Farmers
police in
ipected,
Mark Ni
Minor accident on rain-slicked streets
wrecker hauls a damaged Mercury Monarch from the scene of a
ree-vehicle collision Monday night. The Monarch, driven by University
dent Annette Louise Capers, collided with another car and smashed
to a University shuttle bus, a police report said. No one was reported
injured in the collision, which occurred at the intersection of University
Drive and Ireland Street. Capers was issued a traffic citation for disre
garding a stop light.
Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
legally lenient’ sentences upheld
stice appeal denied in Torres case
United Press International
Ie\V ORLEANS — A federal appeals
irt Monday refused to alter the light
laiies given three Houston policemen
p violated the civil rights of a
■an-American who drowned in their
tody, despite saying the district court
■beyond its authority in suspending
entences.
1-1 majority of the 5th U.S. Circuit
I of Appeals rejected the Justice De-
Bent’s request to issue a “writ of man-
ps ordering the district court to stif-
Inalties against former officers Terry
Ini Denson, Stephen Orlando and
Iph James Janish. The court said such a
t v as an “extraordinary remedy availa-
fcnly in rare cases.”
ft officers were charged after a pris-
ftjoe Torres, 23, drowned in Buffalo
§>o in Houston after they arrested him
Being drunk. Dissenting appeals court
Ige Irving L. Goldberg called the sus
pended senences “illegally lenient.
“Our duty is only to issue the writ of
mandamus where a statutorily illegal sen
tence was imposed,” Goldberg said “Such
a sentence has been imposed here, for a
crime that is singularly offensive to a free
society — a flagrant and violent breach of
the law by those charged with enforcing
it.
The majority, Judges James C. Hill and
Robert A. Ainsworth Jr., admitted U.S.
District Judge Ross N. Sterling of Houston
exceeded his authority to suspend the sen
tences. They also said the error of the dis
trict court was reversible by issuing the
writ, but they refused to do so.
“When we examine the facts in the in
stant case, we do not feel the compelling
need for the writ,” the court said in its
25-page opinion. “Indeed, we find a more
compelling case for declining to exercise
our discretion over the issuance of the
writ.”
Sterling imposed one-year sentences for
misdemeanor “wrongful death” violations
and suspended 10-year sentences, in lieu
<if five years probation, for a felony' count.
The three officers faced possible life sen
tences on the federal charges.
Federal law allows a judge to suspend a
sentence in civil rights cases only when
the maximum penalty is less than death or
life imprisonment, the Justice Depart
ment said.
“(The policemen) have adjusted their
lives to the punishment assessed,” the ap
peals court said. “They have sought and
secured employment opportunities consis
tent with the term of incarceration im
posed.
“To withdraw the probation granted for
which the defendants and their families
have prepared themselves would work
hardship on the defendants and their
families.”
Resentment among Texas Hispanics
over the sentences, which they consider
too light, resulted in a riot at Moody Park
in Houston last May.
Torres was arrested May 5, 1977, and
was found beaten and drowned in the
bayou three days later. A state court jury
previously sentenced Denson and Orlando
to one year’s probation for misdemeanor
negligent homicide. Five officers were
fired as a result of the Torres case. Glenn
Brinkmeyer pleaded guilty to a mis
demeanor federal violation and testified
for the prosecution.
Louis Glenn Kinney’s case was severed
from that of Denson, Orlando and Janish
and he awaits prosecution.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Police using teargas
and billy-clubs clashed with angry farmers
in a massive traffic jam Monday as the
demonstrators trundled into town in 2,000
tractors and pickup trucks to press Con
gress for higher crop prices.
The American Agriculture Movement
protest was mostly peaceful, but a half
dozen arrests and minor injuries resulted.
Some farmers parked their tractors at in
tersections and some rammed police cars.
Rush-hour commuter traffic from the
Maryland and Virginia suburbs was
backed up more than 10 miles on some
roads and frustrated commuters ex
changed shouted curses with farmers
mounted high on their cumbersome diesel
tractors.
Eye-watering teargas and diesel fumes
hung heavy in the air around the Agricul
ture Department where police fought
some unruly demonstrators with fists and
Mace.
Those arrested were jailed on charges
ranging from assaulting a police officer to
disorderly conduct.
The tractor drivers converged on the
Agriculture Department and Congress
and joined thousands of other AAM mem
bers in town to demand higher federal
crop price supports — a move which
would certainly raise food prices at grocery
stores.
Movement leaders estimated the num
bers would be greater than the 30,000 who
came to protest last year. But congres
sional sources said the new Congress is
still in a purse-pinching mind and is un
likely to grant small farmers much relief in
the face of a possible recession.
