The Battalion
I^PanpJ'* 0 ’ 75 Tuesday, December 18, 1979 USPS 045 360
y College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
ope raised
or hostages
United Press International
TEHRAN, Iran — There is real hope for
ie first time that some of the 50 American
bstages will be released shortly and the
hers after a New Year’s showcase interna-
onal investigation, diplomatic sources
jd Monday.
But the captors at the embassy say the
ials will be held and the hostages will not
e relased before Christmas.
Statements by Foreign Minister
idegh Ghotbzadeh and the ruling Islamic
evolutionary Council paved the way for a
>aceful solution to the 44-day old crisis,
though there were still major stumbling
ocks, the sources said.
Ghotbzadeh — in a virtual package offer
r a peaceful solution — Sunday said he
jped some of the hostages could be freed
y Christmas and revolutionary spy trials
ight be avoided by establishment of an
iternational commission which would
pndemn American imperialism rather
an judge the captives themselves.
The foreign minister said some details
igarding the hostages’ Christmas had
ready been approved by both the govern-
lent and the captors, adding the hostages
E ill spend Christmas with their Iranian
ends.”
Some captives, those already cleared of
^ possible spying activities, might even
released, he said.
I hope I’ll be able to release at least
ne of them. I assure you I’ll try my best,”
told ABC.
Ihe implication was that even those hos-
ges would then be released following
eir testimony and not attend the more
ninous spy trials demanded by the cap-
rs.
“That’s his own opinion,” retorted a mili-
nt spokesman who has overruled past
hotbzadeh public announcements.
Ghotbzadeh added the question of extra-
tion of the shah was also no longer an
sue between Washington and Tehran
uce the former ruler had now left the
nited States.
The ruling revolutionary council issued a
statement claiming the shah’s departure as
a “victory” for the Iranian revolution.
Militants in control of the U.S. Embassy
demanded “spy trials, ” following the shah’s
departure Saturday from the United States
for Panama, but Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, the key to a solution, issued no
definitive public statement, although said
Ghotbzadeh he spoke with the ayatollah’s
full authority.
An international commission of “anti
imperialists and antizionists” will be con
vened Jan. 1 or Jan. 2, Ghotbzadeh said,
and would meet for about two weeks. It
might include one American panelist.
In Washington, President Carter said
Sunday on his return from Camp David, “it
would be gratifying” to see Ghotbzadeh
follow up on his promise. “We hope they
(all the hostages) will be coming home.”
Carter, at the direction of Congress, de
signated Tuesday a day of national unity
and urged Americans to fly flags as a show of
support for the hostages.
The mood in Tehran and statements
from various groups fluctuated wildly and
the last word from the captors was that spy
trials were “inevitable.
“The hostages will all be put on trial,” a
militant spokesman at the embassy said.
“None of them is going to be released be
fore Christmas.”
However, conditions appeared to be im
proving in the occupied embassy, with the
captors allowing the hostages to make more
regular telephone calls home. Ghotbzadeh
promised those held at Christmas would be
allowed to attend religious services, re
ceive gifts and cards and have Christmas
trees.
The government also announced the ex-
plusion of two Time Magazine correspon
dents for what it called distorted reporting,
bringing to 23 the number of journalists
ousted by the revolutionary regime. A gov
ernment spokesmen said the two would not
be replaced.
i
Libby Appling studies diligently in the cold for her upcoming finals. The still brave the cold. Low temperatures are expected to remain here
recent chilly weather has driven most students inside to study, but some through Friday. Battalion photo by u* Porter
Shah begins ‘vacation’ stop in Panama
United Press International
CONTADORA ISLAND, Panama —
he ousted shah of Iran, looking thin but
dert, said on his first full day at his new
tropical exile home he hopes his move from
lexas-will help to resolve the crisis of the
American hostages in Tehran.
A spokesman for the shah said Monday
Jthe deposed monarch considered Panama’s
IContadora Island “strictly a vacation” stop
land will decide after the Christmas holi-
Idays whether to move again.
I Robert Armao, the shah’s aide, asked
Iwhether the shah planned to stay in Pana-
pa, said, “We really haven’t got that far
pet. We just want to get through the Christ-
pas and New Year’s holidays and then we
|"'ill think about it. ”
Armao said the shah had “lost 20-odd
Ipounds between Mexico and New York.
