Sip.
Tie Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 8
10 Pages
Monday, September 12, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
«J«¥ fox
Mideast cholera epidemic
worsens with pilgrimage
SCREEfcl
ITS 8:35 f
United Press International
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Arab nations, hit
by a severe outbreak of cholera that has
killed at least 68 persons, are racing to
control the disease before it is spread
across the Middle East by the annual
pilgrimage to Mecca.
Syria, where the disease broke out last
month and where all of the reported
deaths have occurred, announced yester
day that schools, scheduled to open Satur
day, would not resume until at least Oct. 1
in an attempt to halt the outbreak.
More than 2,000 cases of cholera have
been reported in Syria and the disease has
spread to four other Arab nations and to
the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the Jor
dan River.
The first of hundreds of thousands of
devout Moslems have already set out over
land for Mecca in a pilgrimage that will
peak in about two months time.
"If we don’t curb the cholera by then,
things could get much, much worse,” said
one Beirut doctor.
"What can you do?” the doctor said.
“The disease is spread through human car
riers — from contaminated water and food
sources — and it’s safe to say you’ll find all
these elements in abundance on the Hajj
(pilgrimage) to Mecca.”
Cholera is characterized by acute
diarrhea and vomiting and can be fatal if
untreated.
Jordan and Lebanon have reported 165
and 11 cases respectively and both nations
have banned food imports from neighbor
ing Syria.
Kuwait also has reported one cholera
case. Two have been reported on the
Israeli-occupied West Bank. And a West
German truck driver who recently re
turned from the Middle East yesterday
was reported by health authorities to be
‘‘suffering from cholera.”
Late last night, Saudi Arabian health of
ficials reported "several isolated cases” of
cholera in the area north of Mecca.
The threat of cholera was not expected
to deter pilgrims who, in many cases, have
pooled a lifetime’s savings to fulfill the
supreme duty of the Moslem devout.
So the Arab world is hoping to control
the cholera before most of the pilgrims set
out.
Jordan has said none of the pilgrims will
be allowed to enter Jordanian cities on the
way to Mecca and announced it is setting
up “health centers” on some desert routes
to the holy city.
Balloon in trouble over ocean
Champ ‘Skis' Aggieland
brld freestyle ski champion Wayne Wong maneuvered his way across
lount Aggie” when he visited Texas A&M last weekend. Won’s free-
|le demonstration was sponsored by the A&M Ski Club.
Battalion photo by James Yeager
United Press International
BEDFORD, Mass. — A ground crew
said today it has regained radio contact with
two balloonists over Greenland who are
attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
The craft was spotted at 5:45 a.m. EDT
by a Navy aircraft about 200 miles southeast
of Kardit, Greenland, flying at an altitude
of 9,500 feet, members of the ground crew
said.
The ground crew had asked airplanes in
the area to fly by the balloon carrying Ben
Abruzzo, 47, and Maxie Anderson, 44,
both of Albuquerque, N.M., to see if it was
in distress. There has never been a success
ful crossing of the Atlantic by balloon.
“The pilots are in good condition,” said
Mike Leavitt, a spokesman for Weather
Services Corp. at the Bedford weather sta
tion tracking the helium-filled balloon. But
he said "further flight plans are unavailable
at this time.”
Before the sighting, the ground crew
said they had not been in radio contact with
Abruzzo and Anderson since 1 p.m. Sun
day.
Leavitt said satellite information showed
the balloon was flying in a 100-mile diame
ter circle about 180 miles southeast of
Greenland, “a couple of hours” behind
schedule.
The balloon — the Double Eagle — had
covered 1,800 miles of its 3,000-mile jour
ney by 3:30 a.m. today, and the silver-
and-black craft was scheduled to reach
Europe early Tuesday in its quest to be the
first to successfully cross the Atlantic.
Leavitt said weather in the craft’s path
was “supposed to clear up a little today.”
The trackers said Sunday the two men
should reach Europe somewhere between'
southern England and southern Norway.
They at first had hoped to catch a more
southerly arc of air and wind up in France.
Abruzzo and Anderson left Marshfield,
Mass, at 8:16 p.m. Friday. Their balloon
was stocked with food, emergency survival
equipment and air and surface radio
equipment.
