15 per cent annual price rise expected for food
(AP)—Housewives can expect their
tight food budgets to be further
strained during the first six months
of 1975 as food prices climb to new
highs, Agriculture Department
analysts forecast Tuesday.
J. Dawson Ahalt, a staff
economist, predicted food prices
will continue rising at an annual rate
of 15 per cent, and may go higher if
bad weather reduces next year’s
harvest.
“The prospect ... is mind-
boggling,” said Ellen Zawel, presi
dent of the National Consumers
Congress and the USDA-chosen
consumer representative at the an
nual National Agricultural Outlook
Conference.
Retail food prices, which jumped
about 14.5 per cent from 1972 to
1973 as grain reserves dwindled, are
rising this year at a rate about 15 per
cent higher than a year ago.
Ahalt expressed uncertainty
about the last six months of next
year.
“If weather cooperates in the
U.S. and around the world, and
economic activity weakens even
more than is anticipated,” slowing
demand as people have less to
s P$nd, then the expected harvest of
12 to 16 million more acres could
lead to “significant slowing in price
i n Creases,” he said.
An extraordinarily good harvest,
he told a reporter, could pull the
ov ^r-all 1975 average price rise
do\vn to about 10 per cent. But that
would require sharp price cuts by
supermarkets and wholesalers in
the last three months, an extraordi
narily quick market response, he
said.
On the other hand, Ahalt said,
“with world grain stocks at precari
ously low levels, another year of
poor growing conditions when
world food needs are expanding
could ignite a rapid pace of food
price advances throughout 1975."
On Monday, a private economist,
Wilfred Lewis Jr., said consumers
might get “substantial food price re
lief” next year.
r
Che Battalion
V Vol. 68 No. 55
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, December 11,1974
Raid nets 45 pounds
from local apartment
UC Board reverses
MSC priority ruling
sophomore; Roger Wittie, a sopho
more; Larry Vickery, a graduate
student; and Maxwell McKaye, a
junior.
The search took place about 8:30
p.m.
All four were released Tuesday
from Brazos County jail on $5,000
bond each.
Four A&M students were
charged with possession of 45
pounds of marijuana and 10 ounces
of hashish Monday night.
It was found during a search of
their Scandia apartment by local
police and Texas Department of
Public Safety narcotics agents.
Charged were Stewart Fowler, a
By JIM CRAWLEY
Staff Writer
The University Center Board
unanimously decided Tuesday af
ternoon to rescind its previous re
commendation that the MSC Coun
cil and Directorate and the Student
Government be given scheduling
priority in the University Center.
The board acted on the priority
question again because Tom
Cherry, vice-president for business
affairs, requested the board to give
further thought. The board, at its
first meeting, approved the recom
mendation.
Cherry asked for the reconsidera
tion after The Battalion printed an
article on the subject. The article
was followed by complaints from
numerous student groups stating
that they had not been informed of
the priority issue. Aggie Players
were particularly vocal about the
issue.
Bob Wenck, Aggie Players ad
viser, addressed the hoard, giving
reasons for the priority system to be
abolished. Reasons cited were that
semester to semester scheduling
was discriminatory against the
Aggie Players and other groups.
Kent Brown, president of the
Aggie Player’s Club, said, “This axe
over our head may stop our rehear
sals and plays. We are the only or
ganization that needs a theater as a
theater. ”
Doug Thorpe, Town Hall chair
man, defending the recommenda
tion, said “You are looking at the
MSC as an elitest group and we’re
not trying to force anyone out.”
Dr. John Koldus, vice president
for student services, said the Uni
versity Center should start schedul
ing the year before.
Hal Gaines, Town Hall adviser,
sitting in for MSC director J. Wayne
Stark, said it was impossible to
schedule a year in advance.
Koldus replied, “I know it can be
done, from my past experience at
East Texas State.”
A suggestion of student run
scheduling was proposed by Mike
Hatch, MSC vice president of ad
ministration. In student run
scheduling student groups would
come to the MSC Council and coor
dinate the time schedule at one
time.
Wenck protested, preferring
scheduling to be done by profes
sionals on the University Center
(UC) staff. John Beckham, faculty
representative, asked Hatch why
UC staff couldn’t do the scheduling.
Hatch replied that the MSC could
do “the best job.”
Bill Davis, MSC president and
original author of the MSC priority
request moved to table the recom
mendation until a further date.
Charles Cargill, board chairman
and UC manager, said that a deci
sion would have to be made on the
disposition.
Today.
Inside
Chamber elections . . .p. 3
SCONA XX p. 3
Exam schedule p. 7
Weather
Fair and cool Wednesday
with a high of 58°; low tonite
34°. Continue fair Thurs
day. High tomorrow 59°.
The Battalion will not print until
next Wednesday so that the staff will
have a chance to study before finals.
