The Battalion
/ol. 71 No. 170 Wednesday, July 5, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611
B Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Wednesday
• Reflections on the Fourth of July — p.
2.
• Butterflies are Free’ promises good
theater — p. 3.
• Aggies place three on SWC baseball
team — p. 7.
A&M to appeal cut
in research funds
By FLA VIA KRONE
Battalion Campus Editor
A 50 percent cut in legislative funding
for organized research at Texas A&M Uni
versity hasn’t hurt the University’s overall
research program, but will slow develop
ment of new research projects, University
officials have said.
So the University’s administration will
appeal to the state legislature for more
funds for organized research. Vice Presi
dent for Academic Affairs J.M. Prescott
said Monday.
The Legislature cut appropriations for
organized research by 50 percent in the
University’s 1978-79 budget. The Texas
A&M System Board of Regents approved
the budget on June 9.
The appeal to increase funds for or
ganized research will be made sometime
in January when the legislature begins to
formulate the University’s 1979-80
budget.
The 50 percent cut in organized re
search funding will have a negligible effect
on most University research programs,
Robert Berg, director of the office of uni
versity research, said.
The organized research fund made up
about 2 percent of the Texas A&M s $52
million research budget last year. While
funds for organized research have been cut
from $1.2 million to $600,000 for 1978-79,
the total research budget for the coming
year has increased to $56 million, Berg
said.
Liberal arts and science departments
both draw on the organized research fund
to initiate new research projects and de
velop new ideas, he said.
"A faculty member can’t request grant
money for a new research project without
some preliminary results," Berg said. "To
get those results he may need to buy
equipment and the money for that comes
out of the fund for organized research."
The funding cut-back will delay the start
of new research programs by new faculty
members one to one and a half years, Pre
scott said.
“These faculty members will be forced
to seek funds from federal agencies and
private organizations, he said. "It will
take more preparation and will delay the
start of some new projects.
Established research at Texas A&M will
not feel the effects of the budget cut be
cause funding for these programs comes
from sources other than the organized re
search fund, he said.
About 45 percent of the total $56 million
appropriated for research in 1978-79 con
sists of state funds slated for uses other
than the organized research fund, Berg
said.
Much of the state money is tunneled
through the extension services and exper
iment stations, which provide grants and
contracts for University research.
In addition, the various University de
partments canMund faculty research in
cooperation with the University Fiscal Of
fice.
Federal funding accounts for about 40
percent of the total reasearch budget at
Texas A&M, with private organizations
providing the remaining 15 percent, Berg
said.
The Texas A&M Research Foundation is
one such private, non-profit organization
which assists faculty members in the fund
ing and administration of University re
search programs.
The Texas A&M research budget is the
largest in the state and ranks 18th out of
2(X) universities nationwide, Berg said.
Berg said he considers the 50 percent
cut in organized research funds at Texas
A&M a symptom of a statewide trend to
reduce research funding.
“In the past, some schools did not spend
the organized research money wisely,”
Berg said. “Also, most laymen do not
understand that research projects con
ducted in far-away places and with obscure
sounding titles can have far-reaching ef
fects on the people of Texas.
"The organized research fund originally
was established for the benefit of the
people of the state, Berg said. “The legis
lature objects to research that does not
provide the state with future cash flows.’
"We are going to go to the legislature
and try to impress on them how important
the organized research fund is in this re
spect, Prescott said.
Reporters in Moscow
challenge libel charges
By the rockets' red glare...
No Fourth of July would be complete without a
fireworks display and Tuesday was no exception.
College Station officials provided a full-blown aer
ial spectacular at A&M Consolidated High School’s
Tiger Stadium for the city’s residents.
