The Battalion
Inside Tuesday
A&M’s archives historical docu
ments plus Aggie folklore, p. 5
Once you’ve got the flu, p. 8
Ags lose to Texas in overtime, 79-77,
p. 10
m. 71 No. 82
, 10 Pages
Tuesday, January 24, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Board members elect
officers, fill vacancy
By MICHELLE BURROWES
Roger Feldman was appointed Monday
by the A&M Consolidated School Board to
fill the position vacated by Joseph
Natowitz, who resigned Jan. 5 to accept a
one-year fellowship with a chemistry foun
dation in Germany.
The appointment is temporary, since the
school board election will he held in April.
Feldman was elected to the school board
in April, 1976. He resigned in September,
1976, because of health problems.
He would not comment on whether he
would run in the April election.
“I was not officially aware that the board
was considering me,” Feldman said. He
was called from a basketball game to be
sworn in last night.
The board last night elected Bruce
Robeck president; Elliot Bray vice-
president, and John Reagor, secretary.
Robeck said in an earlier interview that
there had been a strong preference in the
past to find a board member with previous
experience.
“It is my personal preference not to in
fluence the outcome of the election in April
by appointing someone who would run for
office,” Robeck said.
Don Hellriegel, president of Parents in
Partnership with Education, recom
mended Dec. 20 that the board appoint
someone with prior board experience.
The Brazos Valley Black Caucus has
asked the board Jan. 5 to consider filling the
vacated position with a member of the
black community. Three people were rec
ommended: Clinton Robison, Rosetta
Keaton and Isiah Warner.
“You don’t have anyone speaking for the
blacks, and you really need that,” Robison
said in an earlier interview. “I’ve been
around the problem area.” Robison works
with disadvantaged children in the Bryan
school district.
“In the teen years, all the students who
need counselors should have one availa
ble, Robison said. “This is where we lose
most of our kids.”
Warner said he also saw “evidence of lack
of concern for black needs by the board.
Keaton, leader of Black Caucus, said the
black community hasn’t had any input into
the board.
“We have never had a person to act as a
liaison between the board and the black
community,” Keaton said.
Asks School Board to join
Group works for lower taxes
By KAREN ROGERS
Battalion City Editor
An organization working to lower ad val
orem taxes has offered the A&M Consoli
dated School Board $700 for its initiation
fee and a years’ dues. Board members de
clined to make a decision on the offer be
fore further information about the organi
zation can be obtained.
Texans for Equitable Taxation (TET) was
organized to study alternate sources of rev
enue to lower ad valorem taxes. Ad valorem
taxes are taxes on real property such as cars
and houses.
Members would like to see an allocation
of additional state revenues to public
schools so school taxes will not increase
again.
“It’s my feeling that almost everyone
feels that the ad valorem tax is an awkward
way of raising money for the school sys
tem,” said Trustee Bill Fitch.
“Texans for Equitable Taxation is
encouraging legislators to find another less
controversial source to provide the funding
for school systems, he said.
“TET is not for or against school systems,
just a different way for funding them.
The school district presently raises its
own revenues by taxing property owners
within the school district.
“A while ago some folks wanted to hire an
attorney for an opinion on the legality of the
tax. Instead of all the folks squawking and
griping, why don’t they do something? Let
the school district pay for their dues to join
TET. I think it could probably deal with
some of the hard feeling expressed when
their taxes went up this year.
O.D. Butler, president of the Property
Owners Association, said membership in
TET was “suggested as an alternative to a
local lawsuit.”
He refers to the pending lawsuit alleging
an inequitable tax appraisal against the
Consolidated School District.
Trustee Rodney Hill termed TET “an
extremist group.
They overstate and misrepresent a lot of
things,” he said.
Board members questioned their liabil
ity if they give financial support to a tax suit
TET is currently involved in.
“The state Constituition says that both
tangible and intangible property should be
taxed and the Leander School District is
merely stating that the ad valorem tax is
based on real property only and so isn’t
equitable,” said Elizabeth Naugle, TET
member.
Jack Woods, Consolidated attorney,
reassured the board.
“When you join a lawsuit, you’re asked
simply to donate money. We re not able to
join the lawsuit in the legal sense.”
Michael Moeller, executive director of
TET, will be invited to attend the next
school board meeting.
