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Cbe Battalion
Vol. 68 No. 97 College Station, Texas . Wednesday, April 2, 1975
Inside
Over the wall 3
Parr 4
Women’s basketball .p. 8
Large vote margins
put in councilmen
By GERALD OLIVIER
Staff Writer
Participating in Tuesday’s election are James Rice (C) and Glenn Hemann (R), while Jerri Ward (L)
and Jean Lauter supervise. photo by David McCarroii
Senate seats
9 of 17 lack competition
Gary Halter, Bob Bell and Larry
Bravenec were chosen by wide
margins to serve on the city council
of College Station in Tuesdays elec
tions. In Place 1, Halter won by a
800-vote margin over Jim Jett. Hal
ter, a TAMU political science pro
fessor, pulled 75 percent of the total
vote. His weakest box was on cam-
City Editor
The Brazos County Commission
ers Court voted in a special meeting
early this week to cancel the County
Court at Law referendum it
scheduled to coincide with the April
22 state constitutional amendment
election.
County' Judge Bill Vance said the
County Court at Law would proba
bly be established for Brazos
County by the Texas Legislature be
fore the date of the election.
The referendum would have only
served to determine public opinion
in the county toward getting the
new court. Only the Legislature can
actually establish the court.
State Senator Bill Moore of Bryan
introduced the bill creating the
court. Moore s bill calls for abolish
ing the current County Court’s civil
and criminal jurisdiction and replac
ing it with the County Court at Law.
The County Judge would no longer
be both the administrative head of
the county and judge for civil and
criminal court proceedings, but
would be left solely with administra
tive duties. According to the bill the
new court would have its own judge
to be paid no less than the amount
paid to the County Judge, who cur
rently makes $18,000 a year.
The bill has already passed the
Texas Senate and the House Com-
pus, Precinct 20, where he polled
only 67 percent of the 348 votes
cast. Halter garnered 78 percent of
the Precinct 10 (south of Dominik
Drive) votes for his best showing.
Bell, a radio station manager, was
a convincing victor in Place 3 over
incumbent Don Dale with 62 per
cent of the vote. Bell’s strongest
support came in Precinct 10 with 71
percent. His weakest point was the
mittee on Judicial Affairs. It is ex
pected to be considered by the en
tire House this week. The bill is
sponsored in the House by State
Representative Bill Presnal of
Bryan.
Presnal said in a press release that
by 1977, there will be a definite
need for the new court in Brazos
County.
The Commissioners Court and
Judge Vance disagree with Presnal.
The commissioners recently passed
a resolution condemning the legisla
tion creating the court. They said
the County Judge’s case load and
administrative duties are not great
enough to warrant establishing the
new court. The resolution stated
that to allow for an increase in work,
the County Judge will be paid “a
salary commensurate with fulltime
service effective Jan. 1, 1976.”
Vance currently maintains a part-
time law practice.
Concurring with the commis
sioners court, Vance said Tuesday
the county court case load has not
increased significantly in recent
years and the new court is unneces
sary and a burden on the taxpayer.
The commissioners court esti
mated the additional cost to the
county with the new court to be
$75,000 in the first year and $60,000
annually afterwards.
A&M Consolidated Middle School
Box, Precinct 9, where he pulled
only 56 percent of the 585 votes
cast.
In Place 5, incumbent Bravenec,
a TAMU accounting professor, pul-
Halter, Bell and Bravenec will
be sworn as councilmen tomorrow
at a meeting of the council at 5 p.m.
in the city council chambers at City
Hall.
led the third landslide. He tallied 69
percent of the 2,293 votes cast in the
city.
Greg Magruder, Bravenec’s op
ponent and a TAMU sophomore,
was the only loser to carry a box.
Magruder polled 73 percent of the
campus votes and finished with a 30
percent overall. Bravenec’s biggest
support came at the College Hills
Winners
Need a good reason to throw a
party?
Win a city council election.
The two new faces on the College
Station city council. Bob Bell and
Gary Halter, both had celebrations
at their homes Tuesday night. Larry
Bravenec, the other winner, spent
election night transporting bees.
Both Bell and Halter were pleas
antly surprised at the relatively
large voter turnout. Neither fared
differently from the expected, they
said.
Both candidates won by large
margins over their opponents. Bell
beat incumbent Don Dale by 556
votes. Halter was victorious over
realtor Jim Jett by a 1,125-vote mar
gin.
Halter’s house was pan
demonium. Supporters including
most of the TAMU Political Science
Department, were there drinking
beer and passing around congratula
tions.
