The Battalion
Weather
Wednesday, August 17, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Partly cloudy and hot today with
south-southeasterly winds 8-12
mph. High today and tomorrow in
the upper 90s; low tonight mid-70s.
Increasing cloudiness tomorrow
with scattered showers and thun
dershowers.
Berkowitz enters plea
of innocent to all charges
It takes two to tango
■gmeering Technology Senior, Jeffrey Mullowney of Tyler,
i., left, assists Engineering Technology junior, Phillip M.
j( Jman, of Poth, Tx., in the operation of a vertical drill press located in
1 T Metal Technology Laboratory on the Texas A&M campus.
United Press International
NEW YORK — Lawyers for David Ber
kowitz, the accused “Son of Sam,” plan to
rely on a defense of insanity, if their client
ever goes on trial for the murder of Stacy
Moskowitz, the last victim of the .44-
caliber killer.
The 24-year-old postal worker, his
hands manacled, was taken from his bare
cell at a Brooklyn hospital to a nearby
courthouse yesterday for his arraignment,
where he pleaded innocent to charges of
killing Miss Moskowitz and virtually blind
ing her date.
Berkowitz entered a simple innocent
plea to the charges, but his lawyers said
the plea will probably be modified to in
nocent by reason of insanity later. If con
victed on all counts, Berkowitz could draw
25 years to life in prison.
For his own safety, Berkowitz was taken
to court in an armored van surrounded by
seven prowl cars and watched from the sky
by a police helicopter. Forty policemen,
some armed with shotguns, perched on
rooftops and stood on sidewalks around
the courthouse. Courtroom visitors had to
pass through metal detectors.
“We had him rolled up tighter than a
sardine, said one court attendant.
Berkowitz, who was smiling almost be
nignly when he was arrested last Wednes
day night, wore a blank look as he entered
the courtroom. Eight armed guards sur
rounded him and scanned the crowd.
The defendant said little during the
hearing, speaking only when asked. He
seemed oblivous to the guards, reporters
and, most of all, the growing number of
bizarre and occasionally tawdry facets of
his case.
There is the question of whether Ber
kowitz can ever get a fair trial because of
overwhelming news coverage, and
whether he is psychologically competent
to stand trial. A psychiatric report is due
Aug. 30.
The family of Miss Moskowitz, mean
while, filed a $10 million lawsuit in Yon
kers, N.Y., where Berkowitz lived, charg
ing police there with negligence for failing
to follow up “certain leads” that would
have led sooner to his capture.
On another front, one defense lawyer is
under investigation for reportedly trying
to sell taped conversations with his client
to two New York newspapers for up to
$100,000.
Opportunistic merchants are peddling
“Son of Sam” memorabilia — including
Sam T-shirts — and lawyers contacted by
reporters about interviews about the sus
pect begin the conversations by taking
bids on information.
At the arraignment, defense lawyer
Mark Heller entered the innocent plea to
one count of second-degree murder for
the slaying of Miss Moskowitz; attempted
second-degree murder for her date,
Robert Violante; and one count each of
felonious assault and weapons possession.
Berkowitz, who was indicted Monday in
the Moskowitz attack July 31, still could
be indicted on similar charges this week in
the New York boroughs of the Bronx and
Queens, the scenes of previous ambushes
by the .44-caliber killer.
As police clamped down on the official
flow of information, there were rafts of
new reports and rumors.
In suburban Westchester County, au
thorities quoted Berkowitz as saying he
shot an elderly woman in Yonkers with a
.45-caliber semi-automatic rifle earlier this
year, but they could find no evidence to
confirm it.
The New York Daily News reported
today that Berkowitz told police he stab
bed a young woman in the Bronx in 1975.
When police qustioned the woman at the
time, she reportedly gave them a descrip
tion of an attacker which fit Berkowitz
“very closely.”
Brezhnev willing to work
for better U.S. relations
United Press International
MOSCOW — President Leonid
Brezhnev, in a direct answer to President
Carter’s calls for warmer U.S.-Soviet rela
tions, says he “will willingly look for
mutually acceptable solutions” if Carter is
serious.
“I would like to stress one thing now,”
Brezhnev said last night. “If a good initia
tive appears anywhere, we are always
ready to respond to it.”
His remarks at a dinner for visiting
Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito came
less than a month after Carter’s July 21
speech in Charleston, S.C., in which Car
ter called for U.S.-Soviet agreement on
strengthening world peace.
