i lie Dattalion
yfol. 82 No. 39 (JSPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, October 23, 1986
ramm-Rudman ‘changed rules of game’
ited
t agaiJ
earing-
Sen. Phil Gramm
1 killed, 2 injured
In failed robbery
f7-11 store in CS
By Mike Sullivan
Staff Writer
:tion
LIE (APi-b
chained thti
a giant
'otest the Qh
plan to dear
damaged bv
ist three pi
i dozen metntel
medwith sip.
anvergedonp:-
’1 National h
»n tree-cnabr
trees.
0 stop the df.,
s," Pat Ellis If
■ and her ha
‘d themselves ;
aublic land
membersvi'er 1
Test Service's
vn trees wbertp
r od and;::, :.j
tbstance sok:.
tapalm. Thp
and wildlife j;
niheprocess | One man was killed and two more
keswomanBi Pfuded during what police say was
"There'sstill F Jttempted armed robbery of the
lere. Thev sr store at 101 Southwest Parkway
liverse forest ea r[y Wednesday morning,
more pmetei
Bollege Station police Captain
Kennedy said the two suspects
^bavfc been arrested and charged with
Btnated armed robbery and at
tempted capital murder.
Boleman Conner, manager of the
store, said that at about 2:00 a.m.
Wednesday three armed men wear
ingmasks came into the store,
ration helped I He said one suspect held a gun on
crisis byatiiisfinj while two more suspects locked
elpfundanes !t Mother 7-1 1 night employee in a
on a covenn VaiJ li'
Hne of the suspects stayed in the
rillion forlliel vau l | with the employee and the
in Nicaragua,f started walking around the
■ thepruiif 01 '*'- he said.
■Bonner said that as he was taking-
shrunkbv8)['T®r e y out sa ^ e an( ^ another
Q«7thf WlffirlBecr was holding a gun on him, a
• assistanceisil Plgbmer walked into the store,
level Gonzaic4‘ ^ ()nner sa ' ( * as l * ie customer came
in, the suspects quickly hid.
1'The customer didn’t realize what
was happening, Conner said.
|y“pe (the customer) came in for a
cup of coffee, . . . but I couldn’t say
Jnything to him because the guy still
ril on arson, had ihe gun on me,” Conner said,
s been seiaif ■ H, said one of the suspects real-
r said. “Tl® 1 ized ihe customer wasn’t going to
ous fire jiwh leave, so he snuck up behind him
and took him hostage, putting him
inakvalk-in cooler.
ved a longt*/ At about the same time, another
im hiswifefe customer came up to the door, Con-
igedtohissi® nersaid. The customer saw what was
:e didn't It 11 goint; on, went home and called the
t disguiseiB fiolice, Conner said.
• He said that before the police ar-
g^tpd. one of the suspects had
sfarted taking merchandise out the
fjortt door and putting it in his car.
Jr He had made two trips,” Conner
said, “and on his third trip he was
wing cigarettes out the door when
3police car pulled up.”
ing
He said the suspect threw down
the cigarettes and ran into the back
of the store.
Conner said the suspect holding
the gun on him also went to the back
of the store.
“That’s when I got free,” Conner
said, “and I w'ent and locked myself
in the back room.”
From then on, Conner said, he
could only hear what was going on.
Conner said he could hear the
suspects take the other employee to
a back bathroom and the suspects
began yelling to police that they
would kill both of the hostages.
While one of the officers held the
three suspects’ attention, the other
officer went to one side of the store
and hid.
A College Station Police Depart
ment press release said one of the
suspects, Elvis Frank Tejera, a 21-
year-old Cuban man from Bryan, at
tempted to shoot the officer and was
shot and killed by the hiding officer.
A second suspect, a Cuban man
who was still unidentified Wednes
day evening, was shot by one of the
officers at the same time Tejera was
shot, Conner said.
The man is listed in critical but
stable condition at St. Joseph Hospi
tal in Bryan, a hospital spokesperson
said. The spokesperson said the man
had undergone surgery for a gun
shot wound to the abdomen.
The third robbery suspect, Orta
Flex, a 32-year-old Hispanic man,
who police believe to be a resident of
the area, also was shot by police dur
ing the robbery, the release said.
The hospital spokesperson said
Flex received a minor flesh wound
to one side of his body. He was re
leased to College Station Police at
about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
None of the three hostages, Con
ner, the night employee nor the cus
tomer, were harmed, the release
said.
Budget law's effectiveness
debated at A&M symposium
By Sondra Pickard
Senior Staff Writer
Although the U.S. Supreme
Court has declared part of the
Gramm-Rudman law unconstitu
tional, the director of the Office of
Management and Budget said
Wednesday that the changes the law
made in the nation’s budget process
have helped reduce the federal defi
cit by $55 billion this year.
fames C. Miller III, director of
the OMB, Sen. Phil Gramm, and
John Anderson, a former indepen
dent candidate for president, dis
cussed several aspects of the
Gramm-Rudman balanced-budget
law at A&M in a symposium spon
sored by the Memorial Student Cen
ter Great Issues Committee.
