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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 1976)
' ‘ ; 1 i: • s eft the Chou iecol- derate idicals ' at 78 No. 3 blows heir- hear- twith ’isitin )Peli- cause heck 'illion t bor- l was erald 1975. Jixon time, i, the I'isit, is as Party time nhis nyof ' the •own gen es of with om- >een take had eal. The weather Increasing cloudiness and tooler, high in upper 80s. Low to- t in low 60s. High tomorrow in 80s. Che Battalion Vol. 70 No. 7 8 Pages Friday, September 10, 1976 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Mid-air crash; 176 dead Associated Press BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — A British liner and a Yugoslav charter jet carrying est German tourists collided at 35,000 near Zagreb today, officials said. All Bpersons aboard the planes were killed, lording to doctors at the scene. Awitness among the first to arrive at the ish site said the body of one plane was rned out. He said bodies and luggage ire scattered around the rubble. More ffl30 ambulances and fire trucks went to escenebut found no one alive, he said. The British plane carried a reported 54 passengers and nine crew members. A British Airways spokesman in New York said there was one American and one Canadian aboard the plane. However, British Airways officials in London said there were at least two Americans and some Turkish nationals aboard. The Yugoslav plane had 108 passengers and five crew members aboard, company officials said. Sources said most or all of them were West German tourists return ing from vacations on the Adriatic coast. The planes collided at 6:15 a.m. EDT about 15 miles northeast of Zagreb, Yugos lavia’s second largest city and 230 north west of Belgrade. The cause of the collision was not im mediately known. Officials said an investi gation has begun. British Airways officials in London said Flight 476 was on a direct flight from Lon- to Istanbul. The plane was a Trident 3 jet liner. Reports here said the Yugoslavian plane was a DC9 belonging to the Yugoslav char ter company Inex-Adria. The DC9 was fly ing between Split, Yugoslavia, and Col ogne, West Germany. n J .S. ward hearing recessed By JERRY NEEDHAM Battalion Editor ;ainst pro- Party ierals jnifi- cy of tcept ouik with muss The hearing on the contest of the April 3 ollege Station charter change election sgan yesterday but was recessed by 85th istrict Court Judge W. C. Davis until ivyers for each side draw up briefs of immary arguments. Twenty-four persons testified that they either confused on the ward system | ne or were aware of voter confusion. The case was based on a petition signed 700 voters who protested the ward oposition on the ballot on the grounds at it was misleading and the results did it represent true voter feeling. The lawyer for the case against the bal- itisCollege Station city attorney Neeley ewis. Aplea of intervention was filed by Texas &M University students Robert Harvey, lary Ellen Martin and Jerri Ward last riday. The students’ legal counsel is Kent aperton. Harvey said the students filed the plea ecause they felt no one would defend the alklityof the election as the city was also mong those against the ballot and the re- ilts. The charter amendment asked voters to choose between the present at-large sys tem of electing city councilmen or a ward system where all six would be elected by voters in one of six districts of equal popu lation. The at-large system presently in use allows each citizen to vote for each of the council positions. The amendment passed by a vote of 1,190 to 1,161, a majority of less than one per cent. The total number of votes cast in the April 3 election was 3,067 while the number voting on the ward proposition was only' 2,351. Complaints by' voters about ballot con fusion culminated in the 700-signature petition of protest which was presented to the city council at its April 27 meeting. On April 30 official notice of contest was filed with the city by Mrs. D. A. Ander son. It contested the election on the grounds that the wording of the ballot was ambiguous and voters were misled, that the ballot did not contain instructions di recting voters to the ward proposition on the last page and that the ballot was worded to give a “fbr-against” response rather than a “yes-no response as re quired by state law. On May 3 a similar notice of contest signed by 26 College Station citizens was delivered to the city. College Station Mayor Lorence Bravencec said he withheld the two notices to wait for the results of the June 29 “straw vote ”. Results of the “straw vote” showed that more than two-thirds of the voters pre ferred the present at-large system. Contest notices were filed with the dis trict clerk on July 14 and yesterday’s court date was set. In the