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The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 86 Thursday, January 24, 1980 USPS 045 360
20 Pages in 2 Sections College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
iCarter tells Soviets
5to keep their hands off
•the Persian Gulf area
M
WASHINGTON — Using his State of
^ me Union address to issue a 20th-century
IR ersion of the Monroe Doctrine President
barter has sent the Soviet Union an une-
lltj [uivocal warning: Keep out of the Persian
^1 3ulf, or else.
k To back up his tough words the president
’V?;| aid he intends to push for legislation to
Ip inance the resumption of draft registration
ind end "unwarranted restraints’ on
America’s intelligence agencies.
« i' “An attempt by any outside force to gain
Control of the Persian Gulf region will be
Woegarded as an assault on the vital interests
the United States of America” Carter
rvTfeid affirming what may one day come to he
Rpfcalled the Carter Doctrine.
In his nationally televised message to a
int session of Congress Wednesday night
JMie president said “such an assault will he
_-|cpelled by use of any means necessary
r deluding military force.
I Carter’s warning sounding much like
cjjlresident James Monroe’s 1823 demand
^European colonial powers leave the New
|M|world alone drew a round of applause from
"■idle senators and representatives.
In the face of the Soviet Union’s inter-
Miention in Afghanistan and the anti-
111 Americanism in Iran foreign affairs domin-
®/(Bted Carter’s message right from the start.
Giving the Kremlin a taste of its own
Nl
propaganda rhetoric Carter accused the
Soviet Union of seeking “colonial con
quest” in defiance of the rest of the world.
“The Soviet Union must realize that its
decision to use military force in Afghanis
tan will be costly to every political and
economic relationship it values’ he said.
Carter said the Soviet occupation force
in Afghanistan was threatening an area of
“great strategic importance with more
than two-thirds of the world’s exportable
oil.
“The Soviet Union is now attempting to
consolidate a strategic position he said.
“Therefore it poses a grave threat to the
free movement of Middle East oil.”
Carter who received warm applause dur
ing and at the end of his speech hinted he
expects a prolonged superpower confronta
tion similar to the long-drawn-out Cold
War conflict that followed World War II.
“This situation demands careful thought
steady nerves and resolute action — not
only for this year but for many years to
come” he said.
In a move to put teeth into his warning to
the Kremlin Carter said he will ask Con
gress for funds so the United States can
resume registering youths for the draft.
Carter has the authority under the Selec
tive Service Act to resume the draft but
Congress must allocate funds to finance
such a move. Congress also must approve
reimposition of the draft itself.
“I will send legislation and budget prop
osals to the Congress next month so that we
can begin registration and then meet future
mobilization needs rapidly if they arise” he
said.
But the president said he doubted that
the actual draft would be reimposed. He
said he felt “volunteer forces are adequate
for current defense needs.
Carter also appealed to Congress for
“clear and quick passage” of a new charter
defining the authority and accountability of
America’s intelligence agencies.
“We will guarantee that abuses will not
recur but we must remove unwarranted
restraints on our ability to collect intelli
gence and to tighten our controls on sensi
tive intelligence information” he said.
Carter said the United States “will never
rest” until the 50 American captives at the
U.S. Embassy in Tehran are freed.
“If the American hostages are harmed a
severe price will be paid he warned.
But the president said he would try to
persuade Iran’s leaders “the real danger to
their nation” comes not from the United
States but from the Soviet Union.
Carter reaffirmed his previous support
for human rights detente and SALT but
such issues took a back seat to his calls for a
strong America capable of containing the
Kremlin.
[Election to decide bond issue
wion jail expansion Saturday
ffl By RICHARD OLIVER
141(| General Assignments Reporter
[ga|| Brad Smith is a man with an important
^Rjob to do, but he has no place to do it.
M l Smith is the 272nd District Court judge,
and since April of last year, he has held
ffliourt in everywhere from a bank meeting
“oom to the Brazos Center Lecture Room
muse he doesn t have a courtroom.
Saturday’s Brazos County bond election
ay change that.
Brazos County voters are asked to con-
ider two propositions on one bond issue:
i —$8.6 million in bonds for the purpose
of constructing additions and improve-
■feients to the existing courthouse and jail
M building.
Lffl —$1.4 million in bonds for the purpose
MHif purchasing, constructing, reconstruct-
Ing, remodeling and equipping of property
|jj||ifor parking and additional office space.
a t Although passage of the first proposition
Nil guarantee Smith a new courtroom,
iounty officials say the modification of the
jail building is the most important item to
e voted on.
