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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1980)
The Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community . 74 No. 45 4 Pages Friday, October 31, 1980 USPS 045 360 College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611 The Weather Yesterday Today High 65 High .... 72 Low 33 Low ....35 Rain . 0.00 inches Chance of rain . . . ....0% f} andidates pound trail in last days United Press International tli President Carter and Ronald Reagan are pursuing a fren- campaign pace with four days to go, and their rhetoric is iQlj tpg A 6 whip in the home stretch. Igan told an enthusiastic crowd in Bayonne, N.J.: “I’ll be fted if we re going to let him (Carter) get re-elected, nd Carter said Reagan has performed “political plastic pry to disguise his record on war and peace. |rsday, Carter went from Philadelphia to New York to Sagi- Mich., to St. Louis to Springdale and Columbia, S.C. Today iesto Lakeland, Fla., then Memphis, Tenn., Jackson, Miss., | Houston. Bgan started Thursday in Dallas and went from there to C^npliis, Tenn.; London, Ky.; Newark, N.J.; Philadelphia and Burgh. Today he hits four Michigan cities — Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, Saginaw and Pontiac, and winds up in Columbus, Ohio. Exhaustion should be a matter of course with schedules like that. Actually, both men apparently are holding up quite well so far. By late Thursday Reagan was beginning to show signs of weariness, and Carter s voice grew husky, but neither was slow ing down appreciably. Reagan concentrated on Carter’s economic record. He said Carter “has no right to seek re-election,” because the economy is in far worse shape today than when he took office. That criticism escalated at each stop until the former California governor roared to a crowd in heavily Democratic Bergen Coun ty, N.J., “He’s seeking re-election — but I’ll be damned if we’re going to let him get re-elected. ” Carter pursued three main themes in his daylong oratory: the Democratic Party is the party of the people “and don’t you forget it,” Reagan’s attitude on the use of military power and on controll ing nuclear arms is dangerous; and Reagan’s change of position on issues. “Governor Reagan has become an expert in rewriting his own record,” Carter said. “This campaign scheme, as a last-minute operation, is political plastic surgery and it’s not going to work. ” The president had big, friendly crowds throughout the day, but two were notable. The traditional garment district rally in New York drew thousands, clogging Seventh Avenue for four blocks and pushing in on the barricades so enthusiastically the Secret Service moved in to protect the president with a cloth-covered metal shield. And in St. Louis, a rally at a packed suburban shopping center was marked by fireworks, balloons and music as well as speeches. Observers said it was much larger than the one that turned out for Reagan several days ago at the Gateway Arch downtown. Each campaign was marred Thursday by a peripheral issue: — Sources reported that a Justice Department interim report to the Senate on the Billy Carter investigation said the president has canceled three interviews with investigators trying to wrap up the case, and said official Michael Shaheen is threatening to resort to a “compulsory process” — presumably a subpoena — to force his testimony. — Richard Allen, Reagan’s top foreign policy adviser, resigned because of news reports indicating he used his power during the Nixon administration to make money for himself. A top campaign aide said Allen continues to have the confidence of Reagan and the campaign, but withdrew “to remove this matter as a possible issue in the campaign.” Mystery illness slowing down ^1 By CINDY GEE & BECKY SWANSON Battalion Staff ir a night of what some might consider total misery, are beginning to calm down around the A. P. Beutel Center at Texas A&M University. C jhe health center treated about 175 students for Ra, diarrhea, fever and cold chills between Wednes- I«id Thursday afternoons. Most of the students were ed for their symptoms and released; however, 15 of |udents remained overnight. : cause of the mysterious malady that struck primari- mbers of the Corps of Cadets is still under investiga- Ir. C.B. Goswick, director of the student health cen- pid many of the students who checked in Wednesday wanting to eat Thursday afternoon, which was a sign. Some had gone home, he said. fe’ve been seeing people all along since September these same symptoms,” Goswick said Thursday, what happened last night was just totally unantici- i$J , It got people really upset, us included. it had persisted we would have been in real trouble, waiting room was absolutely full this morning. We had people sitting, lying and, well, they were just practic ally holding the walls up.” Because of the sudden influx of inpatients at the health center, visitation privileges to the second floor were sus pended Thursday, but are now back to the normal 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Goswick said. “I just have a strong feeling that because this thing has been so explosive, it’s probably going to end the same way,” Goswick said. “It’s probably just going to pass right out of the picture and we may never really know what it was.” Test cultures from affected students are being sent to the national Center for Disease Control in Atlanta for analysis, but Goswick said the results will not be known for a few days. Goswick said he thought the students were affected by a virus transmitted through the air. “It’s not typical of classic food poisoning in which the person is extremely ill,” he said. Besides, he said, the employees at Duncan Dining Hall — where it was origin ally thought the students