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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1970)
Brazos County Relatively Pollution-Free, Survey Reveals By Tom Curl A study of the environment of Brazos County has recently been completed with the conclusion that the area is currently rela tively free of pollution but the problem could become critical in the future. The survey was the work of a group of 12 students from seven departments at A&M who formed a committee of the Forum for Environmental Studies, which is sponsoring the Earth Day activ ities today. Chairman of the com mittee was Royce Ballinger a graduate student in wildlife science. “We found that at this specific time, there is generally no real critical problem; however, there are some specific problems that are critical,” he said. Ballinger emphasized that plan ning for the future is the only way to avoid the problems that will probably arise. In finding the environment of the county generally good, the committee found the most fault with the overloaded water treat ment plants in Bryan and at Tex as A&M University. Ballinger explained that the plants for the entire Bryan-College Station met ropolitan area are more than ade quate as to volume and capacity of water, but criticized the ca pacity of the treatment facilities at A&M and also the Bryan plant on Highway 21. The committee found that the main water plant for Bryan is adequate. They also noted that the overloaded plant on the campus is currently under expansion to alleviate the prob lem. The committee was divided into four subcommittees for study of specific areas of environmental degradation. In addition to its survey of the community water supplies, the group on water pol lution had some comment on the condition of Finfeather Lake in Bryan. Ballinger remarked that the lake was so badly polluted that “nobody wants to talk about it.” The water pollution subcommit tee was headed by Ron Arneson. Richard LaVal was chairman of a subcommittee on population, resources and land use in the county. The group found that the growth rate of Bryan-College Sta tion is well above the national and world averages. Using the “doubling rate” as a measuring scale, the report noted that this area should double in population within the next 30 years if current growth rates are continued. The national average is 70 years and the world rate is 37 years. The group reported that the rapid growth of this area is due to Texas A&M; and the fu ture growth rates depend largely on the growth policies of the university. LaVaTs subcommittee also was critical of the proposed Millican Dam project and concluded that it would be a poor investment for the area. “Most of the advantages fur thered so far were suggested to be false,” Ballinger said in dis cussing the findings. He empha sized, however, that these com ments were the interpretation only of the committee. He added that an expert on water control and lake construc tion from North Texas State Uni versity has predicted that the shallow lake proposed for the dam project would fill up with organic matter within 20 to 30 Che Battalion years. In addition, much of the land lost would be unavailable for livestock production or as a haven for wildlife. A study of the amount of high way litter in the county showed that disposable containers make the vast majority of litter by weight. Paper make the most in terms of numbers of items. “Disposable containers (espe cially beer bottles and aluminum cans) are not really disposable because they are not cycled back through the environment,” Bal linger asserts. “It epitomizes our current re source-use strategies; we use something then throw it away,” he added. The group conducted tests for amount and type of highway litter by personally cleaning sections of roadways and then collecting the trash that accumulated. Bal linger estimated that the initial collection netted about one-half ton of trash per mile of roadway. The measurements indicated that about 35 pounds of litter are thrown on each mile of road way per week. Although some is decomposible, most of the litter must eventually be picked up. Based on estimates from local road and street agencies, the groups reports that it would cost about $1,900 to clean the 550 miles of roads in Brazos County one time. This figure would not include the cost of cleaning any city streets, only rural roadways. The plague of the cities, air pollution, is not currently a prob lem here, the committee reports. It attributes this freedom from pollution to the lack of heavy industry in the county. Most of the pollution here is from Hous ton, with the incidence in Brazos County depending on local weath er conditions. The committee estimates that there are 36,000 vehicles in the county and that 125 million cubic feet of air are polluted daily. The area is fortunate in having a flat topography with no moun tains to trap the air pollutants and help