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■ 76 No. 7 USPS 045360 20
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College Station, Texas
Thursday, September 9,-1982
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Reagan urges House to sustain
United Press International
■-d i WASHINGTON — President
ida Ir, Reagan is urging the House to sustain
his [veto of'a $ 14.2 billion supplenien-
C^Ctal Bunding bill, setting up another
‘■'•Ospeinding showdown with Democratic-
leaders.
| The Democratic-dominated
Bmuse is scheduled to vote today to
Mrride or sustain the veto. A two-
jH-ds vote of both the House and
Senate is needed.
■ Reagan has won every previous
p . battle with Congress over money bills,
jdlOlbut House GOP Leader Robert
Michel was reported by an aide to be
unsure Wednesday the president will
have enough votes to support him this
time.
The House overwhelmingly
approved the supplemental approp
riations bill, which would keep feder
al agencies funded through the end
of the fiscal year — Sept. 30 — by a
348-67 vote Aug. 18. The Senate
approved it on a voice vote two days
later.
Reagan vetoed the measure on
Aug. 28, complaining it contains too
much in unrequested funds for social
programs. The measure also cut
funds from an area Reagan has
sought to boost — the military.
Reagan wants Congress to sustain
his veto and send him a bill he can
sign. If no supplemental bill is
enacted, money to pay most federal
workers will run out Sept. 15.
“It is not right government workers
should be caught in the middle of
this,” Reagan said in a statement
issued Wednesday.
“The Congress must shoulder its
responsibility, sustain the veto and re
turn to me a spending bill within our
budget if we are to continue bringing
down inflation and lowering interest
rates. Only through discipline can we
spur economic growth and put our
people back to work,” he said.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter,
however. House Speaker Thomas
O’Neill, Democratic Leader Jim
Wright and assistant Democratic
Leader Thomas Foley urged Demo
crats to override the Reagan veto.
“The sad fact is, the president’s
veto of the supplemental appropria
tions bill is based not on any economic
logic, but on politics and public rela
tions,” they wrote.
“The supplemental is not over
budget. It is under budget — almost
$2 billion under budget — and the
president knows it.”
“In the interests of the country,
and the 13 million unemployed, we
urge you to override this veto, end
this sideshow, and return to the vital
business of putting America back to
work.”
Reagan met with about 20 mem
bers of Congress late Wednesday
veto
afternoon, but he discussed only the
balanced budget constitutional
amendment languishing in a House
committee, and did not mention the
supplemental overridv. vote.
“I don’t think the votes are there to
override and I think he knows that,”
said Rep. Chafes Wilson, D-Texas,
one of those who attended the
meeting.
Deputy White House press secret
ary Larry Speakes told reporters, “We
are cautiously optimistic, but we real
ize it will be very close.”
vice
Men
lorn
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Students adapt to carrels, ‘tripled’ rooms
by Rebeca Zimmermann
’ Battalion Staff
j^BMy bed is on the floor. There are
only two desks. I can’t really unpack
^^—anything because they might move
^^fary Millan, a freshman special
^^■ication major from Houston,
the problem facing 74 other
wonen — snaring a dorm room with
two roommates instead of one.
■ Other students still are housed in
^■dy carrels — 24 women and two
^■n. The two men will be moved to
re^ lar rooms soon, Housing Ser-
Hes Supervisor Jim Wallace said.
■ But women living in study carrels
^■and those living three to a room —
probably are there for the entire
semester, he said.
■ Students who live in carrels or tri
pled dorm rooms after Sept. 17 will
^Keive a 25 percent dorm rent re
fund, Wallace said.
I Lisa Doerksen, a sophomore zool-
By major from Houston living in a
study carrel/dorm room in Mosher, is
philosophical about the problem.
H “It’s gotten cozy,” she said. “I tend
to think constructively about this.”
^■ie room has a thermostat, a lock on
door and plenty of outlets.
“The only disadvantage I can see is
not having a bathroom, but it’s right
across the hall,” she said.
“It’s just five extra steps to the
bathroom. I think I can handle that.”
She said her carrel room is prob
ably as large as regular rooms.
“Considering I am going to get
that discount, I’m more than happy
here,” she said.
Four people were housed in the
carrel, but two got permanent assign
ments, she said.
