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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1979)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Thursday June 28, 1979 Wake up! We have a winner Yawn. The entries for the “Wake up! We have a contest” are in. Judging by their number, a lot of people are not lack ing for things to do this summer in College Station. If this is true, please submit a copy of your entertainment agenda. The rest of us are probably missing out on something. Maybe we re lucky. Most of the suggestions are at the ex pense of fellow Ags. Take these from Wal ter Barnes. Since he’s a senior, he’s been around a few years and has obviously had time to scope this out: —Circulate rumors of a beer shortage and award prizes for the longest line at a liquor store. —Start a campaign to move the Hotard Hilton to t.u., thus raising the cultural standards of both schools. —Found a student lobby to protest the enslavement of innocent trees in concrete aggregate. —Investigate allegations that the surplus of U.S. crude oil in being dis guised as Sbisa’s famous gravy. John West, suggests we run a numbers contest on the date and time (to the min ute) that Skylab will hit the ground. He adds, “Thank god I live in Bryan if CS is this boring.” Well, if Bryan were that ex citing, we would all go over there instead of staying in CS and griping about being bored. Betty Mynatt and Linda Janac, secre taries at the System Building, suggested these ways to pass the sultry summer days: —Guess how many cars, motorcycles and bicycles have been lost falling into potholes at the System Building parking lot. (Remember, we only want to while away the summer days, not the rest of our lives). — See how many people you can squeeze into an elevator at Rudder Tower. —Conduct skin-diving lessons in the Memorial Student Center fountain. They win an honorable mention for their suggestion of chugging contest at lunch for all employees and staff members. At least then you won’t have to remember the rest of the day. However, we suggest you refrain from doing this daily as it can become habit-forming. Paul Cushion cops our grand prize. But first, a sample of some of his other entries: —Count the number of train cars carry ing hazardous cargo that go by daily. —Go see Rocky II and cheer for Apollo Creed. —Put on a white coat, go into a furni ture store and ask to see their stool sam ples. And now for the winning entry — Con duct an “Elect Sen. Kennedy” campaign with the slogan “A Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Mr. Cashion can come by our offices, located this week behind the out-of-order unleaded gas pump at the Sig-Mor self- serv on MacArthur Boulevard, and pick his prize — a song sung by the Battalion staff in Sanskrit (yes, we know it’s a written language). Thanks for coming along, Paul and all you other entrants, from the staff. Vietnam: Let my people in Vietnam seems to have opted for a final solution of its “Chinese Problem.” The world knows its victims as “boat people.” To date an estimated 750,000 refugees have fled or been pushed ot of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia by the Hanoi govern ment. The boat people have been stripped of their possessions, packed into over crowded, often unseaworthy craft and told good riddance. An estimated 200,000 have died at sea since 1975. There are an estimated I million Vietnamese of Chinese ancestry left in Vietnam. If they all become boat people, an Asian holocaust is in the making. The United States — indeed, all civilized nations — should oppose this. Diplomatic and economic presure should be brought on Vietnam and on its patron, the Soviet Union, to stem the tide. And more nations should admit these refugees as permanent settlers. San Jose (Calif.) Mercury Other countries an example Raising gas prices, rationing may not work By DAVID DUGAS prices are rising again and the government cars are banned in Manila on weekends. pected when more are available this ft By DAVID DUGAS United Press International The advocates of raising gasoline prices to reduce consumption better take a look abroad. Motorists in many other countries are paying $2 a gallon or more. Many still have odd-even day and car-less day controls. Others are considering them or talking about outright rationing while struggling to find alternative fuels. With Europe’s highest-priced gasoline, the Portuguese now plunk down the equivalent of more than $3 for a gallon. The French now pay $2.85 for a gallon of super and Premiere Raymond Barre has warned 1979 will see a 30 percent gasoline price increase. Turkish gas stations recently have seen 10-mile-long lines of motorists even with prices that match France’s. In Yugoslavia, where private cars and traffic jams are a belated phenomenon, gas costing $2.10 a gallon hasn’t kept drivers at home. The country that had only 600,000 cars 15 years ago now has 2 million for its 22 million population. To curb soaring fuel consumption, Pres ident Tito’s government in May imposed its own variation of California’s odd-even system: six days a month, driving is only permitted alternately for cars with odd and even license numbers, a system that nearly halves Belgrade’s traffic but strains public transit. New Zealand’s government is consider ing car-less days, although a public opin ion survey says motorists would prefer gas rationing. Use of diesel fuel has grown in Europe and elsewhere. West Germany’s Volkswa gen is producing a diesel-powered car said to get about 47 miles to the gallon. In Ja pan, whose trucks