*4
The Battau
Vol. 73 No. 140
16 Pages
Wednesday, April 16, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
Millions mail
|ax returns
It last minute
H United Press International
'^Millions of Americans waited until the
Hninute to mail their federal income tax
sturns, just in time for the “Apr 15” post-
but President Carter set a good ex-
jft|le by filing his return early — and
ning a more than $16,000 refund.
Internal Revenue Service said that
ol April 4 only about 60 million of the
Inated 93 million American taxpayers
J filed returns. Most received refunds
faging $590.53.
average American household paid
Je than $6,100 in federal taxes for 1979.
resident Carter paid nearly $65,000 in
Hnne taxes and claimed a $16,703.50 re-
und
I As April 15 drew toward midnight, mil-
lls of Americans made the mad dash to
post office to get their returns post
marked in time.
■Every year they’re out there like this,”
aid a superintendent at the post office at
Srancl Central in New York City. “People
idf scared. I don’t see why. They’re still
'oing to get their money back if it’s
oaarked the 16th.
A local resident strains to put her last-minute tax
return into a mailbox outside of the College Station
post office. Many persons throughout the nation
chose to tempt fate by waiting until just before Tues
day’s midnight deadline to mail their returns.
Photo by Cathy Kirkham
reveals tax return, phi i° s opher
Sartre dead
at age 74
Expects others to do same
United Press International
ike most American wage earners, the
presidential candidates have filed their in-
xime tax returns. So far, only the content of
President Carter’s is known — and that is
the core of today’s political argument.
[; tNo sooner had the Carter return been
filed than White House press secretary
Jody Powell gave copies of it to reporters
and demanded that all presidential candi
dates do likewise.
ffien. Edward Kennedy’s office said the
data would be published “as soon as mecha
nically possible,” without making it clear
whether the return itself would be made
public.
But Ronald Reagan — who was embar
rassed while governor of California by the
disclosure he had paid no state taxes in 1971
— refused to publish his return and said he
would reveal only the “disclosures re
quired by law, as I did as governor.”
Reagan said he considers it unfair to re
quire such information only from people in
public life and not from the general public.
Last week, he said this year’s tax bite is the
largest since he has been paying taxes.
There was no immediate word from the
other Republican candidates George Bush
and John Anderson.
But Powell’s real target was Kennedy —
and a Kennedy press aide, Jim Flug, re
sponded in kind.
“I would simply note,” Powell said, “that
more than six years ago, Senator Kennedy
stated if he became a presidential candidate
he would make public his net worth and tax
returns.”
He said Kennedy so far has put out only
“bits and pieces” of financial information
and a disclosure statement that is required
by the Senate.
Flug called the remark a “cheap shot,”
since Kennedy “issued a fiscal statement
when he announced his candidacy.
That statement was a detailed summary
of his tax return, but did not include the
return itself nor his total net worth.
15,000 Ford employees
o be laid off indefinitely
United Press International
he recession economists have been pre
dicting for so long may be at hand, with
isome 15,000 Ford Motor Co. employees
i learning the hard way the meaning of an
economic slowdown.
Bin order to cut its growing losses, Ford
[said Tuesday it is closing indefinitely its
Mahwah, N.J., car assembly plant, elimi
nating shifts at four other plants, and phas
ing out two manufacturing plants,
lln total, about 15,000 Ford employees
will be laid off indefinitely because of the
cutbacks. The company already has 41,000
workers on indefinite layoff.
^ Ford’s car sales so far this year are off
nearly 28 percent from last year, and it is
not alone.
U.S. automakers reported early April
sales slumped 24.4 percent below the same
riod last year. All domestic automakers
d sales declines except Volkswagen of
America, which managed to hold steady
with last year’s levels.
As sales of new cars continue to slump,
several auto-related industries are report
ing lower earnings. Stockholders of Un
iroyal Inc., which makes tires and other
auto components, were told the company
expected a first quarter loss of $12 million
compared to $6 million profit in the first
quarter a year ago.
Fleetwood Enteprises Inc. of California,
a travel trailer and motor home manufac
turer, said it was closing nine of its plants
across the country, which will put 650 of its
employees out of work.
A steep drop in all industrial production
was reported Tuesday by the Federal Re
serve Board, the U.S. money manager. If
production continues to fall, the American
factory worker will pay for it — in jobs.
Treasury Secretary G. William Miller,
acknowledging the economic slowdown
was beginning, said in Washington the un
employment rate probably would rise to
7.25 percent by the end of the year. It is
now 6.2 percent.
The Fed reported industrial output on a
seasonally adjusted basis fell 0.8 percent in
March, following a decline of 0.2 percent in
February. Construction supplies took the
worst beating with production falling 3.6
percent — further evidence the housing
industry is in serious trouble.
“I think we’re now seeing the onset of a
recession,” said William Cox, the Com
merce Department’s deputy chief eco
nomist.
“For the average manufacturing worker,
it means some of them are likely to face
layoffs in the course of the coming months, ”
Cox said. “For young people or people just
entering the labor force, it means jobs will
be scarcer, harder to find.”
