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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1975)
Weather Mostly cloudy Friday with scattered light rain. Con tinue mild. High today 60°; low tonite 47°. Partly cloudy Saturday; high 67°. Che Battalion a Inside Citizen requests p.3 Cannon p.3 Cop assault p.5 i/cl. (3$ Q 6? SL Co 1/^.cje 6>ctf-/on . TeAvs FriJctj : January 3-^ f<775- Where am I? Ronnie Olsson (L) and Steve Nimr succumb Photo by Chris Svatek to £he irresistable furniture in the new stu dents lounge. Many students now have formed their own opinions of the lounge. Presnal selected as committee chairman Dale says ‘wait’ AUSTIN (AP) — A little-known Bryan Democrat, Rep. Bill Presnal, was the surprise choice today of Speaker Bill Clayton for chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Rep. Fred Head, D-Troup, whose support swung the speaker race to Clayton, had been expected by many to win the post, perhaps the most powerful chairmanship in the House. Head was named chairman of the Higher Education Committee and as a member of the Appropriations Committee. Rep. Joe Wyatt, D-Bloomington, was named chairman of the Re venue and Taxation Committee. Rep. Tom Massey, D-San Angelo, will head the Public Educa tion Committee, which is expected to grapple with the mammoth issue of overhauling public school financ ing. The State Affairs Committee, which traditionally handles many of the most important bills, will be chaired by Rep. Tom Uher, D-Bay City. Rep. Ray Hutchison, R-Dallas, was named chairman of the Con stitutional Revision Committee. The only other Republican to get a chairmanship was Rep. Tom Craddick of Midland, Natural Re sources. Other major committees and their new chairmen are: -Transportation, Rep. Jim Nug ent, D-Kerrville. -Energy Resources, Rep. Joe Hanna, D-Breckenridge. -Reapportionment, Rep. Roy Blake, D-Nacogdoches. -Rules, Rep. Ben Reyes, D-Houston. All of the chairmen with the ex ception of Reyes are conservatives, as is the speaker. A committee’s importance is de termined by whether it will handle those issues considered to be the hottest for this session. Appropria tions always is important, as is Re venue and Taxation and State Af fairs. Public Education, Constitu tional Revision, Transportation and Energy Resources will work on bills ★★★★★ dealing with the most pressing problems this year. Reapportion ment and Rules are intrinsically im portant to legislators. Other committees and their chairmen are: -Criminal Jurisprudence, Rep. Craig Washington, D-Houston. -Judicial Affairs, Rep. Tim Von Dohlen, D-Goliad. -Judiciary, Rep. Ben Grant, D-Marshall. -Liquor Regulation, Rep. Bennie Bock, D-New Braunfels. -Labor, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas. -Intergovernmental Affairs, Rep. E. L. Short, D-Tahoka. -Insurance, Rep. Ben Bynum, D-Amarillo. -Health and Welfare, Rep. Lynn Nabers, D-Brownwood. -Social Services, Rep. Lane De nton, D-Waco. -House Administration, Rep. Pete Laney, D-Hale Center. -Financial Institutions, Rep. Jerry Donaldson, D-Gatesville. -Environmental Affairs, Rep. Bill ★★★★★ Sullivant, D-Gainesville. -Elections, Rep. Luther Jones, D-El Paso. -Local and Consent Calendars, Rep. Tom Schieffer, D-Fort Worth. -Calendars, Rep. Felix McDonald, D-Edinburg. -Business and Industry, Rep. Chris Semos, D-Dallas. -Agriculture and Livestock, Rep. Joe Hubenak, D-Rosenberg. Ms. Johnson is believed to be the first woman ever to chair a commit tee of the Texas House. “I feel we have come with a work able and durable committee struc ture that has not only a geographical and philosophical balance, but also a broad distribution of women, men, blacks, whites, Mexican- Americans, Republicans . and Democrats,” Clayton said. Ms. Johnson and Washington are black. Earlier, Gov. Dolph Briscoe urged the legislature to appropriate $4 million at once for retired teachers and retired state em ployees’ benefits. ★★★★★ Will city ask for track BY STEVE GRAY of a plan outlining transportation traffic jams and creating safety prob- Staff Writer College Station City Councilman I Don Dale said Thursday he proba bly will not bring vip the question of relocating the railroad tracks when [ the council meets Monday night for [ its regular meeting. ? Dale said in early December he would agree to support a resolution I before the CS Council asking the Brazos Valley Development Coun- | cil (BVDC) for financial support backing a study to relocate the tracks. “I don’t see any reason to bring it up,” Dale said. “What appears to be holding it up is the state’s approval needs for the county, the university and both cities. I think everyone’s pretty much in agreement that it should be moved. In August a presentation was made by the city of College Station to the Governor’s Council on Plan ning and Coordination, listing the needs and priorities of the Bryan- College Station area. The need for a transportation plan, including rail road relocation, was given top prior ity. The tracks presently cross many principal streets in the Bryan busi ness district, resulting in periodic lems. Business the council will consider includes realigning the voting pre cincts in College Station. City Man ager North Bardell said Thursday the city must redefine the precinct boundaries when the county realigned its voting precincts for this year. The council will also hold a public hearing on rezoning 171 feet of property behind the Saber Inn Motor Hotel, 701 Texas Ave. The tract in question is bordered by Live Oak Street. City Planner Bill Koehler said Thursday the hearing could result in granting a building move? permit for possible expansion of the hotel. Two motions will be considered for setting dates for public hearings on rezoning two other tracts of land. A .643 acre tract within the Ander son Ridge Apartment Complex near Village Drive and Holleman Drive may be rezoned later from apart ment building purposes to commer cial building use. A hearing date will also be considered for the rezoning of a three-acre tract northeast of the abandoned I & GN Railroad right- of-way between FM 2347 and Luther Street west from an indus trial district to an apartment build ing area. Bill Presnal Presnal anxious to allocate funds With a $12 billion budget to work with, “we will have