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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1987)
l ne tsattalion jut uponapi Hickmar,/ol.82 No.124 GSPS 045360 10 panes S \u<. tm» ^ ■eu\. lot ~ pin be tve&W iludent bo\f re\mbuvstA fe, ed this semesta tier, Moore at 1 istributed to Ft ambers on Ti rl LSG’s supy amendment, would allow d continue to their studem bout the tlra College Station, Texas Monday, March 30, 1987 ole: Donor ought North n aid fund jted the r to legislators, li id university a receiving H^ ASHINGTON (A p) _ At i east »re said all tyw^B contributor who gave with pnvatefiis* e y to a private Contra aid effort ie ^roup isnty^K vef j Lt. Col. Oliver North was dation of amsBf ro ]]j n g h ow the funds were ough its r: ,S t( documents show, de the extra efiiT ■ is lieyond rep;|^- :f„”0 athletes ueaky-clean tkB,' ■ 1 face charges cen/of assault larges >wn recognian ) professed fci March ISinik ike any conus Courthouse White Houst wo counts of | ss and three to leclarations to impaneled Is vmour Jr., tk nsel appoint iver’s lobbvmi used of Ivinya estimonylast^ e Energy anc t subcommitt# ment charjfi denying hep former Reaf 1 leagues onk , lobbying diet By Curtis L. Culberson Stuff Writer "■diree Texas A&M football play ers were charged with assaulting two women students and a University Police officer in connection with an incident that occurred in Cain Hall on March 11. ^■ustice of the Peace Mike Calli- ham said Sunday that assault com plaints were filed in his office by two wbmen and an A&M police officer (gainst senior defensive back James Vd Flowers, freshman defensive back Lafayette R. Turner and soph- olore halfback James R. Howse. Mioth women filed complaints agamst Turner, 20, and he was Brged with two counts of misde- liiinor assault, Calliharn said. Offi cer Mark Barnett of the University Police Department filed the com plaint against Flowers, 22, who was clarged with one count of misde meanor assault, he said. Howse, 21, H) was charged with one count of •misdemeanor assault after a com- plaint was filed by one of the women involved, he added. iB)irector of University Police Bob ^ett said all the charges filed were pass C misdemeanors and are pun ishable by a maximum fine of $200. KfBecause of the pending charges, Itannot comment at this time,” Wiatt said. Bput he did confirm that Univer sity Police officers responded to an incident that occurred in Cain Hall involving two female students. ||jpalliham said (hat to his knowl edge, none of the football players in volved have responded to the charges so far. A note from the contributor to an employee of fund-raiser Carl “Spitz” Channell included a $100,000 check and said, “Please have Ollie contact me to let me know what he’s going to do with it.” The note, dated May 27, 1986, was among documents obtained from Channell’s offices by Jane Mc Laughlin, who worked as a fund raiser for Channell. The documents, which McLaugh lin has turned over to the indepen dent counsel investigating the Iran- Contra affair, were reviewed by the Associated Press. They indicate a more active role by North in Chan- nell’s operation than previously ac knowledged by Channell, whose ac tivities are under counsel scrutiny. Channell has maintained that North did not raise or control money for his operations, which in cluded a $ 1 million pro-Contra TV campaign, a Contra speakers pro gram and humanitarian aid contri butions estimated at $3 million throughout the two-year congressio nal ban on U.S. military aid to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. The contributor who asked that North telephone him, Bruce Hooper of Philadelphia, acknowl edged sending McLaughlin the note with a $ 100,000 check. Channell’s spokesman, Jared Cameron, denied North controlled the money or played a significant role in Channell’s efforts. Hooper said he met North for a briefing on Central America before making the financial commitment to Channell’s project. He said North never told him how the money was spent, but that he understood it would be spent for non-lethal assis tance, not weapons. A National Endowment docu ment, called “Top 25 contributors as of Oct. 3, 1986,” shows $100,000 from Hooper in a column marked “Toys” and $45,000 in a column jnarked GAFT, for Central Ameri can Freedom Project. McLaughlin and another former Channell employee have said Toys referred to a weapons account, but Channell has denied any of his funds were for weapons. Cameron said the account was initially set up to provide assistance to the Contra families during the 1985 Christmas season and thus was named Toys. You Did It! Julie Soukup watches Crystal McGuire give Troy Bonin a hug after Bonin competed in the finals of the 400-meter intermediate hurdles Photo by Bill Hughes during Texas Triathlon Six. The track meet was held last Saturday and attracted nearly 800 participants from 11 states. PUF continues growth through stock profits AUSTIN (AP) — While