The weather [fair and mild through tomorrow. today in low 80s. Low tonight [upper 50s. High tomorrow in r 80s. No precipitation likely qh tomorrow. 30 Top of the News Campus THE SECOND INSTALL- IENT board payment for the 1976 allsemester is due on or before Oct. The amount due for the 7-Day loard Plan is $143.05 arid $128 for lif5-Day Board Plan. The install- nent should be paid at the Fiscal (fice, Richard Coke Building or the ishier’s Office in the main lobby of luckier Center. THE FILM “Last Days of Man on iirth" will be shown tonight at 8 and 0p.m. in Rudder Theater. It is ■l po ed by Cepheid Variable. THE JUNIOR CLASS will have Is second meeting of the year to- ight in MSC 212 at 8 p.m. POETRY AND PROSE readings ly Janet McCann and Frank Peirce rescheduled for tonight at 8 p.m. in ludder Forum. The readings are sponsored by the Arts Committee. HOUSTON POST columnist Jonald Morris will speak on the his- »ry of Africa tonight at 8 p. m. in 224 ISC. The program is sponsored by )e Black Awareness Committee. VT.-W IS it on 1th .s J Texas { o( THE HOBBY COMMISSION las again by-passed the difficult job fdeciding whether to recommend a nerger of the three Texas water igencies. It decided yesterday, hough, to recommend passage of a iunset law or constituitonal amend- ent to limit the lives of state agen- es. A sunset law or amendment ould end automatically the life of agency unless the legislature de- ided to extend it. MRS. JUNE MENDOZA, direc- rof the federally and state funded fnotty Pine Community Treatment Center in Corpus Christi, was ar rested Tuesday on a charge of pos session of marijuana, causing at least one state agency to take its clients out of the drug rehabilitation center. Drug Enforcement Administration agents confiscated 26-1/2 pounds of Mexican brown heroin in an Austin motel room where Mrs. Mendoza was staying. Other state agencies are (flnsidering removal of their clients. SEN. JOHN TOWER, R-Tex., has outlined a policy for the Texas Shrimp Association to prevent a re currence of an incident where Mexi can shrimp boats seized in U. S. waters were released without pen- . The association's position is that fines imposed on Mexican violators should be equal to those levied against American boats when seized in Mexican waters. A HOUSTON law firm has sub mitted a bill for $393,945 for legal services in handling the affairs of the late billionaire Howard Hughes. The bill outlines the accounting and tax [services performed by 26 attorneys in the firm since Hughes death April THE FLIGHT RATES dispute between Texas International and Southwest Airlines continues as Southwest’s President M. Lamar Muse said earlier this week in Hous ton that Texas International’s pricing was a violation of the Civil Aeronau tics Board. The rate war began when Texas International announced new fares for stand-by passengers rang ing from $1 to $14 for flights from Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport to Houston’s downtown Hobby Air port. National CONGRESS, seeking to wrap up its business and go home for the year, today decides whether to over ride a presidential veto of a $56.6 billion appropriation bill for the de partments of Health, Education and Welfare and Labor. They will also study the revenue-sharing package. This will determine whether Con gress meets its weekend deadline for adjournment. JOHN CONNALLY, former Texas governor, arrives today in Oklahoma to launch a three-city campaign for Republican candi dates. Connally will not only be campaigning for President Ford, but also for two Republican congres sional nominees. JOHN MACREADY, who in 1926, as an Army lieutenant, flew to 40,800 feet without exploding his plane (which scientists had pre dicted would happen), today was in ducted into the International Aero space Hall of Fame at San Diego. J Cbe Battalion Vol. 70 No. 18 Thursday, September 30, 1976 ^ News 845-2611 8 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611 Battalion photo by Kevin Venner Things are stacking up The cables framing the smoke stack at the main campus’ power plant, seem to be stabilizing the structure so the crane can move it. Actually, the boom and cables are stationary because workers, who are constructing additional power plant facilities, have gone for the day. Work began again this morning though, and will con tinue several more months. Syrians push guerrillas from Mt. Lebanon Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian troops and tanks forced Palestinian guerrillas from a 20-square-mile salient east of Beirut today in a major loss for the guerrillas and their Lebanese leftist allies in Lebanon’s civil war. A guerilla communique conceded the fall of all positions held by Palestinians and Moslem leftist militia north of the vital Beirut-Damascus highway. Witnesses said only sporadic shots were heard in the area as Syrian forces mopped up in the pine woods on the slopes of Mount Lebanon, a resort area 15 miles east of the capital. The two-day Syrian operation touched off a new flurry of Arab mediation