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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1988)
The Battalion Vol. 87 Mo. 86 CJSPS 045360 12 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, February 2, 1988 ian, Oi \ed lo ; E'gW Meese denies knowledge of plan involving Iraqi oil pipeline project WASHINGTON (AP) — Attor ney General Edwin Meese III said Monday that he did not recall read ing the portion of a memo on a $1 billion Iraqi pipeline project that ref- |ered to a payoff plan involving the Israeli Labor Party of former Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The memo to Meese, from his longtime friend, attorney E. Robert Wallach, is the focus of a criminal in vestigation of Meese’s activities by in dependent counsel James McKay that began nearly nine months ago. After receiving Wallach’s memo in 1985, Meese took no action in re gard to the potential illegal activity mentioned in the document, sources familiar with McKay’s investigation have said. Meese said that since Friday, when the memo’s existence was first disclosed in theLos Angeles Times, “there has been a cascade of misin formation, false headlines, half- truths, innuendo, and misunder standing of the law.” Meese responded with a five-page statement which he read to report ers. He refused to answer any ques tions and walked out of the room as a reporter asked him whether he would remain as attorney general. President Reagan, returning from a speech he delivered to an audience of religious broadcasters, was asked about Meese’s situation. “No com ment,” Reagan said. ‘T’m not going to talk about it. “The language in Mr. Wallach’s memorandum that has given rise to this speculation consists of 10 words in one of two long documents he provided to me. “I do not recall having read the specific words that have now mush roomed into importance, but I cer tainly did not receive from the mem orandum any impression of illegality whatsoever.” He added that the memorandum, which is classified and which he re fused to outline in detail, “contains no reference to bribes or payoffs.” itudy: Limit on campaign contribution could ensure judicial system’s integrity AUSTIN (AP) — Costly election campaigns for Texas judges raise doubts about the system’s integrity that a limit on campaign contribu tions would help erase, says a study j released Monday. The independent, privately funded Texas Research League ana lyzed the elected judicial system cur rently in use and appointed systems being advocated by some, including former Supreme Court Chief Justice John Hill. While the league didn't endorse one system over the other, it did rec ommend that campaign contribu tions be limited to $5,000 from any one source if elections continue. The group noted that under cur rent law the amount a judicial cam paign can raise is unlimited, and the most recent Texas Supreme Court campaigns raised more than S3 mil lion. “There have been few accusations of impropriety, but expensive cam paigns cannot help but raise the specter of a biased judicial system since substantial contributions come from attorneys who later will have business before the courts,” the re port said. “That appearance, ev en if unjusti fied, can be damaging to the respect for the rule of law that lies at the heart of our system of justice," it added. The study also recommended other campaign reforms, including stricter regulation of political ac tion committees, prohibitions on per sonal use of campaign funds, and re quiring disclosure of the occupations of contributors. The state’s system of electing judges was established with the Con stitution of 1876. The research league noted that after years of rule by “appointed agents of the ‘carpetbaggers, - the au thors of Texas’ constitution were de termined that the people should re tain the ultimate authoritv to decide their fate.” Armed men restrain nine at newspaper LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) —Two heavily armed American Indians who said they were protesting the death of a black jail inmate held nine hostages in a newspaper office Mon day. “The first thing they wanted was to talk to Gov. (Jim) Martin,” said Eric Prevatte, a hostage who was re leased. Preyatte said one of the cap- tors “has repeatedly told the hos tages that he doesn’t want to hurt anybody. He said he was very sorry this had to come down to this.” Seventeen people were in the of fices of the Robesonian when the two men barged in about 9:30 a.m., Prevatte said. Eight hostages were released by midafternoon, Police Chief A.L. Carroll said. One hostage said two of those re leased had complained of heart trouble. The Rev. Joy Johnson, who was negotiating with the captors via tele phone, said a captor identified by authorities as Eddie Hatcher was “very calm at this stage. He has re leased some people in good faith. I think that once he has talked to the governor that he’s ready to give him self up.” Timothy Jacobs, 19, identified as the other captor, said,“We’re trying to get some justice in Robeson County among the minorities. We want to see (Sheriff) Hubert Stone out.” Stone said he had no comment. Jim Sughrue, a spokesman for Mar tin, said the governor also declined to comment. Jacobs told WFNC radio that he and his companion were armed with pistols, shotguns and hand gre nades. Jacobs said the hostages were “quite comfortable. They’re all sit ting in chairs. We haven’t tied any body up.” Asked how long they would hold the hostages, Jacobs said, “Days, whatever.” Prevatte, who works for a group called Citizens After Responsible Education, said he was in the news paper office when the two men came in and chained the doors to the building. Police roped off two blocks down town, and a crowd gathered at each end of the street. Lumberton, a ra cially mixed town of 17,800 people, is located about 85 miles south of Ra leigh in southeastern North Caro lina. Prevatte said hostages were al lowed to smoke, eat food brought in from a restaurant, walk around the newsroom and talk. In addition to talking to Martin, the Indians wanted to surrender to agents of the FBI or State Bureau of Investigation instead of local author ities. Prevatte said the Indians were protesting the death in the Robeson County Jail of Billy McCullough be cause they