Rate hike passed, ambulance contract tablec
By JERRY NEEDHAM
Battalion Staff Writer
It took two votes of the Col
lege Station City Council
Thursday night to approve a
new phone rate ordinance, in
creasing local rates by $496,000.
The ordinance failed, three to
two, on a voice vote the first
time with Councilman Larry
Bravenec absent.
Councilmen Jim Gardner,
Gary Halter and Homer Adams
voted against the ordinance.
A ten-minute debate among
the council ensued.
“My vote favors the amount
of money but not the rate struc
ture,’ Gardner said. He ob
jected to the part of the ordi
nance which authorizes General
Telephone to charge 25 cents
for a pay telephone call, a 150
per cent increase.
“I don’t agree with it, but I
don t see what choice we have,”
Dozier said. “We think we have
arrived at a fair rate for the resi
dents in this town.
"I am willing to stand up to
the agreement we reached out
of court, he said.
Halter said he was not at the
out-of-court settlement meet
ing even though a diligent effort
was made to reach him by the
city staff. He said his phone was
out of order at that time.
A show-of-hands vote was
then called for by Mayor O. M.
Holt. The ordinance passed
three to two with Halter voting
in favor of the ordinance the
second time.
“All court opinions are in
favor of phone companies, and I
don t think we could win in
court,” Halter said, explaining
why he changed his vote.
After the meeting Halter said
that, according to phone-rate
consultant Bill McMorries
computations, the $496,000 fi
gure will give the phone com
pany approximately an 8 per
cent profit after taxes, while
General Telephone’s proposed
figure ($1,073,193) would have
given the phone company ap
proximately a 16 per cent profit
after taxes.
Ambulance
The council made a few
changes in the proposed agree
ment with Sherrill Ambulance
Service, Inc. of Bryan. The ag
reement pertains to a city-
owned modular ambulance
being loaned to Sherrill to pro
vide emergency service in the
county.
The council delayed approval
of the agreement until the pos
sibility of obtaining collision in
surance for the ambulance can
be investigated.
The ambulance, which has
liability insurance, has been in
operation for two weeks and will
continue to operate under a
day-by-day agreement until the
final agreement is approved.
Apartments
Lynn Blazer, an apartment
resident, spoke before the
council on the conditions at
Southgate Village Apartments.
She said the roof of her
apartment sprang a leak more
than a year ago. She said she
complained to the manager who
said a suit had been filed against
the roofing contractor.
Blazer said 10 units in the
complex have been closed be
cause of roof cave-ins, and many
other residents have been hav
ing problems with roofs leaking.
She said the problem is not
the fault of the manager.
Blazer said she checked the
city’s building code and found
that the city can only step in
when the habitations are un
safe, unsanitary or unfit for
human habitation. She said
these terms are vague and not
enforceable.
Blazer said she informed City
Building Official Bill Koehler of
the problem. She said he inves
tigated her apartment but de
termined that the conditions are
not in violation of the city’s
building code.
“We will ask our public works
department to inspect those
apartments that are a health
hazard,” Mayor Holt said.
Blazer said she would provide
a list of the apartments which
allegedly pose health problems,
but said, “The people are low-
income people and may be af
raid of losing their apartment,
so they will not let you in.”
Under the city’s building
code, if a dwelling is found un
inhabitable, the city can give
the tenant a 30-day eviction
notice and give notice to the
owner to repair the dwelling
within 120 days or face con
demnation.
The College Station city councilmen dis- measure was approved by a 3-2 vote,
cuss the new phone rate structure. The
€bt Battalion
Copyright © 1975, The Battalion
Vol. 69 No. 24 College Station, Texas Friday, Oct. 10, 1975
Goodwill lOSQS iGdkS Start photo by Steve Goble
Old roofing material litters the steps of the
Goodwin Building, which houses the
Parks and Recreation Department. The
building is getting a new roof after two
years of leaking and misery to those on
the fourth floor. The trouble, described
as “a few leaky spots,” will he repaired
by complete re-shingling.
Students given choice
of profs, class sections
By VICKIE D. ASHWILL
Battalion Staff Writer
Professors and class sections
are about to be put before the
students for grabs.
Beginning with pre
registration for the spring
semester, December 1 through
5, students will be able to
choose their own classes and
schedules on a first come, first
served basis.
A system of personal selec
tion has not been used since the
installation of the computer
several years ago, said Register
Robert A. Lacey, Thursday.
“At that time the computer
was so new and we had so many
new programs being de
veloped, that we decided not to
mess with personal schedul
ing,” Lacey said.
Lacey said they had been
working on this new system for
about a year and a half at Stu
dent Government’s request. He
added that there had not really
been any undue pressure from
the student body to enact such a
program, but the Student Gov
ernment had asked them to look
into this program.
Students will pre-register in
the same way as before, Lacey
said, except that a student can
now request a certain class.
The 1976 spring schedule
booklet will list all classes and
class sections being offered
along with the name of instruc
tors, if the name is known at the
time the booklet is compiled,
Lacey continued. Students will
then - be put into the class re
quested until that class is filled.
If the class is full, the computer
will automatically schedule the
student in another class.