work cut out for us,” State Representative Bill Presnal of Bryan commented following his appointment as chairman of the House Appropriations committee. “The appointment comes at an extremely crucial time in the history of our state and our nation as well,” he said. “It comes at a time in which the economic stability of our nation faces obstacles not realized since the depression years, yet at a time when the Texas Legislature has an unprecedented amount of state funds with which to work.” The appropriations committee receives all tax and appropriation bills presented on the floor of the House. The committee is responsible for divid ing the state’s annual budget among the other house committees for their consideration. Ex-senator regains seat Higher building use fees protested By JUDY BAGGETT Staff Writer Mary Ellen Martin, the senator who was removed from the senate byajudicial board ruling on Dec. 4, regained her seat as senator of the College of Education Thursday night. Martin lost her seat after one of her constituents filed a complaint with the Student Government Judi cial Board. She was charged with violating Article III, Section 2 (c) of the Student Body Constitution which states that senators must at all times be a member of the consti tuency they represent. Martin had transferred her re cords from the College of Education to the College of Liberal Arts after adopting a double degree plan in psychology and education. It was argued that she no longer represented her constituency in the College of Education since her re cords were tranferred. Martin ar gued last night that she had checked with deans of both colleges about her senatorial seat before moving her records. They both approved of the action. Steve Eberhard, student gov ernment president, put Martin up for appointment to fill the vacancy left when she was ousted from of fice. The appointment was ap proved unanimously. Later in the meeting, a resolution attacking the 200 percent increase in building use fees was passed unanimously with clapping and whoo-ahs. The resolution states that there is no apparent reason for an increase in the fee and that the elimination of extravagance in the construction of campus improve ments could have prevented the in crease. Don Henson, agriculture graduate student, referred to a statement made by President Jack K. Williams in the January 15 issue of The Battalion that the hard work put in will make the campus a show- place for the nation. Henson said that many people were not willing to pay for a showplace. An amendment to the resolution proposing that the Texas A&M Stu dent Senate recommend to the Texas legislature to set a legislative limit on the indebtedness of a state institution and also specify a use for indebtness was passed unanim ously. Henson said that he hoped the resolution will be a concrete piece of evidence to show student dissatis faction with the fee hike. Also taking seat tonight were Mike Wollam, junior corps of cadets, Clayton Smith, junior Col lege of Liberal arts; Kay Zenner, off-campus undergraduate and Mike Gerst, University Owned Apartments. For children Consol parents desire communication training BY ROSE MARY TRAVERSO Staff Writer Basic reading and communication training are considered top priorities by A&M Consolidated School District parents, according to a survey conducted by the board’s long range planning committee. The survey, which was conducted late last year, was designed to invite a maximum of written comments from parents, and not just a bunch of x’s,“ said Nancy Donaldson, com mittee chairman. Some of the sur veys were returned to the commit tee with up to eight pages of com ments, she said. The long-range planning commit tee spent two months tabulating the results into a 26-page report which contains a record of all comments. “The report does not lend itself to statistical analysis because of the di versity of comments,” she said. The only area which was an “abso lutely, overwhelmingly apparent concern of parents was reading and communications,” she said, but other areas mentioned ran the gamut from vocational training to the development of self-esteem. The parent survey is part of an effort aimed at eliciting community input for the development of a writ ten set of learning goals for the dis trict, Supt. Fred Hopson said. Future efforts will include “trying to involve a large number of citi zens, chosen at random, who will be consulted about their priorities,” and “pumping the parent survey through the faculty to get their re flections,” Hopson said. He said that so far the priorities stated in the survey seem to coin cide with goals the district has al ready recognized as important. “It’s going to take a lot of time for the board to find out what exactly the community wants and develop some specific goals,” Hopson said. /DC/l/Zr/Hgf Battffldn I Survey taken in the new student lounge. What do you think of the new student lounge? - ■r.jBaaa mm Junior It’s very homey and relaxing with the couches and music being the best aspects. It’s very prestigious for the university to have something no other university has. Hsiato-tien Yen Grad students It’s wasteful. Everything is crowded together, there’s no open space. It’s out of proportion, but at least it’s a place to meet people. Leonard Morehead Sophomore It takes a week to get used to it and then it looks like a museum. A meeting place should be leisurely, not stark. Things like the animals don’t tie into what A&M is. Ken Drozd Graduate student It’s hard to takeone’sself seriously in a place like this Why aren’t the Walton Hall and Plantation Oaks flags displayed? But I guess if I had a flag I wouldn’t want it flown either. Timothy Seger Sophomore All it lacks is a throne and a tuned piano. It looks like a contest was conducted among all the third grad ers in Texas with the first twenty- five entries winning and being used. Ruth Hanson Sophomore I like the way things are placed so no matter where you sit, everyone seems like they’re in a different room. It’s like a hotel lobby. Tom Sturgeon Senior Not much coordination is appar ent for the money spent. It should be more student oriented. The board should have seen Pahlmann’s work before commissioning him. It they did, I question their taste.