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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1969)
Oo'J-.R L• ’^IIEXS RT 1 THORNDALE, TEX 76577 5-31-69- B has n Che Battalion VOLUME 64 Number 67 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12, 1969 Telephone 845-2226 General Telephone Notes Problems, Seeks Solutions ales lion >any m « w By DAVID MIDDLEBROOKE Battalion Staff Writer “We have problems, there's no question about that. We’re work ing on them, however, and I think our service is very good.” That was the opinion of Bill 84W!i|| Erwin, division manager of Gen eral Telephone and Electronics Corp. in Bryan, yesterday as he talked with The Battalion about complaints received during “Gripe Night” last Wednesday. The Battalion Intelligent Tele phone Criticism Happening, as the project was called, was con- H ducted to give area residents a tf lMIl chance to voice their complaints * a ^° u ^ ^ le telephone service. The ■ lines at the Student Publications ■■■■ ■ office were opened to receive the V calls, which totaled about 30. YESTERDAY, these complaints ■ were presented to Erwin to see ■ if he felt they were valid and I what, if anything, could be done about them. None of the com plaints dealt specifically with the Centrex system on the A&M cam pus, but with phone service in general. One of the callers was Mrs. Jane Scott, a former employe of General here in Bryan who had previously worked for Bell Tele phone in California. Mrs. Scott explained what she believed, on the basis of her ex perience, were some of the basic problems that the Bryan office was facing. “I noticed there was very low morale on the part of the em ployes,” she commented. “They I really don't care whether or not the job gets done or done right. This includes repairmen, install ers, and repair office workers. They just don’t care.” MRS. SCOTT went on to say that there were not enough em ployes to handle the volume of work. “There is only one repairman for the entire Centrex system,” she remarked. “He has to take care of all the phones, both stu dent and office, on the campus.” “That’s the basic problem throughout the General system in this area,” she continued. “There simply aren’t enough peo ple to handle the work load. In addition, supervisors bicker among themselves.” “I don’t know of any morale problem,” Erwin remarked yes terday. “In fact, I think that morale is high among our em ployes. “OUR PEOPLE work as a team. They have to,” he con tinued, “or they wouldn’t be able to get anything done. We woudn’t be able to operate as a company. “Our staff is adequate for the area,” he said. “We have some peak periods, such as the first part of September, when it takes us longer to handle a specific complaint due to the large volume of work to be done. Right now we have our repair and installation men working 10 hours a day, six days a week, to handle the work, and I think they are doing satis factorily.” Director Making Winter Plans For YMCA’s Summer Fish Camp By DAVE BERRY Battalion Staff Writer A&M’s summer Fish Camp is active even in the winter months. At least it is for Gary Ander son, director of next summer’s 16th annual Fish Camp, who is in the midst of preparations for next summer’s camp. “Fish Camp was initiated at Bastrop 16 years ago by J. Gor don Gay, YMCA secretary and religious coordinator until his re tirement last year, Anderson said. “Since then, the camp has grown from 16 participants to next summer’s four groups of 100 each, with 25 camp coun selors per group. The camp has also since moved from Bastrop to Lakeview Methodist Assembly near Palestine. “The purpose of the camp,” lo cated next to a lake in Texas hill country, “has been to prepare the incoming freshman students for the responsibilities and leader ship required of college stu dents,” continued Anderson. “In the past this has been ac complished through various activ ities and seminars involving the freshmen, some campus student leaders and faculty members. The presence of both faculty and student leaders at Fish Camp gives the freshmen a more bal- University National Bank “On the side of Texas A&M. •—Adv. anced view of what is in store for them.” Anderson said that Fish Camp, which next summer will be held Sept. 6-9, comprises students who were excellent students in high school. “Fish Camp leaders refer to the Registrar’s list of incoming freshmen and choose only those who are from the highest quar ter of their classes,” Anderson said. “It is hoped that these freshmen, who are from all over the country and who may or may not be going into the Corps, will be encouraged to assume leader ship roles at A&M. “So far,” Anderson pointed out, “Fish Camp has produced such leaders as Corps Command er Hector Gutierrez and Bill Carter, president of the Student Senate. “Perhaps it is because these students and others like them have entered A&M with a better perspective of both college life in general and A&M in particu lar, due to, among other things, Fish Camp. The success of Fish Camp de pends partially on the Fish Camp leaders, concluded Ander son. They are chosen by careful screening and interviewing dur ing the winter preceding