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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1976)
Battalion Vol. 68 No. 67 College Station, Texas Friday, Jan. 30, 1976 City council rejects ‘out of line’ contract Consol classroom space pic of citizens 7 meeting By CAROL MEYER lele Station citizens presented their ins about a proposed school bond mlit last night’s meeting of the A& M ilidated Citizen s Advisory Commit- (jeeting was held to discuss the oladditional classroom space in the I district. Huch meetings have been held in ist two weeks involving an architect, ^ l oli ials, citizens and the Consulta- I Bnmittee of the College Station * ition Association. From these as- Hthe advisory committee will pre- ecoinmendations to the school board iiug a bond election. Moard is expected to consider the imbndations within the next month. p.|2 million bond election was held Hfcmber, but was narrowly defeated. ul| have provided funds for a new mtpry school on the site of the old ■Biehool at 13(X) Jersey Street. (m B. Longley, chairman of the Col- itajion Planning and Zoning Commis- ucgested that the fifth and sixth could he accommodated at the old Bchool. He said, however, that the lonal traffic on Jersey Street could Jproblem. . 0 C. Cooper said that Texas A&M ■ City of College Station have ex- Hinterest in the old Middle School He suggested another location for the 3sed elementary school. Secity is growingsoiith,” Cooper said, h Knoll (elementary school) is getting er number of children, member of the committee said the l district would save about $2 million ildjing the school on the old property, rbara Tipple, special education e> at A&M Consolidated Middle >l, emphasized the problem of noise in lassroom. r room and another are divided by a k*|>od partition. She said the problem lUHldren in special education “is that ire easily distracted. They need acon- 0 Environment. She played a tape ding made in her classroom that day t exemplified the high noise level, be committee needs to look at the from the children’s point of view, ’ Middle School teacher Barbara LeB- s,i£f‘Help the children in the areas in and |they are willing to leam, namely the il education program.” ndex ggie Heart Award to be given morrow night. Page 6. One woman advised using the elemen tary schools’ cafeterias for indoor physical education. She also suggested that the existing unused buildings on the Jersey Street site could be used to “buy time to determine the community’s growth. “Teachers and instructional materials are what’s best. Walls don’t make much differ ence, she said. The need for vocational facilities at the high school was also discussed. Such facilities, along with additional classrooms at the Middle School and College Hills Elementary, and space for elementary physical education, were also included in the previous bond election. “The kindergarten is going to a state- recommended full day in 1977, said one citizen who emphasized the need for additional space in that area also. By JERRY NEEDHAM Battalion Staff Writer Bryan’s newest utility rate proposal was unanimously rejected by the College Sta tion City Council yesterday. The council took the action upon rec ommendation of the city’s Utility Rate Ad visory Committee. Jim Dozier, committee chairman and councilman, said that after giving the pro posed contract a detailed study, the com mittee found the proposed rates “to be completely out of line with those of other available sources. The council has re quested that Bryan submit a new proposal within 14 days containing competitive rates and terms or else the City of College Sta tion will begin negotiating for electricity from Gulf States Utilities. The council also voted to present its spe cific objections to the contract to the Bryan Council even though most of the council- men echoed Councilman Larry Bravenec’s doubts that any further negotiations would be fruitful. Mayor O.M. Holt agreed, “We’ve done all we could do all along. I think once we have put our objections on paper and pre sented them to Bryan, we will have gone the last mile.’ A meeting of the College Station Council is scheduled for 2 p.m. today to draw up the objections. A joint meeting of the two city councils is still possible within the next two weeks to try one last negotiation. Dozier said the principle objection to the proposed contract is the rates. “We specifi cally object to Bryan charging its residents 42 cents per 1,000 gallons of water while they charge College Station 47 cents per 1,000 gallons,’’ he said. Bravenec said, “We feel that since we (College Station residents) are Bryan’s best customer, we deserve their best rate. College Station councilmen contend that under the present contract College Station is partially supporting Bryan’s installation, distribution and billing system. Bravenec pointed out that, in addition. College Sta tion has to wholly