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Vol. 88 No. 108 USPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, March 3,198S
A&M pays Sherrill $684,000 to settle contract
By Alan Sembera
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Texas A&M paid Jackie Sherrill
$684,000 as part of a contract set
tlement when he resigned as athletic
director and head football coach,
according to documents released
Thursday.
The amount represents more
than two years of Sherrill’s salary un
der his previous five-year contract
with A&M, according to a statement
released with copies of his termi
nation agreement.
The funds were paid from reve
nues generated by A&M’s athletic
program, the statement said.
Sherrill resigned Dec. 12 amid a
controversy involving charges that
he made improper payments to for
mer A&M football player George
Smith.
University officials released copies
of his termination contract after
Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox
Jackie Sherrill
ruled last week that it was a public
document under the state’s Open
Records Act.
The documents stated Sherrill
was to be paid more than $1.6 mil
lion under his now-canceled Five-
year contract.
He was to get $327,120 per year
plus other benefits each year of his
contract.
He was to receive $185,120 per
year for services as athletic director
and head football coach, and was to
be paid $142,000 per year for partic
ipating in media programs such as
“The Jackie Sherrill Show” on
KAMU-TV.
The termination contract also
gave Sherrill full ownership rights to
his College Station home.
A&M paid $150,000 toward the
purchase of the residence as'part of
its previous contract with Sherrill,
said Robert Smith, vice president of
finance and administration.
The property was valued at
$195,540 in 1988, according to the
Brazos County appraisal office.
To fulfill his part of the termi
nation contract, Sherrill was re
quired to return all automobiles,
credit cards, club membership cards
and other property that was pro
vided for his use by the University.
The contract states Sherrill must
cooperate with the NCAA and A&M
in investigations involving the Ath
letic Department.
A&M officials initially refused to
release the document to the media,
saying privacy rights and a confiden
tiality clause in the contract prohib
ited them from from making it pub
lic.
Four media organizations then re
quested the information under the
Texas freedom-of-information laws.
The organizations seeking the
documents were the Bryan-College
Station Eagle, the Dallas Morning
News, the Dallas Times Herald, and
WFAA-TV of Fort Worth.
The attorney general ordered the
University to release the contract on
Feb. 23, saying its contents “are not
sufficiently intimate or embarrass
ing” to be classified as private.
He also said governmental bodies
may not use confidentiality clauses
to withhold public information.
University officials had agreed to
release the contract on Wednesday
morning, but delayed until Thurs
day afternoon at the request of Sher
rill’s attorney.
Sherrill returned to College Sta
tion Wednesday, but did not seek a
court order to stop the contract’s re
lease.
The controversy leading to Sher
rill’s resignation began when the
Dallas Morning News reported that
former A&M football player George
Smith said Sherrill paid him about
$1,400 to keep quiet about alleged
NCAA violations in the early 1980s.
The next day, Smith, reading
from a prepared statement, re
canted his story at an A&M press
conference, saying he lied to the
Morning News reporter to make
money on a book.
„
A lengthy investigation of the inci
dent by A&M concluded that Sher
rill did not violate any NCAA regu
lations.
A&M reported that Sherrill pair
money to Smith, but said it uncov;
ered no evidence that it was “hushj
money.”
The investigation did little
deter negative publicity surrounding!
the events.
A few weeks later, Sherrill re-j
signed, saying it was best for the;
football team.
Sherrill has refused to comment
on the charges.
The A&M athletic program was
placed on probation for two years
Sept. 9 because of 25 NCAA rules
infractions.
A&M also was barred from post
season appearance last season and
lost five scholarships and 15 campus
recruiting trips for the 1988-89
school year because of the infrac
tions.
Bill would increase funds
for A&M fireman school
By Richard Tijerina
STAFF WRITER
Relief for Bryan-College Station
fire departments and the Texas
A&M Fireman’s Training School
could be on the way if a proposed
bill currently in the State Legislature
is passed.
The bill, called the Fire Depart
ment Emergency Fund, is designed
to meet the most pressing need of
the Texas fire service — the lack of
money for equipment and training.
The proposed legislation would
create a state fund that would come
from one percent of the fire and al
lied lines insurance premiums in
Texas. Allied lines include emer
gency situations that fire depart
ments respond to in addition to fire,
such as floods, hurricanes and torna
does.
The bill was created by FIREPAG,
a political action committee asso
ciated with the State Firemen’s and
Fire Marshalls’ Association.
