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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1973)
Cbe Battalion Blessed Are The Peacemakers; For They Shall Be Called The Children Of God. Vol. 67 No. 204 College Station, Texas Wednesday, January 24, 1973 WEDNESDAY—Cloudy tonight with chance of rain. High 53, low 43. THURSDAY — Rain all day ending at night. High 57. 845-2226 Vietnam Peace Settlement Reached Families Of POW-MIAs Estatic Over Treaty Cease-Fire Becomes Effective Saturday WASHINGTON (AP) — Agreement has been “We must recognize that ending the war is only lied to end the Vietnam war—the longest in the first step toward building the peace,” Nixon said, r Hours ^ mer i ca s hi stor y~ w i t h a cease-fire effective Satur- “All parties must now see to it that this is peace .f day night and complete U.S. withdrawal coinciding that lasts, a peace that heals—and a peace that not ) -6:00' with release of all war prisoners, President Nixon only ends the war in Southeast Asia but contributes ;urday told the nation Tuesday night. to prospects of peace in the world,” he said. 0 - G.’OO Nixon said it is a just and fair peace—an Nixon said the United States will strictly adhere Hours Ci honorable way to end a nightmarish, decade-long war to the agreement’s terms and that he expects other 6-8041 that left nearly 350,000 Americans killed and parties to do the same—a phrase that appeared hur f wounded and caused an unprecedented upheaval at home. Presidential adviser Henry Kissinger and Hanoi’s pie Due Tho initialed the agreement Tuesday in Paris i» and it will be formally signed on Saturday, Nixon said. s 111 161 ds ren Is iard Major points of the agreement he outlined: — An internationally supervised cease-fire to go into effect at 7 p.m. EST on Saturday. — The release of all Americans “held prisoners of war throughout Indochina” within 60 days. — The withdrawal of the remaining 24,000 U.S. forces in South Vietnam within the same time frame. — “The fullest possible accounting” for all those missing in action. — A guarantee that the people of South Vietnam will have “the right to determine their own future without outside interference.” Nixon said he joined North Vietnam in an agreed upon announcement expressing hope the accord “will ensure stable peace in Vietnam and contribute to the preservation of lasting peace in Indochina and Southeast Asia.” The chief executive traced the broad terms of the settlement and said full text of the agreement and the protocols to implement it will be made public on Wednesday. He said the settlement has the full backing of South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu, and pledged that the United States will recognize Thieu’s government “as the sole legitimate government of South Vietnam”—continuing to supply it aid. intended as a warning to the enemy that the United States will be watching for violations of the accord. And, in words which seemed intended for the Soviet Union, Nixon declared: “We shall also expect other interested nations to help ensure the agreement is carried out and the peace maintained.” As Nixon was speaking from his Oval Office, President Thieu told the South Vietnamese people that Hanoi has been forced to recognize North and South Vietnam as two separate countries. Thieu said the peace agreement to be signed Saturday recognizes the sovereignty of South Vietnam—a point made by Nixon when he said the United States recognizes Saigon “as the sole legitimate government of South Vietnam.” After reading the joint statement issued simul taneously in Hanoi, and outlining the bare bones of the peace agreement, Nixon addressed “a few special words to each of those who have been parties to the conflict.” He told the people and government of South Vietnam that their courage and sacrifice “have won the precious right to determine your own future.” He told North Vietnamese leaders that the United States is prepared to make a major effort to “build a peace of reconciliation.” “But just as reciprocity was needed to end the war,” he told Hanoi, “so too will it be needed to build and strengthen the peace” other major powers involved in Vietnam “even indirectly”—a reference to the Soviet Union and mainland China—Nixon said, “Now is the time for mutual restraint, so that the peace we have achieved can be kept.” Richard Nixon On TV President Nixon’s announcement of the signing of a peace treaty in Vietnam and the impending release of American prisoners of war brought joy and relief to Texas families. “I am estatic. I am happy,” said the wife of Air Force Col. Samuel Robert Johnson, a pilot who has been a prisoner of war since 1966. “I am delighted by the whole thing,” said Mrs. Johnson in her home in Plano shortly after the presidential announcement. Minutes