Tuesday, March 24,1987/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
auro pursues ban on Gulf garbage;
.S. seeks special designation for Gulf
By Daniel A. La Bry
Reporter
In a continuing effort to clean
up Texas beaches, Texas Land
lOmmissioner Garry Mauro re-
;ently announced that the issue
)f banning garbage dumping in
the Gulf of Mexico has been pre-
iented to the International Mari-
ime Organization.
The I MO, which is comprised
af about 30 countries, is a division
sf the United Nations.
Ingrid Kavanagh, coordinator
of the coastal division of the
Texas General Land Office, says
he United States will ask for an
imendment to the International
Convention for the Prevention of
Pollution from Ships treaty
MARPOL) to include the Gulf of
Mexico as a “special area.”
The proposed ban on garbage
dumping in the Gulf of Mexico
ould amend provisions of MAR-
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POL to include the gulf as a “spe
cial area” where dumping of all
garbage except food waste is pro
hibited.
Kavanagh says the marine-
borne garbage — especially plas
tic — is having a negative impact
on environmental life.
Large numbers of fish, turtles,
eral Land Office, Mauro says, “As
good as the MARPOL treaty is, it
can be made better for the sake of
Texas beaches. More garbage ac
cumulates on Texas beaches than
in some Texas cities, and this
amendment would go a long way
toward solving that problem.
“This garbage problem not
“This garbage problem not only affects the quality of
life in Texas, it also adversely affects Texas tourism
and our Texas environment. ”
— Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro
porpoises, birds and other wild
life are dying because of the gar
bage, Kavanagh says. The inges
tion of plastic products by fish
and other marine animals causes
them to die of starvation.
In a release issued by the Gen-
only affects the quality of life in
Texas, it also adversely affects
Texas tourism and our Texas en
vironment. The shameful condi
tion of our Texas beaches is not
just a question of garbage but one
of protecting Texas wildlife and
Texas tourism from being
drowned in a tide of offshore gar
bage.”
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm.
J.W. Kime, the U.S. representa
tive to the I MO, gave official no
tice to the organization during a
February meeting in London that
the United States plans to bring
the issue up during the next
meeting in December.
If passed, this amendment
would put the Gulf of Mexico in
the same special category as the
Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea,
Black Sea, Red Sea and Per
sian/Oman Gulf where dumping
is prohibited by MARPOL.
The treaty has not yet gained
the support for ratification, Kava
nagh says, but enough countries
are expected to follow suit after
the United States approves the
treaty. She expects the treaty to
be ratified by the U.S. Senate be
fore IMO’s December meeting.
Confessed murderer
of A&M grad student
receives life sentence
By Curtis L. Culberson
Staff Writer
The confessed murderer of a
Texas A&M graduate student was
sentenced to life imprisonment
March 13 after the district attorney
agreed to reduce a capital murder
charge — ruling out the possibility
of death by lethal injection.
Malcolm Trent Primrose, 23, of
College Station pleaded guilty to the
Nov. 25 murder of Linden Kauf-
fman-Linam. One of Kauffman-Li-
nam’s classmates found her stran
gled in her University Acres
apartment.
Kauffman-Linam was a 34-year-
old graduate student in oceanogra
phy. It was her first semester at
A&M and she had lived here only
three months.
In one of three confessions to law
enforcement officials. Primrose said
he was attempting to burglarize
■x-president of SMU was ‘near breaking point’
wDALLAS (AP) — An illness and the football
scandal at Southern Methodist University
feaxed school president Dr. L. Donald Shields
to step down and left him near the breaking
point physically and mentally, friends and as
sociates say.
■The Dallas Morning News reported Mon-
dav that friends and associates say in his final
davs at the university, the once-strapping
Shields was gaunt and unsteady, and was
sometimes confused.
■Shields, 50, resigned Nov. 20, issuing a
statement saying it was for “health reasons.”
The resignation came a week after news re
ports revealed continued wrongdoing in the
aMU athletic department.
