Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1975)
Candidate cancelled ... his own mistake or Election Board's? By HENRY FRANKE Staff Writer Thursday morning Jim Bob Mickler, junior, was informed that he had been disqualified for the coming Yell Leader elections in a letter from Susan Warren, election commissioner. Warren explained that he had failed to file a proper application. Mickler sent an appeal to the Judi cial Board, which will hear his case at 3 p.m. today in the Conference Room of the Student Programs Of fice. Mickler explained that “it was a misunderstanding of the filing pro cedure,” but he believed the Judi cial Board would reverse the deci sion. Mickler said he had clearly shown intent to run before the filing deadline set on Monday, March 31. Moreover, his appeal has a prece dent. Two years ago, a student had signed to run for senator, but had filed improperly. The Judicial Board heard his case and allowed him to run. But unknown to Mickler, a Political Forum will hold a candidate’s debate Monday at 1 p.m. in front of the MSC fountain. Cbe Battalion Vol. 99 College Station, Texas April 4, 1975 number of events had taken place behind the scenes. Yesterday, he learned about these as well. Last week, Mickler signed the roster for candidates for Yell Leader and believed he had done all that was necessary. The roster is signed after applications have been turned in, but a friend had taken the roster from the desk to show to Mickler. Mickler signed it, never seeing the instructions on the desk concerning applications. On Monday, March 31, Dale Fos ter, a former student who is helping check election applications, called Mickler up. “He told me I had made a mistake in filing. I asked him if I could still correct it. He told me it had already been taken care of,” Mickler said. What Foster hadn’t said was that he had written up the proper forms and submitted them for Mickler. When Mickler saw these forms yes terday, he confirmed that it was not his handwriting. Warren and Barry Brooks, stu dent vice president of student ser vices, reviewing the applications for Yell Leaders late Wednesday night, discovered that the forms lacked the signature of Melva Ball, recep tionist for the Student Y. Her signa ture is required as confirmation that the election forms were properly received. Warren then typed the letter in forming Mickler that he had not met Election Regulations. When Mickler found out why he was disqualified, he explained what he had done. This led to the uncov ering of the whole story. Mickler feels that the Judicial Board will see that his mistake was unintentional and that the compli cations of his case were completely unknown to him. Foster and Warren could not be contacted before press time. Elections Campus The election of yell leaders, class officers, Senate executive committee and Residence Hall Association officers will be held April 8 from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m. Polling places will be the married student housing office, the old exchange store, Krue ger-Dunn Commons, the Corps Guard room, Fowler lounge and the MSC. For candidates see p. 3. CS schools The lone voting box for Saturday’s A&M Consoli dated School Board election will be in the gymnasium of the Special Services Build ing at the Consolidated Middle School at 1300 Jer sey. The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Jim Bob Mickler Vietnamese feel helpless TAMU students relate own experiences By ALAN KILLINGSWORTH Staff Writer Thursday — When one’s country is on the verge of destruction, it’s hard to accept. When one can’t help prevent it, it’s that much worse. This is the feeling of several South Vietnamese students here. They want to go home. They want to help their country. Vietnam is involved in the largest communist offensive there since the 1972 Paris pact. The communists have control of two-thirds of the country and the rebels are biting into that. The Associated Press (AP) also reported that there are more than 50,000 communist troops within 50 miles of the capital. The weak government of President Nguyen Van Thieu is on the verge of collapse. “Our main concern is for the re fugees,” says Nguyen Dziem. “There are so many of them with nowhere to go.” Dziem came to TAMU in 1971. He was born in Hanoi but when the French withdrew in 1954, his par ents retreated to South Vietnam. His family now lives in Saigon and he says they will stay until the last moment. The students don’t believe the country will fall. They claim the gov ernment withdrew from the other cities to protect the capital. They see their country withstanding the communist offensive. After 20 years of fighting communism, they be lieve they will retain their freedom. This seems to be the biggest loss to the students— their freedom. This is their major point — in com munism there is no freedom. Most of the students have never lived under communism. They base their beliefs on stories they’ve heard from others. In 1954 when the country split into North and South Vietnam, more than a million people moved from the north and took with them stories of communist atrocities. “My father had to