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.87 No. 67 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Friday, December 4 1987
inmates agree to release captives
J ATLANTA (AP) — Cuban inmates hold
ing 89 hostages at the U.S. Penitentiary
Ited Thursday to accept an agreement
ith the federal government that could free
lie captives and end the 11-day siege, a fed
eral official said.
1 Cheering detainees waved and sang the
pan national anthem on the roof at the
lone prison. “Tomorrow everyone will go
pme,” the inmates said shortly after the
[reement was approved in the afternoon.
Federal authorities rushed from Miami a
Cuban-born bishop, who helped negotiate
an end to a similar standoff in Oakdale, La.,
and whose presence apparently was re
quested by the 1,105 inmates who have held
the prison since Nov. 23.
Justice Department spokesman Patrick
Korten said officials were waiting word on
when the pact could be signed, which could
end one of the longest prison sieges in U.S.
history.
The standoff here and one that ended
Sunday in Louisiana had threatened to un
ravel an agreement between the United
States and Cuba to deport some of those
imprisoned after arriving in the Mariel
boatlift of 1980.
Auxiliary Bishop Agustin Roman left Mi
ami on a U.S. Customs Service twin-engine
jet, and then was flown by helicopter from
Atlanta’s airport to the penitentiary, where
he arrived around 10:30 p.m.
The inmates, he said, “want somebody to
come in from out of town,” in an apparent
reference to the bishop. Korten said Roman
would be allowed at the signing ceremony
only if both sides agreed.
Outside the prison, Janet Lugo, wife of
one of detainees, stood on a street corner
blowing kisses at her husband, Fernando.
“I feel great,” she said. “I’m just glad that
this is not going to end in bloodshed. I was
afraid the government might lose its pa
tience and go in in full force.”
Several hundred marchers carried can
dles and sang “We Shall Overcome” as they
walked to the prison from a nearby church
Thursday night.
The detainees shouted from the roof,
“Without your prayers, there would have
been no solution to what has been a long
period of misunderstanding. We thank you
from the bottom of our hearts. Someday,
we will give back something good to those
who helped us.”
Hispanics sue
school system
as ‘only hope’
AUSTIN (AP) — Mexican-Ameri
cans who are suing the Texas uni
versity system charged Thursday
that they have been denied a fair
chance at higher education for de
cades and now see the courts as their
only hope.
“We’re not asking for the whole
loaf of bread,” Jose De Lara, state di
rector of the League of United Latin
American Citizens, said. “But we
don’t want the crumbs, either. We
will win this battle because we are
right and they are wrong.”
LULAC, several other Hispanic
groups and some two dozen Mexi
can-American students filed the law
suit late Wednesday in state district
court in Brownsville.
See related story, Page 7
At a news conference Thursday,
the plaintiffs said they have tried ev
erything else to end racial discrimi
nation.
The plaintiffs are asking the
courts to order the state to develop a
plan to provide “equal educational
opportunities for college students in
Texas, regardless of ethnic back
ground or area of residence.”
“We must succeed in this lawsuit,”
said Sen. Carlos Truan, D-Corpus
Christi.
Nuclear arms accord
promising, Reagan says
On the light side
Visitors to Central Park in College Station enter through Santa’s Lane
to view the various elaborate decorations and designs created with
Photo by Jay Janner
Christmas lights. The decorations include more than 40,000 lights as
well as a nativity scene.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan said Thursday there is
a reasonably good chance the super
powers can agree in Moscow next
year to eliminate 50 percent of their
strategic nuclear weapons, the most
dangerous arms on Earth.
He made the evaluation of pros
pects for such a far-reaching
agreement in a television interview
four days before Soviet leader Mik
hail Gorbachev arrives for a summit
and the signing of a treaty to ban in
termediate-range nuclear missiles,
known as INF.
Reagan was interviewed by the
anchormen from four networks —
ABC, CNN, CBS and NBC. Gorba
chev, in an NBC interview earlier
this week that was broadcast in the
United States and the Soviet Union,
also offered an optimistic assessment
for a strategic arms accord next year.
