j
The
ATTALION
Vol. 73 No. 48
14 Pages
Wednesday, November 7, 1979
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
residential candidate
pjays country is in a mess
-00D,F i
By MARCY BOYCE
Battalion Reporter
Rampant inflation, climbing unemploy-
^llege Slojnt, an unbalanced budget and a lack of
r^_^.,encrgy policy are at tbe heart of Amer-
frustrations, Benjamin Fernandez,
Republican presidential candidate,
d Tuesday.
Fernandez, brought here by Committee
■Awareness of Mexican-American Cul-
re, spoke at Rudder Tower at 8 p.m.
S'his country is in a mess,” he said.
Rale is down and patriotism is almost a
ant
Id like any football team that finds it-
jfin the middle of a losing season, he said
nerica needs to “get back to the basics”
Hturn to the fundamentals that made
oeriea so great.
Hfemandez said these basics are the work
freedom of choice, opportunity and
fee enterprise system.
“The work ethic is responsible for the
greatest productivity on earth and has
given America the finest standard of liv
ing,” he said.
But now the trend is toward a 35-hour
work week. Sometimes, he said, it takes
more than a 40-hour week, more than a
“I come to you as one of the best, if not
the best, prepared candidates.” —
Benjamin Fernandez
50-hour week, maybe even an 80-hour
week to climb out of the “pits of poverty.”
And it is freedom of choice which gives
Americans the opportunity to create a bet
ter lifestyle for themselves, he said.
“Remember when we used to say,
‘America, land of opportunity?’ When was
the last time you heard it?” Fernandez
asked.
ew explosions rock
ounded Gulf tanker
United Press International
GALVESTON — Faced with more oil-
R explosions and increasing pollution off
Rlexas coast, marine firefighters today
n working around the clock to exting-
the blaze that has been raging on the
r Burmah Agate for seven days.
more explosions shook the
nded, burning tanker late Tuesday,
ring at least three tanks and dumping
oil into the Gulf of Mexico,
firefighting tugboats were forced to pull
way from the volatile ship, but Coast
Juard officer Richard Griggs said they re-
uitied last midnight to Begin continual
Bghting efforts.
The Coast Guard said, however, it might
iiE be days before the fire aboard the
72foot tanker was extinguished and the
ow of oil toward resort beaches stopped.
“The application of foam this afternoon
’uesday) was able to significantly reduce
amount of fire on board the ship but
ben they (two tugboats) ran out of foam
nd had to hack off , the fire reflashed and
H, for the present, it’s worse than it was
p afternoon when they began putting
Egh on it,” said Griggs. “There were three
lore explosions.”
Griggs said at least six tanks aboard the
lip were damaged, contributing to the
ow of oil that fueled the fire and fouled
tore than 100 miles of beaches from Gal-
eston Island southward.
Additional cleanup contract equipment
'as to arrive early today, including several
jiousand feet of oil containment boom and
fficials were hoping a cold front would
|ntinue to help push spilled oil from the
6.8-million-gallon capacity tanker away
om the coast.
The inbound tanker collided before
dawn last Thursday with the outbound
freighter Mimosa near the mouth of Gal
veston Bay.
Two bodies were found on Galveston
beaches Tuesday and Griggs said they were
presumed to be crewmen from the tanker.
Thirty-two persons were killed and 13
bodies have been recovered.
Weather and ocean current experts em
ployed by the National Oceanic and Atmos
pheric Administration said beaches from
Galveston to Matagorda Bay had been hit
by the oil. An intermittent stream of oil
extended from the tanker for about 20
miles, Griggs said, and remained about 6-7
miles offshore.
NOAA consultant Larry Thebeau said
winds and currents so far had kept oil from
the wreck, grounded 6 miles south of Gal
veston, out of the mouth of environmental
ly sensitive Galveston Bay and the Houston
Ship Channel.
He said that, based on past weather re
cords, there is “only a 6 percent chance” of
winds directly out of the south forcing oil
into Galveston Bay. But the Coast Guard
strung two short environmental defense
booms near the bay entrance and prepared
other protective measures all along the
coast.
