5
The Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Vol. 73 No. 167 Wednesday, June 25, 1980 USPS 045 360
12 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
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ahn hints at 1981 tax cut
mel blames inflation on quest for 'good life'
United Press International
A panel of former government economic officials con-
nds Americans helped cause inflation by demanding the
jood things in life,” but there also is word the govern-
ent may be giving its citizens more money — through a
xcut.
A bipartisan group of former government economic
ficials Monday in Washington announced the formation
the Committee to Fight Inflation. Its membership
eludes five former Treasury secretaries and two former
HMtJpds f he Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank.
Inflation, members of the panel said, grew out of “ex-
issive public demands for the good things in life” dating
ick to the New Deal.
The panel, headed by former Fed chairman Arthur
5,6-4, in urns, said the demands included a better standard of
W, «,K| /ing, income security, more aid to the disadvantaged,
eaner environment, and health and safety and benefits
, Mr special interests.
contms jijegg things, the group said, raised government
lending and asked more of the private economy than it
produce.
There is no cure for inflation, they said, “unless the
merican people come to understand the nature of the
roblem and are prepared to support the stern measures
iquired to solve it.”
Meanwhile, the current administration Monday
ipeared to be moving closer to announcing a tax cut to
dp ease individual and corporate recession pains.
President Carter’s chief economic adviser and inflation
ghter, Alfred Kahn, said a tax cut is “inevitable” and
oped any tax relief would help stimulate business invest-
iwAs.
iL
The president is under pressure to
propose some relief during this
election-year recession.
“I don’t think anybody doubts that a tax cut is inevit
able,” Kahn told reporters Monday. “I don’t think there is
any question you have to have it.”
It was the first time a high-ranking member of the
administration has said outright there will be a tax cut.
Others, such as Treasury Secretary G. William Miller
and White House press secretary Jody Powell, have ruled
out any tax reductions this year. But they have left open
the possibility a cut may be proposed in 1980 to take effect
next year.
Kahn is the first high-ranking Carter administration
official to speak so bluntly in favor of a tax cut. He would
not say when the tax cut would come or how big it would
be. However the speculation has been Carter will
announce a tax cut this election year that would take effect
next year.
Kahn declined to say when the tax cut will come, how it
will be structured or how big it will be.
President Carter has repeatedly said he will not push
for any tax relief until Congress demonstrates sufficient
spending restraint. Kahn said the president is still com
mitted to beating double-digit inflation by holding down
spending.
Although Kahn refused to be pinned down on when
Carter will propose a tax cut, the president is under
pressure to propose some relief during this election-year
recession, which has proven to be much more severe than
first predicted.
Kahn said he hoped the tax cut will include “supply
side” stimulus to encourage business investment as well
as some direct benefits for consumers.
One form of government relief that appears certain is an
immediate $500 million bailout of the bankruptcy-
threatened Chrysler Corp.
The Chrysler Loan Guarantee Board was to meet today
in Washington to approve a total of $1.5 billion in aid for
the nation’s No. 3 automaker.
Under the plan, Chrysler gets an immediate $500 mil
lion and will be able to draw on the rest later in the year.
Without the money, the firm says, it would go out of
business.
Elsewhere in the economy:
— Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. broke ranks Monday
with its major competitors and lowered the prime interest
rate charged its best corporate clients to 11 Vi percent, a
half-point reduction.
— Daily U. S. oil imports will dip by about 12 percent,
or 1 million barrels, in this recessionary year if the coun
try’s real Gross National Product declines by only 1.5
percent, a study prepared by the Washington Analysis
Corp. said.
— The nation’s airlines carried a record 317 million
passengers in 1979 and made less than a penny on each
dollar of revenue for the sharpest dip in airline profits in
any year, according to the Air Transport Association.
id
if wo groups seek students' blood
7
by CATHY SAATHOFF
Battalion Staff
Two different organizations want Aggies’
bod.
Wadley Central Blood Bank of Dallas
perates the Texas A&M University Blood
which offers free blood to all A&M
udents, faculty, staff, former students and
heir families. Wadley provides this service
ecause of blood drives sponsored on cam-
ius every semester by student govern-
lent, Alpha Phi Omega and Omega Phi
!pha.
The Red Cross sponsors monthly blood
Irives and offers the blood itself free, but
iharges a $25 processing fee per unit. This
|s still a bargain, since purchased blood can
istup to $150 per unit.
