The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, August 05, 1986, Image 1
V Texas A&M ^ m m • The Battalion Vol. 82 No. 188 GSPS 045360 8 pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, Augusts, 1986 Photo by Marie McLeod A Light at the End of the Tunnel The entrances to Texas A&M take on a different crosswalk over Wellborn Road that connects the look after nightfall. This shot is of the pedestrian freshman parking lots with the main campus. U.S., Soviets announce Summit planning talks WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and the Soviet Union, in a step toward a 1986 summit, an nounced Monday that agenda plan ning talks will be held here in Sep tember between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and the Soviet for eign minister. No date has been set for the long- delayed summit itself, Charles E. Redman, a State Department spokesman, said in announcing the talks for Sept. 19-20 between Shultz and Eduard A. Shevardnadze. However, another U.S. official, who spoke only on condition of not being identified by name, said “in the sense that we’re going to take these steps I am more optimistic” of a summit by year’s end. The official said Shevardnadze probably would meet with President Reagan as well. But at the White House, a spokesman, Dan Howard, said “there are no such plans at the present time.” Summit preparations were slowed by a slump in U.S.-Soviet relations after Reagan and Soviet leader Mik hail S. Gorbachev held their “fire side” summit last November in Ge neva. But in a recent exchange of let ters, Reagan and Gorbachev as serted their determination to sharply reduce U.S. and Soviet nu clear weapons — notwithstanding an apparent conflict in their ap proaches. Reagan and Gorbachev had agreed on a 1986 summit in Wash ington and a 1987 summit in Mos cow. In fact, the Soviet leader had been expected here in late June or J u, y- But the U.S. bombing of Libya in April, in what was described as retal iation for terrorism, prompted the Soviets to cancel a Shevardnadze visit in May. Subsequently, Reagan announced he no longer would ob serve the unratified 1979 SALT II treaty, which imposed ceilings on va rious U.S. and Soviet long-range nu clear weapons. Last week, a U.S. delegation in Geneva informed the Soviets that the 1972 SALT I treaty, which set in terim constraints, also would be abandoned. Reagan and Gorbachev have as serted, however, that nuclear weap ons on both sides must be curbed. Negotiations are due to resume in the Swiss city in September, dealing also with the U.S. anti-missile re search program, known commonly as “Star Wars.” Redman said Shultz and Shevard nadze are expected to “review pro gress achieved in areas addressed by President Reagan and General Sec retary Gorbachev in their November 1985 meeting and discuss what addi tional preparations may be needed for a summit meeting between the two leaders later this year.” The spokesman said the Shultz- Shevardnadze talks also would range over “all areas” of the U.S.-Soviet xelationship. The earliest practical date for a summit meeting is late November since Reagan has ruled out a Gorba chev visit during the U.S. congres sional election campaign. The agenda is likely to cover four broad areas: arms control, regional conflicts, U.S.-Soviet relations and human rights. The Soviets want to concentrate on the nuclear weapons issue, while the Reagan administration sees arms control as an important topic but not one that should dominate the next Reagan-Gorbachev meeting. At the same time, the Soviets are reluctant to place special emphasis on human rights, which is the West’s way of referring to the the treatment of Soviet dissidents, minorities and other citizens. Looking for a pre-summit com promise, the U S. official, who de manded anonymity, said “there’s a willingness on the part of both par ties to discuss each other’s agenda” at the Shultz-Shevardnadze talks. OPEC oil ministers agree on drastic cuts in production ]\Britain agrees to S. African sanctions LONDON (AP) — Britain reluc- Jtantly pledged itself to limited sanc- jtions on South Africa at a meeting of ]seven Commonwealth nations Mon- jday, but the six other nations Ipressed for tougher measures iagainst apartheid. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, addressing reporters at a Jnews conference early this morning, said she had compromised in the in- Iterests of Commonwealth unity de- Ispite her belief that sanctions will not Tend apartheid. “It has not been an easy confer- lence,” Thatcher said. '“I don’t be lieve that further sanctions will bring (about internal change in South Af- Irica . . . but the others were bent on further action.” The six other countries agreed to impose 11 new sanctions against South Africa, including cutting air links, which could cripple the na tional airlines of Zambia and Zim babwe. Commonwealth officials said pri 7 vately they believed the conference, scheduled to last three days, would end with an “agreement to disagree” and separate communiques. Thatcher said earlier that she still believed sanctions were wrong, but she announced an immediate “vol untary” ban against British invest ment in South Africa and promotion of tourism to that country, a British official said. She said the actions must be vol untary by Britons because the gov ernment had no exchange controls or powers to order publications to stop, for example, printing South African tourism advertisements. Another promise made by the