Senate approves
holiday for King
Aggie fourwheeling
staff photo by Guy Hood
C.J. Johnson, Paul Schlicsing, Chris
Fitzgerald and Kitty Swoboda practice
manuevers Wednesday in the Grove after
the TAMU One Wheelers Club meeting.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Senale
voted 78-22 Wednesday to create a
new national holiday in honor of slain
civil rights leader Martin Luther King
Jr., whose dream of racial equality in
America once was bitterly de
nounced.
The legislation goes to President
Reagan, who has promised to sign it
despite reservations about the cost. It
will estai lish a national holiday on the
third Monday in January starting in
1986.
“We have waited more than a cen
tury, since the end of the Civil War,
for this moment of reconciliation,”
Sen. Charles Mathias, R-Md., said.
King’s widow, Coretta Scott King,
watched the vote with black leaders
and blind singer Stevie Wonder in
seats overlooking the Senate. She cal
led it “a great day for America and for
the world” and said pointedly she
would be waiting until Reagan signs
the bill.
Two days of tense debate ended
with more senators than expected vot
ing against Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, which won House approval ear
lier. Eighteen Republican senators
and four Democrats cast ‘no’ ballots.
There was no doubt the measure
would pass. But Sen. Jesse Helms, R-
N.C., stubbornly refused to abandon
his losing battle against the bill. His
stalling tactics included a filibuster, a
federal lawsuit and proposals honor
ing Thomas Jefferson, Hispanic
Americans and Marcus Garvey, a
turn-of-the-century black leader who
said blacks should consider Africa
their homeland and return there.
Helms dug up decades-old charges
that King was influenced by commun
ists, infuriating some senators so
much they abandoned the Senate
taboo of never criticizing a colleague.
Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, a fellow
Republican from Kansas, called it
“character assassination.”
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass cal
led it “a smear campaign.”
Moments before tne final vote, Sen.
Bill Bradley, D-N.J., stood to give a
scathing denunciation of Helms and
his North Carolina colleague, Repub
lican John East.
“1 hear their rationalization;
they’re not against black Americans,
you understand,just Dr. King,” Brad
ley said bitterly, then ticked off their
votes against extending the 1965 Vot
ing Rights Act or the Civil Rights
Commission.
“I wonder how much courage
they’d have in the face of an angry
mob or the onslaught of night sticks
or the fusillade of rocks or the threat
that the next church will be bombed?”
Bradley asked.
Shortly before the vote Helms told
reporters, “I’m not a racist. I’m not a
bigot. You ask any black who knows
He claimed senators were terrified
of losing black political support if they
voted against the holiday.
A Baptist minister, King came out
of Georgia to galvanize the national
conscience with his sonorous voice
and non-violent assault on segrega
tion. He began his public battle
against racism in the mid-1950s, lead
ing boycotts and marches. He won the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1963. In the
spring of 1968, at age 39, he was killed
in Memphis by a sniper.
Only one other federal holiday
honors a citizen — Presidents Day,
which originally marked George
Washington’s birthday. Library of
Congress records show 17 states now
celebrate King’s birthday with a legal
holiday.
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of tax and tax and spend and spend,”
Reagan said, not of his administra
tion’s policies.
The president defended the use of
covert U.S. aid to anti-Sandinista re
bels in Nicaragua, a matter scheduled
for debate in the House Thursday.
“I do believe in the right of a coun
try when its interests are served to
practice covert activity,” he said. But
he said secrecy is necessary: “You
can’t let your people (the public) know
without letting the wrong people
know — those in opposition — to what
you’re doing.”
Reagan also said the United States
is going to stay the course in Lebanon.
“We’re going to keep on what we
have been doing, trying to complete
the plan we launched a little more
than a year ago,” he said.
The United States knew the peace
keeping mission was “a hazardous
unefertaking,” he said, but trying to
stabilize the Lebanese government is a
worthy goal.
Of the peace process, he said, “We
are doing everything we can to try to
persuade Syria to stop being a roadb
lock in this progress.” But he said, “It
all is kind of hinging” on stabilizing
Lebanon.
Six Marines on the multinational
peace-keeping force in Lebanon have
been killed by shelling or sniper fire in
Lebanon since August.
The president declined to flatly re
ject charges by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-
N.C., during debate on a national
holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., that the civil rights leader
pursued Marxist goals.
“We’ll know in about 35 years,
won’t we?” Reagan said. “I don’t fault
Senator Helms’ sincerity with regard
to wanting the records opened up.
He’s motivated by a feeling that we
should know everything there is to
know about an individual.”
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Fewer students admitted
for ’83-’84 school year
by Christine Mallon
Battalion Staff
About 300 fewer students have
been admitted to Texas A&M for the
1983-84 school year than at this time
last year, the dean of admissions and
records said Wednesday.
“It’s way too early to be making any
definite predictions concerning en
rollment for the spring and fall
semesters,” Edwin H. Cooper said.
“Although there have been fewer stu
dents admitted than there were at this
time last fall.”
The admissions office makes a
weekly report to the dean with figures
of how many high school students
have applied and been accepted to the
University.
In the mid 1970s, Texas A&M in
creased enrollment by almost 10 per
cent each fall semester. Around 1980
the increase was about 5 or 6 percent
and for the 1983 fall semester the in
crease over last year was less than 2
percent, Cooper said.
During the big enrollment growth
at the University, about 2,000 new
students entered every fall semester,
he said.
“The higher admissions require
ments have definitely controlled our
enrollment,” he said.
Cooper said he expects the enroll
ment for the spring semester to be
about 2,000 to 2,500 students less
than the fall semester because of gra
duations.
Not as many transfer students have
been accepted for the spring as there
were for the 1982 spring semester,
Cooper said.
Even though it appears that admis
sions may be down for next year,
Cooper said, there won’t be a decrease
in enrollment at the University any
time in the near future.
“We will have somewhat of an in
crease next fall, but it should only be
about 1.5 percent,” Cooper said.
Satellite system
researched here
by Chris Cox
Battalion Reporter
A satellite-based navigation sys
tem for use in space and aircraft
operations currently is being resear
ched for accuracy by Texas A&M,
and should be operational by 1988,
Dr. Philip Noe of the electrical en
gineering department says.
The system will do just about ev
erything in the way of navigation
including survey-type observations
that use great accuracy, he said.
“These satellites provide a form
of navigation capability that is very
much like navigating by the stars,”
Noe said. “The main difference be
tween radio navigation and naviga
tion by the stars is that these satellites
are always visible.”
Noe said Texas A&M currently is
conducting research on the accuracy
of the system. The defense depart
ment presented him with the idea
this summer while he was in
Washington D.C.
Noe said within six orbital planes
will be three satellites, which will
give full world coverage. The satel
lites then can be used in space or
aircraft operations, he said. The Na
tional Aeronautics and Space Admi
nistration plans to use the system on
board the space shuttle, Noe said.
“From the standpoint of the fact
that the satellites use radio signals
rather than light signals, one can
simply tune in to the radio to these
signals anytime one is in the sky,”
Noe said. “The system is used some
what today and has even been used
in search of the Titanic.”
Operations began on the system
in 1972. In 1977, the first satellite
was launched. By 1988, there will be
18 satellites orbiting the earth.
Noe said the system is so accurate
that it will be a primary tool in the
next major geological survey of the
earth. And, he said, all kinds of civi
lian applications will use the equip
ment including Ford and General
Motors Corp.
Noe says that in the near futun
the system equipment will be mon
affordable.
“The ec
now would run
equipment nov
anywhere from $80,000 to $150,000
depending on the model,” he said.
“By the time the system is fully oper
ational in 1988, many people believe
there will be $2,000 to $5,000 receiv
ers available. The government is
currently coming up with means to
make the equipment available for
$500 by the year 2000 with a pocket
size receiver.”
He said the small receivers will be
used in cars to keep them from get
ting lost on the highway and to get
someone from “point A to point B”
in large cities. Noe said the receivers
will be operated like “speak and
spell” with the amount of sophistica
tion one is willing to pay.
“It could even help one get out of
the Amazon or the middle of Siber
ia,” Noe said.
Reduced prices may cause gas bills to drop
by Rhonda Snider
Battalion Reporter
The effects of reduced prices from
some of Lone Star Gas Co.’s suppliers
should begin showing up on local cus
tomers’ gas bills soon, a company
spokesman says.
Media services representative
Breck Harris said Lone Star has saved
$85 million by renegotiating about
100 ofits more than 2,000 contracts
with natural gas suppliers since De
cember 1982.
The effect on individuals may
vary, Harris said, Some bills may go
down. Others maiy rise less rapidly
than they would have without the re
negotiations, she said.
The savings from the renegotia
tions could save some customers ab
out $70 over the span of a year or so.
Heavier users of natural gas will see a
larger savings, while those who use
less will not see as much reduction
reflected in their bill.
Last December Lone Star paid an
average of $3.86 for 1,000 cubic feet
of gas, Harris said. In August the av
erage price had dropped to $3.63 per
1,000.
Harris said one reason the sup
pliers agreed to reduce their prices
was because of the mild winter. Less
gas was used last year so prices
dropped.
Dan Webber, district manager for
Lone Star’s 23,000 Bryan-College Sta
tion customers, said the recent oil-
boom caused an extra supply of natu
ral gas, contributing to the suppliers’
lower prices.
Locally, Lone Star is regulated by
the Bryan and College Station city
councils. Webber said the gas com
pany requested a rate increase last
fall, but the cities did not approve the
full amount.
“When we go in asking for a rate of
return, we feel like it’s what we need,”
Webber said. “Of course there will be
a difference of opinion on what kind
of rate of return we really need.”