V Texas A&M — m a
The Battalion
fol 87 No. 74 GSPS 045360 26 Pages in Two Sections
College Station, Texas
Monday, January 18, 1988
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ired campaign employee
ays ‘just following orders’
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as f lrr i HOUSTON (AP) — A woman
lt i on fm-d from the staff of Republican
\ ek pu-sidential hopeful Pete du Pont
ederj»y s any actions she might have
ndin ; ; liken were based on orders from
■Bmpaign officials, the Houston Post
Kported in a copyright story,
h “I know they’re accusing me of
>n, K wrongdoing,” Rosanne Robertson
atcsMpid from Delaware in a telephone
Biterview published in Sunday’s edi-
annrBMons of the Houston Post and the
mt^Dallas Times Herald. “If there was
my wrongdoing, I was just following
orders.”
Robertson, 24, was fired Friday
amid allegations she orchestrated
forgeries of 136 signatures on peti
tions to get du Pont on the March 8
Texas primary ballot.
She did not admit to any wrong
doing, nor did she elaborate on any
orders she might have been given,
the Houston Post reported.
Du Pont announced Saturday he
will pull out of the Texas primary
because of the forgery allegations.
In a prepared statement du Pont re
leased in New Hampshire Saturday,
he said, “I have determined that no
one in the management of my cam
paign authorized or had any knowl
edge of these activities.”
Later, du Pont said, “I found out
who was responsible. I dismissed the
member of my staff. I don’t think
the president would be any different
than a candidate. I think it’s a ques
tion of whether you’re honest.”
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Robertson’s father has retained
attorney Steve Shaw, former head of
the criminal division of the U.S. at
torney’s office in Houston. A private
investigator also was hired to look
into the case.
Fred Stern, press secretary for the
du Pont campaign, denied that Rob
ertson was directed by staff mem
bers to forge petitions.
“Rosanne told our lawyers that
she did this on her own,” Stern said,
“that she got no money and that no
body from our campaign told her to
do it.”
Robertson said she was surprised
when she read the du Pont cam
paign had fired her.
Robertson graduated last summer
from the University of California at
Santa Barbara and moved back to
Houston for a short time, she said.
In mid-August she moved to Dela
ware to work on du Font’s campaign
as an unpaid volunteer. About a
month later, she was made a paid
staff member.
Her father, Guy Robertson, is
president of Houston-based Pilgrim
Launderers and Cleaners.
Apparent forgeries have been re
ported on petitions belonging to
Sen. Bob Dole, former Secretary of
State Alexander Haig and New York
Rep. Jack Kemp, but so far du Pont
is the first candidate whose paid
campaign staff has been linked di
rectly to the forgery scandal
Council receives
new plan to aid
railroad problem
By Tracy Staton
Staff Writer
The long-standing war over the
railroad tracks parallel to Wellborn
Road may be quelled by a “peace
plan” presented to the College Sta
tion City Council last week.
If the proposal is implemented,
Texas A&M students will no longer
have to directly cross the railroad
tracks or the road to go “across the
tracks.”
Wellborn Road and the Southern
Pacific railroad tracks would be low
ered into a 26-foot trench, and intra
campus traffic would cross at
ground level on bridges, according
to Carol Zeigler, district engineer
with the State Department of High
ways and Public Transportation.
Zeigler presented the plan at the
council meeting as a representative
of a committee composed of state,
city, county and University officials.
The renovated section would ex
tend from just north of University
Drive to just south of Jersey Street,
Zeigler said. Estimated cost is $25
million, and the project could take
years to complete.
“In this type of construction
where we build a grade separation,
we could be working on one section
for 18 months to two years,” he said
“Depending on funding, we may not
build it all at one time. The total
could be spread over a number of
years depending on how quickly
funds are set up.”
Zeigler said there is no firm fund
ing strategy for the project. Possible
contributors are the University, the
city of College Station, Southern Pa
cific and the highway department
he said.
“Cost figures are very vague,” he
said. “We have no detailed design
and no detailed estimate. We have
identified possible sources, but no
one has determined how much
money could be expected from any
source.”
