The Battalion
Vol. 87 Mo. 86 CJSPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, February 2, 1988
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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.