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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1977)
The Battalion Vol. 71 No. 71 8 Pages Monday, December 12, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Inside Today: Married student housing on the de cline, p.2 Students’ spending habits surveyed, P-3 Aggies beat Oral Roberts University 79-73, p.8 armers meet ith Mondale SALE United Press International i| They snarled traffic, burned the Ag- i culture Secretary in effigy and hoisted facards that read, “No Deal, No Meal. I at the most important part of a weekend protests by the nation’s farmers may be few water-soaked sheets of notes given to ice President Walter Mondale. Leaders of the nationwide farm strike, heduled to begin Wednesday, met Sun- iy night with Mondale at a fund-raising nnerforSen. Floyd Haskell, D-Colo., at eAdams County, Colo., Fairground in olorado. Lonnie Arbuthnot, of Springfield, olo., an organizer with the newly sprung merican Agriculture movement, said ondale “showed genuine concern and terest for the farmers demand for b^eak-even crop prices. He said eight years of agricultural pol- y can’t be reversed in a few short nonths, but he would personally guaran- 1»to take our position and demands to ie president of the United States. “We had accidentally spilled water on Ime notes just telling what the farmers iy) oo 3640 Texans back arm strike United Press International AUSTIN-Some Texas farmers, who say' ley are tired of being doormats, have omised to strike to support break-even strike this week will do,’ said Arbuthnot. Mondale was so concerned that as he was leaving he asked if he could gather up the watersoaked pieces of paper to take back with him and show the president. “That, to me, sir, showed concern.” Strike leaders, who called a meeting today in a Denver hotel, say thousands of farmers will stop selling thier crops Wed nesday unless the government promises them 100 percent parity for their crops.” Tractors, some in convoys stretching for miles, bounced through the streets of at least 30 state capitals of farm states across the nation during the weekend as farmers promoted support for the strike. Flags were draped across tractors, com bines and battered pickup trucks. Hand- lettered placards said: “No Deal, No Meal, “Crime Doesn’t Pay, Neither Does Farming,” and “No Barley, No Beer.” At the White House, farmers in overalls and flannel shirts rejected an appeal to delay the strike. Tractors belched smoke near the Washington Monument and thousands of farmers milled about. President Carter was at Camp David during the protest but Tommy Kersey, a farmer from Unadilla, Ga., said Carter will be met by disgruntled farmers no matter where he decides to spend the Christmas holidays. Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland said Sunday the administration will not give in to demands of the farmers. Berg land, who was burned in effigy in Okla homa City Saturday, said he is still uncer tain what effect the strike will have. Plane crashes, kills 13 aboard Bert and Ernie? Battalion photo by Ken Herrera Pat Hales, sophomore accounting major, poses with his pocket pal in front of the Physics Building. Hales says his sister gave him the doll because she thinks the two look alike. United Press International VALVERDE, Canary Islands - U.S. mil itary personnel today opened an investiga tion into the crash of a low-flying Navy reconnaissance plane against a foggy mountainside in the Canary Islands. Police in Valverde - the main town in the island of Hierro, one of the Spanish Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean - said they recovered 13 bodies from the wrec kage. There were no survivors. The four-engine turboprop Lockheed P-3 Orion, apparently on a training flight out of the U.S. Lajes military base in the Portuguese Azores Islands, smashed into a wooded slope Sunday and scattered debris for more than 2,000 feet. “The bodies were so badly burned and mutilated and the plane so smashed that it was difficult to identify where the plane came from, ’ said a police spokesman in Valverde. “But from the boots and the uni forms and a piece of burned paper that said Florida we decided they were Americans. U.S. officials had no immediate details on the cause of the crash, but the Ameri can Embassy in Madrid said military in vestigators from the Rota Navy Base in southern Spain were flying to Hierro to day. A Navy spokesman in Washington said the names of the victims would be with held until relatives were notified. The plane and crew were permanently based in Brunswick, Maine, but Rota had been their cials said. main overseas base, U.S. ofli- SALE 69.5(1 41.00 The farmers, who say they will take part the nationwide farm strike that is heduled to begin Wednesday, gathered ir a rally during the weekend. More than 400 smoke-belching tractors, undered through downtown Austin and iterrupted busy Christmas shoppers who 24.30 weere and waved the “V for Victory gn in support of their proposed strike. The bright green and red tractors dis- layed signs saying “When we get ours, 31.00 ■mill et yours,” and “If I don’t make ime greens, you don’t get no beans.” ne farmer rode a donkey bearing a sign aiming “On my ass, dragging my feet — D rike for 100 percent parity.’ The farmers circled the Capitol and I arked their machines on the grounds, fill- igthe air with the sound of honking horns id the smell of burning diesel. “You don’t have to be a doormat any lore and we don’t intend to be a doormat ny more,” Oran Watson, a Tulia farmer aid the cheering crowd. “We don’t want nyone to lose economic stability because |f this - we just want to balance the situa- SALE 29.11 19.45 82.49 10.21 89.01) 40.00 Speakers on the Capitol steps included griculture Commissioner Reagan Brown, lep. J.J. Pickle, D-Texas, and representa- ives of consumer groups. Each promised upport of the farm movement. “If the administration doesn't see us, ve re going to lock this place down,” said )avid Samuelson Sr., a state leader in the American Agriculture movement. “We re [oing to have to use these kinds of things, is much as we hate to, but we will if we lave to.” Brown blamed the U.S. Department of Agriculture for most of the farmers’ trou- >le, claiming the federal agency is “more loncemed with food fads, recipes and con- mmer radicals, than farmers welfare. “We re in a helluva shape in this coun- ry,” said Brown, who urged the farmers o carry their message to consumers. “I’d ike to see you make 200 percent parity.” Pickle said he is convinced Congress vants to help farmers, but said the agricul- ure market needs a new approach. “I do know that what we are doing is not iufficient,” he said. “The American farmer itarted this country and we must keep him strong. University President Jarvis Miller prepares to hand out a diploma during graduation ceremonies in G. Rollie White coliseum. Battalion photos by Ken Herrera. A record 1,571 receive diplomas Graduating seniors stand on the floor of G. Rollie White Coliseum after receiving their diplomas last weekend. A record 1,571 students were graduated in Friday’s and Saturday’s ceremonies. Graduates urged to explore fields Texas A&M University December graduates were warned about “ultra-environmentalists” and the hazards of government intervention Saturday. Commencement speaker Paul F. Oreffice, president of Dow Chemical U.S.A., addressed a record 1,571 graduates in G. Rollie White Col iseum. Ninety-eight students re ceived doctoral degrees and 298 were given master’s degrees. Oreffice spoke out against gov ernment intervention and regulation of business. “The answer is not more govern ment, but less government interven tion,” he said. Oreffice also warned that environmental extremists could harm the nation’s standard of living. He urged for a more functional use of natural resources, but said he was not for exploitation of the environ ment. “Ultra-environmentalists are lead ing us down a path so cosdy and mis guided that they indeed threaten our standard of living,” he said. Citing his own “American Dream” rise—from an Italian immigrant to president of one of the largest com panies in the United States— Oreffice called the graduates to be leaders. He advised them to explore their field opportunities and find jobs with which they can remain happy. Gen. Donn A. Starry bestowed military commissions on 72 graduates. Starry is commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doc trine Command at Fort Monroe, Va. High-speed chase ends in 3-car crash By JAMIE AITKEN Battalion Staff A high-speed chase involving a Temple nan, two College Station patrol cars and a Iryan patrol car ended in a three-car mis- ap near University Drive and College Av- 5nue early Sunday morning. No injuries were reported. The incident began at about 1:30 a.m. when Bryan patrolman David Mohr at tempted to stop 22-year-old Larry James Breeden after Breeden’s car allegedly drove through a blinking red light at the intersection of Villa Maria Road and Texas Avenue in Bryan. Mohr said Breeden refused to stop, in stead turning onto Eagle Pass and again onto Broadmoor before heading south on 29th Street. While on Broadmoor, Mohr said Breeden turned into and hit the patrol car. Mohr said he was unsuccessful at forc ing Breeden’s vehicle off of Broadmoor be fore the two turned onto 29th Street. College Station patrolmen Winford Pittman and Gary Norton (who was trans- lorting a prisoner at the time) took up the base at the intersection of University Drive and Tarrow in College Station after Breeden swerved around Norton’s car, which had been positioned across Univer sity Drive’s westbound lane as a road block. According to police reports, Breeden and the pursuing officers reached speeds exceeding 80 mph as they sped through the intersection of University Drive and Texas Avenue heading west on University Drive. Driving along the median, Norton caught up to Breeden’s vehicle and bumped it onto the north shoulder of Uni-, versity Drive where it uprooted a road sign. Breeden’s car then rolled into the eastbound lane of University Drive where it collided with an oncoming vehicle. Nor ton’s car also swerved out of control, com ing to a stop untouched in the eastbound lane. Breeden was charged with driving while intoxicated and evading arrest by the Bryan Police Department, and eluding arrest by the College Station Police Department. He currently is free on $473.50 bond, pending a Dec. 15 hearing. Prisoners visit with families Convict to challenge parole laws United Press International SAN DIEGO — One American, who was returned from a Mexican prison in the weekend’s unprecedented convict swap, plans to challenge the right of the U.S. government to free him under parole supervision. Jim Norton, 54, of Los Angeles, con victed of smuggling cocaine, said many of the 127 Americans repatriated with him would join in the challenge. Norton, who completed four years of a seven-year sentence for the drug charge, said Sunday he signed a voluntray consent to return to the United States, but was under pressure to do so. “There’s going to be a hell of a lot of people who are going to do it (challenge parole provisions),” he said. “You bet we were under pressure and you bet we were under coercion. “I would