Miss Texas A&M for 1986
crowned on Saturday night
— Page 3
MUM—■■■!!■■ Ill I imiiimi IIIIIMII
Bats silent mistakes glaring
as Aggies' skid continues
— Page 6
The Battalion
Vol. 83 No. 104 GSPS 075360 10 pages College Station, Texas Monday, February 24, 1986
ebels led by Aquino forming government
Reagan urges Marcos to resign presidency
Associated Press
tANILA, Philippines — An em
battled President Ferdinand E. Mar-
:o$ declared a state of emergency
Monday in an ef fort to quell a revolt
led by two top military leaders and
went on television to scoff at reports
that he was preparing to flee the
country.
■ut ousted Defense Minister Juan
•Ice Em ile, one of the two rebel-
DU 1 ' military officials, declared he
vas forming a provisional govern-
nent led by opposition presidential
ialdidate Corazon Aquino.
Aquino, broadcasting over the
Ionian Catholic station Radio Veri-
claimed triumph over Marcos
asked for massive demonstra-
me victims
if flood still
meless in
:alifornia
LINDA, Calif. — E'lood waters
in nine days of nearly relentless
1ms continued to recede Sunday
paged northern California com-
juiities, but thousands of people
still unable to return home,
spokesman Dale Follas of the Sut-
1 County Office of Emergency
ices said a leaking 400-foot
Be in a levee at Robbins that
red the evacuation of 400 resi-
s Saturday showed only “minor
age” Sunday.
be sag in the west levee of the
ler Bypass was shored up and
las close to being stabilized. “When
hat is confirmed, we can allow peo-
ack in," Follas said.
Robbins is about 10 miles south of
pa County’s Linda-Olivehurst
ii, where 26,000 people fled
mrsday night after a levee broke
[he south fork of the Yuba River,
ie levee was repaired Saturday,
.and by Sunday as many as 16,000
| esidents were back in their homes
egmning the cleanup.
Bhe estimate came from Yuba
^County Undersheriff Dennis Moore,
H Mo said the news was not as good
] fo| the approximately 1 1,000 people
of West Linda, whose homes were
still in standing water.
tions around Ent ile and Lt. Gen. Fi
del V. Ramos, deputy chief of the
armed forces, “to consolidate that
victory.”
“I call upon people to be consider
ate, even with the last remnants of
the Marcos military,” she said.
A military helicopter made a pass
at the presidential palace and fired a
grenade at the building, according
to soldiers on the grounds. They
said a tank fired at the helicopter.
Associated Press reporter Miguel C.
Suarez said he heard several explo
sions and M-16 rifle fire from the
palace grounds.
One soldier said he had been hit
by shrapnel and Col. Vicente Tigas
of the presidential security com
mand told journalists to leave the
palace grounds. “We cannot guar
antee your safety,” he said.
Marcos, in the broadcast over gov
ernment television station Channel
4, declared, “I intend to stay on as
president.” But the broadcast went
off the air abruptly, cutting off the
Marcos statement in the middle of a
sentence.
A rebel force led by Col. Mariano
Santiago took over the station after a
clash in which at least four people
were wounded. The station re
mained off the air and a soldier used
the muzzle of his gun to tear down
pictures of Marcos.
Enrile and Ramos announced Sat
urday they had broken with Marcos
See Rebels, page 5
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Reagan
administration today, for the first
time, called on embattled Philippine
President Ferdinand Marcos to step
down.
A statement read by White House
spokesman Larry Speakes said: “At
tempts to prolong the life of the pre
sent regime by violence are futile. A
solution to this crisis can only be
achieved through a peaceful tran
sition to a new government.”
The administration has taken an
increasingly tough stance against
Marcos in recent days. But the latest
statement broke from the policy an
nounced by Reagan a day earlier. In
that statement, Reagan warned Mar
cos not to use force against his rebel
lious opponents and threatened to
halt $55 million in U.S. military aid
to the island nation if violence there
continued.
At that time, Reagan stopped
short of urging Marcos to resign,
saying that “the matter of effective
government in the Philippines is a
matter to be determined by the Phil
ippine people....”
Speakes emphasized, after read
ing the official statement this morn
ing: “We’ve never called for a tran
sition before. That is new.”
The statement also said U.S. offi
cials had received “disturbing re
ports of a possible attack by forces
loyal to Gen. (Fabian) Ver,” the for
mer armed forces chief of staff and
Marcos loyalist, against the leaders
of the military mutiny against Mar
cos.