efforts to arrange negotiations for an overall settle ment of the sectarian conflict. Arab League mediator Hassan Sabri Kholi traveled to Damascus with an offer from the guerrilla-leftist alliance to negotiate an immediate ceasefire with the Syrians and right-wing Lebanese Chris tians. Sources close to the Egyptian mediator said he was empowered by the leftists to offer a new formula to regulate the guerrilla military presence in Lebanon. Right-wing Christian commanders vowed to carry the war into traditionally Moslem territory unless the guerrillas turn over their heavy arms and return to refugee camps in Lebanon. The Syrian mountain push has secured the southern border of the 800-square mile Christian enclave along the Beirut- Damascus highway and extends a Syrian buffer zone between Moslem- and Christian-populated territory to within 10 miles of Beirut. The Syrians are believed to be ready to give the Palestinians a breathing spell now so that they can ponder the original offer of Syrian President Hafez Assad that Syria should act as the sole guarantor of guerrilla-Lebanese peaceful coexistence. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, however, are reported pressing for an urgent Arab sum mit conference at the request of guerrilla chief Yasir Arafat to work out a settlement of Lebanon’s 17-month war. There has been no dependable assess ment of Syrian or guerrilla casualties dur ing the two-day mountain battles. U.S., Soviets trying for new arms treaty Associated Press UNITED NATIONS, N Y. — With strategic arms limitation negotiations stalled, the United States and the Soviet Union have begun a new prdbe to see if they can move toward a treaty by the end of the year, according to high-level U.S. offi cials. The critical test of how well the two superpowers may do, these officials say, will he Friday’s meeting at the White House between Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko and President Ford. The officials are skeptical of an imminent break-through, but reporting late last night on Gromyko’s dinner with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, they credited the Soviets with genuine interest in mov ing ahead. Kissinger was scheduled to give a major foreign policy address to the 31st U.N. General Assembly meeting. It is expected to include an accounting of his African dip lomacy and the administration’s position on curbing terrorism. West Germany has called for the drafting of an international convention to ban the taking of hostages and to provide for the punishment of per petrators. We were wrong Yesterday the Battalion incor rectly stated that Wilbur Sennette is the only black member of the Texas Aggie Band. ‘Farming,’ not same. ‘agriculture’ scientist says A major problem in applying agricultural technology to underdeveloped nations is the failure to see the difference in farming and agriculture, said soil scientist Dr. Charles Kellog to about 100 Texas A&M students and faculty members in a Centen nial speech in the Rudder complex Wed nesday afternoon. What people fail to see, said 76-year-old Kellog, is that the man working in a machine shop building a tractor is as much a part of agriculture as a farmer. Only the proper combinations of soils, farming practices, marketing and storage facilities will produce the food crops and animal products needed to feed the world, he added. A good example of how technology can fail is “the green revolution,” in which break-throughs in plant breeding resulted in high-yielding, fertilizer-responsive grains. These new grains are good, said Kellog, but other factors such as fertilizers, water management and pest control must be taken into account. The old varieties of grains do just as well in parts of India and other nations where these factors are not taken into account, he added. There is a key axiom here — interaction, said Kellog. Great yields in crops rarely result without interaction of all phases of agriculture, he said. Kellog said another reason technology fails in underdeveloped nations is a lack of understandings of the motivations and de sires of the people of the nations. Many cultures say the individual has a right to own land, he said. But, if the indi vidual cannot make a living off of the land, he is entitled to the right of a job so he won’t starve. What is really needed are dedicated specialists with knowledge of other fields, said Kellog. They must also have an understanding of the religious and social organization of the nation, he said. Most of all, they must find out what the people want, he added. Money would be a big help, too, Kellog said. “We waste money on bombs and buildings and all that stuff' to fight one another, but I guess we can’t help it,” he said. But Kellog chuckled and added, “I vyouldn’t want to live in this country if everyone else had all the bombs.” — Mike Barnett driver fatigue, stress Tests show Texas A&M University safety re searchers have discovered that drivers in contemporary autos are most comfortable when cruising at about 70 miles