At a news conference, Joyce Robinson of
Choteau, Mont., said she did not believe
they would lose support for their cause by
tying up traffic.
“How else can we present our case to
the American public?” she said.
The farmers promised that some would
stay in Washington until they achieved
their goal: a congressional requirement
that Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland
implement fully the 1977 farm law to raise
crop loans to 90 percent of parity.
Their demands translate into a
minimum wheat price pf $5.05 a bushel
and a minimum corn price of $3.53 a
bushel, compared with $3.02 and $2.10
last month, representing 54 percent of par
ity.
Parity is a measure of farm income
based on farm costs and living standards
just before World War I.
Joyce Robinson, a Choteau, Mont.,
producer, said demands would add 2.5
cents to the nearly 3 cents worth of wheat
in a loaf of bread.
Farmers came away from last year’s first
tractorcade with higher supports for wheat
and cotton, but claim the increases were
meet
capital
nergy shortage generates
minars beginning tonight
By LORI SHULER
Battalion Reporter
||eries of free seminars on energy con-
Ition begins tonight at 7 at A&M Con-
ted High School.
pwing concern over electrical bills
etroleum shortages have prompted
Texas Energy Extension Service to
Jthe Home Energy Conservation
inars with the A&M Consolidated
^itnunity Education Program.
i programs are a refinement of semi-
Boriginally held last fall, which gener-
Jinterest about the subject in the
(i-College Station community, said
Charlene Clark, Energy Information
Specialist with TEES.
The series will be at A&M Consolidated
High School, Tuesdays and Thursdays
from 7-9 p.m. It begins today and will end
Feb. 15.
Clark said the extension service had as
sumed people would want information on
energy conservation to learn how to save
money, but found after the fall seminars
that many people were even more in
terested in the energy-saving aspect.
“Generally people have equated energy
saving with money saving, but lots of
people are concerned with the energy
problem and as a group, they are quite
ihanklin recommended
or new head yell leader
9
Battalion staff report
Ben Shanklin has been recom-
iended for the head yell leader posi-
bn to replace Jeff Hancock, who re
ined last week.
Dr. John Koldus, vice president for
judent services, said he will consider
i recommendation today.
|The Yell Leader Committee recom-
ended Shanklin in a meeting Monday
ening, said Col. Thomas R. Parsons,
airman of the committee and director
[safety and traffic.
Hancock gave no reason for his res-
nation other than it would be in his
pd the University’s best interest.
That’s all I want to say about it,” he
id Friday.
Monday afternoon Hancock said that
be terminated his Air Force ROTC
ntract as of Feb. 1 and has resigned
om the Corps of Cadets.
He’s out of the Corps, he said, on his
m, not because he was forced out.
Now he’s looking for a place to live
off-campus, he said. Hancock, a man
agement major, plans to graduate in
August 1979.
Shanklin, an engineering technology
major, missed the meeting of the Yell
Leader Committee Monday, but he
said he will accept the position.
He said he was surprised at Han
cock’s resignation, adding that he has
not talked with the former yell leader
lately.
Not much work is left for the yell
leaders before spring elections,
Shanklin said. The remaining yell lead
ers, two juniors and two seniors, will be
able to lead yells at the basketball and
baseball games before they are re
placed or re-elected in April, he said.
The other candidate for head yell
leader, senior Joe Wright, did not want
the position because of other respon
sibilities, he said. He also said he didn’t
know any reasons for Hancock’s resig
nation.
knowledgeable,” Clark said.
Tonight’s program, “Solar Energy in the
Home,” will include a lecture by Peter
Jenkins, associate professor of mechanical
engineering at Texas A&M University.
Jenkins is a member of the Texas Solar
Energy Society.
Jenkins said he will go through the
basics of solar energy and give instructions
on the use of solar water heaters. He will
focus on the active, or mechanical, aspect
of solar energy.
Gary Sorenson, a civil engineering lec
turer at Texas A&M, will lead the pro
gram, “Passive Solar Energy,” on Thurs
day.
Clark defined passive solar energy as
“non-mechanical use of solar energy, such
as locating a house in the right direction
and placement and use of windows — just
taking advantage of sun coming into the
house.”
Sorenson will talk about the role of land
scaping in energy conservation and the
earth-home concept, which is a partial or
total underground dwelling.
Next Tuesday, local builder Tom Borski
will speak on “Energy Efficient Design in
New Homes” and tell how to incorporate
energy-saving devices into the home from
the start.
Borski, who has used energy-saving
concepts in improvements in his own
home as well as in others, said he will talk
about the Arkansas Plan of house design.
