The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 121
8 Pages
Friday, March 24, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Friday:
Three trash fires break out in
dorms, p. 5.
Aggie Players’ ‘Carnival’ in review,
p. 6.
Aggies looking for a win against
Riee, p. 8.
^liners vote today on new
ontract, officials hopeful
Vnited Press International
'ASHINGTON — Striking miners are
ig today in coalfield union halls on
ther to end the 109-day-old walkout
t the soft coal industry amid reports
leasing energy crunch and increased
lomic hardship on miners’ families,
as the second time the 160,000 min-
st such ballots. The first pact, on
ch 5, was rejected by over 70 percent of
membership.
jesident Carter, after the miners rejec-
linvoked the Taft-hartley Act and a
jiil judge ordered the miners to return
ork. Miners defied the order and eight
Hater the same judge refused to extend
lijit made the nation’s longest continous
bn wide coal strike legal again,
milts were being telephoned to a
Quarters in Washington for tabulation,
ibst Virginia Gov. Jay Rockefeller
DOraged strikers Thursday to ratify the
tract, telling a news conference rejec-
piight force him to revive earlier plans
|ai off 20 percent of the state’s work
I’m hopeful the contract can be ratified
loi row, Rockefeller said at a news con-
mce. He said when the vote is tallied,
est Virginia.. .will either be greatly
lanced or greatly set back. ’
■rmer UMW Secretary-Treasurer
try Patrick Thursday predicted the con
it u ill be ratified “by a very narrow mar-
A lot of people have been very hurt
ancially,” he said.
/citing began amid scattered incidents in
gpalfields. Two cars were fired upon in
ngoCounty, West Virginia, includingan
empty car rented by CBS News crew.
Police reported no injuries.
In Pennsylvania, police said a group of
men believed to be strikers set ablaze a
device used to unload coal cars. And, two
UMW officials predicted the collapse of na
tional bargaining in the industry if miners
reject the pact.
In the March 3-5 balloting about 120,000
of the strikers voted. Latest UMW figures
Thursday, for all but 24 locals, showed the
vote 32,764 in favor of the contract, and
76,240 against on the first proposal.
Wages were not an issue. Miners ap
peared satisfied with a boost from $7.80 per
hour to $10.20 per hour — a 37 percent
hike — over the three-year term of the
proposal. That part remained unchanged
from the rejected contract.
The Bituminous Coal Operators Associa
tion, however, made several major conces
sions, including dropping demands for a
work stability clause to punish miners for
engaging in wildcat strikes; and reducing
the amount miners would have to pay for
medical bills from $700 in the rejected con
tract to $200.
That, however, did not satisfy many
miners, who want a return to a system that
would pay all bills for doctors’ visits and
drugs.
There also were objections to a disparity
between payments to retired miners under
the 1950 and 1974 pension plans, and to a
production incentive clause put into the
new proposal. That would allow mining
companies, if the affected union locals
agreed, to pay bonuses to miners who pro
duce more coal than a set amount.
Student turnover produces
utility bill problems for city
BY DERRICK GRUBBS
The question consumers most often ash
when receiving their utility bills is usually
“Why’s it so high?” Although the billing
department cannot solve the problem oi
high prices, they can remedy many other
problems that may arise concerning utility
billing.
College Station City Manager North
Bardell points to the city’s highly-transient
population as one reason for the problems
that come up in billing.
“Because of the large number of A&M
students that move in and out, there is a
tremendous amount of turnover in ac-
u- .
wm'
mi
^0
counts. We try to keep up with all of them
but our system isn’t infallible,’’ Bardell
says.
With the increasing number of students
comes an increased membership to the
College Station utility consumer list. The
population of the city has grown 230 per
cent in the past eight years and Bardell
says this creates problems which are com
pounded by the recent energy crisis.
Beginning this year, electric utility
meters were installed in all apartment
complexes in College Station. This makes
the city responsible for 10,000 meters,
every billing time.
To help deal with this increase in bill
ing, last spring College Station brought in
computers, a move intended to decrease
the time involved in billing. But it does
not necessarily decrease the chance of er
ror.
“Some people think the computer is
perfect, but it’s still humans that are re
sponsible for it getting the correct infor
mation to process,” says Roland Davie,
head of data processing for College Sta
tion.
“Right now, we re using a process called
cycle billing where we bill the customers
four times a month,” he says. “Billing for
the first cycle is the second Monday of
each month, cycle two the third Monday,
cycle three the fourth Monday, and the
fourth cycle billing goes out the first
Monday of the following month.”
Although utility bills are sent out ac
cording to this schedule, there is still the
initial step of reading the meters and de
termining who owes what.
The meter readers in College Station
are assigned to cover certain areas on cer
tain days. The readers log each meter on
their beat in books which are turned over
to the utility clerks.
The clerks work up the books to deter
mine, for example, which accounts are
being terminated. That is, if a customer is
moving from College Station he should be
taken taken off the list of utility clients.
These people are usually given six weeks
to pay their final bill after turning in a
change of address.
