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.