Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1977)
.. : /W The Battalion Vol. 70 No. 72 14 Pages Wednesday, February 9, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 'fly in cored J 'o-milfl ere seJ inessej drun, six s 6 ioustj ian Ok a leap; nead 'usrcoti mpson, havi ;etinjJ dualo irdayFf agree oossibl All oi talenti ions. IS e have ireofrt 'to t irst hill three i pereei a for iti throw; cento irows, Lubbock Street may be closed if panel suggestion passes By WENDY TAYLOR Drivers will take the long way around if a University Traffic Panel recommendation is authorized and Lubbock Street is closed, closed. Lubbock Street is located on the north side of the Krueger-Dunn complex. Howard S. Perry, associate vice presi dent for student services, said the Traffic Panel has suggested closing the street. “The Lubbock-Coke intersection has a high index for pedestrian-vehicle con flict,” Perry said Friday. “The higher the index, the higher the potential for an acci dent. This is the main reason behind the recommendation." Lubbock Street’s closure would force a right turn off Joe Route Boulevard onto Throckmorton or Coke. Both Perry and Larry M. Ludewig, ad ministrative assistant for student services, pointed out that the panel’s recommenda tion is merely a suggestion. “The Traffic Panel has made the propo sal and it is under consideration, but any definite decision concerning Lubbock Street is yet forthcoming,” Ludewig said. The decision will be made either by John J. Koldus, vice president of student services, or President Jack K. Williams. Advantages and disadvantages of closing Lubbock Street are now being considered by appointed committees. “Of course, from the Traffic Panel’s point of view, ” said Perry, “the main ad vantage in closing the street would be the elimination of a dangerous traffic point on campus.” Inconvenience has been cited as the proposal’s main disadvantage. Perry said some students have opposed the idea. He said students from the Krueger, Dunn, As ton, Mosher and Corps of Cadets dorm areas have complained that if the through way is cutoff they won’t be able to get from the dorms to the Memorial Student Center area. “Of course that doesn’t mean they can’t walk,” Perry said. “It’s meant to cutoff through traffic, not pedestrians.” Other disadvantages Lubbock Street’s closing might entail are increased daily traffic flows at other University entrances, limited access for emergency and delivery service vehicles, and inconvenience to construction crews. Also, persons parking in lots 48, 37 or adjoining lots would be forced down Houston and Throckmorton Streets. “This is a concern because these streets have no lights,” Ludewig said, “and espe cially in the cases of football and basketball crowds, bottlenecks would be created.” Koldus said the situation would be care fully evaluated before a decision is made. “No matter how much of a conflict point the intersection is, no accidents have oc curred down there as of yet. That would seem to be a good counter-argument to the proposal,” Koldus said. “I’m going to have to look into this One pretty closely.” Should he decide to turn the issue over to Williams, Koldus said his final recom mendation would be made within another month to give the president enough time to act before the end of the semester. Vet school parking not solved yet Parking proposal awaiting approval th theft some co it to ereh ! betterl By SUSIE WILLIAMS Texas A&M University veterinary stu dents hoping for immediate relief to the parking problem at the veterinary college are not going to get it right now. The parking situation at the veterinary college is critical, according to O. L. Luther, A&M police chief. However, he says he sees no immediate solution. “It’s going to take building (more park ing areas) ultimately,” Howard S. Perry, associate vice president for student serv ices said Monday. There is a parking lot proposal awaiting approval by the Board of Regents which will extend the present student parking lot at the college (Lot 36) to hold about 60 more vehicles, Perry said. The construction should be completed by September 1977 if the Regents approve it, he added. “The prospects of the proposal being approved are really good,” Perry said. There are 412 vet students and 846 biomedical science students using Lot 36 now. There are 318 parking spaces in the lot. Vet students agree with Perry that there was not a major parking problem at the vet school until biomedical science students began holding classes there. There are from 75 to 300 biomedical science students in classes at the vet school at any one time, Lyndon W. Kurtz, administrative assistant of the College of Veterinary Medicine, said Friday. This leaves only a few parking spaces for vet students, of which about 90 per cent are day students, he said. “The problem with vet students is they have no alternative,” Kurtz said. They must park illegally when there are no parking spaces left because they cannot af ford to miss classes, he added. Vet students not lucky enough to find a parking space ran the risk of getting tickets for illegal parking. But Wayne Onslott, University