he Battalion
Vol. 72 No. 109
8 Pages
Monday, March 5, 1979
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
(See page 6 for details.)
WAIT 'TIL THEY
FIND OUT THAT
/‘At GO!NO- TOO!
^resident offers Begin
clifferent , set of proposals
i United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter,
apparently made no progress in his
l round of talks with Prime Minister
naehem Begin, is offering new propo-
Israeli officials view as “significantly
erent.”
ut they do not necessarily herald a
akthrough.
Begin today planned to meet with vari
ous members of Congress to discuss the
situation and fill them in on his opinion of
the peace effort.
During a 90-minute session Sunday,
Carter gave Begin the revised U. S. propo
sals that were the outgrowth of the tough
daily exchanges that started Thursday be
tween the two leaders.
\adat to see U.S.,
gazine reports
United Press International
AIRO — The weekly magazine Oc-
r said Saturday that President Anwar
t will travel to Washington next Tues-
or W ednesday to sign the Egyptian-
jfceace treaty with Prime Minister
naehem Begin.
'heinagazine has close ties to Sadat.
President Sadat is expected to travel to
shitigton next Tuesday or Wednesday,
magazine said.
After signing the peace treaty with
erica and Israel, President Sadat will
d talks with (President) Carter on
erica a aid to Egypt, it said.
The magazine did not give any details or
explain reasons for its unexpected op
timism.
Carter said earlier this week he- would
invite Sadat or Prime Minister Mustafa
Khalil to Washington if his negotiations
with Begin made progress.
Egyptian officials said then that Sadat
was not prepared to travel to Washington
to negotiate but only to put his signature
on a treaty.
If further negotiations were required,
the officials said, Sadat preferred to send
Khalil instead.
The changes, which were described as
relating to some of the “unresolved is
sues,” will be submitted to the Israeli
cabinet. However, during a briefing for
about 10 congressional leaders later in the
afternoon, Sunday, it was indicated that
Carter felt Begin might not back the latekt
plan.
“President Carter put forward sugges
tions designed to help resolve some of the
outstanding differences between Egypt
and Israel,” the White House said in a
statement.
Carter telephoned Egypt’s President
Anwar Sadat and spoke to him briefly “to
review the situation in light of the
American-Israeli discussions over the past
few days,” the White House said.
Sadat planned a meeting with U.S. Am
bassador Hermann F. Eilts today and
hinted that an important announcement^
might follow their session.
An official with the Begin party said,
“according to Israeli evaluation, those
proposals are important because they are
significantly different from those earlier
discussed.”
On the U.S. side officials were cautious,
with one saying, "obviously we re still
concerned, we just do not know what will
happen next.
After a briefing by Carter, Sen. Charles
Percy, R-Ill., called the situation “omni-
ous unless somehow Prime Minister
Begin realizes that there is a point beyond
which President Sadat probably will not
g°”
“I think there has to be concessions,
Percy said, adding of Carter: “I think he
has gone the last mile. I don’t know of
anything else he could have done.”
Sen. Jacob Javits, R-N.Y., said, “It is my
judgment that the signing of this treaty be
tween Israel and Egypt is at the crisis
point.
Earlier in the day. Carter offered the
first candid evaluation of the situation by a
U.S. official. He told his Bible class at the
First Baptist Church of Washington, “I
stayed up real late last night, wth Prime
Minister Begin. We did not make any
progress.”
Carter and Begin dined together at the
White House Saturday night and then met
privately for talks in the family quarters.
On an interview program. Begin con
ceded the talks are in “deep crisis but
insisted there has been “some agreement
on the major issues.
“The next step should be very serious
reflection for all the parties involved, he
said on ABC-TV’s “Issues and Answers.
rm policy
No results from tractorcade, Ag official says
s in
United Press International
WASHINGTON — An Agriculture De-
rtment spokesman said Sunday there
11 be no changes in American farm policy
suiting from the month-long tractor visit
mers made to Washington in their effort
,get higher crop prices.
' ames Webster, the department’s direc-
of governmental and public affairs, said
:re are not enough votes in an inflation-
iscious Congress to give the farmers
at they want.
3esides that, he said, “there is no mood
ill in the administration to rock a boat
fs rhoving along in good course.”
^ast year the farmers did succeed with
islation to raise wheat and cotton
ceslbut Webster said this year, “there
t aren’t going to be any changes’ in
m policy.
undreds of farmers — and their trac-
have been in Washington for the
t month trying to influence Congress
public opinion to get higher crop
After the tractors disrupted traffic,
police moved vehicles and surrounded
them on the mall — near the Smithsonian
museums — and finally ordered them to
leave town by this weekend.
Protesters said their tractors were leav
ing — all except 50 left behind in a sym
bolic protest — but farmers will stay be
hind to continue their lobbying efforts.
