The City of College Station has a special subcommittee working on
new regulations to govern the height and area of signs. The current
ordinances, which several signs violate, are not being enforced
because they are not strong enough. There will be a story on the
problem in The Battalion next week.
orgotten traffic sigrii
ncreased student lots
By LEE ROY LESCIIPER JR.
Battalion Staff Writer
1^ forgotten parking lot sign enabled day
Bents to use 49 extra University parking
Jpaces from August 1975 through last
Bniversity workmen did not remove the
agn, between parking lots 7 and 8, when
ie two rows of spaces were transferred
■om day student to staff parking in August
.975.
University officials have ruled that traffic
nd parking signs supercede traffic regula-
ions when the two conflict. Students park-
mg in those lot 7 spaces could not be tic-
:eted because the forgotten sign indicated
hey were still for student parking.
Bob Melcher, administrative assistant to
the vice-president for student services,
said yesterday he discovered several weeks
ago that the sign hadn’t been removed. He
said University officials assumed the spaces
were being used for faculty-staff parking.
University personnel removed the con
flicting sign last week .
University police issued at least 14 park
ing tickets yesterday morning to students
parking in the spaces, according to a Battal
ion survey.
The spaces were transferred to provide
parking for staff members when faculty-
staff lots were destroyed or obstructed by
construction, Melcher said.
Legislature denies
deliberate delays
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Ford is
Sgain accusing Congress of delaying action
on energy bills, but congressional leaders
hist they are not dragging their feet.
In a special energy message Thursday,
ford complained that the failure of Con
fess to act on a series of administration-
insored bills is hindering the nation’s
five to become energy independent.
Although many energy issues were re
ived in a measure passed in December,
lord said the nation cannot begin to solve
jits remaining energy problems until he gets
[the additional authority he requested.
In urging action on pending bills. Ford
submitted two new proposals:
Legislation setting deadlines for fed
eral processing of pipeline projects to bring
itural gas from northern Alaska and let-
the President select a pipeline route
ibject to congressional approval.
Allowing up to one trillion cubic feet
liquefied natural gas to be imported an-
Jually, which does not require congres-
honal action.
Senate backers of a bill to speed comple-
bn of a gas pipeline said their approach.
mandating approval of a pipeline route
within 60 days after passage, would get the
job done faster than Ford’s proposal.
Ford especially urged Congress to pass a
bill to end federal price regulation of
natural gas. The Senate voted last year to
gradually remove price controls on in
terstate sales of natural gas. But the House
earlier this month passed a conflicting ver
sion continuing controls and, in some in
stances, actually broadening them.
Other administration bills Ford urged
Congress to enact included:
— Authority for temporary sale
natural gas at unregulated prices.
— Creation of an energy independence
authority to underwrite up to $100 billion
in private energy projects.
— Financial guarantees of up to $6 bill
ion for development of private synthetic
fuel production.
— Increased investment tax credits f or
building new power plants.
— Authorization of commercial oil pro
duction from naval reserves.
— Easing of clean air standards to allow
increased burning of coal.
€bt Battalion
Vol. 68 No. 83 College Station, Texas Friday, Feb. 27, 1976
Godine, Williams declared
ineligible at SWC hearing
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Southwest Conference
faculty representatives have ended a 12-
hour marathon court-ordered hearing by
making the same decision they reached
Feb. 15 — Texas A&M basketball players
Karl Godine and Jarvis Williams are inelig
ible the rest of this season and all of next.
SWC President Dr. Kenneth Herrick of
Texas Christian University, in a prepared
statement, ended the grueling all-day ses
sion by reaffirming the SWC’s ear her rul
ing.
“The Southwest Conference Thursday
declared Karl Godine and Jarvis Williams,
Texas A&M basketball players, ineligible
for the remainder of this season and the
entire 1976-77 season,” Herrick said.
“This action was based on the findings of
the SWC’s ad hoc enforcement committee
that the student athletes had been offered
by representatives of A&M’s athletic in
terests (not members of A&M’s athletic de
partment) and had accepted financial be
nefits in excess of what is permitted by
conference regulations,” the statement
said.
The conference representatives declared
the two players ineligible at a meeting in
Dallas Feb. 15, but Hugh M. Smith, attor
ney for the players, obtained a restraining
order that permitted the players to return
to action until a hearing could be held.
A federal court judge ruled that the SWC
had not given the players due process and
ordered the conference to hold a hearing
within 30 days. SWC officials said Thurs
day’s hearing, in which Smith presented 12
witnesses in the players’ behalf, fulfilled
that court’s wishes.
Following more than eight hours of hear
ings in which both players and a polygraph
examiner testified, faculty representatives
Williams’father says the SWC ruling is
stupid. See story page 6.
and SWC athletic directors entered a
closed meeting to deliberate on their rul
ing.
