Weather
Partly cloudy and mild with a
high today in the low 80s. Winds
northerly at 8-12 mph. Low to
night in the low 50s. High tomor
row in them id-50s. No precipita
tion in sight.
iker saves
:oed from
lurning car
A Texas A&M coed narrowly escaped
Jorn her burning car yesterday afternoon,
hved by a warning shouted by a passing
((cyclist.
1 Ann Gradwohl, a freshman from Lin-
joln, Neb., said she escaped from her 1970
bpeljust in time.
| “I was driving along and when I stopped
Jimeguy on a bike yelled ‘Get out of your
(carl’ So I did,” Gradwohl said. “As I
Jimped out I could see the flames under
■yleg. I wouldn’t have gotten out if the
Tuy hadn’t yelled because I didn’t know
mything was wrong.”
[The College Station Fire Department
aut the fire, officially reported at 3:44
The burning car slowed traffic at the
|onier of Houston and Jersey Streets,
ig the car when she left the G. Rollie
ftite Coliseum parking lot. A gas leak
Hind in the car’s engine apparently caused
lefire. She said she had had the car tuned
p when she was home during A&M’s
jring break.
“Luckily, my parents are in town,”
radwohl said. Her father, a law professor,
ad been speaking at a Houston educa-
onal conference.
Gradwohl’s car and its contents were
wroughly charred. She said one her first
wughts after the fire engine arrived was
lather books were in the car and had been
urned.
The Battalion
Vol. 70 No. 97
16 Pages
Wednesday, March 30, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Pictures today
All candidates for Student
Government executive positions
and yell leaders who have not
filled out a questionnaire should
come by The Battalion office be
fore 8 o’clock tonight to do so.
Those candidates who have not
had their picture taken should
come by The Battalion office be
tween 2:30 and 5 p.m. or 7 and 8
p.m. today.
Ann Gradwohl, a freshman from Lincoln, Neb., Gradwohl got out of the car when a passing bicyc-
was able to escape from her burning 1970 Opel list yelled to her that something was wrong with
yesterday when a gas leak caused the car to catch hci ear. Gradwohl was not injured in the mishap,
on fire at the corner of Houston and Jersey Streets.
Election official
Tom Glass fired
by S. G. director
By RAY DANIELS
Election Commissioner Tom Glass was
fired last week in the middle of election
filing.
Susan Price, executive director of Stu
dent Government, handed Glass a letter of
dismissal Thursday evening and appointed
Geri Campbell acting commissioner.
“I didn’t think he was doing the job to the
best of his capacity,” Price said. She said
the dismissal was the result of many com
plaints and problems, which she was aware
of earlier but had not mentioned to Glass.
Glass said he had been given no indica
tion that he was doing anything wrong. He
said he felt he was fired because of com
plaints Price had received and her general
displeasure with his performance. Price
said she did not mention the problem be
fore Thursday.
“It was a pretty big shock to me,” Glass
said yesterday. He said he had delegated
much of the work to responsible people and
felt the process was working well.
“I made a few mistakes along the way,”
he said, “but I don’t think I was doing a bad
enough job to be fired.”
Glass had been commissioner since Sep
tember.
Lynn Gibson, speaker of the Senate, said
he saw some problems in this election that
had not occurred in the past.
In the fall Freshman elections. Glass
disqualified two candidates for an illegal
sign. Later, the students said Glass had
told them the sign was all right, and the
Judicial Board ruled the elections be run
again.
There was some confusion about the
grade point requirements for class officers
last week when filing opened. Filing for
class officers was extended seven hours on
the last day of filing because of the prob
lem .
Campbell will be acting commissioner
until Tuesday, when the Senate will be
asked to confirm her appointment. She
worked on the commission under Glass.
“I felt she had done good work,” Price
said, “and she was willing to take the job.”
Price said if the Senate does not confirm
Campbell, she will run the election herself.
Towing: a Northgate answer to illegal parking
By JULIE SPEIGHTS
Each day several Texas A&M University students become members of a select
group with one thing in common — they are all temporarily without transportation
because their cars have been towed away.
The main area of concern is University Square where A&M Wrecker Service is
employed to make sure the lot is clear of students’ cars to assure adequate customer
parking.
“We re going to continue to tow, and the price is going up because I have no
sympathy for grown men and women who Will convert the use of a merchant’s
leased property for his or her own selfish personal interest,” says Sparky Hardee,
owner of A&M Wrecker Service.
The current rate is $30 for towing. Hardee noted that it costs him $23 to tow away
a car.
Hardee added that A&M Wrecker has exclusive towing rights because of a
contract with the owner of the University Square property, John C. Culpepper.
