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The BattalionVol. 71 No. 143 10 Pages
Tuesday, April 25, 1978 College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Tuesday“Bugging” the dorms, p. 3.Humble beginnings — log cabin in the woods, p. 8.Houston Aeros — in trouble?, p. 9.
arm credit bill ear approval
United Press InternationalWASHINGTON — The House Monday
(■oved toward approval of a major farm Jredit bill, including an economic emergency plan under which farmers fac-
flg bankruptcy could get $4 billion in government-insured and guaranteed loans b\ the end of 1979.
Individual farmers could get loans up to 00,000 under the program backed by
administration and most major farm ganizations.Administration officials have estimated it loans actually would average about
$100,000 apiece and wmdd go to about i,000 hard-pressed farmers.Action on the credit bill came less than
weeks after the House defeated an lergency measure to aid farmers by rais- |g crop supports and cutting acreage of ains and cotton.
"•Rep. Ed Jones, D-Tenn., said the loans thorized by the credit legislation would
not carry subsidized interest rates and without doubt, this bill would aid
ousands of family farmers at little cost. “This bill is essential if we are to avoid sing an entire generation of family ms currently facing a squeeze because low grain prices. Rep. Glenn English, -Okla., added.Democratic leaders beat down a propo-
by Rep. Edward Madigan, R-lll., to bstitute what he called a “more modest” nergency plan for farmers on the verge bankruptcy.Madigan’s substitute would have per- itted the new loans only to pay operating
WIi sts and principal and interest install- ents due from farmers to banks and
Way give insight to human evolution
other lenders through the end of 1979.The House Agriculture Committee’s
version of the bill, which survived when the Madigan substitute was defeated, would also permit use of the new loans for principal and interest payments. But in addition, the surviving legislation would also permit use of the loans for total refinancing of farm debts for periods of up to 30 years.
Madigan told the House the credit program should be limited in its scope because the broader plan approved by the Agriculture Committee “is an empty promise. The $4 billion ceiling provided in the law would cover only a few farmers and would leave most unsatisfied, he said.
English retorted that Madigan’s proposal “would gut the opportunity for farmers to survive this current economic crisis.”
In addition to the emergency credit section, aimed primarily at farmers in debt to banks and other nongovernment lenders, the major credit bill also includes provisions expanding credit offered through the Agriculture Department’s Farmers Home Administration.
FmHA borrowers who are currently limited to mortgage loans of $100,000 could get government-insured loans of up to $200,000 and government-guaranteed loans up to $300,000 under the bill. FmHA farm operating loans which are now limited to $50,000 could go to $100,000 on an insured basis and $200,000 if made by private lenders on a government-guaranteed basis.
Congressman gets prison sentence
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Richard Hanna, D-Calif., was sentenced to between six and 30 months in federal prison Monday for conspiring to help South Korea buy influence in Congress.
After Hanna, 63, apologized in a broken voice, U.S. District Judge William Bryant sentenced him in a plot that brought the former lawmaker more than $200,000 from Korean rice dealer Tongsun Park.
Hanna, who chose not to run for re- election in 1974, pleaded guilty March 17 to one count of conspiracy in a pleabargaining agreement under which prosecutors dropped 39 felony counts against him. He could have received five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on the conspiracy count, but Bryant assessed no fine.
Now a resident of Fayetteville, Miss., Hanna is the only present or former congressman convicted so far in connection with Korean lobbying efforts in Washington.
He was accused of accepting money
from Park in exchange for using his congressional influence to help Park retain his rice dealership for the South Korean government and for other favors.
Park has admitted he gave thousands of dollars to other lawmakers, but denies he provided the money to gain political influence on behalf of the South Korean government.
“I apologize,” said Hanna in a broken voice as he stood in front of the judge.
“I apologize as a lawyer, as a person who held public office. I know what your job has to be. I hope in some way to atone for what I have done. Whatever years I have left I can. . .” He left the statement incomplete.
After Hanna’s statement, Bryant immediately passed sentence. He did not reprimand Hanna.
Bryant said Hanna must report to prison within 30 days after the Justice Department decides which institution he is to be confined to. He said Hanna can remain free without bond until that time.
Commissioners consider cemetery articles
Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
Doin’ it to itRandy Finch, a sophomore finance major from San Antonio, displays his acrobatic talents during Saturday’s skateboard competition sponsored by the A&M Surf Club. Lee McGinnis, who is not a student at A&M, drove in from Dallas to compete in the competition and won.
