University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, March 23, 1990 Page: 1 of 6
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University Press
Friday, March 23, t$90
Serving Lamar and the community for 66 years
Vol. 66, No. 44
Search continues for basketball ‘savior’
By David Smith
UP sports editor
The search continues for the coach
who will be designated as savior of
the depleted Lamar basketball pro-
gram.
At this point in time the details re-
main sketchy as to who is actually
being considered to replace former
head coach Tony Branch.
Several nationally prominent
names have been mentioned by the
media as possible candidates for the
vacated position.
The names that have been bandied
about are Billy Tubbs, Paul
Westhead of Loyola Marymount,
Pat Foster, former New York Nicks
coach Hubie Brown and ex-Chicago
Bulls coach Doug Collins.
LU-Beaumont President Billy
Franklin could not comment on just
who is being considered; however,
the coach will be nationally known,
he said.
Franklin denied the names men-
tioned in the Beaumont Enterprise
by Joe Heiling.
“They did not get those names
from us,” Franklin said.
Regardless of who is named the
new head coach, he must have cer-
tain qualities to be considered,
Franklin replied.
“What we intend to do in filling
the coaching position is to bring in a
coach who can put us on a strong
track toward a nationally com-
petitive basketball program,”
Franklin said.
“We want a coach who can do that,
do it within the rules, do it while
stimulating student and community
interest in the program. He must
also be concerned with the student-
athlete.”
With the athletic director position
open, the question arises — will the
new coach fill that position as well?
This is one of the things currently
under consideration by the Lamar
administration.
Recenty the athletic task force
recommended the jobs of athletic
director and head coach of a sport
not be combined. The force outlined
in its report that it is in the best in-
terests of the university that the jobs
be separate.
“All things being equal, it is
preferable to have an athletic direc-
tor who is not a head coach,”
Franklin said.
“However, if it is essential in
order to secure a premier coach for
your premier program, to have that
individual also function as an AD,
that is a concession I would be inclin-
ed to make.”
The process for the selection of the
new Cardinal mentor is underway.
Current athletic director Sonny Jolly
is in charge of a system of in-
dividuals who are compiling
resumes of coaches interested in the
position.
Another consideration concerns
what the new coach will be paid to
resuscitate the program. Figures of
the new coach’s contract have been
bouncing around in the community.
It has been reported by the Beau-
mont Enterprise that the financial
package could be worth more than
$250,000. This includes the perks
such as shoe contracts and television
shows.
Franklin would not disclose the
amount that the university is con-
sidering to lure a top-name coach to
Beaumont.
“We will negotiate a package once
we get into serious deliberations
with a candidate,” Franklin said.
“We know what it will take to bring
in a premier coach.”
Franklin went on to say that the
total amount of the package is tied to
the ability of the coach to attract
support from shoe companies and
other sources.
All these things are being put
together to ensure the Cardinals’
success for a long period of time.
The men’s basketball program will
be the only revenue-producing team
for Lamar athletics since football
has been canceled.
“We don’t want just a flash in the
pan. Obviously we are looking for a
coach who can produce some
relatively quick results, but who can
put in place a program for the long
haul,” Franklin said.
Franklin is shooting for an April 1
deadline to name the new coach.
“The finalizing of the situation by
April 1 is realistic,” Franklin said.
Meanwhile, just as Lamar is con-
sidering its options, so is Branch.
Nothing has been finalized with him
at this time.
Branch’s assistants have received
notice that their contracts will not be
renewed. They have been advised to
seek other employment.
Franklin has had people contact
him about the athletic director’s job.
The decision on filling it will be
taken up at a later date. Both jobs
depend on whether the new coach
wants to handle both positions.
Upwardly mobile
Wilber Johnson, employee of the Texas
Highway Department, installs a concrete
ramp at MLK overpass and East Virginia
Photo by Drew Loker
Street. Lamar police requested a ramp be in-
stalled to give handicapped people an easy ac-
cess to the Montagne Center.
