The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 29
10 Pages
Tuesday, October 11, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Today:
Jungle denizens now in the area, p. 7.
Kocurek talks about Baylor, p. 8.
Roundballers soon to be in the spot
light, p. 9.
GONNb
omptroller position unconstitutional
iru
By LIZ NEYVLIN
Battalion Staff
[he position of Student Government comptroller was ruled unconstitutional by a
Lvote of the Judicial Board Monday night.
The eight-member board split 4-4 on the issue in a 40-minute deliberation, leaving
airman Stan Stanfield to cast the deciding vote.
The Judicial Board feels though the concept (of a comptroller) is a good concept
. . it does conflict with the constitution (of Texas A&M University),” Stanfield
d, announcing the majority decision.
This action prohibits comptroller Stuart Kingsbery from performing any duties
iigned him by the Senate bill which created his post Sept. 22. His duties would
ve been accounting and bookkeeping of Student Government funds, including
'ning checks for any payment using Student Service fees.
(The position was created by the Student Government legislature and placed under
Je body’s executive branch. The plaintiffs in the hearing objected to this move
Icause it was done without student body approval, and for other reasons. The
Tense said the move was constitutional.
In the past, the vice president for finance and the student body president had
thority to sign checks, but both signatures were not required. Generally, the
president signed checks only during the summer or when the vice president was not
available. If the position of comptroller had been okayed, the vice president would
have become strictly a policy-maker.
The J-board issued a temporary injunction restraining the comptroller from his
duties. Sept. 30, and Monday’s ruling was the final decision of the issue.
Students acting as attorneys presented written depositions and witnesses for both
sides.
Acting attorney Scott Gregson and Student Government Senator Lynn Gibson
brought the initial question of constitutionality to the J-board that resulted in the
temporary injunction. Gregson is a former vice president for finance and presented
the plaintiffs’ case.
Student Body President Robert Harvey acted as attorney for the defense.
“It is my contention then that the spending of Student Government funds. . . is an
executive function necessary for the successful implementation of such legislation. It
is not specifically denied by the constitution; therefore, this power may oe assumed
by the President,” Harvey stated.
Gregson gave three arguments in challenging the position of comptroller. The post
was not constitutional, he said, and had not been used in the past. And, he said, the
move would change the duties of the vice president for finance without the necessary
student body approval since it was a structural change in Student Government.
“The person (comptroller) that would fill this position was originally intended to
oversee the overall handling of the books of Student Government. . . his official
functions were to have nothing to do with the actual and physical writing of checks.
“Now, as envisioned in the Senate Bill (creating the post), the comptroller would
assume a much larger and have a more far-reaching set of duties, that of acting as a
check for the disbursement of Student Government funds through a dual check-
signing system with the President of the Student Body. . . Also, as mentioned by
Robert Harvey on Sept. 7, 1977,. . . the comptroller would be responsible to the
Executive Committee, Gregson stated.
Stanfield said the J-board was concerned with how the bill would be enacted. First,
the bill would give the student body president new appointment procedures.
Also, the bill would add duties to the Executive Committee of Student Govern
ment by making the comptroller responsible to that body. Presently, the committee’s
duties are to review legislation and act instead of the Student Senate when it cannot
meet.
The J-board said the bill creating a comptroller “does conflict with the constitu
tion, but did not elaborate.
Majority and minority opinions are expected to be issued next week.
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Puerto Rico to apply
for statehood soon
United Press International
DORADO, Puerto Rico — Gov. Carlos
Romero Barcelo says it is time for Puerto
Rico to cast off’ what he calls its semi
colonial political status and become a full-
fledged state of the union.
Romero, addressing the 18th annual
United Press International Editors and
Publishers Conference at this resort 30
miles west of San Juan Monday, said the
island suffered from decades of neglect
and inferior political rights but now has
grown sufficiently to assert full equality
with the 50 states.
“We are disenfranchised American citi
zens,” the governor told the 400 confer
ence participants. He said the common
wealth constitution for the island adopted
in 1952 was “semi-colonial” and “semi-
autonomous.”
It exempted Puerto Rico from federal
taxes but did not give the island any repre
sentation in Congress.
“In the near future, I am convinced we
shall formally petition Congress to grant us
the full range of rights and responsibilities
that should accompany our American citi
zenship,” he said. “And that means state
hood.”
Romero said the island of 3.1 million in
habitants had been “discriminated against
geographically” in the past but now could
count on support from President Carter,
should it request statehood.
Romero said the island was ready to ac
cept federal taxation gradually, but he said
Puerto Rico would keep its Spanish-
language heritage.
“The nation already has 50 English-
speaking states,” he said. “It needs a
Spanish-speaking state.”
The governor asked the editors and pub
lishers to educate their readers to help
break what he described as a negative
image of the island on the mainland.
"The current image of Puerto Rico por
trayed by the national and international
press is that of a decadent, tropical
paradise where a few enjoy a luxurious life
of leisure and the rest are starving, on wel
fare, or exploited,” he said.
