The Battalion
Serving the University community
A losing battle
photo by Stephen Shatto
College Station firemen fight an automobile fire at the
intersection of Wellborn Road and Joe Routt street
Wednesday. Mary Pittman, the owner of the car, was on
her way to work when a match started a fire in an
ashtray. The flames soon engulfed the car. Pittman was
not injured in the blaze but the car was totaled.
s* :—; ; TT -
Palestinians protest Carter s visit
United Press International
BETHLEHEM — Jewish settlers
ed submachine guns and pistols to
n'd a crowd of stone-throwing
ilestinians in Bethlehem Wednes-
ly amid spreading protests against
rmer U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s
iil to the occupied West Bank. No
ic was injured.
| Minutes after Carter arrived at
sthlehem’s town hall for a sche-
iled meeting with Palestinian
ayor Elias Freij, Arab youths sent a
etoated in gasoline skidding down
iide street into Manger Square. Sol-
ers intercepted the tire before it
add ignite.
Hi wo hours earlier, Palestinian
)ilhs shouting “PLO, PLO” burned
es in the streets and stoned Israeli
vehicles, forcing pedestrians to leave
the streets and storekeepers to close
down.
At least four Jewish settlers
opened fire with Uzi submachine
guns and small arms on the crowds of
protesters before Israeli soldiers
moved in to disperse the crowds.
No arrests were reported in the
clashes, the latest in a series of shoot
ings and attacks involving militant
Jewish settlers.
In Jerusalem, 150 Arabs marched
through the Old City waving Palesti
nian flags and shouting slogans in the
spreading protests against Carter for
his role in mediating the 1978 Camp
David accord between Israel and
Egypt-
I he east Jerusalem-based news
agency also reported stone-throwings
near the Deheisha Palestinian re
fugee camp outside Bethlehem. The
camp is under curfew.
Carter, who has met with regional
leaders and PLO officials during a
private tour of the Middle East, met
Tuesday with Prime Minister
Menachem Begin on talks about the
withdrawal of 30,000 Israeli, 40,000
Syrian and 10,000 PLO troops from
Lebanon.
Begin aides said the prime minister
told Carter that a breakthrough in the
U.S.-mediated talks could be ex
pected soon and Israel radio quoted
Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir as
saying Israel was prepared to drop its
demands to permanently station
Israeli troops inside Lebanon.
“I look forward to the realization of
our shared hopes and dreams,” Car
ter, who hammered out the 1978
Camp David accords with Begin and
the late Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat, said after meeting Begin.
The Camp David accords, which
led to the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace
treaty, envisaged talks among Israeli,
Egyptian and Jordanian delegates on
autonomy for the 1.2 million Palesti
nians in the occupied West Bank and
Gaza Strip.
Carter flew in Tuesday from Egypt
where he told reporters that he had
met with Palestine Liberation Organi
zation officials as a “private citizen.”
The United States refuses to speak
with the PLO until it recognizes
Israel.
Spouse passes bill; retirement age up
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Bolstered by
erwhelming House approval of a
)cial Security financing bill that
irbs pensions, raises taxes and raises
it- retirement age, the Senate now
arts work on a similar measure.
Hhebill won bipartisan support on
> 282-148 vote, but also encountered
partisan opposition — from conser-
uives unhappy with tax hikes and
aerals angered at benefit curbs and
ic retirement age change.
IfThe Senate Finance Committee
arranged to vote on provisions in its
own bill today. The House vote to
increase the retirement age erased
the biggest possible difference be
tween the two bills, since the Senate is
expected to follow suit. A spokesman
said President Reagan also supports
having Americans work longer.
In the Senate, the problems may be
of a different sort. Senate Finance
Chairman Robert Dole, R-Kan., is de
termined to push the bill through in
tact, but there is a move afoot to
amend it by repealing interest with
holding provisions of last year’s tax
act.
After Wednesday’s House vote,
Speaker Thomas O’Neill, who called
the bill “landmark legislation” com
mended members for a good job even
though he opposed raising the retire
ment age. He said he hopes for a Sen
ate vote next week, and wants a bill
sent to the White House by Easter.
The retirement provision,
approved by a narrow vote of 228-
202, calls for raising the retirement
age from 65 to 67 in two steps. Amer
icans born in 1943 or later would have
to wait until 66 to retire with full be
nefits; those born after 1960 would
wait until 67. The House took a
second vote nailing down approval of
the retirement age change, 230-200.
