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■ 73 No. 69
16 Pages.
Monday, December 10, 1979
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
and Hull-Di
Wharton
Valley Via
s Salado in
otton Centi
x-man states
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33.50 Ei
37.50 a
33.50 a
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Sugarplums, Kleenex and chickenwire
The New Beginning 4-H Club formed a Christmas dream from such
mundane objects as tissue and lumber for the 1979 Holiday Parade in
Bryan Sunday. About 75 floats, decorated cars and marching groups
paraded down Texas Avenue from Villa Maria to Luby’s Cafeteria, while
local residents and dignitaries looked on.
Battalion photo by Lynn Blanco
arter re-election committee says
^jLran providing campaign ‘boost’
Batt.
3 Foods,
IX.
00 P.M.
'AY
ECIAL
I Steak
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Symposium at A&M addresses energy crisis
i
United Press International
AUSTIN — Top officials of President
arter’s re-election campaign told Texas
emocrats during a weekend fund-raiser
e Iranian crisis is giving him a unique
loost for re-election as the only experi-
ffleed candidate for the White House.
Two cabinet members, a presidential
ssistant, Lady Bird Johnson and top Texas
)emocratic officeholders were among 130
lersons at a $l,000-a-head brunch Satur-
lay to raise money for Carter’s re-election
committee.
Carter originally was scheduled to speak
at the brunch and a fund-raising luncheon
but canceled the appearance to remain at
the White House because of the American
hostages being held in Iran.
“A lot of people talk about Jimmy Car
ter’s lack of leadership,” said Labor Secret
ary Ray Marshall. “It’s obvious to the
American people now if it shouldn’t have
been earlier that that was sheer nonsense. ”
Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, said the
consistency, determination and strength
Carter has demonstrated in the Iran crisis
have earned him respect.
“On Oct. 9 when President Carter’s fu
ture was as dark as it had ever been I be
came the first member of the United States
Senate to endorse him for re-election,”
Bentsen said.
Energy Secretary Charles W. Duncan
said the situation in Iran and the outlook for
continued oil imports from OPEC coun
tries to the United States — prospects he
termed “very disturbing” — demonstrate
the need for policies Carter has proposed
and implemented to curtail use and prom
ote domestic energy production.
“If there was ever a vivid demonstration
that we are overly dependent on foreign
sources of oil it’s the situation that is going
on today in Iran,’’ Duncan said.
Duncan said there may be shortages in
1980 as OPEC nations curtail output.
“The supply that we will actually have
and the price that we will have to pay are
beyond our control,” he said.
By MARCY BOYCE
Battalion Reporter
Government regulation and the windfall
rofits tax are two obstacles delaying the
ent of an energy self-sufficient United
tates, said representatives at the Energy
iymposium on campus Thursday and
riday.
Organized by the Chemical Engineering
)epartment at Texas A&M University, the
ymposium in the Rudder Tower complex
irought together representatives from oil,
hemical and mining companies, in addi
tion to politicians and bankers, for a series
)f speeches and panel discussions on the
nergy crisis.
One problem area cited at the meeting
vas the windfall profits tax. The tax would
discourage energy companies from invest
ing in domestic production, John G. Win
ger, vice president of the Chase Manhattan
Bank said Thursday.
The tax will cause them to compete with
Europe and Japan for foreign oil, he said.
But more important. Winger said, as
domestic production falls, the energy com
panies will fail to meet the increasing de
mands of industry.
“We must maintain our productivity,
but we can’t do that if industry does not
have the energy supplies,” he said.
T. Louis Austin, chairman of Texas Utili
ties, said Friday the United States should
depend on the market system to stabilize
energy prices.
“If we let the market system work, we
can control the world price of oil and na
tional gas by flooding the market with coal
and nuclear (power),” he said.
John Racz, representing the Carter Oil
Co., said decisions made in Congress are
extremely critical to determining the fu
ture of synthetic fuel production.
Currently, synthetic fuel is looked to as
one of the major resources for resolving the
energy crunch, he said.
“Reserves in northwestern Colorado
have more potential oil locked up in shale
deposits than the total reserves of oil in the
Middle East,” he said.
As a subsidiary of Exxon, Racz said, Car
ter Oil Co. is presently undertaking the
East Texas Gasification Project which
would utilize lignite reserves in Cherokee,
Texas. When constructed the project could
cost up to 4 billion, he said.
But, Racz said, “If government keeps
insisting upon maintaining price ceilings,
its construction will require major govern
ment subsidies.”
And, Racz said, Exxon clearly prefers the
free market system to any mechanism such
as subusidies.