Fish Camp. Then, during the ensuing spring and summer, they work in cooperation with the YMCA sec retary, Logan E. Weston, in planning camp activities. Erwin said that the phone company has to know about a problem before it can do any thing about it. “When people have a problem, if they will report it in the proper manner, by dialing 18, we can get on the trouble.” MRS. SCOTT also said that, from what she knew, General was unwilling to spend money in this area to modernize the equip ment and maintain it properly. “Some of it is old and out dated,” she said. “Besides that, the employees don’t have the time or the inclination to get after the trouble.” “I have to disagree concerning the modernizing of our equip ment,” Erwin said. “The Cen trex system on the A&M campus is the most modern and up-to- date equipment available. “In addition, we’ve added 12 new switchboard positions in the Bryan office, and 1,200 lines to the College Station exchange. We are also installing Expanded Di rect Distance Dialing (EDDD) which will become operational in August of this year. “ADDITIONAL long distance channels have been set up,” Er win added, “between Bryan and Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. We have also added more lines to the outlying areas that we serve.” “The EDDD equipment alone is costing General $3.5 million,” he continued, “and it will pro vide greatly improved service to this area. An additional $250,- 000 has been spent to add more men and equipment. There are definitely plans for expansion in this area. Students also had many com plaints to voice concerning the phone service here. Nelson L. Jacob inquired as io why the university was requiring phones in the university apartments to be desk models located in the bedroom. “The university has said nothing concerning this,” emphasized Howard Vestal, man- (See Telephone, Page 2) NBC-TV Newsmen To Film Corps For Huntley-Brinkley An NBC-TV news crew will photograph today and Thursday the operation of the Corps of Cadets for Huntley-Brinkley news. A future national television broadcast of the news team will highlight academic credit prob lems the ROTC program is hav ing in Eastern U. S. colleges. Bob Goralski, who will be in charge of the five-man crew, said the Pentagon suggested NBC cameras be turned on Texas A&M to show “the other side of the coin,” or where the ROTC program works the way it was designed. The television newsmen will interview university officials, take sound cameras into a mili tary science class and focus on a Cadet Corps pass-by for the Wednesday evening meal forma tion. Ags Top TU, 70-69, Take Lead In SWC ALPERT’S TJB IN DISGUISE? The Baja Marimba Band, bom out of a tune Herb Alpert felt needed a different sound, will be ‘coming in the front door’ of G. Rollie White Coliseum at Texas A&M Saturday. Julius Wechter and his “Speedy Gonzales” group will perform as a Town Hall special attraction. THE SIDE WITH THE 3-POINT LEAD Aggie forward Chuck Smith (42) watches the last three seconds tick off the scoreboard in Tuesday’s game as teammates (from left) Ronnie Peret, Sonny Benefield, Bill Cooksey and Mike Heitmann watch Texas bring in the ball for a last-second field goal to cut the winning margin to one point, 70-69. The Aggies remained in back court to avoid any possibility of a foul and subsequent 3-point play. (Photo by Mike Wright) CATE’s 7-Subject Network Benefits 20 High Schools High school students in 20 East Central Texa® schools have op portunity to receive instruction in seven subjects taught over “black board-by-wire” from Texas A&M. Structured through the Crea tive Application of Technology to Education (CATE) Center, in structional opportunities include physics, related math, English composition, basic Russian, slide rule, logarithms and computer programming. Dr. Thomas J. Moffett, CATE director, noted the seven classes are available to all students of high school level at Allen Military Academy, A&M Consolidated in College Station, Brenham, Cald well, Cameron, Crockett, Hearne, Huntsville, Kemp and S.F. Austin in Bryan, Madisonville, Navasota, Rockdale, Snook and Somerville. IN ADDITION, Latin Ameri- RV’s To Lead Rex Parade In Mardi Gras King Rex’s official honor guard for the Rex parade of New Orleans’ annual Mardi Gras cele bration will be the 129-cadet strong Ross Volunteers. RV Commander Robert J. Fo ley of Premont said the entire company will march in the Tues day parade and be at the Rex Ball in New Orleans’ Municipal Auditorium Tuesday evening. Three platoons, staff and color guard will precede King Rex’s float. The Rex honor guard appear ance of the Ross Volunteers will be the second of the year for the oldest military organization at A&M. The RV’s formed the tra ditional honor guard for Gov. Preston Smith’s inauguration in Austin last month. At New Orleans, the company will be housed on the “U.S.S. Guadalcanal,” a Navy helicopter assault craft to be berthed on the Mississippi River at the foot of Canal Street. The A&M cadets will stay Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. “The location is just a few blocks from the French Quarter,” Foley noted. The company will be enter