The Battalion
ol, 82 No. 67 USPS 045360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, December 4, 1986
Poindexter refuses to give details of sales
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi-
;nt Reagan’s former national secu-
y adviser refused Wednesday to
ve Congress details of the secret
leipfweapons to Iran or the diver-
on of profits to Nicaraguan rebels,
ce President George Bush con-
ded that the spiraling controversy
jsharmed the administration, say-
g, "Clearly, mistakes were made.”
lice Adm. John M. Poindexter
ejame the second recently-de-
Rfd administration official to in-
oke the Fifth Amendment in de-
itiing to answer questions f rom the
enate Intelligence Committee.
His one-time aide, Lt. Col. Oliver
Brth. did so on Monday, and com-
ittee members said they were con-
Sering possibly seeking grants of
nmunity from prosecution to se-
ure testimony by both men.
■n. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., vice
■man of the committee, vowed
at lawmakers would piece together
tei ts “with or without them,” and
ft committee members said that
nipecified Cabinet secretaries will
ftalled to the panel’s heavily
uarded room to testify.
■hile Congress continued delv-
igi ito the most serious crisis of the
Poll: Reagan should resign
if lying about arms sales
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Nearly half of the Americans
polled by ABC News think Presi
dent Reagan should resign if he’s
lying about when he learned
about the Contra connection to
U.S. arms shipments to Iran,
while the rest believe Reagan
should not resign even if he has
lied, according to the survey.
The survey of 505 Americans,
released Wednesday, also found
that the president’s overall appro
val rating has dropped nearly 20
points since September to 49 per
cent. The figure represents the
lowest rating for Reagan since
April 1983.
However, the poll found a
slight improvement in the presi
dent’s overall credibility on the
arms shipments controversy, with
49 percent saying Reagan has
been lying and 47 percent saying
he has been telling the truth. The
percentage of people who believe
the president was 37 percent in
an ABC poll on Nov. 19 and 40
percent on Nov. 25.
The poll has a margin of error
of plus or minus 5 percentage
points. It was conducted Tuesday
night by telephone.
Reagan presidency, there was in
creasing pressure for the departure
of Donald T. Regan, the president’s
powerful chief of staff.
But White House spokesman
Larry Speakes said Regan has no in
tention of leaving and said the presi
dent “has not asked him to leave.”
Reagan did not discuss possible
staff changes when he spoke to busi
nesswomen in the White House. In
stead, he said he hoped the furor
would not undercut support for the
Contra forces fighting the Sandi-
nista government in Nicaragua.
“We cannot let recent events dis
tract us from the cause of those
brave fighters for freedom around
the world,” he said. As his audience
applauded, Reagan said, “Yes, you
did just make my day.”
Reagan could not have been as
pleased with the word he received
earlier in the day from key GOP con
gressional leaders.
One participant, speaking on con
dition he not be identified by name,
said Reagan was advised to seek
changes in his administration.
Outside the White House, Senate
Republican leader Bob Dole of Kan
sas said the message to Reagan was
this: “There are going to be more
and more stories, every day there
will be something new. Some other
player will be involved, somebody
the president never even heard of.”
Bush’s comments came in a
speech in which he said he fully sup
ported Reagan’s decision to make se
cret arms sales to Iran, but knew
nothing of the diversion of profits to
the Contra forces.
Reagan also says he knew nothing
of the diversion of funds until Attor
ney General Edwin Meese III told
him a little more than a week ago.
In voicing strong words of sup
port for Reagan, Bush added,
“There is no denying that our credi
bility has been damaged by this en
tire episode and its aftermath.”
Bush said the shaping of the Ira
nian policy involved difficult choices
and was clouded by the way in which
the president’s goals were executed,
“specifically allegations about certain
activities of the National Security
Council staff.”
Defense Secretary Caspar Wein
berger, in France on an official trip,
said Reagan received bad advice
from aides advising him on a new
policy toward Iran. “What he was
trying to do was to open an
agreement and an arrangement with
people whom he had been advised
were of a far different character
than the people he was quite prop
erly denouncing as being fanatical
lunatics in Iran.
“I think unfortunately some of
that advice has not turned out to
have been accurate or correct,”
Weinberger said.
