Texas A&M
The Battalion
Thursday, Dec.
1988
College Station, Texas
Vol.
USPS 045360
Pages
We’re having a ball...
Texas A&M’s Donald Thompson (30) and Hous
ton Baptist University’s George Christopher battle
for the ball following a rebound early in the first
Photo by Dean Saito
quarter in Wednesday night’s game at G. Rollie
White Colliseum. A&M won the game 79-67. See
story on page 10.
Smith’s ex-employer
offers clues in inquiry,
A&M plans interviews
From Staff and Wire Reports
A newspaper story contained no
new information about George
Smith’s allegations that he was paid
“hush” money, Texas A&M officials
said Wednesday, adding that the
University already had scheduled an
investigative team to go to Georgia
for interviews.
A former employer of Smith was
quoted in Wednesday’s copyright
story in the Dallas Morning News as
saying the former A&M running
back threatened to expose violations
of National Collegiate Athletic Asso
ciation rules if the athletic depart
ment did not send him money.
Larry Wilson, who coached Smith
in high school, contradicts Smith’s
latest statements, in which he con
tended he only got friendly loans
from A&M head coach and athletic
director Jackie Sherrill.
Wilson told the newspaper he al
lowed Smith to make collect calls to
A&M athletic offices and overheard
Smith talking to Sherrill and assis
tant coach George Pugh.
“Contrary to some media reports,
we are progressing expeditiously
and diligently in a thorough investi
gation to determine the facts sur
rounding all facets of this matter,”
A&M President William H. Mobley
said in a prepared statement
Wednesday. He said NCAA officials
had previously been informed that
investigators retained by the Univer
sity would be interviewing “a num
ber of people” in Georgia.
Wilson said he had not been com
tacted by the NCAA or by A&M offi
cials last month.
“In short, we are on top of this
matter and progressing in an or
derly manner,” Mobley said. “No
one is more interested in coming to a
quick resolution than we are, but we
will not act in haste at the risk of be
ing incomplete or unfair. As I have
said before, due process is par
amount.”
Wilson’s comments corroborate
Smith’s previous story, published by
the Dallas newspaper Nov. 18, that
$4,400 in cash and money orders
were actually sent in return for
Smith’s silence as an NCAA investi
gation of the A&M football program
concluded in September.
Smith received one $500 payment
in an express mail package four days
after A&M received its penalties
stemming from an NCAA investiga
tion.
At a Nov. 19 news conference,
Smith said the payments were not
“hush money,” but a loan from Sher
rill.Smith said he lied to Morning
News reporter Doug Bedell to help
sell a proposed book.
Wilson, director of city parks in
Douglasville, Ga., said he hired
Smith in June and July as a part-time
worker.
“He (Smith) was always telling me
about money,” Wilson said. “He
said, ‘I’m going to tell on them
(A&M) if they don’t come through
with money.’”
Wilson said he talked numerous
times with Smith about the demands
he was making on Sherrill and Pugh.
“Now he turns around and says he
made everything up,” Wilson said.
“Like I told somebody today, if this
happens to come back, I ain’t going
to lie for anybody. He made several
of those calls here.”
David Berst, NCAA assistant ex
ecutive director for enforcement,
said he did not know if A&M offi
cials planned to interview Wilson.
Service helps stress victims
deal with final examinations
By Andrea L. Warrenburg
Reporter
Students encounter stress at the
end of each semester with the arrival
of final exams. This stress, like fi
nals, must be dealt with. If not, it can
lead to depression, and in extreme
cases, suicidfe.
“The number of attempted sui
cides goes up every year at this
time,” says Nicholas Dobrovolsky,
counseling psychologist at the Texas
A&M Student Counseling Service.
“In fact, we had some attempted sui
cides last week.”
Dobrovolsky cited two reasons
why the suicide rates increase as the
fall semester is concluding: the holi
days, and pressure to make good
grades.
“The holiday season is a time
when many people get depressed,”
he said. “And second, the reality hits
people that they’re not going to
make their grades.
“Students try to fulfill aspirations
to graduate and expectations from
parents and other significant people.
They find their goals, which may be
unappropriate, cannot be fulfilled
and so they see themselves as a fail
ure. They feel they are letting down
everyone. So, they begin to see sui
cide as an option to escape the pain
and pressure.”
Dobrovolsky sees suicide, in some
cases, as a cry for help.
“People sometimes attempt sui
cide with the hopes of being res
cued,” he said. “It’s a way of saying
T’m in pain and I need help.’ ”
If someone is depressed, tells you
he’s going to kill himself, purchases
FAA fines airlines for security violations
WASHINGTON (AP) — The checkpoints to detect 236 mock ports, have significantly improved not satisfied with a failure rate in ex- $10,000 per violation for each air
Federal Aviation Administration
fined 29 airlines more than $1.6 mil
lion Wednesday for security lapses at
passenger checkpoints, although of
ficials said the violations have de
clined significantly in the past year.
