exas A&M
he Battalion
Inside
Texas A&M
FOOTBALL
Vol. 88 No. 61 USPS 045360 10 Pages
Monday, November 21, 1988
$ Smith claims he lied to reporter for money
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George Smith, the former Texas
A&M fullback quoted in Friday’s
Dallas Morning News story, apol-
olpte )gized at a Saturday press confer-
Ut of| :nce to “Aggies all over the country”
“rot®: 'or lying during taped interviews for
inasei :he story.
corpon Smith said his motivation was “to
nake a lot of money.’
University President William
Mobley said at the conference that
Smith asked to go before the media
“share the essence of his
itatement,” which he provided for
A&M’s in-house investigation. The
investigation is being conducted by
Robert Smith, vice president for fi
nance and administration and com
pliance director for the University.
Mobley said the NCAA was in
formed of the allegations Thursday
after the school was informed of the
impending story on Wednesday. Da
vid Berst, NCAA director of en
forcement, confirmed Friday that
the NCAA had been notified and
said the matter would be investi
gated.
The press conference was held af
ter Assistant Coach R.C. Slocum led
the team to an 18-0 victory over
Texas Christian University. Sherrill
turned over coaching duties for the
game in order to “avoid distrac
tions.”
But Mobley said Friday that the
change was for one game only, and
at the press conference Saturday,
Mobley reiterated this point.
“Mr. Sherrill is still the head foot
ball coach and athletic director, and
continue to abide by the principle
that a person, any person, is inno
cent until proven guilty,” Mobley
said.
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By Stephen Masters
Senior Staff Writer
in a book Bedell and Smith were
working on. Smith said several
things he told Bedell were untrue.
“In my best interest of making
money, I included things in the book
that were not and are not true, and I
thought the book had to include
those things which I know go on at
college football programs,” he said.
“Since I attended Texas A&M, that’s
where I made the story fit.”
In the brief question-and-answer
session that followed, Smith said his
goal was to make money from the
proposal. Smith said he had never
received any proposal, but a Morn
ing News statement said he received
a copy in October. Smith said the
agreement was that no article was to
come out before the book was pub
lished.
“I did it because I thought I would
get the money before the article ever
came out and I would be able to go
wherever I wanted because of the
proposal,” Smith said.
Smith said at the conference that
Bedell asked him if the money he
had received from Sherrill was hush
money.
“I said, ‘Doug, I really couldn’t say
that because Coach Sherrill has been
there for me,’ ” Smith said. “He’s
told me right from wrong and also
expressed what I should do in mak
ing a decision.”
Smith said Sherrill had stood by
him throughout his career.
“It was not a surprise for me to re
ceive some help from someone
whom I had sought advice from and
who stood by me and encouraged
me in everything I had ever done,”
he said. “He stood by me 110 per
cent.”
Smith said he received between
$ 1,000 and $ 1,400 from Sherrill, but
Bedell’s story quoted Smith as saying
he received a total of $4,400, includ
ing $500 in cash opened in front of a
Morning News reporter.
Bedell was not available for com
ment Saturday, but the Morning
News released a statement from
Ralph Danger, vice president and
executive editor of the News, saying
Smith had been quoted correctly.
“We have approximately eight
hours of taped interviews with
George Smith,” the statement read.
“We have a signed statement from
him that says the information he
gave was true.
“Reporter Doug Bedell and Smith
had a separate personal contract to
develop a book proposal and submit
it to a publisher and-or agent. Such a
proposal was submitted to an agent
and to Smith in October. That con
tract specifies that nothing was ever
to be paid to Smith for information
to be used in any book or for stories
to be used in the Dallas Morning
News, even though he requested
such payment.
“Concerning his denial that some
funds paid to him constituted hush
money, he said in a taped interview
on the morning of Oct. 21, ‘. . .all
that was to keep me quiet for an
other couple months.’
“We have reported accurately
what George Smith has stated.”
The Dallas Morning News re
leased a copy of the contract to the
University.
James Bond, deputy chancellor
for legal and external affairs, said
Sunday that the contract is on file at
A&M, but said it would take days to
find the copy to release to The Bat
talion. Bond said the contract called
for future payments to Smith.
Smith responded to questions
about his believablity by telling peo
ple to believe what they want.
David Eller, chairman of the
Board of Regents, said Smith’s com
ments from the press conference are
being accepted by the University.
“The investigation is finished as
See Conference/Page 5
Photo by Dean Saito
George Smith, a former A&M fullback, refuses to answer anymore
questions from the media following a press conference at KAMU-TV
in College Station Saturday.
Elephant walk
By Elephant Walk begins at 1
p.m. today in front of the
statue of Lawrence Sullivan
Ross. Dr. John Koldus, vice
president for student services,
and members of the Board of
Regents will make a speech to
kick off the event.