“He is no longer taking long walks such
as he used to take,” Armao said. “He is now
just resting, reading and receiving some
visitors.”
Armao said the shah had no plans to take
part in an public activities until after the
New Year.
There were reports the shah is interested
in buying property in northern Panama,
which has a cool climate in contrast to the
hot, humid climate of Contadora Island.
Panamanian armed forces Sunday drew a
tight circle of security around Contadora
Island, 35 miles west of Panama City, to
protect the shah, who arrived Saturday
from San Antonio.
Dozens of armed guards with sub
machine guns took up duty on the tiny
resort island where there are 76 homes,
and police closely scrutinized anyone
wishing to fly to the island or to use the
150-room Casino Hotel, which will remain
open.
Panama became the sixth country of exile
for the shah since his departure from Iran in
January, following Egypt, Morocco, the
Bahamas, Mexico and the United States.
The shah, speaking at a 5-minute news
conference Sunday, said, “We were so
shocked by this question of hostages that I
even volunteered to leave the New York
hospital.
“We wanted to eventually help solve this
problem, and this time too, in leaving the
United States for this beautiful country, we
hope that this will help solve this problem,”
the shah said.
But militant Moslem students in control
of the embassy in Tehran said the 50 Amer
ican hostages would face spy trials sooner
Aggie wins Rhodes scholarship;
Oxford studies begin next fall
By MARGARET JOHNSON
Battalion Reporter
It is not very often when a senior gives up
marching across the stage at G. Rollie to
receive that much-coveted sheepskin. One
senior did, however, and his absence
proved very rewarding.
William Altman of New Ulm, a town ol
less than 1,000, has been awarded a Rhodes
Scholarship to study at Oxford University
in England.
Altman missed December graduation
exercises here to attend interviews for
scholarship applicants. The interviews
were held in New Orleans.^
Announcement of Altman s selection was
made Sunday by William Barber, an econo
mics professor at Wesleyan University, and
American secretary of the Rhodes Scholar
ship Trust Fund.
Candidates for the prestigious award are
nominated on a state-wide basis. Two stu
dents are chosen to represent each state in
a district contest. The United States is di
vided into eight districts, and each district
receives four scholarships. Thirty-two
Rhodes Scholarships are awarded annually
in the United States.
Altman competed against 49 Texas appli
cants in Houston in the statewide contest.
After being selected as one of the two stu
dents to represent the state in the district
contest, Altman then traveled to New
Orleans to compete against 11 other college
because Washington allowed the shah to
leave.
The shah looked very thin and pale, but
said he was feeling “much better, thank
you.” He smiled and moved about briskly
as he and Empress Farah met about 20
reporters outside their new exile home
where the weather was hot and humid.
The imperial family and seven aides —
including a doctor — have settled into two
relatively simple houses on the west end of
Contadora, a one-half square-mile sliver of
thick jungle ringed by white tropical
beaches.
The homes, one with five bedrooms and
one with four, are owned by Gabriel Lewis,
a former Panamanian ambassador to
Washington and the man who developed
Cantadora into a vacation resort.
Although the compound itself is not
fenced, the Panamanian national guard has
sent dozens of troops and scuba divers to
protect the shah and regulate entry to the
island.
A small national guard speedboat was
docked at the sandy cove behind the shah’s
house and a U.S. armed forces helicopter
and a Panamanian national guard airplane
were on standby at the island’s tiny airport.
Earlier in the day, the shah met with
President Aristides Royo and Gen. Omar
Torrijos, the national guard strongman and
former president.
Torrijos declined comment but Royo
said Panama granted permanent political
exile to the shah because he was “a person
who has suffered from his health, a person
who has suffered a series of problems. ”
Royo also denied that Iran could retaliate
against Panama or that President Carter
put heavy pressure on his country to accept
the shah.
He dreams of solar airplanes
seniors.
fc from
state in the Gulf Region,” Altman said.
“We met first on Friday night at the Tulane
University president’s house for dinner
along with the eight (Rhodes Scholarship)
Committee members. On Saturday, 30 mi
nute interviews were held and then the two
winners were announced on Sunday.”
