Tne Tattanon
Tuesday, August 30, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Weather
Cloudy and warm through tomor
row. 70 per cent chance of rain to
night, 50 per cent chance tonight.
Northeasterly winds at 10-15 mph.
High today in the high 80s, low to
night in the 70s.
Message from on high?
e amateur architecture critic made a point with a sign hung yesterday
m the new Langford Architecture Building. The sign was removed
terday morning.
Battalion photo by Patrick O'Malley
|)ffshore oil rigs
eing evacuated
United Press International
W ORLEANS — A fleet of helicop-
imd crew boats yesterday began
ating workers from offshore oil plat-
threatened by the season’s first trop-
epression.
eare now evacuating all Amoco per-
land contract personnel from drilling
rms in the Gulf of Mexico, said Dave
en, a spokesman for Amoco Pro-
Mi Go. "We’re talking about seven
ig rigs off the Texas and Louisiana
rien said Amoco had about 500 vvork-
i the seven drilling platforms,
ic ones farthest out in the Gulf are
ig in by helicopter and the rest are
brought in by crew boats. We should
eeveryone in by Tuesday morning.”
al other oil companies were
ating nonessential workers from their
rms in the Gulf.
[here isn’t a wholesale evacuation, but
companies are limiting their opera-
and bringing in the unneeded per-
Jlan fails
plunder
[ilvis’ plot
United Press International
A1PHIS — Four men were arrested
[rday in a reported plot to steal the
I of rock V roll king Elvis Presley.
[lice Capt. John F. Molnar confirmed
four were arrested shortly after mid-
it Monday but disclosed few details. He
|ned comment on reports the four were
iped with explosives,
alnar said three suspects were taken
[custody near the marble mausoleum
fe Presley was emtombed Aug. 18. He
the fourth was arrested in a getaway
esley was entombed in a room of the
Ite, columned mausoleum at Forest
Cemetery two days after he died of
t failure.
sound,” said a spokesman for Petroleum,
Helicopters, Inc.
PHI uses 200 helicopters to shuttle an
average of 7,200 workers a day to oil dril
ling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We re just bringing in the extra bodies
right now,” said the PHI official. "Every-
bodyfs more or less sitting and waiting.”
The tropical depression formed 50 miles
south of New Orleans Monday after cros
sing Florida as a disorganized tropical wave
during the weekend.
The depression was centered at 26.5
north and 88.5 west and had winds of 35
miles per hour.
The National Weather Service at New
Orleans issued a special weather statement
late yesterday urging persons in 11 south
Louisiana parishes to be on the alert.
Students enrolled
for fall semester
reach 28,365
First-day enrollment for the fall semes
ter at Texas A&M University shows a
1,981-student increase over that of open
ing day last year.
Registrar Robert A. Lacey said 28,365
students were registered Monday on the
main campus, a 7.5-percent increase over
the 26,384 enrollment for the same period
in 1976.
Texas A&M President Jarvis E. Miller
said he viewed the opening-day enroll
ment figures as a highly positive indication
that the university’s programs continue to
be well received.
“While we are not stressing an ex
panded enrollment, this healthy gain is
most gratifying in that it reflects the con
tinuing confidence of students and their
parents in Texas A&M’s programs,” Dr.
Miller said. “As a state-supported institu
tion, we feel obligated to accept all qual
ified applicants.”
Lacey emphasized the figures are not
complete, pointing out that registration
continues on campus through Friday and
that final figures will not be compiled until
Sept. 14.
University officials predicted enroll
ment this fall would exceed 29,000.
4 buildings named
in honor of alumni
he Texas A&M University System
rd of Regents named campus buildings
onor of alumni Joe Moore, Michel T.
