The Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Vol. 74 No. 57
12 Pages
Tuesday, November 18, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
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a Iran claims
Hlterms final
EN
.-Sat.
United Press International
Iran’s parliament speaker says Iranian
editions for freeing the 52 American hos-
agesfrom 381 days of captivity are final and
teUnited States should “submit” to them.
At the same time four Iranian envoys,
eluding the parliament speaker, Hojatol-
eslam Hashemi Rafsanjani, left on a trip to
15 nations in a flurry of diplomatic activity
that could end Iran’s isolation.
UN. peace envoy Olof Palme of Sweden
irrived in Switzerland Monday on his way
to Iran today and Iraq later in an attempt to
set up a framework for peace negotiations
the 58-day Gulf war. But Palme said he
did not expect to discuss the hostages.
The international isolation of Iran began
ov. 4, 1979, when militant students
seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and
;ook the hostages, but the Persian GulfWar
spparently has forced Tehran to look
ibroad for support and sympathy.
Despite Rafsanjani’s tough words asking
the United States to give in to Iran’s de-
nands, his itinerary included a stop in
jeria, Iran’s go-between with the United
States on the hostage question.
Deputy Secretary of State Warren
jiristopher traveled to Algiers last week to
is on the U.S. response to Iran’s four
ihditions for the release of the 52 Amer-
Reports said the United States could
adily guarantee one of the demands — a
dge of non-interference in Iranian
irs, whereas the other three conditions
involved legal and financial complications.
The demands at issue are a move to re
turn the wealth of late Shah Mohammed
Reza Pahlavi, to drop financial claims
against Iran and to free Iranian assets
frozen in the United States.
Rafsanjani and Prime Minister Moham
mad Ali Rajai said Iran’s government is
“still studying” the U.S. note sent last
week. The parliament, which set the condi
tions, is in a one-week recess with no plans
to discuss the hostages again.
Rafsanjani said “the U.S. can no longer
continue its old games,” the official Pars
news agency said. “Altogether the issue has
been studied most seriously and we are at
the stage when Iran has already announced
its final position.”
The United States “should accept the
fact that it can no longer use the hostages
issue as a pretext for continuing its vile
imperialist plan,” he said. “It should sub
mit to the conditions.”
Besides Algeria, Rafsanjani also was
scheduled to visit Libya and Syria, which
reportedly have been supplying Iran with
vital material for its war with Iraq. He was
quoted by Pars as saying he would coordin
ate policy with “brothers who have proven
their friendship for us.”
Three other deputies in the Majlis,
which began a week-long recess Saturday,
left for separate visits to France, West and
East Germany, Britain, Yugoslavia, Italy,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and
Indonesia.
Staff photo by Pat O’Malley
Holding back the flood
Registration for the spring semester began yesterday and continues line in the cold wind. Once inside, the single line broke into several lines
through Friday. Those who registered yesterday were greeted by a long that were just as long, but a lot warmer.
■9 p.m,
in.
p.m.
Ml-white jury acquits Klansmen, Nazis of killings
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United Press International
GREENSBORO, N.C. — An all-white jury decided six Ku
flux Klansmen and Nazis acted in self defense by killing five
communists in a gun battle at a “Death to the Klan rally and
pound them innocent of all charges.
Hie jury of six men and six women acquitted the defendants
Monday, ending the five-month trial, longest in North Carolina
history.
Jury foreman Octavio R. Manduley told reporters the jury
followed the instructions of Superior Court Judge James M. Long
inipioring the political philosophies of the groups involved in the
Nov, 3, 1979, gunfight at an anti-Klan march sponsored by the
Communist Workers Party.
The jury considered only the facts, the evidence and applied
the law,” said Manduley, a refugee from communist Cuba. “We
do not condone the actions of any of these three groups. We do
regret that this happened in the city of Greensboro. ”
Reaction was swift and predictable. The Justice Department
said it would review the case for possible federal civil-rights
prosecution.
The communists, who refused to testify for the state and tried to
disrupt the trial, said it was a “green light to the Klan and the Nazis
to ride the streets and shoot people down.”
Harold Covington, national head of the American Nazi Party,
said he was “transported with joy.” Bill Wilkinson, the Imperial
Wizard of what apparently is the nation’s largest Klan faction, said
he thought it was “clearly self defense,” but added he had “no
particular love for these men” because “we in the Invisible
Empire detest Nazis as much as we detest Communists.”