The Gulf Region consists of Texas, Okla
homa, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi,
and Arkansas.
The electrical engineering senior was a
President’s Endowed Scholar, held Na
tional Merit and Valedictory Scholarships,
and was a Distinguished Student every
semester. Altman finished at Texas A&M in
3V2 years.
“Although I’m an electrical enginering
major, I plan to study engineering, econo
mics and management, ’ Altman said.
“Therefore, many of the questions during
my interviews were technical. They asked
my opinion of social issues involving Presi
dent Carter’s energy programs and nuclear
power situations.”
One thing Altman noted about the con
test was the lack of a strong sense of com
petition.
“There was not a competitive atmos
phere,” Altman noted. “Everybody ob
viously wanted to win, but they were all
extremely bright and friendly and easy to
talk to.
Altman will sail with the other American
candidates and also the Canadian candi
dates for Oxford in late September 1980.
United Press International
PHILADELPHIA — The inventor of
the Gossamer Albatross, the first human-
powered airplane to cross the English
Channel, has a new dream — a solar-
powered plane.
“If one wanted to, one could put solar
cells on the Gossamer Albatross and have a
solar-powered manned aircraft,” Paul Mac-
Cready said in a recent interview. “But we
want a more practical thing that will fly in
turbulence. It’s all designed in my head.”
MacCready described his invention of
the fragile-looking Gossamer Albatross, po
wered by its pilot’s legs pumping on bicycle
pedals, as “basically fun.”
“It is a Christmas present to the world, "
said MacCready, who built the super
strength plastic aircraft as a hobby. “It
shows the great mass of garage builders out
there how far you can go with imagination,
inventiveness, efficiency and conserva
tion.
MacCready, 54, says he is “bubbling
over with ideas for other unconventional
aircraft, including a solar-powered plane.
Once built, a solar craft would be some
thing of a white elephant in the United
States. “It’s not a practical transport,” Mac
Cready said.
However, with its “simple technology
and minimal flight skills, the craft could
find a home in developing countries.
“It could be used in a place where the
roads weren’t good and the slow speed
didn’t matter,” MacCready said. “If the
engine stopped, the pilot wouldn’t get hurt
even if he glided down into a tree.”
MacCready says his construction of a so
lar-powered manned aircraft will have to
wait a while.
First he says he will build a duplicate
Gossamer Albatross in January for study by
the National Aeronautics and Space Admi
nistration, wdiich is planning an unmanned
airborne platform powered by solar cells.
The NASA platform, which MacCready
calls “the poor man’s satellite,” would float
by day at 110,000 feet, above the weather.
At night, he said, it would glide slowly
downward, to about 45,000 feet, before the
rising sun again charges its electric motor
with enough power to climb.
“It could stay up forever,” he said.
Students should inform
light company of move
By RICHARD OLIVER
Battalion Staff
Students changing addresses in the
spring semester had better notify the
electric company, or it might mean a
few cold nights in the dark.
“There are more and more apart
ment units being added,” said Diane
Jones, customer relations manager for
the College Station utilities division.
“Some apartments are going to single
metering for each unit. We haven’t
had individual accounts in some places
until now, only a few block charges.”
Block charges are charges billed to
an apartment as a whole, instead of the
individual units. In a single metering
system, tenants are responsible for
their own electrical service.
Jones said if an apartment tenant
terminates services with the electric
company, then the meter will either
be turned off, or the name transferred
to the apartment owners or managers.
In each case, she said, the new
tenant must either come in person to
the utilities office in the city hall, or
send a letter listing the exact address
of the apartment, a driver’s license or
Texas A&M University student ID
number, and the exact date the stu
dent wants the electricity turned on.
Also, a deposit of $60 must be sent
by check or money order, and $70 if
electricity and water are needed. The
check must be made payable to the
City of College Station.
All the information can be mailed to
the City of College Station, Drawer
9960, College Station, Tex. 77840.
Jones stressed although the demand
for electricity turn-on will not be as
great as the fall, any requests should
be sent in early.
“At the beginning of the semester,
we get swamped, she said. “They
should send their application as soon
as possible. If they come by in person,
at least three or four days early. If it’s
by mail, it should be sent off even
sooner. It all depends on how many
orders we have.”
William Altman