Dennis Borel, controller for the
association, expects the bill to be
voted on before the current Legis
lature’s session ends on May 31. If
passed, Texas voters will vote on the
bill in the fall.
Borel said the A&M Fireman’s
Training School and the local econ
omy would benefit if the hill is
passed because it would attract more
trainees to the training program.
“It will certainly benefit the train
ing school, and it will benefit Bryan-
College Station as well by pumping
in more money into the local econ
omy,” Borel said- “There can be no
doubt the number of students who
would be able to go to the training
school would go up quite a bit.
“It is the top training place in the
state of Texas and in the country.
We can get more firefighters in
Texas to take advantage of the pro
gram (if we could get more fund
ing.)”
Charles Page, head of the A&M
Fire and Protection Training Pro
gram, said the bill would not only
benefit the local fire departments,
but departments statewide as well.
“It certainly could have an impact
locally, and we anticipate it would be
an assist to the fire school,” Page
said. “If we had 10 percent of the
fund, we probably could get into ev
ery department in the state once ev
ery two years with a 15 hour training
course.
“That’s a very minimal amount of
training, but there’s over 1,800 de
partments in the state right now with
only nine extension instructors, so it
takes a while to get around.”
Borel said the fund would consist
of $28 million per year and it would
be dispersed to the fire departments
based on need. If th bill is passed,
the Legislature will set up a board to
determine who will obtain the funds.
Page hopes the bill will provide
necessary funding to hire more in
structors for the training school, al
though he said he isn’t sure whether
the wording of the legislation would
allow it.
“I have no guarantee that (provid
ing funding for more personnel)
would happen,” Page said. “The bill
as it’s written now says the board can
make money available for training.
We are hearing rumors that portions
of that would he used to supplement
the program we have.”
However, the Bryan and College
Station fire departments, which are
basically self-supporting, would not
necessarily meet the f unding criteria
the Board determines, Steve Yates,
the assistant fire chief for College
Station, said.
“I don’t think it’s designed and set
up for us,” Yates said. “I don’t think
we would qualify. I’m sure there will
be certain criteria you’d have to
meet, and because we have an oper
ating budget and the capabilities of
selling bonds and raising funds, I’m
nofspre how much money from that
particular fund will be available to a
municipal organization.”
Borel said the bill was introduced
because fire protection in Texas has
fallen behind that of other states, in
cluding New Mexico, which passed
similar legislation in 1982.
“There’s a real need out there,”
he said. “We came across a program
in New Mexico which is like this leg
islation. They have been extremely
successful. They now have well-
equipped fire protection in every
community in the state.”
Along with improved fire protec
tion, New Mexico also enjoys a re
duction in insurance claims through
out the state and a decrease in
insurance premiums by 30 percent,
he said.
Borel said although those that
need funding the most will be the
See Firemen/Page 8
U.S. soldier vanishes
close to East Germany;
investigators baffled
FRANKFURT', West Germany
(AP) — The U.S. Army said
Thursday it is baffled by the dis
appearance ol a “good, clean-cut”
American soldier who had access
to classified information and van
ished near the East German bor
der.
An Army spokesman, Lt. Col.
Jake Dye, said not enough infor
mation is available to say if Spec.
4 Michael A. Peri defected. Dye
acknowledged a portable com
puter was missing from an intelli
gence office where Peri worked.
Peri, of Laguna Niguel, Calif.,
has been listed as “absent without
leave” since he failed to show up
for work Feb. 21 at the 11th Ar
mored Cavalry Regiment in
Fulda, 65 miles northeast of
Frankfurt.
Two days later, officials search
ing for Peri found his U.S. Army
vehicle undamaged near the bor
der town of Obersuhl, about 35
miles northeast of Fulda.
“Peri was authorized to drive
the vehicle and had logged it out
properly,” Dye said.
Stars and Stripes, the Army’s
unofficial newspaper, quoted Dye
as saying “the circumstances of
that vehicle being found so close
to the border are definitely suspi
cious.”
Dye told the Associated Press
later the newspaper was putting it
“a little too strongly,” but he
didn’t deny making the
statement.
Peri worked as an electronics
warfare signal specialist and was
responsible for operating equip
ment that identifies and locates
non-communications signals,
such as radar. He has been sta
tioned in West Germany since
March 4, 1988.
Asked about the possibility Peri
defected, Dye said, “We certainly
have no reason to believe that.
There were no signs of distress
according to his colleagues and
family. We just don’t have any in
dications.”
