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.