The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 12, 1983, Image 1

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 12, 1983, Image 1

Newspaper Page Text* The Battalion Serving the University community 76 No. 75 USPS 045360 12 Pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, January 12, 1983 sworn in, fate uncertain rnner House Speaker mnglake, left, John ichel Halbouty, both Bill Clayton of R. Blocker and of Houston, are staff photo by Diana Sultenfuss sworn in as members of the Texas A&M Board of Regents. The ceremony was held Tuesday at the state capitol. by Gary Barker and Denise Richter Battalion Staff AUSTIN — Three appointees to the Texas A&M Board of Regents were sworn in for six-year terms Tuesday, but the state Senate still must decide on the fate of those and other lame-duck appointments made by Gov. Bill Clements. Clements reappointed John R. Blocker of Houston to the nine- member board and named former House Speaker Bill Clayton of Springlake and Michel Halbouty of Houston to replace H.C. “Dulie” Bell of Austin and Dr. John Coleman of Houston. However, appointments made by Clements since the Nov. 2 election are in limbo because of Gov.-elect Mark White’s opposition. White, who took office Tuesday, told a group of supporters Saturday that it would be fine if the Senate re jected the appointments. White has said the appointments are a matter that should be left up to the Senate. However, Sen. Oscar Mauzy, D-Dallas, Sen. John Whit mire, D-Houston, Sen. Lloyd Dog- gett, D-Austin, have said they expect White to ask the Senate to return the appointments. Sen. Kent Caperton, D-Bryan, and Sen. Chet Brooks, D- Pasadena, have said that they think the Senate will return the appoint ments upon White’s request. A majority of the 31 senators — 26 Democrats and five Republicans — are required to return the appoint ments. Democratic senators were sche duled to meet with White and Lt. Gov. William Hobby on Tuesday to decide whether to reject Clements’ appoint ments or to begin confirmation pro ceedings immediately. Caperton said he thinks a majority of the senators favor sending all of Clements’ appointments back to White for consideration, “The policy consideration here is whether lame-duck governors have the right to make appointments,” Caperton said in a telephone inter view Monday. “It is not a question of rejecting individuals. It’s my position that lame-duck appointments should not be allowed. The newly elected governor should have some control over the agencies, commissions and institutions of higher learning in the state. “If Clements’ appointments go through, they are answerable to him. It is important that this potential ac tion is not construed as a rejection of any of Clements’ appointments. For example, if the names are returned to White, I will, urge White to appoint John Blocker, who has been a fine regent.” During the 1981 legislative session, Caperton sponsored a bill that would have prevented lame-duck appoint ments, which Clements vetoed. H.R. “Bum” Bright of Dallas, chairman of the Texas A&M Board of Regents, said: “A lot of people urged the Legislature to pass the bill (chang ing dates at which regent’s terms ex pired) so that it would be effective for the next governor. In the form it was in, it would have been effective for Clements. He was subject to (lame- duck appointments) just like White. The bill should have been passed to be effective for the next governor’s term.” Caperton said he and Sen. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, have submitted a similar bill to be considered during this session of the Legislature. Clements has said that his Demo cratic predecessors traditionally made llth-hour appointments be fore leaving office and insisted he is carrying out his legal responsibilities. “I think any governor should be charged with the authority and re sponsibility of the office until the mo ment he leaves office,” Clements said Tuesday during a press conference. “I’ve always felt that the Senate would see REGENTS, page 12 defense secretary proposes cuts )f $11.3 billion in military United Press International WASHINGTON — Defense Sec tary Caspar Weinberger, apparent- bowing to White House pressure, oposed Tuesday to cut military ending for the coming year bv ab- it $8 billion. Weinberger said the saving can be ade because of reduced fuel co,sts 'd falling inflation. Weinberger made the announce- e nt at a surprise appearance before routine Pentagon briefing. He said budget authority for fiscal year 1984 can be cut by $1 1.3 billion from the $284.7 originally proposed in 1982. But the actual savings, which would reduce the deficit, would be a real cut of about $8 billion in spend ing authority during fiscal 1984, which begins Oct.. 1. “I have recommended to the presi dent that we can reduce the proposed defense budget by $11.3 billion in budget authority from the $284.7 bil lion budget authority we originally proposed in 1982,” the secretary said, reading from a prepared statement, “None of these reductions would adversely affect the major programs needed to regain our national secur ity and to restore the balance by which we can effectively maintain peace and prevent aggression,” he said. “But I cannot recommend any further reductions beyond those dis cussed here in view of the threat we still face,” Most of the major weapons prog rams proposed by the administration already haye been approved by the Congress. They include building to ward a 600-ship Navy, the B-l bom ber, the Navy’s F-18 fighter-bomber and the Army’s M-l tank. Only the MX missile and its prop osed $26 billion basing plan has not been resolved. Even with the latest reduction, the proposed fiscal 1984 budget still will be $31 billion more in actual spending than that recently approved by Con gress for fiscal 1983. 