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bl.82 No. 120 GSPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, March 24, 1987
urray will not return for final year at A&M
By Homer Jacobs
Sports Editor
Texas A&M quarterback Kevin
T$ HKiB urra y ann °unced Monday that he
not return for his final year of
felgibility but will make himself avail-
\mwe for the 1987 National Football
U*. ^ague draft this spring.
\ HI The record-setting quarterback
Hid in a statement released by the
Athletic Department, “After
[Biking with my family again, I’ve de-
||j(!ed it is in my best interest to go
1/uBiead and pursue my professional
Breer at this time.
H“My Aggie heart tells me to stay at
■&M and play another year, but
Hgic tells me that I should move on
mid test myself in the pro ranks.”
I In January, Murray had said he
Hould return to A&M to guide the
■ggies this fall. But A&M Coach
Jackie Sherrill said that decision was
' not made by Murray on his own.
Kelvin. H “I think that was more of a deci
sion of Coach Sherrill and his mo
ther,” Sherrill said.
Sherrill also pointed to the fact
that Murray would have been at
A&M five years, and many of the
players that he has played with (Rod
Bernstine, Roger Vick, Rod Saddler)
now will be moving on to the profes
sional ranks.
“Deep down, I can feel really how
he looked at it,” he said. “He looks
out there and there’s not too many
people on the field anymore that he
really came in with.”
Sherrill said the NCAA cloud that
is hovering over the A&M football
program did not figure into Mur
ray’s decision to leave.
“That’s speculation,” he said. “It
really has no bearing and never
would have any bearing.”
Murray will leave behind him
some of the most impressive statistics
ever compiled in the Southwest Con
ference, including the most touch-
Kevin Murray
down passes (48) in a career. He also
completed 546 passes for 6,549
yards during his Aggie quarterback
ing days.
Sherrill said he has never coached
oslem kidnappers say
llness may kill hostage
■aptors wont U.S. to urge releose ofArobs
use fori
astubk BEIRUT , Lebanon (AP) — Mos-
iill votEiilm kidnappers said today American
t repi 'i h 'Stage Alann Steen is sick and “may
xly pres:
i raemkr
, "ItS IE
IS."
>r us in:
couldc:
emkeii 1
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lie within 10 days.” The captors of-
lered to free him if the United States
Iressures Israel to free 100 Arab
irisoners.
I A handwritten Arabic statement
lelivered to the independent Beirut
lewspaper An-Nahar was signed by
Islaniic Jihad for the Liberation of
lalestine, which holds three Ameri-
lan teachers and one Indian profes-
ffor.
The group said Steen, a 47-year-
ild Boston native and a communica-
lons instructor at Beirut University
ftollege, fell ill in captivity.
1 An-Nahar said the statement was
Iccotnpanied by a photograph of an
other hostage, Robert Polhill, a New
pork City resident and professor of
Iccounting at BUG, as evidence the
ioaimerit was genuine.
I In Stockton, Calif., Bruce Steen
Said of his brother: “As far as I
know, he was in good health.” He
added it appeared from recent pho-
lographs that his brother had lost
T/eight in captivity.
I The Revolutionary Justice Orga
nization released a videotape of
french hostage Jean-Louis Norman-
in, 35. It said plans to kill him
Tuesday had been canceled because
of appeals from Sheik Mohammed
Hussein Fadlallah and Greek Catho
lic Archbishop Hilarion Capudji.
Fadlallah is the most influential
Shiite Moslem cleric with Lebanon’s
Iranian-backed militant factions. Ca
pudji was born in Syria and has close
ties to the Palestine Liberation Orga
nization of Yassir Arafat.
In its statement, the group hold
ing the four college teachers said:
“We announce that American spy
Alann Steen has fallen sick. Flis
physical condition may deteriorate
and he may die within 10 days as
doctors who advised care for his con
dition have said.”
His brother Bruce said: “I had no
idea he was sick.
“Last time I saw him he was fine.
The original picture I saw of him in
captivity looked like he was OK, but
then I saw one just a week ago, and it
did look like he had lost some
weight.”
The statement said the group
would draw up the list of names of
prisoners it wants freed, along with a
detailed plan for the swap, “if the
American administration asked us to
do this.”
A previous offer to trade the four
teachers for 400 Arab prisoners was
uarantees of sex, grades
llegedly lured SMU recruits
DALLAS (AP) — Football players
Southern Methodist University
[lad sex with sorority women and
vere guaranteed good grades
through an elaborate network of
boosters and students that was orga
nized as early as 1979, according to
ources quoted by KLIF-AM today.
KLIF sports commentator Norm
|Hitzges quoted unidentified sources
fis saying two sorority members ini
tially were paid $400 a weekend to
lleep with prospective football re-
Iruits.
The women allegedly lured the
young men with the promise of
fnore sex if they signed at SMU, and
they sought information about what
I TV 'Other schools were offering to have
* Hhem to sign, Hitzges said on his
morning sports show.
I Reports of grade-cheating and
.urnaitf payments to female students to have
Sex with athletes surfaced last week
k'hen SMU officials acknowledged
They were investigating “unfounded
rumors” from an anonymous tipster.
