HE BaT IALION
focus premieres today
Vol. 72 No. 25
Pages
Thursday, October 5, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
• A new feature and entertain
ment magazine makes its first
appearance inside today’s Battal
ion. Edited by Gary Welch,
focus is produced by the same
folks who bring you the daily
Battalion. Enjoy.
• Bobby Tucker, student body
president, vetoed the student
government operating budget
Wednesday night. See his rea
sons on page 3.
|. of
(8%’
!*| ill
• of
Dinner I
1
V
A V
ERA one step
closer to passing
and
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Senate de
feated a so-called “killer” amendment
Wednesday, virtually assuring that Con
gress wil give states an additional three
years and three months to ratify the Equal
Rights Amendment.
Rejected by the surprising margin of
54-44 was an amendment by Sen. Jake
Garn, R-Utah, who wanted to give states
which already have ratified the ERA an
opportunity to reverse themselves.
This cleared the way for the Senate to
give final congressional approval Friday to
a House-passed bill extending the ratifica
tion dateline to June 30, 1982 — a big
legislative victory for the women’s rights
movement and for President Carter.
Otherwise, ERA would have been
doomed. Only 35 of the constitutionally
mandated 38 states have accepted it to
date and there was no chance for an
additional three to ratify before the initital
seven-year period expires next March.
The amendment, in its entirety, says:
“Equality of rights under the law shall not
be abridged or denied by the United
States or any state on account of sex.”
Both sides considered the Garn
amendment crucial and both Carter and
Vice President Walter Mondale lobbied
hard against it.
Special presidential assistant Sarah
Weddington said Carter made telephone
calls to five senators and Mondale to three
others. The administration also helped
Sen. Floyd Haskell, DColo., rush back to
the city for the vote.
Gam issued a statement later saying he
had gone into the vote with “firm com
mitments” from 53 senators and “the only
flaw in our strategy, it seems, was the ina
bility to predict that six senators would re
nege on their commitments.” He men
tioned no names.
Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind., the bill’s floor
manager, said, “If the Senate had not
voted as it did today, not only would the
ERA extension have l>een gutted to the
point of death, but it would have effec
tively killed any chance for final ratifica
tion of the Equal Rights Amendment by
the necessary 38 states.”
Bayh said if the Gam amendment had
passed, he probably would have with
drawn the measure as being “totally unac
ceptable” to the House.
Gam, summing up his argument prior
to the vote, denounced those who called
his proposal “a killer amendment.”
V
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0.
Aggies take store
owner to cleaners
-31
ns
•3*3
-■ ■ ■
A
A local Aggie fan has offered more than
just yells to show his support of the foot
ball team. But Ron Vandiver’s support has
cost him $10,000-12,000 — a bit of irony
that this week made the national news
wires of United Press International.
Vandiver, who owns a men’s clothing
store and two dry cleaning shops in Col
lege Station, figures to sell $200,000 worth
of clothing — much of it at a loss — be
cause of the lopsided 58-0 Aggie victory
over Memphis State University Saturday.
Wednesday night Vandiver said about
85 percent of his clothing stock was gone.
“Everybody thinks we re crazy. We
think we re crazy ourselves, but if we put a
stipulation on our discount we’d be saying
we were chicken,” he said.
For the last three years Vandiver has
run advertisements in the Aggie football
program and elsewhere offering a discount
equal to the margin of the Texas A&M
University victory.
"They (the customers) are killing us,”
Vandiver told a Memphis newspaper. The
Press-Scimitar, which put the story on the
national UPI wire. Despite his losses,
Vandiver said that the most important
thing is to have his name associated with
Texas A&M football.
“The biggest discount we had in the past
was 49 percent and the customers killed us
then," Vandiver said. “But this time it’s
really bad.
Vandiver says he’s committed to con
tinuing the promotion through the rest of
the season despite the financial loss. He
said he hoped all the publicity will help
him recover his losses.
Vandiver said that since he began the
discount gimmick, his business has quad
rupled. After this week’s 58 percent dis
count, Vandiver said he has accumulated
enough dry cleaning to keep him busy for
the next two weeks.
"I started flinching from the first point
against MSU, but the real reaction comes
after 40,” the businessman said. “I’m a big
Aggie fan, but you can get to the Cotton
bowl on three-point wins.”
S"'"*
Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
More inmates testify as case
against state prisons continues
‘Speaking of Rip Van Winkle
The student who parked this trusty 10-speed bi
cycle outside Spence Hall may be In for quite a
I surprise when, and if he next decides to use it.
The fast-growing vines planted around Spence
have neatly wrapped the bike in a leafy green
coat.
United Press International
HOUSTON — An inmate suing the
state alleging substandard prison condi
tions admitted Wednesday he had been
punished with solitary confinement for
committing a homosexual rape, but denied
he actually assaulted the other inmate.
ave.