The governor was the opening speaker
at the conference, which was scheduled to
hear an address by First Lady Rosalynn
Carter Tuesday.
The conference heard the first of three
panel discussions Monday on the theme,
“Separatism — A Trend of the Future?”
The panel was moderated by Wilbur G.
Landrey, foreign editor of the St. Peters
burg (Fla.) Times.
Other panel discussions were scheduled
on the legalization of gambling casinos and
Third World news coverage.
Cause of failure unknown
Catching some zzzzz’s
Soyuz lands safely today
Even freshmen have to sleep sometime, and ap
parently Dr, G. Miller’s Math 150 class Monday
was as good a place as any. Robin Edwards, a
member of the Aggie Band, remains oblivious
to the photographer’s camera.
Battalion photo by Ken Herrera.
sychiatrist says mental illness
of Martha Mitchell not for real
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S„ United Press International
WASHINGTON — A noted forensic
says the late Martha Mitchell
‘l’ ‘ lav e averted Watergate but was si-
p and labeled a mental case, treated
mst her will by doctors who forcibly
"quilized her.
Jj' r ' Jonas B. Robitscher, who teaches
in law and psychiatry as holder of the
- T n. Luce Chair of Law and the Be-
ora Sciences at Emory University in
|| a ’ c ' te( l the case in a lecture series at
j ' ? S ^ n gt° n University on the
S n a " d Phases of Psychiatry,
nm interaction between gov-
L 6 “U, and menta l health, Robitscher
the recent resignation of a presi-
L 6r a .P er * oc l °f stress during which
erp l )eo P* e > psychiatrists and laymen,
rj 0ncerne d about his mental stability
nm ^ Unc ertain how to deal with the
Potency of a chief executive. ”
M
von’ P r °bl em was not new with Richard
* ordea b he said, citing the final
. es of John Garfield and Woodrow
n , an d the case of Franklin
mental
his
for 1976, noted that “it is not only in the
Soviet Union that politicians call their de
tractors mentally ill.
“When Elizabeth Ray revealed that she
had been on Congressman Wayne Hays’
payroll for other than secretarial purposes,
the first reaction of the congressman was
to tell the press that the poor girl was emo
tionally ill and in the care of psychia
trist,” he said.
United Press International
MOSCOW (UPI) — Two Soviet cos
monauts safely landed their troubled
Soyuz 25 capsule in Soviet Asia Tuesday,
ending a major space mission aborted only
130 yards from their goal — a link-up with
an orbiting space station.
Moscow Radio said cosmonauts Vla
dimir Kovalenok and Valery Ryumin were
in good condition. Their Soyuz capsule
parachuted to earth safely in Kazakhstan,
about 115 miles northwest of the town of
Tselinograd.
“After braking by the atmosphere, the
parachute system was brought into action
at a calculated altitude,” Moscow radio
said. “In the close vicinity of the earth, the
soft-landing engines operated and the des
cent module landed in the target area.”
The Soyuz 25 mission blasted into space
early Sunday but was canceled just 26
hours into the mission because of un
specified trouble as they came to within
130 yards from docking with the new
Salyut 6 space station.
The Soyuz 25 was the Soviet Union’s
first manned spaceflight since last Feb
ruary and observers had expected it would
provide a space spectacular to mark this
month’s 20th anniversary of Sputnik 1 and
next month’s 60th anniversary of the Bol
shevik Revolution.
It was the third such docking failure in
volving Soyuz capsules and Salyut stations
in the last three years — with the Soyuz 25
failure following almost the exact pattern
of failures by Soyuz 23 in October 1976
and Soyuz 15 in August 1974.
The announcement of cancellation of
the Soyuz mission Monday came after
nearly 24 hours of official silence, which
raised fears for the safety of the two rookie
cosmonauts.
Soyuz 25 was commanded by Lt. Col.
Kovalenok, 35, a Soviet air force pilot and
paratrooper who entered spaceflight train
ing in 1967. Ryumin, 38, was his flight en
gineer and helped develop and test new
space equipment.
Neither of the men had ever flown in
space before — although they had helped
control both manned and unmanned
flights from the ground.
Easterwood tower: long way to the top
/ Wh0se Physical and n
SalvpI eriorated dramatically ...
I^velt whose
H
Dal yg ar ’
f D a || S °i H'J^d the break-in of the office
larch f ( busberg’s psychiatrist in a
hieh t °j. P^y^'hiatric information with
L in t ° lscre dit Ellsberg, and turned to
(itch e ]| reSt * n £> an<d tra §r c case of Martha
1| h abused"!^™” 11 ' 1 3 Very great and 3
f; ng Mr, Mitchell “the only person
hterolf * i SOurce of power who saw
)lnf Wacde ar >d early and who tried
e w histle,” Robitscher said:
N 1> '^Alartha Mitchell had not been
|th nh restra * ne d and kept from contact
free t ? VSpa P er People through the use of
re ats and tranquilizing drugs, and
jj
IkbeWl ^ s ^ e ^ a d not been ridiculed
Mhav^ 6 aS a men tal case, Nixon would
» nave won his second term.”
