Library to drop overdue book fines in fall
Bike ID cards
ineffective; not
now required
Although students must still
register their bicycles with the
University Police, bicycle identi
fication cards will no longer be
required, said Dr. John Koldus,
Vice President of Student Serv
ices.
“The cards are a waste of time
and money,” said Koldus, “and
they have never been an aid in
recovering stolen or lost bicycles.”
The cards were filled out during
the bicycle registration period and
were used to verify ownership of
the bicycle. Even with the cards
discontinued it is necessary that
students still register bikes to
give police a reference file for
tracing any stolen bicycles.
By HANK WAHRMUND
Starting this fall semester TA-
MU students with overdue libra
ry books will face a hostile com
puter instead of a $10 or $12
fine. On a trial basis, a computer
blocking system will replace the
traditional fining system.
Under this system, the com
puter will not allow a student to
use his ID card to check out any
books until his overdue books are
returned. This decision was reach
ed by the Library Director’s
Council Friday. The council also
agreed to discontinue faculty
term loans on library materials,
because some professors have so
many as 200 books checked out
for one term.
Director of Libraries John B.
Smith emphasized that both de
cisions will be initiated on a trial
basis until the results of these
changes can be fully evaluated.
“Any procedure as revolution
ary as the abolition of library
fines and the discontinuance of
faculty term loans should not be
undertaken in haste,” Smith said.
He added that a survey of facul
ty will be taken to determine the
amount of support or opposition
given to the term loan cutoff.
Smith said that the changes will
not be implemented until fall in
order to avoid confusion with
present library policies.
Larry McRoberts, Student Gov
ernment Campus Projects Chair
man and a library council mem
ber, said the council had made
progress by its decisions. Mc
Roberts has been advocating
dropping the fines for some time,
with little success until Friday’s
meeting. He noted very few uni
versities as yet have adopted a
“no fine” program.
Dr. Robert Stewart, Library
Council chairman, said the pres
ent fine system requires a lot of
paperwork and time and does not
produce a profit, as some people
might think. He agreed with
Smith that billing students
through the fiscal office for tar
dy books was time-consuming and
often produced few results.
“Using the ID invalidation
process in place of the fine sys
tem should encourage students
and faculty to return their ma
terials more promptly,” said
Stewart. “I think that the coun
cil is definitely moving in the
right direction in providing bet
ter services to its patrons.”
Cbe Battalion
Vol. 67 No. 348 College Station, Texas Thursday, February 14, 1974
Hearst abductors
demand free food
BERKELEY, Calif. (A*)—The father of
kidnaped Patricia Hearst says he will try
to comply at least in part with demands
of her captors for a massive food giveaway
to California’s needy. “And if that’s not
enough, I can’t help it,” he says.
Newspaper executive Randolph A. Hearst
said Wednesday he could not possibly meet
the demand for a food distribution whose
cost he said could reach as high as $400
million.
But he assured his daughter and her
captors, through a news conference, that
he would do “everything in my power” to
set up a limited food distribution program
this week.
“Obviously, I don’t see how I can meet
a $400 million program,” he said.
Hearst added, “What I am trying to say
is that I believe the important thing for
them to know is that I am going to do
everything I can to comply with their de
mand, and if that’s not enough, I can’t
help it. I’ve done everything I can do.”
In an emotional news conference, the
father told the 19-year-old girl, “Hang in
there, honey. . . . The family will do every
thing we can to get you out.”
Weeping softly at the side of her hus
band, Mrs. Hearst said in words also di
rected to Miss Hearst, “I know God will
bring you back.”
Mrs. Hearst told newsmen she has re
ceived more than $1 million from well-
wishers for her daughter’s release.
The demand for $70 worth of food for
each needy Californian was made in a letter
received Tuesday from the Symbionese Lib
eration Army, whose members dragged the
girl away from her apartment near the
University of California on Feb. 4.
The FBI called it the first political kid
naping in U.S. history.
In a mailed letter the family received
Tuesday through a radio station, the SLA
said the food would be atonement from
Hearst and his wife, Catherine, for the
“suffering they have aided and profited
from.”
Hearst is publisher and editor of the
San Francisco Examiner and chairman of
the Hearst Corp. His wife is a member
of the University of California Board of
Regents.
The letter said the food demand was a
prerequisite to negotiations for release of
the University of California art history
sophomore.
