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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 1982)
The Battalion Serving the University community ol.76 No. 56 USPS 045360 18 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, November 17, 1982 f ter threeapps Supreme CoJ •S. SupremeG| Court that Neardidtl egin mourning slows withdrawal aded guilty j a lile senterM in 1974. I tai li\es in* United Press International ainty. He d ‘Israeli Prime Minister ihngo, andpdBiachem Begin began a week-long ' ™iod of mourning after the funeral is wife, disrupting U.S. diplomatic rts to withdraw all Israeli, Syrian Palestinian forces from Lebanon, s said. In Beirut, Lebanese President in Qemayel returned from a 36- r trip to Saudi Arabia, met with top aides and scheduled more tings today on the results of his 5 with officials of the desert dom. back roads ar« nan with a til s to avoid tlit 1 did go to Rich Virginia's mi ion, that ■ Frank Cop| ; didn’t s moved to im at a vigil id out here K Lebanese state-run televison, quot ing Saudi sources, said there would be limited Israeli troop withdrawals from areas just south of Beirut soon, and Saudi King Fahd telephoned President Reagan during Gemayel’s visit to urge the United States to help speed up the Israeli pullback. Gemayel reportedly asked the Saudis to pressure the Syrians and the Palestine Liberation Organization to withdraw their forces from Lebanon. The oil-rich kingdom can influence Damascus and the PLO because of its financial support. “It seems the Saudis will approach the Syrians and the Palestinians on this issue, but who knows where it will go from there,” a Lebanese govern ment source said. Begin began observing the tradi tional Jewish seven-day mourning period after his wife of 43 years, Ali- za, was buried Monday in the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, overlooking the walled Old City. During the customary period of mourning, called “shiva” or “seven” in Hebrew, close relatives of the de ceased remain at home to receive con dolence visits and hold prayer ses sions. Begin’s aides said the prime minis ter woidd resume his normal work load at the end of the mourning period next week and expressed con fidence he would overcome his per sonal loss quickly. But the aides also said they ex pected Begin’s days of seclusion would temporarily disrupt the diplo matic efforts to bring about the with drawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. Reports in Beirut said Gemayel is expected to meet soon with Syrian President Hafez Assad on the with drawal of 25,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon, although no date has been set for the talks. Israel also has some 30,000 soldiers stationed in Lebanon, and some 7,000 to 10,000 Palestinian guerrillas re main in the country. Israel insists on the withdrawal of Palestinian and Syrian troops from Lebanon and security arrangements in a zone about 25 miles above its northern border as conditions for y Diamonds| at >unt Prices IZING IN si; tGGIE :t. stone 4 ct. stone IZES AVAILABl!| \bove Average Qua*) L MARK 6-9600 fghan febels ttack A A United Press International JiW DELHI, India — Moslem is blew up three restaurants le Afghan capital of Kabul, killing last Hi Afghan Communist Party ialsand injuring 27 others, West- liplomats said Tuesday. Hie time bombs which exploded rsday destroyed the three expen- restaurants, frequented by party Icials and secret police, the cliplo- said. Soviet-controlled Afghan |ss confirmed the explosions and ■irted 16 people died and 27 were fired. /Put witnesses told the diplomats 130 people may have died in the It, llhe witnesses were quoted as jthe three explosions occurred [tin 45 minutes. Communist Party rials reportedly went to the re- ■rants to meet prostitutes. line blast was so powerful it also litroyed a shoe and dress shop next rand blew a hole through the md story above the ground floor aurant. mother time bomb was discovered 1 fourth restaurant and was deton- H in a nearby park by Afghan jirity officials. The explosions came nine days af- an accident involving two Soviet itary convoys in v the Salang Pass Ittel in northern 'Afghanistan in |ich hundreds of people died from location. he Western diplomats said while st of the Soviet soldiers and ;han civilians died breathing ex- st fumes while in the tunnel, “a bet of victims had bullet unds.” The bullet wounds lend credence reports that Soviet soldiers who n posts at each end of the tunnel re under the assumption the rebels tl attacked and fired at people to leave the tunnel,” one diplo- itsaid. The Salang Pass tunnel normally is id by traffic traveling in one direc- ii at a time. When both Soviet con centered