Bryan firefighter says group upset by petition outcome
By Richard Williams
Reporter
A spokesman for the Bryan fire
fighters said they are upset with the
outcome of their grievance petition
igainst Fire Chief Claude Jenkins
III and they “fear for public safety.”
I “We’re real frustrated with it (the
lutcome),” firefighters’ spokesman
Kick Pappas said. “We have all the
acts to back up the allegations and
that’s the whole key. None of them
are false. We’re upset because we
don’t think they took the full con
tents of it when they did go over
them.”
Pappas said he disagreed with the
committee’s finding that on a major
ity of the items it found grievable,
there was either not enough conclu
sive or no conclusive testimony.
“I disagree with that totally,” Pap
pas said. “Besides testimony we have
written facts to back it up.”
City Manager Ernest Clark re
fused to comment on the recent de
velopments because he said he con
sidered them personnel matters.
At press time Jenkins had not re
turned calls placed to the Central
Fire Station and to his home.
Pappas said the firefighters have
been told no one will lose their jobs
because they signed the petition.
However, some firefighters fear for
their jobs, and they are not con
vinced that the petitioners will re
main on the force.
“We’ve been assured there is
going to be no retribution, but
thoughts of the possibility are always
in the back of your head,” he said.
“You always wonder.”
Wednesday night Bryan firefight
ers formed a group called Bryan
Firefighters for Public Safety, Pap
pas said. One reason the committee
was formed was because the fire
fighters are concerned about public
safety, he said.
One of the grievances listed in the
petition was that the fire department
had “no departmentalwide compre
hensive and viable training pro
gram” and that the responsibility
had been delegated down to “those
who have not been instructed on
how to be an effective supervisor.”
The petition stated this had oc
curred in the areas of fire suppres
sion, safety inspections and emer
gency medical services.
In findings released by the com
mittee Tuesday, the committee
found that charge was “non-grievab-
le” because it is a “management per-
ogative.”
However, the committee did find
“imposed management practices”
had caused the firefighters’ morale
to drop to its “lowest morale level in
recent years.”
Pappas said, “Morale in the fire
department is at an all-time low and
it is going to take a long time to
change that. We might not be able to
change that with Jenkins still
around.
“We want to make it clear we have
the safety of the city at the top of our
minds. When that bell rings all atti
tudes are lost and we’re just trying to
do our best to fight the fire.”
The committee also was formed to
ensure that actions the firefighters
were promised by Clark are upheld,
Pappas said.
“We will be monitoring the actions
of Chief Jenkins to make sure those
promises are kept,” he said.
Pappas said no litigation is pen
ding as a result of the outcome of the
grievance hearing, but some liti
gation is pending because of the situ
ation.
“There is some litigation pen
ding,” he said. “There is one case in
the courts and two more that are
pending.”
There is a court case that was filed
Sept. 20, 1985 against the city of
Bryan by a former firefighter who is
trying to get his job back.
The case is still under litigation.
Faculty Club holds reception
in anticipation of opening
By Lee Schexnaider
Staff Writer
I With a string quartet playing in
the background and the pouring of
wine into glasses, the Faculty Club
held a reception Thursday evening
|o announce the opening of the club
In February.
I Dr. Jaane Laane, president of the
fcoard of directors for the Faculty
pub and an A&M chemistry profes
sor, said he was excited that a faculty
jdub was now within sight,
f “Faculty have come up to me and
laid it’s so nice to have a glass of wine
n Rudder Tower,” he said. He said
t will provide a place for faculty
rom various departments to ex-
bange ideas.
“Up to now there are very few
places where the faculty can have
liscussions about interdisciplinary
natters,” Laane said.
Dr. Grace Chisolm, a member of
he board of directors, said it will
)rovide a place for interaction of
acuity and administration.
“We have not had this type of at
mosphere at A&M before,” she said.
Laane said the club also will pro
vide a place to bring important visi
tors to the University. He said that
many times such people have to be
taken off campus for meals. He said
the view of the campus is also a plus
for visitors while at A&M.