Those reports are the latest to sur
face in the pay-for-players scandal
lhat resulted in the NCAA banning
lootball at SMU for 1987.
I KLIF also quoted sources as say-
itj ng that former Athletic Director
■ ’ pob Hitch was paid $500,000 and
^ ormer coach Bobby Collins was
^ )aid $375,000 when they resigned
ast December. The pair stepped
lown in the wake of the NCAA in
vestigation.
The radio station said Collins has
»layb$ )een g uarante ed another $200,000
Q a pU Jayment in five years as long as he
ioesn’t talk about the scandal or sue
dlrinW ^university- .
the number ot women offering
iexual favors grew to “another six.
eight, 10 girls involved” over a pe
riod of years, Hitzges said.
He said sex-for-players and the
grade-fixing became known to Gov.
Bill Clements and some other mem
bers of the SMU Board of Gover
nors, which Clements chaired before
stepping down in January for his in
auguration.
Clements on Friday denied know
ing anything about such informa
tion.
“I categorically deny any knowl
edge whatsoever of such practices,”
Clements said. “I abhor the idea of
these kinds of activities if they exist,
which I know nothing about.”
After leaving a speaking en
gagement in San Antonio this morn
ing, Clements could not be located
immediately for further comment.
The organizer of the sex-for-ath-
letes scheme has “long since left
school,” Hitzges said, and the person
now works for a Dallas law firm. But
Hitzges said the sexual favors plan,
which started in 1979-80, picked up
again in 1982 with more women in
volved.
Hitzges said his information on
the growing scandal at SMU came
from one key source and that the
story was verified by other sources.
Besides the money, the women re
ceived extra gifts, including a Mer
cedes-Benz, the use of a fur coat for
one year and a booster’s credit card,
Hitzges said. He said the woman
who received the credit card in 1983
still has it today.
a quarterback that did not make the
pros, and he said Murray will be no
exception.
“Kevin Murray has all the ingre
dients,” Sherrill said. “He has an op
portunity to make it.”
Sherrill said the 1987 A&M foot
ball squad will have a difficult time
replacing Murray, the two-time
Player of the Year in the SWC.
“Concerning our football team,
there’s no question that the shoes
that have to be filled are giant ones,”
he said. “But what Kevin has really
given to the team are intangibles that
are hard to find and hard to define
— they include leadership and the
determination to find a way to win.
Kevin made this team awfully strong
in that regard.”
The Aggies now must hand the
reins over to either senior Craig
Stump or redshirt freshman Lance
Pavlas. But Sherrill said the new
quarterbacking situation would not
change the team’s overall philoso
phy.
“I don’t think we ever lower our
goals,” he said. “We’re going to have
to do some different things. But
we’re not going to change our offen
se.”
A&M offensive coordinator Lynn
Amedee, who was instrumental in
developing Murray’s skills, said the
time was right for Murray to head
for the pros.
“I think he did the right thing,”
Amedee said. “ What can he do that
he hasn’t done? He’s taken us to two
Cotton Bowls, and he’s been Player
of the Year the last two years.”
Amedee said the Aggie football
team, and Stump and Pavlas in par
ticular, will have to work extra hard
during the five-week spring drills to
make up for Murray’s absence, but
the team would not rest on Murray’s
laurels.
Stump, who led the Aggies to two
withdrawn since the Israelis refused
to negotiate and the United States
did not pressure them to do so.
The other two kidnapped teach
ers are Jesse Turner, 39, of Boise,
Idaho, and Mithileshwar Singh, 60,
an Indian who has resident alien sta
tus in the United States.
Normandin said in the videotape
from Revolutionary Justice that his
kidnappers put him on trial and “I
was judged and accused. . . . The
sentence is suspended for the time
being, thanks to Fadlallah and Ca
pudji.” The four-minute tape was
delivered to a Western news agency
in West Beirut.
A statement from the group last
week claimed Normandin confessed
to spying for the French and Israeli
secret services. He was kidnapped
March 8, 1986.
Two Saudi Arabian hostages were
freed in West Beirut last week, a
month after Syria sent 7,500 troops
there to stop a war between rival mi
litias.
There has been speculation that
Syria obtained the releases of the
Saudis in return for King Fahd
urging Britain to resume relations
with President Hafez Assad’s gov
ernment.
Mirror, Mirror
Photo by Dean Saito
Windows in the New Chemistry Building show off a reflection of the
O&M Building in Monday’s bright sunlight. The day started out with
rain, but had cleared up by early afternoon.
straight upset victories over Texas
Christian and Texas at the end of
the 1984 season while Murray was
injured, said Murray’s exit is a new
motivational factor for the quar
terback from Port Arthur Jefferson.
“It’ll help you wake up in the
morning,” Stump said.
Stump’s rude awakening came af
ter two years of backing up Murray.
“People say good things happen
to those who wait,” he said. “I have
to have a good spring for me and my
teammates so maybe they can build
some confidence in me.”
Pavlas, who was one of the most
highly regarded quarterbacks to ever
come out of the Texas high school
ranks, just finished his first day of
spring drills and was concentrating
on trying to adjust to the new activ
ities.
