Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1972)
ItCWtti erWTEH, INC* F.O. BOX 45436 B DALLAS, TEX. 75235 Cbe Hot and clear Tlmnday — Partly cl—4y. 8—tfcarly wiada 1*-1S aipk. Higli •4®, Ww 74®. Friday — Partly el—4y U cloady. After— tl>aa4—lnw. «ra. 8—tkeHy wia4a It-If aiplu Higk 91®. law 74®. Vol. 67 No. 133 College Station, Texas Wednesday, July 26, 1972 Badgett to retire afterVHHHlH years «?• >.6. : ' S, Walter Howard Badgett now plans to watch AAM grow from the golf course. For 38 years Badgett has been building campus facilities, includ ing planning most of the build ings on campus today. ' Friday was his last official working day, he left for two weeks vacation and will retire July 31. Except for service during World War II, the cigar-chomp ing TAMO graduate has worked all his adult life for the univer sity. He plans to spend retire ment days improving his golf game. •There never was a dull mo ment,'' Badgett rev—led. “Every 1 day there see re new problems to solve, but the people I've worked with, and especially the students, have made it all worthwhile." Badgett la a native of Denison, 1994 graduate of Denis— High School and holds bachelor and master’s degrees in architecture from A4kM, awarded in 1999 end 1939. He was 0 1 * second person to receive a master's degree in architecture. He joined the Texas Engineer ing Experiment Station at AAM following graduation. After World War II he returned as as sistant manager of construction, then director of the physical plant, later manager of the TAMU Sys tem physical plants and retired as assistant director of facilities planning and construetien for the system. ' • His community contributions in- '' duded College Station city coun cilman from 1948-83, mayor pro- tem the last two y—rs; 12 years of service to the Braxos County Polio Committee, three — chair man; charter member of Sul Ross Lodge No. 1300, A FA AM; deacon and eider of the AAM Presbyter ian Church, and past president of the Bras— County Chapter, Re serve Officers Association. He is a retired Army Reserve colonel. Badgett is considered one of the nation's top authorities on univeraity physical plant man agement He was an active mem ber in the American Society of H—ting and Ventilating Engi neers, and helped organise the original Texas Chapter and many of the local chapters. He served as the original sec retary of the organisation in Tex as, was a member of technical ad visory committees and author of several technical papers published in technical journals and r—d at society meetings. His work with the Association of Physical Plant Administrators brought him the Meritorious Service Award in 1987 at the in ternational meeting in Montreal, Canada. He also polished in jour nals and was a president of the Central States Region. When Badgett joined the TAMU staff, he joined a unique group of individuals that produced many of the campus landmarks. “When I first went to work the depression had cut into archi tecture and engineering jobs,** Badgett related. ** < n»e college ar chitect pulled in a staff of about 96 Aggie engineers and architects to work on the biggpet one-time construction project ap to that time. “Included were Hart Hall, Cushing Library. Animal Indus tries, Geology-Petroleum Engi neering, System Administration, Chemistry and Walton Hall Build ings, plus the original concrete work on Kyle Field.” Badgett pointed —t a little- known fact of that time. “Many of those buildings have a Mexican influence, a result of chief architect Sam Vesper's love for a giri in Mexico," he said. The Mexican architecture of that time is reflected in the Geol ogy, Chemistry, Animal Indus tries, Agricultural Engineering and System Buildings, all with tile, mosaic and art work such as animal heads. The art work of a girl on the bronze doors at the System Ad ministration Building were de signed by V—per, using Sarah Orth, daughter of W. A. Orth, the man who managed the con struction of that time. Onw of Badgett's first jobs was designing the heating systems for Hart Hall and Cushing Li brary. He designed the mechani cal and heating equipment on all the buildings up to the time he entered active Army service in 1940. Badgett said stone for the 1920- 1940 buildings were made on cam pus where the System Physical Plant Building now stands. The only exception was stone work for the System Building made where the flag pole now stands. Another tidbit of the *308 was construction of the north Chem istry lab wing and front of the building by college employees. Prior to World War II, Badgett served as an infantry instructor and assistant editor of publica tions at the Adjutant Gonoral's Office ia Washington, D. C. . He came hack in Novaenber. 1941, “just In time to most my self going back." Gen. A. D. Bruce, a 1918 AAM graduate, assembled a group of Aggies at Camp Hood (now Fort Hood) in June. 1942, to build the camp into what General Bruce felt should be a regular Army poet. Badgett became the first ad jutant of the camp and friends ■ay he was the architect of the building program which resulted in the temporary camp becoming today one of the major Army fa cilities in the nation. Later Badgett went to Com mand and General Staff College and was named director of the 8th Area Military Personnel and Aid Service Command- He left the Army as a colonel in 1948. On his return to Aggieland, Bsdgett decided to do something about several buildings which had sunk three and four inches into the ground over a period of years. Guion Hall, which was demol ished last year to make way for the new theatre complex, was the first on the list. Badgett said the sta«e had set tled up to fhre inches and had cracked away from the building. An army of short men were hired to dig under stage Being hand