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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1985)
’.eneral Md e winning i ircraft Co ; to pay Jij lion's leadtr it was Ht| r B. Smith., a news coJ here GM,f| l Co. hadrj| L r defense —-TexasASM _ _ ■ ■ _ f* _ _ I tic tSattalion Serving the University community Vol. 79 No. 152 CISPS 045360 10 pages College Station, Texas Friday, June 7 1985 i^hes deal j nsuion oft' Corp, Iasi • basics fw! ting GM pany. tie pieces ut I'd say, jghes and(i the basic 1 eed to ed the busal a year wiil d "a lulu'sj 8 K are home I .M todivetsi “ar that hti ov. White signs bill raising drinking Associated Press AUSTIN — A bill that would taise the drinking age in Teatas from J9 to 21 was signea into law Thurs day by Gov. Mark White. I The bill, by Sen. Bill Sarpalius, D- Amarillo, would become effective Sept. 1, 1986, only if a federal law that pressures states to increase their prinking ages has not been changed, ■’he drinking age would revert back to 19 if the federal law is held in valid. In 1984, Congress enacted federal legislation to withhold federal high way funds from states that do not raise their drinking age to 21 in an effort to decrease highway deaths. White told reporters he also would sign a Second bill passed by the recent Legislature that not only would raise the drinking age to 21 but would provide maximum fines for anyone convicted of drunken driving with an open container of al cohol in the car or pickup. “Two bills are better than one,” White said. White told a crowd in his recep tion room he was signing the in crease in the drinking age ‘fully aware of the strong feeling on both sides of this issue. But he said he was convinced that the drinking age should be raised for several reasons. “First and foremost, there is evi dence that raising the drinking age would reduce the number of alco hol-related deaths on Texas high ways,” he said. “Second, I think this bill puts Texas into compliance with the con gressional mandate and guarantees that more than $100 million in high way funds will flow to Texas in the next two fiscal years.” White said he thought all Texans share a concern about the problem of Alcohol abuse. “I would not suggest for a minute the problem is limited to our young people,” White said. “For that reason I am also sup porting increasing the penalities for driving while intoxicated and apply- age ing those penalities equally to all persons.” White also signed a bill that would allow the state to issue up to $500 million in bonds to finance purchase of farms and ranches with small down payments and low interest loans. The loans would be available to those who have made 25 percent of their income the past three years from farming. logy for w! md undo Hughes j| i specialties! systems, sj| systems lectronics ry has bee e the pret in the Hughes.' , we beliesi o the 21st' for ouri Senate votes o reestablish id to Contras 1 by Ho istitute, i ireholder and ins late a senior dit in Chase Al GM’s site ales comp ghes — diversifies quest forte ■eady is “It’s faster because oi uing to fust gov- Associated Press I WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to approve $38 mil lion in non-weapons logistical aid to anti-Sandinista rebels and to repeal a Strict prohibition against U.S. sup port for military action inside Nica- pagua. The vote was 55 to 42. President Reagan praised the Sen ate diction as “a display of bipartisan toncern for the people of Central mericA and our own national secu- rity.” The aid amendment would pro- ide $14 million this year and $24 nillion next year, resuming direct ■U.S. assistance to rebels fightii pverthrow Nicaragua’s leiti ernment. I The Democratic-controlled House, which has led opposition to :r to purdt CIA aid to the guerrillA force in Ni- ‘ragua known as the Contras, is ex ited to vote on a similar proposal ext week. Reagan, in a statement released by the \Vnite House, said the Senate amendment would “provide support for the freedom fighters who Are struggling for liberty and democracy es combi* | in J^ ara g ua -” , The Senate has seen that their snuggle is ours — that they need and deserve the help of the Ameri can people,” Reagan said. Tne president urged the House to join witn the Senate in sending a sig nal to both the Sandinistas and to the struggling Nicaraguan democratic | opposition. M “The only resolution to the trA- gedy in Nicaragua is the same course which the Congress has supported in J El Salvador — that of democracy, reconciliation and liberty,” Reagan said. : The proposal