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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 3, 1974)
Park fund up $65,000 Art by Sandy Chapin College Station approves increased budget By GERALD OLIVIER The College Station City Council adopted a budget calling for an in crease of 14 percent over last year. Parks and recreation combined with personnel expenditures caused most of the increase. The parks and recreation budget is up $65,000. Almost all of the in- jbcrease is to be spent at the new Bee Creek Park. Maintenance and oper ation of the pool there will take most Today in the Bait ^cnic schedule p.3 offensive line p.8 to p.7 of the funds. Increased payroll size plus cost of living raises will result in another sizable jump. Growth in the city has resulted in an increased need for See Planning and Zoning Com mission story. Page 6. city services, said North Bardell, city manager. To provide this ser vice the city has been forced to hire more people. To retain their pres ent employes the city has included cost of living raises in the budgets of most departments. The increased budget did not re sult in a tax increase for property owners. The council voted to leave the ad valorem tax rate at 37.5 cents per $1000 evaluation. Bardell said the revenue from the city sales tax plus an increase in property evalua tions will make up the difference in The council delayed action on let ting the contract for phase three of the 701 Planning process. Phase III calls for a study of organization and an administration of city govern ment, parks and recreation capital improvement programs, and im plementation of the overall plan. A workman’s compensation in surance policy was contracted. The policy will be obtained through the Texas Municipal League. The League makes the insurance availa ble to member cities at a 14 percent savings over commercial rates, said Bardell. The council set July 22 as the date for a public hearing on the rezoning of a five acre tract at the intersection of Highway 30 and Munson Av enue. Che Battalion Vol. 67 No. 402 College Station, Texas Wednesday, July 3, 1974 Weather Partly cloudy with possible scat tered showers Wednesday af ternoon and Thursday. Con tinued hot; both days in the low 90s. Constant country picnic music aided by sliding door on stage Art by Nancy Fry By KATHY YOUNG Come to Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic but bring your own lunch. Water will be in short supply in the camping area and possibly at the Speedway site. Bring your own food as concession stands are small and will probably be crowded. They are also located near the perimeters of the infield, making it a long hot walk. A concession contract was awarded independent of the festival promoters, so they had no control over the prices. Cold beer will be available at 60 cents a can or $2.75 a six pack. Hamburgers will cost 65 cents, hot dogs 50 cents, chili dogs 60 cents, barbecue 90 cents and ham sand wiches 95 cents. For all those thirsty people (an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 per day) there will be bags of ice at 85 cents each, snow cones at 25 cents and soft drinks at 35 cents. Upon entering the Texas World Speedway, site of the Willie Nelson Picnic,. spectators must park their cars in the free parking area as no cars are allowed in the infield. There is room for about 20,000 cars maybe more to be packed into the area and guided by parking atten dants. The infield is 160 areas of dusty, dry, sparse grass with the stage in the foreground. Festival goers need something to sit on such as blankets or cots, a covering such as umbrellas for shade. Large hats, sunglasses, suntan lotion, mosquito spray, water jugs, thermal coolers, food, cushions, flashlight and rugged shoes are all essential items that will make a three day stay more com fortable. Adequate restroom facilities have been provided around the perimet ers of the infield. There are port-a- cans, metallic buildings and a big red country bunkhouse structure that has 48 men and women’s toilets. Medical services are also availa- Police forces at full strength for weekend “We can handle anything short of a riot,’’ said Sergeant Paul Allen of (he Texas Department of Public Safety speaking of the speedway fes tival. Allen said law enforcement per sonnel present at the Willie Nelson Picnic will include: at least 24 DPS officers in patrol cars, a total of over 80 uniformed DPS officers, a sizable force of Texas Rangers and under cover narcotics agents, two DPS helicopters and members of the Al coholic Beverage Commission. Allen said the DPS will set up a temporary headquarters on the grounds to coordinate activities. Telephone and radio communica tions will be installed. Allen said that officers will be conducting normal traffic control procedures including radar control of speeding. “We are expecting the usual