The civil penalties ranged from
$1,000 against a handful of com
muter carriers — the minimum for a
single violation — to more than
$200,000 apiece against American
Airlines, Northwest Airlines and
United Airlines for each having
more than two dozen violations.
The penalties stemmed from fail
ures by security guards at airport
weapons carried or hidden in carry-
on baggage by undercover FAA offi
cials. Most of the violations occurred
between April and September of this
year.
The agency collected more than
$ 1 million in fines earlier this year as
a result of violations that occurred in
late 1987 and early 1988 as part of a
stepped up effort by the govern
ment to improve checkpoint security
at major airports.
Despite the latest civil penalties,
Transportation Department officials
said the airlines, which are responsi
ble for passenger screening at air-
their detection of weapons at screen
ing points since the matter became a
focus of concern in late 1987.
According to FAA figures, the air
lines in 1987 detected 78.9 percent of
the mock weapons being passed
through checkpoints by FAA under
cover agents.
During the first six months of this
year the success rate increased to
85.6 percent and during the July-
September period it improved to
88.9 percent.
But Transportation Secretary Jim
Burnley told reporters while an
nouncing the latest figures that he is
cess of 11 percent.
The FAA said that the $1.66 mil
lion in fines against the airlines re
flected 236 cases in. which mock
weapons were undetected at airport
checkpoints, where X-ray screening
devices, metal detectors and visual
checks are used to prevent the smug
gling of weapons aboard aircraft.
In some cases a single violation re
sulted in several airlines being fined
because a number of air carriers
shared responsibility for a check
point.
Fines were either $1,000 or
earner involved, according to a
DOT spokesman.
DOT spokesman Ed O’Hara said
that airlines were fined $1,000 for
each violation that occurred at a
checkpoint where the overall detec
tion rate was 95 percent or better
and $10,000 at a checkpoint where
the overall rate was less than 95 per
cent.
The FAA declined to provide a
breakdown of the detection rates at
various airports, how many airports
were checked or which were
checked.
a weapon, or has a drastic change in
behavior, he should get help imme
diately.
“Seek some sort of intervention,
whether it be a psychologist, a coun
selor or a minister,” Dobrovolsky
said.
In the meantime, Dobrovolsky
gives some tips to help deal with the
stress of finals:
• Eat nutritiously.
• Get adequate sleep.
• Communicate with others to re
lieve the “tunnel-vision” effect that
studying causes.
• Exercise.
• Take time out to relax and con
centrate on something positive,
whether it be in the form of Yoga,
progressive muscle relaxation or
prayer.
Dobrovolsky came to A&M in
1974 for his doctorate study and has
been working at the Student Coun
seling Service for 11 years.
The Counseling Service has been
working from a waiting list since the
second week of the semester, but
one of the 14 counselors is on emer
gency call every day. At night, they
can be reached through the A.P.
Beutel Health Center at 845-1511.
The Counseling Service is located
on the third floor of the YMCA
Building and can be reached at 845-
4427.
X X XV* £ y X X GX X C1 1J V X X X X X X VA X X XXX X CA X A OC*. A V A X. A A CA A A A A A A V— O j T V A A A V- A A CA A A V* O A A CA A X-P VA A A A A X— J A VA A V-/ A l. V* AkJ * * A A A A (A A A A A A G • * * ' A G* A A G* —— AG G. V-* A v v A A A G* a * * i
ures by security guards at airport ble for passenger screening at air- nouncing the latest figures that he is Fines were either $1,000 or checked.
Gorbachev plans removal of troops,
conventional weapons from Europe
NEW YORK (AP) — Mikhail S. planes and tanks as “unilateral” — such a move for months, believing it "I "I 9 o
Gorbachev, urging a “period of part of a reduced reliance on mili- could further boost Gorbachev’s VjrOr 02,Cll.G V S LOUl SU-TIDTiSGS
NEW YORK (AP) — Mikhail S.
Gorbachev, urging a “period of
peace” during an American visit
suddenly cut short, announced a
cutback of 500,000 Red Army troops
on Wednesday and called on the
United States and its allies to “take
certain steps” in reply.
President Reagan and President
elect George Bush embraced the
troop reduction gesture after a cor
dial luncheon summit with the So
viet leader.
Just before midnight, Soviet offi
cials said Gorbachev was returning
to his homeland because of a severe
earthquake that took thousands of
lives in the Soviet Caucuses region.
Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard She
vardnadze said Gorbachev would re
turn to the Soviet Union today.
