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The Battalion
Vol. 70 No. 95
6 Pages
Friday, March 25, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
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College Station takes bids on ambulance
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By DAVE TEWES
Battalion Staff
College Station will take bids on the cost of an ambulance to
be added to the city’s ambulance service, City Manager North
Bardell said yesterday.
The city is working on the ambulance’s specifications to give
bidders an idea of the cost, he said. If the City Council ap
proves a bid, there will be a 45-to-90 day waiting period before
the ambulance can be delivered.
The College Station Fire Department took over the ambu
lance service for the city and southern Brazos County on
March 6, when Sherrill Ambulance Service went out of busi
ness.
The fire department operates two ambulances, but only one
belongs to the city. The other belongs to Brazos County.
; Brazos County Commissioners voted last week to lend the
county’s ambulance to the city until at least June 30, the end of
the city’s fiscal year. The commisioners then have the option of
renewing or relinquishing the agreement.
Walter Wilcox, county commissioner of Precinct 2, was the
only commissioner to vote against lending the county's ambu
lance to College Station. He said Tuesday that lending the
ambulance was not in the best interest of the county’s citizens.
T don’t feel like the county should assist a government
entity that is going against private enterprise,” he said. “I’m
not for subsidizing College Station in any way when you have a
private enterprise willing to handle the service.”
Bill Thornal, owner of Mid-Tex Ambulance Service in
Bryan, Tuesday said his company is one such private company
that wishes to take over College Station’s ambulance service.
“I’d kind of like College Station’s business. I’m a private
enterprise and if the city government goes into business, that is
taking business away from me,” Thornal said.
Mid-Tex Ambulance Service began taking emergency calls
for Bryan and northern Brazos County one day after Sherrill
Ambulance went out of business.
Anne Hazen, a College Station City Councilwoman, Tues
day said the College Staion Fire Department is capable of
handling the ambulance service.
“What I’m interested in is having the best possible service
for the citizens, ” Hazen said. “I am confident the College Sta
tion Fire Department is going to be able to do that.”
Douglas W. Landua, College Station Fire Chief, said the fire
department has three full-time and two part-time emergency
medical technicians (EMTs) to handle emergency calls. At least
one EMT accompanies each call, he said.
Hazen said the city plans to hire nine more EMTs, some of
which will function as firemen.
Mid-Tex Ambulance has seven EMTs and two usually go on
each call, Thomdale said.
Hazen said she thinks the citizens of College Station want
their own ambulance service. But a county-run ambulance
service based at a hospital would be more economical, she
added.
“For instance, an EMT could be working in an emergency
ward as an orderly,” she said. “When a call came, he could
grab another EMT or a nurse and run the ambulance.”
This way an EMT would be working rather than waiting
between calls, Hazen said.
She said the ambulance would also be driven fewer miles
because the emergency run would begin and end at the hospi
tal. This way the ambulance wouldn’t have to be driven from
the hospital back to its base of operation, Hazen said.
Madisonville and Grimes Memorial Hospitals are already
using this system, she said. Madisonville has one of the 1 est
community hospitals in the state, Hazen added.
Thornal said a county-subsidized ambulance service means
the citizens of that county would have to pay for the service
with tax money. He said a private ambulance service would
charge only those using the service.
College Station has been considering a single ambulance
service paid for by Bryan, College Station and Brazos County
since 1973, Bardell said. But no feasible subsidy method has
been worked out he added.
“I think the problem is that none of us want to pay the
dollars that are necessary to operate a municipal ambulance
service,” Bardell said.
College Station is moving closer to a decision to pay part of
the cost of operating a single ambulance service for the area, he
said.
Council votes for increase in burial costs
The College Station City Council voted
last night to increase the cost of burials.
The council approved a city cemetery
committee recommendation to increase
the cost of opening and closing a grave
from the present $25 to $90. The base cost
of a burial plot will be increased also. It
did cost $70, now it will be $100.
“We haven’t adjusted the rates for
many, many years,” said City Manager
North Bardell.
Councilman Jim Dozier said that with
the increase the city will no longer suffer
losses in cemetery operations.
“This is not a profit-making operation,”
he said.
