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Arabia opposes massive price
creases; OPEC seeks $21 a barrel
United Press International
GENEVA, Switzerland — Saudi Arabia
sed Wednesday to go along with any
sive oil price increase as OPEC minis-
|p got down to tough horse-trading on a
led pricing system.
audi Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani
[ a price of $20 or $21 per barrel de-
ded by a majority of the 13 OPEC
-■
member states “would be abnormal.”
Yamani indicated to reporters before
the beginning of the second day of talks
that Saudi Arabia may be willing to go
along with a benchmark price of around
$18 a barrel.
The ministers reconvened in full session
Wednesday at 10 a.m. None of them
would make any comment on unofficial
talks that went on late into the night Tues
day. A special committee comprised of two
persons from each delegation was charged
with attempting to get a common position.
Yamani s opposition to a base price of
$20 per barrel raised the possibility of a
formal split in OPEC ranks, with most
members charging that price — or more
Vi;
I
I
I
i
i
i
il
jm
I
Weather
Partly cloudy through Friday with a
slight chance of thundershowers.
High Thursday and Friday low 90s,
low early Friday low 70s.
Battauon
Vol. 72 NO. 1 65
8 Pages
Thursday, June 28, 1979
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
'oncerned about comment
Clements greets truckers
— and Saudi Arabia sticking to a lower
level.
All OPEC ministers did agree, how
ever, that there should be, if possible, a
unified price with an end to the current
system of free-for-all surcharges based on
what the market can hear.
The United Arab Emirates was pushing
for a compromise based on setting a
benchmark price of $18 or $18.50 per bar
rel with a ceiling of $21.50 per barrel.
This would permit those producers with
top-grade oil to charge the traditional
premiums up to the $21.50 level.
In two sessions Tuesday, lasting a total
of 3V2 hours, the ministers cleared the
table of secondary items including a $800
million increase in OPEC’s special fund
for developing countries and a proposal for
the creation of an OPEC news agency.
Qatar’s Oil Minister Khalifa al-Thani
said Tuesday his country expected a price
increase to “a minimum of $20 a barrel.”
Kuwait’s minister. Sheikh Khalifa al-
Sabah, said he too favors a price of around
$20.
Iran was holding out for a unified price
of $22 to $23 per barrel.
Oil sold on the spot market — not gov
erned by long-term contracts — has been
going for as much as $35 a barrel.
With the price of OPEC crude now at
$17.50 a barrel after surcharges, a jump to
$20 a barrel would add 5 cents to the retail
price of gasoline, home heating oil and
diesel fuel in the United States.
A key element in the negotiations is
whether individual OPEC members will
still be allowed to charge the extra pre
miums and surcharge under the new
prices.
Otaiba backs this proposal and said it
would allow countries with lower quality
oil to charge near the $18.50 level while
those with better quality crudes would
demand the full $21.50.
After Tuesday’s meeting, the ministers
assigned two members from each delega
tion to meet during the night to hammer
out agreement on a unified price.
Air-conditioned legs
Having to stay cooped up in a dorm room studying during the summer is
pain enough, but that’s no reason for your legs to suffer also, as this
Spence Hall resident indicates. Battalion photo by Carolyn Blosser
United Press International
^^■/VUSTIN — Striking independent truc-
1 kers roared into the capital Wednesday in
:onvoy five miles long, then said at least
lortion of the Texas truckers would take
[back-to-work vote after receiving ex-
ssions of support from Gov. Bill Cle-
tits.
ic convoy of more than 100 trucks,
[>st of them from San Antonio, slowed
ic to 5 mph on Interstate 35 in Selma
protest what a leader called one of the
fion’s most notorious speed traps, then
isted their horns as they circled the
ipitol complex.
iClements told the truckers in a
Birtsleeves meeting in his office he is
^B^iathetic to their demands for higher
raii s, higher speed limit and removaJ of
IHrmit and weight restrictions, hut has lit-
authority to resolve their problems.
^■Hie truckers generally were favorably
^■pressed with their meeting with the
s governor, but were concerned at a com
ment by Clements that he would call out
e National Guard if necessary to prevent
ilence.
Bill Hoadley of San Antonio, a spokes-
|an for the group, told Clements the
iking truckers had not engaged in any
ilence in Texas.
What I’m going to do is call out the
National Guard to protect you. I don’t
want you shot at by anybody,” Clements
responded. He said he would call out the
guardsmen only if there is widespread vio
lence in the state.
