The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 18, 1986, Image 1
Tl£ xa ^f M D _
The Battalion
oil 82 No. 211 GSPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, September 18, 1986
enote confirms Rehnquist, 65-33
SHINGTON (AP) — The
nate, after three months of divi-
\THm LIKE
teU OF^.tepebate over William H. Rehnqu-
I THE Wflntegrity and commitment to
j riglus, confirmed him as die
Hi’s 16th chief justice Wednes-
ewMioN.
By a 65-33 vote, the Senate ap-
:d President Reagan’s elevation
Bhnquist, the Supreme Court’s
1 politically conservative mem-
ir nearly 15 years. He replaces
ig Chief Justice Warren E.
Tie Senate then immediately con-
|Hd, by a 98-0 vote, the nomi-
j^»i of Antonin Scalia, a federal
Hds court judge, to fill the Su-
•eiD' Court vacancy created by
jjrgt r’s departure.
i Oily two of the Senate’s 53 Re-
Hrans, Lowell Weicker of Con-
Hut and Charles Mathias of
Maryland, voted against the Rehn
quist nomination.
Sixteen of the Senate’s 47 Demo
crats voted for the nomination.
Sens. Jake Garn, R-Utah, and
Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., did not
participate in either vote.
Earlier, Republicans were success
ful in curtailing the debate in a 68-31
procedural vote, paving the way to
the final vote hours later.
Rehnquist, in a brief encounter
with reporters Wednesday evening,
was asked if he thought the advise-
and-consent process had been ardu
ous. “From my point of view, it has,”
he replied.
As chief justice, Rehnquist would
serve as the nation’s top judge and
the “first among equals” on the Su
preme Court.
As the speech-making wound
down Wednesday, Sen. Charles Ma
thias of Maryland became the sec
ond Republican to announce his op
position to Rehnquist.
“I can no longer cast my vote in
favor of his confirmation,” said Ma
thias, who previously supported the
nomination. “I am sufficiently trou
bled by the real possibility that he
acted improperly in failing to (dis
qualify) himself’ in a 1972 Supreme
Court decision upholding a domestic
wiretapping program Rehnquist
helped establish as a government
lawyer.
Mathias’ vote bolstered Demo
cratic claims that opposition to
Rehnquist was not based purely on
partisan politics.
Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-
Ohio, previously had rebutted Re
publican claims that opponents of
Rehnquist’s nomination were trying
to remake the 1984 presidential elec
tions. He noted that the Senate ap
proved Reagan’s only other Su
preme Court nomination, that of
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in
1981, by a 99-0 vote.
Despite heated hearings before
the Senate Judiciary Committee,
Rehnquist’s nomination was sent on
to the Senate last month by a 13-5
vote of the panel.
Democrats attacked him as insen
sitive toward minorities and women
and contended that he has a too-nar-
row view of individual rights.
They disclosed that the deed of
Rehnquist’s summer home in
Greensboro, Vt., contains a restric
tive covenant barring its sale to Jews.
Rehnquist said he had been told
about the legally unenforceable re
striction by his Vermont lawyer
when he bought the home in 1974,
but had forgotten about it. He is tak
ing legal action to have the restric
tion deleted.
Also disclosed at the hearings was
the fact that as a lawyer in Phoenix,
Ariz., two decades ago, Rehnquist
owned a home with a deed bearing a
similar clause barring its sale to non
whites. He said he had not known
about it.
Rehnquist’s brother-in-law, Har
old D. Cornell of San Diego, says
Rehnquist, unethically, failed to tell
him about the terms of a $25,000
family trust. Rehnquist has refused
to comment on the allegations.
Five people swore under oath that
Rehnquist played an active role in
harassing and intimidating black
and Hispanic voters as a Republican
Party official in Phoenix in the early
1960s. As he had during his 1971
confirmation hearings, Rehnquist
swore under oath he could remem
ber no such incidents.
As they had in 1971, Rehnquist’s
opponents said a 1952 memoran
dum he wrote as a Supreme Court
law clerk supporting racial segrega
tion reflected his own view. Rehnqu
ist again testified that the memo did
not represent his personal beliefs.