prime minister was that Britain would not oppose bans on imports of South African steel, coal and iron due to be debated by the European Community next month. The British official said she would not shift her position farther for the sake of unity in the Commonwealth, the 49-member association of Brit ain and its former colonies. Patsy Robertson, a spokewoman for the Commonwealth secretariat, said, “The Commonwealth, other than Britain, feels strongly if there has to be a choice between unity and credibility, the time has come for the Commonwealth to be seen to be credible on the issue.” She announced that the six other leaders had rejected the Thatcher offer made in a morning closed ses sion. “They feel that the Common wealth has taken a lead for the past 25 years on the issue,” she said. “They feel that the black people of South Africa and many qf the white people there who want change are watching very carefully what the Commonwealth is doing.” A British official who announced the Thatcher offer after the morn ing session declared: “This is in the interests of solidarity. It is a demon stration of disgust and clearly it is a gesture toward the Commonwealth too ... if the Commonwealth chooses to take it.” GENEVA (AP) — OPEC oil min- isters reached unanimous agreement Monday night on Iran’s proposal for a drastic production cut to raise prices, the cartel’s president said. Rilwanu Lukman, who also is the Nigerian oil minister, gave no de tails. “You’ll hear all about it tomor row (Tuesday),” he told reporters as he emerged from a Geneva hotel fol lowing the late-night meeting of the 13 Organization of Petroleum Ex porting Countries ministers. An other meeting was scheduled Tues day. Iran’s Oil Minister Gholamreza Aghazadeh had told a news confer ence earlier he was very optimistic about the production cut plan. The cartel’s biggest producer, Saudi Ara bia, had remained among the few holdouts. Oil industry analysts consider a unanimous agreement by OPEC members on production cuts crucial to reversing a worldwide slump in prices, which have dropped from $32 a barrel late last year to as low as $7.35 for some grades. By not requiring production cut backs from Iraq, its enemy in the 6- year-old Persian Gulf war, Iran ap peared to remove a major stumbling block to the quota-sharing agreement OPEC has been vainly seeking for years. Oil prices surged at the news. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, contracts for September delivery of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark U.S. crude, closed at $13.29 a barrel, up $1.74 over Fri day’s close. The events came as OPEC oil min isters entered the second week of talks in their fourth attempt in re cent months to reach agreement on lowering output and boosting prices. Aghazadeh said he offered the proposal to the OPEC oil ministers’ conference on Sunday. The plan seeks a return to the quotas used in October 1984. It would bring OPEC’s combined out- E ut for 12 countries to 14.8 million arrels a day, he said. Including Iraq’s output, com bined production would total about 16.7 million barrels a day under the plan, he said. OPEC’s current output is about 20 million barrels a day, in tensifying a world glut. Aghazadeh said the plan would be effective for at least two months, when the ministers could meet again to discuss the price structure. He said Iraq would be free to pro duce as much as it wants, but said: “We can control Iraq’s production by ourselves.” Helping Hay Southeast farmers to get Texas-sized donation M4 I AUSTIN (AP) — Texas farm ers have donated more than 14^ million pounds of hay to be shipped to drought-stricken farmers in Georgia and South Carolina, Agriculture Commis sioner Jim Hightower announced Monday. Calling it a “Texas-sized contri bution,” Hightower said the hay will be the largest donation from any state to assist Southeastern farmers. The 70,000 square bales and 5,700 round bales of hay, worth about $300,000, should fill some 530 boxcars being donated by four railroads, Hightower said. He said the hay is enough to feed 12,000 head of livestock for six weeks. “I know what it’s like — I’m a full-time farmer — to be in a bind, and those boys in the South east definitely need the help,” said Tommy Davis, immediate past president of the Texas Young Farmers organization. The 2,500-member Young Farmers group is one of several organizations helping with the re lief drive, Hightower said. The first trainload of Texas hay will be assembled Saturday at Hondo, where a farmer has do nated 8,000 bales, he said. The bulk of the shipments will be launched Aug. 23 from nine depots across the state where hay is being collected. Hightower said he has been calling on farm groups and oth ers — including the 4-H, Future Farmers of America and local chambers of commerce and civic organizations — for volunteer help to load the hay. “The farmers are ready and the transportation is arranged,” he said. “But the final thing we need now to complete the pro gram is volunter muscle power, good strong backs, so we can get these bales out of the fields and into the boxcars. “Instead of being a gift from a couple of hundred Texas farm ers, the Texas Hay Drive will be a gift from Texans who are going to pitch in in the old-fashioned, neighborly way.” Hightower said farmers and other volunteers will haul do nated hay from the fields to one of nine train depots — located at Abilene, Atlanta, Canton, Hondo, Robstown, Taylor, Ter rell, Victoria and