7 ourth person to leave Reagan Cabinet; Schweiker to resign u/ac'Mt* 16 ** Press International WASHINGTON — Health ar uman Services Secretary Richa hweiker will leave the governmen sgest department next month at tome the fourth person to quit tl jDinet since President Reagan to< Schweiker, 56, will take a six-figure ar }' as president of the 572- ember American Council of Life surance, a lobbying group based in ashington, administration sources Add/drops, registration begin today clayed registration and drop/adds yn today in Texas A&M’s new A Mutation Center, the renovated l^fl Husbandry Pavilion, b, r. a ^ d re g is tration ends on Fri Wri nda y a * so * s rhe l ast d a y t( :har ° r Pay fees without a ,alt semester classes begir hp\ tin * s ^ le * asI - day to enroll ir : L diversity for the spring semes- he la , add new cou rses. It also i; erpHa . VTor students who regis 3a\ f e Unn g delayed registration tc inside passified bocal.. 10 anonai... “pinions . sports... State ... Al ' () undTowm forecast hff nued clea Sv n the u, f ‘S hl in die m CL cas t calls f OI said Tuesday night. Schweiker, considered a political liberal until he joined forces with Reagan, leaves government after 22 years — two in the Cabinet, a dozen in the Senate and eight in the House. White House aides said former Rep. Margaret Heckler, a Mas sachusetts Republican, is the leading candidate to take over the $276 billion Cabinet department whose programs touch nearly every American. 1 hey said it was possible her appointment could be announced today. The White House personnel of fice has been scouting for a government position for Heckler, who is popular with activist women’s groups. If Heckler is nominated, she would be the second woman Reagan has chosen for his Cabinet. Just last week, he named aide Elizabeth Dole the new transportation secretary. In a meeting with Reagan last Fri day, Schweiker said he would depart in early February to take an “irresisti ble offer,” officials said. Schweiker sent his letter of resignation Monday. It was to be formally announced to day, officials said. Schweiker has generally been a low-key Cabinet member and there were frequent reports he was not the prime policy-maker on social issues. He also reportedly had been in volved in some budget battles with the White House, but officials insisted that is not the reason he is leaving. Gramm’s re-election bid supported, spokesman says ■om staff and wire reports nocrat-turned-Republican Phil m began his campaign Monday e seat he resigned in Congress eek and his campaign spokes- ,aid here Tuesday that Gramm /erwhelming support, amm, who served as a member ; House of Representatives, is ng for re-election as a Republi- i the 6th Congressional District, includes Brazos County, rry Neal, Gramm’s press secret- ;aid Gramm has an excellent e of regaining his post in the il election Feb. 12. ramm drew the wrath of the .cratic party when he openly >rted and campaigned for Presi- ifonald Reagan’s economic poh- n turn, they voted not to reap- Gramm to the House Budget nittee. Last week, Gramm meed he would resign from ress as a Democrat and run for ction as a Republican. •sponse has been heavily in of Gramm,” Neal said from rn’s headquarters in Bryan, ire than 2,000 letters of support sent to Gramm’s Washington last week, Neal said. Although counts have not been taken, and letters received since then -unning 100-to-l in favor of im, he said. Republican pollster agreed that im has a good chance of regain- is post, and said Gramm has a »r than even” chance of winning Rep. Gramm the special election. “He wouldn’t have done this unless the polls showed him with a better- than-even chance,” Republican polls ter V. Lance Terrance of Houston said. Terrance said a 1978 poll of the 6th District, which stretches from south ern Dallas to the northern fringes of metropolitan Houston with mostly rural areas in between, showed that the district contained 32 percent hard-core supporters for each party, 22 percent independents and 15 per cent “weak” Democrats. Gramm, a former Texas A&M eco nomist, has delivered his pitch mainly to conservatives, who Terrance said make up 72 percent of the district’s registered voters. Polls indicate nine out of 10 voters recognize Gramm’s name, Terrance said. Media samplings of voters in the Dallas area last week indicated that a substantial number of voters perceive Gramm as a martyr who was punished by the party for following his constituents’ wishes, and they are willing to overlook his party change. Although Gramm seems to have considerable support, he is planning an extensive campaign, Neal said. Gramm has started a walking tour of his district to gain support. ’ Gramm said he hopes his consti tuents will help him as he has helped them in the past in Washington. “In 1980 and again last year, I asked for and received a strong mandate to gain control of federal spending, to stop