Later, in San Francisco, Charles Bates,
the FBI agent in charge of the Hearst case,
told newsmen he had doubts that compli
ance with the terrorists demands would win
Miss Hearst her freedom.
“I think the chances are good that one
demand would follow another forever” and
provoke other such abductions, he said.
Bates said he was “confident Miss
Hearst is alive, and I have no reason to
think she won’t remain alive.”
“I feel happy about how the investiga
tion is proceeding,” Bates said, adding that
he did not have “any one name or location.”
He also said he had “nothing hard” to go on.
Bates said the FBI had “a lot of infor
mation in this case. We have a pretty good
idea who the SLA are and how they
operate.”
American priorities gauged
by budget—SCON A keynote
THE FOCUS IS ON ENERGY and the speaker is Wihiam Ruckeishaus in this over
view of the Wednesday night SCON A XIX. (Photo by Alan Killingsworth)
Fuels
harm.
must
says
do the least
Ruckelshaus
By KATHY YOUNG
Staff Writer
Trite phrases and generalities
filled William Ruckelshaus’s
speech before a large crowd in the
University Center Theater last
night.
Ruckelshaus read a prepared
speech on “Environment vs. En
ergy Needs” although he said that
if the problems of energy and en
vironment are seen confronting
each other, neither can be solved.
He said mankind’s paramount
concern is the quality of life and
that to attain higher quality we
will have to change our lifestyles.
Ruckelshaus said the U. S. is a
very strong nation and its great
strength is in the people.
On the topic of energy, the for
mer director of the Environmen
tal Protection Agency stated
natural gas was the cleanest of
all fossil fuels and should be used
in the short run. In the long run,
University
"On the side
National Bank
of Texas A&M.”
Adv.
he said, nuclear power looks very
attractive.
Ruckelshaus said the price of
natural gas is regulated by the
Federal Power Commission Which
makes the price noncompetitive to
producers.
He found fault with hydroelec
tric power in its availability and
in fossil fuel in its combustion, ex
traction and in supply.
Nuclear power also has prob
lems in the discharge of heated
water, safety reactors and dis
posal of radioactive waste.
“There is no way of producing
energy without having some ad
verse impact on the environment,”
according to Ruckelshaus. He
said the public should be aware of
this and adopt a policy that would
produce energy with least harm
to the environment.
Necessary legislation hasn’t
been passed and planning for the
short and long range problems
has not started, said Ruckelshaus.
“We must accept the energy
crisis as a challenge to look into
the future and anticipate prob
lems,” he said.
Ruckelshaus held a brief ques
tion and answer period during
which he fumbled around looking
for his misplaced watch. He bor
rowed a watch and ended the ses
sion promptly at 10 p.m.
Money is the measure of Amer
ican priorities, according to the
keynote speaker for SCONA XIX.
Dr. Alice M. Rivlin opened the
four-day Student Conference On
National Affairs by telling dele
gates, “There’s only one real in
strument in which to express pub
lic priorities and that’s the fed
eral budget.”
The respected economist, a sen
ior fellow at Brookings Institu
tion in Washington, D. C., said
budgets always involve choices,
“but the federal government has
never before been in the position
to make hard choices.” It has al
ways been able to bring in even
more money than it could spend,
she claimed.
With revenue sharing, Rivlin
said, the federal government is
suddenly having to make hard
choices.
Rivlin spoke on “Reordering
American Priorities” to a small
Wednesday afternoon audience
Many delegates were delayed by
bad flying weather in Dallas;
about 150 delegates from 75 col
lege campuses and 20 high schools
are expected to eventually attend
the conference.
“Two-thirds of the budget is for
domestic problems. Of the two-
thirds, roughly one-half may be
classified as cash redistribution
but almost all of that goes to el
derly, retired and the disabled.
This is a decision explicitly made.
Is it one that we would make?”
she asked.
Rivlin criticized the federal
budget structure, pointing out
that Congress sees only fragment
ed pieces of the budget in com
mittees. Their voting doesn’t af
fect what the government does
that fiscal year, she added.
M; %
x % i ■
.V'
- 1 —: ' •
Dr. Alice Rivlin
Tires send Cadets to Romania
SCONA schedule
Thursday
1 2:30 p.m.
3:30 p.m.
8 p.m.
Friday
10:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m.
Saturday
11:30 a.m.
