The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 147
12 Pages
Monday, May 1, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Monday
• Sheltering Arms — for abused
children, p. 7.
• Rock n’ Roll — really exists,
p. 6.
• The thrill of victory and the agony
of defeat, p. 9.
Nixon says he helped
in Watergate cover-up
The Texas A&M baseball team celebrates its
second consecutive Southwest Conference champ
ionship after winning two games in the three-game
series with Arkansas this past weekend in Fayett-
ville. This party on pitcher’s mound preceded a
ter.i
champagne celebration in the Aggie locker room
after the games. The Aggies won the first two
games, 6-1 and 5-0, while the Razorbacks won
Saturday’s nightcap, 6-5. See related stories on
pages 10-11. Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
SWC
Texas lawyer named
as energy counsel
ggies win
asehall crown
By DAVID BOGGAN
Battalion Sports Editor
Like a team of government agents, the
fimbers of the Texas A&M baseball team
nt on a self-assigned mission this past
;ekend — a mission that took them to
yettville, Ark.
Their assignment was clear. They had to
n two games of the three-game series
:h the University of Arkansas if the Ag-
s were to remain the Southwest Con-
ence champions for the second consecu -
e year.
Mission accomplished.
The Aggies wasted no time in securing
e needed victories. Mark Ross won Fri-
y’s game for the defending champions,
1, and Aggie ace Mark Thurmond shut
lithe Hogs in Saturday’s first game, 5.-0.
Aggie centerflelder Mike Hurdle raised
s arms in victory as Arkansas’ last at-
mpt to rally fell into his glove, clinching
ie championship for Texas A&M.
A 20-minute celebration ensued, as the
entire team and several of 70-plus Aggie
supporters at the game rushed onto the
pitcher’s mound for an impromptu party.
“Now I can relax for the last game,”
Texas A&M coach Tom Chandler said be
fore the nightcap. Maybe the Aggies re
laxed too much, because Arkansas won the
last game in the bottom of the ninth, 6-5.
But Chandler’s crew had what they
wanted — the SWC championship.
“Doesn t it feel great to win!” exclaimed
senior Robert Verde during a champagne
celebration in the locker room after the
game.
Chandler credited Verde and catcher
Buster Turner with giving the Aggies the
momentum in Saturday’s opener when the
Razorbacks had the bases loaded in the
first inning with one out.
“Robert just made one heck of a play
scooping up that grounder and getting it to
Buster at the plate, and Buster got rid of
the ball quick to force turn the double
play,” the Aggie coach said. ‘‘That was
probably the key to the series. If we would
have let them score in that situation, they
would have taken the momentum into the
last game.”
Senior Robert Bonner made several key
plays from his shortstop position, includ
ing breaking a SWC season record for as
sists, 73, and adding to the Aggies season
record for double plays.
“This championship is better than last
year’s,” Bonner said. “Last year, people
said we backed into the championship. We
had our minds made up tha it wasn’t going
to be like that this year. We had to win two
games to take the championship, and we
did it. It was a total team effort.”
“I am very excited and very pleased for
these boys,” Chandler said. “They have
worked so hard this year and I think they
are truly champions. And I’m the luckiest
guy in the world to have a great group of
kids like this.”
United Press International
NEW YORK — In a “selfish” effort to
save his presidency, Richard Nixon con
cedes he fired his close friends John
Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman for cov
ering up Watergate — “things that I my
self was a part of.”
In the first installment of his long-
awaited memoirs published Sunday in The
New York Times and other newspapers,
Nixon broke no new ground about the
scandal that drove him from office. In fact,
his account differed from what some of this
closest associates have written.
The writing was cool, almost detached.
The former president renewed a theme
from his Aug. 8, 1974 resignation speech
— that he had committed no crime or
misdemeanor warranting impeachment,
and was quitting simply because his politi
cal base had eroded.
And there was none of the emotional
catharsis that accompanied portions of Nix
on’s television interviews last summer
with David Frost, when he declared dra
matically: “I have impeached myself. I let
the American people down, and I have to
carry that burden with me for the rest of
my life.”
Nixon’s explanation of the first 12
months of the scandal was in the first of
seven installments excerpted from “RN:
The Memoirs of Richard Nixon,” a
400,000-word book which will be pub
lished May 15 by Grosset and Dunlap.