Hoadley told reporters after the meet
ing he was encouraged by the meeting
with Clements and a hearing before the
Railroad Commission Tuesday in which
the truckers pressed for a 40 percent rate
increase, and said he would seek a back-
to-work vote in his region when he re
turned to San Antonio.
“I’m very sympathetic, you guys are
free enterprisers, private enterprisers,”
Clements told the truckers. “I’ll try to
help you.”
The truckers presented Clements a let
ter demanding the speed limit for trucks
he raised to 65 mph for better fuel
economy, higher freight rates, removal of
bridge laws limiting loads trucks may
carry, and partial repeal of Railroad Com
mission regulations limiting what com
modities truckers may haul.
“I’ve been around you truckers long
enough to know these problems are not
new problems. They’ve been around a
long time,” Clements said, noting the real
problem facing truckers is an economic
bind caused by rising fiiel prices and fixed
freight rates.
Truckers from Dallas and Houston
joined the brief protest at the Capitol. The
trucks were not allowed on the Capitol
grounds, but circled the complex with
horns blaring.
Hoadley suggested the governor call the
Legislature into special session if neces
sary to raise the speed limit for trucks.
“The Texas Highway Department gov
erns the speed limits and weight limits,
and we are asking the governor to go to
them,” he said. “If it takes a special session
of the Legislature to do it, let’s do it and
get it over with.”
He said the trucks traveling from San
Antonio to Austin drove two abreast and
slowed to 5 mph as they came through
Selma.
“We deliberately slowed traffic in Selma
for personal reasons down to 5 miles an
hour. In any movement you have to blow
off steam, and driving 5 miles an hour
through Selma while the Selma cops ran
up and down the access roads waving their
arms let off some steam for these truc
kers,” Hoadley said.
Clements agreed to discuss the truckers’
demands with the highway department
and railroad commission, and to present
their views at the National Governors’
Conference.
CS council okays new budget,
rolls back tax rate 17 cents
By ROY BRAGG
Battalion Staff
The College Station City Council voted
unanimously to approve the 1979-80 city
budget and decreased the ad valorem tax
rate 17 cents in their meeting Wednesday
afternoon.
The new budget lists total revenue at
$17,786,983 and expenditures at
$16,279,532.
Expenditures are up 28 percent year
and total revenue is 40 percent higher
than last year, according to the summary.
Last year’s budget had total expendi
tures of $12,719,462 and total revenues of
$12,724,714.
The allocations in the new budget are
for the general fund ($4,306,994), the util
I
Decreased gas
sales hurting
area dealers
By CAROLYN BLOSSER
Battalion Staff
Local gas station owners continue to close their sta
tions earlier and earlier because they are short on gas.
All owners are losing money from decreased gas
sales, but many owners say that the cutback in hours
hasn’t hurt them financially.
Others say it has.
“It’s makes you feel like the government is pushing
you down the tube,” said a Texaco station owner, Joe
Labani, referring to the decreased gas allocations.
Each month stations are allotted a certain percentage
of the amount of gas they sold this same time last year.
Labani said he receives 70 percent of last year’s
sales.
Labani began operating his station last December
and is trying to build up his customers.
His station used to stay open seven days a week but
now closes four hours earlier on the weekdays and all
day on weekends. He said he is losing service and
money from closing early.
“You don’t make money off of selling gas,” he said.
“That will pay for the overhead, but any money that is
made is during service. Now I don’t have the traffic
that creates service.”
Labani recently installed an inspection station to add
to his revenue.
The better established stations that close their
pumps early but maintain a regular working day ha
ven’t been hurt by the cutback in hours.
Mobil station owner Robert Massey schedules all of
his service work during the week and is closed on
weekends.
Don Beal, owner of an Exxon station, said closing
early is cutting down on his overhead, and hasn’t really
affected him financially.
Exxon is currently allocating its stations 78 percent of
last year’s sales. Beal wouldn’t say how much gas he
received because “supposedly they’re all (Exxon sta
tions) getting the same, but maybe they’re not.”
Dick Broach, a Shell Oil distributor and owner of
several local gas stations, said the decreased volume of
gas being sold has resulted in a money loss, but that he
hasn’t been hurt by closing early.
Hour-long lines have been plagueing the Houston
and Dallas areas, but most local station owners believe
a similar situation here is unlikely.
“We just don’t have the traffic here,” Broach said.
