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The weather
Partly cloudy and warm with
hances of afternoon and early
vening showers and thunder-
howers through tomorrow. High
idayin upper 80s, low tonight, in
>w70s. High tomorrow in low 90s.
recipitation probability 20 per cent
day and tomorrow.
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Vol. 70 No. 8
8 Pages
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Battalion photo by Ruth Marie Cowie
Harmonious fathers
Two fathers, Hucklebee, played by Philip Hafer (right)
and Bellomy, played by Bruce Kates, sing a duet in the
Aggie Players’ production of “The Fantasticks.” The
play had a successful summer as an MSC dinner theater
presentation and reopened last week for a 4-day sched
ule that ended Saturday.
[Top of the News
Associated Press
[Secretary of the Navy J. William Mid-
mdorf II said yesterday in Dallas that one
the Navy’s newest nuclear-powered, fast
tacksubs would be called the USS Dallas,
lerthe city.
Middendorf, in speaking to the Dallas
, council, said that Russian naval buil-
fphas outdistanced the United States on
Marine and surface combatants, but
tbyl981, the United States should be
ling the gap.
bent Republican-Conservative Sen.
James Buckley.
Ij&L Enterprises, managers of the
jawaii Kai amusement park in Arlington,
bankruptcy petition after poor at-
fndance plunged them into financial diffi-
Jlties.
IThepark, which was first opened in 1972
[Seven Seas and is now under its fifth
[anagement in four years, will never
losper because it is too near Six Flags
[ver Texas, Arlington Mayor Tom Van-
trgriff said. The city council is expected
Niscuss the park’s options today which
Wude such possibilities as conversion
[to a fine arts or civic park that would
pefit Arlington citizens.
A Senate subcommittee will explore fur
ther a charge that an aide in the Nixon
White House asked a former Grumman
Corp. official for a $1 million campaign con
tribution in return for promoting the firm’s
sale of aircraft to Japan.
Dr. Thomas B. Cheatham, former presi
dent of Grumman International, testified
Monday that in April 1972 he was solicited
for the contribution when he attempted to
get Nixon to bring up the matter of Grum
man aircraft sales at the upcoming Hon
olulu summit talks.
Other witnesses expected to testify be
fore the panel include Richard Allen,
then-President Richard M. Nixon’s deputy
assistant for economic affairs in 1972, and
some Grumman executives.
National
|A strike by 170,000 Ford Motor Co.
irkers in Detroit today appears certain
t midnight today after United Auto
orkers bargainers, rejecting the com-
ly’slatest offer, left the negotiating room
no plans to return.
A strike would force shutdown of 102
ilities in 22 states from Massachusetts to
’ornia and would paralyze the nation’s
2 auto maker.
[ New York’s Democratic voters pick a U.
Senate nominee today from a five-
todidate field sprawling across the party’s
ieological spectrum.
| When the nominee is chosen, the Dem-
pts, who have lost every Senate race in
[estate but one in the past 25 years, will
fcvejust seven weeks to patch up their
Ivided campaign and try to beat incum
Tuesday, September 14, 1976
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
C3s >vm»»*'
High-rise bridge topples
Associated Press
MANCHAC, La. — The top section of a
busy high-rise bridge was hit by a barge
yesterday and collapsed, carrying with it at
least two vehicles and an unknown number
of persons.
Witnesses said a tractor-trailer truck and
at least one car plunged into the water 56
feet below as a 220-foot section of the U. S.
51 bridge fell out from under them.
Occupants of the car were presumed
drowned. The two men in the truck were
taken to a hospital — one with a broken
back, the other with a broken ankle.
No one was certain how many cars or
persons were missing. There were uncon
firmed reports that as many as five vehicles
may have fallen in. Divers searching the
wreckage were hampered by swift currents
and poor visibility in the murky water.
The two-lane U.S. 51 bridge was on a
north-south highway that parallels an un
completed section of Interstate 55, the
main route between New Orleans and
Jackson, Miss.
The bridge crossed Pass Manchac, a 40-
foot-deep channel between Lake
Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas, about
25 miles northweast of New Orleans.
Two men whose car skidded to a stop at
the edge of the gap in the bridge said it
appeared that two persons were in an au
tomobile which plunged into the water
ahead of them.
“All I could see was this truck falling,
going down with the bridge and the car
falling after it,” said George Lewis of New
Orleans, who braked just in time to save
himself.
“I saw the trailer rig go over and then the
car behind it went over.
“When I saw the car in front of me go
over, I swerved my car to the side. I’d
rather run into the side than run over into
the water. I stopped my car about one foot
from the edge. I was lucky.”
Lewis said that a second before the barge
hit the bridge support, the towboat
sounded a frantic blast on its horn.
The Coast Guard said the barge was one
of two loaded with oyster shells and being
pushed westward from Lake Pontchartrain
by the towboat Leander Jr., owned by
Clyde Torres of New Orleans.
