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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1974)
Today in the Batt Vol. 67 No. 4Q& Che Battalion Weather Partly cloudy and hot Wednesday and Thursday. Both days in mid 90’s. Winds from the southeast 6-10 m.p.h. Low tonight 75°. College Station, Texas Wednesday, August 14, 1974 County strip mine may be similar to Fairfield STRIP MINING AT FAIRFIELD. Gigantic crane digs for lignite (top) and dwarfs a caterpillar bulldozer to its immediate left. The lignite is then piled high for a nearby power plant. (Photos by Chris Lang) By GERALD OLIVIER Texas Utilities currently main tains the only large scale strip min ing operation in the state. Any fu ture lignite mining in Brazos County will be patterned to some extent after the plant located in Fairfield. The Fairfield plant produces 500 million tons of lignite every year. The coal is burned at the rate of 850 tons per hour in a power plant built on the site. The 1,150 megawatts of electric ity produced at Fairfield are sold to customers of Texas Power and Light, Dallas Power and Light and other subsidiaries of Texas Utilities (TU). Fuel for the plant is provided en tirely by the adjacent strip mines. The coal is taken from the ground by digging a trench down to the level of the lignite and removing it with a giant shovel. These trenches are sometimes 200 feet deep and may remain up to five years. Once the coal has been removed, the biggest problem of strip mining must be faced—reclamation. The; reclaimed land I saw had been 1 leveled off and sown with grass. Mining operations at the present Fairfield site will last thirty years. The mined coal is carried by truck to a power plant which converts it to electricity. The plant burns the coal, converting it to three things — heat, ash and smoke. The smoke billows out of two forty-foot smoke stacks. John Carl son, power production superinten- TU transfer A&M gets university press dent, said the stacks contain electro-static grids which remove 98 per cent of the particles from the smoke. The remaining two percent is dispersed into the air. Heat from the plant is removed by water into a cooling lake built by TU for the plant. The water is pumped at a rate of 750,000 gallons Moore to speak Friday State Sen. William T. (Bill) Moore of Bryan will be com mencement speaker Friday, Aug. 16, at summer exercises. He will address the graduat ing class at 8 p.m. in G. Rollie White Colisum. Moore, who represents the 19-county Fifth District, is a 1940 A&M graduate of economics. He also holds a doctor of jurisprudence degree from the University of Texas. Moore was the youngest member of the upper chamber when he took his Senate seat in 1948. He is now second in seniority, serves as chairman of the State Affairs Committee and is a member of the Finance and Economic Development Committees. In his chair post, he also serves as member of the Legis lative Audit Committee and Legislative Budget Board. per minute through the installation and is heated fifteen degrees before returning it to the lake. One half of the lake has been leased to the state and is used as a park. residue is pumped with water to The ash is a valuable product of holding ponds. When the ponds are the reaction. Fine ash is used to ft»H, the water is drained off and the manufacture concrete. The coarser ash is used for road beds. BARE DIRT shows where a strip mine has been recently filled. Grass and trees will be planted according to a Texas Utilities spokesman. (Photo by Chris Lang) City Council allows manager to acquire police equipment By GERALD OLIVIER The College Station City Council voted Thursday to allow City Man ager North Bardell to enter into an agreement with the Brazos Valley Development Council for the purchase of police equipment. Fil ing, investigation and observation materials have been requested. The council set September 23 as the date for public hearings on the rezoning of four tracts of land. The By TIM SAITO A book publisher, who made famous the presses of South Carolina and Texas Universities, has come to build a university press for A&M. As of September 1, Frank H. Wardlaw will become A&M’s new University Press Director. “We hope to publish scholarly works in fields of A&M’s greatest academic strengths. We also hope to publish books on the Southwest dealing with history, art, and folk lore,” Wardlaw said. He is already working on books dealing with the Spanish, French, and Indian in teractions in the Southwest, a natural history photo collection, an early Texas chronology, and a cen tennial history of A&M. “The first few months will be de voted to getting books ready for printing next fall,” said Wardlaw. “We have to start publications slowly, like building a house. This fall, there will be six books to work on that will be on our list (for print ing) in 1975. We hope to publish 12 to 14 books by 1976. And we hope to reach a level of 20 books per year by the