. 2.97
eace accords may be endangered
1 Israel intervenes in Lebanon
ine Finii
FIR I >ress International
Lebanon - The heaviest fight-
pt the war between Syrian troops and
r. lan ^fShtist forces raged unchecked
pru Wednesday, reducing much of
[ y .° Slackened rubble and raising
again the possibility of Israeli inter-
P n on the side of the Christians.
I presidential palace was shelled and
I. , s h° r e batteries were reported
Pg with a Syrian naval vessel off the
i, , rnin g oil storage tank sent
M day Srn °k e over the city for the
L'ff ' cas ualty figures were not im-
w r \ dva ^ a Lle in the duels with
Lin uc’, mortars and artillery. The
g halangist radio reported about
650 persons had been killed or injured in
the past 24 hours.
The Voice of Lebanon said the Syrians
suffered heavy losses. Several hopsitals
were reported so full they couldn’t take
any more patients.
Beirut Radio announced Wednesday af
ternoon Lebanese President Elias Sarkis
and Syrian President Hafez Assad would
meet “shortly” in an attempt to stem the
fighting.
The fighting went on despite interna
tional efforts to arrange a cease-fire and
prevent any possible Syrian-Israeli con
frontation that could endanger the Camp
David peace accords.
The United States Wednesday urged
both Syria and Israel to exercise restraint
in the situation and announced its support
for a French plan to remove Syrian troops
from Beirut, to set up a buffer force of
Lebanese army troops and to set up an
international commission to oversee a
cease-fire.
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance confer
red with Lebanese officials in New York
Tuesday and held urgent talks Wednesday
with U.N. Secretary General Kurt Wal
dheim. The U.N. Security Council met in
closed session and approved an appeal for
a cease-fire later issued by Waldheim and
Council President Jacques Leprette of
France.
Syrian Information Minister Ahmed Is-
kandar Ahmed said in an interview with
the Syrian Arab news agency that his
country “does not fear any threats by Is
rael, and we are ready for any eventual
ity.”
Rocket, mortar and artillery fire thun
dered over a 20-mile radius north and east
of the capital. The devastating artillery
barrages of the past four days deprived
large sections of Beirut and its suburbs of
utilities, food and water. Damage was es
timated in the hundreds of millions of dol
lars in the eastern Christian sector alone.
The heaviest battle was for control of a
key bridge commanding the northeast ap
proaches to the city but the Christian
Phalangist radio also reported a rain of
shells hitting eastern sectors of the city.
One broadcast said, “We are still under
Syrian volcanoes.”
“I was accused and punished. I was
charged with assaulting another inmate
and committing sodomy on him. I was sent
to solitary,” David Resendez Ruiz, 36, tes
tified under crossexamination by a state
lawyer.
“I didn t rape him. He was a homosex
ual that belonged to a building tender (an
inmate guard).”
It was the first mention of homosexual
rape — a key security complaint by other
inmates — in a 3-day-old nonjury trial of
eight inmates suits on behalf of all 24,000
inmates in Texas’ 15 prisons.
U.S. District Judge William Wayne Jus
tice is presiding over trial to end alleged
insecurity, overcrowding, abuse, use of
inmate guards, poor health care, slave
labor and denial of access to courts.
sitting at plaintiffs’ table, O.D. Johnson,
testified he had received inadequate med
ical attention for his eyes, headaches and
earaches.
Inmate Leonard Ortega Diaz testified
he once was beaten by corrections officers
and at least one inmate helped to interro
gate him. He said he had seen other in
mate guards — given authority by officers
— beat fellow inmates.
Johnson said on one occasion an inmate
medical aide gave him a local anesthetic
injection and used a sharp instrument to
probe his ear for an obstruction. He said
inmates did most of the work at the prison
entry center.
“The inmates are the ones that checked
my eyes and my teeth. Nothing else really
happened,” Johnson said, although on
cross-examination he conceded a doctor
had examined him.
He ridiculed an inmate eye tester who
“told me I had 20-20 vision. I told him I
had worn glasses. He told me I must think
he’s some kind of fool.” He later admitted
prison doctors prescribed three different
pairs of glasses for him.
Also under a date-by-date cross-
examination of his prison medical history,
Johnson confirmed he had skull x-rays,
blood tests and had several different medi
cations prescribed for his headaches.
Justice, expressing concern about a trial
that might last a year, interrupted the
lengthy questioning to say that dates of
meetings with doctors and taking of drugs
were not the issue.
“You’ve demonstrated he’s received
quite a bit of attention,” the judge said.
“Whether it was good attention or
whether it was proper medication I’m not
prepared to say at this point.”