With this statement, Beckham
moved that the original request be
rescinded. The motion passed
unanimously.
The board, in subsequent action,
turned down a request by Aggie
Players to have control over the
Theater Center workshop and the
Forum. The board also approved
the revision of the U. C. fee
schedule.
Wenck made a request of the
board in an effort to secure space for
Aggie Players and the Theater Arts
section.
Some board members were con
cerned thatthis would be priority
scheduling and assign space to a
“special interest” group. Wenck
said, “Our special interest is to the
20,000 students of this university.
We provice an opportunity for stu
dents to participate, and not be a
spectator. ”
The board turned down Aggie
Player’s request for a permanent
space assignment, on a 7-2 vote.
John Tyler, SG representative and
Harrison Hierth, faculty represen
tative, voted in favor of Aggie
Players.
The board also considered Aggie
Players’ request for the use of a stor
age rokm, presently used by Wil
liam Pahlmann, interior designer
for the Center. An agreement was
made by the board giving the
Players the room after Pahlmann
leaves next year.
The hoard ended the three-hour
long meeting with the setting of a
policy describing the paging proce
dure during theater performances.
Previously, the paging was done by
whoever happened to be available.
The new procedure says that the
sponsor of the event will be respon
sible for all paging.
Bob Wenck addresses University Center Board meeting.
Photo by Glen Johnson
Library switches to no-fine system
By WILL ANDERSON
Assistant Editor
A form of a no-fine system for stu
dents will be used by the library
beginning next semester, says Dr.
Irene Hoadley, director of libraries.
The new system resembles the
policy toward faculty members with
overdue books and was suggested
by the Library Council. The council
is made up of three students and
faculty representatives from the var
ious schools.
The system was accepted unani
mously by the council Dec. 2 and
Dr. John C. Calhoun, vice presi
dent of academic affairs, approved
its use Monday, Dr. Hoadley said.
The system states that only one
notice will be sent to a student with
an overdue book. A book turned in
late will not cause a fine unless
another student has requested the
book. However, students with ex
tremely overdue books will have
their loan privileges curtailed until
the books are returned-
If a book is requested while it is
checked out, a notice will be sent to
the student that has the book, warn-.
ing that he is subject to a fine if the
book is returned after a certain date.
The date will be 14 days after the
book is checked out or four days
sifter the book is placed on hold (re
quested by another student),
whichever comes later.
The fine structure will be a quar
ter if one day late, one dollar if two
days late, two dollars if three days
late, three dollars if four days late,
etc. There will be no day of grace”
nor will there be any discount on
overdue fines.
The replacement cost for a lost
book will amount to the sum of the
book’s value plus a $5 processing
charge. Overdue fines may not
count toward replacement costs.
Dr. Hoadley said the new system
would not hassle students with
overdue books if they were not ex
cessively overdue or requested by
another student. The steep fine rate
gives the library a method of
motivating the return of hooks
placed on hold, she said.
The library will not be losing
money on the new system, she said.
Fines will go into a general operat
ing budget and any money collected
in fines will probably be spent on
attempts to collect books, such as
notices.
Dr. Hoadley said students will
determine the success or failure of
the no-fine system by how they ac
cept it. It ill be used at least a year,
she said, and if it doesn’t work, a
return to the present fine system is
unlikely.
Rocky past Senate
in VP confirmation
WASHINGTON (AP)—The Se
nate voted 90 to 7 Tuesday to con
firm Nelson A. Rockefeller as the
nation s 41st vice president.
The vote completed the first half
of the procedure set down under the
25th Amendment to the Constitu
tion to fill vice presidential vacan
cies.
Next is a vote by the House of
Representatives, expected next
week.
If confirmed by the House, Rock
efeller, 66 a former New York gov
ernor, will become the second vice
president in U.S. history to be cho
sen outside the normal popular
election process.
The first was Gerald R. Ford, who
became President on the resigna
tion of President Richard M. Nixon
and in turn nominated Rockefeller
last Aug. 20.
House Speaker Carl Albert told
newsmen that it is his impression
that Rockefeller will be confirmed.
House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr.,
D-N.J., said his panel will meet
Thursday and consider putting the
nomination up for final approval in
the full House next week.
‘Just tenants’
MSC lacks student input
on many policies, projects
New lanterns
Sixteen of these wall light fixtures afe to be installed in the
MSC student lounge. Eight of the lanterns will hang ft'om each
of the five chandeliers in the high-ceilinged lounge.
By JIM P£f ERS
Staff Writer
The Memorial Student Center is
a misnomer.
The new “living ro 0 m of campus”
is now being run b/ a University
Center Board, rather than the
student-controlled MSC Council as
the past. (Ten of the 17 members of
the MSC Council are students,
whereas there are four students on
the 12-member University Center
Board.)