contracted the illness — eat the same food as the students, and they are not sick. “Food is always the scapegoat,” he said. “We go through this once or twice a year, and (blaming it on food) seems logical since it’s something that they’re all exposed to. After you do some investigation, you frequently find that it wasn’t food at all.” However, samples of link and patty sausage and milk from the dining hall are being tested at a University laboratory, Assistant Director of Food Services Lloyd H. Smith said Thursday. Smith said he was told that health center officials ques tioned the affected students, and though most had eaten at Duncan, there was no single food that all the students had eaten. Goswick said, “I don’t see how there’s any other way of spreading something like this so fast than it for it to be airborne. ” He said other possibilities were considered: “We did a survey of those we saw (Thursday) morning to see which dorm they lived in, but it was of no help at all. They’re spread throughout the dorms.” If the virus is being transmitted through the air, Gos wick said, it will be almost impossible to control. Howev er, as of Thursday afternoon, Goswick said the number of students coming into the health center with the symp toms had tapered off. Reza Shah II wants to unite Iran United Press International IRO, Egypt — Crown Prince Reza —jclaimed himself shah of Iran today and .led on Iranians to end the “nightmare” Sarnie regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah J femeini. —‘I shed the tears which you must hide, ” son of the late Shah Mohammed Reza |evi said in a 10-minute speech addres- r sed to the Iranian people from Cairo’s Kub- beh Palace. Reza, who turned 20 today, enabling him to claim the vacant Peacock Throne based on the 1906 constitution, took the name Reza Shah II, fulfilling the deathbed wish of his father, who, Reza said, died with “a broken heart.” “We must unite in love, equality and common purpose. It is imperative that all patriotic groups, inside and outside Iran, should now join forces in the common cause,” he said, without specifically men tioning Khomeini in his speech. Reza, a student at Cairo’s American Uni versity, made the speech seated in his JClark presents questions ?not answered in debate’ {11 By JANE G. BRUST Battalion Staff The American people lost Wednes day’s presidential debate, Libertarian Party candidate Ed Clark said Thursday night. The third party presidential candi date said it was hard to determine " whether Democratic incumbent Jimmy n) Carter or Republican Party candidate Ronald Reagan won the debate, but Americans clearly lost. The packed crowd in Rudder Theatre heard Clark point out three questions not mentioned in the debate: Why can’t we have real tax cuts? Why can t we have spending cuts? Why do we spend so much each year to defend western Europe and Japan? Clark, 50, said “unbeknownst” to Carter, the Japanese have recovered from World War II and can take care of themselves. He said China and Japan can defend Asia from Russia, and the ermans have shown that they can take care of themselves as well. Americans should not meddle in other countries’ affairs, he said. Anti-American feelings in Iran prior to the hostage seizure were due to such meddling, Clark said. Referring to the CIA’s efforts to put the exiled shah of Iran back in power, he said that while Carter is “not the best president” ever in office, he would not like to see Iran install one of its leaders to the U. S. presidency. Clark also criticized Reagan, specific ally his platform supporting superiority over Russia in all defense weapons. “That’s a proposal for an endless arms race,” Clark said. Clark said the SALT II agreement is “nothing fantastic, but it is a step to slow down the nuclear arms race. “That’s a very desirable step,” he said. The Libertarian said he favors a strong military force only to defend the home country and does not support the draft because it is “a violation of civil liberties.” He criticized the Republican nominee further for his failure to sup port both the Equal Rights Amendment and freedom of choice on abortion. The Libertarian Party is based on the support of civil liberties, Clark said, much like the philosophies of Thomas Jefferson. Any potential problems which might arise from the ERA ratification are “not significant enough to offset its virtues.” Clark said he wants to provide an alternative to government-sponsored education. “Education should be developed and directed by the private sector,” he said. He said he would like to see a $1,200 tax credit to anyone supporting a stu dent in any school where fees must be paid, including private and parochial schools, colleges and universities. In another issue relevant to college students, who comprised most of his audience, Clark described a program which would remove people under 40 from the Social Security system. “People age 20 to 40 think they’ll nev er be paid (by Social Security) — and they’re right,” he said. “They need to establish their own individual retire ment account.” The audience was quite receptive of that idea as they were of Clark’s idea to cut taxes in order to expand Americans’ civil liberties. “I’d like a 50 percent cut in personal income tax,” he said. “We want the tax payers to keep their own wages.” He added: “If anyone heard Jimmy Carter talk about tax cuts in the debate, he was listening more closely than I.” He said, “Incompetence is the cur rent domestic theme.” Clark said that an economy should not be able to have high inflation and high unemployment at the same time. “Jimmy Carter has brought a miracle to the American economy — we have both.” Clark also attacked independent can didate John Anderson, saying Anderson is running on a two-plank platform. “The first plank is 1 am