The Weather
Yesterday
High
100
Low
78
Humidity
48%
Rain
O.Oinches
Today
High
100
Low
78
Humidity
48%
Chance of rain.
r-
none
Not all hospitals use Red Cross blood,
but it is available to anyone in a hospital
that does use it. Red Cross offers no type of
insurance to donors since its blood is avail
able to anyone.
Wadley has exclusive rights to blood on
campus; they have been collecting Aggie
blood since 1959.
The Texas A&M Blood Club started in
1963. Donor credits, which mean free
blood, were given to students and their
families. In 1973, the privilege was ex
tended to former students, faculty and
staff and their families.
Janet Golub, co-chairman of the Aggie
blood drive, said the issue of who should
get the blood is “a thorn in everybody’s
side.”
The issue comes up periodically, she
said, and in January the A&M Blood Drive
Committee, composed of two representa
tives from each of the sponsoring organiza
tions, decided to discuss the issue with rep
resentatives from Wadley and the Red
Cross.
The committee decided to stick with
Wadley and its blood club plan.
“For all purposes that’s the best deal we
can get,” Golub said. “With Wadley, we re
covered wherever we go. ”
Dr. Ray Lee, chairman of the Red Cross
blood drive, said there is no competition
with Wadley, but that “student govern
ment has determined that they prefer to
give blood to the Wadley bank.” He said
there is a possibility Red Cross may one day
be allowed to collect on campus if they
come one month before or after Wadley.
“We cannot hurt the Wadley drive,”
Golub said. Blood should only be given
every two months, she said, so the Red
Cross would have to conduct its drives be
tween Wadley’s visits.
The final decision was that while Red
Cross couldn’t collect on campus, they
could publicize their monthly drives on
campus.
“I have yet to see a Red Cross poster on
campus,” Golub said.
Publicity is one of Red Cross’s problems,
Golub said. Each monthly Red Cross drive
has a different sponsor, and it is hard to
generate enthusiasm this way.
It also sponsors special drives for in
terested firms, but Lee said there aren’t
many businesses in this area large enough
to merit bringing a blood unit here from the
central blood bank in Waco.
Red Cross also keeps a list of donors with
rare blood types in each area, Lee said,
such as O positive, which is the universal
donor.
Lee said Red Cross does not collect
enough blood to meet the demand at area
hospitals.
“When a patient needs blood the Red
Cross provides it,” Lee said.
All blood collected by the Red Cross
here is sent to Waco to be processed. If a
community requires more blood than it
generates, blood from other communities
makes up the deficit.
“With the amount of people in this area
we should get a lot more than we do,” Lee
said. “We do get a lot of response from
students and we certainly do appreciate it. ”
Golub said most of the blood used at the
local hospitals is used for local residents.
not for Texas A&M students, but Aggies
contribute about 65 percent of Red Cross’s
blood. With about 90,000 people living in
Bryan-College Station, getting enough
blood should not be a problem, she said.
“The Red Cross does not need the
volume of blood we get at these (campus)
drives,” Golub said.
Wadley collected about 1,700 units at its
last drive, while the Red Cross averages
about 200 units every month.
“What this community needs is its own
blood bank,” Golub said.
People are ignorant about giving blood,
she said, and a blood bank would make
people more aware of the need for blood.
Golub said the blood drive committee
has offered to help Red Cross with publicity
for their blood drives.
“We don’t feel like we’re competing, or
that we have to compete,” Golub said.
Golub also said the Red Cross needs to
plan its drives more carefully. For instance,
both groups have drives coming up in July.
Wadley will be at Texas A&M on July 1-2 to
collect blood for the July 4 weekend; the
Red Cross will be at Holiday Inn South on
July 8-9, when the demand has died down.
Golub said that both organizations offer a
needed service. Blood collected by both is
thoroughly tested, she said.
Donated blood is usually more disease-
free than purchased blood, because anyone
who sells his blood is likely to need money
badly enough to lie about bis recent health.
Photo by Jim Hendrickson
Bobby Johnson, a former Texas A&M agricultural journalism major,
donates blood at an Aggie Blood Drive earlier in the year. Student
government and other campus groups have scheduled a blood drive next
week to help meet the anticipated demand from the July 4 weekend.
