The Battalion
Orti
ttl.2
andi’
Tort' 1
^ol. 87 No. 182 8 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, July 27,1988
eacher’s home
estroyed by fire
By Alan Sembera
Staff Writer
vemH _ .
KKjjBFircfrghtcrs were unable to save a
.fo College Station math teacher’s
home, which was consumed by
a^Hmes Tuesday afternoon.
|HThe two-story wood-frame house
at 1307 Walton Drive was the home
of Mary Leland, her mother, Mrs.
T.W. Leland, and her son, Tom.
■ Mary has taught at A&M Consol
idated High School for about 25
years. Her father is the late Thomas
W Leland, who was head of the
business administration department
at A&M from 1946-56.
es p No one was hurt in the blaze, but
v one of Leland’s sons. Bob, cut his
shoulder when he broke into the
house to get everyone out.
I Neighbors said he had been in the
bark when the fire started, and had
to go around the house to get in.
■ The fire started when Bob Leland
i^as stripping the linoleum floor in
the kitchen, neighbors said. Fumes
!Mtt |fr om the floor stripper may have
■v s .flume in contact with a pilot light in
I the garage, they said,
fcnll Fite officials said they can’t deter
mine how the blaze started until they
amine the debris, but they did say
e floor stripper made the fire
spread more rapidly.
e 1)1
ids
:ctor
Capt. David Giordano, of the Col
lege Station Fire Department, said
the flames were out of control when
they arrived, and they couldn’t enter
the house.
This contributed to the extent of
the damage, he said, because it was
more difficult to put out the fire.
More than 25 men from the fire
department responded to the fire,
which was reported at 1:22 p.m.
That’s a large number of men for
this type of fire, he said, because the
summer heat made it necessary for
the firefighters to take more breaks
to prevent heat exhaustion.
Nobody was hurt in the blaze, but
one firefighter was taken to Hu
mana Hospital for observation be
cause of possible heat exhaustion.
Paramedics were at the fire to
help cool the firefighters.
One of the paramedics, Jon Mies,
said it was his job to monitor the con
dition of the firefighters.
“We try to keep them going on a
regular break schedule,” he said.
“We really don’t let them go longer
than about 20 or 30 minutes.”
Fire officials did not know the va
lue of the home, or if anything valu
able had been in the house.
Several cats are presumed to have
been lost in the fire.
■ ■’msr \
sk-/t ■ /y ■■ ' ■
Photo by Jay Janner
Firefighters overcome by heat and smoke cool off in between shifts at
the scene of a house fire Tuesday at 1307 Walton Drive.
Mi |g
)uslt
'Ai'
.S. district judge may face
impeachment on 17 counts
^■WASHINGTON (AP) — The
'east Bouse Judiciary Committee on
’F’Buesday recommended 32-1 that
O.S. District Judge Alcee L. Hastings
ol Miami be impeached on 17 counts
of misconduct despite his previous
'i :quittal at a bribery trial,
icepii Hastings is the first federal judge
1 face impeachment after being
ared in a criminal court on the
me charges. He also is the first
ack to be charged in impeachment
proceedings.
ntdfl In Miami, Hastings said that those
itek jwho voted against him “acted in
llind ignorance.” He added that ‘I’m
1 thail a figh l ‘ n g mood. There’s no way
jnetiJto remove a real warrior.”
colorp House approval of the impeach-
jeai fflent articles — akin to an indict-
Bent — would send the case to the
Bnate for a trial on whether he
should be removed from his lifetime
C3 judgeship. The House acts by a sim-
Be majority, but a conviction must
vera i|be carried by a two-thirds majority
of senators present and voting.
[J we, B Eleven cases have reached an im-
JBachment trial in the Senate, and
five officials have been removed —
all federaljudges.
The 51-year-old Hastings is ac
cused by the committee of conspir
ing to solicit a bribe from two de
fendants who appeared before him
— the charges that led to his acquit
tal in a 1983 trial — and of lying
about the scheme to the jurors. The
latter allegation was brought by
judges from the 11th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals, which covers Flor
ida, and supported by the Judicial
Conference, the policy-making body
of the federal judiciary.
In Tuesday’s committee votes,
Rep. George W. Crockett Jr., D-
Mich., opposed all but one of the im
peachment articles, while Rep. Larry
Smith, D-Fla., opposed one of the
articles. Three separate votes of 32-1
sent the 17 impeachment articles to
the House floor.
