The Battalion
Vol. 71 No.
16 Pages
10
Wednesday, September 14, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Flood hits Missouri; leaves 18 dead
United Press International
NSAS CITY, Mo. — Flash flooding
powerful, surging crests of water up
20 feet high in some areas brought
and uncounted millions of dollars of
(ruction to the metropolitan area
day night and yesterday morning,
ing power failures and gas-fed ex-
lions and fire.
[ain totaling more than 16 inches in a
our period caused at least 18 deaths in
^Kansas City area’s worst disaster since
aw enforcement officers and rescue
mteers continued to search for more
films yesterday. Residents who had
*n driven from their homes — including
many who had to be rescued by boat from
roof tops of houses and marooned cars —
filtered back to mud-covered houses, but
many still were surrounded by water.
Between eight and 16 inches of rain
were reported from various parts of the
metropolitan area in the past two days,
turning normally placid creeks and riv
ers that wind through residential areas
into roaring torrents.
The Kansas River was out of its banks
but expected to crest at 3.5 feet above
flood stage of 23 feet late yesterday. The
Big Blue River crested about 17 feet above
flood level at noon at U.S. 50, in eastern
Kansas City near circumferential In
terstate 435.
The Missouri River, often called the
“Big Muddy,” was expected to crest at
three feet above flood level at the Hanni
bal Bridge in Kansas City.
One of the hardest hit areas was the pres
tigious Country Club Plaza shopping and
entertainment center, located 50 blocks
south of downtown. Officials were hesitant
to estimate damage to the Plaza or to resi
dences and businesses in outlying areas,
but Police Maj. Richard Fletch said the
Plaza damage was extensive.
“I’m certain it will take days and even
weeks to get the Plaza back to any degree
of normalcy, ” he said. “In the 16 years I’ve
been with the department. I’ve never ex
perienced a natural disaster that compares
with this in the devastation and lives lost.”
Kansas City City Manager Robert Kipp
said that requests for federal disaster aid
had been forwarded to President Carter
through Missouri Gov. Joseph P. Teas-
dale, who was touring the damaged areas
yesterday afternoon.
“We’ve been assured that there isn’t any
question but what they’ll respond,” Kipp
said. “We have indicated that our very
first estimate of damage to public facilities
is in the range of $4 million to $7 million.
We frankly try to make the estimate on the
lower side.
“No one has, or could have, an estimate
on private property damage,” Kipp said.
“There just wouldn’t be any way yet. It’ll
be in the millions, but....”
Private damage is expected to be many
times the public damage but it was un
known whether it would compare to the $1
billion price tag placed on the damage
from the 1951 flood of the Kansas and
Missouri Rivers.
“I was around in the 1951 flood, but it
was different. Those were major rivers,”
Kipp said. “This is a flash flood. But defi
nitely, for its nature, this is surely as se
vere as the other.”
The severe thunderstorms that caused
the flash flooding began about 7:30 p.m.
Monday, which along with late Sunday
rains dumped 16.5 inches of rain on Inde
pendence. The rains caused the waters of
the Little Blue to back up around the
General Motors plant at Leeds and the
Armco Steel plant.
The water knocked out electric power
for 25,000 customers of Kansas City Power
& Light Co., but 9,000 had been restored
by 10 a.m. KCP&L spokesman estimated
that 11,000 more would have power by
midnight, with the remaining 5,000 to re
gain power by Wednesday evening.
One volunteer rescue worker, 23-year-
old truck driver Bob Bauer, said his crew
had trouble evacuating some people from
houses surrounded by water. In darkness
caused by a power blackout, marooned
residents of the area called out to the res--
cuers in the black night.
Recreation center provides
food, shelter for refugees
United Press International
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — About 125 persons, driven from
their homes yesterday by floodwaters, trudged into the Blue
Valley Recreation Center in search of dry clothes, hot food and
sympathetic volunteers who would listen to hear their stories of
dashed dreams and losses.
