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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1982)
Scientists work on midget watermelons just for two See page 4 Corps awards end Parents’ Weekend See page 3 The Battalion Serving the University community 03 75 No. 136 USPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Monday, April 19, 1982 Israel begins leaving Sinai United Press International JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers poured into the town of Yamit to start ousting 3,000 diehard squatters today from the Sinai Desert region that will be returned to Egypt next Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin gave the order for the Sinai withdrawal and eviction of members j of the Movement to Stop the With drawal despite differences with Egypt that threaten the withdrawal. To ensure it takes place as sche duled April 25, Egypt dispatched Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali to Israel to resolve differences over the final border demarcation and Israeli charges that Cairo has violated the 1979 peace pact. As the Israeli army prepared to evict some 3,000 squatters, Defense Minister Ariel Sharon issued an order barring all reporters from the Yamit area. Most squatters were expected to offer passive resistance. But about a dozen members of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s ultranationalist Kach Move ment barricaded themselves in bunk er 41 and threatened mass suicide if soldiers attempted to move them. “I hope they won’t take any drastic action,” said Maj.-Gen. Haim Erez, chief of Israel’s southern command in charge of the evacuation. “As of now, they are in their place and I hope that when we ask them to come out and be evacuated, they’ll do so.” Erez estimated the operation could be completed within a number of days. He said “the soldiers and offic ers have been briefed to the effect that the evacuation is not war, and the evacuees are not the enemy.” The oT heave ho staff photo by Eric Mitchell Mark Breding, Bill Gohmert, Keesey Miller, Bill Pellerin, Robert Gonzales, Rick Grimes, James Weaver, Dennis Kasper and Jeff Gradney, all members of the E-l Jocks .company, give a hand to load a viewing stand at the Parade Field onto the back of a truck. The stand was moved to the quad for the Flower Pinning ceremony held Sunday morning, where each commanding officer was given a red or white carnation honoring his mother. State provides center generic drugs, saves students money Expected fees help A&M run tr m by Larry Baggs Battalion Reporter ■Vhether a student trying to combat an allergy receives Benadryl capstdes or diphenhydraminehydrochloride from the A.P. Beutel Health Center depends on the State of Texas. | Texas law allows generically equivalent drugs to be substituted for name-brand drugs. A Food and Drug Administration bulletin lists generic drugs approved by the federal gov ernment. ij Texas law also gives people the i right to refuse a substitution, which, for students, means paying a higher price at a local pharmacy. The health center carries only the brand name- drug or its generic equivalent but not both. l! Generic drugs can cost as little as one-third to one-half that of their name-brand equivalents on the open market. Although name-brand drug manufacturers claim generic drugs are inferior, the government dis agrees. “The state control board buys drugs for all state institutions,” Sophia Chan, pharmacist at the health center, said. Because of the purchasing system, state institutions receive all drugs at lower cost. “They have a quality standard each drug must meet before a bid will even be considered,” Chan said. The generic drugs available at the health center are as good as those with brand names, she said. The board chooses the lowest bid offered by pharmaceutical companies for each drug. Based on these low bids, the state board supplies drugs to state institutions. Almost half the drugs at the health center are generic drugs. “The board saves students money on brand names also,” she said. All prescriptions are sold to students at cost and are the lowest prices available statewide. Chan gave several examples of the cost per pill to the health center as opposed to their cost to a retailer: Dynapen, an antibiotic against some penicillin-resistant bacteria, 10 cents (40 cents to a retailer); Velosef, also an antibiotic, 20 cents (36 cents); Bac trim DS, a sulfa drug for urinary tract or respiratory infections, 10 cents (50 cents); and Valium, a muscle relaxant and anti-anxiety drug, 5 cents (12 cents). Chan said staff doctors know the pharmacy will substitute a generic drug for a name-brand drug. Each doctor signs a consent form permit ting substitution. Only a few students ever ask about the medicine, and they usually just ask about what it is or does, she said. Seldom do they ask if it’s a generic drug, Chan said. Students are not always told a generic drug is being substituted for a brand name, Chan said, but there are several written notices. Below the doctor’s signature on the prescription form is a notice that a generic drug can be dispensed in place of the brand name drug. Also, a large sign is posted near the dispensing window. It states that Texas law allows generic substitution for qualified drugs unless the physi cian directs otherwise. Finally, the pharmacist places a sticker stating “substituted for brand prescribed” on each bottle • Soviets try to prove Brezhnev OK United Press International ■ MOSCOW — President Leonid Brezhnev’s offer to meet President Reagan this fall is interpreted as an attempt to counter rumors the 75- year-old Soviet leader is seriously ill. Brezhnev, who dropped from sight March 25 at the end of a trip to Tashkent, rejected Reagan’s offer for a June summit in New York and proposed instead an October meeting in a third country. H “It looks like an attempt to show he is on the job, and is expected to be so,” a Western analyst said Sunday of Brezhnev’s offer. “It’s interesting he picked a date so far away.” Washington said it preferred Reagan’s suggestion for a June meet ing at the United Nations session on disarmament. But it said it would con sider Brezhnev’s proposal the two leaders meet in October in a third country, specifically Finland or Swit zerland. The leader’s health has been the topic of speculation since he dropped from sight. His personal physician. Dr. Yevgeny Chazov, reportedly told visiting Americans 10 days ago Brezh nev had been treated for either ex haustion or a very mild stroke. In the past several days rumors have spread that Brezhnev is dead. The only official word came from the Foreign Ministry, which issued a statement in response to queries from Western correspondents that the president was on a routine winter vacation. In the past, however, his vacations have been announced well in adv ance. In addition, his vacation was not publicized domestically. Brezhnev, who first proposed a summit in February 1981, told the