per hour. Dr. Ron Morris of Texas A&M’s Texas Transportation Institute revealed details of the study in a presentation at the 14th An nual Symposium of the SAFE Association, an organization of safety and survival equipment, researchers, manufacturers and users. He and graduate student Charles H. Berry formulated the test with the coopera tion of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The tests, to find the drivers’ most comfortable speeds, were done on I.H. 30 near Texarkana in marked vehicles. “The experiment clearly demonstrates that the average comfortable speed is well above the existing maximum speed limit of 55 m.p.h.,” Morris told participants. “Al though, one should remember it is a very limited study.” The tests were done on an isolated por tion of highway on clear, dry and sunny days by 18 student volunteers. They used a 1973 Datsun 240Z, a 1973 Ford Torino sta tion wagon, and a 1973 GMC sports van, selected to represent the range of commer cially available passenger vehicles. In each auto the speedometer was cov ered, with devices in the rear to record actual speeds. The drivers were told no thing about the actual purpose of the test except to reach a comfortable speed and drive the specified route. “We disguised the experiment and even went so far as to have an observer taking “notes” of the driver, which had nothing to do with the tests,” Morris explained. “We expected the speed to increase steadily but found instead that the drivers went immediately to a constant speed in about three miles and stayed there varying only about three m.p.h.,” he added. “The analysis of our data resulted in overall mean comfortable speed of 69.4 m.p.h. with a standard deviation of 4.425 m.p.h.,’’ he said. “From this, it is reasonable to con clude that the probability that the entire population’s comfortable speed is 55 m.p.h. is essentially zero.” Morris said this would also indicate that people drive faster than they should, not because they can’t estimate speed but rather because they were uncomfortable at the previous speed. “We felt that a driver, in trying to stay within the speed limit, would continually be required to adjust his speed and keep an eye on the speedometer,” he explained. “The net effect of this mismatch would he increased control effort by the driver and consequently increased fatigue. Any re laxation in the vigilance of the driver will result in a return to the comfortable speed.” The experiment showed comfortable speeds for each vehicle as 66 m.p.h. for the station wagon, 70 m.p.h. for the sports car and 77 m.p.h. for the van. They were all tuned, aligned and equipped to factory specifications. “The comfortable speed demonstrates that if the present speed limit of 55 m.p.h. is to be continued, further research is needed in areas of vehicle and roadway design to establish more acceptable rela tions between vehicle characteristics and legal speed limits,” Morris added. “If the difference between comfortable speed and legal speed is large, the driver is placed in a stressful and fatiguing situa tion,” he pointed out. “This additional stress can lead to exposure to greater acci dent hazards. Further, the constant throt tle correction will result in poor engine performance and efficiency. Computer firms cited in wiretaps Associated Press WASHINGTON—Private computer companies seeking fat government con tracts and federal employes who were sup posed to investigate fraud in the Medicaid program allededly were involved in wiretaps, conflicts of interest and influence peddling, according to testimony before a Senate panel. Employes from the Medicaid anti-fraud unit at the Department of Health, Educa tion and Welfare were to appear today be fore the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to address the charges. After testimony yesterday that an HEW employe had taken payments and services worth nearly $10,000 from a consulting firm and a computer company, HEW said the employe had been transferred from the anti-fraud unit pending a criminal investi gation of “possible irregularities.” Presidents of the two firms involved said By JO SHANKLES While Texas produces one-third of the total energy of the U. S., cities such as Aus tin are paying the 2nd highest electric prices in the country, Texas Representa tive John Wilson said. In a speech given yesterday to a group in the Memorial Student Center Ballroom, Wilson discussed- such problems as the need for tax reform and high energy costs in the state. The title of the speech, “The Public vs. Utilities”, Wilson said, was phrased wrong. \Ve all have an interest in good service at a reasonable cost, he said. “But,” he added, “I think utilities have interest in that just as much as we do and deserve a reasonable rate of return.” (The rate of return is the amount based on the company’s capital in vestments.) Wilson recognized the need for tax re form in Texas. Residents of New York pay four cents for 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas from Texas, he said, whereas residents of