Their gondola can float if it should be
forced down at sea.
|oter registration questionnaires
uld affect Prairie View election
MARY ALICE WOODHAMS
Battalion Staff
ke’s a “catch” for student voters in
|r County—particulary students who
iPrairie View A&M. County officials
Ire them to fill out questionnaires
1 they register to vote, despite warn-
pm Secretary of State Mark White to
he procedure.
questionnaires ask, among other
the students’ residency. And Wal-
Jounty Judge Jack Taylor says that if a
Int registers his car in the county, he
be eligible to vote.
fere just doing exactly what we’ve
is done,” Taylor told a reporter last
I ‘ We re just doing the job like it
llegal parking
mtinues to keep
wreckers busy
By MARGIE SANTAMARIA
[ Parking in University Square can
sexpensive. In spite of the 16 warn-
bg signs, non-customers continue to
[lake use of the parking area located
lext to the stores at the corner of S.
|ollege and University.
I pay people to sit over there to
pot. And if they see somebody get-
jngoutof their car and walk across to
ampus, we tow their car off,” said
Dave Drechesel, part owner of the
lewly formed D&H Wrecker Ser-
|ice.
A&M Wrecker Service, formerly
Iwned by Sparkey Hardee, previ
ously serviced University Center,
lut the company was dissolved about
nree weeks ago.
Drechesel, former manager of
Wrecker Services, has now
prmed D&H Wrecker Service with
Jis silent partner Sparkey Hardee.
When asked if D&H had received
Iny lawsuits for illegal towing,
Jrechesel replied, “No, and I don’t
kant to go to court. These little nit-
picky law suits are ridiculous. It’s a
(vaste of their time and they don’t
vin the cases. It’s a waste of my
fime.
The legal files, from the office of
jhe justice of the peace from Precinct
show seven lawsuits filed against
Wrecker Service for illegal to-
ving in University Square.
In six days D&H has towed away
J12cars from University Square, cost-
png owners $35 per car. That is $5
nore per car than A&M charged.
Some vehicles involve more time
ud money for towing, Drechesel
^aid. “If it has a lock-in steering
vheel, usually the transmission locks
so then I’d just have to charge an
[extra $7 to drop the drive shaft and
[then tow it,” he said.
Drechesel said the first impulse of
[some who fail to notice the signs is to
[report the vehicle stolen.
He added that the College Station
[Police Department can direct these
[motorists to 1102 Groesbeck in
[Bryan, where D&H is located.
should be done. If they (students) have
any claim at all in the county, we register
them.”
White told county officials to stop using
the questionnaire, and that he would seek
an injunction if the request was not fol
lowed. The emergency rule, adopted on
Sept. 1, states that no questionnaire or ad
ditional information may be required of an
applicant who has properly completed a
voter registration application.
But County Tax-Assessor-Collector
Leroy Symm says he gives the question
naires because he “wants to know who the
people in his county are.”
Symm told a Battalion reporter last
week that if he (the reporter) came down
to Waller county, Symm would “slap him
with a questionnaire also.”
Symm added that some of the question
naires are received and registered with the
county, and some are not.
According to a government attorney,
Symm apparently registers voters for
three reasons: they are on county tax rolls,
they are personal acquaintances of Symm,
or they satisfactorily fill out the question
naires.
Prairie View Mayor Eristus Sams said at
least 2,000 students at the university are
being denied their vote as a result of the
questionnaire.
"It’s enough to make a difference in the
election,” he told United Press Interna
tional. “The students are up in arms, won
dering why all the other students can vote
and they can’t.”
School officials were unavailable for
comment.
County officials say they will provide
the Justice Department information
within 60 to 90 days regarding the 500 new
voters who registered in 1976 and 1977.
And Symm, a part-time watch repair
man who says he doesn’t like publicity, is
being threatened with several lawsuits.
Admiral predicts women
soon will sail with Navy
ATT wants high court
to kill antitrust case
United Press Internationa]
WASHINGTON — The American
Telephone and Telegraph Co. wants the
Supreme Court to quash the biggest anti
trust suit of all time, claiming it might cost
more than $500 million just to prepare a
defense against efforts to break up the Bell
System.
“This case is out of control and some
thing must be done to restore some
semblance of rationality to (it) if it is not to
go down ... as the single most wasteful,
futile exercise ever attempted by our legal
system,” AT and T said in its appeal to the
high court.
The court will decide sometime after it
resumes session in October whether to ac
cept the case or let stand a lower-court
ruling unfavorable to AT and T.
The federal anti-trust suit against the
telephone company, the world’s biggest
privately-owned corporation, dates from
1974. It still is in the preliminary stages as
AT and T tries to dispute the Justice De
partment’s right to file such a suit.
