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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1971)
]Cbe Battalion Breezy and warmer Thursday, January 21, 1971 FRIDAY — Clear to partly cloudy. Winds Southerly 10 to 12 m.p.h. Becoming Northerly 10 to 12 m.p.h. High 71, low 61. SATURDAY — Clear to partly cloudy. Winds Northerly 5 to 10 m.p.h. High 69, low 38. 845-2226 tudent march nets 5,000 for Aggies j^ey. 5/ ’f7/ By DAVID MIDDLEBROOKE Batallion Editor ■ Texas A&M President Dr. Jack ft. Williams presented the Stu- lent Senate Wednesday night Irith a $6,000 gift—the direct re- ftilt of a student march on his home. 1 The Senate also heard a report jjm the Operation Feedback stu- mt opinion poll conducted the d of last semester. The gift was made by the trake Foundation of Houston ter George W. Strake Jr. read |bout the student march on Wil iams’home last Nov. 1 (his first |ay as president) to welcome him the campus. Strake contacted Williams con- jrning a contribution to Texas &M’s scholarship fund, but dlliams suggested that any gift rompted by the march be made irectly to the students. "Our organization continues to ft much impressed by the Texas l&M student body,” Strake said ft a letter accompanying the Aeck, “its fine traditions, its ftillingness to stand publicly for Bcency and order, and its appre- ation for the history and prom- [e of our state and nation. “We want to express our grati- de to the students of A&M for eir attitudes,” the letter con- ■nues, “and we do so by means ft a gift in the amount of $5,000. ft is our request that this money ft; used in support of appropriate udent programs and student ac- vities, as determined by the stu dent government with approval of the University’s administra- |on.” ng with the Senate after \ Talkir presenting the check, Williams repeated his often-voiced opinion that the Texas A&M student body is the greatest anywhere. “You’re just a cut above any other student body,” the presi dent said. Noting A&M provides 10 per cent of the nation’s veterinarians, Wiliams said A&M is moving ahead steadily. He said Texas A&M has the largest desaliniza tion project in the United States, is one of 11 Sea Grant universi ties in the nation and is the site of the U. S. Toxicology Center. Texas A&M also has the largest extension program anywhere, he said. During his talk, Williams said he hopes to see campus housing for women become a reality with in the next two or three years and repeated his feeling that ROTC is a vital part of Texas A&M and will be here as long as he is president. He said he believes the Bonfire is a valuable tradition, and per forms a useful function by thin ning and clearing land that is to be thinned and cleared anyway. Williams also said he thinks students should have a strong voice in rules governing campus life (“They occupy a city of their own”) and have a voice in cur ricula development. In addition, he said, students should formally rate faculty members and assist in making rules and determining procedure and policies. Public Relations Chairman James P. O’Jibway told senators Operation Feedback cost about $105, including $8.50 in computer time and around $44 for key punch operator time. Slightly under 7,000 students participated in the survey—about half the student body. In giving the results, O’Jibway said breakdowns showing cadet- civilian, dormitory - day student and men-women vote were not yet available. The results: 1— The efforts extended to ward Bonfire should be used in a more constructive manner: Yes, 36.5 per cent; No, 49.5; Un decided, 15. 2— The Student Senate should have greater control over the al location of student fees: Yes, 47.5 per cent! No, 31; Undecided, 21.5. 3— The university should pro vide on-campus housing for women? Yes, 85 per cent; No, 9.5; Undecided, 3.5. 4— The Rules and Regulations state, “The university accepts re sponsibility for the extracurricu lar life of the individual stu dent.” The university should have a governing responsibility for all of the students’ activities outside the classroom? Yes, 16.5 per cent; No, 74; Undecided, 9.5. 5— The Aggie Sweetheart should be selected from A&M coeds only? Yes, 35 per cent; No, 52; Undecided, 13. 6— Undergraduate students should be required to live in on- campus housing? Yes, 8.5 per cent; No, 87; Undecided, 4.5. 7— Do you feel that the A&M Student Senate is functioning as an effective student government? Yes, 26.5 per cent; No, 36; Unde cided, 37.6. 8— Should political candidates be allowed to speak on campus? Yes, 80 per cent; No, 12; Unde cided, 8. 