ae s 3id litti i
15, fq;. , .. u ® credence was given to
Ns “rU e because of widespread re-
ater 2atf. e . Wa ^ s *ck,” and although
^ r,T ied ? 0ns P* ra t° r John McCord later
fPutation r T stor y she died with the
8 to her ’’ > ITlenta ^ instability still eling-
iHitseher , u
iydiiatrj a Wl10 rece ' ve d the American
C ss °ciations’s Isaac Ray Award
By GARY WELCH
Only 69 steps up from ground level lies
the floor of Easterwood Airport’s air traffic
control tower. The connotation that this
tower belongs to the airport is a misnomer;
it belongs to the U.S. Government, is ad
ministered under the Department of
Transportation, and is operated by the
Federal Aviation Administration.
In other words, to an air traffic control
ler, it is indeed a long way to the top.
The view from the tower is striking in all
directions. The Texas A&M University
campus rises to the east, every airport
runway is completely visible, and many
surrounding highways can be traced into
the distance until trees or hills or just plain
distance obscure any further view.
Inside the tower, charts, radios, and
even a water fountain line the walls, leav
ing the middle open for easy movement
and, more importantly, for complete
visibility in all directions.
Next to the water fountain, a coffee pot
and other eating utensils give evidence of
the human side of tower operations.
“We eat at our positions up in the tow
er,” said Elam Holcomb, an air traffic
controller at Easterwood. “When we get a
break we swap out positions and allow one
of us time to eat. We usually rotate posi
tions anyway every two hours. It gives us
relief from working each position.”
Holcomb explained that the “positions”
are the four positions of operation located
within the tower. At most, three men op
erate the four positions. And because
tower activity would probably hit one of
two or three daily peaks soon, three con
trollers were on duty. The other two con
trollers, Terry Smith and Bob Rexer, were
handling all four positions.
“The first position is ground control,”
Holcomb said. “That controller is respon
sible for all movement on the airport itself
except for the runways in use.” All planes
moving from hangar to runway or vice
versa, he said, must communicate with the
ground controller to keep them from the
paths of arriving or departing aircraft.
“Next is tower control,” Holcomb said.
“He has responsibility for the airspace for
a five mile radius around the tower up to
but not including 3,000 feet altitude, and
for all runways in use.” He explained that
this controller must spot all incoming air
craft, and communicating by radio must
sequence them (arrange them in a certain
order) and allow them to land far enough
apart to preclude any possible collisions.
The tower controller must also sequence
departing aircraft, Holcomb added.
At this time Rexer was operating both
ground and tower controls.
Holcomb pointed to the low haze sitting
on the horizon.
Today he is having a little more trouble
than usual because that haze makes it hard
for him to spot incoming aircraft,” he said.
Periodically Rexer’s headset crackled with
a pilot’s position report, and he would
stand and sweep that general area with
binoculars until he could find the plane.
When two planes reported from the
same area, Rexer tried to spot them while
at the same time telling each pilot the
other’s position so they could spot each
other. One pilot did not know his exact
position, so each pilot did not know where
he was in relation to the other plane.
Rexer talked to both pilots constantly
while searching with his binoculars. He
spotted one plane almost immediately, but
could not locate the confused pilot’s plane.
Finally, by discussing landmarks and
highway positions with the lost pilot,
Rexer ascertained his position and in
formed both pilots.
Because both planes positions had been
pin-pointed, it was only seconds before
they had spotted each other. Rexer then
sequenced them for landing.
Holcomb continued listing tower posi
tions.
“Approach control is responsible for a
20-mile radius around the tower and al
titude up to 4,000 feet, not including
tower control’s airspace,” he said. “His re
sponsibility is to separate all instrument
traffic within that airspace.”
HOLCOMB said each control tower is
like an island. It controls only the desig
nated airspace around it. All aircraft out
side a tower’s responsibility are the re
sponsibility of Houston Center, which
guides any planes that are outside these
“islands” of airspace.
Houston Center’s control area goes into
New Mexico, above College Station and
all the way into Alabama, and about 150
miles out into the Gulf of Mexico, he said.
“Finally, there is the flight data posi
tion, which coordinates with Houston
Center on far instrument traffic and hand
les any telephone communication between
the tower, the flight service and the pub
lic,” Holcomb said.
Smith was handling these two positions,
and since the air traffic within his assigned
area was relatively spread out, he ap
peared more relaxed than Rexer.
Nine controllers operate Easterwood’s
tower. They work overlapping shifts from
6 a.m. to 2 p.m., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. arid 2
p.m. to 10 p.m.
Two of them are developmental control
lers. In other words, they are able to per
form any tower function but have limited
experience.
(See Tower, page 5)
Charles Buckhaults, Rick Warren, and Robert
Cotte work the four operation positions in the
tower at Easterwood Airport. The nine controllers
at Easterwood’s tower work overlapping shifts
from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and
2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Battalion photo by Ken Herrera.