up to 20 years
in prison for their roles in the
conspiracy at a Hill Country
ranch. The jury failed to make a
specific finding in connection
with allegations of a conspiracy to
commit murder in the torture
death of Anthony Bates, attor
neys said.
They were convicted of con
spiring to commit aggravated kid
napping in the abduction of
Bates, a one-eyed drifter from
Huntsville, Ala., and three oth
ers. Bates’ body, witnesses said,
was burned on a makeshift pvre
in March 1984.
The jury deliberated 19 hours
over three days to reach a deci
sion in the 11-week-old trial of
rancher Walter Wesley Ellebracht
Sr., 54, Walter Wesley Ellebracht
Jr., 33, and Carlton Robert Cald
well. 21.
Sentencing was scheduled for 1
p.m. today.
Prosecutors relied heavily on
tape recordings of alleged torture
sessions involving Bates. Wit
nesses identified voices belonging
to Caldwell and the younger Elle
bracht on the recordings.
Defense attorneys did not deny
that Bates and other workers had
been abused. But thev contended
there was no conspiracy to kill
Bates and argued that Bates and
other workers were free to leave
the ranch at anv time.
Prosecutors said it appeared
the jury agreed with the defense
on that count, while finding the
def endants guilty of conspiracy to
kidnap.
Gerald Carruth, a Department
of Public Safety attorney who as
sisted in the prosecution, said,
“They must have believed there
was no intent to cause the death
of Anthony Bates.”
Defense attorney Richard
“Racehorse" Haynes said, “I have
been happier. I’m not in total
agreement with that jury, but I
live and die by the system, and I
live and die by this jury.”
He added that he would seek
probation for his client, the elder
Ellebracht. He also said the jury
verdict appeared to have ac
quitted the defendants in connec
tion with Bates’ death.
Defense attorney Scott Stehl-
ing said that since his client, Cald
well, has already served two years
while awaiting trial, he could be
released even if he gets the maxi
mum sentence of 20 vears.
Court refuses to rule:
Miller still local sheriff
AUSTIN (AP) — A divided Texas
Supreme Court ruled Wednesday
that it lacked jurisdiction to consider
a legal challenge mounted by the
loser of the November 1984 Brazos
County sheriffs election.
The 6-3 decision lets stand an ap
peals court ruling that made Ronnie
Miller the winner of the election.
Howard Hill, loser of the election,
had filed an election contest suit and
won at the trial court level.
But an appeals court later threw
out the trial court’s order that
voided the November 1984 election
and ordered new balloting.
Miller received 22,146 votes and
Hill got 21.984 in the 1984 election.
The trial court had ordered a new
election after determining that
enough illegal ballots in the general
election had been cast to change the
outcome.
The appeals court overruled that
decision because Hill failed to specif
ically prove that enough illegal votes
were cast in the sheriff’s race to
change the outcome.
The Supreme Court, in a majority
opinion written by Justice Robert
Campbell, said it only has jurisdic
tion to review election contest suits
in certain cases, and this one did not
meet the criteria.
The dissent, written by Justice
William Kilgarlin and joined by
Franklin Spears and C.L. Ray, said
the Supreme Court had jurisdiction
to review the case because the val
idity of a state statute was an issue.