Flu epidemic hits
Aggieland hard
See page 3
Vol 78 No. 85 CJSPS 0453110 18 pages
Battalion
Serving the University community
College Station, Texas Monday, January 30, 1984
Reagan says he’ll
seek second term
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President
Reagan, declaring “our work is not
finished,” Sunday night made his
long expected announcement that he
will seek a second term.
In a five-minute speech televised
live from the Oval Office, Reagan
said: “We have made a new begin
ning. Vice President Bush and I
would like to have your continued
support and cooperation in complet
ing what we began three years ago.
“I am therefore announcing that I
am a candidate and will seek re-
election to the office I presently
hold.”
Although Reagan aides said the
president told no one of his decision
early, the announcement came as no
surprise. The campaign organization,
which paid $400,000 to have the
announcement broadcast on ABC,
CBS and NBC, has been in place for
months with more than 100 paid staf
fers.
About 1,000 staunch Reaganites
began celebrating in a downtown
hotel ballroom about three hours be
fore the speech was given and 400
party leaders dropped by the White
House for a reception five hours be
fore the address.
“I support him fully,” said First
Lady Nancy Reagan, who has expre-
sed fears about his safety since an
assassination attempt three years ago.
“I’m very proud of him and all he has
accomplished in a very short space of
time.”
Mrs. Reagan, his daughter, Mau
reen, and her husband, Dennis
Ravell, were with the president in the
Oval Office as he made the announce
ment.
With the flair of the Hollywood
actor he used to be, Reagan teased his
viewers in the third sentence of his
address, saying: “I’ve come to a diffi
cult personal decision as to whether or
not I should seek re-election.”
He did not reveal that decision un
til the end of the speech, about four
minutes later.
Sounding the theme that is likely to
become the centerpiece of his cam
paign, Reagan, who celebrates his
73rd birthday next week, told how
things have improved since he de
scribed the nation as being “in the
worst economic mess since the great
depression.”
“Well, things have changed,” he
said. “This past year inflation drop
ped down to 3.2 percent. Interest
rates — cut nearly in half. Retail sales
are surging. Homes are being built
and sold. Auto assembly lines are
opening up. And in just the last year 4
million people have found jobs.
“But our work is not finished,” said
Reagan. “We have more to do in
creating jobs, achieving control over
government spending, returning
more autonomy to the states, keeping
peace in a more settled world, and
seeing if we can’t find room in our
schools for Cod.”
See REAGAN page 10
Found in Texas wildlife
Fresh DDT discovered
Man's best friend
Photo by KATHERINE HURT
Bob and Bobby Beals of Bryan admire an
abandoned dog at the Brazos Animal
Shelter. The shelter celebrated its first
birthday Sunday with cat and dog-shaped
cakes for the two-legged guests and milk
bones for the rest.
United Press International
DALLAS — Fresh concentrations
of the powerful insecticide DDT, ban
ned 12 years ago by the federal gov
ernment, now have been discovered
in animal tissue in Texas, California
and other western states, UPI has
learned.
The toxin, believed to be smuggled
or draining in from Mexico, also
threatens extensive wildlife breeding
grounds.
“We’re probably all loaded with it,”
said John Youngerman, chief of sur
veillance for California’s water re
source control board. “It (DDT) is just
endemic. We keep finding DDT and
DDE (a breakdown product) almost
everywhere.”
DDT has long been detected in
Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, but recent
accumulations make contaminated
fish potential “packets of poison,”
according to biologists, and endanger
vital Laguna Madre breeding
grounds.
In California, data compiled last
week reveal heavy contamination in
stickleback fish and mussels in the
Salinas River valley, a lettuce-growing
region south of San Francisco. Pre
viously, DDT contamination was be
lieved limited to southern California.
See DDT page 10
Coordinating Board endorses PUF amendment
By RONNIE CROCKER
Staff writer
The Texas College and University
stem Coordinating Board Friday
lanimously endorsed a proposed
iendment to the Texas constitution
at would allow components of the
&tas A&M and University of Texas
items to share in the Permanent
diversity Fund.
The PUF is a constitutionally dedi-
ted fund that provides money for
;xas A&M and UT with certain
jislative restrictions. The interest
aerated by the fund is known as the
mailable University Fund and is pre-
liy set up to allow only UT at Au-
land Texas A&M to share in the
Ime.
Under the
terms of the amend
ment, Prairie View A&M University
and the rest of the Texas A&M system
would be allowed to share in the AUF.
Newly created colleges and universi
ties would be allowed to share in
whichever of the two funds would be
appropriate.
The amendment, which will go be
fore the voters Nov. 6, also would pro
vide $100 million in annual funding
for the acquisition of land, construc
tion of new facilities, repair and re
habilitation of existing facilities, and
the purchase of equipment, library
books and other materials by the uni
versities and colleges that do not share
in the PUF.
The new special higher education
assistance fund would get its money
from general state revenue and would
replace the state ad valorem tax fund
which provided money to 17 public
universities prior to 1979.
Although the tax wasn’t repealed
until 1982, the legislature, in 1979,
reduced the assessment ratio to a
point so low that it became impractical
to collect the tax.
This was done because of a 1978
suit that questioned the constitution
ality of the tax. Since then, the 17
schools haven’t received funds for
new construction because of constitu
tional restrictions on using general
funds for such things.
A clause in the resolution cites a
study of repair needs at 25 public
senior colleges. According to the
study, more than $300 million is
needed to sufficiently upgrade ex
isting facilities.
In other business, the Board, on
recommendation from its committee
on Campus Planning and Physical
Facilities Development, approved the
purchase by Texas A&M of five acres
of land between the campus and Farm
Road 2818. The AUF will cover the
$82,500 cost of the land.