In it he acknowledges his participation
in efforts to cover up the break-in June 17,
1972 at Democratic headquarters at
Watergate: and concedes that in all of his
statements on the scandal “I failed to tell”
Americans what they wanted to hear —
“how a president of the United States
could so incompetently allow himself to
get in such a situation.
But he says his actions not only were not
criminal, but the result of a series of tacti
cal errors or misjudgements made as the
Watergate web inexorably tightened
around the Oval Office.
“I felt sure it was just a public relations
problem that needed only a a public rela
tions solution,” Nixon wrote.
And when he sought to discredit the tes
timony of his fired counsel, John W. Dean
III, before the Senate Watergate Commit
tee, Nixon acknowledged “I worried about
the wrong problem. I went off on a tangent
by concentrating all our attention and re
sources on trying to refute Dean.
“In the end it would make less differ
ence that I was not as involved as Dean
had alleged than that I was not as involved
as I had claimed.”
Ironically, the first installment came on
the fifth anniversary of the day Nixon ac
cepted the forced resignation of Haldeman
and Ehrlichman with the statement they
were “two of the finest public servants it
has been my privilege to know.”
Ehrlichman was released Thursday from
federal prison in Safford, Ariz. He had
served 18 months for conspiracy and per
jury in the Watergate coverup and the
break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s
psychiatrist.
Haldeman, serving his Watergate
cover-up sentence at the Lompoc, Calif.,
prison farm, will be eligible for parole in
mid-June. Federal parole officials will
interview him Tuesday and Wednesday.
A third Nixon confidant, former Attor
ney General John Mitchell, is on surgical
furlough from the prison at Maxwell Air
Force, Ala. It is considered doubtful he
ever will go back, since he too is eligible
for parole in mid-June.
“I knew instinctively that Haldeman
and Ehrlichman were going to have to
leave the White House,” Nixon wrote. “I
recognized that if they had stayed, they
would damage the White House and dam
age me.
“But th ere were things that I had
known. I had talked with Charles Colson
about clemency. I, too, had suspected Jeb
Magruder (a re-election official) was not
telling the truth, but I had done nothing
about my suspicions. And I had been
aware that attorneys’ fees and family sup
port funds were going to the defendents.
“The difference between us was that
Haldeman and Ehrlichman had become
trapped by the circumstantial involve
ment; so far, I was not. ”
Four A&M students
injured in car wreck
Four Texas A&M University students
were hospitalized Friday afternoon after a
head-on collision one-half mile west of
College Station on FM 60.
Two of the students, Cynthia Hertz and
Barbara Miller, received head injuries and
were taken to Methodist Hospital in Hous
ton. Both of them were still in intensive
care Saturday morning.
Two others were admitted to St. Joseph
Hospital in Bryan. Joy Krueger was in
good condition after surgery Friday night
and Colleen Vanderhider was treated for
lacerations and held for observation.
A fifth student involved in the wreck,
Gary Woodring, was released after treat
ment at St. Joseph. Woodring and his
passenger, Hertz, were traveling west
when Woodring’s car and an eastbound
tractor-trailer truck collided. Woodring’s
car spun and collided with an eastbound
car containing the other three students.
Both cars were damaged and were
towed away. The truck driver, Johnny
Caudillo of Grand Prairie, was not injured.
Israeli troops withdraw
from South Lebanon
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Senate this
reek takes up a nomination that some
nembers consider an example of the “re-
olving door” relationship between gov-
irnment agencies and the industries they
egulate.
President Carter named Lynn Cole-
nan, A Texas lawyer with long experience
n oil and gas cases, to be general counsel
)r the top lawyer of the Department of
inergy.
The Senate Energy Committee ap-
)roved the nomination by a 12-6 vote Feb.
and referred it to the full Senate, which
is scheduled to take it up Monday.
Coleman’s nomination is expected to be
ipproved, with votes from senators who
support him outright combined with some
who feel Carter has the right to fill slots
subject to his appointment with whomever
he prefers.
For example, Sens. Henry Jackson,
D-Wash., and Frank Church, D-Idaho,
said jointly they approved the nomination
in committee even though they had reser
vations about the Energy Department
“having, for it chief lawyer, one who has
been so closely associated with energy in
dustry interests.”