“This system is not to be con
tinued during delayed and late
registration,” Lacey said. “Stu
dents should still build a trial
schedule to make sure there are
no schedule conflicts. ”
The new system would in
teract with the Student Gov
ernment professor evaluation
program, said Jeff Dunn, stu
dent body president.
Professor-evaluations were
used last year for the first time
and concentrated mainly on 300
level courses, Dunn said. The
evaluations are to be published
once yearly during the spring.
The survey is to encompass
most of the university classes
this spring.
“Hopefully it will show the
student which is the better pro
fessor,” Dunn said.
The new-registration system
is presently being tested by the
registrar’s office.
“Everyone must understand
that this is a new development
program,” Lacey said. “If some
thing does happen at the
eleventh hour, we will use the
back-up registration system.
That is, the system as it is now. ”
Service revised
BVDC splits phone cost
By PAULA GEYER
Battalion Staff Writer
The Brazos Valley Development
Council (BVDC) voted Thursday
night to split the costs of long
distance phone calls to the
Emergency Medical Service Crisis
Line with the Central Brazos Valley
Mental Health Center.
The calls are currently paid for
the mental health center with the
U.S. Department of Health, Educa
tion and Welfare (HEW) paying 50
per cent of the expenses.
The BVDC will pay half of the
costs presently paid for by the
center, or $540 per month, BVDC
Director Glenn Cook said.
Frank Pipes, director of the men
tal health center, said that due to
rising costs of the service the center
could no longer afford to pay for it.
The proposal passed by the board
will change the long-distance ser
vice from a Wide Area Telephone
Service (WATS) line, which was
paid for monthly, to a service with
billing charges based on the number
of calls made monthly.
The center gets an average of 400
calls per month from the seven
counties in the Brazos Valley.
They are Brazos, Burleson,
Grimes, Leon, Madison, Robertson
and Washington counties.
In other business the BVDC ap
proved the applications of both
Bryan and College Station for urban
planning funds from the Texas De
partment of Community Affairs.
The state agency handles all ap
plications for U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
The funds for Bryan total $10,000
and will be used to review city con
ditions, make an inventory of land
use and housing and to make an en
vironmental assessment.
This information will be used to
compile a comprehensive develop
ment plan for Bryan.
The funds for College Station
total $4,138.50 and will be used to
Campus
!
1
An exhibit of weavings stitchery and knot art will be dis
played through October 26 in the Memorial Student Center.
“Fiber Design” is the work of Ann Mitchell, fiber artist and
sculptress of Houston. The 26-piece exhibit includes several
items for sale, for up to $2,000.
The movie “When The People Awake will be shown in
the Rudder Tower, Room 601 at 8 p.m., Saturday.
Presented by the International Students Association, it
deals with the Allende rule and the atmosphere in Chile at
that time.
Texas
City councils in many Texas municipalities are turning
their backs on requested rate increases for electricity and
natural gas, and several are being taken to court to justify
their actions.
The city councils, pressured by consumer-voters who are
burdened with higher and higher utility bills, are either
rejecting the suggested rate hikes or proposing compromise
figures.
National
revise the existing comprehensive
development plan and update pre
sent transportation studies.
The BVDC also approved appli
cations from Brazos County for
funds from the Law Enforcement
Assistance Administration (LEAA)
Criminal Justice Division.
The Brazos County Commission
ers Court will receive $28,877 for
the final year of funding for assistant
district attorney and legal secretary.
Funds totaling $17,677 will b
used to reorganize the probatio
department to provide individiu
services to adidt and juvenile crim
nal offenders.
A resolution was also passed ;
the meeting to hohor the Rev. Hug
Eiland for distinction in service a
member of the Regional Alcoholisi
Advisory Committee.
The Rev. Mr. Eiland is moving t
Florida.
Police arrest
two students
In initial University Police
reports Thursday, two male stu
dents were charged with posses
sion of a controlled substance.
Charged were James David
Overton, sophomore biology
major from Midland, Tex. and
David Nelson Arriola, junior
bio-medical major from Dallas.
The arrest took place at approx
imately 1:30 a. m. Thursday ii
parking lot 61, west of the rail
road tracks.
The two men were taken t
Brazos County Jail, but were re
leased this morning after eacl
posted a $125 cash bond befon
Justice of the Peace Jess McGee
- - m
Photo by Alan Killings worth
Greeks bearing gifts
Treasury Secretary William E. Simon told the Senate %:•
•j;: Banking Committee that New York City needs a major prog-
i:*: ram of fiscal and financial reform. There is a Federal role in
%:• that he said, but not as envisioned in several bills pending g:
before Congress.
Although opposed to direct aid, he said that the federal
government should consider whether big cities are getting a
:j& fair share of federal aid.
One needn’t beware of
these Greeks though, as
Tom Odwyer and David
Arnold (right and center)
of Sigma Phi Epsilon fra
ternity present a $300
check to Don Ladewig,
head of the Bryan United
Way, under the approving
eye of Texas A&M Head
Coach Emory Bellard.
The Sig Eps collected the
money by balloon sales at
the Texas A&M vs. Illinois
football game. The United
Way will channel the mon
ey to the Brazos Valley Re
habilitation Center.