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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1979)
HE Battaueon Vol. 72 No. 103 12 Pages Friday, February 23, 1979 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 He s a lumberjack About 250 Aggies in natural re sources disciplines will compete March 3 in log rolling, pole climb ing, crosscut sawing, ax throwing and other lumberjack’s activities in something called Skidadoo. No one knows where the name comes from, though Forestry Club President Kent Colburn says, “it is a catchy word.” See page 6. Vietnam inflicts massive casualties 'i I ( Play ball! Only they didn’t. C.E. “Pat” Olsen, for whom the Aggies’ stadium is named, threw out the ball to open Texas A&M’s 1979 baseball season, but the scheduled exhibition game against Japan’s Hosei University was canceled because of wet grounds. Texas A&M will play LSU at Olsen Field Saturday at 1 p.m. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr. United Press International Thousand of Chinese invaders and sea soned Vietnamese regulars clashed today in the the heaviest fighting of the week- long war. Vietnam said it had blunted two Chinese attacks, killing 1,000 Chinese. China claimed Vietnam has refused to talk peace. Radio Hanoi claimed that heavy fighting drove China’s casualty toll over 12,000. It said 14 battalions have been badly mauled and 140 tanks and armored cars destroyed. Today’s reports would push the reported casualties to 13,000. Radio Moscow, monitored in Tokyo, said today hundreds of Chinese air force planes arrived near the Sino-Vietnamese border while a bridge to aid Chinese rein forcements equipped with heavy firearms was built near Lao Cai over the Red River, which flows from China past Hanoi. There were also reports that Vietnam had shelled China’s Kwangsi province just northeast of Vietnam with 130-mm artil lery fire and that the Chinese were or ganizing militia groups of 18 to 35-year- olds in Kwangsi. Vietnam’s Defense Minister Vo Nguen Giap said today in a radio report monitored in Bangkok, Thailand, that even if the Chinese widen the war Vietnam will win and he thanked the Soviet Union for “defense support and as sistance.” The Japanese Kyodo news service said the official Chinese paper. People’s Daily, said Hanoi has refused to talk peace with Peking. The paper quoted the Voice of Vietnam as the source for Hanoi’s refusal to negotiate. The dispatch was the first official Peking report admitting the Chinese invaded Vietnam. It claimed the Chinese action was supported by public opinion in Thai land and Pakistan. Radio Moscow, monitored in Tokyo, said that according to news agency reports the Chinese plan to expand the battle front and advance deeper into Vietnam. Chinese forces are now 12 miles into Vietnam engaged in the heaviest fighting of the war across a 96-mile belt of the 450-mile border between the two Com munist nations. Radio Moscow said Chinese forces plundered residents, destroyed economic establishments and killed civilians. It said the heaviest battles were around Lang Son, some 15 miles inside Vietnam, in what has been shaping as a major battle of the conflict. Radio Hanoi, monitored in Bangkok, said said Vietnamese infantry and artillery wiped out more than 500 enemy soldiers at Lang Son, a vital rail junction, where regular Vietnamese troops have repor tedly joined the fight. Previously, Chinese forces had encountered only local Vietnamese militia forces numbering perhaps 80,000. Intelligence sources in Bangkok suggested the commitment of regular troops to the fight is just what the Chinese have been waiting for. The best Western estimates are that China has now committed 90,000 troops to the war while holding slightly more than that in reserve. Vietnam has about 50,000 battle-hardened regulars between the Chinese invasion force and Hanoi. Japanese news agencies quoted Chinese officials in Peking as saying China’s “puni tive” attack against Vietnam was not yet finished. The Soviet Union continued to mount military pressure on Peking by dispatching three more ships to the South China Sea. The United States, reflecting growing concern over possible Soviet intervention in the fighting, called an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council. The New York Times reported that Moscow had begun a limited airlift of mili tary supplies to the Vietnamese. Chinese officials in Peking were quoted as saying the invasion would continue “un til Vietnam feels pain.” U.S. urges U.N. to ‘defuse’ Asia louse owners to be presumed guilty City Council outlaws meter tampering By KEVIN HIGGINBOTHAM Battalion Reporter The College Station City Council passed ordinance Thursday to prohibit tamper- with electrical and water meters. Uiis ordinance addresses a problem I m’t think is epidemic in College Station, it it is continual,’ City Attorney Neeley iwis said. Lewis said that the owner or occupant of home with a tampered meter will be ed unless he can prove otherwise. We have no way as a prosecutor to find culprit otherwise,” Lewis said. Under the ordinance meter tampering be considered a misdemeanor punish- le by a fine not exceeding $200 for each of the violation. Mayor Lorence Bravenec expressed mcern that people who “technically ilate ’ the ordinance may be prosecuted. Lewis assured the council that the ordi- is aimed at those who are willfully lempting to steal utilities. The council also approved