The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 24, 1978, Image 1
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