ni News
Campus
THIRTY-FIVE veterinarians will
l^ttend a management methods
jminar beginning tomorrow and
Mtinuing through Saturday at
pas A&M University. The confer
ee focuses on improving beef cat-
preproductive performance. Part
p nationwide program of continu-
ig education for veterinarians and
pr assistants, the beef cattle pres-
ntation is the fourth and final
S pfkshop for January.
fTEXAS A&M students who ex
act to graduate this spring should
roly for the degree by Feb. 11.
piduate and undergraduate stu-
pts must make degree application
i Order to receive the diploma May
rar 7. Application is the student’s
iroonsibility. Degree application is
gttle in the Richard Coke Building.
• in $8 graduation fee is paid first in
p Fiscal Office. Undergraduates
lesent the fee receipt in Room 7.
Ifaduate students apply at the
j iraduate College, Room 209.
|A FIVE-DAY accounting princi-
les workshop will be held begin-
n irig Jan. 26 for city managers,fi-
gfice directors and “anyone with
Mounting and fincance respon-
ibilities in one of the state s smaller
■es.” The workshop is sponsored
y the Texas A&M Center for
Iman Programs. Classes will be
m^onducted at the Rudder Tower
^jomplex by Dr. Larry G. Pointer,
pd of the A&M Accounting De-
tment, and by Dr. George C.
outer, lecturer for the College of
Ssiness Administration.
TRANSFER STUDENT orienta-
for Texas A&M University will
S'held at 7 tonight in Rudder To-
?er. All new transfer students are
rged to attend the three-part pro
ram covering Aggie traditions,
tudent life and campus organiza-
OLD MASTERS paintings from
he Blaffer Collection at the Univer
ity of Houston will be on public
lisplay in the Rudder Exhibit Hall
ftmorrow 4-6 p.m.
Local
TAX HELP is available at the
Deal office from 9 to 11:15 a.m. and
rom noon until 2:30 p.m. Thurs-
lays and Fridays for persons who
iced assistance. The office is lo
afed at 219 North Main in Bryan.
'he IRS also provides help over the
elephone for taxpayers. Toll-free
elephone numbers for IRS offices
re listed in your tax package. The
lumbers are also listed in the tele-
\ »hone directory. Look under “U.S.
Jovernment in the white pages
■ ltd find “Federal Tax Information.”
f
Texas
HEART TRANSPLANT sur
geons at Stanford University saved
file life of a 15-year-old San Antonio
Ipy in 1974 by giving him a second
gansplanted heart to replace the
|rst that his body was rejecting. The
|oy survived and is doing well in
mgh school. He is the first survivor
§0$ six Stanford patients to undergo a
(Second heart transplant.
t STATE AGENCIES requesting
« big spending increases may find
their reception among House mem-
aers is less than warm. Speaker Bill
playton yesterday warned the
bhairmen of 28 committees to care
fully examine during the budget
hearings the services provided by
agencies and to fund only those
worthwhile.
HEROIN SMUGGLERS could
be sentenced to death under one
provision of an anticrime package
introduced yesterday by Sen. Wal
ter Mengden, R-Houston. The
package includes laws to permit
wiretapping, denial of bail to repeat
felons, admission of oral confes-
7 sions, using search warrants for evi
dence and giving the state the right
of appeal. The proposal specifically
would forbid total nudity, topless
ness, bottomlessness, simulated sex
acts, other named activites in places
where alcoholic beverages are
^served.”
A LEGISLATOR opposed to cap
ital punishment wants to watch an
^execution to be able to use the ex-
perience in his next debate against
the death penalty. Rep. Craig
, Washington, D-Houston, said he
^received permission from Texas
,prison warden W. J. Estelle Jr. to
^witness the execution of Jerry Lane
jjurek.
weather
Fair and cold today. High in the
"^mid-AOs. Winds light from the
laff south at 5 m.p.h. Continued fair
. pj and mild tomorrow. Low tonight
mid-20s. High tomorrow low 50s.
Oi No precipitation expected.
The Battalion
Vol. 70 No. 60 Wednesday, January 19, 1977 News Dept. 845-2611
14 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
The maimed birds around campus are dying. The bird in the foreground
died yesterday and was one of about 25,000 birds that were shot during
the holidays to rid the campus of the health hazard and unsightlyness
of their droppings. Ironically, the student in the background is reading
a list of Aggies that have also died recently and were honored last
night during a Silver Taps ceremony.