not Jimmy' Carter’ and the second plank is 1 amt not Ronald Reagan, ” he said. office in the palace where his family has lived since it came to the Egyptian capital in March. Dressed in a business suit and wearing the Order of Pahlavi, an award his father reserved for chiefs of state, Reza read the message observed only by two press photo graphers and two TV crews. Senator says he's innocent of corruption United Press International NEW YORK — Sen. Harrison Williams, the first senator and the most influential figure accused in the FBI’s undercover Abscam investigation, says he is innocent of the bribery and corruption charges — and still holds his head high. The 60-year-old New Jersey Democrat, powerful chairman of the Labor and Hu man Resources Committee, was indicted Thursday with three other men by a federal grand jury in New York. He is the first senator and the seventh member of Con gress to be indicted in the FBI’s undercov er probe of political corruption. “We have held our heads high. We have worked hard for New Jersey and the na tion,” Williams told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I am innocent. I did nothing wrong. ” The nine-count indictment charged that during seven meetings with FBI undercov er agents posing as Arab sheiks or their representatives, beginning in March 1979 and extending to January, Williams asked them to lend $100 million to a Virginia titanium mine in return for promises to use his influence to win government contracts for the venture. “A suggestion was made which was im proper. It was immediately rejected. That was the end of that,” the 22-year Senate veteran said. “The facts will prove my inno cence in a court of law before 12 Amer icans.” Williams’ term is not up until 1982. If convicted, he would face a maximum pen alty of 59 years in prison and $110,000 in fines. Reps. Michael Myers, D-Pa., and John Jenrette, D-S.C., already have been found guilty and four other House members face bribery trials in the biggest scandal in con gressional history. Myers was expelled from the House, but is seeking re-election. The indictment against Williams also leveled bribery and conspiracy charges against Mayor Angelo Errichetti of Cam den, N. J. — convicted with Myers and two others in the first Abscam trial — and two of Williams’ associates, New Jersey lawyer Alexander Feinberg and New Jersey busi nessman George Katz. Williams also was charged with promis ing to introduce a private immigration bill in Congress to allow a phony Arab sheik to enter and remain in the United States and “take other official action as would be necessary to achieve that end.” Photo by Dillard Stone Flight of the great pumpkin Members of Company C-2 run interference as the Great Pumpkin makes his way down the Quad Thursday night. The C-2 junior given the “pri vilege” of wearing the huge pumpkin is charged while trying to make his way down to Dormitory 11. Band members and other cadets did their best to make sure the Great Pumpkin was not successful. The event is an annual Halloween tradition in the Corps of Cadets. Samoa to count votes on live television United Press International PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — When the election polls close Tuesday, the most thoroughly supervised ballot count will be conducted in the South Pacific terri tory of American Samoa. The estimated 6,000 ballots will be counted in full view of the entire electorate — one ballot at a time on live television. Even though the American Samoa ballot does not include the presidential candi dates, a great deal is at stake. The salaries of the 41 people elected to govern the terri tory’s 29,000 residents total more than $500,000 a year. American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States, so the vast majority of its residents are nationals but not citizens. Therefore, they do not have a say in the presidential race. But the six inhabited islands of the seven-island, 76-square-mile territory have a non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a governor, a lieutenant governor, a president of the Senate and speaker of the House and 36 other members of the territorial legisla ture. The posts are non-political, so such tags as Democrats and Republicans have little meaning. The votes are cast in 17 districts, some of which include villages that are inaccessible by car. The ballots are flown from the three Manu’a Islands, 60 miles from the main island of Tutuila, and some from villages on the remote north shore of Tutuila. Ballots from the island of Aunu’u are brought in by boat. The locked white boxes of ballots are stacked carefully in the studios of the gov ernment-owned and operated television station KVZK. The station was constructed in the mid-1960s to provide televised clas ses for children in schools throughout the territory, so it reaches every village. Although nearly every home now has its own TV set so residents can enjoy the sta tion’s variety of network and PBS color programs, the schools also offer all-night coverage of the vote count. The ballots are dumped into a large card board box, and two election officials draw them out one at a time and present them to the election officer. He calls out the names of the chosen candidates loud and clear. Other election assistants, stationed at large blackboards behind the election offic er, repeat the call and chalk up a mark below the name of the voter’s choice. The ballot is then passed around a table where representatives of each candidate study it carefully for possible challenges. The watchfrd eye of the TV camera never leaves the procedure. It’s an all-night job, because they have to call recesses on occasion so the election workers can rest their throats and weary arms. But the camera keeps a close watch on the ballot boxes.