University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, October 10, 1986 Page: 1 of 6
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* Good
1 Morning!
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Serving the Lamar community for 63 years
It’s Friday
October 10, 1986
Vol. 63, No. 9
Southwest investigates phone misuse
1 By TERRY RICHARD
UP staff writer
* An investigation into the abuse of
t a local long distance telephone ser-
vice could result in the prosecution
* of some Lamar students.
* Southwest Communications, a
, Beaumont-based long distance ser-
vice whose system uses a multi-digit
* authorization code, said that abuse
of their system by Lamar students
began in March but has become
v worse.
*< Sam Smith, president of
Southwest Communications, said
students seem to feel they can use
*■ the service with impunity, but that
his company has been successful in
identifying quite a few offenders.
:FBI tests
;on ‘bug’
;due today
y AUSTIN (AP)-The agent in
, charge of the Austin FBI office said
that investigators hope to know by
* today results of preliminary tests on
Ij the electronic bug found in the office
of a Bill Clements campaign official.
* FBI agent Byron Sage said the
device was received by an FBI
laboratory in Washington, D.C., on
> Wednesday. There it will undergo
technical examination as well as
x tests for fingerprints.
a “We’re trying to determine
everything—its point of origin, who
the manufacturer was, the
, capabilities of the device, its
sophistication,” Sage said.
> The bug was found Sunday in the
k office of Karl Rove, an Austin-based
political consultant who is the top
* strategist for Clements’ GOP guber-
t natorial campaign.
The matchbook-sized radio
j. transmitter powered by a battery
was found behind a picture hanging
' about 4 feet from Rove’s desk
f telephone.
Use of such listening devices
without authorized court orders or
without the knowledge of those
whose conversations are being
> monitored is a felony under both
~ state and federal law, said officials
of the Texas Department of Public
* Safety.
During an interview in Houston,
where he made a speech Wednes-
> day, Clements refused to comment.
Noting that both the FBI and DPS
7 were investigating, Clements said,
t “It would be inappropriate” for him
to say anything about the incident at
* this time.
t In an interview with the Austin
American-Statesman, a security ex-
' pert said that from information
* available so far, it appears the bugg-
ing was a risky operation in which
^ the bug itself was poorly hidden.
^ “The question is, of course, why?
From the little that is known, this
* operation seems to be very, very
A high-risk versus the potential gain,”
said Ken Bates, an expert in elec-
* tronic countersurveillance.
y After examining a photograph of
r the transmitter provided by a news
•* reporter, Bates said the device was
of a design that likely required
J periodic servicing. He also said it
i “was not very cleverly hidden” and
< probably was monitored by an
eavesdropper within a few hundred
t yards of Rove’s office.
* DPS officials had little to say
, about the investigation, which began
shortly after a private investigator
* hired by the Clements campaign
< found the device.
One of those interviewed Wednes-
* day was a newspaper reporter who
y asked questions which Rove and
Clements’ campaign manager
< George Bayoud say triggered their
, decision to look for a but.
Sam Attlesey, political reporter
4 for The Dallas Morning News,
recently asked Clements’ press
secretary about reports from
> Democratic Gov. Mark White’s
campaign staff that Clements was
* planning to buy more television
a commercial time and hire another
political consultant.
* The Clements officials said they
a had thought those two pieces of in-
formation were secret.
* Attlesey said he told the FBI and
DPS that he obtained the informa-
tion in an on-the-record interview
* with Harris Diamond of New York,
^ White’s political consultant. Dia-
mond has said the information was
* readily available from television
v stations and political professionals.
Mark McKinnon, spokesman for
* White’s re-election campaign, said
» no White staff members had been in-
terviewed as of Wednesday, but they
4 are willing to cooperate. “The door
is open,” he said.
“Some of them have come in, sign-
ed statements, and agreed to pay for
the calls,” he said.
A former police officer is in-
vestigating the abuse and the com-
pany also traces calls from their of-
fice.
“We haven’t prosecuted anyone
yet, but the investigation might lead
to that,” Smith said.
Becky Smith, billing supervisor,
said that students initially deny, but
eventually admit to the unauthoriz-
ed use of Southwest’s system.
“What’s sad is when they come in
and sit here with their parents and
the parents have to pay because the
kids don’t have any money,” she
said.
A misconception about Southwest
Communications is that it’s a big
company and can afford to lose
money, he said.