Diaz said he was beaten by several cor
rectional officers and at least one inmate
who were seeking information he did not
have. Afterward, he said he underwent
surgery to fix a broken jaw.
“He (the corrections officer) came at me
and started hitting me on the face. At the
same time, (two others) started hitting me
at the same time until they knocked me
down to the floor.
“I asked them what it was they wanted
to know and they just kept beating on me
until they got tired.”
idate
By CHIP HARPER
Battalion Reporter
ran i d ! e ^ adroad Commissioner
dav u. ate J. im Lacey said Wednes-
t a ' s opponent, incumbent
offi °T ler ’ was appointed to the
an i e Wlt o°ut prior experience in oil
an « gas industry affairs,
tn a r *\ e P u bfican candidate spoke
Inn Unc ^ eon cr owd at the Holiday
trai^ 6 Can t a fford the on-the-job
Laon!' 1 ^ • °P onent ' s g ett ' n g>
°f the state 7 t S C ° St [ ng the People
sairl ft at ? to ° mu ch money. He
plex u' * ndu stry is far too com-
^mSsioners” ^ inex P erienced
in tlif ey .i ^ as been an executive
erarli, 'Pastry for 29 years, is a
with a *( °i L ex p s Tech University
leiim 1 )ac le l° r s degree in petro-
engineering.
busing Sa n d foldings in the oil
°f interest' COnsdtute a conflict
say taxes inhibit oil industry
“If necessary, I will disqualify Of that $1.5 billion, the oil industry
myself,” he said. “I have put my paid two-thirds, or $1 billion. This is
“If necessary, I will disqualify
myself,” he said. “I have put my
holdings in a blind trust.
According to Lacey, current regu
lation doesn’t encourage oil produc
tion. Tax expenses, he said, often
inhibit well production.
“We need regulation to provide
incentive for production, he said.
“That’s the only way we can enlarge
our oil and gas reserves.”
Lacey reported that in 1977,
Texas produced 38 percent of the
nation’s oil and 36 percent of the
natural gas. This year may not be as
good, he said, since the number of
operating drilling rigs in the oil-rich
Permian Basin is down 10 percent.
According to the Midland resident,
25 percent of the nation’s oil is pro
duced in the basin.
This could mean bad news for
Texas taxpayers, Lacey said. Last
year, the state collected $4.4 billion
in total revenue, $1.5 billion of
which was paid by state businesses.
Of that $1.5 billion, the oil industry
paid two-thirds, or $1 billion. This is
one reason, Lacey said, that Texas
ranked 49th last year in per capita
taxes paid.
Lacey also accused the Federal
Energy Commission as being a
waste of money, saying the $10.6
billion budgeted for the commission
exceeds the total monetary output of
all the nation’s oil companies for
new oil production. For all the
money spent, he said, the commis
sion has issued no productive regu
lation.
Current energy legislation in
congress is being passed as a “badge
of honor,” according to Lacey. “The
energy bill is a bad bill. It puts the
state under federal control.”
The bill would take intrastate
mineral sales out of state jurisdiction
and place them under federal au
thority. According to Lacey, Texas
has a good chance of defeating this
measure.
Jim
Lacey
Aggie Blood Drive taking
application for contest now
“Put a little Aggie in everyone!”
This is the latest groad joke, right?
Guess again. It’s a plug for something al
most as traditional as the stories at mid
night yell practice, but maybe not so well
understood — the Aggie Blood Drive.
Since 1959, Texas A&M University stu
dents, faculty and staff have contributed
over 18,000 pints of blood. Some of the
blood components have been used for
blood transfusions. The others have been
used for research in cancer, blood diseases
and leukemia.
Because Aggies have contributed so
much blood, any Texas A&M student or
former student can obtain blood credits for
himself, a family member, or even a close
friend through the Aggie Blood Club for
just the processing costs of the blood units.
Faculty and staff members are covered,
too. This program will work as long as Ag
gies are willing to give blood through the
Aggie Blood Drive to the Aggie Blood
Club.
Who benefits from this blood drive?
People who need blood for emergencies
and surgery, people (like hemophiliacs)
who need large quantities of blood, people
who can obtain blood units for less money,
and people whose diseases could be cured
when further research is done. This is one
way for an Aggie to help society and espe
cially his fellow Aggies.
Almost anyone who is in good physical
health can give blood. Everyone who do
nates is given a mini-physical check-up
first to make sure that he will not hurt
himself by giving blood.
This fall the Blood Drive will be held
next Tuesday through Thursday from 9
a.m. - 6 p.m. in room 224 of the MSG.
In addition, any group of people can do
nate blood as a contest team. Contest rules
are available at the Alpha Phi Omega cubi
cle in room 216 of of MSG. The entry
deadline is 5 p.m. Monday. Any group is
eligible if at least 20 people donate — or
try to donate — in its name.