The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 18, 1975, Image 1

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    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.