inflation and to re duce the size and power of federal government,” Gramm said. “Now I’m asking the people of the district to stand up for me at home the same way I stood up for them in Washington.” Gramm began his campaign tour in Burleson, south of Fort Worth, and will visit cities throughout the district, ending his tour early next week. Gramm will stop in Bryan-College Station on Saturday. As Gramm geared up to regain his Gongressional post in the special elec tion, Democrats met last weekend in Dallas to plot their campaign strategy see Gramm,page 12 PLO leader says U.S. credibility poor in Mideast United Press International U.S. special envoy Philip Habib flew to Israel Tuesday on a new round of shuttle diplomacy, but Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat said the United States can no longer be trusted to mediate peace in the Middle East. Before leaving Washington, Habib said he was returning “on an urgent basis” in hopes of resolving a dispute that has held up talks be tween Israel and Lebanon on the removal of foreign troops from Lebanon. Arafat ended three days of talks with Jordan’s King Hussein in Am man before flying to Moscow to meet with Soviet leader Yuri Andro pov to discuss “current international efforts to bring about peace in the Middle East.” Arafat said the United States could no longer be trusted as an ob jective mediator in the region. “American credibility with me has been torn up in the massacres at Chatila and Sabra,” he said, refer ring to the Beirut refugee camps where hundreds of Palestinian civi lians were killed last September. Meanwhile, fighting began in Lebanon for the first time since Israeli troops withdrew to present positions following their invasion of west Beirut. Druze Moslem artillery shells crashed into Christian-held areas near the presidential palace, for the first time spreading 3-month-old sectarian battles into the suburbs of Beirut. The Christian Phalangist Voice of Lebanon radio xeported the Druze shelling had killed four people and wounded 10 others, with shells rain ing down over a wide area. In Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s adviser on ter rorism said Israel can expect another century of Arab “terror” despite the PLO evacuation from Beirut. “The Israeli people have gone through 100 years of Zionism and terror,” adviser Rafi Eitan said in an interview with Israel Radio. “I be lieve we still face 100 years pf Zion ism and, until the Israeli nation re sides securely in its land, another 100 years of terror.” Only minutes before the inter view, a small terrorist bomb ex ploded in the Old City of Jerusalem, injuring two Arab workers, police said. The interview also coincided with a PLO statement from Paris claim ing responsibility for a grenade attack on a Tel Aviv bus Saturday that injured 12 people. Habib, who said his first stop will be Israel, left Monday following a White House meeting with Presi dent Reagan, Vice President George Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz and Defense Secretary Cas par Weinberger, officials said. Habib said his assignment is to emphasize “on an urgent basis” the U.S. belief that problems with the agenda of the negotiations can be solved. Israel has insisted talks focus on future diplomatic relations between the two countries, but Lebanon maintains the talks must first lead to withdrawal of Israeli forces. Unequal retirement pay may be unfair United Press International WASHINGTON — The adminis tration urged the Supreme Court for the first time T uesday to rule that it is discriminatory to use sex-based mor tality tables to calculate unequal re tirement payments fpr men and women. The Justice Department said a low er court correctly ruled that an em ployee retirement pension based on widely used insurance annuity tables to pay women lower benefits violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The tables are based on the theory that women, in general, live longer than men. “Whether a woman contributes a greater amount of her compensation than a man for an equal benefit or contributes an equal amount for a les ser benefit, the use of sex-based actuarial tables in calculating periodic benefits results in the same discrimi nation,” the government said. The government filed its position in a case involving Long Island Uni versity Professor Diana Spirt, who challenged the use of the benefit cal culations used by the Teachers Insur ance and Annuity Association and College Retirement Equities Fund. A Supreme Court ruling on the issue could have widespread effect on how retirement benefits are paid to women. More than 400,000 employees at approximately 2,800 colleges and universities participate in the TIAA- CREF system. Under Spirt’s pension plan, te nured faculty members contribute 5 percent of their yearly salary and the university contributes an equal sum. The contributions are forwarded to the insurance companies that use mortality tables classified by sex in cal culating plan benefits. The Supreme Court has not yet de cided whether it will hear the case. The insurance companies have asked the high court to rule that the employ ment discrimination law does not apply to them because it interferes with their insurance business.

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 12, 1983, Image 1

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