Battulion photo by Pat O’Malley
United Press International
MOSCOW — Soviet officials now must
decide how far to push their libel charges
against two American reporters who say
they will not participate in a trial that is
viewed as an attempt to intimidate Ameri-
Illegal aerial bombs seized
Users may lose fingers, hands
United Press International
HINGTON — They weren’t exactly
m or T-men, but federal agents were
e prowl Monday for illegal explosives
erry bombs and aerial “salutes" bail
or more than a year,
nsumer Product Safety Commission
ctors seized more than 50,000 illegal
I bombs worth $37,000 from three
in Wyoming Monday and made a
er haul last week near Rockport, Mo.
e Wyoming seizures took place in
enne, Laramie and Fort Steele, Raw-
nd Arlington.
understand the amount of explosive
in the devices seized was between 10 and
J5 times more than the limit set by federal
law,’ a spokeswoman said. “If the
fireworks were improperly discharged,
that powder content was enough to se
riously injure the hands or the eyes."
Paul Galvydis, compliance officer for
the CPSC, said the ban on the most pow
erful fireworks may have been responsible
for a 16 percent drop in injuries in 1977,
the first year it was in effect.
The ban applies to use of M80 devices
— cherry bombs or cylindrical aerial
bombs commonly known as “salutes.”
Many devices allowed under federal
regulations are banned by states. Fifteen
states prohibit all consumer fireworks, and
another 14 states ban everything but
sparklers and “snakes, carbon-based de
vices that expand along the ground when
lit.
The federal ban does not apply to
sanctioned displays run by local govern
ments or service groups.
In 1977, Galvydis said injuries fell from
9,000 the year before to 7,555.
The injury figure is related to how many
fireworks were used, he said, but “the in
dustry said it sold almost as many in 1977
as in 1976 so the trend appears to be in
juries going down and a lot of it is due to
the regulations.”
The banned explosives are capable of
blowing off fingers or hands if the user is
careless, he said.
Violation of the federal regulation, a
misdemeanor, is usually a violation of local
or state law as well, and police have never
refused to cooperate, he said.
Fireworks permitted under the federal
regulations include firecrackers with less
than 50 milligrams of powder, cones, foun
tains, missiles, smoke devices, sparklers,
Roman candles, wheels, mines and shells.
can newsmen working in the Soviet
Union.
Craig Whitney of The New York Times
and Hal Piper of the Baltimore Sun, both
citing ethical reasons and flaws in the
Soviet case, have asked Moscow City
Court Presiding Judge Lev Almazov to
dismiss the charges against them.
Whitney, 34, and Piper, 39, are accused
by officials of the Soviet Committee on
Radio and Television of libel in connection
with articles they wrote quoting sources
who said a televised confession of Geor
gian dissident Zviad Gamsakhourdia may
have been fabricated.
U.S. Ambassador Malcolm Toon — who
last week said the charges were designed
to intimidate American reporters and limit
them to quoting only official Soviet
sources — met with Soviet Foreign Minis
ter Andrei Gromyko shortly before Whit
ney and Piper appeared in court.
There were indications that the Soviet
action against the reporters was the main
topic of discussion at the Toon-Gromyko
meeting, which lasted for 20 minutes.
However, neither side would comment.
Whitney and Piper had been ordered to
present their written answer to the Soviet
charges, lists of witnesses they intended to
call and any legal motions they wished to
file.
Instead, they opted to sever themselves
from the case in carefully worded state
ments.
“I have regretfully come to the conclu
sion and I state it to this court with all due
respect that it would not be right for me to
take part in this litigation," Whitney’s
statement said.
Couple must divorce
o pay medical costs
United Press International
DALLAS — C.W. and Ruth
King’s marriage has withstood 45
years, a disease that has eroded her
mind and body and the financial
problems the affliction Caused. But
now bureaucracy is coming between
them.
Last month King, 78, filed for di
vorce so that his wife could continue
receiving Medicaid payments. His
involvement with the government,
lawyers and hospital officials has left
him frightened and confused.
“He’s scared to death,” said Herb
King, one of the couple’s three chil
dren.
Mrs. King has been hospitalized
six years with Huntington’s chorea.
Her Social Security check pays for
only 40 percent of the hospital bills.
The remainder had been paid by
Medicaid.
But about two months ago. Herb
King said, Medicaid sent a form to
his father asking about his financial
status and noting that the maximum
assets the couple is allowed are
$2,250 if Medicaid is to continue.
“He has $2,715 that he has
scrimped to save for their burial,
King said. “That’s about $300 more
than he’s allowed. So they
threatened to cut off his Medicaid.”