UT got permission from the Board
to spend more than $11.5 million on
two construction projects.
One of the projects is to build a
football facility south of Memorial
Stadium that includes modern dres
sing and training facilities and a
fenced rooftop practice field covered
with artificial turf.
The Board approved it with the
understanding that none of the fund
ing would come from state funds. The
facility will be funded through men’s
intercollegiate and gift funds.
The other project is a $4.7 million
parking garage that will accomodate
1,000 cars. The money will come from
revenue bonds, unallocated desig
nated funds and unexpended plant
fund balances.
The Board also approved 13 for
mulas to be used by the governor and
Legislative Budget Board on which to
base their budget recommendations.
The formulas also are to be used by
the public colleges and universities in
preparing their budget requests for
1985-87.
The faculty salaries formula, as
voted on by the Board, calls for a 9
percent increase in 1986 and a 6 per
cent increase in 1987.
In another action, the Board au
thorized its staff to publish its revised
fall enrollment forecasts for Texas in
stitutes of higher education through
1995. The Board has been publishing
the forecasts every two years since
1978.
The predictions say that statewide
more than 850,000 people will be en
rolled in 1995 as compared to 765,265
in 1983. At Texas A&M, the predic
tion is for 39,860 in 1995 as compared
to 36,846 in 1983.
The enrollment at Prairie View
A&M, according to the forecasts, will
grow to 4,798 in 1995 from its 1983
enrollment of 4,425. At UT, the pre
diction is for an increase from 47,573
to 49,100 in the same time period.
0.S., Soviets playing
)f one-upmanship,
game
profs
say
By SARAH OATES
Staff writer
B’Soviet-American relations are in really bad
ape right now. In fact, they’re in the worst shape
ice the Cuban Missile Crisis,” said Dr.John
jterlson, an assistant professor of political science
Kexas A&M University.
Blast week Secretary of State George Shultz and
'viet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko met in
Icholm to try to warm up the chilly current of
Communications between the superpowers,
the meeting was disappointing for both sides,
I Gromyko flatly stating that, “Nuclear war is the
of the United States.” Asked to describe the
itus of Soviet-American relations, Shultz’ oblique
ply that, “There are some positive things. There
Isome negative things. It’s kind of a mixed pic-
re, ’ neatly skirted the issue.
Soviet leader Yuri Andropov has said there is a
Etneed for dialogue between the Soviet Union
|the U.S., but that it will not occur if Washington
Ittinues to approach the issue from a standpoint
lihreats and pressure.”
jAndropov also touched on a key problem in cur-
nt U.S.-Soviet relations when he said Tuesday
It discussions on nuclear arms limitations must be
reeled at reaching “concrete accords.”
“Reagan is an ardent anti-communist,” Robert
son said. So far as Reagan is concerned, America
won’t play second fiddle to the Soviets, he said.
Robertson said the superpowers currently are
engaged in a game of one-upmanship that is in part
responsible for floundering Soviet-American rela
tions.
“Neither power can admit that it has anxieties, or
afford to admit them,” Robertson said. “They’re
playing tit-for-tat. Who has the greatest arsenal,
who doesn’t, who has the greatest technology and so
on. Because of this game, the prospects are more
difficult for a dialogue.
“They’re not even talking specifics right now,”
he said. “That’s how badly things have regressed.
It’s a game of‘Well, let’s see your proposal. No, let’s
see yours first.’ Reagan can’t offer Russia anything
tangible right now because he has to answer to his
right-wing Republican constituency.”
Robertson said that because this is an election
year, the Reagan administration and the Soviets
“may try to cut a deal soon,” concerning arms re
ductions or limitations.
“I can see incentives on both sides as the election
approaches,” he said. “Reagan needs something to
go to the American people with. I think it’s possible
something will be worked out before the election.
“If something isn’t worked out before the elec
tion, it will be hard next year for the U.S and the
Soviets to get back together.”
Asked what sort of arms limitations agreement
might be reached, Robertson said he thinks the
superpowers might in principal “agree to agree” on
somet hing such as the exact wording of a proposal.
“In principal, it would be good to have issues
folded in together,” he said. For example, the
START talks and the intermediate-range missile
talks could be folded in together.
“I can see levels set to establish baselines for
negotiations,” Robertson said.
Texas A&M assistant history professor Terry
Anderson said that Reagan is the first president
since Truman to discontinue talks with the Soviet
Union.
“This could have terrible repercussions,” he
said. “I do not support Russia, but I basically agree
with Andropov on this issue.”
Anderson said that the Reagan administration
has reversed a historical trend of superpower com
munication that has been supported by both Re
publicans and Democrats, calling it “a very bad
move on Reagan’s part.”
Reagan will probably make arms concessions be
fore the election, Anderson said, but added that
right now “our demands are so preposterous ...
They’re in the stratosphere.”
See RUSSIA page 10
In Today’s Battalion
Local
• Miss USA pays a visit to Aggieland and discusses
her future plans. See page 4
• Business Week begins today, with seminars and
booths set up in the Blocker Building. See page 5
State
• Acquaintances of the man killed by a bomb blast
say he was a FBI informant. See page 4
• Singer Micheal Jackson is sent home from the
hospital following a burn accident. See page 5
• Jury selection begins in the trial of a mother
accused of beating her infant to death. See page 8
National
• Wayne Gretzky’s 51-game point-scoring streak
stopped Saturday by the Los Angeles Kings. See page
17
• The 41st annual Golden Globe awards set the
scene for the Academys. See page 13
• Players for the Minnesota Vikings react to Bud
Grant's resignation. See page 16.