“The main thing that’s brought the issue
_~avote is the jail,” said Dick Holmgreen,
|Jj||!Brazos County judge. “Our jail standards
do not meet the standard of the Texas Jail
il»j| Standards Commission. So, as you can see,
■fl the situation has become critical.”
jWlj The Brazos County jail had three re
views last year by the Texas Commission on
Jail Standards, and each time it failed to
! meet a number of major physical facility
requirements. After the last inspection,
[ Brazos County was put on notice by the
Commission that certain requirements
must be met, such as expanded jail facilities
to meet the growth of the county, or they
will issue a remedial order.
Smith said such an order would be diffi-
ltf| cult to follow.
j “The most important thing, of course, is
JHIthe jail,” he said. “If we don’t do something
about it, and the citizens don’t pass the
Ik issue, some outside force is going to make
I Almanac
By United Press International
Today is Thursday, Jan. 24, the 24th day
gi] <of 1980 with 342 to follow.
The moon is in its first quarter.
S ; American sculptor Paul Wayland Bart
lett was born Jan. 24, 1865.
P, On this day in history:
- In 1908, the first Boy Scout troop was
organized in England by Sir Robert.Baden-
W Powell, a general in the British Army.
In 1922, Christian Nelson of Onawa,
llowa, received a patent for his “Eskimo
« | Pie,” a brick of ice cream encased in a
i coating of chocolate.
tm In 1965, the world mourned the death of
English statesman Sir Winston Churchill,
Ijyjknown as the “first citizen of the free
world” and leader of Britain during the
Jj^ldarkest days of World War II.
In 1979, Iranian Premier Bakhtiar
■I offered to resign and let people decide on
mjfi i government if in return Ayatollah
J Khomeini would agree to delay his return
V . to Iran.
|/i A thought for the day: Sir Winstron
y I Churchill said, “Nothing in life is so ex-
ir : : hilarating as to be shot at without result.”
us do it. The Jail StandardsTfommission or
a federal judge will do it.
“We re making a good faith effort,” he
said. “We simply don’t have any money to
do it. They’ll tell us and send the order, and
the order means we are to get it done in any
way possible. They don’t care where we
come up with the money.”
The existing jail facilities were built in
1955, and have not been physically altered
in any major fashion since that time. The
jail currently houses 69 prisoners, but un
less some expansion is made, that number
must be reduced to 35 to meet the jail
standards set bv the 64th Texas Legislature
in 1975.
The 272nd District Court was created
last year due to a dramatic increase in litiga
tion cases in the 85th District Court. Smith
was appointed as district judge on April 12,
when he found himself to be a judge with
out a courtroom.
“I’m going to vote for it, and I hope
everyone else does, too,” he said. “If it
passes. I’ve got a courtroom. I have an
office now, but 1 don t have a courtroom.
My courtroom’s wherever I am. It’s very
frustrating and inconvenient.’
Smith said should the bond issue be pas
sed, three additional floors would be added
above the first floor level on the northwest
corner of the courthouse block.
Holmgreen said a courtroom is not the
only additional space needed.
“We just do not have space available for
anything,” he said. “In the middle of last
year, the 272nd Court was created, and it
added a burden on us.
“Our intent is to corporate all of the new
space available, and use it wisely. We need
additional office space. We have even
closed some restrooms and made them into
small offices, so the situation is indeed cri
tical.”
All Brazos County eligible voters can
vote from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at all of the
county’s 31 polling places. For questions
Concerning polling locations, call 822-7373
(Brazos County Courthouse).
A blast from the past
No, he’s not wolf in shiek’s clothing. He’s a member of the Society of
Creative Anachronisms, which is a complicated way of saying this fellow is
living in the wrong time. To come even close to understanding all of this,
read our story on the SCA in today’s Focus.
Armed force
Lee Burcham, a sophomore majoring in petroleum
engineering, petforms a manuever on the rings.
The Texas A&M men’s gymnastics team is gaining
support and membership from student athletes. See
related story, pagtfll.
rhoto b> Floxannc Smith
Senate passes bill to add
lights to aerobics track
By MERIL EDWARDS
Campus Staff
In their first meeting of the semester
Wednesday night, The Texas A&M Uni
versity Student Senate passed bills for
lights on the aerobics track, longer postal
service hours and preregistration prefer
ence for seniors.
Brad Smith, vice president for student
services, presented a need for six addition
al lights on the aerobics track.
Smith said the track has eroded resulting
in hidden hazards to students who jog at
night.
“These new lights will make the dark
places at least visible,” Smith said. “We re
not trying to light up the whole place. We
want to make it safer so joggers won’t be
twisting their ankles and running into
trees.”
Smith said a jogger was raped in a dark
spot on the aerobics track before Christmas
last semester.
Smith asked the Senate to support the
additional lights and to recommend that
$3,250 from student service fee reserves be
used to cover the costs of half of these
lights. The bill passed.