shovels, jacks were hand pumped to get the stage level end the stage was pot back into place. Similar work was done on the south end of the Academic Build ing, the whole Cushing Library and the west wing of the Hospi tal. That program took four years, from 1948-60. Badgett also IA credited with starting the denafcory renovation programs, designed the first air conditioning systems for the cam pus and reorganised the physical plants after the war into one of (See Badgett retiring, page 7) AS THE SONG SAYS, A&M seems to be "destroying paradise to put up a parking lot.” Probably the most picturesque landmark here, the scenic entrance to the university from Highway 6, is being marred by the construction of a parking area south of the Systems Building. (Photo by John Curylo) Education Center funded by Mott Foundation again AAM’s Community Education Center has received second year funding of 893,000 from the Charles S. Mott Foundation, an nounced College of Education Dean Frank W. Hubert. The Flint, Mich., foundation selected TAMU last July as the location for its community educa tion center (CEC) in the South west. It serves Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Center director Dr. Robert I. Berridge noted $40,000 of the grant will be ueed am “seed mon ey" to public school districts for development of community educa tion programs. ...... „ * The latest grant funds the cen ter through June 30, 1979. First year funding was 878,782, with seed money going to the school districts in Midland, Alice and College Station as demonstration Chief instructor claims ^ Jjtl A • ,• ‘J* -V \ 'Jfr. * • Pollution negligible at firemen’s school Black smoke clouds rolling off the land near Easterwood Airport here may represent air pollution to some people, but to the pro fessional fire-fighter it represents lives end dollars saved. And in the long run lees pollution. Chief Instructor Henry D. Smith of AAMk Engineering Ex tension Service reported Thursday a recent survey by TAMU scien tists showed the Firemen's Train ing School here produces leas than one-half of one percept of the pollution in Braxos County each year. “The largest portion of this (pollution) ia fallout of unaatu.- rated hydrocarbons, or “soot" par ticles, impregnated with water from the fire streams," Smith ■aid. “Data collected indicates no damage to trees and shrubbery in the area," the fire training chief noted. Smith reported there are more than 900 fire departments in Tex as and of those 63 ere fully paid, 202 are part paid and the re mainder are volunteers from all walks of life. “Very few of these depart ments can afford elaborate train ing facilities where they can fight fire under controlled conditions,” Chief Smith said. He pointed out the Brayton Firemen's Training Field built by AAM is a $760,000 facility that not only is the beet in the United States, but “No. I in the world.” • Statistics show there are 2,200 fires every day in the U. S. kill ing 12,000 persona a year. Fire men are in a dangerous profes sion, Smith admits, with a fire man killed in action every five days in the U. S. Adding to the fireman’s prob lems is modern technology. Smith said the average house fire today has more than 76 poisonous gases, and the number ia rising as new synthetics are introduced. He added, “one of every ten trucks traveling our highways is a potential bomb to firemen. By this, I mean K is transporting hazardous material.” A growing population brings greater loss of lives and prop erty. A new fire department is organized every few days. Smith said training new re- rruite and keeping older profes sionals abreast to modern fire lighting techniques requires a continuous training program. “No football coach would con sider Adding a team which had received only skull practice or classroom training,” the chief in- 1 ' Tower is being removed from Geosciences building A 40-year landmark at AAM is coming down. The tower on the Geosciences Building — the former Geology- Petroleum Engineering Building — is surrounded by demolition crews' scaffolding and will be attacked brick by brick until al most level with the current roof. Paul W. Stephens, technical services manager for the TAMU System, said the tower is a safety hazard too expensive to repair. Cast'stone facings in the tow er are loose and there ia a dan ger they could fall. The tower should be down within a month. ( Renovations to the buildup, in cluding laboratories, classrooms and office space, are included in the work and will be completed in December. Stephens said the building, oc cupied in 1983, has a tank for domestic hot water In the tower. The hot water supply system was closed down a number of years ago. The tank ia still inside. Ceramic tiles on top of the tower will be saved for depart mental use. W. Howard Badgett, who re tiree this month after 38 yean managing various campus and system physical facilities, said the building is one of several de signed by Sam Voaper, chief architect here in the 1920’a and 1980V Badgett recalls Voeper waa in love with a girl in Mexico, and it influenced hie work. The tile, figure heads and mo saic on the Geosciences Building are a reflectlba of Mexican arch itecture of that time, Bsdgett said. • Badgett said a number of at tempts have been made through the yean to keep the stone in place. f The tower has been a campus landmark since construction in 1932. When torn down, the only re minder of the tower will be a flat top about three feet above the roofline. aista. “Champion golfers don't be come champions by reading a book. “Trained A remen are a must," Smith contend*. “We believe the old football adage, ‘a good of fense—is the beat defense.'” Officials .at the school insist Are training helps reduce air pol lution substantially. Smith