Weatherford. At the depots, more volunteers will load the hay into boxcars do nated by the Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Texas- Mexico railroads. The railroads will haul the hay free of charge to Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis, Mo., where other railroads have agreed to take the loads and carry them on to Georgia and South Carolina. Nationwide drug fight launched by president WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent Reagan, saying rampant drug abuse is reaping “sorrow and heart break” a'cross America, launched a campaign Monday to purge schools and workplaces of illicit drugs. Reagan unveiled a six-point pro gram to coax people off drugs and embraced a combination of manda tory and voluntary tests of both gov ernment and private employees. In a nationally-broadcast appear ance, Reagan credited his wife Nancy with working hard to get kids to say no to drugs, and said that “starting today, Nancy’s crusade to deprive the drug peddlers and sup pliers of their customers becomes America’s crusade.” During a brief question-and-an- swer session, Reagan acknowledged that he had only recently taken a high-profile role in the administra tion’s quest to combat drug abuse. “We hadn’t before put the effort that we recognize now', should be put . . . and that is . . . the time has come for a nationwide crusade,” he said. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Reagan, a former actor and onetime president of the Screen Actors Guild, had said Hollywood and rock ’n’ roll have helped glorify drug use, making it “attractive and funny, not dangerous and sad.” In the United States, there are an estimated 3 million to 5 million regu lar users of cocaine, 18 million to 20 million regular users of marijuana, and 10 million alcoholics. A senior administration official, briefing reporters later on the condi tion he not be identified by name, said, “I don’t think anyone has said make mandatory drug testing a con dition of employment.” However, the official added, “We’re going to ask corporate America to expand” drug testing. In the question-and-answer ses sion, Reagan outlined six broad goals encompassing his plan to at tack a growing problem that he said costs business $100 million a year. These goals include: • Seeking to improve interna tional cooperation to stop the flow of illegal narcotics into this country. • Strengthening law enforce ment, and “insisting that the crimi nal justice system give prompt and severe punishment to drug peddl ers.” • Expanding public awareness and drug abuse prevention efforts by, among other things, “reaching out to all Americans and asking them to join (first lady) Nancy’s drug abuse awareness and prevention program.” He also said his goals include a plan to create a drug-free workplace for all Americans and getting drugs out of schools. Reagan would not say how much the new initiative will cost, nor reveal what plans, if any, the administra tion has for asking Congress to im prove new spending plans or supple ment programs already in effect. He did say, “the solution does not lie simply within the realm of govern ment. “It is time to go beyond govern ment,” Reagan said. “All the confis cation and law enforcement in the world will not cure this plague as long as it is kept alive by public ac quiescence. So, we must go beyond efforts aimed only at affecting the supply of drugs. We must affect not only supply, but demand.” Reagan stopped short of an nouncing a program of drug screen ing for federal employees — a drug fighting option that has been heavily publicized in recent days. “I think we’re pretty much agreed that mandatory testing is justified where the employees have the health of others, the safety of others, in their hands,” Reagan said, referring to law enforcement authorities, air traffic controllers and the like in the federal workforce. “On the other hand, I think we’re pretty much agreed that what we should seek is voluntary” testing among federal employees, he said. House Majority Leader Jim Wright, D-Texas, hailed Reagan’s speech, saying, “We are encouraged by the fact he is awakened to the reality of the problem. Apparently he appreciates the dimensions of the problem.” Wright, however, said the govern ment’s current annual expenditure of $3 million for drug education is like “trying to fight a bear with a fly swatter.” Escaped murderer at large BRECKENRIDGE (AP) — Au thorities searched the Possum Kingdom Lake area Monday for a condemned murderer after finding a woman inmate who es caped along with him from the Stephens County Jail. Richard Donald “Stony” Fos ter, 33, and Cindy Davis, 27, es caped Sunday night after Foster, wielding a knife, locked a jailer in a cell, Stephens County Sheriff James Cain said. “He was slipped a knife, proba bly by one of our trusties,” Cain said. “The knife came from our kitchen.” Authorities said they captured Davis without resistance at about 8 a.m. on the east side of Possum Kingdom Lake. At the time of her escape, she was being held on an attempted capital murder charge for allegedly shooting at a police officer. The lake is located about 25 miles northeast of Breckenridge. Foster, whose execution date had not been set, was sent from death row to Breckenridge for a pre-trial hearing on a kidnapping charge, said Charles Brown, a spokesman for the Texas Depart ment of Corrections. He had been convicted in No vember 1985 in Parker County for the murder of a Springtown man in April 1984.