Communist Party newspaper Pravda the meetings “must be well-prepared and solidly carried out, not inciden tally in connection with this or that international forum.” A high-ranking member of the party’s central committee told visiting American foreign policy experts he thought Brezhnev would go to New York in June. But Western experts in Moscow were doubtful, since Brezh nev dislikes flying and his poor health would make the long trip arduous. by Sandra Kay Gary Battalion Staff With pre-registration beginning to day, most students are primarily con cerned with the classes they need or want to take in the fall. Class sche dules won’t be mailed until a few weeks before the fall semester begins, but along with class schedules come fee slips. The fee slips list expenses for items such as sports tickets, shuttle bus pas ses, parking permits and yearbooks. They also list those fees college stu dents always are expected to pay. And exactly what do those ex pected expenses such as tuition, stu dent services fee, building use fee and student center complex fee cover? “The tuition money, of course, goes toward paying cost of classrooms and professors’ salaries,” said Terry Smith, Student Government vice- president for finance. Vice President for Student Services John J. Koldus said the Texas Legisla ture determines how much Texas A&M students pay for tuition. The Legislature decides how much money the University will need to op erate for a year, Koldus said. Then it decides how much money the State can apportion to the University. This amount is subtracted from the total, and the difference is divided among the approximate number of students. The resulting quotient becomes the amount students pay for tuition. Smith said, the student services fee is set by the Student Government Fi nance Committee each spring for the following fall and spring semesters. The committee collects budget proposals from the nine student ser vice areas, which includes services such as the health center, shuttle buses, student publications and intra mural programs. Once proposals are collected, hearings from the service administrators are conducted by the finance committee. In these hearings, administrators must justify the amount of money they have re quested. The requests are then pooled and an executive hearing of the finance committee is held. Any funds that were not adequately justified at the administrative hearings are cut from the proposed budgets. The finance committee allocated about $2.8 million for next fall, Smith said. To determine the student services fee, an estimate of the number of stu dents who will be attending the Uni versity in the fall and spring of the following year is obtained from Robert Smith, the University com ptroller. The finance committee then divides that approximate number of students into the amount of money proposed for allocation to the diffe rent services. The resulting amount is the student services fee. This amount is, however, subject to the approval of the Department of Student Services, the University president and the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Last year’s fee was $39.50; this year it will be $43.50, Smith said. The increase is reasonable because a portion of the fees will finance a new University shuttle bus system with all new buses, Smith said. Koldus said the building use fee helps cover expenses for mainte nance and upkeep of buildings on campus. The Legislature sets a maximum amount state universities can charge for building use fees and, Koldus said, it is up to the institution to decide the exact amount they will charge. Texas A&M charges the maximum amount for building use fees, he said. The building use fee, according to the University catalog, is divided among students at the rate of $6 per semester credit hour. Magician investigates world of supernatural tonight ie iy lagician Danny Korem will attempt |to prove that psychic phenomena and extrasensory perception are a myth Jtonight at 8 in Rudder Auditorium. Korem, sponsored by the MSC iGreat Issues Committee, will demons- ijrate things that seem to be super natural such as a mock seance, mind reading and predicting future events. He will also show film clips show ing confessions of a leading psychic from his upcoming television special, psychic Confession.” He will then conclude with a talk on the “realm of the supernatural.” Korem, of Richardson, has investi gated claims of purported psychics and seers and has written a book ab out it — “The Fakers.” However, Korem said he believes some supernatural elements cannot be proven. Korem, who began his magical career when he was 9, deceives audi ences through trickery and sleight of hand. Today he creates and markets ori ginal magic tricks. He has appeared in the Magic Cas tle in Hollywood and on several talk shows featuring people who say they have supernatural powers. Admission is 50 cents. Even with threat of war, ‘Evita’ keeps packing the British in United Press International LONDON — British enthusiasm for one Argentine lady is untouched by the threat of war between their two countries. A country that played Hit ler’s favorite music through World War II isn’t going to let a little inva sion stop the smash musical “Evita.” “We thought the show would be interrupted because of anti- Argentine feeling,” said Knut Herg- strom from Hudikswall, Sweden, fil ing into another soldout performance in the 1,600-seat Prince Edward Theater. “Evita,” a razzmatazz musical ab out the woman who bewitched Buenos Aires to rise from farmer’s daughter to president’s consort with in a decade, is still playing to packed houses four years after opening. Of course, as the executive pro ducer of the pop opera about the wife of former dictator Juan Peron pointed out, the military rulers of Argentina don’t like plays about the man they booted out of office. “In fact ‘Evita’ is banned in Argen tina — the record, radio, and stage productions,” said David Swash. “It would be misguided to ban it here. After all, we played Wagner (Hitler’s favorite) right through World War II.” The company of the hit was consid ering pasting a note in the program explaining that ‘just as the Argentine government disapproves of‘Evita,’ so we disapprove of the Argentine gov ernment,” said stage manager Roy Astley. But he said it has not been necessary. But, the same people that line up to see the whirlwind history of Eva Peron — first lady at 27, dead from cancer at 33 and an enigma ever since — are shouting praises of Britain’s tough Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. “We love Maggie,” said Connie Hailey of Los Angeles. “She’s a two- fisted prime minister in a world that lacks leadership.” inside Classified 6 Local 3 National 9 Opinions 2 Sports 11 State 5 What’s Up 7 forecast Today’s Forecast: Cloudy and breezy with a 30 percent chance of rain; high today near 80; low tonight in the mid-60s. Tuesday’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 70s.