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Vol. 82 No. 55 (JSPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, November 14, 1986
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■WASHINGTON (AP) — President Rea
gan confirmed Thursday night that he un
dertook 18 months of secret diplomacy with
Inin and said he sent “small amounts” of
weapons to improve relations, but not to
Hnsom American hostages in Lebanon.
■ He said he did not intend to tilt U.S. pol
icy toward Iran in its six-year war with Iracp
■ “Due to the publicity of the past week,
tie entire initiative is very much at risk to-
■y,” the president told the nation in a
sleech broadcast from.the Oval Office.
■ Saying he was being forced to speak out
b\ widespread rumors about his dealings
with Iran, Reagan acknowledged he sent
lb mer national security adviser Robert C.
HcFarlaue on a four-day mission to T ehran
last spring “to raise the diplomatic level of
Bntacts” with moderates in Iran.
“Since then,” Reagan said in his hastily
arranged address, “the dialogue has contin
ued, and step-by-step progress continues.”
The president spoke in the midst of de
mands f rom many of his conservative politi
cal allies, for a detailed defense of the ad
ministration’s heretofore secret arms
dealings with I ran.
After Reagan spoke, Senate Democratic
leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia
called the president’s Iranian initiative “a
major foreign relations blunder” and ques
tioned its impact “on our own credibility
with our friends and within our own coun
try.”
Said Rajaie-Khorassani, Iran’s ambassa
dor to the United Nations, said of Reagan’s
speech, “To me it was a very optimistic
statement and to some extent a constructive
statement.”
He said Iran has “made certain condi
tions” for a continuation of the diplomatic
efforts, and said that if these conditions are
met, a “mutual understanding will de
velop.”
McFarlane, interviewed Thursday night
on NBG-TV, was asked whether the news
reports will have the effect of foreclosing
the possibility of further relations.
“I don’t think they have,” he replied. “I
think it’s a very uncertain future. . . . We
can best help by quite a lot of discretion and
seriousness on our side.”
Arms shipments had been cut off by
tlien-President Jimmy Carter after radicals
seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and
took dozens of Americans hostage.
Reagan said it was “utterly false” that the
weapons shipments to Iran, during an em
bargo on such deliveries, were intended to
ransom the Americans held hostage in Leb
anon. Nor, he said, had the United States
“undercut its allies and secretly violated
American policy against trafficking with
terrorists.”
“We did not — repeat — did not trade
weapons or anything else for hostages,”
Reagan said. “Nor will we. . . . We have not,
nor will we, capitulate to terrorists.”
In another passage, he said, “The United
States has not made concessions to those
who hold our people captive in Lebanon —
and we will not.”
Rather, Reagan said, his “secret diplo
matic initiative” was recognition of the va
lue of re-establishing “some degree of ac-
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Dressed For Chill
|ean Ann Green, a sophomore from Houston
above), and Deborah Matern, a sophomore
tom Plano, battle the near-freezing tempera
tures in Bryan-College Station on Thursday.
I he low for the day was 31 degrees Fahr
enheit while the high reached 42 degrees.
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‘Airplane’ gambling scheme hits A&M, CS area
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By Dawn Butz
Stuff Writer
A pyramid gambling scheme, better known
"airplane,” is said to have made its way to
illege Station, creating small Wall Streets
throughout the city.
Sources, who did not wish to he identified,
told The Battalion Thursday that the air
planes have just recently hit here, but have
3een spreading “like wildfire” through other
universities.
The airplane scheme, which is called an
lendless chain,” is similar to a chain letter.
■One person begins the pyramid by naming
Ihimself the pilot, and setting an investment
lifee. He recruits two co-pilots and four crew
members. T his group then recruits eight pas-
engers, all of whom make monetary invest
ments for the chance to move up to crew, and,
[ideally, to pilot.
When the airplane is complete, the pilot is
baid off from the passengers’ investments.
[The plane then splits in half, and each co-pi-
lot becomes a pilot, taking half of the plane
members with him.
T hese people, who now become co-pilots
and crew members, must recruit others to join
each of the respective planes and to make new
investments. As more people are recruited,
the planes keep dividing, thus creating many
planes.
But there is one drawback to the fast cash
game. It’s illegal.
According to Sec. 32.48. subsection B, of
the Texas Penal Code, a perspn is committing
a criminal offense if he contrives, prepares,
sets up, proposes, promotes or participates in
such an endless chain.
In subsection Cl of the code, an endless
chain is defined as a scheme in which partici
pants introduce other people to a game to re
ceive compensation, and then those new par
ticipants, in turn, will introduce still more
participants for compensation. Players do not
have to make a sale to non-participants for the
scheme to he illegal.
An endless chain offense is a class B misde
meanor, punishable by up to a $1,()()() fine
and up to 180 days in jail.
In Houston, where the airplane scheme is
rumored to have begun, the stakes have been
high. Twenty-five people were arrested Mon
day in West Houston and officers seized
$7,000 in cash, a Houston Police Department
spokesman said. Although the exact price of
the Houston investments was not stated, the
spokesman said stakes have been rumored to
he as high as $ 1,500 in some schemes.
Despite the Monday night arrests, the offi
cer said the schemes are continuing “full
steam ahead.”
Locally, stakes are rumored to be much
lower than in Houston. While the average in
vestment is said to be $25, stakes as high as
$100 supposedly may he found.
One source, who asked not to be identified,
said, “It’s been like the New York Stock Ex
change . . . people running around waving
bills . . . people are going frantic. It’s incredi
ble.
“It fuels the fire when people walk out with
$ 100 or $200. It’s like a disease.”
