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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1986)
p Women journalists say they have humanized newsrooms Video tape released as proof of British hostage's death A&M women golfers finish fourth in SWC tournament — Page 3 — Page 7 — Page 8 _ Texas ASM - M • The Battalion Vol. 83 Mo. 141 C1SPS 075360 12 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, April 24, 1986 $ l i/i c < 9 «) 0 Wheelin’ And Dealin’ Tom Dulaney, a freshman from Corpus Christi, picks out the bike he wants to bid on in the bike auction held near Rudder Fountain. Dula- Photo by Tom Ownbey ney said $50 was as high as he would bid at the auction, which was sponsored by the Texas A&M Living Historians. Libya claims U.S. planning terrorist acts Government scraps pass laws for blacks South Africa announces reform | JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — The white government for mally announced Wednesday that it will make the most sweeping reform in generations of apartheid by scrap ping dozens of laws that restrict the movements of blacks. ' But it said blacks still will not be permitted to live in white areas, f Anti-apartheid leaders com plained that the reforms, while wel come, do not address the demands of South Africa’s 24 million voteless blacks for a share of political power. ’ In other action, Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee announced Wednes day that the sentences of at least 20,000 prisoners will be reduced by six months in a general amnesty to be declared May 31. I He said the amnesty, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the es tablishment of the Republic of South Africa, will not apply to people im prisoned for offenses related to ra cial unrest, robbery, rape or assault. 1 A total of 34 laws and proclama tions, some dating back 60 years, will be repealed when Parliament, domi nated by the government’s National Party, enacts the proposed legis lation. Enforcement of the “pass laws,” which bar blacks without permits from living or working in white areas, was halted Wednesday, and the government began releasing prisoners jailed on pass offenses. The government said a maximum of 245 prisoners were affected by the move. Millions of blacks have been ar rested under the pass laws. A policy statement submitted to Parliament in Cape Town described the laws as “a relic of the past.” It said the system, called influx control, would be replaced by “planned, pos itive urbanization” involving a uni form identity document for all races. Blacks will be free to move from See Reform, page 12 High court urged to uphold deficit law WASHINGTON (AP) — The Su preme Court was urged Wednesday to uphold a law requiring a balanced federal budget by 1991 because the deficit is “a growing cancer that may soon become inoperable.” The justices, refereeing a major constitutional confrontation be tween Congress and the White House, heard two hours of argu ments over the Gramm-Rudman act. A decision is expected by July. Several justices voiced doubts about the validity of the law’s central provision aimed at forcing automatic cuts in the deficit. But Lloyd N. Cutler, who de fended the law, referred to the na tion’s spreading red ink as “a grow ing cancer that may soon become inoperable” and imperil the nation’s economic health. Cutler, who was White House counsel in the Carter administration, represented the comptroller gen eral, whose office is the focus of the case. The comptroller general, ap pointed by the president for a 15- year term and removable only by Congress, has the key job under Gramm-Rudman of determining deficit-reduction levels. A special three-judge federal court ruled Feb. 7 that Gramm-Rud- man breaches the separation of pow ers betwen the executive and legis lative branches because of Bowsher’s role. The panel said the law, in ef fect, empowers an officer of Con gress to perform an executive func tion. Solicitor General Charles Fried, the Reagan administration’s top courtroom lawyer, urged the justices to uphold the lower court’s ruling. “Here we have an officer (the comptroller general) who gives or ders to the president,” Fried said. “These powers are entirely novel. This grant of authority violates the Constitution.” See Gramm-Rudman, page 12 TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan official claimed Wednesday the United States and Israel are plan ning terrorist actions in Europe that will be blamed on Moammar Khada- fy’s government as a pretext for fu ture military attacks on Libya. The information came from intel ligence sources in “friendly states, including European countries,” In formation Minister Mohammed Sharafeddin told reporters. He gave no further indication of his sources. Sharafeddin said the attacks would happen “within the next hours,” an Arabic phrase that means “in the near future.” “This information stresses that Mossad (Israeli intelligence), to gether with American intelligence, want to conduct operations in Eu rope and they want to put the re sponsibility upon the Jamahiriya (Li bya),” Sharafeddin said. In Washington, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said: “The CIA is not causing terrorist in cidents in Europe.” The Libyan minister said the al leged plot’s objectives were “to cre ate a lack of confidence in the Euro pean public opinion which is sympathetic with the Jamahiriya, es pecially after the barbaric American aggression . . . and to create and find a justification for aggression, espe cially after the failure of the first ag gression. “For this reason, we want to make the public opinion aware of this cam paign which is staged by Mossad and American intelligence.” When asked what sort of attacks were planned, Sharaffeddin replied: “Operations similar to the West Ber lin nightclub bombing.” An American sergeant and a Turkish woman were killed in the bombing April 5 and 230 people were injured, 63 of them Americans. The United States says the attack on the La Belle disco, a haunt of Ameri can soldiers, was planned by Libya. Sharafeddin was asked how many attacks there would be and replied: “You may ask Mossad and American intelligence. They know the num ber.” Earlier Wednesday evening, the information minister told foreign journalists they must leave the coun try by the end of the week. About 250 foreigners were ad mitted to the North African country after the U.S. air