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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1977)
The Battalion Vol. 71 No. 11 Thursday, September 15, 1977 News Dept. 845-2611 12 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611 Lance lashes critics, gets ‘day in court’ ■ii Sandbox 101? Students in Jo Ann Moore’s Industrial Educa- throughout the semester. But their class assign- tion 333 class learned the marvels of working with ment yesterday was to roll up their sleeves and get jday when two tons of clay mixture arrived. The busy mixing the clay. [students will make ceramic pieces with the clay Battalion photo by Jo Ella Dixon sitor can t use student ticket Scalpers win in ticket game By KYLE CREWS ilping’ may lx* the newest and fas- owing sport on campus, re are no definite rules to go by and takes two people to play. It usually |s on Saturdays of home football and the only equipment needed is rmoreA&M football tickets, pical match takes place in front of ield. Although anyone can play, the slants usually fall into two categories: nts out to make a quick buck and Irs desperate for tickets. student always wins. Those who :he tickets are informed at the gate ince they do not have student iden- :ion cards, they cannot be admitted, iother Aggie victory. filly Groff, assistant director of ath- for business affairs, is concerned the growing problem. i the crowds are getting larger, there ndeney for our students to scalp their its. They are selling their tickets to tudents and we will not let these e in on student tickets, Groff said, e problem started last year, and Groff it promises to be worse this football n. He said there is no real solution, 'hen enough people get burned, the will spread and some of this will " he said. alping is now legal in Texas. We ask who don’t like it to advise their legis- s in Austin and ask them to vote st it the next time the issue comes 5e said. e growing number of Aggie football iries has produced other problems for and his staff. “There appears to be a pretty big black market on coupon books. I have had re ports of the books passing though one to five hands and some books ultimately br inging $50," he said. “The worst thing last week was the enormous amount of students who came by to say that their tickets were either sto len or lost. Rather than being put in a posi tion of deciding who was telling the truth and who wasn’t, I did not give additional tickets to any of these students, Groff said. He said that his staff will be looking at the identification number on the front of the books during the next ticket allocation. He will have a list of the numbers of the missing coupons and he hopes they will be able to spot some of the stolen books. Groff said he is having problems with students who have purchased two ticket books. “This is usually done by using a dupli cate fee slip, Groff said. “We have caught 30 students already who have done this and only one denied doing it on purpose. There are 30 to 40 more that we are sus picious of but haven’t had a chance to check out.” In a meeting Wednesday afternoon, Lynn Gibson and Marc Young, off-campus undergraduate representatives to Student Senate, presented some complaints to Groff regarding student seating at home games. One of the issues discussed was the large amount of graduate and senior tick ets given out for the Kansas game in com parison to underclassmen distribution. There were 9,647 graduate and senior tickets, 5,538 junior tickets, 3,982 sopho more tickets and 3,377 freshman tickets distributed for the game. Gibson said that many seniors are sitting in the same seats they had as freshmen. Groff said that every senior is allowed to bring a guest and that students may decide whether or not to bring underclassmen. “As long as upperclassmen are willing to let others in with them, we will have this problem, said Young, after he discussed the matter with Groff . “We wanted to see how the ticket allo cation was being done and if it is to the advantage of the students. I’m convinced it is,” Young said. Groff said that the proposed expansion of Kyle Field will increase the seating capacity by approximately 13,600 seats. “This will give us a third deck on both sides of the stadium and there is no doubt in my mind that the new upper east side will be given to the students. United Press International WASHINGTON — Bert Lance finally was being granted his long-awaited “day in court.” The budget director, under fire for his financial and banking transactions, pre pared a 90-minute statement to open his public defense today against what he terms “allegations, innuendo and hearsay about his qualifications. Back where it all started in Calhoun, Ga., some 1,700 homefolk rallied Wed nesday night in support of Lance. They held a cheering, applauding, old fashioned pep rally in the high school auditorium. Lance lashed out at his critics Wednes day' before entering a final working session with his attorney, former defense secre tary Clark Clifford. Senate Government Affairs Committee Chairman Abraham Ribicoff, D-Conn., said Lance s response to charges raised by federal investigations, Republican senators and the press could last three full days, days. “Lance deserves bis day in court,” Ribicoff has said, a position taken b\ Lance’s defenders at the White House and his Republican critics on the panel. ' White House Press Secretary Jod\ Powell said Carter still has confidence in Lance “but obviously, if he feels that he should ask for the resignation, of course ht would do it. It would not. . . be an eas\ thing to do. Lance, a Carter friend for the past dec ade, is under pressure to step down be cause of questionable banking practices he employed and huge bank overdrafts he in curred prior to joining the administration. On the eye of testimony by President Carter s