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WEATHER
TOMORROW’S FORECAST:
Partly cloudy and humid.
HIGH: 78
LOW: 62
Vol.89 No.116 USPS 045360 10 Pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, March 23,1990
judge rules Regents budget for special events center
kidnap tale
farfetched
By JULIETTE RIZZO
Of The Battalion Staff
MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP)
—Kidnapping charges against
three Mexicans were dropped
Thursday after a judge ruled that
the abduction story told by four
trouble-prone Oklahomans “is
not believable.”
But two of the Matamoros resi
dents remained in jail in connec
tion with a separate drug investi
gation by Mexican federal
authorities, officials said.
The Mexicans were jailed late
last week after the Oklahoma
City-area vacationers told police
that the three abducted them
near an international bridge.
The story brought back mem
ories of the disappearance and
murder of University of Texas
student Mark Kilroy last year in
Matamoros at the hands of a cult
of drug t raffickers.
The Mexicans w’ere arrested
outside a warehouse, where they
had stopped with the Americans.
Judge Manuel Ceballos Jime
nez said there were too many con
tradictions in the different ver
sions of the alleged kidnapping.
“It is not believable what the
North American students said,”
the judge said Thursday.
The Americans told police the
abductions occurred late last
Thursday and early Friday in this
border city full of students, many
of them drinking heavily, on
spring break.
Nor did police in South Texas
believe that George Marland
Crabtree, 25; his brother, Darren
Crabtree, 19; Jeff Jones, 21; and
Kerry Ramsey, 19, w'ere kidnap
ped. The four have since had a
string of encounters with the law
north of the border.
Two days after reporting the
kidnapping, the same Oklaho
mans were jailed at South Padre
Island and paid a total of more
than $500 in fines for public in
toxication, disorderly conduct
and damaging someone’s car with
a tire tool.
Then on Tuesday, the same
four told police in Brownsville
that someone fired gunshots at
their car.
Later Tuesday, they reported
at South Padre Island that 1,000
men tried to sexually molest
Ramsey on the beach, police said.
Sgt. Homer Gonzalez with the
island police department said an
investigation showed that she was
not molested, but that she had re
moved her swimsuit and started
dancing naked on the beach.
“She took it off and was out
there dancing and stuff, and
spme guys hid her bathing suit, so
she had to walk to the car naked,”
Gonzalez said.
In the alleged kidnapping inci
dent last week, three of the Okla
homans said the Mexicans saw
them having trouble carrying the
inebriated Jones to the Gateway
International Bridge, and of
fered them a ride. Jones said he
passed out after getting in the
car, did not awaken until the next
morning and did not remember
being kidnapped.
The other three said the Mexi
cans took them in a direction
away from the bridge, and held
them at gunpoint as they sped
around the city, fondled Ramsey
and finally took them to a ware
house, where the Oklahomans
thought they would be killed.
But the Mexicans arrested last
Saturday at the warehouse, said
the Oklahomans drove around
with them for four hours drink
ing beer.
The Board of Regents will decide
today how much money to appropri
ate for the preliminary design of the
special events center, to be con
structed on West Campus in the area
of the Beef Cattle Center.
The new center will serve as a
comparable but larger facility to G.
Rollie White Coliseum, which after
36 years, no longer adequately serves
the needs of the growing University
community.
William A. McKenzie, chairman
of the board, said in the Board’s
meeting Thursday that the Univer
sity has outgrown the coliseum. He
said that compared to other modern
university arenas G. Rollie White is
smaller and can no longer hold the
capacity needed for large events.
McKenzie said other universities
of the Southwest Athletic Confer
ence have built larger basketball fa
cilities and only Autry Court at Rice
has a smaller seating capacity than
G. Rollie. He said recruiting of out
standing high school players and
leading performers has suffered in
recent years, because those players
and performers prefer newer arenas
with better accommodations.
McKenzie said the larger center/a
rena will attract “big names” and also
hold family shows such as circuses,
ice shows and rodeos. The new cen
ter, he said, will be a “total Univer-
Board of Regents hears status of LoTrak Project
to lower railroad tracks on west side of campus
By JUUETTE RIZZO
Of Th© Battalion Staff
Accessing campus via Wellborn Road may become
safer and less of a hassle if the Texas A&M Board of
adot |
by the Texas Department of Highways
Transportation (SDHPTj to lower the railroad
tracks west of campus in order to separate them
from bicycle, vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Byron Blaschke, representative of the SDHPT,
briefed the Regent’s Planning and Building Com
mittee chaired by Regent Royce E. Weisenbaker on
the status of the project Thursday and presented a
model of the concept .
Blaschke said that the increasing traffic volume on
Wellborn Road has made the project all the more
necessary.
“Something definitely needs to he done to address
the mobility needs of pedestrians and vehicles,'' he
said. “As far as mobility is concerned, the increasing
volume of traffic on Wellborn Road needs to be ad
dressed, especially with the growing population of
safety within the campus area.”
See LoTrak/Page 4
sity center,” which will include
14,500 seats for basketball games
and commencement exercises, meet
ing spaces for conferences and other
student activities and banquet facili
ties.
