Cbe Battalion
Vol. 65 No. 128 College Station, Texas Wednesday, July 15, 1970
Warm,
cloudy,
humid
Thursday and Friday — Partly
cloudy to cloudy, afternoon rain
showers o r thundershowers.
Winds Southerly, 5 to 10 m.p.h.,
Thursday become Northerly
Friday, 5 to 10 m.p.h., high 89,
low 72.
Telephone 845-2226
High rise on campus—Construction will start soon on the new 15-story Oceanography-
Meteorology Building, shown here in artist’s concept. The facility will include 121 lab
oratories.
Director finds methods
of stretching each cent
by Pat Little
Finding new methods to stretch
every penny to make up for rising
food costs while board fees re
main stationary is one of the
problems that Food Service Di
rector Colonel Fred W. Dollar
has to deal with daily.
All of the funds Texas A&M’s
food services receive come from
student fees, but food costs have
gone up 10 per cent in the last
year, he explained.
“We have no choice but to
Fire-figh ting class
opens on
The world’s largest fire-fight
ing school opens here Monday.
During the next three weeks an
estimated 2,725 firemen will be
trained in some phase of fire pre
vention, detection or elimination.
Henry D. Smith, chief instruc
tor for the Texas Engineering
Extension Service’s Texas Fire
men’s Training School, estimated
a record 1,750 firemen and in
structors will attend the one-week
municipal school.
Another 800 are expected the
following week for the industrial
school and 175 are scheduled to
attend the Spanish-speaking
school Aug. 2-7.
Instructors and special equip
ment consultants start reporting
in Wednesday to begin prepara
tions.
Equipment, supplies and train
ing aids from throughout the na
tion have been flowing into the
Drayton Firemen Training Field
for the past few weeks, with ma
jor items arriving Tuesday
through Sunday.
Smith noted about $600,000 in
consigned equipment and over
$05,000 in consumable supplies are
being unloaded at the training
field.
He expects the 41st annual
school to be the largest ever held.
“Even though the economy is
down, there is a major interest in
fire safety and fire prevention,”
Smith noted.
GREAT SAVINGS PLAN made
even better by new legal rates at
FIRST BANK & TRUST. Adv.
Monday
“A tighter economy has placed
more emphasis on the current
value of resources in our commu
nities,” he added.
Smith said there has been a
change in fire service emphasis
from fire control to fire preven
tion.
“People have begun to watch
more closely their resources. They
want to protect what they have.”
One of the highlights of the
municipal school is the public fire
fighting demonstration. Smith an
nounced this year’s fire show is
set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at
the Brayton Field.
The sponsoring State Firemen’s
and Fire Marshals’ Association of
Texas is hosting a reception for
local, state and federal political
and agency leaders at 4 p.m. Wed
nesday and the annual Firemen’s
Banquet is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday.
Four Texas communities will
benefit from the school in a spe
cial way. Fire truck pumpers
from Beeville, Granite Shoals,
Taylor and Pear Ridge will be
completely rebuilt to meet the
state acceptance test.
Smith noted an 80-man pump
maintenance class, including sev
eral master mechanics, will re
build the pumps. Parts and trans
portation is paid by the individ
ual communities while the labor
is provided as part of the train
ing exercise, Smith stated.
“Most of the firemen will spend
their time in the field doing what
they learn in the outdoor class-
See Costs, page 3
operate as a profit-making or
ganization and try to keep from
going broke since our only source
of income is student board fees,”
Col. Dollar said.
“Of course we would accept
contributions but so far we have
n’t been offered any.”
He went on to say there are
various ways to cut unnecessary
costs, including having their own
furniture repair shop take care
of the furniture, some of which
dates back to 1934.
The retired Army colonel said
some of the chairs in Sbisa Dining
Hall were bought for $3.50 and
today would cost $30. He added
they have a table so old “a repre
sentative of the company that
had made them came to see it
because he had never seen one
before”.
Another method of saving
money is the method of food
purchasing which Col. Dollar said
he started here. This method in
volves buying the food in bulk
quantities instead of ordering
small quantities from time to
time.