have signed that I killed 50 people to get out of there, that’s what I would have done. Any everybody else would have done the same thing.” The U.S. Parole Board scheduled hear ings today for some of the American repat riated prisoners with hopes of turning more of them free before Christmas. The first of 44 prisoners eligible for im mediate release were expected on the streets by Tuesday. A busload of prisoners was due today from Tijuana, 20 miles south of San Diego, to join those who arrived by plane from Mexico City. Two more planeloads are due Friday and Saturday to complete the first phase of a prisoner exchange, which was four years in the making. Thirty-six Mexicans were serving time in U.S. jails were flown to Mexico City Friday. The federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego, where the new pris oners are being held, was jammed Sunday with friends and relatives who were al lowed a one-hour visit with the prisoners in spacious visiting rooms, which has no iron bars to separate visitors from inmates. “All the prisoners were happy today with their visitors, but the ones just back from Mexico were the happiest,” one prison official said. The Bureau of Prisons said two-thirds of the returning men and women had been arrested at least once before in the United States and 25 percent of them had prior convictions. The national news agency Cifra said the plane, which is built for submarine surveil lance, was flying at an altitude of 1,200 feet over H ierro, which is the smallest island in the Canaries but has peaks reaching 4,200 feet. Police in Valverde said the first report of the disaster was from a resident who “thought a truck had fallen on the high way. They said the plane was on a routine flight that was to take it out from Lajes and then back to that base, located in the north Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal. The Canaries are located off the north ern curve of the bulge of Africa. Police said the weather over Hierro was overcast, rainy and foggy at the time of the crash. They said it was unusual for a plane to fly over the island, which has only a small landing strip. Strike ends; employees start today Ending an 11-day strike, Aienco chemi cal employees return to work today. An agreement between the company and the union local was reached Sunday afternoon. “Well be going back to work in the morning, said Rita Johnson, vice presi dent of International Chemical Workers Union Local 780, Sunday. Union representatives and the Aienco management reached the agreement at 4 p.m. Sunday, Johnson said. The terms in clude an immediate 40 percent increase in wages, plus another 30 percent in the next two years. A division of Redman Building Prod ucts, Aienco is the second largest em ployer in Bryan-College Station. Texas A&M University is first. The union represents about 500 mem bers working for the company. Union membership is not mandatory, and non members have worked since the strike be gan, Dec. 1. Johnson had said when the strike began that cost-of-living wage increases and in adequate working conditions were the main reasons for the walk-out. Vance touring Mideast to keep talks on track United Press International Israel and Egypt sit down at the bargain ing table this week in Cairo and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance resumed his Middle East tour today to keep the peace efforts on track. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat issued a new blast against his fellow Arab nations Sunday, calling them “mice or monkeys which the Soviet Union juggles with.” He singled out Syria and said, “It does not want peace.” Syrian President Hafez Assad, on a tour of Persian Gulf nations to spur opposition to Sadat, vehemently restated his nation’s de termination to boycott the preparatory peace talks beginning Wednesday in Cairo. Vance, who spent the weekend in Cairo and Jerusalem, left Israel today for a swing through Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Diplomatic sources said he hopes Jordan and Lebanon would enter the peacemaking process at a later stage. The United States is trying to ensure the success of the Cairo talks by persuading more Arab nations to take part and pressur ing Israel to take a conciliatory stand. At the Cairo talks, five seats will be re served for Syria, the Soviet Union, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Jordan and Lebanon. But Egyptian officials said it was virtually certain the five would stick by their pledges to boycott the talks in retaliation for Sadat’s journey to Jerusalem last month. Sadat seemed to seal his break with Syria when he told Cairo’s October magazine Sunday, “I can state categorically that Syria does not want peace. Definitely it does not want peace. ” He said his opponents “have lost every thing. The biggest loser is Hafez: Assad, who lost Egypt and lost me” as; ah ally. - But Assad said in Kuwait that Syria “will not change its anti-Sadat attitude even if it were expose to Israeli aggression or if part of our territory were occupied, ’’ Assad said. “We are strong enough to preserve our dignity and we will not kneel even if it costs us more sacrifices and more Syrian terri tory.” The harsh exchange between Egypt and Syria seemed to provide momentus fqr a separate settlement between Egypt and Is rael, but Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin told a news conference he does not want to exclude other Arab countries from the peace-making process. Attending the talks will be representa tives from Egypt, Israel, the United Na tions’ Ensio Siilasvuo of Finland, who will preside over the sessions. _