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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1974)
Today Peace mission Confidential P- 4 | p. 5 $: College Station, Texas Thursday, May 2, 1974 Partly cloudy and warm Thursday with south- |j southwesterly winds 10- 14 m.p.h. High today 88°. Low tonight 69°. Con- tinued partly cloudy Fri- day. High tomorrow 89°. Nixon dodges subpoena House says transcripts are not tapes ONE COED CYCLIST easily adapted her mode of transpor tation to the thunder showers that poured over College Sta tion Wednesday. (Photo by Rodger Mallison) \Presnal predicts primary victory any of the evidence.” The committee approved a sim ple letter proposed by Rep. Har old D. Donahue, D-Mass., to the President from Rodino saying that as of 10 a. m. Tuesday, the subpoena’s deadline, “You have failed to comply with the com mittee’s subpoena.” Earlier in the evening, Rodi no had rejected Nixon’s propos al that only he adn Hutchinson verify the transcripts released by the White House. Rodino said he would not listen to the tapes without the committee’s lawyers present. Doar had disclosed earlier that the staff had been able to deciph er sections of the key March 21, 1973, White House conversation on, hush money for the Water gate burglars that are marked “unintelligible” in the transcripts the President reeased. That tape, which was not in cluded in the committee’s sub poena, was given to the panel earlier by the White House when Nixon agreed to let the commit tee have all the tapes that had been previously turned over to the special prosecutor. Rep. John Conyers Jr. D-Mich., then moved to have the President cited for contempt of Congress but it was tabled killed—by a vote of 32 to 5. The five included Conyers and Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., Elizabeth Holtzman, D. N. Y. Waldie and Robert W. Kasten- meier, D-Wis. Rep. Robert F. Drian, D-Mass., abstained. The one Republican joining Democrats in approving the fi nal letter saying the President had failed to comply with the subpoena was Cohen. The two Democrats who joined Republicans in voting against the final action were Conyers and Waldie, who voted later to cite the President for contempt. ■SI State Representative Bill Pres- nal says he will easily defeat his two opponents in Saturday’s Dem ocratic primary. “We’re going to win, there’s no doubt about it,” Presnal told The Battalion Tuesday. Presnal stresses his seniority in the Texas House as an invaluable asset to the voters of Brazos and Robertson counties. Because of the usual election turnover of in cumbents, Presnal claims his re- election would enhance his pres ent seniority status. The six-year incumbent says his past stand on public educa tion shows his support for the TAMU System. He helped lead the fight to preserve the Perma nent University Fund in the re writing of the Texas Constitu tion. The fund provides over $10 million to the system annually. “We set up the State Higher Education Assistance Fund (SHEAF) to help the other state colleges and universities, and they said they could live with that program,” Presnal says. Presnal opposes any form of referendum, recall or initiative in the new constitution. He claims special interest groups will hire public relations personnel to pro mote their interests through such proposals. “On the horse racing issue, I support any sport of racing but I’m opposed to parimutuel bet ting,” he said. “I think the nega tive aspects outweigh any good ones, and the voters can decide the issue themselves in the pri mary. “I feel that a lady would go out and spend her grocery money to bet if it were legalized here. I think the incentive to gamble is much stronger when betting is available. Presnal has been a farmer- rancher in the Brazos area for over 17 years working for the Producers Co-op and several oth er agricultural groups. He points out that his legislative duties have prevented him from being as deeply involved in community activities recently as he would have liked. “I view state representative as a self-service concept, one that must be responsive to the people at all times,” Presnal said. WASHINGTON <A>) _ Sharply splitting along party lines, the House impeachment inquiry vot ed Wednesday night to tell Pres ident Nixon he has “failed to comply” with its subpeona for Watergate tapes. The committee approved, 20 to 18, with only one Republican joining Democrats in voting to send Nixon a letter saying that he has failed to comply by pub licly releasing edited transcripts rather than turning over sub poenaed tapes. Two Democrats joined Republicans in voting no. Rep. Jerome R. Waldie, D- Calif., laid groundwork for pos sibly citing noncompliance as an impeachable offense against the President in the future. Waldie askel special impeach ment counsel John Doar if the President’s willful refusal to comply with the House subpoena is an impeachable offense and Doar replied: ‘I believe it could be an impeachable offense under these circumstances.” Republicans contended that Pre sident Nixon has substantially complied with the subpoena by See related story, page 3 publicly releasing transcripts that they contended in some cases are