Smith, who is white, and Crockett,
black, were among those who ex
pressed the most anguish about the
case. It was a wrenching experience,
too, for Rep. John Conyers, D-
Mich., a black who is chairman of the
subcommittee that iicvestigated Has
tings.
Smith, who has known the outspo
ken Hastings for years, said, he “can
not shake the feeling” that “there
was a bit of racism involved.”
But, as he appeared near tears,
Smith said racism could not be the
“sole motivation” for the allegations,
because there were “too many
unique circumstances that can’t be
explained away by coincidence.”
Crockett, a former city judge in
Detroit, said anyone denying that
racism was involved in the case
“closes his eyes to conditions that still
exist.”
But the lawmaker said the issue is
“whether he’s competent to sit in
judgment of is fellow man and
brings credit to the judiciary.” He
said any judge who allowed himself
to become involved in such a case “is
too dumb to sit in judgment of any
one.”
The judge’s lawyer, Terence An
derson, said in Washington, “Judge
Hastings hasn’t fought for five years
to hold on to a $90,000 job. We’re
“Black public officials must
held to the same standard as
other public officials,” he said.
be
all
eese’s former deputy testifies
(ted■ WASHINGTON (AP) — Former
Justice Department criminal division
chief William Weld testified on
Buesday that he resigned in protest
last March after telling his boss, Ed-
i|jn Meese III, that the attorney gen-
• eral had probably broken the law.
eriouiji And Meese’s former top deputy,
er dtijArnold I. Burns, said he quit the
Bine day because of the “deep mal-
roodcjaise" at the department, adding that
’ t0 JMeese was living in “a world of Alice
: onsra> n Wonderland” about his problems.
Weld told the Senate Judiciary
s thejCommittee that if Meese were an or-
-e, cod dinary citizen, he probably would
B orc have been prosecuted for taking gra-
the'
ssaii
equi 1
tuities from his longtime friend E.
Robert Wallach.
Weld, who resigned March 29 to
protest Meese’s continued tenure in
the face of a criminal investigation
by independent counsel James Mc
Kay, said that he told Meese the day
he quit__lhat the statute barring the
acceptance of gratuities in exchange
for the performance of official du
ties “Certainly would reach the con
duct of Mr. Wallach and probably
that of Mr. Meese.”
Weld said he reiterated his views
in April in a 40-minute meeting with
Reagan and George Bush.
Weld said he concluded that the
attorney general had certainly vio
lated federal ethics guidelines pro
hibiting public officials from com
mitting acts which give any
appearance of impropriety.
Before resigning, Weld said he
decided that “if Mr. Meese were an
ordinary public official, he would be
prosecuted under the gratuity law.”
“When I was the United States At
torney in Boston, we successfully
prosecuted building inspectors who
accepted gifts from friends who
maintained they merely wanted to
‘get in good,’ or ‘say thanks,’ or ‘ex
pedite’ an otherwise lawful official
action,” the former assistant attor-
House okays
drought bill
for $6 billion
fighting on principle.”
In addition to the bribery and
false statements articles, Hastings
was accused of leaking federal wire
tap information to the mayor of
Dade County, Fla., Steve Clark.
William Borders, a Washington
attorney, was convicted of participat
ing with Hastings in the bribery
scheme, but the judge was acquitted
in a separate trial — a verdict that
committee members said was incon
sistent.
Conyers, who gave an extensive
account of the evidence against Has
tings, said he was initially “skeptical”
of the allegations and wondered
whether “racism could be the
source” of the charges.
But Conyers, who said he joined
the Judiciary Committee to remedy
racism in the judiciary, said he
looked “for a scintilla of evidence of
racism” and “couldn’t find any.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
House Agriculture Committee ap
proved on Tuesday a drought relief
bill totaling $6 billion, including a
$145 million benefit pushed by da
iry-state lawmakers for milk produc
ers despite President Reagan’s warn
ing not to create “windfalls for
some” or bust the budget.
“It is the duty of this committee to
assure that there is an adequate sup
ply of milk,” said Rep. James Jef
fords, R-Vt., as the panel adopted
the provision to raise the price sup
port for each 100 pounds of milk by
50 cents.
The committee approved the da
iry plan 15-12 and then sent the en
tire $6 billion relief bill to the House
floor, where consideration is ex
pected this week.