Texas’ economy suf fered because of heavy dependence on the oil in dustry, the Permanent University Fund contin ued to grow at a vigorous pace because of stock market investments, officials said. The surge in stock profits was more than enough to offset the drop in mineral revenue, and managers of the fund are aiming at continu ing that pattern. Managers are also trying to further diversify the sources of income for the PUF to replace the large amounts of money that once poured in from 2.1 million acres scattered through the West Texas oil fields. The fund is the public endowment of the Uni versity of Texas and Texas A&M University sys tems. Its profits from the stock market, in the 1985-86 fiscal year which ended Aug. 31, ex ceeded its income from mineral royalties for only the second time in the 30 years that the fund has been allowed to invest in stocks. The fund, at the peak of the oil boom in 1981- 82, received $178 million from mineral royalties. The energy price slump cut that source of in come to $109 million in 1985-86 and it may drop to about $70 million in this fiscal year if current trends continue, said Michael Patrick, executive vice chancellor for asset management for the University of Texas System. The fund’s book value was $2.6 billion on Aug. 31. “When the value of the fund was $200 million, we were receiving in one year new money (from mineral royalties) equal to about 20 percent of the fund. The liquidity was coming from West Texas,” Patrick said. “Today, with the fund expanded substantially in size, even if you could return to high prices for oil, West Texas will never again represent the same degree of liquidity to the fund that it did in the past. “Still, $70 million a year from West Texas is a lot of money, and it’s terribly important to us. But I think the fund has transitioned, and I be lieve it will be this way forever.” Mineral royalties of $70 million would be the lowest since the 1975-76 fiscal year. Before oil was discovered on university land in 1923, the PUF had assets of less than $1 million. Mineral royalties pumped more than $1.7 billion into the fund since 1923, and they had accounted for about 65 percent of the fund’s book value by the end of the last fiscal year. Profits from the sale of stock and other equity securities have contributed only $373 million to the book value, or about 14 percent. But $321 million of that has come since 1982, and $185 million of it was earned in the last fiscal year. Thanks to the temporary surge in oil prices in the early 1980s and to the bull market on Wall Street since 1982, the fund’s market value in creased about $1 billion in those years. About $288 million was gained in the last fiscal year. Birds cause image problems for A&M Maintenance crew lacks funds, manpower for cleanup By Kelley Bullock Reporter “I was out at 2 o’clock in the Ifriorning taking pictures of Rud- * tier Tower,” junior journalism major Lee Schexnaider says. “And I had some problems with my camera, so I had to go back ’ and forth to my truck. “I was tired and was walking by the trees, and one of the birds shit on my arm. “I went to go wash it off. First, I went over to the MSC and it was locked. Then I went over to Rud der, and I couldn’t find anywhere o wash it off. So I went over to the fountain and washed it off. “It’s ridiculous! You can’t walk round the area at night without n umbrella.” Like Schexnaider, many stu dents at A&M have problems ith the birds in the trees on Joe Routt Boulevard, next to Rudder bwer and the Memorial Student Center. I don’t think the birds present a very big problem, except they leave a mess all over the place,” says John Field, a junior biomedi cal science major. “It’s not as bad as it was over at the Academic Building last year,” he says. “But it could get that bad if something’s not done about it. “It’s embarrassing for visitors on campus to see the bird feces all over the sidewalks. I think the bird crap on the ground and the stains on Rudder Tower need to be cleaned up so visitors from around the world won’t think we don’t take care of the grounds here. “Also, I’ve had problems get ting the mess off my car when I park over at the parking lot over by G. Rollie (White Coliseum).” The grounds maintenance de partment agrees that the birds do make a mess, and it should be Battalion File Photo This Dodge Colt was parked in front of G. Rollie White Coliseum. cleaned, but also says the budget doesn’t always allow for the extra work. “As far as our resources go,” says grounds maintenance direc tor Eugene H. Ray, “it’s one of those things when our responsibi lities and our funding doesn’t go far, considering that back in 1980, we had the same personnel based on the same budget. “We now have 366 more acres and 34 new buildings. That’s not an excuse — that’s just a simple statement of fact.” Ray says he doesn’t know how much maintenance spends on the cleanup of the birds, but adds that the department just does as