■Many assumed the football scandal was the
real reason.
ff But, in fact, associates say Shields’ physical
and emotional health were near the breaking
point.
■Although only his closest colleagues were
aware, the newspaper reported, Shields had
been battling complications of diabetes for
months.
“The doctor told him it was a matter of his
life, and he just couldn’t continue in his pre
sent position,” said Edwin L. Cox, an SMU
board member who worked closely with
Shields.
Knowledgeable sources have since said that
Shields knew that athletes were receiving im
proper payments, but university officials say
he was not pressured to resign.
William Hutchison, a member of the board
of governors when Shields resigned and for
mer chairman of the board, said, “As far as I
know, he left 100 percent on health reasons.”
On Friday, the SMU board of trustees voted
to abolish the board of governors.
Shields has remained in virtual seclusion
since his resignation, his privacy loyally
guarded by friends and family.
He had scheduled final appearances before
the university’s board of governors and the
Faculty Senate, but canceled both. His fare
well was limited to an emotionally wrenching
meeting with university vice presidents and
deans.
Colleagues agree that Shields’ contribution
to the university during his abbreviated ten
ure is clouded by the football scandal.
“It’s a shame,” said Roddy Wolper, former
SMU director of public information. “There
were some real accomplishments during his
administration, but they’re all obscured now.
I’m sure it really was not the way he intended
to finish at SMU.”
The football scandal continued to unfold
following his resignation and the National
Collegiate Athletic Association suspended
football at SMU for the 1987 season and
placed sanctions on the school’s football pro
gram that will keep it down for years to come.
The punishment was handed down after it
was revealed that athletes continued to receive
illegal cash payments even after the NCAA
placed the school on three years’ probation
for similar violations in 1985.
The newspaper said Shields and his family
refused to be interviewed.
He has steadfastly refused comment on the
athletics scandal, but says he will answer ques
tions from a specially formed committee in
vestigating the matter.
While recuperating, he and his wife, Pat
ricia, have spent time at his parents’ home in
Canton in East Texas and at a vacation home
in Southern California.
Two weeks ago, when questions of his in
volvement were raised anew, Shields told
Board Chairman Hutchison that he was re
treating to an undisclosed location out of state
to protect his privacy.
In Canton, his parents changed their tele
phone number after receiving calls from re
porters.
In a newspaper interview when he was
nominated for the presidency in October
1980, Shields said, “I moved into the fast lane
a long time ago, and I plan to stay in the fast
lane.”
Kauffman-Linam’s apartment when
she awoke and started screaming.
Primrose said he then took a rope
out of his pocket and strangled her.
District Judge John Delaney ruled
that the rope used in the murder was
a deadly weapon, which means
Primrose must serve at least 20 years
before becoming eligible for parole.
The life-imprisonment sentence
was the result of a plea-bargaining
agreement between District Attor
ney Bill Turner and Primrose’s
court-appointed attorney Jim W.
James. Turner said the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals probably would
have overturned a death sentence.
James agreed, saying that in
Texas, proving a crime was com
mitted is not enough to warrant the
death penalty.
“You have to prove that the de
fendant will be a future danger to
society,” James said. “He (Primrose)
has never been charged with any of
fense.”
James added that he thought the
agreement and Primrose’s sentence
wasjust.
Primrose, in a written statement,
said after he strangled Kauffman-Li
nam he bound her hands and feet
and began collecting things in a
knapsack. He said he intended to
move the body, but while he was still
in the apartment, a friend of Kauf
fman-Linam’s came in through the
back door and saw her body lying on
the floor.
Police say Primrose fled Kauf
fman-Linam’s apartment and ran
into some woods near Easterwood
Airport where he spent the night.
Primrose was arrested in Benton,
Ark., where local police say he drove
from College Station in a stolen
pickup truck.
An unemployed oilfield worker,
originally from Pearland, Primrose
quit college to come to Bryan-Col-
lege Station to work in a local oil
field.
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