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The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 100
8 Pages
Friday, February 17, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Friday:
“Energy-environment simulator/'
p. 6.
Don Pasquale in review, p. 4.
Vernon Smith: bright spot of Met
calfs season, p. 8.
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Conflicting facts
tiinder policy
By CHERYL HICKMAN
Congressman Morris Udall said the American people have to unlearn some of
he old rules that used to apply to energy and the economy.
The Arizona representative spoke Thursday to the members and delegates of
he Student Conference on National Affairs.
Udall is the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and the Environ
ment.
The 56-year-old Democrat began his speech with some humor about Washing-
on, Billy Carter beer and his own try for a presidential nomination in 1976. “I’ve
jeen trying to forget it," he said.
Four years ago in February we had a crisis, said Udall in reference to the 1974
trab oil embargo. “We were all going to change. Yet Congress and the President
;till haven’t been able to come up with an energy policy that they can agree on.
According to Udall, the problem is that there are two conflicting sets of “facts ’
mi how much oil there is in the world, and different groups believe different facts.
One group, whose members include Udall and President Carter, believes that
legist [|, e supply of oil and gas is limited and that the remaining reserves should come
aider government regulation. Under this set of facts, said Udall, the energy
get cold Policy should be one of conservation and switching to other energy sources such as
’ ” ‘ ;oal, solar, nuclear and wind power.
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Tve seen the wind here in Texas. It could light up the Midwest
for the next decade.”
The opposing camp boasts such members as Sen. Russell Long, D-La., the oil
Kimpanies and “Bob Hope for Texaco every night,” said Udall. This group main-
ains that there is still an abundance of oil. Their energy' policy, according to
Udall, would be to drill deeper and in more places.
Udall said he was doing some research on his genealogy when he realized that
le defet most of the major changes in the life style of man have occurred since the 1930s.
Just as my generation was going into high school, there was an explosion.
“The magic word was growth. ’
“We re coming to the end of that kind of exponential growth.
Udall said the fantastic growth of those days was based on cheap oil and gas.
ecause of this, a theory developed that there must be an increase in energy usage
ind production for there to be economic growth.
But, said Udall, that theory would have to pass into oblivion along with “those
ild dogmas that say you can’t have both inflation and unemployment. ”
Udell classified this as “the era of high energy costs.” He said oil production in
the United States peaked in 1970 and has been declining ever since,
them However, Udall said, the United States is the only major industrial country
ising more oil now than it did four years ago, when the Organization of Petroleum
;reedl Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations imposed the oil embargo.
Udall said new laws and thought patterns need to be developed to encourage
Sonservation and a switch to new types of energy. He said that many people never
hink about recycling products like paper, tin cans and bottles. “I wish the presi-
lent would really take some leadership on this recycling issue.’
Nuclear power is foundering," said Udall. The expense of the plants and
iranium makes muclear power economically unsound. In fact, said Udall, nuclear
lower may be more expensive than coal.
Udall emphasized wind power. “Tve seen the wind here in Texas. It could light
ip the Midwest for the next decade.
Udall said he would prefer for the free market to regulate oil production and
|prices. “I like the free market. It’s the best regulator we have.”
However, Udall said, he thinks the free market is on the decline in this country
lue to company mergers and giant corporations which limit the number of compe-
ive businesses.
Udall said he would like to see some of these big corporations, especially the oil
ompanies, broken up into several smaller businesses. He used the Exxon com-
jany as an example and said he would like te see that corporation broken up into
our separate companies. Each would have a distinct job: producing, refining,
rarisporting or marketing oil.
People demand government regulation when companies get so much power,
aid Udall. “It’s pail of the price y'ou pay for a complicated society that gives us so
aany things.”
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Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
‘Don Pasquale, go to bed’
Norina (Sheila Barnes) tells Don Pasquale (Joseph Warner) where
he can go as an amused maid looks on. The opera, “Don Pasquale,”
was presented by the Texas A&M Opera and Performing Arts
Society Thursday night. See related story on page 4.
Krueger wants
oil deregulation
Battalion photo by Pat O'Malley
Morris Udall...“The magic word was growth
By ANDY WILLIAMS
Battalion Staff
Congressman Bob Krueger (D.-New
Braunfels) spoke for deregulation of petro
leum prices and said the United States has
a large reserve of natural gas in a talk
Thursday night.
