The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 07, 1978, Image 1
} I s le first ^sfo, *11 fi Aont On "fiill ni, The R4TX4LI on Vol. 72 No. 48 Tuesday, November 7, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611 12 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611 Texas imported A little bit of the Lone Star state was distributed through the British Isles this week in the Architectural Review, an English technical journal, see page 5. Battalion photo by Tricia Forbes iens the.|( 6-U Mile utz losl •4. ,64 United Press International Texas politicians spent an unprece- ented$18 million this year seeking votes an election that experts predicted would raw only 2.3 million voters today. Voters remained apathetic despite ex- ravagant media campaigns by Republi- ans in the GOP’s most formidable bid in istory for top state posts in this tra- itionally Democratic state and open races irmore than one-third of the state’s con fessional seats. The Republican Party, intent upon mak- igTexas a two-party state, spent furiously an attempt to maintain John Tower in le U.S. Senate and install Bill Clements se y s the state’s first GOP governor since Re siling instruction, ownsl eman l; Mos "3 and 1 Phillip- sagre; g 1 dow 3 ruitt carrie zas lo Vomit Curie; raused Autumn oughta run em in With winter upon us, students like sophomore Karen Volkel won’t be able to find a warm, com fortable place to study outdoors. Today’s high will be about 68 with a low tonight of 47, so drag out those longjohns. It will be windy and cooler through Wednesday. §18 million spent i top 3 state races Democratic and Republican nominees nthe top three statewide races acknowl- idged spending nearly $18 million in their Inal pre-election campaign finance reports indthe total is expected to go even higher ‘jJ, rhen outlays for last chance media adver ting are included. Clements, a Dallas oil drilling contrac- orand former deputy secretary of defense aider Presidents Nixon and Ford, spent npron a excess of $6.3 million — more than him. I wice the outlay of Democrat John Hill, he state attorney general. The Republican once* aid his expensive campaign will prove the didnil lifference that has thwarted less well- financed GOP bids for the Texas gover nor’s mansion. “We are going to win by 53 to 47 per cent,” Clements said Monday on the eve of the election. He said he expects to carry such long-time Democratic strongholds as Bexar County, Houston and virtually all of the Panhandle where he said voters “do not want a liberal, career politician tied in with machine politic's.” Hill, formerly a Houston trial lawyer, upset incumbent Gov. Dolph Briscoe and won the Democratic nomination without a runoff in May. Both candidates are multimillionaires — Clements reported his worth at $30 mil lion, Hill $4 million — but emphasized down-home folksiness and a Texas drawl in their media ads. The Senate race in contrast pitted To wer, a former college government instruc tor, against a former Duke University dean and Shakespearean scholar, Rep. Bob Krueger, D-Texas. Tower contrasted his modest personal wealth with the financial holdings of his challenger, but the incumbent Republican spent $3.5 million to the Democratic nominee’s $2 million campaign outlay. Both candidates accused the other of in effective leadership and each predicts victory. Tower became the only Republican in 92 years to win a statewide election with his successful bid to replace Lyndon Johnson in the Senate 17 years ago. In the race for attorney general. Repub lican Jim Baker spent an unheard of $1.2 million in the GOP’s first serious bid for an office that has often launched a number of Texas Democrats into higher office. Baker, who managed Gerald Ford’s un successful 1976 presidential campaign, faced Democrat Mark White. White, also a Houston lawyer, began talking Monday as if victory were already his. Baker has accused White of ducking issues in the campaign and reierated ear lier charges that White violated campaign finance reporting laws. The retirement of Texas’ four longest tenured representatives sparked some heated congressional races — particularly in West Texas where George W. Bush of Midland sought to win the seat now held by Rep. George Mahon, D-Texas. Bush, son of the one-time United Na tions ambassador and ex-CIA director, faced State Sen. Kent Hance, D-Lubbock. In addition to Mahon, veteran Reps. Omar Burleson, Olin Teague and W.R. Poage, and the only black elected to rep resent Texas in Congress during this cen tury, Sen. Barbara Jordan, are retiring. Two incumbents, longtime Rep. John Young and Rep. Dale Milford were de feated in primary races. SProtestors’ violence prompts n cup! jrtk