generate a problem. In summarizing the work of the student committee, Ballinger emphasized that the report was only the interpretation of the group. “We tried to draw our infor mation from as a great a variety of sources as we could,” he re marked. He added that almost everyone interviewed in the prep aration of the report was helpful and interested in the project. Wednesday, April 22, 1970 Telephone 845-2226 of death, is being used by sponsors of Earth Day to sym- are for unspoiled land, and the white is for pure air. CSC Honors 9 Faculty, 6 Students For Contributions to A&M* Civilians I By Fran Haugen Battalion Staff Writer || The Civilian Student Council I (CSC) awarded certificates to nine professors, one in each of the university’s colleges, for “out- 1 standing and dedicated efforts in the area of student-faculty rela tions” at the annual Academic Awards Luncheon Tuesday. | The CSC also recognized six | students for their outstanding I achievements at A&M. The event was in conjunction | with Academic Day of Civilian Week. Presented awards by CSC Presi dent Mark Olson were Dr. Jesse C. Grady Jr., Department of Agri- ! cultural Economics and Sociology, College of Agriculture; Dr. James L. Boone Jr., Department of In dustrial Education, College of Education; Dr. J. George H. Thompson, Department of Me chanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Dr. Arnold D. LeUnes, Department of Phychol- ogy, College of Liberal Arts. Also, Dr. Karl J. Koenig, De partment of Geology, College of Geosciences; Dr. Kalman Hor vath, Department of Biology, College of Sciences; Dr. Clinton A. Phillips, Department of Man agement, College of Business Administration; Dr. Donald O. Wiersig, Department of Veteri nary Physiology and Pharma cology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Rodney C. Hill, Department of Environmental Design, College of Archtecture. The recipients were nominated by students in their departments who wrote letters to the CSC and by CSC members. “You are recognized not for your ability to present class ma terial or do research, but for your contribution to faculty-student re lations,” Olson told the profes sors. “You were chosen because you are there when your students need you. A student who respects a prof because he is on person to person basis with him will never do less than his best.” The letters nominating recipi ents stressed the fact that the professors could always be count ed on by students, Olson said- “Maybe when you go back to your department, your ability to make students feel at ease in the classroom will rub off on other faculty members,” he added. The CSC also recognized six students who have attained a high scholastic average while at the same time contributing leadership to the civilian student body. Students receiving awards were Gustavo Berges, for CSC and work wtih foreign students; Alan Byrd, CSC and Civilian Honor Council; Garry Mauro, CSC, Stu dent Senate and yell leader; Jim Finane, Memorial Student Center Council and Directorate, Student Senate and CSC; Ed Donnell, YMCA president, civilian chaplain and CSC; and Dave Mayes, MSC Council, Student Senate and Bat talion editor. Guests were A&M acting Presi dent A. R. Luedecke, Howard Perry, director of civilian student activities and Eugene Oates, resi dence halls program advisor. Civilian Week Activities Tonight Officials, Experts Will Discuss B-CS Environment Problems 5 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 8 p.m. Mud Football, Horseshoes—Intramural Field Voter Rally-Drill Field Pool Tournament—Aggie Den Spades, Chess Tournaments—MSC Thursday 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Elections-SbiSa newsstand, Library, MSC basement, Dorn 2 5 p.m. Mud Football, Horseshoes-Intramural Field 6 p.m. Pool Tournament-Aggie Den 8 p.m. Spades, Chess Tournaments-MSC A panel of local government officials and environmental ex perts will discuss Bryan-College Station environment problems in a town meeting tonight at 7:30 in the Bryan Civic Auditorium, according to Jim Crisp, public relations chairman. Films and exhibits will also be shown, beginning at 7 p.m. Sponsored by the Symposium for Environmental Awareness, League of Women Voters of Braz os County and American Associ ation of University Women in connection with Earth Day, the panel of 10 will also answer ques tions from the audience. Dr. Richard Baldauf, wildlife science professor, will open the meeting with some general re marks and Dr. Betty Unterber- ger, history professor, will serve as moderator. Officials on the panel include D. A. Anderson, mayor of Col lege Station; Charles Bardon, Texas Air Quality Board; Dr. William Clark, biology professor; Glenn Cook, Brazos Valley De velopment Council; Dr. Rezneat Darnell, oceanography professor; Dr. William Davis, environmental engineering professor; Fred Sandlin, city manager of Bryan; William Vance, County Judge; Hugh Yantis, Texas Water Qual