*
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..
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sports...
State ...
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forecast
hff nued clea
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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.