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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1978)
The Battalion Vol. 71 No. 192 Thursday, August 31, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611 16 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611 may send to Mideast Carter troops United Press International GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, IVo. — President Carter is considering n offer to station American troops on the Pest Bank to break the Middle East bgotiating stalemate, his spokesman said Wednesday. Carter, sunburned and relaxed, wound p his 12-day vacation in Idaho and doming apparently eager to tackle major roblems awaiting him at the White ouse — among them his deadlocked tergy package and U.S. options to pro- use at the Camp David summit on the liddle East that begins Sept. 5. Press Secretary Jody Powell said when raeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin id Egyptian President Anwar Sadat sit jwn at the presidential retreat next eek, Carter may propose the American resenee as one of the options to bring about a settlement. “That has always been a possibility,” Powell said, “but it is still in the specula tive stage.” Powell also predicted Carter would emerge victorious in a last-ditch attempt to rescue his energy package. “I think we will win but it’s going to be a tough fight,” Powell told reporters. Carter will be battling for Senate pas sage of the natural gas compromise, the crux of his energy program that faces op position from both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans, who would pre fer a simple bill giving the president au thority to allocate natural gas in times of a national emergency. Carter invited a delegation from the Na tional Governors Association, headed by Kentucky Gov. Julian Carroll, to meet with him at 10 a.m. Thursday to rally their support for the compromise, which calls for eventual deregulation of natural gas prices. "The enactment of a national energy plan is critical to every state, and I look forward to this opportunity to discuss pending energy legislation with some of the nation’s governors, Carter said in the statement. As for his vacation. Carter and his family clearly enjoyed the outdoor life. He went fishing nearly every day, took a three-day raft trip down the primitive Salmon River, sailed on Lake Jackson and attended a rodeo. On the final full day of vacation. Carter went fishing again, took his family on a horseback ride along the Jackson Hole trail and hosted a reception for Wyoming Democratic politicians and early Carter supporters. director favors ederal grants for aid By ANDREA VALES Battalion Staff The United States Senate recently ted to provide tax credits of up to S250 ear to students to help offset the cost college tuition and fees. But, a financial director at Texas A&M University Kike in favor of an alternative bill involv- ig federal grants. Although both programs are geared to Eeve the financial burden of college es, there are some major differences be- veen the two. Under the Tuition Tax Relief Act of 978, sponsored by Senator Bob ackwood of Oregon, the tax credit would e phased in by two steps, said Hugh )\eill, staff assistant to Packwood. Retroactive to Aug. 1, a student—or his )arents if he is a dependent—would be ntitled to a credit of one-half the cost of iuition and fees paid for full-time under- ^aduate college or post-secondary vo- ational schools. For a student at Texas A&M, an average >f$150 could be deducted from tax forms. Also, on Oct. 1, 1980, the maximum redit would rise to $500, and would be- »me available for half-time graduate stu- lents. This tax credit act woidd cost approxi- nately $1.4 billion per year when fully ef- ective, said O’Neill. Robert M. Logan, director of financial lid at Texas A&M, spoke in favor of a bill iupported by President Carter involving ederal grants for students of middle in line families. Logan said the Middle Income Student Assistance Program would provide 70 per cent of the students at Texas A&M with eligibility for federal grants. At present, approximately 2,500 students are aided through grants. Under this bill, approved by the Senate two weeks ago, some 22,000 students would be eligible for grants at Texas A&M, said Logan. Richard Jerue, assistant counsel for the Senate Subcommittee on Education, said the grant program is based on an income scale—the less income per family, the larger grant a student could receive. Jerue stressed that the tax credit bill does not provide aid for those families and students in the lower income range who are not required to file an income tax report. Under the grant program, a student could get anywhere between $250 and $1,800 per semester, depending on his in come range and financial need,” Jerue said. O’Neill, supporter of the tax credit pro gram, said. "With this deduction on taxes, students and parents have the freedom of choice