Four hours later, Herrick emerged with
the SWC’s statement.
Herrick said the illegal inductments to
Godine and Williams were in the form of
cash and the promise of cash, the making
available of automobiles and for compensa
tion in excess of work performed.
Among those appearing before the hear
ing were George Gilliam, owner of Gilliam
Furniture Co., Houston, and two of his
employes, Katherine Hollwell and David
Pickens. Godine and Williams held sum
mer jobs at Gilliam Furniture.
Herrick, reading from the statement,
said “The penalties voted at the SWC’s
Feb. 15 meeting, (1) that Texas A&M shall
receive a public reprimand from the SWC;
(2) that in the sport of basketball, the total
scholarship in effect the same year, be re
duced from 15 to 13 during the 1976-77 and
1977-78 academic years, stand.”
Herrick said Texas A&M, which won its
second straight SWC basketball title Tues
day night, will not have to forfeit games in
which Godine and Williams played this
season.
A&M Athletic Director Emory Bellard,
who sat through the tense hearings, said “I
don’t think they deserve to be punished.
But that’s just my opinion.”
Aggie faculty representative Dr. Charles
H. Samson Jr., said he thought information
was presented at the hearing in favor of
Godine and Williams.
“From my standpoint, the interrogation
of the witnesses offered explanations and
clarified many questions in favor of the
players,” Samson said. “Personally, I
thought there was useful information
brought out. I am disappointed in the re
sults. ”
The SWC passed a resolution in the hear
ing praising University of Texas basketball
Coach Leon Black, who SWC executive
secretary Cliff Speegle testified initiated
the investigation.
Samson and Bellard declined to com
ment on the resolution which said “Be it
resolved that Coach Leon Black of the Uni
versity of Texas at Austin be commended
for performing his mandatory duty in refer
ring alleged violations of SWC basketball
rules and regulations. Black acted in the
best tradition of intercollegiate athletics.”
Godine and Williams slipped out a back
door of the hearing room following the
hearing portion of Thursday’s session and
were not present when their ineligibility
was announced.
Godine, contacted at the home of his
mother in Houston, declined comment
until he spoke with his attorney.
The long procession of witnesses started
shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday and ended
shortly before 6:30 p.m.
Godine and Williams testified in the
morning session along with Jimmy Gray,
the employer of Godine’s older brother
Adolphus, and Adolphus Godine.
Robert DeSham, a polygraph operator,
started the afternoon sessions followed by
Mrs. Adolphus Godine and Mrs. Mae Wil
liams.
After completing his lengthy presenta
tion to the faculty representatives. Smith
said “I feel they heard a different picture
from what they had before. They seemed to
be fair-minded men. ”
Grant funds city improvements
By JERRY NEEDHAM
Battalion Staff Writer
The College Station City Council last
night approved city improvement projects
totaling $169,000. The projects are funded
under a six-year federal grant program.
The money will be used to pave, curb
and gutter Churchill Street, Park Place
(from Texas Avenue to Anderson Street)
and Southland Street (from Wellborn Road
to Pecan Tree Estates).
Other work under the project is drainage
improvement on Park Place and the re
moval of six vacant, dilapidated buildings in
College Station.
The funds were furnished by the U. S.
Department of Housing and Urban De
velopment (HUD) through the Commun
ity Development Program. The money
must be used for improvements in low-
to-moderate income areas or for urgent
community development needs.
Last year College Station received
$70,000 under the first part of the program.
The money is being used to make im
provements on Sterling and Richards
streets and Lassie Lane.
There was some debate among council-
men whether two apartment complexes lo
cated at Park Place and Anderson Street
should be included in the funding.
An amendment to the proposed im
provements program was defeated, 3-2. It
would have required the owners of the two
apartments to pay for a half-block portion of
the street repairs under the regular street
paving program.
Councilmen Larry Bravenec and Gary
Halter voted for the amendment while
Mayor O. M. Holt and Councilmen Homer
Adams and Bob Bell voted against it.
“I’m in favor of using these funds to be
nefit low- and middle-income people, ” said
Bravenec, “but I don’t see any point in
using these limited funds to benefit those
who do not need to be benefited.”
City Planner Al Mayo said he did not
include the apartments in his definition of
the neighborhood to the HUD office in
Dallas.
Park Place needs to be repaired to the
Anderson Street intersection, Mayo said,
because drainage problems would develop
if the apartments’ section of the street were
not finished.
A decision from the H UD office in Dallas
on whether the apartments can be included
in the federal funding has already been
asked for, Mayo said.
The council voted to have the city attor
ney draft an ordinance that would provide a
penalty for delinquent hotel-motel tax
payments.
The three per cent tax is collected by the
hotels and motels from its guests.
The Aggieland Inn, currently reorganiz
ing under federal bankruptcy laws, owes
the city $17,225 in back hotel-motel taxes.