“We are a small, locally owned
business with 14 employees,” he
said. “A loss of revenue from the
theft of our service is a threat to job
security for those employees.”
“People don’t recognize the scope
of it,” he said. “Ours is a time-
sensitive system, and for every
minute they use it, it costs us.”
A1 Pittman, head technician for
Southwest, said the authorization
code is actually an access code to
their system which is verified by
computer when students punch in
the number. When the number is
verified, the computer releases a
dial tone.
For example, Smith said, one per-
son gives out his authorization
code to someone, who in turn relays
it to another. With several people
aware of someone’s number, the
person’s authorized code is abused.
Federal and state statutes impose
criminal penalties for theft of ser-
vices and civil liability laws state
that people acting in concert to com-
mit theft of service may be held
liable for losses, he said.
Smith, the president, said that in
the case of an authorization code be-
ing passed from student to student
they would all be liable for con-
spiracy to steal.
An amendment to the state penal
code enacted by the Texas
Legislature states that “A person
commits an offense if the person in-
tentionally or knowingly gives a
password, identifying code, personal
identification number, or other con-
fidential information about a com-
puter security system to another
person without the effective consent
of the person employing the com-
puter security system....”
In the same amendment it also
states that “ a person commits an of-
fense if the person uses a computer
without the effective consent of the
owner of the computer or a person
authorized to license access to the
computer and the actor knows that
there exists a computer security
system intended to prevent him
Taking a dip—
An unidentified patron takes a dip with a chip during “A Taste of the ment Program employee, serves food from the Lamar University
Triangle” held Tuesday night in the Beaumont Civic Center. At left, booth.
Vicki Schmidt, a Beaumont sophomore and Food Service Manage- Photo by lyra katena
Fire protection
‘Needs assessment’ for campus underway
By STEVEN FORD
UP staff writer
A study is underway to determine
the status of fire protection systems
in all Lamar-Beaumont campus
buildings, Henry Dozier, director of
plant facilities, said.
Dozier said the study, which is a
“needs assessment,” may take six
months to complete.
“We have never had a full comple-
ment of professional staff members
to do this type of work,” Dozier said,
“but we now have four new profes-
sional staff members to work on this
study.”
Ray Rice, director of campus
operations, will be assisting Dozier
on the study, pending completion of
several other projects.
Rice said the needs assessment is
being conducted to “find what we
have and what we don’t have. We
want to find out which current
systems are working and .which are
not.”
Other factors such as cost and
feasibility of certain systems are
also being weighed.
Rice said the study will also try to
ascertain whether fire protection
systems currently in operation can
be connected to a central dispatch
alarm system at the university
police station.
Such an alarm system notifies the
police station of a possible fire and
what building the fire is in. This in-
formation is fed through phone lines
from the building to the police sta-
tion.
Thirteen different buildings on the
Beaumont campus are connected in-
to a system at the campus police sta-
tion, Gene Carpenter, chief of police,
said.
Carpenter said that his depart-
ment initiated the hook-up between
the central dispatch center and the
various buildings.
He also said that his department
paid for the systems to be installed.
Of the 13 alarm systems connected
to a dispatch center at the police sta-
tion, two are residences. They are
the chancellor’s residence and the
president’s residence.
No other residences on campus
are connected to the alarm system
at the police station, Carpenter said.
Five residence halls do not have
smoke or heat detectors, Jesse
Castete, director of university hous-
ing, said. The halls, however, con-
tain fire extinguishers.
Castete said that Morris, Combs,
Campbell, Gray and Stadium halls
do not have smoke or heat detectors,
but that he has discussed the issue
with maintenance personnel.
Henry Dozier
Texas universities seek new building funds
From staff and wire reports
Texas universities are seeking
permission to spend nearly $100
million on new buildings even
though the state higher education
board banned most new construction
six months ago.
This is mainly new construction
which adds square footage to the
state inventory and requires state
funding, Dr. Bill Nylin, vice presi-
dent of finance and operations, said.
At least one education board is
disappointed that university of-
ficials apparently did not take the
building ban seriously, the Houston
Chronicle reported.
Proposals to spend $96 million con-
structing new buildings and $20
million renovating old ones add up to
the largest construction request in
the history of the Coordinating
Board, Higher Education Commis-
sioner Kenneth Ashworth said.
Lamar does not have any pro-
posals for new construction before
the Coordinating Board at this time,
but proposals for renovation of cam-
pus buildings will be considered in
January, Nylin said.
