The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 19, 1993, Image 1

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Vol. 93 No. 37 (10 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Tuesday, October 19,1993
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NCAA accuses A&M of 'major' violations
By William Harrison
The Battalion
Texas A&M received a letter of inquiry
from the NCAA Monday, outlining possi
ble institutional infractions which
charged A&M with "major" violations
stemming from a player payoff scandal in
the football program.
In a 12-page letter sent to A&M Inter
im President E. Dean Gage, the NCAA
detailed its findings from its investiga
tions into illegal payoffs from A&M
alumnus Warren Gilbert, and allegations
of a "lack of institutional control and
monitoring" in the A&M employment
program.
The statement concluded that the vio
lations within the program may consti
tute a "major" offense, according to
NCAA By-Laws dealing with repeated
offenses.
In addition to the present findings,
A&M was found in violation of rules in
1991 under then-head basketball coach
Kermit Davis, and in 1988 under former
head football coach Jackie Sherrill.
Gage said that A&M would try to sub
mit further information requested by the
NCAA and respond to the allegations in a
meeting of the NCAA Infractions Com
mittee on November 12-14 in Kansas
City, Mo. The NCAA stipulated that the
requested information be submitted to
the ten members of the committee by Fri
day.
"We have every intention of complet
ing (the response) in a timely manner in
which we will make that November
meeting," Gage said. "We're very grate
ful to the NCAA's efforts to bring this to
closure, and we'll work cooperatively to
accomplish that."
The report outlined financial and per
sonal disclosures between players and
Gilbert, and accused A&M recruiting co
ordinator Tim Cassidys of withholding
prior information regarding the payoff
See NCAA/Page 6
Haitian forces
defy deadline
to yield power
The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -
Haiti's military defied an ap
proaching midnight deadline to
yield power Monday and belit
tled a U.N: arms and oil embargo.
Its right-wing supporters warned
that any American invaders will
go home "in bags."
Rightists mixed threats against
the outside world with gifts of
chrysanthemums to foreign re
porters, while Lt. Gen. Raoul Ce-
dras suggested new talks on his
departure. The United States said
Cedras was only stalling.
An army' broadcast urged
Haitians not to worry about the
U.N.-authorized embargo or the
U.S. warships steaming offshore to
enforce it. Tire measures are aimed
at forcing the return of Jean-
Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first de
mocratically elected president.
The capital was quiet, and
some small shops opened despite
calls from a variety of groups
calling for a shutdown of busi
ness activity. Few cars lined up at
gas stations ahead of the cutoff of
oil imports.
Stanley Schrager, a U.S. Em
bassy spokesman, said Cedras
must honor the U.N.-mediated
pact he signed in July to return
Aristide, who was ousted in a
bloody coup two years ago. He
was widely popular among
Haiti's impoverished masses, but
opposed by the nation's elite and
other conservative factions.
Many Haitians have fled the
capital, fearing violence by army-
supported Aristide opponents or
a possible intervention by U.S.
forces.
Schrager said; "I'm not saying
that a military intervention is im
minent, but clearly there is al
ways that risk."
He said American officials
were considering providing
guards for Aristide-backed Prime
Minister Robert Malval.
See Haiti/Page 8
Open wide ...
Freshman Robert Tortorice (center), a political
science major from Beaumont, has his teeth in
spected Monday on the Quad by junior politi-
Holly Organ/THC Battalion
cal science major Jim Welsh (left) of Austin
and junior agriculture major Jake Donks (right)
of Dallas.
dventure this
Two acquitted
in Denny beating
Jury convicts black defendants
on counts of assault, mayhem
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Freed Nigerian forgives brutal captors
The Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia - He was
stripped naked and chained to a chair in a
dark room for two weeks. Somali fighters
twisted his ankle, tearing ligaments so he
could not escape. The floor was his toilet and
he was not allowed to bathe.
Still, a Nigerian peacekeeper held by clan
leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid's militia for
more than a month said Monday that he felt
no anger toward his captors.
"As a good Muslim man, everything they
do to you, you must forgive, but you must
remember also," said Pvt. Umar Shantali.
The 20-year-old peacekeeper spoke at his
first news conference since being freed
Thursday along with a U.S. Army helicopter
pilot. Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant.
Durant has not spoken to reporters about
his time as a prisoner, and there has been no
official word on conditions during his 11
days in captivity.
Shantali spent the last five days being
treated at a Swedish army field hospital for
tom ligaments in his left ankle inflicted after
he was captured in a Sept. 5 battle that killed
seven Nigerian soldiers.
He was accompanied by his commander,
Maj. Garba Ahmed, and other Nigerian offi
cers who appeared to be censoring him. At
one point, he said in an aside "No, no, I won't
tell them," before answering a question.
Shantali said his captors berated him, say
ing all U.N. troops took orders from Jonathan
Howe, the retired U.S. Navy admiral who is
the special U.N. representative in Somalia.
The militiamen believe American troops are
here to impose Christianity on their Muslim
country, he said.
"They said Howe likes to bring Christian
religion in Somalia .... They said they,
would like to dig out Howe's eye, then take
out another eye and make a dinner," he said.
He said he told them: "You can talk with
your mouth, but you can't do it."