the tunnel from oppo- leends Nov. 3, the two lead vehicles Bided, causing a backlog of traffic ide the tunnel. Only 10 class days left! photo by Jennifer Wayman Commencement is only 23 days away, and caps and gowns have arrived at the Texas A&M Bookstore in the Memorial Student Center. Here, Beth Anderson of San Antonio gets a head start by trying on her cap as Beverly Galick of Bremond looks on. Both are senior accounting majors. Graduating seniors, please see “Attention, shoppers” below for details on gowns and commencement announcements. pulling out its forces from the country. Begin broke off a U.S. tour Sunday to return home for his wife’s funeral, canceling a summit meeting with President Reagan that was scheduled for later this week. The summit was to have signaled a greater American involvement in efforts to settle the Lebanon problem and reactivate the stalled talks on autonomy for the 1.1 million Palesti nians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Campus theft reported Computer equipment valued at $8,680 was stolen from the chemical engineering department in the Zachry Engineering Center between 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, University police say. Police investigating the theft Mon day found no signs of forced entry. Marsha Claycamp, a word- processor operator in the chemical engineering office, called police Mon day morning when she noticed the equipment was missing. University Police Chief John McDonald said police found a cart from the second floor in the basement of Zachry. McDonald said police assume the cart was used to carry the computer equipment in an elevator to the basement. McDonald said the equipment then was loaded into a vehicle by the southeast entrance of Zachry. McDonald said police have no sus pects or witnesses in the case. About 20 department personnel have keys to the chemical engineering office, he said. Police were unable to get any clues from the cart because mainte nance and office personnel handled the cart before police arrived, he said. McDonald said Crime Stoppers will film a re-enactment of the crime Thursday. “A crime like this one is going to he a dead end,” McDonald said. “Hope fully someone saw it happen but just didn’t realize what they saw.” Religion in public classrooms discussed by Rebeca Zimmermann Battalion Staff Religion in public schools often is a difficult issue to resolve, and panel members at a sympo sium Tuesday sponsored by the Brazos Civil Liberties Union didn’t find the questions any easier. The keynote speaker for the symposium, which dealt primarily with elementary and secondary education, said such religious wor ship as prayer and devotional readings shouldn’t be part of public education. “Public school is a place for learning, not worship,” said Dr. James E. Wood, director of the J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State at Baylor University. But Wood, a Baptist minister, said he be lieves religion should be part of public educa tion because a person’s education is incomplete without religious knowledge. The question of legislation concerning prayer in public schools also was discussed. Rev. Stan Suitemeier, a Lutheran minister and a member of the College Station school board, said current efforts to pass a voluntary prayer amendment in Congress seem to be a political issue rather than a religious issue. Wood said legislative attempts to put prayer in schools are aimed at circumventing Supreme Court and federal court decisions against public school prayers. Individual, voluntary prayer isn’t prohi bited, nor is religion as an academic subject, he said. But prayers and other religious activities are excluded from school curricula, Wood said. Karen Susman, an attorney representing the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said freedom from religion is needed • Other issues discussed by the panel included celebration of religious holidays in classrooms and local incidents of religion in classrooms. College Station Superintendent Richard Burnett said Christmas programs and class pro jects are voluntary religious activities. Jewish students are allowed time off to observe their religious holidays, he said. But Susman said she strongly opposes a separate-but-equal policy, such as elevating the celebration of Hannukah to “make up” for Christmas. Burnett and Dr. Wesley Summers, Bryan school district superintendent, said they were not aware of any recent attempts to organize prayer sessions in classrooms. This happened about eight years ago, but the district asked the teacher to discontinue the practice, Burnett said. One member of the audience asked if prayers before football games violated the Con stitution. Wood