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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1987)
FWm’■TexasA&M m m W • The Battalion Vol.82 No. 107 USPS 045360 12 pages College Station, Texas Friday, February 27, 1987 Commission: Reagan failed to control staff WASHINGTON (AP) — -The Power Commission Thursday blis- kered President Reagan for failing to Control his national security staff and said his idea of the arms-to-Iran olicy “was not accurately reflected in the reality” of the operation. The sale of arms to Iran’s Kho meini government “rewarded a re gime that clearly supported terror ism and hostage-taking,” the panel Suspect in CS murder case was on parole from TDC By Carolyn Garcia Staff Writer The former employee of Julie’s Place restaurant arrested Wednesday in connection with the Jan. 15 murder of a co worker was on parole from the Texas Department of Correc tions, Lt. Irvin Todd of the Col lege Station Police Department said Thursday afternoon. Terry Washington, 23, a for mer dishwasher at the restaurant, previously had served time in the TDC for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, said W.W. Vance, Washington’s former attorney. “I have no idea how long he has been out of prison,” Vance said. “He was young — 18 years old, I think — when he was in trouble that time.” Todd said Wednesday that Washington will be charged with capital murder. The body of Beatrice Huling, who was a night manager at Ju lie’s Place, was found in the res taurant office on Jan. 15. She had been stabbed repeat edly and disemboweled. Wade Clark, assistant manager of Julie’s Place, would not say whether restaurant management had known Washington was on parole when he was hired. “Our home office has asked us not to say anything about the ca se,” Clark said. The district attorney’s office is not yet ready to say whether it will seek the death penalty for the murder. District Attorney Bill Turner said. “In a capital murder case the only two choices are life or death,” Turner said. “We will de cide this as the case develops.” Todd said that getting the lab results back in any investigation takes time. “You have to realize there are a lot of cases like this that need to have tests done,” Todd said. “Na turally, they will put this kind of case above, say, a $200 finger print case. They will prioritize. There are other cases just as im portant to other people as this one is to us.” Vance said the police and the district attorney would have been careful to attend to details before arresting Washington because the expense of a capital murder trial can be enormous. said in a report released to Reagan and to the public. The panel, chosen by Reagan, provided sharp and sometimes de tailed criticism of key aides, includ ing chief of staff Donald Regan, for mer CIA Director William J. Casey, former National Security Adviser John Poindexter and National Secu rity Council staffer Oliver North. Regan, expected to resign within days, bears “primary responsibility for the chaos that descended upon the White House” after the affair was disclosed, and Poindexter “failed grievously” by not telling the president about the diversion of arms money to Nicaraguan rebels, the report said. The board estimated that Iran overpaid $3 million for arms in 1985 and nearly $20 million in 1986, and said, “Sizable sums of money gener ated by the arms sales to Iran remain unaccounted for.” The panel traced the origins of the Iranian initiative to Israel, saying that nation wanted to promote its arms export industry, strengthen Iran against Israel’s adversary, Iraq, and establish Israel as the only real strategic partner of the United States in the Middle East. “With such a complex, high-risk operation, and so much at stake, the president should have ensured that the NSC system did not fail him,” the report said. “He did not force his policy to undergo the most critical review of which the NSC partici pants and the process was capable. At no time did he insist on accounta bility or performance review.” There was no evidence, the board said, to contradict Reagan’s conten tion that he did not know about the diversion of money, or to involve Reagan in a cover-up later. —aiaaa gpii -■ - - aft 1 Bp. -4.:- m i I Am Photo by Doug La Rue Artist Bert Long works on his ice sculpture “Future” near Harrington Tower Thursday afternoon. Life sparkles in artist's ice sculpture unn Hall residents dispute justice of A&M theft charges By Curtis L. Culberson Staff Writer Two Dunn Hall residents’ accusa tions of unfair charges and double jeopardy have further aggravated the strained relations between dorm ; residents and residence hall officials caused by the Walton Hall E-ramp xodus and the new policy of two-se- ester housing contracts. Joseph Skladal and Donald troud, Dunn Hall residents, said I Wednesday they have received un- i just treatment and question the judi- ! ciary practices of the Student Affairs South Area Office and the student Judicial Board in the handling of a Ipse against