“All we could do was try to make it so they could come in and
get warm and get some sandwiches and coffee and use a phone
to find some place to go,” said Wilma Gardner, who lives next
door to the center and opened it to the victims at 2 a.m. yes
terday.
“We just tried to calm them down,” she said. “If they
couldn’t find relatives or friends we got the Salvation Army to
try to locate temporary shelter.”
Many of the saddened victims braved still-high water levels
to return to their homes on the east side of the city by nightfall.
Most of the Blue Valley center refugees came from a mobile
home park and a neighborhood nestled in a curve of the
flooded Big Blue River.
“I heard most of them saying they were inundated and that
they’ve lost everything and they didn’t have any flood insur
ance,” Mrs. Gardner said. “Basically they had all been
evacuated by boat and walked the rest of the way out on foot.
“We had two young families come in — one with a 2 1 A-
week-old baby and the other with a 2-month-old baby that had
been born prematurely and was on a special formula,” she said.
A nurse on duty at the center persuaded a local drugstore to
donate a supply of the formula ingredients. Others were quick
to donate clothing and food for the refugees.
For Mary Ann Harrod, 40, the confusion of the disaster was
compounded when she thought she had lost her job because
she couldn’t get to work. She escaped her flooded home with
her husband and children and a few articles of clothing.
“They just told me I didn’t need to worry about my job any
more,” she said, standing barefoot and shivering, wrapped in a
blanket, in ankle-deep water. “I told them we was all flooded
out down here. I didn’t know people could be so heartless. I
got no where to go. What can I do?”
But a spokesman at the Plastic Sales Co. insisted Mrs. Har- -
rod was confused and had not been fired over the telephone.
See related stories, page 9
Bravenec favors building
of sewer line to North gate
Professor Peter J. Zweig of the College of Archi
tecture and Environmental Design stands before
k ever so humble
a full-sized model designed from a soap film.
Bubble home designed
or Sale: One soap bubble home. Three
room, den, kitchen and bath. Must see
ippreciate. Will talk price,
ds such as this might appear sometime
[the future, since a Texas A&M Univer-
architect has huilt a full-sized model of
f oap bubble to use as a model for low-
fi t housing.
fThe model is on display next to the
igford Architecture Building.
Prof. Peter J. Zweig and a team of re
searchers in the College of Architecture
and Environmental Design have copied
the soap film’s design to produce a struc
ture that uses a minimum of building sur
face to enclose a maximum of living space.
The structure is one possible solution
for low-cost modular housing. It can be
put up rapidly by inexperienced labor with
a minimum amount of building materials.
Researchers have noticed that a soap
film clinging to a frame will form a surface
Donald Morris:
‘Africa's problems evade Americans'
By JOHNNIE HENDON
United Nations ambassador An
drew Young views South Africa
much like the public viewed south
ern Louisiana during the 1930s, said
Donald Morris Tuesday night.
Morris, a news analyst for the
Houston Post, gave a speech
entitled “America: What Lies Ahead
in Africa?” to an audience at Rudder
Tower. Morris’ speech was spon-
I sored by Political Forum.
South Africans think of them
selves as the white tribe of Africa,
and of blacks as the interlopers,
Morris said. Dutch colonists settled
the Cape Colony in 1650, and
started considering themselves Af
rikaners by about 1660. Most of the
area’s blacks arrived much later.
Morris said democracy now exists
in South Africa for the white minor
ity, and that the United States is try
ing to tell South Africans how to run
their country.
Morris, who was an agent for the
Central Intelligence Agency for 17
years, said the Soviet Union consid
ers Africa a seaport. He added that
the United States should take a simi
lar view of Africa.
Africans have political problems
that evade most Americans, he said.
The newspaper columnist said
that some African governments are
run hy “clowns” such as Idi Amin,
and some by ethnically-based politi-
j| cal parties.
^1 Morris said the African tribal con-
14 cept is also difficult for Americans to
; understand, because the American
I black is as much a child of Western
B culture as the American white.
