?The Battalion
't'vada,
S ' /o1 71 No - 176 Wednesday, July 19, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611
^rsof, 10 Pa 9 es College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
team
Inside Wednesday
• Aggie blood drive begins today -
p. 3.
• Police compile profiles of
steakhouse killers - p. 7.
• Reggie Jackson in hot water, again
- p. 9.
s eye view
ttalion photography editor Pat O’Malley caught rors which decorate
multiple image reflection of himself and the
mmons lounge area in the multiple curved mir-
that part of the Krueger-
Dunn-Mosher-Aston dormitory complex.
Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
1 r eat stroke deaths in Dallas
eep breaking, more records
y
I
Vnitcd Press International
LLAS — The records are beginning
■k up. At least 21 deaths, more than
e can remember.
e people hospitalized. More elee-
used. More water. More ice being
for the past 17 days it has been the
By the time the sun rises in the
ng the temperature already is in the
and|as it crosses the clear North
sky the heat keeps climbing.
11 a. m., it is 99 degrees. By noon.
Then throughout the afternoon the
c signs on banks chart the steady in-
: 102, 103, 108, 110.
Allen Fain, Dallas County health
ar, said Tuesday at least 21 deaths
2en reported from heatstroke in the
it heatwave that has gripped North
He said at least 14 had died in Dal-
d another seven in the Fort Worth
ind the actual figure may be higher,
e death certificate lists primary
of death and three contributing fac-
he said. “The technical cause is de-
e. It’s related to the thing that
it them in, what precipitated the
failure, and that’s heat.’
The National Weather Service is pre
dicting no change in the weather through
Sunday and indicates the 100-plus degree
temperatures that have been present for
the last 17 days may even continue into
next week.
“I was shocked when I heard on the
news the number of deaths attributed to
heat stroke, said Jeter Pruett, chief NWS
area forecaster. “I didn’t know it was that
serious.
“The weather charts don't show any in
dications of a break in this spell of hot
weather. The best bet may be to keep eye
on the Gulf of Mexico for tropical storms
and hurricanes. Sometimes an offshoot
from one of these comes into central Texas
and brings clouds and rains and relief from
the dry spells.
Don Wilson, a spokesman for Dallas
Power & Light Co., said records for elec
tricity consumption were set five straight
days beginning July 10.
He said on Friday, when the tempera
ture was 102 at 4 p.m., the fuel consump
tion necessary to produce electricity that
day was 19 million cubic feet of natural gas
and 660 tons of lignite — enough electric--
olice suspect fits
ipist’s description
ity to operate a normal Dallas household
for 200 years.
Pumps at Dallas water stations have
been moving more gallons to area resi
dences than in any recent summer, much
of it shooting out through lawn hoses in an
attempt to keep grass green.
“We re pumping over 400 million gal
lons per day, said one spokesman. “It s
above normal for July. It’s the heat and the
drought.”
Ice dealers in Amarillo cited unprece
dented demands from their customers. Pat
McGinty of Amarillo Ice Co. said he had
requests from Dallas, Houston, San An
tonio and several*other Texas cities for
more than a million pounds of ice.
“We are now making about 75 tons of
ice per day and can’t keep up,“McGinty
said. “Even though we have doubled our
production, we can’t meet the needs.”
“With this heat wave there is no way
anybody is going to keep up with the de
mand," said Ken Hillier of Hillier Ice Co.
"We re not taking on any new customers,
we re just trying to keep the old ones satis
fied.
Don Bartley, 32, a resident of Abilene,
simply described the weather as “too
damn hot.”
“Yesterday was unbelievable and today
is no better,’’ he said from his air-
conditioned office. “They’re predicting
105 or better and I know it’s that already.
Even during the weekend there’s nobody
outside in my neighborhood, I mean no
one. Everyone stays in.”
American reporters
convicted in Moscow
United Press International
MOSCOW — Two American reporters
were convicted in Soviet court Tuesday on
charges of libeling Soviet television offi
cials.
The court ordered the reporters to pay
fines of $1,647 each and publish retrac
tions of the offending material in either
Soviet or American newspapers.
The verdict came in a swift, three-hour
trial that was boycotted by the defendants,
Craig Whitney of The New York Times
and Harold Piper of the Baltimore Sun.
Chief Judge Lev Almazov of the
Moscow City Court ordered that Whitney
and Piper pay their fines within 10 days
and publish the retractions within five
days.
Soviet television officials had brought
the charges in a civil lawsuit, claiming they
were slandered in dispatches written by
the two Americans.