leave my family for three years,” Dziem says. “He could never come near the house. If he had, he would have been killed. We are lucky to be alive today.” Nguyen V Anh is from the former city of Nha Trang. The city was abandoned a few days ago by gov ernment troops and left in com munist control. His parents who were still living in Nha Trang were last heard from two weeks ago. Anh doesn’t know if they got out of the city or not. “My father wrote me two weeks ago and said that the communists were near by,” Anh relates. “He said he would get out if he could. ” A majority of Anh’s relatives were living in Da Nang and he doubts very seriously they escaped. If they are alive they are all in occupied areas, he said. The concensus of the group is that if there ever was a communist take over, it wouldn’t be without a blood bath. Nguyen Q Chau says he saw the bodies of those killed by the communists after the city of Hue was retaken in the late sixties. “They (the communists) will use any means to make the people do as they want,” Chau said. They use any method to scare them.” Chau also tells the story of his great uncle being murdered by the communists as a deterrent to the other people of his village. They came into the village one night and called his name. They took him out into the jungle. He was found the next day, cut in half. The students say the people of South Vietnam want no form of communism. If they thought that South Vietnam could live with a form of communism, they would have started negotiations long ago. Nguyen Chau said he feared the same thing will happen in South Vietnam as in Laos. The govern ment is half communist and half non-communist. Eventually, the communists, through terrorism, will control the country, he said. The students didn’t have any hard feelings over the Americans leaving South Vietnam. They only regret Today. Inside Candidates p. 3 ECOFAIR p. 4 Alcoholism p. 5 Weather Mostly cloudy and mild Fri day with a high of 66. Low tonight 54. Mostly cloudy and warmer Saturday. High tomorrow 74. that aid was diminished. Tram Hanh said if the people had the supplies they could handle the communists. “When the Americans were there, it was three against two (Vie tnam, United States, vs. North Vie tnam, China, Russia),” Hahn says. “Now it’s three against one.” The 32 Vietnamese students on campus have been uneasy since the start of the offensive. Many have wanted to leave school and go home. They met Wednesday night and decided they could do more good here. They have contacted local churches and organizations and asked them to donate funds for the Vietnamese Refugee Relief Fund. The money collected from the drive will be given to the Red Cross to aid in the purchase of food as well as the relocation of the re fugees. They are in the process of contacting the other schools in Texas and trying to attain an or ganized effort. Any one wishing to contribute to the fund may do so by sending contributions to: The Vietnamese Refugee Relief Fund c/o The Battalion Room 216 Reed McDonald Building Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843 Fish want quad; date suggested Despite rumors of its death, good bull made an appearance in front of Duncan Dining Hall yesterday evening. Fish from the Combined Bands sealed off every exit to the west wing of the dining hall in hopes of apprehending three juniors from Com pany E-2. They were after the juniors because they had violated the sanctity of the bands’ drill field before spring break. The story varies, but the three are alleged to have either parked their car on the field while they walked on it or to have turned “dough nuts” on the field in their car. The fish got a description of the car and traced its owners, or so the story goes. It is not known how they knew who all three offenders were. (Look under your desk — you never know where the BQ fish’s network of spies may reach.) A get-away car was waiting outside the front door to take the three away. It is not known what the fish intended to do with the juniors, but murder has generally been ruled out. There have been no executions in the Corps area for almost two semesters. The three would not leave the dining hall and the fish did not attempt to drag them out (perhaps because of the presence of at least one member of Corps staff. Bill Helwig.) Helwig tried to work out a “peace with honor” for the two factions. He suggested a supervised quad job to be scheduled at 4 p.m. Monday. “An appointment for a quad job,” chuckled one Corps member. “That’s our Corps staff.” Helwig played the “Henry Kissinger of Aggieland” and a truce was called. The fish went back to the dorm, and the juniors went their merry way. But the matter is said to be unfinished. So if you’re driving down a lonely road outside of Texarkana or near a deserted Louisiana bayou, and you see a clean-cut fellow with a sheet, a dime, an embarrassed smile and nothing more, pick him up. Chances are, he’ll need to hurry back to Aggieland for evening formation. mTeer denies starting ^ rumor about Robeck Joan Teer, vice president of the A&M Consolidated School District and campaign manager for school board candidate