In other action, the council voted to re
zone two tracts of land, thus allowing
apartments to be built on a section of land
west of Dartmouth Avenue.
The rezoning came after Frank Kahan, a
local businessman, accused the council of
dictating building policy.
Kahan and a partner, Joseph Osoba,
want to develop the land. Osoba owns a
narrow tract of land on which they want to
build apartments. L.J. Kirkpatrick owns
adjacent property and also wants to build
apartments.
Councilman Jim Gardner termed the
land “unsuitable” for apartment houses
because of residential housing nearby.
After a lengthy discussion, the council
voted to rezone the parts of the land the
landowners wanted changed.
The council also held a public hearing
on possible revisions of the Comprehen
sive Plan, a city plan of future projects and
goals.
One citizen complained that the hearing
had not been publicized adequately. He
also said he was opposed to city zoning
policies.
The council then voted to reschedule
the hearing on the next agenda.
The council decided to let the Planning
and Zoning Commission consider re
visions in a housing density chart.
The council also approved a request by
the Raintree Developments to rezone a
107-acre tract located 5,000 feet south of
the intersection of Harvey Road and the
east bypass. The area will now be a single
family residential district.
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Sidewalk
construction
set for May
Three and one-half miles of sidewalks
will be built on campus sometime in May.
The $251,000 contract was awarded to
Marcal, Inc., of Bryan, by the Texas A&M
University Board of Regents Tuesday.
Construction of the 19,000 feet of
sidewalk will begin around May 1, 1977,
said Paul W. Stephens, manager of the
facilities planning division. Stephens said
yesterday, Marcal will construct 16,000
feet of new sidewalks and replace 3,000
feet of old sidewalks.
Stephens said the sidewalks along Old
Main Drive will be replaced. All sidewalks
will have handicap ramps at strategic
points.
One of the new sidewalks will be lo
cated along Ross Street from the Chemis
try' building to the Architecture building.
The bids are in and the Board has ap
proved it, now all we have to do is get the
paper work in,’’ Stephens said.
Congress upset
over minimum
wage proposal
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Organized labor and
congressional Democrats are outraged by
President Carter’s proposed minimum
wage formula, charging the plan would
keep millions of workers “permanently
locked into poverty.”
Labor Secretary Ray Marshall told a
House subcommittee yesterday the ad
ministration wanted an immediate 20 cent
increase, which would raise the nation’s
minimum wage to $2.50 an hour.
Marshall also outlined a system of au
tomatic future increases to bring the
minimum wage to $2.73 on July 1, 1978,
and $2.95 a year later. The system was
much less generous than labor leaders and
House Democrats were expecting.
Labor wants an immediate increase to
S3, and the House subcommittee has been
considering a formula to increase the
minimum to $2.85 an hour with sub
sequent automatic increases surpassing $3
next Jan. 1.
The administration acknowledged its
program would benefit only 4 million
low-wage workers, while the House ver
sion provides increases for 8 million.
Marshall said he had argued for a more
generous administration proposal but was
overruled by other Carter economists. He
noted the President never threatened to
veto a larger increase and denied the plan
would be inflationary.
Art works, but he had to ‘suck it up'
The Off Main delicatessen in Kerrville may have
been missing a few straws, but they were not
wasted. Tim Howard, 7-year-old son of Dr. and
Mrs. Dennis Howard of College Station, used
the straws to satisfy a creative urge while pic
nicking at Kerrville State Park with his parents.
Tim’s sculptured straw really did work, but he
was tuckered out by the time he had finished
the drink.
Battalion photo by Linda Howard
Moore measure to affect small town
Walks should be thicker.
Bill could give recall ability Prairie Film report says
F i T* J TTllm T"» /-Xi 1 rr *-*/-V *-* 4-4- s-v4-XV-v i-^ i
United Press International
AUSTIN — Some residents of Piney
Point Village who apparently have enough
influence to stop the city from putting a
police station in an affluent residential sec
tion apparently also have enough power in
the legislature to get even with whoever
thought up the idea.
A bill by Sen. William Moore, D-Bryan,
was passed by the Senate yesterday, giv
ing Piney Point Village residents initia
tive, referendum and recall powers, with
authority to oust their mayor and city
council members at any time.