“We have some lines sometimes on the weekends, but
not during the week.”
ity fund ($9,279,242), sanitation fund
($526,621), revenue sharing ( $330,426)
and debt service ($1,673,605).
The general fund is financed by ad val
orem taxes, fines, fees and other city
generated capital and transfers of capital
from the other city funds.
The utility fund is financed by consumer
utility payments; the sanitation fund is fi
nanced by the rates charged residential
and commercial users.
The debt service is money collected
from taxes and utilities to pay off outstand
ing bonds issued by the city.
Revenue sharing funds are federal taxes
given to the city to spend whatever it
wants.
In related business, the city approved a
decrease in the ad valorem tax rate from 56
cents to 39 cents per $100 valuation of
property.
The ad valorem tax is one of the
methods used to help finance the general
This gas station at the corner of Boyett and University streets advertised 99 cents per
gallon of gasoline Wednesday while the pumps indicated it was only being sold for 79
cents a gallon. The station was closed and the photographer was not able to contact the
manager for an explanation. Battalion photo by clay Cocknii
Industry need not fear
reverse discrimination
suits: Supreme Court
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court told private industry Wednesday it may
voluntarily set up many kinds of affirmative action employment programs without
fear of being sued by whites on “reverse discrimination” charges.
On a 5-2 vote, the court upheld a racial quota which Kaiser Aluminum and Chemi
cal Corp. and a union used to select applicants for an on-the-job training program.
The decision reversed a lower-court ruling striking down the quota, which was
challenged by a white factory worker named Brian Weber as a violation of the 1964
Civil Rights Act’s bar against racial discrimination in employment.
The law “does not condemn all private, voluntary, raceconscious affirmative action
plans,” Justice William Brennan wrote for the majority.
He said the statute was designed instead to open employment opportunities to
blacks.
“It would be ironic indeed if a law triggered by a nation’s concern over centuries of
racial injustice and intended to improve the lot of those who had been excluded from
the American dream for so long constituted the first legislative prohibition of all
voluntary, private, race-conscious efforts to abolish traditional patterns of racial
segregation and hierarchy,” Brennan wrote.
But Justice William Rehnquist, in a stinging dissent joined by Chief Justice War
ren Burger, said the court’s decision betrayed the spirit of “equality” for both races —
whites and blacks — in the act.
Weber, who initiated the employment sequel to last year’s Bakke “reverse dis
crimination” college admissions case, said he was surprised by his loss. “I was pretty
confident I would win,” he told a news conference in New Orleans.
The high court is only expected to meet twice more before wrapping up its 1978-79
term with a major decision on northern school desegregation. In other actions Wed
nesday it:
—Ruled unconstitutional a section of the Social Security Act that only allows a
wage earner’s insurance benefits to be awarded to widows or divorced wives — and
not to a woman who bore his child out of wedlock.
—Held 5-3 that in a longshoreman’s accident where the ship and the stevedoring
company were negligent, the longshoremen may collect for the entire amount dam
ages for his injuries from the ship.
In the “reverse discrimination” case, Weber charged that Kaiser and the United
Steelworkers of America illegally discriminated against whites when they voluntarily
set up an on-the-job craft training program at a Gramercy, La., plant that reserved
half its openings for minority applicants.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision reversed Wednesday agreed
the program was illegal because it set up a racial quota without any admission of past
discrimination by the employer or union, and did not limit relief to identifiable
victims of past discrimination.
Brennan noted the Kaiser plan did not involve government action or an alleged
violation of the Constitution, but only the federal statute barring employment dis
crimination. *
He said it was an “affirmative action plan voluntarily adopted by private parties to
eliminate traditional patterns of racial segregation.”
fund and the debt service. The new rate is
levied against 80 percent of the market
value of the property.
If a home were valued at $40,000 by the
city, its assessed value would be $32,000.
Taxes for the property would be $124.80.
The budget listed the assessed value of
all real and personal property in the city at
$304,090,000. The taxable value of this
land is listed at $299,150,000. At 39 cents
per $100, the total tax levy is $1,166,685.
In order to help finance an increase this
year in the sanitation fund, the city council
also passed an ordinance increasing the
monthly rate charged for garbage pickup
and disposal from $2.25 to $3.50 for single
and multi-family units.
The charge for small commercial users
was increased to $17 and the charge for
large businesses and schools increased to
$37.90, $47.80 and $77.50, depending on
the size of the container used.