Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1975)
Weather Partly cloudy and warm Tuesday with Southerly winds 8-14 mph. High today 79. Mostly cloudy and slightly cooler Wed nesday. Low tonight 57; high tomorrow 76. Cbe Battalion Inside Senate .p. 3 Rock notes . .p. 3 Alcoholism p. 5 Vol. 68 No. 96 College Station, Texas Tuesday, April 1, 1975 City, student races quicken tempo SG filing continues 3 exec races unopposed At 5 p.m. Monday three Student Government (SG) Executive Com mittee candidates were unopposed. Filing ends at 5 p.m. today for Executive Committee, Residence Hall Association, class officers and Yell Leader elections. Senator fil ings end April 7. Graduate Student Council position filings have been extended until April 7, too. The three uncontested races are vice presidents of Academic Affairs, External Affairs and Student Ser vices. Currently, the candidates are Rajesh Kent, Jerri Ward and Troie Ann Pruett, respectively. A new candidate for SG president Pace picking up has entered the race. Doc Shroff, a senior running for the third time, entered the race Friday opposed by Jeff Dunn and Tom Walker. Filing Monday for vice president of Finance was graduate student Joe Marcello, presently a senator. Run ning against Marcello is Bill Flores, currently Memorial Student Center Council vice president of finance. As of 5 p.m., 11 people had filed for Senate seats. The only races without a candidate are College of Geosciences, College of Education, College of Marine Sciences, Col lege of Veterinary Medicine, Corps, Married Student’s apartments and several living area seats. Running for vice president of Rules and Regulations are Mary Ellen Martin, Karla Mouritsen and Duane Thompson. The Senior Class officer races are highlighted by the absence of oppo nents in two races. The only candi date for president is Philip Bohl- man. The candidate for vice presi dent is Charlie Snyder. None of the Junior Class positions are uncontested. 18 students are currently filed for Sophomore Class positions leaving only one of the positions uncontested. Troby Hof- facker is the only candidate for social secretary. School costs to rise NEW YORK (AP) — The nation wide average cost of a public college for the on-campus student will be 12 per cent more next academic year than in 1974-75, a recent survey by the College Entrance Examination Board shows. The survey of 2,400 colleges and post-secondary institutions by the College Scholarship Service of the Board also showed tuition and fees will rise an average 4 per cent over all with an 8 per cent average in crease at four-year private schools. The average resident student’s over-all costs will be $3,594 for the nine-month academic year while the commuting student’s total ex pense budget will be slightly less at $3,186. The Board said the 8 per cent rise in costs at private four-year col leges, the most costly schools, is the highest single-year increase ever. This will mean an average $4,391 if they are residents and $3,950 if they commute. The 12 per cent increase at public colleges will be the biggest 1975-76 rise and will apply to residents at both two-year and four-year institu tions, according to the survey. For resident students at public colleges, the increase means charges of $2,411 to $2,679 to attend school next year. Included are hikes of 5 to 7 per cent for tuition, and 12 to 13 per cent rises in costs for transportation, room and board, books and personal expenses. The survey examined average total expenses for residents, com muters, and self-supporting stu dents at public, private, two-year and four-year schools. A real foxy play In this scene from “Reynard the Fox”, Reynard played by Jim Burford, is being severely chastised by Tiecelin, played by Connie Carl, for being a cheese thief. The Aggie Players will begin public performance of the play Wednesday at 7:30 in the Forum. City candidates explain platform Raj Kent and Troby Hoffacker filing for positions in Student Government. Photo by David McCarroll Polling places listed Today is election day in College Station for three positions open on the city council. The polls opened at 8 a. m. and will close at 7 p.m. The voting boxes for the six Col lege Station precincts are: TAMU’s University Center for Precinct 20, the College Station Municipal Building at 101 Church Ave. N for Precinct 21; and the College Hills Elementary School 101 Williams for Precinct 24. Also, the College Station Fire Station for Precinct 10; the A&M Consolidated Special Services Building at 1300 Jersey for Precinct; 9; and South Knoll Elementary School for Precinct 8. By JERRY NEEDHAM Staff Writer An audience of about 200 heard the six candidates for College Sta tion City Council positions support their candidacies in a Political Forum presentation Monday night at the Rudder Tower. Greg Magruder, candidate for Place 5, said he is concerned for good government. He said half of the population in College Station is between the ages of 18 and 25 and “we need a young representative.’’ Magruder, a TAMU sophomore, said, “I live with student needs. With increased activity at the uni versity, it will continue to pose many traffic and housing problems. The students must be considered in any community decisions.” Larry Bravenec, Magruder’s op ponent in today’s election, said, “We need good judgment” on the city council. Referring to Mag ruder, he said city council meetings tend to be boring for a student. Bravenec also stressed his objec tions against too much rezoning. He said rezoning tends to “create low- quality housing when a residential area is surrounded by apartments.” Don Dale, incumbent candidate for Place 3, said the city needs to continue growth to keep up with the university, adding “We don’t need to stop growth with radical or un tried ideas. ” He said that even with the increased budget we have not raised taxes. Bob Bell, Dale’s opponent for Place 3, said he recognizes Dale knows what a lot of the people want but not what all the people want. He said College Station needs a younger man to represent all of the community. Concerning the city’s transporta tion needs. Bell said Wellborn Road should be widened to become a major thoroughfare. He said most new apartments would be built on the other side of Wellborn Road. Another council hopeful, Jim Jett, was introduced as a man with an energetic attitude who would maintain a business-like attitude toward city government. He opened by saying he is not a land- developer as reported by the media; but a real estate agent who owns apartments. Jett is competing against Gary Halter for Place 1. Jett contended money being ap propriated for new parks should be used to improve existing parks. He said a formal conference should be called with TAMU officials to re view the community’s problems. Gary Halter, a TAMU political science professor, said the city should expand the park program and the bike trail program. He said there should be a pedestrian access across University Drive by Zachry Engineering Center. Other points he raised were the possibility of the city operating an ambulance service and an investigation into the higher electricity rates for apartments than for single-family residences. Greg Magruder, A&M student (R), seated with Larry Bravenec, assoc, prof. (C), at city council debate. Pictured at left is Political Forum member William Ibbotson. Photo by sieve Krauss Da Nang Panic, chaos kills second largest city Photo by Glen Johnson SAIGON, South Vietnam (AP) — Da Nang fell to the Communists by itself— a casualty not of battle but of panic and chaos. Accounts of the collapse of South Vietnam’s second largest city and onetime major U. S. base have shocked and demoralized Saigon, the capi tal, and its three million people. The question asked today in Saigon is “Can it happen here?” For Da Nang shuddered and died in three days of looting, burning and murder inflicted not by avenging Communist troops but the citi zens of Da Nang itself. The Communist troops sat outside and watched. And when they moved in Saturday afternoon and Sunday, there was no resistance from a population exhausted from mayhem and fear. That is the picture of the last days of Da Nang as painted by Americans, Englishmen and Viet namese who were among the estimated 100,000 who escaped the city. Another 1,400,000 were left behind. The seeds of Da Nang’s capitulation lay in the military debacle that followed President Nguyen Van Thieu’s unexpected decision to abandon to the Communist side first the central highlands, and then the old imperial capital of Hue. A chain reaction of fear infected the fleeing soldiers and civilians. They spread it like the plague through the towns and cities they fled to. Da Nang was inundated by hordes of refugees and desperate soldiers fleeing not only from Hue but also from the two provinces to the south, Quang Tin and Quang Ngai, which col lapsed overnight. A young Englishman in Quang Ngai, Paul Quinn Judge, a member of the Quaker Ameri can Friends Service Committee, recalled visit ing a village on Route 1 on Tuesday. A youth pointed at the distant hills and said “the Com munists are coming.” As Judge drove off in his jeep, the five South Vietnamese Ml 13 armored personnel carriers laden with troops based at the village rolled off with him. By next day, government forces, including the 2nd Infantry Division, had fled not only Quang Ngai Province, but also Quang Tin. It prompted an American observer to say, “The Communists are preceded by two days of panic and fear. When they arrive, all they have to do is direct traffic.” All escape roads led to Da Nang, and by Wednesday the sprawling port city where the U.S. Marines landed 10 years ago was crammed with refugees parked in graveyards and under awnings at the waterfront. Walking among them looking dazed were sol diers from all the northern corps region divi sions — many with bare feet and most without their rifles, so hurried was their departure from the battle area. As the city began to burst its seams with peo ple, it became apparent that the government apparatus had broken down. Fewer and fewer police could be seen. More than 300 Americans were still in Da Nang on Wednesday, one-third of them with the U.S. consulate, the others contractors and businessmen. Da Nang was so big and sprawling that it seemed inconceivable to the Americans that it could be in danger. But in the arithmetic of war, Da Nang was in fact doomed. The Communist side had six infan try divisions to the north and south. The Saigon government had a piece of one left. No visible attempt was being made to regroup the soldiers straggling in from combat areas so the city was almost undefended. The immediate danger was to come not from Communist forces somewhere in the hills and paddyfields outside. It was to come from within the city itself, from the soldiers with no boots and no hope, from the hungry refugees, from the police agents and paid informers who had made a living capitalizing on the misery of others. City elections today - polls close at 7 p.m.