“We urge those contemplating
such action to stop,” the statement
said. “President Marcos has pledged
to refrain from initiating violence
and we appeal to him and those loyal
to him and all other Filipino people
to continue to do so.”
Head First
Photo by ANTHONY S. CASPER
Scott Southard, a freshman general studies major ing the annual football game between the residents
from Irving, dives for an interception Sunday dur- of Dunn and Aston dormitories.
Texas Air agrees
to purchase ailing
Eastern Airlines Inc.
Metal piece could aid investigators
Challenger’s tank believed found
Associated Press
Rape Canaveral, Fla. — a
submarine recovered a 15-foot-long
\e of jagged metal from the At-
:ic Ocean floor that officials said
iday appears to be part of space
ttle Challenger’s external tank, a
|y item in the investigation of last
month’s explosion.
In addition, an unmanned sub-
!|rsible has spotted motor parts be
lieved to be from the spacecraft’s
main engines.
A top NASA shuttle official,
speaking on condition of anonymity,
had said late Friday that the acci
dent’s cause could not be positively
determined unless additional physi
cal evidence is retrieved from the
ocean bottom. The most important
evidence being sought, he said, was
the right solid-fuel booster, followed
by the external fuel tank.
The booster and tank are deemed
important because theories of the
cause of the explosion now center on
the O-rings used to seal segments of
the booster. 1
The seals may have been made
less resilient by cold temperatures ei
ther from the air blowing off the ex
ternal tank or from a leak of super
cooled liquid hydrogen or liquid ox
ygen from the external tank, investi
gators have speculated.
Richard Feynman, a physicist at
California Institute of Technology,
said calculations he supervised dur
ing the past week put the tempera
ture of the suspect booster joint at 29
degrees Fahrenheit, plus or minus
two degrees, at launch time.
NASA officials have said their cri
teria allowed launches when temper
atures on the pad were between 31
and 99 degrees.
Associated Press
MIAMI — Eastern Airlines, fac
ing a shutdown threat from cred
itors demanding labor concessiotis,
announced early Monday that it had
reached an agreement to be taken
over by Houston-based Texas Air
Corp.
The company, which had faced a
midnight Sunday deadline for the
purchase offer about which it would
reveal no details, blamed an uncoo
perative union for forcing the sale,
Eastern spokesman Glenn Parsons
said in a news release.
He said a press conference would
be held later Monday to announce
details.
The decision to sell the carrier,
which faced looming strike dead
lines and threats of being declared in
default on some loans by major cred
itors came following a meeting of
Eastern’s board of directors at which
they considered an offer made Fri
day by Texas Air, Parsons said.
“There is tremendous potential in
this agreement to make Eastern a
much stronger and more compet
itive airline,” said the news release
signed by Easter Chairman Frank
Borman. “There is no question that
the sale was in the best interests of
our employees and shareholders.”
Eastern’s board had set an un
specified deadline Sunday to either
obtain concessions or accept the
buyout offer, said Eastern spokes
man Mark Vogel.
“As far as we can determine, the
choices offered to all union groups
presently are to reach a negotiated
settlement or have the airline sold to
outsiders,” the pilots’ union said in a
statement early Sunday afternoon.
Eastern, which is $2.5 billion in
debt, had faced a Wednesday pilots’
strike deadline and a March 1 flight
attendants’ strike deadline, while its
lenders had threatened to put East
ern in default and seize its assets if it
did not obtain the labor concessions
by Feb. 28.
National Mediation Board Chair
man Walter Wallace and federal me
diators Robert Brown and Harry
Bickford brought Eastern and nego
tiators for the pilots and flight atten
dants together in meetings that be
gan late Saturday, mediation board
spokesman Meredith Buel said.
The meetings with the Transport
Workers Union, which represents
6,200 working flight attendants
along with 1,010 who were laid off
Feb. 4, were the first since talks
broke off Jan. 20. Eastern angered
its unions when it imposed unnego
tiated wage and benefit cuts on flight
attendants and increased their work
ing hours when talks with them
broke off.
Since last summer, Borman has
taken a buyout plan to several com
panies, including Trans World Air
lines, Ozark Air Lines, Northwest
Orient, USAir and the Marriot
Gorp., the official confirmed.