Opponents of Coleman said the most
they expect is a respectable minority
against the nomination, plus a chance to
debate Carter’s handling of energy policy
and Energy Department appointments.
Both sides say they consider Coleman
eminently qualified for the job. He is a
partner in the Houston law firm of Vinson
and Elkins and has often represented
well-known energy firms.
But the opposition contends he cannot
be a good, impartial energy industry regu
lator in light of his past commitment to the
companies regulated.
Coleman assured the Energy Commit
tee he could step aside for any legal matter
affecting clients of his law firm.
But Sen. John Durkin, D-N.H., told
UPI that, considering the companies
Coleman has represented, “he would have
to excuse himself from so many cases, his
job would turn out to be an honorary
post.”
Durkin recalled the Carter once called
the energy crisis “the moral equivalent of
war,” and said, “During the moral equiva
lent of war, you do not hire somebody
from the enemy camp.”
United Press International
ABBASSIYEH, Lebanon — Israeli
troops withdrew from 220 square miles of
South Lebanon Sunday, turning over
some 30 positions to U.N. peace-keeping
forces, who promptly arrested Palestinian
guerrillas infiltrating their lines.
Maj. Gen. Emmaneul Erskine of
Ghana, commander of the 4,000-man
U.N. Interim Force in South Lebanon,
said he was determined to keep the area
free of Palestinian guerrillas.
“One of our main functions is to insure
that the area is sealed off and that there are
no armed personnel. We have made sev
eral arrests and this will probably be ongo
ing and something we have to face every
day,” he said.
A formal ceremony marking the
pullback was held at Abbassiyeh and
scores of reporters, photographers and
television technicians scrambled among
bemused Israeli, Senegalese, French and
Norwegian soldiers.
“Well, were almost ready to go. But
there are too many correspondents here,”
Israeli Brig. Gen. Hiram Efraim told
Erskine. “Can’t we move some of them
out of the way?”
“There’s nothing we can do about it,”
was Erskine’s resigned reply.
Israeli troops didn’t have a flag to take
down when they left their Abbasiyeh road
side positions. So they fetched a flag and
pole from their main camp in the hills and
set them up again by the main road.
Saluting, they ceremoniously lowered
the flag about an hour later for the benefit
of the cameras.
On a more serious note, Israeli military
sources in Tel Aviv said the withdrawal
from Abbassiyeh — close to the
Palestinian-controlled port of Tyre — will
be a test case to see if the U.N. troops can
control the guerrillas.
The pullback coincided with Israeli
Prime Minister Menahem Begin s arrival
in the United States for talks today with
President Carter and Secretary of State
Cyrus Vance. Begin will also take part in
week-long celebrations marking the 30th
anniversary of Israel s independence.
Despite a promise by the Palestine Lib
eration Organization to cooperate with the
U.N. forces, the PLO has said it will carry
out hit-and-run attacks against Israeli
troops remaining in south Lebanon.
Before his departure from Tel Aviv,
Begin said that while Israel has no inten
tion of staying in Lebanon it wants to in
sure that the guerrillas will not return to
their former positions. “That will take
time,” Begin added.
The withdrawal covered about one
quarter of the 800 square miles captured
by the Israelis. The new Israeli line in the
south is about six miles north of the Israeli
border, approximately the “security belt
Israeli forces first seized at the outset of
their operation March 14.
Israel still retains control of the Chris
tian enclaves in the border area, including
the town of Marjayoun in the eastern sec
tor.
Five grants awarded
to A&M researchers
Development of Texas energy resources
was stimulated last week with the awarding
of five grants totaling $182,000 from the
Texas Energy Advisory Council to Texas
A&M University researchers.
Heading the list was a $56,352 grant for
testing the efficiency of a newly developed
low pressure mobile trickle irrigation sys
tem and a $40,000 grant to look at the
environmental impact of strip mining lig
nite in Texas.
Design of the irrigation system will be
conducted by Dr. Bill Lyle of the Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station at Half
way. The lignite study is a multi
department effort involving four Texas
A&M scientists in soil and crop sciences
and geology.
Other presentations included $39,945
for design and development of solar cooling
with freon jet pumps, $27,982 for a demon
stration on how to outfit a modular solar
house and $18,200 for development of a
desiccant dehumidification with plate heat
exchanger.
