The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 18, 1975, Image 1
Weather Partly cloudy, hot and windy Wednesday and Thursday. High both days 93; low tonight 77. €bt Battalion ^ i Vol. 68 No. 123 College Station, Texas Wednesday, June 18, 1975 Rape crisis group helping area victims By KARLA MOURITSEN Campus Editor Every eleven minutes a rape oc curs somewhere in this country. That fact was enough to prompt a group of local women to organize Bryan-College Station’s first Rape Crisis Counseling Program. Ranging in age from their late twenties to early forties, this group of dedicated and concerned women is currently meeting at the TAMU campus for their second three-day training seminar. An earlier training session was held immediately after the program began in April of this year. Sponsored by the Women’s Aw areness Workshop, the Rape Crisis Counseling Program is a commun ity organization that operates a free twenty-four hour hot-line for rape victims. The counselors are trained to reassure and calm the rape vic tims, and provide information as to what the victims should do after having been attacked. The counselors may never know the victim’s name. They simply may be needed to help a victim get to the police, a doctor, or a lawyer. Mainly, the counselors try to help the victim through the first very dif ficult and traumatic hours after the attack has occurred. The seminar is designed to train the counselor on what to do after someone has called 822-7326, the hot line number. Each volunteer learns of the legal implications in volved in a rape case, and of the psychological problems attached to it. They also learn helpful hints to give females who find themselves alone. WHILE WALKING, “Don’t look like you’re loitering,” they ad vised. “At least appear to be going somewhere, and walk briskly. Be aware of the number of people on MSC All Nighter to feature variety Summer school students will be able to spend the. night in the Re veille Room when the Memorial Student Center holds its first “All Nighter” during the early part of August. In a meeting Tuesday night, MSC President Bob Barbier said that the All Nighter would start with a movie in the Grove, and then shift to the MSC complex. There, students would find two bands that would alternate playing each hour for the rest of the evening until dawn. In addition to being able to dance all night, students could view the “Roadrunner” or various other car toons while wrapping their tongues around huge ice cream cones. The cost of the ice cream is expected to be five cents per scoop. According to Barbier, the Arts and Crafts Center would offer “dif ferent things to do with your hands and the other parts of your body, creative and otherwise. It was planned that all of the games areas, such as the bowling alley, the pool tables, and the ping pong tables, would remain open as long as there was any demand for them. Also, the directorate planned to have an artist present to draw cari catures, to present a slide show by the Camera Committee, and to make a large canvas available for de coration by graffitti fanciers. Said Barbier, “We’ve got all of this for sure, definitely, maybe. No definite date was set for the All Nighter. In other areas of programming, the directorate approved sponsor ing an Ice Cream Giveaway, to be held Wednesday, July 2 in front of the Academic Building. Ice cream of assorted flavors will be sold at a nickel a scoop. Directorate members also agreed to meet at 9:00 Saturday morning, June 21, at Sbisa Dining Hall to paint one of the interior walls in an early “Dinner Theatre” motif. Vol unteers were encouraged to join the group. the street and of where the next corner is. Also be aware of the weapons that you may have right there in your handbag - a rattail comb, a nail file, a sharp pencil, a knitting needle, or a key between the knuckles could all at leasf mark an attacker to make later identifica tion easier. Also these marks can help prove that you resisted when attacked, should you decide to pro secute. A whistle or a freon horn are also valuable in scaring an attacker and attracting help. “Shoulder bags should not be car ried: many rapes are done by purse snatchers. You should keep your hands free,” they advised. The counselors could not take a stand on whether or not a woman should try to fend off an attacker. Each felt that it would depend on the particular situation of the victim (whether the assailant was armed or if there was any help nearby). But one counselor stressed, “If you hurt him, don’t let the humanity part of you take over. Just run away, and keep running until you reach safety.” WHILE DRIVING, the volun teers advised that women “Lock all doors and keep all windows up. Only park under a light. If you feel you’re being followed, don’t go home - drive to a police station or to any crowded public place. Always check the back seat when entering your car, and have your car keys ready when you need to get into your vehicle.” FOR APARTMENT DWEL LERS, it was encouraged that the female not keep “those cheap locks, like on most of the rental properties. Over 50 per cent of rapes occur in the home as a result of burglary, so get sturdy locks and make use of chain locks or bolts. Whenever out of the house, leave on the lights and maybe the T.V. or radio. Also, you might consider the purchase of a battery-operated alarm.” Women who live by themselves were warned against putting their full name on the mail box or in the telephone book. Women were also cautioned, “Never tell the electri cian or plumber or anyonfe that you live alone, and never open the door unless you’re sure who is knocking on the other side.” see COUNSELING page 2 MSSiSl I g v 8 ; With all the construction going on campus it’s nice to see some of it near completion. Old Main Drive at the west gate entrance, above, will soon be ready for traffic. photo b y Tom Kayse.- Barbara Jordan Shield laws discussed U. S. Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-Tex.) indicated last Saturday a reluctance to tamper with the First Amendment to give newsmen grea ter courtroom protection but said she too would go to jail rather than reveal information in certain situa tions. The Houston lawmaker discussed various aspects of “shield laws” for newsmen at a Radio/Television News Directors Association reg ional seminar conducted at TAMU. Asked what she would do if faced with contempt of court for not pro viding information, Representative Jordan said she would first deter mine what best purpose could be served by her actions. If the infor mation should be released, she said she would talk to her source and see if that source would “set me free. ” “Otherwise, I would be content to go the way of some who have been jailed for failing to reveal in formation,” she declared. She emphasized throughout her presentation, however, she was “not convinced” there shovdd be any tampering with the First Amendment, pointing out that sev eral policy questions immediately crop up, such as “who is to be privileged, where do you draw the line and how far should