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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1977)
Weather artly cloudy and warm today with outheasterly winds 7-14 m.p.h. High today 90, low tonight 71. No rain ex pected in the next 24 hours and little hange expected for tomorrow. The Battalion Vol. 70 No. 121 6 Pages Monday, May 30, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Correction The story about new HEW finan cial aid rules in last Wednesday’s Battalion wrongly defined scholas tic good standing as a B average. Good standing is defined as a G average or a 2.0 GPR. Search for fire victims continues in Kentucky United Press International SOUTHGATE, Ky. — Medical exam iners today tried to piece together bone fragments while recovery crews dug through the charred, muddy debris of the Beverly Hills Supper Club for more victims of a raging fire that killed at least 160 persons during a holiday weekend stage show. Pieces of bones and the skulls of 33 more victims were recovered Sunday horn the ruins of the sprawling “Showplace of the Midwest.” Saturday night it turned into a blazing inferno — the worst fire in America in 35 years. The club was packed for a performance by singer John Davidson. Officials said about four more hours of work to remove collapsed roofing and steel girders — remain before a final death toll will be known. Workers halted the search at 6 p.m. yesterday because of a driving rainstorm. Authorities had said earlier that they feared the death toll could reach 400. But Southgate Fire Chief David Riesenberg City Council delays revisions ScoM 48 !. 2 ;89 < . 5 c^29 l in 39 *1.39 *1.39 Yesterday was the first day that summer session students could move into their dorm rooms on campus. With the moving in comes the usual waiting in lines, parking problems and registration. University officials expect 10,000 students will register at DeWare Field House tomorrow morning, beginning at 7:30. Battalion photo by Jim Crawley Dayan, new foreign minister, opposed United Press International TEL AVIV, Israel — Hundreds of dem onstrators screaming angry slogans yes terday protested the naming of Moshe Dayan as foreign minister in the Israeli government Menahem Begin hopes to set up next month. Tfs not Dayan the man we re protest ing, hut Dayan the symbol, said former army officer Motti Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi led the protest movement that helped force Dayan out as defense minister be cause of early setbacks in the 1973 Middle East war. Dayan, 62, served for eight years as de fense minister. He was re-elected to par liament on the Labor party ticket that finished second to Begin’s Likud bloc in the May 17 elections. Police ordered the 500 protesters to stay i the sidewalk across the street from the headquarters of Begin’s Herut faction in the Likud block. They carried signs reading, “Peace yes, Dayan no,” and a quote from a magazine interview in which Dayan said: “My people have had enough of me and I had enough of them.” Some 150 demonstrators favoring the controversial nominee remained on the sidewalk in front of the building as police kept the groups apart. The anti-Dayan demonstrators taunted the pro-Dayan group, calling them “Fas cists.” The Dayan forces replied with shouts of “Communists.” Government radio, meanwhile, said the three major factions within the Likud agreed on a compromise statement de signed to allow the Democratic Movement for Change to rejoin negotiations for a co alition government. Begin, slated to be Israel’s next prime minister, was released from the hospital yesterday and immediately took charge of efforts to resume coalition talks. No final vote was taken on two revisions to the College Station Comprehensive Plan by the City Council Thursday night. The council, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Engineer’s of fice have mulled over the changes for months with no result. One revision would widen Kyle Street and attempt to relieve that street of its overflow morning traffic. City Engineer Elrey Ash presented two plans for the change. Neither met council approval. Members of the council ques tioned whether either plan is worth the cost to the city. Ash also presented two plans to extend FM 2818 to the East Bypass through Mil ler’s Lane. The extension would cause ex tensive property damage and would re quire destroying some houses in that area. Miller’s Lane residents presented a pet ition to the council at its May 12 meeting protesting the extension. But the coun- cilmen maintain that the construction of the new thoroughfare is inevitable. Councilman Jim Gardner said the Comprehensive Plan is an outline for what the city hopes to do in the future. Discuss ing the technicalities of the revisions should be handled elsewhere, he said. But other members of the council, par ticularly Mayor Lorence Bravenec, wanted to hash out the final details during the meeting. Hash they did, but no deci sion was reached. The council did vote to take the recom mendations of the Safety Committee on placing sidewalks on Glade Street. The committee suggested the sidewalks be built two feet inside the curb. But some of the street’s residents opposed the rec ommendation. Jim Smathers, 1402 Glade, said placing the sidewalks away from the curb would create a "nuisance strip” that would be a headache to maintain. But Bill Scott of the Safety Committee said the committee wanted to move the sidwalks in for the safety of pedestrians. He added that the sidewalks would avoid large trees and bushes. He defined large trees and bushes to be those of more than one inch at the base. said, “I’m optimistic we won’t find any more bodies.” He said the area of the ruins where the search for bodies is now confined was not one of the worst hit by the fire. “We have found bits and pieces of