He reasoned that production would in
crease if prices were allowed to rise.
Krueger appeared with Congressman
Toby Moffett (D-Conn.) at Rudder Thea
ter in a SCONA panel discussion entitled,
“The role of Congress in Energy Policy.’’
Moffett said deregulation would not buy
much more gas because the present lack of
production is due to a lack of drilling
equipment.
Krueger cited a study by a research
committee which predicted another 1,000
years of gas reserves in the United States.
He also said that Saudi Arabia burns 13
trillion cubic feet of natural gas each year,
about two-thirds of what the United States
uses annually.
Moffett scoffed at this prediction in a
reception after the talk.
“I don’t agree with a thousand years at
all,” he said. He mentioned other studies
which gave figures of 50 to 100 years.
Moffett said a $50-60 billion “shock-
wave" would hit the American economy if
deregulation were allowed.
Disagreeing with this sum, Krueger said
that the entire production of American
natural gas in 1975 amounted to about $5
billion.
Krueger said the problem was that o)
deciding whether to allow petroleum
prices to be ruled by supply and demand
or to choose a small number of wise
people in Washington who know what the
price should be.”
Debating Krueger s reasoning, Moffett
said he was “not convinced” that oil pro
ducers were in a free market because of
high prices from the Arab oil cartel and a
Coal talks under pressure,
tentative deadline set
United Press International
The Garter administration is stepping
up the pressure to end the 74-day-old na
tionwide miners' strike as dwindling soft
coal supplies threaten Americans with
more layoffs and less heat, light and elec
tric amenities.
Labor Secretary Ray Marshall kicked off
an intensive round of talks in Washington
Thursday by setting a tentative two-day
deadline for settlement of the longest con
tinuous coal strike in the nation’s history.
President Carter, who met with both
sides Wednesday, kept up the heat by tel
ling a dozen governors of strike-affected
states the tradition of collective bargaining
“would be severely damaged" by prolong
ing the walkout.
But Carter indicated he was still reluc
tant to invoke the Taft-Hartly Act for an
80-day cooling-off period. The strike by
160,000 members of the United Mine
Workers began Dec. 6.
With power producers warning the pub
lic to voluntarily reduce electricity use or
face mandatory cutbacks, the country
scratched its head to find new ways of
combating the latest wrinkle in the winter
of’78.
Gasoline generators and flashlights did a
brisk business, movie matinees in
downtown Pitssburgh were suspended;
restaurant-goers in Indianapolis dined by
candlelight, and Sen. Richard Lugar,
R-Ind., suggested his state’s utilities burn
Stores shortened shopping hours, col
leges and universities curtailed classes,
some local government employees were
put on a four-day work week, offices were
to be closed on Saturdays and some towns
snuffed out street lights.
T ve got everything electric that they
make, but I’m ready to give it all up and go
back to the good old days," said Nan
Gump, innkeeper of a Holiday Inn in
Zanesville, Ohio.
“I mean it. I could go back to cooking
over our fireplace, she said. “If our ances
tors could do it, so can we."
Ohio Edison urged customers to cut
back on watching television, but Norwalk
resident Tim McIntyre said that would be
no sacrifice. “I can’t stand many of the
programs anyway,” he said.
Several power companies announced
service cutbacks and the specter of rotat
ing blackouts loomed if the situation wor
sens. Even when the strike is settled, it
will take up to another two weeks — by
most estimates — for the flow of coal to
return to normal.
The layoffs of thousands of workers were
announced in affected businesses across
the country.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, with
only a 25-day coal supply on hand at its 10
key plants, Thursday outlined a plan that
could put as many as 100,000 people out of
work by the first of the month.
The Norana aluminum plant in
Marston, Mo., laid off 356 of its 850 em
ployees, but the men had no hard feelings
against the coal miners.
“We support their right to bargain,
said crane operator James Winn. “They re
in the same boat we are. All they have is
their labor to sell.
In the coal fields, the miners showed no
signs of relenting. Some 3,000 striking
UMW members rallied at an armory in
Fairmont, W.Va. to stir up support for
remaining on strike and expelling UMW
leader Arnold Miller.
Hundreds of UMW members in roving
pickets frightened two non-union mines in
eastern Ohio into shutting down, but no
violence was reported.
lack of competition among American com
panies.