Frank Reno, owner of Manchac Seafood
Restaurant, was in his restaurant when the
bridge collapsed about 1,000 feet away.
“We were sitting there and then we
heard all the rumbling,” he said. “The
lights flickered and we looked out the win
dow and saw that the barge had hit the
bridge. That all happened within seconds.”
Richard Smith, owner of Middendorfs
Restaurant near the bridge, said it was al
most a miracle that more cars were not on
the bridge when the center of it collapsed.
“We have a lot of traffic through here,”
he said. “We always have 10 or 12 cars on
the bridge.”
The accident happened a few minutes
after 5 p.m., usually a busy time on the
highway.
“I have a CB radio,” Smith said. “When I
saw this, I got on with a Mayday and said
the top of the Manchac bridge had fallen in.
“When I did that, I could hear those
trucks and cars relaying like mad. I’m sure
there was some slamming of brakes.”
Police immediately blocked off traffic on
a 20-mile stretch of highway from
Pontchatoula to LaPlace. State highway of
ficials said it would take months to repair
the half-mile-long bridge.
Northbound traffic from New Orleans is
being detoured to the Lake Pontchartrain
Causeway, a 24-mile-long bridge parallel
to and 20 miles east of the span at Manchac.
Educational supports increase
By LOUISE COOK
Associated Press
Back to school can bring budget blues to
college students and their families these
days, with costs soaring to record levels.
But a number of government programs are
available to ease the bite.
The College Entrance Examination
Board says that the average student at a
four-year college, living on campus, will
have to spend $4,568 this year. That’s 6 per
cent more than it cost last year and 54 per
cent more than it cost in 1970.
Both the Republicans and the Demo
crats in this election year have urged in
creased federal support of higher educa
tion.
President Ford says his policy is guided
by two basic principles: “First, no student
should be denied access to a postsecondary
education because of financial barriers.
Second, in most cases, aid should be pro
vided to individuals rather than to institu
tions.”
The Democratic platform calls for “a
coordinated and reliable system of grants,
loans and work study.” It also says the fed
eral government “should directly provide
cost-of-education payments to all higher
education institutions... to help cover
per-student costs, which far exceed those
covered by tuition and fees.”
The U.S. Office of Education supports
five programs of student assistance: basic
A&M students may get aid
Undergraduate and graduate stu
dents at Texas A&M University are
eligible for financial aid from the
American College and University
Service Bureau.
Dr. Robert J. Boileau, the
bureau’s director, said recently that
most students do not know about this
program.
Boileau said that millions of dol- **
lars go untouched each year due to
the lack of student knowledge of the
funds or the unwillingness of founda
tion directors to publicize the funds.
Students may check on obtaining
foundation funds by writing to:
American College and University
Service Bureau, Dept. F, 1700-5050
Poplar Ave., Memphis, Tenn.,
38157.
educational opportunity grants, supple
mental educational opportunity grants, col
lege workstudy, national direct student
loans and guaranteed student loans.
The grant programs provide outright
gifts; the loans must be repaid.
The amount of money available to an
individual generally is determined on the
basis of financial need and academic eligi
bility. Information on the programs is usu
ally available through a school financial aid
officer.
In order to qualify for a basic grant, a
student must be attending an approved in
stitution: a four-year college, a community
or junior college, a vocational school, a
technical institute or a hospital school of
nursing. The student must be enrolled on
at least a half-time basis in a program of
study which lasts for six months or longer.
You can file an applicaton to find out
whether you are eligible for a basic grant as
soon as you are accepted for enrollment;
the sooner the better.
Once you are notified of your eligibility,
you must submit the notice to your school,
which will determine the amount of the
award. Applications to determine eligibil
ity are available by writing P.O. Box 84,
Washington, D.C., 20004.
The supplemental grants are for students
of exceptional financial need who would
not be able to finish their education with
out the extra money. The program is lim
ited to undergraduates; graduate students
are not eligible. The grants range from
$200 to $1,500 a year, with a maximum of
$4,000 over four years and $5,000 over five
years.
The national direct student loan program
enables students to borrow up to $2,500 if
they are enrolled in a vocational program or
have finished less than two years of a pro
gram leading to a bachelor’s degree. Stu
dents who have completed two years to
ward a bachelor’s degree can borrow up to
$5,000 and graduate students can apply for
up to $10,000.
5 Croatians charged
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Five Croatian nation
alists, held on $1 million bail each on air
piracy charges after a weekend the pilot
called “30 hours of hell,” also have been
charged with second-degree murder in the
bomb death of a policeman.
Federal and local authorities were to
meet today to decide who should get first
crack at prosecuting the four men and a
woman, who used fake bombs to force a
New York-to-Chicago Trans World Air
lines 727 jet to fly to Paris.