said prayers at football games are a questionable practice and serve little good. But Susman said: “It’s hard to know where to draw the line.” s(J» S ttention, hoppers •Student tickets for the Texas i&M-University of Texas football ame, to be played in Austin on iov. 25 at 1 p.m., went on sale this norning. Seniors and graduate students lay pick up their tickets until 4 m. this afternoon at G. Rollie hite Coliseum. Tickets cost $12 ach. Juniors may buy their tickets letween 7 a.m. and noon on Thursday and sophomores may o the same between noon and 4 •m. the same day. Freshmen and students not able purchase tickets on their issigned day may buy them Friday letween 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. •Graduating students may buy arrent their caps and gowns at the Texas A&M Bookstore in the Memorial Student Center. Bache lor’s gowns cost $11.50; robes for aster’s candidates are $12.50. •Commencement announce- icnts have arrived and can be picked up in the MSC Browsing 'ibrary. U.S.-Soviet tensions may ease by Jan Werner Battalion Staff The death of Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev and the result ing change in leadership in the USSR offer a valuable opportunity for improved relations between the Soviet Union and the United States, several Texas A&M profes sors who specialize in U.S.-Soviet affairs say. Yuri Andropov has been selected to take Brezhnev’s place as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. Whether he also will assume the Soviet pres idency and consolidate his leader ship position is a matter of specula tion. Dr. George Pejovich, director of the Center for Education and Research in Free Enterprise, said he anticipates a period of upheaval before a strong leader emerges. “The Soviet leader holds a great deal of power,” Pejovich said. “Brezhnev was a very strong man to hold such a position for so long, and a strong man does not allow other strong men around him.” The Soviet leadership probably will undergo a turbulent transition similar to that which occurred af ter Joseph Stalin’s death, Pejovich said. But Dr. John Robertson, a spe cialist in comparative politics in the political science department, said the two situations aren’t similar. “The USSR is much more stable, much more efficient in their administration and has much more international prestige than was the case after Stalin’s death,” Robertson said. Andropov doesn’t have the political power Brezhnev posses sed, he said. Even if Andropov’s present leadership is stable, he is elderly and in poor health. The average age of the Politburo mem bership is 70, and the younger generation of Soviet bureaucrats has little experience in the skillful political manuevering needed to run the country, Robertson said. “Andropov won’t want to leave important policy changes up to that younger generation,” Robert son said. “They don’t have the ex pertise necessary and also, he wants to leave his mark on his tory.” Dr. Betty Unterberger, U.S.- Soviet relations specialist in the history department, agreed that changes are inevitable and Andro pov is in a position to implement those changes. Andropov already has estab lished his position as Soviet leader through his election to the position of general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, as well as his membership in the Politburo, the Soviet Union’s ruling body, Unter berger said. “The Communist Party con trols everything in the Soviet Un ion and every Soviet leader in the country’s history has been general secretary of the Party,” she said. Andropov is in a more powerful position than any of the other Politburo members and is likely to remain in that position, Unterber ger said. The new leadership will be more willing to negotiate with the United States and other Western countries, she said. “It’s in their best interests to seek peace with the West,” Unter berger said. The continuing and mounting difficulties with Poland in the east and Afghanistan in the west will force the Soviets to move toward cooperation with the estern na tions, she said. “They are very much aware of the limits of their power and they are facing a conflagration on both sides,” Unterberger said. “They’re going to have to soften their stance.” Robertson agreed that the Soviet Union’s problems with Po land and Afghanistan will be signi ficant in determining a new fore ign policy. The Soviet Union also is con cerned about its relationship with China and the Asian countries, see BREZHNEV page 13 inside Classified Local. . . . National. Opinions Sports. . . State .... 6 3 7 15 4 forecast H Today’s Forecast: Cloudy skies today with cool temperatures. High in the upper 50s, with tonight’s low in the lower 50s.