In that speech. Carter called for “be-
Elvis Presley dies of "erratic heartbeat’
United Press International
P IPHIS, Tenn. — Elvis Presley,
jelvis became part of the sensuous
that made him a rock ‘n’ roll
Ifor a generation, died of an “erratic
lat” yesterday in the 18-room man-
|ere he lived as a virtual hermit.
»dy of the 42-year-old singer was
ace down on the bathroom floor of
ind by his road manager, Joe Es-
at 2:30 p.m., but doctors said he
ave been dead since 9 a.m.
erry Francisco, the Shelby County
examiner, said an autopsy indi-
fesley died of “cardiac arrythmia, ”
le described as a “severely irregu-
rtbeat. ’
precise cause of death may never
overed,” said Francisco, who per
formed the autopsy on Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. after the civil rights leader was
assassinated in Memphis in 1968.
Presley suffered from high blood pres
sure and “some coronary artery disease,”
Francisco said, and these two diseases
could have been responsible for the car
diac arrythmia.
Funeral home spokesman Jim Stewart
said Presley’s body would be taken to his
Graceland Mansion sometime today
where the public will be able to view it
from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Private services have been scheduled
by the family for 2 p.m. Thursday at
Graceland. Burial will be at Forest Hills
Cemetery where Presley’s mother is
buried. Stewart said the body will be
arter efforts focus
i foreign relations
buried in a seamless, solid copper casket
and placed in a mausoleum.
Both Francisco and Dr. George
Nichopoulos, Presley’s personal physi
cian, said there were no traces of drugs
other than the medicine the singer was
taking for hypertension and a colon prob
lem.
Presley, who catapulted to fame and
fabulous wealth in the 1950s with such hits
as “Hound Dog” and “Heartbreak Hotel, ”
had visited a dentist Monday night and
returned to Graceland to play racquet ball
with members of his entourage until 6
a.m. yesterday.
Esposito found him yesterday after
noon, lying fully clothed on a bathroom
floor.
“He was lying on his face on the floor,”
said Nichopoulos. “The people in the
house with him were asleep and were not
aware that anything abnormal had trans
pired. ”
However, when Esposito sounded the
alarm, the mansion became a scene of “to
tal confusion,” the doctor said. “Everyone
was running around trying to call an ambu
lance.
Esposito tried to give Presley mouth-
to-mouth resuscitation and Nichopoulos
took over when he arrived at 2:35 p.m.
“I am sure he was dead at that time, but
we continued resuscitation because his
pupils were small, ” Nichopoulos said, add
ing that a dying person’s pupils usually di
late.
During the seven-minute trip by ambu
lance to Baptist Hospital, two technicians
tried to revive Presley with a cardiopul
monary resuscitation machine. “There was
no response,” said Charlie Crosby, one of
the technicians. A team of doctors at the
hospital continued the effort but gave up
at 3:30 p.m.
Nichopoulos returned to Graceland to
United Press International
MONT, Md. — President Car-
sh from having won Gerald Ford’s
Jt for the new Panama Canal accord,
tlTwoday to the problem of U.S. rela-
\ liith the two Chinas.
ain farmers
ive new plan
crop surplus
United Press International
INGTON — Agriculture De
nt officials yesterday announced a
lich will allow grain farmers to keep
F their holdover 1976 crops off the
harvest-season market this fall,
tction, which allows producers to
price support loan maturity dates
Oct. 31, “will give farmers the op-
continuing to hold their grain in
>f higher market prices, ” officials
a statement.
r the plan, growers holding 1976
ipport loans expiring at the end of
nth and at the end of September
if they choose to — extend the
'dates until Oct. 31.
ending the loans gives farmers
al time to decide on how to dis-
the old grain and will keep it off
ket during a period when prices
lly at or close to seasonal lows,
r the support loan program, farm-
» crops as collateral for Agriculture
ifttnent loans at rates based on an-
support prices for the crops,
le loan matures, 12 months after it
1, the farmer can pay off the loan
his crop on the open market or he
eit the grain to the government -
p the loan money,
als estimated the volume of 1976
ms due to expire in the period af-
y the new move will be 17 million
illion bushels of corn and other
ains plus 56 million bushels, or
more, of wheat.
ntrast, this year’s crops are ex-
:o have more than 2 billion bushels
at and 6.1 billion bushels of corn.