v* • • • . . • "Iranian prime minister to resign United Press International TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Prime Minis ter Jaafar Sharif-Emami resigned Monday in response to the worst explosion of anti shah violence in nearly 15 years and the military sent tanks into the street, signal ing a harsh new stand against demon strators. iega 4 ./■■I Radio Iran said Sharif Emami, ap- lointed only two months ago to assemble a J lational reconciliation government, had esigned. It made no mention of a possible iccessor. Sunday’s outbreak was the most de- fructive and fearsome single-day rampage incejune 1963 when violent disturbances » *ocked Tehran following the expulsion of ^Moslem leader Ayatollah Khomeini — low the Paris-based leader of the shah’s iposition. Anti-shah demonstrators set fire to the iritish Embassy, four international hotels, irline offices and banks but failed to get it an Iranian army cordon around the ■S. Embassy. Foreign guests fleeing the liiming hotels faced jeering crowds but 'ere not harmed. Demonstrators pulled down and de- oyed portraits of the shah and his father, leza Shah, set fire to the Ministry of In formation and beat up Minister ohammad Reza Ameli-Tehrani, ran- icked and destroyed liquor shops and liimed many vehicles, including at least 5 public buses. The violence erupted in retaliation for ie army’s reported slaying of student femonstrators Saturday as they tried to ill down a statue of the shah at Tehran diversity. At least five people were iwn dead but unofficial reports were luch higher. Widespread strikes nearly shut down ie capital and a crippling strike that has shut down the nation’s $20 billion-a-year )il industry in the southern production reas continued. The shah held extensive talks with Oveisi Sunday, fueling speculation that a military government might be in the of fing. It would be the last resort to halt apparently determined opposition efforts to topple the shah’s 37-year regime. Tanks rolled into the streets Sunday night and took positions at strategic points, indicating a drastic switch in the army’s attitude towards demonstrators — from one of uneasy tolerance Sunday to a willingness for a showdown. The army issued its harshest warnings against further violence, banning any kind of demonstration during the dusk-to-dawn curfew and telling the city’s 4.5 million residents that “violators will be shot after being warned to disperse.” The warning was repeated over Radio Iran with ominous persistence throughout the night, raising fears that any attempts to resist the ban could easily result in killings similar to those on Sept. 8, when martial law was imposed on Tehran and 11 other towns. At least 250 people died in Tehran that day. The city was near total shutdown as gasoline shortage struck deep through virtually all operations. A continuing air line strike forced other airlines also to can cel flights for fear of accidents in the ab sence of ground support staff. Taxi companies were shut down, food distrubution cut off, meat supplies dis rupted and bakeries closed partially. Strikes by telecommunications staff shut down satellite ground station and mi crowave centers, disrupting telephone and telex communications between Iran and the rest of the world. Randall County unusual most of its residents vote United Press International Just a little more than one-third of Texas’ estimated 6 million registered vot ers are expected to go to the polls Tues day, but Randall County Clerk LeRoy Hutton, with past experience to guide him, is primed for up to an 80 percent turnout in his Panhandle district. Hutton’s county comprises Canyon, a college town of some 8,200, and a popul ous one-third of Amarillo, a divided city which supplies 75 percent of Randall County’s registered voters. In the past four presidential elections (1964-1976), Randall County voters have turned out at an average rate of 85.3 per cent. In 1964, 94 percent of the nearly 14,700 registered voters turned out for the Lyndon Johnson-Barry Goldwater presi dential election, Hutton says. Hutton says an official in the Secretary of State’s Office told him his county led the state in 1976 with an 81.1 percent voter turnout during a presidential election. That may have led the state, Hutton says, but it amounted to the lowest presi dential year turnout in Randall County since 1964. Even in an off-year election in 1974 the voters turned out at a nearly 44 percent rate, Hutton says. Asked to estimate just how many voters will turn out in Randall County Tuesday, Hutton turns a bit coy. “I prefer not to say.” Pressed, he admits he’s warehoused 27,000 ballots this year, sufficient for 80 percent of the voters. “I am prepared