The Battalion ^ol. 87 No. 183 8 Pages College Station, Texas Thursday, July 28, 1988 PD recovers missing Aggie rings ith help from Crime Stoppers tip quenili iniesi E | itors 1 seni® ste tratior. conoitj ill s4 is tr tionai; myCt- in inf,- emeu; - ar and iach leade; ! I'niit to Cork to I ?nt ds >n e« /ing they had left some rings in Dark, UPD Director Bob Wiatt Photo by Jay fanner Margaret Rudder examines her late husband’s Aggie ring that was recovered in Smith Park Wednesday. Six other rings were found. By Stephen Masters Senior Staff Writer A Crime Stoppers tip and old- fashioned legwork resulted in the recovery of seven Aggie rings taken in a July 6 burglary at the Clayton Williams Alumni Center, the University Police director said. One of the stolen rings was do nated by Gen. Earl Rudder, a for mer president of Texas A&M. An anonymous caller to Crime Stoppers reported overhearing two teens in a convenience store saying a pari said. After receiving the tip, UPD criminal investigation detectives Bert Kretzschmar, Will Scott and John Phillips searched Smith Park in College Station, near the convenience store where the con versation was overheard. Tuesday’s search turned up a purse stolen on the A&M cam pus, Wiatt said, so the detectives’ suspicions that the park is a dumping ground for stolen goods were confirmed. On Wednesday, Kretzschmar, Scott and Phillips returned with metal detectors and located the rings in deep grass just off a path following a search that lasted al most three hours, Wiatt said. Even though no park was named by the caller, Wiatt said Smith Park was suspected and searched because it is near the convenience store, and because the UPD has had “problems” with nearby Southgate Village Apart ments. Wiatt said although the rings were found off campus, College Station police have not been in volved in the investigation. Wiatt and the three detectives Wednesday presented Earl Rud der’s ring to Margaret Rudder, although the ring will be re turned to the collection in the Glitsh library in Alumni Center, Wiatt said. No formal report has been filed by the UPD, but Ray Martin, facilities manager for the center, told The Battalion after the theft there were no signs of forced en try. However, Martin said, a cus todial worker reported hearing glass breaking aroynd 6:30 a.m. on July 7. Martin said a party was held at the center July 6 for incoming freshmen and their parents, and it was possible that someone stayed in the center overnight then took the rings and left. Several clear, defined finger prints were found on the case, he said. Martin said earlier plans had been made to fingerprint the cen ter’s staff and all custodial and food service workers who worked in the building, but Martin was unavailable Wednesday to con firm whether any action was taken. In addition to Rudder’s ring, other rings taken in the theft were donated by James Moore, Class of ’26, William R. Taylor, Class of ’39, R.L. Fambro, Class of ’47, James Uptmore, Class of ’53, Charles Jameler, Class of’65, and Jere Swatzell, Class of’79. All diamonds were removed except part of the stone in Fambro’s ring. Ron Spies, the controller of the Association of Former Students, said no fund has been set up to replace the diamonds, but he was confident that donations would more than meet the need. “We aren’t sure how much it will cost to replace the stones, but Pm euro w ;ii tnve many dona tions,” he said. “Most of the work was done by jewelers and since some of the rings are so old, they were probably done before there was any standard set up for cut ting the stones. We’ll just have to wait and see.” ' Martin said the alarm system on the ring cases was not active at the time of the burglary. Spies said Wednesday no plans have been made to install an alarm in the near future. “There just is no easy way to hook one up without making it obvious,” he said. “There is the building security system that is operational each night.” Wiatt said he thinks the recov ery of the rings is evidence that the department does more than issue parking citations. “We’ve received a lot of heat in the past weeks for ticketing too much,” he said. “I think this proves that we do a whole lot more than that.” Rudder thinks the UPD did a . good job finding her late hus band’s ring considering she thought it was gone for good. “I didn’t expect to ever see the ring again, other than in a por trait I had made,” she said. “I had several rings stolen a few years ago, including my wedding ring, and I never saw them again, so I figured it was the same kind of situation. “I don’t think he (Gen. Rud der) ever took that ring off. He wore it through World War II, and when we got married he said he didn’t need a wedding band because he already had his ring. “When they started collecting the rings and asked Earl for his, he told them, ‘There are two things of mine you can’t have. My ring and my wife, in that order.’” More women test positive for AIDS virus HOUSTON (AP) — A greater percentage of women have tested positive for the AIDS virus at a local clinic this year than in 1987, and some experts believe the increase suggests that women aren’t taking the deadly disease seriously. In the first five months of 1988, AIDS virus antibodies were found in 3.4 percent of women tested at the Montrose clinic, nearly triple the 1.3 percent who tested positive last year. Health officials said the increase indicates a need for women to exer cise greater care in their sexual prac tices. “If someone looks good enough for you to take to bed, he looks good enough for any of a number of oth ers to have done so, male or female,” said Dr. Richard Grimes, the clinic’s chairman of the board. Of the 25 women who tested posi tive, 13 probably acquired the virus from sexual partners who were ei ther bisexual or used drugs, said Grimes, who is also a member of the faculty at the University of Texas School of Public Health. “Young women who are still going to swinging singles bars have got to start thinking twice about that,” Dr. Robert Awe, director of the AIDS clinic at Jefferson Davis Hospital, said. The increase among women is not yet reflected in the cases reported by the Houston Health Department. Only 2 percent of the city’s 2,210 adult AIDS cases are women. But Robert Falletti, acting direc tor of the bureau of epidemiology, said that does not mean the rate of infection is not increasing because the progression from exposure to the virum to the actual disease can take years. Falletti said tests begun recently of women in the city’s prenatal care and family planning clinics will help determine the extent of the prob lem. : state schools Group plans justice agencies reorganization cal