Vol. 71 No. 140
12 Pages
Battalion
Thursday, April 20, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Thursday
An Aggie Muster kit, p. 8.
How to live longer, p. 7.
Aggies look to Tech series, p. 10
anamanian chief
owed intervention
United Press International
NAMA CITY — Chief of State Gen.
Torrijos, vowing to “destroy the ca-
ifU.S. troops ever invade Panama,
s army was poised to “intervene in
S. Canal Zone had the Senate re
el the Panama Canal Treaty.
pile the stern tone of his statement,
Ijos appeared buoyant as he went on
iouwide television minutes after the
ite in Washington Tuesday.
As Torrijos met with reporters later,
000 ’anamanians celebrated the treaty’s
lition in a downtown Panama City plaza
iil< only blocks away 600 leftist students
ild a protest rally.
■hese treaties are going to bring a mas-
ire and blood to our people, chanted the
fcts, who want control of the canal now
■not in 1999 as the treaty provides,
■rijos is nothing but a puppet of the
garchy."
Some Americans living in the Canal
ini expressed anger or resignation over
enate voted, but others expressed re-
fliecause the treaty’s adoption defused
fears of violent attacks on U.S. property.
Torrijos told reporters there would have
been trouble if the Senate had not ap
proved the treaty or amended it in a way
unacceptable to Panama.
“The armed forces had decided that if the
treaty had been rejected or not acceptable
to Panama, they would have intervened in
the Canal by Wednesday morning,” he
said.
Torrijos also vowed Panama will destroy
the strategic 51-mile canal if Washington
ever tries to make use of a treaty amend
ment giving it the right to intervene
militarily in Panama to keep the canal
open.
“If we are invaded, we will destroy the
canal,” he said. “We are capable of destroy
ing it. The National Guard has the capabil
ity of destroying it and we don’t intend to
lose that capability.
“Yes, the U.S. troops can intervene, but
when they get here, they’ll find that the
canal has been destroyed. Therefore, their
intervention would not be to defend the
canal.
program for gifted
-)tudents questioned
With the sun comes the sunbather, and finding a secluded
place to lay out becomes a bit of a problem. Pat Collier, a junior
chemical engineering major from Houston, found his place in the
sun at the drill field. With spring fever hitting so many Aggies,
classes have become noticeably thinner these last few weeks.
Battalion photo by Jean Henkhaus
9
zes!
fiy ANDYkLWALLS
Curriculum Committee of the A&M
lidated School Board met Wednes-
Bnight to make a recommendation on
Tlier to reinstate the Gifted and Tal
lied Program for students.
John Reager said the proposed program
Id face some obstacles. The major prob-
Iwould be providing enough space in
; schools for special classrooms for the
ted students. Because of this limited
Reager suggested "cluster group-
I the students.
Jnderthis method, approximately three
five above average students would be
ledin a classroom with 20 to 25 average
i below-average students. This would
lide a heterogenous atmosphere and a
petetive incentive to learn, pointed out
first-grade teacher.
leveral teachers from South Knoll
icntary School supported the cluster
method. One parent said that other stu
dents would learn more from having a
gifted child in the class.
Although many people supported the
proposed program, several parents ex
pressed concern of a label being placed on
children. One parent said that other pro
grams in school would be sacrificed for the
Gifted and Talented Program and that
well-paid teachers should bring out the
best in every student.
Dr. H. R. Burnett, assistant superin
tendent of instruction, said the gifted and
talented students will be selected on the
basis of a test and teacher recom
mendations. A suggestion will be made to
the Board of Trustees to begin the screen
ing of students for the program after the
first six weeks in first grade. The program
will include elementary, middle and high
school students.
Student
Lane as
By ANDY WILLIAMS
Battalion Staff
Johnny Lane was elected speaker of the
student senate at Wednesday night’s
meeting of the new senate.
Campus elections were held April 5-7.
Lane won on the first ballot with 34
votes. The three others who received
votes were: Jeb Hensarling (20), Stan Stan
field (5), and Jerry Risner (1).