better than the tapes themselves. “We should accept the mate rial in good faith and make fur ther representations in the fu ture if necessary,” said the com mittee’s senior Republican Ed ward Hutchinson of Michigan. The President has supplied the committee with a great deal of information, said Rep. Robert McClory, Republican of Illinois, SOMETHIG IS MISSIG on this curbside warnig- in front of the Reed McDonald Services “That is a substantial and ade- Ruildig-. (Photo by Kathy Young) quate response to our subpoena.” But chairman Peter W. Rod ino Jr., D-N.J. said “the Pres- dent has not complied with our subpoena. “We did not subpoena an edit ed White House version of par tial transcripts of portions of presidential conversations,” Ro dino said. “We did not subpoena presidential interpretation of what is necessary or relevant for our inquiry. And we did not subpoena a lawyer’s argument presented before we have heard Elsewhere Wednesday, the White House moved toward a new court test with the special Watergate prosecutor’s by asking a federal judge to throw out the prosecutor’s subpoena asking for tapes and records of 64 presiden tial conversations. At the outset of the rare even ing session, the congressmen were told by special impeach ment counsel John Doar that the committee's staff has already de ciphered portions of the key March 21, 1973, White House dis cussion of hush money for the Watergate burglars that are marked inaduible in the trans cripts that Nixon released to the public Tuesday. That tape, which was not in cluded in the committee’s sub poena, was given to the panel earlier by the White House when Nixon agreed to let the commit tee have all the tapes that had been previously turned over to the special prosecutor. Doar also opposed Nixon’s of fer to let only Rodino and Rep. Edward Hutchinson of Michigan, the committee’s senior Republi can go to the White House to compare the edited transcripts with the original tapes to be sure all relevant material had been put into the transcripts. Doar told the committee that with all due respect he did not believe it would be prudent for the two senior congressmen to try to determine relevancy of tapes ot the White House with out benefit of trained lawyers. Rodino said he agreed. “It would be impossible for me to take the responsibility to advise (See NIXON’S p. 4) Joyce stresses honesty, morality By HANK WAHRMUND “I want to thank the residents of Brazos and Robertson counties for the good things they have done for me,” says Lloyd Joyce. Joyce says he can be of big service to his community by serv ing as its state representative. Joyce supplies area ranchers Ward, Davis appointments hot debate in Senate cause Controversial appointments tied up the Senate for hours Wednes day night. The two appointments that were being hotly debated by the Senate were the chairmanship of the Judicial Board and one of the appointees to the Student Pub lications Board. Jerri Ward was the nominee for the Judicial Board chairman. Ward is a freshman political sci ence major. Several senators said their constituents had expressed views that Ward should not be appointed. “The men of my area felt she does not have the maturity nec essary for this position since she is a freshman,” said Ed Minnich (Law-Puryear-Athletic). “In the Senate last year, Jerri always voiced well considered and level-headed opinions on issues,” said Raiford Ball (science), “and I think she does have the ma turity to do a good job.” The question of the qualifica tions of the other applicants for the position was brought up by several senators at different times. Steve Eberhard, SG presi dent, told the Senate he did not feel obligated to compare her qualifications to the others after he had decided to appoint her. When questioned about why the Senate could not hear the qualifi cations of the other candidates, Eberhard replied that the consti tution makes it his choice and does not require him to do so. Ward was approved by a vote of 42 for, 14 against and five abstentions. A vote of two-thirds of the senators present and vot ing was required. Jerri Ward The other appointment concern ed Bill Davis, 1974-75 president of the MSC, becoming a member of the Student Publications Board. Objections were raised concerning his relationship with student pub- See roll call vote, page 3 lications. Again, several senators said their constituents had ex pressed desires to see his ap pointment refused. “My constituents have express ed the feeling that Bill sees The Battalion as responsible not just for news, but to provide public relations for the MSC,” said Hank Maddux (Corps). Other senators said they felt that putting someone on the board who was not involved in journal ism, and The Battalion in par ticular, would be good for the adversary position of the Publi cations Board. “Just being against the policies of The Battalion is not enough reason not to approve him,” said Tom Walker (agriculture). “As a matter of fact, it might help keep The Battalion on its toes.” Davis’ appointment was refused by a roll call vote with 39 for, 21 against and 4 abstentions. It takes a two-thirds majority to ap prove the University Committee appointments. Other