He planned to meet Secretary of State
Cyrus Vance and National Security Ad
viser Zbigniew Brzezinski at Camp David
this afternoon. Vance leaves for China
Saturday.
On Monday, Sen. Edward M. Ken
nedy, D-Mass., proposed that the Carter
administration set the stage for resuming
full diplomatic relations with China in
1978 while maintaining “unofficial rela
tions” with Taiwan.
Carter expressed similar hopes in a
news conference several weeks ago.
“My hope is that we can work out an
agreement with the People’s Republic of
China, having full diplomatic relations
with them and still make sure that the
peaceful lives of the Taiwanese, the Re
public of China is maintained,” Carter
said.
Carter expressed appreciation for
Ford’s endorsement of the treaties “so
clearly important to our national interest
and security.”
Carter was in the third day of a seven-
day “generally relaxing” stay at Camp
David.
He swam in the outdoor pool yesterday
with his wife Rosalynn, who was described
as “feeling just great after minor
gynecological surgery at Bethesda Naval
Hospital Monday. Carter also went bicy
cling with their 9-year-old daughter, Amy.
Powell said the National Security Coun
cil is studying a report on the neutron
bomb but it is not expected to reach Car
ter for several days. “It’s going through a
process and the President has not seen it
yet,” he said.
The neutron warheads, to be used an
tactical weapons, kill people through radi
ation, not blast or flame. It is, as Carter
said in Yazoo City, Miss., “horrible.”
In Yazoo City, Carter laid out the pros
and cons. He said if the United States or
an ally is invaded and American forces
moved in, “you would not want to have
flames and long-lasting radiation.”
“The neutron bomb radiation is quick
acting and it’s gone,” he said.
The argument against the neutron
bomb, he said, is that because it is “clean”
there might be more temptation to use it.
Tanzanian minister visits
campus; talks with Miller
Tanzanian Minister of Agriculture
John Malecela says he had already
acquired a healthy dose of “Aggie
spirit” during the early part of his
five-day visit here at Texas A&M
University.
His visit will include briefings on
Texas A&M’s programs of range sci
ence, agriculture, animal science,
soil-crop science and agricultural
economics.
The university’s students and fac
ulty also received a standing invita
tion to visit Tanzania which was is
sued during a meeting Monday
morning between minister Malecela
and Texas A&M President Jarvis
Miller.
President Miller spent several
years overseas with the university’s
international program. He recalled
his trip to Tanzania in 1973, prompt
ing an invitation from Minister
Malecela to return for a longer visit
along with a second invitation for
the students and faculty to come
and study or conduct research, par
ticularly those involved in animal
science.
Minister Malecela noted that as a
developing nation, Tanzania needed
to overcome some problems to
allow business diversification which
would stimulate economic growth.
One of these problems, which he
noted could be overcome with help
from U.S. universities, is the eradi
cation of the tsetse fly which affects
both man and beast in Central Af
rica.
President Miller cited Texas
A&M’s activities conducted through
its International Programs Office.
One of the programs involves
providing technical assistance to the
Tanzania government in livestock
marketing.
Minister Malecela also visited
Tanzanian students enrolled at Texas
A&M.
Tanzanian Minister of Agriculture John Malecela is wel
comed to Texas A&M University by President Jarvis Miller.
tell Presley’s father, Vernon, that his son
was dead. Vernon broke the news to Pres
ley’s only child, Lisa Marie, 9, the sing
er’s daughter by his divorced wife, Pris
cilla. Also at the mansion was Ginger Al-
den, a 20-year-old Memphis beauty queen
soon to be Presley’s second wife.
As word of Presley’s death was flashed
to the world, radio stations around the na
tion began playing the singer’s records.
Record shops, which in 22 years of the
singer’s career sold 400 million Presley al
bums, were jammed with buyers.
Presley rose from poverty in his native
Tupelo, Miss., and Memphis, where he
cut grass and drove a truck to pay for the
cutting of a record that eventually caught
the ear of recording executives.
He became a multimillionaire, but in
recent years, he also became more and
more reclusive, expressing fear of flying
and of the press of his fans. He rarely left
his Graceland mansion, even renting
theaters and excluding all but a few per
sonal friends whenever he wanted to see a
Schedule set
for delayed
fall registration
The fall schedule for Texas A&M Uni
versity’s delayed registration, late regis
tration and add-drops has been an
nounced.