Money for the energy projects comes
from the Texas Energy Development
Fund. The fund is formulated to support
Sex doesn’t sell,
study reveals
United Press International
DALLAS — Men definitely will
remember advertisements featuring
a sexily dressed woman, a study
shows. But they are more likely to
remember details of the woman’s
anatomy than the product being
promoted.
University of Texas-Arlington
graduate students Ben Judd and M.
Wayne Alexander began the study
in order to determine whether or
not sex sells.
It doesn’t, their recently com
pleted study reveals. Sex, they
found, distracts.
Judd and Alexander asked 219
men and women to view 12 slides of
various levels of female nudity,
paired with pictures of a product
and the brand name. The subjects
viewed three slides in each of four
categories: a landscape, a smiling
woman’s face, a female’s face and
breasts, a frontal view of a nude
female.
The products included au
tomobiles, household furnishings,
jewelry and sporting goods.
After viewing the slides, subjects
wrote down all the products and
brand names they could remember.
Results showed the rate of recall
dropped by 50 to 60 percent for the
ads containing females, regardless of
whether subjects were viewing total
nudity or merely a woman’s face.
Both males, who generally liked
the idea of nudity in ads, and
females, who strongly disliked it,
forgot the products and brand
names in the sexy ads at the same
rate.
Judd said women can help certain
ads — those promoting suntan lo
tion, bathing suits, lingerie and
other items in which a female body
has some relation to the product.
But the ads in which a female
body has no direct relationship to
the product — a woman draped
across a set of stereo speakers —
probably do little good, Judd said.
“For the life of me, I can’t
imagine a bare-breasted woman
walking down the street carrying a
soft drink,” he said. “I just don’t
think that would contribute to any
thing.”
Israel prime minister
arrives in Washington
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minis
ter Menachem Begin’s scheduled visit to
Washington today came amid continuing
controversy on the proposed package sale
of jet aircraft to the Middle East.
Begin’s morning visit coincided with two
developments in the debate over the jet
sales:
— A public clash in separate television
interviews by Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance and Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe
Dayan Sunday over the wisdom of provid
ing two of Israel’s Arab enemies with U. S.
jet fighters.
— An apparent compromise patched to
gether between Vance and congressional
leaders late last week to drop the “package”
format while technically not retreating
from the linkage on the arms sales.
Begin’s arrival early today is part of a
U.S. swing commemorating the 30th an
niversary of the creation of Israel.
He was due to meet with Secretary of
State Cyrus Vance and President Carter on
his 4y2-hour visit to the capital. The talks
were scheduled to be a continuation of dis
cussions Vance had with Dayan last week,
centering on ways to bypass the problems
that have delayed peace talks.
But the timing made it all but inevitable
the jet sales also would come up, although
President Carter has said Begin “never
mentioned to me one time any concern he
might have about the sale of weapons to
Saudi Arabia or Egypt” during his most
recent visit earlier this year.
Vance, in an interview on CBS-TV’s
Face the Nation, said the $4.8 billion pack
age deal is necessary to maintain U.S. ties
to the moderate Arab governments of
Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Dayan, interviewed by Barbara Walters
on ABC-TV’s Issues and Answers, said the
United States is simply supplying arms that
can one day be used against Israel.
“In any way,” Dayan said, “you would be
walking in the Russian shoes in the Middle
East, preparing. . . the Arab countries for
the next war against Israel by supplying
them with American war-planes.”
Vance, who urged congressional ap
proval of the package, said failure to go
forward with the sales “would seriously
jeopardize our relationship, not only with
Saudi Arabia, but with the moderate coun
tries in the area as well.”
There has been considerable opposition
expressed in Congress to the sale of 60 f-15
jet fighters to Saudi Arabia. Other ele
ments of the White House plan call for sale
of 75 F-16 and .5 F-15 jet fighters to Israel
and 50 F-5s to Egypt.
Vance and Deputy Secretary Warren
Christopher late last week proposed a let
ter saying the plane deals would be sent to
Congress as separate offers for considera
tion “on their individual merits,” in effect,
giving Congress public assurance that the
White House did not question its right to
act as it sees fit.
The compromise apparently was accept
able to the leadership, but fate of the sales
programs remained in doubt.
Each house of Congress must, in the next
two months, vote the sale down, if it is to be
rejected. If only one house votes against
the deal, it automatically goes through.