University Committees had changes, resulting from nom inees asking to be dropped from the appointments. Susan Fon taine, Gerard Pelletier and Min nich asked to be removed from the Laundry Committee. In their positions were placed Lee Billing sley, Allen McCord and Tom Odom. Two nominees were removed from the Duncan Menu Board for similar reasons. These were Bob Ingram and Lee Billingsley. In their places, the Senate approved John Ebner and Rusty Martin. Other appointments approved by the Senate were for three Sen ate seats and three Judicial Board places. The Senate seats were filled by Don Hanson, Bill Jacobs and Julie Reedy for graduate seats from Agriculture, Engineer ing and off-campus living areas respectively. The Judicial Board appoint ments were two sophomore places to take effect next year. These seats went to Shannon Walker and David Hempe. The senior seat which will be effective im mediately was given to Doug Thorpe. and farmers with agricultural commodities through his highly successful business, Lloyd Joyce Agri-Services. Started in 1971, Joyce’s business had $1,000,000 in sales last year. “I graduated from A&M in 1956 so I naturally favor retaining the Permanent Fund to finance it. Anyone living in this area would support A&M because they realize A&M and agriculture rank one, two here,” he said. Joyce takes an active part in youth-oriented clubs, saying young people are the greatest asset any community has. He favors up grading public education by rais ing teachers’ salaries to a na*- tionally competitive level to at tract superior personnel. In addition, he supports the equal rights amendment which would prohibit discrimination be cause of sex. Joyce challenges incumbent Bill Presnal’s stand that experienced legislators should be returned to office. “Length of service doesn’t make you a leader,” Joyce said. “When a politician starts talking about experience and expertise, I think he wants to cover up his voting record or something.” Joyce believes the wrong people are rewriting the state constitu tion. “Having the legislators rewrite it is like having the Dallas Cow boys referee their own football game,” he said. Joyce acknowledges that the new constitution is not finalized and said he reserves final judgment on it. He said citizen delegates should have rewritten it. “I don’t favor the constitution saying legislators can set their own pay,” Joyce said. “I under stand that our representatives aren’t paid well enough. But I think that since all elected of ficials shoul be paid more, we should also get more out of them. “My success in business allows me to serve without being ‘bought out’ by special interests in Austin. I’m not for sale. No group came up urging me to run,” Joyce said. “I’m not saying anyone in this election is ‘sold out’ or anything. I’m talking about politicians in general,” Joyce added. If elected, Joyce said he would limit expanding the number of state colleges to curtail expenses and special interest battles for state funds. Joyce says honesty and clean leadership must be restored to state government. He stressed his belief in the principles of Christian morality. “An honest legislator will be both conservative and liberal.” Joyce said. “He will weigh all sides of an issue and then do what is best for the majority of the people he represents.” Critics of Joyce claim his can didacy is illegal, saying his posi tion on the Bryan city council should prohibit him from running. However, Joyce says it’s legal be cause he has never accepted pay from the city. Joyce takes a firm stand against horse racing in Texas, saying it would bring an undesirable situ ation to the state. Senate approves no-fault insurance WASHINGTON <A>)_The Sen ate on Wednesday passed a far- reaching bill requiring the states to adopt no-fault automobile in surance. On a 53-42 vote, senators gave final approval to the measure demanding that automobile in surance in each state guarantee compensation to accident victims regardless of who caused the ac cident. The bill, opposed by the Nixon administration, now goes to the House. Sponsors, led by Sens. Frank Moss, D-Utah, say no-fault will cut premiums and assure quick payment of medical, rehabilita tion and loss-of-wage benefits arising from traffic accidents. The bill, attacked as unconsti tutional, also would bar a victim or his survivors from suing the other driver’s insurance company for “pain and suffering” unless he died, was seriously and per manently injured or was totally disabled for more than 90 days. Opponents contended that each state should be allowed to adopt the type of auto insurance best suited to its needs. They pre dicted the Supreme Court would strike down the bill on grounds Congress has no authority to re quire the states to administer a federal program. The only federal responsibility under the no-fault bill would be to see that each state plan meets the federal standards—that is, that it assures minimum bene fits to victims and restricts the right to sue. Within four years after Con gress finally passes the bill, ev ery state would have to enact a no-fault plan meeting the fed eral standards. University National Bank “On the side of Texas A&M.” Adv.