Meanwhile, Transportation De
partment documents show that a
former CIA air transport company,
said to have played key roles in both
arms sales to Irans and shipments to
the Nicaraguan rebels, flew more
than 400 tons of cargo this year into
an air base used by an American-
manned Contra resupply operation.
Southern Air Transport of Miami
reported it made 15 flights into a
military airport in El Salvador.
The flights coincide with creation
of an air resupply wing to carry
weapons to the Contra rebels — an
effort that government sources said
anonymously was managed by
North.
While the administration awaited
appointment of an independent
counsel to investigate the once-secret
arms sale to Iran and the tunneling
of profits through a Swiss bank ac
count to Nicaraguan forces, Senate
leaders appeared headed for cre
ation of a single “supercommittee”
to conduct its own probe.
.et There Be Light
Electrician George Lovell works in a “cherry picker” repairing a parking lot light at the Redmond Terrace Shopping Center Wednesday.
Vandiver
finalist
for UH spot
Texas A&M President Frank
Vandiver is one of five finalists
left from a field of 152 consid
ered for the vacant University of
Houston system chancellor’s posi
tion.
The position has been open
since Sept. 1, when Charles E.
Bishop resigned to accept a re
search and teaching position with
the University of North Carolina.
Bishop had been the top exec
utive of UH’s four-campus sys
tem for six years, earning
$ 139,000 annually.
Vandiver issued a statement
Wednesday about his nomi
nation, saying he was flattered by
the offer but that it was too early
to comment.
“I am flattered to have been
nominated and considered a fi
nalist for the position of chan
cellor at the University of Hous
ton,” Vandiver said. “I am happy
to be president of Texas A&M
University and it is simply prema
ture to comment on a position
that has not been offered to me.”
Trish Healy, an information
specialist for UH, said the chan
cellor most likely will be selected
by the end of this month.
bunty attorney
Hows students
lo make restitution
Court to say if bias law covers AIDS patients
By Christi Daugherty
Staff Writer
Jhe five A&M students charged
ih misdemeanor theft of long-dis-
ancc service in the past few weeks
ylhone companies other than Star
«nay be let off the hook after all.
Brazos County Attorney Jim Ku-
bovi k said he has decided to give
hose diarged by other phone com
plies the same chances for leniency
teis being granted by Star Tel.
Hf the students that were
hfged, these non-athletes with
tomplainants other than Star Tel,
Cotton Bowl
jckets to be
bid Monday
^Student tickets for the 1987
Rltton Bowl will go on sale Mon-
dav at 7 a.m. for $25 apiece at the
|| Rollie White Coliseum ticket
"jndows, Texas A&M Ticket
ftnager Jim Kotch said Wednes-
da\.
I Kotch said tickets will be lim-
Ked to six per student. Each Cot
ton Bowl ticket request must be
accompanied by a season ticket
book and half of those ticket
books must be of either graduate
plj senior classification for Mon
day s ticket dispersal, Kotch said.
■Further ticket information will
^available Friday, he said.
wanted to make restitution, then I
would allow them the same deal that
Star Tel made,” Kuboviak said. He
said he felt he had to make the move
in the interest of fairness.
Star Tel is granting a 15-day pe
riod of amnesty, allowing all who
have used Star Tel access codes ille
gally to pay the charges and avoid
prosecution.
Other long-distance services, in
particular MCI, have expressed op
position to any sort of amnesty plan,
and MCI strongly emphasizes legal
prosecution as a crime deterrent.
Kathleen Keegan, an MCI spokes
man in New York, said MCI had not
heard about Kuboviak’s decision,
but would not object.
“We put the matter into the hands
of the county attorney, and we will
stand by whatever he decides,” Kee
gan said.
Kuboviak said he had not as yet
informed the companies of his deci
sion, because although they will have
some input into the matter, the final
decision is his.
He said that since people are now
aware that prosecution is a possi-
blity, he plans to be more severe if
the problem arises again.
Since he has never encountered
the problem before, and suddenly
has many cases of it, he said he feels
the industry is trying to make exam
ples of the students they’ve caught.