The verdict was considered sure to fur
ther strain U.S.-Soviet relations, coming
just five days after the sentencing of Soviet
human rights activists Anatoly
She! laransky and Alexander Ginzburg.
The Carter administration responded to
the charges against the Americans by hint
ing that it might expel five Soviet re
porters based in Washington.
The stories in question quoted Georgian
dissident sources as saying the Soviet tele
vision officials had fabricated the filmed
confession of Georgian human rights ac
tivist Zviad Gamsakhourdia.
The Soviet television officials sum
moned the 39-year-old Gamsakhourdia —
who is now serving a three-year prison
sentence for anti-Soviet activities — as
their key witness.
With Soviet and Western journalists
and television cameramen looking on, the
prosecution aimed its case at showing that
Whitney and Piper allegedly virtually ig
nored such official Soviet sources as Tass
news agency and opted instead to believe
what the prosecution called “unreliable
dissident sources.”
Prosecutor Georgy Skaredov told the
court in his summation, “Whitney and
Piper are slanderers only interested in dis
torting Soviet reality.”
H e asked the court to convict the
Americans, send a letter to the Soviet
Foreign Ministry asking that they be de
prived of their official accreditation, order
them to pay $3,168 in fines and court
costs, apologize to the Soviet television of
ficials and publish a retraction both in the
United States and the Soviet Union.
In.a preliminary hearing July 7, Whit
ney and Piper challenged Soviet jurisdic
tion over articles published outside the
Soviet Union.
Before the verdict, one senior Western
diplomat in Moscow said the Soviet Union
would be well advised to drop the whole
thing.
“They made their point and managed to
make themselves look like fools in the pro
cess,” the diplomat said. “Now they ought
to make as graceful an exit as possible by
just dropping it.”
The New York Times said it would have'
no immediate comment but might issue a
statement later.
Paul Banker, managing editor of the
Baltimore Morning Sun, said the paper
was prepared to pay the fine but that the
required retraction was another matter.
“The conviction is what we expected,”
he said. “Piper was convicted the moment
he was charged. We stand on the conten
tion that the news article was correct that
friends of the dissidents said they doubted
the confession.” Banker said he had talked
with Piper briefly over the phone after the
report of his conviction. He said Piper was
scheduled to spend a couple of weeks on
vacation but would then return to his as
signment in Russia.
“I don’t know what the Russians mean
by a retraction, said Banker. “I don’t see
how we can do that. We didn’t say the
dissidents said the television program was
faked. It was friends of the dissidents who
said that and they did. If they want us to
retract that I don’t see how we can.”
Relief for ranchers, farmers
Senate committee okays tax
based on land productivity
United Press International
AUSTIN — A Texas Senate committee, prodded by pleas
from farmers and ranchers for relief from high property taxes,
Tuesday approved a proposed constitutional amendment allow
ing agricultural land to be taxed on the basis of its productivity
rather than its market value and sent it to the full Senate for
debate.
The amendment, the third major provision of Gov. Dolph
Briscoe’s tax relief package to be considered during the special
session, is expected to be considered by the full Senate today.
A similar proposal easily passed the Senate in 1977, but failed
by one vote in the House.
Pat Smith, representing the 200,000-member Texas Farm
Bureau, told the committee farm and ranch lands near urban
areas are being assessed and taxed at the same values as nearby
land being developed for subdivisions.
“To tax agricultural land the same as subdivision land contigu
ous to it is to tax the farmer out of business and force him off the
land his family may have held for generations,” Smith said.
“We feel this special session is the only time we 11 ever have to
accomplish this goal. We can wait no longer for it to be on the
ballot. We are losing 2,000 to 3,000 family farmers per year.”
A House committee conducted a second day of hearings
Tuesday on a series of proposed constitutional amendments
providing tax relief and limiting future taxing authority of state
and local governments.
Sen. Carlos Truan, D-Corpus Christi, voted against the
amendment in committee, arguing agricultural land owned by
large corporations should not receive the tax break.
Spokesmen for the Texas Independent Cattlemen’s Associa
tion and Texans for Equitable Taxation said they would support
the plan denying the tax break to large corporations if it was
necessary for passage of the proposal in the House.
The Senate Administration Committee Tuesday delayed for
at least one day action on a resolution by Sens. Bill Moore,
D-Bryan, and Peyton McKnight, D-Tyler, to adjourn the spe
cial legislative session at 5 p.m. Friday.