maintain its own distribu tion and billing system. “We recognize that Bryan may not be able to make a better offer than this. If not, we would like them to say that. There is no malice involved,’ said Dozier. Councilman Gary Halter said, “I get the impression from people working on this committee that Bryan has not acted in good faith.” The Bryan Council rejected a proposal by the College Station Council in De cember to jointly hire a consultant to de termine what the true costs are in supply ing utilities to College Station. Under the proposed contract. College Station would have a perpetual five-year contract with Bryan because it would be renegotiable annually. Also, College Sta tion would have to give five year’s notice before termination of the contract. The rate committee determined that the proposed Bryan rates for electricity are 40 per cent higher than what the city coidd be obtaining from Gulf States. Bravenec told The Battalion that the rate offered by Gulf States is a standard rate for municipalities and not a special rate to get College Station on the Gulf States system. The difference in the rates is indicated by a representative bill for the month of De cember, 1975, as calculated by City Man ager North Bardell. A resident of Caldwell (which is served by Gulf States) would have paid $59 for 3,400 kilowatt-hours of electricity in De cember, including fuel adjustments. Under Bryan’s proposed contract these same 3,400 kilowatt-hours would have cost a College Station resident $98, a difference of 60 per cent, Bardell said. Another point of disagreement over the proposed contract is the provision that Col lege Station must purchase at least 80 per cent of its annual water requirements from Bryan “unless the parties mutually agree otherwise.” A private firm has been conducting studies of an area southwest of College Sta tion to determine the quality and quantity of water available in several wells there. Results of the tests, commissioned by Col lege Station, have shown the water to be potable. The tests have also shown that the wells can produce up to 2,000 gallons of water per minute which, when added to the amount College Station gets from its own well and from Texas A&M, would provide at least 50 per cent of the city’s current water needs, Bardell estimated. College Station has contracted for its util ity supplies since its incorporation in 1938. 2 classes canceled for Monday events All classes will be dismissed between 1 and 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2 in recognition of Texas A&M’s Centennial celebration. The announcement was made earlier this week by University President Jack K. Williams. The first of four major Centennial events will be held tonight. Marcel Marceau will perform in Rudder Center Auditorium tonight at 8. On Monday, a Centennial sculpture by Houston artist G. Pat Foley will be un veiled at the University Center. Gov. Dolph Briscoe will attend the ceremony. Approximately 200 persons, including Briscoe, distinguished alumni and the A&M Board of Regents, will attend a noon buffet. At 1:30 p.m. the Aggie Concert Band will perform in Rudder Tower to begin the af ternoon’s events. At 2 p.m. in Rudder auditorium Briscoe will speak at a general ceremony proclaim ing 1976 as A&M’s Centennial year. The program will also include remarks by Clyde H. Wells, chairman of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents; Dr. Betty M. Unterberger, vice chairman of the university’s Academic Council; Jeff Dunn, student government president, and Williams. The day’s events will be concluded by a presentation of the Houston Symphony in concert with the Singing Cadets at 8 p.m. in Rudder Center Auditorium. The second major event of the year to recognize the Centennial will be Aggie Muster on April 21. Commencement for the Class of 1976, to be held May 8, will be the third celebration event. The fourth and last major feature will be on Oct. 4, the date A&M was instituted as a college in 1876. — LeANN Roby Section of Texas law called discriminatory Leading the hand Jim Hendrickson The Commons area was treated to live music Thursday night. Larry Foster led the Dunn- Aston band in its second practice session. EORGE BUSH is to be sworn in as n Mnew director of the CIA. Page 4. 