Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 1

Friday evening rican-Statesman Mostly cloudy Thunderstorms possible tonight. High, mid-908. Low, mil-60. Data, A2. April 20, 1984 irtr Vol.

113 No. 270 1984, Austin American-Statesman, all rights reserved 25 cents ucas claims he killed -r wealthy Bastrop couple Km I I 1 4j I ST'" stank. if i (ft i AP Blast wrecks officers club in Washington. Staff Photo by Bob Daemmrich Fish fancier Backers of Latin rebels claim D.C. bomb blast By KAY POWERS American-Statesman Staff BASTROP Convicted murderer Henry Lee Lucas Thursday led authorities to the former home of a wealthy Bastrop County couple who disappeared in 1976 and said he and a companion killed the pair.

John Whatley, 74, and his wife, Faye, 68, were discovered missing Jan. 31, 1976. "I believe what he told us," said Bastrop County Sheriff Tommy Moseley, who accompanied Lucas to the home. "I'm pretty well convinced he did it, because he told us things, gave us details he couldn't have known otherwise." Moseley said Lucas told him the Whatleys were stabbed to death "and their bodies were taken to Nevada and dumped in the desert." THE WHATLEYS, whose estate was valued at $2.7 million, h'dd lived in their brick home in the Hill's Prairit; community six miles south of Bastrop about four years when they disappeared. No bodies have even been found.

Jimmy Nutt, who was sheriff of Bastrop County at the time of the disappearance, headed a wide-ranging search for the couple after Faye Whatley's daughter reported Jan. 31, 1976 they did not show up in Houston for a family wedding. Repeated phone calls to the Whatley home went unanswered. A deputy dispatched to the Whatleys' river bottom ranch found the couple's two Mercedes-Benz autos and a pickup truck in the garage. Their eyeglasses, wallets and other personal possessions were in the house.

A door had been ripped from its hinges and was missing. A newspaper dated Jan. 27 was in the house, unfolded as though it had been read, but a newspaper dated Jan. 28 was still in their mailbox. THE SEARCH for the couple lasted for weeks, but turned up no trace of them.

Nutt called it the most frustrating case he had ever handled as sheriff. Today Nutt said he had "had a feeling a while back" as he read newspaper stories about the method of operation of Lucas and his sometime-companion Ottis Toole "that this could be one of their jobs." Nutt said he talked to Moseley and some deputies about his hunches "and we kind of got to digging on it, probably a couple of months ago." Moseley said this morning, "We reopened the case and started looking into it again. We went up (to Georgetown, where Lucas is in jail) Thursday morning and talked with him some and he gave us some information that tied in with the case, some things we felt he couldn't have known unless he was involved. "HE OFFERED to take us out there and he did and described what had happened there." Moseley said Lucas made a statement concerning the case. The sheriff said Lucas had had an accomplice, but would not say whether it was Toole, who has been implicated in other murders.

A study of Lucas' travels during the time he claimed involvement in at least 360 murders shows he met Toole for the first time in Decem- See Lucas, A10 Fisherman Johnny Nobles is a study in concentration as he waits for bites while fishing under the Town Lake Bridge. Legislature next for school reforms nun I. i H. ROSS Perot's panel cuts cost to $1 billion. WASHINGTON (AP) An; explosion triggered by a bomb placed under ja sofa wrecked the officers club at the Washington Navy Yard early today.

A group backing Salvadoran leftist guerrillas claimed responsibility and said it was protesting a massive U.S. military exercise beginning today in the Caribbean. There were no injuries in the blast, which occurred three hours after closing time vr.v was more powerful than the one that rocked the U.S. Capitol late last year. Sailors sleeping in nearby barracks were jarred awake by the explosion, which blew the glass doors and six triple-sash windows off the building and damaged walls and ceilings.

It also started a small fire. RON DERVISH of the FBI said responsibility was claimed by a group calling itself the Guerrilla Resistance Movement, which opposes U.S policy in the Caribbean and Central America. In taped telephone calls to The Washington Post and United Press International, the group said it was "in solidarity" with the FMLN, or Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the largest of five leftist guerrilla groups battling the U.S.-supported government in El Salvador. The group also expressed support for independence for Puerto Rico. "It was a bomb, but we don't know what type," said Norman Zigrossi, special agent in charge of the FBI's Washington field office.

"We believe it was located under a couch in the entryway." He said "we are considering the possibilities" that the bomb was set by the same group that detonated a device at the Army War College at Fort McNair in April 1983 and in a corridor at the U.S. Capitol last November. Responsibility for those blasts was claimed by a group calling itself the Armed Resistance Unit. FBI OFFICIAL Lane Bonner said the same group which claimed to have set off today's explosion also claimed responsibility for a blast Aug. 18 outside another building at the Navy Yard, half a block from the club.

A Navy officia! had earlier said erroneously that the Puerto Rican nationalist group FALN claimed responsibility in one of the two calls. Navy Lt. Cmdr. W.R. McLoughlin said that "at about 1:50 a.m.

this morning an explosion at the Washington Navy Yard officers club building No. 101 caused significant damage to the lobby and first floor. "Security at the Navy Yard has been increased and the U.S. Army bomb squad is on the scene. There were no injuries." Asked if there would have been casualties if the building had been occupied, Lt.