Piney Point Village leaders antagonized
some residents recently with a plan —
now discarded — to build a new police
station in an affluent area.
“Police stations are about like garbage
dumps,” said Sen. Jack Ogg, D-Houston.
“Everybody wants it but nobody wants it
next door.” Ogg said Moore’s bill was
vindictive and violated state constitution
bans against special statutes.
“The four or five people that lived
nearby got all up in arms and got the city
to void the contract,” Ogg said. “It’s puni
tive now.”
Ogg said he abstained from voting
against the bill because he owns property
in a community affected by the Piney
Point controversy.
There was no debate on the bill before
the Senate vote. It now goes to the House.
The bill sets provisions for voters to
adopt recall, initiative and referendum
powers in cities with populations between
2,540 and 2,560.
Census figures indicate in addition to
Piney Point Village the bill could cover
Hooks in Bowie County, San Saba, Lacy
Lakeview in McLennan County and Kirby
in Bexar County.
nWeather
Early morning log and low cfoudM:
ness today, othorwise mostly
cloudy and m8d through Saturday. 1
Chance of showers or ftitmdaM
showers Saturday. Highs today
near 70 degrees, tows tonlgM low
60s, and high Saturday mid 70a,
South-southeasterly winds 0*10
m.p.h, today. Probability of precipi
tation Saturday la 30 per cent fill
Tuesday deadline for class officer filing;
McClure says irregularity caused extension
The filing period for class officers has
been extended until 10 p.m. next Tues
day, Student Body President Fred
McClure said last night.
All filing was to close at 3 p.m. Tuesday,
but class officer filing was extended be
cause of an irregularity which occurred
when filing opened.
McClure said the Election Commission
was misinformed about the grade-point
ratio requirements for class officers and
printed filing instructions with the wrong
requirements. The error was discovered
several hours after filing opened and was
rectified.
Because of the delay in correcting the
error, the filing period for class officers
was extended.
The required GPR for class officer can
didates is 2.0.
To clear up confusion about GPR re
quirements for yell leaders McClure said
the requirement is 2.25.
The thickness of the Prairie Film
sidewalks on the Texas A&M University
campus may be a contributing factor to
their deterioration.
Kent Besley, a landscape architect with
Schrickel, Rollins & Associates of Ar
lington, Tex., received a report from the
Prairie Company of Urbana, Ill. suggest
ing possible causes for the deterioration.
“The report generally said that the sam
ples they had tested should be thicker,”
Besley said Wednesday. “We have two-
inch sections and they said it ought to be
two and three-fourths inches.”
Besley’s firm was commissioned to de
sign the area extending from the Chemis
try building westward to the Academic,
Bolton and Fermier buildings.
Besley said his firm needed a material
that would provide wider sidewalks for the
heavy pedestrian traffic while preventing
damage to trees in the areas. Prairie Film
seemed to be the best answer at that time,
Besley said. You can walk on it, yet water
and air still get through to the roots of the
trees, he said.
When the Prairie Film was originally
installed, the manufacturer agreed to the
two-inch sections, Besley said. “Now they
seem to think that it should be thicker sec
tions because of the size of the stones.”
“With the bigger stones there aren’t
enough contact points for the material
(epoxy) to adhere to the stones,” Besley
said. Also, they think the base material
ought to be different.”
Besley said the material was used ac
cording to the manufacturer’s instructions.
“They (the Prairie Film Company) said it
could have been wet at the time of installa
tion.”
“We had an inspector on the job, and it
wasn’t wet when we installed it,” Besley
said, “so that wasn’t the problem.”
“That spot by the Academic building
seems to be the worst spot on campus,”
Besley said. “That was the first placement
of the material, and my particular theory is
that everyone didn’t know exactly what
they were doing.”
Cars and trucks have been seen parked
on the Prairie Film areas, he said. “It’s not
designed for trucks, it’s designed for
people. We have a service area designed
around the mall area. The service vehicles
should not be driving on anything other
than the service area.’
“That’s another contributing factor,” he
said, “and all these things aren’t helping
the situation.”
Besley said he will send copies of the
report to University officials within a few
days.