Peri had an “active normal so
cial life” and a “perfect record as
a good clean-cut soldier,” Dye
said.
“In fact, he had been pro
moted and nominated for ‘Sol
dier of the Month’ twice in the
year he has been here,” Dye
added. “That’s what makes it so
baffling. From all indications, ev
erybody in his unit has the same
feelings. They’re all very sur
prised.”
Dye confirmed the Stars and
Stripes report that a portable
computer was missing from the
office where Peri had worked.
But Dye said Peri “had not pro
gressed very far in computers.”
Better resource management can end
world hunger, A&M professor says
By Kelly S. Brown
STAFF WRITER
A young boy stands on a dirt road,
his age is hard to tell — his match-
stick figure and long, drawn face
make him look about 8, but the des
perate look in his eyes adds 50 years.
Beside him is an obviously healthy
boy and his smiling mother. This
boy probably has eaten in one day
what the other boy consumes in one
month.
What separates the two boys is
several inches on a screen. They are
part of a slide presentation about the
rights and well-being of children
shown Thursday at the Interna
tional Week Forum.
Dr. Harry Cralle, a professor of
soil and crop science, presented the
slide show, emphasizing the need to
utilize the resources we have now to
help starving children.
Cralle held his own baby boy in his
arms during most of the speech,
i “My grandfather brought my fa
ther everywhere, my father brought
me everywhere, and’ I learned a
great deal, so I’m continuing the
process,” he said.
Cralle said the family is not what it
used to be.
He said the world is missing a co
hesiveness in terms of the family,
and children are hurt because of it.
Children around the globe are
suffering for many reasons, Cralle
said.
“We have enough resources and
ingenuity to save a lot of children,”
he said. “But until we find better
ways of managing what we have, the
misery of malnutrition will contin
ue.”
He said 40 million children are
starving in the streets of the world
while food is all around them.
“Poverty is what causes the hun
ger,” Cralle said. “Too many people
don’t get any health care, have any
family, or even have enough water
to survive.”
After Cralle kicked off the forum
sponsored by the International Stu
dents Association, the audience
broke up into eight round-table dis
cussion groups before listening to a
speech by the regional manager of
UNICEF, Richard Mark Kimberley.
Kimberley said the means to help
malnourished children is within our
grasp.
“But we haven’t reached out and
seized it,” he said. “The medical net
work in many countries is no longer
working because clinics don’t have
the supplies to function, and this has
cost many lives.”
Dehydration from bacteria diar
rhea kills five million people a year,
he said.
“A solution that costs 10 cents a
package could treat the patient —
this remedy was discovered years
ago, but the people dying of it just
aren’t getting it or any other kind of
care they need,” Kimberley said.
Polio, a disease eradicated 20
years ago in America, is paralyzing
three million people around the
world today, he said.
“UNICEF is making a difference
though,” he said. “The war in El Sal
vador has been essentially stopped
three different times so 20,000 vol
unteers could go in to immunize the
country.”
Strides are being made and pro
gress is felt, Kimberley said, but the
prize is being snapped out of their
hands.
“Since 1982 the world population
has doubled,” he said. “The num-
See Hunger/Page 5
FDIC assumes control
of twelve Texas thrifts
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Twelve
Texas thrifts, including eight in San
Antonio with more than $5 billion in
assets, were among 37 thrifts nation
wide placed under federal manage
ment by the Federal Deposit Insur
ance Corporation Thursday,
officials said.
Those 37 bring to 73 the number
of troubled savings and loan associa
tions now under federal manage
ment.
The 12 in Texas transferred to
federal control on Thursday brings
to 15 the total of thrifts in the Lone
Star State being managed by a fed
eral oversight committee.
The eight San Antonio thrifts
whose management was transferred
Thursday was the most for any one
city in one day, federal officials said.
Other Texas thrifts now being
managed by an oversight committee
include one each in Corpus Christi,
Brownsville, Kingsville and Ker-
rville. Three other thrifts earlier
were placed under federal manage
ment.
George Barclay, president and
principal supervisory agent of the
Federal Home Loan Bank Board of
Dallas, said the thrifts will run as
they always have, but now federal of
ficials will work to conserve assets
and preserve services to deposit and
loan customers.
Although the FDIC regulates
commercial hanks, it began on Feb. 7
to take over the 220 shakiest S&Ls in
preparation for the regulatory reor
ganization proposed by President
Bush.