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The Batiaijon
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Vol. 73 No. 117
8 Pages
Friday, March 7, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
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3 B United Press International
Two major supermarket chains, Safeway
tores Inc., and A&P, and a strong East
j aloast operator. Giant Food Inc., provided
f measure of good news today for inflation-
trapped shoppers by being the first to
gree to a voluntary price freeze on many of
Q ieir products.
Safeway, operator of 2,100 supermarkets
i the Mid-Atlantic states and west of the
3 1ississippi, announced a 30-day freeze,
ffective immediately, on all goods it sells
nder its own “Scotch Buy label.
C A& P also placed a 30-day freeze on all its
rivate-label Ann Page products and
meric products — hundreds of food and
ousehold items — sold in company out-
S ;tsj? primarily located east of the Missis-
ippi.
Giant, which has 120 stores in the Dis-
0 rielof Columbia, Maryland and Virginia,
Sigit will announce Sunday a ceiling at
resent levels on 300 items it sells under its
3 rand name plus 100 generic prescription
rugs. Giant’s ceiling will last 21 weeks,
brough Aug. 2.
The companies were the first three to
respond to a letter sent Wednesday to 50
food chains by Esther Peterson, President
Carter’s consumer affairs adviser, urging
them to launch a voluntary program of
price ceilings.
“The president has asked me to deter
mine what more we can do to keep the cost
of food from rising so rapidly,’’ Peterson
wrote. “As you know, he and I both firmly
believe that mandatory price controls
would be unproductive.
“My own belief is that a voluntary price
ceiling on some commonly purchased food
products would help ease the inflation
pressures that are causing such hardships
for all consumers.
“I have always believed the voluntary
way is the best way,’’ her letter said. “Ex
cessive government regulation can cause
costly disruptions in our economy.
“It is far better for the business commun
ity to recognize its responsibilities and, on
its own initiative, help find a solution to this
problem.”
Food prices rose 10 percent nationwide
during 1979, and were a major part of the
overall 13 percent inflation rate.
Judge defends
Jcourt system
l
Staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
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By CAROL HANCOCK
Campus Staff
Fallacies in the Texas judicial system
Jippear to be exaggerated, an associate jus
tice of the Supreme Court of Texas said on
) he Texas A&M University campus
Thursday.
, f Charles Barrow, a three-year member of
he court, told a noon gathering of close to
3 100 people in A&M’s Rudder Tower that in
he Texas court, there’s no such thing as
:liques and justices rarely group together
tn votes.
There is often very forceful debate over
/:ases in the court, Barrow said. It’s not rare
ibr a case to end in a 4-5 vote, he said.
^ Leaks among justices and briefing attor-
leys are exaggerations of rare incidencies,
Aralsaid. “We’ve never had a leak in our
I Uljurt. You just couldn’t have it, our system
"'wouldn't work,’ Barrow said.
^ He said he has never been offered or
^threatened to sway a case and has never
^fcserved it as common practice in other
^parts of the system.
I Hi Barrow dispelled two myths about the
judicial system; you can’t keep a case tied
^Up on appeals forever and appellate courts
Me not exclusive tools for the rich.
The Texas system is a bifurcated one, he
^^said, meaning the appellate courts are di-
O vidcd into three separate courts: the Court
jjf Civil Appeals, the Court of Criminal
Appeals and the Supreme Court. By having
*>3 bifurcated system, the flow of appeals is
njfaster and the courts are less clogged, Bar-
pfrow said.
If a justice has let a case gather dust, he
is legally required to explain the hold-up
he said. “You can’t have a slow system and
have it called justice. ”
Costs for filing an appeal with either the
Civil Appeals Court or the Supreme Court
are minimal, Barrow said. It costs $25 to file
with the Civil Appeals Court and $15 to file
with the Supreme Court.
The system is not without its problems,
Barrow said. The problem of congestion is a
major concern of the justices, he said. Bar-
row did not have an immediate solution to
the problem but said an effort should be
made to limit the number of briefing
attorneys.
Another problem Barrow mentioned is
the failure of the trial court system to follow
society’s move from rural to urban domi
nance. Something needs to be done to put
the judge where the business is, he said.
“We need some form of administration, not
to flirt with a judges independence, but to
quickly put the judges where the cases
are.”
Barrow said there is a fallacy in the parti
san election system. By voting down the
party ticket, electors are seldom aware of
who they are putting into office.
The partisan system is better, however,
than the federal system of judges being
appointed for life terms, he said. A non
partisan system would be even better,
though.
Barrow’s speech was sponsored by MSC
Political Forum.
First serves
Freshman Ernest Duncan tries to serve a tennis ball to his opponent
during a physical education class on the Texas A&M University courts.
The University’s courts, and classrooms, will be deserted next week as
students leave for spring break beginning today.
Salon 80
A&M students make their best showing
By BRIAN BLALOCK
Campus Reporter
Salon 80, a statewide photography con
test sponsored by the Memorial Student
Center Camera Committee, produced the
best overall showing by Texas A&M stu
dents ever.
Contestants from Texas A&M placed
second among the six schools represented
in the competition with 39 points. Sam
Houston State University was first with 58
points.