CJpponents of the U.N. mission, which be
gan when a U.S.-led military force intervened
See Nigerian/Page 4
Mounted police to patrol area neighborhoods
By Carrie Miura
The Battalion
Brazos Valley residents can feel
safe in their homes knowing Bra
zos Valley Task Force mounted
patrol units will be serving local
neighborhoods.
Mark Hiatt, assistant comman
der of the Brazos Valley Task
Force, said the program should
prove more effective against the
drug trade, and the task force is
optimistic that the new program
will succeed.
"Our main goal is to run the
dealers off the street and to run the
buyers out of the area," he said.
The mounted patrols should
help change the image of police,
creating a more favorable impres-
"Our main goal is to run the dealers off the
street and to run the buyers out of the area."
- Mark Hiatt, assistant commander of the Brazos
Valley Task Force
sion among children, Hiatt said.
"We would like to turn our im
age around in neighborhoods," he
said. "Right now, many children
see the police as being bad guys,
because the only time they see the
police is for a drug bust or if we
run a search warrant."
The mounted patrol unit was
implemented under the Ominous
Drug Bill passed in 1986 and is
operating with federal funds in
support of drug enforcement.
The mounted officers are cur
rently in training with the Austin
Police Department and the Hous
ton Police Department to learn en
forcement tactics.
Schools may request the
mounted patrol units speak to
their students as the officers begin
patrolling the crack and cocaine
neighborhoods surrounding some
schools.
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Two blacks
were acquitted Monday of most
of the felony charges in the beat
ing of white trucker Reginald
Denny and other motorists at the
start of the 1992 riots, easing
fears pf renewed racial tensions.
The defendants were convict
ed of lesser counts.
The judge sent the multiracial
jury back to deliberate the most
serious count — attempted mur
der against defendant Damian
"Football" Williams in the
videotaped attack of Denny —
and two lesser charges on which
the panel deadlocked.
Hours later, the panel an
nounced it had decided that
Williams was innocent of a rob
bery charge.
Superior Court Judge John
Ouderkirk then asked the jury to
deliberate the final two counts.
Accepting the defense argu
ment that Williams and co-de
fendant Henry Watson were
caught up in mob violence after
the state Rodney King beating
trial, the jurors acquitted them of
most charges that required spe
cific intent.
Defense psychologists testi
fied that Williams, 20, and his
29-year-old co-defendant acted
in the heat of the moment and
couldn't have planned their ac
tions.
Williams and Watson sat
calmly as the verdicts were read,
except when the clerk an
nounced "Not Guilty" on an ag
gravated mayhem charge
against Williams, which could
have brought him life in prison.
Williams clapped his hands over
his eyes, reared back in his seat
and hugged his attorney.
The jury convicted Williams
on simple mayhem, with a maxi
mum penalty of up to eight
years in prison.
In the charges decided against
him, Watson was acquitted of all
but simple assault on Denny, a
lesser related offense that carries
only a year in county jail rather
than prison.
The jury rejected the charge
that Watson tried to kill Denny,
the count that could have
brought him life in prison.
"I am in total agreement,"
Denny told the TV tabloid show
"Inside Edition." "They should
let the guy go. He spent a year-
and-a-half in jail and has had
time to think about what hap
pened."
Watson's mother, Joyce, sat in
the courtroom's front row.
Williams was acquitted of
eight counts.
Former Police Chief Daryl
Gates, now a radio personality,
denounced the verdicts as un
just.
"We know they're guilty. But
I understand this is our system,"
Gates said.
The new police chief,-Willie
Williams, said he was pleased
with community response.
And in South Central Los An
geles, the Rev. Leonard Jackson
of First AME Church said;
"There is a sense of calm and
there is a sense of true justice.
We saw justice working at its
best."
The jury initially was hung up
on whether Williams personally
used a deadly weapon, a con
crete block, to strike Denny in
the head.
And they disagreed on the
See Denny/Page 3
West Campus suffers
from power outage
By’James Bernsen
The Battalion
Texas A&M University officials are not sure why two electrical
transformers on the West side of campus failed Sunday night.
Joe Sugg, executive director of the A&M physical plant, said the
transformers went out around 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Kleberg Animal
and Food Science Center and the Medical Sciences Building. The trans
formers have not yet been fixed.
Sugg said it is possible that the loss of the first transformer may have
caused the second to fail.
"Something may have caused one to go out, causing a surge," he
said. "A hidden defect in the other might have caused it to go out
then."
See Transformer/Page 3
Steve Hanell, commander of
the Brazos Valley Task Force, said
drugs are a major problem in
some Brazos Valley neighbor
hoods.
"We are going to try and com
bine education, enforcement and
prevention by putting on pro
grams for schools and patrol in
high crack and cocaine areas,"
Hanell said. "This will be a new
neighborhood policing concept
that we will be trying out.
"I am really excited about it.
It's a different approach that we
will be taking because we will be
teaching children while patrolling
their neighborhoods," he said.
Hanell said the program and
mounted forces will begin opera
tion by the end of November.
Campus
►A&M team researching fire
detectors
Page 2
Sports
’Player feature: Tyler
Harrison
Opinion
Page 5
►Bureaucracy at A&M needs
to better serve students
Page 9
Weather
•Tuesday: mostly cloudy,
scattered showers, highs
in 80s
•Wednesday: windy,
cooler, highs in upper
70s, lows in 60s
•Extended forecast: partly
cloudy, cool, highs in
70s,, lows in 60s