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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1986)
-TexasA&M_ 1 « _ __ The Battalion 82 No. 76 USPS 045360 14 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, December 17, 1986 mnesty ends i^or illicit calls Mr A MlNUTfi tar Tel claims 80 percent greed to make restitution an are* By Christi Daugherty Staff Writer it the end of Star Tel Inc.’s 15- Jnesty period for those sus- jjbf misusing long-distance ac- icodes, the company’s controller lover 80 percent of those known liave made illegal calls have jedpemselves in. Bfel Controller Dan Ginzel the amnesty period, during n anyone who had made illegal tone calls could turn them- iin and make restitution rather prosecution, ended Mon- II turned themselves in,” Ginzel ; U.S--sup ontras It takes guts to swallow your I and admit something like he said. ated BorttasTiny of the students chose to on Fridavt!' .ftwith the company through the > HQ mil*iwtiMudent legal service, he said. Corinto WaJ H '| working with the legal serv- m a camprf med to work ver y weI1 - ^ Y Said Star del is aware that |t 20 percent of the illegal calls flunaccounted for. It’slunfortunate that some are ,, p.^.fethis risk, by not turning them- ‘ ssin, when they had such an op- mity to clear the slate,” Ginzel stei ^■ jdded that the company in- e cnti 1 a, t0 begin investigating the un- Ticiali a have gatkct: med calls as soon as it clears up Kiut •M l k n Av being paid for. ^ | 5Bjiiymeilts have been made yet fficd" those who turned themselves in, £ W'ftS 3 WKtn he ^ lv ‘ He Said the bills are being pre- ndinis® r(il| 1 is week and should be sent ?ua. T^ ^ on - evenly “This amnesty period was for peo- oupc 2 " 1 (tohurn themselves in,” Ginzel i Ihe payment period will proba- KUt next week,” he said, ome students expressed concern lUtthe size of their bills, he said, lidded that Star-Tel will attempt work out a payment schedule for Ise students who have trouble king their payments. Fed] Hajovsky, general counsel the student legal service, said his ice handled about 100 cases. He said that all students were given the option of using code names if they didn’t want to reveal their identities. Many of those who contacted Ha- jovsky’s office were not sure if they’d done anything illegal, he said, but said they wanted to be sure the num bers they’d used weren’t stolen. ‘‘Most just volunteered, and many wanted to find out if access numbers they’d borrowed from friends were legal,” Hajovsky said. Hajovsky said students didn’t have to reveal the access numbers they’d used, but instead indicate the phone numbers they’d called. He said Star Tel then used those numbers to bill the student for the calls. Hajovsky’s office will continue working with students while a pay schedule is being formulated with Star Tel. Meanwhile, Brazos County Attor ney Jim Kuboviak said the five peo ple whom he had allowed restitution had contacted his office. He said they are currently work ing with the phone companies in volved to pay their bills. After Star Tel granted an amnesty period, Kuboviak elected to allow those charged by other phone com panies the same chance to make res titution rather than face prosecu tion. But Kuboviak said he isn’t making any promises about whether he’ll ever do that again. “I’ll look at each case individually from now on,” he said. “I can’t let phone companies determine my pol icy. T he decision in each case will rest with me.” Ginzel said Star Tel also has no plans to offer another amnesty pe riod in the future. District Attorney Bill Turner, who is handling the case of Archie Rob erts, the A&M track runner charged with making illegal calls, said he hasn’t made a decision about allow ing the athlete to make restitution, and has set no deadline for making that decision. - - - -r Get The Hell Outta Dodge Scott Armstrong, a sophomore animal science major, loads up his gear for a trip home over the Christmas break. Armstrong is a mem- Photo by Doug La Rue ber of Parson’s Mounted Cavalry and Squad 11. The break begins Fri day, the last day for students to take semester finals. Reagan urges immunity for Poindexter, North WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff Donald T. Re gan declared Tuesday that no one was ever authorized to divert money from Iran arms sales to Nicaraguan rebels, while President Reagan urged Congress to grant limited im munity to force testimony from two former administration officials. Emerging from more than four hours of closed-door testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Regan told reporters he did not know of the transfers of money, and said he did not think the president knew about it either. He denied that Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, fired as a National Security Council staff deputy, would have been given top-level authority to conduct a program of assistance to the Contras. Attorney General Edwin Meese III said Nov. 25 that only North knew precisely of that operation, but that national security adviser, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, had been aware of its existence. Sen. David Durenberger, R- Minn., chairman of the Senate Intel ligence Committee, said after listen ing to Regan and Secretary of State George Shultz during Tuesday’s closed-door session, “It’s clear . . . that whoever pulled it off did it with out proper, appropriate or other au thority, and that person is Ollie North.” Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said Reagan’s appeal for the limited immunity for North and Poindexter would not preclude criminal prosecution for illegal activ ities. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., said that while a special select Senate panel starting next month would carefully consider Reagan’s request, there were several important conditions that could not be met quickly. Nunn said the committee would have to retain an attorney experi enced in immunity, would have to investigate far enough to conclude that the immunity grant would pro duce truthful testimony, and would have to clear any such grant with the independent counsel, who has not yet been named. Durenberger said the problem surrounding the secret contacts to Iran, the sales of arms to that coun try and the transfer of money to Contra rebels was caused by “a delib erate effort on the part of a handful of people, including the president of the United States, to deliberately avoid congressional oversight.” “The contrivance failed,” he added. “Now the president is being held to account for it and I think the disaster we’re facing right here to day should be evidence of the fact See Iran, page 14 Minority enrollment up for A8cM system VegeiaD 16 ' c ,, Tosiad 35 /egaiatf® R ' i( !, Toss* 1514 ' , ol veg' 116 * I D* t¥ From Staff and Wire Reports The number of minority students within the Texas A&M University System has increased sig- Ipntly, officials said Tuesday. | Texas A&M University’s enrollment of black tudents has increased by 59.5 percent, from 489 |)780. Hispanic enrollment also is up on the Col- egeStation campus, going from 1,499 to 1,994. Total enrollment is virtually the same, at 16,570, officials said. Grace B. Chisolm, assistant to the president at WcM, said there has been a concerted effort to hcrease the number of minorities at the Univer- ity. “There’s been a substantial increase in funding wilable for minority scholarships,” Chisolm lid. )alveston had larger statistical gains, but the numbers are relatively small at the marine- oriented campus. The Galveston campus experienced a 75 per cent increase in number of black students, from four to seven, and 155.6 percent for Hispanics, from nine to 23. Total enrollment dropped from 552 to 524. Tarleton State University increased its His panic enrollment by 41 percent, from 61 to 86, and black enrollment by 14.1 percent, from 85 to 97. Enrollment at Tarleton increased slightly, from 4,605 to 4,636. The biggest change in enrollment was at pre dominantly black Prairie View A&M University, where figures show the enrollment of non-black students has increased by more than 100 percent during the past three years. About one out of every five of the 4,501 stu dents now attending Prairie View A&M are non black, the report shows. Since the fall of 1983, Hispanic enrollment at Prairie View has increased from 23 to 41 stu dents, for a 78.3 percent gain. The number of non-black students has increased from 370 to 802, an increase of 116.8 percent, the report showed. The figures were compiled at the request of Chancellor Perry L. Adkisson for a progress re port on the four academic institutions within the system. “The enrollment analysis shows excellent pro gress in increasing the number of black and His panic students at our three traditionally white academic institutions and the number of non black students at Prairie View A&M,” Adkisson said. A&M-Galveston president resigns By Carolyn Garcia Staff Writer Dr. William H. Clayton has an nounced his plans to resign Jan. 15 as president of Texas A&M Univer sity at Galveston after 15 years. System Chancellor Perry L. Ad kisson announced that Dr. Sammy Ray, who came to work for Texas A&M University in Galveston in 1959, will take over as acting presi dent. Clayton has indicated he will con- 'el's book worms hazardous toys can kill Toy industry accused of endangering kids By Robert Morris Staff Writer fee little Joey play with his new ttlestar Galactica Space Toy. See le Joey put his new toy in his Nth. See little Joey swallow one of small missiles — and die. pile the name of the child wasn’t !y, the accident was real. Hany American children will be ired or killed this year as a result harmful playthings still “pollu- 5’’ the marketplace and America’s boxes, says Boston trial attorney Nard M. Swartz, author of the |y released toy buyer’s guide jk,“Toys that Kill.” iwartz’s book opens his national ipaign for safer toys, calling on ents and other toy shoppers to be ecially vigilant during this 1986 ■giving season. He warns that igerous toys are still freely and ely available. iowever, not everyone in the toy ustry agrees with Swartz, ody Levin, public affairs director he Toy Makers’ Association, says thinks Swartz is an inappropriate ge of the toy industry. “He’s a product liability