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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1983)
Texas A&M Battalion Serving the University community 76 No. 87 USPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, February 1, 1983 Senator may aid truckers United Press International The independent truckers’ strike was marked by more violence today with reports of sniper fire in Pennsyl vania, Maryland and Ohio. A North Carolina trucker was killed late Mon day and a teenager suffered a severe injury near Pittsburgh. The truckers, protesting the 5-cent gasoline tax and increased road-use taxes, may have found an ally in Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, R-Minn. At a meet ing in Arden Hills, Minn., with about 600 drivers, Boschwitz aides said he was expected today to introduce legis lation that would lower user taxes in the first year of the new Surface Transportation Act from $1,600 to $400. Independent Truckers Associa tion President Mike Parkhurst, coor dinating the strike from Washington, D.C., said between 50,000 and 60,000 of the nation’s 100,000 independent truckers were participating in the shutdown but said, “It’s a little early to tell. I’ll have a pretty good handle on it by (Tuesday) afternoon.” With the strike less than 24 hours old, a trucker identified as George Capps was killed by rifle fire while driving on U.S. 701 between Smith- field and Newton Grove, N.C., about 11:30 p.m. Monday. In Brigham City, Utah, Howard W. Adams, 45, of Pomona, Calif, was in critical but stable condition today with a chest wound after being shot while unloading his truck at a hardware store. Some truck stops reported business had dropped off as much as 50 per cent and many drivers admitted they were parking their rigs out of fear. “This (violence) will keep happen ing until they get their way,” said a driver whose truck was hit six times by rifie fire near Davenport, Iowa. “But I’m not going to run no more. If I lose my job, that’s just the way it goes. My life’s worth more than that.” Snipings or rock and brick throw ing incidents also were reported in Utah, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Mississip pi, Maryland, Illinois and Oregon. MSC Council Silver Taps is at 10:30 tonight in front of the Academic Suilding. The ceremony is in memory of Christopher A. Edwards, Oary W. Gray, Alexandra Sorrells, Kimball ZONEW-Cascante. Franklin Yarboro and Stefan Office of Student Affairs requests that all lights on campus be turned off from 10:20 p.m. to 10:50 p.m. elects president blit ‘Lebanese negotiators protest threatening tone’ of Israelis United Press International KHALDE, Lebanon — Israeli~and Rnese negotiators concluded a V teise and nasty” round of troop ■drawal talks Monday, reporting ■ H;ress in some areas and agreeing ■ Bep up the pace of the negotia- 1 ions. ■ ,®lelcl amid unusually tight secur- Icfe the talks followed a weekend of g ighting among Christians and Druze Moslems around Beirut. It was consi dered the worst outbreak of factional violence since the Israeli siege ended five months ago. In suburban Khalde, subcommit tees met for six hours of apparently heated discussions on issues of secur ity and future relations, and agreed to continue their talks in Israel today. Until now, the subcommittees have met twice a week, in Khalde on Mon days and in Kiryat Shmona, Israel, on Thursdays. A statement issued after the six- hour session said the subcommittees worked “intensively” Monday “and advanced in bridging gaps in the mutual understanding of our points.” But a conference source said: “The atmosphere was tense and nasty. The Lebanese side did not hide its anger over recent remarks by (Israeli De fense Minister Ariel) Sharon.” He Said Lebanese chief negotiator Antoine Fattal sharply criticized Sharon at the opening of the troop withdrawal talks for remarks sup porting Syria’s demand for monitor ing stations in Lebanon. Fattal also protested what he said was a “threatening tone” in Sharon’s remarks on the future of the Israeli presence in Lebanon. The MSC Council, in a meeting last night, elected a new president and made a change to its constitution. Greg Hawkins, a junior civil en gineering major from Friendswood, was elected president for the forth coming year. He succeeds senior Todd Norwood and will assume the office on April 10. The MSC Council is responsible for policies affecting all areas Of MSC programming. The council is com posed of student officers, representa tives of former students, faculty rep resentatives, MSC staff members and student representatives from other areas of the campus. In other business, the council approved a change in its constitution. The change creates three new officer positions. The new offices include an executive vice president for prog rams, an executive vice president for adminstration and an executive vice president for marketing and person nel. Voting to fill the positions will be later this month. The council’s next meeting will be Feb. 13. PA lists violators of Clean Air Act; Soviets reject plan for missile talks ix Texas counties below standards United Press International WASHINGTON — I he Environ mental Protection Agency Monday released a list of 1 1 1 counties that may lose billions of dollars in highway and construction funds because they do noi meet federal air pollution stan dards. r ^■The agency said 33 other counties IBy be failing to meet other require ments of the act, including passage of reeded local legislation or publication of regulations. EPA Assistant Administrator Kathleen Bennett said the agency has authority to impose the funding sanc tions on any area that was not in com pliance with air quality regulations by the Dec. 31 deadline. After a 45-day comment period, the EPA will pub lish a final list for counties that have failed to meet requirements of the law. At that time a halt on construction goes into effect on all major sources of the air pollutant in question, Bennett said. The agency sparked protest from local officials in late December when it listed 472 counties in 49 states that did not meet clean air standards for various pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides and particulates. Bennett later divided the non complying areas into two categories: those that are likely to be in com pliance but have not yet been redesig nated, and those the EPA believes still are violating the air pollution stan dards. It is unclear whether all 111 coun ties can be denied federal highway and construction funds due to non- compliance with pollution standards. Areas in Texas on the EPA list of “not anticipated to meet the require ments of the Clean Air Act” are: Dal las County for ozone violations; Tar rant