A real bomb the hijackers claimed re
sponsibility for leaving in a Grand Central
Station locker killed a policeman, who was
to be buried in New York today.
The Yugoslav government accused the
United States of tolerating anti-Yugoslav
terrorists, a charge denied by the State
Department in Washington.
The four men — ringleader Zvonko
Busic, 30, Peter Matovic, 31, FranePesut,
25, and Mark Vlasic, 29, all are natives of
Croatia long active in the independence
movement. Basic’s 27-year-old wife.
Julienne, a schoolteacher from Eugene,
Ore., apparently became dedicated to the
same cause after she met Busic in Vienna.
World
Tens of thousands of blacks stayed away
from their jobs in Johannesburg again
today on the second day of a three-day
strike protesting the white government’s
racial policies.
Some companies reported 70 per cent
absenteeism today, but others said more
blacks reported for work than on the previ
ous day.
Second and third presidential
debates scheduled for October
Ambassador William W. Scranton an
nounced yesterday in Washington after a
meeting with President Gerald Ford that
he would veto the Vietnamese application
for U.N. membership because Hanoi has
failed to account for about 800 Americans
still listed as missing in action in Vietnam.
The Security Council is expected to vote
on the application late today or tomorrow.
Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger
flies to Tanzania*today on the first stage of a
search for peace in southern Africa.
Kissinger said he hopes to convince
three key leaders that agreement on the
form, forum and agenda for black-white
negotiations is necessary before the sum
mer rains fall.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The second and
third debates between President Ford and
Democrat Jimmy Carter will be Oct. 6 and
22 with the single debate between the vice
presidential candidates sandwiched in be
tween, the sponsoring League of Women
Voters announced today.
The league said the debate between
Republican vice presidential candidate
Bob Dole and Democrat Walter Mondale
has been tentatively set for the week of
Oct. 11, but that no date has been agreed
upon.
The locations and other details of the
debates are still being worked out, the
league said.
The first Ford-Carter confrontation will
take place in Philadelphia on Sept. 23, a
Thursday.
Jim Karayn, project director for the
League’s education fund which is sponsor
ing the debates, said the arguments had
been worked out in meetings with the na
tional networks which will broadcast the
debates live on television and radio.
The length of the debates has not been
settled, but all will begin at 9:30 p.m.
EDT, regardless of length, Karayn said.
The subject of the first debate in
Philadelphia’s historic Walnut Street The
ater will be economics and domestic pol
icy. One of the others is expected to deal
with foreign policy and national defense,
with the third open to a variety of issues.
_
' .-****?
I- i
Battalion photos by Kevin Venner
You re all whetted
Yes, many Aggies have been titillated by the 19-0 shutout of the
Virginia Tech Gobblers by the A&M football team Saturday. Yell
leader, Joe Reagan, who took a swim after the game, compliments
of some freshmen corps members, drips from head to toes while
directing the post game victory yells in front of the YMCA building.
Index
The government has been advised
to wait before it bans material
containing fluorocarbons. Page 3.
Classifieds. Page 4.
Bulletin board and Peanuts. Page 5.
Weekend music reviews. Page 6.
m .
Bugs off
t t
A three-foot-long bug was found in a dark alley in Des Moines,
Iowa, by a passerby . The citizen called police, who returned the
$200 advertising design to its owners, a Des Moines exterminat
ing company.
The bug, carried on top of one of the company’s trucks, had
been taken off during the night by some prankster skilled at
opening trucks and removing bolts that the bug was fastened to
the inside of the cab with.
Des Moines Terminex International manager William Keller,
who describes the bug as “a sporty little critter with a top hat,”
this morning said that he can’t think of any reason to steal one of
the bugs except to decorate a college dormitory room.
Perhaps, if the bug is removed and abandoned in a dark alley
again, the finder might call the exterminator first. After all, if
YOU found a three-foot-long termite wearing a top hat.
Battalion art by Steve Korte
Ags 11th
Associated Press
The Top Twenty teams in The As
sociated Press college football poll,
with first-place votes in parentheses,
season records and total points:
*
Team
W-L-T
1.
Michigan (28)
1-0-0
2.
Ohio St. (18)
1-0-0
3.
Pitt (9)
1-0-0
4.
Oklahoma (4)
1-0-0
5.
UCLA (2)
1-0-0
6.
Missouri
1-0-0
7.
Penn St.
1-0-0
8.
Nebraska
0-0-1
9.
Georgia
1-0-0
10.
Maryland
1-0-0
11.
Texas A&M
1-0-0
12.
Arkansas
1-0-0
13.
Kansas
2-0-0
14.
Alabama
0-1-0
15.
Boston Col.
1-0-0
16.
Louisiana St.
0-0-1
17.
N. Carolina
2-0-0
18.
Arizona St.
0-1-0
19.
Texas
0-1-0
20.
Mississippi
1-1-0
J