When asked how it felt to be the
wife of a city councilman, Linda
Halter said, “It feels great, now he’ll
Elementary box where he got 81
percent of the 534 votes cast.
The voter turnout in the city was
better than last year, with 20.47
percent of the eligible voters casting
ballots compared to last year’s 17
percent. The campus box, though
more than double the votes of last
year, was behind the city average
with a 11.35 percent turnout.
The votes by precinct were:
10) Fire Station
Place 1
Halter — 122
Jett— 33
Place 3
Dale — 44
Bell — 108
Place 5
Magruder — 43
Bravenec — 113
20) TAMU University Center
Place 1
Halter — 223
Jett — 108
(see PRECINCT, p. 3)
react
be home working on the new addi
tion to the house, instead of being
out campaigning. ”
Halter was content to soak up his
victory. He said all he is planning
right now is to be sworn in.
Halter’s supporters were a bois
terous group. The talk was loud and
cheerful and the telephone rang
constantly with friends calling their
congratulations.
The scene at Bell’s house was a bit
calmer. At 10:30, with Halter’s
party still going strong, only a small
group were at the Bells’. Lane
Stephenson, Bell’s campaign man
ager, a couple of neighbors, and this
reporter were almost the whole
crowd.
Talk of the election and the com
ing year predominated. Bell con
ceded his victory to an “anti-Don
Dale” vote.
Bell said the party had been ear
lier and the crowd had already left.
The phone was quiet, but the beer
and congratulations were the same
as Halter’s.
There’s no competition yet in the
race for senate seats and nine of the
17 places on Graduate Student
Council are still open.
With filing in progress until
Monday, none of the colleges has
reached its quota of representa
tives.
The election of yell leaders, class
officers. Senate executive commit
tee and Residence Hall Association
will be held April 8, from 8 a. m. to 6
p.m.
Polling places will be the married
student housing office, the old ex
change store, Krueger-Dunn
Commons, the Corps Guard room,
Fowler lounge and the MSC.
Because of the lack of filing, the
election of senators and GSC has
been postponed until April 15.
Five of the eight seats from the
college of agriculture are still open,
one of the two from Architecture,
two of the three from business and
both of the education seats.
Six of the seven seats from the
college of engineering are still open,
three of the four from liberal arts,
and half of the six science seats.
The single geoscience seat has not
been filed for, and two of the three
from veterinary medicine are still
open.
Two of the three spots for the
Corps of Cadets, five of the six for
off-campus graduate, half of the 12
off-campus undergraduate seats and
married student housing’s one posi
tion are still open.
No filing has been made for the
housing areas of Hotard-Walton-
, Schumacher, Crocker-Moore-
Mclnnis, Cain-Law-Puryear, and
Kethley-Fowler-Hughes. Each area
is allowed one representative.
In each of the races for Dunn-
Utay, Krueger-White, Hart-
Legett-Milner and Davis-Gary-
Moses one person has filed for the
position.
The Graduate Student Council is
composed of graduates from each of
the colleges.
As of 5:00 Tuesday, the four seats
open from the College of Agricul
ture had three contenders, the
three seats from the college of en
gineering had three contenders, the
two seats from the college of educa
tion had one contender and the one
liberal arts position had been filed
for by one person.
The colleges of Geoscience and
Science are allotted two seats
apiece, neither of which have been
filed for.
Architecture, veterinary medi
cine and business have one seat
which are also still open.
Batt, Aggieland
draw 8 for race
Commissioners
stop referendum
By ROD SPEER
Some party, some move bees
Judiciary
Council reports increasing caseloads on low courts
By STEVE GRAY
Staff Writer
Lower courts in Texas are bearing
the burden of increasing caseloads,
according to a special interim report
issued by the Texas Civil Judicial
Council covering the first six
months of 1974.
The report, released in March,
showed that 580 new cases were
filed in the Brazos County Court
during that time period. The total
includes 51 civil, 455 criminal and
74 probate cases.
County Judge Bill Vance said
Tuesday the workload in court “is
probably inching up,” but, unlike
other areas of Texas, “it is not un
bearable. ”
According to the report, 2,651
cases were filed in three of the
county’s five justice of the peace
courts. Misdemeanor traffic cases
accounted for 1,989 of the cases plus
483 nontraffic misdemeanor and 179
civil cases.
Justices of the Peace Joe Novosad
of Precinct 5 and Mike Calliham of
Precinct 7 are reportedly working
on their reports and should have
them completed soon.