Cubby Manning says she did not instigate the rumors that candidate Bruce Robeck was an atheist. Teer’s comments followed a Battalion story yesterday which claimed one rumor was traced to Teer. The rumor was originally published in The Eagle with a disclaimer from Robeck. Teer says she heard the rumor and called several of Robeck’s friends to find out if it was true. She says she called those people back when she found the rumor wasn’t true and apologized. by Glen Johnson Shown above is reporter Alan Killingsworth (L), questioning Vietnamese students (L to R) Nguyen Dziem, Nguyen Chau, Tram Hanh, Nguyen Q Chau, and Nguyen V Anh. City Council Fire ant program approval delayed for study Correction The Battalion incorrectly reported yesterday that students applying for credit cards would automatically receive a card to be used on a one time basis. Instead, the firm decides upon eac individual application before sending a card. Therefore, there is a possibility that the student may not receive a card. Also it was reported the card was only good for purchases ot under five dollars. This is incorrect as there is no limit on the purchase except that which the bank puts on each indivi u' card. The card is good with any merchant who accepts Master Charge. By STEVE GRAY Staff Writer The College Station City Council voted Thursday to delay approval of a fire ant control program until the city can give the idea some study and hear recommendations from the local Environmental Action Council (EAC). The council considered a request from the state and U. S. Depart ment of Agriculture to treat College Station with a solution of Mirex, a pesticide, that would be contained in granules sprayed from an airp lane. A large variety of fire ants have been migrating north from Mexico, and present a problem for livestock and grazing land. Bill Jones, a representative from the state department of agriculture, told the council the program will treat an estimated quarter of a mill ion acres in Brazos County to help eradicate the pest. He said the fire ants are slowly making their way toward this area and several ant mounds have been spotted near the intersection of Highway 6 and the east by-pass. “If you don’t have a problem now, you will have,” Jones said. “I think this program will help prevent new mounds from forming in the area. ” Jones said the four-year program usually controls the ants for about three years before another applica tion of the pesticide is needed. “This is not a total eradication program, but I would hope we could kill about 80 or 90 percent of the ants,” he said. Fort Bend County, near Hous ton, was the first to grant permission to the state agricultural department to apply the program in that county, Jones said. He said the program is under the supervision of the En vironmental Protection Agency (EPA). “All of our flights are supervised by the EPA and we avoid treating areas with nearby streams that flow into the Gulf of Mexico or other water supplies,” he said. The state has contracted with Global Airways of Arizona to pro vide the spray plane. The agricul tural department will fund the prog ram should the council approve it for the city. Councilman Jim Dozier asked Jones if it woidd be possible just to spray the infested areas only. “I don’t think it would be a good idea to break up the city limits,” Jones said. Cornelius Van Bavel, president of the local EAC, appeared before the council and posed several questions concerning the possible harmful ef fects of the chemical and whether or not the pesticide could be applied in a different manner. “I think the council had better give this program some serious con siderations before approving the program,” Van Bavel said. Councilman Gary Halter, at his first meeting, suggested that the EAC make recommendations on. the matter at the council’s next meeting. The council’s only action regard ing the state’s proposed program was to allow the airplane with pes ticides to fly over the city without spraying on its way to other parts of the county to spray infested areas. Mayor O. M. Holt conducted the swearing-in ceremony for Council- men Gary Halter, Bob Bell and Larry Bravenec, who were elected Tuesday. Bravenec has a year’s ex perience on the council, while the other two are newcomers. The council agreed to present plaques to former councilmen Don Dale and Fred Brison for their services to the city at a later date. In other business the council ap proved a request from the city’s re creation council to have the city as sume responsibility over the recrea tion council’s activities. Paul Woj- ciechowski, chairman of the coun cil, said the recreation programs have grown so much that they need professional supervision. Wojciechowski said the staff would probably come from mem bers of the Community Education Program and the Parks and Recrea tion Committee. He said the city should take over activities con ducted on city property while the education committee would super vise programs conducted on various school campuses. Bob Bell being read his oath during city council swearing-in ceremony. photo by jack ndm CS school board elections tomorrow, 8-7