Renovations actually save the
state money because the building is
often made more energy effecient,
he said.
In April, the Coordinating Board
endorsed Wichita Falls member
Ray Clymer’s resolution to halt most
university construction until the
state’s financial future becomes
clearer.
The action was widely publicized
as a sign of hard economic times for
the state.
Clymer said he is disappointed by
the university officials’ proposals
for new construction and renova-
tions.
“I’m in hopes that the board will
send them another message,”
Clymer said.
Since the board’s action, the state
has slashed university operating
revenues by 10.5 percent, and the
financial outlook remains clouded.
But university officials are tapping
special funds to finance new
buildings.
“We have an elaborate physical
plant to house Texas higher educa-
tion,” Clymer said. “I wish we could
slow down construction of new
buildings and speed up faculty
salaries.”
Dr. George McLaughlin,
chancellor, and Dr. Bill Franklin,
president of the Beaumont campus,
were unavailable for comment.
' Bill Nylin
from making that use of the com-
puter.”
An offense under this section is a
Class A misdemeanor.
Pittman said he felt that a lot of
students would stop using the
system when they realized there was
a penalty if they got caught.
“They are hurting the entire Beau-
mont area. Our business offers
lower long-distance rates than other
major companies and if our services
are no longer available because of
theft, then those businesses will suf-
fer,” he said.
Billing supervisor Smith said her
company provided out-of-town
students with a way to call home.
“They are hurting themselves in
the long run,” she said.
Superfund
supports
LU center
From staff and wire reports
The U.S. House of Represen-
tatives passed a $9 billion “Super-
fund” renewal bill Wednesday
completing congressional action
on major environmental legisla-
tion that the White House is
threatening to veto.
The bipartisan legislation, ham-
mmered out through nearly three
years of negotiations, would pump
$8.5 billion over the next five years
into a toxic waste cleanup pro-
gram that began stalling a year
ago when Congress failed to renew
its taxing authority.
This would be a more than five-
fold increase for Superfund, which
was budgeted at $1.6 billion its first
five years and which has been
heavily criticized for completing
only two dozen or so dump
cleanups since 1980.
If passed, the bill would ap-
propriate about $5 million to
Lamar’s proposed Hazardous
Waste Center, Dr. Bill Franklin,
president of the Beaumont cam-
pus, said.
The bill would be incredibly im-
portant to Lamar, he said.
“It would provide (Lamar) an
opportunity to establish a national
presence in an important field of
research,” he said.
Dr. Fred Young, dean of the Col-
lege of Engineering, said the
benefits would cover a broad spec-
trum, including faculty travel,
support for graduate programs,
purchase of laboratory equipment
and supplies and support for facul-
ty salaries.
Young said he feels confident
that even if President Reagan
vetos the bill, the legislature will
continue to push for funding.
“This country has to address the
issue of hazardous waste,” he said.
Franklin said the bill would be
significant in allowing Lamar to
help industries answer the ques-
tion of how to dispose of hazardous
waste.
The bill would have a strong im-
pact on Lamar’s programs.
“When one department
strengthens, all the departments
strengthen,” Franklin said.
Normally, Reagan has 10 days to
sign or veto a bill. If he does not
act in this period while Congress is
in session, it automatically
becomes law. But if the 10 days ex-
pire after Congress has adjourned,
the president can pocket-veto
legislation by not signing it.
“We’re very confident we can
override a veto,” said Rep. Dennis
Eckart, D-Ohio, who has been ac-
tive in the effort to revive and ex-
pand Superfund.
Eckart said leaders have agreed
to keep Congress at least
technically in session past the
10-day period on Superfund to deny
the pocket veto and give it a
chance to override a direct veto.
House Speaker Tip O’Neill,
D-Mass., said that if the legislation
is vetoed, “We’d have to call the
House'back into session.”-
The administration opposition
centers on two of the tax provi-
sions: a $2.75 billion bite oh
petroleum, more than 10 times the
previous level; and a new $2.5
billion broad levy on corporate
earnings.
Inside
National Newspaper Week..
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Editorials.................
.. .3
University Committees......
.. .4
Sports.........
.5,6
Classifieds...............
■ 5,6
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Faulkner, Georganne. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, October 10, 1986, newspaper, October 10, 1986; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth499819/m1/1/: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lamar University.