closest confidant, there were these major developments: The White House was embarrassed b\ Powell s leak of a baseless rumor to news papers that Sen. Charles Percy, the com mittee’s ranking Republican and most ag gressive interrogator, flew on a corporate plane. The company. Bell and Howell, neither owns nor leases aircraft. Powell apologized, saying his action was “dumb. Robert Serino, the Comptroller of Currency’s top lawyer, said Lance may have illegally received more than $100,000 through bank overdrafts from his wife LaBelle s account in his unsuccessful 1974 campaign for Georgia governor. Three attorneys who worked on the federal investigation of Lance's overdrafts at the Calhoun First National Bank said, under Percy’s questioning, that the Justice Department should reopen the case. Gramm faults treaty By LIZ NEW LIN Dr. Philip Gramm, Texas AixM economist, say s the Panama Canal Zone has never been more valuable to the' American people* than it is toelay' and that the' pe'neling canal tre'aty should be' rc'- jeeted. Gramm is on a y'e*ar-long le-ave' of ab sentee' from the 1 Unive'rsity to run for U.S. Congressional District Six, w hich includc'S Colk'ge' Station. He* s also a consultant to several federal agemeies on cmergy'. He* said two major criticisms of the* Panama Canal, that nc'ithc'r U.S. defense' nor oil me'ichants nc'c'd the' canal, are' not valid. The* U.S. military still profits from the' canal, he* said. "Thc're' are* only 13 ships in the* Ame'iican military' fle'C't that can t pass through the Panama Canal, he 1 e xplained. Gramm admits oil supc'rtankors can t use 1 the' canal but suggexsts four pipeline's in the- Canal Zone*, part of the 1 Canal prop- c'rty\ are' capable' of transporting 490,000 barrels of oil per day , roughly' equivalc'nt to one* supe'rtanker. “The- pipeline's are currcmtly' in use* and being maintainc'd by the 1 Dc'partmc'nt of DcTensc', he said. Structure's crossing the Isthmus of Panama include' two 20-inch crude' pc'tro- Ic'iim line's, one' 10-inch dic'sel line- and one- 12-inch gasoline line. "While' the'se' four pipeline's wore* built during World War II, primarily dcxsignc'd to transport oil c-ast to wc-st to supply American naval operations in the' Pacific, there is existing west to east capacity Gramm which could be' e.xpandc'd, he said. By' building two offshore* terminals for supc'rtankc'rs, he said, Alaskan oil could be cosily transported to the east e-oast or Europe*, w hich enhancc's the' value' of the pipeline's and the* canal. Gramm addc'd that the' dollar value* of goods sent through the canal by the United States is highe'r than it s ewer been, though he can t dctc'rminc- cwact amounts. "In teams of its caiergy and economic importance, the Panama Canal Zone has newer be'en more' valuable to the- Amc riean people- than it is today, he said. GTE may change credit policy By DONNA SCHLABACH Depeisits for telephemes and lemg- distance service will become things of the past if General Telephone decide's te) change its present policies. GTE reejuires students te> keep their phones for 12 consecutive memths before credit can be established. Bill Johnigan, service office manager at GTE, said yesterday that GTE is consider- Trinity canal criticized Sierra club hears John Henry Faulk lity energy use studied By LINDA NORMAN eeping down with the Joneses may become the trend if a project under [newly-established Texas Energy Ex- Jon Service is successful, le project will assist local governments )allas-Ft. Worth suburbs to develop [operated energy management pro- Is, said Don Moore, Director of the [ter for Urban Programs at Texas M. Moore serves as bead of the pro- floore said the program aims to reach umers through city hall. He said that |me people cut down on their air condi- ng, other people will think it will be x-ted of them too. The middle class cut down until that happens, he fliere is no ideal model. We will try to t! I nrollment soars: 29,414 students A record 29,414 students are nrolled at Texas A&M University bis fall, Registrar Robert A. Lacey mnounced Wednesday. Lacey said this year’s total repre- >ents an increase of 1,376 students ivcrf’all 1976 registration. The total includes 626 students enrolled at Moody College at Galveston. More than 9,600 women are nrolled, up approximately 700 from last year, Lacey stud. He said this fall’s figures arc based on 12th lass-day enrollment, the official re porting date for the Coordinating Board, Texas College and Univer sity System. determine the best ways to reach people,’’ Moore said. One idea is to train one per son on the city staff to act as an energy extension agent. This method has proved successful in the Agriculture Extension Service with county agents, he said. The group plans long-range im provements of thoroughfares, bike lanes, and public transportation. They will draw information from the Engineering Exten sion Service, the Texas Transportation In stitute, and other resources on campus and create a file on energy-efficient plans. Other ideas for distributing information to the people would be to set up displays in fairs and have exhibits in malls, Moore said. A test group of six suburbs in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area will be used for the 18-month project beginning March 1, 1978. This area was selected because each suburb is a more homogeneous group than the Dallas-Ft. Worth areas as a whole. It is also a rapidly-growing area containing a high percentage of new houses. Informa tion gathered in these areas can be applied in other cities, Moore said. “My problem with the program is that it’s all focusing on conservation without turning to new resources. We recognize we re working on conservation, and city government doesn’t have much to do with energy development,’’ he said. If the program is successful, the infor