s
The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 107
: : £> Pages
Tuesday, February 28, 1978
CoWege S>\aA.\on, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Tuesday
Baseball team back in action, p. 8.
Domestic animal management
course ofiered, p. 6.
Paul Arnett: Tennis, everyone? p. 7.
\ngry miners balk as
oal supplies disappear
n
United Press International
R(|cks and bullets flew on the picket
Bmd coal-starved Midwestern utilities
led for anything burnable Monday.
Ksing numbers of disgruntled UMVV
nets damned the very contract their
ship was preparing to sell them.
;hty-five days deep into the coal
:e few could book odds for or against
tct designed to end it.
is contract is rotten from the word
■limed Gene Oiler, president of an
■UMW local.
l|s pretty bad. It’s pretty bad,” said
■tray, another local officer. “I don t
| it will be ratified, but I don’t know
s really going to back this thing and
s not.”
nee
Few of their district leaders agreed with
the criticism after a five-and-a-half-hour
briefing on the new contract with the
Bituminous Coal Operators Association
Monday in Washington. Gloom rode in
their ranks as they emerged.
“Everybody’s greedy and wants more,
said Lou Antal, president of District 5 in
western Pennsylvania. “How can you get
more if there isn’t any more?’’
"I’m a little numb, said Okie Barton, of
District 6 in Ohio. “It’s not going to be
easy. It’s going to be an all around tough
battle.”
UMW Vice President Sam Church was
one of the few optimists predicting ratifica
tion of the pact.
“You hear the people who are dissatis
fied,” he said. “The silent majority doesn’t
have much to say.”
As the union leaders prepared to take
their campaign for ratification into the
field, vocal minorities did their talking
with a torch in Illinois and with rocks and
bullets in Alabama.
About 200 miners set fire to railroad ties
and ripped up rails on a line leading to the
Illinois Power Company’s Baldwin plant.
Alabama state police escorted non-
UMW workers to safety after nearly 100
rock-tossing miners shut down the Craw
ford Mining Co. when it tried to reopen.
Three bullets hit a company vehicle. No
arrests were made because police said
they could not identify the gunman.
In Kentucky, Robert Dean Prater, a
> Ann f
catcl l;
in the®
reaty changes find
ard going in Senate
United Press International
^ASHINGTON-In a show of force, backers of the Panama
treaties have demonstrated they own the votes to turn
J any significant changes.
Bui the count on the first amendment to come to a vote also
Jed those same backers are still struggling to win ratifica-
pi.
IIk Senate killed 55 to 34 an amendment sponsored by' Sen.
'J k jesMlen, D-A\a., which could have kept U.S. troops guard-
|lie waterway for a generation after it is turned over to
riiiiu.
, |e margin of nearly 20 votes was easily enough to defeat the
j ut . * in amendment, which required only a majority for adop-
IIkt'buB( the 34 votes against the motion to quash the amendment
placeraBjj.g than would be needed to kill ratification, which re-
r than ™
lie Kerr
i time off!
Rice's)
Carlton i|
-.s in a fel
quires a two-thirds majority — 67 if all senators are voting.
The Senate planned to continue voting on amendments as
the canal debate headed into its 10th day today.
Although both sides expressed pleasure at the outcome of
the vote on the Allen amendment, neither considered it an
accurate barometer of ratification sentiment.
Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., a main opponent of the treaties,
said the vote showed “there are 34 senators displeased with the
treaties as they stand.
He noted that the total would have climbed to 36 with the
addition of Sens. Harrison Schmitt, R-N.M., and Strom Thur
mond, R-S.C., who did not vote.
But Assistant Senate Democratic leader Alan Cranston said,
“We did better than expected and our confidence is shown by
the fact that we proceeded with the vote although several of
our votes were absent.”
ity Council takes steps
insure
theBQO-i
I Mosley,
■key ram
ihefc [ B y TIM RAVEN
n the sk million municipal bond election
■da step closer toward College Station
earn wills Mon d a y when the city council asked
i the B f r e wor d*ng of the ballot to be pres-
vomen ftp lor approval at the next regular meet-
he Soiil'pMatch 8.
jesentfy, live projects will be presented
Je voters.
tem one on the ballot will ask for $5.3
n to develop an independent water
By system. Along with the $2.4 million
u,on, bonds approved in 1976, total cost
project is expected to be $7.7 million.
Be funds would provide for the con-
tion of water wells, transmission lines,
nip stations and additional distribution
es.
lout $6.3 million of the total water
ds would be eligible for matching funds
m the federal Economic Development
ministration. The city’s share of the cost
in would be about $3.2 million, accord-
! to a report by the capital improve-
ints committee.
Bonds sold for this project will be backed
levenue from the water service,
lem two asks for $845,GOO to take the
Ithgate area away from the Bryan sewer
system. Some $350,000 is left in 1976
bonds, making the total cost of this project
$1.2 million. Revenue bonds would back
this project.
Item three asks for $300,000 for a per
manent road rebuilding program. The cap
ital improvements committee recom
mended the council budget additional
funds to the program each year. Bonds for
the project will be repaid with revenue
from municipal taxes.