Giant inaugural Gala
begins at Kennedy Center
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Brass bands, jazz
bands, symphony orchestras, folk dancing,
hootin’ and hollerin’ and four tons of
fireworks are launching the Inauguration
of Jimmy Carter as the 39th president of
the United States.
Vice president-elect Walter Mondale
also was honored by two receptions today,
and the Mondales will join Carter this
evening at the giant inaugural Gala at the
Kennedy Center.
The gala features Chevy Chase satiriz
ing Carter to his face, and entertainers
ranging from Beverly Sills to Johnny Cash.
The price is $25 a ticket for those in
vited, but will be broadcast to millions of
Americans by CBS, which paid $1 million
for TV rights.
Carter, his wife Rosalynn, daughter
Amy, three sons and mother “Miss Lil
lian” arrive late in the day. The family will
stay at Blair House across the street from
the White House.
Earlier in the day Carter’s brother Billy
was arriving with a planeload of 100
By Cherie Hedrick
The property tax problem faced by resi
dents of College Station is not a unique
one. Throughout the state, property taxes
have increased.
During the last ten years property taxes
have risen 100 per cent. In 1974, the total
amount spent on property taxes was $2 bil
lion . By 1976, it had risen to $2.8 billion.
In a meeting of concerned area taxpayers
last night, Michael Moeller, executive di
rector of Texans for Equitable Taxation,
said school taxes in this district would go up
to nearly $600,000 next fall.
School taxes are going up for three rea
sons, Moeller said. One is bond indebted
ness. Each time a bond is passed it incurs
an ad valorem tax.
Another reason is enrichment. Enrich
ment is defined as those educational aides a
school feels are necessary, but the state
does not require, such as better athletic or
library facilities.
The Foundation School Program also
adds to the increase in taxes. This is a pro
gram run by the state. Local government
has no say over the amount of money spent.
If the local districts cannot come up with
the amount of money needed, they face the
possibility of losing their school system.
Tax payers presently have no unified
Plains, Ga. neighbors and kinfolk. Still
earlier Atlanta society arrives on a char
tered train. The Carter relatives have
taken over the top floor of a Washington
hotel.
Meanwhile, Mondale today laid aside
the homework on his forthcoming trip
Ford considers
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Ford, in a
final gesture of “compassion, ” may be pre
pared to grant relief to limited categories of
Vietnam-era offenders but not blanket am
nesty for all draft evaders and deserters,
according to White House sources.
The sources gave no details and said
Ford was expected to reveal his decision
today —his last full day in office — after
word was sent to Mrs. Jane Hart, widow of
Sen. Philip A. Hart, D-Mich.
Mrs. Hart raised the amnesty issue Dec.
26, the day after her husband’s death, by
asking Ford to order across-the-board am
nesty as a memorial to the senator. Ford
voice in government, according to
Moeller. This is where he feels the organi
zation he represents can help. Texans for
Equitable Taxation will attempt to con
vince the Texas legislature that tax payers
have paid as much money as they can,
Moeller explained.
This organization will also try to get relief
from ad valorem taxes . The most viable
alternative to an ad valorem tax is the sales
tax. Moeller said that one per cent of the
present annual sales tax is $490 million.
He said that substituting sales tax for ad
valorem tax could be a possible solution to
the burden many residents face now.
Another alternative might be a refinery
tax. Every gallon of each product refined in
Texas could have a one cent tax applied to
it. This could bring in $1 billion per year.
No Texan would have to pay the marked-up
price because it would only be levied on
the out-of-state sales.
Prior to 1975, the state determined what
amount of money the distict had to raise
based on the net income of the people in
the district. Net income is no longer con
sidered. This increase is especially hard on
people living on fixed incomes, Moeller
said.
In a test bill placed before the legislature
abroad to devote full attention to
preinaugural festivities.
Mondale has spent the past two days
getting ready for next week’s visit with
leaders in Europe and Japan, Jimmy Car
ter’s first gesture of assurance to tra
ditional U.S. allies.
amnesty issue
promised to reconsider it after opposing
the dramatic move throughout his presi
dency.
Ford ruled out a general amnesty early
this month, the sources said, but then
studied “many options” for lesser steps.
