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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1983)
Battalion/Page 8 February 16,1983 state / national i t ! ■ > Auto deal merits disputed United Press International DETROIT — General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Co., the world’s No. 1 and No. 3 auto makers, say their $300 million deal to build subcompact cars is a landmark in industrial cooper ation, but autoworkers are cau tiously optimistic. The two automakers announced simultaneously in Detroit and Tokyo Monday an agreement in principle to pro duce autos at GM’s vacant 411- acre Fremont, Calif., plant under joint management. Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee laccoca blasted the arrange ment as “fundamentally bad,” saying it creates “the world’s most powerful automotive com bine” and raises questions about the future of the American in dustry. Details of the agreement still must be negotiated, but CM Chairman Roger Smith said the two companies vyould sign a memorandum of understand ing Thursday in Fremont. The announcement capped nearly a year of negotiations. Each of the automakers will put up $150 million for the ven ture. GM’s share will amount to $20 million cash and $130 mil lion in the form of the Fremont plant. The deal was greeted with un easy optimism by workers at the Fremont plant, who have been on layoff since the plant closed last March, the same month CM and Toyota began negotiating. “When I see that parking lot full of cars, then I’ll believe it,” said Clinton McCrary, nodding his head toward the towering assembly plant across the street from United Auto Workers Loc al 1364. On-again, off-again rumors about the pending deal were “killing us,” said Willie Mays, president of Local 1364. “Our people kept wandering Water supply OK’d for cities United Press International HUNTSVILLE — Trinity River Authority officials, follow ing a week of testing for possible poison in Lake Livingston, Tuesday declared the lake water safe to drink and restored lake water systems for three cities. “We’re back in operation at Lake Livingston,” said John Jad- rosich, a spokesman for the Trinity River Authority. “Based on 180 samples taken during the period through Sun day, we didn’t find any indica tion of water quality problems whatsoever,” Jadrosich said. The I RA received an anony mous threat Feb. 8 to poison the lake. Lake water supplies were immediately shut off and about 31,000 residents of Huntsville, Livingston and Westwood Shores were ordered to drink water from backup well systems. The residents remained on the water well systems for seven days, while officials tested sam ples of the lake water for any possible contaminants. Jadrosich said all of the sam ples, collected daily from 12 places in the lake, were negative and revealed standard Lake Livingston water. “We believe firmly the entire situation was a hoax at this time,” Jadrosich said. The extensive testing was ordered after a man called the TRA office in Huntsville and warned he would dump waste material and poison into the lake to draw attention to alleged in dustrial pollution. Although officials said they considered the call a hoax — similar to the series of threaten ing calls warning of cyanide poisoning in Louisiana last month — they agreed to treat the situation with caution. Jadrosich said the IRA wanted to take ample time and thoroughly test the water before reopening the lake's water sup plies. The cities had ample sup plies of well water during the week-long shutdown of the sys tems from Lake Livingston. Man confesses theft too early United Press International HOUSTON — It finally hap pened in State District Judge Michael McSpadden’s court just like Perry Mason led us to be lieve it would. McSpadden had just sent enced Emmit Ashworth, 33, Monday when Ashworth’s bud dy, Rudy Suarez, 18, stood up in the gallery and admitted he had stolen the car. What Suarez did not know when he made the admission was that Ashworth had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of unau thorized use of a vehicle. Suarez’ admission did Ashworth no good, the convic tion and 10-year sentence stood, and Suarez’ action prompted auto theft charges to be filed against him. He was released on Frat members called in probe United Press International AUSTIN — Ten members of a University of Texas fraternity have been subpoenaed by a county grand jury investigating the theft of a test from a UT professor’s office. Jacqueline Strashun, assis tant Travis County district attor ney, said the members of the Acacia fraternity were sub poenaed Monday because they refused to voluntarily provide information on the theft and office burglary. in and out hoping for some solid word,” he said. Mays said the reopening of the plant would mean a good majority of the members who were laid off last year will be going back to work. UAW Vice President Owen Bieber, who heads the union’s CM