In its first full year of operation,
Miller said, the Gramm-Rudman law
has reduced the 1986 deficit of $225
billion — an all-time record — to
$170 billion or less. Spending in
creases also will be held at bay, a re
markable achievement in an election
year, he said.
“The failure of Congress to
uphold a provision in the act should
not cloud the success we’re likely to
experience this fiscal year with re
spect to the deficit and federal spen
ding,” Miller said. “Gramm-Rud-
man-Hollings has changed the rules
of the game — at least for this year.”
But Miller stressed that, “what
Congress can do, it can undo,” and
said there’s a need to look toward a
more permanent, constitutional so
lution to the deficit problem.
Originally drafted by Gramm and
adopted by Congress in 1985,
Gramm-Rudman requires the presi
dent to submit budgets that will re
duce the federal deficit to zero in
five years. The law' also declared a
national emergency and makes all
budgets binding — even down to the
subcommittee level.
Also because of the law, neither
house in Congress can consider a
budget that doesn’t meet specific tar-
gets.
Gramm explained the history
leading up to the law, and said the
federal government system would
not produce the results he thought
desirable in keeping a balanced bud
get. His conclusion, he said, was to
change the system.
“Whether it’s good or bad,”
Gramm said, “Gramm-Rudman is an
See Gramm, page 10
James C. Miller
Most SWC student governments
support divestment proposals
Student Senate rejects proposal
calling for divestment by System
By Rodney Rather
Staff Writer
The Student Senate Wednesday rejected a resolu
tion that called for the Texas A&M University Sys
tem to divest itself of all investments with companies
that conduct business in South Africa.
The resolution was introduced at the senate’s last
meeting, Oct. 8, but was tabled for further dis
cussion by the senate.
According to statistics compiled by Students
Against Apartheid, the A&M University System cur
rently has about $5.5 million dollars invested in com
panies that have interests in South Africa.
In a roll call vote of the 57 senators present at the
meeting, 42 voted against the resolution, 14 voted
for it and one senator abstained.
The senate listened to seven guest speakers —rep
resenting views both for and against divestment —
and heard debate from only two senators before the
resolution was brought to a vote.
Waylon Collins, divestment chairman of Students
Against Apartheid, said apartheid in South Africa is
racism and divestment sends a dear signal against
apartheid.
“Investing in companies in South Africa is invest
ing in apartheid,” Collins said.
“Since blacks are being killed outright, it’s also an
investment in terrorism,” he said.
Speaking against divestment, Dr. Morgan Rey
nolds, an A&M economics professor, said the senate
should adopt a resolution urging the increase of cap
italism in South Africa.
Reynolds said he believes many economic restric
tions on blacks have been relaxed, if not abolished,
because of international pressures placed on the
South African government.
He said South Africa is experiencing economic re
pression because capitalism has been allowed to
work with at least some success.
After hearing from the guest speakers, the senate
floor was opened for debate, but only two senators
spoke before a motion was made to vote on the reso
lution.
Robert Russell oppossed the resolution and said
divestment would have several drawbacks.
Russell said more than 30 percent of the endow
ments, gifts, grants and scholarships given to A&M
are from companies that do business in South Af
rica, with the University receiving between $16 mil
lion and $23 million through those companies.
That money would be lost if the A&M system di
vests, he said.
By Rodney Rather
Staff Writer
While the A&M Student Senate
Wednesday overwhelmingly re
jected a resolution calling for the
A&M University System to divest it
self of investments in South Africa,
student governments at universities
around the state have taken varying
degrees of action in efforts to en
courage their universities to divest.
Texas A&M University System
investments in companies that do
business in South Africa total about
$5.5 million, according to statistics
compiled by Students Against
Apartheid.
A resolution was introduced Oct.
8 in the Texas A&M Student Senate
calling for the A&M System to di
vest itself of holdings in South Af
rica, but the resolution was tabled
until Wednesday, when 42 out of
57 senators voted against it.
Student representatives at some
universities, however, have sup
ported resolutions recommending
divestment, while others have just
started researching the issue.
The University of Texas student
senate in Spring 1984 passed a res
olution condemning apartheid and
urging the UT System Board of Re
gents to divest, said Hugh Strange,
attorney general of UT’s student
association.
The market value of UT System
stock in companies doing business
in South Africa is $871 million, Joe
Roddy, a system spokesman, told
the Associated Press in an article
printed in Tuesday’s Battalion.
The regents didn’t comply with
the senate’s request, but the senate
has since adopted the Sullivan Prin
ciples, a code designed to see that
corporations doing business in
South Africa abolish apartheid
within their companies, Strange
said.