The six schools represented in the March
contest were Odessa College, Sam Hous
ton State University, East Texas State Uni
versity, North Texas State University, the
University of Texas and Texas A&M Uni
versity.
The contest, which was started in 1958
and has only missed two years since then,
was open to any university student, staff or
faculty member in the state. Contestants
competed in 11 categories and two divi
sions, color and black and white.
Points were awarded in the contest as
follow: Best of Show, 5 points; first place, 3
points; second place, 2 points; third place,
1 point and honorable mention, 0 points.
Texas A&M students who placed in the
contest were: in the category of architec
ture, Jack Holm had a second place in the
black and white division and a honorable
mention in the color, Rick Denney took
third place in the color competition. In the
experimental category Bob Brooks re
ceived a honorable mention.
In the photojournalism category, Lee
Roy Leschper Jr. took first place in the
black and white division and Jack Holm
won first in the color division. Diana Sul-
tenfuss won first place in both divisions of
the candid portraiture category.
John Trant finished third in the black and
white division, Elliot Atlas received an
honorable mention. Jack Holm was third in
the color division and Bob Brooks got a
honorable mention.
Jack Holm won first place in the color
competition of the casual portraiture categ
ory. In the black and white division, John
Trant was second and Ed Martinez finished
third.
Lloyd Stot received a honorable mention
in the formal category while Rick Denney
won first in the black and white division of
the sports category, Rick Denny received a
honorable mention. Paul Childress got a
honorable mention in the color competi
tion.
In the still life category. Hank Weghorst
was second, Mark Pearcy received a honor
able mention. Paul Childress won the color
division and Stan Fikes was third.
Texas A&M students did not place in
either division of the commerical category
and none placed in the black and white
divisions of the nature and landscape cate
gories.
However, in the color divisions of the
nature and landscape categories, Texas
A&M students did quite well.
David Oldham won first place in the na
ture category, Marc Chaloupica was third;
Rick Denny, David Wolpo and Robert
Werner got honorable mentions.
Ford is sounding
'First deadly nuke slip! Jil <e a candidate
halt the industry
United Press International
LAKE CHARLES, La. — Although
if- no one has died yet in a nuclear power
| accident, the first such fatality could se-
ftiously affect the future of the industry,
a nuclear engineer for Gulf States Utili
ties says.
Dr. Lynn Draper, vice president and
Technical assistant to the chairman of the
■board of GSU, said the public is so fear
ful of the potential hazards of nuclear
| power that even one death could set the
industry back several years.
Is the nuclear power industry pre-
l| pared for its first death, which the law of
averages would indicate must come
sooner or later?
“I think the answer is probably no,”
Draper said. “It’s such a dreadful pros
pect. We have to be open and forthright
with the public and tell them what we’re
doing is trading risks, we re trading coal
mining accidents, we re trading gas rup
tures — we re trading all these things
for the low probability of a nuclear acci
dent.
Now, if we had an accident at a nuc-
Bear power plant that claimed a number
oflives — say 10 or 15 — at this point I
fhave a feeling nuclear power plants
■would not continue to be built. We
might continue to operate the ones we
"have, but I don’t think we would get
additional ones.”
Draper, 37, has the background to
make such a bleak prediction. As a
member of the two-man “Truth Squad,”
he retraced the footsteps of anti-nuclear
| activists Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden,
trying to offer a second side to the con-
I troversial issue.
It was like trying to draw an audience
for an amateur band concert the night
after The Beatles left town.
But Draper, who was part of an indus
try group that investigated the country’s
worst nuclear accident last year at Three
Mile Island, said public anxieties may
be calmed if nuclear power continues its
death-free track record.
“If that improbable accident were to
occur after we had been operating
plants for 50 years or some reasonable
time, then people would see that most
of the time nuclear plants are safe,”
Draper said. “I’m hoping that the argu
ment and the public understanding is
becoming more sophisticated.
“We cannot have electricity without
some risks. Nuclear power is one of the
risks we take. ”
Draper said an average of between
100 and 175 coal miners die each year
from accidents and disease. He called
the radioactive fallout at Three Mile Is
land, while the worst on record, not
enough to harm the population around
the plant substantially.
Draper said at sea level, a person is
subjected to about 150 millirems of
radiation every year — about 100 com
ing from cosmic rays and the remainder
from medical X-rays, minerals in the
soil, building materials, food, TV sets
and weapons fallout. He said the level of
radiation rises to 175 millirems in the
mile-high atmosphere of Denver.
Measurements at the crippled Three
Mile Island plant showed the average
person living 50 miles away from the
facility received 1.5 additional mil
lirems, Draper said. Had a person stood
next to the plant fence throughout the
crisis, he would have been subjected to
an extra 85 millirems, he said.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Gerald Ford is
sounding more like a candidate every day
and a group of prominent Republicans have
formed a committee to convince him to get
involved in the primary campaigns.
Meanwhile, two columnists reported to
day Ford has decided to run, barring the
unexpected.
