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United Press International
ASHINGTON — President Carter,
Irently puzzled at conflicting signals
J Iran, has said publically that he is
|g hope any of the 50 American hos-
Iwill be released by Christmas. Those
Isgrew even dimmer Tuesday after a
I advisor of the Ayatollah Ruhollah
leini was murdered in the streets of
in.
ree gunmen on one. motorcycle killed
lammed Mofatteh, head of the main
: religious school, in a hail of bullets
ntown Tehran before they escaped,
[ard was also killed.
pfatteh, a leader of the anti-shah move-
during Khomeini’s exile, was the
close confidant of the Khomeini to be
ated recently.
lomeini blamed the CIA for the mur-
.T! ruling Revolutionary Council said
Statement: “One more prominent spir
al leader has been made a target by the
In. He has been shot down by dirty
up of the CIA and SAVAK.
[he gunmen opened fire on Moffateh
djtwo guards just outside the Islamic
Jlege of Tehran. Mofaetteh fled into the
King but was pursued by the gunmen
d shot in the head, shoulder, hand and
jfc. le died about three hours later.
^rter had been somewhat optimistic
jwing a televised interview Sunday
llran’s acting foreign minister Sadegh
wjbzadeh indicating release of some of
enptives was possible before Christmas.
lit Carter told reporters Monday night
alstate dinner honoring British Prime
Ister Margaret Thatcher that “the news
mlran is not good.” The students de-
dopen verbal warfare on Ghotbzadeh,
ding as “irresponsible’ his statements
some of the hostages might be freed by
stmas. They threatened to take over
ian embassies abroad from Foreign
Istry personnel.
The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 76
12 Pages
Wednesday, December 19, 1979
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
dims
hopes
Carter noted that Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini backed up the militant students
who contradicted Ghotbzadeh on freeing
the captives and said they would be tried.
Asked if he thought any of the hostages
would be freed by Christmas, Carter said:
“I don’t believe so.”
“The students said ‘no’ to everything,”
Carter said. “Khomeini went along with
the students. ”
Carter had a final breakfast session Tues
day with Democratic leaders before they
windup the session at the end of the week
and head home for Christmas.
The president told reporters that he will
not return to his home in Plains, Ga. for
Christmas. He said the Iranian situation
requires him to remain in the nation’s
capital.
Meanwhile, in Panama City, Panama, a
group of students stoned the U.S. Embas
sy, ripped down the American flag and
spray-painted the words “Out With The
Shah’’ today in a protest against the pre
sence of the shah of Iran in Panama.
Police said about 150 left-wing students
marched on the embassy shortly after steel-
helmeted Panamanian national guardsmen
had withdrawn from the building, which
they guarded through the night.
The students threw rocks at the three-
story colonial style building, trampled a
hedge — there is no fence — around the
building and tore down the American flag.
They then spray-painted the words “Out
With The Shah” on the flagpole and on the
cement archway to the embassy com
pound.
The attackers broke one window on a
small guardhouse in front of the embassy.
No injuries were reported and the na
tional guard armed with automatic rifles,
rubber hoses and tear gas quickly returned
to the embassy. The students were gone by
then.
BRRRRRRR!
m.
-
Members of Walton Hall’s ‘F-Troop’ help Woody Woodruff of took place last week at the fountain in front of the Chemistry
Cleburne celebrate his impending graduation. The dunking Building. Temperature? Mid-30s. Battalion photo by Alan Hess
directories due this week
Directories for the 1979-80 school
[year will be given out this week, if all
goes well.
Don Johnson, director of student
publications, said the directories were
due in Tuesday, but did not arrive. He
said when the directories come, they
will be handed out immediately.
When directories are distributed,
Johnson said, students should bring
their fee slips indicating they have
purchased a directory, or they will not
be given one.
If a student has lost his fee slip, he
can get a copy from the fiscal depart
ment in the Coke Building.
tiatt taking vacation until Jan. 9
While most Aggies are off snoozing
and recovering from the rigors of the
[ fall semester, the Battalion will not be
published, but will be gearing up for
next semester.
This will be the last publication for
this semester, but there will b^ a Bat
talion put out on Jan. 9, and five-day-a-
week service will resume Jan. 14.
Accidental towing angers store s shoppers
By NANCY ANDERSEN
Battalion Staff
Due to the high cost of food, a trip to the
grocery store is already a costly one, but
some Skaggs Alpha Beta customers are
paying even more than they bargained for.
Because of the University Square shop
ping center’s proximity to Texas A&M Uni
versity, as many as 15 students a day illegal
ly use the center’s parking lot while attend
ing classes, said Will Moyers, a spokesman
for owner John C. Culpepper.
Because of this, Culpepper contracted
D&H Wrecker Service about three years
ago to tow away illegally parked ‘cus
tomers.’