He said this eliminates a lot
of the shipping charges, taking
into account the fact the campus
is isolated and truck drivers are
paid $3 an hour.
Col. Dollar said a friend of his
who owns a restaurant wanted to
compare purchasing’ charges with
him and they found out that
A&M buys its food for 30 per
cent less.
The method of selecting’ the
brand of canned foods to be used
in the dining halls is also unique.
The labels of all the cans are
taken off, the liquid drained out,
the contents graded and weighed,
and the cost of each ounce of
edible content determined.
Col. Dollar said that it is speci
fied in the contract with the food
company that if any of the food
received is below the quality
standard of the sample tested,
the food is to be returned and
the company will have to pay
the shipping charges.
Still another way of economiz-
See Fire-fighting, page 3
Building contract let
For new fifteen - story facility
AUSTIN — A $6,774,000 con
tract for construction of a 15-
story oceanography-meteorology
building on campus has been
awarded to Houston-based Man
hattan Construction Company of
Texas.
The board of directors also sold
bonds totaling $5 million in a
joint meeting with the Univer
sity of Texas System Board of
Regents. The bonds were sold to
Harris Trust & Savings Bank of
Chicago at an effective interest
rate of 6.0109 percent. Six bids
were submitted.
In other action, the board ap
propriated $2,500 for a program
of requirements for a new class
room building at Tarleton State
College in Stephenville.
The new oceanography-meteor
ology facility, scheduled for com
pletion in September, 19'72, will
be one of the tallest buildings
between Dallas and Houston, uni
versity officials noted. It will be
topped by a weather observatory
and large radar installation with
a 400-mile range. The top of the
radar will be 222 feet above
ground with extending lightning
arrestors.
The building will include more
research laboratories than found
in many entire colleges.
It will have 121 labs, notes
Dr. Vance Moyer, Meteorology
Play to offer
old-fashioned
melodrama
Old-fashioned melodrama with
a villain, heroine, rope and rail
road tracks will be offered in the
Premiere Players’ second sum
mer session which registers Mon
day.
“Love Rides the Rails, or, Will
the Mail Train Run Tonight ? ”
will be produced by the teenage
theatrical company during the
four-week session, announced C.
K. Esten, director of the English
Department theater arts section.
Unparalleled response greeted
the Pi’emiere Players’ first ses
sion staging of John Patrick’s
“The Curious Savage,” director
Bob Wenck said.
“We had standing-room-only
audiences every night,” he said.
“People were turned away at
each performance.”
He said parts for 24 teenagers
in the cast and crews for “Love
Rides the Rails” will be available
at Monday registration, from 2 to
5 p.m. in Fallout Theater of
Guion Hall. All tenagers, age
13 through 19 who are not college
students, are eligible. A registra
tion fee of $3 per player will be
charged.
Casting and rehearsal will be
gin the following day. “Love
Rides the Rails” will be staged
Aug. 13-15.
Department head who has served
as planning coordinator for the
project the past three years.
“We expect this new facility to
be the finest geosciences building
in the nation for at least the
next decade,” observes Dr.
Moyer.
During the early planning
stages, Moyer and other univer
sity officials visited numerous in
stallations throughout the country
for background information in
determining design requirements.
One of the unique features of
the building will be a 50-ton water
tank used in studies involving air-
sea interaction.
Highly specialized laboratories
will be devoted to research in
such fields as ocean dynamics, re
mote sensing, spacecraft ocean
ography, hydrodynamics, acous
tics, cloud physics, air pollution
meteorology, satellite meteorolo
gy, laser radar, microwave and
infrared radiation.
The new structural-steel build
ing will be one of the campus’
most “public” facilities, Dr. Moy
er points out. Visitors will be able
to view meteorological instru
ments on the ground floor and
tour the top-floor weather ob
servatory.
The building was designed by
a Fort Worth firm, Preston M.
Geren, Architect & Engineer and
Associates, headed by Aggie grad
uates. Preston M. Geren Jr. is a
1945 graduate. His father, who
died earlier this year, was a 1912
graduate and his grandfather at
one time headed the Mechanical
Engineering Department.