Blood drive set up
to cover holiday
Two mobile units from Wadley Central
Blood Bank in Dallas will be set up on the
Texas A&M University campus July 1-2 to
collect blood to help meet the demand over
the July 4 weekend.
Blood drive co-chairman Janet Golub
said the units will be parked by the Memo
rial Student Center and the Commons.
“What made us decide to run it is the vast
need for blood over the Fourth of July
weekend,” Golub said.
Giving blood at the mobile units is much
more comfortable than giving at the MSG,
Golub said, because the donor can lie on a
bed rather than on a tabletop.
“With the drive coming up,” Golub said,
“the one thing for people to remember is
that it’s a big holiday weekend coming up. ”
Golub said the drive, which is co
sponsored by student government, Alpha
Phi Omega and Omega Phi Alpha, should
yield about 300-400 units of blood.
Wadley operates the Texas A&M Blood
Club, which offers blood replacements to
all Texas A&M students, faculty, staff, for
mer students and their families. Campus
blood drives contribute donor credits to the
A&M Blood Club’s account.
Marcello, two others plead
not guilty to Brilab charges
United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — Reputed underworld boss Carlos
Marcello and two other men pleaded innocent Tuesday to
racketeering, bribery and conspiracy charges in the federal
government’s undercover Brilab investigation.
U.S. Magistrate Ingard O. Johannesen, who set bond at
$35,000 each, gave a tentative trial date of July 28 before
District Judge Morey Sear.
Marcello, who walked briskly with attorney Virgil Wheel
er through a mob of reporters and photographers to the
courthouse, wore a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and a
striped tie.
Asked his occupation during the arraignment, Marcello
replied, “I’m an investor.” At one time in his long career of
brushes with the law, Marcello described himself as “just a
tomato salesman.”
Marcello was arraigned with I. Irving Davidson of
Washington, who said he was a selfemployed public relations
consultant, and New Orleans-area attorney Vincent
Marinello.
All pleaded innocent to charges in a 25-page indictment
issued last Tuesday after a year-long FBI investigation.
A fourth defendant, former Louisiana Commissioner of
Administration Charles Roemer, was set for arraignment
today due to scheduling conflicts.
They were indicted after an investigation of influence
peddling and corruption in labor organizations and politics
conducted through the use of bugs, wiretaps and an under
cover FBI informant.
If convicted on all 12 counts, Marcello and Davidson could
be sent to jail for 90 years and fined $69,000. Marinello faces a
maximum of 50 years and a $52,000 fine.
Marcello stood with his hands behind his back while
Johannesen questioned him. Asked where he lived, he said
he has lived in suburban Metairie for 15 years. When asked
where he was bom, Wheeler interrupted and said Marcello
was not required to answer “in view of other matters.”
Marcello has been fighting U.S. Immigration and Natur
alization Service attempts to deport him for 27 years.
Wheeler again interrupted when Johannesen asked if Mar
cello had any criminal convictions, saying Marcello was not
required to respond.
Marcello and Marinello were ordered to remain in
Louisiana, but the magistrate said Marcello could go out of
state for hearings in the deportation case.
Wheeler waived a reading of the indictment, saying Mar
cello understood it fully.
“On behalf of Mr. Marcello, we enter a plea of not guilty to
the indictment to each and every count,” he said.
Before the arraignment, Marcello sat in the front of the
room. He took out his wallet and leafed quietly through
credit cards and several $100 bills. Davidson sat working on a
crossword puzzle.
Johannesen gave defense lawyers 10 days to file pretrial
motions and set a tentative pretrial hearing for July 8. When
Wheeler asked for more time, Johannesen declined to rule
and requested the motion in writing.
Attorneys have said it would take months to prepare for the
complex case.
Marcello stepped from a gold Cadillac about 30 minutes
before the scheduled 11 a.m. arraignment and, joined by
Wheeler and another man, marched about 150 feet to the
courthouse door.
“I’ve instmeted Mr. Marcello not to make any remarks.
We don’t have anything to discuss at this time,” Wheeler
said. Noting all the jostling among news peopfr covering the
arraignment, he said, “We’d appreciate a litt'e leeway.”
Wheeler looked at the crowd and joked to Marcello, “It
looks like Mardi Gras.”
