Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1976)
The weather Continued cloudy and warm ifough tomorrow with highs in low . Low tonight in low 70s. Pre- pitation probability 10 per cent today, 20 per cent tomorrow. Cbe Battalion Vol. 70 No. 4 10 Pages Tuesday, September 7, 1976 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 c SvreN*»* v Consternation is embarrassing, Ward issue ‘frustrating’ 120-] been on r, prevail She k jown evfti - to maka jd, usuJ d oblii ibout,”ai! iastwicl, (ling cte f romastait o, "It’s pul The draft for a ward system for the City of College Station most favored by the city council shows a six-sector plan with the A&M campus divided among three wards. The large numbers show the estimated population in each district. Carter stumps; Ford works with mini is little in staimfi I ws* rents ho® ecling.”li Associated Press the presidential election two nths away, Democratic presidential ninee Jimmy Carter stumped through East for votes today while President id, emphasizing his incumbency, kept a h profile in the White House. 'arter told a college audience in New I that urban policy in the Nixon and rd administrations has ruined city ghborhoods. He accused Republicans of ting only lip service to the people who e in those neighborhoods. Carter began the second day of' his fall , npaign for the White House by telling °d eeli ooklynCollege students: “Tight money, kiting paychecks and a stagnant hous- jJindustry are some of the saddest pro- tyearro cts Q f R e p U l 5 li cans disastrous { P w, %oimc record.” The Democrat yesterday opened his bat- with a sharp attack on Ford, labeling m a latter-day Herbert Hoover and blam- l the Republican party for a myriad of onomic woes that Carter claims the emocrats will cure. /bile in I ie was or. "In jnt at iroundl y form. tball-fe we can 4 says. ry, turn i Relieve« Ford stayed in the White House, by passing the traditional Labor Day cam paign start to take care of business, chide Congress for not completing work on a major tax-revision bill, give a television in terview and prepare for his own campaign next week. While Carter continues a five-day whirlwind opening tour that carries him today from New York to Connecticut to Philadelphia, Ford plans more distinctly presidential activities today, including ceremonies at which he will sign bills pro viding aid for child day-care center and for victims of the recent Teton Dam disaster in Idaho. Ford let surrogates, including Sen. Bob Dole, the GOP vice presidential nominee, carry his banner and answer the criticisms Carter yesterday levied on the front steps of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Little White House” in Warm Springs, Ga. Dole crossed the paths with Carter later Monday at a stock car race in Darlington, S.C. Carter’s running mate. Sen. Walter F. Mondale, spoke yesterday at labor rallies in Ohio and California. He charged in a Bar berton, Ohio, address that Ford’s economic policies have “betrayed” U.S. workers. Dole released a financial statement showing that he and his wife paid $28,000 in federal income taxes last year on com bined income of nearly $108,000. Their net worth was listed as more than $736,000. He again denied a report that a former Gulf Oil Corp. lobbyist gave a former Dole aide an illegal campaign contribution in 1973. Independent presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy has denounced plans to include only the presidential candidates of the two major parties in forthcoming tele vised debates. In other developments, primaries are being held today in Arizona, Florida, North Dakota and Connecticut. By JAMIE AITKEN Battalion City Editor The four letter word that has taken Col lege Station aback and left it frustrated for the past six months is “ward,” and the con sternation caused by the system it denotes has proven embarrassing to the city. In the April 3 city council elections, the ballot included a city charter amendment asking voters to chose between an at-large system of electing councilmen and a ward system. The system in use at the time of the election, the at-large system, allowed for the election of councilmen from the citizenry as a whole. The proposed ward system called for the division of the city into sectors, with one councilman to be elected from each sector. The result of the election was the accep tance of the ward system by less than one percent of the vote. But the decision was questioned after much argument was given as to the clarity of the proposal on the bal lot. Following the closing of the polls, many voters claimed that they did not under stand the wording on the ballot and voted for the ward system when they thought Index David Broder discusses the Ford/Carter debate. Page 2. Hassle-Free program aids off- campus students. Page 3. Aggie researchers are exploring and analyzing evidences of early man found in West Texas canyons. Page 4. Swine flue immunization program will be initiated shortly in Brazos County. Page 5. Continuing education is registering today and Thursday in the Rud der Tower. Page 5. Classifieds, comics and crossword puzzle. Page 6 - 7 Duane Thomas is tossed off the foot ball merry-go-round. Page 9. en higl ; from of Soviet plane inspected se veringl) ay nij ; singer loaded^ won U IONS ,GE £S, 814 Associated Press TOKYO — Experts have looked over e Soviet MIG25 fighter plane flown to a defecting Soviet air force pilot, panese officials reported today, but they fed to say whether American intelli- te officers were among them. U.S. authorities refused to comment, faring all queries to Washington. But it assumed that the Americans will get to oroughly examine the plane before the panese government returns it to the iviet Union. The plane landed yesterday at a small airfield in Hakodate, in northern Japan, and the pilot reportedly said he wanted asylum in the United States. The pilot of the plane was identified as Lt. Viktor I. Belenko, 29. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger said in Paris today that the United States “will probably grant asylum” to the pilot. “If we do not, you can assume I have been overruled,” he said. Kissinger has been meeting with various European leaders on the brewing racial confrontation in south ern Africa. Benefits in bill uiship rit i#' mnW 11 - poi i re ingf# 5 hist 051 ' •and 55 ' God WASHINGTON — Ordinary taxpayers e winning more benefits than they are King as a Senate-House panel puts to cher a compromise tax-revision bill. The final score may be known late this eek, when members of the conference Mimittee expect to finish the bill and ad it to the House and Senate for one st vote. Most issues concerning individual tax- 'ers were settled during the first seven tysofthe conference. Chief among these $15-billion-a-year taxcut extension irough Dec. 31, 1977. Provisions generally affecting only tax- lyerswho earn more than $50,000 a year fethe major points of contention remain- ig between the House and Senate con- irees. There is some risk that if taxes on ie rich are raised too sharply, the final 'ill could be in trouble in the Senate. But too many tax shelters are left untouched, ke measure could face rough going in the mse. Meanwhile, President Ford issued a a.! 5 -, n.atl statement yesterday calling on Congress to approve a tax bill that meets the needs of all Americans. “Unfortunately, Congress has become ensnarled in rewriting of detailed provi sions of the tax code and has failed to rec ognize the broad interests of the country,” Ford asserted. Items the conference committee in clude are child care, sick pay, pensions, retirement credit and others. Martian soil may turn up Associated Press PASADENA, Calif. — Scientists say that if Viking 2 finds organic molecules when it sifts Martian soil they will be convinced that life exists on the red planet. The Viking 1 space probe seems to have been telling about the discov ery of life for the past few weeks. Dr. Gerald Soffen, Viking’s chief scien tist, said yesterday. But he said its experiments failed to produce any of the carbon-based, or organic, molecules that are found in every living thing on earth. The lack of organics is “the single argument against biology (life),” Sof fen said. “I would have said, That is life,’ but that (organic) is holding me back.” If Viking 2 comes up with or ganic molecules, “that would do it for us,” he said. Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here thought they might find organic substances on Mars, but they were unprepared for the dis covery of what apparently seems to be life-harboring soil that contains no organics. They have described sifting test clues to life Viking Ts findings as “tantalizing, but inconclusive” and “bizarre chemistry.” If the smallest of organic com pounds can be discovered by Viking 2 in the rocky plains of Utopia, the essentials for life will have been found. Of course, Soffen said, there is al ways the possibility that Martian or ganisms are based on some other compound, and get along quite well without organics. “We would be fools to say it can’t be,’ ” Soffen said, “because we don’t know everything. We re scientists stuck in the 20th Century, all we know is what goes on around us.” Viking 2 will be reaching for more soil Saturday. Its scooping arm has been tested and is not expected to experience any of the locking pin problems that twice jammed the arm of Viking 1. It will begin an organic chemistry probe of the soil sample on Sept. 17, and scientists say that by Sept. 20 they may have an answer to whether or not life exists on Mars. Kissinger’s diplomacy needed again; South African racial problem growing \rab League lets J L0 be full member Associated Press CAIRO — The Arab League has voted tenimously to admit the Palestine Liber- ton Organization as a member. The deci- on Monday — upgrading the PLO from Server status to a seat as the 21st lull Ming member — may give the Palesti- fas a face-saving way out of their deba- «in Lebanon. Observers believe it will probably en gage pragmatic moderates around PLO ader Yasir Arafat to cut their losses and egin planning for a role in an Arab-Israeli eace settlement. By KENNETH J. FREED Associated Press Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger has been asked by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere to begin a diplomatic shut tle in Africa, a senior American official on Kissinger’s plane revealed today. The official, who talked to reporters during a flight from Paris to Hamburg, West Germany, said the attempt to re solve the festering racial problem between blacks and whites in southern Africa prob ably will start no later than Monday. The message reached Kissinger this morning in Paris as he was preparing to brief French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing on his three-day meeting in Zurich with South African Prime Minister John Vorster. The message from Tanzania was on be half of Nyerere only and did not speak for the four other black leaders who have just concluded a summit conference on the Af rican situation in Dar es Salaam. How ever, the invitation is considered a posi tive development because Nyerere, al though a moderate, has considerable in fluence with the more radical black lead- Kissinger told a news conference in Zurich that he and Vorster made enough progress on racial problems in Africa to warrant negotiations with black leaders. “I believe the basis for further negotia tions exists, but some work remains to be done,” he said. The secretary sent William Schaufele, his chief aide for African affairs, to Tan zania, where the five black African presi dents most concerned with the situation in Africa are meeting, along with representa tives of the black nationalist movements in Rhodesia and South-West Africa, called Namibia by the United Nations. Kissinger expects the presidents to tell Schaufele they would welcome the secret ary’s arrival