next year (1977). “We won’t publish any juveniles or fiction. We’ll print those of non fiction nature,” he added. The present task facing Wardlaw is organizing the University Press for it’s debut at A&M. Setting up the office (former Board of Directors house), meeting with A&M officials, and just getting the program started are some things he has faced. An edit6r, designer, produc tion manager and business adminis trator will all join the staff within several months. Wardlaw said, “We’ll have to play it by ear (the first few months).” Chiefly, Wardlaw will supervise manuscript review and guide the production and printing process of the manuscripts. “I will have an ac tive part in making most of the books,” he said. Wardlaw will be backed by a 12 man committee (appointed by Dr. Williams) to handle the more scholastic side of the manuscripts review. “This is the first year a committee of this type has been formed,” said Dr. Haskell Monroe, committee chairman. “The whole affair is to represent each college and also to anticipate from which college the majority of manuscripts will come. We will be the ones to say ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ to the manuscripts but only after Mr. Wardlaw has reviewed them.” Financing appears to be a little hazy. “Unless the press has a number of back orders, we must depend on the university for back ing,” pointed out Wardlaw. “The press will be supported, at the be ginning, with university funds, alumni gifts, and foundation grants.” After successfully launching a University of South Carolina book publications (1945-1950), Wardlaw, in 1950, came to the Texas Univer sity press and headed it literally to world fame. Twenty-four years and 750 books later, the former TU press head turns his attention to ward Texas A&M. “I left the University of Texas press,” Wardlaw explained, “primarily because of the existing challenge of operating a new publi cations (for a third time) from the very beginning. I also came because the new job will give me a chance to participate personally in the actual planning and making of books. The UT press became so large that most of my duties became too administra tive. “I published about 750 books at the University of Texas and I doubt that I will live long enough to pub lish that number here,” he added. “It is a challenge to start at Texas A&M. This is a university I very much respect,” Wardlaw said. Koldus reorganizes for more counseling first is a request from Plantation Oaks to rezone the Penthouse Club to commercial. City Planner Bill Koehler explained that when the club was private no such zone change was required. The change to open-bar has necessitated a shift to commercial zoning. Another request came from the A&M Consolidated School District to rezone a tract to neighborhood business. The land was purchased for an elementary school, but will not be needed. The school district plans to sell the property if the re quest is granted. Harry Seabeck (Plantation Oaks) has applied for zone changes on 24 acres adjacent to Dominick Drive. A development of apartments and single family residence is planned. Richard Smith has requested 12.58 acres to be zoned commercial. Smith said he plans to build a shop ping center in the area. This is part of a proposed development to be built by Smith. The development is to extend to the east bypass, said Smith. Tennis courts and a large natural park are included in the pre sent plans. By JUDY BAGGETT More personal counseling is the goal in reorganization of TAMU’s Student Services Division. Personal counseling was “an area of void,” said John J. Koldus, vice president of student services. The Personal Counseling Ser vices Center was added in addition to the Academic Counsefing Center to correct the void. The Depart ment of Student Affairs and De partment of Student Activities were also established. A new service to students is legal counseling through the office of Student Legal Advisor. The service should be in effect by Oct. 1, said Koldus. A student could bring any legal problem to the counselor for advice. However, the counselor could not defend one student against another student. The offices of Dean of Men and Dean of Women have been com bined to form the Department of Student Affairs, under the direction of Dr. Charles Powell. Koldus said the offices were combined “because students should feel free to go see either one. They should be able to talk with whoever they feel the most comfortable. “My intent is to have every office on campus warm; a place where students will feel comfortable,” Koldus said. Associate Vice President Howard Perry, former assistant vice presi dent, now has broad base budget responsibility. The change frees the time of others so that they will be able to have more direct contact with the students and their prob lems. General Ormond Simpson, assis tant vice president, is mainly in charge of the Corps of Cadets, Vete rans Administration