9— The relation between cam pus security and students is sat isfactory? Yes, 45 per cent; No, 38; Undecided, 17. The only item of new business brought before the Senate was a proposed constitutional amend ment which is intended to alter the method by which the consti tution may be amended. Secretary Bill Hartsfield, chairman of the constitutional revision committee, proposed that amendments require a favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the senators present and voting at a meeting, and the approval of a majority of students voting in a constitutional referendum. The present method requires a three-fourths vote of the Senate membership and approval by the university’s Academic Council. Hartsfield said poor attendance by senators at meetings made ob taining the required three- fourths of the membership alone difficult enough, let alone a fav orable vote by that many. Some senators objected to the proposed amendment. Rick Bris coe (sr-LA) said such a provi sion as two-thirds of those pres ent and voting could allow pass age of an amendment by a mi nority of senators. Another sen ator said that, under the propos al, as few as 26 senators could approve an amendment. Action on the amendment will be taken when the Senate meets next Thursday. 191 grad students elect 5 for GSC The election of five regular and two first-year representatives to the Graduate Student Council for 1970-1971 was announced today by I. A. Bedinger, vice president of the Graduate Student Council and (pairman of the elections committee. The five regular representatives are: Carl Lahser, and Ronald lomas, College of Science; Ronald V. Crabtree, College of Architec- tn e; Richard A. Zepeda, College of Education; Stanley D. Kosanke, lollege ofVeterinary Medicine. First year representatives are Sandra G. Rennie and Philip J. hillips. Ballots for the election were sent by mail to the almost 2,700 raduate students in December, but only 191 were cast. Revenue sharing hot political topic IF IT IS a choice between moving snow from the front of a |rural mail box or erecting a temporary receptacle, the average New Englander will take the easy way out. West 1 Newbury resident Mrs. Rita Maglione, top, uses a plastic jack-o-lantern hanging from a sponge mop, while Mrs. i Claire Franklin uses a stove pipe extension. (AP Wire- ? photo) Editor’s note: Few pieces of legislation are likely to generate more debate in the new Congress than “revenue sharing.” Here is a report on the program; what it is and how it would work. WASHINGTON <A>>—Pressure is growing inside and outside Congress for revenue sharing, an idea that looks simple but isn’t. Under revenue sharing the fed eral government, blessed with in come-tax revenue that automati cally goes up faster than the over-all economy, would turn over some of the money to hard- pressed state and local govern ments, with no strings attached. President Nixon, committed to his “new federalism” policy of strengthening state governments, will press harder than ever for revenue sharing this year. Gov ernors and mayors are clamoring for it, a recent poll shows 71 per cent of Americans like the idea, and a growing number of con gressmen and senators appear to be lining up behind it. Opponents of revenue sharing include fiscal conservatives who see it as another spending plan, organized labor and the National Education Association which say it has hidden pitfalls, and many members of Congress simply re luctant to let power pass out of their hands or to raise taxes for the benefit of another level of government. Debate over the issue will heat up when President Nixon deliv ers his State of the Union ad dress to Congress Friday. He has promised a new, expanded revenue sharing plan. The arguments criss-cross par ty lines and ideological boundar ies. Republicans, Democrats, lib erals, moderates and conserva tives can be found on both sides of the issue. THE DEBATE FOR—Pinched by rising costs and lagging tax takes, many states and cities predict cutbacks in basic services or increases in taxes without increased federal aid, an Associated Press survey showed last month. Federal aid, in the form of no-strings federal University National Bank “On the side of Texas A&M.” —Adv, ff MLJm Texas A&M President Dr. Jack K. Williams presents Student Body President Kent Caperton with $5,000 check given to the student body by George Strake Jr. (Photo by Tom Nelson) Tower, Church coming PF schedules speakers Veteran U.S. Congressman John B. Anderson, Texas Senator John Tower and co-authors of legisla tion that would have forced immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Southeast Asia are spring Political Forum speakers to Texas A&M. The Texas Legislative Budget Board director, Thomas M. Keel of Austin, is also on the spring agenda, announced Political Forum chairman Charles R. Hoffman. Keel, who will speak March 17 on “Where the Tax Dollar Goes,” is the first scheduled speaker. Hoffman said that with the Texas Legislature in session, firm commitments have not been possible for the noon series. “We. will have other speakers from the Texas House and Senate,” he said. “These will be announced as arrangements are made.” Hoffman said the committee of the Memorial Student Center is working for an early February speaker to lead off the spring series. Congressman Anderson, third-ranking Republi can in the U.S. House from Illinois, has accepted Political Forum invitation to speak April 22. The forum chairman said prospects are good for having Senator Tower and the famous Cooper-Church amendment (to withdraw troops immediately from Vietnam) authors as speakers. Sen. John Sherman Cooper is a Republican from Kentucky. He worked with Sen. Frank Church, Democrat of Idaho. Political Forum brings to the campus leading government and political figures for presentations and discussion on matters of current interest. Question- answer sessions are usually part of the Political Forum format. Fall speakers included Sen. J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina; Sen. Bob Packwood, R.-Ore.; Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, R.-Ore.; State Rep. Minton J. Murray, Texas House Appropriations Committee Chairman W. S. Heatly and State Sen. Oscar H. Mauzy. Political Forum patronage subscriptions enable public-free admission to all persons interested in hearing viewpoints expressed by series speakers. revenue sharing, is the answer. AGAINST—States and cities have only themselves to blame, since they can always raise their own taxes. Anyway, the federal government already gives them about $25 billion yearly in direct, conditional grants-in-aid and about another $7 billion in indi rect loans and subsidies. FOR—The problems of the ’70s are primarily local-police protec tion, education, health, sanita tion. Cities and states that raise taxes to meet these problems drive out taxpaying citizens and businesses. Federal revenue shar ing would spread the tax burden equitably and allow problems to be met where they occur. AGAINST—-The same thing could be accomplished by stream lining grant-in-aid programs. Be sides, revenue sharing would make state and local govern ments more dependent than ever on federal handouts and reduce incentive for low-tax areas to bring their levies in line with high-tax neighbors who suffer from the difference. OUTLOOK Whatever plan Nixon proposes Jan. 22 will face a tough go in Congress. Chairman Wilbur D. Mills of the House Ways and Means Com mittee, says he is more opposed than ever because of growing federal deficits. He says he may hold hearings, but they will be late in the year at best. Meanwhile, pressure is mount ing. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York and other big-state governors are calling for it loud er than ever. In an unusual maneuver that could bring considerable heat to bear, the National Legislative Conference and allied organiza tions are pressing a call for a constitutional convention to write a revenue-sharing amendment. If 34 state legislatures pass resolu tions calling for such a conven tion Congress is obliged under the Constitution to convene one. However, if revenue sharing should clear committee much of the rank-and-file support for it could evaporate in wrangling over details. In short, the outlook is for much discussion. Action is an other matter. Grand jury examines suit DALLAS t/P)—A federal grand jury studied Wednesday the multi-million dollar Texas stock fraud suit, while angry politicians demanded a legislative probe into how top state officials came to have their names involved in the depositions. “The Texas Legislature has sunk to an all-time low,” said Rep. Jim Earthman, R-Houston. “This scandal reflects on the in tegrity and honesty of all mem bers. State government should be a servant of the people and not a vehicle for private gain.” The fact that a grand jury was already at work was announced in Houston by U. S. Atty. Anth ony Farris. It had been disclosed Tuesday that the FBI has been investigating alongside the Se curities and Exchange Commis sion, which brought the civil suit. U. S. Dist. Judge Sarah T. Hughes in Dallas has issued a temporary