already run on diesel, diesel passenger cars are gaining favor as they are in the United States. Increasingly, governments and innova tive motorists have sought alternative fuels. In England’s West Country, a man achieved notoriety by running his car on methane gas from pig manure. South Af rica is studying fuels derived from animal manure and from sugar cane in a broad campaign to overcome the loss of oil from Iran that, before the shah was toppled in January, accounted for a whopping 90 per cent of the country’s supplies. To cut fuel consumption, the South Af rican government has closed gas stations Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday and imposed a 55 mph speed limit, rigorously enforced with speed traps and fines as high as $950. In Switzerland, the big, gas-guzzling American cars the Swiss once favored have all but disappeared. The government is discussing at least one car-less Sunday a month, despite the plan’s downbeat effect on tourism when it was tried briefly after the 1973 oil crunch. Japan’s gasoline prices actually dropped as much as 20 cents a gallon last year after the dollar’s decline against the yen, but prices are rising again and the government has considered closing gas stations Sun days and holidays as it did in 1973. New Zealand banned weekend gas sales when the cutoff of Iranian oil slashed the country’s normal 70-day stockpiles in half. Israel has discussed gasless days and weekend station closing, although stations still are open even on the Saturday Sab bath. If the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty ever permits automobile traffic between those once hostile Middle East neighbors, it’s easy to guess which side of the border motorists will pick to gas up. Egypt, even with pump prices up 25 percent in the past year, still offers a gallon of gas for slightly more than $1, half its price in Israel, which lost 50 percent of its petroleum supply with the Iranian revolution and is to return the Sinai oil fields to Egypt. At $1.30 a gallon, the price of premium gas in the Philippines now sounds reason able, but since a 24 percent price increase for gasoline was decreed in May, transport costs have gone up more than 50 percent. Drag racing, motocross events, car ral lies, skydiving and water skiing are ban ned. A new Philippine law prohibits “il legal trading, hoarding, overpricing and misuse of petroleum” and threatens violators with fines up to $1,350 and im prisonment up to one year. Registration is denied dilapidated taxis that use too much gas, and large passenger cars are banned in Manila on weekends. After a serious shortage in late May, the Times Journal of Manila heaved a sigh of relief: “The crisis is over, but not before we had the chance to do a bit of soul- searching and come to terms with the alarming fact of our bondage to a hunk of metal and that amber-colored liquid which serves as its lifeblood. In non-producing Uruguay, a gallon of premium gasoline costs $2.63 dollars at the pump. In mid-April the government reduced the maximum speed limit from 75 mph to 50 mph for cars and to a snail’s pace of 37 mph for trucks — and increased fuel prices and utility rates 25 percent. No country has yet matched Brazil’s enthusiasm for straight alcohol fuel and gasohol, the mix of gasoline with 10 to 20 percent alcohol that now is catching on in the United States. Brazilian automakers already have models designed to run entirely on al cohol, and mass production only awaits sufficient fuel supplies. General Motor’s Brazilian factories expect to offer alcohol- only cars by 1981. Gasohol also hasn’t caught on in Scan dinavia, where gasoline prices range from Norway’s $2 a gallon to Finland’s $2.34. But Finland’s state-owned Saab-Valmet is building a car that runs on either gasoline or kerosene — priced at 84 cents a gallon. The company’s first 40 dual-system cars sold immediately and brisk business is ex pected when more are available this fall, despite a price tag of $15,000. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams arranged to give Volkswagen $630,000 for development of an energy saving car as a competitive spur to Ameri can automakers. The West Germany au tomaker now is working on a turbodiesel car that German newspapers say will get 60 mpg. At Israel’s Weizman Institute of Science in Rehovoth, scientists are at work on an a fuel composed entirely of alcohol from sugar cane. The institute also is studying the feasi bility of electric cars powered by solar cells. Another alternative to gasoline, natural gas in the form of butane or liquified petro leum gas or LPG, is catching on in some areas. Spain’s taxis run on it. It is available at about one-quarter of Italy’s gas stations. Taxis and private motorists in Belgium have tried LPG, although in Brussels the European Common Market’s executive commission shows only guarded enthusiasm for the fuel. A commission report recently said that LPG is an excellent fuel for cars but the costs of equipping cars to use it and estab lishing distribution systems would be high. LPG currently appears economical only “for vehicles which cover more than 20,000 miles a year” and operate in urban areas, the Common Market report said. Top of the News STATE Clerical error frees inmates Authorities Wednesday blamed a clerical error for the inadvertent release of two confessed murderers from the Harris County Jail in Houston. One returned voluntarily and the other surrendered at his wife’s home. Russell John Sensat and Johnny Hill pleaded guilty Monday to the murder of Paul Sanchez, who was shot