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Jury finds North guilty on 3 charges
WASHINGTON (AP) — Oliver
L. North, the Marine at the center of
:he Reagan administration’s secret
•ffort to arm the Nicaragua Contras,
was convicted Thursday of shred
ding documents and two other
charges in the Iran-Contra affair.
He was acquitted on nine other
counts.
North said he would appeal the
|ury’s decision: “We’re absolutely
confident of the final outcome. As a
Marine I was taught to fight and
fight hard for as long as it takes to
prevail.”
“We will continue this battle . . .
and we will be fully vindicated,” he
told reporters in a statement at his
lawyer’s office. He did not take ques
tions.
The former Marine, who faces up
to 10 years in prison on the convic
tions, accepted the verdict without
any show of emotion. But a con-
gressal supporter described him as
“absolutely elated” at the jury’s deci
sion.
North, a Marine lieutenant colo
nel detailed to the National Security
Council, helped direct the Reagan
administration’s secret two-year ef
fort to help the rebels fighting Nica
ragua’s leftist government after
Oliver North
Congress banned official U.S. aid.
He was involved, too, in arrange
ments under which the United
States secretly sold arms to Iran and
he also helped divert some profits
from those sales to help the Contras.
Public disclosure of the affair in
November 1986 began the worst cri
sis of President Reagan’s eight-year
presidency, a public furor that didn’t
subside until after televised congres
sional hearings that made North a
national figure.
The jury convicted North of falsi
fying and destroying documents in
November 1986 as the affair was
about to become public, and of ac
cepting an illegal gratuity — a
$13,800 home security system —
from Iran-Contra co-defendant
Richard Secord.
North also was convicted of aiding
and abetting in obstruction of Con
gress by falsifying a chronology of
events in the affair.
He was acquitted of five other
charges of lying to or obstructing
Congress, of lying to then-Attornev
General Edwin Meese III in Meese’s
probe of the affair, of converting
traveler’s checks to his own use and
of conspiring to defraud the Inter
nal Revenue Service by using a tax-
exempt foundation to raise funds
for the Contras.
U.S. District Judge Gerhard A.
Gesell scheduled sentencing for
June 23.
The maximum possible sentences
for the convictions total 10 years in
prison and $750,000 in fines.
Charges against North, verdicts
WASHINGTON (AP) — Here are the 12 felony
charges against former National Security Council
aide Oliver L. North and the jury’s verdicts on each.
Alt carry five-year prison terms and fines up to
$250,000 ptcept as noted.
1. Obstruction of Congress in Sept, and Oct. 1985:
Not guilty.
2. False statements to Congress on Sept. 5, 1985:
Not guilty.
$. False statements to Congress on Sept. 12, 1985:
' Not guilty,
4. False'statements to Congress on Oct. 7, 1985:
•l|otguiity, .ivj;; ; : v .r ' '
5. Obstruction of Congress in Aug. 1986: Not
•guilty* '•
6. Aiding and abetting obstruction of Congress in
Nov. 1986: Guilty. (The jury did not find North
B of obstruction of Congress on this charge, but
Mi him guilty of the subsidiary charge of aiding
and. abetting A
7. Obstruction of a presidential inquiry in Nov.
8. False statements on Nov. 23, 1986: Not guilty.
9. Destroying or falsifying government docu
ments. three-year imprisonment and $250,000 fine:
Guilty.
10. Receipt of an illegal gratuity, two-year impris
onment and $250,000 fine: Guilty*
11. Conversion of traveler’s checks to personal
use, tO-year imprisonment,. $250,000 | ’■
12. Conspiracy to defraud the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service: Not guilty.
North’s contention, both in the
congressional hearings in 1987 and
during his three-month trial, had
been that he had authorization for
See related stories/Rage 10
everything he did — from two suc
cessive bosses. National Security Ad
visers Robert F. McFarlane and John
M. Poindexter — and “concurrence”
from the late CIA Director William
C. Casey.
He said he assumed that Reagan
— who spoke out often in support oi
the Contra cause — also knew of his
efforts and approved them. Reagan
told the investigative Tower commis
sion two years ago that he did not
know of his NSC staffs efforts to
help the Contras.
Reagan fired North the day the
affair became public but telephoned
him the same day and told him he
was a hero.