Delayed registration begins Monday,
Aug. 22, and will continue through Friday
in G. Rollie White Coliseum, which will
be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except
from noon to 1 p.m.
All new students except freshmen can
get card packets in the foyer of the Richard
Coke Building during this period. Stu
dents who were enrolled at Texas A&M
during the spring semester may secure a
card packet in their major department.
After a student has secured a card
packet, he must obtain a course request
from his departmental registration ad
visor. The student takes this to the col
iseum to complete registration. Fees will
be paid and a schedule secured the follow
ing day in the exhibit hall of Rudder Cen
ter.
Late registration follows the same pro
cedure as delayed registration and will run
from Monday, August 29, through Friday.
The drop-add period or change of regis
tration will be on weekdays beginning
Monday, Aug. 22. Students who wish to
change their schedules must first get their
departmental registration advisors to
complete a schedule revision request.
The student must take a schedule revi
sion request to the drop-add headquarters
in G. Rollie White Coliseum. A computer
schedule must be presented with the re
quest at this station. The student then will
report to the drop-add headquarters after
8 a.m. the following day to pick up a re
vised computer schedule.
The last day for enrolling in the univer
sity or adding new courses is Friday,
Sept. 2. The last day for dropping classes
with no record is Tuesday, Sept. 13.
yond the cool calculations of mutual self-
interest that our two countries bring to the
negotiating table. ”
“We are all familiar with the latest
statements by President Carter,”
Brezhnev said. “He speaks, in particular, ’
about the U.S. desirability of developing
Soviet-U.S. relations in the interests of
strengthening universal peace.
“Compared with the previous moves by
the U.S. administration,” Brezhnev said,
“these statements sound positive. Well, if
there is a wish to translate them into the
language of practical deeds, we will
willingly look for mutually acceptable so
lutions.”
But the conciliatory tone of his speech
did not prevent Brezhnev from criticizing
Carter’s decision to back production of
cruise missiles and neutron bombs as the
possible start of another round in the
weapons race.
Brezhnev also blamed “imperialist cir
cles” for launching a “propaganda cam
paign against Socialist countries” — an
apparent reference to Carter’s human
rights campaign. “The point is that the
hostile campaign is used as a smoke screen
for another round of the arms race,” the
Soviet president said.
Despite the “negative features” in cur
rent U.S.-Soviet relations, Brezhnev said,
“we do not hold at all that they alone de
termine the situation in the world.”
He said successful relations among
states with different social systems is con
stantly evident and pointed to the 1975
Helsinki pacts, signed by 35 nations, as an
example of steadily improving world con
ditions.
Resources Board
appoints Nemir
acting director
United Press International
AUSTIN — Hugh C. Yantis and James
M. Rose, both top candidates to head the
state’s new super water agency, both lost
yesterday.
The Water Resources Development
Board notified Yantis, longtime chief of
the Texas Water Quality Board, and Rose,
current Water Development Board direc
tor, neither would head the agency.
Instead, the board named Rose’s assis
tant, Charles E. Nemir, to serve as acting
director until the board agreed on a per
manent selection for the $43,700-a-year
job.
This year the legislature voted to merge
the Water Development Board, Water
Quality Board and Water Rights Commis
sion into one operation, effective Sept. 1.
Rose, 56, told reporters he was offered a
permanent $40,000-a-year post with the
agency but declined it. He said he would
instead start his own private business in
the water development field.
Yantis, 63, was on vacation. He issued a
departure memo to his staff but did not
indicate what he plans to do.
The board approved a temporary $19.17
million budget for the agency for the fiscal
year beginning Sept. 1, but indicated
there may be changes in the spending
plan.
“It will be a beginning point for the new
executive director,” one staff member
said. “There’s adequate salaries to protect
all the three agencies’ employes in the
merger process.”
Nemir, 45, is a former petroleum engi
neer for Texaco and joined the Water De
velopment Board in 1967. He was named
assistant executive director in 1972.
Yantis has been executive director of
the Water Quality Board since the agency
was created in 1967. Rose became execu
tive director of the Water Development
Board in 1976 after a three-year stint as
special assistant, energy advisor and direc
tor of planning coordination for Gov.
Dolph Briscoe.