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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1982)
Texas A&M Battalion Serving the University community College Station, Texas. Tuesday, October 5, 1982 Israel strikes again United Press International Israeli jets, in swift reprisal for the slaying of six soldiers, pounded Sy rian positions in eastern Lebanon, but Israel indicated the new Fighting should not stop talks on a pullout of all foreign forces from the country. Israeli demands that all Palestinian guerrillas leave Lebanon before an Israeli and Syrian withdrawal were high on the agenda of a meeting to day in Jerusalem between U.S. envoy Morris Draper and Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Israel Television quoted govern ment sources as saying the recent fighting should not impair efforts to achieve a withdrawal agreement, based on an early Palestinian pullout. “The (ambush), though painful, should not divert from the final aim — the removal of all terrorists (guer rillas) from Lebanon,” the television report quoted the sources as saying. In the port of Tripoli, 50 miles north of Beirut, 20 people were killed and 45 others wounded in two days of fighting between leftist militias and Syrian troops before a ceasefire en ded hostilities, witnesses said Monday. Syrians, aided by Lebanese pro- Syrian Aloeite factions, and Sunni Moslems fought with machine guns, artillery and rocket-propelled gre nades. The groups have been feuding since the Syrians entered Lebanon in 1976 as peace-keepers. In Beirut, Chefik Wazzan, appointed to a new term as prime minister by President Amin Gemayel, today was meeting with parliament leaders to form a new Cabinet to lead “a government of national salvation.” Israeli jet fighters, in two waves, destroyed a Syrian SAM-9 emplace ment in the mountains east of Beirut Monday and pounded troop posi tions on the strategic Beirut- Damascus highway. Lebanese officials said the initial attack, 23 hours after an eastern Lebanon ambush on a bus carrying Israeli troops that killed six and wounded 22, hit Syrian positions at Ain Dara and a missile site at Dahr al Baidar, both around 20 miles east of the capital. The second wave, described by officials as “more intense,” struck positions on the Beirut-Damascus highway at Mdeirej, just east of Ain Dara. But a Syrian spokesman said its air defense prevented Israel from “carrying out its goals.” Israeli officials said after a two- hour special Cabinet meeting Mon day the ambush had hardened Israel’s resolve to insist all PLO guer rillas leave Lebanon before the with drawal of Syrian and Israeli troops. Military sources said between 4,000 and 5,000 PLO guerrillas were de ployed behind 25,000 Syrian troops in the Bekaa Valley. Another 3,000 Palestinians were said to be in Tripoli. Israel reportedly has 70,000 troops in Lebanon. Cemayel has said he wants all fore ign troops out of Lebanon. Habib briefed Italian officials in Rome Monday on his Middle East shuttle mission aimed at getting fore ign forces out of Lebanon. Before heading back to Washington, he said he would stop briefly in Paris to meet French officials. College Station citizens protest proposed increase James Walter Lee, a graduate poultry science major from Houston, will be honored tonight at 10:30 during Silver Taps. Lee was killed in an automobile accident Sept. 11. il worker shot; nowledge sought by Jennifer Carr Battalion Staff Complaints about budget formula tion and excessive programs were heard at the College Station School Board’s public hearing Monday, which concerned a proposed 19.48 percent increase in total tax revenues from properties on the roll in 1981. About 25 people gathered in the Oakwood Middle School library to discuss and question the proposal, which could increase some homeow ners’ taxes almost 100 percent. The board will vote on the propos al at 7 p.m. Monday at Oakwood Mid dle School, 106 Holik. The tax rate dropped from $1.18 per $ 100 value in 1981 to 92 cents per $100 this year because of a larger tax base created by a personal property reappraisal. The last property appraisal was made in 1977. Since the 19.48 percent increase is calculated on 1981 property evalua tions, however, the increase could be substantially more for some homeow ners when it is applied to the 1982 appraisal values. Several College Station homeow ners were concerned with what they felt was an excessive increase in the tax rate and questioned the need for such an increase. Jerry Cooper, of 602 Bell, editor of the Texas Aggie, said everyone must tighten his belt sometime. He said he doesn’t argue about the worth of the programs the board administers, but wanted to know if everything in the budget is necessary and important to children’s education. Dr. Bruce W. Robeck, board presi dent, said 60 percent of the increase was caused by a $15.5 million school district bond issue approved during the 1981-82 school year. Of the re maining 40 percent, he said, two- thirds are increases mandated by the state. Board Vice President Stan Sul- temeier said the problem involves de termining excessive programs. Teachers in the College Station Inde pendent School District received a 19 percent salary increase and the board added life insurance at $50 an em ployee, a program Sultemeier said he considers important. Both of these programs are affecting the budget this year, he said. The board agreed that the most effective way to cut the budget would be to increase class size. The ratio cur rently is one teacher for every 23 to 25 students in elementary schools. The board said they believed the com munity was not in favor of increasing that ratio, however. Cooper and Page Higgins, 314 Lee Avenue, a former school teacher, agreed that one problem with the school board budget is that it is not based on available funds. Trustee John C. Reagor said the budget is set and the state- appropriated money is subtracted from the total amount. The remain der is the amount that must be raised locally, he said. By making an arith metic calculation, he said, the board can see how much the tax rate must be increased. Cooper and Higgins said they think the school board should take a look at the money it has and spend it in the most effective manner possible. Allen M. Linton, 134 Luther, who has lived in the area since 1953 and has sent five boys through school, also objected to overspending the budget. Both Cooper and Higgins said a return to the basics of reading, writ ing and arithmetic might not be a bad idea. Cooper said schools are teaching too many programs that should be optional. Sultemeier disagreed, citing the Legislature’s mandate to teach free enterprise. He said schools must teach more than the three Rs. “It’s not what you can