Student Government
Registration changes set
By Jay Casey
UP managing editor
At the request of student govern-
ment association president Anthony
Holmes, Elmer Rode, dean of
records and registrar, addressed
Tuesday’s weekly SGA meeting.
Rode discussed the future im-
plementation of telephone registra-
tion on campus.
Rode fielded questions ranging
from long-distance registration for
international students to the status
of entering high school students.
“When we set the system up, we
hoped that we could get 80 percent of
the students into the system on all
three campuses in the surrounding
counties toll-free,” he said.
Rode said that since the software
for the system was not ready by Feb.
15, they were not able to test it in
February.
He predicted the software would
be delivered by the second week in
April.
Rode said the software had to be
tested to see whether it was suitable
for the system the university wished
to set up.
He said the voice recording for the
system has already been completed.
“I’ve listened to the lady that
recorded our script, and she sounds
a little New Englandish, not deep
East Texan, but that’s OK, she has a
good voice,” he said.
Rode said the university hopes to
begin telephone registration around
the first week in May.
“It will take four weeks to register
6,000 students with the telephone
system,” he said.
Rode suggested that those
students who wish to register early
should use the old label system.
“Label registration will still be
conducted for early registration of
the summer I, summer II and fall
semesters,” he said.
“We didn’t want to start it earlier
than May 1 because we didn’t want
to mix up the two systems,” Rode
said.
Rode stressed the importance of
Lamar’s having a good registration
in the next academic year because
enrollment numbers for the summer
and fall semesters will have a direct
effect on budget considerations for
the next few years.
“We didn’t want any barriers in
the registration system,” he said.
In other business, Holmes
distributed copies of the Inter-
collegiate Athletic Task Force
Report to SGA members. The task
force, of which Holmes is a member,
was created to advise the Lamar
Board of Regents after the discon-
tinuation of the football program.
Holmes said the task force had
worked for a month on the extensive
report and gave times for planned
forums at which groups and in-
dividuals could address the issues it
contains.
According to the report, the first
forum is for members of the boards
of the Alumni Association and the
Cardinal Club. It is scheduled for
Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Cardinal
Club Room, Montagne Center.
The second forum is open to facul-
ty, students and staff and is schedul-
ed for Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the
Cardinal Club Room.
The final forum is for coaches and
athletic staff and will be held Sunday
at 4 p.m. in the Cardinal Club Room.
Holmes stressed the report was
only the recommendation of the task
force and that it still awaited action
by the Board of Regents at their for-
thcoming meeting.
He said individuals interested in
obtaining a copy of the report should
contact Lamar-Beaumont President
Elmer Rode
Billy Franklin’s office.
“This document is available to
anyone and everyone who wants to
see it,” he said.
Holmes reminded'SGA members
of the Kemble Award ceremony
which will take place Saturday at 7
p.m. in the Setzer Center Ballroom.
Holmes announced that “Spring
Sweep,” a local clean-up event, is
scheduled for the morning of April
28. The event is sponsored by the
Clean Community Commission of
Beaumont.
He also announced that The Great
Texas Beach Trash-Off is scheduled
for March 31 from 9 a.m. Until noon.
This event is sponsored by the
Adopt-a-Beach program and Keep
Texas Beautiful.
Organizations interested in par-
ticipating in either of these events
should contact Holmes through the
SGA office at 880-8991.
Secretary-treasurer Scot Doyen-
reminded SGA members of the up-
coming elections on Wednesday and
Thursday.
SWT tries to shed its ‘party’ image
SAN MARCOS (AP) - Southwest
Texas State University gets the most
federal dollars for drug abuse
research and prevention among
schools in Texas, and officials say
the college is using some of the funds
to shed a party school image.
SWT has reached into its pot of
about $3.5 million in federal grants
awarded since 1988 for anti-drug
programs to promote such natural
highs as skydiving, massage and
bicycle racing.