Desk tops line two walls of the car
rel; a metal bunk bed is against one
wall. The frame of another bunk bed
stands in the middle of the room,
awaiting removal. An unconnected
phone cord dangles from the ceiling.
Doerksen said if she is still in the
carrel Sept. 17, a phone will be put in
the room. If she needs to use a phone,
she uses one in a friend’s room. With
out a phone, it’s difficult to sign up for
organizations, she said.
She has no hanging rack now; her
clothes hang from the end of the
bunk bed. She said her roommate
hangs her clothes in a friend’s room.
Getting mail is another problem
for students living in carrels — P osl
office boxes for Commons dorms*are
by room numbers. Doerksen receives
mail in a friend’s mailbox.
Living in a study carrel has been
something of a novelty for people, she
said.
“People that we don’t even know
knock on the door and asked to see
how we were living,” she said.
Doerksen said she is not too upset
about living in the carrel because she
knew she only was guaranteed tem
porary housing.
But other students are upset about
the overbooked, crowded situation in
the residence halls.
Millan is “living out of boxes” in
one of the modular dorms. She sleeps
on a mattress on the floor. Modular
dorms have two standard closets and
two storage closets, so closet space is
available. But, two chest of drawers
don’t provide enough storage space
for three women.
One of Millan’s roommates, gener
al studies major Susan Bradfield of
Houston, also is upset about the tri
pling in rooms.
“They shouldn’t have overbooked
so much,” Bradfield said.
But Bradfield agreed with Doerk
sen on one advantage to living in tri
ples and carrels — cheaper rates.
Frick Caradec, a general studies major,
may have been a little shocked when he
came back from ^ classes Wednesday and
found his room — outside Puryear Hall.
When his hallmates were asked why they
moved Caradec’s belongings outdoors, one
said, “I don’t know; it was there.”
Caradec is a freshman from Seabrook.
“It’s not that bad having three peo
ple in rooms because there’s space —
it’s having three people’s stuff where
two are supposed to live that’s bad,”
she said.
He said the housing staff will begin
checking with students in tripled
rooms to see what furniture they
need. Metal cots and a chest of draw
ers will be provided for the third stu
dent in a room. Students living in
study carrels also will receive a clo
thing rack because no closet space is
available for them.
Some students in triples have
asked why triples seem to he on the
“short” side of the modular dorms.
Rooms on one side of modular dorms
are a foot or two longer than rodms
on the opposite side.
Wallace said the long rooms were
reserved by upperclassmen in the
spring, so freshmen ended up on the
short end of the hall. Because more
freshmen showed up than the hous
ing office anticipated, freshmen and
other new students are assigned to the
available spaces and frequently end
up in tripled rooms.
He said other universities are hav
ing similar housing shortages this fall.
Texas Christian University, the Uni
versity of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
University and Louisiana State Uni
versity had to assign students to tri
pled rooms this semester, he said.
staff photo by Rebeca Zimmermann
Lisa Doerksen reads in her study carrel/dorm room.
Israeli planes destroy
Syrian missile battery
United Press International
Israel said Wednesday that its war
planes destroyed a Syrian SAM-9
anti-aircraft battery in eastern Leba
non near the confrontation line divid
ing Syrian and Israeli forces.
Prime Minister Menachem Begin,
who announced the raid in Jerusalem
during an address to the parliament,
warned that Israel was determined to
make sure Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa
valley remained free of the Soviet-
made SAM batteries.
The Israeli military command pin
pointed the site of the missile battery
as Dahr al Baide, 6.6 miles northeast
of the town of Bhamdoun in the cen
tral Chouf mountain region. The
command described the target as “a
vehicle for launching SAM-9” mis
siles.
The Israeli attack on the missile
launcher came one day after a fire-
fight near the Bekaa valley broke the
ceasefire along Syrian-Israeli lines.
Eight Israeli soldiers were
abducted near Bhamdoun Saturday
near Syrian lines and a Palestinian
guerrilla group in Damascus claimed
responsibility for the action. Israel de
manded Syria return the soldiers or
face retaliation.
Israel has knocked out more than
20 Soviet surface-to-air missile batter
ies this summer, including a strike on
the third day of the Lebanon war that
took out 19 in the Bekaa.
In Beirut, a U.S. Marine spokes
man said the 800-man American con
tingent in the multinational peace
keeping force would be withdrawn
Friday. The force, which included
French and Italian troops, supervisecf
the evacuation of Palestinian guerril
las from the Lebanese city completed
last week.
