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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1978)
he Battalion Vol. 72 No. 8 14 Pages Tuesday, September 12, 1978 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 The Greeks are growing Sororities and fraternities are ra pidly growing at Texas A&M. Al though not officially recognized, they play a big role in University activities. For a focus on the issues, see page 8. w| i to posted Rainy days and Mondays « '||s hard enough adjusting to another week of classes, and Monday’s ■ain only added to the gloomy atmosphere. Doug Tomlinson, a senior ivil engineering major from Houston, takes a solitary walk through 4- tie COrpS Squad toward Duncan Dining Hall. Battalion photo by Paige Beasley ,..,icaragua opens 4ill-scale civil war United Press International kNAGUA, Nicaragua— Government as under orders to kill guerrillas “until last man battled for every block in Vagua’s second largest city and parts of capital Monday in full-scale civil war in South American nation. A third city, iaya, was in flames. le mounting death toll reportedly was [he hundreds in the fighting between U.S.-trained army of President Anas- Somozaand the Sandinista guerrillas, ) last month staged a dramatic com- ido operation at the National Palace, he government placed Masaya and Es- under martial law after a Cabinet eting of Somoza and his minsters. communique suspending constitu- Ihal guarantees in both cities was issued the “bunker” — Somoza’s headquar- S — amid the sounds of gunfire in the ital. id In a separate communique, the gov ernment again claimed order had been reestablished in Managua and Leon, the country’s second-largest city, and called on Nicaraguans in those cities to go to work normally Monday. Despite government claims to the con trary, the 2-day-old offensive by Marxist Sandinista guerrillas trying to give the tot tering regime of President Anastasio Somoza a final push continued unabated on several fronts in the capital and in pro vincial cities. “The National Guard maintains control and order in all of the republic, Col. Aquiles Aranda, the Guard’s public rela tions chief, said in his latest communique Sunday. He praised all of the members of the Central American nation’s 8,100-man U.S.-trained army “for their high morale and efficiency in the missions ac complished.” if ing Gulf storm :auses no damage . . United Press International BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Light to bvy rains over southeast Texas Monday pmpted weathermen to issue flash flood rnings for that section of the state, but rains from a slowly-dying tropical de- 'ssion caused no property damage or eat to dams in Bandera County. [The National Weather Service said sev- al weeks of heavy rains had weakened e dams but the new rainfall Monday was expected to cause flooding similar to at which swept across the area last Dnth killing almost 30 persons. That flooding was caused as tropical irm Amelia broke up and drifted across uth and West Texas, dumping up to 30 hes of rain on the Medina and Brazos t'ers. : A spokesman at the Baytown police de- totment said skies were overcast, but a tinshower that filled streets with water 8rlier Monday had ended, allowing padways to drain. The system “sort of pe- ted out, he said. The rainfall caused minor flooding at the police department and patrolmen were hampered in parking their cars. Texas 146, near Loop 201 in Baytown, was closed for a time Monday due to rising waters. The rain moved north and with it flash flood warnings which were extended to in clude the southeastern portion of North Texas. Some very heavy thunderstorms, with rainfall rates to 2 inches an hour, were reported southeast of Austin to near Corpus Christi. A broad band of rainfall continued to fall in counties east of San Antonio. At Edna, a Jackson County Sheriffs Department spokesman said the Navidad River was up, though there was no immediate threat of flooding. The storm moved ashore in northeast ern Mexico Sunday, gathering strength as it passed into Texas. But landfall reduced the storm’s strength and the possibility of a replay of last month’s floods which ravaged a portion of the Hill Country, a Depart ment of Public Safety spokesman said. Bryan city council tables property evaluation plan By LYLE LOVETT Battalion Reporter A new property evaluation program for updating the city’s four quadrants was ta bled Monday by the Bryan City Council. The Bryan city staff proposed a four- year evaluation program whereby one quadrant would be revalued each year. Every two years, tax assessments on the revalued quadrants would be updated. Councilman Henry Seale proposed that one quadrant be revalued per year, and all four quadrants assessed at their respective appraised values at the end of the four years. He met opposition from council members who said taxpayers would face skyrocketing tax increases under such a plan. Seale withdrew his propasal. Councilman John Mobley suggested the evaluation question be postponed for one year, but Mayor Richard Smith argued that immediate action was needed. He said property evaluation must be kept cur rent to prevent 500 to 600 percent in creases that can occur after long periods of no evaluation. The proposal was tabled until the next meeting. The council also tabled a request from the Downtown Merchant’s Association for foot patrolmen to help curb shoplifting in the