to death during a robbery attempt April 8. Officials said two counts of an indictment against the two were dismissed when they pleaded guilty and a jail employee misread documents to mean all charges had been dis missed. NATION Carter to skip Hawaii stopover President Carter, “deeply angry and visibly weary, will come home right after the Tokyo economic summit and a trip to South Korea, administration officials said Wednesday. A high-ranking White House official said he did not expect Carter to go to Hawaii, where the president had planned to spend three days and participate in July 4th celebrations. Talmadge to testify in defense Sen. Herman Talmadge, pushed hard by the Senate Ethics Com mittee to answer questions under oath, has reluctantly agreed to testify and call other defense witnesses in his financial misconduct hearings. Talmadge surprised the panel last week by announcing lie was resting his case without putting on a defense. But the powerful Georgia Democrat reversed his stand late Tuesday, a few hours after the ethics committee came up with a surprise of its own — a formal, written request that Talmadge appear Thursday to answer questions under oath. Talmadge faces five charges of financial misconduct, the most serious of which involve the filing of $50,IKK) in false Senate expense claims and the conversion of campaign contributions to his personal use. Twenty of Roloffs girls in Miss. House passes synthetic fuel bill The House, turning from unpopular short-term measures to a popular long-term one, has given overwhelming approval to a bill authorizing billions of federal dollars to guarantee production of synthetic fuels. The House passed, by a 368-25 vote, late Tuesday, a bill by Rep. William Moorhead, D-Pa., that would make loans, provide loan guarantees and subsidize the price for industry to pro duce synthetic fuels for peacetime defense uses. Propane tanks explode in Mich. WORLD Israel said Wednesday its warplanes shot down five Syrian MiG-21 jet fighters over the coast of southern Lebanon when they took to the air to try to stop Israeli jets from attacking Palestinian guerrilla stron gholds in southern Lebanon. It was first such dogfight since the 1973 Middle East war. Syria’s official Damascus Radio said four Syrian jets were “hit” and two Israeli warplanes were downed. A military spokesman in Tel Aviv said all the Israeli planes re turned to their bases safely after carrying out their mission to attack the guerrilla targets. Somoza says 6 no’ to resignation The Battalion LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. HIGI 30 ne tio a.r CALI ha’ for pu BRAZ IN ne Na ter MOVi Sc< THE./ Sla Ru Arl $2 CORI Ro< MOV] bai Pre Operators of the Bethesda Home for Girls in Hattiesburg. Miss., have confirmed they have taken in some 20 former residents of a sister facility in Texas operated by controverisal evangelist Lester Roloff. They maintained, however, the girls were just visiting the Mississippi home, which also was founded by Roloff, and would be there on a temporary basis. “They' re just traveling around on tour this summer and will only be here for three or four days,” said Dorothy Barnwell, who operates the Bethesda Home along with her husband, Hubert, on a 211-acre vegetable farm about 15 miles south of Hattiesburg. By I Graduat !ie inflatk avers of dc ain econoi he presenl Accordir ector of th ’lacement [ualified re’ve seen VanPelt ■ertain abo ob market 'ear. lave rov Storage tanks holding thousands of gallons of propane at two sub urban depots exploded and burned in Ypsilanti, Mich, early Wed nesday forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,000 residents in a square- mile area. Police said the original fire at the Petrolane Co., located in Pittsfield Township south of Ypsilanti, spread to the nearby Washtenaw Farmers Oil Co., causing several more explosions. Wit nesses said the blazes could be seen five miles away. No injuries were reported and most area residents were allowed to return home at dawn. Homeowners nearest the storage facility w'ere, however, not allowed to return until authorities drained gas from a tank that did not explode. Israeli dogfight first since 1973 luilc ngi President Anastasio Somoza insisted he will not resign at an emergency meeting of Nicaragua’s Congress Wednesday, despite an emerging stalemate in his war against Sandinsta rebels and renewed pressure from the United States. Nicaragua’s state radio claimed the national guard “had cleaned up eastern Managua and was ending operations” but journalists visiting the area reported the Sandinistas were still entrenched and reinforcing their positions. Represented nationally by National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through May except during exam and holiday periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday through Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843 I United Press International is entitled exclusivelytol use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited&| Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein resei Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 7 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor . Karen] News Editor Debbie Pai Sports Editor Sean! City Editor Roy I Campus Editor Keith Tayl^ Staff Writers Robin Thompso Louie Arthur, Carolyn Blosser, Dah| Boggan Photo Editor Clay Cocbi Photographer Lynn Blaa Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit,* supporting enterprise operated by studi as a university and community newspci Editorial policy is determined by the em