The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 13
8 Pages
Monday, September 19, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Policy change may cost
Health Center $90,000
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Camping out — again!
Battalion photo by Michael Fred
Aggies take to camping out in front of G. Rollie
White Colesium again. These students are await
ing tickets for the Texas A&M-Texas Tech football
game that will be played Saturday, Sepl. 24 in
Lubbock. The line started forming Saturday,
Sept. 17 at 4 p.m.
By GLENNA WHITLEY
Battalion Staff
A policy change being considered by the
personnel department of the Texas A&M
University system could cost the Beutel
Health Center approximately $90,000 in
revenue per year.
The center presently receives $15 per
physical examination from the personnel
department. The physicals are performed
for prospective employes within the sys
tem as required by an act passed by the
Texas state legislattire in 1948. The act es
tablished Texas A&M’s own insurance
program for workmen’s compensation.
But the state legislature recently passed
legislation giving the Texas A&M Board of
Regents the power to change the require
ments in the compensation program. Be
cause of the high cost of the physicals each
year, they may be discontinued.
The purpose of physicals was originally
to protect individuals, and employes they
work with, and to protect the compensa
tion program against fraud.
“It (the physical) is principally to detect
any pre-existing physical problems with an
individual. They may not even know they
have them. Then again they may,” Pat
Lackey , administrative assistant for Be-
utal, said.
John Honea, associate director of per
sonnel, said the physicals had uncovered
some medical problems people didn’t
know they had.
But sometimes employes are hired
when they know about an injury, then
claim to have been injured on the job in
order to collect medical benefits. These
instances, however, are very rare. “It’s
awful hard to prove,” Honea said.
The possibility of discontinuing the
physical examinations brings mixed reac
tions from officials at the Health Center.
"It’s a mixed blessing. Obviously a loss
of that much money would hurt. Without
some additional sources of revenue to
offset that, we would naturally prefer to
put up with the inconvenience and loss of
time,” Lackey said.
“If we weren’t doing workmen’s com
pensation physicals we could see more
students faster,” he said.
The physicals do take up the tine of
nurses, lab technicians and doctors. Each
person is given a hearing and vision test, a
blood test, an urinalysis, a blood pressure
and pulse check, a tuberculosis test, a
check for hernias and similar problems.
In 1976-77, the Health Center received
$86,355 from the personnel department
for physicals performed. The total budget
for that year was $840,491.
Other revenue came from military and
private physicals, and the Side of items such
as splints and bandages.
This year’s budget is $1.2 million. Ap
proximately $90,000 of that is expected to
come from workmen’s compensation phys
icals. If the physicals are stopped, where
will the money come from?
“It’s hard to say,” said Lackey. "'We’re
still studying that. We’re exploring all the
possibilities.”
One possibility is the increase of student
health fees. Presently, each student pays a
compulsory $14 per semester for use of the
Health Center. The state legislature has
set a maximum possible fee of $15, so this
one-dollar increase at Texas A&M is pres
ent enrollment would only net an
additional $30,000.
Dr. Claude Goswick, director of the
Health Center, suggests a user fee which
would be paid by those who use certain
facilities.
“It’s long over-due. We re about the
only school that doesn’t do it this way he
said. X-rays, medications, lab work, and
non-emergency after-hours care could be
charged to the user. Currently, these serv
ices are performed free of charge.
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Activities increasing
Lighting for sports complex ‘in-the-waiting’
Sat.
By LARRY PARKER
'e years have passed since the first
isal to light the Texas A&M sports
ilex, located across the railroad tracks
■to the new baseball fields. And use of
laeilities by intramurals participants
itinues to increase.
(year, sports activities on the corn-
mounted to about 150,000 participa-
said Dennis Corrington, director of
urals, in an interview last week,
[football in 1977 had 307 teams with
ames to be played; this year there are
jeams and 1,017 games on the docket,
pitch softball in 1976 had 320 teams.
77 there were 430 teams and in 1978
umber may exceed 500.
ieause games must be played before
lown, sports schedules are often ex-
Jed so that all teams can use the fields.
Is bad all right,” said Bill Baine, a
softball player. “It causes the season to be
drugout and we end up studying for or
taking finals and trying to finish softball.’
“We may have a week or more in be
tween games,” said Rick Thompson, a
softball player. “Then end up playing on a
weekend.”
In 1971, plans for the complex originally
called for lights and a storage structure,
Corrington said. The cost estimate by the
Physical Plant was $500,000 however, it
was turned down by the Board of Regents.