standards to used in reviewing Rehabilitation Grant ilications. “I think these are a superior set of dards than those first presented to the cil,” said Community Development Planner Jim Callaway, who suggested them. A committee will be formed to review applications submitted for the grant money. It will be made up of representa tives from the structural standards com mittee, from the area in which the re habilitation will take place and from the community at large, such as a member of the clergy. The committee will have some options when reviewing the applications for the housing repair grants. The options allow the committee to stretch the income limits and the amount of the grants by 10 percent in borderline cases. The grants are as supply cuts could limit station hours awarded according to the applicant’s in come level and the condition of the home to be repaired. The city has budgeted $50,000 for the housing rehabilitation program. The money is surplus street repair funds re ceived from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1977. Callaway said the money was to origi nally be used to pave Detroit Street, which falls within one of the four areas slated for repair grant funds. Under the adopted proceedures, Calla way estimated that eight to 12 grants of a maximum $5,000 each could be awarded. Although the grant program is currently limited to the $50,000 budget, Callaway is optimistic more HUD funding will be available to continue the project. “I think we’ve made some earnest ef forts to meet the HUD requirements for Community Development funding,” said Callaway. “If the rehabilitation program is acceptable, I think we ll get the funds.” Callaway stressed that the grant money would not be used for “purely cosmetic improvements” such as painting, but for major repairs such as repairing leaky roofs and faulty electrical wiring. According to Callaway, applications for the grants will be accepted in the near fu ture, but a committee will not be selected until the next council meeting in two weeks. Announcements will be made in the local media to publicize the grants, Calla way said. The council approved bids totalling $362,600 to Westinghouse Electric Supply Company for the expansion of the Gulf States Utilities’ switching station. In other business the council chose a new city logo to be used on city vehicles and other property. The council selected the logo Bravenec called “the teapot one” from a group of five. The mayor said he didn’t like any of the choices and voted against the one selected because it was “too complex.” United Press International UNITED NATIONS — Strongly op posed by the Soviet Union and China, the United States urged today that the U.N. Security Council give its full attention to the rapidly developing threat of a major war in Indochina. Britain, Norway, Portugal and Japan formally joined the U.S. move for U.N. action to defuse the new Asian powderkeg and a number of nonaligned nations indi cated approval of any neutral effort to calm the situation. In a separate initiative, U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim offered his “good offices” to all involved parties and an nounced through a spokesman he would go to the area if necessary. U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young re turned to New York yesterday for what promised to be a long and hard diplomatic battle. In his absence, Deputy Ambassador James F. Leonard took the first step with ambassadors from Britain, Norway and Portugal, to request a full debate of both the Chinese invasion of Vietnam and the earlier Soviet-backed Vietnamese move into Cambodia. The council held a first 20-minute round of informal consultations late Thursday, then adjourned for another closed-door meeting this morning to give time to some delegations to get in touch with their gov ernments. The United States and its supporters pressed for a public debate to begin this afternoon and likely to last throughout next week. Leonard said at a news conference both the Chinese and Soviets had told him “it was not desirable to take up the matter in the council.” Leonard said the United States had not yet prepared a resolution, but indicated it would follow the usual council pattern in case of existing hostilities: “To ask that the fighting stops and also to ask that troops that are on some sort of foreign soil should be withdrawn from foreign soil.” Leonard emphasized, however, that such an appeal would only be a “first step” to be followed by a “more serious and pro found consideration of the whole prob lem. ’ Scalped ticket holders lose again — now in refund process By PEGGY C. McCULLEN Battalion Reporter Those who bought tickets second-hand for Boston’s canceled rock show got scalped twice. In addition to paying more than the original price for the tickets, they are los ing money when they collect refunds. The box office only returns the list price. Kevin Martin, a local high school stu dent, paid $20 apiece for second row con cert tickets. He bought them from a scalper who was selling them to the high est bidder. On the night of the cancellation, Martin took his date to G. Rollie White Coliseum and sat outside listening to a Boston tape in his car. Martin will receive only $16 in refund for the two tickets, making his loss $24 — the list price of three reserve tickets. Town Hall, the group which booked the concert, sells a number of tickets at the first of each