The Batta on
Serving the University community
is Still bei,
3 y e ar,
/5 No. 179 USPS 045360 10 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, July 28, 1982
Ilec * Haitiu,
' for new
* a > Illinois,
osylvania,
230 injured
in Lebanon
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On a clear day
photo by Doug McNair
rticipants in the Texas A&M University Fireman’s
aining School face a wall of smoke during a
e-fighting practice session. Members of fire
departments across the nation attend the school to learn
the latest techniques for fighting urban and industrial
fires. The school lasts from July 26 to July 30.
wiet grain, Mideast topics
Reagan to face nation tonight
United Press International
Israeli gunboats and warplanes
pounded Beirut for a seventh straight
day today and Prime Minister
Menachem Begin said U.S. envoy
Philip Habib must have an “une
quivocal commitment” that in 48
hours the PLO will leave the Lebanese
capital.
Begin’s statement came a day after
some of the fiercest fighting in the
8-week-old invasion of Lebanon. Re
lentless barrages killed 120 people
and wounded more than 230 others
Tuesday.
“Last night we met with Mr. Philip
Habib. He did not have much good
news,” Begin told a new group of
Israelis formed recently to support
government policy.
The prime minister said Habib
told him of his talks with Arab leaders
and that several of the leaders ex
pressed willingness to accept part of
the 6,000 to 8,000 guerrillas trapped
in the besieged Lebanese capital.
“But until now it is not clear if the
terrorists are truthfully willing to
leave Beirut,” Begin said. “He
(Habib) will find out in the next two
days. So he promised us.
“He said he must get ‘an une
quivocal commitment’ that they’ll
leave,” Begin said.
The prime minister repeated his
demand that the PLO troops, trapped
in west Beirut by 35,000 Israel troops
and armor, must leave Lebanon.
But he vigorously denied a quote
attributed to him by Rep. Paul
McCloskey, R-Calif, to the effect
Israel “has the right to destroy Beirut
even though they kill 10 Lebanese
and five Palestinians for every Palesti
nian soldier.”
“Not one word like that came out of
my mouth,” Begin said.
Habib talked Tuesday with Begin
and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir
on his more than five-week attempt to
. avert a bloody showdown in Beirut.
Israeli newspapers reported Jor
dan’s King Hussein told the U.S. en
voy guerrillas carrying Jordanian
passports with no record of security
offenses would be allowed into Jor
dan. About 2,000 guerrillas could fall
into this category, reports said.
Today’s air and sea attacks, which
began after a brief early morning lull,
were aimed at the semi-deserted Sab-
ra refugee camp in the heart of Mos
lem west, Beirut, the city’s southern
suburbs and the coastline of the be
sieged city.
The guerrillas wheeled their
mobile anti-aircraft guns out into the
streets of the besieged city and fired
Soviet-made SAM-7 rockets at the
attacking warplanes. There were no
reports of any aircraft hit.
Police said at least 120 people had
been killed in Tuesday’s daylong
Israeli land, sea and air bombard
ment. Scores of civilians were feared
trapped under the rubble of des
troyed buildings.
The police said another 242 people
were wounded, many of them se
riously. The Palestinian news agency
WAFA said 247 civilians were killed
and another 295 seriously wounded
in six consecutive days of Israeli air
raids.
Lebanese television said 84 people
died when a 9-story apartment build
ing in the expensive seafront neigh
borhood of Raouche was destroyed
by the attacking Israeli warplanes.
A high-rise building housing the
Canadian, Swiss, Greek and Yugoslav
ambassadors also was hit, but none of
the diplomats were injured. Canada
said it would protest the attack and
possibly move its offices out of the
area.
Palestinian and leftist gunners
fired nine giant rockets into the
Christian-controlled resort-port of
Jounieh, 12 miles north of Beirut,
where a shell earlier hit the West Ger
man Red Cross vessel Flora, killing
one crewman.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Fuad
Butros left for Saudi Arabia today to
join counterparts from four other
Arab nations and a representative of
the Palestine Liberation Organization
in talks on the Lebanon crisis.
