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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1986)
t i l *0* 1*188 ) Dallas, tx 75*25-0188 Activists win right to challenge Radiation from Chernobyl Boston "beans' Atlanta 132-99 Texas nuclear planfs permit reaches U.S. in low amounts to advance to NBA semifinals -* — Pages -“Page? — Page? Texas A&M 8"^ M • The Battalion Serving the University cx>mmunity Voi. 83 Mo. 150 USPS 075360 10 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, May 7, 1986 In The Bag Norman (Godwin, a senior ai Bryan High School, tacks groceries at a More in College Station. Photo hr Liaa Taller Gun control bill passed by Congress WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate gave fi nal congressional approval Tuesday night to teg- ttlation that would ease restrictions of the 19hW Gun Conyol Act but maintain an 18-vear-old ban on interstate sales of handguns Ihe Senate passage by voice vote sent the bill to the president Supporters of the gun lobby and handgun control advocates worked out an agreement that later will modify some of the gun bill. The key change would impose restrictions on the trans portation of weapons across state lines Sen. James McClure, R-Idaho, chief Senate sponsor of the gun bill, said President Reagan probably will sign the legislation The legislation culminates an 18-year effort by the National Rifle Association and allied groups to change the gun law. which was enacted after the assassinations of Sen. Robert F Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The NRA said the bill was too restrictive for gun dealers and millions of law-abiding owners of firearms If Reagan signs the bill, interstate sales of rifles and shotguns would be allowed for the first time in 18 years. Dealers in one state could sell to cus tomers from another state, provided laws from both states are followed. However, the current ban that prevents simi lar handgun sales would remain in effect Afier lobbying by the pro-gun groups on one side and handgun control groups and police or- f amzation* on the other the House voted 292- 30 April 10 to send the legislation to the Senate While the NRA got most of the language it wanted in the bill, the retention of intemate handgun sales was a major victory for the hand gun control lobbyists The gun control groups also won a ban on fu ture manufacture of machine guns for the gen eral public Other provisions in the main gun bill that went to the president would: • Limit federal inspections of dealers to one unannounced visit a year • Result in automatic prison terms for use of a firearm dunng commission of violent federal crimes and federal drug trafficking offenses The sentences must be served in addition to anv imposed for the crime itself U.S. achieves summit goals, Reagan says • Limit forfeiture of guns to weapons individ ually identified as involved in or used in specified crimes. After acquittals, the weapons must be re turned. • Reduce unintentional violations of the gun law from felonies to misdemeanors. The modifications agreed to by all sides were included in a separate Senate bill, sponsored by Strom Thurmond. R-S.C., that was quickly passed by voice and sent to the House. Acording to McClure, the NRA and the chief House sponsor of the gun bill. Rep. Harold L. Volkmer D-Mo . agreed to support the modifi cations The key modificatin involves interstate trans portation Under the House and Senate gun bills, weapons mav be taken across state lines tor legiti mate proposes provided the firearms are un loaded and neither the weapons nor ammunition are accessible The Thurmond language savs the guns and bullets cannot be in the passenger compartment and if there is no separate ccompartment must be in a locked container other than the glove com partment or console. TOKYO (AP) — President Reagan hailed the 12th annual summit of in- dust rial democracies an a “triumph in Tokyo," saving the meetings pro duced a strong measure of allied uni ty on economic. agricultural and anti- terrorism issues “All that we sought at the summit was achieved," he said Wednesday. Leaders of the seven summit na tions wrapped up their meetings Tuesday, voicing satisfaction that they confronted terrorism while moving toward new trade talks and a revamped world monetary policy two principal goals of the economic con ference. Reagan. returning to Washington later Wednesday following a 16-hour flight, said he was particularly pleased with the allies' united front on terrorism and said no nation should have to act alone against ter rorists. Reagan refused to divulge whether any specific countcr- terronst steps hao been discussed by him and h«s summit partners, but said that even if they had, it would have been inappropriate to list them m the communique on terrorism. Although the United States, Bri tain. Canada. France, Japan, Italy and West (*ermany failed to come to grips with the divisive and volatile issue of farm export subsidies, they did agree to a host of other initiatives, including coordinated efforts to im prove nuclear safety in the wake of the Chernobyl reactor accident in the Soviet Union. And for Reagan, there came a threat from Palestinian radical Abu Abbas, in a broad* ast report, to target America for terrorist attacks. The president's top aides declared that the Reagan adminiMration had come away from the summit with much of what it had sought, includ ing a statement of unity against ter rorism, which singled out Moammar Khadafy's Libya “in particular ’’ The final summit gathering was a state banquet given by Emperor Hirohito at the Imperial Palace. For many of the leaders, it was their first opportunity to meet his eldest son and eventual successor, Crown Prince Akihito. In saying the summit was a success for Reagan, the president's top aides cited acceptance of Baker 's plan to try to stabilize currency exchange rates through a s/stem of economic checks and balances and an agreement by the other summit partners to back preliminary talks in September aimed at lowering barriers that res trict U.S. sales abroad Officials revealed that as a follow up to the talks here. Reagan will send several of his top aides across Asia to report to other governments on his economic talks. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, for instance, will fly to Seoul to see President Chun Doo- hwan of South Korea and go from there to Manila for further discus sions with President Coraton Aouino. Following a meeting between sum mit sessions with French President Francois Mitterand. a Socialist, and acques Chirac, the new Gaullist rench Premier. Reagan was asked tTF 1 See Summit, page 10 Wives earn more than husbands WASHINGTON (AP) — In families where both spouses work, nearly one wife in five earns m<*rc than her husband, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday That situation involves almost 5 million women and occurs njost often in the 25- to 54-vear-old age group, where about one-third of working wives bring home more than their spouses, the report found. The share gradually de clines with age. Robert W. Cleveland of the Census Bureau said delayed c hild- bearing by women pursuing edu cation and careers is likelv at IraM partly responsible for this age dif ference. “Wives earning more than then husbands were more likely to be working year-round, full-time, to have no minor children at home, have completed college and work in professional specialty occupa tions or executive. adminiMrative or managerial occupations." said the report bv Cleveland and Mary F. Henson of the Onsus Bureau's Population Division. Two primary reasons have been suggested for situations in which wives earn more than hus bands. according to a 1984 Census analvsts of these cases. The report by Suzanne M Blanchi and Daphne Spain said. “One is the ‘female superstar' im age. which Mresses the wife's occu pational accomplishments. The other view, which might be char acterized as the underachieving hanband syndrome,’ focuses on how the husband's characteristics — retirement, illness, disability, temporary layoff or simple lack of inMiative — might account for su perior eafnings of the wife. Electrical power goes out at A&M for over 50 minutes Much of the Texas A AM campus went without electrical power for more than 50 minutes Tuesday afternoon. The power outage occurred shortly before 5 p.m I oe F still, director of the physical plant, said the main pan of I s campus was affected, but not the west campus He said all of the generators and boilers in the power plant had gone out and that work on them would continue late into Tuesday night Computers at The Battalion downed by power outage A power failure at Texas A AM Tuesday knocked out the main computer system at The Battalion While the tuff was able to use its backup system to produce the paper, no format was available for What’s Up, so it will not appear in this issue. The Battalion staff also would like to thank the Brvan-College Sta tion Eagle for the use of its Associated Press wire Senate tries to be ‘voice of faculty’ Editor'* note: In this, the third part of a three part aeries on Texas AStM’s Faculty Senate, former senate speakers talk about the senate's goals and accomplishments. By Sondra Pickard Senior Staff Writer When asked about his year as the Faculty Senate's first speaker. Dr. John McDermott, distinguished pro file senate formed itself m a verv sophisticated and detailed way.” he said. “It exercised its power judi ciously and wisely and has continued to gam strength and momentum 'The Faculty Senate is unquesoon- abh ihe most important single event in the modern history of Texas AAM University." Although approval was needed from the Board of Regents. McDer- John McDermott, distinguished pro mott said the AAM faculty didn't ask lessor of philosophy and professor permission to form a senate — they and head of Humanities in Medicine, juu did it. “The scandal was that there wasn't anv faculty senate," McDermott said. “We were the only major university in America without one." McDermott, still a senator, said now that the core curriculum is com plete. the senate's goal should be to protect faculty interests, especially trying to regain sick-leave benefits lost to the state “This is a scandal,” McDermott “It’s absolutely outrageous. It’s replied. “We got through this year — that was an amazing accomplish ment.” So far three faculty members have been at the hub of the Faculty Senate as speaker While each is different, all have a similar desire to ensure that, through the senate, the voice of the AAM tacukv is heard McDermott said creaung the sen ate bylaws was very crucial, but the amazing fact was that the senate came into being at all. state legislature to the faculties in the universities. "We have to protect ourselves from bureaucratic condescension." The senate's most important prob lem is preventing attrition and loss of interest as the novelty of the group wears off, McDermott said. So far. he said, the senate is still getting enor mous attendance to meetings. Another of McDermott's goals is to remain firm with regard to faculty prerogatives in the academic prog ram. regardless of the administration personnel. "Right now the administration u very sympathetic to us,” he said, “but it could change quickly — especially at Texas AAM. So I keep telling the senate we cannot make dec isions on the basis of who's in the office." said just total condescension from the Dr. Murray Milford, professor of soil and crop sciences and the second senate speaker, said the senate should serve as a mechanism for the faculty to be heard on all kinds of issues of interest to them in the Uni versity community. “If one has that as a goal for a senate," Milford said, “then at this point it's been very successful in deed." Milford said one of his Irustrations with the senate is that it tends to move a little hastily oh things, rather than taking more time to reach an agree ment among the concerned parties “Some of us as tacukv tend to pw - ture the Faculty Senate as a decision making body,” Milford said. “It really isn't. Its a recommending. If we keep that in mind, we know we have to have other constituencies sharing our views before the president will adopt recommendations" When issues affect both faculty and Mudents. Milford said it would be best to try to reach a common deci sion between the two. For instance, in the case of senior finals, he said, the senate would have been better off re- See Faculty, page 10