Program, Aggie Band and special projects. Mrs. Carolyn Adair, student program advisor in the Memorial Student Center, is director of stu dent activities. The Department of Student Activities will assist Stu dent Government, student clubs and organizations. Koldus hopes to have “much bet ter guidance and direction” through the reorganization. Presnal talks to veterinary Calls Nixons resignation a cancer grads By KATHY YOUNG State Representative Bill Presnal spoke of Nixon’s resignation as “a cancer on the system which should be removed without damaging the system,” as he addressed the 126 member graduating class of TAMU’s College of Veterinary Rep Bill Presnal Medicine, Friday night, in the Rudder Center Auditorium. Presnal stressed that each person has “a right to criticize our public officials, but let us be judicious and not generalize when we do.” He added that “public officials need your support at this time more than any moment in history.” Further he asked that the graduates “become leaders in your respective communities” and vote in local elec tions. Presnal quoted the dim 28 per cent voting record of the county in the last election and urged the graduates to show their concern and take the time to go to the polls. In an interview with Presnal Fri day morning, at his office in the Zachry Center, he stated that “I am dismayed at the few alternatives given to the people,” concerning the recent Constitutional Conven tion. Presnal said 40 of the representa tives voted against the document because labor wouldn’t let them vote for right to work law. “Another 20 voted against the constitution not so much because of labor but be cause they had voted against almost everything,” Presnal said. Other than the much publicized right to work issue, Presnal outlined what he thought were the other problem areas that defeated the document. The education article was con troversial as it contained the phrase “equal educational opportunities.” Some representatives felt that the courts could interpret it to mean equal finding, which could cause problems with public school financ ing, Presnal said. On the other hand some dele gates felt the education article had been too watered down so they voted against it. Another area which caused some delegates to oppose the constitution was the omission of a welfare ceil ing in the proposed document. The old constitution says that no more than 80 million dollars could be spent on welfare, although Medi care is not included under the old ceiling. Presnal viewed the finance article as another source of no votes. The article proposed one board of equalization in a county that would set land values. Presently, in a county like Harris, seven or eight different agencies set their assess ment on one piece of land, Presnal added. A bill to phase out the ad valorem tax “caught fire when it hit the floor” because the colleges wanted to re tain the ten cents they receive from the tax, Presnal said. Opposition to the Permanent University Fund did occur but Pre snal said the “vast majority did favor continuing it” because they under stood the need for flexible funding of research. An exemption on the ad valorem tax for the elderly, which was made mandatory rather than continuing with the present local option, was opposed by many small towns. They felt it would work a hardship on the small school systems which derive support from the tax, said Presnal. In predicting the future, Presnal said he felt that the Legislature could submit the constitution to the people section by section and post pone the effective date until all arti cles are passed by the people. He said a transitional schedule could be made to consider all the pos sibilities. “I feel that Bill Hobby is a strong pro-constitution advocate and will be influential in seeing that a new constitution is adopted. The new speaker will also be a determining factor,” Presnal added. Speaking on the subject of Nixon’s resignation, Presnal said, “It is tragic in one respect but it was an apparent abuse of power and it is reassuring that the system does work so well.” He added that the transition has been made with ap parent ease and everyone is re lieved that it is over. On the lighter side, Presnal re lated that he had met Gerald Ford when he was here to speak at gradu ation and had a. chance to have his picture taken with him. “I didn’t because I thought to myself, what do I want a picture with that Repub lican for?” ROBIN OLSEN and Gregg Unterberger rehearse for a melod rama coming to Rudder Center this week. See story, page 5. (Photo by David Kimmel) Transformer blows and the power goes A defective transformer was the apparent cause of a temporary power outage in the North Gate area of College Station Sunday, said Joe Guidry, of the city public works department. Guidry said the transformer, lo cated on College Avenue, became overloaded and caught fire. One phase of the system was inoperative until repaired Sunday afternoon.