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The Battalion
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Vol. 73 No. 111
22 Pages in 2 Sections
Thursday, February 28, 1980
College Station, Texas
^Administration may ask
to pass SALT
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United Press International
WASHINGTON — Despite the intense
] Ifeeling in Congress about the Soviet inva-
ilGli on of Afghanistan, the administration is
pajparing a new campaign to push ratifica
tion of a SALT II agreement this year, Un-
d Press International has learned.
Sources, who asked not be identified,
said the chief compelling reason for renew
ing the campaign for SALT ratification in
1980 is that chances for Senate approval
iukl be close to zero next year, after a
Congress is installed.
Jnder Senate rules, the treaty would
iye to be submitted again for committee
earings once a new Senate is sworn in in
1981 Several key senators have indicated
I (i they will insist on some amendments to the
| Complex treaty, in light of the delay in rati-
■acation.
If the amendments are tacked on to the
treaty, it would reopen the whole negotia-
Oion process and, the sources said, “The
^Soviets have their own wish list of changes
^thev would like to see.”
P It is believed the Soviets, now that they
| s tiave seen the United States is coupling the
| [SALT treaty with new increases in defense
fending, have become indifferent about
!|Hagreement they once supported with
I
■ ^passion.
I She Soviet attitude presumably means
| raey would not easily accept any changes in
^^■laboriously negotiated treaty package.
ipmhc Senate Foreign Relations Commit-
| Tee. which has oversight over the treaty,
i
|5as approved the treaty by a narrow vote,
r3ut President Carter had requested the
floor vote be held up, as a means of making
the Soviets pay a price for their invasion of
Afghanistan.
One other reason cited by the sources for
reviving the treaty is a time of cold war
makes an arms limitation agreement even
more valuable and an increasing number of
senators who have been polled by the ex
ecutive branch have agreed with this view.
Although both Soviet and American offi
cials have said their countries will act as
though the signed treaty already was rati
fied, that informal agreement is not ex
pected by the Americans to hold when it
comes time for the Soviets to actually begin
dismantling some of their missiles in 1981.
The United States, which has a lower
number of total missiles, would not be re
quired to dismantle any weapons because
of the treaty.
The sources said the administration is
prepared to move ahead on the SALT trea
ty, even if the Soviet troops remain in
Afghanistan, if several other conditions are
met:
— The American hostages would have to
be freed in Iran, thus removing a major
distraction to Senate consideration of any
international agreement.
— Sen. Edward Kennedy would have to
be overwhelmed by President Carter in the
primary election process, thus freeing the
president of the need to be actively cam
paigning for re-nomination. The president
could use ratification of SALT as one of his
campaign points against a Republican
opponent in the general election.
^ Iran hostages
. A. IV- mm - • •
U.N. commission optimistic, but urging patience
IA
re
United Press International
The United Nations commission working
rthe release of the U.S. hostages in Iran
las responded to word the captives may not
| be released until at least May by saying
• *(’^patience j s needed.”
• In Washington, Secretary of State Cyrus
1 WPanee shrugged off the latest pronounee-
i {: pent from Tehran.
llfllhe apparent setback in the release of
| ^ the hostages — now in their 117th day of
I | captivity in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran —
„ came Wednesday from Mohammad Be-
jeshti, chief justice of Iran’s supreme court
|nd secretary of the Revolutionary
ouncil.
He told a news conference in Tehran the
yet to be elected Parliament would not con-
■ if yene for six weeks and then would take
! /j||b)other four weeks to discuss releasing the
l-iiSO Americans, reports reaching London
But a spokesman for the U.N. commis
sion sent to Iran said panel members might
meet soon with the hostages, and the mood
at the U.N. headquarters in New York re
mained optimistic. “Patience is needed,”
he said.
In Washington, Vance called Beheshti’s
comments hardline “Delphic statements,”
and said he saw the U.N. commission on
Iran as “a step forward” in the search for
release of the hostages.
“It is difficult to say what is being said,
especially since they (statements) are
sometimes retracted,” Vance said.
He said it was clear when the U.N. panel
was formed one of the terms was the release
of the hostages.
U.S. officials said it would be “a matter of
grave concern” if Iran waited until May to
take up the fate of the American captives.
U.N. spokesman Rudolf Stajduhar said,
“The secretary general (Kurt Waldheim)
Check
have
cashers
hopes the commission will see the hostages
soon, if not very soon. ”
But, he said, “The situation is compli
cated; not all problems have been solved. ”
The commission members spent their
second day meeting dozens of Iranians who
said they were victims of the shah’s torture.
They also met with Foreign Minister
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh and visited Zehra
Cemetery where many of the “heroes” of
the Islamic revolution that deposed the
shah are buried.
The commission expects to stay in
Tehran investigating the alleged crimes of
the shah for two weeks or more, and on
Wednesday a spokesman denied news re
ports the commission would leave next
Monday.