The Rev. Charles Brown, a black Greensboro minister who
served on a citizens committee formed by the city after the gun
battle, said, “I’m just shocked and a little numb.”
The defendants rushed away with their families, refusing to
speak to newsmen.
Sixteen Klansmen and communists still face charges in the
shootings. Five of the. Klansmen are charged with murder.
District Attorney Michael Schlosser said Monday night he will
decide within the week whether he will prosecute the others. The
case he lost Monday was believed to be the strongest against any of
the Klansmen and Nazis.
“I am not going to discuss why the jury went the way it did, ”
Schlosser said. “I can only say no stone went unturned in the
presentation of the state’s case. ”
His case was clearly hurt, however, by the refusal of any of the
surviving communists to testify. They claimed the trial was a
“sham.”
The defendants — Klansmen Jerry Paul Smith of Maiden,
Coleman Blair Pridmore of Lincoln ton, Lawrence Gene Morgan
of Lincolnton, David Wayne Matthews of Newton and Nazis
Roland Wayne Wood and Jack Wilson Fowler Jr. — were accused
of first-degree murder and felonious riot. They could have re
ceived the death penalty if convicted.
The six men sat quietly, holding hands and praying silently
Monday as clerk Grace Dooley read the 36-page verdict. They
showed no reaction at first but some, along with members of their
family who sat in the back of the courtroom, began crying as it
became clear all would be freed.
“It’s been a long year,” said Wood’s wife, Paula. “We’re going
to start new and try to put all of this behind us. ”
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Sen. Tower possible candidate
for Reagan’s secretary of defense
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. John Tower ofTexas, who
avors stronger defenses in the face of growing Soviet military
ight, is now a hot choice to become secretary of defense in the
maid Reagan Cabinet, published reports said today.
The Washington Post, in today’s edition, quoted sources within
e Reagan transition team, as saying Tower is now the front-
tunner for the defense job, possibly part of a “Texas-style double
play in which Texas Gov. William P. Clements would then
appoint Republican John Connally to Tower’s Senate seat.
Connally, a former Texas governor and treasury secretary in the
Richard Nixon administration, would serve for 90 days until a
1 election could be held. He would then have the inside
track in that election.
igan conferred separately with Connally and Clements over
the weekend in California.
Til cross that bridge when I come to it,” said Tower, according
to the Post, when asked for comment on his possible defense
appointment.
Sen. Henry Jackson, a Washington Democrat, had been men
tioned as a leading candidate for secretary of defense, but sources
said his chances appear to be fading because of the opposition of
more conservative and traditional Republicans.
The Post said Anne Armstrong, another Texan and former U.S.
ambassador to Britain, also could be chosen for Tower’s Senate
seat.
The newspaper said officials on the Reagan transition team
stress that no decisions on Cabinet members are final as yet, but
syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak are
reporting that Reagan insiders felt as of Monday the decision on
Tower would not be overturned.
Tower, 55, was first elected to the Senate in 1961 to fill Lyndon
Johnson’s seat after he become John Kennedy’s vice president.
Under the new Senate with its Republican majority, Tower would
become chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Com
mittee if he chooses to remain there.
Roommates Greg Lord and Chris Romero keep them
selves and other Law Hall residents busy holding back
hot water that is coming from a valve that bursted on
their radiator. Their room, on the right, is on the top
floor of the ramp so every room below them was affected
by the steam and hot water.
Only third write-in elected
Congressman an oddity
United Press International
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Freshman
Congressman Joe Skeen will be something
of a political oddity next month when he'
goes to Washington. He is only the third
write-in candidate ever elected to Con
gress — thanks to a lot of help from friends
and a little boost from his foes.
Whatever its origin, the Nov. 4 election
victory “stunned” Skeen as much as any
one, he said. But the outcome showed the
53-year-old Republican — a sheep rancher
and businessman — that “there’s no voter
apathy when people are steamed up about
something.”
The source of the steam and Skeen’s big
gest boost from an enemy camp was the
candidacy of Democrat David King. King
was the only candidate on the ballot for the
seat left vacant by the Aug. 5 death of the
five-term incumbent, Rep. Harold Run
nels, D-N.M.
