X
The Battalion
2 STATE & LOCAL
3
Wednesday, September 20,1989
-al
tumnl*
amoj
as
■ir cat!
se,
■idea:
ttrdirj
x
He’s c|
’s caul
hlueif!
w d»]
fork
di
r,
at’sml
adde:
frorj
is, bi
a coirl
inagr
v 4
Wavr.1
leringj
is chij
igtkl
esolal
jfsut!
luete:
me4
anyt
to Si
e tirtl
Inmate faces death in Huntsville
today for Houston contract killing
io appeals planned for man described as ‘Satan personified’
HUNTSVILLE (AP) — A Texas prison in
mate convicted of three slayings and linked to
two others and described in corrections records
as “Satan personified” faced death by injection
early Wednesday.
No appeals were pending Tuesday for James
j Paster, 44, sentenced to death for the contract
killing of a 38-year-old man in Houston in 1980,
| Bill Zapalac, an assistant attorney general, said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Texas Court of Criminal
[Appeals refused to grant a reprieve. His attor
neys contended jurors at Paster’s trial should
| have been allowed to consider the mitigating evi-
! dence of his abused childhood.
‘It’s a go,” Stanley Schneider, Paster’s attor-
i ney, said. “There’s going to be an execution.”
Schneider said he spoke with Paster by tele-
! phone Tuesday and found his client upbeat, but
declined to divulge the nature of the conversa-
don.
Paster, a former lounge singer and Elvis Pres
ley impersonator, also is serving a life prison
term for a brutal rape and murder of an 18-year-
old Conroe woman who had a nail driven up her
nose by Paster to ensure that she was dead. Ste-
! phen McCoy, Paster’s co-defendant in that case,
[was executed earlier this year.
Paster also pleaded guilty to the slaying of a
JChannelview woman and has confessed to killing
[two other Houston-area women, although he
[never was tried for those offenses.
In April, Paster and another condemned killer
unsuccessfully tried to escape from death row by
squeezing through a 1-foot-square air vent and
sawing through an exhaust fan opening.
“I’m about as smart as a box of rocks,” Paster,
whose left arm is adorned with a large tattoo of a
swastika with the word “Hero” written through
it, said in a death row interview. “I’m not trying
to justify any darn thing. There’s no justification
“I
I’m about as smart as a box of
rocks. I’m not trying to justify any
darn thing. There’s no justification
for what I’ve done.”
— James Paster
for what I’ve done.”
Paster was condemned for the Oct. 25, 1980,
shooting death of Robert Edward Howard, for
which he said he was paid $1,000 and a motorcy
cle. Howard was gunned down as he emerged
from a Houston bar.
“Had I ever known this individual, had a drink
or beer with him, I wouldn’t have done it,” Paster
said. “It made it easier, like hitting someone on
the highway. I never got out of the car.
“It’s not hard to take a life — one shot, 20 feet
away, in the head.”
Howard’s ex-wife, Trudy Howard LeBlanc,
42, is serving a life prison term for hiring Paster
and brothers Gary and Eddie LeBlanc to commit
the murder. Two months after the slaying,
Trudy Howard married Eddie LeBlanc.
Eddie LeBlanc, 34, also is serving life, while
Gary LeBlanc, who Paster said hired him, gave
him the gun and drove him to the murder site, is
serving a 35-year term in exchange for testifying
against Paster and others.
Paster served time in California and was in
custody in Alabama when he was arrested for the
Howard killing. California officials described
him as having serious sexual problems and the
potential for being extremely dangerous.
Paster, who said capital punishment is justified
in a case like his, said he would prefer to be re
membered for his sense of humor.
“It’s the only thing they can’t take away,” he
said.
Asked how he would like to be remembered,
he replied, “One hell of a lot of fun. If you knew
me, I would be an unforgettable character. I’m a
very likable individual.”
Paster would be the third inmate executed in
Texas this year and the 32nd since 1982 — the
most of any state since the Supreme Court in
1976 allowed capital punishment to resume.
Brown Bag concert
features San Antonio
flamenco guitarist
By Andrea Warrenburg
Of The Battalion Staff
A noon performance today by
Miguel Rodriguez, a flamenco
guitarist from San Antonio, is one
of a series of weekly concerts on
the Texas A&M campus afford
ing students, faculty and staff a
change from the noise and bore
dom of the daily routine.
Brown Bag Concerts, held
Wednesdays in 402 Academic,
feature a variety of local, national
and international musical talent.
The concerts are sponsored by
the Department of Philosophy
and Humanities and the OPAS
Stark Series.
Rodriguez has toured the
United States, Canada and Eu
rope and traveled extensively in
Spain, researching the musical
traditions of its famous cities. He
will make a brief appearance on
the A&M campus as a part of the
Brown Bag Series.