Over the past year, the regents,
President William H. Mobley and
other University officials have
looked into similar facilities at other
universities trying to get design ideas
and learn from others’ mistakes.
The proposed center will be a
double bowl structure made up of
three levels. The primary level will
include seating. Another level will
include the playing floor, support
facilities, storage, food services and
meeting facilities. The intermediate
level will include box office areas
and appropriate security areas. Sky
boxes are included in the plans and
will be located around the perimeter
of the back lower bowl, which is a
key visual area.
John David Crow, A&M athletic
director, said that the athletic de
partment supports the facility
wholeheartedly and hopes it will
bring positive attributes to the bas
ketball program.
Mayor Larry Ringer of College
Station said the city’s Capital Im
provement Control Committee will
propose a bond election during the
summer to raise money for the pro-
ject.
“The center is a real benefit to the
community as well as the University,
and it is our privilege to share it with
the University,” he said.
Robert Smith, vice president for
finance and administration, said the
$35 million project project also will
be funded by private gifts. The big
gest gift of all is a multi-million-dol-
lar piece of land donated by Dr.
Chester Reed, Class of ’47.
With proper funding and no sig
nificant delays, ground for the cen
ter could be broken in less than a
year, he said.
Other topics of discussion before
the board Thursday were:
• The appropriation for detailed
design for the Sam Houston Sanders
Corps of Cadets Center, which will
include a historical exhibit of Corps
history and Texas military history,
office space for Corps staff, recruit
ing space and meeting space for the
University as a whole. The total pro
ject cost is estimated at $3 million.
($138, 000 is needed to proceed with
the initial design phase.)
• The presentation of the Lo
Trak Project to make Wellborn
Road more accessible and safer for
pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
• The appropriation for design
for the Zachry Engineering Center
Energy Management to create more
suitable environments inside campus
buildings.
• Initiation of major construction
projects including expansion of li
brary facilities, the relocation of the
Business Administration Building,
the interim upgrade of the waste wa
ter treatment facilities and the con
struction of a new Mt. Aggie, be-
cause the original one
wasdemolished because of construc
tion associated with the Memorial
Student Center expansion.
A&M health department
receives $500,000 donation
Matching funds create endowed chair
By Stacy E. Allen
Of The Battalion Staff
The Texas A&M Department of Health and Physical
Education is $1 million richer thanks to the generosity
of Thomas A. Read.
Read gave $500,000 to the department and matching
funds from the University created a $1 million en
dowed chair in Read’s name.
The chair, titled the Thomas A. and Joan Read Chair
for Disadvantaged Youth, is one of many philanthropic
activities Read has engaged in during the years.
On the A&M campus today, more than 70 students
are receiving about $1,000 a year in scholarship funds
because of Read, Dr. Leonard Ponder, head of the
Mr. Read is an unusually generous
person, especially to Texas A&M when
you consider the fact that he nor any of
his children are Aggies. He is also very
generous in that his committment to
disadvantaged youth is very real and he
puts his money where his mouth is.”
— Dr. Leonard Ponder,
department head
health and physical education department, said.
Ponder said the scholarships are given to health and
physical education majors, industrial distribution ma
jors and members of the Corps of Cadets.
This is somewhat surprising considering that Read
never attended A&M.
“When it came time for me to decide where to give
scholarships, I looked at many schools and decided
A&M was the best choice,” Read said. “I was always im
pressed with the A&M spirit and the Corps of Cadets.”
Ponder said scholarship money and other gifts Read
previously has given A&M prompted the University to
name the health and physical education building after
him. Prior to the endowed chair, Read had given A&M
almost $1 million.
Read’s generosity, however, does not end with A&M.
Ponder said Read attempted to start a summer sports
camp three different times for disadvantaged youth be
fore he succeeded in setting up the camp in Magnolia
12 years ago.
A&M now supplies the camp directors and counsel
ors and Read pays for staff members’ salaries and four
weeks of free fun for 88 disadvantaged campers who
normally would not attend because of financial con
straints.
“The whole idea of the camp is to let the^kids know
there is more to life than becoming a streetwalker,”
Ponder said.
Once the kids leave camp, they are not forgotten by
Read.
Former campers are given first priority in receiving
A&M scholarships as an incentive to encourage the
campers to go to college, Ponder said. The campers
share the top-priority status with survivors of slain
Houston police officers who would like to attend A&M.
Ponder said the first camper to attend A&M will do
so next fall with the help of the scholarship money.
Read said because most children who attend his
camp are from ghettos and can’t afford to pay for a col
lege education, full scholarships probably will be of
fered to campers.
Less fortunate children have been a concern of Re
ad’s since the 1970s when he said he realized they
couldn’t be ignored.
“They were there, and they weren’t going to go any
where, and someone had to do something,” Read said.
“Someone has to help them because otherwise, they
don’t have much of a chance.”
One incentive for donating the money for the en
dowed chair for disadvantaged youth was to ensure
camp operations always are taken care of, Read said.
“I want to ensure it will be around when I’m gone.”