fiscal year. These allow their owners to purchase tickets to events a week before they are on sale to the general public. Many scalpers use season tickets to ob tain choice seats. They may legally sell the tickets to any buyer at any price. In the case of cancellation of the event, it is up to the scalper whether he returns the money to the buyer. Most scalpers do not possess such generosity. A count taken Thursday night indicated that 5,360 refunds had been made. About 8,200 tickets were sold, said Debbie Mur ray, who sold tickets to the concert when they went on sale almost a month ago. The MSC box office will give refunds up to six months following the cancellation date. United Press International [Phillips Petroleum Co. in Bartlesville, a., and Shell Oil Co. in Houston both ive announced cuts in gasoline supplies > of March 1. [ Phillips said it will trim supplies to holesale retailers by 15 percent — on top b 10 percent reduction made Feb. 1 — W Shell said its refinery run will be cut i'5 to 8 percent. Phillips said the reduction, which is My to force some service stations to lit hours of operation, is not directly ged to the cutoff of Iranian oil, but ned additional cuts may be made “on a onth-to-month basis.” Shell Vice President J.H. Denike said s company normally refines about 1 mil- i barrels of crude oil a day, of which 45 percent is purchased from foreign suppliers. “Shell was not a major purchaser of Ira nian crude, but the Iranian production shutdown has caused those who use Ira nian crude to start buying from other pro ducing countries,” he said. “We have seen a cutback in the availability of refined products that we normally can purchase from others in the U.S. and abroad. “Therefore, in the interim, our re fineries will operate at a maximum produc tion limited only by crude availability, which we estimate will mean a 5 to 8 per cent reduction.” Phillips officials blamed higher than ex pected demands for gasoline for its reduc tion. exicans praise Portillo for negotiating with force United Press International MEXICO CITY — Legislators Thurs- iy praised the stand taken by Mexican sident Jose Lopez Portillo during his with President Carter, saying “for the st time in many years, Mexico gotiated with moral and political force Tore its giant northern neighbor. In statements published in Mexico City wspapers, Mexican legislators from two different parties praised the Mexican pres ident. “Without triumphalism and without ar rogance, it can be affirmed that the results (of the talks) were satisfactory,” said dep uty Julio Zamora Batiz, of the ruling Revo lutionary Institutional Party. “Carter left Mexico empty-handed and for the first time in many years our country negotiated from a position of moral and political force before the growing weak ness of Yankee imperialism,” said deputy Hector Ramirez Cuellar of the Popular Socialist Party. Partial solar eclipse to be seen Monday, but direct viewing of it could hurt eyes WHITE SURFACE The Texas Society to Prevent Blindness recommends indirect viewing as the only safe way to watch a solar eclipse. The simplest way is the pinhole method, which uses two pieces of white cardboard. With the sun at his hack, the viewer should focus the eclipse through a pinhole in one piece of cardboard onto the other piece. The size of the image can be changed by altering the distance between the sheets. Courtesy illustration By LORI MAYER Battalion Reporter A partial eclipse of the sun will occur next Monday and Texas A&M University’s physics department will be prepared for it. The department will set up telescopes near the physics building, the Memorial Student Center and Zachry Engineering Center, says Dr. Claud H. Lacy, assistant professor of physics. Another telescope will be placed on the west campus. The telescopes will not allow direct viewing of the eclipse but will project the image on a screen. “People shouldn’t view this directly, ” Lacy said. “We don’t want anyone burning his retina looking at it with sunglasses or something.” The Texas Society to Prevent Blindness recommends indirect viewing as the only safe way to watch the eclipse. If students cannot make it to the telescope sites, they can make their own “pinhole” viewer and watch the eclipse safely. The pinhole method uses two pieces of white cardboard. A hole should be made in one of the pieces. With the sunlight at the viewer’s back, the pieces of cardboard with the hole should be held so the light shining through the hole is focused on the second board. The image of the eclipse will be seen on the second board. The physics department will be using 6-inch reflecting telescopes with an aper ture stopped down to 1.5 or 2 inches. The eyepiece will project the image onto the screen. “We should be able to see sunspots as well as the moon,” Lacy said. Sunspots, which grow stronger and fade in 11-year cycles, are at a high right now. The eclipse will be total in the northwestern United States and in some parts of Canada. The last total eclipse was March 7, 1970, according to the Texas Society to Prevent Blindness. Sunglasses, smoked glass, totally exposed photographic negatives and welder’s goggles will not adequately protect the eyes. Prevent Blindness says. Photo graphers should remember not to look through their viewfinders if pictures are taken of the eclipse. If it rains, Lacy says, the physics department will do the smart thing. “We’ll stay inside.”