Culpepper refused comment, referring to Cindy Nigliazzo, his promotion man
ager. She was unavailable for comment.
Student legal adviser Chris Kling said that since the beginning of this semester
there have been about 50 complaints concerning towing of cars.
About 95 per cent of the complaints deal solely with A&M Wrecker Service, he
said.
Hardee said the wrecker service has been involved in about 15 suits with
students since fall and has not lost one suit.
There are currently four suits pending against A&M Wrecker.
Three of the suits claim damage was done during towing and are asking for
payment of damages ranging from $93 to $200. All claim the towing was unau
thorized.
One question raised concerns the legality of breaking into an illegally parked car
in preparation for towing.
“There is no clear-cut law in that regard,” Kling said.
If an illegally parked vehicle would be hazardous to pull without first securing the
steering column it is necessary and legal to break into it to do so, David Drechsel,
manager of A&M Wrecker Service, said.
“There’s no way to damage a car by breaking in to it if it is done right, ” Drechsel
added.
A&M Wrecker won’t tow away a car unless it is illegally parked, Hardee said.
Hardee said that at 8:30 one morning before he began clearing the lot of students’
cars, an estimated 300 illegally parked student vehicles were in the University
Square lot.
At the beginning of this semester between 10 and 15 cars were towed off each
day, Drechsel said. He said that about two are towed off daily now.
Drechsel added that 16 signs in the shopping center lot warn people that if they
park and leave the shopping center they will be towed away.
A&M Wrecker employs spotters to keep accurate accounts of what drivers of
parked vehicles look like and where they go from the car, Drechsel said.
“Cars may be towed as soon as they (the drivers) leave University Square,”
Drechsel said.
Hardee said the wrecker service notifies the College Station police that they have
the cars.
Other Northgate merchants have had problems with students occupying their
customer parking and parking along streets longer than the 1-hour limit in those
areas.
Linda Andrews, College Station traffic officer, said she issues between 20 and 25
tickets each day at Northgate and estimates that half of those go to students.
The Northgate merchants agreed that the parking problem is biggest at the
beginning and end of each semester.
Cars belonging to A&M students get towed from the Northgate area
at a rate of two per day, and their owners pay a fee of $30.
Editors selected... Publications leaders chosen
HARRIS
By GLENNA WHITLEY
Three students were recommended for
editorial positions on the University’s stu
dent publications last night.
Jamie Aitken, Battalion managing
editor, was appointed editor for the fall
1977 Battalion by the Student Publications
Board .
Lee Roy Leschper Jr., Battalion staff
writer, was appointed summer 1977 Bat
talion editor. Norine Harris, assistant
editor for the ’77 Aggieland, was chosen
editor for the ’78 Aggieland.
These appointments are subject to ap
proval by President Jack K. Williams.
Aitken was unanimously selected by the
seven-member board. Leschper received
four votes and Scott Sherman, journalism
graduate student, received the remaining
three votes.
Before the vote on Aggieland editor, Joe
Arredondo, a student member of the
board, moved to reopen applications for
the position. He said he felt none of the
applicants was really qualified.
“The one possibly qualified person
seems to be lacking in an idea of what the
Aggieland should be, and the other two
are not qualified,” he said.
The motion failed however, with Ar
redondo the only member voting for it.
Harris received five votes, with Ar-
.redondo abstaining and Jerri Ward, also a
student board member, absent.
Aitken is a junior journalism major. He
served as Battalion city editor during fall
1976 and has served as managing editor
since January. He currently covers Texas
A&M for The New York Times and will
intern at The Dallas Morning News this
summer. He was recently elected vice
president of Sigma Delta Chi, society of
professional journalists.
“The main goal I have is to put the right
people in the right places,” Aitken said.
He said he hoped to use senior reporters,
persons who have been working for The
Battalion at least a semester, for more in-
depth features and articles.
“We’ve got the people we need to make
a really fine newspaper. I suggest utilizing
the resources we’ve got to the best of our
ability,” Aitken said. He will take over the
position April 18.
Leschper has served as a Battalion staff
writer for two years and as a Battalion ad
vertising salesman for the past seven
months. He served a three-month summer
internship during the summer of 1976 on
the San Antonio Light.
“This summer were going to experi
ment with some new and some old im
proved techniques to make the paper
more representative of what’s going on
around here,” Leschper said.
Harris is a graduate student in history.
She was a Battalion staff writer in 1974. In
1976 she was a section editor for historical
research for the Aggieland. She is pres
ently an assistant editor for the ’77 Aggie
land.
“My first responsibility is to give a pic
ture of the University to the students.
You can’t show the whole University, by
any stretch of the imagination, but you can
show its pulse,” Harris said.
LESCHPER AITKEN