An Arkansas Plan home has a specially
designed roof structure, added insulation
and less glass than a conventionally de
signed home, Borski said. He will discuss
these and other features during his pro
gram.
Clark and Lee Phillips, assistant direc
tor for engineering studies in TEES, will
lead the final seminar, “How to Do an
Energy Analysis of Your Present Home,”
next Thrusday, Feb. 15.
Clark said the final program will deal
with “retrofit, ” the idea of making an exist
ing home energy efficient.
Sigtzlughsi!
Zeldron — for lowest of the low, and most despicable of the despised — is
softly uttered from the proboscis of this alien, cursing another photo
grapher snapping his picture at last weekend’s Warcon. Beneath it all is
Mel Henshaw of Houston, who dropped in to participate in the Recrea
tion Committee’s convention of games of war, battle, strategy and fan
tasy. Please see related story page 7 Battalion photo by Colin CromW.
insufficient to keep up with expenses and
they were deeper in debt this year.
Jim Kramer of Hugoton, Kan., said,
“There are some who quite frankly feel
they must stay because their farm is on the
line and if they don’t get something done
here, there’s no reason for them to return
home.”
Derel Fillingim, a Hico, Texas, farmer,
said: “We came up here last year and we
talked and talked, and wore the white hat,
and tried to do the best we could to convey
our message to the people, and they didn’t
pay us any mind, so we’ve come back and
we re going to get a little tougher each
time.”
But Rep. Peter Peyser, D-N.Y., said “I
can think of few demonstrations as inap
propriate and as counterproductive as the
game currently being played on the streets
of our nation’s capital.”
Rep. John Myers, R-Ind., told a House
Appropriations subcommittee the strikers
drove “$50,000 vehicles with expensive
tires and consumed barrels of fuel (on their
trip to Washington) which they claim they
cannot afford.”
Subcommittee chairman Tom Bevill,
D-Ala., about one hour late for the hear
ing, said he was so tied up in traffic he
missed a meeting he had scheduled with
the protesters.
28,452 Aggies
on main campus
A spring semester record of 28,452 stu
dents are enrolled on the main campus of
Texas A&M University, for an increase of
more than 1,300 over the same period last
year.
Registrar Robert A. Lacey said an
additional 589 students are enrolled at
Moody College in Galveston.
Lacey said the previous spring semester
record was established last year when
27,089 registered on the main campus and
540 at Galveston.
Spring enrollment is traditionally lower
than that of fall, the registrar added. The
major reason for the second semester drop
is midterm graduation.
The registration figures represent
enrollments as of Jan. 30, the 12th class
day of the current semester and the official
reporting period for the Coordinating
Board, Texas College and University Sys
tem.
Khomeini
names top
minister
United Press International
TEHRAN, Iran — Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini Monday appointed elder
statesman Mehdi Bazargan as prime
minister of his new provisional govern
ment charged with ultimately establishing
a “pure” Islamic state in Iran.
The ayatollah told a news conference
the 73-year-old Bazargan, former director
of the National Iranian Oil Co., will an
nounce other members of his new
provisional government shortly.
Bazargan has been the “honest broker”
of Iranian politics for the past few weeks,
acting as intermediary between Khomeini
Please see related story page 6.
and Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar
and trying to arrange a compromise be
tween the two men to head off a
threatened civil war.
The former university lecturer, re
spected by both sides as well as army gen
erals, had been widely tipped for the post
for many weeks.
Bazargan was trained as a businessman
and a university professor after receiving
an engineering degree in Paris and early in
his political life he became a member of
the opposition National Front. He was also
for a time director of the prestigious Na
tional Iranian Oil Co.
A dedicated and deeply religious man,
he ran afoul of Shah Mohammed Reza
Pahlavi in 1962 and was arrested for his
activities against the regime.
Bazargan became deeply involved in the
latest political crisis facing Iran several
weeks ago when, on Khomeini’s instruc
tions, he held talks with striking oil work
ers and persuaded them to restart limited
production to satisfy the country’s domes
tic needs.
Since that time he has been involved in
highly delicate and secret talks between
Khomeini, Bakhtiar and army generals try
ing to find a peaceful solution to the cur
rent crisis.
Only hours before Bazargan’s appoint
ment was announced, Bakhtiar warned he
would not tolerate “two governments in
Iran.”
But in a conciliatory gesture, the prime
minister said he would not interfere if the
ayatollah established a “shadow
provisional government” similar to Brit
ain’s opposition parties to debate govern
ment programs and put forward opposition
ideas.