The principles, devised by the
Rev. Feon Sullivan of Philadelphia,
call for desegregation of the work
place, fair employment practices,
equal pay for equal work, job train
ing and advancement for blacks,
and improvement in the quality of
workers’ lives.
Rice University’s student associa
tion passed a resolution last fall call
ing for its Board of Governors to
divest from companies with inter
ests in South Africa, said Sitny
Schod, internal vice president of
the student association.
Schoci said she doesn’t know how
much of Rice’s investments are tied
to South Africa.
The board reviewed the associa
tion’s request but decided against
divestment, she said.
Currently, the students are too
concerned with on-campus matters
to pursue the divestment issue, she
said.
Southern Methodist University’s
student senate passed a divestment
bill last year, but it also was rejected
by SMU’s Board of Trustees, said
Tracey Haley, senate president.
The board, which has more than
$3.5 million invested in companies
doing business in South Africa,
does support the Sullivan Principles
and agreed to offer scholarships,
honorary degrees and other special
programs to black South Africans,
but has yet to initiate any of the
programs, Haley said.
A resolution calling for divest
ment also was introduced to the
University of Houston’s student
senate last spring, but it was
amended to say the senate first
would monitor events in South Af
rica, said Scott Boates, student asso
ciation president.
UH has about $8.4 million in
vested in companies with interests
in South Africa, Boates said.
The UH senate will hold a special
session Monday to discuss a revised
divestment resolution, said Khayan
Husain, vice president of the stu
dent association.
The student governments of
both Baylor and Texas Christian
Universities have formed commit
tees to research the divestment is
sue, but neither one has drafted
resolutions on the matter.
Texas Tech University’s student
government investigated university
investments in South Africa last
year only to find that Tech has no
ties to South Africa and invests
mostly in certificates of deposit, stu
dent senate president Amy Love
said.
5 more Americans expelled as Soviets withdraw workers
® MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin said
■Wednesday that five more American diplo
mats must leave the country and withdrew
the 260 maids, drivers and other Soviet
workers who handle the U.S. Embassy’s da
ily non-diplomatic operations.
RSoviet employees may be replaced by
Americans but an overall personnel limit
placed on the embassy and the U.S. consul-
|te in Leningrad may mean, for instance,
that a choice must be made between having
acook or a diplomat.
Rfhe Soviet Union seldom uses local em
ployees in foreign missions. Its Washington
!'■' embassy and San Francisco consulate oper-
atefalmost entirely with Soviet staff.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I.
Gerasimov announced the expulsions and
restrictions the day after 55 Soviet diplo
mats were ordered out of the United States.
Gerasimov’s announcement brought to
10 the number of American diplomats or
dered to leave in the exchange of expul
sions, including the army and naval at
taches.
About an hour after Gerasimov’s an
nouncements, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gor
bachev told the nation in a televised speech
that Tuesday’s U.S. expulsion order against
55 Soviet diplomats was “simply wild.” .
“Of course we will take reply measures,”
he said. “Very tough measures, so to say, on
an equal footing.”
He did not deal with the specifics of the
government orders in his speech, which
mav have been taped before they were an
nounced. Most of the speech dealt with nu
clear disarmament and the Oct. 11-12 sum
mit with President Reagan in Reykjavik,
Iceland.
Gerasimov said the United States could
replace the 260 translators, drivers, secre
taries, mechanics, maids and cooks em
ployed in the Moscow and Leningrad mis
sions only with Americans.
He said the total number of staff mem
bers must not exceed 225 at the embassy
and 26 at the Leningrad consulate, the
same limits imposed on the Soviet Embassy
and consulate in the United States.
State Department spokesman Gharles E.
Redman said in making the expulsion an
nouncement Tuesday in Washington that
five Soviets were being kicked out in retalia
tion and the other 50 in order to reduce the
Soviet staffing level to that of the United
States in Moscow' and Leningrad.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Jaroslav
Verner said Wednesday that 225 American
diplomats u'ere accredited in Moscow and
26 in Leningrad, which means the diplo
matic staff would have to be reduced to re
place Soviet employees.
Verner would not comment on the ex
pulsions and restrictions.
Members of Congress have pressured
the embassy to reduce its dependence on
Soviet personnel, partly because of fears
that some of them pass sensitive informa
tion to the KGB secret police.
Soviet employees w'ork for far lower
wages than Americans, however, and need
not be provided with housing.
U.S. diplomats also have argued that lo
cal employees know the complicated opera
tions of the Soviet bureaucracy better than
Americans.
Gerasimov said four diplomats from the
U.S. Embassy and one from the consulate
were ordered to leave by Nov. 1, the same
deadline given five other U.S. diplomats on
See Soviets, page 10