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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1977)
The Battalion Vol. 70 No. 83 10 Pages Tuesday, March 1, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 ay service organization sues A&M m By GLENNA WHITLEY [he Gay Student Services Organization iSO) tiled suit yesterday morning in jeral district court against Texas A&M [iversity in an effort to gain recognition student organization. |CSS0 applied for official recognition in 1976, but after keeping the request ler advisement for eight months the [iversity denied their request last 'ember. [Its their legal right to file suit,” said [.John Koldus, vice president for stu- services. “That’s what the judicial item is for.” Jniversity President Jack K. Williams yesterday that the Former Students’ jociation met Saturday night and voted petition A&M not to recognize the iso. ilichael Minton, senior electrical bineering and math student, Keith jwart, sophomore history student, and Iricia Woodridge, junior in environ- Intal design, are named as plaintiffs in the suit. Minton is the president of GSSO and Stewart is the vice president. Minton says GSSO has a membership of 20 A&M students, both gay and straight (hetero sexual) . The plaintiffs are financing the suit themselves Minton said, but they hope for donations to alleviate some of the cost. The group’s Austin attorney, Bobby Nelson, led a successful attempt to permit a gay student organization on the Univer sity of Texas campus. Minton said that the group wants to be allowed to distribute literature, hold panel discussions and bring speakers to the campus to talk about gay lifestyles. The group presently operates a telephone serv ice that refers gays to professional coun selors. The GSSO’s April application for recog nition was not treated routinely. Koldus said in April that since he disagreed with a gay liberation group receiving recogni tion, he asked that the GSSO application come directly to him. Minton said that the gays were assured by Koldus in April that a rejection would be quickly rendered. But no rejection or acceptance came until the group’s lawyer asked the Univer sity to give the group an answer or face a lawsuit in court. Koldus then gave the GSSO a letter of rejection. Koldus wrote, “Homosexual conduct is illegal in Texas and therefore it would be most inappropriate for a state institution to officially support a student organization which is likely to encite, promote and re sult in acts contrary to and in violation of the penal code of the state of Texas.” A member of GSSO who did not want his name used said, “What he’s basically saying is our group is not going to do any thing other than get together and pair people off and have wild sex orgies. I find that personally offensive. That’s like say ing every time there’s a faculty party be cause they are all heterosexual they swap wives.” Yesterday Koldus said that he waited eight months to give the group the rejec tion because he was watching how the “Gay Lib vs. University of Missouri” deci sion (1976) was handled in the appellate court. The court finally decided in favor of the university. Dr. Kenneth Nyberg, sociology profes sor and faculty advisor to the GSSO, said that there was no real point in Koldus using the Missouri case as a precedent since there are many more cases that have been found in favor of the gay groups. Koldus said that he believed the case was appropriate because it was the most recent judgement and because Missouri laws concerning homosexual activity are similar to Texas laws. “I think it’s a sure thing that we re going to win so I’m pretty comfortable in doing it,” Minton said. “The legal history of gay organizations suing state institutions in this nation, with the exception of one case, has always been in favor of the gay organi zations.” He said this includes approxi mately 45 cases. Stewart said in a recent interview that one of his reasons for filing the suit was his desire to present people with the facts on homosexuality and let them see that the stereotypes of gays as effeminate men and masculine women are warped views. Stewart said that if people choose to stereotype gays, it’s alright with him. But he says it is not a valid conclusion because they do not have all the facts. Minton agreed and added, “Prejudice is a personal attitude. There’s still prejudice against blacks and chicanos even though the federal government has seen fit to pass legislation not permitting discrimation. We think that by educating people, there will be a decrease in prejudice.” “Another reason I’m suing,” Stewart said, “is because my constitutional rights have been stepped on. I don’t want them to do this to any other student. I don’t care who he goes to bed