restraining order halt ing the sale of unregistered stock in the companies concerned and freezing any further deals. Meanwhile, it was revealed that Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes’ name showed up Wednesday with the SEC probe through a defendant in the suit who said a loan to Barnes was on a list of “problem loans” last year at a Dallas bank. The defendant, Joseph P. No votny, a former president of a Houston bank also involved, told SEC agents a liability ledger for Barnes showed a $60,000 loan at Dallas Bank & Trust Co. Barnes acknowledged he had a $60,000 loan paid up at the Dallas bank, one of three named as de fendants in the suit, last July 1, but he said he had no other in volvements with banks or firms controlled by Frank W. Sharp of Houston, a central figure in the SEC probe. It also developed Wednesday that former Gov. Allan Shivers told the government he had play ed a key role in persuading Gov. Preston Smith to veto the banking bill only three weeks after Smith had allowed the legislature to pass it. The SEC, bringing charges against former Texas Atty. Gen. Waggoner Carr, 14 other persons and 11 Texas business firms, al leges the stock manipulations were used to allow purchase and sale at a profit of stocks by in fluential Texas politicians at a time when banking legislation was being passed in the legisla ture. The legislation, said the SEC, was an attempt “to avoid further regulation of the banks by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.” The legislation passed, but Gov. Preston Smith, named as a pur chaser of stock, killed it with a veto. The plan began in the summer of 1969, according to the SEC, when the banking bill was intro duced. None of the state officials was named as a defendant, but their names appear in the depositions because of their purchases of some of the stock involved in the suit. One recorded transaction shows that Gov. Smith, in partnership with State Democratic Chairman Elmer Baum, bought 20,000 shares of National Bankers Life Insurance Co. (NBL) and sold them two months later for a pro fit of $125,000 for the two of them. Another tells of NBL stock bought by House Speaker Gus Mutscher, Jr., who made $22,000 on one transaction. Other purchasers, according to the SEC, were Rep. Tommy Shannon of Fort Worth, Rep. W. S. Heatly of Paducah, speak er aides S. Rush McGinty and Sonny Schulte, Houston Mayor Louie Welch, and five of the as tronauts. The stock is alleged to have been sold through the Dallas brokerage firm of Ling and Co. without going through SEC pro cedures. Action by the SEC followed nine months of intensive investi gation and lengthy interrogation of both defendants and witnesses. Farris said FBI agents have ap peared before the grand jury in Houston. “We in the southern Houston District are not investigating what is going on in the Northern Dallas District,” he explained. “Some things in Dallas, how ever, parallel things here and are being presented to the jury in an investigative capacity.” He added that no indictments were being sought at this time. Houston banker - developer Frank W. Sharp is one of the central figures named alongside Carr as a defendant in the SEC suit. Several of those named in the depositions have already protest ed their innocence of any wrong doing. Smith denied knowledge of whether he profited or lost on the stock deals. According to Jo seph P. Novotny, one of Sharp’s former employes and a defendant in the suit, Smith was loaned money along with other public officials by one of Sharp’s Hous ton banks so that they could buy stock. Houston Mayor Louie Welch, who bought 10,000 NBL stock last year, says he stands to lose. The Rev. Michael Alchediak, president of the Strake Jesuit School in Houston which was built on 85 acres of land given by Sharp, said auditors were working on the books. “Our preliminary information indicates we have been seriously taken advantage of,” he said, re ferring to the school’s invest ments. Baum, who has made invest ments with Smith since 1962, would only say he bought the stock because “I thought the company had a chance for some growth.” Like Mutscher, Shannon, and McGinty, he denied getting any inside tips about the insurance company stock. Several officials, including Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, who presides over the Senate, said they never acquired any NBL stock. Michael Ling said he thought his brokerage firm actually lost money in buying and selling more than 380,000 shares of NBL stock. Ling is one of the 15 de fendants named in the SEC suit.