The sources said Ford’s response “will
not be a flat turndown” of Mrs. Hart’s re
quest.
But they also said his action was likely to
affect a relatively small number of the esti
mated 80,000 young men who illegally re
sisted the draft during the war and then
chose not to take advantage of Ford’s
1974-75 clemency program.
$600,000
both houses passed a bill that would lower
the tax.
To protect themselves, Texans need to
have a bigger and better voice, Moeller
said.
Michael Moeller
Property tax still rising
Local taxes to near
Texas A<LrM. engineers tap deep lignite resources
College Station and Bryan sit on a
mound of energy tbat is the energy equiv
alent to half of the world’s known oil re
serves.
Petroleum engineers at Texas A&M
University are trying to tap some 100 bil
lion tons of deep basin lignite resources
tucked away some 200 to 5,000 feet below
the surface.
This experiment, to convert lignite to
gas while still in the ground, is being car
ried out by a team headed by Dr. James
Jennings. The team believes they can cut
costs and reduce ecological damage if
low-grade coal becomes widely used as an
energy source.
The $275,000 project is financed by
A&M’s Texas Engineering Experiment
Station and a group of energy-related in
dustries including Alcoa, General Crude
Oil, Dow Chemical Company, Shell Oil
Company, Phillips Petroleum Company
and Sun Oil Company.
“Less than one-tenth of the lignite in
the state is mineable; that is, at a depth of
less than 200 feet,” Dr. Jennings said.
Previously, it was not economical to mine
the deep basin coal but, with the gasifica
tion process, it is estimated that gas can be
produced at a cost of $1.50 to $2 per bil
lion BTUs.
“Since 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas
produces 1 million BTUs and already sells
for $2, the economics of the project looks
favorable,” he said.
“However, the fuel is lower quality than
natural gas and would need special bur
ners,” he went on. “Probably, at least at
first, it would be used for commercial uses
such as heating boilers and generating
electricity. In addition, larger pipes are
needed for its transmission.”
The mathematical modeling of the pro
cess and the laboratory work are underway
as well as the measuring of the physical
and chemical properties of lignite. The
A&M group also is placing coal into reac
tors in the lab to determine amount of gas
produced.
Wells are being drilled on A&M prop
erty west of the main campus. Tests will
be conducted in a lignite seam which is
five feet thick and located at a depth of 380
feet.
This seam is part of a field of lignite that
stretches from Austin to Waco to Texar
kana, south to Conroe and back to Austin.
This area contains the energy equivalent
to 275 billion barrels of oil worth about $3
trillion at today’s prices.
The process being studied begins by
drilling two wells about 60 feet apart. Air
is pumped into one of the wells and ig-
nited. Resulting gases are taken out
through the other well.
“A total of about 450 tons of coal should
be gasified during this phase of the exper
iment,” he said. “This will produce a
pear-shaped cavern in the lignite seam
about 60 feet wide at which point the two
wells become unproductive.”
A third well is then drilled, becoming
the air injection well while the previous
injection well becomes the exhaust well.
The initial hole is then capped. The pro
cess can be repeated until the seam has
been worked out.
Epvironmental studies also are being
conducted. While no problems are ex
pected, additional wells will be drilled to
make sure the process doesn’t pollute
ground water.
Illegal parking
plagues campus
vicinity again
The car about to be towed away by Ver
non Stubblefield (far left), owner of
Stubblefield Wrecker Service, is one of
many that have been moved from unau
thorized zones since Texas A&M Univer
sity students returned for the spring
semester.
Wreckers tow from all areas around the
campus, but Stubblefield said that the
Skaggs-Albertsons parking lot probably
has more cars towed from it than any other
location.
The usual charge to the owner of the car
towed is $30, but Stubblefield said he often
lets people go without paying, if they come
back to their cars before the wrecker is
hooked up.
“That is, if there are other cars in the
area to be towed,” Stubblefield said.
Owen McCrory, a junior architecture
major, (left) arrived yesterday, just as
Stubblefield was pulling his car away.
Stubblefield said that he charged
McCrory $15 because he had spent a con
siderable amount of time trying to get into
the car to put the car into neutral, so he
could tow the car without damaging the
transmission.
So be prepared, if you happen to park in
an illegal zone for “just a few minutes” and
return to find that you are missing a car.
Battalion photos by Tracie Nordheim