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The Battalion
Serving the University community
'ol 78 No. 50 USPS 0453110 16 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, November 9,1983
Marines leave
Shiite district
United Press International
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Marines
withdrew Tuesday from an outpost
on the edge of a Shiite Moslem neigh
borhood that has been used repeated
ly as a base of attack on the U.S. peace
keeping contingent, officials said.
Control of the outpost, in a
Lebanese University building less
than 2 miles from Marine headquar
ters at Beirut International Airport,
was turned over to the Lebanese
army.
Moslem gunmen based in the adja
cent Shiite neighborhood of Hay el
Sallom wounded one Marine in a six-
hour battle Monday and killed one
Marine and wounded five others in a
fierce seven-hour firelight three
weeks ago.
But Maj. Robert Jordan, the
Marine spokesman, said the with
drawal had “nothing to do” with the
attacks, but rather eliminated an un
necessary Marine post.
“It has long been planned, and we
implemented the move early Tuesday
in coordination with the Lebanese
army,” Jordan said.
“The Marine Alpha Company,
consisting of 150 to 200 men, pulled
out of the Lebanese University build
ing early Tuesday. The location has
been handed over to the Lebanese
army,” he said.
Jordan said the Marines had first
moved into the Lebanese University
building to act as a buffer between the
Shiite neighborhoods and the Israeli
army, which held much of the region
last year.
“The Israelis left the region, and
the Marines at the University were no
longer playing the buffer role, and
thus the post was no longer serving its
purpose,” he said.
The evacuated position, which con
sisted of several modern buildings,
was located about one and a half miles
east of the main U.S. Marine base at
Beirut airport and the adjacent Shiite
neighborhood.
“After negotiating with the
Lebanese authorities, it was decided
to leave the building,” Jordan said.
Lebanese reporters on the scene
said government troops moved to the
building after the Marine pullout.
Shooting spree:
5th victim dies
by Brigid Brockman
\Debate: Keep troops in Lebanon
i ali
by Jamie Hataway
I Battalion Reporter
In a public debate Tuesday night a
'EM ‘'ell-prepared group of students rai
led its troops and won the majority
ote against the withdrawal of the
J.S. peace-keeping force in Lebanon.
In this last debate of the semester,
^■I'jMansored by the Texas A&M Debate
Jeam r students voted 215-77 against
-.—‘J.S. military withdrawal.
The opening speech was delivered
yjack Williams, ajunior English ma-
r from Pasadena, who presented
rguments for the pull-out of the U.S.
nSitary. His arguments included:
Lebanon is fighting a civil war.
■'eace can’t be kept in a country where
^fHatizens are fighting each other as well
is outside forces.
• The war in Lebanon has lasted 10
years and has cost 50,000 lives. The
presence of U.S. troops won’t reverse
a cease-fire that has already been
broken.
• The United States doesn’t have
the ability to deter Islamic revolu
tionaries with brute force.
• U.S. military intervention will in
crease the possibility of an overall out
break and world war.
Williams attacked arguments
against withdrawal saying that they
included “buzz words” that play on
American emotions. Some of the
words Williams listed were terrorism,
U.S. credibility and the Soviet threat.
Mark McGraw, ajunior animal sci
ence major from Alexandria, La.,
presented arguments against the
ITexas voters break tradition
withdrawal. McGraw received a loud
round of whoops when it was
announced that he was also on a
Marine option at Texas A&M. His
arguments were:
• The Marines are trying to assist
Lebanon in creating a unified demo
cracy.
• The Marines are trying to help
remove 40,000 Syrian military per
sonnel from Lebanon.
• The United States is trying to
help Lebanon achieve a unified
peace.
McGraw said a pull-out by the Un
ited States would result in a “blood
bath.” Lives and efforts already
wasted will have been for nothing, he
j>aid.
The public debate consisted of stu
dents seated in either a pro or con
section of the room.
As the debate ended, before the
final vote was taken, more seats from
the pro side became empty as people
moved to side with those against milit
ary withdrawal.
Battalion Staff
A victim of the October shooting
spree that left five dead — two in Col
lege Station — died Friday in a Hous
ton hospital.
A spokesman for Hermann Hos
pital said Tuesday that Anne Bennatt,
70, of Hempstead, died from her
wounds on Friday. Bennatt had been
in the hospital since the Oct. 11
shooting.
Eliseo Moreno, 24, was indicted for
the murder of Bennatt in Waller
County on Nov. 7. No bond was set.
Moreno is accused of killing five
people. Two of the victims, Juan and
Esther Garza, were killed in their
home at the Doux Chene Apartments
in College Station. Moreno has not
been indicted on this charge.
After the shootings, Moreno
allegedly drove to Hempstead where
he is accused of shooting a Depart
ment of Public Safety trooper, and
three elderly people who would not
let him park behind their house.
Moreno also is accused of taking a
family of five hostage in Hempstead
as he tried to flee from police. All
were released unharmed.
Moreno drove through Pasadena
where he is accused of taking a driver
hostage and forcing him to drive to
Wharton, where he was apprehended
and arrested.
On Oct. 25 Moreno was indicted in
Waller County for one count of capit
al murder, two counjts of murder,
aggravated kidnapping and aggra
vated robbery. The total bond was set
at $200,000.
No trial date has been set. Moreno
is being held at the Waller County Jail.
Proposition 6 approved
United Press International
I AUSTIN — Texans broke with a
[pyijcentury-old tradition Tuesday by
overwhelmingly approving a consti-
tutional amendment to allow the gar-
Bpnishment of wages to satisfy child sup
port payments.
The proposal was one of 11 prop
ositions on a statewide referendum
ballot that attracted only a smattering
of voters.
child support measures,” he said.
Unofficial returns showed all but
two of the 11 amendments passing.
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Dflii
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Around town 5
Classified 12
Local 3
National 5
Opinions 2
Sports 13
State 4
What’s up 7
forecast
t Warmer days and cooler nights.
Partly cloudy with a high 77.
With 2,298 of 6,011 precincts re
porting, 139,570 or 78.6 percent fa
vored Proposition 6 — the wage gar
nishment amendment — while only
38,025 or 21.4 percent opposed it.
Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-
Brownsville, a co-sponsor of the prop
osal in the Texas Legislature, said he
was “elated” with the vote.
The amendments failing were
Proposition 8, which would grant an
ad valorem property tax exemption
for veterans’ organizations, and Prop
osition 10, which would allow cities to
spend public money for replacing
sewer lines on public property.
“I had made predictions of a 60-40
type race because it would be a low
turnout and the so-called silent oppo
sition to garnishment,” he said. “But it
appears that statewide, it’s running
about 80 percent for and 20 percent
against.”
Voters also approved amendments
to allow state money to be used to back
loans to school districts, remove the
governor from the parole process,
create a new veterans mortgage prog
ram and set up a procedure to run the
Legislature in case of nuclear war.
Oliveira, noting Texas has been
one of only two states that did not
have such a procedure to ensure child
support payments, added, “It’s an
idea whose time has come.”
South Carolina is the lone state
without the garnishment provision.
Sen. Ray Farabee, D-Wichita Falls,
the Senate sponsor, said Tuesday’s
vote was an indication that attitudes in
Texas have changed.
Also approved were proposals that
will allow smaller counties to maintain
fewer justices of the peace and const
ables, bar creditors from forcing the
sale of homesteads to pay off debts,
allow commodity groups to assess far
mers a fee to promote their products
and authorize county probate judges
to substitute as probate judges in
other counties.
T “Something has happened in the
last two years that I think has prop
elled Texas into the column with the
other 48 states that do have stronger
Most of the propositions were non-
controversial and there was no orga
nized opposition to any of them. But
advocacy groups, joined by the chair
men of the Texas Democratic and Re
publican parties, put on a last-minute
push for the wage garnishment
i amendment.
Rescue Mission
Jane Beach, Battalion Photo
Students from the TAMU Emergency
Technician’s course practice their skills
during a mock search and rescue held at
the fire school. The students were told to
find the victims and rescue them from the
window of the “burning building.”
I l