“I’m just trying to do my best and
let nature take its course,” Pavlas
said.
Controversy
over bomber
doesn't faze
flight crew
ABILENE (AP) — Reporters
from across the country watched
demonstrations of the controversial
new B-1B bomber Monday and
talked with its flight crew during
Media Day at Dyess Air Force Base.
Following months of increasingly
critical reports from Capitol Hill re
garding the B-1B and Us effective
ness, about 50 reporters from major
newspapers and television networks
got a look at the bomber and talked
to some of the airmen who man it.
Because of problems with some of
the plane’s critical equipment, the
Air Force on Feb. 23 placed special
restrictions on flight maneuvers of
the bird-like, low-altitude, high
speed aircraft that is designed to
penetrate enemy defenses and fill
the gap between the old B-52s and
the super high-tech Stealth bomber.
Capt. Fred Strain, one of five crew
members on the initial flight of the
B-1B that ended in a 300 niph land
ing on a desert runway at Edwards
Air Force Base in California on
March 10, 1986, told newsmen that
on that one mission he had “all the
problems I want to have for the rest
of my career.”
The landing was the fastest pow
ered aircraft landing ever made.
Strain’s plane — the “Star of Abi
lene” — had a malfunction and the
sweep wings only would move to a
55-degree angle, far short of the 15
to 25 degrees desired for landing.
The crew noticed the problem over
the Brownwood area only a half
hour into their first training mission.
“We weren’t really sure what was
going to happen,” Strain recalls.
“Nobody had really landed that fast.
I think we had anticipated landing
on the runway and rolling off onto
the dry lake bed because we didn’t
think we were going to stop.”
Once the brakes were applied, the
plane stopped within about 12,000
feet, he said, with 3,000 or 4,000 feet
of runway remaining.
“It stopped just super,” he said.
“But, I had never seen the sagebrush
go by that fast on the landing be
fore.”
Col. Robert Dempsey, the com
mander of the 96th Bomb Wing at
Dyess, defended the special restric
tions imposed on crews training on
the BIB. The limitations are nec
essary, he said, until all systems on
the plane can be thoroughly tested.
Economist: Sales tax on semces could cut jobs
By Melanie Perkins
Staff Writer
An estimated 42,700 Texans could lose
their jobs if a proposal to extend the state
sales tax to the service sector is passed, a
Bryan-College Station economist says.
Economic consultant Donald House says
this is a conservative estimate of what the job
reduction could be in the service sector, as
suming the cost of products remained the
same and the added expenses from the taxes
were not passed on to the consumer. How
ever, House says he believes this ultimately
will happen.
“It’s going to touch the entire economy and
it is very difficult to predict the entire structu
ral burden of the tax simply because of the
multiple levels of taxation and the interac
tions across markets,” House says.
The proposal, submitted by State Comp
troller Bob Bullock, calls for the extension of
the state sales tax to include services — both
professional services such as those offered by
lawyers and accountants, and personal serv
ices such as hairdressing and dog grooming
— in the tax base.
Persons providing professional services
may choose whether they will itemize tax on
their bills or bill on a “tax included” basis as
goods merchants currently do.
According to reports released by Bullock’s
office, the 4.5 percent sales tax rate on these
services would place Texas fourth among the
most populous states in terms of state and lo
cal taxes. Raising the state sales tax rate to
bring in the same amount of money would
cause Texas to have the highest combined
state and local sales tax rate in the country.
Tony Proffitt, director of tax information,
says the Legislature is going to have to raise
some money to help pull the state out of an
estimated $5.8 billion budget deficit.
“This is an alternative the comptroller had
proposed so the Legislature will not have to
impose an income tax on Texas residents,”
Proffitt says.
House’s study was prepared for groups
representing certified public accountants,
lawyers, architects, doctors, real estate agents,
chiropractors, engineers and insurance
agents.
Speaking for the study sponsors, Austin
lawyer Mark Hanna told the Associated Press
the pending proposal is not the way to go.
While the service industry was willing to pay
its “fair share” of state taxes, Hanna said, the
wider sales tax was not a good idea.
House said that, although most states have
a sales tax, only three states in the United
States — Hawaii, New Mexico and South Da
kota — extend taxes to the service sector in
the way Bullock’s proposal would.
In early U.S. history, he says, states had
tried this kind of tax in various forms and in
general rejected it. He also found four Euro
pean countries — France, Germany, Italy and
the Netherlands — who tried and rejected
this type of tax.
There are other states besides Texas acti
vely considering extending taxes to services,
Proffitt says. For example, the Indiana legis
lature recently passed a bill to extend taxes to
services, he says.
“The exact same bill Mr. Bullock has writ
ten was taken by the governor of the state of
Washington and introduced in its legislature
with very good results,” he says.
House says even exempt services such as
health, agriculture and food are subject to
taxation at their lower levels.
“You look at hospitals and you find their
accounting services will go up in price, their
legal services will go up in price, their custo
dial services will go up in price and you can go
on and on and on,” says House. “Whereas
you may be trying to exempt them on the
services they charge, you aren’t exempting
See Sales Tax, page 12