This week, King talked to
Medicaid officials and said they told
him no decision had been made on
his parents case. But, he said, one
official told him that at the least, his
father would have to pay $59 a
month from his own $302 retire
ment and Social Security for his
wife’s care.
“I asked the man if he could pay
for food and utilities on $250 a
month and he said no, but that he
still didn’t think the state should
have to take care of my mother,”
King said. “He was very belligerent.
“They told him (the elder King)
that if he didn’t pay, my mother
would be thrown out of the nursing
home and that they could take away
everything he had. I don’t think
they can, but you can’t tell him.
He’s scared.
The elder King talked to an attor
ney who told him that if he divorced
his wife, she would have no assets in
her name which would make her el
igible for Medicaid.
Unless another solution is found,
the divorce will be final next month.
“The divorce was very traumatic
for him,” Herb King said. “They’ve
been married for 45 years. I don’t
think he needed to go through with
it, but they told him to and he
thinks lawyers know everything.
He’s not capable of dealing with all
this. He’s confused.
“They shouldn’t do this to old
people. If they can really take his
house and everything away from
him, they should go ahead and do it
instead of threatening him.”
Joyce Dempsey, supervisor of the
eligibility unit at Medicaid, said she
was not personally involved in the
case, but said “probably Mr. King
does not fully understand the corre
spondence we are sending him,”
Health center needs
fee slip for treatment
By CHARLINE ALLEN KARELL
Texas A&M University’s A.P. Beutel
Health Center was turning students away
Thursday.
It wasn t that there were too many pro
spective patients for the number of availa
ble doctors. In fact, the waiting area was
all but empty.
Many nursing
home residents
reported senile
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The government
reports more than half of the one million
elderly Americans in nursing homes are
senile.
And it says most nursing home residents
suffer from at least one form of chronic
illness — including heart trouble, blind
ness, and arthritis or rheumatism.
In a report released this week, the De
partment of Health, Education and Wel
fare also reported that at least one in three
elderly nursing home residents regularly
shows signs of depression or agitation.
HEW s National Center for Health
Statistics released the results of a one-year
survey completed in 1974 on the physical
and emotional states of nursing home resi
dents.
“Inside nursing homes, the health pro
file of the residents is dominated by
chronic illness,” the report said. Practi
cally all residents had to cope with at least
one type of chronic condition or impair
ment, the report added.
The problem Thursday was that few
students who came in had brought their
summer fee slips with them. The health
center will no longer admit students for
treatment without verification that they
have paid the $7.50 per six weeks fee.
T.P. Lackey Jr., administrative assistant
at the health center, said Thursday that
although the policy has been in effect for
some time, health center officials had
made the decision only that morning to
begin enforcing it again. The resulting
confusion sent ailing students away in dis
appointment and left doctors waiting pa
tientless, a change from the health center’s
usual steady stream of activity.
Lackey said hospital audits had revealed
that many who are not eligible for treat
ment receive treatment at the health cen
ter each semester. Having students pres
ent current fee slips is a measure to pre
vent such irregularities in the future, he
said.
All students enrolled for a normal
course load are eligible to receive health
center services. Students enrolled for less
than three hours in a summer session or
for less than six hours in a regular semester
may not use the health center and are
exempt from paying its fee. However,
they may pay the fee if they wish to re
ceive health services.
Mary Smith, of the University fiscal of
fice, said many students in this category do
pay the fee because they cannot afford pri
vate health care. Lackey stressed that
faculty and staff of the University are not
eligible to use the health center unless
they are injured on the job.
The health center welcomes students
who need health care and are eligible to
receive it. Its staff only requests that stu
dents bring their admission ticket: the yel
low fee slip.
'Hi, baby brother!'
That’s what young Erica Phillips seems to being saying to her younger
brother, standing at the edge of the Bee Creek Park swimming pool
(foreground). Erica and father Eric were just two of many College Sta
tion residents who celebrated the Fourth of July cooling off in the Bee
Creek pool. Eric is a mechanical engineering major at Texas A&M.
Battalion photo by Lee Boy Leschpor Jr.