Many employes could
miss benefits—Cherry
Many university employes still
have not enrolled in the institu
tion’s revised and expanded group
insurance and hospitalization pro
gram, thus running the risk of
missing out on an excellent fringe
benefit.
That’s the observation of Tom
D. Cherry, vice president for
business affairs.
Cherry emphasized the enroll
ment deadline is Friday.
Anyone not enrolled in the
group program by Friday will be
required to furnish evidence of
insurability at his own expense
if he should later wish to be
included, the vice president point
ed out.
“All segments of the new pro
gram offer better rates and su
perior coverage than under the
present plan,” Cherry noted. “I
endorse the program in its en
tirety because it affords the best
possible coverage at the lowest
premiums. These are excellent
bargains.”
He said the group coverage
program, which goes into effect
Sept. 1, is particularly attractive
in view of “staggering increases
in medical costs.”
Cherry urged employes who have
not completed enrollment cards
to do so and return them im
mediately to the personnel office
in the System Administration
Building.
All existing university insur
ance programs terminate Aug. 31.
The new plan, which includes
contracts with three different
insurance firms, was approved
by the board of directors upon
recommendation of the System
Insurance Committee. The insur
ance committee included repre
sentation from the Faculty Fringe
Benefit Committee.
Southwestern Life Insurance
Co. was selected to provide life
insurance and basic hospital and
major medical coverage. Conti
nental Casualty Co. was chosen
for long-term disability coverage
and Continental Insurance Com
panies for accidental death and
dismemberment.
Under the new program, em
ployes have the opportunity to
purchase economical term insur
ance in maximum amounts equal
to their annual salary ,up to
$25,000. Currently, the maximum
is $5,000, which will continue to
be required for all employes.
Cherry said the new basic hos
pital and major medical coverage
features greater benefits in sev
eral areas. Rather than having
the currently limited hospital
room rate, the new program
covers the cost of an average
semi-private room taking into
consideration rising costs and
variations according to regions
of the country. He said the semi
private benefits can be applied
to private rooms.
Other new features include
maternity benefits and additional
accident expense. The additional
accident expense provides for up
The Texas Maritime Academy
almost fell heir to a boy without
a country.
A 16-year-old Algerian youth
was discovered aboard the TMA
training ship, “Texas Clipper,”
several hours after it steamed out
of LaHarve, France, second stop
on the academy’s annual summer
cruise.
Capt. Alfred Philbrick, TMA
executive officer and skipper of
the ship, promptly radioed Adm.
James D. Craik, academy super
intendent, and set off a series of
diplomatic huddles involving the
United States, France, Germany
and Denmark.
Germany and Denmark were
involved, Admiral Craik explain
ed, because Hamburg and Aal
to $300, in or out of the hospital,
and is not subject to deductions.
The new disability income in
surance represents substantial
improvement at reduced cost,
Cherry observed. While the cur
rent policy has maximum pay
ment of six years, the new pro
gram will continue to provide
benefits until the recipient
reaches age 65. Monthly benefits
under the new policy begin after
90 days of disability, while the
present policy does not begin
payment until 120 days.
Accidental death and dismem
berment coverage also is being
expanded at reduced cost. Limits
are being increased from $150,000
to $200,000, with an employe elig
ible to purchase an amount up to
10 times his annual salary.
Cherry said the university sys
tem is making the expanded
coverage possible at economical
rates by assuming administrative
cost of the plan.
boig were the “Clipper’s” next
ports of call.
Admiral Craik gave this ac
count of the adventure:
Going through formal channels,
the French refused return of the
boy, since he did not have papers.
German port officials initially
took him into custody. When he
refused to tell them his name or
give any other information, they
popped him back aboard ship,
leaving Captain Philbrick with
the possibility of a permanent
stowaway.
The captain then recalled host
ing French port officials for a
(See TMA, page 7)
University National Bank
“On the side of Texas A&M.”
—Adv.
TMA almost falls
heir to stowaway
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No parking lot this—Construction on Kyle Field’s Astro
turf is coming right along as this photograph shows—the
asphalt has been laid and next comes the glue. The arti
ficial turf is dut to be complete before the first game in
September. (Photo by Pat Little)