House and Senate Republicans used the
occasion of “Income Tax Day” to blame
President Carter and Democratic mem
bers of Congress for soaring inflation and
high taxes.
Cubans to go
to Costa Rica
United Press International
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Rica
sent two jets to Havana today to airlift out
253 of 10,800 Cubans stranded in the Peru
vian Embassy in the start of operation
“Bridge of Freedom.”
The aircraft landed in Havana after a two-
hour flight but were held up for at least 2 l A
hours. Officials at San Jose’s Juan Santa
Maria International airport said they had
no explanation for the holdup.
“Everything is ready and a rendezvous
with the 253 Cubans is set,” one of the
officials helping to coordinate the freedom
shuttle said.
Approval for the mission was given Tues
day when Cuban President Fidel Castro
authorized the departure of 253 Cubans
from the jammed Peruvian diplomatic
compound.
But the Cuban leader, who has disputed
the right of some of the people inside the
compound to leave, said nothing about the
rest of the 10,800 Cubans who have been
at the embassy since April 4.
Costa Rican government spokesman
Carlos Aguilar said he has learned that
4,800 of the 10,800 in the embassy have
been told they can leave the Communist
island nation.
A Costa Ricana airlines BAC-111 lifted
off from the Juan Santa Maria International
Airport at 11:45 p.m., followed one'hour
later by a Boeing 727 of the LACSA air
lines.
The airlift is under the aegis of the Gene
va-based Intergovernmental Committee of
European Migration. The evacuation of all
10,800 Cubans would be a record for the
group.
Jose Luis Monteil, the European Migra
tion Committee representative for Costa
Rica and Panama, said his group will pro
vide food and medicine for the 253 refugees
when they touch down in San Jose early
today.
Jorge Poveda, a spokesman for the Costa
Rican presidency, said the 253 who will
arrive on the first “bridge of freedom” flight
will be allowed to stay in Costa Rica for six
weeks until their final destination is deter
mined.
The United States has agreed to accept
3.500 of the Cubans, Peru 1,000 and Spain
500. Canada, West Germany, Belgium and
Ecuador may take some of the others.
Diplomatic officials could give no firm
reason for Castro’s wanting to retain abso
lute control over who will be allowed to
leave first.
One diplomat said Castro may want to
block the possible evacuation of the 25
Cubans who started the stampede on the
embassy by rushing it and killing one
Cuban policeman.
Another said Castro may be trying to
insure that the first 5,000 Cubans to leave
are “the most anti-social elements” — peo
ple who may have lengthy criminal re
cords.
The ICEM group, an autonomous orga
nization with 33 member countries, flew
4.500 people out of Chile after the right-
wing military coup that toppled Marxist
President Salvador Allende in 1973.
United Press International
PARIS — Jean-Paul Sartre, the French
philosopher who influenced literature and
thought throughout the world for four de
cades, died at the age of 74 with his lifelong
companion feminist author Simone de
Beauvoir at his bedside.
He died Tuesday night at Broussais Hos
pital, where he was admitted March 20
suffering from pulmonary edema, a lung
disorder.
The philosopher’s adopted daughter,
Arlette El Kaim, and Liliane Siegel, who
wrote one of the last works published about
Sartre, also were with Sartre during his last
hours.
“I can only say that we have lost someone
irreplaceable,” Miss Siegel said.
Small groups of people gathered at the
hospital to mourn the death of the father of
the school of thought known as existen
tialism.
Today’s edition of the newspaper Libera
tion, which was founded by Sartre, pub
lished a large photograph of the philo
sopher on its front page.
“The immense Sartre, who dominated
this century as Voltaire and Hugo did
theirs, was a man among men, a seeker and
inventor of liberties,” the newspaper said
in a commentary.
Sartre, one of the best-known and most
respected philosophers of the century,
popularized the principles of existential
ism, which state a man is what he does and
is responsible only to himself and fellow
men.
Sartre shunned all honors, even reject
ing the Nobel Prize for literature in 1964.
He contended accepting the prize would
have limited the impact of his literary work.
Carter seeks plan
for Palestinians
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter
says it would be “a tragedy” if Israel and
Egypt fail to agree on a plan for future
self-rule by the Palestinians living on the
West Bank of the Jordan River and the
Gaza Strip.
Carter, who holds a third and final round
of meetings today with Israeli Prime Minis
ter Menachem Begin, said the two sides
have made a lot of progress since the Camp
David peace accords were signed, but “dif
ficult issues” still remain to be solved.
“It would be a tragedy having come this
far to fail,” Carter said at a White House
dinner for Begin Tuesday night.
Israeli officials expect Carter will know
today how Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
feels about Begin’s proposal to speed up the
stalled autonomy negotiations with
marathon talks for 20 days in Egypt fol
lowed by a similar round in Israel.
Under the terms of the peace treaty,
anticipations are for Egypt and Israel to
complete the negotations by May 26. Car
ter and Sadat, who was in Washington last
week, agreed the talks should be moved to
Washington from the Middle East, but Be
gin was against the idea.
Israeli officials said if Sadat agrees to Be
gin’s suggestion — a suggestion the White
House would not confirm existed — the
talks could be restarted as soon as next
week.
