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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1974)
’7 Weather Mostly cloudy today with light rain. Maximum temperature today 93°. Winds out of the north at 5-10 m.p.h. Minimum temperature tomorrow morn ing 73° with a maximum of 96°. Che Battalion Today in the Bait Record review p- 4 Coaches P* 7 Promotions p* 5 ' s eleven. 3 r back, had: idhaddepHj blems Havel football maintained use to alio* i at theylej oppo, og Hurt or hat the A, heir firsttes] Clemson. Vol. 67 No. 406 College Station, Texas Wednesday, July 31, 1974 Penwalt says arsenic levels fault of previous owners By GERALD OLIVIER The committee on hearings of the Texas Water Quality Board will file a report on the possibility of action to be taken toward the cleaning of Pinfeather Lake. The TWQB held a public meeting Monday to determine the extent to which Penwalt Corporation of Bryan may be liable for arsenic pol lution in the lake. David Beck, lawyer for Pennwalt, contended that the liability rests with Cotton Poisons Incorporated, the original owner of the plant where Pennwalt is now located. Beck said two private suits were filed against Cotton Poisons in 1943 for arsenic pollution. Pennwalt purchased the plant in 1944. Pennwalt employee William Culber said the arsenic levels in the lake have been stable since 1952. Evidence produced by the TWQB showed a marked increase of the levels in the late 1960’s. John Campbell, Pennwalt plant manager, said the company has fully complied with TWQB rulings re garding seepage from storage ponds. Campbell said Pennwalt has spent $5,000 per year for treatment of the ponds with ferric sulfate and lime. The treatments were stopped last year when the TWQB said they were no longer necessary. Dr. John C. Reagor, TAMU de partment of toxicology, said no danger exists if present levels are maintained. A TWQB geologist told the hear ing arsenic poisoning in Pinfeather has caused blindness in turtles and the accumulation of the metal in the skin of fish. He said a high wind or rain storm would stir the water and result in increased levels down stream. Pinfeather flows through Municipal Lake into Carters Creek and then to the Navasota River. The Navasota is the site of the proposed Millican Dam. The arsenic is seen by the geologist as a problem in the use of water from Millican for drink ing. Pennwalt is the manufacturer of a defoliant used in the harvest of cot ton. Campbell said the cotton in dustry contributes $135 million to the state’s economy yearly. Cornelius Van Bavel, head of the Brazos Valley environmental Action Council, said people cannot tolerate pollution of our rivers and lakes. He said this is a problem “we cannot ignore, no matter who is responsi ble.” Graduate students question required retirement service 'IREMEN CLEAN UP, after a fire at K-Mart in College Station was xtinguished about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday by the store’s sprinkler sys- em. Fire Marshall Harry L. Davis said the fire started in a rack of lothing and could have spread rapidly if it hadn’t been for the prinkler system. No one was injured in the fire. (Photo by Steve kies) '/ Bicentennial plans given local boost ft. rolls The Bryan-College Station com munity is one of only two areas of 100,000 plus population to have no plans for the U.S. Bicentennial celebration in 1976. At a meeting Tuesday night a citizen’s group took action to remedy this situation. The group, chaired by County J udge Bill Vance, appointed a temporary steering committee. The committee, chosen largely by Vance, was instructed to appoint a permanent body to head Brazos County efforts. The permanent committee is to be composed of rep resentatives of local civic organiza tions, news media, public officials, clergymen and Chambers of Com merce. The new Brazos County Exposi tion Center was mentioned as a pos sible structure to be designated as part of the celebration. The temporary steering commit tee will meet Thursday night at 7:30 in the Brazos County Court Room. By DENNIS BALTUSKONIS Recently, A&M was named as one of the top 20 Universities in total research output in the nation. This is indeed quite an achieve ment and much of the credit rests with the graduate students. In the past, perhaps too little coverage of the Graduate Student Council’s ac tivities have been published and for this reason “The Battalion” will re port regularly on the council’s pro jects — Ed. One major concern of the Graduate Student Council (CSC), is the relationship that the majority of graduate students and many other employees have with Teachers Re tirement System (TRS). “50 percent time” employees are required to be long to the TRS. Full time emp loyees have the choice of an “op tional retirement program” which sets up a retirement program for those who plan to use TRS in the future. However, to most graduate stu dents, the TRS is viewed as merely another agency which collects 6% of his or her fixed income each month (about 21.00 from a 350.00/mo. check) and in addition charges him 5.00 a year