would restrict the aid to food, clothing, medicines and transportation. It bars use of the money to buy weapons, ammuni tion, and other lethal military equip ment. But the aid could be funneled through the CIA, which trained and supported the rebel force from 1981 untu last year. The Amendment contains lan guage urging progress toward a ne gotiated settlement in the region. And, as an incentive, it would sus pend economic sanctions if the Sandinista government agrees to a cease-fire and to open negotiations with the rebels. The measure also calls on the Contras to purge their ranks of any individuals who have engaged in hu man rights abuses. An expedited procedure for the resumption of direct military aid to the Contreas is provided for if nego tiations fail. sugge ien the ink it was'* ucas was ft for any died, and J a retract rat Lucas i Waco, i to causes lid. “I gut A''e had to hat Lucas the measure might open the way to a resumption of direct CIA involve ment in the fighting because it re moves the prohibition enacted last October barring aid that “would have the effect of supporting, di rectly or indirectly, military or par amilitary operations in Nicaragua.” The measure would limit U.S. spending strictly to humanitarian as sistance, ruling out even military ad vice and training. Senate approval of the amend ment came several weeks after the House rejected all spending in sup port of the rebels. Since then, however, a trip by Ni caraguan leader Daniel Ortega to the Soviet Union requesting stepped-up Soviet aid provoked new congressional support for resuming some assistance to the Contras. The Nicaraguan Embassy, in a statement from its press office, called the Senate action “an escala tion of U.S. involvement and a major step down the road to interjection of U.S. combat troops.” St 'Angel of Deaths body believed to be found iafor rates Associated Press EMBU, Brazil — Police exhumed a body in this quiet town Thursday that they believe is Dr. Josef Meng- ele, the sadistic Auschwitz “Angel of Death” who became the symbol of Nazi evil. Romeo Tuma, the federAl police chief in Sao Paulo, said he was “90 percent convinced” that a man who drowned at the seashore in 1979, and was buried as an Austrian, was the doctor whose bizarre medical “experiments” made a shocking K even in Adolf Hitler’s book of ors. Leading NAzi hunters were skepti cal. Three gravediggers opened the weed-covered mound in the small cemetery. The coffin stuck in the cavity, which was four feet deep, and police told them to smash it open. Bones and shreds of clothing were removed by hand. Jose Antonio de Mello, assistant director of the Sao Paulo morgue, held the skull high for the hundreds of onlookers to see. Mello said it would be difficult to determine whether the disarrayed bones, placed in a morgue van on a long metal tray, were those of the man who sent hundreds of thou sands of people to gas chambers. However, he said the teeth were sufficiently well-preserved to allow comparisons witn any appropriate dental records. Tuma told reporters federal po lice have “documents and a diAry be longing to Mengele,” seized at the home of a German couple in BrAzil where Mengele had lived. He said the people appeared to be neither Nazis nor sympathizers, or to be aware at first who the man was. He did not say when or where po lice found the documents, but said West German authorities advised Brazil that Mengele was living in the country. Mengele, who would be 74, has been sought since World War II. Re wards for him have been offered to taling $3.5 million. Attending sports camps can be fun as well as educational. tennis camp. Hauseman, from McAllen, interrupts one of the Scott Hauseman, center, is one of the counselor’s in this year’s daily drills to give a little encouragement to the “campers.” Campaign to be an "uphill battle" Reagan rallies for prayer support Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — President Reagan, concluding a two-day cam paign swing for his tax plan, sought recruits Thursday for an “uphill bat tle” to overturn the latest Supreme Court ruling against organized school prayer. ReAgan’s first comment on Tues day’s 6-3 high court decision striking down an Alabama school prayer law cAme at a fund-raising luncheon here for Sen. Jeremiah Denton, R- Ala. “I know thAt there has been a strong push here in Birmingham to help restore voluntary prayer in public schools,” Reagan said. “As this week’s Supreme Court decision shows, we still have an uphill battle before us.” Reagan also suggested that Demo