The farmers want Congress to pass legis
lation that would force Agriculture Secre
tary Bob Bergland to set goverment crop
loans at 90 percent of parity. In effect, that
would set a price floor that would raise
wheat and corn prices by two thirds.
Crops are collateral for government
loans. Farmers pay back the loans with
interest or forfeit their crops to the gov
ernment.
Webster predicted that Congress may
make a small change in farm law by mov
ing the legal deadline for announcement of
feed grains programs from Nov. 15 to Oct.
15.
Last year Bergland promised farmers he
would announce the program by mid-
October.
Farmers, who make many spring plant
ing decisions in the fall, were angered
when President Carter waited until
November to announce the program.
Webster said the farmers hurt their
cause when they brought commuter traffic
to a standstill on their Feb. 5 arrival in
Washington, slowed traffic during several
tractorcade demonstrations and caused an
estimated $975,000 damage to the mall.
On the plus side, farmers from several
states have offered to help repair the mall
and many used their tractors to help dig
the paralyzed Washington area out of the
worst snow in 57 years.
But police also estimate the demonstra
tion cost the taxpayers at least $2.5 million
in police overtime and other expenses.
Webster said the farmers may have
educated people they met face-to-face on
their difficulties, but for the nation as a
ly requirement is an appetite
ew lunch shop opens in Sbisa
Battalion photo by Clay Cockrill
'Jliese faculty, staff members fill the only requirement of Salad, Sandwich
and Soup, a new lunch shop in Sbisa basement — they have an appetite.
By SALLY DREYFUS
Battalion Reporter
It’s lunchtime. Your stomach be
gins to growl.
There’s no time to go off-campus
and the Memorial Student Center
and Rudder Tower are too crowded.
All you want is a place that serves
soup and salad or maybe a sand
wich.
Texas A&M University now has
such a place.
Salads by the ounce and
sandwiches by the inch may be
found in the basement of Sbisa at
Salad, Sandwich and Soup. It’s open
Monday through Friday from 10:30
a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
“People asked for salads on cam
pus, so we did research into that
type of operation,” said Jay
Maynard, assistant director of Auxil
iary Food Services. When space be
came available in Sbisa, Salad,
Sandwich and Soup was opened.
The po-boy type sandwiches are
sold for 35 cents an inch with a
minimum of three inches and salads
are 12 cents an ounce.
“I was surprised at how things
add up when they weigh it in,’’ said
student Elaine Edlind. “It’s still
really a good idea though. A&M
needs other alternatives besides the
MSC.”
Salad, Sandwich and Soup is a
free enterprise business, said Fred
Dollar, Food Services Director.
“It’s a cash operation and we have to
break even.
“People can come here and spend
as much or as little as they want,” he
said.
Salad, Sandwich and Soup seats
150 people and is open to anyone
with an appetite.
whole, the reaction “has been mostly
negative.
Farmers did not just demonstrate with
tractors. At hundreds of meetings with
administration and congressional officials,
they challenged assumptions and data be
hind government statistics and programs.
“That’s been the best thing in the
world,” Webster said. “It’s helped me.”
Raffle ticket
gives ‘escape
for inmate
United Press International
EAGLE, Colo. — A winning ticket in
the Michigan state lottery will spring Jew
Christians, 27, from the county jail, where
he was confined for allegedly breaking a
$1,000 window at a local supermarket, of
ficials said.
Christians, who changed his name to
the religious combination, bought the lot
tery ticket through an ad and was tracked
down by Michigan authorities to the Col
orado State Hospital in Pueblo, where he
was being evaluated.
Although Christians originally was re
luctant to claim his $5,000, which made
him eligible for a $100,000 drawing,
Michigan authorities sent the county
$1,500 to pay for the broken window and
release him to attend the drawing.
Battalion photo by Lynn Blanco
Bill Walding stands by his Texaco station at 731 University Dr. in College
Station. The only maroon Texaco station in the world was forced Feb. 15
to conform with all other Texaco stations and become green.
Maroon gas station
ordered to go gree ‘
By CATHY KIRKHAM Walding said he thinks there a
By CATHY KIRKHAM
Battalion Reporter
Maroon and white Texaco stations
used to be a rare, endangered
species. Now they are extinct.
The only one in the world, at 731
University Dr. in College Station,
was forced Feb. 15 to conform with
all other Texaco stations and be
come green.
Bill Walding, owner of the sta
tion, said that all Texaco stations are
painted about every two years.
When it came time this year to give
his station a new coat, green paint
arrived instead of maroon.
Walding, 56, who “stopped off in
College Station in 1950, has owned
the station almost eight years.
In 1976 he was successful in hav
ing his station painted maroon, he
said.
“Every time Texaco would get
ready to have the station painted,
they’d ask me what color I wanted
it. Every time, I’d say maroon and
they’d always bring green.
“Finally, I told ’em they weren’t
touching my station until I saw ma
roon paint. We went around and
around there for awhile. There were
some pretty hard words thrown
around.”