Laura Brockman was elected speaker
pro tempore of the senate with 46 votes.
Jerry Risner received 6, Jeff Mason, 4, and
Scott Farthing, 1.
senate elects
new speaker
Lane was president of the Texas A&M
class of 79 this school year.
Lane spoke against the use of parlia
mentary procedure by the speaker to sway
the senate or delay its action. He also said
he would work for a return to “respectabil
ity” for the senate in the eyes of the stu
dent body. He emphasized his knowledge
of parliamentary procedure in his speech
to the senate before the vote.
Lane assumed the office from previous
senate speaker Bobby Tucker just before
the election of the speaker pro tempore.
First readings were heard on seven
bills.
George Black introduced a bill which
would classify students by the first two di
gits of their ID cards in drawing for foot
ball tickets. These digits are the last two
numerals of the year the student entered
Texas A&M. Students with the lowest
numbers will be allowed to draw earliest.
Another bill would require the athletic
department to show on closed circuit tele
vision any sporting event at which 100
students or more were denied seats be
cause of a sell-out.
Debate will be held on these bills at the
May 2 senate meeting.
The newly elected student body presi
dent and five vice presidents addressed
the senate.
Bobby Tucker, student body president,
said he would be accepting applications for
the next two weeks for appointive pos
itions within student govenment. He said
he was purposely “moving slowly” to give
everyone who wished to a chance to apply.
Kevin Patterson, vice president for stu
dent services, said that the problem of
whether to continue the intra-campus
shuttle bus would be a major issure before
his committee next year. J.C. Colton, vice
president for academic affairs, said that his
committee would study Q-drop policies.
Pre-registration
begins Monday
I9‘
Anyone for Hangman?
John Fallisgaard, an undergraduate in electrical
engineering plays a game of Hangman with one of
the computers to be exhibited in Micro Expo ’78 on
Saturday. This particular model sells for around
$750. The Expo will feature speakers from all over
the United States to speak on a variety of topics
concerning computers. Exhibits of computers for
different applications will be on the 6th floor of
Rudder Tower from 10-6 Saturday.
Battalion photo by Mara Anna Davis
By BETH DZIKOWSKI
Pre-registration tor the tall semester at
Texas A&M University will begin at 8 a. m.
Monday and will continue through Friday
afternoon.
Fall class schedules are available at
Heaton Hall (the old Exchange Store).
Schedules will be available at the Rudder
Tower information center after Friday.
Registration for the first term of the
summer session is set for June 6, and
classes begin June 7. Summer class
schedules also are available in Heaton Hall.
Th ere will be no pre-registration for sum
mer school.
Only students currently enrolled for the
1978 spring semester will be allowed to
pre-register next week, said Willis Ritchey,
associate director of registration.
Each student must obtain a registration
card packet at the office of the head of his
major department. He will fill out a course
request card, which must be approved by
an adviser in his department.
Once a student’s course request card has
been approved, he should go to the exhibit
hall in Rudder Tower to complete the pre
registration process, Ritchey said.
No fees will be collected for the fall
semester during pre-registration. The fis
cal department will mail a bill to the stu
dent’s permanent address in mid-July.
Fees must be paid by August. The fee
receipt and class schedule will then be
mailed to the student, Ritchey said.
Classes for the fall semester will begin
August 28. Ritchey said he expects about
16,000 students to pre-register.
Students with physical disabilities who
need help with any phase of pre
registration should contact the Texas Re
habilitation Commission at 845-4781. Pre
registration for these students is scheduled
for today.
JOHN LANE
New constitution
wins approval
in small turnout
The revised student body constitution
won approval Wednesday by 32 votes and
goes into effect immediately.
Only 170 Aggies cast ballots — 0.07
percent of the student body.
The new constitution created a new pos
ition. The student body president will
select an executive vice president. The
vice president, who must be approved by
the student senate, will automatically as
sume the presidency if the office becomes
vacant.