Begin said Tuesday, “there is hope” an
agreement can be reached by May 26,
adding as a note of caution, “We relate in
lifelines, not deadlines.”
“We shall continue negotiating until we
reach the agreement,” Begin said. “The sky
is not on our heads” even if the target date
passes without an accord.
The year-long autonomy negotiations
will decide the future governance of the 1.1
million Palestinians living in the territories
Israel has occupied since 1967.
Israel’s plan calls for a limited form of
autonomy while Egypt wants the Arabs to
have a broader role in conducting their
affairs under such a scheme.
At the dinner, Carter said the Camp
David accords signed by Israel, Egypt and
the United States in 1978 remain the basis
for the current negotiations. Begin has
stressed that Israel will not deviate from
what was spelled out in those agreements.
Carter listed at least two of the “difficult
issues” covered in more than four hours of
talks Tuesday —- how to define a self-
governing authority and how to set up proc
edures for elections under such a newly
established body.
Iran may delay elections
United Press International
I'l TEHRAN, Iran — The ruling Revolu
tionary Council is considering yet another
i^ostponement of elections for Iran’s parlia
ment, which could further delay a decision
on freeing the 50 American hostages, the
ars news agency reported today.
The news agency said the postponement
was under consideration and awaiting
approval by the Council, Iran’s chief execu-
pve body. The Pars report indicated the
government announced the proposal but
gave no reason for it.
M Polling for the second and final phase of
JIKlections to the Majlis, or parliament, was
Ipriginally set to be held across the country
pn May 2. But if the Council approves, the
lling would take place one week later.
Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruhol-
h Khomeini has declared that the Majlis
should decide the fate of the hostages, now
captive inside the occupied U.S. Embassy
mpound for 165 days.
President Abolhassan BaniSadr also told
European Economic Community nation
nvoys that a decision on the hostages re-
ase rested with the as yet unformed par-
■uament. The diplomats had asked him to
let a specific date for the captives’ release.
In another development, Iranian heavy
artillery and troops were sent to the west
ern border with Iraq to fend offlraqi attacks
on Iran’s Bavaissi out post, reported va
cated last week by Iraqi forces, reports said
today.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotb-
zadeh said during a tour of the border that
Iranian troops “are ready to drive right
through the Iraqi ranks.” He said some
even wished to “occupy Baghdad.”
Several columns of Iranian troops took
up positions in the Ham province, in the
southwest, as authorities began evacuating
Iranian refugees expelled from Iraq to the
interior.
The latest activity follows a promise by
the Iranian militants holding the Amer
icans that Amnesty International and other
human rights groups will be permitted to
visit the diplomatic compound and see the
captives.
Apparently eager to show the world their
50 American captives are being well tre
ated, Moslem militants have promised that
Amnesty International and other human
rights groups may visit the occupied U.S.
Embassy.
The new offer, however, was offset by a
militant warning that none of the hostages
held for 165 days would be allowed to leave
the mission to receive medical treatment.
The statement Tuesday agreeing to visits
by humanitarian groups was made by a
militant spokesman after officials of the In
ternational Red Cross, who toured the di
plomatic compound Monday, reported
having met separately with all the captives.
In Washington, the State Department
said messages collected by the Red Cross
from the hostages to their families convinc
ingly showed that all the captives in Tehran
were alive and inside the embassy com
pound.
A department spokesman said the mes
sages would be delivered by the end of the
week.
Dr. Bernhard Liebeskind, a Swiss inter
nist who was a member of the Red Cross
delegation, flew to Geneva to deliver his
report and said the hostages were generally
fit but their living conditions could be im
proved.
He was quoted by Tehran Radio as
saying, “In general, they felt very well
mentally as well. Only one was a little bit
anxious and two others, in my opinion,
were a bit depressed. ”
Board names
new editors
Wayne Cook was nominated to be
editor of the 1980 Aggieland and Dillard
Stone was nominated to be editor of The
Battalion Tuesday night.
The Student Publications Board
nominated the two journalism students;
they must be approved by Dr. J. M. Pre
scott, vice president for academic
affairs.
Cook was classes editor and features
editor for the Aggieland. He also work
ed as editor of his high school yearbook
in Houston. He was selected unani
mously by the publications board.
Marilou Tenhet was the other candi
date for the Aggieland editor’s post.
“I look forward to working on next
year’s book,” Cook said. “I’ll try to make
the best book that A&M has ever had. ”
Stone, a senior from Brazosport, was
nominated for editor for both summer
and fall. He has served as reporter for
The Battalion one year, news editor for
one semester, assistant managing editor
one semester and copy editor one
semester.
The vote recommending Stone for
the summer post was a unanimous 6-0.
The board voted 4-2 to recommend him
for the fall editorship.
Other candidates considered for The
Battalion post were Louie Arthur,
Richard Oliver and Tim Sager.
“I’d like to significantly improve both
the quantity and quality of campus and
local news, striving for increased accur
acy and credibility,” Stone said.
Dillard Stone counts votes on his fingers as the Student Publications
Board names him editor of the Battalion for this summer and fall.
Staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.