A&M Head Football Coach
Jackie Sherrill had been asked
by the Class of ’89 special
events committee to begin the
event, but Koldus said he re
ceived a phone call Friday af
ternoon asking him to take
Sherrill’s place. Sherrill still
tentatively is scheduled to
speak at bonfire, however.
The seniors will follow the tra
ditional path for Elephant
Walk that winds past campus
fountains and Albritton
Tower, to yell practices in
front of Cain Hall and on
Kyle Field. A final yell prac
tice will be held at bonfire
stack site.
Two elephants will be out at
bonfire from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for
rides and pictures.
Junior College enroll more
students, have less to spend
LAKE JACKSON (AP) — Stu
dents are again packing junior col
lege campuses, but officials say the
swelling numbers will place greater
financial pressures on schools com
peting for state funds.
Enrollment at community colleges
has shot up by 20 percent in six
years.
Some colleges report increases of
15 percent in three years, and an 8
percent jump in enrollment since
last year.
Area industry is rebounding and a
need for vocational programs is be
ginning to increase, boosting appli
cations at two-year schools.
Rising state university costs are
prompting high school graduates to
stay home to attend junior colleges.
“We’re close, convenient and af
fordable,” said Jim Higgins, spokes
man for the College of the Mainland
in Galveston County. “If someone is
willing to stay home two more years,
for a couple of hundred dollars they
can attend community college.
That’s not a bad deal.”
While vocational training enroll
ment has declined in many colleges,
the slack has been filled by a higher
enrollment in academic courses. The
student body is about 60 percent fe
male, and the average age is 27.
The boost in enrollment may be a
positive sign, but it is a mixed bles
sing for area schools that have suf
fered financially since the bottom
fell out of the energy industry.
State funding normally lags years
behind incurred operating ex
penses, and the boost in enrollment
increases costs.
Enrollment declines and the
downfall of the oil industry forced
layoffs, retirement incentives and
other actions at junior colleges.
“We’ve increased taxes, student
tuition fees, reduced the staff and
eliminated marginal programs,”
Wharton County Junior College
President Elbert Hutchins told the
Houston Chronicle. “We did every
thing we could to make ends meet
that a private business in financial
trouble would have done.”
Some academic and vocational ed
ucation instruction posts were either
f jhased out or immediately abo-
ished.
Unless a junior or community col
lege district could seek to increase
revenues through property annexa
tion, which Wharton College is try
ing to do, belt tightening was seen as
the best way to ride out the economic
storm.
Brazosport College continues to
operate on a skeleton budget even
though the area’s economic picture
is brighter today than in the last five
years.
Smith stood
to gain from
book sales
By Richard Williams
City Editor
George Smith was to receive
money from a book that was to be
published based on information he
gave Dallas Morning News reporter
Doug Bedell, according to Ralph
Danger, vice president and executive
editor of the News.
The money was to be paid to
Smith by either the publisher or the
agent, if the book was accepted for
publication, Danger said.
The question of payment arose af
ter the News printed a copyrighted
article which quoted Smith as saying
Jackie Sherrill violated NCAA regu
lations and paid Smith “hush mon
ey” four days after the NCAA an
nounced results of its investigation
into the Texas A&M football pro
gram.
Smith later recanted his testimony
and said he lied to Bedell in order to
make more money from a proposed
book. The book was to be written us
ing Smith’s statements to Bedell.
The News has issued a statement
which said there was an agreement
between Smith and Bedell that
stated the information would be
used to write a book and a newspa
per article.
The statement said the “contract
specifies that nothing was ever to be
paid to Smith for information to be
used in any book or for stories to be
used in the Dallas Morning News,
even though he requested such pay
ment.”
Danger said this statement meant
that Smith was not to receive funds
from the News or directly from Be
dell. Danger said the News is “not
the Inquirer” and does not pay
sources for information.
The Battalion requested a copy of
the agreement after Smith claimed
in his press conference that he lied
to Bedell to make more money from
the book. The News denied the re
quest, but said A&M had a copy and
that The Battalion could get a copy
from them.
James Bond, A&M’s deputy chan
cellor for legal and external affairs,
said A&M hada copy but it would
take a couple of days to find it and
give it to The Battalion.
Bond said that after reading the
contract there was “no question that
he (Smith) was to receive money if
the book was accepted (for publica
tion).”
Snipers kill one, wound two at national park
BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK
(AP) — Snipers, firing from Mexi
can cliffs in a remote area along the
Rio Grande, fatally shot a man and
wounded his wife and a river guide,
authorities said.
Mike Cox, a spokesman for the
Texas Department of Public Safety
in Austin, said Texas, U.S. and Mex
ican authorities searched Sunday for
at least two people who opened fire
about noon Saturday on the couple
and the guide as they traveled down
the river on a raft.
The guide, Jim Burr, 36, was the
first to be shot. He was hit in the
right thigh, officials said. The
woman was shot in the left side and
in the left shoulder, and her hus
band was shot in the back as he tried
to help her, officials said.