Police desk sergeant, said that until some solution is reached, tickets will not be given at the vet school unless the vehicle is obstructing a driveway or is parked in a disabled student parking space. Zachry Davis, a third-year vet student, received a ticket recently for parking illeg ally along the fence in Lot 36. “I assume I have a place to park when I buy a $36 parking sticker,” he said. Davis said he arrived for class at 8 a.m. and since there were no parking spaces available, he parked illegally. “A vet student can’t just call it quits for the day and go home,” he said. Davis said he felt the University Police Department and Traffic Appeals Panel should be more lenient with vet students until the future parking lot is completed. Students who have never purchased parking stickers are another reason for in sufficient parking space, Kurtz said. They are occupying parking spaces free of charge that other students have paid to use. While there are no solutions for im mediate relief of the problem, the Traffic Appeals Panel has suggested a few so lutions that might work. Larry D. Pollock, chairman of one of the traffic appeals panels, said controlled lots with special parking stickers issued to vet students is one possible solution. Others include the use of shuttle buses, car pools, bicycles and motorcycles. Pollock said he would discuss the col lege’s parking situation further with Mary A. Wallace, co-chairman of the Traffic Ap peals Panel, and Luther. Bermudas at the pool . Although spring has not arrived, the warm weather gave Brian Brady (left) and Nick Cervenka (right) enough reason to shed their winter clothes. The two Aston residents were playing pool in the Commons game area. Battalion photo by Jim Crawley ind Mo: y. Ow y much we can j n Montf House tentatively approves $561 million highway bill Endless stares Two barred owls at Texas A&M’s Poultry Center glare woefully from their perches. The owls are part of an experiment in breeding birds of prey in captivity. Seven A&M students are assisting Dr. Roy C. Fanguy of the poultry science depart ment with the project. (See story, Pg. 8.) Battalion photo by Steve Reis United Press International AUSTIN — Gov. Dolph Briscoe used his emergency powers as governor and the highway industry’s political muscle to win tentative House approval of a $561 million highway funding program. Opponents say the program will create revenue shortages in the closing days of the session. The proposal, which faces one more House vote before going to the Senate, guarantees the State Department of Highways and Public Transportation $561 million for construction and maintenance in the next two years. Three-fourths of the revenue from motor vehicle taxes and sales taxes on auto parts, tires and acces sories will go to the department. Briscoe had proclaimed the measure an emergency, enabling the legislature to consider it early in the session before any of the $2.9 billion state surplus had been spent on general funding for state agen cies, school finance, or other issues. Opponents appeared at one point yes terday to have crippled the bill, winning a procedural vote on a amendment limiting the life of the funding plan to four years. But House backers of the bill stalled for about 15 minutes and the governor’s allies apparently convinced a number of mem bers to switch their votes, then easily de feating the amendment. Rep. Wayne Peveto, D-Orange, said there is not enough money in the treasury to fund the highway bill, Briscoe’s school finance proposal and the state budget rec ommendations of the Legislative Budget Board. “What is going to happen is that all the colleges’ budgts are going to be cut, men tal health ad mental retardation is going to be cut, but we’re going to take care of the highways first,” said Rep. Bill Hollowell, D-Grand Saline. “It’s kind of silly to get stampeded when we have so many other things to consider.” Briscoe’s designation of the bill as an emergency allowed the House to consider it before the general appropriation bill is debated, and Senate leaders have promisd quick consideration of the bill. Rep. Tom Massey, D-San Angelo, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, asked the governor yesterday to give the same emergency designation to the school finance proposal so it can be considered immediately. The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Joe Wyatt, D-Victoria, said if the governor’s school finance bill is approved the legislature will be forced to trim $780 million from the budget for state agencies, or adopt a tax bill of that size. Review committee established Faculty to evaluate A&M’s appeal procedure Bookmart unable to continue operating Efforts at lower bookstore prices fail EABI By MARY HARDIN Student dissatisfaction and efforts by Student Government have failed to force the Texas A&M University Bookstore to lower prices. Student Government opened the Book Mart in the spring of 1975. The Mart was opened in an effort to force the bookstore weather Partly cloudy and mild today with increasing cloudiness through tomorrow. Winds will be southeas terly at 7-10 mph today and tomor