Ibouty, H.C. Heldenfels and the late
|n H.L. Heaton.
ioard Chairman Clyde H. Wells said
J the alumni were honored for their
htributions to Texas A&M.
pe regents named the buildings Fri-
Jacilities housing KAMU-TV and
MU-FM, Texas A&M educational tele-
Sion and radio stations, will bear the
We of Moore, a 1938 graduate of the
Diversity and president of its alumni as-
eation in 1974.
■he Geosciences Building will he
lied in honor of Halbouty, a 1930 Texas
graduate who received the institu
tion’s Distinguished Alumni Award in
1968. Halbouty, of Houston, is widely
acclaimed for his geology and petroleum-
related expertise.
Texas A&M’s new science classroom
and laboratory building will be named in
honor of Heldenfels of Corpus Christi, a
1935 Texas A&M graduate. He served on
the Board of Regents from 1961 until 1974
and was chairman of the board in 1965-66.
He is a past president of The Aggie Club,
the organization which raises scholarships
for student athletes.
The former Exchange Store building,
now being remodeled to serve the Office
of Admissions and Records, was named in
honor of Heaton, who was the University’s
first dean of admissions and records. He
also served as registrar for 28 years.
Traffic!
f
Ags arrive on carpet of congestion
By JAMIE AITKEN
and SUE MUTZEL
The word “traflfic,” alone, is an under
statement. The bumper to bumper con
gestion seen on city streets the past few
days would almost make it hard to distin-
quish between thoroughfare and parking
lot.
College Station, beseiged by almost
30,000 students in seemingly as many
cars, is faced with a traffic problem as
never before.
The College Station police department
braced itself weeks ago, according to one
of the city’s police officials. Beefed-up
police activity between the hours of 2 p.m.
and 10 p.m. has been initiated to try to
deal with the increased numbers of acci
dents and traffic violations inevitable with
the number of vehicles now on the road,
Capt. Ed Feldman said.
“We knew it was fixing to hit and we got
prepared for it, Feldman said. “There’s
no doubt about it, our biggest problem is
traffic.
In this city of some two dozen police
men, working traffic used to be rather
routine, with “five or six accidents at the
most on a bad day during the summer
months, Feldman related.
But over the weekend accident inci
dents increased significantly, he said,
mainly due to failure of drivers to yield
right-of-way and hitting other cars in the
process of a lane change -— an accident
environment brought about by the
sardine-can nature of the city’s
thoroughfares.
The problem has moved the city to form
a special traffic division within the police
department, something unneeded in the
past. But Feldman said, when it was for-
seen two years ago that traffic flow in the
city would demand special attention.
The six-man division will incorporate
the use of three radar systems to be used
around the clock, and the possible addi
tion of as many as six new officers to the
ranks may be seen over the each year for
the next few years.
Meanwhile, ticketing has begun. A
warning period bef ore the start of school in
which violators were advised of the im
pending traffic problems and given warn
ing citations, has been replaced with the
real thing, Feldman said.
But the job has not proved an easy one,
he noted.
“There’s so much traff ic that even if we
see a violation, often we can’t get to it. The
Police Department has to have the volun
tary assistance of the public to help with
traffic this heavy.
“We’d love to do something else than
work traffic and issue tickets,” he said.
Feldman said he expected the situation
to ease over the next two weeks.
“The students need to look around and
pick the liest way to school, ” he said. “It
No room at the ‘Y’
They came laden with pillows and bedrolls, radios and dominoes,
in hopes that tonight they might see better accommodations than the
hot, crowded hall of the YMCA Building.
More than 150 persistent students, some beginning their encamp
ment outside the student services office early Monday, spent a long
night waiting for the chance to fill the dormitory vacancies announced
at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Cold drinks abounded in the stuffy corridor, made almost impass
able by a carpet of lounging bodies. Outside on the steps of the
building, dozens more took a few minutes to enjoy the relative cool
ness before returning to reaffirm their place on the waiting list.
The yearly vigil proved to be only one of numerous lines and waits
encountered by students at the outset of the semester. Placement in
dormitiory vacancies, made available by “no-shows” and moves, is
expected to continue late into the afternoon Tuesday and then on
through the week.