Morris
Young African nations also face in
terference from the Soviet Union,
he said. The Soviets take political
advantage of the feudal system that
functions in Africa, by providing
strong leaders for small geographic-
areas. When people become loyal to
the leaders, the result is further di
vision of the country.
If Americans are poorly informed
on African matters, inadequate
press coverage is to blame, he said.
The Associated Press has only five
correspondents in Africa, and
Morris said the reporters will write
about anything in order to turn their
required number of stories.
Morris said Americans need to
realize that Africa is no better nor
worse than other countries—just
different.
of the smallest possible area in nearly
every circumstance.
By building a frame that could be used
for a house and producing a soap film on it,
they let nature present them with the
most efficient design.
“This design could be to the 20th Cen
tury man what the post and beam was to
the Greeks and the arch to the Romans,
Zweig said.
“The search for alternative forms and
structures in architecture is one that will
ultimately fashion the styles of civiliza
tions,” Zweig said.
College Station Mayor Lorence
Bravenec said Tuesday he would rather
the city build a sewer line to the Northgate
area than de-annex the land to Bryan.
Bravenec’s remarks came; in response to
discussion by the Bryan City Council
Monday concerning the possibility of an
nexing the area north of the Texas A&M
campus if the City of College Station were
unable to supply adequate sewage trans
mission facilities to the neighborhood.
The City of Bryan had agreed that after
1979 the city would not supply sewer serv
ice to College Station, with the exception
of the use of the Northgate line owned by
Biyan and shared by both cities. Bryan of
ficials also agreed to terminate that serv
ice.
Bryan city councilmen Monday dis
cussed the possibility that College Station
might save money by foregoing construc
tion of its own sewer service in the area
and instead de-annexing the land, making
it available to Bryan.
But Bravenec said Tuesday he would be
unwilling to give up Northgate and lose
zoning jurisdiction over the area. He said
College Station regulations on zoning and
billboards have served the area well.
The mayor said College Station would
Lance's overdrafts
known at hearing
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Bert Lance’s over
draft problems were known last January
but were not conveyed to President Car
ter. The Senate committee that confirmed
the budget director showed little interest
in documentation, officials say.
The committee also heard examiners’
critiques of Lance’s performance as a
banker. One expressed hope that he
would devote himself more to public rela
tions than to lending activity.
These revelations came before Donald
Tarleton, the top federal bank regulator in
Atlanta, testified yesterday on his decision
to terminate an internal federal banking
order that could have hurt Lance’s nomi
nation. The order, known only to the bank
and the government, dealt with Lance’s
overdrafts.
White House press secretary Jody Pow
ell said Monday that he and two other top
aides knew in January that Lance and his
family overdrew by $450,000 their ac
counts at the Calhoun First National Bank
in Georgia but had not told Carter.
Robert Bloom told the Senate Gov
ernmental Affairs Committee at the same
time that it had never expressed any inter
est in background information on Lance.
Bloom, a 16-year career bank regulator,
was acting comptroller of currency when
Lance was nominated last Dec. 3 and con
firmed Jan. 18.
“To this day,” said Bloom, “I have not
received a single call from a member of
this committee or a member of the staff. ”
Ribicoff read to the committee excerpts
from reports filed in 1975 by examiners in
the comptroller of the currency’s office.
The reports were based on studies of
Lance’s activities heading two Georgia
banks.
One described Lance as a “very weak
administrator and executive officer (who)
in his own way succumbs to outside pres
sures regarding the abandonment of sound
banking procedures and practices.”
The report also said the “age and size of
the overdrafts (by the Lance family) is ap
palling.”
Another examiner called the Lance fam
ily overdraft privileges “outrageous.”
An examiner who checked on Lance’s
activites when he headed the National
Bank of Georgia in Atlanta offered another
critical assessment:
“He is outwardly well regarded ... and
highly respected for his considerable in
fluence in Georgia business and policies.
His banking experience, however, has
been limited ... Mr. Lance is not consid
ered a capable lending oflicer, and will
hopefully limit his efforts more to business
development and public relations
functions.”
