THE BATTALION
Page 2 College Station, Texas Tuesday, September 17, 1968
CADET SLOUCH by Jim Earle
State Capital Roundup
Four Married-Student Units
To Be Added Near Hensel
“What a relief! I thought I needed glasses, but all I needed
was a haircut!”
Prospectus
President Rudder has welcomed the new freshmen,
Corps and civilian leaders have added their welcomes,
Coach Stallings has introduced the senior football players
at All-University Night, and the grind is officially under
way. Words of welcome, therefore, seem a bit superfluous
in this first regular Battalion for 1968-69.
What we’d rather talk about is what sort of year the
Batt has in store.
For one thing, we’re starting out with pride. During
June The Battalion was awarded first and second places
in the Texas Press Association’s annual Texas Newspaper
Contests—first for our news photography and second in
editorial writing. This wasn’t a college competition judged
by bored journalism professors, but a contest of daily
newspapers in cities of 15,000 to 150,000 population—and
that takes in a pretty respectable class of competition.
The Batt’s city-daily status, by the way, brings up a
major new feature for the coming year: a College Station
news page, to be directed by a city editor and his assistants.
We feel this isn’t a radical departure from tradition (during
the 50’s this paper had a city editor earning one of the top
salaries on the staff), nor a betrayal of student interests.
This is, of course, a student newspaper, by and for, and
therefore of students; but the many College Station resi
dents who subscribe to The Battalion deserve some con
sideration, too. For years, journalism students have missed
the opportunity to cover public affairs outside the public-
affairs-reporting class, while “the official newspaper of
Texas A&M and the City of College Station” was filling
its pages with Associated Press features and lists of faculty
publications. Hopefully, this year will be the start of a
broader program.
Other changes in the Batt are worth mentioning here.
First, the letters-to-the-editors column will be renamed
“Listen Up,” subtitled “The Batt Forum.” It’s not an idle
change, but an effort to make the letters worth reading—
and worth drawing replies. “Sound Off” has all too often
been just that; students with personal gripes often haven’t
bothered even to start them through the channels that
could remedy the situation. Our general policy on letters,
therefore, will be to screen out unfair and pointless gripes,
welcoming instead all comment on legitimate issues—includ
ing, very definitely, any criticisms from students who have
made an effort to air their gripes constructively but have
gotten no results from the appropriate channels.
A string of weekly columnists should liven up the Batt
this year. “On Other Campuses,” a roundup of happenings
in the outside world, will return to the editorial page after
a couple of years’ absence as a regular feature. Mike
Plake, last year’s movie reviewer, will be back “At The
Movies” once a week. Summer Editor John McCarroll will
write a folksy humor column along the lines of “Tell You
What I’d Do,” which, as summer school exes will recall,
combined the rapier wit of Gabby Hayes with the cool, off
handed satire of Corner Pyle.
Incidentally, if these remarks leave something to be
desired in the way of a hard-hitting, no-nonsense statement-
of-policy editorial, it’s because they weren’t intended as
such. At this point there just hasn’t been much to hit
hard at; there hasn’t been much nonsense to abjure; there
hasn’t been any apparent, immediate need to spell out
policy plans and thus commit ourselves to strategy and
tactics against still-prospective adversaries. The fights we
pick will be picked on a day-to-day basis.
It is probably outrageous, if not blasphemous, to draw
an analogy between this year’s Battalion and the Aggie
football team, but the temptation is too strong. The Batt,
like the Aggies, is just now recovering from a decline which
began with the departure of a controversial mentor. Its
showing in the competition mentioned above probably
surprises many people who had gotten accustomed to the
“image;” more important, it signifies the promise of better
things to come. A good crop of new staff members is
joining last year’s regulars, with only four seniors lost
through graduation, and a new spirit of confidence will
go into this year’s efforts.
In other words—to carry the analogy to its excruciating
finish—the Batt is Back.
By YERN SANFORD
Texas Press Association
AUSTIN—A new Texas land
war is raging.
Land developers and Texas
Land Commissioner Jerry Sadler
are in disagreement over the
recently-revived $400 million
state Veterans Land Program.
Mindful of the VLP scandals
of the mid ’50’s, Sadler is adopt
ing cautious, conservative policies
to guide future state policies.
Program permits qualified veter
ans to buy land on the low inter
est, long-term-pay plan.
Developers claim Sadler is
tight-fisted and is jeopardizing
the program by low-ceiling land
value appraisals and limiting
sales to 10 per cent of large sub
divisions.
Under Sadler’s limits, develop
ers with tracts of 1,000 acres can
sell only 100 acres through the
state bond-financed program. The
Commissioner argues that the
state should not spend all its
constitutionally-authorized bond
funds in a few areas.
CENTRAL TEXAS developers
counter that land values already
are soaring and that veterans
held out of the market now
eventually will pay higher rates.
Sadler says land already is
selling at prices beyond reason
in Travis, Kerr, Bastrop and
Hidalgo Counties. Realtors say
Sadler’s 25 appraisers are putting
price tags on property $40 to
$100 an acre too low right now.