The exact amount on the beaches was
undetermined, but there had been at least
four impact areas covering a total of several
miles of beach.
Griggs said there were no reports any
wildlife had been affected by the spill, but
he has requested that the public make any
reports of oiled birds to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service in Galveston.
Yet there is more opportunity in this
country today than there has been in the
past 200 years, he said. And business and
the free enterprise system are at the core of
this opportunity.
“We ve got to stop kicking around the
goose that lays the golden egg — big busi
ness,” Fernandez said. “Profit is the
greatest incentive that I know of.”
Any American can create a small busi
ness, and if he works hard enough, Fernan
dez said, he is entitled to his reward, that
profit.
He said America needs a president that
understands the way this American system
works. And Fernandez, who was bom to
Mexican immigrants in a boxcar, harvested
sugar beets and worked his way through
college, graduating with two degrees, said
he feels he understands this system.
As an economist in a country plagued by
faulty economic policies, he said, “I come
to you as one of the best, if not the best,
prepared candidates.”
Fernandez was trained in finance, mar
keting and management by the General
Electric Company after receiving degrees
in both economics and business. In addi
tion, he has served as a consulting econom
ist in numerous public hearings.
“Inflation is an economic phenomenon, ”
he said, “so we need an economist in the
White House. ” If elected, Fernandez said
he would make inflation his top priority.
Citing the federal government as the
source of the problem, he said he would
balance the federal budget to resolve it.
First, Fernandez said he would reduce fed
eral waste and inefficiency and second, he
said he would veto any deficit-creating bill
that landed on his desk.
Socialized medicine is one such bill, he
said. The federal government just does not
have the required funds and Canada and
England are examples of its ineffective
ness, he said.
Deregulation of industry is also essential
to resolving today’s problems, Fernandez
said. However, he said he would use de
regulation as a means for political trade
offs.
Using the oil industry as an example, he
said he would promise deregulation as soon
as the oil companies made plans to sell the
coal companies, of which they own 70 per
cent.
“They want something, but I would de
mand something in return,” he said.
As a country which currently imports 48
percent of its oil, America desperately
needs to develop an energy plan, Fernan
dez said.
“We are at the mercy of the OPEC car
tel,” he said.
Therefore, he said, America needs a
president who can deal with Mexico, a
country who has recently discovered great
oil reserves.
Fernandez also stressed the importance
of effective foreign policy in other countries
as well. For example, he said he sent a
telegram to Carter on Monday urging him
to take a firm, hard stand in Iran and let the
world know that the loss of American lives
and property will no longer be tolerated.
Fernandez said his campaign strategy is
“grassroots.” Planning to enter all 36 pri
maries, he said he feels confident he will
capture all the delegates in Puerto Rico and
California. In addition, he said Mas
sachusetts is looking good for him, as well
as Texas. However here, he said, he is
relying on crossovers of the 1.1 million
Mexican-Americans from the Democratic
party.
“I happen to think I’m the right man at
the right time with the right background,”
he said.
Battalion photo by Becky Leake
Benjamin Fernandez, a presidential candidate for 1980,
emphasizes a point in his campaign. Fernandez spoke to a
crowd of about 40 people Tuesday night in Rudder Tower.
Iran students threaten to kill
American hostages in embassy
United Press International
TEHRAN, Iran — The PLO Tuesday
pledged to “use all possible means” to save
dozens of Americans hostages threatened
with death by armed Moslem students
holding the U.S. Embassy and reports said
Iran shut down its main oil export terminal.
President Carter, under political press
ure to take military action in Tehran, met
twice in Washington with his top security
advisers as diplomatic efforts intensified to
gain freedom for the 60 to 65 Americans,
including 28 military personnel, under
siege for the fourth day today.
lection results
Macey, McConn face runoff for Houston mayor
United Press International
HOUSTON — Wealthy city coun
cilman Louis Macey forced Mayor Jim
McConn’s reelection bid into a runoff
IsTuesday night. McConn said Macey
had run a dirty campaign and pre
dicted the runoff would be “open war-
" re.”
With 319 of 389 precincts report
ing, McConn had 68,491 votes to
50,469 for Macey and 38,358 for Cas
tillo.