meantime. College Station offi cials have been trying to draw up six equal wards in the city. The ward boundaries were to have been submitted to the Jus tice Department for review by the Federal Voting Rights Commission by Sept. 1. The city council has encountered diffi culty in drawing up the boundaries be cause state and federal laws produce con flict. State law says ward lines cannot cross county commissioner’s or judicial precinct lines. Federal law says the wards must be equal in population and must not split up ethnic or racial minorities. In a meeting with the county commis sioners’ court last month, the commission- (See HEARING, Page 2.) Alumnus honored Saturday By MARTHA MUGG “Come to Texas A&M College, where we make men out of boys,” Capt. Andrew M oses, commandant of the Corps of Cadets, invited young Ernest Langford in 1909. . . That invitation has stuck in Langford’s mind all these years as the event that started his lifelong association with the school. Langford is being honored this Saturday at the dedication of the Ernest Langford Architectural Center. Although Langford has never seen the new portion of the building, both it and the present ar chitecture building were designed by his former student Harwood K. Smith, Class of ’35. “The last thing we needed was a fifteen- story tower,” Langford said of the rest of the new architecture on campus. He feels the Oceanography and Meteorology Build ing ruins the main approach to the campus. He wouldn’t begrudge the new blue water tower “If they’d only put it somewhere else.” Preferring uniformity in building height (four-story), Langford’s list of “good buildings” on campus includes the Krueger-Dunn complex and the MSC. Langford left many notes and articles in the archives, including a bound mimeog raph tracing the history of every building on campus, from Old Main and Gathright Hall through the present Architecture Building, when he retired in 1971. Looking at the campus today, Langford said the biggest change was the admission of women. He added that students today are undoubtedly better prepared, though not necessarily smarter, than those of the past. Langford believes where the student finally ends up ultimately depends on what he does for himself. Battalion photo by Ruth Marie Cowie Natural beauty Cute, little girls are not usually thought of as being tree climbers, but when you put the two together, one can see the beauty of nature blend together. Amy Parks (above), who lives at 800 A Cross St. in College Station, is the neighbor of the photographer. hina mourns Mao The central committee of the Chinese Communist party issued an appeal for un ity, and reports from China indicated the people were calm as they mourned their revolutionary leader. “All papers devote the entire front page to a huge portrait of Chairman Mao Tse- tung bordered in black,’’ the official Hsinhua news agency said today in a broadcast monitored here. It said news papers used the banner headline: “Eternal glory to our great leader and teacher Chairman Mao Tse-tung.” Peking residents contacted by telephone Called ‘short term’ measure said flags were at half-staff through the cap ital, nearly everyone was wearing a black armband, some people wept and large crowds gathered in the huge Tien An Men Square to put white flowers at a monu ment. Written on the monument are Mao’s words: “The heroes of the people are im mortal.” “Peking is somber,” one resident said by telephone, “but things are very much nor mal aside from what you would expect for the mourning of the chairman.” “People have severe expressions on their faces,” a second resident said, “but there is no high emotion. We re all impressed by the calm atmosphere.” Chinese broadcasts were devoted to Mao’s passing. A resident said the broad casts told listeners to turn their grief into strength, to follow Mao’s will be build a socialist system in China and to continue efforts for unity. The Japanese newspaper Asahi quoted an aged Chinese as saying, “The most sor rowful moment has come. We have lost Chairman Mao, Premier Chou En-Lai and Marshal Chu Teh in one year. This year is the saddest for our country since its founda tion.” City adopts master plan By JAMIE AITKEN Battalion City Editor College Station City Councilmen last night adopted a master plan for the city, but acknowledged that the plan fell short of being an effective tool for the community’s growth. “This is a short-term, stopgap measure,” Mayor Larry Bravenec said in presenting the plan. He said the city was in need of a tool to base its planning decisions. Councilman Gary Halter admitted that the council did not accept all parts of the plan, but that state law required a com prehensive plan the city. It was noted that such a plan would give the various city departments a