bodies burned to a crisp — an arm here, a leg there, but mostly just skulls with ev erything burned from them, a volunteer worker said. Dr. Fred Stine, Campbell County coroner, said 22 of the bodies are “badly charred” and it may be three days before identifications are complete. “Some don’t even have heads,” Stine said, making dental identification impos sible. He said the bodies were being em balmed in the basement of a makeshift morgue in an armory in nearby Fort Thomas, Ky.. About 3,500 persons jammed the sup per club Saturday night — 1,100 of them in the plush Cabaret Room to hear singer John Davidson — when smoke began pouring into the room. Within minutes, flames shot through the dense smoke. Screams of horror helped trigger general panic when the lights failed and authorities said the panic undoubtedly increased the death toll. Bodies were stacked three and four deep in doorways. Davidson’s road manager, Don Peter son, said the singer had just stepped from a shower when club employes warned him of the fire. “He immediately jumped into some clothes and ran out the back door and held the door and dragged, people out of the room through the stage door,” Peterson said. But Davidson’s pianist-conductor; Doug Herro, died in the blaze. Davidson later said in a statement I “cannot bring myself to realize the enormity of this tragedy which has already taken so many lives, including that of my musical conductor . . who was only 26 years old. “I never even saw the people I was going to perform for, but 1 feel that every single one of them is a deep personal loss and my sincere sympathy is extended to their families.” Comedy team Jim Teeter and Jim McDonald, on stage when the fire broke out, were credited with saving many lives by keeping the crowd as calm as possible before patrons bolted for the exits. They made their way to safety. Stine said he understood the fire started in an oil generator beneath the Zebra Room, another party room in the club. “When they tried to put it out with a lire extinguisher, it blew flames down the hallway to the Cabaret Room,” he said. It was the worst lire in the United States since 1942 when 492 persons were killed in a fire at the Coconut Grove in Boston. Legislators trying to break deadlocks before tonight United Press International AUSTIN — Texas legislators raced a midnight deadline in an effort to break deadlocks on school finance and medical malpractice legislation before the 140-day session ends today. Speaker Bill Clayton and other House leaders said it is almost certain Gov. Dolph Briscoe will convene a summer special session to deal with the school fi nance issue if it is left by the regular ses sion. Conference committees on school fi nance, medical malpractice and a pro posed $55 million tax reduction all scheduled morning meetings in an effort to reach agreement. “I would think if we don’t have an agreement by noon, it’s very doubtful we could do the typing, the proofing, the printing and the distributing before mid night,” said Rep. Tom Massey D-San Angelo, chairman of the House Public Education Committee. The school finance conference commit tee Sunday rejected two efforts at com promise — one proposal by Sen. Oscar Mauzy, D-Dallas, and the other by Mas sey. Massey said he had no other propo sals to make. Clayton and Lt. Gov. William P. Hobby Judge s rape opinion draws school outcry Peace turns into violence at Japan’s Narita airport United Press International MADISON, Wis. — School principals have joined the outcry over Judge Archie Simonson’s comment that a youth guilty of rape was reacting “normally” to sexual permissiveness, demanding that the judge retract the statement or quit the bench. The Dane County Judge ruled last week in the case of a 16-year-old girl raped in a high school stairwell that her 15-year-old assailant was responding to the permis siveness of the times and provocative out fits women were wearing. “Should we punish severely a 15- or 16-year-old who reacts to it normally?” asked Simonson, who sentenced the boy to a year of supervision at home. Yes, said the Madison Association of School Principals in a weekend statement. “It is deplorable,” the group said, “that you suggest meaningless supervision by the court in the youth’s home when a well-designed and administered program is clearly indicated.” “Please be reminded that permissive ness in our society has been largely brought about by court decisions that have evaded school disciplinary action and con trol,” the group said. Simonson tried to defend his sentence and the remarks he made from the bench, claiming nationwide support for his views on rape. “Whether women like it or not,” he said, “they are sex objects. I’m trying to say to women, ‘Stop teasing.” “I think,” he said, “I struck a nerve.” United Press International NARITA, Japan — A peaceful memorial procession by thousands of opponents to Narita’s airport turned into a fire bomb — hurling and stone — pitching melee with police Sunday. At one point, a remote — controlled car was sent crashing into a cordon of 5,000 police who fought the radicals with tear gas and fire hoses. Police said no one was in jured in the crash. Police said 87 persons were arrested for obstructing police duties. There were no reports of serious injuries. The latest clash in the 11-year fight against the Narita International Airport began as a rally to commemorate the death of a 27-year-old taxi driver who died from injuries in a May 8 battle with police. The more than 8,000 demonstrators were mostly farmers whose lands were dis possessed, student radicals who fear the new $733 million airport may be turned into military use and local residents who detest jet noise. The government plans to open the air port, 40 miles from Tokyo, later this year. The rally started peacefully, but turned