PLO guerrilla leader Yasser Arafat
sent messages to the French, Cuban,
Soviet and Saudi Arabian heads of
state appealing for “immediate action
to the Israeli war of genocide.”
United Press International
ASHINGTON — President
9n — mulling over Soviet grain
Middle East peace efforts and
roubled economy —- faces the na-
[onight in a nationally broadcast
conference.
'I Deputy press secretary Larry
ikes said Reagan was in the final
s of deciding whether to extend
j me year a wheat agreement with
- Kremlin that expires Sept. 30.
j ides said he was leaning toward
*hort renewal instead of negotiat
ing a new, long-term pact. They did
not rule out the possiblity Reagan
would announce his decision at the
news conference, scheduled to egin at
8 p.m. EOT.
No announcements but plenty of
questions were expected about U.S.
peace efforts in embattled Lebanon,
where Israel has encirled Beirut —
trapping members of the Palestine
Liberation Organization inside.
The State Department Tuesday, in
an action reflecting U.S. concern over
Israeli operations in Lebanon, said
the United States is indefinitely sus
pending shipments of cluster-type
artillery ammunition to Israel.
This will be the 12th news confer
ence of Reagan’s presidency and
again the shadow of the sagging eco
nomy will be hanging over him when
he steps before the bright lights and
cameras.
Congressional Budget Office Dire
ctor Alice Rivlin said Tuesday even if
Congress passes the tax hikes and
spending cuts now under considera
tion, the federal deficit could swell to
$150 billion in each of the next three
years — about 50 percent higher than
White House projections.
The White House responded by
calling Mrs. Rivlin “unduly pessimis
tic” about the economy and the im
pact of the administration’s recovery
program.
Mrs. Rivlin said she based her pro
jections, in part, on the recession and
high interest rates.
The president Tuesday sought to
apply some personal pressure on big
city bankers to start a bandwagon roll
ing for lower interest rates.
Officials say water
supply plentiful
legistration possibly ineffective
United Press International
ASHINGTON — Despite an
linistration get-tough policy, re-
ation for the draft has fallen
ply during the past few month,
'ces say.
he sources, familar with congres-
al testimony that was to be given
| by the General Accounting
ee, said since March the GAO has
id only 78 percent of those re
ed to register have done so.
This compares to well above 90
percent having signed up since the
program began two years ago. It also
raises the number of noncompliants
to about 700,000 — nearly 200,000
more than GAO’s last report a few
months ago.
These and other figures were to be
presented today at a hearing by a
House judiciary subcommittee on en
forcement of the Selective Service
law.
Sources said agency representa
tives will testify “registration rates are
falling below the 93 percent point and
in total some 700,000 young men to
date have failed to register.”
Former President Carter ordered
the reinstituion of draft registration
following the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan.
Although President Reagan cam
paigned against it, he has since
changed his mind and decided to
keep draft registration as part of his
military readiness policy.
In recent weeks, in efforts to prod
more young men to sign up — as re
quired — when they turn 18 years
old, the administration has cracked
down on the law.
It has indicted three young men for
refusing to register and warned it
would go after more. The Rev. Bary
Lynn, president of Draft Action, a
major anti-draft group, said the GAO
figures indicate “all of the extensive
publicity the Selective Service has put
out over two years has failed to make a
dent in this mammoth enforcement
by Rebeca Zimmermann
Battalion Staff
Hot summer weather usually
brings concern about water shor
tages, but city officials say College Sta
tion and Bryan have plenty of water
this summer.
“We don’t anticipate any problems
unless we have equipment problems,”
College Station City Manager North
Bardell says.
Bryan City Manager Ernest Clark
says the city of Bryan also does not
expect a water shortage unless some
unforeseen malfunction of equip
ment occurs.
“We feel like we have sufficient
water capacity,” Clark said.
Last summer, College Station did
suffer a water shortage. At that time,
the city was buying water from Texas
A&M University.
When a University well caved in
and equipment problems showed up,
a water shortage developed, Bardell
said. Residents were asked to con
serve water by not watering lawns or
washing cars.
“We have an entirely different sys
tem now,” Bardell said.
The new water system includes two
wells which provide an additional
eight million gallons of water to last
year’s water supply, Bardell said.
