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See page 15
The Battalion
Serving the University community
College Station, Texas
House Democrats soften
Marine withdrawal stance
United Press International
WASHINGTON — House Demo
crats, hoping to defuse charges they
are playing politics with foreign
affairs, Thursday moved to tone
down a resolution calling for the
prompt removal of U.S. Marines
from Lebanon.
Rep. Steven Solarz, D-N.Y., said
Democrats on the Foreign Affairs
Committee planned to rewrite the re
solution to take out “gratuitous” parti
san criticism of the administration
and make it clear that U.S. air and
naval forces should remain in the area
to support the Beirut government.
But he said the “bottom line”
would still be a call for President
Reagan to promptly withdraw the
Marines “from the soil of Lebanon.”
Undersecretary of State Lawrence
Eagleburger went before the commit
tee earlier in an effort to head off the
resolution, but members planned to
meet Friday to vote on the measure so
it can be taken to the full House next
week.
Solarz said the Democrats do not
want the withdrawal resolution to be
seen “as a particularly partisan en
deavor,” and do not intend that the
United States abandon the govern
ment of Lebanese leader Amin
Gemayel.
Administration officials and Re
publicans on the panel have charged
the Democrats with “playing politics”
and warned the withdrawal demand
only encourages Syria and other fac
tions opposed to the Lebanese gov
ernment.
The Foreign Affairs Committee
met Thursday afternoon to hear
administration testimony on the re
solution. Solarz said committee
Democrats would meet after the hear
ing to make the changes in the resolu
tion.
Rep. William Broomfield, R-Mich.,
ranking Republican on the commit
tee, said earlier he will offer an alter
native when the resolution comes to
the floor in hopes of restoring biparti
san agreement on U.S. policy in
Lebanon.
Meanwhile, O’Neill’s chief spokes
man accused the White House of
branding Democrats traitors. He
noted that presidential spokesman
Larry Speakes had declared that
efforts to persuade the president to
withdraw the Marines from Lebanon
“aid and abet” Syria and “others bent
on a destructive role in the Middle
East.”
“Aiding and abetting is legal lan
guage for being a traitor; it wasn’t an
accident,” said O’Neill aide Christ
opher Matthews.
“The White House is engaging in a
new form of McCarthyism,” he said.
“Charlie McCarthyism. You don’t
blame the dummy. You blame the
ventriloquist.”
Speakes was not apologetic. “I’m
terribly sorry that the speaker is up
set, but that’s the way the game is play
ed,” he said. Asked if he was calling
Democrats traitors, Speakes replied
with a big smile: ”oh, no, of course
not.”
Eagleburger told the House com
mittee a U.S. pullout from Lebanon
would be “a major victory” for ter
rorism.
“We may bring our boys home to
safety now, but we run an enormous
risk of encouraging escalating crises
which may, down the road, compel us
to send our boys out again in even
more dangerous circumstances,” he
said.
He could not promise immediate
positive results if the United States
pursues its objectives in Lebanon,
“but I can assure you that failure to
pursue them — cutting and running,
if you will — will do enormous harm.”
Senate passes tough crime bill
I^QQ^j Pig up Photo by ERIC EVAN LEE
\ Chris Osborne of College Station washes the second floor
windows of Sterling C. Evans Library Thursday with a
brush and a long pole. Though the rest of campus was
hit by occasional showers, Osborne, a Texas A&M
employee, was able to work ‘under cover’ of the building.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Senate
overwhelmingly approved a sweeping
crime bill Thursday that reverses the
insanity defense, making acquittal
more difficult for defendants like
presidential assailant John W. Hinc
kley Jr.
The 91-1 vote to pass the crime
package, which also abolishes parole
for federal crimes, followed defeat of
an amendment that stymied Senate
action all week. Sen. Charles Mathias,
R-Md., cast the lone dissenting vote.
By a vote of 51-41, the Senate kil
led the amendment by Sens. Howard
Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, and Dale
Bumpers, D-Ark., forbidding federal
workers from taping conversations
without permission.
The amendment was prompted by
the revelation that U.S. Information
Agency chief Charles Wick taped tele
phone calls without informing those
on the other end of the line. Among
those recorded were White House
Chief of Staff James Baker and for
mer President Jimmy Carter.