to be the mandatory member that he is. However, in all of these cases the money put into TRS is not lost. Once an employee leaves this or any state supported institution, he re ceives all of his contributions plus two and one half percent interest per annum on the savings. While this form of involuntary savings may be a blessing to habitual spenders, one cannot deny that the same money would earn nearly triple the interest in any of the local banks in the area. The TRS applies to many indi viduals who do not desire the prog ram and who short of their own death or disability will receive no direct benefit at least as long as infla tion proceeds at a rate higher than the interest rate paid by TRS. Graduate students were not al ways mandatory members of TRS. In fact, it was not until 1968 that this came about as a result of some of these students wanting to have their time spent as graduate students count towards “creditable service” in the TRS program. Thereafter all graduate students were made a part of TRS. It is at this point where the CSC enters in an effort to change the TRS ■/ system. Although, on the surface it would seem a simple enough task, the system is not easily altered. A recent bill to ammend the TRS sup ported by the CSC, would have given faculty or staff the right to withdraw completely from the TRS if so desired. This measure, how ever was never introduced. So where does the CSC go from here? Any change in the system will have to be brought about through the state legislature and this calls for an organized effort on GSC’s part. This is what Joe Marcello, secretary of the CSC has in mind, “The CSC is attempting to form a sort of‘Con gress of all the Graduate Student Councils in Texas who are affected by TRS and who desire a similar change in the program. The forma tion of a congress of this sort will allow us to present a more united front on this particular issue and for that matter on anything else which comes up in the future.” Again TRS as a program is not the issue here. What is of importance is that many of the people who con tinually come under its influence do not plan to use TRS as a retirement plan and are more interested in the short term management of their money. WITH “NO MOTHER to Guide Her,” Rose Day (Mary Castle) falls prey to the villian John Livingstone (Donald Rurton Powell) as the hero Ralph Carleton (David Cambell) hams it up for the Stage Center crowd. “No Mother” plays Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. (Photo by Will van Overbeek) The wall. What do Northgate merchants think of the proposed partition? n \’ m: | • - fP Mn jp-:^ 4 • - x iLr p-'-" ill . ARCHITECT’S PLANS of the University Drive Perimeter Development show an aerial view of the wall from the USDA Building to the street which runs in front of the post office and a side view of the wall in front of the university services building. By KATHY YOUNG Eleven of the 14 North Gate mer chants polled by “The Battalion” are against the construction of a wall around the campus. The University Drive perimeter development, alias “the wall” and the North Mall area will be open for bids on August 21. “Hopefully the contracts will be awarded at the September meeting of the Board of Directors”, accord ing to Gen. A. R. Luedecke, execu tive vice president. Actual construc tion of the wall on the Northgate side of campus will begin between 15 and 30 days after the contract is awarded. Included in the overall landscape plan, the wall is described as a com bination iron fence and low masonry wall spaced with shrubs, Luedecke said. The wall-like structure will run from the U.S. Department of Ag riculture Building to the Post Office along University Drive. It will range from seven feet to four feet in height and will separate the univer sity from the North Gate business ^ Martha Camp, owner of the Uni versity Book Store, voiced opposi tion to the wall feeling the money could be put to better use. “The money should be spent to build dorms as one-fourth of our freshmen don’t have dorms to live in. To spend money on the wall is a sin, if it could be used elsewhere.” Other merchants such as Greg Stiles, owner of Heroes, said they did not understand why they were building the wall. “I think it is hor rible. It is a direct slight against the Northgate merchants. ” Trying to separate the university from community was cited by the owners of Hobby World and the Texas Aggie Bookstore. Bob Mas- terson of Hobby World said, . “It is an artificial means to divide the campus from the town. ” Another common complaint of the wall cited by businessmen was that the wall would be an obstacle to students. Bob Barker of Barker Photography felt that “it would be difficult to cut across to get to clas ses.” Bill Campbell of A&M Waldrop and Co. said, “I don’t like the thought of having to climb over the wall to get here.” Others thought that the very idea of a wall would add an institutional look to the campus rather than the open look it now has. Scott Samuel- son, owner of Kesami Sandwich shop, stated, “It seems like the peo ple