To meet the system’s short term
money needs, the bill would increase
payroll taxes, delay this year’s July
cost-of-living payment by six months,
tax checks of better-off pensioners
and require new federal workers to
join beginning next year.
Thursday, March 10, 1983
EPA head
resigns job
United Press International
WASH INGTON — Anne Burford
resigned as head of the Environmen
tal Protection Agency with President
Reagan praising her “personal cour
age,” but the controversy that forced
her departure is not over.
Burford ended weeks of specula
tion and delivered her resignation let
ter to Reagan Wednesday. Deputy
White House press secretary Larry
Speakes said: “It was entirely her de
cision.”
Reagan told Burford, “You can
walk out of the Environmental Pro
tection Agency with your head held
high.”
But the resignation came as press
ure intensified for Burford’s removal
and she was threatened with yet
another congressional contempt cita
tion for failing to yield toxic-waste
cleanup files.
“Mrs. Burford’s departure is not
the issue. The issue is the operation of
the EPA and the implementation of
our environmental laws,” said Rep.
Mike Synar, D-Okla., chairman of
one of the subcommittees investigat
ing the EPA.
Former EPA head
Anne Burford
Said House Democratic Leader
James Wright: “It’s my view it isn’t the
individual that has to be changed, it’s
the attitude that has to be changed,
and that has to come from a different
source than Mrs. Burford.”
Drinking age:
SG OKs lobby
by Kelley Smith
Battalion Staff
The bill to raise the drinking age
from 19 to 21 probably will pass in the
state Legislature, former House
speaker Billy Clayton told the Student
Senate at its meeting Wednesday
night.
But even with that warning, the
senate authorized the Legislative
Study Group to represent the Texas
A&M student body and lobby against
raising the drinking age.
The group also will lobby for stric
ter enforcement of current alcohol-
related laws and the establishment of
state-wide educational programs on
alcohol awareness.
“If we had strict good enforcement
of the current DWI laws, we wouldn’t
have the problems we have today,”
Clayton said.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
has created a strong grassroots cam
paign that is going to be “very effec
tive,” he said. Because of MADD and
other lobbying groupSj Clayton said
he foresees strong DWI laws being
passed this session.
Clayton, who is working with a lob
bying firm in Austin, offered his
assistance to the Legislative Study
Group, which will be lobbying during
spring break. The group will work
out of his offices.
The student senators also autho
rized the group to lobby in favor of an
increase in faculty salaries and fringe
benefit policies. The senate also sup
ports using funds for minority re
cruitment that were appropriated by
the Texas Legislature rather than us
ing Texas A&M funds.
The senate also voted to oppose a
tuition increase. However, the sena
tors voted to support an increase by a
fixed percentage of a predefined set
of costs if an increase seems to be in
evitable.
The legal drinking age bill was the
most debated of the issues. Some
senators argued the age should not be
raised because by the time a person is
19 he has the responsibilities of an
adult and also should have the free
dom and privileges of one. Others
argued that the drinking age shotild
be raised because of the higher inci
dence of alcohol related traffic deaths
among the younger age groups.
Some senators argued that the
group should not represent the stu
dents on the issue because it is not an
academic issue; however, Fred Bill
ings, administrative director of the
group, said that the group has a re
sponsibility to represent the students
on any issues that affect them.
“It is the responsibility of the Stu
dent Senate to represent the stu
dents,” Billings said. “If we don’t,
we’re shirking our responsibility.
Consitituents will be let down greatly
if we don’t take a stand for their best
interests.”
The senators also approved a bicy
cle committee bill recommending
changes in bicycle policies.
The changes include:
— mandatory registration of bicy
cles through the University Police De
partment at a cost of no more than $5
per year.
— all bicyclists would be required
to obey the laws set forth by state law.
— a reward system would be set up
for information leading to the recov
ery of stolen bikes followed by an
arrest resulting from the theft.
Funds from bicycle registration
would be used for the construction of
additional bike racks, better lighting
for rack areas, bike paths away from
the flow of traffic and registration
administration.
Keepers of tradition ’ not always cadets
Former yell leader urges ‘unity’
by Donn Friedman
Battalion Reporter
Yes, Rock, civilians can be yell lead-
rs, too.
gin fact, there have been at least
our — senior Frank Shannon in
977, juniors Ron Plackemeier and
oe Hughes in 1973 andjunior Garry
rtBuro in 1968.
