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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1974)
Cbe Battalion Vol. 67 No. 364 College Station, Texas Wednesday, March 20, 1974 Correction The Battalion erroneously re ported in its March 8 edition in the “Lease Line” column that Southwest Village Apartments have a security problem with comparatively poor locks on its sliding doors. The article also mentioned a theft there that is be ing investigated by College Sta tion police. The apartment dwelling refer red to was Southgate Village, not Southwest Village. Estimated board fee increase of $46 asked for fall semester A SMALL INTENSE audience listens to poet Laurence Lie- berman (below) read from his new book, “The Osprey Sui cides” in the Rudder Center Forum last night. Poems about squatty frogs, dancing flamingos and puffy porcupine fish had a humorous impact upon the gathering. (Photos by Kathy Young) Indian students lead riot over food NEW DELHI, India (A*)—Stu- ient-led riots over food scarcities ind high prices spread across Bi- lar State on Tuesday despite irmy and police reinforcements tushed in to control the mobs. Policemen and soldiers opened 're on the unruly street crowds, [illing eight persons and injur- ng several others, United News >f India reported. Authorities in the state capital of Patna, 500 miles southeast of New Delhi, lifted their curfew !rom 5 to 6 p.m. to allow resi- ients to buy food. The state radio claimed calm iad been restored in Patna but icknowledged that new violence ivas erupting in several other towns in the state, one of the poorest in India. A British relief organization, the Oxford Committee for Fam ine Relief, predicted in New Delhi that the Bihar grain crop probably would fail to meet even half the state’s requirements. The violence erupted Monday as student-led crowds tried to block the state legislature’s open ing session in a demonstration of dissatisfaction over shortages of essential food grains, high food prices, corruption and unemploy ment. Similar student agitation over economic hardships brought down the Gujarat State government and forced Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to disband the legislature in that state, on the other side of India about 450 miles southwest of New Delhi. Several members of Parliament urged the Gandhi government to respond to the complaints of the Bihari poor to prevent street vio lence from fomenting a repetition of the Gujarat debacle. Bihar is ruled by Mrs. Gandhi’s Congress party. Gujarat also was Congress-ruled. By CLIFF LEWIS In the midst of an inflationary tornado. Food Services is losing its desperate grip on food prices. In the settling dust of time Sbisa Dining Hall has lost its 1912 lus ter. In the wake of all that, students will probably be staring at al most a $50 increase on the “board” portion of their fee slips. That portion of the student fee, however, will possibly be optional next semester. No room rent increase is ex pected, however. Howard Vestal, assistant vice president for business affairs, spoke Monday before the Student Menu Board about changes being looked at for next year. “We will start the renovation of Sbisa by asking the Board of Di rectors for $900,000 and the stu dents, through student fees, for $100,000. The entire project, which will also include more efficient serving methods, will cost about $2 million. “It would cost $10-$15 million to replace the building, so we scrapped that idea.” He said that Sbisa needs improvement because it is not as comfortable or good as either the Krueger-Dunn or Asphyxiation ruled cause of saloon death The Feb. 8 death of a Silver Dollar Saloon patron has been re ported by Conroe pathologist Dr. Donald R. Shepherd as death by asphyxiation. Larry Dow Sanders, 19, choked from vomit particles entering his lungs, Dr. Shepherd said. Sanders was dead on arrival at St. Joseph Hospital following a scuffle at the Silver Dollar in College Station, Feb. 8. Statements from 13 witnesses to College Station Detective John Miller alleged Sanders scuffled with Jerry Lynn Derryberry, 19, of Bryan. Brad Smith, assistant district attorney, said the case would be presented to the grand jury in its March session. No charges have been filed. Duncan dining facilities. Vestal said that the renovation would add about $7 a semester per student to the board fee. Colonel Fred Dollar said that the price of food will add 15 per cent or about $39 to the seven-day board plan. “We in the food management business are getting scared,” said Dollar, stating that inflation’s end is not in sight. It is because of this increase that it is being proposed to the board of directors to make the food fee an option. In years past, on-campus stu dents have been required to buy either the five- or seven-day board plan. Included in the proposed op tional fee, Vestal explained, will be both the five- and seven-day meal plans. “We will also try to keep the option of paying by installments,” he said, “but once a student makes the first installment he must con tinue them for the entire semester to provide for consistent meal planning. One may, however, choose to begin on the board plan at any time during the semester.” The only option not provided for is one allowing students to cook in the dorms. All the proposed changes will have to be approved by the board at its meeting April 30 here. Day permits taken Student applications for off- campus residence permits are now being taken at the Housing Office. Housing Manager Allen Made- ley said applications will be ac cepted through April 24. Forms may be obtained at the Housing office or a residence hall counselor’s office. They must be turned in for processing at the Housing Office, 102 YMCA. Madeley said after April 24, ap plications from undergraduates will not be taken until pre-regis tration ends. “Students who have not receiv ed day student permits by the time fall room sign-up begins should reserve rooms to avoid loss of priority” the housing man ager said. Students not qualified for a day student permit by April 24 will be required to pre-register as residence hall students. Those seeking day student permits should complete the process before July 31 to avoid loss of room de posit. Today McKetta speech p. 5 Crazy Ernie p. 6 Aggie Club p. 8 Weather Hush money questions unanswered ) Mostly cloudy to partly ;§ 'cloudy and warm:| Wednesday afternoon. Winds from the south- ijij southeast 10-18 m.p.h. High today 79°. Low to- night 43°. Cool front from the northwest due late this afternoon turn- ijii ing temperatures cooler ijl: tonight and Thursday. i§ .... High Thursday 60°. jg Filing deadline set back one day HOUSTON (AP)—President Nix on corrected an earlier statement Tuesday night but otherwise did not deal with different views of a meeting a year ago when John W, Dean III told him of hush money payments to the original Watergate defendants. At a broadcast question-and- answer sessions, Nixon said he See related story, p. 4 ■was incorrect earlier this month in stating that he learned on March 21, 1973, that payments had been made prior to a report ed demand for blackmail by con victed conspirator E. Howard Hunt. "I should have said “there were University National Bank "On the side of Texas A&M.