guideline to follow in decisions of land use, transporta tion and streets, sewage and utilities. The plan, called the Pinnell Plan after the designing firm, Pinnell Associates, has been under consideration by the council for 18 months. The Pinnell study was criticized during the meeting as being sadly representative of College Station today. Mary Ellen Mar tin, Student Government liaison to the council, asked that the Pinnell Plan not be considered, and that a fully acceptable plan be developed instead. Another student, Jerri Ward, said the city should operate without a master plan entirely. Councilman Jim Dozier said he thought the existing zoning map constituted a com prehensive plan. Councilmen agreed that the biggest problem was defining the term “comprehensive plan.” The vote to accept the Pinnell Plan as a short-term master plan carried with the approval of Councilmen Lane Stephenson, Anne Hazen and Halter. Dozier and Coun cilman Jim Gardner voted nay; Larry Ringer was absent. In other business, councilmen resolved to fund the Community Appearance Committee for a $500 study of trees in Col lege Station. Through the aid of aerial in frared photography , trees will be studied for the incidence of death by disease. Bravenec was authorized to request con- Police battle illegal parking Battalion photo by Kevin Venner Battle protection The wrapping of the cannon bone is an important part of injury prevention during polo matches. This part of the horse, which corresponds to the shin bone in man, is susceptible to powerful blows from the players’ mallets and unless covered, the bone can be easily broken. The wrap is insurance against serious injury, said one player, but is no guarantee against breakage. Debbie Asistent (above), a member of the Texas A&M Polo Club, prepares her horse for a workout. Students who choose to forsake campus parking will find little refuge in the area north of Texas A&M. Local businesses and city police are currently combating illegal parking in an effort to keep parking lots clear. According to Bernie Gessner, presi dent of the Northgate Merchants Associa tion, “We re just interested, as busi nessmen, in maximum traffic flow.” The area in question includes the North- gate and University Square shopping com plexes, as well as other businesses, churches and vacant lots, located directly north of the A&M campus. Students are seeking parking in these locations in an effort to stay nearer to classes. According to Chief O.L. Luther of the University Police Department, however, these areas are relatively the same distance from the center of campus as the more distant student lots on the south side of the university, located near Kyle Field. Luther suggests that if students would park in these lots (56 and 61) “ we could alleviate some of the problem.” Gessner, who operates the University Cleaners on College Main, says, “There’s never going to be enough parking.” Gessner and other area merchants are attempting to use a nearby vacant lot, con trolled by Aggieland Studies, for the own parking. This, he says, should clear more space for customers. Gessner and other merchants are not complaining about customer’s parking, but rather prolonged use of available space by A&M students. Several streets in the area are set up to accommodate one hour and two hour parking. Gessner says students will park in these spaces and spend the day in school, closing off space to short-term customers. Gessner claims it hurts business and “engenders a lot of hard feelings.” Gessner suggests a certain “arrogance” among car owners and adds, “A parking place is not a God-given right.” Captain Edgar Feldman of the College Station Police Department admits,’There is a problem over there (Northgate) with the vehicles.” According to Feldman, Col lege Sation Police can do nothing about the situation itself, but can only continue to enforce existing laws. These laws leave police powerless to ticket automobiles not on public property. Citizens and businesses are left with the task of clearing unwanted vehicles from their property. City ordinances, (one specifically covers the Northgate area), allow complainants to remove these vehicles by tow truck, at the owner’s expense. In this situation, police are notified by the wrecker services and attempt to locate the owner. Feldman says owners usually call in and claim their car as being stolen before the police can even contact them. Some businesses employ the use of wrecker services to patrol their lots. A&M Wrecker Service, which controls the Uni versity Square parking lot, (Skaggs Al bertsons, Mitchell’s, etc.), through a con tract with Culpepper Properties, refuses to disclose details of their operation; but, ac cording to Officer Linda Andrews of the College Station Police, “their business is