in Africa early next week to begin shuttling back and forth between them and Vorster. Senior American officials in Kissinger’s party estimated that the first stage of the shuttle may last two to three weeks, but a report today from the meeting in Tanzania said up until this morning the presidents had not discussed Kissinger’s proposed visit. Observers at the conference believe they are not giving high priority to U.S. participation in diplomatic efforts to achieve black rule in southern Africa, the report said. Kissinger said he and Vorster made progress in their talks on both Rhodesia and Namibia. But apparently the secret ary’s first target will be independence negotiations for Namibia, the former League of Nations mandate South Africa controls in defiance of United Nations re solutions. That issue involves “fewer parties and is at an earlier stage” of crisis than Rhodesia, Kissinger said, and “may lend itself to more rapid progress. ” News Analysis they were voting against it. Relatively few complaints were heard from voters in favor of the ward system. Within 30 days of the election, a 700- signature petition was filed asking the city council to take some action to invalidate the election. A straw vote held on June 29 indi cated by a 2-1 margin that voters wished to retain the at-large system. Meanwhile, College Station officials began the task of drawing up a ward system should a court case contesting the election fail. Troubles continued to plague the city, however, as officials discovered that any ward system they accepted would be in violation of either state or federal voting rights standards. State law (Texas Election Code) states that ward lines cannot split judicial pre cincts or county commissioners precincts. Wards drawn up under federal law must have approximately equal numbers of vot ers within the sectors. Present voting precincts contain un equal numbers of voters, and county com missioners indicated to College Station of ficials last month that the precinct lines would not be redrawn, since they had al ready submitted the present boundary lines to the federal government for ap proval. College Station councilmen decided that federal guidelines took precedent over state requirements and drafted a ward sys tem accordingly. The proposed boundary system receiv ing the most favorable consideration by the College Station City Council consists of six wards, each ward containing approxi mately 6,100 persons. The Texas A&M campus is divided among three wards, as shown in the accompanying map. The end result of the city’s ward plan ning will nevertheless be determined in court. Proceedings are scheduled for Thursday in Judge W.C. Davis’ 85th Dis trict Court in Bryan, whereupon the basic issue of the ward system of election of city councilmen will be decided. College Station councilmen will not rule on a definite set of ward boundaries until the results are in from Thursday’s litiga tion. Indications are that another election will be called in November or next April if the April 3 election is ruled invalid. 94th Congress completing work Associated Press WASHINGTON — With election day drawing closer, the 94th Congress is try ing to complete work on remaining legisla tion and get home early for a full month of campaigning. The priority items remaining on the agenda include extension of the federal revenue-sharing program, revisions of the tax laws, and approval of a defense spend ing bill. Returning today from a Labor Day re cess, the Senate was scheduled to resume debate on an antitrust bill. A final vote on the measure is set for tomorrow. The House isn’t due back until tomor row, when it will take up revisions to the Clean Air Act. A Senate-House conference committee is expected to complete action this week on tax law revisions. The committee’s re port should reach the House and Senate for action next week. A key provision of the tax bill would ex^ tend $15 billion in individual income tax cuts through next year. The congressional leadership is aiming for adjournment by Oct. 2, a date that would give members of Congress a full month to campaign before the Nov. 2 elec tion. The overwhelmingly Democratic Con gress and its record for the past two years have become a major issue in President Ford’s campaign. The Republican President has criticized Congress for spending too much on domestic programs and not enough for de fense. He has vetoed more than 50 bills during two years in the White House. The defense appropriations bill coming up on the floor includes a provision de signed to leave a final decision on the B1 bomber to whoever is in the White House next year. Ford supports going ahead immediately on the new bomber. But the defense money bill restricts the amount that can be spent each month between now and Feb. 1. The Senate leadership had to overcome a brief filibuster before Senators could reach an agreement setting a time for a final vote on the antitrust bill. The mea sure is designed to strengthen enforce ment of antitrust laws and would permit state attorneys general to sue for triple damages in federal courts on behalf of con sumers. After it completes action on the antit rust bill, the Senate is scheduled to take up a bill that would extend the federal revenue-sharing program until Oct. 1, 1982. Under the bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee, $6.9 billion would be distributed to localities during 1977. The total would increase by $150 million each year thereafter, for a total, during the life of the program, of $41.9 billion. On June 10, the House passed a three- year extension of the program and con tinued funding at the current rate of $6.65 billion a year. W~ > * *'> ; *' v. i.‘;7 Battalion photo by Carl Key Fish Fatigue The strenuous activities of Fish Day can sometimes get a good man down. Charlie Farrell encourages Jim Loggins (seated) after the third of four tug-of-war matches. Both are members of M-1 Medi cal Company.