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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.