Dr. Arthur Stern, of the department of
environmental sciences and engineering at
the University of North Carolina, agreed
there is too much government regulation.
Mexican oil companies are also limited
by government regulation, said Jesus Cha
varria Garcia, a Pemex representative.
Pemex is Mexico’s national oil company.
Wounded athlete
in stable condition
Texas A&M football player Ed Patterson, who was shot
in the head during a scuffle last Wednesday, is still in stable
condition in St. Joseph Hospital, said Assistant to Athletic
Director Billy Pickard. “It’s just a wait-and-see situation,”
Pickard said Sunday night. “They are waiting before they
remove the bullet fragments from his head.
Rebels recapture
complex in Iran
United Press International
TABRIZ, Iran — In his most personal
attack yet. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
today called President Carter a traitor and
urged Americans not to vote for him. He
also blamed the United States for inciting a
major crisis in northwest Iran.
“Carter has been a bad politician and
president for the American people and is
not qualified to be president,” Khomeini
told students in the holy city of Qom. “He
has been a traitor to the American people.
The people of America must know this and
not vote for Carter.”
Khomeini directly implicated the Un
ited States in the current troubles in north
west Iran. He said dissidents who seized
the broadcast complex in Tabriz were
“American spies. These are men from the
(occupied American) embassy.”
Files on these spies and traitors had been
uncovered at the embassy, proving their
roles, the ayatollah charged.
Khomeini’s latest attack was part of an
escalating campaign by the government
and militants holding the 50 American hos
tages to blame the United States for the
violence in Iran’s Azerbaijan region.
Diplomatic sources said this campaign,
designed to rally the nation against a com
mon enemy, could greatly complicate any
diplomatic moves to secure the release of
the captives held for the 37th day.
As Khomeini spoke, anti-government
dissidents reoccupied the radio complex in
Tabriz and a high-powered government
delegation arrived for mediation talks to try
to settle the fighting between supporters of
moderate Ayatollah Kazem Shariatrnadari
and Khomeini’s loyalist revoluionary
guards.
The dissidents had occupied the com
pound for four days, initially demanding
changes in the new Islamic constitution
and then expanding their demands for
autonomy for the region. Shariatrnadari
supporters boycotted last week’s voting for
the Islamic constitution because they
oppose its provisions assuring Khomeini
virtual unlimited power as Iran’s leader.
At least nine persons have been killed
and 60 others wounded in the fighting that
erupted Sunday and tapered off early
today.
In Tehran, diplomatic reports said an
envoy of U.N. Secretary General Kurt
Waldheim was among several “unofficial’
ambassadors in the Iranian capital working
with Khomeini’s government to try to se
cure the speedy release of the American
hostages.
The crisis in Tabriz, the unofficial capital
of Turkish-speaking Iran and the Azerbai
jan provinces, exploded into gun battles
Sunday afternoon when loyalist revolution
ary guards recaptured the radio and televi
sion complex from followers of Shariatma-
dari. The demonstrators in turn then hand
ed it over to the army before reoccupying
it.
In the Hague, the Netherlands, the In
ternational Court of Justice scheduled
hearings today on a U.S. request for an
interim order directing Iran to immediate
ly release the 50 American hostages.
President Carter sent Attorney General
Benjamin Civiletti to present Washing
ton’s case.
The United States announced envoys of
other foreign nations were also trying to
persuade Tehran to release the captives.
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance began a
European trip in London in an effort to step
up diplomatic and economic pressure on
Iran.
Restaurant fire hearings
scheduled to begin today
United Press International
COVINGTON, Ky. — Barring settle
ments or granting of a mistrial motion, 28
defendants — mostly aluminum wire and
device makers — go to trial today in the
first trial over the Beverly Hills Supper
Club fire.
It has been reported that a few small
firms had virtually completed settlements
with the fire victims, although nothing had
been filed in federal court.
Major aluminum companies have also
filed for a mistrial for what they termed a
“carnival atmosphere” during jury selec
tion last Monday. Anaconda, Kaiser Alumi
num and General Electric all asked for the
declaration of a mistrial.
Opening statements sire scheduled for
Monday morning. Lawyers for the victims
assert “old technology” aluminum wiring
contributed to the blaze that raced through
the crowded Southgate, Ky. club May 28,
1977, killing 165. It is believed the fire was
started by electrical problems.
The trial start was delayed for a week
because of scheduling conflicts.
The motion for a mistrial said there were
several procedural errors in jury selection.
“Because of the extremely crowded
courtroom conditions, almost a schoolroom
cafeteria atmosphere, it was impossible to
observe the entire jury panel at any time
during the selection of the jury,” the mo
tion said.