with.” He said that he sympathized with all the gay persons on campus who can’t let their homosexuality be known. “I know how it feels because 1 was in their shoes.” Minton said, “The primary reason I'm suing is because I do not think there is anything wrong with being gay. And I think it’s a travesty for any one society, particularly an institution of higher educa tion, to perpetrate the attitude that gays are sick, unproductive and should try to change.” He said that the gay issue is surfacing nationally now. "I feel that this Universi ty, as the bastion of conservatism in the south is going to be a very, very important case for gay rights. It’s going to receive a lot of national attention. The suit names as defendants Koldus, President Jack K. Williams, Executive vice president Clyde Freeman and the Board of Regents, individually and as rep resentatives of the University. The Texas Attorney General’s office will handle A&M’s defense in court. tost businesses still comply I! Blue law meets opposition 3ryan By PHYLLIS LEE )n Sunday you can sell a hammer but the nails to go with it, or you can sell but not a camera to take the pictures, the manager of the College Station -Mart. Manager Jeff R. Brown said his store aplies with the law because a violation misdemeanor. He said, however, that law is unfair. irown was referring to the Texas “blue s that prohibit the sale of certain ids both on Saturday and Sunday. y B [he prohibited items are listed in Arti- 9001 of Vernon’s Annotated Civil Sta- js. The article states that any person or employes shall be guilty of a mis- leanor for selling clothing, clothing ac- sories, wearing apparel, footwear or idwear on both of the consecutive days, llso contained on the list are home, siness, office or outdoor furniture, henware, kitchen utensils, china, ne appliances, stoves, refrigerators, air ditioners, electric fans, radios, televi- n sets, washing machines, dryers, cameras, hardware and tools, excluding nonpower-driven hand tools. Jewelry, precious or semi-precious stones and silverware are on the list along with watches, clocks, luggage, motor ve hicles, musical instruments, recordings, toys excluding items customarily sold as novelties and souvenirs, mattresses, bed coverings, household linens, floor cov erings, lamps, draperies, blinds, curtains, mirrors, lawn mowers and cloth piece goods. Terry Ripperda, manager of the Cul pepper Plaza Safeway, said the law changes with interpretation. “It is a matter of interpretation, one time you can sell an item and later that product will be prohibited,” he said. Ripperda said Monday that a sign is posted at the front of the store which lists the items that cannot be sold on Sundays. During the training period, the checkers spend hours learning company policy and the blue laws, he said. J. W. Heime, manager of the Bryan Weingarten’s store, said that on Sunday all of the items are roped off and the checkers have a list of the prohibited items on their registers. “I can’t understand why they put the law into effect,” Heime said. “Some of the items are necessary every day of the week. “There shouldn’t even be a law like that, if you are open, go ahead and sell it. It seems to me that some retail stores don’t enforce the law as strictly as we do,” Heime said. Sunday morning, James Daves, an elec tronics technician at Ellison Radio and TV, bought a kite at Piggly Wiggly No. 54. The assistant manager of that store, Robert O’Keefe, said the slip may have been caused by a new checker. He said the store is only four days old. “We do try to comply with the law,” he said. “When a person comes through the line, we inform them if the item cannot be sold on Sunday.” Later in the afternoon, Daves went to Skaggs where he observed a man purchas ing a Texas Instruments digital watch. “The salesman seemed eager to sell the watch and would show watches to any cus tomer at the counter,” Daves said. Richard Gallimore, the Skaggs em ploye, said he did not realize that it was Sunday when he sold the watch. “When you work seven days a week, you can completely forget what day it is,” Gallimore said. James Oney, manager of the Skaggs grocery department, said he had no idea how th is accident happened. He said there are some new checkers and cashiers that may not exactly understand the law. Daves said yesterday that he does not agree with the blue laws but believes that the stores should comply because it is a Texas law. Local police departments and any law enforcement agency may enforce the law, Lt. Bobby Maddox of the Bryan Police Department said. Maddox said the ofificers would confer with Brazos County Attorney Roland M. Searcy to determine whether or not blue law violations should go to court. ollege Station to decide park location