Texas A&M
The Battalion
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chance of showers and thunder
storms
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LOW:62
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College Station, Texas
1989
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Photo by Kathy Haveman
Protest for democracy
Xun Ge, a graduate student in physics from the People’s Re
public of China, participates in the A&M China Club’s demon
stration Thursday afternoon by Rudder Fountain. The protest
was in support of the members’ protesting countrymen.
Atlantis sends Magellan to Venus,
launches U.S. back into deep space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Ela. (AP)
— Atlantis’ astronauts, safely in orbit
Thursday after a cliff-hanger
weather delay, set free the $550 mil
lion Magellan spacecraft for its 15-
morith mapmaking voyage to Venus.
The robot spacecraft, reviving an
American planetary-science pro
gram dormant for a decade, slipped
from the shuttle’s cargo bay at 9:01
p.m. EDT and drifted into space.
“Magellan is deployed,” shuttle
commander David Walker reported.
An hour later, after Atlantis
moved a safe distance away, a space
craft motor was to fire to propel Ma
gellan on a 456-day journey to Ve
nus, 158 million miles away.
It will travel 806 million miles,
looping 1V2 times around the sun,
before reaching and orbiting its tar
get in August 1990.
Mission specialists Mark Lee and
Mary Cleave, operating remote con
trols inside the shuttle cabin,
checked the health of the space
probe before sending a signal that
spring-ejected it into its own orbit
while Atlantis soared over the Pacific
Ocean 600 miles southwest of Los
Angeles.
“It’s time to let Magellan spread
its wings,” a spacecraft controller on
the ground said in giving the astro
nauts the go-ahead to deploy the
probe.
Magellan, the first planetary craft
ever launched from a shuttle, is to
map up to 90 percent of Venus’
cloud-shrouded surface.
Its high-resolution radar system is
expected to produce images of ob
jects as small as a football field — 10
times the clarity of any previous pic
tures of the mysterious planet.
The release of Magellan, the main
task of the four-day flight, came a
little more than six hours after At
lantis thundered into orbit 184 miles
high.
The launch was delayed 59 min
utes by shifting clouds and winds
that had threatened the second post
ponement in six days. When Atlantis
finally left its pad, just five minutes
remained in the launch “window”
dictated by the heed to have the
shuttle in the proper position to dis
patch Magellan to Venus.
If the launch had been post
poned, there would have been daily
launch opportunities until May 28.
Latest Beijing democracy march
involves about 100,000 protestors
BEIJING (AP) — Legions of students
marched through Beijing on Thursday and occu
pied Tiananmen Square to mark the 70th anni
versary of China’s first student movement with
another stunning display of their craving for de
mocracy.
About 100,000 people, more than half of them
students, defied police and gathered in the huge
square for a festive rally to seek greater freedom,
cleaner government, a free press and official rec
ognition of the new independent student union
that authorities say is illegal.
Students held much smaller demonstrations in
Shanghai, Nanjing and Changsha, and about 300
journalists from the official Chinese media
joined the student rally in Tiananmen. Through
out Beijing, crowds of workers applauded the
students and shouted encouragement.
“Perhaps the march will not bring democracy
today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but
if we keep working on it, China has hope,” said
one worker who claimed he risked being fired by
attending the demonstration.
“We have to transform China,” echoed an ex
cited 20-year-old sophmore from the Political
Science and Law College, one of at least 55
schools that participated in the rally, which
capped a remarkable three weeks of pro-democ
racy student demonstrations in Beijing.
After initially saying the student marches were
designed to undermine China’s government, the
communist leadership in recent days has said the
demonstrators are being manipulated by unspec
ified people and that most protesting students
are patriotic.
Student activists appeared ready Thursday to
shift their tactics. After six successful marches in
defiance of the government, they indicated fu
ture activity may not center on demonstrations.
They also announced that a nearly 2-week-old
boycott that shut down most Beijing university
classes would end Friday.
Wu’er Kaixi, a leading activist, said setting up
independent newspapers would be among the
new steps.
The students — chanting slogans such as
“Down with official profiteering!” and “Patriot
ism is no crime!” — poured into Tiananmen in
the early afternoon after marching all morning
from their universities on the outskirts of Beij
ing.
At a few intersections, marchers had to shove
their way through hundreds of unarmed police
lined six deep across the road, but the govern
ment clearly wanted to avoid serious confronta
tion.