Student Government pushed the pro
posal for the complex through but had to
settle for a no-lighting no-structure esti
mate, said Corrington. The proposed cost
was $400,000 but the approved bid was
$220,000. Construction began in 1974.
Howard Vestal, vice president for busi
ness affairs, said that the estimate couldn’t
have been off that far.
"The estimate must have included lights
and then they were cut out,” he said.
But Corrington said the proposal did not
include lights.
Corrington said he submitted lighting
proposals several times to Dr. Carl Land-
iss, head of the physical education de
partment. Proposals must go through the
Physical Education department after leav
ing the intramural office.
*
“Money is the problem,” said Landiss,
“and everyone is in a facility crunch.
When asked if 150,000 participation last
year should warrant any attention, he said
that it should. He also said that power
lines installed across the tracks should
help keep down the costs. He said he was
optimistic about the situation because of
the power addition.
Some students,have complained that
construction of the new baseball field
began two years after the original propo
sal, while the sports facilities still lack
lights. Landiss said this was connected
with athletics and he couldn’t comment.
Landiss also said that the addition to the
football stadium had top priority right now
and indicated that nothing else would be
considered until this was settled. Landiss
did mention that there is a proposal to
light one quadrant of the sports facilities.
Lights currently on the "astrotruf practice
field will be moved to the complex. This
quadrant will become a softball field —
and the Texas A&M women’s softball team
will have first priority in scheduling games
on that field. The old baseball field located
behind Kyle Field, will be replaced with a
parking lot.
The proposal was sent from Landiss’ of
fice to Dr. Frank Hubert, dean of the col
lege of education, then to Dr. John Cal
houn, vice-president for academic affairs.
From there it must go to the President’s
office, then to the chancellor and to the
Board of Regents.
On October 20, 1975, then President
Jack Williams sent Corrington a letter say
ing the lighting was a good idea and that
Williams would ask the Physical Plant de
partment to begin the project. Currently,
nothing has been done. When asked last
week about the proposal, Williams said
that he was ill and that strong energy con
servation measures were in effect at that
time.
“Are the intramural activities re
quired?” asked Williams.
“I have all the respect in the world for
intramurals,” he said, "but whether they
warrant this, I don’t know.”
President Jarvis Miller said there seems
to be a definite need for lighting on the
sports complex and said he would look into
the matter. He also indicated that the in
tramural program should fall under the
jurisdiction of Student Services.
Robert Harvey, Student Government
President, said Friday that the Student
Senate would recommend that student
services fees go toward lighting the com
plex.
“Before I recommend this I want to
know what Corrington is going to do with
his increased budget,” Harvey added.
Corrington, when contacted Friday,
produced a copy of his budget and ex
plained that increased funds would pay of
ficials and other workers needed to handle
the expected increase in intramural ac
tivity.
The addition of lights would end all
weekend games, said Corrington. Light
ing will allow about 40 softball games to be
scheduled each day. Presently, only 16
games are played daily.
Amoco drills deepest well near here
By MARVIN ISAACKS
moco Production Company, searching
[/land gas reserves that may be buried
bra Texas A&M research farm, is now
ling what will be the deepest well in
(part of Texas.
>n ;li e well,located about eight miles
Jll Ihvvest of College Station, will be
iOOfeet deep when completed. It is an
hg Joration well, drilled to test the pos-
ilities of finding petroleum deposits in
’Ul | iousl y unexplored deep formations.
HI |Vith all the sophisticated equipment
liable today, there is still only one way
Cl btermine where deposits of oil and gas
lally are: that is to drill a well,” said
pco public affairs adviser Wayne Tiller.
“After this well passes 13,000 feet, it will
be a "rank wildcat’. That is, nobody knows
what is down there,” said Walter Miller,
Amoco drilling, foreman.
Amoco Production Company is drilling
this exploratory well known “Texas A&M
A 1.” The $5 million project is being par
tially funded by Getty Oil Company. The
rig, which belongs to Sharp Drilling Com
pany of Midland, was designed to drill gas
wells as deep as 30,000 feet.
“Any time a well is drilled to this depth
precautions are taken in the event sour gas
(hydrogen sulfide) is encountered,” said
Miller. “We do not anticipate it, but it is
impossible to tell,” he said.