A 1970 memo was made public in
which Rehnquist, then a Justice De
partment lawyer, responded to a
Nixon White House request and ad
vocated a constitutional amendment
to allow continued racial segregation
of school districts through neighbor
hood school plans.
Another unearthed memo written
by Rehnquist as a government law
yer opposed the Equal Rights
Amendment.
v in Moslemwi
the letter wot
en in a telei
asks: “Why
ninute by i
st Daniloffbui
ne minute in
't do anything#
*e Americans.’’
released bv It!
.14, 1985. At
that the other
.•( uted il 1/Shi
s in kuwaitijai
U.S. orders expulsion
of Soviet diplomats
\GT0N (API
and the General
p., after month
have agreedc#*J
-year contract
totaling $4.5
itract, announci
n a brief
Is for General
orth, Texas,di'
OF-lfis by May
itract reflectsthBlMembers of the Texas A&M Polo Club, from left,
40 fighting Fat HRogerio Nobrega, Sheri Kurz, Jenny Sharrock,
year duringlkl^fcavid Hughes and Billy McCaskill get their first
om fiscal
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Reagan administration ordered the
expulsion of 25 United Nations-
based Soviet diplomats Wednesday,
but said the action was unrelated to
the spy charges Moscow has filed
against American journalist Nicholas
Daniloff.
State Department spokesman
Bernard Kalb said the expulsion was
a follow-up to a U.S. decision an
nounced six months ago, to force
cutbacks in the Soviets’ United Na
tions presence.
The administration has main
tained that the Soviet staff at the
United Nations is disproportionately
large and engages in spy activities.
For its part, the Soviets have in
sisted that the required reductions
violate the obligations the United
States has undertaken as host coun
try for the United Nations.
The names of the personnel af
fected by the order were turned over
to Soviet officials by the U.S. ambas
sador to the United Nations, Vernon’
Walters. The 25 were given until
Oct. 1 to leave the country.
The Soviet U.N. Mission immedi
ately signaled that it will resist the
the order.
“I think there will be a protest,”
Valentin G. Karymov, a senior coun
selor at the Soviet mission, told a re
porter by telephone. The diplomat,
however, said the U.S. note first
would be studied by Moscow before
a formal response is made.
An informed source who does not
work for the government, but who
specializes in intelligence matters,
said it was understood that most if
not all of the 25 Soviets worked for
the two principal Soviet intelligence
agencies, the KGB and the GRU.
The source insisted on anonymity.
Roy Godson, professor of govern
ment at Georgetown University,
called the expulsion “an unprece
dented and historic step in Soviet-
American relations.”
“For the first time ever, the
United States has dealt the Soviet es
pionage apparatus in the United
States, particularly in New York, a
devastating blow,” Godson said. “It
will take Moscow years to recover.”
Last March, the Reagan adminis
tration announced that the Soviets
would be required to reduce their
U.N. staff by from 275 to 170 over a
two-year period in increments of
roughly 25 every six months.
The Soviet delegation is more
than twice the size of the next largest
delegation.
Of the 105 to be sent home, a
small number would be attached to
the staffs of two Soviet republics,
Ukrainia and Byelorussia. All 25 af
fected by Wednesday’s announce
ment, however, represent Moscow’s
delegation.
But Kalb refused to say whether
any had engaged in spying.
Since March, the spokesman said,
“the Soviet mission has rebuffed re
peated U.S. requests that it cooper
ate in implementing the necessary
reduction by advising us which posi
tions would be eliminated to achieve
the ceilings established.”
mains of A&M graduate identified in Laos
etter times ahead’ for Texas farmers
r-year buy, lb
-year procured
■ as authorized‘ ,i;
e 1985 in a M'
action expetsfc
Force andG# MATHIS (AP) — Relatives of a
e nation's seco-ftx;is A&M graduate who had been
■ contractor,OTissiug in Laos since 1972 say they
; the deal ever jere sad but comforted to get offi-
;t multi-yearp'J^Bconfirmation that his remains
ic, coveringllitfH been identified by the govern-
1982 to fiscal tent.