mation from it can be packaged to tell other cities the advantages and risks of such a project, Moore said. The group will find out if it will be more effective to use city officials or some other method to dis tribute energy conservation information. “That information should be in people’s hands now, but evidently it’s not. Perhaps city government is the best way to do that.” By MARTHA MANIORD It does not take many people to help save our environment —just people who care, John Henry Faulk told the Sierra Club, an environmentalist organization, in a speech Wednesday night. Faulk spoke about channelization of the Trinity River and about the Grimes County Power Plant. Faulk said these were “national issues. The struggle of the Trinity River Au thority to make the river into a canal began in the early 1900s, Faulk said, but it came to a peak a few years ago when the Sierra Club of Houston filed suit and got an in junction to stop construction of a dam. This stopped construction of the whole ca nal. “The boys in Dallas and Fort Worth” are the ones who would benefit from the canal, Faulk said, explaining their enthusiasm for its construction. “I’d say no less than $25,000 was spent on their cam paign to promote the construction of the canal,” he added. Taxpayers and their children would be paying for it, Faulk said, adding that the canal’s construction would benefit businesses such as land speculators and builders, but that it would not benefit all those helping to pay for it. The purpose of the Trinity River Au thority, Faulk said, is improvement of the river. He contrasted their purpose with what they were promoting. “If God would have intended to make the Trinity River a ditch,” he said, “He would have made it that way.” Converting the Trinity into a canal would require dredging along bends in the river, as well as the addition of concrete in some places, he said. Faulk also spoke about the Texas Munic ipal Power Agency and its work in Grimes County. He told the group that the agency came into Grimes County to generate power for four Texas cities. “Grimes County (was) not getting one kilowatt of power, ” he said. There are also no geographical limitations set for the agency, Faulk said. “They could move into any county in the state of Texas. Faulk said that the agency began making offers to Grimes County ranchers for land to begin strip-mining, he thought the group could get people angry enough to “hire a lawyer and to slap a suit on the agency. A group of ranchers spoke with two lawyers, and after 10 minutes they had raised $12,000 and voted to file suit, he said. The case is still in process, but Faulk said that the ranchers had a solid and exciting case against the Texas Muni cipal Power Agency. The ranchers formed the Grimes County Taxpayers Organization, a group that tries to “educate” the public on the issue. National networks are going to send people down to see what’s going on, he said. “Keep on watching,” he concluded, “it’s going to be national.” ing changing the 12-month credit re quirement. “The way the economy is today, we feel that there are some changes to be made,” he said. “The main office in San Angelo comes up with policy changes and I don’t know what their priorities are. I don’t know if it will be next year or the next.” Johnigan said students who want to es tablish credit with GTE must also register the phones in their own names and keep up with bill payments. “Most students never build up credit because they only keep their phones nine months at a time,” Johnigan said. “Those who stay here all year and pay their bills get credit with us. Johnigan said GTE transfers credit to the four states that it serves: Texas, Okla homa, New Mexico and Arkansas. However, GTE cannot guarantee that credit will be transferred to other phone companies. Johnigan said that while other companies recognize credit, they are not bound by law to exempt a person from paying a deposit because of that credit. He said this is because each company operates under a different set of rules. Johnigan said age is not a factor in de termining credit. “We are a regulated body and cannot deny a person credit simply because he is college-age,” he said. GTE is regulated by the Texas Public Utility Commission. GTE also supplies service to on-campus students. Johnigan said dorm students must sign up at the beginning of school if they want long-distance privileges. They are issued an identification number, which is similar to a credit card. When students make long-distance calls, they are charged to the ID numbers. Johnigan estimated that over half of the dorm students do not sign up for long distance service. “Dorm students who want long-distance service but have never had a phone in their own name can either pay a deposit or get their parents to sign for them, provided their parents have good credit.” he said deposits are based on what the student estimates his long-distance charges to be per month. This amount is doubled, and a student who estimates his long-distance charges to be $30 per month will pay a $60 deposit. Off-campus stu dents are charged an additional $15 to cover two months of local service charges. Johnigan warned that returning stu dents will be charged a deposit based on their monthly long-distance average from the year before. “The deposit works against the final bill,” Johnigan explained. “If a student’s final bill is less than his deposit, he gets the remainder back. All deposits are put in an interest-bearing account and draw six percent interest,” he added. Volunteers sought Volunteers from Student Volunteer Services took advantage of yesterday’s good weather to set up an outdoor display in front of the Memorial Student Center fountain. The display featured service opportunities in the Bryan-College Station Community. BatUiIiou photo by Bernard C.or