The bill already contained a pro
vision to cancel a 50-cent cut in the
dairy price support scheduled for
Jan. 1. The further benefit for the
politically influential dairy industry
would actually raise the price sup
port.
The move brought warnings that
the bill could be headed for trouble.
Rep. Dan Glickman, D-Kan., said
that provision “does tend to treat
one segment of agriculture more fa
vorably than other segments of agri
culture.”
“This amendment makes the
whole bill more vulnerable when we
go to the floor,” Glickman said.
There also was speculation that
the dairy increase, which would cost
the government $145 million over
two years by committee estimate,
might trigger a presidential veto of
the legislation.
No similar provision is contained
in the Senate’s drought relief bill,
which also is expected to come to the
floor this week. Farm lawmakers
from the two houses are planning to
meet in a conference committee next
week to fashion a final version of the
legislation.
The House panel acted despite a
specific warning from President
Reagan not to provide windfalls to
special interests or run to excess with
spending proposals.
“To put it very simply, we must
not bust the budget,” Reagan said in
a letter to House Agriculture Com
mittee Chairman E. “Kika” de la
Garza, D-Texas. He also said that
“creating windfalls for some will
mean less for the truly deserving.”
He urged de la Garza to avoid pe
nalizing farmers who purchase fed
eral crop insurance by providing
equal benefits to those without it.
And he called on the chairman not
to “force farmers to do unreasonable
things.”
“No program should, for exam
ple, include any incentive for a
farmer to plow under his crops,”
Reagan said.
Jeffords, whose home state is a
major source of the East Coast’s milk
supply, warned that dairy herds
would dwindle without the increase
in the support level and cause a milk
shortage that would be hard to rec
tify.
Dukakis slams Bush
for ‘do nothing’ attitude
ney general told the committee. “In
short, I came to the conclusion that
this set of facts was sufficiently se
rious that I felt I could not continue
as chief of the criminal division at
the Justice Department.”
Weld and Burns, the former dep
uty attorney general, disclosed new
details about their White House
meeting with Reagan, with Burns
describing Bush as becoming “florid,
very upset.” Burns said Reagan ap
peared “distressed” during what
Weld described as a “very frank and
candid” discussion in which Burns
outlined how a “deep malaise” had
set in at the Justice Department be
cause Meese refused to step down.
Democratic presidential candidate
Michael Dukakis slammed George
Bush on Tuesday for taking a “do-
nothing” approach to Attorney Gen
eral Edwin Meese’s legal difficulties.
Bush said if he wins the White
House he will hold officials to an
“exacting code of conduct.”
Dukakis, who formally won the
Democratic presidential nomination
last week, also criticized Bush for not
trying to block the arms-for-hostages
deal at the center of the Iran-Contra
affair.
Bush, who will receive the GOP
nomination at the Republican Na
tional Convention next month, said
that civil penalties as well as criminal
sanctions should be used to punish
ethical violations by government of
ficials. He said conflict of interest
laws should be broadened to include
Congress. Departing from Reagan
administration policies, Bush also
endorsed the use of independent
counsels to investigate wrongdoing.
Dukakis, boosted by the positive
reaction from the Democratic Na
tional Convention, led Bush by 17
points in the latest Gallup poll of
1,001 registered voters conducted
Friday through Saturday.
The survey, reported Tuesday by
radio station WEEI in Boston, found
Dukakis with 54 percent support to
37 percent for Bush. Nine percent
were undecided in the survey, which
had a margin of error of 4 percent.
The two would-be presidents de
bated ethics long distance as the cur
rent occupant of the White House
told reporters that the rhetoric at
last week’s Democratic National
Convention got “my Irish up.”
“To hear the opposition talk, you
would think growth in our economy
had come to a dead halt,” President
Reagan said.
The Federal Election Commis
sion, meanwhile, voted to release
$46 million in federal campaign
funds that Dukakis is entitled to as
the Democratic nominee. The 6-0
vote came despite objections from a
Republican group.
ircraft charter service opens at Easterwood
By Janet Goode
Senior Staff Writer
Bln the midst of a back-sliding economy, a
J^nev aircraft charter service has been opened
Mot operation at Easterwood Airport to hope-
■ fully enhance and attract future growth of in-
jstries in the Brazos Valley, Ted Lezynski,
ector of operations of the service, said.
e BLezynski said that when the economy took
a turn for the worse, he saw too many pilots
^e their jobs — and their planes — because
y could’t afford them. The new service
es them a chance to keep flying, he said,
’ hopefully will give the economy a boost.