Borneo Orangutans topic of studyBy GAIL SMILA
They are solitary, arboreal, and the last Asia’s great apes; they are orangutans.In a speech given Monday at Rudder
luditorium, primatologist Birute idikas-Brindamour shared her experi-
ce in the jungles of Borneo studying the ngutan.During the past six years, Brindamour d her photographer-husband Rod lived Kalimantan Province in Central In-
nesian Borneo to study and document e nature of the wild orangutan social ructure and habitat.Brindamour said the orangutan project as started by the late Dr. L.S.B. Leakey part of his long-range plan to encourage -depth studies of several species of great >es in their natural habitats.Leakey launched the project with Jane oodall s study of the chimpanzee in 1960, dan Fossey’s study of the mountain arilla in 1967 and Brindamour’s study of le orangutan in 1971.Brindamour said the purpose of the idy was to understand the orangutans’ aptation to the environment and social tuation, which she believed would give
some insight to human evolution.She said because the first primates were
hunters and gatherers, scientists have turned to modern hunters and gatherers to understand the conditions which enabled evolution of homo sapiens. She said the only difference between man and ape is that man uses tools to make other tools.
Brindamour said she and her husband spent six years and over 10,000 hours of studying wild orangutans in humid, swampy Borneo. She witnessed their eating, nesting, and mating habits and believes the orangutans are intelligent creatures but fears extinction of the animals in 50 years.
Orangutans are declining in population because of land clearance by farmers, lumbermen, and poachers.
In 1974, Indonesia issued a coin with an orangutan printed on the face. The coin is valued at 5,000 rupiahs, ($12), and has started a 24-nation effort to raise money for conservation, in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Besides studying wild orangutans,
Brindamour and her husband, in cooperation with the Indonesian government, seek out young captive orangutans, rehabilitate them to forest life, and return them to the wild.
“I learned as much, if not more, by being a surrogate mother to captive orangutans than I did by studying them in the wild,” Brindamour said.
The rehabilitative program was designed for orangutans captured by foresters. Brindamour said she has received more than 50 captive orangutans and added that they are livelier, friendlier and
smarter than the wild orangutans.She said the captives are taken to their
natural surroundings, taught to build nests, and hunt food and eventually learn to live by themselves in the forest.
Brindamour said she believes that captive orangutans were not orangutans at all. Captivity does not allow for natural selection of mates.
Brindamour, Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, will appear in a National Geographic television special entitled “Watching the Wild Apes.” It will be aired tonight by the Public Broadcasting System.
By ANDREA VALLSBattalion Staff
Items ranging from patrol cars to the Boonville Cemetery were discussed Monday by the Brazos County Commissioners’ Court.
The Boonville Cemetery Association submitted its Articles of Incorporation to the commissioners for approval. According to these articles, the non-profit association’s purpose is to operate and manage the Boonville Cemetery located on F.M. 158. The county commissioners supervise the association’s operation of the cemetery.
The articles provided for a nine- member board of trustees to be elected at annual meetings, each member serving a one-year term of office.
The steering committee is presently selecting the names of nominees for the board of directors. The names will be submitted to the commissioners at a future date.
Payment of fire /calls amounting to $2,757.18 made during March were approved, including $1,080 for Bryan and $1,677.18 for College Station.
Commissioners approved bids for the purchase of two new patrol cars for the
Brazos County Sheriffs Department for $9,400.
In other business, the commissioners discussed the need for Brazos County bridges to be marked for weight load limits. Walter Wilcox, Precinct 2 commissioner, said several bridges in his precinct have been marked but several more need the weight limitations checked, since they are 40 to 50 years old. No action was taken, and the matter will be discussed at a future date.
To aid the county auditors, the commissioners approved an application by the Child Welfare Department for a Master Charge card to use when purchasing clothing for children. County Judge William Vance said the auditors would benefit by reviewing only one large bill instead of several bills from local stores.
After approving the payment of claims for Brazos County, Bill Cooley, Commissioner of Precinct 1, said $4,000 of the claims was spent on the Coleman murder trial.
In other action, the commissioners approved payment of the county’s share of the Brazos Valley Development Council’s 1978-1979 budget.
The commissioners also approved a bid for office supplies for Brazos County.
Israeli minister flies to U. warns of no
S.new proposals
United Press International
Egypt says Israel must be willing to make more concessions before peace talks resume, but Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan cautioned U.S. officials not to expect new Israeli proposals when he arrives in Washington later today.
Dayan, who was flying to Washington in an effort to iron out American-Israeli differences in advance of Prime Minister Menachem Begin s visit next Monday, was reportedly carrying Israeli suggestions for the wording of a declaration of principles to guide resumed peace talks with Egypt.
But in Cairo, where U.S. envoy Alfred
Atherton wound up a four-day visit, Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel said there could be no new peace talks until Israel agreed to soften its negotiating position on such sticky issues as Palestinian self-determination and territorial concessions.
Atherton was flying back to Washington ahead of Dayan after apparently failing to secure any further concessions from Egypt despite “very serious and very detailed” discussions with President Anwar Sadat.