Macey denied he had run a dirty
campaign.
“We haven been talking about Jim
McConn’s personality,” he said at his
campaign headquarters. “We’ve been
talking about the way he’s mishandled
this city. Mayor McConn owes this
city an apology. He needs to apologize
to me or the voters.
“We’re going to talk more about the
issues and more about what needs to
be done to solve the problems in this
city. The mayor doesn’t recognize the
problems.”
[Fujo of three amendments
approved by Texas voters
United Press International
Texans Tuesday approved two of three proposed amendments to the state’s
103-year-old constitution, but rejected a proposal that would have allowed the
Legislature to establish committees to oversee the rulemaking actions of state
agencies during times the Legislature is not in session.
The amendments approved — which brought to 235 the number of changes
made in the constitution since it was written in 1876 — authorize issuance of $10
million in state bonds to guarantee repayment of loans made by commercial
lending institutions for the purchase of small farms and ranches, and reorganize
the system for licensing of notaries public.
Voting was light on the three-issue statewide ballot.
Clements had endorsed Propositions 1 and 3 — the notary public and farm
loan guarantee amendments — which passed, and opposed No. 2, a proposal
allowing the Legislature to delegate to a committee its power to review rules
adopted by state agencies during time the Legislature is not in session, which
failed.
Texas Election Bureau returns from 252 of the state’s 254 counties, 239
complete, showed Proposition 1 concerning notaries public carrying 279,109 lo
147,394; Proposition 2 dealing with legislative review of agency rules failing
199,710 to 218,619; and Proposition 3 involving farm loan guarantees carrying
229,566 to 193,700.
Dallas voters apparently approved all seven propositions in a $54 million bond
election, and voters in Fort Worth defeated a proposal to roll back property taxes
and limit future tax increases.
McConn, 52, a homebuilder who
reduced a $400,000 debt by more than
half since his 1977 election, had pre
dicted he would whip Macey, former
U.S. Immigration Commissioner
Leonel Castillo and six other candi
dates without a runoff.
But Macey, 43, who has investment
and clothing manufacturing com
panies, with Castillo, who resigned his
Washington post in late summer, cap
tured about 52 percent of the light
vote.
McConn, who raised about
$500,000 for his reelection bid, said he
was prepared financially “and every
other way” for a runoff.
“I intend to answer some of the insi
dious innuendo of Councilman
Macey,” McConn said. “He’s gone
pretty far and I intend to bring him to a
halt. Jim McConn’s been a good
mayor. Jim McConn’s a good man and
I intend to prove that. We don’t in
tend to go after anybody’s character,
although it probably is a possibility. I
intend to disprove some of the allega
tions Councilman Macey made against
us.”
Castillo said the Macey-McConn
feud “made the whole election process
a sham.”
“The name calling, slurring and in
sults add nothing to the election,”
Castillo said. “It’s unfortunate we nev
er got into a serious discussion of what
we are going to do about our city. ”
McConn said he hoped to attract
Castillo’s supporters in the runoff but
Castillo said he was not ready to make
any endorsements. Rep. Ben Reyes,
D-Houston, who won a seat on the
expanded city council and who was
one of the Mexican-American com
munity’s most influential leaders, said
he expected to support McConn.
The 400 militant students are deman
ding the extradition of deposed Shah
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who is under
going medical treatments in New York, and
the State Department has refused.
The students carrying rifles and chanting
“Carter must be killed either by a gun or by :
fists,” said Tuesday they would kill their
hostages at the slightest sign of military
action by “the United States or its hated
agents in Iran.”
The unexpected diplomatic initiative au
thorized by Palestine Liberation Organzia-
tion Chief Yasser Arafat came late Tuesday
after U.N. Secretary General Kurt Wal
dheim met with foreign diplomats in
attempting to seek a solution for the tense
situation in the Iranian capital.
A PLO representative at the United Na
tions said Arafat instructed his Tehran
office “to use all possible means to save the
lives of the hostages,” and said the PLO
would send a delegation to Tehran today.
Arafat’s relations with Ayatollah Ruhol-
lah Khomeini are said to be very good, and
U.N. sources said, given the Moslem fer
vor over the situation in Tehran, the PLO
may have more influence than any diplo
matic move.