Sen. Charles Percy, the committee’s
ranking Republican, said there was the
“appearance of a coverup” of Lance’s prob
lems before confirmation. He said it was
Bloom’s duty to volunteer the information.
Bloom said he raised “red flags” to warn
the committee and believed he had ful
filled his obligation.
be able to build its own sewer line to
Northgate with funds from a recent bond
issue. He added, however, that sharing
the sewer service with Bryan would work
to the benefit of both cities.
Bravenec said College Station would be
willing to give Bryan money to expand its
sewage plant in return for sharing sewer
lines.
However, Bryan City Manager Lou
Odle said Tuesday the Bryan council had
decided there was no adequate reason for
sharing the lines.
Odle noted that the line serving the
Northgate area will need to lx? replaced
soon. One estimate at the Bryan council
meeting Monday put the cost of College
Station servicing the area at $1 million.
Odle said Bryan’s interest in the annexa
tion of the Northgate area “is just an idea
we intend to explore. He stressed that
the city’s study of the matter is only in the
“embryonic stage. He said he hadn’t re
ceived any comments about the suggestion
from College Station officials.
So recent is the idea that College Sta
tion City Manager North Bardell had not
received notice of the annexation discus
sion from Bryan as of Tuesday.
College Station councilman Anne Ha-
zen, who learned of the annexation discus
sion by newspaper, said she would like the
opinions of residents in the Northgate area
concerning the matter.
She concurred with Bravenec s sugges
tion of continuing joint sewer line trans
mission, citing governmental financial
benefits. She said the federal government
would be more inclined to allocate funds
to cities in cooperation with each other.
f ■>
Aeronautics Board
proposes routes
United Press International
WASHINGTON —The Civil Aeronautics Board has proposed 13 cities as
new U.S. airline “gateways” for flights to Europe and has picked Delta Air
Lines and Northwest Airlines as new transatlantic carriers.
If approved by President Carter, the decision would open new nonstop
routes from northern states to Scandanavia; from the South to Paris; and
from Texas and the Midwest to London.
The tentative route assignment, reached Monday, was the second major
CAB action on transatlantic air service in less than a week. The board
Friday approved a $2.56 round-trip standby fare between New York and
London.
In the route decision, the CAB rejected Justice Department ideas for
promoting more low-fare competition and assigned routes only to major
U.S. airlines. It said the assignments will remain in effect for either three or
five years, letting the CAB staff decide which duration would be best.
Justice officials had proposed awarding the routes on a one-year basis
and, to keep major airlines from driving low-fare carriers out of the market,
had called for giving one of America’s two New York-London routes to a
scheduled airline offering nothing but low fares. The CAB called that im
practical.
U.S. transatlantic carriers under the new plan would be Pan American
World Airways, Trans World Airlines, National Airlines — all of which now
fly the Atlantic — plus Northwest and Delta.
The board’s route proposal would extend gateway status to 11 airports
serving 13 cities.
Delta could provide flights between London and Atlanta, one of the new
gateways. The board rejected an Eastern Airlines bid for the Atlanta route.
Northwest could serve a pair of new gateway cities — Minneapolis and St.
Paul, which use a common airport — on a route linking Seattle with Glas
gow, Scotland, and with Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
Pan American could fly between London and the new gateways of Dallas
and Fort Worth, which use a common airport. It also could offer one-stop
flights from Houston to London and, under a new U.S.British air pact,
could upgrade Houston to gateway status with nonstop flights to London
after three years. The board rejected a Braniff International bid for the
Texas routes.
TWA could fly nonstop between London and the new gateways of Cleve
land, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Denver, Kansas City and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
National could fly between Paris and the new gateways of New Orleans
and Tampa. The board also renewed National’s temporary authority to fly
between Miami and Paris and said it will ask Carter to make that authority
permanent.
Most of the gateway selections paralleled those made in July, 1976, but
rejected by Gerald Ford on grounds the U.S.-British air agreement had not
yet been settled.
Inclusion of Minneapolis-St. Paul on the Northwest route and the plan to
allow National flights from New Orleans and Tampa to Paris were new.