No problems yet
Two Hart Hall men’s inconvenience Tun, but weird’
No sweat
Jogging when it’s cool may be uncomfortable, but at least you’re not
sweating. Joe Martinez jogs across campus, taking advantage of
Monday’s cool, damp weather. Martinez, a senior, is a political
science major from Hebbsonville.
lity needs presented
o capital committee
By JEANNE LOPEZ
'ossible long range needs for the city
epresented Monday to members of the
ege Station Capital Improvements
mittee by city manager North Bardell.
he committee will have the responsibil-
fdeciding which projects will be given
rity for voter approval in the April 1
d election, as well as deciding which
ital expenditures to delay or cut from
city budget.
lardell listed several possibilities for
ital improvements. He and Elrey Ash,
ector of capital improvements, gave the
nmittee a brief explanation of each
reject and estimated costs. Ash also serves
city engineer.
The city’s financial adviser from
)roney Beissner and Co. will attend at a
er committee meeting.
Final tabulations of the priority im-
)vements will be incorporated into a
oklet for distribution among voters two
eks prior to the election.
An analysis of present street conditions
owed that street rebuilding is a must and
ouldbeon the priority list,” said Bardell.
Though some streets may only require
ating, some will be completely resur-
j:ed.
Ash added that he would like to set up a
jvolving account for street rebuilding
irposes.
With this account we could budget
ore money from the general fund,” he
d.
The estimated street expenditure is
100,000.
Suggestions for new fire apparatus in-
ided the purchase of a rescue-pumper at
estimated cost of $60,000 and a ladder
ick at $275,000. City fire fighters cur-
ntly use a manual ladder.
Termed the “grudge line” by Bardell,
e Northgate Sewer Relief project would
t Bry an and College Station on separate
wer lines in the Northgate area.
We have made several proposals to
yan officials to avoid building another
e, but they are in no mood to cooperate,
iid Bardell.
Sewer system designs are underway
d the project is expected to be completed
next January at the cost of 650,000.
Another suggestion was a water im-
ovement plan proposing a larger water
ie which connects the Texas A&M Uni-
versity water line with College Station’s
line. A larger line is needed, Bardell said,
because of the rapid population increase in
the area. The joint line would cost $2.5
million.
Improvements on the Dominik, Kyle,
and Jersey intersections at an estimated
$200,000 and an overhead storage con
struction in the Southwood Valley area at
$1.6 million were also discussed.
Bardell did not give any figures on a park
acquisition suggestion. He said the park
commissioner will make a presentation on
the needs of the College Station parks at a
later date.
By KAREN CORNL1SON
Housing 26 girls in Hart Hall has caused
no serious problems so far, just a little in
convenience and a few unusual situations
for the girls and their male resident ad
viser, David Muff. The girls were placed
temporarily in the F-Ramp of Hart Hall, a
men’s dorm, because the Housing Office
overestimated the number of spaces avail
able in the women’s dorms.
“It’s fun, but it’s kinda weird,” Muff said.
Since his suitemate, Billy Ellerbrock, is
the only other male living close by. Muff
said that it was almost like living by bimself.
“The girls are mostly freshmen, and
they’re all real shy.”
Ellerbrock agreed, saying he had only
talked to one girl since they had moved in.
Visitation hours are unusual for Muff and
Ellerbrock. They may not have visitors of
either sex after hours. Another problem is
the showers, which are constructed in such
a way that one bather can look through a
hole and see into the shower in the next
ramp.
“We foresaw the problem right away,
said Muff, “so we had the holes in the
F-Ramp boarded up. ” But two showers on
the third floor were not boarded up.
“We’ve had calls from the guys next door
complaining about the girls looking into
their bathrooms,” Muff said.
Mary Egan, a freshman pre-med major,
likes living in Hart Hall. She said she has
found the men considerate and helpful.
“One guy even said he was proud to have us
here,” she said.
Egan was given a room assignment in
Spence Hall Thursday, but now she does
Hosting 26 women involves killing roaches, board
ing up peep holes and dodging the head resident
Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
adviser. But Muff and Ellerbrock of Hart Hall
aren’t complaining.
not want to move.
“It’s not bad here,” she said. “The guys
are even giving us a party. ”
Muff said that being a resident adviser
for 26 girls was fun in some ways. “I got to
kill a roach in one room the other night,” he
said. “That was sort of exciting.. .The head
resident is jealous. He’s trying to get me
quadded.”
Ron Sasse, a spokesman for the Housing
Demand release of comrades
Radicals kidnap industrialist
United Press International
PARIS - A radical group today
claimed responsibility for the kid
napping of wealthy industralist
Baron Edouard - Jean Empain and
threatened to kill him unless a
French leftist and two members of
the West German Baader-Meinhof
terrorist gang are freed.