Another bill Smith brought before the
Senate asked that A&M negotiate with the
Memorial Student Center postal service
for longer hours.
The MSC post office window is open
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays.
Smith’s bill pushed for an eight hour
work day and a few hours on Saturday.
Smith said he talked to the postmaster
whose main objection was that the self cen
ter postal service on the west wall of the
post office is always open and it cost
$20,000 to install.
“The postmaster doesn’t think extending
the hours will help,” Smith said. “He
thinks the personnel should be increased. ”
The bill passed with the recommenda
tion that other alternatives other than ex
tended hours be studied as possible solu
tions to long lines.
In other action John Calhoun, vice presi
dent for academic affairs, said A&M’s pre
sent system of preregistration fails to ack
nowledge that seniors and graduates need
to complete certain upper level classes for
graduation.
“Some departments force seniors to pre
register later in the week,” Calhoun said.
“This force them to go through add/drops
which places a burden on them.”
The bill passed giving seniors and gradu
ates (95 hours or more) an opportunity to
preregister on Monday in order to get the
classes they need for graduation.
Other business included the emergency
passing of the consumer guide funding bill.
A consumer guide listing services in the
community was printed by student senate
last semester. The bill said that money
would be drawn from program develop
ment and the external affairs committee.
The final item of business was the intro
duction of a night exam awareness bill.
Calhoun urged adoption of a notation in
the class schedule booklet to tell students
before registration if any night exams were
scheduled.
American farmer is hurt by
embargo, specialist says
The surplus grain caused by the U.S.
embargo will have little effect on the
overall U.S. economy, said Dr. Roland
Smith, a Texas A&M economic special
ist in grain marketing, but has already
hurt the American farmer. ,
Smith said in an interview that the
lower grain prices due to the embargo
will probably not reach the American
consumer. Bread, for example, has ab
out four cents of wheat in an 80 cent loaf,
Smith said. Much of the cost of bread,
he said, is in baking and shipping.
Lower meat prices could result due to
the embargo, he said, but the effect will
not be felt for another six to twelve
months. He said that it takes that long to
increase herd size to take advantage of
lower feedgrain prices. But, any price
decrease in grain products and the
goods they affect will probably be offset
by inflation, he said.
Smith said that the embargo has hurt
the American farmer already. The un
certainty that the embargo creates has
dropped prices on the grain market. A
bushel of corn was selling for $2.80 be
fore the embargo, he said, but immedi
ately after dropped to $2.65. Proposed
government action has helped the price
to rebound to $2.70 a bushel. But at the
current price of $2.70, Smith said, far
mers are losing $2,000 for every 1,000
acres of corn. He said many farmers will
have to make a change in their lifestyle
to accommodate the loss of income.
The embargo removes an entire mar
ket frorp the farmer, he said. Farmers
who have not been in the business long
and are in debt to a great extent will be
the hardest hit. Farmers who have paid
off a large portion of their mortgage can
cut back on their living expenses and
make it.
“Nobody is going to lose their farm as
a result of the embargo but some will
have to made drastic changes in the way
they live,” Smith said.
Smith said Mexico has announced
plans to buy more American grain. Chi
na and India may make some purchases
and take some of the surplus grain, he
said.
Government programs will help les
sen the embargo’s impact on the farmer,
he said, but will add to the uncertainty
of the market in the long run. The prop
osed programs of more foreign-aid ship
ments, increased government buying
and greater gasbhol production are all
designed to alleviate the surplus.
It would be better to have the govern
ment buy up all the Russian grain con
tracts and store it, he said. In that way,
he said, the grain will be isolated off tbe
market and prices will be supported.
“Nevertheless, the embargo does
hurt the Russians,” said Smith, “They
relied heavily on the United States for
imported wheat. ” Of the 35 million tons
of grain that the Soviet Union was pre
dicted to import, 25 million tons were to
have come from the United States. U.S.
grain makes up only 12 percent of Rus
sian needs, but much of that was to be
used for livestock production, he said.
The embargo will put more meat into
the Russian market in the short run, he
said. They will have to slaughter some
animals before they reach true market
able weight to decrease Russian herd
size.
Smith said that the United States will
have to wait and see how effective the
embargo is. “Although I don’t think the
embargo will bring the Russians to their
knees, it will make them stop and think
about the consequences of their ac
tions,” he said.
Despite the effect the embargo has on
the farming economy, the outlook for
grain and agriculture is optimistic, he
said. “We are still going to have a record
year as far as grain exports go,” he said,
“we just won’t have a fantastic year as
earlier thought.” Smith said that the
agricultural outlook for the 1980s is still
optimistic. It was just more optimistic,
he said, before the embargo.