This is the first time the justice
council has released a report on the
activities of the state’s county, jus
tice of the peace and municipal
courts. In the past the council has
released statistics on the state dis
trict courts and is now trying to sur
vey the entire court system in the
state. It is presently collecting data
on the state’s lower courts and will
issue its first annual report for 1974
sometime in April or May.
Although the council released no
figures last year on the county’s
share of the caseload for 1973, Jus
tice of the Peace B. H. Dewey said
Monday the situation isn’t getting
any better.
“My position is a fulltime one just
like the county judge’s but my salary
is not up to par with the amount of
work I do,” Dewey said.
The municipal court of College
Station reported that 2,309 cases
were filed during the first half of
1974, including 1,958 traffic cases
and 351 non traffic cases.
Bryan Municipal Court reported
4,481 cases were filed during the
same period, including 3,616 traffic
and 865 non-traffic cases.
The judicial council said
1,716,697 cases of all types were
filed or appealed in the courts re
porting to the council, including
county courts, justice of the peace
and municipal courts. During the
first six months of 1974 a total of
1,539,931 of those cases were dis
posed of.
The council pointed Out that 53
per cent of the county criminal court
cases and 38 per cent of the civil
cases were dismissed or settled
prior to trial.
The council’s report also showed
a high percentage of convictions in
the county courts. Defendants were
convicted in 99.4 per cent of the
cases. During this period 313 de
fendants were acquitted, compared
to 51,120 convicted.
The high rate of convictions, the
report said, should be viewed “in
relationship to the high rate of dis
missals prior to trial in these same
courts to obtain a true conviction-
acquittal ratio in the county courts. ”
Of the 454 cases disposed of in
Bryan County Court in the first half
of 1974, 35 cases were dismissed
while 419 cases received convic
tions. Of the seven defendants to
plead not guilty, none were re
ported to receive aquittals.
Judge Vance said the main cause
of dismissals is insufficient evidence
for the state to make its case.
Justice of the peace and munici
pal courts received $26,454, 141 in
revenue during the six-month re
porting period. Court costs of $2.50
per case were remitted to the state’s
Criminal Justice Planning Fund.
Justice courts received $9,265,904
and municipal courts collected
$17,188,237. Most of the money
was collected from traffic fines.
Four students have applied for
the editorship of The Battalion and
four others for the editorship of the
Aggieland.
Will Anderson, junior journalism
major; James Breedlove, senior
journalism major; Sherry Lynn
LaBuda, sophomore political sci
ence major; and LaTonya Perrin,
senior journalism major, are vying
for Battalion editor.
Gary Baldasari, senior environ
mental design major; Lynne Ed
wards, junior economics major; Bill
Slingerland, junior wildlife and
fisheries science major; and Anita
Williams, junior education major,
seek the Aggieland leadership.
Anderson has held positions of
reporter, news editor and managing
editor on The Battalion. He is pres
ently assistant editor.
Breedlove served an internship
with the Bryan Eagle. He also
served as interim managing editor
of The Battalion last month.
LaBuda has worked on a county
paper and was co-editor of her high
school paper. She was a feature wri
ter on The Battalion during the fall
of 1973.
Perrin has been a reporter on The
Battalion and now serves as manag
ing editor. She completed an in
ternship with The Odessa American
this past summer.
For the Aggieland, Baldasari was
photo editor of The Battalion last
year and head photographer of the
Aggieland this year. He has com
pleted summer internships with the
San Diego Sentinel and the San
Diego Reader.
Lynn Edwards has worked for the
Aggieland for three years, on the
organizations section her freshman
year and the activities sections the
next year. The first semester of this
year she was photo editor and now
serves as the adviser of the military
section.
Slingerland has served as resi
dence hall section editor, student
life section editor and is now busi
ness manager of the Aggieland.
Williams was assistant editor of
her high school newspaper, and has
worked on the junior and senior
class sections of the Aggieland.
Eastgate walls
The torn-up ground and
mounds of dirt at the east entr
ance are not signs of wider
streets; they are part of the
million-dollar plan to encom
pass the campus with a wall.
Planter beds containing ivy will
be placed in the road medians
and eight-hundred more feet of
brick wall will be placed bet
ween the University road signs
along with some wrought-iron
fences. Mercury vapor flood
lights will be installed to light
the wall at night since this new
construction addition is meant
to “mark” the east entrance to
campus. Construction of the
walls are scheduled to be com
pleted at the end of this year,
including the walls at the south
and westgate entrances.
Photo by Kevin Fotomy