points out moat of the project Ares here are extinguish ed in from one to throe min utes. “The knowledge gained here by Aremen. and the conAdence in stilled through actual experience, under Are conditions, helps a man to quickly control and extin guish Ares at home,” Smith said. There have been cases of fire men running from a blase because they did not know how to Aght the Are, he continued. Once the Aremen are trained, what was once a- scary situation then be comes a near routine operation. Smith professes it is a better service to train under controlled conditions to improve Are pro tection service and in the long run have better pollution control. sites. Berridge said AAM is one of 14 univeraity centers ia the na tion. The CEC is attached to the Educational Administration De partment at the univeraity. During the past year the CEC of Ace here conducted eight work shops attracting 800 Texas school superintendents. The community education concept also was ex posed to the state adi/ft education meeting and the executive board of the Texas P.T.A. Berridge pointed out this year one of the plane calls for estab lishment of programs in Arkan sas and Louisiana, witfc oaefc state having a coordinator. The CEC will fund $10,000 to each | Polling places will at A&M for future The College Station City Coun cil voted Monday night to estab lish a polling place on the AAM campus for city elections. “We need to remember that this applies to city elections on ly,” said Jerry Campbell, Student Government Public Relations chairman. “A polling place for the November elections requires the cooperation of the county gov ernment.” *. The motion, which passed una nimously, read as follows: "The City Council of the City of College Station: ”(a) Recalls its obligation to all voters of this City to provide state to establish a cooperative program involving the state edu cation agencies and LSU and the Univeraity of Arkansas. Philanthropist Charles S. Mott envisioned the community center program would involve briiqring public school facilities which are idle during the summer and at night into use by the community —the building owners. CEC goals and the concept of community education was given high priority by the Texas Edu cation Agency at the State Board of Education meeting in April. TEA ia expected to put much of its rveourres behind the pro gram during th* year, Dr. Ber ridge added. be established city elections 1 t ( and designate places for voting in City elections; “(b) Is anxious to fulfill this obligation with due regard to the convenience of citizens end legal ity of procedures; “(c) Remembers the large num ber of voters only recently eli gible, who live on the Texas AAM University campus; “(d) Proposes to establish a polling place on the Univeraity campus; and “(e)Requests the City Manager to initiate negotiations with the University for such a polling place." Teague not for McGovern, but will support Democrats U. S. Hep Olin E. (Tiger) Teague of College Station has announced his disagreement with the ideas of Demo cratic Presidential nominee Sen. George McGovern, but he says he will support Democratic candidates for office. "I am a Democrat and I believe in our two-party sys tem," Teague said Thursday. "Between now and November, I shall use my available time campaigning for Democratic Members of Congress, as I have been doing for a number of months, in order to assure a Democratic majority in The Congress. "I very much disagree with many of Sen. McGovern’s policies, however, I shall not vote for Richard Nixon, ‘Teague continued. “I shall work for all Democratic nominees in the state of Texas." A&M to aid Dominican Republic development iTie tower of the Geosciences Building is being removed by workmen because it is a safety hazard. It has been a landmark since 1932. (Photo by Bob Leitz) An Agency for International Development (AID) contract for agricultural development in the Dominican Republic has been ex tended with AAM. The AID contract amendment of $191,024 was announced by Congressman Olin E. Teague. For staffing and on-going programs in the Dominican Re public, the amendment brings the AID contract total to $6,- 191,481, through March. 197$. The TAMU program coordinator. William R. Beach of the Inter national Programs Office, said th* operating agreement is with the Secretary of Agriculture in the Dominican Republic. Among other facets, the pro gram graduates Dominican stu dents from TAMU in studios that will contribute to overall agricultural development in th* Caribbean republic on the Island of Hispaniola. Operations in th* Dominican Republic are headquartered at the capital, Santo Domingo. Beach said about 100 students have graduated under the AID contract and other agreements with the government of the Do minican Republic. The program will have 36 students on the AAM campus this fall, under financing through other agreements and private sources. “Some of those students will be her* on their own,” Beach noted. Originated in 1986, the AID- T AMU D o m i a i c a a program brought th* first students to AAM in 1988. The majority of 26 students currently on campus are under financing through the Educational Credit Foundation of the Dominican Republic. The first ECF students arrived in 1988 and 26 have graduated. Beach added. Notice University National Bank “On the side of Texas AAM.” —Adv. Next week's edition of The Bat talion will be the annual Fresh man Edition, which ia sent to all students who will be new to AAM this fall. Th* special edition will be in thro* sections. The first will be th* usual weekly edition of Th* Battalion. Th* second part will be a look at the sport* picture for the coming year, and th* third section features student life as it affects the freshmen.