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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1983)
Serving the University community Vol. 76 No. 95 USPS 045360 30 Pages In 2 Sections College Station, Texas Friday, February 11, 1983 Israeli defense minister resigns United Press International JERUSALEM — Ariel Sharon bowed to pressure and resigned today as defense minister because of his re sponsibility in the Beirut massacre but will remain in the Cabinet. Cabinet ministers and senior Israeli officials said Sharon will hand over the post of defense minister to Prime Minister Menachem Begin Sunday but will remain in the Cabinet as a minister without portfolio for an unspecified length of time. “He is only resigning as defense minister and not from the govern ment,” Likud party leader Ehud Olmert said after a meeting of Begin’s Likud party executives — the major ity of whom recommended Sharon stay in the Cabinet. Other officials said Sharon’s job automatically will be assumed by Begin. Sharon’s resignation came as a re sult of mounting pressure following the Cabinet’s overw helming adoption of the findings of the Beirut massacre commission and an outburst of civil violence. No incidents of violence were re ported in Israel today. Sharon, 54, a national hero praised for reversing the tide of the 1973 Middle East war by leading Israeli forces across the Suez Canal into Egypt, leaves the defense ministryjob that he coveted amid a storm of con troversy. The Cabinet voted 16-1 to adopt the recommendations of the commis sion that investigated the Sept. 16-18 massacre at the Sabra and Chatila re fugee camps by Lebanese Christian Phalange militiamen. T he defense minister stood alone in the Cabinet Thursday against accepting the commission’s recom mendation that he resign or be fired because he bore “personal responsi bility” for events leading to the slaughter. The defense minister made his de cision to resign amid a tense atmos phere of violence, sparked by an un precedented attack, apparently con fronting Jew against Jew, at an anti- Sharon rally Thursday in front of Be gin’s office. A grenade explosion in a crowd of Peace Now protesters killed a para trooper w'ho fought in last June’s Lebanon invasion and wounded nine other people, including the son of a Cabinet minister. State-run Israel Radio said Begin’s candidate to succeed Sharon w'ould be Israeli Ambassador to the United States Moshe Arens, a decision lauded by most top government offi cials questioned. A close associate of Arens said the envoy is unhappy in his current job and wants to return to Israel. LULAC seeks legislative funding for minority recruiting here by Maureen Carmody Battalion Staff Members of the League of United Latin American Citizens plan to ask the Legislature to give Texas A&M money to use in recruiting minority faculty and students, the group’s president said here Thursday. “At this time we think the Legisla ture should appropriate not less than $1 million for recruiting purposes,” said Tony Bonilla, national president of LULAC, who met with University officials to discuss minority represen tation and the Permanent University Fund. Bonilla said he thinks Texas A&M is recognized as one of the leading universities in the nation, but if it wishes to continue that way it must allot more money for minorities. Texas A&M must commit itself to im proving its minority representation, he said. “I think it is time for Texas A&M to have a minority vice president at the very least,” Bonilla said. He said he would like to see Texas A&M increase the number of minor ity faculty members and students W'ithin a year. LULAC will endorse the sharing of the Permanent University Fund with those universities not receiving a share of the fund, Bonilla said. The PUF is composed of income from oil produced on land set aside by the Legislature, The Texas A&M and University of Texas systems share the Available Fund, which consists of pro ceeds from the PUF. Texas A&M re ceives one-third of the Available Fund. Bonilla also endorsed Democrat Dan Kubiak, who is running for con gressman from the 6th Congressional District, and predicted that Kubiak will receive 90 to 95 percent of the Hispanic vote. The special election will be held Saturday. “We are asking the Hispanic com munity to go out and vote on election day,” he said. “While I personally sup port Dan Kubiak, the important thing is to get out and vote.” Bonilla recently returned from Chicago w'here he met with Rev. Jesse Jackson and representatives of Oper ation PUSH, a national black organi zation. Bonilla and Jackson called a summit meeting between black and Hispanic leaders later this month. Bonilla said the meeting will center around joint black and Hispanic en 1 forcement of the voting rights act, vo ter participation and registration, and joint corporate research. “We would like to think the hands! that were once picking cotton and cit rus fruit will now be picking presi dents,” he said. photo by Jam; Hollingsworth ‘me Danny Husak, a senior agronomy major from West, does his homework while waiting for Sbisa to open for dinner. j, IVIorin receives appeal of his death sentence Leader calls off trucker's strike in exchange for study of problems an as /ise i ear United Press International ■CORPUSCHRIST! — Stephen Pe ter Morin, a drifter from Providence, R.I., will get an automatic appeal of his death penalty sentence for the mLrder of a 21-year-old hotel sec retary. The former cocaine addict, who said he had been converted to Christ ianity by one of his kidnap victims, already faced execution for the mur der of another young woman in San Atitonio. Morin was sentenced Thursday by the same jury that Wednesday night convicted him of the December 1981 kidnap-strangulation of Janna Bruce, 21, a secretary at a hotel in Corpus Christi. Her body was found floating in a culvert at Padre Island. Authorities said she had been strangled with pan tyhose. Morin was sentenced to death last year in Beaumont for the murder of Carrie Marie Scott, 21, who was shot in an apparent robbery attempt out side a San Antonio restaurant. United Press International The ' head of the independent truckers organization called off a vio lent strike in exchange for promises from 35 congressmen to study truck ers’ problems — an agreement termed a “sellout” and a “farce” by steel haulers who vowed to stay off the roads for a 12th day today. Mike Parkhurst, president of the Independent Truckers