Dr. Joseph Dawson, associate pro
fessor of history, said other universi
ties have such clubs and A&M is in
definite need of one.
“It is something that is long over
due,” he said.
Romalia Favrot, the interior de
signer for the club, said the board
has an image they want to create
with the club.
“They just want to have a nice
place to come to,” she said. Although
she said most of the furnishings will
remain the same, wall coverings, car
pet and upholstery will be changed.
Favrot said the material for the wall
covering will be plain but there are
plans to have paintings from exhibi
tions adorn the walls.
She said there will be no major
changes in the structure of the fa
cility but there are problems with
water leakage. She said all of the
windows leak.
“There are a lot of repairs (to be
made because of) rain damage,” she
said.
Graduate students, seniors can buy
tickets to Cotton Bowl classic Monday
By Taborri Bruhl
Reporter
More than 6,000 student tick
ets for the Cotton Bowl will go on
sale to graduate and senior ticket-
book holders at 7 a.m. Monday at
the ticket booths at G. Rollie
White Coliseum, Jim Kotch,
Texas A&M’s athletic ticket man
ager, said Thursday.
Tickets will go on sale to ju
niors Tuesday, to sophomores
Wednesday, and to everyone else
Thursday, Kotch said. All tickets
will be sold for $25.
For those buying tickets Mon
day, at least half their ticket books
must be senior or graduate books,
Kotch said. As in the past two
years, no guest tickets will be sold,
he said.
A&M got more than 21,000
tickets for the Cotton Bowl,
Kotch said, and of these, 6,000
will be sold to students, 400 to
500 will go to the band and the
rest will be sold to season ticket-
book holders, Kotch said. Appli
cations were mailed out to them
and to Aggie Club members
Wednesday, he said.
The student tickets are for
seats at the north end zone of the
Cotton Bowl, in sections 13-18,
Kotch said. The rest of A&M’s
tickets are for various sections
around the stadium, he said.
In the past two years A&M has
been provided with the same
number of tickets for students. In
1985 they sold out at 3 p.m. the
first day they went on sale, but
last year they didn’t sell out for
four days, Kotch said.
Carrying on the tradition of
“Camp Cotton,” several students
were waiting in front of the col
iseum Thursday for tickets.
“They don’t have to wait,”
Kotch said. “You can get seats
that are just as good at 1 p.m. (the
day the tickets go on sale).”
Scott Clendenin, a junior polit
ical science major from Alice, and
Craig Johnson, a senior psychol
ogy major from Garland, were
two of the first people in line.
armed with tents and chairs.
They said they realize they proba
bly could get tickets without wait
ing four days, but there are other
reasons to camp out.
“We’re not here for the tickets;
it’s coming out and meeting all
the people that’s fun,” Johnson
said.
Clendenin said that in 1985 he
was one of the last people to get
tickets before they sold out, and
that this year, he wanted to get a
headstart.
Bob Wiatt, director of the Uni
versity Police Department, said
he expects as many as 6,000 stu
dents to set up camp at the col
iseum this weekend, but no major
problems are anticipated.
Wiatt said allegations of stu
dent campers consuming alcohol
near the coliseum were made in
previous years and the police oc
casionally will monitor the area to
discourage that this year.
Minors caught consuming alco
hol might face criminal charges,
while those 21 or older who are
drinking will be forced to empty
their alcoholic beverages, he said.
He said the University will be
gearing up for the student camp
ers by placing trash bins around
the coliseum but aside from that,
no special police preparations will
be made to handle those camping
out for tickets.
Janice Jeffries, secretary for
the director of the Cotton Bowl,
said their office sold out of tickets
last week. In addition to tickets al
located to A&M, Notre Dame was
given about 13,000, and the re
mainder of the 72,000 tickets
were sold through their office,
Jeffries said. Tickets for the Cot
ton Bowl went on sale in January,
with renewal applictions going
out first to those who had tickets
last year, she said.
After the end of April, tickets
went on sale to everyone else, Jef
fries said. All tickets were sold
through the Cotton Bowl office,
she said.