much as it can. “The birds now are making a little bit of a mess,” he says. “They’re not making near the mess that they’ve made in times past. We do try to clean it periodi cally, working it in to the other things we’re obligated to do.” The reason grackles and cow birds stay on campus is because the live oak trees at A&M retain their foliage during the winter, Ray says. “The only time they don’t have leaves is this time of the year,” he says. “And generally, you never notice they’re defoliated because the new leaves push the old ones off. “Also, the University is a fairly quiet place,” Ray says. “Nobody’s going to bother them, so it pro vides a good haven for the birds.” To get the birds to leave, grounds maintenance uses ampli fied bird-distress calls and gas cannons, which make a noise as loud as the cannon at the A&M football games. “We normally do it at Thanks giving, particularly when the Texas game is played in Austin,” Ray says. “We have some bird- scare devices that we run for three or four days, which consist of gas cannons and amplified bird-distress calls. We make up three units that come out on small pickups and move around the heart of campus. “It (the cannon) goes off about every 30 seconds. You can imag ine us moving up and down the streets and sidewalks. You’ve got to have a vacated area, or it will vacate pretty quickly. “At Christmas break, we nor mally run from Dec. 21 through Jan. 3. The activity is not compat ible to civilization, particularly be cause it’s so noisy.” By scaring the birds away from the Joe Routt area, maintenance hopes to move the birds to Eastgate, the main drive or the golf course. “They can roost out there, and they don’t really cause anybody problems,” Ray says. Club owner rejected demands from Dallis By Carolyn Garcia Staff Writer Herbert Graham, owner of the lo cal nightclub Graham Central Sta tion, said his establishment was bombed after he refused to give into the demands of competitor Athana- sios “Tommy” Dallis, owner of the ROXZ and Fajita Rita’s. “He (Dallis) contacted me once in person and then by phone,” Graham said. “I wouldn’t comply with what he wanted. I wasn’t expecting the place to be blown up, but there was never a doubt in my mind who did it.” Dallis currently is being held with out bond in Harris County Jail, charged with various federal viola tions in connection with the October 1984 arson-bombing of Graham Central Station. He will remain in jail while awaiting his May 18 trial. Co-defendant Steve Graham of Houston, a Dallis employee, also was denied bond. After hearing the testimony, U.S. Magistrate Karen Brown ruled that the pair would pose a threat to the community if they were released on bond. Herbert Graham said he had no knowledge of the two-and-one-half year investigation authorities had launched into Dallis’ activities, but said he hopes he is called to testify. “As soon as (authorities) told me it blew up I knew who did it,” Graham said. “I told the authorities every thing from day one.” Graham said it took 30 to 40 days to rebuild his club and that the fire caused approximately $550,000 in damage and a minimum of $ 150,000 in lost business. “We had to totally rebuild,” Gra ham said. “All that was left was some of the concrete slab.” Phillip Simpson, William Hershal Nash and Timothy Joe Nash, all of Lubbock also were named in the in dictment, which alleges conspiracy to maliciously damage and destroy a building involved in interstate com merce, and malicious destruction of a building involved in interstate commerce, and unlawful manufac ture of a firearm. William Nash also is charged with lying to a federal grand jury. They all are being held without bond. Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Ratliff expects all five men to be tried at the same time. Brazos County District Attorney Bill Turner said this procedure is not uncommon in federal cases. At Wednesday’s bond hearing, agent George Michael Taylor of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms testified that he had tape recordings of two conversations in which both Dallis and Steve Gra ham admitted their roles in the nightclub bombing to a confidential informant. Taylor also testified that $1,000 was offered to the informant to go to Dallas, find Mike Halobi (a Dallis as sociate) and have him killed. Taylor told of a third tape record ing in which Dallis asked an infor mant to set fire to the College Sta tion nightclub MC 2 . Arson was determined to be the cause of the Nov. 1 fire at that club. But Taylor said his bureau doesn’t have enough evidence to charge Dallis with that fire. Investigations are under way in both the murder-for-hire and the MC 2 arson cases. Dallis also has been charged, but not indicted, in connection with a 1985 fire that destroyed the Manhat tan Club in Lubbock. Turner said that all the secret in formants will have to testify during the trial, but for their safety they will not have to appear until then.