“The concerts are an opportu
nity to present a varied set of mu
sical programs for people to en
joy during the noon hour as a
break from their daily routine —a
kind of musical dessert,” said
Werner Rose, coordinator of mu
sic in the Department of Philoso
phy and Humanities.
Rose was instrumental in start
ing the concert series on campus
last fall. Faculty, students, staff
and Bryan-College Station locals
enjoyed 23 concerts last year, in
cluding an octet, a quartet, cel
lists, pianists and guitarists.
Rose said the response last year
was so great that people often
were crowded in the hallway out
side the music room in 402 Aca
demic to listen to the concerts.
“We want people to come and
make music a part of their day,”
Rose said.
The concerts will be broadcast
live on KAMU-FM.
Business seminar
offers assistance
to entrepreneurs
By Cindy McMillian
Of The Battalion Staff
Entrepreneurs face great risks
when they put in their own busi
nesses, but they don’t have to go
through the process alone.
The Bryan-College Station
Small Business Development Sys
tem offered an orientation Tues
day night for small business own
ers and potential entrepreneurs
interested in classes about busi
ness development.
“You need to be prepared be
fore you start a business,” Mary
Lee, Associate Research Sociolog
ist for Technology Development,
told a group of about 50 people.
Defining a market, projecting
when your business will clear a
profit and anticipating personal
financial hardships are all part of
business planning, she said.
Entrepreneurs also should
consider which businesses are
needed in our area. Dr. Judy Ap-
pelt of the Council for Economic
Action said an analysis per
formed on the Bryan-College Sta
tion job market will help class
participants decide if their busi
nesses are feasible.
The Urban Business Identifi
cation Study, a marketing analysis
conducted by the CEA, identified
65 local “under-supplied indus
tries.” These under-supplied in
dustries, Appelt said, are types of
small businesses that exist in
smaller-than-average numbers in
our area.
Another feature of the course
is its mentor program. Lynne
Sprinsky, Senior Business Con
sultant for Technology Business
Development, said that business
leaders in the community will act
as mentors and be assigned to
participants in the second course.
“Mentors will be resource peo
ple who can give specific, one-on-
one advice,” she said.
Accountants, lawyers and
bankers are among those on the
mentor roster, she said, but class
participants probably will be
matched with mentors in busi
nesses similar to theirs.
Some potential entrepreneurs
in “over-supplied industries” or
with unrealistic business plans
may decide not to put in a busi
ness, she said, but she doesn’t
consider that a failure.
“Preventing a failure means
we’ve been a success,” she said.
Classes in business develpment
and management will be offered
this fall by SBDS in three parts.
The first course is a 16-hour in
troduction to help participants
determine whether business own
ership is a good idea for them.
The second course involves 54
hours of practical training in defi
ning a business plan. Both those
who are already in business and
those planning a new business
can benefit from the course, Lee
said.
The course wraps up its third
stage w'ith a series of special topics
including a tax workshop, busi
ness etiquette course, computer
instruction and basic accounting
training.
Each course has limited space
available on a first-come, first-
served basis. Those interested
may contact Jane Moseley of the
Bryan-College Station Small
Business Development Center at
823-3034.
FBI, federal banking officials investigate
possible tie between syndicate, failed bank
HOUSTON (AP) — The FBI and
federal banking officials are investi
gating a possible link between an or
ganized crime syndicate and the
takeover of at least one failing Texas
bank, according to a broadcast re
port.
KTRK-TV of Houston reported
Tuesday ResourceBank of Spring
Branch was the victim of a syndicate
takeover last year and the subse
quent loss of some $13 million in
funds.
“I’d like to have my hands on
them,” Sid Atlas, former chairman
of the board for ResourceBank, told
KTRK in a copyright story. “Besides
what they did to my group person
ally, I think it is just a horrible thing
in the state of our economy that
these things can happen.”
ResourceBank was taken over in a
stock buyout in October and shut
down by federal regulators in De
cember.
“They were stealing from the
bank as if they had robbed the bank
by gunpoint,” according to a confi
dential government memo obtained
by the station.
KTRK reported the scheme may
be connected with several such take
overs in at least nine states and in
cluding some seven financial institu
tions in Texas.
The station based its reports in
part on confidential federal docu
ments. Some such documents in
volved investigation by the Justice
Department, the FDIC and federal
banking fraud investigators in
Washington.
The station reported the federal
probe should be complete Oct. 1.
“Right now, we’re in the initial
stages of the investigation,” Rolando
Moss, media spokesman for the Fed
eral Bureau of Investigation, told
the Associated Press. “At this point,
we’re just looking at ResourceBank.”
Moss said the FBI began investi
gating a connection between orga
nized crime and stock buyouts of the
bank about eight to 10 months ago.