The plan is the latest attempt to
resolve a problem whose most dra
matic effects have been two fatal
train-automobile collisions. Eleven
collisions have occurred at crossings
in College Station since 1977; at
tempts to remedy the situation have
See Railroad, page 11
Extremely low turnout mars
presidential election in Haiti
Prepare for inspection
Photo by Shelly Scbuter
Freshman Corps of Cadets members Dan Villarreal and Jim Huggler prepare their beds for inspection. In
order to pass inspection all of the bed covers must be tightly secured to the mattress with safety pins.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)
— Most Haitians stayed away from
the polls Sunday in a presidential
election run by the military-led
junta, boycotted by the opposition
and marked by fear, confusion and
bribery.
The junta-appointed Electoral
Council issued no turnout figures af
ter the polls closed at 6 p.m., but op
position leaders estimated that only
5 to 20 percent of the eligible voters
had cast ballots.
Marc Bazin, one of four main op
position leaders boycotting the elec
tions, estimated the turnout at no
more than 20 percent.
Gerard Bissainthe, political coor
dinator for the National Front for
Concerted Action, one of several
groups that organized Saturday’s na
tional strike and urged Haitians to
boycott the election, said turnout
was less than 5 percent.
Electoral Council official Michel-
Ange Ducheine declined to give an
estimate. “I have nothing to base a
guess on,” he said. “We will have to
wait and see.”
Unofficial tallies were expected
early this week, with official results
to be announced by Sunday.
Many people stayed home be
cause of fear of violence or pessi
mism about the fairness of the poll.
Few Port-au-Prince residents
crossed police barriers set up near
polling stations to ensure security.
Several hours after polls opened at 6
a.m., some stations reported that not
a single person had entered.
Voting also was sparse in the
northern city of Cap Haitien and Je-
remie in the southwest, according to
local radio reports and foreign re
porters.
A young man, speaking on condi
tion of anonymity, said “I’m not
going to vote because the election
doesn’t meet our aspirations.” He
stood in a group of about 20 near
two polling stations. None intended
to vote.
“The winner has already been de
cided,” he said, laughing nervously
and edging back toward an alley as
an armored personnel carrier rum
bled past. “We don’t know who, but
the army does.”
Military think tank
expected to draw
scholars, dollars
By Lee Schexnaider
Staff Writer
Black official at Texas A&M remembers
The military think tank that Presi
dent Frank E. Vandiver will head at
Texas A&M after he leaves his post
is expected to attract scholars in di
verse areas as well as federal and pri
vate funding.
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King as inspiration in equality battle
By Mark Gee
Staff Writer
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“I still have a dream. It is a dream
deeply rooted in the American
dream. I have a dream that one day
this nation will rise up and live out
the true meaning of its creed, ‘We
hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal.’ ”
— Martin Luther King Jr.; Aug.
28, 1963; Lincoln Memorial, Wash
ington, D.C.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a
day to consider his dream at Texas
A&M University, said Robert K.
Goodwin, the highest-ranking black
at a major Texas university — ex
cluding historically black schools.
Goodwin, 39, serves as the assis
tant deputy chancellor of external
affairs for the Texas A&M Univer
sity System.
This particular Martin Luther
King Jr. Day is special to Goodwin,
because Coretta Scott King, King’s
widow, dedicated the ceremonies at
the Martin Luther King Center for
Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta
in memory of his nephew, Eric
Goodwin.
Eric Goodwin, an aide to Mrs.
King, died in an automobile accident
in September. Robert Goodwin gave
the eulogy at his nephew’s funeral.
On Saturday, Goodwin gave the
address at the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People’s celebration in Bryan.
B—CS remembers King on 59th birthday
From Staff and Wire Reports
Parades, marches and some dem
onstrations around the state today
mark the 59th birthday of Martin
Luther King Jr. But with no official
activities planned at Texas A&M
University, students had to join the
festivities in Bryan and College Sta
tion.
Celebrations in Bryan-College
Station began Saturday with the Bra
zos County Branch of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People’s Grand Celebration
at the Bryan Civic Auditorium. Rob
ert Goodwin, assistant deputy chan
cellor for external affairs at Texas
A&M, was the guest speaker.