They claim qualified veterans are
lining up to buy land at prevail
ing prices and the program is a
“flop.”
“Trying to make a fast buck
at state expense,” reprimands
Sadler, who staunchly maintains
he is having none of that kind
of business.
★ ★ ★
WATER PLAN—Texas’ monu
mental water program—to move
surplus water from the Mississip
pi River and Northeast Texas
to the drier areas of South and
West Texas—is not to be released
until late October or early No
vember.
But the Texas Water Develop
ment Board, which is working up
the plan, let some details slip out
when it approved its budget re
quest to be submitted to the
Legislature for the two-year peri
od beginning September 1. 1969.
Board’s budget requests a more
than 50 per cent increase in ap
propriations for the agency so it
can get the plan into operation
before Texas faces economic dis
aster from a lack of water.
A time schedule for the project
—estimated to cost around $10
billion—will be presented to the
Legislature, outlining what needs
to be done in the next six years.
FIRST STEP is gathering the
surplus Northeast Texas water
for the Trans-Texas Canal, which
will move water west to supply
Dallas- Fort Worth, then on
through the concrete-lined canal
to the South Plains and other
areas of West Texas and the
Trans-Pecos, all the way to El
Paso.
Street Lighting
Easy To Install,
CS Mayor Says
Citizens of College Station can
have better street lighting for a
small installation fee, reports
Mayor D. A. “Andy” Anderson.
“All it takes is the sum of $45
and a request to the City Office,”
Anderson said, “but they (street
lights) will not be installed in
discriminately.”
Anderson pointed out that the
fee is a small amount when shared
by the citizens in a given area.
The city puts up the utility pole,
installs the light unit, provides
the electricity and maintains the
light thereafter.
“In new subdivisions, street
lighting is provided by develop
ers. It is in the older section of
the city where lighting is par
ticularly needed,” the mayor con
tinued.
Anderson urged all interested
citizens to make their request to
the City Office, 101 Church St. He
said street light installation would
be made on a first-come, first-
served basis as city funds will
permit.
THE BATTALION
Opinions expressed in The Battalion
are those of the student icriters only. The
Battalion is a non tax-supported non
profit, self-supporting educational enter
prise edited and operated by students as
a university and community newspaper.
Members of the Student Publications Board are: Jim
Lindsey, chairman ; Dr. David Bowers, College of Liberal
Arts; F. S. White, College of Engineering; Dr. Robert S.
Titus, College of Veterinary Medicine; and Hal Taylor, Col
lege of Agriculture.
The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M is
blished in College Station, Texas daily except Saturday,
nday, and Monday, and holiday periods, September through
May, and once a week during summer school.
MEMBER
The Associated Press, Texas Press Association
Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising
Services. Inc., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San
Francisco.
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for
republication of all new dispatches credited to it or not
otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous
origin published herein. Rights of republication of all other
matter herein are also reserved.
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas.
Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester; $6 per school
year; $6.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 2%
sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address:
The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College, Station,
Texas 77843.
EDITOR JOHN W. FULLER
Managing Editor Dave Mayes
Sports Editor John Platzer
News Editor Tom Curl
City Editor ......Bob Palmer
Photographer ...Mike Wright
Then by the end of 1971, ne
gotiations must be completed to
bring surplus water from the
lower Mississippi, below New Or
leans, across Southern Louisiana,
then into either the Sabine River
or up the Red River to the Sul
phur and Cypress Rivers.
By the middle of 1974, federal,
state and private sources need to
agree on the construction of
nuclear-energy power-generating
plants to produce the electricity
necessary to run the hundreds of
pumps which will actually move
the water.
South Texas will be served by
a South Texas Canal, which will
run from the lower Sabine River
near Orange down the coast to
the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
This project will need to be ap
proved by Congress by mid-1972.
State will probably have to pay
25-30 per cent of the cost of the
project. This means that the $400
million borrowing power the
board now has will have to be
expanded to at least $2.5 billion.
Legislature would have to ap
prove this in January, with the
people voting on it in 1970.
★ ★ ★
NEW LIQUOR PROBE — A
House committee probing influ
ence of vending machine oper
ators on tavern keepers will hold
hearings in Austin, Fort Worth,
Houston and probably two smaller
cities.
Dallas Attorney David Witts
was named chief counsel and in
vestigator of the committee by
the five-member panel headed by
Rep. R. H. Cory of Victoria, in
conference with Texas Liquor
Control Board Acting Adminis
trator O. N. Humphreys Jr.
Panel, armed with sworn state
ments from tavern operators, will
look into rumors of Mafia and
crime syndicate activity. Only
witness heard to date said he
knew of no such outside influ
ences in his area. But he testified
vending machine operators should
be prohibited from lending money
to taverns and drinking clubs.
★ ★ ★
APPOINTMENTS ANNOUNC
ED — Donald R. Fishel is new
chief of Texas Liquor Control
Board enforcement division. Sher
man McBeath of Wichita Falls
will replace Fishel as assistant
enforcement chief, and Leonard
J. Lozano of Poteet will be LCB
supervisor of investigations.