The speaker of the senate also has ex
panded duties. He will appoint and direct
the new senate internal affairs committee.
This committee will appoint students to fill
vacancies in the senate. Under the old
constitution, the president recommended
students for empty senate seats.
The president and members of the se
nate must also meet the University Rules
and Regulations grade requirements.
Those standards state that a student officer
must post 2.0 grade point ratio each
semester.
Provides food and energy
Expert advises return to sea
Search continues for
Italy's ex-premier
By BENEE’ PEVOTO
Can man ultimately return to the ocean
and make it his mode of life? Yes, according
to Dr. John P. Craven, Dean of Marine
Programs at the University of Hawaii. Cra
ven spoke on the environment of oceans,
Wednesday at the Rudder Tower.
“The ocean is only a place and everything
we do on land, we can do in the ocean,” said
Craven. He said it is only a question of
being able to transform our culture back to
a predominantly ocean culture. “We must
have ocean law, ocean living, ocean art,
ocean poetry and ocean music,” said Cra
ven.
“Energy costs a lot more on land than it
does on the ocean, ” Craven said. As expen
sive as energy is, we must change to a low
energy sociefy, he said.
Craven said, the main debate between
researchers and environmentalists is that
the ocean is a fragile environment in danger
of dying and that we should stay away from
it in order to preserve it. Researchers be
lieve the ocean is a resource vital to our
world and should be exploited for the bene
fit of our nation.
Nuclear fall-out and heavy metal depo
sits entering into the food chain would be
the biggest problem if man were to make
the ocean his permanent home, Craven
said. He said that the ocean is capable of
purifying light waste disposal. The ocean
has good opportunity for food, shelter, and
clothing. Craven added. Studies on an
“Aquapolis,” or “water city” are in progress
at the University of Hawaii.
Craven said that although the ocean is a
main source for food and energy, it should
not be exploited for economical and social
benefits.
Craven received his bachelor’s degree at
Cornell University, his master’s from
California Institute of Technology, and his
doctorate from University of Iowa. He also
earned a law degree at George Washington
University.
Craven is an original member of the Na
tional Advisory Council on Oceans and At
mospheres. He also served on President
Nixon’s Special Advisory Committee on
Marine Sciences and as past National Pres
ident of the Marine Technology Society.
Craven is also the Hawaii State Marine Af
fairs Coordinator, and Director of the Law
of Sea Institute. As the chief scientist of the
Special Projects Office at the United States
Naval Bureau of Weapons, Craven re
ceived the “Distinguished Civilian Service
Award” for the United States Department
of Defense.
United Press International
ROME — Officials searching for kid
napped ex-Premier Aldo Moro today de
nied a police report that a body had been
found in an ice-covered lake where a pur
ported Red Brigades communique said his
corpse had been dumped.
An anonymous caller claiming to repre
sent the Red Brigades said the political
leader, kidnapped March 16, was “exe
cuted” only Wednesday and charged that
the earlier message was “false. ”
Searchers said police jumped the gun on
“traces” of something being found at the
search site and mistakenly said that a de
composing corpse had been found in
Duchess Lake and quoted search officials
as denying it was Moro’s.
“This is the Red Brigades,’’ the
anonymous caller told the Italian news
agency ANSA in Rome today. “Com
munique No. 7 is false. Moro did not die
as announced by Rome newspaper II Mes-
saggero. But he was executed yesterday at
6 p.m. (noon EST). A communique will
follow.”
ANSA said it had no way of checking
whether the message was genuine as the
caller hung up immediately.
In Turin, a second message was deli
vered to ANSA saying that Moro would be
freed after the release of “Communist
prisoners.”
The message, signed by the Red
Brigades but not yet authenticated, said
the government had exactly 48 hours to
make up its mind.
There has been widespread speculation
that Tuesday’s communique saying Moro’s
body was in the mountain lake was false.
Some of the speculation said Tuesday s
communique was aimed at sending police
on a wild goose chase while the Red
Brigades took some action, such as moving
the ex-premier from one hideout to
another.