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The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 131
24 Pages in 2 Sections
Thursday, April 3, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
Wichita Falls
flash flood
claims 3 lives
United Press International
A woman, her young daughter and
another child were swept away in flash
flooding in Wichita Falls and another
woman was injured in a tornado at rural
Whitt as a result of vicious thunderstorms
that raked northern Texas Wednesday.
In Wichita Falls, haunted by a year-old
memory of a screeching black tornado that
killed 46, sirens began screaming at midday
and residents watched the sky turn dark
and dump torrential rains.
A police spokesman said one frightened
woman with a 3-month-old daughter aban
doned her car when she heard the sirens
and took shelter in a ditch swelling with
rain. The two were swept away in the rising
water and their bodies were recovered
hours later about a mile away.
The spokesman said another woman with
a 17-month-old baby also took shelter in a
drainage ditch as the water rose and that
the baby was swept away. The woman was
safely pulled from the ditch.
The ditches were about 10 feet wide and
6 feet deep. No tornado ever hit.
Wichita County Sheriff s Deputy Vernon
Bennett said residents still were frightened
by the memory of a tornado that gnawed
through the city on April 10 last year, kill
ing 46.
“A lot of people still get pretty panicky,”
he said. “They’re going to be like that for
(Continued on page 16.)
U. S. promises
restraint to Iran
Ready for rain
They sat under a picnic table near the College Station Police Department.
More rain is expected in this area this afternoon, as a front moves in from
Northern Texas. See story at right. staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
f j ITjrhis trio of ducks was among the few creatures ready for the amount of
•■^1 a * n t ^ iat ^ aS ^ a ^ en ' n t ^ le Bryan-College Station area in the past two
g||x| ^ days.
; jl’he prime rate is up, and so is oil,
’||nd Saturday mail delivery is out
United Press International — Nigeria, America’s second largest
* ' gil ^(Inflation-weary American consumers foreign oil supplier, raised its crude oil
| •'Mably won’t have to worry about getting prices by 51 cents a barrel, but analysts said
iG!! eir bills on Saturdays — or any other kind the increase will cost U.S. motorists less
~ ’ than a penny a gallon at the pump.
mail — beginning next October.
The Senate Budget Committee voted
nesday to cut $600 million from the
al Service subsidy in fiscal 1981 to
yipKe certain Saturday mail delivery is eli-
m '|lnated. The House Budget Committee
| Gu'ted to eliminate the entire subsidy.
’Fiscal year 1981 does not begin until
l/|Ctober, which means Saturday mail deliv-
Fiivill continue until then. But there also
«Wthe possibility Americans will be paying
ufjore for stamps. Postal Director William
*|ialgcr said a price hike may be needed to
Ujjf|t an expected deficit.
^||n Wednesday, hard-pressed consum-
}.. -S found out:
Id-The prime rate on large bank loans
Cached a record 20 percent, double the
|^te charged in late 1978 and further
[jueezing both consumer and business
lowing. And economists expect the rate
go even higher.
— The American Automobile Associa
tion said it will cost the average driver
$3,176 this year to operate a 1980 model
car, including payments for insurance,
gasoline, upkeep and loans.
— Frederick Schultz of the Federal Re
serve Board said the board’s new credit
control program during the next few
months will hurt farmers and small
businesses the most, and some will prob
ably go bankrupt.
— In response to the general increase in
interest rates, the government raised the
maximum allowable rates for government-
insured home mortgages by 1 percent in
most categories.
— President Carter signed a proclama
tion implementing his March 14 announce
ment of a $4.62 per barrel fee on crude oil
imports used for gasoline. The 10-cent per
gallon increase the fee will produce will
show up at the gas pump May 15.
But there was some good news, however
meager.
A&P, the country’s third largest super
market chain, announced price cuts for 200
products to begin next week and Safeway,
the biggest food retailer, extended its price
freeze on 190 basic items for another 30
days.
Safeway said its price freeze begun in
March will continue for another 30 days on
up to 190 basic food items carrying the
chain’s Scotch Buy label.
A&P, which froze prices on 1,600 items
last month, said the freeze will expire as
scheduled Sunday but prices on 200 items
carrying both Ann Page and name-brand
labels then will be cut for an indefinite
period.
Other retailers that also announced
freezes last month said they were consider
ing extensions.
In Washington, the Federal Reserve
Board changed its anti-inflation credit rules
to protect consumers from suddenly having
to pay off existing credit card balances
under stiffer terms. The board said credit
card holders must be given 30 days notice
of any tightened terms for repayment im
posed by creditors.