them. | Skladal and Stroud were charged Feb. 5 for damages and vandalism of Krueger and Mosher halls. The charges stemmed from a Jan. 28 in cident in which plaques, memo boards and felt-tip pens were re moved from the doors of the two halls’ executives. Both Skladal and Stroud were found innocent of the charges at a Judicial Board hearing, but were given a verbal reprimand for not be ing more considerate and turning in the items sooner. “I threw away the letters (stating the charges) and was glad it was fi nally over so I could start studying again,” Stroud said. But it was not over. Although both students received letters from Brent Paterson, supervisor of stu dent judicial affairs, stating that no disciplinary action would be taken against them for the Feb. 5 charges. they received new letters dated Feb. 24 stating new charges. “I feel this is double jeopardy be cause we were found innocent,” Sk ladal said. According to the Feb. 24 letter, Stroud is now being charged with “theft of public or private property or services; or knowingly possessing such stolen items,” and Skladal is be ing charged with “attempting, aid ing, abetting, conspiring, hiring or being an accessory to any prohibited act.” “I want to know why we were not originally charged with these new charges,” Skladal said. “We went to Rick Turnbough (south area assis tant area coordinator) and told him See Dunn, page 12 By Olivier Uyttebrouck Senior Staff Writer “It’s a perfect day for it,” artist Bert Long said shortly after the ice arrived on the A&M campus at about 2 p.m. Thursday. A rainy morning had delayed the arrival of the ice — 21,000 pounds, 70-plus blocks of it — by refrigerator car from a Pasadena ice factory. “Future,” as Long christened his work, is one of more than 20 ice sculptures that the Houston-born artist has fashioned since 1980. But this effort is perhaps the largest the 47-year-old Sheperd resident ever has undertaken. The work is a part of the “Out door Sculpture by Texas Artists,” or ganized by the Laguna Gloria Mu seum in Austin and sponsored by University Art Exhibits. The exhibit includes the six sculptures currently on display in the area between the Academic Building and Sterling C. Evans Library. The day offered perfect weather for sculpting ice, and thousands of students who milled around the south side of Harrington Tower throughout the afternoon and early evening watched Long and his half- a-dozen assistants saw, chop, scrape and stack the rectangular 300- pound blocks of ice. “This is the soul of the piece,” Long informed his audience after they had hoisted a vertical block into place, with various colored chips ce mented in the center. In an interview Wednesday, Long explained, “The reason why I work in ice (is that) the ice is just as stable — maybe more — than a piece made out of concrete.” Dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans and looking larger-than-life. Long speaks in a friendly and casual black-Texan accent. Around his neck hangs a ceramic plaque about the size of a hand with a glass eye embedded in it. “The people, when they come, they know that it’s going to melt,” he said of his art. “It really disturbs them. They see me out there and I’m working really hard. Really hard! I’m sweating! “I’m making this thing and I’m hacking away at it and people say, ‘God, how can you work on some thing that hard and know it’s going to go to waste? And I ask them a sim ple question. I say, ‘Will you ever for get me, doing this piece?’ And they say, ‘No, I’ll always remember this.’ And that’s the key. “People will see a piece of art — a stable, static piece of art sitting some where — on a lawn or something, and people will go right by and won’t remember it. “But with the ice, it goes straight to here,” he said, pointing to his heart. “Whereas the other stuff just goes to here,” he said, pointing to his head. “One of my paintings that’s hang ing in my living room — the most important one — the t’tle of it is ‘Love is Forever.’ . . . Truth of the matter is, once you love someone, you can always punch that little but ton in your heart — in your soul — and you’ll have that tingly, good feeling. “I know that if I get people to take it into here (the heart), instead of just taking it into the cerebrum, then 50 years from now, they’ll remember this guy out doing this ice piece and they’ll remember some of those images. They’ll remember! They will! That’s the reason I do the ice.” Long incorporates a new style of art into works with his “ingredients.” One piece incorporates barbed wire, crab shells, rose stems, chicken bones and other unidentifiable items. It’s titled, “Journey,” or “The Crab Syndrome.” Another is a pair of huge acrylic lips pierced by a kitchen knife, nails and safety pins titled “Rumors Stil led.” Door knobs, ice hooks, TV chas sis, coffee cans, newspapers, lengths of chain, a wooden cabinet, a broken chess board — anything imaginable See Sculpture, page 12 Wixon Valley’s incorporation sti rs trouble for residents Photo by Doug La Rue Don Ballard laughs with a customer at his store, Howdy Corner. By Christi Daugherty Staff Writer Just east of Bryan on Texas High way 21 there are three buildings: a grocery store/gas station, a gas sta tion/grocery store and a deserted gas station. This is Wixon Valley, Texas. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it. The town incorporated on Jan. 17, riding high on a vote of 65-33, and withm a month the town had one mayoral candidate, eight candi dates for aldermen and its first crisis. While proponents of the move say incorporation was necessary to maintain the town’s independence and country atmosphere, others aren’t so sure. Some think the move will lead to high taxes, high buildings and a high crime rate. And they want out. The original purpose of the move was to present a unified front to^the city of Bryan, which had announced that the rural area was one of several sites being considered for a sanitary landfill. Some residents decided that al though incorporation would not completely prevent the placement of the dump in the area, it would pre sent a hurdle for the idea. Residents also worried about the possiblity of Bryan expanding and changing its city limits, placing the Wixon Valley area within Bryan’s extra territorial jurisdiction. Many felt such a move would lead inevi tably to the area’s annexation. The conflict within the little town came to the surface with a petition i signed by 24 residents and sub mitted to County Judge Dick Holm- green requesting that the election be recalled and the city be disincorpo rated. The tiny, close-knit community of about 130 registered voters virtually has been torn apart by the issue. H.G. Stallings, a resident of the area for 31 years and a former Texas A&M welding instructor, is the primary force behind the disin- corporation movement. Stallings was a mayoral candidate for one day un til he changed his mind for reasons he won’t disclose except to say his wife had something to do with his decision. Stallings says he believed many residents didn’t fully understand all the aspects involved in incorporation and that the issue was rushed to elec tion before people could be fully in formed. “I know of four people that wanted to vote but didn’t have the opportunity because the election was so rushed there wasn’t enough time for them to register,” he says. “A let ter was sent out urging people to vote for incorporation, but it was sent out too close to election day. My question is, what’s the hurry?” Don Ballard, owner of Howdy Corner, the grocery store/gas sta tion, is the town’s sole mayoral can didate and was very involved in the original issue of incorporation. He says anyone who wanted to be in formed about the issue had the op portunity to do so. “It was in the papers, it was on television, we had meetings and al most everyone was personally in formed about it,” Ballard says. The attention the crisis has re ceived in newspapers of almost all the major Texas cities has caused some consternation among Wixon’s private residents. “About six months ago when this thing started, I went to a lawyer and borrowed his law books and started reading and trying to assimilate the information and figure out what might happen,” Ballard says. “Now, after I’ve done all that, the newspa pers get hold of it and everybody in this community and the city and the state knows more about it than I do.” A major reason the petitioners are lobbying for disincorperation is fear of taxation — primarily property taxation. Since the area is all farm land, residents fear being stuck with enormously high tax bills. Ballard says the community should be able to support itself on a mixture of sales tax from the two gas stations and right-of-way fees for utilities companies and gas pipelines that pass through the area, without being forced to rely on property taxes. # Opponents of incorporation say the funding that would come from the small businesses would be insuf ficient for the community’s pur poses. Bryan Mayor Marvin Tate says he has his doubts about the town’s ability to support itself. “I can only say that in Bryan, with the number of businesses we have, we’re fighting the budget crunch ourselves right now,” Tate says. “If they can get enough money off just sales taxes from those two little busi nesses to support that town, then I wish them luck.” Meanwhile the area still is being considered for the dump, and Bryan City Manager Ernie Clark refuses to speculate on whether it will be se lected. Gloria Marshall, an oil and gas consultant who is a candidate for al derman, says incorporating proba bly saved the area from urbanization and garbage dumps, but has hurt some longstanding friendships. “We wanted to prevent the possi bility of city life of Bryan, and live the country life we’d chosen,” she says. “These are some of my friends and some of my neighbors and I do not resent their choice in this matter at all, I just wish they’d familiarized themselves with the issue. If they had this wouldn’t be a problem.”