Some of those whiling away the hours remarked that the bivouac in
the YMCA was little different than nights spent previously, since
they had yet to find a place to sleep that they could return to the next
night.
would make it much easier for them and
us.”
Until the rush is over, though, College
Station police and motorists, alike, will
contend with the lines of traffic that circle
the campus. Trouble spots along Univer
sity Avenue, Texas Avenue and particu
larly the intersection of Jersey and Ander
son will receive added patrols, Feldman
said.
Moving traffic isn’t the only problem
facing College Station and the Texas A&M
campus. Once the vehicle reaches its des
tination it has to be parked —- somewhere
— not necessarily nearby.
And in the jammed confines of the Uni
versity police station, thousands pressed
for a legitimate pass to park on campus —
in a parking space.
Some 20,000 automobiles and 8,000
bicycles are expected to he registered this
fall through the campus police, said Tom
Parsons, director of campus security and
traffic.
Beginning Monday, the University’s
eight on-duty officers will begin ticketing
operations. Students parked in lots other
than student lots, however, may find the
yellow slips under their wipers before
Monday.
The musical-chairs incidents of parking
violators humping other drivers out of
their legal parking spaces into illegal ones
has proved to he the biggest problem with
on-campus parking. Parsons said.
But he noted that peace should return
to the campus lots within a few weeks,
after the hulk of the processing is over.
“Be patient and cooperate, Parsons ad
vised. “I don’t really think it’s worse than
last tall, just a few hundred more cars.
Breaking for lunch and music
time crowd at the MSC fountain.
Battalion photo by Patrick OMailc\
The first day of classes brought the first sidewalk concert for Texas A&M
students. Yesterday Clint Brown played his guitar and sang to the lunch-
U.S. in Panama
Bid to embarrass Carter blocked in Southern governor’s session
United Press International
SAN ANTONIO, — A resolution oppos
ing surrender of any U.S. control over the
Panama Canal was blocked in a committee
of the Southern Governor’s Conference
yesterday. This at least temporarily spared
President Carter the embarassment of op
position from political leaders in his native
South.
The resolution by outspoken Louisiana
Gov. Edwin Edwards failed to clear the
resolutions committee on a 3-3 vote, with
late appointment to the panel providing
the tying vote.
Puerto Rico Gov. Carlos Romero-
Barcelo was appointed to the committee
Sunday to replace Alabama Gov. George
Wallace, who did not attend the confer
ence. Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe ap
pointed Romero to the committee, but
said he did not question Romero’s stand
on the Panama Canal issue before making
the appointment.
Briscoe said he opposes ratification of
the canal treaty, and will vote with Ed
wards if the Louisiana governor today at
tempts to bring it before the full confer
ence.
There was speculation that Carter had
become involved in backstage negotiations
concerning Edwards’ resolution, but Bris
coe and Kentucky Gov. Julian Carroll,
chairman of the resolutions committee,
said they knew of no personal contact by
the President with any of the governors.
Edwards said a solid majority of the
Southern governors favor his resolution
and oppose ratification of the Panama
Canal treaty.
“It takes three-fourths majority to bring
it to the full conference, then two-thirds to
pass it. That’s like trying to organize a
Baptist church in the Vatican.”
Edwards, South Carolina Gov. James B.
Edwards and Oklahoma Gov. David
Boren voted for the resolution in commit
tee, but Carroll, Arkansas Gov. David
Pryor and Romero opposed it.
“If we were just giving it away it
wouldn’t be so bad, but giving it away and
paying them to take it is what insults me,”
the Louisiana governor argued.
Edwards said if the present treaty is bad
for Panama, then Panama should be pay
ing the United States to get out of that
pact.
Carroll said the governors should take
no stand on the canal issue, because their
opposition would be blown out of propor
tion.