SWT administrators say the col-
lege, which has a 20-year reputation
for on-campus revelry, is addressing
its image “like a recovering
alcoholic.”
“As long as you deny you’ve got a
problem, you’re going to keep that
problem,” said H.H. “Pancho”
Howze, director of SWT Alcohol and
Drug Education Prevention and
Training Center.
“I hope the ‘party school’ image is
beginning to change. It’s like being
an alcoholic — it’s hard to live down
a reputation,” he told the Austin
American-Statesman.
The programs include:
— A $1.2 million five-year grant
from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services to provide
family counseling and peer leader-
ship for San Marcos High School
students, who are considering drop-
ping out.
— A $378,000 Department' of
Education-funded project called
Communities Against Substance
Abuse, which trains community
leaders across Texas to identify and
attack drug abuse problems in local
school districts.
— A $325,000 grant, also from the
Department of Education, which en-
courages parent and police involve-
ment in creating alcohol- and drug-
free schools in the Eanes Indepen-
dent School District in suburban
Austin.
Howze, who has the only federally
funded anti-drug program focused
exclusively on die university, said
he sees about 200 students a year for
counseling.
He also has put together 60 presen-
tations ranging from group counsel-
ing to the drug awareness weeks.
Howze said this week’s theme is
“Healthy Pleasures and Natural
Highs,” and will feature demonstra-
tions of skydiving, physical fitness
activities, massage and a bicycle
race along with a “Hands Across
Campus” memorial to drug abuse
victims.
Howze’s two-year, $176,000 grant
from the U.S. Department of Educa-
tion runs out in October, and he said
he is looking for other grants and
university funds to keep the pro-
gram going.
“Our long-range goal is to change
the expectations of students when
they come to college. Something
about the college milieu encourages
alcohol and drug abuse, and it’s not
just Southwest Texas,” Howze said.
“I think the image now is that the
party is over,” said Dean of Students
John Garrison. “And for students
that haven’t got that message when
they arrive, they do soon
afterward.”
Hightower: Drugs caused lifestyle crisis
“I feel that my friends from way back don’t want to be
associated with me. I’m sure many of their parents don’t think
too highly of me. I feel that I’ve disappointed them.”
—Regan Hightower
By Kevin Brown
UP senior staff writer
On Sept. 9, 1989, Regan
Hightower’s life took a drastic
change. It was then that he exchang-
ed a lifestyle of drugs, booze and
parties for one of courtrooms and
jail cells.
He had been celebrating his 23rd
birthday (Sept. 8) at the Beaumont
nightclub The - Palace when
authorities arrested him with sealed
indictment warrants on two ac-
counts of delivery of a controlled
substance. At the time of the arrest
he was in possession of the drug
Ecstasy.
Had he not been in possession at
the time, he would have never spent
time in jail because of a lack of
evidence on the delivery charges.
“I’ve had people approach me and
say, ‘you could have slipped out scot-
free,’ and they are right,”
Hightower said. “But, if I did, I
could easily be dead right now;
because I probably wouldn’t have
stopped.”
Hightower was the only alleged of-
fender that was found at the club
that night. It was evident that, with
the presence of the media and the
number of authorities, an entire
group of offenders was expected to
be there. Consequently, Hightower
alone was plastered across the front
page of the Beaumont Enterprise on
the next morning.
“When they brought me out of the
club, my first reaction was to hide
my face from the cameras like you
see in the movies,” Hightower said.
“But after a few seconds, I just
didn’t care.”
Hightower describes his involve-
ment in the “drug world” as
something that can be easy to slip in-
to.
“I was involved in a divorce,”
See HIGHTOWER, page 2
Photo by Drew Loker
What goes up must come down
This dog chased this cat up the light pole, located in front
of a bait shop at Rbllover Pass in Gilchrist. The cat ap-
parently objects to being considered “live bait.”
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Murley, Bryan. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, March 23, 1990, newspaper, March 23, 1990; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500243/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.