0 planes at a 'Bwe can quit worrying and quit
2.6 billion. TlHdering,” said Alice Ramsower.
eves it saved ‘When you have a child gone, you
monthatdeal ivant to know what happened. I’m
Force saidtodi'mglad. But now it will be final and
e roughly JSoF fiamvill be a comfort.”
ling itself noi'J
>f 720 planes DJ
seriod.
ice previousM
gs result from
■ral Dynamics I 11 ®
e productionb# „ „ . .
ne operation § By Connie Kenjura
jm Reporter
Hexas is experiencing its toughest
^^^^^^ptancial times since the 1930s, but
B y eai P rom ' ses to be a better
Hk Bfor Texas farms, a Texas A&M
konmnist says.
: Di Carl Anderson, in ;i recent
I jftvsletiei In mi the I ex,is Agriewl
I pi Extension Service, said Texas
B receipts for 1986 are expected
He considerably less than those in
JjSfcW f985, even with the increase in live-
I 7 prices during the last half of
If Hear.
Huring hard times, he said, the
^ lurvivai of the farm will depend on
Hit is rim.
Bl’imes are lean for Texas agricul-
jgfj ure, but they have been lean befo-
re," Anderson said. “This is one time
t think those who manage a farm
business, and not just a farm, will do
11,”
plough Texas agriculture is
gling financially, it would be
h worse off without the aid of
rnment programs, Anderson
overnment programs are a
!ty net for the farm income,” he
“The government programs
able for farmers are letting the
An Army laboratory positively
identified the remains of Air Force
Lt. Col. Irving B. Ramsower II, Class
of ’57, the Pentagon announced
Tuesday.
His remains were among 14 bod
ies recovered during the excavation
of an airplane crash site in Laos last
February.
Ramsower earned a degree in ge
ology at. Texas A&M and was a
member of the Corps of Cadets.
The family was told in 1972 that
Ramsower was believed to have been
aboard a plane that crashed over
Laos. In 1978, the Air Force de
clared Ramsower dead.
Relatives said they still held out
for confirmation.
“It just wore on and on,” said
cousin Earl Ramsower. “You always
hoped, but it didn’t happen this
time.”
Earl Ramsower said his cousin, an
Eagle Scout and high school quar
terback was a quiet man who was
well liked in his hometown of Ma
this, a small South Texas farming
community where his mother, Alice,
still lives.
Ramsower entered basic training
in Valdosta, Ga. He met and mar
ried his wife, Jutta, while he was sta
tioned in Germany for four years.
The couple later moved to Florida.
A military funeral was pending at
Arlington National Cemetery in Ar
lington, Va.
Nation's largest farm lender
may run out of funds in '87
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Farm Credit System, the nation’s
largest farm lender, is likely to
run out of money early next year
and will have to come to Congress
for a financial bailout, congressio
nal investigators said Wednesday.
The General Accounting Of
fice, in testimony released by
Rep. Ed Jones, D-Tenn., esti
mated the system’s losses this year
will hit a record $2.9 billion,
eclipsing losses in 1985 of $2.7
billion.
William J. Anderson, GAO as
sistant comptroller general, ad
vised lawmakers to begin plan
ning now for how the financial
crisis will be handled.
“We cannot be certain about
the precise time at which the sys
tem’s surplus will be effectively
exhausted,” Anderson said in a
testimony prepared for a hearing
today before Jones’ Agriculture
credit subcommittee. He said the
system believes it will lose only
$1.7 billion this year rather than
the GAO’s higher figure.
farmers stabilize and adjust their re
sources out of agriculture.”
Anderson said part of the de
crease in cash receipts will be made
up by increased government pay
ments to the farmer. He said Texas
agriculture would show little or no
income in 1986 if it were not for gov
ernment payments to the crop sec
tor.
The main reason receipts will be
far below 1985 levels is the weakness
of overall prices of the major crops,
Anderson said. He said there is a
large weakness in the current mar
ket for wheat, corn, grain and cot
ton.
Low cotton prices are one of the
main concerns for Texas, Anderson
said. The cotton industry is the
state’s top industry, making up 10
percent of the state’s total cash rec
eipts, he said.