Discussion of the Panama Canal resolu
tion dominated the opening day of the
43rd annual Southern Governor’s Confer
ence.
Other issues presented to the governors
inculded problems with the nation’s
economy.
Irving S. Shapiro, chairman of the board
and. chief executive officer of the E. I.
duPont de Nemours and Co., said Ameri
can citizens recognize the economic prob
lems.
Shapiro listed inflation, seven per cent
unemployment, a sluggish rate of capital
investment and a low rate of fixed business
Berkowitz reportedly sane
United Press International
NEW YORK (UPI) — Kings County
Hospital psychiatrists reportedly have
found “Son of Sam” suspect David Ber
kowitz mentally competent to stand trial.
WPIX-TV said last night it had learned
of the psychiatric finding, but did not indi
cate its source.
The psychiatrists report was delivered
yesterday to state Supreme Court Justice
Gerald Held in Brooklyn and will be
opened today at a hearing.
The pudgy 24-year-old former postal
worker, charged with the .44-caliber
killings of six people, was ordered to be
present at the hearing.
Held will make a decision on whether
Berkowitz is fit to stand trial on the basis of
the report.
Defense attorney Mark Jay Heller al
ready has said if Berkowitz is found com
petent to be tried, he will advance a de
fense of insanity.
Berkowitz has be£n studied by psychiat
rists in a special ward of Kings County
Hospital since Aug. 16, when he was ar
raigned in Brooklyn on the first of six mur
der counts.
Two subsequent arraignments have
been held in a bullet-proof chamber 50
feet from Berkowitz’ guarded cell to avoid
the danger of transporting him.
The report, contained in a 10-by-14-
inch manila envelope, was delivered per
sonally yesterday to Held by Dr. Daniel
Schwartz, head of the forensic medical
section at the hospital.
Schwartz, who has spoken almost daily
to Berkowitz since he was remanded to the
hospital, sat unobtrusively in Held’s court
room for three hours Monday until the
court calendar was cleared, then ap
proached the bench.
After he identified himself, Schwartz
handed the package to Held, saying he
wanted to deliver it to the judge himself.
“This doesn’t weigh any 10 pounds like I
thought it would, Held joked.
“It’s the most difficult work I’ve ever
had,” Schwartz replied. “I’m glad it’s
over.”
Held then took the package — contain
ing three copies of the report on Ber
kowitz’ mental condition — to the
chamber of Administrative Justice Charles
Ruben.
The two jurists signed their names on
the back flap of the envelope and sealed it
to make sure it would not be tampered
with before today’s hearing.
investments as indicators of economic
problems.
But Shapiro said the economy also has
positive indicators. He said inflation is
well below the levels of 1974 and 1975,
employment is at an all time high, the
short term trend in capital spending is
upward and the federal deficit is shrink
ing.
“Looking ahead, realistically, we see an
extended period of slower growth and
chronic inflation; greater consumption hut
lower savings; higher employment but lim
ited gains in productivity.
Shapiro said chronic inflation is the
greatest challenge facing the U.S.
economy, and said “we will make little
progress until its causes are viewed more
realistically. ”
He said government deficits are to
blame for the inflation.
A third problem facing the governors
concerned illegal aliens entering from
Mexico. The only way to solve the prob
lem is to create employment for them in
Mexico, an official of the Mexican gov
ernment said yesterday.
Army boss boosts
canal pullout pact
United Press International
FT. POLK, La. — The proposed treaty
reducing United States control over the
Panama Canal has been endorsed by Army
Secretary Clifford Alexander.
Alexander Monday called for Senate
ratification of the treaty.
The secretary was at Ft. Polk to activate
the Army’s last battalion, the 3rd Bat
talion, 11th Infantry. Adding that unit
brought the Army to its full strength of 16
active, combat-ready divisions and eight
divisions in reserve.
Sens. Russell B. Long, D-La., and J.
Bennett Johnston, D-La., were among the
elected officials attending the event.