In Abu Dhabi, the Emirates News
Agency said Arab leaders meeting in
Morocco adopted a Middle East peace
plan that includes portions of Presi
dent Reagan’s new blueprint and
agreed to end the mandate of the Sy
rian forces in Lebanon in return for
an Israeli withdrawal.
Mexico bans food exports
United Press International
MEXICO CITY — Mexico has banned most exports of
fruits, vegetables and many consumer goods in a move to
stop bargain-hunting Americans from carting off low-
cost items.
“Recent modifications in our parity and exchange
practices have seen a corresponding unwanted increase
in purchases of basic products in Mexico by comsumers
from the U.S. side, hurting the supply for the national
population,” a commerce ministry bulletin said Tuesday.
It said the government would increase border searches
by customs agents and officials of the Foreign Commerce
Controls office to stop the massive exports of consumer
goods.
However, it did not state if U.S. residents caught with
large amounts of the goods would be arrested.
Exports of fruits and vegetables last year totaled $515
million, the most important part of Mexico’s $2 billion
agricultural exports in 1981, the government’s central
bank report showed.
In addition to fruits and vegetables, other products
needing commerce ministry export permits are tortillas,
bread, sugar, rice, beans, dried soups, eggs, soap, deter
gents, cooking oil, canned foods and meat.
Other restricted items are crackers, wheat flour, milk,
margarine, lard, cream and other milk products.
The ministry called on Mexican border residents to aid
in enforcing the new measure, stating that they are the
one who benefit from the government’s policy of sub
sidizing consumer goods.
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Bookkeeping switch delays IRS layoffs
United Press International
WASHINGTON — An in-house
transfer of funds averted — at least
for now — the furlough of 19,000
Internal Revenue Service employees.
But a threatening money dispute be
tween the White House and Congress
remains unresolved.
Just as nationwide IRS furloughs
were to begin at the close of business
Tuesday, an agreement was reached
with Senate chairmen to allow a book
keeping switch to meet payrolls de
spite a lack of funds.
The still precarious situation is the
result of President Reagan’s Aug. 28
veto of a $14.2 billion supplemental
appropriations bill passed by Con
gress, to keep several agencies funded
through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal
year.
Reagan rejected the bill, claiming it
contained too much unrequested
money for domestic programs. Con
gressional aides said he also was upset
because it cut Pentagon spending.
Congress reconvened from its
Labor Day vacation Wednesday and a
major item will be an attempt to over
ride Reagan’s veto. Chances of suc
cess are rated as poor.
Reagan wants Congress to sustain
the veto, then pass a bill he can sign.
If a resolution of the veto dispute is
not reached soon, officials said it is
possible IRS employees will be
threatened once again with a fur
lough — possibly within a few days.
Other problems also would mount,
such as the armed forces going with
out pay and federal functions as
routine as meat inspections being
jeopardized.
Just hours before the fund transfer
approval, Vincent Connery, head of
the National Treasury Employees
Union, announced he was filing a
class-action appeal of the furloughs
with the government’s Merit Systems
Protection Board.
And IRS Commissioner Roscoe
Egger apologized to the IRS em
ployees threatened with layoffs,
thanking them “for their patience
and understanding during the last
few days.”
Across the country IRS employees,
who had been notified by their super
visors of the furloughs, locked their
desks. Many left early, not knowing
when they would return.
The temporary solution was
announced in a telephone call from
Sen. James Abdnor, R-S.D., to Treas
ury Secretary Donald Regan.
Abdnor is chairman of a Senate
Appropriations subcommittee that
deals with the Treasury Department
funding. He and the Appropriations
Committee chairman, Sen. Mark Hat
field, R-Ore., agreed to allow the
switch of IRS funds to pay the 19,000
employees who thought they would
be laid off indefinitely.
The action also forestalls the next
threatened wave of layoffs on Friday
of another 20,000 IRS employees that
would have halted all tax audits.
"We are pleased the committee
chairmen have acted to avert this dis
ruption of government service,”
Treasury Department spokesman
Marlin Fitzwater said.
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forecast
Today’s Forecast: Same as usual.
High in the high 90s, low in the
mid-70s. Slight chance of after
noon showers.