“We really haven’t made any de
termination of whether it is one
group or several,” Moss said.
KTRK reported alleged syndicate
members used a stock buyout to gain
control of ResourceBank last Octo
ber. Then, in one 36-hour period,
millions of dollars were funneled to
an alleged dummy firm, Utah-based
Landcor, through complicated wire
transfers. A cashier suspicious of the
transfers called federal regulators.
“Something like $12 million to
$15 million went out that day,” Atlas
said. “Yes, we stopped it and we did
get most of it back, but it was a bad
enough situation to cause the bank
to fail.”
KTRK reported the alleged multi-
million-dollar firm, Landcor, really
is run out of a Salt Lake City home
where the corporate officers —
Donna and James Barrus — are part
of a civil lawsuit brought by federal
regulators. No criminal charges have
been filed in the case.
“The complexity of tracing all of
the dollars, all of the paper trail to
find where all of the money goes
through several different levels of
laundering makes it very difficult to
prosecute and prove,” said Steve
Shaw, a Houston attorney working
with the station in its investigation.
He is a former assistant U.S. attor
ney and a white-collar crime expert.
The station reported the alleged
takeover scheme could involve banks
and thrifts in seven Texas cities —in
cluding Balch Springs, Shallowater,
Belton, Kerrville, Dayton and Hous
ton — and eight other states.
In its copyright story Monday,
KTRK reported Woodway Bank &
Trust of Houston almost became a
victim of the ring less than three
months ago. The station said bank
board members became suspicious
and turned in a group that was buy
ing up stock in the troubled institu
tion.
“They’re vultures picking on a
carrion of a sick industry,” Texas
Banking Commissioner Ken Little
field said of such alleged syndicate
activities.
KTRK reported the latest
schemes may be related to some al
leged syndicate activity at Balboa
National Bank in San Diego two
years ago.
Boulter discusses America’s energy
situation with College Republicans
By Todd Connelley
Of The Battalion Staff
Former Congressman Beau
Boulter claimed that he will work
closely with other members of Con
gress to come up with a clear and
definite plan for America’s energy
situation.
Boulter, in a speech delivered to
about 75 members of the College
Republicans Club, said that America
is more vulnerable to imported
sources of energy, such as crude oil,
than ever before.
“At present, 50% of our energy
comes from foreign countries, most
of that coming from the very volatile
Persian Gulf Region,” Boulter said.
“I don’t think we should remain
hostage to that situation very much
longer.”
Boulter is an “unofficial” candi
date for Texas Railroad Commis
sioner. He said he plans to announce
his candidacy sometime in October.
The duties of the Texas Railroad
Commissioner are more important
than most people perceive.
“The Commission remains the
most powerful regulatory agency in
state government,” Boulter ex
plained.
“The major areas of responsibility
are energy, the environment , intra
state transportation and safety,” he
said.
But the commissions most power
ful task is regulating the oil and gas
industry.
“It’s the agency that comes up
with the rules that decide where an
oil well is located , how much gas a
well can produce and how a man or
woman who is an independent pro
ducer is going to market that oil or
gas,” he stated.
Boulter said that if he was elected
in November a major portion of his
new energy plan would be utilizing
natural gas.
“I would be in a position as Com
missioner to bring about new mar
kets for natural gas here in Texas,”
he said.
“My goal is to do it in such a way
that the guy in far West Texas with a
little gas well can have equal access to
a market that Exxon or any other
major producer has,” he said.
Boulter, who was defeated in a
Senate race with Lloyd Bentsen last
fall, served on the Energy Subcom
mittee of Government Operations
and chairman of the Energy Task
Force while serving Congress.
\agcie\\ s
inema/
Giant Movie Poster Sale!
Today through Friday from 9:00 AM
to 5:00 PM in the MSC Main Hallway
■N
Thousands of movie posters, prints, and rock
posters to choose from! Decorate your walls
with something unique and affordable!
For more information call MSC Aggie Cinema at 845-1515.
Why be Overwhelmed by
Reading Assignments??
Cut Your Study Time in
Half!
Associated Reading Centers
is offering a FREE ONE HOUR INTRODUCTION to the dynamic
techniques for reading and studying
•Technical Reading Skills
•Increased Retention
•Higher GPA
•Study Skills
•Test Taking Strategies
•More Time
Choose any convenient 1 Hour Session
Tues., Sept. 19; Wed., Sept.20; Thurs., Sept. 21
6 pm-7 pm or 8 pm-9 pm
Blocker Room 116
Call: 764-2665 or (512) 447-READ
ASSOCIATED READING CENTERS
The Company with 16 years experience
Instructor-Vicki Whitener, M.A.
Sponsored by The International Students Assoc.