department, said the agree ment was good news for laid-off UAW members. Toyota, in a statement said the agreement will help improve such political problems as Japan-U.S. trade relations as well as the acute unemployment situation in the United States. In such a sense, this venture can be a new example of industrial cooperation between the two na tions. Governor receives mental bill United Press International AUSTIN — The House Lues- day approved and sent to the governor a bill to correct consti tutional flaws in the state’s men tal commitment law. Under existing law, people believed to be mentally incom petent can be held for as long as two weeks without a hearing. A state district judge earlier this year declared the 14-day detain ment unconstitutional. Gov. Mark White emergency status to a id approved last month by theSti ate that would change then; hearing detainment pef no more than three daysandit quire written notice ofheame to the patient and his attomi The House unanimous approved the measure, wliij will become law with Wl signature. The cars produced by CM and Toyota amount to 25 per cent of the world’s auto produc tion. The deal fills GM’s need for an economical subcompact and provides Toyota with a rela tively low-cost entry into the Un ited States market. The two companies will joint ly build 200,000 cars a year for up to 12 years to be marketed by Chevrolet dealers, replacing the Chevette. The price of the so- called T-cars would be around $6,000. Smith said the venture will produce 3,000jobs immediately in Fremont, while an estimated 9,000 more could be dedicated later to the operation. A stamp ing plant will be built, starting immediately, next to the assem bly plant. A fast start team has been assembled to ready the plant for production, which Smith said could begin by October 1984. The cars then would go on sale in 1985. It will take about 12 months to build the stamping plant. BEGINNER OR ADVANCED ■ Cost Is a>out the same as a semester in a U.S. college: $3,189 Price includes |a round trip to Seville from New York, room, board, and tuition complett Government grants and loans available for eligible students. Live with a Spanish family, attend classes lour hours a day. lour days a week, four months. Earn 16 hrs. of credi (equivalent to 4 semesters- taught in U.S. colleges over a two yeai time span) Your Spanish studies will be enhanced by opportunities rot available in a U.S class room Standardized tests show our students' language skills supeicr to students completing two year programs in U.S Advanced com also Hurry, it takes a lot of time to make all arrangements. SPRING SEMESTER — Feb 1 • June 1 f FALL SEMESTER-Sopp Dec 22 each year FULLY ACCREDITED • A program of Trinity Christian College SEMESTER IN SPAIN For full Information—write to: 2442 E. Colier S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506 (A Projram of Trinity Christian College) MILLER LIT! 6 PAK 12 OZ. CANS $ 2 39 Old Milwaukee 1" extr a Large or Tostitos s l r GREEN GIANT large eggs ■69H (*1.00 OFF LABEL)DETERGENT Tide 171 OZ. • BOX UB. CAN $|* COUNTRY CLUB $2,()()() bond. According to court records, Suarez was driving a stolen car Nov. 14 when Ashworth jumped in carrying a bag from a mini grocery store. The pair tried to escape police but wrecked the stolen car. McSpadden, who usually briefs potential jurors that trials do not happen as they did in the television series Perry Mason, said he would now have to re view that set of instructions. “I’ve never seen it before. It’s just like Perry Mason,” he said. Suarez had been charged ear lier with misdemeanor theft and was in court Monday as a de fense witness in Ashworth’s trial. “Mr. Suarez just opened his mouth at the wrong time,” McSpadden said. iSBSjjl 33 0. BOX 1101. PKG. *r M* DEL MONTE 12 OZ. CANS NiWets J 0^ jlffffW I SONKIST ■navel! ORANGES ■IS99I GOLDEN TOMATO SAUCE 5 0,$ 1 CANS ■ golWnripe 3 BANANAS 3| Margarine °»‘4! CONVENIENCE PACK HUGGIES Toddler Diapers.... KROGER FULLMOON Colby Cheese KROGER FAMILY PACK CHUNK Mild Cheddar dl KROGER Pinto Beans FROZEN AVONDALE French Fries •*'5' 81 DELICIOUS ■ APPLES LESS THAN 37' 81' . 5.» s l ROMAINE LETTUCE ... 2 CAESAR SALAD CHERRY RED FRESH “Normally, people are far more responsive to requests for information,” Strashun said. cooperation from the fraternity community.” She predicted members of other UT fraternities and soror ities would be subpoenaed be fore the grand jury investigation was completed. Two former Acacia members were arrested in December by UT police who had staked out the professor’s office in the uni versity’s marketing department. The fraternity members — neither of whom were enrolled as students at UT — were charged with burglary. The UT Interfraternity Council investigated the burg lary and ruled it was not a v 4 "" ’ -fjj* nuuRMU mam u uitbr 1 . { r --- —-- [ s >1 A LAWNS GARDEN < (jK; * ——•’1 1 ^ .. 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