He added that cotton prices are
low because of adverse weather con
ditions. Delayed crops resulted when
the season started out too dry, then
became too wet, he said.
The world market price for cotton
now is 20 cents a pound, compared
to 55 cents a pound last year, Ander
son said.
He said crop prices have contin
ued to fall while livestock prices reg
istered gains over 1985 levels. At
midyear farmers got more for hogs,
cattle, broilers and eggs but less for
corn, oranges and wheat, he said.
The cattle industry makes up 40
percent of Texas agriculture, An
derson said. Beef prices have finally
begun to steady and even rally, he
said, because farmers decreased the
number of cattle to balance with de
mand.
Pork has a low profile in Texas,
but the prices have increased due to
a decline in supply, Anderson said.
Anderson said producers should
concentrate on building their busi
nesses around financial and price
risk management. Farmers who
have a strong farming plan are sur
viving and holding together during
the depressed times, he said.
5 killed as bomb
demolishes store
in French capital
PARIS (AP) — Terrorists
struck the French capital
Wednesday for the fifth time in
10 days, demolishing a clothing
store with a bomb thrown from a
car. Five people were killed and
58 injured, authorities said.
Three people were killed and
more than 100 injured in the pre
vious bombings, which prompted
the government to adopt tough
anti-terrorist measures. Two
groups seeking to free three im
prisoned Middle Easterners have
issued conflicting claims of re
sponsibility for those attacks.
One woman passer-by was
blown apart by Wednesday’s blast
in central Paris, and a witness said
another victim was lifted several
yards into the air. “It is an incred
ible sight, many women, children,
blood everywhere,” said a witness
who refused to give his name.
The bomb was tossed from a
black BMW carrying two musta
chioed men, one of whom rolled
down the window and tossed the
bomb at the Tati clothing and
textile store in the Montparnasse
district, said Laurent Davenas, an
assistant state prosecutor.
Windows were blown out at
several businesses. The sidewalk
in front of the Tati store was cov
ered with glass, debris and bleed
ing victims, many crying out for
help. Police cleared a plaza, the
Place du 18 Juin, and used it as a
helicopter landing pad to evac
uate those with the gravest inju
ries.
A spokesman for the public
hospital authority said 19 of those
injured in the 5:25 p.m. bombing
were in serious condition.
“The most seriously wounded
were treated on the sidewalk in
front of Tati,” one witness said. “I
saw people dying.”
“It was horrible,” another wit
ness said. “A young woman, her
legs cut, had half of her face torn
off. All you could see tvas bleed
ing bodies.”
Premier Jacques Chirac called
an emergency meeting of his top
security ministers immediately af
ter the attack.
The attack was the bloodiest
since the recent wave of bomb
ings began Sept. 8. Earlier explo
sions hit a city hall post office, a
cafeteria in suburban La Defense,
the Pub Renault on the Champs-
Elysees Avenue and police head
quarters in central Paris.
Groups calling themselves the
Committee for Solidarity with
Arab and Middle East Political
Prisoners and the Partisans of
Rights and Freedom have issued
conflicting claims of responsibil
ity for the earlier bombings and
threatened new attacks unless
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and
two other jailed Middle Eastern
ers are freed.
In Beirut, an Arabic statement
signed by the Committee for Sol-
diarity threatened to launch at
tacks in the United States.
The two-page statement, deliv
ered Wednesday to the indepen
dent newspaper An-Nahar, said,
“We shall meet soon in your great
states. We shall get acquainted
with great states, your cities, your
skyscrapers, your Statue of Lib
erty.”
French police said Wednesday
that Abdallah’s brother, Robert,
was a prime suspect in the cafete
ria bombing, and 200,000 posters
were being distributed with his
picture and that of another
brother, Maurice. Authorities of
fered a reward of one million
francs — $150,000 — for infor
mation leading to their arrest.
The two brothers convened a
news conference in the northern
Lebanese city of Tripoli, denying
involvement in the bombings and
saying they had not been in
France in two years. Their
statement was made just before
the Wednesday attack.
Georges, the suspected leader
of a group called the Lebanese
Armed Revolutionary Factions, is
serving a four-year prison term
for possession of arms and false
papers.