A nephew of Gov. Bruce King, the
Democratic candidate resigned as secret
ary of finance to make the House race and
switched his voter registration from the 1st
District to the 2nd District shortly after
Runnels’ death.
Skeen and a second write-in candidate,
Dorothy Runnels, widow of the late con
gressman, waged vigorous campaigns,
making the Kings and David King’s exclu
sivity on the ballot nearly the entire issue.
“Someone is trying to hook them (the
voters) out of their right to vote,” Skeen
charged.
An image developed of the younger King
as a carpetbagger enjoying the fruits of
favoritism.
Skeen and Runnels polled 65 percent of
the more than 160,000 votes cast, with
Skeen receiving 37 percent and Runnels 28
percent.
“I just can’t believe that more than
100,000 people took the trouble to cast
write-in ballots in this election,” said
Skeen, a nearly perennial candidate who
has one of the high-recognition names in
New Mexico politics.
Skeen had plenty of friends in his race in
the 2nd Congressional District. He had
carried the 18-county district in three pre
vious unsuccessful statewide races over a
decade, the most recent against Bruce King
in the 1976 governor’s race.
Among his friends, of course, was Ronald
Reagan, who won the presidential contest
in a landslide.
But Skeen, the first write-in candidate
ever to win a major New Mexico election,
needed more than his GOP supporters to
overcome the disadvantage of not having
his name on the ballot.
A Skeen aide said those who aided his
campaign, somewhat inadvertently, in
cluded Runnels, Attorney General Jeff
Bingaman and Secretary of State Shirley
Hooper.
China’s new marriage bureaus
overwhelmed with lonely hearts
United Press International
PEKING — China’s new marriage bureaus are doing a roaring
business among frustrated singles.
The world’s most populous nation, where young love once was
considered almost a crime, recently opened its first matchmaker
service in the bustling seaport of Shanghai.
Now one has opened in the capital of Peking. Both are doing so
well that youth organizers boldly envisage a string of marriage
bureaus across the country to cater to tens of millions of lonely
hearts.
The marriage bureaus are run by earnest young Communist
Party cadres. They are serious business.
“Young people must work and study hard,” said Liu Lian, 29,
one of seven part-time organizers who helps singles fill out leng
thy application forms. “They do not have the time to find the right
marriage partner. We are here to provide that service for them.”
The Peking bureau is in a beautiful temple courtyard with a
curved green tile roof where China’s former imperial emperors
dressed in their finery before praying at the nearby Sun Altar.
It has quickly become the liveliest spot in town on Sunday
afternoons.
“We re overwhelmed with people, ” said Liu, who also attempts
to match couples. “We cannot cope with the number of people we
have.”
As he explained bureau operations, eager males lined up in the
courtyard several dozen deep. Women registered in a smaller
building.
“There are more men than women at present,” Liu said.
“Perhaps the girls are shy. Often one will send her mother to
register her. ”
One elderly lady, ignoring bureau protocol, eagerly extolled
the virtues of her daughter. A crowd of men gathered to listen.
Most applicants are in their mid-20s. Under a new Chinese law
men must be at least 22 and women 20 before they can marry. Liu
said the eldest applicant was a 58-year-old bachelor.
An elderly blind woman also filled out an application form.
Liu said it could be difficult finding suitable partners in such
cases.
Each applicant must provide two photographs to accompany
the form, and pay two yuan ($1.30). Groups of 10 or more can
qualify for a discount and pay only 80 cents each.
Marriage seekers are allowed three “tries. ” If they reject a
series of partners without “justifiable reason, ” they are removed
from the books.
As Liu talked, an anxious looking tile worker, Liang Zhe
Cheng, 27, bustled into the room.
He was the first to sign up when the bureau opened earlier this
month. He had returned twice to ask if a suitable partner had been
found.
Liu indicated a meeting, under strict supervision, would be
arranged shortly.
Liang said his only alternative to the marriage bureau was to ask
his parents’ help, “but their circle of friends is too small and I
haven’t been able to find a partner myself at work. ”
The newspaper China Youth News, reporting on the new mar
riage bureaus, said, “These young people are agonizing over their
failure to get married. Their enthusiasm for work and study is
dampened by lack of love and this is not good for China’s moderni
zation and their own development.”