“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - The
Dreamer” was the theme Sunday at
the Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in
Bryan.
Monday, students in Bryan and
College Station school districts will
have the day off in honor of the civil
rights leader. But some students in
the state, including those at Texas
A&M, are going to school.
Vandiver announced Jan. 7 that
he would resign as president, saying
that he will stay in office until Sept. 1
or until a replacement is named. Af
ter leaving office, Vandiver will as
sume the directorship of the pro
posed A&M Mosher Institute for
Defense Studies. In addition, he will
fill a new, one-of-a-kind position as
“distinguished university professor.”
Members of the Grand Prairie
chapter of the NAACP say they will
protest outside the school adminis
tration building Monday because
classes are being held. School offi
cials decided last week to hold classes
to make up a day missed because of
an ice storm that hit the state two
weeks ago.
“We will be demonstrating to
show our displeasure at the school
district’s insensitivity to our concerns
for Martin Luther King’s birthday,”
said Lee Alcorn, president of Grand
Prairie National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
Dallas County’s first black com
missioner says King would be
shocked to see the lack of progress
blacks have made.
John Wiley Price said that twenty
years after King’s assassination, his
dream of black equality remains un-
See Remember, page 11
The institute — expected to be
formally approved at the Jan. 25
Texas A&M Board of Regents meet
ing — will focus on the aspects of
modern war and its interaction with
society, according to its description
in the proposal to the regents.
AP File Photo
Vandiver
King has been a major influence
in Goodwin’s life. Goodwin listened
to King speak at the First Baptist
Church of North Tulsa, in his home
town of Tulsa, Okla. around 1950. It
was an overpowering event in the
10-year-old’s life.
Goodwin has marched. He has sat
in. He has pursued his convictions.
He is a child of the civil rights
movement.
The following discussion was
compiled from two Battalion inter
views with Goodwin this weekend.
Q: How do you think Martin Lu
ther King Tr. Day should be cele
brated?
A: I think the date is an excellent
opportunity for people to concen
trate on how they can better exem
plify the teaching of concern for oth
ers and the brotherhood that King is
all about. And certainly there are op
portunities every day for everyone.
And not just in expressions between
the races, but between people of the
same race, because there is too little
genuine concern for our fellow man.
Q: King said, “We must learn to
live as brothers, or we will perish as
fools.” What does brotherhood
mean to you?
A: We do not have the luxury of
being able to only concentrate on
our survival at the expense of our
brother whether or not our brother
is of a different race, or of another
economic class, or has a different
hair color. We are bound by our hu
manness.
Q: Ralph Abernathy, who served
with King in the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference and held
Edward J. Mosher, Class of ’28
and chairman of Mosher Inc., will
donate $1.5 million to fund the insti
tute over 10 years. The contribution
will be used for operations rather
than endowment, according to the
proposal.
Mosher, who Mosher Hall is
named after, said Vandiver ex
pressed his interest in such an insti
tute and Mosher said he would help
fund it.
“I told Frank that I would be will
ing to give money to it for a period
of time, and he said fine, he would
go ahead on that basis,” Mosher said.
Andrea Wilson, Vandiver’s exec
utive secretary, said the details of the
institute’s operations may not be
available for two to three months.
Vandiver could not be reached for
comment.
said the new institute may attract ex
perts that could aid research in strat
egic technology.
“If the Mosher center will attract
scholars in the liberal arts area that
can do defense research, that will be
good,” Thomas said. “We’ve been
forced to go outside to get the exper
tise that we need. If Dr. Vandiver’s
program can bring people to the
campus, that would be great.”
Thomas said even though his cen
ter deals mainly with science, engi
neering and technology issues, inter
disciplinary work is essential in
research on the Soviet Union.
See King, page 11
Dr. Richard Thomas, director for
the Center for Strategic Technology,
“You can study Soviet science and
technology, but you’d better under
stand how that fits in to the entire
Soviet system,” Thomas said. “So it’s
important that we do interdiscipli
nary work here. I imagine that Dr.
Vandiver’s institute will focus more
on the liberal arts kinds of concerns
— with politics and history and that
sphere of activity.”