Atherton would not call his mission unsuccessful, but admitted Sadat had offered
him no new proposals to break the negotiating stalemate.
The U.S. negotiator said his visit had “certainly helped my government have a deeper and clearer understanding of the position of the Egyptian government, as we look for ways, new moves in the peace process.”
But pressed by reporters to disclose something of what went on in his separate talks with Sadat and Kamel, Atherton said, “We always have exchanges of ideas on these visits, and very useful ones. But in terms of papers or proposals, no.”
After a final two-hour session with
Atherton on Monday, Kamel told reporters Egypt was sticking by its demands that Israel give up its settlements in the Sinai and agree to discuss the creation of a Palestinian entity on the occupied West Bank.
Dayan went to pains over the weekend to stress that, like Atherton, he too was carrying no new proposals to his Washington talks.
But the newspaper Ha’aretz reported Dayan would be carrying Israeli suggestions on the wording of a declaration of principles sought by Egypt as a guide for the negotiations.
Court rules against Dallas school district
Here we go againBattalion photo by Liz Bailey
i“!Pre-registration for fall semester began Monday and so did the long waiting lines. Pre-registration will continue through Friday afternoon. Class schedules are available at Heaton Hall (the old Exchange Store) and at Rudder Tower information center.
United Press International
DALLAS — Mayor Bob Folsom says he disagrees with a federal appeals court ruling that the city’s school district must revise its desegregation plan and favors an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, in a 13-page statement made public Monday, said the Dallas Independent School District must eliminate or justify the existence of predominantly one-race schools in its 2-year-old desegregation plan.
The ruling came on an appeal filed by the NAACP.
“I regret the 5th Circuit Court’s deci- 'sion to overturn the plan,” Folsom said. “I strongly disagree with the ruling and I would hate to see Dallas have to go through the whole desegregation question again.
“I think the school district might have a better chance with the Supreme Court than the 5th Circuit Court,” he said. “At least that has been the trend so far.”
The appeals court ordered U.S. District Judge William Taylor to devise a new plan but set no deadline.
The current student assignment plan divides the school district into six subdistricts. Four of those subdistricts substantially reflect the racial makeup of the
school system as a whole, the court said.“But the other two subdistricts each
contain a predominant ethnic group.“Seagovill, geographically isolated from
the rest of DISD, has an approximately 82 percent Anglo enrollment,” the court said.
“East Oak Cliff, bounded by the Trinity River bottom on one side and by Interstate 35 on the other, is approximately 98 percent black.”
The 5th Circuit said only one of the DISD’s six subdistricts was completely free of one-race schools.
The appeals court panel ordered the DISD to provide transportation for students who choose to transfer from a school in which their race is the majority to one in which their race is a minority.
“The school board, not the students or their parents, must assume the burden of transporting the students,” the court said. “On remand, the district court is directed to include the majority to minority transfer option in the transportation provision of the plan finally adopted.”
The 5th Circuit agreed, however, with a ruling by the lower court regarding schools in the Highland Park section of Dallas. The three-judge appeals panel found no evidence of discrimination in Highland Park even though all 4,600 students in the area’s six schools are white.
Son of Sam suspect ruled competent to stand trial
United Press International
NEW YORK — Son of Sam suspect David Berkowitz Monday was ruled competent to stand trial for the murder of Stacy Moskowitz, the last of six victims shot to death in a year-long series of slayings.
The ruling was made by state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Corso, who set May 8 for the start of the 24-year-old former postal worker’s trial.
Miss Moskowitz was the last victim of the so-called “.44-caliber killer,” who killed six persons and wounded seven others in his nighttime attacks in quiet neighborhoods throughout the city.
Berkowitz has been confined in a psychiatric ward of Kings County Hospital since his arrest in August. He said previously he intends to plead guilty to the charges, but it was not immediately clear if Corso would accept the plea.
In his announcement, Corso said, “This court, having considered all of the testimony and exhibits, has reached the conclusion that the people has established that the defendant, David Berkowitz, does not lack the capacity to understand the proceedings against him or participate in his defense.
Corso said he had spoken with District Attorney Eugene Gold and had agreed to begin the trial May 8, a date which he said was “reasonable, in spite of the fact I would have preferred to start almost immediately.”
The justice based his decision on four days of psychiatric testimony made during a series of closed hearings in a makeshift courtroom at Kings County Hospital where Berkowitz has been lodged since his arrest.
At that time, Berkowitz allegedly told police “Sam” was his 64- year-old neighbor Sam Carr, who lived 6,000 years and served as his homicidal commander by sending messages through his dog.
V After disposition of the charges in the Moskowitz killing, Berkowitzmust face other indictments.