row. High today in the low 60s. Low tonight in the low 40s. High tomorrow in the low 60s. Precipita tion probability 40 per cent tomor row afternoon and evening. in the Memorial Student Center to lower its prices on used books, Stan Stanfield, student government vice president for academic affairs said. Used books were bought at 60 per cent of the cost and resold to students at 65 per cent. The A&M Bookstore purchases books at 50 per cent of cost and resells at 75 per cent. The Book Mart’s prices did not bring the bookstore’s prices, down. It became a service organization for students. Now Student Government does not have the time or manpower to continue, Stanfield said. The Book Mart was not in operation last semester because of losses due to misman agement. Howard DeHart, manager of the A&M Bookstore said there are several reasons why their prices must remain the same. The profits made from the bookstore (approximately $80,000) are allocated to various student organizations, he said. “I feel that giving money to these or ganizations does more good for A&M as a whole than each particular person would gain if we were to lower the prices of the books. “Some of the student organizations wouldn’t survive without our help,” he said. The Student Organizations Board de cides how much money each organization is given. “I think they base them (the allocations) on the significance of the organization to the University,” DeHart said. Stanfield said he believes these organi zations should exist on the dues of their members. “Most students complain about the bookstore allocations because they feel they are financing special-interest groups,” Stanfield said. The bookstore should lower the price of books so they will just cover expenses, he added. If they cut prices that much, every off- campus bookstore would go out of busi ness because of competition, DeHart said. “Since the A&M Bookstore is state owned, it would be the State of Texas vs. Private Enterprise,” he said. Student Government has passed a bill to establish a book exchange commission. The commission will submit various policies to the Senate in February for the formation of a Book Exchange. The Book Exchange (if established) will use exchange certificates in payment for books instead of money, Stanfield said. “A small fee of 10 cents per book will be charged each time a student buys or sells books,” he added. Fred McClure, president of Student Government said, “If the policies submit ted to the Senate in February are passed, then the Book Exchange should go into effect at the end of this semester.” By PHYLLIS LEE A committee has been established to review student appeal procedures at Texas A&M University. W. C. Freeman, executive vice- president for administration, asked four students and ten members of the faculty and staff to serve on the ad hoc committee on student review and appeals proce dures. In a letter to the prospective committee members, Freeman stated that the cur rent review and appeals procedures do not provide a “clear-cut appeal process for the myriad of academic, disciplinary, and ad ministrative decisions which students feel they have a right to appeal or have re viewed.” Freeman told committee members that their responsibility is “to review the scope and methods of the appeal and review bodies.” The members, he said, must evaluate the effectiveness of present pro cedures and make recommendations for changes in the process. The committee has the responsibility to review the language of current University regulations and make recommendations for changing existing publications of re view and appeal procedures. Dr. Thomas W. Adair, associate profes sor of physics and chairman of the commit tee, said the committee will meet next week. student services, said the present system consists of the University Disciplinary Appeals Panel and the University- Academic Appeals Panel. “Like anything else, it is important to evaluate, update and improve the sys tem,” Koldus said. Koldus said the two appellate commit tees serve the president in two ways. ;* “They provide for an objective review, of the matter at hand and they relieve the president of the burden of listening to every appeal throughout the entire Uni versity,” he said. Freeman has asked Adair to submit a final committee report before the end of the semester. -v' Toll-free telephone service answers legislative questions United Press International AUSTIN — Speaker Bill Clayton announced Tuesday a toll free tele phone service had been instituted to answer Texans questions about pending legislation. Clayton said the Legislative In formation System of Texas and Legislative Reference Library will answer telephone calls from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Fri day throughout the session. The service also will be available at nights and on weekends whenever the legislators are in ses sion, he said. B>' calling 1-800-252-9693, or 475-3026 in Austin, citizens can re quest the current status and history of any bill or resolution introduced in the House or Senate. Clayton said names of committee members and committee schedules also can be obtained. > I '