downtown area. Switzer Deason, owner of Central Texas Hardware, told the council he has done everything in his power to discourage shoplifting in his store without making his ‘good customers feel like common thieves.” He said a foot patrolman on the sidewalk would help discourage shoplift ing. Billy Hodge, president of the Downtown Merchants Association, out lined a program that would provide for a foot patrolman, along with the replace ment of burned out lights in the downtown area. He said 30 lights are currently burned out in downtown Bryan. He also requested meeting with a council commit tee every four to six weeks to discuss prob lems of downtown merchants. Acting City Manager Hubert Nelson said the city is presently five patrolmen short. Smith referred the matter to Nelson to be resolved at the next meeting. Iranians tense, but avoid clash United Press International TEHRAN, Iran — Troops who fired on demonstrators at point-blank range Sun day in the third straight day of martial-law crackdowns stood guard with machine guns Monday, but another protest march against the Shah fizzled. Shops remained closed in the riot-torn bazaar of southern Tehran for the fourth day but the march, intended to mourn those cut down earlier by the military, never materialized. Tanks and armored personnel carriers guarded the tense Parliament square, a few hundred yards from the scene of a bloody clash Friday between de monstrators and army troops, and streets leading to the bazaar further south. Machine gun-toting soldiers patrolled the sidewalks amid a thin crowd of pedest rians, including veiled women out for the day’s shopping. Earlier, some Iranians said they ex pected the march to touch off further dis orders in the expanding violent opposition to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s gov ernment. President Carter telephoned his sup port to the shah’s royal palace Sunday, but it was not certain what effect the United States’ gesture of support for its oil-rich ally would have on the turbulent domestic situation. Nine members of Iran’s Parliament walked out at the same time, charging the government’s “hands were stained with blood” by the troops’ machine-gunning of demonstrators. An estimated 250 people have been kil led in the past three days of violence. The government says from 58 to 95 people were killed in the clashes that began in Tehran Friday, after the govern ment declared martial law and banned public demonstrations in the capital and 11 other cities. The martial-law rules, including a dusk-to-dawn curfew, were the latest step in the government’s efforts to control con servative Moslems and other anti-shah protesters. Demonstrators defied the ban Sunday in the holy city of Qom. Troops again fired di rectly into a crowd of protesters and one person was killed. Radio Iran said. The nine members of parliament walked out Sunday when Premier Sharif-Emami, who has been in office only since Aug. 27, pleaded for unity and solidarity and time to continue the liberalization of Iran. “Your hand is stained with the blood of your countrymen,” they shouted, leaving the hall. “You’ve killed so many in so short a time.” The protests against the shah’s attempt to liberalize and modernize Iran were begun by conservative Moslems who de manded a return to Islamic law. But other elements opposed to the shah have joined the protests in the strongest challenge to the shah since he assumed power in 1941. Carter, in his telephoned message to the shah, said he hoped the liberalization would continue. He expressed “deep re gret over the loss of life and his hope the violence would soon be ended,” a U.S. spokesman said. The statement reaffirmed the impor tance of Tehran’s continued alliance with the West, since Iran has been a major supplier of oil to the United States and one of Washington’s staunchest allies in the Middle East. , > ' PEPPERS PARKING ONLY ALL OTHERS WILL BE CRUSHED ^MELTED More parking lot levity Local businesses seem to be following Texas A&M’s decision to take a lighter solution to local parking problems. This sign, one of several like it in the parking lot of Pepper’s Hamburgers, on South Texas Avenue, is an example. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr. Hodge said he was satisfied with the council’s action, adding, “There are some things you can’t do overnight. The council also deferred action on a re quest by residents of Rockwood Park Es tates for sewer service. It was the second time the issue has been tabled in as many months. Smith told residents of the subdivision that sewer service can be obtained through the city or the surrounding municipal utilities district. Residents fa vored annexation of the community by Bryan, with Rockv/ood supplying sewer lines and the city supplying service. Smith reiterated an opinion he expres sed earlier this summer, saying that ser vice to Rockwood would hinder develop ment within Bryan. Based on this and hook-up problems involved, Smith said sewer service to Rockwood would not be advantageous to Bryan. The council voted to take up the matter again at a later date. In other action the council adopted a resolution acknowledging appreciation for services of Richard B. Lopez, a Bryan fireman who was killed in a recent apart ment fire. The council also adopted a re solution to dedicate the new fire station on Briarcrest Drive in honor and memory of Lopez. Smith presented Mrs. Lopez