Association, said Thursday his group had “been able to accomplish, for the entire in dustry, more than we have ever been able to in the past.” But critics outside the trucking in dustry accused Parkhurst of ending the violence-marred truckers strike to save face in the midst of failure, while industry opponents blasted him for stopping the strike just when it was doing some good. “We are officially asking indepen dent truckers and small-fleet owners who have joined the shutdown to get back to work as soon as possible,” Par khurst said. But Paul Dietsch, a representative of the Fraternal Association of Steel Haulers, responded, “We’re advising everyone to stay on strike.” “A lot of truckers are very angry about Mr. Parkhurst because he sold the truckers out, because he ended the protest just about when we were on the verge of getting something,” said William Kusley, spokesman for the Fraternal Order of National Truckers Organization Inc. in In diana. “The majority of the major truckers want to stay down and we’ll do what the truckers want.” Rumors of an end to the strike had been circulating for two days and truck traffic was reported returning to normal on the nation’s highways. Parkhurst lobbied Congress for special hearings to consider legislative reforms to the 1982 Highway Re venue Act, which the truckers said imposed inequitable fuel taxes and highway-user fees on the industry. But a letter from four congressmen — Reps. Peter Kostmayer, D-Pa., Ed Jenkins, D-Ga., Douglas Applegate, D-Ohio, and Carroll Campbell Jr., R- S.C. — did not say Congress would reopen hearings on the fuel tax bill. Kostmayer aide John Seager said 35 of the 435 members of Congress had agreed to sign the letter, although Parkhurst said he expected 100 congressmen to do so. Dietsch said the steel haulers asso ciation was not happy about the announced end to the strike. “They’ve (Congress) studied us to death. Millions of dollars have been spent on it. They know what our problems are, and it’s a farce to study them further.” ITA reaction w'as generally favor able, however. Illinois ITA representative Craig Robertson said, “We don’t think it (the tax bill) will be repealed in total. The fuel lax of 5 cents w ill stay, but other aspects of the bill will be amended.” Robertson said truckers’ response was generally “mixed but overall favorable to the results” of negotia tions. Violence in the shutdown dropped dramatically Thursday. Kentucky officials called off National Guard air patrols over the state’s highways and officials in the Ohio-Pennsylvania “combat zone” reported only a few shootings and rock throwings. More than 650 shootings and almost 2,000 other acts of vandalism have been reported, with one driver killed, since the strike began Jan. 31. At least 97 people were injured. correction In Thursday’s Battalion, an arti- :le on the Minority Merit Fellow- phips program did not list the re quirements for application. The fellowships are not avail- ble to graduate students already fittending Texas A&M, nor are |hey available to students who are itizens of foreign countries. Only J.S. citizens or those seeking U.S. itizenship may apply. The Battalion regrets the omis sion. inside Is Brazos Business 5 IHassified 6 ocal 3 National 9 pinions 2 Sports 13 State 6 (hat’s up 8 forecast lear to partly cloudy today with he high near 62. Light north winds tt about 8 mph. Mostly clear skies luring the night and a low near 40. Tear to partly cloudy on Saturday nth the high reaching 60. Congressional candidates present views by Pamela Haisler Battalion Reporter The national budget, defense spending and the Social Security system were the main topics when five of the 11 candidates running for the 6th Congressional District spoke Thursday night in Rudder Tower. The panel discussion, which was sponsored by the MSC Political Forum, featured Democratic can didates Dr. Joe Agris, George Chamberlain, Bill Powers and for mer representative Dan Kubiak, as well as Libertarian candidate Mar tin Gibson. About 70 people were on hand to hear each of the candi dates present his views. Agris, a Houston plastic surgeon, said he was a statesman candidate — a man of principle who would help lead Americans out of the budget crisis by doing what he believes is right. “Education is the key for the fu ture,” he said. “I believe (that by) providing for a solid education, we can look for a stable future.” Chamberlain, a member of the National Democratic Policy Com mittee and a nuclear engineer from Granbury, said the building of nuc lear power plants would help America in its economic crisis by creating jobs. He also commented on national defense. “I believe (that) first you have to correctly perceive a problem be fore you go about correcting it,” he said. “It is dangerous for us not to have an extensive plan for our military defense.” ^^ibson^an^attome^^om^Dun-^ canville, said that as a Libertarian candidate he wants to eliminate budget problems by eliminating foreign aid, putting the problem of educational expenses on a local level and placing the burden of mass transit expenses on private publics. Gibson also said there are two ways to solve the Social Security problem. “We can take the English approach and allow the people on private pensions to pay less tax,” he said, “or we can let all people under 40 get out of the Social Security system, sell excess federal lands and use the 1982 tax receipts to fund the deficit.” Dan Kubiak — considered to be the leading challenger against for mer 6th District Congressman Phil Gramm — said he has extensive experience in the Legislature and has worked with budget deficits and Social Security cut-backs. He said he would eliminate the third year tax cut, plug the loopholes in the budget and re move the Social Securtiy system from the budgetary process. “I believe we need a separate sys tem for Social Security, but there are no easy solutions,” Kubiak said. Powers, an independent busi nessman from Navasota, said he will work for a strong economy by balancing the budget and lowering the long-term interest rate. “The fat and the fraud must be cut from our welfare programs and the fat, not muscle cut from our military,” Powers said. George Chamberlain, Democratic candidate for the 6th Congressional District, presents his platform as candidates Dr. Joe Agris, Bill Pow- staff photo by Rob Johnston ell, Martin Gibson and Dan Kubiak, listen. The panel discussion was sponsored by the MSC Political Forum.