“I’m going to take a harder stand
on it next time, but I’m adjusting my
philosophy on the existing cases
based upon what Star Tel has done,”
Kuboviak said. “Since Star Tel made
the decision to accept restitution. I
See Restitution, page 10
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a case that may af
fect the rights of AIDS victims, the Supreme
Court was told Wednesday that a federal law
banning bias against the handicapped does not
protect people with contagious diseases.
“This cannot be what Congress had in mind,”
Solicitor General Charles Fried, the Reagan ad
ministration’s top courtroom lawyer, said in
urging the justices to rule that people with conta
gious illnesses are not covered by the 1973 anti
bias law.
With a nationwide debate over AIDS discrimi
nation as a backdrop, the court must decide
whether all recipients of federal aid — including
virtually all public schools — are barred from dis
criminating against people with contagious dis
eases.
Gay rights activists say the decision may affect
the national debate on AIDS even though the Su
preme Court case does not involve a victim of ac
quired immune deficiency syndrome, a deadly
disease that to date mainly has afflicted homosex
uals.
The U.S. Public Health Service says there are
no known cases of anyone getting AIDS through
casual contact. But there is a great deal of public
fear about how contagious it might be, and there
have been efforts to bar AIDs carriers from
schools and work places.
During Wednesday’s 60-minute argument ses
sion, however, AIDS was mentioned only once.
George Rahdert, a lawyer representing a
third-grade teacher fired after she was diagnosed
as having tuberculosis, argued that a Justice De
partment memorandum on AIDS wrongly sug
gests that an employer legally can fire people
based on an irrational fear that they may spread
the disease.
Gene H. Arline sued the Nassau County, Fla.,
School Board after she was fired as a teacher be
cause she had tuberculosis, an infectious respira
tory disease.
Fiscal officer: Future of TAEX lies
in use of mass communications
Editor’s note: This is the third
in a three-part series on the ef
fects of state budget cuts and
Texas’ slumping oil economy on
the Texas Agricultural Extension
Service. Part 3 examines the
TAEX’ future.
By Bob Grube
Staff Writer
As Texas and Texans try to
weather the storm of oil slumps
and budget cuts, the Texas Agri
cultural Extension Service is rid
ing in the eye of the storm — rela
tively speaking.
Ronald Jackson, fiscal officer
for the TAEX, says it is better off
than many state agencies, but it’s
still smarting from budget cuts —
about $2.8 million for the 1986-
1987 biennium — it took from
the Legislature’s second special
session in September and from
Gov. Mark White’s hiring freeze.
“There’s no bright light on the
horizon that shows we’re going to
fill all the empty positions that
have been empty since the gover
nor’s hiring freeze,” Jackson says.
“The Legislative Budget Board
approved us for even funding for
the next biennium,” he says. “It
means that there won’t be any
more cutbacks and that we’ll be
able to restore programs that
there is a significant need for.”
So far in Brazos County, no
programs have been cut, thanks
to County Agriculture Program
Leader Jim Mazurkiewicz.
But the budget cuts have re
duced the county’s extension of
fice staff from five to three, and
the reduction in staff is taking its
toll on the remaining agents.
Jackson says the TAEX budget
cuts are not as dramatic or as visi
ble to the public as are cuts in
other agencies, but he says the
TAEX feels a hiring freeze the
same way another agency feels a
layoff.
“Today, we (TAEX) have one
subject matter specialist for ap
proximately every 30 counties in
the state,” Jackson says.
“In the future, we may be less
accessible than we are now,” he
says. “Instead of serving 30 coun
ties, the specialist may have to
serve about 90 counties.”
With hiring freezes, staff re
ductions and budget cuts, the fu
ture for increased funding looks
bleak for state-funded agencies in
Texas.
How will the TAEX deal with
this bleak future?
Jackson says the economic fu
ture of the TAEX lies in mass
communication methods that
reach more people for the dollar
rather than the more traditional
individual, personal communica
tion methods.
“We’re going to more of a mass
media-type situation,” Jackson
says.
“We’re really going to have to
get into videos,” he says. “We can
produce educational and topical
videos and air them on the educa
tional television channels.”
Another high-technology com
munication method, the Tele-
Tips telephone program, is being
used in the Dallas-Fort Worth
area.
Tele-Tips is a computerized
educational tape system that al
lows the caller to choose from a
See TAEX, page 14