“The (U.N. commission) spokesman said
the members of the commission are now
looking for a firm basis for the continuation
of their work, ” Tehran Radio reported in a
broadcast monitored by the BBC in Lon
don. “Apparently, some members of the
commission believe this will necessitate a
meeting with the hostages.”
Tehran Radio said thousands of workers
marched to the “U.S. espionage den, the
embassy, shouting, “We workers follow the
imam. We are ready to revolt against impe
rialism. The criminal shah will be punished
here.”
The militants holding the Americans
hostage in Tehran held a news conference
Wednesday and presented documents they
said proved the CIA had interfered in the
internal affairs of Iran, the Soviet news
agency Tass reported from Tehran.
Some of the documents were partially
burned, and the militants said members of
the U.S. Embassy had tried to destroy
them before the takeover last Nov. 4.
pet peeves
By DEBBIE NELSON
Campus Staff
A little over $6 million passed through
their hands last year. Most Aggies know
them, at least Aggies who cash checks.
“They” are the people behind the check
cashing window at the MSC.
As Jean Sawyer and Dottie Reed, em
ployed by the service five days a week ex
plained, check cashers have a couple pet
peeves. “Do you know how many times a
day we answer. Do you know what day this
is? ” Sawyer asked.
A daily calendar is displayed prominent
ly in the cashier’s window, right in front of
the noses of Aggies trying to fill out checks.
The second most frequent question is
from students in quest of change. Sawyer
explained there is no change in their cash
drawers. Checks can only be written for
MM I
*
*
ormer editor
irops charges
By CAROL HANCOCK
Campus Staff
Former Battalion sports editor Tony
allucci decided Wednesday not to in
itiate his complaint of incompetency
gainst editor Roy Bragg.
In a letter to Student Publications
oard chairman Bob Rogers, Gallucci
said bringing charges against Bragg
ould serve the interest of no one and
e was therefore dropping the matter.
Rogers said, in view of the letter, he
onsiders the matter closed.
Gallucci’s plan to place charges came
after the board refused Tuesday night to
jhear his appeal asking for reinstatement
f his sports editor job.
Five of the six board members pre-
ent voted that the board did not have
|| I |jurisdiction to hear Gallucci’s case. Ron-
nie Kapavik, student body president,
| abstained. The board’s by-laws provide
I /»| ■or the appointment of the editor, but he
* or she then has complete editorial au-
. Jpority, including personnel decisions.
: M l W Gallucci had asked for board action
ter he was fired by Bragg on Feb. 13
for what Bragg described as not follow
ing orders.
Gallucci claimed his job was taken
way unfairly and he felt he had no other
ecourse. After the board’s Tuesday ac
tion Gallucci had asked to be heard
again. He said he planned to respond to
Bragg’s accusations of not following Bat-
11 Jtalion policy at the next board meeting.
After the board refused to hear Gal-
pi^lucci, Rogers, head of the Department
illlBof Communications, explained to him
the board could only consider Bragg’s
ompetency for the job. Even if Bragg
ere to be fired by the board, Rogers
;aid, whether Gallucci would get his job
ack would be up to the new editor
appointed.
Federal fraud, abuse and waste
costing country billions in taxes
increments of $5, up to $25.
Arnold said for security reasons she
could not reveal how much money passed
through the window each day. So far this
year more checks for greater amounts of
money have been handled than last year,
with its $6 million end-of-year total. Arnold
attributed this increase to inflation.
The window is busy most of the time.
Hours are 8:30 a. m. -10:00 p. m., seven days
a week, but supervisor Virginia Arnold said
workers are at the window earlier many
days. Busiest days are Fridays, although
Thursdays are also busy. Sawyer said, if
many students are going out of town for the
weekend and need extra cash.
Cashiers use a bad check list compiled by
theTAMU Fiscal Office, Arnold explained.
Depending on how fast their banks get
them off the list, Reed said, most students
don’t stay on the bad check list for long.
Arnold said the main desk has 13 student
employees who help at both the check
cashing service and at the guest room desk.
A total of 20 people work at the two desks.
Reed and Sawyer, at least, seem to enjoy
what they are doing.
“Thank you, sir. Have a good day!” They
sound like they mean it.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The General
Accounting Office told Congress Wednes
day there is widespread fraud, abuse, and
waste totaling billions of dollars throughout
the government — from bribery to theft —
and not enough is being done to curb it.
Elmer Staats, director of the congres
sional auditing agency, told the Senate
Appropriations Committee his agency
found more than 130,000 cases of alleged
fraud and other illegal activities over a 2V2-
year period.
“Based on information obtained by us to
date, it is clear that a wide variety of federal
programs and activities are affected,”
Staats said, adding that fraud has been
found in areas such as federal payrolls, loan
guarantees, education benefits, and use of
government equipment.