The maximum water consumption
so far this summer for College Station
was on July 20 when 6,735,000 gal
lons of water were consumed. Bardell
said the city had no problems hand
ling the peak consumption.
Bryan owns 16 water wells but only
allows 14 to pump water, Clark said.
Bryan’s peak consumption so far this
summer was 16 million gallons; the
city has the capacity to pump 23 mil
lion gallons of water a day.
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legents okay construction contracts
by Terry Duran
Battalion Staff
The Texas A&M System Board of
gents approved more than $19
flion in construction contracts for
ojects throughout the System at
meeting Tuesday morning.
Preliminary plans for a $21.5 mil-
n engineering/physics building
the College Station campus were
luded in these projects. The
1,000-square-foot building,
ted to be built where Lot 7 is now,
be the most expensive and one
the largest academic structures in
ixas A&M’s history.
The building is meant to increase
number of mechanical en-
teering laboratories and clas-
x>ms and to improve physics re-
trch capabilities.
The contracts were approved in
mmittee work sessions Sunday
d Monday. This action followed
ated discussion about how much
xja consideration the board
should give Texas A&M supporters
and Aggie-owned firms when
awarding contracts to design firms.
The controversy focused on the
selection of the architect/engineer
ing firm for the engineering/physics
building, which is scheduled for
completion in the spring of 1986.
Design firms are normally chosen
by System planning staff members.
Vice Chancellor for Facilities and
Construction Wesley E. Peel prop
oses the staffs top three firm
choices, in order of preference, to
the Board of Regents. Criteria for
selection include technical compe
tence, the company’s size, prior
work done for both the System and
other customers and demonstrated
support for the Texas A&M Univer-
sity System.
In a Monday morning briefing to
the regents about the selection proc
edure, Peel said that, “all other fac
tors being equal,” some preference
is given to firms owned by Aggies,
those employing a large number of
Texas A&M graduates or those who
have contributed financially to the
University or the System.
Regent William A. McKenzie
complained when recommenda
tions for design firms presented la
ter Monday morning listed only the
first choice for each project, not the
top three.
After a revised list was distri
buted, Regent Royce E. Wisenbaker
moved to award the engineering/
physics building contract to Preston
Geren Associates of Fort Worth, in
stead of Melton Henry Architects,
Inc., of Houston, which was the firm
recommended by Peel’s planning
staff.
McKenzie said “dedication to the
System should be a factor” when de
cisions about design firms are made.
Wisenbaker said Geren, who was
fourth on the staff list of recommen
dations, had been a major force in
the design and construction of Cain
Hall, the University athletic dormi
tory, and was once president of the
Aggie Club.
T he majority of the regents
agreed to the change until Regents
Chairman H.R. “Bum” Bright cal
led the move “a bad mistake.”
Regent Norman N. Moser
agreed, saying he was “reluctant to
overrule” the staff.
“I don’t think Preston Geren per
formed all those valuable services in
expectation of any favors,” Moser
said.
The regents voted 7-2 to give the
$140,000 preliminary design con
tract to Henry (Wisenbaker and
McKenzie opposed). The vote was
followed by the board’s restatement
of its desire to show “some extra
consideration” to proven suppor
ters of Texas A&M.
In other action Tuesday, the full
board approved committee action
recommending:
— A $315,000 appropriation for
a detailed design of a Medical Scien
ces Library.
— A $20,000 appropriation for
preliminary plans for exterior re
novation of the Academic Building.
— Acceptance of a $10.1 million
bid for construction of a Horticul
ture and Forest Science Building.
— Acceptance of a proposal of a
master’s program in journalism.
The proposal must now go before
the Texas Coordinating Board for
approval.
— A $32,000 appropriation for
preliminary designs for a ware
house and chapel at Prairie View
A&M University, and $95,000 for
expansion of a library at Tarleton
State University.
The regents also congratulated
Texas A&M’s women’s softball team
on their 84-9 season, which included
state and regional championships.
inside
Classified 6
National 4
Opinions 2
Sports 7
Sute 3
Whatsup 3
forecast
Fair today and Thursday with
highs near 100; low tonight in the
70s.
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