of where they can go to college be cause of the tax cuts.” O’Neill said a major problem with the grant bill is the “mountains of paperwork the colleges and students would have to climb over. “To get that grant, you have to read seven pages of instructions, fill out four pages of forms, and then put in the appli cation for the grant. With the tuition tax cut, students would simply divide their tuition and fees by one-half and take it off their income tax,” he said. Wheels As Texas A&M’s enrollment continues to grow, so does the traffic congestion. Too little space for too many cars has resulted in many students parking along the grassy areas by Kyle Field, and on bicycle paths along Jersey St. The Middle Income Students Assistance Program involving federal grants, has al ready been passed by the Senate and is waiting for a pproval by President Carter. The Tuition Tax Relief Act of 1978 now goes to a conference committee where dif ferences between the Senate-passed ver sion and a House-passed bill will be negotiated. As for supporting one of the financial aid programs, Logan said, “As far as this Uni versity is concerned, this is not a matter we would get involved with. It’s more a problem with the parents and the IRS. Who says freshman don’t study? Freshman Keith Weinrich studies his pool shot and the blurred cue ball after class hours Wednesday in the Commons. With only three days of classes gone by, some students still have a little time to loll around. Weinrich and his Class of‘82 budd ies make up the largest freshman class ever to enter Texas A&M University. Figures released Wednesday show that more than 30,500 students enrolled this fall. Battalion photo by Liz Newlin Gasoline shortage indication allegedly witheldfrom public United Press International WASHINGTON — A House subcom mittee Wednesday said the Department of Energy has withheld from the public indi cations of a possible major gasoline short age in the United States by 1980. The charge was made by the investiga tions subcommittee of the House Com merce Committee, as part of a report con cluding the department’s case for lifting gasoline price controls is "unlearned, dis ingenuous, and unpersuasive. ” The subcommittee released a 134-page report on the department s justification for decontrol. Oil and its products were once under strict federal controls, which have gradu ally been lifted from some products such as heavy fuel oil, heating oil and some others. Gasoline is one of the few major oil products left under price controls. Under a 1975 law, the Department of Energy must submit decontrol to Con gress for approval. Either house can turn down the plan. By LIZ NEWLIN Battalion Campus Editor Enrollment for the fall semester has ex ceeded 30,000, making this group of Ag gies the largest ever. Dr. J.M. Prescott, vice president for academic affairs, said enrollment stood at a little more than 30,500 Wednesday, after students who did not pay their bills were cut from the rolls. About 630 students in that total are at Moody College in Galveston. The final, of ficial enrollment will not be determined until the close of entry into classes Sept. Edwin Cooper, dean of admissions and records, said the new freshman class also is a record-holder. About 5,200 “fish” are on campus, 300 more than expected, he said. Last year’s freshman class numbered 4,705. He said the chemistry and biology de- Intense storm may form depression United Press International MIAMI — A disturbed area 400 miles south of Bermuda intensified this morning and the National Hurricane Center pre dicted it could develop into a tropical de pression within 24 hours. The center said the area of showers and clouds was moving toward the west at about 10 mph. The decontrol plan for gasoline first was suggested in early 1977 by the Federal Energy Administration, which later with drew the plan for further consideration. Federal energy officials compiled data supporting the plan, and the investigations subcommittee began an inquiry into the adequacy of the official justification for lift ing the controls. “Unless the Department of Energy can correct the defects in their published analysis, it is difficult to see how the House could accept a decontrol proposal,” said Rep. John Moss, D-Calif., chairman of the subcommittee. The subcommittee report said the de partment had withheld information from the public “that indicates a potential major gasoline shortage by 1980.” Internal documents in the agency fore cast a potential shortage of 400,000 barrels a day, the subcommittee said. “The failure of the department to dis cuss this potentially grave problem in their published assessments of the impact of de partments have had to “hustle” to cope with the unexpected increase. The English, math and history departments, among others, also have added sections to traditionally freshman classes, depart ment heads say. “That’s a significant increase,” Cooper said. Since