Names of the 40-year-old victim
and his 32-year-old wife were with
held pending notification of rela
tives, Cox said. They were residents
of Eastland, about 60 miles east of
Abilene, he said. .
Expert: HIV incidence high in colleges
By Scot O. Walker
Staff Writer
The incidence of people infected
with the virus that develops into
AIDS is higher on college campuses
than in any other segment of society
except prisons, an expert on the dis
ease said Friday.
Dr. Richard P. Keeling, chairman
of the American College Health As
sociation’s task force on AIDS, said
that preliminary studies indicate the
presence of the HIV virus in one out
of every 300 to 320 college students.
The rate in prisons is one in 250.
HIV, or Human Immunodefi
ciency Virus, is the name given to
the virus that in 99 percent of all
cases later develops into AIDS.
Keeling gave a lecture and slide
show for about 75 people in Rudder
Tower Friday. The presentation, ti
tled “UPDATE: AIDS on the Col
lege Campus,” was sponsored by the
Student Affairs Professional Staff
Development Committee.
Keeling said that AIDS, or Ac-
I uired Immune Deficiency Syn-
rome, is the most important health
care issue of our time, and that its 99
percent mortality rate requires a
concerted effort among students,
faculty and administration to pre
vent the disease before infection oc
curs.
“So how are we doing?” Keeling
asked. “Not very good.”
Keeling said that 44 percent of all
the colleges and universities in the
nation have AIDS policies to deal
with AIDS, and that those policies
are often inadequate.
He said that he has consulted offi
cials from more than 90 colleges on
AIDS policy, and that he can eval
uate the effectiveness of the policies
by askingjust three questions.
“First of all, I want to know if the
students are involved,” Keeling said.
“Second, is AIDS education inte
grated into other campus activities
and curriculum?”
Keeling said that a stigma is at
tached to attending meetings and
lectures that give information about
AIDS.
“The stigma is that guys who go to
AIDS awareness meetings must be
gay, and that girls who attend them
are sluts,” Keeling said.
Because of that stigma, Keeling
said it is important to integrate AIDS
information into the regular curric
ulum. He gave several examples of
how to accomplish that goal, includ
ing the study of AIDS as a social
problem in a social studies class, or
the inclusion of a problem in a math
text on the exponential increase in
the number of cases of AIDS in
America.
Keeling said his third test of a pol
icy’s effectiveness is whether it is
controversial.
“Any AIDS education policy that
is so gutless and so lifeless that it at
tracts no fire is doing no good what
soever,” he said. “Any successful
program will generate controversy.
Working through that controversy is
possible, but avoiding the contro
versy is stupid.”
Keeling said that most college
AIDS policies omit several popula
tions within the system.
He said that international stu
dents, racial and ethnic minorities
and non-traditional students are of
ten left out of the education process.
“The employees, faculty and staff
of the school are also left out because
we think the don’t do all the things
that put a person at high risk for de
veloping AIDS,” Keeling said. “We
quite erroneously think they don’t
do drugs, that there are no gay pro
fessors, and even that they don’t
have sex, especially with students,
even though they do.”
Keeling said that another segment
often overlooked is the gay and les
bian students.
“We have this opinion of, ‘How
can you be gay and not know (about
AIDS)?”’ Keeling said. “But many of
these people don’t identify them
selves as being gay. They would
never go to an AIDS information
booth or join a gay students organi
zation.”
Keeling said that because evi
dence shows that people are not
likely to stop doing a high-risk activ
ity, the point of AIDS education
should be to modify the behavior to
make it safer.
See AIDS/Page 5
The injured were flown by heli
copter to Brewster Memorial Hospi
tal in Alpine, about 80 miles away,
where night supervisor Joyce Rut
ledge said late Sunday that the two
were in stable condition. The
wounds were described as not life-
ithreatening.
“They were in an area of high
bluffs on the river,” Cox said. “The
woman said she remembered seeing
some smoke coming from the high
bluff on the Mexican side of the
river . . . and that moments later, -
shots were fired and bullets hit on ei
ther side of their raft.”
“The woman says it was a night
mare,” Cox said. “There was no
provocation or anything. It was just
an attack. They were just a married
couple who were tourists in the area.
The woman believed at least two
people were on the bluff. The guide
said he saw four.”
The attack occurred in what is
known as Colorado Canyon on the
American side of the river in an area
about 30 miles east of Presidio.
U.S. officials contacted Mexican
authorities and flew with them to the
Mexican side of the river, where 12
empty shell casings were found, Cox
said.
Cox said the area where the shells
were found are in a remote desert
area reachable only by boat or heli
copter and once notorious for its
marijuana cultivation.
Cox said it was the second time,
this year that American tourists in
the area have reported being shot at
from Mexican bluffs.
Officials believe between 20 and
30 shots were fired, Cox said. Some
of the shell casings were 30-30 cali
ber, which could have been fired
— only from a rifle, he said.