Some people have made at least $1,000,
while others have lost as much as $100,
sources say.
But most sources say they didn’t realize the
airplanes were illegal.
College Station Police Lt. Irving Todd said
Thursday that only recently has he heard of
the schemes, but that police are going to be
looking into this locally.
Some sources said the airplanes have “cra
shed” and now are gone.
T he game is said to have peaked Tuesday
night and to have died last night.
cess and influence” in Iran. He said Iran’s
location, near the Soviet Union, and its rich
oil reserves give the Islamic nation key sig
nificance to the United States.
Reports of the administration’s dealings
with Iran accelerated earlier this month,
when David Jacobsen, one of the Ameri
cans held hostage in Lebanon, was released.
In advance of Reagan’s speech, congres
sional Democrats criticized the administra
tion’s dealings with Tehran, calling for in
vestigative hearings into the secret contacts.
They said an arms-for-hostages swap
would set a precedent that must be re
versed.
T he State Department also said the two
countries are nearing agreement on the re
turn of about $500 million in Iranian funds
held In the Federal Reserve since 1981.
University
mergers
on appeal
Schools to present
last-chance protest
AUST IN (AP) — Six state univer
sities and colleges marked for merg
ers w ill get a last chance to appeal to
the Select Committee on Education,
chairman Larry T emple said Thurs
day.
Temple, who proposed the merg
ers, said the six institutions will he
given an opportunity at the commit
tee’s Nov. 21 meeting to “summa
rize” their positions.
Temple’s recommendation also
proposed aligning state institutions
according to their missions and
goals.
T he University of Texas at Austin
and Texas A&M University would
he the only comprehensive grad
uate-research universities.
T emple said the committee would
vote by Dec. 12, maybe at a Dec. 5 or
Dec. 1 I meeting.
“This is just one person saying
what he thinks we ought to do,”
Temple told reporters of his propo
sal. “T he committee still had to make
up its mind.”
In a memo to other committee
members earlier this week, Temple
proposed merging:
• North Texas State University
and Texas Woman’s University- in
Denton.
• University of Houston-Down
town into Texas Southern Univer
sity.
• Corpus Christi State University
and Texas A&I University.
T emple said these mergers would
“enhance the delivery of academic
programs and provide for more ef-
ifective and efficient use of present
and f uture facilities.”
All proposed actions would have
to be approved by the committee
and then by the Legislature.
At Thursday’s meeting a large
group of TSU students sat in the gal
lery of the Senate chamber to regis
ter their protest of the proposed
merger.
“I think it is appropriate that the
institutions named have a summary
presentation before the committee,”
T emple said.
Temple told reporters that he had
received the most objections for the
proposed NTSU-TWU merger.
He said reaction to the Houston
merger was “mixed” with some say
ing they favored an urban institution
at the downtown site.
He said people of Corpus Christi
generally favored that merger, but
those in Kingsville opposed losing
the separate identity of Texas A&I.
Colleges could lose up to $1 million
Tax law may lower donations
By Stacy Mark
Reporter
With the signing of the new tax
fj.iw, effective Jan. I, private dona
tions to higher education could drop
jn as much as $l million annually,
lucording' to a report from the
mhmnit le of Higher Education.
I During the last fiscal year, T exas
orflU-M received $()2.1 million in pri-
jJiWate donations, a record for charita-
eflBilc giving bv A&M alumni.
«■ According to the Council for Fi-
dfliatuial Aid to Education, A&M
Banked Kith among all universities
■i 11 n private support. The $(i2.I mil-
ii-flion amounts to the total received by
hcBlie Association of Former Students,
ijphe Aggie Club, the Development
;■ oundation and the Universitv itself.
I The Universitv’s share was $20
million. Tom Tavlor, director of ac
counting services for A&M. that of
that share. $(i million was allotted
for scholarships. $(i million for en
dowments and the rest for various
campus programs.
Dr. Charles Salomon, associate di
rector of planned giv ing, savs that all
donations are appreciated whether
thev re large or small.
"( I he donors) get a real big ‘thank
von" and the satisfaction of seeing
the monev used for the purpose they
wanted." he says.
Salomon savs he believes the new
lax law will have onlv a slight effect
on die amount of donations.
T lie new law will make giving
more complicated and mav discour
age people f rom giving, he sav s, hut
people make gifts because Kiev want
to support higher education, not be
cause of tax breaks.
()t hers aren’t so optimistic.
Michael F. Brewer, a lohbvist on
retainer bv several higher education
associations, says he believes the new
law will adversely affect charitable
giving.
"Some people think that the ad
verse effec t will be large, hut others
think it will he small,” he savs. “But
thev all agree that the effec t will be
negativ e."
I he new tax law affects charitable
contributions in three ways.
First, the lower marginal tax rates
will reduce the benefits received
from charitable giv ing. Marginal tax
rates mean that people are charged
at a marginal rate for every additio
nal dollar they earn over their tax
bracket.
Under present layv, if a person
earning $100,000 per year donated
$5,000. the tax rate of 50 percent
would translate into a savings of
$2,500 in taxes. Therefore the dona
tion is really only $2,500.
Under the new' law', the marginal
tax tales are reduced anywhere
I rom 15 percent up to 28 perc ent. So
if that same person were to donate
$5,000, the most he would save in
taxes is $1,400.
Secondly, taxpayers who do not
itemize cannot deduct charitable do
nations. Non-itemizers are those
people who file a short form. Only
those who do itemize can deduct
their contributions. Under the pre
sent law. non-itemizers are allowed
See Tax, page 10
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