Hans Morgenthau “Shifting Emphasis in
Foreign Policy”
William Cements “Changing Budgetary
Priorities and Our National Defense”
Dr. Abba Lerner “Reordering Economic
Priorities Free vs. Controlled Economy”
William Anders, Raymond Wright, Mike
McCormack (Panel Presentation) “Emerging
Energy Priorities”
Barbara Williams “Changing Budgetary
Priorities and the Needs of the People”
Dr. Daniel Bell “Changing Personal Prior
ities” (invitation only—brunch will also be
served)
Speeches will be given in the University Center Theater.
By LATONYA PERRIN
Staff Writer
Selling tires is not the normal activity for a chorale but the
Singing Cadets don’t care, as they need to raise $10,000 to go to
Europe.
To get the money, the Cadets have assumed management of
the House of Tires until they depart in May. The Cadets manage
the shop and do some advertising; the owner will split the money
made during the period on a 50-50 basis.
A1 Gutierrez, an employe of the Bioengineering Program of
TAMU, owns the store.
“We think that it is a really generous offer and will help us
greatly in raising the money we need,” said James Randolph,
president of the Singing Cadets.
They are trying to raise money for their plane fare to New
York or Boston and back. Other funds are being supplied by a
grant from the Readers’ Digest and aid from the Romanian
Government. Funds are also being raised from former students
and others by a committee headed by Bob Frymire of Dallas.
The Cadets usually make enough money from the sale of
their records, other related activities and donations to support
their tours, but increased costs have made it necessary for them
to expand into other forms of fund-raising.
The Cadets sell, balance and mount tires for the store. Two
men who work with Gutierrez are helping the Cadets, who will
pay them for their services.
“The prices of the tires are extremely good, but we intend
to run some sales while we are managing the store,” said
Randolph.
One major form of advertising will be a 40-foot weather
balloon reading, “House of Tires and Singing Cadets,” which will
float over the tire store.
“I guess the balloon is sort of our version of the Goodyear
Blimp,” said Randolph.
Other money-raising projects planned by the Cadets include
a “Mr. Fixit” campaign and selling firewood. Prices for the odd
jobs done by the Cadets vary according to the job; firewood will
sell for $45 per cord.
The Cadets also face the problem of the energy crisis.
Airline cutbacks may postpone their trip for a few days, a
brightening of the situation may hasten their departure. They
plan to leave in May if the present situation persists.
Solzhenitsyn
safe, exiled
to Germany
LANGENBROICH, Germany <A>>
—Exiled Soviet author Alexander
Solzhenitsyn remained in semi
seclusion today at the country
home of German novelist Heinrich
Boll.
“You must understand my sit
uation,” Solzhenitsyn told the
hundred newsmen who rushed
Wednesday night to the little vil
lage of Langenbroich, 18 miles
southwest of Bonn.
“I cannot hold a conference and
answer your questions now. . . .
Now I simply have to collect my
self and to understand my situa
tion.”
Boll, a Nobel prizewinner like
his guest, indicated Solzhenitsyn
would make no further statements
until his wife and three children
got out of Russia.
Following the writer’s expul
sion from his homeland Wednes
day, Tass, the Soviet news agency,
announced that his family could
join him “when they deem it ne
cessary.” But Boll said Solzhenit
syn was suspicious of this.
Solzhenitsyn left the newsmen
to telephone his wife, with whom
he had not talked since his arrest
at their Moscow apartment Tues
day. After a 15-minute conversa
tion, she told newsmen in Moscow
he was tired but in good health.
“We intend to follow him, cer
tainly,” she said, “but when,
where . . . we just don’t know.”
The 55-year-old writer was ar
rested after a six-week campaign
of vilification in the official Sov
iet press for the publication in the
West of his documentary book on
the Soviet network of labor camps,
“The Gulag Archipelago.” It was
the fourth of his five major works
published abroad in defiance of
Soviet bans.
Evidently fearing the repercus
sion in the West if it put on trial
a man recognized abroad as one of
(See ‘SOLZHENITSYN’, page 4)
Today in the Batt
Gas rationing
’74 track
Weather
P-
p-
SINGING CADETS Marlin Crouse (right) and Tom
Rodgers sell, mount and balance tires to raise money for
their trip to Romania in May. The Cadets work on a per
centage basis for the House of Tires. (Photo by Alan Kil
lingsworth)
Cloudy to partly cloudy with
chance of showers Thursday.
Decreasing cloudiness and fair
Friday. High today 85°. High
Friday 79°.