Republicans charged the amend
ment was aimed at embarrassing Wick
and his close friend. President
Reagan, and warned it was drafted so
hastily it would interfere with intelli
gence-gathering and criminal investi
gations.
Bumpers shrugged off the pleas to
withdraw the amendment so hearings
on the subject could be held.
“George Orwell is surely smiling
from ear to ear. Big Brother is watch
ing,” Bumpers said, urging colleagues
to safeguard Americans’ privacy.
Broad support for the crime bill
was won by separating out controver
sial issues such as the death penalty
and the exclusionary rule for later
consideration.
The crime legislation, the first ma
jor bill of the year, would narrow the
insanity defense in the wake of the
furor that arose when Hinckley was
acquitted by reason of insanity on
charges of trying to assassinate
Reagan, and abolish parole for feder
al crimes.
The measure would require defen
dants who plead insanity as a defense
to prove with “clear and convincing
evidence” they did not know what
they were doing at the time of the
crime. The burden is now on the pro
secution to prove the defendant sane
beyond a reasonable doubt.
watch s
razf*
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ommissioner says EDB isn’t ‘immediate threat’
United Press International
by RiM
is long® AUSTIN — Texas’ health commis-
58 yarhwner told a skeptical Senate subcom-
[tte a n mittee Thursday that he has not ban-
, ](jfji tied EDB-tainted foods because he
coinpl'floes not believe residues of the can-
a Heisifllp-causing pesticide are an “immedi-
playtiiiate threat.”
mv I’mfl "l do not believe the situation rep-
r n i revnts any sort of an emergency in
terms of public health,” said Dr.
Robert Bernstein. “If I did, I would
have acted.”
Bernstein, told members of the
Senate Subcommittee on Public
, Health that because the problem with
* EDB residues in food only surfaced in
the past two months, he felt it was
prudent to wait for federal guide
lines.
But committee Chairman Sen.
Carlos Truan, D-Corpus Christi, said
he thought it was a “copout” for Texas
to wait for the federal Environmental
Protection Agency to set minimum
exposure standards.
“I don’t think that kind of copout
will wash with members of our com
mittee or the people of Texas,” he
said. “I yield to no member of the
Texas Senate on the low esteem in
which I hold the EPA under the
Reagan administration.”
The committee summoned associ
ate state health Commissioner Jerome
Greenberg after learning of a news
paper article in which he was quoted
as saying, “one good war will kill more
people than 30 years of exposure to
dioxin, EDB and all the other chemic
als yon can name.”
Greenberg told the committee he
was speaking for himself and not the
Health Department when he made
the comment. He said he did not in
tend to make light of the EDB debate.
But Sen. Chet Edwards, D-
Duncanville, told Greenberg his com
ments were a “poor reflection on the
Department of Health and the state of
Texas.”
“I feel very strongly that it was an
extremely irresponsible statement to
make,” Edwards added.
At least four states, including Flor
ida, California, Massachusetts and
Hawaii, have acted to protect consum
ers from products contaminated with
EDB.
EDB, ethylene dibromide, has
been widely used as a fumigant on
grain and citrus and as an additive to
leaded gasoline since the late 1940s. It
has been found to cause cancer in
laboratory animals and is suspected of
causing cancer in humans.
Traces of the pesticide have shown
up in a variety of food products in
Texas.
But Bernstein said he thought it
was “premature” for states to act on
their own to control tainted food pro
ducts.
“EDB has been around for 50
years,” he said. “Whyjump the gun?”
Bernstein said the state will act im
mediately once EPA sets standards,
which will apparently be Friday.
“I think that makes a lot more sense
than 50 states going off on their own,”
he said. “I think the farmers and groc
ers will pay more attention to it (EPA
sanctions).”
Assistant Texas Agriculture Com
missioner Ron White said the EPA
will apparently will set limitations on
EDB on a three-tier level — raw grain,
intermediate products on grocery
shelves and ready-to-eat products.
State Agriculture Commissioner
Jim Hightower told the committee
that if his agency had the power it
would have ordered the removal of
some foods from Texas supermarket
shelves.
“Yes, we would have followed the
Florida standards and removed
them,” he said.