Columnists Rowland Evan and Robert
Novak, in a copyrighted column that did
not quote Ford directly saying he would get
in the race, said Ford told them he would
reveal his plans with a March 20 announc-
ment geared to the primary filing deadlines
of Michigan and Ohio, two states he consid
ers crucial to his candidacy.
In the Evan-Novak interview, Ford said
if support he is seeking from GOP leaders
fails to develop and he decides then not to
run, “At least I would then have made it
clear I was willing to make the effort if
called upon and I could not be blamed if our
party gets beaten in November.”
A group headed by former Air Force
Secretary Thomas C. Reed Thursday
formed a draft-Ford committee, calling
him “uniquely qualified by his experience
... to lead the nation at this critical time.”
Ford was to meet late today with John
Sears, who was fired last month as cam
paign manager for Ronald Reagan, the for
mer California governor Ford says cannot
beat a Democrat in the general election.
Families sue company
for death of two boys
United Press International
BROWNSVILLE — The families of two
16-year-old boys who burned to death in a
1965 Mustang are seeking $60 million from
the Ford Motor Co., already the defendant
in a massive lawsuit involving the Pinto
automobile.
U.S. Magistrate William Mallet will
preside at today’s pre-trial hearing on the
suit, which claims the popular car con
tained nine specific design defects that
caused its gasoline tank to explode after it
was struck from behind.
In addition, the family of the man driving
the automobile which struck the Mustang,
and who also later died of burns, has indi
cated it wants to join its $36.8 million claim
against Ford with the other suit.
Hector Daniel Arizmendi and Carlos
Garcia were killed March 12, 1978, on
Farm Road 2061 in neighboring Hidalgo
County. The driver of the Mustang, Robert
Gene Schach, had stopped and gotten out
to help two other cars.
While the pair remained inside the Mus
tang, the suit said, another automobile
driven by David Lyssy slammed into its
rear, causing the gasoline tank to burst into
flames and burning the trapped youths.
The suit alleges the explosion of the fuel
tank and resulting deaths were “a direct
and proximate result of a series of design
defects” in the Mustang which made the
automobile “unreasonably dangerous to a
user or consumer.”
The families’ attorney said pre-trial ac
tions probably will be lengthy because de
positions will have to be taken from Ford
officials at the company’s Dearborn, Mich.,
headquarters.
Boston University-
a hotbed of unrest
United Press International
BOSTON — During a decade of calm
on the American college campus, Bos
ton University has stood out as a hotbed
of unrest.
BU, poor cousin of such wealthy edu
cational giants as Harvard and the Mas
sachusetts Institute of Technology, at
the same time has pulled itself out of the
red. It is in the black despite a paucity of
endowments.
At the helm of this transformation is
John Silber, 53, a tough-talking, philo
sophy-quoting Texan.
In a word, Silber walks on hot coals.
He has defied faculty union organizers,
battled striking workers, denounced
angry students, accused the Civil Liber
ties Union of Massachusetts of McCar-
thyism, and generally told off those who
disagreed with him.
Silber’s critics — students, faculty
and former BU board members among
Boston’s business and social elite — said
in interviews he is capricious, arrogant,
insulting, intimidating, offensive, au
thoritarian, totalitarian, unfair, and vin
dictive.
On the plus side Silber’s supporters
say he was the right man at the right
time to carry out the difficult job of put
ting a faltering university back on its
feet.
Silber acknowledges he may be the
most hated man on campus. He some
times seems to relish the idea.
“It may be that I’m the most hated
man on campus because, how many
people are hated?” Silber asked. “But
they didn’t ask who’s the most re
spected, or most loved.
“I’ve heard people who have de
nounced me publicly say privately, ‘Sil
ber, we re going to build you a statue, as
soon as you leave, or at least as soon as
you die, ” he said, and he smiled for the
first and only time during a one-hour
interview.
Silber has variously referred to his
academic colleagues and professorial
underlings as fools, coffeehouse union
ists, lemmings and Judas goats; and has
labeled BU students as shortpants Com
munists trying to overthrow society.
Silber, educated as a philosopher,
was bom in San Antonio, Texas. He
came to BU from the University of Texas
in Irvine where he was Dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences.
“One of the things you learn from
reading Sophocles ... is it’s amazing the
way one character attributes his own
worst qualities to the person that he’s
decided is his opponent,” Silber said in
an interview.
Silber has amazing staying power.
When he came to BU in 1971 he told the
board of trustees to review his perform
ance after five years and reevaluate its
decision to keep him on as president of
the 22,000-student university. In 1976,
the board undertook its review and a
committee determined Silber was, at
best, overextended. The Faculty Senate
conducted a review of its own and voted
by more than 3-1 to request his dismis
sal by the board.
Since then Silber has consolidated
and strengthened his power on the
board. Now his critics say the board is
no better than a puppet reacting to the
tugs of strings pulled by Silber.
Undaunted, the renamed Faculty
Assembly recently approved a renewed
motion for Silber’s dismissal by more
than 2-1. Instead of firing him, the
board is soon likely to give him an over
whelming vote of confidence and en
courage his contractual prosecution of
five faculty members for participating in
a sympathy strike by BU clerical work
ers last Sentember.
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