Callers identifying themselves as
memebers of the Armed Nucleus for
Popular Autonomy told a Paris radio
station and a newspaper in the city of
Nancy their organization had seized
Empain.
“We demand the release next
Wednesday of our comrades Chris
tian Harbulot, Irmgaard Moeller and
Rolf Pohl. If this is not done the
baron will be executed and other
managers will follow,” an anonym
ous caller warned the L’Est Republi-
cain newspaper at Nancy, near the
German border.
Harbulot is one of six Armed Nuc
leus members now being held in
French prisons. Moeller and Pohl
are both members of the Baader-
Meinhof terrorist gang that abducted
and killed German industrialist
Hanns-Martin Schleyer in October.
Empain, heir to an industrial for
tune and chief of one of Europe’s
biggest conglomerates, was ab
ducted Monday as he was driven to
work in his chauffeured limousine.
In an earlier telephone message to
a Paris radio station today, an
anonymous caller read out a state
ment that said:
“We, members of the Armed Nuc
leus for Popular Autonomy, claim re
sponsibility for this abduction and
demand the release of our comrades
before Wednesday noon or else we
will kill the baron and it will be the
same for other managers.”
Empain, 40, blond and square-
jawed, was overpowered as he was
driven to work from his apartment on
the Avenue Foch, one of the most
glittering streets in Paris.
A pickup truck and a motorcyclist
blocked his car. Three or four armed,
masked men yanked his chauffeur
out of the vehicle, jumped in them
selves and roared away with Empain
in the direction of the nearby Arc de
Triomphe, police said.
The chauffeur was pistol-whipped
and thrown into the pickup truck.
He was released a few minutes later.
Empain’s car was found abandoned
in a suburban parking lot.
President Valery Giscardd’Esta-
ing held an emergency meeting on
the kidnapping Monday night.
The style of the kidnapping re
called the abductions of both
Luchino Revelli-Beaumont, head of
Fiat-France, nine months ago and of
Hanns-Martin Schleyer, chief of the
German manufacturers association,
last fall.
Empain is both a business execu
tive and vice president of the French
manufacturers association. He is the
grandson of the Belgain industrialist
who founded the predecessor of the
Empain-Schneider group, which
manufactures steel, nuclear power
plants and heavy machinery.
Although Empain got a head start
in the business world, he made his
own way to the top of the Empain-
Schneider conglomerate. Today it
employs 130,000 people worldwide
in 150 plants and does an annual
business totalling $4.5 billion.
Married to the former Silvana Bet-
tuzzi, Empain has three children,
Patricia, Christine and Jean-
Francois. He is an ardent yachtsman
and owns a stable of racehorses.
One of the officers of Empain’s
company described him as
“dynamic, open, simple, direct and
sympathetic. He led an exemplary
family life and went in for sailing,
walking, playing cards and chatting
with friends.”
“He never used a bodyguard, he
thought they were useless, the gen
eral said.
Office, said he expects to find rooms in
women’s dorms for all the girls by next
week. The F-Ramp’s former residents, who
are housed elsewhere in Hart Hall, will
then be free to move back into those rooms.
County awards
$30',000 in funds
to Easterwood
By ROLANDO H. SANTOS
The Brazos County Commissoners
Court voted Monday to award Easterwood
Airport $30,000 in matching funds, on the
condition that Bryan and College Station
take similar action.
The money is to be used to complete a
two-phase development program at the
airport, Phase one of the program will be to
repair, level and overlay portions of the
secondary instrument runway. During the
second phase, the primary instrument
runway will be extended 1,000 feet. The
extension is necessary to accomodate DC-9
type aircraft.
Eddie Davis, director of management
services at Texas A&M, said total cost of the
program will be $4.5 million. Davis said
that both cities and the county would only
pay 20 percent of the total, and that the
other 80 percent will be paid by the Airport
Development Program.
The Federal Aviation Administration
sponsored program would pay $2,428,700
of the total cost. Davis said that Bryan,
College Station and the county were asked
for the matching funds because Easter
wood is part of the Texas A&M University
system and cannot legally receive state aid.
Although Bryan has taken no official ac
tion, they have shown interest in the
project, he said. Davis expects the matter
to go before the College Station City Coun
cil next month.
tztrTvTiA/nnn „„ KOSS — KENWOOD — SANSUI