Local environmental groups hope letters
increase concern over Alaskan oil disaster
By Cindy McMillian
STAFF WRITER
People were outraged when the
tanker Exxon Valdez spilled oil into
Prince William Sound, but many
didn't think thev could do anything
about it. However, local environ
mental organizations are urging
people to make a difference by writ
ing letters of protest.
Bryan-College Station Re-
SOURCE, the Regional Organiza-,
tion United to Realize Conservation
of our Environment, is sending out
“alerts” that encourage people to
write letters to their congressmen
and to Exxon about the Alaskan oil
spill.
Will Keener, founder and former
president of ReSOURCE, said he
started sending out the alerts last
week and plans for the information
to spread through a “phone chain.”
Keener said that each person who
receives- the alert by phone is sup
posed to call two other people, and
he hopes those contacted will write
letters to President Bush, Sen. Lloyd
Bentsen, Rep. joe Barton and Bill
Stevens, president of Exxon Corp.
The Texas Environmental Action
Coalition, a campus organization
that works closely with ReSOURCE,
sent its letters of protest to Exxon.
Mary Albert, TEAC’s public rela
tions chairman, said she knows of
about 40 people who have written
the oil corporation with complaints.
“We want to let Bill Stevens (presi
dent of Exxon Corp.) know that
we’re not going to support Exxon
any more until they clean up the
spill,” she said.
Another of ReSOURCE’s main
concerns is a bill in the House of
Representatives that would open
Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge for oil exploration.
Keener said Barton, D-Tex. and a
former A&M student, co-sponsored
the bill and claims that oil drilling in
the refuge would not harm the wild
life.
ReSOURCE is concerned about
animals in the target area such as po
lar bears, musk oxen, porcupine car
ibou and grey wolves, a species en
dangered in many areas.
The recent ReSOURCE alert said
there is onlv a 19 percent chance of
finding oil in the area, but Bentsen,
Barton and Bush all support the bill.
“Bush is a self-proclaimed envi
ronmentalist,” Keener said. “It’s
reallv hypocritical.”
The alert urges people to protest
bv writing Barton. Bush or Bentsen
and asking them not to “exploit” the
refuge.
Steve Bagwell, an assistant to Bar
ton, said Wednesdav that Barton has
received “just a handful of letters
from around the district” concern
ing the oil spill and the arctic refuge.
Kenner said he wasn’t worried
about the number of letters sent in.
“You can’t just give up because
you don’t think it’s doing anything,”
he said. “If not even one person
writes, at least people are getting ex
posure to the ideas.”
Michael Worsham, vice-president
and founder of TEAC, said he has
written letters to Barton before
about his concerns about the envi
ronment and received replies.
He sent a letter to Barton Monday
and hopes to receive a reply within a
couple of weeks.
Worsham was born in Alaska but
moved at age 2.
T'd like to go back there some
time and not have it all fouled up,”
he said.
Points Plus plan offers
off-campus 6 meal plan’
By Beth Hall
CORRESPONDENT
Texas A&M students will have
the option of a meal plan for off-
campus establishments, similar to
Aggie Bucks, starting in June.
“We have contracted more
than 40 merchants throughout
the area,” Denise Fulfer, market
ing director of Points Plus, said.
“The main thrust of our adver
tising campaign will be conve
nience. It (Points Plus) will be
similar to a checking account
without the hassle of checks or
service charges.
“By targeting the students,
Points Plus is hoping to be more
successful than Aggie Bucks.”
Participating merchants in
clude Duddley’s Draw, Texas Ag
gie Bookstore, the Dixie Chicken,
McDonalds, Quick As A Flash
and TOBY, Fulfer said.
She said Points Plus’ next goal
is to contract with College Station
Utilities so students can pay bills
with Points Plus.
“Eventually, after the company
has established a track record, we
would like to move into retail —
such as Dillard’s and Foley’s,”
Fulfer said.
Students can open an account
with Points Plus with $50. No
minimum balance is required af
ter that and, unlike Aggie Bucks,
money can be withdrawn at any
time.
Susie Lambert, marketing di
rector of the Flying Tomato, sees
Points Plus as an opportunity for
the merchants to benefit.
For more intormation, contact
a Points Plus representative at
846-9085.