th By DAVE TEWES The College Station City Council must ide within 60 days whether or not to elop another park in an area of the city it already has a majority of the city’s |s. IThe 60 day limit, set by the Council Jursday, will allow time to study the msity of a park on an area of land called |e Holik tract. It is near the intersection [Welsh Avenue and Holleman Drive in |uth College Station. “There are already quite a few parks in lisareaof the city,” Gary Halter, College [ation city councilman, said Friday. “I’m (sure another one is needed in this par- :ular area.” Already in the area are Dexter Park, nderson Street Park and Bee Creek I irk The South Knoll Elementary School id A&M Consolidated High School also ive green areas for recreation Halter |ded. Location is the main factor being con- [dered by the council, Paul Woj- echowski, College Station director of |arks and recreation, said Saturday. The Holik tract is located on the out- drts of the service area of several parks,” esaid. “It will probably complement the er parks in the area." The National Parks and Recreation As sociation determined the average park to have a service area of a half-mile, Woj- ciechowski said. This is only a guide refer ring to the accessibility of a park. “To me, service area isn’t the question,” Jerry Duncan, a resident in the Holik tract area, said Saturday. “The formula doesn’t take into consideration the unique factors of the land.” Duncan, who initiated a petition re questing the City Council study, said the bullfrogs, turtles, fish and hawks living on Holik tract were magnificent. The signers of the petition are trying to get the park developed by convincing the City Council the Holik tract is ecologically important. Halter said. “I got the impression that it was some kind of ecological wonder,” Halter said. “Perhaps if you scrape away the beer bot tles it is.” College Station already has one nature park in that part of College Station, he said. “There is a real nice nature area right down Dexter (Street),” he said. “It is left in pretty much of a natural state.” The land first became available to the city when Dale Fitch, local land de veloper, decided to build houses on the tract. Halter said. The College Station park dedication j, lousing officials mail manual, him no fall housing shortage regulation states that a land developer must donate a specified amount of land or money to the city when land is developed. The amount of land or money is deter mined by the number of dwelling units to be built. Fitch must donate seven-tenths of an acre of land or the money equivalent to seven-tenths of an acre of land. The coun cil chose to take the land. The council is considering buying ap proximately 10 acres of land from Fitch to add to the donated land. The College Station comprehensive de velopment plan, which provides long- range park planning, shows a need for a park in the area, Halter said. The need is based on the population of the area and its future needs. Duncan said he began work on a peti tion for development of the park Feb. 19. This was two days after the City Council first discussed the idea of a park in the area. “The petition specifically asked for a study to determine what resources were on the Holik tract,” Duncan said. “I don’t think people were aware of the unique natural resources on the land.” He said 221 signatures were collected in four days. All six of the College Station wards were represented, but most of the signatures came from the wards closest to Holik tract, Duncan added. “There is an obvious community desire to preserve the area,” he said. “About 30 per cent of the people that signed the peti tion said they would donate time or money for the park.” There is a need for parks in other areas of College Station, said City Councilman Jim Gardner, Saturday. “There are four or five areas in the city that are short of parks,” he said. “It wouldn’t be fair to pour all the city’s money into one area.” Areas of the city that need parks are the east and far south parts of College Station, Gardner said. Some of the persons signing the petition said the park was necessary because of the high-density growth rate in the area. High-density growth rate refers to the number of dwelling units per acre. “I was absolutely flabbergasted when they (local residents) came to my office to talk about high-density growth in their area,” Halter said. “I have never heard of anybody accusing single-family dwelling of being high-density.” Halter said some of these people were Using high-density growth as an excuse to exclude persons of certain income brack ets from building in the area. Duncan said some of the persons may have signed the petition with that reason in mind. Most wanted to preserve a unique area