William White of the District of Columbia police said, "No question about it." Zigrossi agreed, saying "it was quite a blast." ZIGROSSI SAID initial reports indicated the force of the blast was larger than that which damaged Senate corridor in November. FBI Di-' rector William H. Webster has said the Capitol blast was produced by three or four pounds of dynamite. McLoughlin said there were about 35 patrons and five employees in the club Thursday night, most of them for a weekly "steak night" dinner. But he said the club closed at 10:50 p.m., and there was no one in the building at the time of the explosion.

By LAYLAN COPELIN Amarlcan-Statetman Staff DALLAS A special session of the Legislature is the next stop for a trimmed-down school reform plan completed by the Select Committee on Public Education. "I think we have a broad consensus that is a large step forward," White said after the measure passed the Committee on voice vote Thursday. "As quickly as we can get 21 votes in the Senate and 76 in the House, I'll be calling that special session." The committee, led by computer tycoon H. Ross Perot, scaled back its $2.6 billion proposal for Texas school improvements to an initial $1 billion by stretching the changes over five years. THE $1 BILLION is for 1985.

The price would double by 1989, when the final changes would be put into effect. The state already spends $8.3 billion on public education every two years. In a final meeting after 10 months of study, the committee also approved a teacher pay plan. The plan guarantees every teacher at least a 10 percent raise, plus discretionary raises tied to job performance. Teacher groups are seeking a one-time pay increase of 24 percent.

The starting salary, now $11,110 a year, would be raised to $15,200 under the plan. White, Lt Gov. Bill Hobby, and House Speaker Gib Lewis endorsed the proposal. They said, however, that details of the plan could change during a special legislative session expected to be See School, A10 British diplomat confirms China to get Hong Kong Boundary changes loom School board to weigh secondary changes Inside Mystery man A Dallas investor is identified as the philanthropist who donated $8 million to the University of Texas. CityState, Bl Septemer 1982, and the 12th round ended last week.

A 13th round is scheduled for April 27-28. Ml I mmM mi' If ill jK. 11 HONG KONG (AP) Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe today became the first British official to state publicly that Britain will return Hong Kong to China in 1997 without retaining an official presence in the colony. It is unrealistic "to think of an agreement that provides for continued British administration in Hong Kong after 1997," Howe said. He said Britain will resist a "sellout" and is optimistic it will reach agreements with China for Hong Kong's 5.5 million residents to have "a high degree of autonomy under Chinese sovereignty that would preserve the way of life in Hong Kong, together with essentials of the present system." "My discussions with the Chinese leaders have convinced me that they want the Hong Kong systems to remain fundamentally as they are," he said.

China has stated repeatedly that it will regain sovereignty over Hong Kong when the 99-year lease on the New Territories expires, and China and Britain currently are negotiating Hong Kong's future after 1997. The talks begain in Peking in School would be closed. "In terms of closing McCallum, it's just a rumor. We are not closing any high schools. We're not going to be like the Baltimore Colts and move in the middle of the night," Ellis said.

"We are mainly proposing boundary changes," he said, adding that final details are still being worked out Ellis said he plans to ask the school board to hold four public hearings around the city to gather public comment on the proposals. At a 7:30 p.m. board meeting Monday he plans to ask the board to hold meetings April 30 at McCallum High, May 1 at LBJ High, May 7 at Travis High and May 8 at Lanier High. Times have not been set. "WE'D LIKE TO make a decision before school is out," he said.

The last day of school is May 31. Ellis said trustees will have to decide when and if to implement boundary changes. During the recent school board campaign, all three candidates elected to the board. Nan Clayton, Lidia Perez and Abel Ruiz, repeatedly said they favored changing boundaries to even out enrollment Both South Austin senior highs are bulging at the seams while the seven north-side schools are underenrolled. The last major shift in attendance boundaries came in the fall of 1980 when the district's latest desegregation effort began.

By DEBBIE GRAVES American-Statesman Staff Proposed changes in attendance zones for Austin high schools will be unveiled at a school board meeting next week. The changes are designed to combat dwindling enrollment at LBJ High School. Superintendent John Ellis said school officials have been working on the proposals for months, trying to find a solution to the shrinking student population at the Northeast Austin high school. Since the 1977-78 school year, LBJ's enrollment has dropped from 1,738 to 1,150. It is less than half the size of the city's largest school, Crockett, which has 2,744 pupils.

School officials will not reveal details of the boundary changes but Ellis said the changes will affect only high school attendance. The proposed changes will be revealed at a 7:30 p.m. school board meeting Tuesday in the Carruth Administration Building. NORTHEAST AUSTIN PARENTS and students have been seeking help for LBJ for a year and have strongly backed the redrawing of high school boundary lines which determine what schools students attend. Ellis denied that a high school will be closed in order to provide more students for LBJ and other underenrolled North Austin senior highs.

He discounted a rumor that McCallum High Winning smile Seattle's Gus Williams is all smiles after his 25-foot shot at the buzzer beat the Dallas Mavericks in NBA playoff action. Sports, Dl Truer than life "The Stone Boy" is a movie so filled with emotion that it is difficult to believe it is not based on a true story. Entertainment, Fl Human contraband Smuggling undocumented foreigners into southern Florida from the nearby Bahamas is relatively easy, clean work and pays well. And the penalties are often light compared to sentences for drug smugglers. Saturday Deaths E38 Editorials AM Ellie Rucker El Horoscope E9 TV Log Fll Ann Landers E6 E10-38 Comics C7 Crossword C7 Dear Abby E2.