10ROCCO CLAIMS victory in the ipanish Sahara. Page 4. FORMER SKIER says Olympics liould he open to professionals. ’age 5. REPORT was released today ■ut alleged irregularities in the iuirt Worth Police Department. Page 3. Weather E FORECAST for Friday s fair and mild with a high of 72 rees. The low tonight will be 1 degrees. Partly cloudy and Jljiontinued mild Saturday. Fee committee hears appeals Only five of 14 student organizations were represented last night at the final hearings on the budgeting of the 1976-77 Student Service Fees The Student Fee Allocation Committee, headed by Bill Flores, vice president of student finance, heard pleas from the rep resentatives but made no changes in Wed nesday night’s committee recom mendations. The Athletic Department, first group to approach the committee, felt they would either have to cut programs or increase ticket prices in order to operate on the $90,000 allocated them. An Athletic Council representative said he felt the $15 ticket books would be ac cepted by his organization. However he said he did not feel it was within the juris diction of of the committee to budget the entire Student Service Fees. “The committee’s recommendations will be taken back to the Athletic Council and used as a base figure, but it’s back to the drawing board,” the representative said. Extramurals, which were cut due to lim ited student involvement and limited par ticipation in fund raisings, expressed its need for support at a level high enough to draw participation. Suggestions to increase access to In tramural facilities included scheduling Fri- day, Saturday and Sunday afternoon events. According to a representative, “In tramurals is the fastest growing organiza tion on campus and has the largest mem bership. Committee member Joe Marcello rec ommended a user fee be attached to the Intramurals budget recommendation re questing teams pay a minimal entry fee to aid the program. Great Issues also pleaded that their re quested funds were necessary' to obtain high caliber speakers and to keep up with increased speaker costs. The Student Government programs were last to be heard and simply said they appreciated the increase they received. The overall tone of the past committee meetings was summed up by a committee member who said, “Nobody wanted to give anything up, but everybody wanted to cut back. The recommendations will be discussed before the Student Senate at its next meet ing on Feb. 4, before going to the vice- president of student services and to the president’s office for his final endorsement. — Louis Hejtmanek Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Justice De partment says it will reject part of a new Texas law which would prevent the Raza Unida party from conducting a statewide primary election this year. The department ruled Thursday that one section of the law restricts political parties from holding primaries in a way that could be discriminatory to Mexican-American voters. The law provides that political parties whose gubernatorial candidate in the last general election received less than 20 per cent of the vote must nominate candidates this year by convention, rather than pri mary elections. The department noted that since Raza Unida’s candidate for governor received only about 6 per cent of the vote in 1974, that party would be unable to conduct a primary under the law this year. The state reimburses parties holding primary elections for election costs but the state does not pay for political nominating conventions. mg distance telephone rates AT&T wants increase Associated Press 'ASHINGTON — If you make long dis- e telephone calls, the chances are your thh telephone bill will be going up on ■2 American Telephone and Telegraph filing for rate adjustments Thursday, the average residential telephone bill Bcrease by about 10 cents per month, average business customer will pay at §2 a month more if the Federal ^lirinriications Commission approves Pnew rates as expected. Jill Erwin, division manager for Gen- Telephone in Bryan, said that the raise ites was not a local raise. The increased cost of long distance calls will be felt by people here just as it will be felt anywhere in the United States, Erwin said.) The new rates submitted to the FCC would increase the cost of long distance calls made over short distances, while re ducing the cost of calls made over longer distances. Calls in which operator assis tance is required would undergo the shar pest increase. For instance, a three minute direct- dialed evening call from Chicago to San Francisco would drop from 84 cents to 80 cents, but a station-to-station call between the same cities requiring operator assis tance would rise from $1.90 for three min utes to $2.15. AT&T says the hikes will make long dis tance calls about as expensive as in 1953 when the company began lowering its long distance rates. The FCC approved a similar rate pattern on an interim basis last March 9, increasing about two-thirds of the interstate long distance rates and either decreasing or keeping the others the same. The precise amount of increases faced by each customer would depend upon the number and type of interstate calls made, their distance and duration, the time of the day and the day of the week. Art of the troubadour Douglas Winship Martin Best, assisted by Edward Flower, pre sented a program of songs and guitar and lute music in the Rudder Theatre Thursday night. His music ranged from the Renaissance to Amer ican Indian texts which he set to music.