Because of the danger in dealing with
hydrogen sulfide, extensive safety mea
sures were taken to protect personnel and
equipment. Miller explained that
$300,000 to $500,000 has already been
spent at this point for safety equipment
alone.
A contingency plan has been prepared
and submitted to ruling government au
thorities and necessary law enforcement
kagencies. All people living and working
within a 3,000-foot radius of the rig have
been notified of the possibilities of sour
’gas. A guard is stationed at the entrance of
the rig area 24 hours a day. This makes it
possible to account for everyone in the
vicinity in case of evacuation.
All parameters rff the rig are monitored
Drill we must!
Battalion photo by Jim Crawley
Roughnecks work on the floor of Rig. No. 60 as the
pipe is being brought out of the hole. Tongs are
used to break lose drill pipe connections. The rig
is located on an A&M research farm.
by two machines: one unmanned and
another manned 24 hours a day. A com
puter system is used to keep a constant
check on all phases of drilling activity. This
system is capable of making predictions
concerning drilling situations.
The proximity of the drilling location to
Texas A&M’s experimental orchards
caused Amoco to take extra care in build
ing mud reserve pits for the project. The
pits, which hold drill cuttings, excess drill
ing fluids and water, were lined with
heavy-duty neoprene plastic and sealed
water-tight. This was done to keep the
fluid from traveling underground to the
orchards, although studies by a soil re
search team found that it would take the
fluid two and a half years to reach the or
chards.
"There is nothing in these pits to dam
age the orchards, but these fluids could
affect the growth rate of the trees,” said
Miller. "Because of the critical research
A&M is doing, what we are actually pro
tecting against is increasing the growth
rate and productivity of these trees,” he
said. Amoco is considering using the pits
as fish tanks after the well has been com
pleted, Miller added.
Besides the safeguards for the orchards,
other measures were taken to protect the
environment. A three and a half-foot ring
levee was built around the seven-acre lo
cation to prevent spills from getting away.
Casing (pipe to seal off the wall of the hole)
was set more than 5,800 feet deep. One
reason for this is to prevent drilling fluids
from entering water formations if pressure
is encountered in the drilling process.
Unstable soil conditions at the location
of the Brazos River drilling site caused site
preparation costs to exceed $500,000 be
fore the $4 million rig was moved onto the
location.
While there is less than a ten per cent
chance of the well paying for itself, cost of
operation for the drilling project exceeds
$10,000 daily. However, even if the well is
not productive economically, there will be
a quality of useful information obtained for
future drilling operations. Miller said.
“All the information gathered from drill
ing this well is stored in Amoco s computer
bank in Tulsa, Okla.
Drilling is expected to be completed in
nine months to one year.
Battalion photo by Ken Herrera
Bike-A-Thon cyclists
earn $1,000 for MS
By CLAY COCKRILL
A few hours of bicycling around
the Bryan-College Station coun
tryside Saturday morning earned
$1,000 for cyclists participating in
the Multiple Sclerosis Bike-A-Thon.
Three of the seven bikers completed
the entire 30-mile trip.
The trip was organized by Circle
K, a Texas A&M service organiza
tion, in order to raise money for the
Multiple Sclerosis National Society.
Multiple Sclerosis is disease of the
nervous system which results in a
gradual degeneration of body
functions such as speech and
mobility.
“We wanted more riders,” said
Craig Clark, president of the club,
“but there is a safety problem when
you get too many people on a road
with a lot of traffic. ” Clark is a junior
in mechanical engineering.
The number of bikers wasn’t too
important, since the money was
raised through sponsors who prom
ised to donate so much per mile of
the trip completed. A single biker
could represent any number of
sponsors, and sponsors could also
make a flat donation.
A big inspiration for the project
came when Dr. Carlton Stolle, the
club’s sponsor, said he would match
from his own pocket every dollar the
members collected. Stolle limited
himself to a $500 donation, which
was the amount the members were
able to collect.
The seven bikers were Clark,
Mike Dragutsky, Tommy Smith,
Davey Miner, Donna Hagler, Craig
Gargotta, and Harlan Harris.
At about 9:40 a.m., the bikers
headed south on Highway 6 from
Briarcrest, and then north on F.M.
2818 until it crossed Hwy. 6 on the
north side of Bryan. They returned
to their starting point, Bryan High
School, about 1 p.m.
The bikers looked surprisingly
well at the finish, although they of
fered a few complaints about aches
in the posterior. And Harris, who
was just getting over a virus,
finished an hour ahead of the rest.