County for ozone; parts of Cameron County for particulates; parts of Houston, Harris County for particulates; parts of Corpus Christi, Nueces County for particulates; parts of El Paso County for particulates and carbon monoxide; and all of El Paso County for ozone violations. United Press International MOSCOW — The Soviet Union to day rejected as part of a “Hollywood promotion campaign” President Reagan’s offer to meet “anytime, any where” with Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to sign a ban on medium- range nuclear missiles in Europe. The Soviet press agency Novosti said the Reagan offer, delivered in an open letter read by Vice President George Bush in Berlin, “is tanta mount to a demand that only Soviet missiles be banned from the face of the earth.” “The Soviet Union has always sup ported a constructive dialogue with the United States, including well- prepared summits,” Novosti said in a commentary signed by Vladimir Alexeev. Novosti said Reagan’s offer failed to remove suspicions that the United States still was not serious about arms control with the Soviet Union. “The United States plan calling on the Soviet Union to dismantle its medium-range missiles in return for a pledge by Washington not to deploy a new generation of its missiles in West ern Europe is tantamount to a de mand that only the Soviet missiles be banned from the face of the earth,” Novosti said. Reagan’s offer restated the presi dent’s earlier “zero option” proposal to cancel deployment of U.S. Per shing 2 and cruise missiles in western Europe if the Soviet Union removes all its medium range missiles targeted on Europe. Novosti described Bush’s seven- nation tour of Europe as “a Holly wood promotion campaign” and said Reagan’s offer left his audience “sore ly disappointed.” ■ Correction In an article in Monday’s Batta- ion, it was reported that Dr. Ivory Ct B'iebon, who served as acting presi* itof Prairie View A&M Univer- isoiww-V’ would join the staff of Prairie illbekjUView President Percy A. Pierre. elson will be an executive assis- mustjwwant to System Chancellor Arthur enW l( ®6- Hansen. The Battalion regrets ( 845^‘Hthe error. Campus news Senior deadlines near Aggie pilot enjoys his job: flying the president’s jet Friday is the last day for graduat ing seniors to apply for spring gra duation. inside IClassified ; 10 [Local 3 [National 7 [Opinions 2 [Sports 11 | State 5 [What’s up 9 To ensure May graduation, seniors should go to the Coke Build ing to pay a $15 graduation fee. Di plomas can be ordered, in 105 Heaton. 1 Feb. 8 is the deadline for ordering graduation announcements. Announcements can be ordered in 217 MSC. Speakers for the commencement ceremonies, which will be held May 6 and 7, have not yet been announced. The Convocation Committee, which selects the commencement speakers, is scheduled to meet later this month. The committee will make its re commendation to Dr. Charles McCandless, acting vice president for academic affairs. McCandless then recommends speakers to University President Frank E. Vandiver, who makes the final decision. Self-study progresses forecast Clear to partly cloudy skies today with a high of 57. Gusty northwest winds at 10 to 25 mph. Only a slight chance of rain for today. Mainly clear and cold tonight with a low near 29. On Wednesday, clear skie.s and cooler with a high of 50. A committee chairman for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is on campus today making preliminary arrangements for a com mittee visit in April. John Prados, vice president for academic affairs and research at the Unversity of Tennessee in Knoxville, is scheduled to meet with Texas A&M President Frank E. Vandiver this morning and with the self-study steering committee this afternoon. The committee’s visit is the final stage of the University’s self-study, which is necessary for re accreditation. The self-study is a routine process that has been used at the University since the 1950s. When the 30-member visiting committee visits Texas A&M in April, its members will tour the campus, visit with administrators and talk with stu dents. Then, based on reports the University has filed and on the visit, the committee will make recommend to the Southern Association head quarters whether Texas A&M should be re-accredited. A decision should be made by the fall. by Cheryl Burke Battalion Reporter Every year, Aggies meet to cele brate Muster on April 21. But to one former student, April 21 also marks another important day — the day Maj. Robert D. Barr was selected as a pilot for Air Force One, the president’s jet. “Now that was a day for me to remember,” Barr said during a telephone interview from his home at Andrews’ Air Force Base in Maryland. In 1980, Barr and two others were chosen to become three of the four pilots for Air Force One. “Our mission is to do whatever we have to do in support of the president and to ensure that we are 100 percent reliable,” he said. “We rotate, generally flying every other trip and serving in a backup capacity when not flying.” As a pilot of Air Force One, Barr has flown many trips overseas to Europe and Japan. He recently flew President Reagan on his trip through South America. Barr was also in charge of one special mission to Germany. On Inauguration Day in 1981, Presi Air Force One pilot Maj. Robert D. Barr dent Reagan loaned Air Force One to former President Jimmy Carter for one final trip — to pick up the returning Americans held hostage in Iran. Barr said he plans to continue in his position as presidential pilot as long as he is able. “There couldn’t be a better job for a pilot,” he said. “There is no place to go from here but down.” Every couple of years, Barr said, he and his wife Elaine and their two sons return to visit Texas A&M. Their sons, Bobby, 12, and Johnny, 10, will be Class of’92 and ’95, Barr said. “A&M makes a great difference in a person’s life,” Barr said. “It’s something that never leaves you.” After graduating with a degree in finance in 1968, Barr went to Laredo Air Force Base where he received his flight training. While stationed there, he flew Bob Hope on his last two USO Christmas tours, in 1971 and 1972. In 1973, Barr flew a mission cal led “Operation Homecoming,” in which he picked up returning pris oners of war in Hanoi, Vietnam. “That was the most emotional thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. “The weather was bad. It was rough going over. I remember watching as they were unloaded from the bus and processed. Ev erything was so quiet as we crank ed up. Then, as the wheels lifted off, there was just one loud mass of yells.” Barr moved to Andrews Air Force Base in 1974 after complet ing assignments in California and Thailand. f II 111 ‘1 !