wmmi
\ N
A&M clips
Aggies tied for second in SWC
Page 9
,v „ v ^
Child safety seats
improper use concerns officials
S^ly|l^ : Page 14
V Texas A&M W 1 ^ m m
The Battalion
Vol. 80 No. 85 GSRS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, January 28, 1985
:IA has limited
rebel control
in Nicaragua
Associated Press
*K‘
lii
ministration officials say the limits of
ICIA control over the rebels it backs
in Nicaragua have been made evi-
I dent by Honduras' charges that the
rebels have murdered political dissi
dents in Honduras.
J The officials, who insisted on ano-
■lymity, said the Honduran allega
tions caught the CIA off guard.
■They said rebel leaders had assured
Bhe CIA a key military officer alleg
edly implicated in the abuses had
Kjeen expelled two years ago from
Rhe Nicaraguan Democratic Force.
The U.S.-backed force, known in
dcaragua by its Spanish initials,
FDN, has been fighting for four
years to overthrow the leftist Sanda-
nista government in Nicaragua.
U.S. officials expressed surprise
last week when informed that,
According to statements from two re-
| bel leaders, the officer, Col. Ricardo
‘Chino” Lau, had not been purged
but at least until last year was still
vith the rebel group.
“If Lau was there alter January
1983, it was dearly deceptive,” said
IjpneotTicia} lapuhar with U.S. efforts
|o rid rite Fl).\ of Lau and othei Vi-
tional Guard officers who fought for
Bongtime dictator Anastasio Somo/.a
Wore his overthrow in 1979.
The official said FDN leaders, op
posed to the purge, apparently de-
Jpded to “fool the gringos” by shift-
iJ’mg Lau front a public to a secret
■position.
Another official said the incident
howed that while the CIA had di
rect command and control over cer-.
tain operations, such as the mining
of Nicaragua’s harbors, the agency
had only limited influence over the
• FDN’s internal operations.
One U.S. official said the CIA be-
? gan pressing FDN leaders to oust
Lau in September 1982 and was as
sured by rebel leaders that Lau was
removed in January 1983. The off i-
ml said the CIA was then told that
Lau was hired by Alvarez to run a se
cret Honduran “counter-intelli
gence” unit.
But that timing conflicts with a
statement by FDN president Adolfo
Calero, published in The New York
Times on April 12, 1984, in which
Calero said he had received Lau’s
resignation several weeks before —
more than a year after the CIA was
told Lau had left.
But Chamorro said even the 1984
departure date is incorrect.
Congress cut off covert CIA fund
ing for the Nicaraguan rebels last
year, but President Reagan is ex
pected to push for new assistance af
ter the congressional ban expires
Feb. 28.
Shuttle ends
secret flight
Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Af
ter three days of operations high
above Earth, Discovery came home
Sunday from America’s first
manned military space mission. It
left behind a superspy satellite to
tune in on sensitive Soviet commu
nications.
Viewers at the Kennedy Space
Center could see the shuttle as only a
glinting speck in the sun for five
minutes before it touched down.
When the craft rolled to a stop, ap
plause broke out. Touchdown was at
4:23 p.m.
Like everything else about the
mission, the route of the shuttle’s re
turn was kept secret to deny the So
viet Union information that wotnld
tell it about the satellite, called Siglnt
(signal intelligence).
In the last few minutes of flight,
Mission Control announced the
shuttle was crossing the Louisiana
coast, moving across the Gulf of
Mexico and crossing central Florida
to the landing site.
Navy Capt. Thomas K. Mattingly,
commander of the shuttle’s all-mili-
tarycrew, was ordered to bring the
ship home after three days of flight,
apparently because weather condi
tions for a landing Monday at the
Kennedy Space Center were deterio
rating.
NASA said there was nothing
wrong with ship or crew.
The Sunday return was a surprise
at the oceanside launch center. Al
though the mission duration was
never announced, it was believed the
shuttle would stay up another day,
possibly two.