Gov. John Connally named
Bryan Beck Jr. of Beaumont and
H. J. (Bubba) Shands Jr. of Luf
kin to Lamar State College of
Technology board of regents. He
re-appointed Pat Peyton Jr. and
Otho Plummer of Beaumont to
new terms on same board.
William A. Wroe, Austin bank
er, has been appointed treasurer
of the Republican Party of Texas.
Dr. Richard Tozer of Dallas is
executive director of the Texas
Nixon for President finance com
mittee.
★ ★ ★
LOUDER SENATE—Newsmen
and spectators in the Texas Sen
ate have been complaining for
years that they can’t hear what
the Senators are saying to each
other on the floor, making it
f \
PARDNER
You’ll Always Win
The Showdown
When You Get
Your Duds Done
At
CAMPUS
CLEANERS
rather difficult to follow debate.
A San Antonio firm is solving
that problem, at the request of
a special Senate committee cre
ated by the June special session.
Company plans to install a
powerful amplifier and 55 speak
ers around the chamber—specially
attuned so that deep-throated
Senators and high-pitched ones,
too, will be heard by all in the
chamber.
Each Senator will have an indi
vidual desk microphone, and a
central panel at the president’s
desk will allow the Senators to
be turned off and on by the
Senate secretary.
Cost of the system will be
from $20,000 to $25,000.
★ ★ ★
ATTORNEY General Speaks—
A write-in vote for President and
Vice President is valid and must
be counted, regardless of whether
the political party of the candi
dates “written in” has qualified
to have names printed on the
ballot, Atty. Gen. Crawford Mar
tin held. Martin said if the Secre
tary of State has not been noti
fied as to identity of the slate of
presidential electors for write-in
candidates, inquiry may be made
by him as to the electors’ names.
In other recent opinions, Mar
tin concluded that:
• A county judge performing
duties of county school superin
tendent (where office of super
intendent is abolished) is not en
titled to office and travel pay
or salary of an assistant in ad
dition to his $2,650 annual com
pensation for extra duty.
• Palo Duro Canyon State Park
revenues collected since last No
vember 28 must be deposited in
state parks fund with state
treasurer.
• Texas State Board of Regis
tration for Professional Engineers
can pay temporary employee to
help handle its examination
papers.
★ ★ ★
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY—
Rep. Vernon Stewart of Wichita
Falls, chairman of the House
Committee on Juvenile Crime,
offers a new approach to juvenile-
crime problems.
Stewart wants to pay Texas'
254 counties to “keep their young
people out of trouble.” This would
involve a state program of pay
ing the counties $2,000 a year for
each juvenile they keep out of the
state reformatories.
Proposal is based on the fact
that not only is the state plan
ning to spend $10 million in the
next three or four years on build
ing new Texas Youth Council
facilities, but will also spend
$2,000 per year per “student” to
keep them in the “schools.”
Stewart said his plan “would
save the state taxpayers the cost
of the buildings to house them
and the county taxpayers the
cost of the losses they create by
delinquency.”
Texas A&M officials have an
nounced plans to build four new
apartment units in the College
View-Hensel area for occupancy
in the fall of 1969.
President Earl Rudder said the
new facilities for married stu
dents will contain 48 1 air-condi
tioned one-bedroom apartments
and cost approximately $800,000.
The units will be identical to the
non-air-conditioned Hensel Apart
ments constructed by the univer
sity in 1960.
Rudder emphasized construc
tion of the four units in no way
alters the university’s plea for
additional privately financed off-
campus housing.
“We simply recognize the con
verted barracks-type College View
Apartments will have to be re
placed in a relatively few years,”
the president noted, “and the
university simply doesn’t have
the money to replace the whole
complex at one time.”
On this basis, Rudder said the
A&M board of directors felt the
institution should start a phased
incremental program to replace
the College View units.
“This position was further vali
dated by the projection of the
university’s growth,” he added,
“which indicates an additional
1,000 housing units must be con
structed in the Bryan-College Sta
tion area between now and Sep
tember, 1969.”
“Of this 1,000 requirement, the
university will provide 48 units,”
Rudder continued. “The communi
ty must provide the other 952.”
He said this projection for ai
ditional housing will be refinti
further after this fall’s enroll,
ment is determined.
The university now has 71s
apartments for married students
of which 252 are the newer units
in Hensel.
400 To Attend
Faculty Dance
An estimated 400 persons art
expected for this year's faculty,
staff dinner-dance, schedules
jointly with the President’s Re.
ception at the Memorial Student
Center Sept. 26.
Festivities start at 7:30 p.m. ij
the ballroom with President and
Mrs. Earl Rudder greeting new
faculty and staff members in a
receiving line. Dinner and danc
ing follow.
Invitations are being mailed to
faculty and staff members who
joined Texas A&M the past year,
Invitations must be exchanged at
the MSC’s mail desk for compli
mentary tickets no later than 2
p.m., Sept. 24.
Music will be provided by the
Aggieland Combo. Dress is in
formal.
Puritan
Sportwear
at
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By Charles M. Schulz
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