earlier Mrs. Robertson, her mother Mrs. Pascal Melton, and two neighbors had listened to Nixon tell them that the colonel will be home shortly. “I am happy,” Mrs. Johnson said. “Not only by the fact that our men are coming home, but by the whole thing—peace.” “This was better than I had expected,” she added. “I thought Nixon’s speech was extremely good and his mention of former President Johnson was an appropriate one and very moving.” Mrs. Johnson said her husband was captured in North Vietnam in April of 1966, but she did not find out that he was a prisoner of war until 1970 when the Air Force told her. “Since then we have received 30 letters from him,” she said. “They are very short letters. He expresses his concern, his love for us, and asks about the children.” The children are Bob, 21, a senior at Texas A&M, Gini, 19, a sophomore at Navarro Junior College, and Beverly, 16. Col. Johnson and his wife are from Dallas. He is a career man who joined the Air Force in 1951 shortly after graduating from Southern Methodist University. In Temple, Charlene Bliss, wife of Capt. Ronald Bliss, said of her husband’s return: “It’s been a mightly long time. Six hard, long years... It can only go up from here. I am ready.” Capt. Bliss will return to find Erik, the baby he last saw in a crib, three weeks old, now going to first grade. “It seems like an answer to everybody’s prayers,” Mrs. Bliss said. “We’ve been prepared there will be an adjustment, but we are ready to make it. The full realization of this will not hit me until I see him.” She said she received a letter from her husband two weeks ago. It was the first letter in nine months. Capt. Bliss was downed over North Vietnam in Sept. 1966. NSL Opinion Poll Results Told MSC Week Events Slated “Mountain Man Night” will highlight “Get Involved Week” sponsored by the Memorial Stu- ident Center Council. Scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, in the Deware Fieldhouse, “Mountain Man ; Night” consists of spontaneous entertainment such as a best (worst?) dressed contest, a chew ing tobacco contest, impromptu square dance lessons and other carnival type activities. Students are not required to come dressed “mountain man” style, but they can participate in the contest if they do. The eve ning is free and there will be refreshments. “Get Involved Week,” the re placement for the usual MSC spring open house, will officially A&M To Be Closed Thursday r The university will be closed Thursday as part of the na tional day of mourning of the death of former President Lyn don B. Johnson, announced TAMU President Jack K. Wil liams. Dr. William also announced special memorial services will ★ ★ ★ State, Federal Offices To Close Thursday State offices will be closed in many parts of the nation Thurs day, as part of a national day of mourning for former Presi dent Lyndon B. Johnson. Stock exchanges in New York and the Board of Trade in Chicago will suspend operations. Postal service will be suspended and the American flag still at half staff for the death Dec. 26 of Harry S. Truman, will remain lowered another 30 days. be held at 11 a. m. Thursday in G. Rollie White Coliseum. The services, led by Dr. Bailey Stone, pastor of the First Bap tist Church of Bryan will be open to the general public, as well as to TAMU students and personnel,. While classes will be dis missed and administrative of fices closed, essential univer sity services will remain open, along with the dining halls, the Memorial Student Center and University Library. Classes will resume at 8 a. m. Friday. With the closing of the uni versity, The Battalion will not publish Thursday. Silver Taps for Jane Wil liams Record of Houston, A&M coed who was killed Sunday night in a two-car accident near Caldwell, will be held at 10:30 p. m. Monday. Originally scheduled Thurs day night, the service was reset because the University will be closed Thursday. begin Monday with an open house from 7:30 to 10 p.m. “The entire week of activities is to make it visible that student organizations are here for the students,” said Gary Reger, MSC the week also give students the Council members. “The events of opportunity to join any campus activities.” The three main programming organizations, (Student Senate, Resident Hall Association and the MSC Directorate committees), will be featured Monday night for recruiting purposes. Free refreshments will be served in the Ballroom. Tentatively scheduled for Tues day is a girls versus boys basket ball game before the Tech game. Team members will be volunteers and girl referees will be used. Free University registration in the Deware Fieldhouse for courses such as gourmet cooking, (See MSC Week, page 2) National Student Lobby refer endum results have been tallied concerning the positions