lawyer,” she says. “He makes his living pros ecuting toy companies. He’s also written a number of books I’m sure he’d like to sell. His motives are sus pect.” Still, Swartz contends, the truth speaks for itself. “Toys that could choke, burn, blind, maim or kill the children for whom they are intended remain on the market today,” he says, “despite the growing public insistence on toy safety and despite the government’s authority to take direct action against dangerous toys.” This is a consequence of the toy industry’s failure to deal effectively with the problem of hazardous toys, and of governmental failure to deal strictly, swiftly and summarily with the hazardous toys found in abun dance in toy and department stores, he says. When contacted about Swartz’s al legations, Lou Brott, news media di rector of the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington, said Swartz has other motives be sides the safety of children. “We wrote him (Swartz) Oct. 9 and asked him to contact us in re gard to bad toys,” Brott said. “He has seen fit to wait until Dec. 5 to have his news conference on toys. My reaction is that he is more inter ested in his own personal publicity than he is in toys.” Brott refused further comment but said he would have the agency’s “Toys that could choke, burn, blind, maim or kill the children for whom they are intended remain on the market today. ” — Edward Swartz, author of “Toys that Kill. ” chief of compliance contact The Bat talion. However, no further message was received from the CPSC. Some of the toys Swartz has la beled as being deadly have been re called, yet he claims that many can still be found in toy boxes through out the United States. “With the exception of one or two toys usually involved in high public ity recalls,” Swartz says, “most par ents aren’t aware of recalls or the deadly propensities of recalled toys. “When the government does take action, it is a case of too little, too late. These harmful toys remain in circulation due to the government’s unwillingness to implement a tough toy recall procedure.” He cites the example of the John son & Johnson “Soft Triplets Crib Gym.” The toy has been responsible for at least two deaths and was recalled in October 1986, Swartz says. Two years before the deaths occurred, Swartz reported the hazard asso ciated with the crib gym to the Con sumer Product Safety Commission, but no action was taken. “I warned the agency of the lethal nature of this toy fully five times spanning from 1982 to 1985,” Swartz says. “The agency did not act until there was an actual body count.” He blames the government’s lack of response and the public’s lack of knowledge on the actions of the toy industry, which he says grosses $15 billion per year. “Toy manufacturers and retailers are masters at shifting blame for in jury from themselves to grief- stricken parents who already feel re sponsible for thieir child’s injury,” Swartz says. But toy makers disagree. Levin says the overwhelming ma jority of injuries are caused by toys that are used improperly, such as a roller skate left on the stairs, or by toys given to a child who is not old enough to play with them. For ex ample, a 2-year-old might be given a 4-year-old’s toy in which there are small parts that could cause the younger child to choke, she says. “I do think that is the parent’s re sponsibility,” Levin says. “I can’t baby-sit 50 million children from here in New York.” Parents are the final arbiters of what their kids watch on TV, what they eat, where they go to school, and what toys they play with, she says. See Toys, page 14 tinue to serve A&M as superinten dent of the U.S. Maritime Service Program through August 1987 when the summer training cruise draws to a close. Adkisson was unavailable for comment Tuesday. However, an Of fice of Public Information press re lease quoted him as saying Clayton “pioneered the Galveston program with missionary zeal and achieved things few others could have.” Adkisson also stated that Clayton “cemented the support of the com munity and provided tenacious lead ership through difficult times.” At the conclusion of the maritime program, Clayton will retire from the Texas A&M University System. Clayton began his tenure with A&M in 1954 as an assistant profes sor of oceanography and meteorol ogy- In 1971 he was named dean of A&M at Galveston — then called the College of Marine Sciences and Mar itime Resources. Clayton was unavailable for com ment on Tuesday. Ray says the students’ living con ditions will be his first priority. “I feel that there is a need for im provements in the dormitory facili ties and in food services,” Ray said. “That’s going to be my number one and number two priority.” Plans for better relations in the college community are also of major concern to Ray. Before coming to the A&M sys tem, Ray was a research biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He received a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in biology from Rice University. Ray is a member of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Association for the Ad vancement of Science, and the Texas Academy of Science.