“There is something wrong with a sys
tem that says. Please conserve, " Moffett
said in criticizing present governmental
programs to save fuel. He advocated re
wards in the form of tax cuts for certain
types of conservation .
Commission
approves
rezoning
By FLA VIA KRONE
The College Station Planning and Zon
ing Commission Thursday approved the
rezoning of several tracts of land bounded
by Southwest Parkway, Welsh Boulevard,
F.M. 2818 and Wellborn Road.
The major result of the action is to lower
the zoning density in the areas involved.
Three tracts of land north of Southwest
Parkway and between Wellborn Road and
Welsh Boulevard were rezoned from R-6,
high density apartment and A-O, agricul
tural open land to R-4, R-5 and R-2 zones.
An R-4 designation means a maximum
of 16 units per acre may be built and that
the land is classified as a low-density
.apartment zone. R-5 is a high-density
apartment zone which can contain as many
as 24 units per acre. R-2 is considered a
low-density zone suitable for duplexes and
may contain up to 10 units per acre.
Another large tract bordering F.M.
2818 south of Southwest Parkway was also
rezoned from high density apartments
to family units and low density apartments.
Commissioner Chris Mathewson ques
tioned dividing the tract into both apart
ment and single family zones.
“The apartment area has only one con
nection to the outside world without going
through the single family area,” he said.
“Do we want that many apartments de
pendent on one road?
Other commissioners said the city could
avoid the problem by properly designing
roads for the area.
The Commission s rezoning recom
mendations must be approved by City
Council before they become final.
The Commission also voted to table
consideration of a final plat for Tinsley
Square, located east of Texas, south of the
intersection of Texas Avenue and Haivey
Road.
Tinsley said he wants the property sub
divided in order to build a restaurant
there.
Commissioner Vergil Stover said, “I
have reservations about subdividing fron
tage on a main street like Texas Avenue.
Other commissioners also expressed con
cern about traffic having to slow down on
Texas Avenue to turn into the restaurant.
Check-cashing service may end
because of monetary losses
By AVA KING
Hot check writing at Texas A&M Uni
versity has increased 32 percent in the
past year.
Bad checks total $24,088 as compared to
$18,087 at this time last spring. More than
2,000 hot checks were written to the Uni
versity last semester alone.
The largest amount of bad checks, both
in number and monetary value, are re
ceived at the beginning of each semester
for payment of tuition and fees. Fiscal de
partment records show that during
January of this year $65,000 in checks was
returned to A&M due to lack of funds in
checking accounts.
A $5 fine is charged to the bad check
writer for every check returned to the
University for insufficient funds.
J. Robert Smith, assistant controller of
accounts for the fiscal department, termed
A&M’s check cashing policy as “very lib
eral.” Individuals are given a 15-day grace
period to make cash payment for the check
and fine. After this period the fine is raised
to $10.
Texas A&M suspends check-cashing
privileges of students who write more than
two hot checks. Suspension lasts for the.
rest of the student’s stay at Texas A&M.
When a bad check is returned to the
fiscal department a series of three notices
is sent to the responsible party. If there is
no response the fiscal department asks the
student’s college dean to tell the student
about the returned check and fine.
If the student does not answer the
notices the fiscal department may have the
student dropped from University rolls or
file formal charges against him with the
county attorney.
Seven students were dropped from the
rolls last semester. The majority of the re
turned checks are collected on during the
ISF
semester.
Smith said the only way a student’s
check record can be cleared is for the Uni
versity to receive a letter from the stu
dent’s bank indicating that the check
bounced due to a banking error and not
from lack of funds.
How does A&M compare to other uni
versities in receiving hot checks?
“Higher than most,” Smith said. “Not
very many schools have check cashing
facilities. It was begun at A&M as a neces
sary student service because there weren’t
any banks in College Station.”
Because this service is no longer neces
sary, it may soon be a thing of the past.
“If there is a 30 percent increase in the
spring as there was in the fall, action will
have to be taken. Smith said.
This action may be increasing the $5
penalty or stopping the unlimited check
cashing policy altogether.
A&M’s got class
“Fans” of Battalion sports
editor Paul Arnett respond
to his Feb. 15 commentary
on the Aggie Band, danc
ing girls, basketball
halftimes and A&M tra
ditions. In “Letters to the
editor,” page 2.
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