Hightower said he had been told
that EDB’s cancer-causing properties
were a thousand times more powerful
than saccharin, which carries a warn
ing label.
But Bernstein said, “You’re com
paring risks in different leagues.”
Bernstein said cigarettes “are a
thousand times more potent” that
EDB, adding there is only evidence
that laboratory animals fed large
doses of EDB have contracted cancer.
The amount of EDB given rats and
mice, he said, would be the equivalent
of a 150-pound human eating six to
12 tons of contaminated raw grain
each day.
Earlier, a coalition of environmen
tal and consumer groups asked Bern
stein in a formal petition to immedi
ately ban all foods tainted with any
level of EDB.
Six more weeks of winter
In Today’s Battalion
Vunxsutawney Phil sees shadow
United Press International
j PUNSUTAWNEY, Pa. — Groun
dhog Punxsulawney Phil had a quiet
Hay after predicting six more weeks of
winter Thursday but the folks in town
made the most of the event that makes
everyone in Punxsulawney a celeb
rity.”
Phil emerged from his burrow and
saw a “thin, gray shadow over his right
shoulder” at 7:20 a.m., said James
Means, president of the Punxsutaw-
■ey Groundhog Club which sponsors
• Phil's annual prediction.
I The shadow sighting means six
more weeks of winter for the nation,
l! Phil had not seen his shadow, it
ould have meant an early spring was
On the way, Means said.
I An added attraction to the predic
tion this year was a groundhog wed-
ling between Phil and Philomena, a
rlgroundhog from the Philadelphia
Phil’s third wife apparently didn’t
Phil emerged from his
burrow and saw a “thin,
gray shadow over his right
shoulder”at 7:20 a.m., said
James Means, president of
the Punxsulawney Groun
dhog Club which sponsors
Phils annual prediction.
appreciate the attention from some
900 groundhog watchers on hand for
the festivities. She bit one of Means’
hands as he held her during the wed
ding. The only medical attention he
required was a Band-Aid.
Club secretary William Null said
the newlyweds would spend the win
ter honeymooning at a groundhog
zoo in Punxsulawney.
Some people said they hoped for a
baby from the match, but Null said,
“That’s between the two groun
dhogs.”
Julie Roberts, who works for a Phi
ladelphia radio station that broadcast
the event live, carried the bride down
the aisle.
“Usually all a bridesmaid has to
worry about is dropping the bouquet,
but I had to worry about dropping the
bride,” she said.
Following Phil’s show, a breakfast
was held at the Punxsulawney Coun
try Club and a Groundhog King and
Queen were crowned.
And a banquet was scheduled for
Thursday night to honor town resi
dents who have promoted Punx-
sutawney and Phil when they have
moved to new cities.
Elaine Light, whose late husband,
Sam, was president for 24 years of the
Groundhog Club, said the day means
“a tremendous amount of fun.”
“It makes everyone in Punxsutaw-
ney a celebrity,” she said.
Ms. Roberts mother, Peggy
Roberts, of Punxsulawney, said she
enjoys the hullabaloo.
“As a kid I used to be embarrassed
by all this but now it’s a lot of fun,” she
said.
The Groundhog Club claims Phil’s
forecast is the only “official” one, but
other animals across the country put
forth their own predictions.
A prairie dog in Lander, Wyo., saw
its shadow and predicted six more
weeks of winter, as did groundhogs in
Upshur County and Athens, W.Va.
and Indianapolis.
A rabbit in Irvington, Ky., looked
at a thermometer and predicted five
more weeks of winter.
Groundhogs in Sun Prairie, Wis.,
and Lilburn, Ga., did not see their
shadows and challenged Phil’s predic
tion by calling for an early spring.
Local
-TOT..
• Former Texas A&Jd track star Jimmy Howard is work
ing towards a spot on the U.S. Olympic track team. See story
page 15.
• Quarterback John Mazur i§ hoping to pitch for the
Texas Aggie baseball team this season. See story page 15.
• The annual All-Nite Fair will be turned into the All-Nite
Scare. See page 4.
State
• Residents of nude apartment complex in Houston study
their options. See page 3.
National
• Senators are angry over President Reagan’s refusal to
pass an acid rain clean-up bill. See story page 10.