tained Monday evening by the New Orleans A&M Club at the Lamplighter upon invitation of Judson Smith, 1959 A&M gradu ate and New Orleans club mem ber. Foley said the company will return to the campus Wednesday. can cultures is transmitted to A&M Consolidated Junior High, College Hills, South Knolls, Hen derson and Ben Milam Elemen tary Schools in Bryan and College Station. “A student interested in taking any of the subjects should con tact his principal,” Moffett said. Curriculum materials are de veloped by CATE Center person nel. Text distributed to schools, slides, transparencies and manu als are prepared and produced in the center’s art and printing de partments. Each course is structured to supply material, knowledge and teaching capabilities the individ ual school might not be able to separately provide. English com position is organized to help col lege-bound students acquire skill in composition and rhetoric. BASIC RUSSIAN is instructed by a retired Army officer who has 23 years of linguistics exper ience. Latin American culture is structured on materials collected by teachers who toured Central and South American countries with the Programa de Educacion Interamericana headquartered at A&M. The computer programming course takes advantage of A&M’s third-generation IBM 360/65 com puter. Students learn to write programs which are computer- solved through computer-con nected hardware at the center. Ticketing Begins In Parking Lots Campus Security officers started writing tickets in the day student lots Tuesday, said Mor ris A. Maddox, assistant security chief. Maddox pointed out students were allowed last week and Monday to register their vehicles prior to the start of ticketing. “We will continue working stu dent parking lots on campus for violations,” Maddox said. He estimated more than 75 percent of the students have already registered their vehicles. Maddox said all vehicles dis playing an “F” decal on their window are required to re-regis ter, as well as new students on the campus for the first time. Registration fee for the spring semester is $5 and can be paid in the security office n the YMCA Building. Bryan Building & Loan Association, Your Sav ings Center, since 1919. BB&L. —Adv. Blackboard-by-\yire enables one teacher to reach >a large number of students at the various schools. Classes may originate at the center, Bryan, Consolidated, Rock dale or other schools. AS THE BBW teacher writes on the transmitter, motions of his electrified pen are trans formed into sound waves, sent over common telephone lines to the receiving school and convert ed back into a visual image dis played on a regular TV receiving set in the classroom. The lesson may be recorded while it is being presented, either at the transmitting or receiving station. The stereo tape record ing of both audio and graphics can then be played back to an other class. Graduate courses for teachers and administrators also are of fered or planned. Adult educa tion courses also take advantage of the blackboard-by-wire means of distribution. Baylor Drops To Second With Loss To Rice By JOHN PLATZER Another chapter in the un believable story of A&M’s un- shakeable cagers unfolded be fore a capacity crowd in G. Rollie White Tuesday night, as the Aggies regained undisputed first place in the SWC with a 70-69 overtime victory over Texas. Coach Shelby Metcalf’s crew igot help from an unexpected source last night as the Rice Owls knocked off Baylor 75-73 in Waco. The Aggies are now 7-1 in league play while the Bears and SMU are a step back at 6-2. The Aggies connected on free shots in crucial situations twice r against Texas to nail down the win. Mike Heitmann calmly dropped in both ends of a one- and-one situation to tie the game at 61-61 at the end of regulation play and send the contest into overtime. RONNIE PERET then per formed the honors at the end of overtime when he nursed in a pair of foul shots with only seven seconds remaining, to put the finishing touches on the victory. The Longhorns had one final shot but with a three point lead the Aggies became spectators from the other end of the court to cancel out any chance of a foul and three point play. With 1:28 left in overtime, the Aggies went to a passing game attempting to protect a 66-65 lead. Bill Cooksey, a sopho more from Houston Sam Hous ton, got loose under the Texas basket with :33 remaining for a layup that increased the margin to 68-65 and set the stage for Peret’s clutch free throws. The win was in keeping with the Aggies’ pattern of close, ac tion-packed finishes. It was the second overtime SWC game A&M has won this year and was the fourth one point decision they have registered in conference. Their only SWC defeat thus far (to Baylor) was also by one point, 66-65. A&M BEGAN strong in the game with Billy Bob Barnett leading the way to a quick 9-2 lead. Coach Leon Black’s Steers (See Ags Top TU, Page 4) BALL HAWK Sonny Benefield moves in to steal the ball from Texas Uni versity Larry Smith while Mike Heitmann watches in the background. A&M won the Tuesday’s thriller in overtime 70-69 before a jam-packed crowd in G. Rollie White Coli seum. (Photo by Mike Wright)