Texas pay 15 cents for 1,000 cubic feet of the gas. “It’s ridiculous to penalize the people of this state in our tax structure for the severance of our own natural re sources,” he said. “We must have some tax reform for oil and gas taxes,” he added. The rate of sales tax on public utilities, Wilson continued, is four cents for state and one cent for city sales tax. The sales tax from utilities for the last biennium was $80 million, he said, and $200 million for this biennium. “Governor Briscoe can get up there and crow all day long if he wants to about no new taxes, but he’ll have to ex plain to me where that $120 million came from on utility tax,” Wilson said. The $120 million was a new tax revenue, he ex plained, and places a burden on those least able to afford it; especially those with fixed incomes. “We need tax reform; were going to have to come around in the Legislature. I they paid thousands of dollars to Charles Cubbler, a $32,231-a-year HEW employe, writing checks to “D.C. Chambless,” which is Cubbler’s wife’s maiden name. When Cubbler learned that Senate in- Medicare policy Associated Press WASHINGTON—Social Security offi cials are scheduled to announce whether there will be any change in the charge that Medicare beneficiaries have to pay out of their own pockets for the first day of hos pitalization. The announcement of the possible change for the 25 million persons now eli gible for Medicare benefits was scheduled for today. The Social Security Administration is required to follow a federal formula each year in determining the future cost of the don’t care if we have new taxes or not,” Wilson said. “I want the tax burden to be placed where it properly belongs and equalized, he continued. Wilson said the tax structure has to be revised so that it does not penalize those persons who are forced to pay the highest prices and who are also the least able to pay. As for high energy costs, Wilson said a lot of things can be done in Texas to lessen the costs without regulation of prices. “We have an abundant supply of energy at a price. We don’t have an income tax — our tax system has benefited those who use it,” Wilson said. Hopefully, he said, with the passage of the new utility regulations bill, there is some happy medium that can be reached between the consumer and the utility company. The Utility Commission isn’t going to bring cheaper utilities; it should bring a higher grade of service for a fair price, if, he qualified, the consumer takes an active part in the proceedings. “If you’re apathetic and don’t use the law then you’re not going to reap much benefit from it,” Wilson said. “It requires the par ticipation of both utility and citizen repre sentatives,” he added. Until two years ago Texas was the only state without a public utility commission or a state regulatory body. Texas had only municipal regulations of utilities, and rural areas were totally unregulated, Wilson said. As of Aug. 31, 1976, the Texas State Regulative Body came into being, after the regulatory system of the previous two years proved to be ineffective, Wilson said. Records for that time show utilities in Texas made a higher rate of return on in vested capital than any other state in the union, he said. Wilson said he felt the rate of return should have been set according to an average of the 50 states. He also said that profit motivation accounted for utilities making the high rate. vestigators were checking the transactions, the two executives testified, he asked them to destroy copies of checks written to the Chambless name and to forge new expense account vouchers with his name omitted. may change program to recipients, with any increase in charges to recipients beginning the next Jan. 1. A year ago the government raised the cost to Medicare recipients almost 13 per cent, from $92 to $104 for the first day’s stay in a hospital. For the past year, the $104 figure has been considered to be the equiv alent of one day’s hospital charge. Under the formua, after the recipient pays the first $104 of his hospital bill. Med icare picks up the rest of the tab through the 60th day. Beyond 60 days, the recipient is required to pay more. speech Texas Rep John Wilson Wilson is primarily responsible for the strong utility regulations bill being passed in the House of Representatives. “The agency is late in coming,” he said, “and it’s not perfect.” He said he didn t know how it would work out in the long run. Wilson said he wasn’t an expert on utilities when he entered the Legislature and had no specific philosophy about the matter. He said he luckily got on commit tees that dealt with the problem and was able to hear public omplaints on it.' A rancher and businessman from La- Grange, Tex. in his 3rd term in the House, Wilson is known for his fights against large concentrations of economic power, such as bankholding companies, road builders, and utility companies. His philosophy about utilities for the public is now, “Expect the best, prepare for the worst, take what comes.” Energy issue tops