narcotics violations and drun ken driving,” said Allen. The Brazos County Sheriff s office is planning to station two units in the area for the three days. They will be concerned mainly with the property surrounding the race track. Both College Station and Bryan police departments will be at full force. College Station will have 24 men available at all times. Captain Edgar Feldman of the College Sta tion Police said that the main prob lem in the city will be traffic conges tion. Security inside the site will be handled by Frank Bates. Bates has been hired by the promoters to handle security. He was in charge of security at Dripping Springs Bates has hired 70 men to serve as security officers. “We haven’t had any trouble in the past, but we’ll be ready for it, ” said Bates. “This is just like a football game that lasts three days. ” ble as are telephones and garbage cans. About the only thing not pro vided is shade and mail service. The stage is red, white, and blue with Willie Nelson’s picture on the sliding door backdrop. The stage is 100 feet wide, 40 feet deep and 12 feet high. Builders of the $18,000 stage say it’s permanent and a one- of-a-kind. It resembles the old country train depots in appearance. The wooden sliding partition will allow one group to tune up and be all set up to perform while another act is performing onstage. This uni que feature will provide continuous music, decreasing the boring in be tween waits involved in most con certs. Two separate and complete sound systems act as bookends for the stage. Tall, scaffold-like struc tures hold the numerous speakers to be manned by a sound and lighting company out of Fort Worth. The company worked the Ontario Speedway Event in California last summer and the Allman Brothers Show in Houston. Lights on the stage and on an infield scaffold will spotlight the stage for the night acts. Performances will start at noon on July 4, 5 and 6, ending at 11 each evening. Everyone will be required to leave the Speedway each day but camping facilities are available nearby. The Willie Nelson Approved Campsite is adjacent to the Speed way. Electro-Mass Media is the company which leased the land from a local landowner for a camp ing site. Although a reported 4,000 acres have been leased by the com pany, only 570 acres have been mowed and cleared for camp sites. The site costs $10 per vehicle or camp site for 3 days. The entrance to the area is guarded and even people who wan der in without a car are charged the $10. A sticker is given each vehicle for easy entrance and exit. Fifty gallon plastic trash bags are also being handed to each car and the occup ants advised to keep their area clean. Garbage pickups will be con ducted as the need arises, as long as the cotton trailers, which will haul the trash, can get in. Fifty port-a-cans have been in stalled around the area. Water will be in short supply as running water for drinking only is available at the far side of the camp at a few faucets. Water trucks are scheduled to come in and hose peo ple down daily as no shower facilities are present. Stolen guns Three Aggies nabbed Three A&M students were charged with burglary earlier this week when College Station police discovered them to be in possession of stolen weapons. Steve Hines, 22, Kenneth Reed, 21, from Tyler and Paul Whitney, 19, from Carrollton were arrested over the weekend in a combined effort between the Bryan and Col lege Station police departments and the Brazos County Sheriff Depart ment. Among the goods confiscated were: 40 guns including a 9mm au tomatic, M14, and a 7mm magnum Vanguard; animal skins; boat motors; C-4 plastic explosives; cam era equipment; stereo equipment and approximately 80 albums. Reed and Whitney were released on bond. Hines is still in custody. ’ 'Inquiring Battman - ~ - Willie Nelson’s picnic—what do people think? Interviews by Tim Saito Survey taken in Skaggs Albertsons parking lot Photos by Kathy Curtis * ;; ■: Hr i j,*?: M ■ m W& Jim Cambon It’s great. It’ll be the best thing that happened to this city. ,t: ’•%w «£■ \.i Lon Legg ;; It would be a pretty good sort of recrea tion over the holiday. The kids need something to do. I think this might help. John Florida * It’s too expensive. I wouldn’t go anyway. $8.00...that’s too much. Sally Alworth I don’t think we need it. Well, if the asked me, I wouldn’t give them my permission. I would say no. Bill Lancaster I hope the whole thing goes broke. How can anyone listen to 3 days of music? I hope they fall flat on their face. My daughters are probably going to go whether I like it or not. It will be like a huge sewer. Sarah Hendrick It’s great. It’s about time Bryan grew up. Look at the “Eagle” blowing it out of proportion. Ed Hamlett W ith all of the money they’re getting, I’d like to know where the money goes. Where does the money go? Somebody ought to look into that.