According to signs posted throughout
the parking lot, only shopping center cus
tomers may use the lot and all others will be
towed away. To enforce the policy, D&H
employs spotters to report anyone leaving
the shopping center.
However, each day about two to six cus
tomers’ cars are removed from the Skaggs
parking lot by D&H, according to College
Station police.
The cost of recovering a towed car is $50.
Also, there is an additional charge of $5 for
each night a car is kept.
Last month, Caroline Hill had her car
towed away while shopping at Skaggs. Hill
said she called the police and before she
even mentioned where the incident had
occurred, she was asked, “You’re at Skaggs,
aren’t you?”
Since then, Hill said, she has boycotted
Skaggs.
Oliver Bishop, Skaggs’ general manager,
said he is under orders not to discuss the
situation with the press.
D&H could not be reached for comment
— the phone number is not listed in the
phone book or with information.
Moyers said he does not condone any
errors D&H might have made — D&H is
responsible.
Alternative ways of controlling parking
lot use are being considered by Culpepper
Management Properties and a decision
should be made by the first of the year,
Moyers said.
Some of the alternatives include either
hiring another wrecker company or using
bear claws.
A bear claw is a metal bar with an iron
lock which fits around a car’s rear tire and
prevents a car from being driven, he said.
When the owner returned, a fee would be
assessed, Moyer said, adding that the Uni
versity Police use this method.
State law protects an owner’s right to
remove anyone from his property, said Sgt.
Paul Huddleston of the College Station
Police Department.
Huddleston called the situation a legal
inequity, and added it happens too often.
According to the city wrecker ordinance,
anyone with a properly equipped towing
vehicle and liability insurance of $100,000
for each injury, death, accident or treat
ment per person may become licensced.
Licensed wrecker companies must file a
schedule of fees charged for each service
with the police department, but police
have no control over the amounts charged.
To clarify the situation, Huddleston sug
gested a more detailed ordinance. A good
ordinance, he said, would give the police
more control over charges and towing.
Also, it would require reporting a car as
towed to police. Currently, wreckers are
not required to do so.
The College Station City Council discus
sed adopting a similar ordinance at a special
meeting last week. The council will not
decide on a wrecker ordinance until the
first meeting in January.
Senate passes tax
United Press International
WASHINGTON — After six weeks of
floor debate, the Senate Tuesday passed a
$178 billion windfall oil profits tax bill that
both President Carter and Sen. Edward
Kennedy want toughened.
A conference committee Tuesday began
attempts at settling differences between
the Senate bill and the $277 billion mea
sure the House passed in June.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman
Russell Long, D-La., is heading the Senate
delegation to the conference. House Ways
and Means Chairman Al Ullman is heading
the House conferees.
Long was asked if the conferees would
split the $100 billion difference between
the two bills. “The whole thing is negoti
able, both on the upside and the down
side,” Long replied.
The Senate bill would take in about 38
percent of the net windfall oil companies
will make from rising world oil prices and
Carter’s decision to decontrol domestic oil
prices. The House bill would take about 61
percent. The administration estimates the
total profit at about $1 trillion.
The $99 billion gap between the two bills
stems largely from exemptions in the Sen
ate version for most independent produc
tion, and lower Senate rates for newly disc
overed, incremental tertiary and heavy oil.
“I was glad it passed,” Carter said after
the Senate Monday night approved, 74-24,
its version of the bill highlighting his ener
gy program.
While the bill was improved by the full
Senate and “does include some important
concepts for the conference committee to
consider,” said a White House spokesman,
it “falls considerably short of the House
bill.”
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., voted
for the bill but said he would vote against
any compromise “that raises less than the
50 percent revenue target set by the presi
dent. He urged Carter to veto a weak bill.
A spokesman for tfre American Pet
roleum Institute, the industry lobby in
Washington, said, “The tragedy of the Sen
ate bill is that it would give oil companies
nowhere near enough to generate the level
of domestic investment which must be
made to decrease our reliance on OPEC.”
Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wis., one of six
Democrats voting against the bill, said it
provided too low a tax and an “unconscion
ably generous” gift to oil firms. But Sen.
Robert Dole, R-Kan., said he hoped “we
have not sown the seeds of the destruction
of the oil industry.”
The Senate gave small investors a tax
break by allowing an individual to exclude
up to $200 — $400 for married couples
filing jointly — in interest and dividends
from the federal income tax starting in
1981. That provision is not in the House
bill, but is expected to be accepted.
But $8.7 billion in tax credits for
homeowners who insulate or use other
energy-saving methods, plus about $17 bil
lion in energy tax breaks for businesses in
the Senate bill may be dropped or trimmed
in conference.
Texas Senators Lloyd Bentsen and John
Tower voted against the bill.