with $3,586.21, raised by the Bryan Firefigh ter’s Association. Senate begins gas bill United Press International WASHINGTON — The Senate Mon- day opened debate on compromise legisla tion to end federal controls on natural gas prices amid intense vote counting on the measure considered a key to President Carter’s 17-month-old energy program. A showdown vote could come Wednes day. The bill that emerged from a House- Senate conference committee would phase out price controls on newly produced gas by 1985 and extend controls for the first time to sales of gas within the state of pro duction. “I am convinced that the natural gas conference report is a sound compromise that will be good for the nation and that we must pass it,” said Senate Energy Com mittee Chairman Henry M. Jackson, D-Wash. “Rightly or wrongly, events have made congressional action on natural gas policy a serious test of our ability to deal with major national problems and halt the ero- debate sion of confidence in our economic and political institutions.” Debate, although on a serious topic, opened on a humorous note. The bill, ab sorbed into a piece of minor legislation for parliamentary convenience, was titled “a bill for the relief of Joe Cortina of Tampa, Fla. When the clerk read the caption opening the momentous debate, there was chuckling from the galleries. Debate is expected to continue inter mittently, perhaps into evening hours, until sometime Wednesday when a vote is expected on a move by opponents to kill the measure. A filibuster is expected to follow if the compromise survives the first test. Should the Senate pass the compromise, it still must clear the House. A coalition of 15 senators, led by Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, D-Maine, and repre senting a broad spectrum of political opin ion endorsed the compromise before de bate opened. C, T 7 r j 7N Metric costs Frotest oj snan planned in U.S. eas ^ * 0 S au § e United Press International INDIANAPOLIS — Iranian stu dents will demonstrate in downtown Indianapolis today to protest gov ernment violence against traditional Moslems in Iran, a spokeswoman for their organization said. The woman identified herself as Havr Than, speaking for the Or ganization of Iranian Moslem Stu dents. She said she is a Purdue Uni versity student at West Lafayette. The demonstration, she said, would protest “massacres ’ by the shah of Iran. Between 70 and 100 students, some of them masked to prevent re taliation by authorities against their families in Iran, are expected to par ticipate, she said. Than said it will be the organiza tion’s first demonstration in Indiana. WASHINGTON — Although the nation will not go metric anytime soon, the gov ernment is about to spend another $2 mill ion to help you prepare for meters, kilos and liters. The United States is one of only a few countries in the world still using the En glish measuring system of inches and feet, ounces and pounds and pints and quarts. Most other countries use metric mea surements. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare awarded 66 grants Monday to local education agencies, colleges, non profit organizations and state facilities to train children and adults in metric conver sion. Congress passed the National Metric Conversion Act in 1975, but set no specific- date for a changeover. Instead, a very loose goal of 10 years was planned for a voluntary change to the metric system. Federal court rules oil company innocent of antitrust violations United Press International NEW ORLEANS — The Continental Oil Co. is innocent of antitrust charges al leging it sold gasoline bulk facilities to its jobbers in restraint of trade, a federal ap peals court ruled Monday. The ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a lower court decision that awarded the oil company’s commission agents about $8.4 million in triple damages. A U.S. District Court jury found Con oco guilty of violating the Sherman (antit rust) Act by selling the gasoline bulk plants to the jobbers and by not giving the com mission agents the opportunity to purch ase the facilities for themselves. Conoco had told the agents they could continue as commission agents for the jobbers, the new owners, or go out of business. But Circuit Judge John C. Godbold held that that Conoco was innocent of anti-trust violations because the trial court in structed the jury to consider a legal test that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled erroneous. Godbold also said the “Schwinn” test was incorrectly used to de termine if Conoco was guilty of restraint of trade. “The judgment must be reversed be cause of prejudicial errors committed by the district judge (Phillip B. Baldwin), Godbold ruled. “Also, the district judge did not ask the jury to make a finding of the relevant market but, as best we can tell, intended to make his own finding de fining the relevant market. “The district judge did not clearly ap prise the jury of what he had found the relevant market to be,” the judge said. “Second, whatever his finding, there was not sufficient evidence to support any de finition of the geographical market. There was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding that the challenged re straints actually restrained trade in that product market. A consortium of Conoco jobbers finally bought the oil company’s bulk plants for a total price of about $22 million in Max 1975.