said the death wasn’t ad equately investigated. Prevatte said Jacobs and Hatcher told the hostages the original target of their takeover was the county courthouse across the street. But they did not say why they changed their plans, Prevatte said. Both men are from Pembroke, au thorities said. The attorney general said that “I do not believe” that the memo “fairly implies that a violation of law was committed or contemplated” in re gard to the pipeline. Wallach was representing Bruce Rappaport, a wealthy Swiss business man aligned with Peres. Rappaport was a principal in the pipeline pro ject. Wallach was in the “habit of giving me lengthy memoranda on many subjects,” Meese said. “I rarely had time to read them thoroughly, par ticularly when they dealt — as these two did — with subjects outside my responsibilities as attorney general.” GSU consumers may not subsidize River Bend plant AUSTIN (AP) — State utility commissioners indicated Monday they are likely to bar Gulf States Uti lities from charging customers for a significant portion of the company’s nuclear plant. The Beaumont-based company, in its pending $144 million rate in crease request, is seeking to recover costs from its $4.5 billion River Bend nuclear plant in St. Francisville, La. PUG examiners have recom mended a disallowance of $274 mil lion of the nuclear project costs. The commissioners said Monday they had a higher figure in mind. “The company had the burden of proof and the company has not pro ven anything over and above” cost estimates established by commission examiners, said PUC member Jo Campbell. Chairman Dennis Thomas said he used several methods to calculate the disallowances and came up with numbers in the $850 million to $950 million range. Commissioner Marta Greytok said she might recommend disallowances of more than $2 bil lion. Campbell did not specify a figure. but said she was leaning toward a number close to that mentioned by Greytok. Bill Jefferson, GSU’s vice presi dent for regulatory affairs, said he had no comment on, the numbers mentioned Monday by the commis sioners. The commission, beginning Tues day, will reopen the hearing in the marathon case to hear additional tes timony on some issues, but not the nuclear plant expenses. >4 Veteran makes return to Vietnam as historian By Mark Gee Staff Writer Terry Anderson, an associate pro fessor of history at Texas A&M, saw Vietnam for the first time as a 19- year-old seaman aboard the U.S.S. Basilone. After 21 years, Anderson, 41, returned to Vietnam to look at the country as a historian. When Anderson volunteered for the Vietnam War he couldn’t find the country on the map — all he knew was that he wanted to stop In advance Terry Anderson will give a lec ture and slide presentation about his October 1987 trip to the So cialist Republic of Vietnam on Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. in Rudder Theater. The lecture, “Vietnam Today,” is free and sponsored by MSC Po litical Forum. communism. In 1966, the destroyer on which he was a gunfire technician shot more than 2,000 five-inch artil lery shells at the country he visited in October. Anderson came to Texas A&M in 1979. He now teaches classes about the Vietnam War and recent Ameri can history. He received his doctor ate in American history from the University of Indiana in 1978. “I returned to Vietnam to get to know the people and country I teach about,” Anderson said. “When I went in ’66, I never set foot on Viet namese soil, but I always wondered what they were like.” Anderson and Rose Eder spent two weeks in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Eder, the head nurse of St. Joseph Hospital and Health Cen ter nursery, visited several health care facilities in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government’s tourist agency told Anderson and Eder that they were probably the first Americans to tour the country without an organized tour group. They w'ere also the first since the 1975 collapse of South Vietnam to drive down Highway 1. The opportunity tor Anderson and Eder to tour Vietnam, separate from a tour group, arose from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s need for American currency. In April 1987, the government opened the country to American tourists. Anderson said humanitarian aid groups from America paved the way because they demonstrated that Americans can be friendly. Anderson and Eder applied for visas in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which has diplomatic relations with Vietnam. Anderson taught Ameri can history in Malaysia last year. Anderson and Eder flew' into the country and landed in Hanoi, then flew to Da Nang. They drove to the old imperial capitol of Hue, and to HoiAn, an ancient port city. Then they drove down Highway 1 to Nha Trang, a seaside resort. From Nha Trang, they went to Dalat, a hill re sort, and then to Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City is still commonly known as Saigon by Southern Viet namese. The city was named after See Vietnam, page 7 Photo courtesy of Terry Anderson Terry Anderson shows his camera to children he met HoiAn. An derson said most Vietnamese children under age 15 had never seen an American. Silver Taps held tonight for freshman The solemn sound of buglers playing “Taps” and the sharp crack of gunfire will be heard on campus tonight as the University honors Sumatikumar Sand, 18, a freshman biochemistry ma jor from Big Spring who died Dec. 19 in a car accident. The Silver Taps ceremony, which dates back almost a century, will be held in front of the Academic Building at 10:30 tonight. Silver Taps is prac ticed on the first Tues day of each month from September through April, when necessary. The names of the deceased stu dents are posted at the base of the flagpole in front of the Academic Building, and the flag is flown at half-mast the day of the cere mony. Lights will be extinguished and the campus hushed as Aggies pay final tribute to fellow Aggies. The Ross Volunteer Firing Squad begins the ceremony, marching in slow cadence toward the statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Shortly after, three volleys are fired in a 21-gun salute and six buglers play a special arrange ment of “Taps” three times, once each to the north, south and west.