for a large turnout.” Hutton didn’t give a definite reason for the large voter turnout, except to say that the people vote for the man, not the party. A&M strengthens hot check penalties By DILLARD STONE Battalion Staff The continuing increase in both the number and the amount of insufficient checks cashed at Texas A&M University has caused the fiscal department to stiffen penalties against hot check writers. “Effective with hot checks returned to this office as of Nov. 30, the charge for insufficient checks will be $15,” said J. Robert Smith, assistant controller of ac counts. The $15 charge is a 200 percent increase over the old charge of $5. Additionally, Smith said, if the returned check is not claimed and paid by its author within the 15-day grace period, the pen alty fee will be $25, instead of the current $10 charge. “Along with the increase in the penalty, we re now allowing only two returned checks before your name is placed on the bad check list,” Smith said. The list, distributed to all on-campus check cashing locations, is an index of those persons permanently ineligible to cash checks at Texas A&M. Fiscal department figures show that 5,440 checks totaling about $300,000 were returned to Texas A&M last year. The year before, the value of the 4,329 returned checks was about $235,000. The figures translate into a 26 percent rise in the number of checks and a 27 per cent increase in their value. Data for the first two months of this year show a more dramatic increase. The $85,000 in returned checks this Sep tember is 81 percent higher that the total for September 1977. Figures for October indicate a 45 percent increase. All this adds up to a significant loss to the University, both in time and in money. “This year, we’ve had to assign one per son full time to deal with hot checks, whereas in the past it used to be a part- time effort,” Smith said. Smith also said that at any given time. the fiscal department may have between $25,000 and $50,000 in insufficient checks awaiting collection. “It costs us $4 per check to process them,” he said. “We spend $5,000 a year just on computer work keeping up with hot checks.” In spite of the costs to the University, Smith said that his department’s check cashing service is a vital one. “We feel like we’ve got to offer the serv ice for students who bank out of town, be cause no one else will cash a check for them,” he said. One remote possibility Smith men tioned was the termination of the service, although he said that was still far in the future. The majority of the returned checks are written for cash. Smith said. Some are for tuition, and a few are for minor fines such as traffic citations. Smith said that a few students who knew the rules of the fiscal department’s game have used the University as an interim financing agent. For example, after receiv ing a bad $600 check for tuition. Smith said, the fiscal department would try all the routine collection procedures. After exhausting these routes, the University would eventually drop the student from its rolls. Upon being dropped, many students would make good their debts, and, accord ing to University police, would be readmitted to the University. “What it amounted to was that they had gotten a $600 dollar loan from Texas A&M,” Smith said. This situation was remedied several semesters ago when the fiscal department adopted a policy of charging a $50 fee for readmission. The fiscal department publishes two computer lists of hot check writers each day. One is an index listing the writer’s name, bank, amount of check and other related information, and is used should any questions arise about the University’s attempts to collect on its claim. The other list is distributed to all check cashing locations on campus each day. It lists names and student indentification numbers of hot check authors, and it alerts cashiers to people who have violated the University’s hot check policy. The cashiers are not allowed to accept checks from people on the list. Smith isn’t sure that the new policy will substantially reduce the number of hot checks. However, he does say the Univer sity owes it to itself and to students to pre vent hot checks from being passed. “Students will find that off this campus, such actions are riot dealt with so le niently,” Smith said. Teague to be released soon Congressman Olin E. “Tiger” Teague, “in great spirits” after surgery last week, should be released Wednesday from Bethesda Naval Hospital, a member of his office staff in Washington, D.C., said Monday. Teague was admitted to the Bethesda, Md., hospital Oct. 20 to undergo prostatic surgery. The doctors are pleased with his im provement, the staff member said. If Teague