(See related story, page 8)
His marriage went to the dogs;
now his dog goes with marriage
United Press International
OAKLAND — Divorced and lonely,
George Teebay had to go to court to win
visitation rights to the family dog, Clyde.
His ex-wife, Susan, received custody of
Clyde when the pair dissolved their mar
riage, but an agreement in their legal
community property settlement gave
George “reasonable visitation” rights to
the golden retriever.
George complained in Alameda County
Superior Court last week that his ex-wife
wasn’t letting him visit the animal. Once,
said George, he found Clyde cold and
whimpering in the yard next to Susan’s
house.
“Clyde was overjoyed to see me and
needed me,” George testified before
Judge Richard A. Bancroft.
By MARK WILLIS
Battalion City liclitor
jfl ege Station police believe they may
pprehended the man responsible for
)f >s of rapes and assaults in this area
; June and July.
ponding to a “suspicious person” call
Tiesday afternoon, police picked up
ject fitting the description provided
lo^ tims of the attacks. He was de-
I as a black male in his early twen-
pproximately 5’ 10” tall, and weigh
ing about 165 pounds.
The attacker is believed responsible for
two rapes and three assaults in June and
early July. On July 6, police issued a press
release describing the attacker and re
questing citizens to report suspicious per
sons fitting the description.
Police are withholding the suspect’s
name pending further investigation and
positive identification by victims. A com
plete report should be issued sometime
today, police officials said.
^oposed insurance hike
anted on car repair costs
United Press International
STTN — Skyrocketing prices for auto
s and labor are largely to blame for
surance industry’s request for an in-
in auto insurance rates, an industry
ientative said Tuesday,
y Johns, president of the Southwest-
nsurance Information Service, ■ said
flation rate has placed auto insurance
mies in a critical situation,
said a study shows it would cost
00 to replace all the parts on a
’-wrecked 1978 model car priced at
7. \
is die parts and generally not a new
at Texas insurance companies must
ase,” Johns said. “The cost to repair
led cars is a major factor in helping to
ip the cost of auto insurance for state
s.”
; State Insurance Board has
uled public hearings today on the in-
industry’s request for an average
>ercent increase in private and com
mercial vehicle insurance rates.
The Insurance Board staff has recom
mended an increase of 5.2 percent, includ
ing a 3.2 percent increase on private pas
senger car coverage.
Johns said during a five-year period the
parts costs for one popular model car in
creased 83.4 percent and labor costs in
creased 42.2 percent.
“The effect these skyrocketing price
hikes has upon the insurance industry in
Texas is significant,” he said.
“No industry in the country can be ex
pected to meet these kind of increases and
provide the type of protection motorists are
entitled to without some form of rate re
lief. ”
Auto insurance rates in Texas were last
increased in 1976.
Former chairman Joe Christie recessed
board hearings on an industry request for
higher rates last year, noting State Farm
had made sufficient profits under the old
rates to pay stockholder dividends.
Time for summer cleaning
A lone popsicle stick floats among the green algae in
one of the no-longer-cascading fountains on Texas
A&M’s north mall. The fountain has
cleaning for some time.
Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
gone without
Clyde is happy, countered Susan, add
ing that she takes good care of him, that
she lives alone and needs the protection of
a dog.
The judge, who owns two golden re
trievers himself, weighed the decision and
rendered this judgment:
George “shall have visitation of the fam
ily dog, Clyde, on the second and fourth
weekends of each and every month from
Friday at 7 p.m. until Sunday at 4 p.m.,
commencing forthwith.
“It is expected that the parties will
cooperate .with one another to effect the
intent of this order. ”
Kennedy sale
items may not
be authentic
United Press International
HOUSTON — The Harris County Dis
trict Attorney’s consumer fraud division is
investigating the sale of Rice Hotel items
purported to be from the suite in which
the late President John F. Kennedy spent
his last night.
Spence Gardner, assistant district attor
ney, said investigators are checking allega
tions that few of the items sold were actu
ally in the room when Kennedy stayed
there 15 years ago.
Content Clearing and Exchange Co. of
Wayne, Mich., held a two-day sale of
items from the International Suite last
weekend.
A spokesman for the company said none
of the items were authenticated, but that
suite furnishings were believed to be those
in the room during Kennedy’s visit Nov.
21, 1963.
The spokesman said the room was re
stored based on photographs and inter
views with persons who worked at the
hotel during the 1960s.
Investigators said the possibility of de
ceptive trade practices were being
checked because of the clear implication
that the items were actually used by Ken
nedy.