Sandinistas, peasants MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Bowdler and leaders of a provisional Guerrillas and peasants in the coun- government named by the Sandinistas tryside have begun seizing farms as a met for a fifth time in three days in San food shortage caused by six weeks of Jose, Costa Rica. civil war worsens, according to reports They have been trying to agree on reaching here yesterday. conditions for Somoza's resignation and The head of the Nicaraguan Red a cease-fire. Cross said three U.S. cargo planes Somoza has said he is prepared to made available for Red Cross relief resign but only if his Liberal Party is flights would begin bringing food into represented in any new government, the capital to help alleviate the and his National Guard kept intact. The desperate shortage for hundreds of United States is known to have sought thousands of refugees. an expansion of the junta to include more moderates. FIGHTING BETWEEN Sandinista THE GUERRILLAS hold or control guerrillas and the forces of President 26 major cities and towns and virtually Anastasio Somoza was at a lull yester- all highways. The guard holds day. U.S. Ambassador-at-large William Managua, where Somoza yesterday The Michigan Daily-Friday, July 13, 1979-Page 9 seize farms for food was holed up in his fortified office- fighting in Nicaragua, bringing to residence. 25,000 Nicaraguans - one of every 100 The head of the Nicaraguan Red - the number to have died in a year Cross said three U.S. cargo planes and a half of violence. would be made available for Red Cross relief flights to help the hundreds of Most of the dead are civilian non- thousands of refugees here, but later combatants, Reyes said. the United States changed signals and Reyes also estimated there are hired one private plane. 600,000 homeless living as refugees on THE DIRECTOR general of the the brink of starvation, crowding Red Nicaraguan Red Cross, Miguel Cross centers, or living in lean-to Schiebel, said the U.S. Embassy told shelters made of sticks and plastic the Red Cross it "is not convenient to sheeting. send military airplanes." Reyes said that three U.S. Air Force Ismael Reyes, president of the C-130 Hercules transports would begin Nicaraguan Red Cross, estimated soon to fly in food and medicine daily yesterday that at least 20,000 people from a number of points in Central and have been killed in the past six weeks of South America. House panel says Carter can ration gas WASHINGTON (AP) - A plan to give President Carter standby authority to ration gasoline and require Americans to leave their cars at home one day a week was approved yester- day by a House subcommittee. The 13-8 vote by the House Commerce energy and power subcommittee gave a major boost to the legislation, which Speaker Thomas O'Neill predicted the House will pass by the end of July. "I THINK IT will sail," O'Neill said. He said the new plan stands a far better chance than Carter's original standby rationing plan, which the House rejec- ted May 10 by a 256 to 159 vote. The new measure, the result of Car- ter's challenge for Congress to come up with its own plan, would give the president standby power to: - Draft a rationing plan which could be triggered by a 20 per cent decrease in U.S. oil supplies or a seven per cent drop in world production. Congress then would have 15 days to review the plan, during which time either chamber could vote to block it. - Establish fuel-saving targets for states and the nation as a whole. In the event of a 10 per cent shortage of sup- plies, states could take steps of their own choosing to meet these goals. * In states failing to meet the fuel- saving targets, impose a sticker plan to prohibit driving on the day listed on the sticker. The motorist could pick the day of the week. * Require gasoline purchases of no less than $5 - or $7 for eight-cylinder cars - to discourage "topping off" gas tanks. . The full House Commerce Committee was expected to approve the bill next week, and floor action has been ten- tatively set for the week of July 22. SAID REP. John Dingell, (D-Mich.), the subcommittee chairman: "I think the gasoline-station lines and the tremendous price increases and events of the last several months since the Iranian crisis have substantially bet- tered the chance of passage of this proposal." Under new federal pricing rules the Energy Department plans to im- plement Sunday, motorists could be paying three cents to five cents more for a gallon of gasoline as early as next week. The new rules, intended to improve service station owners' profit margins, will allow a markup of 15 cents to 20 cents per gallon, department officials say privately, compared to the present average of 12 cents a gallon. THE ENERGY Department mean- while has advised the president in an option paper that the United States could produce 500,000 to two million barrels of synthetic fuels by 1990, said an administration source who declined to be identified. U.S. Oil imports now total 6.3 million barrels daily. Last-minute efforts at a White House meeting apparently failed to avert a strike of independent service station dealers in Pennsylvania and Delaware, starting Friday, according to Pen- nsylvania members of Congress who took part. The new gasoline rationing bill would repeal part of a 1975 energy law that gives Congress two chances to vote on details of any rationing plan - when it is proposed and when it is to be invoked. WHEN THE House votes on the new one-step bill, members will not know how much gasoline their states would get under rationing. In May, by con- trast, state-by-state lists were published. All details of rationing under the new plan would be left up to the president. If, Carter tries to put the plan into effect, Congress would have only one chance to vote, during the 15-day review period. The parts of the bill dealing with state conservation targets, the sticker plan and the minimum purchase would not be subject to congressional veto. The subcommittee approved the bill as a substitute for a Senate-passed measure which would authorize the president to take a variety of energy- conservation steps short of rationing, but also separately approved Carter's original standby rationing plan.