Gorbachev had intended to spend
today sightseeing New York before
traveling to Cuba for the weekend
and then stopping in London on his
way back to Moscow. The White
House said the Soviets had told Pres
ident Reagan of Gorbachev’s plan
change at about 11:30 p.m. EST.
In his U.N. speech, Gorbachev
billed the cutback in troops, artillery,
planes and tanks as “unilateral’
part of a reduced reliance on mili
tary might. He later said “Nyet, nyet,
nyet,” when asked if there was resis
tance at home to the move, but there
was evidence to the contrary.
Reagan said in a speech in Wash
ington a few hours later that if the
Soviet reduction is carried out
speedily and in full, “history will re
gard it as important — significant.”
On a day that blended super
power substance and symbolism, the
Soviet president bade farewell to
Reagan and answered Bush’s wel
coming handshake with a vigorous
two-handed embrace. He declared
that the president-elect would find
the Soviets ready “without long
pauses or backtracking” to continue
work toward a new arms control
treaty as well as on other issues.
Bush, who played a low-key role
throughout the day, said he had told
Gorbachev he “needed some time”
to settle in as president after his in
auguration next month. He hailed
the troop reduction announcement,
even while saying it was not enough
for balance of forces in Europe.
U.S. analysts have been predicting
such a move for months, believing it
could further boost Gorbachev’s
popularity in the West and allow him
to divert needed funds from the mil
itary to the domestic sector.
Gorbachev praised U.S. will
ingness to discuss arms reductions
and said the Soviet leadership has
decided to demonstrate once again
its readiness to reinforce this process
not only in words but in deeds.
“Within the next two years, their
(the Soviet Army’s) numerical
strength will be reduced by 500,000
men,” Gorbachev said near the end
of a lengthy address to the U.N.
General Assembly. The Soviet
Armed Forces total about 5.6 million
men and women.
“The numbers of conventional ar
maments will also be substantially re
duced,” he said. “This will be done
unilaterally.”
Gorbachev said the Soviets would
pull 50,000 troops out of East Ger
many, Czechoslovakia and Hungary,
reducing by about 10 percent the
number of forward-deployed Red
Army forces arrayed against the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Gorbachev’s tour surprises
unsuspecting New Yorkers
NEW YORK (AP) — His summi
try completed, Mikhail S. Gorbachev
took a 75-minute motorcade tour of
Manhattan on Wednesday from the
canyons of Wall Street to garish
Times Square, twice jumping out of
his limousine to greet astonished
and delighted crowds.
Though traffic was light most of
the day, the dreaded “Gorbylock”
arrived late in the afternoon once
the 45-car motorcade began snaking
through the city.
Traffic was locked up in lower
Manhattan for about an hour after
the Soviet leader left the World
Trade Center, where he and his
wife, Raisa, admired the view from
the top of the 110-story twin towers.
At 50th Street and Broadway, just
outside the Winter Garden Theater,
Gorbachev stopped his motorcade
and jumped out to greet people on
the street.
“I was right there, and I yelled in
Russian, ‘How are you,”’ Geranno
Valentine said. “He said, ‘Thank
you, fine.’”
“The crowd was just going hyster
ical,” said Joe Crawford, a 17-year-
old high school student from Con
necticut who had seen a matinee of
“Starlight Express” at a nearby the
ater. “It was fantastic, truly some
thing fantastic to see someone like
that up close.”
Gorbachev also briefly stepped
out of his limousine at Blooming-
dale’s, Lexington Avenue and 59th
Street while his wife remained in the
car.
“We’re very pleased by the fact
that thousands of New Yorkers have
come out to see us,” he said. “We saw
their faces, we saw their eyes, their
friendliness . . . We are grateful for
this warm hospitality.”
Thousands die
as quake rocks
Soviet Union
MOSCOW (AP) — The strong
est earthquake to hit the Soviet
Caucasus region in 80 years flat
tened buildings Wednesday, and
Foreign Minister Eduard A. She
vardnadze said thousands of peo
ple were killed.
Soviet President Mikhail S.
Gorbachev cut short his summit
trip to New York and planned to
return to Moscow on Thursday
because of the earthquake, She
vardnadze said at a news confer
ence in New York.
Gorbachev had been scheduled
to travel to Cuba on Friday and to
London Monday before return
ing to Moscow.
Earlier, Gorbachev called the
earthquake “a grave tragedy.”
Official Soviet news media did
not give any casualty figures. Ar
menia was the hardest-hit area in
the Caucasus.
“Preliminary data indicate that
in the Armenian republic, thou
sands of people have died, and of
course I cannot give you a more
accurate figure for obvious rea
sons, there being also a lot of dis
ruption,” Shevardnadze said.
“It’s a most grave misfortune,
it’s a terrible tragedy not only for
the Armenian people, but for all
the peoples of the Soviet Union,”
he added.