The department charges that the com
pany is a monopoly, conspiring to elimi
nate competition in violation of the Sher
man Anti-Trust Act.
It wants AT and T divested of the West
ern Electric Co., one of its major sub
sidiaries in the Bell Telephone System,
and removal of some or all of the “Long
Lines” operations.
The company and its subsidiaries claim
they are regulated by the Federal Com
munications Commission — not the Jus
tice Department — and therefore are not
subject to the Sherman Anti-trust Act.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Waddy,
however, ruled in favor of the govern
ment’s position that, while some aspects of
AT&T’s activities might fall under FCC
jurisdiction, others are subject to court
scrutiny.
A U.S. Court of Appeals declined to re
view Waddy’s decision.
Appealing to the Supreme Court, the
companies called attention to Attorney
General Griffin Bell’s comment, in a re
cent magazine interview, that the case
may be “beyond the capacity of the courts”
to handle.
The appeal says the cost of litigation “is
certain to be staggering” — including $335
to $530 million in expenses and the efforts
of about 3,000 persons merely to assemble
and analyze documents necessary for trial
preparation.
AT and T, which reported assets of $67
billion at the time the suit was filed, ac
quired Western Electric, now the
foremost developer of telecommunications
equipment, in 1882. It now owns or is af
filiated with 23 companies that make up
the Bell System.
Tyler law suit
attacks alien
tuition charges
United Press International
TYLER — A federal judge has issued a
temporary injunction preventing the
school district from charging tuition for
children of illegal aliens, clearing the way
for them to begin school today.
U.S. District Judge William Wayne Jus
tice ruled yesterday the school board may
not assess the $1,000 per student fee until
he rules on the merits of a suit filed by the
Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund on
behalf of four unnamed illegal alien
families.
“Apparently there is some question at
this point in Judge Justice’s eyes about the
state statutes,” an attorney for the school
system said, referring to provisions of the
Texas Education Code which permit the
• charging of tuition.
School Superintendent Jim Plyler said
the 15 children of the plaintiffs and any
other illegal aliens would be allowed to
enter school today, pending Justice’s final
ruling in the matter.
The school board planned to meet in
emergency session late today to discuss the
court order.
By ROBIN LINN
Women will soon be piloting jets
off training carriers and serving on
support ships, said Rear Admiral
Fran McKee Saturday. McKee is
the first woman officer selected for
flag rank in the Navy.
Laws preventing women from
working on Navy ships will soon be
changed, she said.
“The law will be modified so that
women will be assigned to ships
which are not in combat roles, such
as store ships and aircraft carriers
used only for training.
McKee was in College Station to
review the Corps march-in to Kyle
Field before the A&M-Kansas foot
ball game.
The Admiral is the first woman of
ficer to review the Corps in its 101-
year history.
A spokesman for the Naval ROTC
unit on campus said there were
plans to show the Admiral Aggie
friendliness by taking her to the
Lakeview Club Friday night, but
schedule changes delayed her arri
val until Saturday morning.
McKee said that it is easy for ad
mirals to become bored with brief
ings. She enjoys getting out and see
ing the end product of her job: the
administration of the 58 Naval
ROTC units and several graduate
schools across the nation.
McKee said that since she as
sumed her new job in 1976, she
hasn’t had much time for her fa
vorite type of relaxation—driving
her silver Corvette.
When McKee was stationed in
Rhoda, Spain, she said she entered
several road rallies and autocross
races “just for the fun of it.”
She said the role of women in the
military will continue to grow, and
noted that the number of women in
the service has tripled in recent
years.
She added that the introduction
of women to Navy ships will be a
slow, planned process.
“We re not rushing into this head
first, she said.
The Admiral said that women are
presently teaching navigation at the
Naval Academy and at Surface War
fare Officer School, a training school
required of all officers who operate
ships in the fleet.
In a lecture before the game,
McKee spoke to Naval ROTC cadets
about the importance of spirit,
which she said was common on the
A&M campus.
T can’t believe anything is more
important in this country than
spirit,” she said. “Successful people
I know who can look back and say, T
made it’ had spirit.”
it
I
ME i i
i a
(left to right) Col. M. H. Ivins, professor of
Naval science. Rear Admiral Fran McKee, Di
rector of Naval Education and Training and
General (Ret.) O. R. Simpson, preparing to re
view the Corps before the A&M-Kansas game.
Battalion photo by Robin Linn