of land, he added. Battalion photo by Pat McAuliff Wet sponge throw Edward Williams receives a blow from a wet sponge tossed by partici pants of the “All Night Fair” held Friday night at the MSC. Student watching on is Jim Ramsey. Train derails near Navasota, spills flammable fluid from car A 13-car train derailment north of Navasota last night caused a highly flamm able liquid to leak from one of the cars in the derailment. Traffic was rerouted for almost four hours along Highway 6 while a Southern Pacific Railroad hazardous material expert determined the extent of the leak. Expert L. M. Gilbert of Houston said that only about a gallon of nitracious benzol was spilled when a valve on one of the derailed cars broke open. He said the spilled liquid quickly evaporated. The derailment occurred as the Mis souri Pacific train was traveling south on the Southern Pacific track a short distance outside of Navasota. Law enforcement officials set up roadblocks along Highway 6 near the de railment while railroad employes investi gated the damage. “You could think of this product like gasoline...just a little more toxic, Gilbert said of the spilled liquid. He added that there was no real danger after the liquid evaporated. “It could have been a lot worse than it was,” he said. He also said that there was no hazardous material on any of the other derailed cars. Seven of the derailed cars were actually overturned. Missouri Pacific employes involved in the accident refused to comment on the possible cause of the derailment. Representatives for both companies in volved will be investigating the cause of the incident. Texas A&M University officials began ailing out the updated off-campus hous- >g manual to Texas high school coun- ilors yesterday with a letter denying that ere will be a student housing shortage ere this fall. Karen Dawn Switzer, student de- elopment coordinator, said housing Portage rumors are particularly intense in )e Houston and Dallas areas. Weather Sunny and mild today, becom ing partly cloudy tonight and to morrow. South to southeasterly winds increasing 12 to 18 mph this afternoon and tonight. A 20 per cent chance of showers is ex pected tomorrow. High today, lower 70s; low tonight, mid-50s. High tomorrow, mid-70s. “Indicators are that there will again be ample housing for those who plan to at tend Texas A&M next fall,” she told the high school counselors. University officials said, however, that the only housing available for next fall is off campus and may not offer a wide choice of cost and locations. Texas high school counselors will re ceive the manual, published by the Stu dent Affairs Office, to provide students basic information on the University, in cluding leasing an apartment and finding a roommate, costs of living off-campus, transportation and other “facts of life.” The manual is also available to transfer students entering A&M Prospective students may apply for on- campus housing through the housing of fice 15 months prior to expected enroll ment, Switzer told the counselors. Stu dents should learn if their on-campus ap plications have been accepted or rejected by April 1. CERTIFICATE NUMBER (for official use only) Election Pet. # LAST NAME FIRST NAME (do not use husband's first name) MIDDLE NAME MAIDEN SURNAME IF MARRIED WOMAN PERMANENT RESIDENCE ADDRESS. STREET & APT. # OR ROUTE # OR LOCATION (not P O. Box) CITY ZIP MAILING ADDRESS IF DIFFERENT FROM ABOVE: STREET OR P. O. BOX VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICATION Mail or deliver application to your County Tax Assessor Collector 30 days prior to an election. TYPE OR PRINT IN INK SOCIAL SECURITY NO. BIRTH DATE BIRTH PLACE SEX (M/F). APPLICATION NUMBER (for official use only) OR COUNTY OR FOREIGN COUNTRY _ IF NATURALIZED. COURT OR ITS LOCATION: IF NOW REGISTERED IN ANOTHER TEXAS COUNTY NAME OF COUNTY LAST RESIDENCE ADDRESS IN COUNTY CITY ZIP I certify that the applicant is of legal age, is a citizen of the United States, has met all legal requirements, and holds legal residence in this County. I understand that the giving of false information to procure the registration of a voter is a felony. SIGNATURE OF VOTER/AGENT Agent must be a registered voter and must be only: (Check one applicable) Husband Wife Mother Father Son Daughter The disclosure of social security number is voluntary only, is solicited by authority of Section 45B. Texas Election Code, and will be used only by election official to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the registration records. Register to vote Wednesday at 5 p.m. is the deadline to register to vote in the April 2 municipal elections. To register fill in the form and mail to Raymond Buchanan, Tax Assessor-Collector Brazos County Courthouse, Bryan, 77801.