In Sullivan, Mo., the Bank of Sullivan is
refusing to make mortgage loans.
“The mortgage rates are astronomical,”
said George Kemp, vice president of the
bank.
At 14 percent interest rates, Kemp said
monthly payments on a 25-year mortgage
for an $80,000 home would be $963.02.
This means an individual would be paying
$288,906 for an $80,000 home, or $208,906
in interest alone.
United Press International
The United States has promised restraint
“in our words and actions” on the Iranian
crisis in apparent response to the latest
demands from President Abolhassan Bani-
Sadr for the transfer of U.S. hostages to
government custody.
At the same time, Bani-Sadr indicated he
had received a private message from
Carter.
“We asked for Carter to say he would not
say anything and he has sent a note saying
he accepts that,” The New York Times and
Washington Post quoted him as saying in
Tehran.
The White House refused to discuss
Bani-Sadr’s claim, but some officials in
Washington admitted a “govemment-to-
government” message had been sent to
Tehran, the Washington Post said.
White House press Secretary Jody
Powell read the public statement Wednes
day: “We intend to continue to be res
trained in our words and actions so long as
... real progress is made in resolving the
crisis and bringing our people home.”
The hostages in the occupied U.S.
Embassy in Tehran entered their 152nd
day of captivity today as the diplomatic
efforts continued for their transfer from the
militants to Iranian government hands —
believed the first step toward their even
tual release.
Bani-Sadr, who faces power struggles in
Iran between the more moderate forces he
represents and hard-line Islamic fun
damentalists, early this week declared the
willingness of his government to take cus
tody of the captives until Iran’s Majlis (par
liament) meets, two or more months from
But Tuesday, he said he wanted more
assurances from the White House it would
refrain from “provocation or propaganda”
against Iran.
The White House statement appeared to
be a response to Bani-Sadr’s demand, but
Powell would only say “no nuance was in
tended.” He did not elaborate.
Carter Tuesday decided to hold off im
posing new economic sanctions against Iran
in reaction to Bani-Sadr’s statement on the
hostages.
A spokesman for the Moslem militants
holding the hostages said Wednesday they
would be turned over to the ruling Revolu
tionary Council when the government asks
for them. The day before, the militants had
indicated they might resist such an order.
“If the government asks us to turn over
the hostages, it will be done without any
problem,’’ the militant spokesman,
reached by telephone from London, told
UPI.
The main advantage to the government’s
taking custody of the hostages would he
government-to-government negotiations
could proceed without fear of being vetoed,
as in the past, by the militants. The hos
tages’ conditions also could be improved.
Irish statesman Sean MacBride met with
Bani-Sadr Tuesday and urged the United
States and Iran to begin negotiations im
mediately in a bid to speed up a solution.
He said he gave Bani-Sadr a detailed
plan for a Nuremberg-style international
tribunal to try Shah Mohammed Reza
Pahlavi in absentia for his alleged crimes in
return for freeing the hostages.
11 of Wild Bill’s
iris wear mink
United Press International
filCHMOND, Va. — “Wild Bill” Kin-
vater is a retired milkman, but all the
"omen in his family wear mink. How does
do it? By spending the bitterest mom-
gj^igs of each winter treading through Virgi-
is marshy bottomlands.
(indervater, 67, has been a professional
Strapper for five decades. He is as much
lase reading animal tracks on a trail as he
jiscussing the reproductive organs of ot
hers. And he speaks with authority.
*It’s a cold job, trapping is,” he said,
p. Jding aloft a boot with a long, razor-like
jwin it from the teeth of a female gray fox.
®M'he fox missed his toes by a hair’s
l^readth before Kindervater “dispatched”
the term he prefers for killing the
U nimals caught in his traps.
j|i He has no patience for those who ques-
iSWon the humaneness of his trade.
JjBThc main thing they’re after is getting
BOney out of little old ladies,” he said,
ey talk about clubbing baby seals but
«e same people don’t turn down a steak
restaurant. How do you think cows are
led in a stockyard? Somebody hits them
the head with a sledgehammer.”
e holds the view trapping is one of the
t ways to check disease brought on by
rpopulation in fur-bearing animals, an
g§l •^['pinion supported by state officials.