However, the mission’s primary
objective had been achieved in the
first 10 hours of flight. The satellite,
according to sources, was released
from the shuttle’s cargo bay about 7
a.m. Friday.
The successful use of the heavy-lilt
rocket booster, called I US for iner
tial upper stage, was good news for
its manufacturer, Boeing Aerospace,
as well as for NASA and the Air
Force.
NASA and the Air Force have
never confirmed reports from other
sources that Discovery’s cargo was an
advanced spy satellite, the first of a
new generation, capable of inter
cepting radio, radio-telephone and
digital communications from
ground and space.
Regents prepare
for proposed cuts
Read It, Ags
Photo by PETER ROCHA
Aggies at the A&M — Houston basketball
game Sunday hold up newspapers while the
Cougar lineup is announced — all except
one guy caught peeking under his paper.
When the Aggie players were introduced,
the papers were thrown into the air.
Chernenko reported to be i
Associated Press
LONDON — British newspapers
reported Sunday that Soviet Presi
dent Konstantin U. Chernenko is be
ing treated in the intensive care unit
of a private Kremlin hospital, and
may relinquish power because of de
teriorating health.
Western diplomats contacted by
The Associated Press in Moscow said
they had not heard any such reports,
although most said they believe
Chernenko, 73, is ailing.
The Sunday Times quoted “unof
ficial reports” as saying Chernenko,
who has not been seen in public
since Dec. 27, will become the first
Soviet leader to step down volun
tarily.
Another newspaper, The Ex
press, carried a report that said
Chernenko “has become so ill he
may be forced to resign.” The news
papers did not say what their sources
were, or how they obtained their in
formation.
The Sunday Times said the ruling
Politburo already has approved a
plan to replace Chernenko with Mik
hail S. Gorbachev, 53.
By SARAH OATES
Staff Writer
Texas A&M University already
has trimmed its budget in anticipa
tion of more severe cuts during the
coming year, President Frank Van
diver told the Board of Regents Fri
day.
The University’s $192 million
budget has been reduced by two per
cent for the remainder of the fiscal
year ending in August. Vandiver
said the cuts include a hiring freeze,
tightening the publications budget,
reducing recruitment funds and the
number of minority scholarships
and streamlining academic pro
grams.
Vandiver said the savings from
the cuts will be applied to next year’s
budget, which he said will be
smaller.
The 20 percent cut in A&M’s bud
get proposed in December by the
Legislative Budget Board is a chance
for the University to become a more
streamlined operation, Vandiver
said.
“We’ve developed a scheme for a
leaner, more ef ficient and economi
cal way of running A&M,” Vandiver
said. “We’re already off and running
on this. We’ve already begun sa
ving.”
T he plan to cut A&M’s publica
tions budget by $100,000 includes
“throwing out anything not state
mandated,” Vandiver said. All publi
cations not required by law must be
submitted for the president’s appro
val. The graduate and undergrad
uate catalogs, formerly provided for
free, will in the future be sold to stu
dents.
The Board passed a resolution
stating no vacant positions will be
filled or new positions created with
out the approval of System Chan
cellor Arthur C. Hansen. Hiring of
new employees also must be ap
proved by Vandiver.
Vandiver said all construction and
renovation will be deferred and
equipment purchases will be re
duced. The resolution also required
all purchases over $1,000 be sub
mitted for the chancellor’s approval.
T ravel expenses, program reno
vations and overtime pay have been
cut. Vandiver also said he wants to
emphasize a campus energy conser
vation program.
Hansen referred to the “shock
and trauma” of the LBB’s proposal,
expressing again his commitment to
See Regents, page 8
Abortion: a moral issue with no answer in sight
Editor’s note: This is the first arti
cle in a three-part series on abortion.
By MICHAEL CRAWFORD
Staff Writer
America is searching within itself
for the true dividing line between
personal freedom and murder.
In the more than 12 years since
the U.S. Supreme Court struck
down a Texas law banning abor
tions, the controversy has spread
across the nation.