Officials at the White House and the
State Department said there was a report
Tuesday night an oil tanker bound for the
United States was halted and Iran’s major
oil export terminal was closed.
“This is not confirmed. But the report is,
it is not loading,” State Department
spokesman David Nall said. The United
States gets about 5 percent of its imported
oil from Iran.
Earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Mehdi
Bazaragan and his Cabinet resigned, and
Khomeini authorized the clergy-led Isla
mic Revolutionary Council to govern the
country for the time being.
That move made diplomatic negotiations
even more delicate.
Outgoing Middle East negotiator Robert
Strauss said Tuesday in Washington he had
received numerous calls from people
urging the president to use force and “show
his macho,” but he added “the options are
exceedingly limited at this point.”
White House spokesman Jody Powell
ruled out any military action and warned
against “unwarranted speculation” in the
press.
The State Department has flatly refused
the protesters’ demand the shah be extra
dited to face Islamic justice.
The death threats by the students in the
U.S. Embassy were repeatedly broadcast
by Iran’s state radio, but not commented
upon by the Islamic Revolutionary
Council.
The revolutionary council also withheld
immediate response to militant demands
for a total break in diplomatic relations with
the United States and for a suspension of oil
supplies.
Miller to host concert Thursday
honoring Hubert’s appointment
By ANGIE JONES
Battalion Reporter
Dr. and Mrs. Frank W.R. Hubert will be
honored Thursday evening by a concert
featuring student musical groups and an
informal reception, both hosted by Texas
A&M University President Jarvis E. Miller
and his wife.
The concert and reception, both open to
the public, are in honor of Hubert’s
appointment as chancellor of the Texas
A6jM University System in September.
Hubert, 64, served as dean of the College
of Education here for 10 years before his
appointment.
“We are making this a community-wide
event to give as many people as possible
the opportunity to join in honoring Chan
cellor Hubert as he moves into this key
position of leadership,” Miller said, “and it
gives us another opportunity to express
appreciation for his long and distinguished
service to the University.”
The concert, in Rudder Auditorium, will
begin at 7:30 p.m. with the reception set
for 9 p.m. in Room 224 of the Memorial
Student Center.
Five student musical groups will play at
the concert: the Singing Cadets, under the
direction of Robert Boone; the Century
Singers, directed by Nancy Theeman; the
Texas A&M University Women’s Chorus,
directed by Patti Fleitas; the Reveliers,
directed by Boone and Fleitas; and the
Texas A&M University Symphonic Band
under the direction of Maj. Joe McMullen.
Malon Southerland, assistant to the
president, said Hubert requested that
there be no official receiving line at the
reception because he preferred to simply
talk and meet with everyone informally.
The Dukes of Aggieland, a group from
the Aggie Band directed by Lt. Col. Joe
Haney, will perform at the reception.
14 law schools to participate
in MBA-Law Day Saturday
By BECKY MATHEWS
Battalion Reporter
Fourteen universities, including all
seven Texas law schools, will participate in
the Memorial Student Center MBA-Law
Day Saturday on the second floor of the
MSC.
The program, which is expected to draw
125 to 150 students, will be divided into
two sections. The sessions on law will be
Saturday morning with Angus McSwain,
dean of Baylor Law School, as the keynote
speaker. Sessions on MBA (Masters in
Business Administration) will be in the
afternoon featuring keynote speaker Wil
liam Muse, dean of the Texas A&M Uni
versity College of Business.
According to Philip Frink, chairman of
the program, the main purpose of the prog
ram is to inform the student body of oppor
tunities associated with obtaining M BA or
law degrees.
In addition to the universities’ represen
tatives, graduates from Texas A&M who
have gone on to obtain MBA or law degrees
will be discussing their experiences with
students.
Registration for MSC MBA-Law Day is
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Room 221 of the
MSC, and from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the
MSC first floor. Registration fees are $1 for
either session and $1.50 for both sessions.
Students may also pay $3 for the informal
barbecue, 12-1 p.m. in Room 201 of the
MSC. Registration closes at 5 p.m.
Thursday.