The Justice Department has estimated
that fraud alone is costing taxpayers any
where from $2.5 billion to $25 billion a
year.
Staats told the panel that Congress
“ought to (take steps to) prevent it from
happening in the first place rather than
chasing it after it happened.”
The committee also heard from John
White, deputy director of the Office of
Management and Budget, who said Presi
dent Carter has undertaken a ‘gov
ernmentwide program” to combat fraud
and abuse.
“We are confronted,” White said, “with
growing public dissatisfaction and confu
sion with the size, performance, and, in
some cases, the basic role of government —
the dissatisfaction is only compounded by
indications of fraud and waste.”
Staats said the more than 7,500 fraud
cases reported to GAO over a nationwide
fraud “hotline” — under which private
citizens and government employees can tip
the government to illegal activities — have
come from every state in the nation.
He said California had the “highest rate
of substantive allegations, 582, while
Washington, D.C. had the second highest,
350, followed by Virginia with 265, New
York, 247, and Texas with 245.
Proposed insurance rules
reduce some premiums
United Press International
AUSTIN — New rules that would permit
life insurance companies to reduce pre
miums on some policies if the companies
make higher-than-anticipated profits be
cause of inflation or high interest rates have
been proposed by the State Board of Insur
ance.
The board is expected to act formally on
the proposed new rules March 27.
The proposed “indeterminate premium”
whole life insurance policies would allow
companies to pass on to consumers some of
the benefits the company receives from the
inflationary economy, board spokesmen
said.
Currently, ordinary whole life insurance
offers consumers a premium which is
guaranteed for the life of the policy. Some
policies include provisions for increasing
premiums, but not for reducing them.
Under the proposed new premium
structure, companies could state a policy
with a low premium and increase or de
crease it according to the pressures of the
economy. The premium could not exceed a
maximum set in the policy, however.
Insurance Board Chairman Bill Daves
praised the proposed new rules.
“The proposed rules set out strict adver
tising and solicitation standards for market
ing these policies. In this way the consumer
will clearly understand what he or she is
purchasing,” he said.
Daves said a major reason the board
approved the indeterminate premium poli
cies was that interest rates on money have
become more important in determining
premiums than have mortality rates.
“While companies cannot guarantee low
premiums at today’s inflation and interest
levels, the policies offered when these
rules go into effect will allow flexibility in
determining premiums and keep them
from being unnecessarily high,” Daves
said.
The tips dealt with virtually every gov
ernment agency, he added, with the De
partment of Health, Education and Wel
fare having 1,000 — the highest number of
allegations — and the Defense Depart
ment second with 858.
Staats said, “The allegations being re
ported cover a wide range of abuses —
theft, private use of government property,
working-hour abuses, improper financial
transactions, improper expenditures of
grant funds, cheating on benefit eligibility,
and payment of bribes or kickbacks. ”
He said that as of January 15 the GAO
had referred over 3,500 of the cases to in
spectors general in the respective depart
ments and agencies for further investiga
tion.
However, he said a large proportion of
cases referred to the Justice Department
for action were turned down for prosecu
tion, often for lack of evidence or because of
“insignificant dollar loss.”
In another area, Staats said the GAO has
been conducting a “vulnerability assess
ment” to measure the “susceptibility of
agencies and their programs to fraud and
abuse.”
He said that based on this assessment,
“we believe that all of the agencies visited
(in the survey) are vulnerable to fraud and
abuse,” largely because of “inadequate
controls over their operations.”
Staats said that as a result, “there is insuf
ficient assurance that federal funds spent at
these locations are spent for the purposes
intended, adding that his investigators
“found federal funds and equipment that
had been abused and misused at most loca
tions visited.”
Shoe thief
is no loafer
United Press International
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A
thief with an apparent shoe fetish has
attacked six University of Virginia coeds
and stolen their shoes, say police.
“He’s a strange dude,” said Police Lt.
James Haden. “He only takes clogs.
He’s got a fetish for clogs for some
reason.”
Late Wednesday, Lt. E.T. Cason said
police had interviewed a suspect but
had made no arrests.
“For that second, I was absolutely
terrified,” said a senior who was attack
ed and robbed of her shoes Jan. 12 near
the university hospital. “I didn’t know
why this man was bothering me,” she
said. “I was absolutely terrified and no
one has the right to do that.”
Police said the women were attacked
from behind by a young man wearing
jogging suit who knocked them down or
grabbed them by the legs. The man took
only the victims’ shoes, police said.
In one case on the Virginia campus,
three students were attacked as they
walked together.
Two women lost their clogs as the
third struck at the assailant with a bag
containing an order of hot chili.
Police, who said they consider the
crimes robbery by force, also have sear
ched a house.
“But we didn’t find any clogs under
his bed,” a detective said.