into a fire-bombing throwing clash after demonstrators formed a two-mile-long procession and marched behind elderly farmers to a site where two tall steel towers once stood. The towers, built by protesters at the end of the 2.5-mile long runway, served as the opponents’ symbol against the airport opening. They were pulled down by police in a surprise predawn raid May 8. The raid, an indication of the govern ment determination to open the airport this year, touched off the latest series of demonstrations and clashes with thousands of police mobilized to guard the airfield. Ad leads to creation of gay ring in New Orleans 9 United Press International NEW ORLEANS — It started with a 1974 newspaper advertisement for young boys of the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn type to pose for fishing photographs for pay. The ad appeared as innocent as the for mation of a Boy Scout troop, but com bined they led to the creation of a homosexual ring using young boys from Mew Orleans. It involved men from as far away as California, Illinois and Florida, District Attorney Harry Connick said. Seventeen men have been charged in the case so far. Connick said at least 25 boys, most of them under 16, were used in the ring. The district attorney said he doesn’t know where it will stop. T’ve got to believe that a network exists for the supplying of children, Connick said. Several of the men involved allegedly tried to become associated with the Big Brothers of New Orleans organization. All but one were rejected because of the Big Brothers’ screening process. But Connick said Dale Edmunds, an offshore oil worker from Metairie, La., used an alias to circumvent the screening and became a counselor for the program for fatherless boys. Edmunds has been charged with seven counts of aggravated crime against nature for the alleged sexual abuse of two 14-year-old boys. One man has been sentenced. Raymond T. Woodall, 38, one of the Scout leaders, was convicted of 11 counts of aggravated crime against nature and given a 75-year sentence last week by Judge Oliver Schulingkamp, who spent 10 minutes lec turing Woodall during the sentencing. “He took advantage and used — for his own unlawful, lustful and contorted pur poses — a great, useful and wholesome American institution, namely, the Boy Scouts of America.” The ring was discovered last year when police found out about photographs of the boys being processed in the city. After the police uncovered the ring, Connick said his office brought each of the youths in separately to discuss it. Words of wisdom John Oeffinger, MSC Council president, explains the ins and outs of college life to incoming freshmen at last Thursday’s orientation con ference. The conference will continue through the summer. Battalion Staff Photo sat in on the conference committee ses sions, and met privately with the governor in an effort to settle differences between the House and Senate versions of the school aid bill. Clayton appeared nonchalant at the prospects the bill might fail. “I’m not worried about it, if it goes down it goes down,” he said. “We’ve of fered some good plans. Anytime you in fuse $99 million into a program, it has got to be of help to the schools. Massey said yesterday House negotiators will not agree to any school fi nance bill which does not use agricultural land values in calculating local districts shin e of school costs. The $860 million compromise offered Sunday by Mauzy based the calculation on a combination of 60 per cent agricultural values and 40 per cent market values. Briscoe declined to endorse either plan, but noted his school finance recom mendations to the legislature in January were based on market value of all property in the state. The state spending bill, which in past sessions often has been approved in the closing minutes, was sent to the governor last week. The $5.5 billion bill to finance state government operations for the next two years is the biggest in Texas history. The legislature earlier had approved bills authorizing pipeline companies to condemn land for construction of coal slurry pipelines across Texas, $528 million increase in spending for highway construc tion and maintenance, a $170 million in crease in teacher retirement benefits, and a series of anticrime bills backed by the governor. A $3 billion budget surplus predicted when the session began in January was virtually wiped out by the highway bill and record state budget, leaving lawmak ers to tailor the school finance, retirement and teacher pay legislation to fit the last $1.1 billion of the surplus. Committee works for agreement on tax reduction bill United Press International AUSTIN — A legislative conference committee is considering a plan to give Texas consumers a seasonal tax break on winter utility bills. The panel attempting to reach a com promise between House and Senate ver sions of a $55 million tax reduction propo sal failed to reach agreement Sunday, but agreed to meet again Monday —- the final day of the legislative session. Rep. Joe Wyatt, D-Victoria, chairman of the House Ways and Means Commit tee, proposed abolishing the four per cent state sales tax on the first 750 kilowatt hours of electricity and the first 7,000 cubic feet of natural gas used by residen tial consumers during December, January and February. Wyatt said the proposal would reduce utility bills by about $28.1 million. His plan also would include a $21.5 million re-- duction in inheritance taxes. The Senate had passed a bill including a $28 million inheritance tax reduction, and a $28 million reduction in sales taxes on utility bills. But the Senate version of the utility tax break applied only to customers using minimal amounts of electricity or natural gas. Persons who used in excess of that amount would not be eligible for any tax break.