It places the President of the
United States and the Supreme
Court on opposite sides; it results in
fire bombings of abortion and family
planning clinics; it is grounds for
candlelight vigils, mock funerals and
protection of clinics by voluntary
' guards.
It even touches the usually quiet
Texas A&M campus.
The Jan. 22 anti-abortion mock
funeral outside Rudder Tower is a
symptom of the growing abortion
controversy.
Perhaps the only common ground
in the battle over abortion is the
shared hope that unwanted preg
nancies will end.
Planned Parenthood of Brazos
County does not provide abortion
services, but it will refer patients to
others who do. Clinic Director Sally
Miller says the demand for their
services and abortions continues to
grow.
“When we started out, the major
ity of our patients were college stu
dents or in some way related to the
University,” Miller says. “If not stu
dents, then student wives. Easily 90
percent of our patients were stu
dents. Since then about 70 percent
are students — maybe less than
that.”
Brazos County’s population
soared from almost 58,000 in 1970
to almost 94,000 in 1980.
“Our community continues to
grow,” Miller says. "So there has to
be proportional amount of child
bearing age people in that growth.
The need for services like this wall
grow.”
Although the clinic has not been
threatened, five non-Planned Paren
thood clinics in Houston have been
bombed since March 1984. Nation
ally 30 clinics have been firebombed
since May 1982.
West Loop Clinic Director Ortega
Evicel says a Molotov cocktail heavily
damaged that Houston clinic in Sep
tember. No prosecutions have been
made in the case and no extra pre
cautions added to the building.
“We feel like there is nothing we
can really do,” says Evicel. “How do
ou protect yourself against a
iomb?”
Life Advocates’ Communications
Director Diane Rinn denies that any
pro-life groups are responsible for
the violence.
“No responsible pro-life group
could condone the bombings,” she
says. “We fight through respectable
means. These bombings are an ef
fort to divert attention to the real
butchery that goes on inside. That
violence is the little babies being
ripped apart.”
Rinn believes other clinic owners,
women who have had abortions and
the fathers of the aborted fetuses
may be responsible for the attacks.
She approves of demonstrators out
side clinics attempting to dissuade
women from entering the clinic.
Peter Durkin, executive director
for Planned Parenthood of Hous
ton, does not.
“The anti-abortion people who do
it call it ‘sidewalk counseling.’ I call it
harassment,” Durkin says. “They
make no distinction between the
woman w'ho is coming in for educa
tion services, counseling, family
planning or her annual Pap Smear
versus those who come in here for a
first trimester termination.”
Planned Parenthood of Houston
only performs abortions at their
clinic on Fannin Street. Only 4 per
cent of that clinic’s services in 1983
were abortions. Durkin says the
clinic has erected a fence to protect
the parking lot, coordinated patrols
with the police department, hired a
security service and expanded an es
cort service for those patients enter
ing the clinic.
The number of patients handled
by the Fannin Street Clinic rose 7
percent between 1983 and 1984, but
the actual number of abortions han
dled decreased. Durkin attributes
the decline to an aging population
and other clinics providing abor
tions, rather than to the effect of the
picketing.
In a recent ABC “Nightline” in
terview, Nellie Gray, president of
March for Life, ruled out the possi
bility of compromise saying, “We are
not giving any of these babies to the
abortionists at all.”
Lynn McCoy of the National Or
ganization for Women says the
group will continue its nightly
watches at some area clinics. McCoy
says the group rotates the clinics
they watch to confuse potential at
tackers. NOW is co-sponsoring an
escort service for women entering
the clinics.
Texas State Senators Bob McFar
land, R-Arlington, and John Sharp,
D-Victoria, have proposed a bill that
would place new restrictions on
women who seek abortions. The bill
would require parental consent for
teenagers, a ban on public funding
for hospitals that perform abortions,
notification of a woman’s husband in
some circumstances and licensing of
abortion clinics by the state.