The council appropriated $850 to the
Community Appearance Committee for
the printing costs of a street tree planting
study. The study, to be made by members
of the Texas A&M Landscape Architecture
Department free-of-charge, will include
specific recommendations for planting
trees on city streets.
A 2.5-acre tract in Southwood Valley was
rezoned from agricultural open to
commercial-industrial by the council. The
request was in the name of the Area Prog
ress Corporation.
Index
After a lengthy battle, the stu
dents of Prairie View A&M may be
allowed to vote in Harris County.
Page 7.
The Ross Volunteers return to
New Orleans for their 25th time to
lead the Mardi Gras King Rex
parade. Page 5.
Traditions were broken in the
MSC committee chairmen selec
tions. Page 4.
V.
THE FORECAST for Friday
and Saturday is mostly cloudy
mornings and partly cloudy aft
ernoons. Continued warm both
days at 78; low tonight 59.
Epidemic expected to die out
Thirty-six per cent of all students at
Texas A&M have come down with the flu
since the spring semester began.
Dr. Claude Goswick, director of the A.
P. Beutal Health Center said that since
January 19th, 8,964 cases of the flu have
been treated and the number is continuing
to rise.
However, he said, “We’ve plateaued
out, and I expect that after the spring break
the epidemic will be over.
“Last year’s figures are only one-half or
one-third of this year’s total. The reason for
the rapid spread of the disease is the close
contact in dormitories, various activities
and, especially, the classroom. A lot of stu
dents are going to class with the ailment,
giving it to others,” Goswick said.
Goswick believes this flu virus is the
“Victorian A” strain, the same one that hit
Houston and Waco. But Goswick said,
“The viruses keep changing every year so
the vaccination for the upcoming flu season
is always for last year’s flu. It has relatively
little effect in preventing the new strain.
According to Goswick some professors
lack enough understanding during this
epidemic. “One girl came in last week with
a temperature of 103 degrees. She waited
from 10:30 in the morning until 2:30 in the
afternoon to see a doctor. She had to leave
to take an exam, then she returned to the
hospital. I ordered her to bed, but she said
she couldn’t because she had to study for
another exam so she wouldn’t have to take a
make-up that the professor said would be
harder than the first one. The students are
really caught in the middle.”
Goswick said that there is no fool-prool
way to avoid catching the flu. He said just to
stay in good health by resting and eating
well.
But when students do get the flu, Gos
wick says, “We usually give then Darvon
and aspirin for pain and fever and some sort
of decongestant, but the disease still has to
run out its two or three day period. After
the antibodies are built up a person is rela
tively immune to that type flu.”
— Owen Rachal
Laundry service tries
to stay above water
By cutting down on the number of
employes and increasing the effi
ciency of the remaining workers, the
A&M laundry is trying to keep its
head above water.
Last fall 5,525 students used the
laundry. The number of students has
steadily declined since the laundry
was optional for students in Fall
1974, said Clinton Williams, A&M
laundry manager. Most of the de
cline has been from women students
not using the service, he said.
With the decrease in its workload,
the laundry has stopped hiring as
many people as in past years. Addi
tionally, when a worker has finished
his job for the day, he checks out for
the day, thus he is paid only for the
work he does, Williams said.
“You’ll never replace the cost of
personnel,” said Williams, saying
that costs of the equipment can be
paid off, but that labor is continual.
He added that most expenses can’t
be reduced.
During early February the laun
dry ran a series of six ads during a two
week period to get more off-campus
and staff members to use the laun
dry. The ads inaugurated a new
“blue ticket” system in which anyone
can turn in a load of laundry at the
station. The person is then charged a
set amount for each piece of dirty
laundry.
Various university departments
also use the laundry to wash un
iforms and other items. The larger
users are the Building and Utility
department and food services, which
regularly have the laundry wash
their uniforms. Some months as
many as 40 to 50 departments may
use the service during the month,
but the number varies, Williams
said.
Automation has also been utilized
in an effort to save money, Williams
said. Most of the automation is in the
form of equipment to increase the
efficiency of the operation. Machines
are being used in tandem so there is a
minimum amount of lag time, he
said.
Different detergents are now
being used by the laundry in an effort
to save a little on that essential item,
he said. Although the laundry is now
using the second and third grades of
the excellent class of soap, Mike
Goeken, assistant director of man
agement services, said that there is
still the same quality.
Both Williams and Goeken said
that the students who don’t take the
laundry because of the cost are really
cheating themselves. They
explained that the laundry provides
more services than a coin-operated
laundry. The A&M laundry presses
shirts and pants and also sews on lost
button, Williams said.
— Jim Crawley
The A&M laundry, famous for its nicely starched blue jeans, is
losing business. Manager Clinton Williams says students not using
the service are cheating themselves since the laundry even replaces
lost buttons. Just like Mom used to do.