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Wednesday, August 20, 1997

Cowboys dorm trashed on final night of camp

By CHIP BROWN / AP Sports Writer

AUSTIN (AP) - The dormitory used by the Dallas Cowboys at St. Edward's University was trashed on the final night of training camp, including ripping down the much-ballyhooed surveillance cameras installed by owner Jerry Jones, according to school officials.

The Cowboys apologized immediately for the damage and vowed to pay for any repairs, said John Lucas, vice president for student affairs at the small Catholic school.

The Cowboys have trained at the Austin school for eight years, and sources say the team will return next year, despite speculation to the contrary.

Lucas said there is always a small amount of damage to the dorm after the team leaves.

"What we normally see is what you see on a college campus when a group of students exit," Lucas said.

"This year, we saw more damage. The cameras were forcibly taken out. There was water pretty heavily soaked into the carpet, and in one area of the hall there was an obvious stench of urine."

Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said he didn't know anything about the extent of the damage other than "some ceiling panels in need of repair."

Dalrymple said he was not aware of any cameras being ripped out.

"Security cameras fall under the matters of security, which is not something we talk about," he said.

"Every year we inspect the dorms as a part of the checkout procedure, and if there is anything that needs to be replaced or repaired that gets taken care of at our expense," Dalrymple said.

Lucas said Cowboys officials apologized immediately and agreed to pay for repairs.

"The team apologized and expressed regret and said any cost that we incurred they would pick up," Lucas said.

"It disappointed us. It appeared that this was a pretty quiet training camp, and it's unfortunate that this occurred on the last evening and marred what was a pretty smooth-running camp."

Jones has spent the past several months attempting to repair the team's image, blackened by arrests and drug suspensions over the past three years.

The first two weeks of camp were peaceful, but the final two were marred by coach Barry Switzer's arrest on a gun charge and rape allegations against Nate Newton leveled by a Dallas-area woman who had a longtime relationship with the married offensive guard. Newton's lawyer has called it extortion.

When asked if the dorm incident would affect the school's desire to have the team back next year, Lucas said, "I think it goes into the mix.

"When we put the pluses and minuses down, this certainly goes into the minus side, but it would be hard to say what impact it has on the larger issue of renewal."

The Associated Press reported Monday that the team plans to return to Austin next year but might move its camp to El Paso as early as 1999 if the border city follows through with plans to build a resort where the team could train.