pretty good.” Andrews says, “If they find a car that’s not supposed to be there, they get thrown out real quick.” Andrews, a 24-year-old graduate of A&M, has been patrolling Northgate on a regular 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. beat since mid- August. She says, on the average, she hands out 20 parking tickets a day. Oddly enough, College Station parking tickets cost the offender $3, while Univer sity Police parking tickets cost $5, which makes it cheaper to violate city law. Feldman adds, however, that vehicles violating city law will be ticketed daily. After repeated violations, the vehicle’s owner may be contacted. The only instance in which the police will have vehicle towed away is when that vehicle is in a position where it might cause some danger, either to the vehicle itself or to passing au tomobiles or citizens. In a situation where a vehicle must be moved, Feldman says the vehicle will be removed by one of the wrecker services that the city has on rota tion. “It’s nothing we enjoy doing,” Feldman says, “but for the safety of everyone concerned, we do it.” The offenders are apparently not all stu dents. Andrews claims that some mer chant’s vehicles are parked illegally. She suggests that merchant parking in the va cant lot should “help a whole lot.” Andrews says her usual procedure is to place chalk on the tires on one and two hour spaces. If she returns after the appropriate time period and finds the chalk still on the tires, she tickets them. Some people, she says, will drive their cars around the block every hour, just to escape ticketing. Cadets blame Borman’s son Associated Press NEW YORK — Despite denials, two men convicted in West Point’s cheating scandal stand by their sworn allegations that former astronaut Frank Borman’s son accepted a $1,200 bribe to “fix” an honor code case while he was a cadet. The son, Army Capt. Frederick Borman, denied the charge and offered to take a lie detector test to settle the issue. The two cadets who are accused in the affidavits of having bribed Borman to fix a plebe’s case also denied the allegation. But the two members of the Class of 1977 who signed the statements refused to re cant when told of the denials late Thursday. One of them said he had learned of the incident from two friends who told him they in turn had heard of it from the alleged bribers. The second cadet said the two al leged bribers had boasted of their deed to him and to others in their cadet company. tract information from the Bureau of the Census in Washington, D.C. after council members expressed interest in a special census of College Station. City Manager North Bardell said that if the increase in the city’s population is documented in the cen sus, it could mean an increase of at least $58,000 in revenue sharing funds for the year. The census has an estimated cost of $15,000. The council agreed to consider an amendment to its new wrecker ordinance that would require wrecker to display their names and phone numbers for owners of cars that have been towed away. The new ordinance allows anyone meeting security requirements to operate a wrecker service in the city. The council denied a variance request for a 160-foot curb cut in the development of a proposed 14-unit apartment complex on Meadowland Street, behind Ramada Inn. Councilmen denied the request unanimously, citing substandard de velopment of the complex and a look to ward better development of the area in the future. The complex, if reduced to 12 units, would be within city building require ments and no variance would be necessary. Martin opposed the council’s decision in light of the current housing shortage. Bravenec responded that the shortage might well be oyer in five years, and that the council was making long-range deci sions. He said his decision was based on providing for quality development for the future, and not on substandard building for immediate problems. The council also changed zoning along University Drive from Jane Street to MacArthur. The property will be zoned Administrative-Professional District two lots deep along these blocks. r Index It’s still not too late to register to vote. Page 2. Classifieds. Page 4. A history of the engineering school at A&M is reviewed on Page 5. The Over the Wall column begins today. Page 6. Batt Picks of this weekend’s win ners are on Page 8. Parking problems All Texas A&M University stu dents should move their vehicles out of parking lots 48, 56, 60, 61, and 62 by 10 a.m. on hometown game days. University Police Chief O. L. Luther warned yesterday. Students need to move their vehi cles from those areas so that visitors will have a place to park, Luther said. “I suggest that Lot 50, (East of Zachry,) is a good place for students to park their vehicles during this time.”