“It was a management decision,”
Col. H. W. Gaines, associate direc
tor of the MSC, said of the new set
up-
“Now we are just tenants of the
building,” Caines commented on
the ironic relation of the MSC
Council to the MSc,
There are two general concepts in
union management, be said—self-
government and a separate man
agement system.
“Both in theory Work equally
well, Gaines said.
J. Wayne Stark, director of the
MSC since its inception in 1947,
said the managem e pt change was
made partially to al^w him more
time for student programming.
The only sections of the building
now under the aegis of the MSC are
the student programs and finance
offices, the MSC offices and the
Browsing Library.
Stark said when the original MSC
was being planned student commit
tees were involved in all aspects of
the building.
Several committees were con
sulted about the new building de
sign, he said, but no input was given
as to the furnishings. That was left
entirely up to the interior designer,
William Pahlmann.
Robert L. Boone, director of the
Singing Cadets, was an MSC Coun
cil student advisor for 14 years.
He said planning for additions to
the MSC and construction of the
Rudder Tower and Theatre Arts
complex began in 1966.
At that time the projection was to
continue the relaxed atmosphere
and mood of the old into the new
MSC. “But it hasn’t worked out that
way,” Boone conceded.
“The new MSC is hokey as hell,”
Boone said. “It’s vanilla, sterile, sys
tematized, lacking any warmth or
coziness.”
“It doesn’t seem to be a place you
would want to come to relax in.
The student lounge area “re
minds me of castles, cold granite
and torches on the walls back in the
days of knighthood, he said.
“There’s no question that there
are some lovely, lovely things,
Boone stated, referring to the
numerous antiques in the center.
He said he questioned their approp
riateness in a student center.
“Perhaps it will be better when
the rest of the building is opened,
he mused. “But I kind of doubt it.
Bill Davis, student president of
the MSC Council, and Vice Presi
dent Mike Hatch have also expres
sed regret about the lack of student
input into certain design phases,
particularly interior furnishings.
“Unusually the administration is
very receptive to student input,
Davis said. But students were gen
erally out of touch with the MSC
design.
“As a result, we’ve ended up with
a lot of things that don’t relate to a
campus . . . and are not conducive
to a good student union.
“The center should be union-
oriented, as opposed to business-
oriented,” Davis suggested.
Mills bows Ollt . . . 16-year career at committee chair ends
_ - - r • I* l ., % S l A
WASHINGTON (AP)—Rep.
Wilbur D. Mills, D-Ark., bowed
)ut Tuesday as chairman of the
House Ways and Means Committee
in the new Congress after holding
that post for 16 years.
Mills’ decision, relayed through a
Friend to Speaker Carl Albert and by
Albert to newsmen, came after a
series of events involving Mills and
stripper Annabel Battistella, who
plunged into the Washington Tidal
Basin in October after a party that
left Mills scratched, bleeding and,
according to police, apparently in
toxicated.
Mills’ withdrawal also ended an
extraordinary 16-year career as
head of the committee that handled
a large portion of Congress’ most
important legislation and for nearly
all that time made the strong
handed Mills one of the top powers
in Congress.
Still open are the questions 0 f
whether Mills will remain in Con
gress and on the committee and, if
so, what part he will play.
The new chairman almost cer
tainly will be Rep. Al Ullman 0 f
Oregon, next senior to Mills on the
Democratic side of the committee.
Albert called newsmen to his of
fice Tuesday morning to tell them
he had just received a telephone call
from Bethesda Naval Hospital in
which another congressman, close
to Mills, passed on the word that
“without going into details, due to
his health and on the recommenda
tion ef h«s doctors, Mr- Mills i s not
going to seek the chairmanship of
the Ways and Means Committee.
VTillo r-rwrvmlainimr of exhaiiction.
entered the hospital J**st week a few
days after publicly renewing his as
sociation with Mrs, Battistella by
appearing briefly o^ stage with her
in Boston.
Albert said h e al s p spoke with a
doctor who attended Mills and was
told “in his jndgmerd. Mr. Mills is
not able to perform tfte duties of the
chairmanship-
Albert said h e w^ also told Mills
‘would make no further announce
ment of his intentions until his phys
ical condition was determined to see
whether he could carry on duties as
a member of the House oor of the
Ways and Means Committee or
both.”
Albert said he was given no de
tails of Mills’ condition or of further
medical procedures to be under-
The intermediary was later iden
tified as Rep. Joe D. Waggonner Jr.,
D-La., a member of the committee
and close associate of Mills.
It had already been assumed by
Albert and others that Mills would
not be renominated for chairman
and it was known that efforts were
under way to reach Mills, in seclu
sion at the hospital, and persuade
him to withdraw gracefully.