1 During the 1950s, a civilian yell
Jader led civilian students in yells,
his position was created so the veter-
ns of the Korean War — who were
lack on campus to finish their de
uces, but weren’t in the Corps —
ould have a leader on the football
ield. As the veterans graduated, the
ivilian yell leader position was
>hased out.
■The next chance for civilians to
sad the Twelfth Man didn’t come un-
K1968, when Garry Mauro entered
he race for junior yell leader.
Mauro, now Texas land commis-
ioner, said: “I ran for yell leader on a
>iatform of unity — getting both non-
egs and Corps members involved in
the traditions of Texas A&M.”
At that time, almost 11,000 stu
dents were at Texas A&M, with about
2,000 in the Corps.
“How could they expect civilians to
participate without at least one yell
leader to represent them?” he said.
“When I was a freshmen no one told
me about yell practice. There was no
leadership for the civilians. Fish
Camp was run by the Corps only for
the Corps fish.”
Mauro said he wanted all Aggies to
become involved in Texas A&M tra
ditions.
“Yell leaders were a real leadership
role then,” he said. “I wanted to get
non-regs involved in the traditions of
Aggieland.”
He said he received a large number
of votes. “It must have meant that I
really had that good old fashioned
fightin’ Texas Aggie spirit,” he said.
But after he was elected, “Gig ’Em”
and “Farmers Fight” weren’t the only
sounds filling the Texas A&M
campus.
“There was a hell of a conflict after
I was elected,” Mauro said, “but our
attitude was that we were going to
unite the whole campus.”
Mauro entered Texas A&M during
the first year in which Corps member
ship was not mandatory. About 700
students took that option. Before that
year, students were required to be in
the Corps at least during their fresh
man and sophomore years.
During the first yell practice of the
year, which consisted of an equal
number of civilians and cadets, fresh
men from Spider D Company
charged out of the stands toward the
civilian yell leader. But the officers of
the day stepped in to protect Mauro.
Slowly the conflict lessened, the
campus began to unite and Mauro
was accepted — or at least protected
— from those who wouldn’t accept a
civilian as a leader of Texas A&M tra
ditions, he said.
“We knew that A&M was going to
grow into one of the biggest schools in
the state,” he said. “At that time A&M
was about the same size as Stephen F.
Austin and we knew that if the civilian
students were not integrated into the
traditons of A&M, the traditions
would not survive.”
As a senior, he ran for student body
president but was defeated. The fol
lowing year his roommate, Kent
Caperton, now a state senator from
Bryan, was elected student body pres
ident on a “unity ticket” that consisted
of both civilians and cadets.
“The Corps will always have a spe
cial place at A&M, but you don’t have
to be in the Corps to be a true Aggie,”
Mauro said.
Last year, Dale Whittaker, a senior
agricultural engineering major, ran
for yell leader. Whittaker is not a
member of the Corps.
“I wasn’t running for non-reg yell
leader,” W’hittaker said. “I felt I was
qualified to be a yell leader. I’m as
much an Aggie as anybody. I wanted
them to vote for me — the person.”
Whittaker narrowly missed
See YELL LEADER, page 12
Election
filing ends
on Friday
Filing for positions with Student
Government, Off-Campus Aggies,
Residence Hall Association ancl for
yell leaders will continue until
Friday.
Make-up pictures for candi
dates for student body president,
yell leader, vice presidents, class
presidents, RHA president and
OCA president will be - taken
tonight from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in 216
Reed McDonald. The pictures are
for the Voters’ Guide, a supple
ment to The Battalion.
No pictures will be taken after
today and no other pictures will be
accepted. Only candidates for the
offices listed above need to have
pictures made.
All candidates must fill out a
Voters’ Guide questionnaire when
they file for office. The forms are
available in the Student Govern
ment office and should be turned
in as candidates file. All forms must
be returned to the Student Govern
ment office by 5 p.m. Friday.
Elections will be March 29 and
30.
inside
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State 6
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What’s up 16
forecast
Clear skies today with a high of 64.
Brisk northwesterly winds at 10 to
15 mph. For tonight, clear and cold
with a low near 36. Mostly sunny
skies Friday with a high near 67.