* Adv. alleged to have been made,” the President said, noting that the de fendants in the cover-up indict ment have denied the charge. His answer, however, did not go to the heart of the confusion of what was said at that March 21 meeting. Not only the Presi dent’s statement but the versions offered by the other participants, Dean and H. R. Haldeman remain in conflict. It boils down to this: "Was the President told that money being paid to the seven original Watergate defendants was for legal costs? Or was he told the money was to buy silence? Did he understand what he was told was a fact, or did he take it as an allegation? Legal defense funds are a com mon practice; there is nothing un lawful about them. But paying Financial relief 9 ends guaranteed fundings at UT hush money is obstruction of jus tice, a serious crime. In one of his first major Wa tergate statements, the President said he learned March 21 about the possible involvement of top aides in the Watergate cover-up. He said he began “intensive new inquiries into this whole matter.” He reported “major develop ments,” but said he couldn’t be specific. Then came the Senate Water gate hearings. Dean said he told Nixon about money demands be ing made by the defendants and that about that time Haldeman joined the conversation. Apparently Dean got his dates wrong. He said he recalled it as a meeting March 13. Nixon and Haldeman said the conversation was March 21—and Haldeman said he had listened to a tape re cording and confirmed that. Whatever the date, Dean claim ed he told Nixon it might cost as much as $1 million eventually to meet the demands. “He told me that was no prob lem and he also looked over at Haldeman and repeated the same statement,” Dean testified. Haldeman, in his Senate testi mony, recalled that “the President said ‘there is no problem in rais ing a million dollars, we can do that, but it would be wrong.’ ” The President addressed the point for the first time on Aug. 15 in a statement. He said he was told only “that funds had been raised for payments to the de fendants, with the knowledge and approval of persons both on the White House staff and the re-elec tion committee.” And he added the point that be came the focus of the dispute: “I was only told that the money had been used for attorney’s fees and family support, not that it had been paid to produce silence from the recipients.” At a news conference at San Clemente a week later, Nixon supported the Haldeman version as acccurate and said that on March 21 Dean was concerned about “not so much the raising of money for the defendants, but the raising of money for the defen dants for the purpose of keeping them still—in other words, so-call ed hush-money.” The matter remained fairly dormant until March 1, when Haldeman and six others were in dicted in the cover-up. The grand jury had listened to a tape recording of that March 21 meeting—one of the nine that had been fought for through the courts—and charged Haldeman (See HUSH MONEY, p. 3) Filing for spring elections has been extended to Thursday at 5 p.m. “Since turnout has been limited, we decided to extend the deadline to allow people as much opportunity as possible to File,” said Barry Bowden, chairman of the election board. One position on the Student Government executive branch is still an unopposed race. Only John Nash has filed for vice president of external affairs. A second person has filed for president of Student Government. Wally Reinke filed Tuesday for the slot. Other unopposed positions include president, vice president and secretary of the RHA, secretary-treasurer of the senior class, secretary-treasurer and social secretary of the junior class and social secretary of the sophomore class. There are no candidates in 16 senatorial races; 14 seats are unopposed. One person has signed for the race for the off-campus graduate positions. Five are available. Four people have signed for the 10 undergraduate off-campus positions. The senior senator from engineering has only one person signed to run for the two positions available. AUSTIN—In protest of the University of Texas Board of Regents cutting off its sources of guaranteed funding. The Daily Texan, student newspaper, ran page one of Monday’s edition almost totally blank. Centered on the page is a quote by University System Regent Frank C. Er win in a 1972 board meeting, “We do not fund anything that we don’t control.” The Texan and UT Student Govern ment will not receive guaranteed fund ing but will be placed on preregistration forms as optional check-off items due to the board’s action. According to The Texan, “The student services fee reorganization was a result of a University System law office in terpretation of a Texas Education Act amendment which gives financial relief to part-time and graduate students.” The fee services reorganization will lower the fees from $3.50 to $2.50 per semester hour per student in order to give financial relief to students taking less than 12 hours. Student Government President Sandy Kress claims the law only requires re lief through proportionality in the fee structure and that the current system is proportional. The bill is presently being reviewed by Atty. Gen. John Hill’s office and UT is waiting for a ruling. The Texan depended on $136,650 from mandatory student services fees, about 20 per cent of its operating budget. Stu dent Government received $20,000 out of its aproximate $27,000 budget. Texan Editor Michael Eakin noted in an editorial that the Regents made their decision on the same day The Texan re ceived the Southwest Journalism Con gress’ sweepstakes trophy as the top col lege newspaper from the Southwest. Eakin also said the events seem to have been in the plans all along. Kress said in another Texan editorial, “Whether this was done by the full board simply to gut student agencies that have lately become vibrant and challenging or whether this was accomplished at the whim of one board member with the sham legal advice of his ‘boys in the law of fice’ is a matter still unresolved.” Kress asked for Erwin’s retirement from the board, a remedy from the Texas legislature and a favorable opinion from the attorney general. Michael Moore, president of the Texas Student Publications (TSP), said Friday that the board will have to come up with some new plans for Texan funding but that he is definitely in favor of continu ing mass circulation, rather than limiting copy distribution to subscribers.