you go?” Some 25 states already have some sort of shield laws, the U. S. rep resentative observed, adding that she saw no big difference in news flows in those states than in the ones that do not have such laws. Polls taken in those states having shield laws revealed that fewer than half of the newsmen in those states were even aware that their states had such laws, she added. While she does not favor the press censoring the government. she asserted the press “must be free to censor the government.” “If the press does not inform the public,” she asked, “then which in stitution will do it?” She reminded the radio and tele vision representatives that the Freedom of Information Act was amended last year to ease the pro cess by which newsmen could get information from the government. In a far-reaching question-and- answer session following her speech. Representative Jordan commented on the Democrats’ chances for the presidency in 1976, her support for the Democratic tic ket and the decision she made to Serve as a character witness for John Connally. Regarding the Democrats’ pos sibilities for regaining the White House, she said: “Our chances are quite good because of the fumbling of the President, but he has stopped fumbling so much lately. Unless the Democrats find a deader and find one quickly, we may face disaster in ’76.” She said she would support the Democratic ticket “almost without exception,” with chuckling news men obviously assuming that excep tion applied to Gov. George Wal lace of Alabama. In speaking on behalf of former Gov. John Connally at the trial in which he was recently found inno cent of charges of accepting a bribe, Representative Jordan said she had “to carve politics away” in her think ing and simply ask herself if she ever knew of him being dishonest or un truthful. “I thought about all the speeches I made over the years about jus tice,” she concluded, “and the only comfortable decision after going through that process was to do it (serve as a character witness).” Proposed CS test water well to be sunk near bad well site This is the head of a tick showing the lower lip modified with teeth-like projections used to file the skin of his victim. The hook devices behind the lip are then used to attach the tick to his host. Ticks ad here to blades of grass or leaves of bushes and reach out to attach themselves to passing animals. The picture was taken with an electron microscope by Dr. Nick Norton at Texas A&M University. By JERRY NEEDHAM City Editor A contract with the Whalen Corp. of Dallas to drill a test water well in College Station is under inspection by City Attorney Neely Lewis. The College Station City Council voted Thursday night to “move for ward with all deliberate speed” to finalize or reject the proposed con tract. The matter is slated for a vote at the council’s June 26 meeting. The basic proposal of the contract calls for the Whalen Corp. to fi nance drilling of a test well to a depth of 1800 feet in order to pro duce water and sell it to the city for 30% cents per 1000 gallons. The well would be located on city-owned land at the corner of' University Drive and Tarrow. If the well reveals no water or finds non-producible, low-quality water, the city will pay half of the $42,000. The city has the option to take over the well and drill deeper if officials believe it is warranted. All drilling costs past 1800 feet would be paid for by the city. If the well is successful — pro duces potable water — the Whalen Corp. would pay all drilling and producing costs. These costs are ex pected to amount to over $200,000. College Station would be obli gated to buy at least 400,000 gallons of water a day for ten years. The city would pay pumping and electrical costs amounting to 4% cents per 1000 gallons which would bring the price per 1000 gallons to 35 cents. This is the price College Station is currently paying Bryan but a hike to 42 cents per 1000 gallons has been requested by Bryan officials. The Whalen Corp. would provide maintenance costs and labor. The city would provide daily supervision and routine oiling of the pump. Additionally, at the end of ten years the equipment becomes property of the city. In other Thursday night action, the councilmen voted to approp riate $53,000 toward the project of connecting city water lines to the TAMU water supply. The money was part ot $105,206 received from the federal govern-' ment under the Revenue Sharing Program. The water project was among several recommendations for using the money made by City Manager North Bardell. All of Bardell’s re commendations were accepted by the Council with Councilman Jim Gardner dissenting. Gardner ex pressed a desire to see the funds used for beautification and other special purposes rather than the usual maintenance and capital im provements procedures. Other projects receiving funds were: $14,000 for correction of drainage problems in various areas of the city; $21,000 for installing sidewalks on Southwest Parkway; $17,000 for improving bad street conditions on university shuttle bus routes. Proposed city well may contain sulfur By JERRY NEEDHAM City Editor The water well being considered by the College Station City Council stands a good chance of producing water with a high sulfur content. The proposed site of the well (University at Tarrow) is just one mile northeast of the location of sev eral Texas A&M water wells. The TAMU wells were abandoned and capped during the 1940’s because of a “large amount of sulfur” in the water. The three deep TAMU wells ranged in depth from 950 feet to 1323 feet and produced almost one million gallons of water a day. The provisions of the proposed contract with the Whalen Corpora tion call water with a high sulfur content “non-producible,” so the city stands a good chance of spend ing at least $21,000 only to find out there is sulfur water. The city also has an opportunity to find producible water below the 1400 feet depth, but if none has been found by 1800 feet, Whalen will abandon the project. The council has gone on the re cord as wanting to find out once and for all whether potable water is down there and the TAMU results just up the road indicate sulfur water to a depth of 1400 feet. The requirements for the city to finance the operation would be a bond issue of about $300,000. Of this money $70,000 would be spent for drilling and testing costs. The remaining bonds need never be sold if good quality water is not found. College Station residents must decide whether to take a gamble or to remain dependent on other sources for at least ten more years. The economic benefits to the re sidents of College Station if the city financed and found producible water would be great. Enough wells could be dug in the area to com pletely furnish the city’s water sup ply. The capital outlay of approxi mately $300,000 would pay for itself in a few short years. On the losing side of the gamble, if the city financed the venture and found no producible water, they would be out about $70,000 but would know for sure what is under the ground they stand on.