Marcello passed a first-floor metal detector and waited for
an elevator to the third-floor courtroom. He said nothing
during the ride upstairs.
A few minutes before Marcello, Davidson arrived with his
attorney, Thomas Dyson. “We have nothing to say,” was
Dyson’s only comment. Davidson said nothing.
Some troops appear headed northward
Withdrawal seen as ‘farce’
United Press International
KABUL, Afghanistan — The world
heaped scorn on the Soviet Union’s partial
withdrawal scheme Tuesday, but diploma
tic sources here said at least some troops
were headed home.
In Washington, U.S. officials said they
found no evidence 10,000 Soviet troops and
108 tanks had left the country.
Echoing the chilly response to the Soviet
plan by Western leaders meeting in
Venice, the U.S. officials said the latest
reports spoke of significant increases of
Soviet troops inside Afghanistan in recent
weeks.
Even if they are withdrawn, they will be
positioned just north of the Afghan border
ready to move back into the landlocked,
Texas-size country if needed, they said.
China’s official Xinhua news agency dis
missed the Soviet withdrawal as a “farce”
and said the Soviet action was designed to
“contain the growing anti-Soviet feeling
among the Afghans and also create confu
sion.”
Xinhua claimed the division of troops
said to be withdrawing already had been
replaced earlier this month by 10,000 fresh
soldiers.
Despite the international skepticism, di
plomatic sources in Kabul said the Soviet
troops and tanks did appear to be moving
north toward the Soviet Union, although it
was unclear in what numbers. The tanks
rumbled through the streets of Kabul
Monday en route to the highway leading
north.
Radio Moscow said the troops were pas
sing through the strategic Salang Pass on
their way home, but it would still take
another day or two before they actually
cross the Oxus River into the Soviet Union.
American satellites presumably are
Oil well near Bryan
explodes; none hurt
United Press International
BRYAN — An oil rig being drilled near
Bryan exploded Tuesday, sending flames
80 feet into the air. Five men working on
the oil and gas well escaped without injury.
Firefighters and sheriffs deputies were
pumpingwater into the 120-foot, $1 million
well, located eight miles east of Bryan off
Texas 21, late Tuesday in an effort to stem
the flames that still shot 60 feet upward.
Eugene Roberts, a tool pusher for Block
er Drilling Co. of Alice, which was drilling
the rig for Gulf Oil of Houston, said the
men were trying to get rid of gas in the
well’s mud Tuesday afternoon when the gas
caught fire and mud began spewing out of
the hole.
Driller William Thomas Donahoe said
when the mud started shooting out they
knew the well was about to explode and ran
to safety.
Firefighters said they did not expect
further explosions and added that the fire
would be easier to put out if the rig col
lapsed, which they believe it may do.
trained on the approaches to Kushka and
Termez in the Soviet Union, cities that
dominate the only two highways leading
into Afghanistan.
Although the Soviet division and 108
tanks were withdrawing, a Soviet buildup
in Kabul itself made it difficult to notice any
reduction of the Soviet presence.
About 20,000 Soviets, including 7,000 to
10,000 soldiers, are in the capital, reflect
ing a steady increase in recent months,
diplomats said. In addition to troops, the
Soviets have dispatched doctors, clerks,
teachers and “advisers” to Afghanistan.
A Kabul merchants’ strike was entering
its fifth day today with no sign of fading and
the diplomats said the Soviets were unlike
ly to significantly reduce their strength in
Kabul amid such tension.
About 95 percent of Kabul’s merchants
shuttered their doors and one long-time
resident said “It looks like Feb. 21” when a
similar strike erupted into rioting that re
sulted in scores of Afghan deaths.
The handful of shopkeepers who did
open for business faced the threat of death
from guerrilla “enforcers” and witnesses
said the insurgents killed at least two mer
chants in the city’s Old Bazaar for defying
the strike.
Shopkeepers said the rebels, many of
whom have entered the city, have not yet
ordered students to hold anti-Soviet de
monstrations and some youths could be
seen attending classes and carrying books
in the streets.
“The students went to jail for their
demonstrations a number of weeks back
and maybe that is why they have not
joined this strike yet,” one merchant con
fided.
Moslem rebels in Peshawar, Pakistan,
said the shopkeepers’ strike had spread to
Jalalabad, Ghazni, Parwan and Herat, all
major provincial cities.