continues to improve, he will be released Wednesday. The staff member added that Teague would be in his office Friday. This is the third time Teague has been hospitalized since September, when he suffered a mild stroke. Teague, who represented the 6th Con gressional District in the House of Repre sentatives for over 30 years, will retire at the end of this year. Property ‘overassessment’ appealed by Consol board By DOUG GRAHAM Battalion Staff The A&M Consolidated Independent School Board is awaiting word from the State School Tax Assessment Practices Board (STAPB) on what it claims is an overassessment of College Station prop erty. The school board’s attorney. Jack Woods, reported on the school district’s appeal to STAPB during a Monday night school board meeting. Woods said the hearing was held Oct. 31, but that the board won’t make a deci sion for at least three weeks. The Austin-based panel will meet one week, take off one week, then return to work the third week, Woods said. They will then begin to make their decision, he added. The appeal is over an STAPB assess ment of taxable property in College Sta tion and the rest of the school district. The STAPB estimate was slightly more than $600 million dollars. Peggy Crittenden, public realtions offi cer for the district, said the school board wants a figure closer to the assessment made by the Governor’s Office of Educa tion Resources, (GOER) which valued taxable property at approximately $264 million. The school board is upset with the evaluation because the state helps cover public education costs according to a dis trict’s ability to pay. If College Station were viewed by the state as not using enough of its resources, Crittenden said, it could lose some state money. The overassessment, she said, was be cause STAPB included items not normally taxed. The biggest difference between the two estimates is in intangible personal as sets. The GOER report did not include intangibles, such as stocks and bonds, while the STAPB estimate includes $180 million in intangibles. The board did not specify what action it would take in the event their appeal is un successful. The board also considered changing school names. The district’s new school for fifth and sixth graders was named the Oak- wood Middle School, and a motion was tabled for later discussion on renaming the A&M Consolidated Middle School the A&M Consolidated Junior High. Also mentioned but not acted on was changing the district’s name from A&M Consolidated to something similar to the College Station Consolidated Independent School District. Hill optimistic on eve of election day By SCOTT PENDLETON Battalion Staff A clearly optimistic John Hill told supporters in College Station Monday night that the polls and the people favor his becoming the next governor of Texas. The Democratic candidate told some 200 Brazos County followers that a recent poll shows the move ment of public opinion in his favor. The poll was conducted by Dr. Richard Murray of the University of Houston. Hill said he considers Murray’s poll particularly accurate since Murray was the only pollster to predict Hill’s win in the primary without a runoff. Hill stopped short of claiming an early victory, however. He declined to autograph one supporter’s cam paign placard as “Governor Hill,” instead inviting his backer to Austin if he is elected. “Then I’ll be proud to sign as Governor Hill,” he said. Hill said Republicans are count ing on a low voter turnout in this election. However, the number of voters won’t affect the outcome of the gubernatorial race, he said. A large turnout would just give Hill a larger margin of victory, he said, but the outcome would be the same. In spite of the record amount of money (some $6.3 million) Cle ments has spent on his campaign. Hill felt he would win because the people are on his side. “People will overcome money every time,” he said. Hill, who never mentioned Cle ments by name Monday, said he has run on his own merits rather than criticizing anyone. Hill skimmed a variety of issues and campaign promises. He stated a desire to cooperate with local offi cials and instituions, such as Texas A&M University. He promised to give all citizens access to a govern ment that is effective, efficient, pro ductive and that is run on a tight budget. He renewed his pledge to veto any tax bills and to work on property tax relief. He called education his top priority. Hill said he wants Texas to be first in energy. And he said he wants to see that law enforcement officers get more training. “We re ready to go to work,” he said. “We want to stop talking and go to work.” College Station was Hill’s last stop before returning to Austin to wait for the returns.