He said that Texaco owns only the
underground pumps, and he told
the firm those were all it could
touch.
Walding won that time. But win
ning a battle isn’t winning the war.
Three weeks ago, the Houston of
fice accepted Walding’s request for
maroon paint but the Dallas office
said no.
Both Houston and Dallas Texaco
offices declined to comment on the
matter.
“Even when the painters carhe up
from Houston, they didn’t want to
change the color,” Walding said.
“They thought it looked good ma
roon too.
“They (the Dallas office) said the
maroon paint faded too bad — that’s
a bunch of bull.
Walding said he thinks there are
just more old Ags at the Houston
office than at the Dallas office.
“On football weekends, people
would come into my station and tell
me how much they liked it — that it
really looked good. Right before
they’d leave, they’d tell me who
they were.” They were from the
Houston office.
Walding said different company
policy may also be a reason for the
change.
“When I went to retail school
back in 1971, they wanted all their
stations to blend into the surround
ings. If one was to be next to a brick
school, the station would be con
structed in brick.
It is too early to tell if the change
will effect sales, Walding said. But
there are many complaints still com
ing in.
“People have really come down
on me — not just college kids, he
said. “I just tell them there isn’t
anything I can do. I tell them to
write Texaco if they are really mad.
If enough people are mad at Texaco,
they will listen.
“Politicians become interested
when it comes down to counting
votes and Texaco always becomes
interested when it comes down to
counting dollar bills.
Walding said that it seems funny
to him that all the people in the
Bryan-College Station area consider
themselves Aggies. Even those that
have never set foot on the campus,
he said.
He added, “The school is a gypsy
business. People come in and then
move on. Just like my business,
people just pass through. You know,
all this town is, is a bunch of gyp
sies.
“I know I’m one. Without that
over there (pointing to the Texas
A&M campus), there wouldn’t be
any Bryan or College Station.”
Texas A&M, he said, is the
campfire keeping all the gypsies in
town.
Census manager ready for
challenge of counting Texans
United Press International
DALLAS — Noe Balli, assistant re
gional manager of the U.S. Bureau of the
Census, has been through the rehearsals
and strategy sessions and is ready to begin
the gargantuan task of counting Texans.
“Oh, yes, it’s quite imposing. Very
much so,” Balli said of the 1980 census.
“It’s a most challenging job.”
Balli will direct the thousands of work
ers — temporary and full time — who mail
questionnaires and walk and drive to the
desolate areas of the nation’s third most
populated state to do follow-up work.
The 1970 census placed Texas’ popula
tion at 11.19 million, an increase of 16.9
percent from 1960, and projections indi
cate the 1980 figure will show an even
larger jump.
“Right now we re going at it in phases,”
Balli said. “We re trying to get started in
the northern region and will be adding
about 700-plus employees.
“But this phase is just preparing the
mailing list (which will be mailed next
year). We re hoping to do as much of this
as possible by mail.”
The address-collection stage involves
workers visiting neighborhoods to check
addresses and will take several months.
The questionnaires will be mailed in
late March 1980 and households that do
not return their completed form several
weeks after “Census Day,” April 1, must
be visited by a census taker.
Balli said his office has concentrated on
the 10-year census since 1976, going
through “rehearsals” in selected counties
and towns to acquaint personnel with cen
sus procedure and to test mail-back and
processing methods.
“Recruiting help will be our biggest
problem,” he said. “In this initial stage
(preparing the mailing list) you’re talking
about hiring hundreds. But when the ac
tual census comes around you’re talking
about hiring thousands.”
Battalion wins second
The Battalion placed second in the
overall newspaper sweepstakes competi
tion at the Southwestern Journalism Con
gress conference held at the University of
Texas at Arlington Thursday through
Saturday.
The annual competition was open to col
lege newspapers in Texas, Oklahoma,
Louisiana and Arkansas.
Staff members Liz Newlin and Doug
Graham won first place in spot news re
porting for an article about charges con
cerning the Texas A&M University Sys
tem’s funding of Prairie View A&M.
Karen Rogers won first for best news
headline, and The Battalion took a first in
page one layout, a job handled regularly
by Beth Calhoun. Cindy Timms took first
for best ad for a single advertiser.
Battalion staffers placing second in
cluded: Doug Graham, in best original
artwork; Lee Roy Leschper Jr., best pic
ture series; Marilyn Brown, best non
game sports story; Andrea Vails, best spot
news story; Jay Barker, best feature pho
tograph, and Kim Tyson, best editorial
page.
Staffers winning third places included:
Pat O’Malley, best sports photograph;
Sean Petty, best sports feature; David
Boggan, best non-game sports story;
Glenna Whitley, best feature story, and
Lee Roy Leschper Jr., best editorial, best
news headline and best magazine ad.
The Daily Texan at the University of
Texas at Austin won first in the newspaper
sweepstakes at the contest. The host
school, whose paper is the Shorthorn, was
third.