raids April 15 on Tripoli and Benghazi. They were kept in one hotel, taken on carefully guided tours and shown what Kha- dafy wanted them to see. “Your mission is over,” Sharafed din told them. He said no more tours were scheduled and the government needs the hotel space. He denied statements by other of ficials that the expulsions were or dered in retaliation for actions by Western governments against Libya. Other officials told foreign jour nalists earlier in the day that they must leave immediately, and some did. They said the foreigners were or dered out in response to such actions as the Common Market’s imposition of sanctions on Libyan diplomats and nationals, and Britain’s arrest and planned expulsion of 21 Libyan students. Common Market justice ministers plan to meet Thursday in the Ne therlands with U.S. Attorney Gen eral Edwin Meese to coordinate and improve measures against terrorism, U.S. and Dutch officials said. State jobless rate lower for March AUSTIN (AP) — The statewide average unemployment rate for March was 8.4 percent compared to 8.8 percent in Feb ruary. The March rates of unemploy ment in some of the urban areas of Texas by the Texas Employ ment Commission for March are compared with revised February figures (in parenthesis). Dallas 5.4 (5.7) Austin 5.5 (5.4) Fort Worth-Arlington 5.9 . . (6.3) Bryan-College Station 6.1 .. (6.2) Amarillo 6.6 (7.1) San Angelo 6.9 (6.0) San Antonio 6.9 (7.3) Sherman-Denison 6.9 (7.1) Lubbock 7.0 (7.4) Waco 7.1 (7.2) Killeen 7.6 (8.0) Wichita Falls 8.1 (8.1) Tyler 8.2 (8.7) Abilene 8.3 (7.6) Midland 8.3 (7.8) Houston 9.2 (9.5) Victoria 9.2 (8 8) Texarkana 9.5 (9.9) Brazoria 10.3 (110) Odessa 10.4 (9.2) Corpus Christi 10.8 (11-5) Longview-Marshall 11.5 . . (1L9) El Paso 11.6 (12.1) Laredo 17.1 (18.6) Brownsville-Harlingen 17.5 . . . . (18.8) McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 21.5 . (23.5) College, computer store conflicts not uncommon i/i 9 0 i/i 0 3 By Mike Sullivan Staff Writer The friction between Texas A&M’s Mi cro Center and local computer dealers isn’t unique to A&M, and many universities around the nation have reduced the ten sion in their communities by revising the programs to include area dealers. 1 Larry Berry, president of KLS Comput ers, filed suit Jan. 29 claiming Bill Wasson, A&M’s vice chancellor, created a retail out let on campus that competes unfairly with local computer dealers. | In Champaign, Ill., which neighbors the University of Illinois at Urbana, the effect of the micro center program prompted a lawsuit and a revision of the university’s original plan. I Champaign has a population of about 103,000, including 35,000 students, which is about the same as the Bryan-College Sta tion area. t Retailers in Champaign were voicing complaints similar to College Station deal ers. Computer dealers in Champaign say Illi nois’ micro center captured the lucrative student market with their low prices, caus ing area retail computer sales to fall off drastically. Mark Sapoznik, business manager of Illi nois’ center, says “Some local dealers filed a suit claiming the operation constituted un fair competition with the private sector.” Sapoznik said the suit was withdrawn af ter the university agreed to close their cen ter and work through the local dealers, al lowing them to represent the university as agents. Students must now go to local dealers to buy computers, Sapoznik says. He says stu dents give a cashier’s check to the dealer, and the dealer takes the check to the uni versity and buys the computer for the stu dent. The dealer is reimbursed a percentage of the list price by the university for their service, Sapoznik says. “The net effect is that the students are probably paying 2 percent more based on the list price,” Sapoznik says. “For exam ple, on a $2,000 system, students are pay ing about $40 more.” Sapoznik says he doesn’t like the new program because when the university was purchasing and selling computers through its own outlet, the process was more effi cient and prices were lower. Computer retailers in Champaign aren’t completely satisfied with Illinois’ new ar rangement either. Ed MacCamack, of Computer Resolu tions in Champaign, says the new program is better than the old one, but he would rather have the university stay out of the computer business altogether. “I just don’t think universities belong in the computer business,” MacCamack says. He says that in a town with a relatively small population, such as Champaign or College Station, the general public won’t pay retail prices because they know stu dents can get computers for close to cost. “When students are paying close to cost and a regular customer comes in and I try to charge him retail, he just laughs,” Mac Camack says. Computer retailers in Ann Arbor, Mich., which has a population of about 107,000, including 35,000 students, caused the Uni versity of Michigan to close its center for the same reasons. Computer retailers in Ann Arbor say the university took their student customer base away when they opened the center. Conrad Mason, director of Michigan’s program, says their center had been in op eration since 1982, but was finally forced to close in February because of increasing pressure from local dealers. Mason says the new program works through local dealers much like Illinois’ program. John Bergren, service manager for Computer-Madic in Ann Arbor, says Mich igan’s new program only includes certain dealers, and they aren’t one of them. Bergren says that because the new pro gram doesn’t include them, Computer- Madic has not regained any sales. “We’re not included, so it’s definitely had a negative impact on us,” Bergren says. While universities with micro center pro grams in smaller towns are trying to cope with local dealer pressure, universitiy mi cro centers in larger towns are enjoying the rights of regular retailers. Tom May, technical support for the Uni versity of Texas’ center, says their center is run like a regular computer store. “We try to act as much like a retail outlet as we can,” May says. Austin has a population of about 455,000, including 50,000 UT students. Computer retailers in Austin claim the large population lessens the impact of UT’s micro center on local business. Nancy Holmes, educational sales rep resentative for Computer Craft Austin, says they have two stores located close to UT, but their sales haven’t been noticeably affected.