ity Board; and Jerome Zubik, mayor of Bryan. University National Bank “On the side of Texas A&M.” —Adv. Black Students Speak At Lounge Rap Session By Billy Buchanan Battalion Staff Writer “It marked the beginning of a start. A start to what, I don’t know. It all depends upon what the guys do after this meeting here tonight.” With that reply, a black student expressed his views about the Black Rap Session held Tuesday night in Lounge A-2. Garry Mauro, chairman of civilian week and weekend, told the gathering that the purpose of the rally was “to communicate about what black student life is at Texas A&M.” “The Civilian Student Council plans to make this small com munication group program a regular part of its future pro grams,” Mauro said after the session was over. At the beginning of the meeting only about 35 black and white stu dents were present. As the rally went on, about 100 students listened to the various students as they expressed their ideas. A majority of the students at the rally were white students who came to listen to the blacks. One black student listed seven items which he said a majority of the black students felt that the university should undertake. These items were the formation of a recognized black organization on campus, the hiring of a black counselor in the counseling and testing' center, an investigation of the issuance of athletic scholar ships as handled by the athletic director, the offering of courses needed within the university cur riculum that portray the role and life styles of the black man, a program of recruitment of “mi nority” high school students, establishing university-sanctioned housing for women, and the in vestigation of working conditions of blacks here on campus. Another black student said “that this university is not a university as far as university life is concerned for any student.” The same student went on to explain by saying “students are not able to mature and develop the qualities needed to live in a complex society like we will be living in.” Most of the discussion was con cerned with the black student at Texas A&M, but the discussion did include topics about how some of the black and white students felt the racial problems that now exists in the United States came about and about some of the move ments being carried on at the present time. Several of the black students said that the idea that they thought was planted in most American minds was that the black American was not recog nized by the whites at all. Some said that the image of a Negro that they felt was planted in the white’s mind was very similar to the image that the Negro had of the white. Most blacks present said that they were not a real part of the Texas A&M campus and added that they could not be a part un less there were changes made. One student expressed the idea that if he became a member of an organization on campus he was still not a real member of the organization because he was a Negro. Conduct Probation Given 4 Students Four students charged with participating in last Wednesday’s peace rally were placed on con duct probation Tuesday by Dean of Students James P. Hannigan. Cited for disobeying direct in structions from the dean and for violating the university’s policy concerning unauthorized speakers from off-campus were Bill Fisch er, Richard Worth, John McAuley and Tim Legere. All four were escorted to the dean’s office by University Police after officers moved in to break up what university officials called an unauthorized rally. Police also arrested Earl Brown, an Austin member of the Student Mobiliza tion Committee, as he spoke to a crowd of about 300. Dean Hannigan, who was un available for comment today, is sued these instructions the same day the rally was held: “Promotion and/or support of, or participation in or attendance at, any on-campus function or activity not specifically autho rized by the Dean of Students is prohibited. Violation of this di rect instruction is sufficient cause for immediate suspension from the rolls of the University.” No action was taken against a fifth student, Tom Ellis, also taken to the dean’s office that day. Ellis said he had seen a police officer in civilian clothes grab McAuley at the rally. He said he went over to try to break up what he thought was a fight between two students. Fischer told The Battalion to day that he and the other three were to see acting A&M President A. R. Luedecks this morning to find out whether they could ap peal the dean’s decision to the University Appeals Committee. MUSTER SCENE—Over 4,000 A&M students and guests listen as Dallas lawyer Yale Griffis speaks during the 68th Aggie Muster. Griffis told those assembled that “It is our responsibility to justify the sacrifices of our friends and comrads in honor of whom we muster today.” A chorus of “Here” was sounded by the audience when late A&M President James Earl Rudder’s name was called. (Photo by Jim Berry)