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. _