crats should switch parties, saying their own party has been tAken over by leftists. “While a lot of Democrats have stood fast by their principles, the party has been pulled out from un der their feet by a kind of left-wing leadership,” he told the luncheon before flying back to Washington aboard Air Force One. During the flight, White House spokesman Larry Speakes defended Reagan’s use of the term “left-wing.” “I don’t think putting that adjec tive with that noun is anything new in American political rhetoric,” Speakes said. Earlier in the day, Reagan stumped for his tax simplification plan before a group of Atlanta high school students. “We’re trying to take less money from you and less from your par ents,” Reagan said. In Tuesday’s prayer decision, the high court struck down an Alabama law that provided a daily minute of silence for “meditation or voluntary prayer” because the statute violated the constitutional separation of church and state. The court ruled that public schools providing a silent period for students cannot suggest that they use the time to pray. It was the high court’s first major ruling on the issue since it outlawed school-sponsored prayer in the class room in 1962. Before Reagan spoke, Denton presented him with an ax for cutting taxes. Outside the Birmingham Civic Center, A large group of demonstra tors carried similiar placards and chanted, “Make Love, Not War.” ReAgan’s appearance at the Den ton campaign fundraiser was the last event of his two-day speaking tour of Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama on behalf of Republican candidates and his tax simplification program. Outside the high school, Reagan’s motorcade wAs greeted by about a dozen young people carrying signs opposing his Central America poli cies. The demonstrators chanted: “We Are Not Reagan Youths.” Clergy not surprised at prayer ruling See related stories, pageS By LAMYA SOURYAL Reporter Local clergymen expressed little suprise at the United States Su preme Court’s recent 6-3 ruling which abolishes an Alabama law al lowing daily moments of silence for ‘meditation and voluntary prayer’ in public schools. “I’m not suprised,” said Chaplain Mark Wilburn, of the Episcopal Stu dent Center. “We are no longer a Judeo-Chris- tian country; there are Christians, Jews, a growing Islamic group and a growing percentage of people from the Far East who are Hindu and Buddhist. How do you define reli gious values for so many groups?” The clergymen, interviewed this week, said they believe there is a need for a separation of church and state. Rev. A1 Palermo, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, said, “In my opinion, I don’t think a moment of silence condradicts the separa tion. That’s up to the court and if they feel it would, then we must abi de.” Rev. Wally Goodman, of First Baptist Church of Bryan, also agrees with the Supreme Court’s decision. “Prayer should not be imposed on someone,” Goodman' said, “Chris tianity can’t be legislated to some one. It should be left up to the indi vidual.” The school prayer controversy, which has become a moral as well as legal issue, also has caused divisions among individual denominations. The Southern Baptists, for exam ple, have members on both sides of the conflict, Goodman said. “Some members heartily support President Reagan in his efforts to re vive school prayer,” he said. “Others are opposed to school prayer based on the First Amendment, which calls for a separation of church and state.” Palermo said the Catholic Church’s main concern is the free dom to practice its faith. “Since the no-prayer law doesn’t necessarily mean that our freedom is hamperea, the church has no official stand on the issue,” Palermo said. The three clergymen agree that the Supreme Court made a fair deci sion, but said they believe there are other methods available for the indi vidual expression of religious be liefs. Goodman said he would like to see consideration of an amendment, proposed by Sen. Mark Hatfield (R- Ore.), that would allow religious groups to meet voluntarily before and after classes. Chaplain Wilburn said he believes a moment of silence for meditation would allow parents the freedom to teach their cnildren to use the time for the practice of individual reli gious values and beliefs. “This would return Christian edu cation back to the responsibility of the parents and the Church where it belongs,” Wilburn said. Although none of the clergymen can predict the next step in this 23- year-old controversy, all accept the ruling of the Supreme Court.