pay for, it’s what you want to pay for,” Sultemeier said. Machine gun ambush kills 6 Israeli soldiers, wounds 22 United Press International PORT ARTHUR — American Pet- Co. is offering a $50,000 re gard for information leading to an arrest in the shooting of an employee [who crossed an workers inday in ; Drive of the rline, a spokesman said Monday, the® The company offered the reward an( | in the Saturday shooting of William f Hinote, 51, of Port Neches. Hinote as hit with four .22-caliber bullets bout 5:30 a.m. Saturday in front of his home as he was leaving for work, police said. f He was listed in stable condition at Mid-Jefferson County Hospital. Port Neches police, still investigat ing, said they had turned up no link tetween the shooting and the strike of the American Petrofina plant, under way since Jan. 8. Spokesman Gary Bruner said the company suspected the shooting was related to Hinote’s crossing of the picket lines set up by 400 members of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Local 4-23. Union officials were angry anyone would hint the shooting was tied to the strike. Doug Dubose, chairman of the OCAW Petrofina workmen’s commit tee, said members of OCAW are “not a bunch of terrorists. We’re just a bunch of working people trying to negotiate a contract with the com pany.” United Press International Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin called his Cabinet into special session today to weigh Israel’s re sponse to a machine gun and bazooka ambush in eastern Lebanon that kil led six Israeli soldiers and wounded 22 others. Israeli troops, lighting the night sky with flares, searched Monday near Syrian lines in mountainous east Lebanon for gunmen who ambushed an Israeli troop bus Sunday 4 miles from Syrian lines. Israel Radio blamed Palestine Liberation Organization guerrillas operating from behind Syrian lines, but the government has held the Sy rian goverrlment responsible for such attacks in the past. “This is serious and necessitates deliberations,” one government offi- Class pictures scheduled for Aggieland Pictures for the Aggieland are being taken for freshmen and Soph omores this week through Oct. 15 in the Memorial Student Center in Room 350 and at Yearbook Associ ates studio at 9700 Puryear Dr. Picture taking for juniors and seniors will start Oct. 22 at the studio. inside Classified 6 National 7 Opinions 2 Sports 9 State 5 Whatsup 8 forecast High in the mid- to upper-80s, low in the lower 60s tonight. Clear skies. cial told Israel’s Armed Forces Radio. U.S. envoy Philip Habib Sunday ended two days of talks with Syrian leaders in Damascus on the withdraw al of 25,000 Syrian and 70,000 Israeli troops from central and southern Lebanon. Syrian officials said Habib was told Syria was ready to withdraw from Lebanon simultaneously with Israeli forces, but said the 10,000 PLO guer rillas there “is an issue that concerns only the Palestine Liberation Organi zation.” Habib, following talks with Syrian President Hafez Assad and foreign ministry officials, boarded a jet Sun day and headed for Washington. He was making a brief stopover in Rome. In Tel Aviv, Israeli officials scoffed at suggestions Syria might not be able to force the PLO fighters to leave. Israel Radio said Sunday’s attack makes the withdrawal of PLO forces from the area more crucial. An Israeli army spokesman said a band of men with light weapons and a bazooka Sunday ambushed the troop bus from behind a stone wall 4 miles from Syrian lines, shattering all the windows and destroying the tires of the bus. The army said six men were killed and 22 were wounded in the attack, 400 yards east of the small town of Aley, situated 10 miles east of Beirut. The Israelis immediately shut the Damascus-Beirut highway and began a search of the area. Flares used to aid night search parties were seen in Beirut, where U.S., Italian and French peace-keeping forces guard the streets. In Tel Aviv, reports said senior army officers gave Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon a tongue- lashing over the Sept. 16-18 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut but their criticism stopped short of de manding he resign. An army spokesman denied a Lon don Sunday Times report that the en tire Israeli general staff, led by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Rafael Eitan, deman ded Sharon step down last week. Search officials in Beirut said the number of bodies found at the re fugee camps remained at 337, with hundreds more missing and pre sumed dead. Though it is not likely the bodies of many of the victims will ever be reco vered, Lebanese officials have esti mated the actual death toll at about 1,500 people. New Soviet launch marks anniversary United Press International MOSCOW — The Soviet Union, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, boasted two of its cosmonauts now in orbit may stay “up there forever” and break the current space endurance record. The official Soviet news agency Tass waited until Monday, the anniversary of the Spunik 1 flight, to report the launch Saturday of Cos mos 1412. The mission of the new satellite was not revealed but it was unlikely the launch involved a new section for an expansion of the Salyut 7 space station because of differences in orbits. At a news conference, space offi cials hinted the two-man crew aboard Salyut 7 might try to break the endur ance record of 185 consecutive days in space. “If our people get all the necessary supplies they can stay up there fore ver,” said Nikolai Rukavishnikov, a former cosmonaut who is now a senior official in the Soviet space program. “This mission will last for some time,” he said of the flight of Valentin Lebedev and Anatoly Berezovoy. The cosmonauts were launched May 13 and will eclipse the endurance record Nov. 14. Both men were shown by Soviet television aboard the space platform on Monday. Lebedev and Berezovoy used 900 pounds of fuel last week in a maneuv er that carried their capsule-space- station-supply-ship complex into an orbit 40 miles higher than had been established. The change increased speculation the Soviets were planning an impor tant mission to coincide with the Sput nik anniversary. But Gen. Anatoly Filippchenko declined to say at the news conference why the change was made. The New System staff photo by Octavio Garcia The new system for book circulation in the Evans Library was inaugurated Monday by President Frank E. Vandiver who checked out two books and received his library card from Nancy Kent, the circulation supervisor. The new system will be almost 100 percent operative by next spring. The library staff is working on labeling the remaining books and materials that are not yet under the new system. See related story on Page 4.