Item four involves the construction of
two 50-acre athletic complexes. Also
planned is the development of neighbor
hood parks.
Total planned expenditures for the two
athletic complexes are $925,000. A com
plex in the “Golden Triangle” area is ex
pected to cost the city $675,000, if ap
proved. A tract of land in Southwood Valley
to be used for the additional complex is
expected to cost about $250,000.
About $880,000 would be spent on the
development of neighborhood parks in the
Carter’s Grove area in Southwood Valley.
These funds include $60,000 for the pur
chase of the Lincoln Center recreation
facility from the A&M Consolidated School
District as a possible site for a civic center.
Plans for the civic center have not been
fully developed at this time.
The total cost of this project is $1.81 mil
lion. Some $263,000 could be trimmed
from these costs with help from the Bureau
of Outdoor Recreation.
The final item would provide additional
funds for the completion of the city fire
station, police station, and warehouse
complex, at a cost of $680,000.
23- year-old Pike county miner, was ar
rested after he and several others were
caught stoning a coal truck.
Most of the rank and file hostility to the
new contract was aimed at the wildcat
strike clause and loss of pension funds dur
ing the strike by UMW retirees.
“They re the ones that built this union,”
said Steve Elliot, an Ohio union local pres
ident. “We have been out for 84 days right
now and we should stay out another 84
days to get what we want.
Oiler said the new pact allows mine
operators to fire any picketer recognized
during a wildcat strike, while less well-
known miners would go unmolested.
Not all the rank and file were up in
arms.
T took a walk downtown today and
talked to some miners who said they were
going to vote for the contract, ” said retired
Illinois UMW official Joseph Shannon.
“They said it’s not a perfect contract but
that you never get a perfect contract.
In Harlan, Ky,. Cloyd McDowell, past
president of the BCOA, echoed the view.
“I just have a feeling that the rank and file
are ready to go back to work,” he said.
Shannon worried that failure to ratify
would provoke federal measures that
might break the union.
“Heavy fines could mean the end of the
UMW,” he said.
The strikers picked up support from
sympathetic farmers involved in their own
American Agriculture strike movement.
“Perhaps we could send a shipment of
food if they need it, said Joyce Robinson,
a Choteau, Mon., rancher.
While the miners wrangled with their
leadership, coal-hungry Midwestern
utilities remained under siege and schools
continued to feel the pinch.
In West Virginia, where coal stocks
plummeted below the 22-day level, des
perate measures were underway.
“They re out there scraping it; pushing
it into piles, and digging it out of the mud,
if they can, to see what s burnable and
what s not, said Lyle Corder of
Monongahela Power Co.
In Tennessee, TVA — assisted by deliv
ery of non-U MW coal and by purchase of
more than 400,000 tons from western
fields — held its stocks at a precarious
24- day level. In Ohio, Toledo Edison Pres
ident John P. Williamson urged customers
not to relax in their conservation efforts.
The Kentucky Public Service Co. pro
ceeded with plans for a mandatory electri
cal cutback and the state s largest utility
prepared to turn to high sulfur coal to
stretch its supplies.
Alabama Gov. George Wallace asked
local unions to release coal for schools. He
said some have enough coal to get them
only through the middle of March.
Battalion photo l)y Jiimi Hazlott
Texas A&M track team wins
Linda Cornelius, a member of the A&M women’s track team, won
five individual events Saturday in the track meet against the Uni
versity of Texas women’s team. Cornelius ran the third leg of the
winning 1600-meter relay team.
Commissioner says cause is stabilization
‘Teacher demand to decrease in South’
United Press International
SAN ANTONIO — The stabilization of
college enrollments in the next 10 years
will decrease the demand for new faculty
members in the South by more than 50
percent, says Texas Commissoner of
Higher Education Dr. Kenneth Ashworth.
In a speech scheduled Monday to mem
bers of governing boards of Texas colleges,
Ashworth warned that enrollment
projections for Texas indicate an increase of
11 percent from 1975 to 1985. The national
projection is only 2 percent, compared to a
growth rate of 88 percent during the previ
ous decade.
The 10-year projection shows a slight in
crease for Texas colleges through 1980, fol
lowed by stabilization and even decline
during the first half of the decade.
The need for new faculty members, he
said, is expected to drop from almost 9,000
persons in 1977 to less than 4,000 in South
ern schools in 1985.
"With stabilizing student enrollments
and stabilizing funding, the prospects for
employment by new doctoral graduates is
unfavorable to say the least, Ashworth
said.
Ashworth criticized some colleges for
using unorthodox practices to combat the
urniture missing
Chairs, tables, ottomans gradually disappear from Commons
By AVA KING
-.ounge furniture with an estimated
ilueof $13,000 is missing from Dunn Hall
i the Commons dormitory complex,
imerous chairs, ottomans, end tables,
M pieces of art work are unaccoun ted for.