behind the wall could find better things to do with the money than to build a prison-type enclosure.” The owner of Henricci’s felt that the stu dents wouldn’t like “to be caged in”. Jack Price of Andre’s Bicycle Shop was opposed to the wall be cause he thought it was “ridicul ous”. r J.E. Robbins, owner of Charlie’s Grocery, couldn’t see the beauty of the wall while Charles Stipe of Na tional Farm and Life and Jessie Medina of Aggieland Barber shop were unaware of the wall and had no opinion. J.E. Loupot, although initially unaware of the wall, opposed it be cause he feared it would make Northgate inconvenient for stu dents to get to. I Cities differ on makeup of planning committee By TIM SAITO A difference in views between Bryan and College Station over a common planning committee that will handle $16,000 in federal funds, is holding up the finishing touches of a transportation planning prop osal due September 1. The planning committee, to be titled Metropolitan Planning Or ganization (MPO), will draw up and submit a Unified Work Program (UWP)for approval, and administer the funds received by it. The UWP, which describes transportation and related planning activities, such as air and water ways, will enable the community to receive approximately $16,000 in federal funds. “We had received a letter from the Governor’s Office to designate an agency who could best handle the responsibilities as MPO “said North Bardell, College Station city manager. “The government office (Briscoe) sent us an outline for the procedure of choosing an MPO. The Brazos Valley Development Coun cil (BVDC) came closest to it’s stan dards.” Councilman Don Dale added, “It was requested by the Governor’s Office that we pick an agency, such as the BVDC. They’re set up for this more so than any one of the three entities of government. The county court felt this way also, as we under stand it.” Partiality by planners toward Bryan’s planning efforts caused a lit tle discomfort for some College Sta tion councilmen. “We didn’t like it (program proposals) because it was overly-weighted to Bryan’s side,” said councilman James Dozier, on a side road traversing along the county park. He added, “When we appointed the BVDC, we assumed that Bryan would do the same.” Councilman James Gardner said, “I’m not too happy with the plan ning set-up as I understand it now. We re having some trouble with priorities with Bryan. Too much of it is going their way.” Meanwhile, Bryan has chosen as MPO, the Steering Committee, the first of numerous groups to review and approve the work program (UWP). Balanced representation through the MPO was one of the reasons for the selection. Hubert Nelson Bryan Director of Planning, pointed out that the Steering Com mittee provided representation | Sorryl 1 “The Battalion” erroneously re ported that Department of Public Safety officers were drinking beer at their field headquarters for the Wil lie Nelson picnic. Sgt. Allen of the DPS said coffee and cokes were the beverages of the camp and “The Battalion” has verified that claim through other sources. We regret our error. from the B-CS area city managers, Odle and Bardell, county court Judge Vance, and Texas Highway Engineer Hanover. “Actually, we’re one community. The whole community has to plan together. Geographically, they may be separate, but community-wise they’re the same. The university is part of the community and they should have a say on what goes on, ” said Nelson. It was pointed out that the Steer ing Committee could cut down on between-group complications. “I think it was the feeling of the council that this (the Steering Committee) might be better. The money would go straight through the committee rather than an agency like the BVDC because the Steering Com mittee could disperse the money di rectly,” said Barton. “We also felt it would be a duplication and compli cation of matters because they would have to come back from wherever they started. It would avoid going the route all over again. The planning departments would make it a lot easier. ”, said Bryan city manager Robert Odle. Mayor J. A. Skrivanek of Bryan also said that the Steering Committee would not only cut down on “red tape” but serve as a “more direct route of action. ” Whether or not they are chosen as MPO, Executive Director Glenn Cook Explained that the BVDC will try to help all it can. “All we’ve done as the executive committee of the Brazos Valley Development Coun cil, is accept a general designation (procedural outline) from the Governor’s office that we serve as MPO. It also states that we would follow the dictates of the Steering committee. We are willing to serve as MPO. We re willing to help work with Bryan and College Station whether we re MPO or not. No hard feelings.” said Cook. “We carry out the decision that city and govern ment dictates. We re not going to dictate the planning.” said BVDC Regional Planner Steve Kerbow. The Texas Highway Department, taking a neutral stand, left matters of MPO selection completely up to B-CS and the county court. “Well as (See PLANNERS, page 2)