We’re just allowing trappers to harvest
surplus every year,” said Jack Rayburn,
H* KiBdlife chief of the Virginia Game and In-
mji IjBd Fisheries Commission. “If we didn’t,
W* thing you know, the animals would
m
be eating you out of house and home. Ask
any farmer about that. ”
Fur trapping is big business across the
nation, Virginia provides a relatively small
share of the wholesale market — $2.1 mil
lion in 1976-77, for example. Louisiana
leads the Southern states with about $20
million annually in wholesale revenues,
with many times more than that being
made in the fur-rich Pacific Northwest.
The fur industry goes on because the
demand stays high and because trapping
gets in the blood of those like Kindervater,
who still remembers the first mink he trap
ped when he was 12.
How does he know where to set his
traps?
“Let’s see,” Kindervater said. “Skunks
are famous for digging little holes in the
ground to catch insects and the like. So you
learn to recognize the holes. Now, they’re
easy to catch. The trouble comes after you
catch them.
“When you’re out for fox, you look for
tracks in sandy areas. Foxes love to walk on
sand. But he’s a hard boy to catch — you
have to boil your trap and handle it with
gloves to lose the human scent.
As for beaver and muskrat, Kindervater
said a trapper merely looks near water for
damage to trees and crops.
“All of them were put here for man’s
use,” he said. “You just can’t stockpile wild
life. If you hold him in a trap for a few hours
before you dispatch him, that’s better than
letting him take weeks to die of a disease. ”
Bergland sees
woes for farms
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Agriculture Sec
retary Bob Bergland predicts high in
terest rates and tight credit will force
some farmers out of business.
During a radio hookup with several
farm broadcasters throughout the Mid
west Wednesday, Bergland said those
with the larges^ farms will face the most
difficulties.
“I suspect they’ll be some people
forced to sell because they can’t get cre
dit,” he said.
And others will be forced out because
of poor judgment, he added.
“Breaking the back of inflation is not
an easy proposition,” Bergland said. But
if inflation had been permitted to con
tinue unchecked, “in time that would
bring the country down in ashes.”
He said most farmers will be able to
secure commercial loans at higher in
terest rates or get Farmers Home Admi
nistration economic emergency credit
loans provided by a newly signed law.
In response to questions about rapid
ly falling grain prices, Bergland pre
dicted, “My judgment is those prices
will strengthen with time.”
Bergland said the situation would
have been more promising if more far
mers had participated in last year’s farm
program by cutting back production.
Those who participated in the farm
program and are eligible for price Sup
ports produced just 20 percent of the
corn crop.
“If we’d had 80 percent set aside last
year we wouldn’t be in this mesS,” he
said.
Bergland said high interest rates also
have caused grain prices to fall because
speculators have been driveri out of
commodity markets and grain users are
not buying inventories. f
Smith, Van Winkle set
for runoff next Tuesday
Rip Van Winkle and Brad Smith will be
in the runoff election for student body pres
ident April 8. Van Winkle received 2,676
vot^s and Smith got 2,092 votes.
ASSIST -
A total of 7,14l students voted.
Kathleen Miller was elected Student
Government vice president for academic
affairs, and David Collins got vice presi
dent for external affairs.
The new vice president for finance is
Tracy Cox. Vice president for rules and
regulations will be Julie Spinn and next
year’s vice president for student services is
Eric Langford.
Seniors Mark Outlaw, Ed Franza and
Dan Quinn will be yell leaders next year, as
will juniors Chris Walker and Mike
Thatcher.
will be Sherrie Balcar and vice president
will be Gordon Frutiger. Michele Row
land was elected RHA secretary.
More election results on page 4.
m
Hr
%
For the Class of’83, Mike Lawshe will be
president and Mike Plank and Dale Whit
taker will be in the runoff elections for vice
president.
Sherry Ackles and Dianna Horadam will
run off for Class of’83 secretary-treasurer.
Social secretary will be Kathy Barth
olomew.
Bubba Correa and Gary Branch will vie
for Class of’82 president in the runoff elec
tions. The new vice president is James
Bond and secretary-treasurer is David
Moyer. Susan Pavlosky was voted social
secretary.
The Class of’81 elected Jess Mason pres
ident, Kathy Rivera vice president, Patti
Heaton secretary-treasurer, Nancy Kelly
social secretary and Sean Rudolph histo-
’
Brad Smith, vice president for student
services, came in second for student
body president with 2,092 votes.
Next year’s Off-Campus Aggies presi
dent is Paula Sorrels and vice president is
Robyn Weber. Marty Blaise will be secret
ary and Laura Anthony will be treasurer.
President of Residence Hall Association
Senate speaker Rip Van Winkle led all
candidates with 2,676 votes. His run
off with Smith is scheduled for next
Tuesday.
I: