The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 20, 1984, Image 1
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See page 3 See page 11 See page 8 Texas A&M m W • The Battalion an Serving the Gniversity community bepich ol 78 No. Ocas^ 79 USPS 0453110 14 pages College Station, Texas Friday, January 20, 1984 )eath wish fused y court . ** ^ United Press International "“‘■SAN FRANCISCO — Quadriple- , ■ Elizabeth Bouvia cannot carry out I : ■•starvation death wish at Riverside »eral Hospital, the California Sup- »e Court said Thursday in the first ■rt ruling in the case. ta |■n a one-line order, the court re- Hpd to hear the 26-year-old cerebral Hy victim's arguments that force Bing violated her constitutionally cesirctfeiranteed right to privacy. ■The court agreed with deputy honor: inty counsel Barbara Milliken who iseJessiBntained the constitution does not rsther&e citizens the right to commit Id,” saiBide. inara®p j s self-evident that the right to d field. rst hear iool, bu |acy does not include the right to itmion. | m j t suitide " Milliken said in pap- s u d with the court. “To characte- e a person’s self-destructive acts as .. litled to that constitutional protec- |V0 l fn would be ludicrous.” s a cha* se ^ »he said asking doctors and nurses let Bouvia starve herself would he V 0 W 831116 as as k‘ n 8 them to help her al v tl Snimit a crime. aesa )*lKilling of the petitioner would be n ! uc Mher excusable nor justifiable," a * on 8:{illiken said. esinit.V e hurjHospttal officials have said she iplineayld be discharged from the center ; praciw the acutely ill since she no longer luires hospital care. hat if IT ‘High alerf issued ships off Lebanon Photo by DEAN SAITO ‘Don’t drop it Physical plant workers Don Garrett (on ladder) and Harold Gregory (below), both of Bryan, carefully replace a burned-out light in the Langford Architecture Building. Both are electricians for the physical plant. 70S bills rise with cold weather so, ally,lb goodoi les in tk By KELLEY SMITH Senior staff writer lipSi D^While most effects of the Decem- e e albf r freeze were immediatly noticeable top sitfthe form of broken pipes, flooded |mes and dead plants, consumers i| see another effect soon when they ^^keive their utility bills this month. ^^T“The cold weather has had a dra- fttic effect on bills, there’s no doubt But that,” Dan Weber, district man- jfcr with Lone Star Gas, said liursday. ■ Gas meter readings for December lye shown an average usage increase -Jf two-and-a-half to three times as E lich over November, Weber said. (Linda Piwonka, utility office mana- , ; ei with College Station, said electric —Hlls for December will be higher also, wen though many people were gone luring the cold weather, Piwonka i»id, heat had to stay on to protect er pipes from bursting. If some- left their home and turned the rmostat down to 50 degrees, the it was still running because of the temperatures, she said. Amy Godfrey, citizen information coordinator with Bryan utilities, also said the December bills are higher, but not substantially. Godfrey said that for the two areas that have re ceived their December bills, there have only been a few calls from people with unusually high bills. But it was found in most of those cases that the customer’s billing period was longer than the normal 30 days, she said. As a result of the increases in the bills due to the weather, the Railroad Commission has requested that all of the state’s gas utilities give customers extra time to pay their bill if they ask for it. Weber said Lone Star will comply with the commission’s request for cus tomers with a good payment record. Lone Star will work individually with those customers that have had reliable credit to develop a payment plan, he said. The Public Utility Commission of Texas has asked electric utilities to place a moratorium on service discon nections for customers unable to pay their December bill. However, A.E. Vandever, assistant city manager and director of finance with the city of College Station, said no arrangements have been made for payment plans or to stop disconnec tions. Vandever said the city will reserve judgement on the request until a situation arises that may need special consideration. But he added that business probably will continue as usual. According to Piwonka, the city has never offered any payment plans in the past. Godfrey said the Bryan utility office has a special officer that hand les deferred payments, but such arrangements are usually for hard ship cases. Godfrey said the office does not like to make such arrange ments but can in such cold weather when the only alternative is to discon nect service. Some families may be eligible for assistance in paying the unusually high heating bills through the Horne Energy Assistance Program spon sored by the Texas Department of Human Resources. The one-time payment is available to families who receive food stamps. Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Sup plemental Security Income or needs- tested Veterans Administration be nefits. Eligibility is limited by gross income along the following guidelines: a one- person household with a gross monthly income of less than $355.49; $581.49 for two-persons; $798.49 for three-persons; $985.49 for four per sons; $1,162.49 for five; and $1,359.49 for six. Applications for assistance can be obtained through the local office of the Department of Human Re sources. During the unusually cold weather, there are some steps a consumer can take to keep the heating hills down. Weber said consumers can save oy wearing more clothing in the house so the heat can be kept down. People should resist the temptation to turn -, the heat up when they walk into a house, he said. Tim Layne, energy specialist with the city of College Station, said infor mation on energy efficiency is avail able free at the city hall. United Press International BEIRUT — U.S. warships off Leba non were reported on “high alert” Thursday with warplanes on patrol against possible kamikaze attacks by Islamic terrorists. The report by Israel Television came amid stepped-up security pre cautions after vows of new attacks against U.S. and French targets by the Moslem extremist group that claimed responsibility for killing American educator Malcolm Kerr. Kerr, the president of the Amer ican University of Beirut, was assas sinated outside his campus office Wednesday by gunmen using silencer-equipped pistols. Lebanese universities and the Roman Catholic school system closed to protest the murder. Israel Television reporter Michael Gurdus, who monitors radio trans missions, said U.S. warplanes were checking all flights entering Lebanese and Israeli airspace in search of suicide planes that might he Hying near civilian airliners to escape radar detection. The reporter said 6th Fleet ships were on “high alert” against suicide air attacks but did not disclose what prompted the reported precautions. Israel Radio said the U.S. air pat rols were being coordinated with Israeli civilian aviation controllers. There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials. Defense Department officials in the past have warned against possible attempts to fly bomb-laden planes into U.S. warships in suicide attacks like those carried out by Japanese pilots at the end of World War II. U.S. Marines, wary of any repeat of the suicide truck bombing that killed 241 Marines in October, opened fire Thursday on a jeep that approached their base at “an excessive rate of speed,” about 15 mph. Marine spokesman Maj. Dennis Brooks said the Marines “showed great restraint” by disabling the vehi cle carrying two Lebanese airport technicians instead of shooting to kill when six warnings to halt were ignored. The technicians were com ing to repair a radar installation. The U.S. Marines, victims of an October suicide bombing by the same group that claimed to have killed Kerr, opened fire on a Jeep when it approached their base at “an exces sive rate of speed,” about 15 mph. Marine spokesman Maj. Dennis Brooks said the Marines “showed great restraint” by disabling the vehi cle carrying two Lebanese airport technicians instead of shooting to kill when six warnings to halt were ignored. The technicians were com ing to repair a radar installation. Arms negotiations make no progress United Press International OSLO, Norway — Secretary of State George Shultz conceded Thurs day that he failed to make progress in his meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko on renew ing nuclear arms negotiations. But Gromyko hinted to other Western officials that Moscow may want to resume negotiations soon on troop reductions in Europe. “The situation is unchanged,” said Shultz, concluding a six-hour visit to the Norwegian capital, where he met government officials and King Olav V, before returning to Washington. The Shullz-Gromyko meeting was the first time they met since they held a stormy session in Madrid last Sep tember over the Soviet downing of a Korean Air Lines passenger plane. In his speech to the security confer ence in Stockholm, Shultz called for the Soviets to return to the bargaining table in Geneva. But Gromyko told the conference the United States was preparing for nuclear war against his country and Moscow had no intention of resuming negotiations. “I found his characterizations of the United States incorrect and un acceptable, Shultz said. ^Graduation deadlines nearing By MIKE DAVIS Reporter Seniors hoping to graduate this jMay are beginnning to pack their funks for their journey into thejung- ps of the “real world.” I But before any traveler flies off to hat exotic dreamland of success, he |iust first pass through several stages pmake sure nothing was left undone ind everything is secure. I Graduating seniors at Texas A&M legin their journey by applying for heir passport, the coveted diploma. I All graduating seniors must apply |br their degree at the degree check in Heaton Hall before Feb. 3. I “They need to apply for gradua- Ibn and that requires a fee,” Assistant legistrar Don Gardner said. “They |e not officially a degree candidate until they do.” I Gardner said the registrar’s office Icluded the fee on some graduating niors’ fee slips, but were unable to 11 them all. “We tried to catch them during reg- [tradon and get a card in their pack- Gardner said. “If we did, their card was automatically assessed. Now all they have to do is bring their paid fee slip by here (105 Heaton).” Gardner says all seniors should check their spring semester fee slip for “Diploma Fee-$15.” Seniors with out this should pay the fee in the Coke Building. After the fee is paid and our travel er has applied for his passport, he begins the next step toward his jour ney, notice of change-of-address. Spring-time travelers can order their announcements until Feb. 8 at the Student Finance Center, 217 Memorial Student Center. Announcements can be ordered in various quantities and qualities, de pending on the senior’s tastes and wealth. With announcements arriving around mid-April, the traveler can begin his search for the proper travel ing attire. For this special occasion a simple cap and gown will do. Commence ment fashions will cost about $13 at the MSC Bookstore. Now for the final check. “Around the first week in April they (seniors) will get a letter from us and in this letter it will tell them exact ly what they need to graduate,” Gard ner said. The letter includes information such as the number of hours the senior is currently enrolled in, the number of hours the senior must pass, other hours which must be pas sed, petitioned, or transferred in, and grade points needed. The letters should be signed and returned to 105 Heaton Hall. “This is where a lot of times we pick up transfer work that a student thought had been transferred in that didn’t get on his transcript,” he said. “Maybe incompletes or grade changes that they thought had gone through but didn’t go through, so maybe their grade point average is lower than they thought, and these sorts of things.” Seniors have about one month to clear up any problems before com mencement. “If they don’t get that letter then they need to get excited,” Gardner said. “If they don’t get that letter two weeks before commencement, they need to get themselves over here.” Gardner says it is not uncommon for letters to be returned despite efforts to get accurate mailing addresses. “We do everything in the world we can do to try to get phone numbers and correct addresses so that we can reach them,” he said. After travel confirmations are made there is only one more step be fore the traveler boards the plane, the final check list. “The clear list will be posted at 8 a.m. on Wednesday before com mencement,” he said. “That is the last thing they need to do. “That list is posted after all of the grades have come in and we’ve check ed their final grades against what we were hoping for, they’re cleared academically and the police or the fis cal office doesn’t have a block on them, then there will be no problem. “If they do have a problem then there will be a red dot by their name and out beside it telling them what they need to do and who they need to go see to clear the dot. Then they have until 12 noon on the Thursday before commencement to get everything cleared up.” See SENIORS page 6 In Today’s Battalion Local • For the second time this week, pilots landing at Easter- wood Airport reported instrument readings that meant the landing gear on their planes were not functioning properly. See story page 3. State • A Houston apartment complex has decided to make clo thing optional. See story page 4. • Maj. Gen. Robert G. Ownby bound and hanged himself in a bizarre effort to convince authorities he was executed by terrorists, the medical examiner. See story page 5. • Significant residues of the cancer-causing chemical EDB remained food products, even after they were cooked. See story page 9. National • Police investigators tracing the steps of confessed mass killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Elwood Toole linked the men to a pair of previously unsolved slayings. See story page 4.