of A&M students on national issues. “The 450 students who voted represent the entire 16,000 stu dent body in the NSL,” said Barb Sears, chairman of external af fairs. The NSL referendum, voted on here Nov. 15, is voted on by stu dents throughout the country. Copies of the TAMU poll results will be sent to the Texas Legis lature and NSL headquarters in Washington. Percentage results are as fol lows : Government increase in finan cial aid given directly to students such as grants, loans, work-study and G.I. Bill was favored by 83.1 per cent. Congressional help to fund day care centers on campuses for chil dren of students, faculty and staff was favored 49.9 per cent while 17.9 had no opinion. At present, the costs of tuition, room and board at public and private universities are exempted from cost controls of the U.S. Price Commission (two and one half per cent increase per year). Almost 57 per cent favored con gressional control of these price increases while 17.3 per cent held no opinion. Forty-two and a half per cent favored Congress permitting “dis count fares” on airlines for per sons under 22 and over 65, thus preventing the Civil Aeronautics Board from banning them. Seventy-three and nine tenths per cent favored Congress allow ing voter registration by mail and the enactment of other meas ures to increase voter participa tion. States repealing laws prohibit ing abortion and leaving the de cision to the women, doctor and others directly involved was fa vored by 68.4 per cent. The conversion of the military into an “all-volunteer” force when the present draft law expires June 30, 1973 was favored 64 per cent. Congressional conversion from a defense industry-based economy to a civil science systems-based economy, involving research and development of mass transporta tion, pollution control and health care systems was favored 60.9 per cent while 16.7 per cent ex pressed no opinion. Fifty-eight per cent favored Congress placing more stringent controls on the possible influence of multi-national corporations (such as I.T.T., oil companies) on U. S. foreign policy. Twenty- two and a half per cent held no opinion on the matter. Congress should cut off foreign aid to military and colonial gov ernments such as Rhodesia and Portuguese colonies in Africa! was favored 35.9 per cent while 30.7 per cent held no opinion. Congress should establish a system of national health insur ance and campus clinics was fa vored 51.8 per cent. Seventeen and a half per cent had no opinion on the matter. ISA Has New Chairman Luis Juarez has succeeded Friedrich Mach as chairman of the International Students Asso ciation following Mach’s resigna tion this semester. Juarez, a senior mechanical engineering student from Ha vana, Cuba, was vice chairman and next in line to replace Mach according to the club’s charter. Juarez has held an office in each of the ISA’s three years of existence. He was treasurer in 1970-71 and vice chairman for programs in 1971-72 before being elected vice chairman for this year. This semester the ISA plans to have an international weekend, a talent show, a picnic and a dance. “The debate we had last semes ter was a success,” said Juarez, “so we will be having more of those, probably one or two this semester. “We are planning to have a joint program, an international week with the University of Houston or Texas Women’s Uni versity, but that is still in the planning stages.” The ISA is also trying to locate former international students to form an international student alumnus association to keep a link wtih A&M and the ISA. On Feb. 2, A&M President Jack K. Williams will hold a reception for all incoming foreign students. There will be inter national specialties, flags and cultural displays. The ISA is formed in the pat tern of the United Nations with every country on campus being represented. A general assembly of 714 members from 64 countries elects the executive committee consisting of a chairman, vice chairman for programs, secretary and treasurer. The terms of office is one school year and elec tions are held at the end of spring. During his tenure ex-President Friedrich concerned himself most ly with obtaining financial sup port and an international house which would serve as a meeting place. He also tried to relieve an unintentional segregation problem on campus. “All international students were once housed only in Schu macher and Hotard because they were the only two halls that re mained open during the semester break,” said Mach. “We encour aged the students to live with American students and suffer the slight inconvenience of moving to Schumacher or Hotard during the break.” Days Of Campus Landmark Numbered CAC To Open Spring Film Season With 4 At The Circus’ The Contemporary Arts Com mittee Film Series