Lawyers for the defendants also com
plained the jury selection was ‘ almost in a
carnival atmosphere, or like a Roman Holi
day’ with the defense counsel appearing to
the jurors as being unorganized, confused
and totally unprepared as to the selection of
a jury.”
In another motion Friday, Underwriters
Laboratories (UL) Inc. of Chicago, one of
the defendants, moved to bar all references
to a federal agency’s claim that “old tech
nology” aluminum wiring is hazardous.
The motion was seen as part of a long
standing dispute between the aluminum
wire industry and the Consumer Produet
Safety Commission. A recent report by the
commission stated aluminum wire is 55
times more likely to cause an electrical fire
than copper wire.
ICIAL
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Unleashed dogs may be expensive for pet owners
By TRICIA BRUNHART
Special to the Battalion
While several cases of rabies were
reported throughout Texas last sum
mer, local animal control officials say
the number of reports in Brazos Coun
ty is small. There remains, however, a
problem with stray animals.
County animal control is divided
into three jurisdictions. The Sheriff’s
Department handles calls outside the
city limits. College Station’s police de
partment handles calls in that city.
Bryan recently reassigned its animal
control unit from the police depart
ment to the sanitation department.
Charles Huneycutt, animal control
officer in Bryan for three years, said
the most common call he gets con
cerns dogs running loose, particularly
when they scatter trash.
Bryan’s animal control unit receives
about 15 to 40 calls a day, some of
which could be labeled prank calls,
Huneycutt said. Most of the calls the
unit receives concern dogs, but they
answer calls about any type of animal.
Most calls are about animals that have
bitten someone.
“Every once in a while there’ll be a
rash of cat bites, ” Huneycutt said.
There hasn’t been much problem
with rabies in this area, Huneycutt
said. The most common disease
among the stray animals is mange.
To catch a dog, a 6-foot, wire-cage
trap activated by a bone connected to a
cable is usually used, he said.
When they catch a biting animal, if
it hasn’t had its shots, or they can’t find
the owner, it will be quarantined for
10 days at a local veterinary clinic.
If they don’t see the biting animal
running loose, then the bite victim can
file a complaint with the police depart
ment.
If the animal is running loose, its
owner can be ticketed. The leash law
in Bryan says a pet must be either on a
leash or in a pen all the time,
Huneycutt said.
The first time a healthy dog is
caught running loose the owner is
given a warning ticket, but if it hap
pens again, the owner is fined. Offic
ers often have problems finding pet
owners, who sometimes just won’t
answer the door when an officer calls,
he said.
The first offense ticket is $28.50, the
second is $38.50 and the third is
$103.50 for letting a biting animal run
loose.
Huneycutt said there isn’t much of a
problem with jursidiction between
cities, because if a dog bites someone
in College Station and then roams to
Bryan, the animal control officers from
both cities will meet at the city lines to
decide what to do.
Marc Hodges, a College Station
humane officer for IV2 years, also said
nuisance calls about dogs in people’s
trash are the most common calls. But
recently, he said, the department has
had more problems with wild animals,
such as opossums and raccoons.
There haven’t been any cases of
rabies reported as long as Hodges has
worked as a humane officer.
College Station’s leash law is similar
to Bryan’s, prescribing that an animal
must be on the owner’s property or on
a leash. If not, the owner can be tick
eted. First offense tickets are $18.50
and second offense tickets are $28.50.
Animals that are caught are taken
either to their owners or to Anderson
Ridge Veterinary Clinic in College
Station. It is often easier to impound
an animal, because it’s difficult to find
the owner at home, Hodges said.
In cases where the animal has simp
ly strayed, the owner can take the
animal home, after paying a fine and
assuring officers the animal will be
leashed.
But when the animal bites some
one, the circumstances change. The
person who was bitten decides
whether the animal goes to the pound.
Seventy percent of these animals go to
the pound, he said.
Hodges said that the unit gets eight
to 15 calls a day.
Cecyle Howard, a deputy sheriff
with the Brazos County Sheriffs De
partment, said county animal control
usually concerns animals, usually
cows, that wander onto the highway.
In this situation, they try to contact
the animal’s owner.
The sheriffs department doesn’t
answer animal nuisance calls because
there are no animal ordinances out
side the city limits, she said. The sher
iff s department prefers to concentrate
on enforcing what it considers to be
more important areas of the law, Ho
ward said.
But the department did respond to
several reports of rabid animals during
the past summer, she said. These
animals were taken to a local veterina
rian for treatment.
College Station humane officer Marc Hodges makes
a routine check of his truck before he and his partner
Battalion photo by Tricia Brunhartl
go out on patrol. College Station’s police department
handles animal control within the city limits.