most classes average about 30 students and most faculty members teach three classes, the addition of 300 students causes problems, he said. “We underestimated the size of the freshman class,” the dean said. The pre diction is made about a year in advance, using the number of expected high school graduates. Cooper said Texas A&M usu ally attracts a little more than 3 percent of the high school graduates. “It’s not as precise as you’d like it to be, ” he said. Enrollment in all classifications increased, he said, but the freshman in crease was not expected. Prescott told new faculty members at a dinner Wednesday night that the 30,000 enrollment figure is a year ahead of uni versity predictions. Texas A&M’s new five-year master plan projects stabilization of enrollment at the 33,000 level in 1983. The plan, approved in principle by regents this summer, pre dicts that enrollment will level-off through “natural selection” and that admission standards will remain the same. Dean Cooper said Texas A&M is not in the position to raise admission standards and “doesn’t want to do that.” control raises serious questions as to the credibility of the department, it added. A shortage of that magnitude would it self boost prices up to 40 cents a gallon if controls were lifted, the report said. The subcommittee said the department contends gasoline retail prices were below legal ceilings, so decontrol would not boost prices. But it argued that some of the depart ment’s own figures show unleaded United Press International NEW ORLEANS — Instead of the shouts of students and clanging lockers, visitors walking into the dark, cavernous hall at three-story Warren Easton High School Wednesday were greeted by si lence and a yellow and blue sign reading, “Welcome back to school. Any way you looked at it, it was not a welcome back to school. Outside, teachers wearing cardboard picket signs — and sometimes using them as umbrellas to ward off an intermittent downpour -— talked quietly on a picket line about the first day of a strike by the United Teachers of New Orleans against city public schools. Some students attended classes manned by substitutes. They sat quietly around the teachers in groups obviously smaller than the rooms were meant to handle. Others hung out windows ignoring the substitutes. They chatted with reporters and waved to their regidar teachers on the picket line. United Press International WHARTON, Tx. — Convicted of hiring an assassin to kill her father so she could collect insurance money, Mary Lou An derson is the first woman to be sentenced to death under the state’s new lethal injec tion law. Miss Anderson, 35, of Lake Charles, La., sat calmly Tuesday night while the verdict — which also could make her the first woman to be executed in Texas — was read. She was charged with hiring Feryl Granger, 29, of Lafayette, La., to kill her father and stepmother for the insurance money. However, she was being tried specificially for the Jan. 3 execution-style gasoline from full-service pumps selling within a fraction of the allowable price. The department also contended decon trol would have no significant environmental effect. The subcommittee report disputed that, saying it had found such a large price dif ference between leaded arid unleaded gasoline that motorists had a strong incen tive to switch to leaded gasoline “with the resulting adverse effect on the environ ment.” “There’s no learning going on in there, none whatsovever,” said Philmont Ed wards Jr., one striking teacher. “They re all hanging out the windows. “We don’t know. As long as it takes," he said. While one substitute taught students sitting quietly in their chairs, four 11th graders stood at the classroom window and talked about the strike. “It’s a shame that they went out, but they need the money,” one said, paying no attention to the lesson. “The new teachers have it tough.” At Eleanor McMain Middle School, principal Allen Guma held a morning as sembly with students before sending them off to class. “We re talking about a very complicated issue,” he said. “We re talking about dol lars and cents. We’re talking about a school district in a city that has refused for 200 years to pay the kinds of taxes that we need. shooting of Steve Anderson, 55, of Suger Land. She still faces a capital murder charge in the death of her stepmother and Granger is awaiting trial on identical charges. Miss Anderson is the first woman sen tenced to die in Texas since the 1977 leg islative session threw out the use of the electric chair and instituted lethal injec tion in capital murder cases. If her appeal, automatic in a death pen alty case, is turned down she would join more than 100 men on Death Row. No woman has ever been executed in the state and previous female occupants of Death Row have had their sentences commuted. Fall enrollment over 30,000 Teachers strike on first day back First Texas woman gets death penalty under law