opens its 1973 spring season at 8 p.m. Thursday with the Marx Brothers’ “At the Circus,” in the Memorial Student Center Ballroom. The film concerns a strong man’s assistant, a night watch man and a lawyer trying to save the funds of a circus owner but the plot merely serves as a springboard for the Marx Broth ers zany gags and improbable situations. Other films scheduled this semester include: Feb. 1—“Pierrot Le Fou,” a 1969 Jean Luc Godard film that has been compared to “Bonnie and Clyde.” Feb. 19—“Orpheus,” a fantasy directed by the French poet Jean Cocteau. Mar. 2—‘Eyes of Hell,” a 3-D horror film with free 3-D glasses being provided. Mar. 19—“Triumph of the Will,” a 1934 piece of Nazi propa ganda. April 11—“Intolerance,” a 1916 spectacular considered by many to be D. W. Griffith’s finest work. A Betty Boop cartoon will be shown with every feature and a series of free Sunday night movies will be announced. Tickets are $1.00 for students and $1.50 for non-students for each film. Season passes are priced at $4.00 for students and $5.00 for non-students. THE TRADITIONAL LANDMARK saying “Welcome To Aggieland” is not long for this campus if plans go through to build a new modern water tower. Plans call for the 160-foot tower to be razed in September of 1974. (Photo by Logan B. Council) By Debi Blackmon The old campus water tower is the next thing to go at A&M along with the “Welcome to Ag gieland.” The 160-foot traditional tower, famed for its legendary “sinking sabers,” stands on the highest point on campus, behind the old Engineering Building. The 150,- 000 gallon spider-leg tower which has accented TAMU’s skyline for 53 years, will be razed in Sep tember of 1974, if construction goes as planned. In its place, TAMU plans to construct a new super-modern two-million gallon water tank be hind Sbisa Dining Hall, where the old University Cleaners is located. The final design of the two- million gallon water tank, now up for public bid, will be decided by the Board of Directors some time in June of 1973. Two designs under considera tion include a hydropillar tower — a massive block-shaped tank with a solid conical trunk, and a delicate waterspheroid tower — a teardrop sort of structure with a smaller closed-in stairway. The new tower will be one of the last major improvements of the university water system. A new system of pipes was laid down in the construction in front of the Academic Building, and pumping stations, located on Fin- feather Road, are being increased to a 16 million-gallon capacity. With this new system, hot arte sian water pumped from ground wells located on the University Annex can easily supply the normal 3-3% million gallons of water used daily by the univer sity and provide the surplus sup ply usually sold to the City of College Station. The new tower will provide an excess of water capable of handl ing electrical power failures or pump failures and additional wa ter demands during daily peaks or in case of a large fire. The great emphasis at the time the old tower was built was on the sufficient water pressure and supply against the fire hazard. It was built in the 1920’s. Sev eral fires exhausted the campus water supply just after the fires were under control. “In the old days, every class painted its class year or outfit’s insignias all around the tank,” recalled Logan Council, director of the university physical plant. “Class numbers would just ap pear one morning,” he said. “Next morning, there would be extra cross-rifles or cross-sabers, or even castles—the old insignia of the Engineers. “The ‘sinking sabers’ legend that says there are cross sabers painted on the inside of the wa ter tank, is highly unlikely. It probably arose from the exterior paintings. “When they painted “Welcome to Aggieland” in the early 1950’s, all the signs disappeared for good,” Council said. Very few people have ventured up the old water tower in the past few years, and the artwork is minimal. However, some stu dents were surprised how much it shakes in the wind. Gen. A. R. Luedecke, executive vice-president of A&M, says the two styles now being considered have enclosed stairwells, ending waterwork artwork. “The new water tower will fol low a new concept in towers and be painted a sky blue so that it will blend into the landscape more naturally,” Gen. Luedecke said. “There probably won’t be any writings on it at all. But the de cision will be up to the board.” “That old spider-leg tower was the first thing you saw when you came on the campus from the train station,” Council said. “At first, it made you feel like you were entering a camp of some kind — with the new military dorms then.” “We got used to it though,” Council said. “It was a part of Aggieland.” University National Bank “On the side of Texas A&M.” —Adv.