Borman approached Texas Air
Chairman Frank Lorenzo through
an intermediary, the official said.
Under Lorenzo’s leadership, Con
tinental filed for protection from
creditors under Chapter 11 of the
Federal Bankruptcy Act in 1983,
and a bankruptcy judge allowed the
carrier to throw out its union con
tracts and cut wages in half.
In 1985, when Lorenzo offered to
buy TWA, two of the airline’s unions
gave $150 million in concessions to
stop him from gaining control of
their employer.
Though stripped down and mak
ing money, Continental remains in
Chapter 11 but hopes to emerge this
year. Continental and its parent
company both earned their highest-
ever annual profits in 1985, despite
fourth-quarter losses for both com
panies.
ax return changes won’t affect ’85 filing
jfor’s note — This is the first in a
p of five articles written to help
layers prepare their 1985 in-
Oe tax returns. This installment
prs changes from last year.
By JIM LUTHER
A P Tux Writer
[WASHINGTON — As you start
f orkonyour 1985 tax returns, don’t
*aste a jot of time worrying about
proposed changes that the presi-
tand Congress have been talking
ut for a year. They won’t have an
kt on the return that you must
py April 15.
[he brackets, personal exemption •
standard deduction have been
jjusted to account for inflation,
fid you won’t have to suffer any
t'v complexities to get those tax
fits. Instead of a $ 1,000-per-person
tnption, you get $1,040. And the
standard deductions were raised by
about 4 percent.
Those who do not itemize deduc
tions will find they are able to deduct
a larger share of charitable contribu
tions than they did last year. The de
duction is for half the total you gave
in 1985.
Itemizers and non-itemizers alike
will have to file a separate Form
8283 if their total non-cash contribu
tions exceed $500. The recipient of a
cash donation of $3,000 or more
must be listed on the return. If you
gave more than $3,000 to one char
ity or made any non-cash contribu
tion, you won’t be able to use the ul
tra-simple Form 1040EZ.
Many people will find it easier
than before to qualify for the lower
tax rates available to unmarried
heads of household.
The maximum earned-income
credit, which benefits lower-income
families with children, has been in
creased to $550, and some benefits
may now be available to those whose
earnings exceed $ 10,000.
There are some relatively minor
revisions in the tax forms, primarily
to catch cheats. Among them:
• Social Security recipients whose
1985 incomes were large enough
($32,000 for a couple, $25,000 for a
single person) to require them to pay
tax on part of their Social Security
pensions must list their tax-exempt
interest on Page 1 of Form 1040.
That interest is considered in calcu
lating how 1 much of the pension is
taxable.
• If you paid alimony, you’ll have
to list the name and Social Security
number of your ex-spouse.
• Parents must list any depen
dent children who did not live with
them in 1985.
Schedule 1, which is used by mil
lions who file the “short” Form
1040A, has been juggled but there
are no substantive changes. And
there’s one minor step toward sim
plification: You no longer have to
make a separate entry on your re
turn to show that a portion of your
Individual Retirement Account con
tribution for 1985 was made in 1986.
Two changes in the law will affect
taxpayers who buy a car for business
use and investors in real estate. Most
real estate placed in service after
May 8, 1985, must be depreciated
over 19 years (rather than 18). The
maximum amount of investment
credit allowed for a car placed in
service after April 2, 1985, generally
is $675; the maximum first-year wri
teoff is $3,200.
And the tax consequences of di
vorce have been reduced. Under the
new law, a husband, for example,
may turn over his share of a home to
his wife as part of a divorce set
tlement without having to pay capi
tal-gains tax.
Income tax
preparation
aid offered
A variety of materials aimed at
helping in income tax prepara
tion are available in the Govern
ment Documents Division of
Texas A&M’s Sterling C. Evans
Library.
A video-cassette tape, “How to
Prepare Income Taxes,” explains
in detail the preparation of 1985
tax form 1040 as well as supple
mental forms. The tape can be
checked out from the Govern
ment Documents Desk on the sec
ond floor and viewed in the li
brary’s Learning Resource
Department on the sixth floor.
According to David Gay, gov
ernment documents librarian,
“the tape is ideal for individual
use because it is set up for the
user to stop the tape at intervals
and w'ork on the form.”
An audio-cassette tape explain
ing the 1040A and 1040EZ also
can be checked out from the Doc
uments Desk.
For more informaton call 845-
2551.