, , —‘There’s a joke in the airplane business,”
ICB he said, “when the economy goes, things fol-
• t ©v. in alphabet order: airplanes, boats, con-
* ^ dos, and then deer leases. But airplanes are
ays the first to go,” he said.
IR-SRV Inc. — a Houston based com-
y — received certification from the Fed-
1 Aviation Administration June 29 and has
n in operation ever since.
Lezynski said he began the service because
he saw a need for a new “class” of charter
plane in Bryan-College Station that would at
tract businessmen to the area. Lezynski said
that when an executive comes to an area and
is thinking about expanding there, one ques
tion he asks is, “What kind of air service will
be available?”
The other charter service offered at Eas
terwood Airport is Executive Aircraft. David
Haensly, a charter pilot for the service, said
that Executive works with AIR-SERV in
cross-referrals but otherwise remains inde
pendent.
Lezynski said that although this service was
already established at Easterwood, he still saw
a need for another type of charter service.
Lezynski said the AIR-SERV plane is larger
(carrying up to seven people), is air-condi
tioned, pressurized and has seating in an ex
ecutive style with chairs facing each other.
“I stepped into a different class, so we don’t
really compete with each other,” Lezynski
said of his service.
“They (Executive Aircraft) have a single
engine aircraft that is good for sight-seeing
and short trips. I’m just trying to attract a dif
ferent market. ”
Lezynski said that in addition, AIR-SERV
can arrange for aircraft charters in any type
of plane through their networking system.
The service can also assist in bidding.
“The University requires three bids before
they can charter an aircraft and I can give
them this information over the phone,”
Lezynski said. “For example, a fellow from
the forestry department called and said his
department required that he call three char
ter services and find out who would do it for
the least amount of money. I had all the in
formation right at my desk.”
AIR-SERV operates a twin-engine Golden
Eagle which is a class of aircraft that has not
been previously available for charter in this
community. Lezynski said that right now the
twin-engine plane is really just a “test bed.”
Lezynski said he is financially in the position
to add any aircraft to the fleet that will help
satisfy customer needs.
Right now, Lezynski said their main cli
entele consists of businessmen who recognize
the value of their time.
“When ever someone asks me about costs, I
say commercial airlines are cheaper — unless
you are considering time.”
AIR-SERV can operate anywhere in the
continental United States and costs $1.80 per
mile, $25 for the “wait” fee, and an additional
$100 per night for the pilot.
Lezynski said he hopes the service will ex
pand to accomodate hospital patients, sports
fans and many other areas of interest.
Besides the three commercial airlines that
fly from B-CS to Houston or Dallas, other air
craft at Easterwood include three owned and
operated by Texas A&M.
Lezynski said that although nothing con
crete has been done, he has been talking with
University officials and eventually plans to
work with them in fulfilling their needs in this
area, also.
T raffic flow
on Asbury
to be altered
Traffic on Asbury Street, be
hind Hobby and Neely residence
halls, will be reversed to flow one
way northbound beginning Aug.
3, Tom Williams, A&M’s director
of parking and transit, said.
The reversal is part of an at
tempt to alleviate some traffic
problems from the intermittent
closing of Ross Street from
Heaton Hall to Langford Ar
chitecture Complex.
Parking officials are preparing
for increased auto flow into and
out of the Northside parking ga
rage, which is scheduled to open
Jan. 1, 1989, Williams said. Traf
fic on Ireland Street, now closed,
will be reversed to a one-way
southbound pattern when it is re
opened later in the fall, he said.
Behind the garage, an additional
two-way street between Asbury
and Ireland also will be opened
under the plan.
Parts of Ross will be closed to
lay down sections of utility piping
for the Richardson Petroleum
Engineering building currently
under construction at the corner
of Ross and Spence streets, he
said. Parts of the street will be
closed for two to four months,
Williams said.
Williams said the closure of
Ross would be handled in the
same manner as the closure of
Ireland Street, which was turned
into a dead-end street rather than
being closed completely. This will
allow continued access to Parking
Annex 7 and the random staff
spaces on and behind Ireland,
but motorists need to use more
caution than usual in the areas
being worked on, he said.