Tlhese items were not taken all at once,
fit have been disappearing gradually over
he six years the dorm has been occupied
said Dunn’s area coordinators. Out of the
■re than 150 furniture items originally
■tied to Dunn, only three chairs remain in
Be lounges.
exact count is available on missing
|unge furniture because inventory records
- not required on dormitory items valued
rnder $250. The cost of the chairs, otto-
hns, and end tables issued to the lounges
Itge from $45 to $70 per item.
Krueger, like Dunn, was furnished in
1972, but fewer items have disappeared
over the same six-year span. Most of
Krueger’s original lounge furniture is still
in the lounges, with only an estimated
three items missing per lounge.
W. G. Ferris, area coordinator of the
Commons, said the difference in theft rates
was because girls use the lounges more for
wing meetings and informal gatherings.
“They are more concerned with keeping
lounges nice looking than guys are,”he
said.
“Guys have more mechanical knowledge
and the tools to disassemble the furniture,”
said Larry Pollock, Commons assistant
coordinator. “This furniture can be easily
disassembled with a wrench and screw
driver into small, compact pieces that can
be carried out of the dorm in a suitcase.”
Ferris said, “When residents move out of
the dorm at the end of the semester, they
pack up the furniture and take it with
them.”
Ron Sasse, assistant director of housing,
believes that the furniture has not actually
been stolen, but has been borrowed by
Dunn residents for use in the individual
dorm rooms and will “miraculously reap
pear” at the end of the semester.
This practice of “borrowing” is in viola
tion of dormitory policy which states that
residents are not to remove furniture from
the lounges. It is the responsibility of the
resident advisors to see that lounge furni
ture stays in the lounge and out of resi
dents rooms.
Ferris and Pollock, who are in daily con
tact with Dunn Hall and its residents, say
they believe that the furnishings are being
stolen and taken off campus.
All lounge furniture is engraved with a
Texas A&M inventory number, and stolen
items are easily identifiable. A few pieces of
lounge furniture have been located in stu
dents apartments in the Bryan and College
Station area.
When the housing office receives infor
mation that University furniture in is an
off-campus location, the report is investi
gated by the Texas A&M police in conjunc
tion with the College Station Police De
partment. Items recovered by police are
few, and most missing furniture is never
reported.
The end of the trail
Residents on the fourth floor of Dunn Hall have added a bit of the gargoyles from the cowpunching era, these sun-bleached faces
Old West to the more modern architecture of their dormitory. Like gaze out over the north side of the campus.
When Aston and Mosher Halls were
opened in 1975, the cost of furnishing their
lounges was almost twice that of Krueger
and Dunn. The easy theft of Krueger-Dunn
furniture was already evident, so a different
type of furniture was introduced.
The sectional sofas, block end tables and
round coffee tables for Mosher and Aston,
although comfortable and functional, were
designed to be too large, bulky, and unat
tractive for use as an individual pieces in a
dorm room.
The furniture s size and weight make it
difficult for anyone to carry them out of the
dormitory lounges unnoticed. Thus, the
lounge furniture stays in the lounge where
it belongs.
Sasse said the main problem leading to
the disappearance of lounge furniture is
that, “most residence halls are not fur
nished with things that residence halls
need.
Architects and interior designers plan
areas and furnishings for aesthetic appear
ance, he said.
“What is aesthietically pleasing may not
be functional,” Sasse said. The Texas A&M
Physical Plant is working on designs for
furniture to refurnish the Krueger and
Dunn lounges. The new furniture will be
durable, functional,, and difficult to re
move.
Until the new furnishings are installed,
the University will continue to replace
damaged parts on the existing furniture. In
1974, replacement parts for Krueger-Dunn
lounge furniture that was broken or worn
out cost $1,810. More replacement parts
for this easy-to-steal furniture are now on
order for the 1978-79 budget.
slow-down in student enrollment growth.
He said schools are resorting to “piracy of
students from other institutions and the
"body-count game, which involves such
devices as taking programs off of our cam
puses to reach new clientele and raiding
the service areas of other institutions.
He also criticized the lowering of admis
sions standards by schools to attract more
students and the lowering of performance-
standards to retain the students. Some
schools in other states, Ashworth said, have
dropped requirements for graduate record
exams and eliminated minimum grade-
point averages for admission to graduate
programs.
"All these efforts make it easier to get
degrees, he said.
“Grades become inflated at the same
time performance on national tests goes
d<)wn.
“Some of these actions are depreciating
the value of all college degrees in the
market-place. Employers are finding that a
college degree is less and less a predictor of
performance in the world of work. ”
Crossed wires
cause brief
power blackout
Two touching wires triggered a short
circuit that left parts of College Station
without electricity for about 25 minutes
Monday night, said city electrical superin
tendent Joe Guidiy.
Electrical contractors working at the in
tersection of Holik Street and Holleman
Drive somehow caused two wires to make
contact, Guidry said. The wires short-
circuited, throwing a breaker at the sub
station and shutting off the power.
All of College Station south of Jersey
Street was left without power except for a
section of Southwood Valley, he said.
A spokesman for the College Station
Police Department said they received
their first call about the power failure
around 5:50 p.m.
Guidiy said power was restored about
6:15 p.m.