Ponder said the person to have the chair should be
appointed by September. He said the chair-holder will
teach undergraduate and/or graduate level classes at
A&M as well as conduct research, preferably about dis
advantaged youth. The appointee also will oversee the
camp in the summers.
“Mr. Read is an unusually generous person, espe
cially to Texas A&M when you consider the fact that he
nor any of his children are Aggies,” Ponder said. “He is
also very generous in that his committment to disadvan
taged youth is very real and he puts his money where
his mouth is.”
A luncheon honoring Read for his contributions was
held Thursday in the Board of Regents boardroom. A
reception followed at A&M President William Mobley’s
home.
Photo by Mike C. Mitlvey
A County Attorney official leads Dewy Montgomery, 40, and Gu-
lamali S. Faizullah, 43, both of College Station, out of the Stu
dent Korner Store at 1882 Welsh Ave. Both were arrested in
connection with renting obscene videos in a joint investigation
between TABC agents and the County Attorney’s office.
Health center director prescribes re-examination of $15 fee
By SUZANNE CALDERON
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M’s A.P. Beutel Health Center
is one of the top health centers in the nation
in terms of physical facilities, but lacking in
staff support to fully utilize these assets,
Student Body President Kevin Buchman
said.
An evaluation team of top health center
directors from around the nation came to
A&M in April to evaluate the health center
and found the physical facilities excellent,
Buchman said.
“Their report was that we have the physi
cal capability to be the best in the nation,”
Buchman said. “They said we are already
one of the top three in the nation in terms
of diagnostic equipment, the size of the
building and examining rooms — we
clearly have the potential; what we lack is
staff support.”
A shortage of physicians and other sup
port staff at the health center is the center’s
main weakness, Buchman said.
Additionally, he said doctors at the
health center are not being paid compet
itive salaries because of a lack of funds.
Buchman said if this continues, the health
center could lose them to private practice.
In order to make these improvements at
the health center, Student Government has
proposed health center fees be raised from
$ 15 a semester to $25 a semester.
Students will vote on the referendum
March 29 during general student body elec
tions.
David Wieland, senate finance chairman,
said that compared to other universities,
A&M’s present health center fee is one of
the lowest in the nation.
For example, students at the University
of Texas at Austin pay $40.60 a semester in
health center fees, University of Georgia at
Athens pay $106 a semester, Louisiana
State University pay $40 a semester and stu
dents at Texas Tech pay $25 a semester.
“If we can convince people that, yes, it’s
an extra $10, but for the extra $10 you are
going to see a substantial change in the
quality of your health center,” Wieland said.
Buchman agreed with Wieland and said
that increasing the health center fee is a
positive move.
“I understand students being skeptical
about fee increases, but this is a very legiti
mate fee increase — unquestionably with
tremendous benefit to the student body,”
Buchman said.
Dr. Kenneth Dirks, health center direc
tor, said that with the increase the center
could hire three more physicians, two regis
tered nurses, two nurses’ assistants and two
clerical support staff.
“I
I understand students being
skeptical about fee increases,
but this is a very legitimate fee
increase.” — Kevin Buchman,
student body president
The health center fee has been $15 since
1973, and is due for a re-examination, he
said.
Dirks said the health center has eight
doctors who see an average of 300 to 400
patients daily.
“If you work that out, it averages to
where the doctors have to see a patient a
little more frequently than once every 10
minutes, which doesn’t allow very much
time to spend with any given patient,” Dirks
said.
He said the time each doctor can spend
with his patients will increase to approxi
mately 15 minutes with the hiring of more
doctors.
Dirks said if the referendum is passed
the new doctors and other personnel would
be hired as soon as possible.
Wieland said passage of the referendum
would help alleviate common complaints
from students about the health center: their
time with the doctors is short and the wait
ing times to see the doctors are long.
Dirks agreed that although the doctors
are working rapidly, patients often have to
wait longer than they would like. He
guessed that the average time a patient has
to wait to see a doctor is an hour and 15
minutes.
“But, some people are waiting up to
three and a half hours and that is way too
long,” he said.
Besides covering the cost of seeing a doc
tor, Dirks said the health center fee always
has and will continue to cover routine labo
ratory and X-ray work, and up to 10 days of
hospitalization in the health center’s 22-bed
infirmary.
Dirks also said a general surgeon, ortho
pedic surgeon, urologist, dermatologist, gy
necologist, obstetrician and ear, nose and
throat doctor are at the health center for
half a day once a week to see patients.
These additional consultations are cov
ered in the health center fee, he said.
Paying $25 a semester for all those bene
fits is a pretty good deal, Dirks said, consid
ering that a routine office visit with a doctor
in private practice would cost much more.
Additionally, students can visit the health
center an unlimited amount of times a se
mester for that amount of money.
Wieland said students need to stop and
look at what the health center fee covers,
how much the health center can help them,
and how beneficial an increase in fees
would be.
“Look at it like an investment — a wise
investment,” Wieland said.
Dirks agreed.
“We are providing very high quality serv
ice right now, but there is an opportunity
for improvement, particularly if we had
more physicians, more nurses, so more time
could be spent with the patients.”