One particularly sensitive problem — as
might be expected — are bills that are de
linquent. A customer generally is allowed
10 days, or until the following cycle on the
billing schedule, to pay a utility bill. If
they have not paid after this period, the
individual is put on a delinquent list and
notified. From there, it becomes a per
sonal matter between the client and the
utility company.
Davie says problems also can arise in
processing the bills, and mistakes are not
always the fault of the computer.
However, he says the optimum goal of
the city’s billing department is minimizing
the number of errors.
“We usually catch any big mistakes, he
says. “Before we send out the bills, we
cross-check them carefully so that if there
are any obvious errors, we can get them
straightened out before we mail the bill.
What if a customer receives a bill that
reads $1,000 instead of $100, the correct
amount?
. “We can take care, of that without any
problem and the customer usually laughs
it off,” says Davie.
But it’s those not-so-obvious errors that
arouse the most suprise in a client distres
sed by the unexpected amount of his util
ity bill.
“If a customer has a question about his
bill, we can go back and check the records
that were turned in by the meter readers,
says Davie. “We ll even send a man out to
check the individual meter if we have to. ”
The final step for the disenchanted util
ity client in College Station is talking to
Bardell. The city manager talks to indi
viduals who are upset over the amount of
their bill, have probably already been sent
through four or five channels, and realize
that Bardell is their last hope and that they
have to be convincing.
Wild and Crazy Aggie
Kent Crank won two tickets to the upcoming Steve Martin perfo-
mance for being the “most wild and crazy guy” in Town Hall’s
comedian contest held Thursday. Crank, a senior agricultural edu
cation major, demonstrated how a chicken lays eggs in Poultryville,
U.S.A. Battalion photo by Elizabeth Ghio
City Council discussion lively, emotional
■
Tenants question utility bills
Love makes the world go Wound
Paul (Michael Wilson) talks to his true love, Lili (Debbie Ellis)
through his puppets Carrot Top, Marguerite and the walrus in the
Aggie Players’ performance of “Carnival.” The show will run to
night and tommorrow in Rudder Forum. Please see review, page
6. Battalion photo by Elizabeth Ghio
By FLA VIA KRONE
Electricity and pets were the subjects
dominating a lively and sometimes emo
tional discussion during the College Sta
tion City Council meeting Thursday night.
Residents of the Durango apartment
complex in the 1600 block of Anderson
questioned council members about high
electric bills they say they received for the
period from Dec. 12 to Jan. 19.
Walter Kahanek, 1607 Anderson, Apt.
B, said all but two of the complex’s 84
units were vacated during the Dec. 16 to
Jan. 16 semester break. All tenants who
vacated their apartments turned off their
electricity at the thermostat and half of the
tenants cut their power at the circuit
breaker, Kahanek said.
However, Kahanek says most of the
tenants received higher than average elec
tric bills, although they were absent from
their apartments during most of the billing
period and the electric power was shut off.
Kahanek said the apartment meter
readings correspond to city meter records,
but in some cases city records indicate a
meter change even though circuit break
ers were turned off.
The councilmen were at a loss to explain
the high bills. City Manager North Bardell
said, “The only explanation we can offer is
that was the coldest period ever recorded
in Brazos County history. Our power pur
chases were up 32 percent.”
Councilman Gary Halter suggested that
the apartment owner may have turned the
power on to avoid pipe breakage during
the cold weather.
But another tenant, Stan Caplan, 1613
Anderson Apt. B, said, “I’ve worked in
air-conditioning for four years and I know
that the strip-heater system used in the
apartments can short out. Before I left I
unplugged everything, including the hot-
ealth Agency drafts proposal
:o determine area concerns
By CHRIS CAIN
Board members of the Central Texas Health Systems
Agency (CTHSA) Thursday decided to present a method
of determining the area’s major health concerns. The
board of directors will vote on the system at their next
meeting.
The National Health Planning and Resources Develop
ment Act of 1974 combined existing federal health plan
ning programs into a nationwide system of local planning
agencies, health systems agencies and state planning au
thorities. These agencies are governed by the Department
of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW).
The 30 board members of CTHSA were selected to rep
resent the area’s population by ethnic group, income, sex
and geographic distribution. Sixteen of the members are
called “consumers.” This means they receive health care
services. The remaining 14 are called “providers” because
they give medical care.
It is a private, non-profit corporation established in June
1976. As a citizen-based organization, CTHSA is required
by law to enlist public participation in the development of
its plans. Public meetings are held to gain this support and
identify the main local health concerns.
The agency is required to compile a health systems plan
and an annual implementation plan. The goals of the
health system plan are to have the highest health status
and improve the quality of services offered, while keeping
the cost down.
CTHSA staff members instructed the board of directors
on the use of a health system ballot. The ballot will enable
the agency to single out the major health concerns that can
be acted on first.
Two types of ballots were discussed.
On one of the proposed ballots, five statements on dif
ferent health problems are listed. Each one is ranked in
relation to one of the five statements.
For example, the health concern in question may be
high infant mortality rates. One of the statements reads:
“The severity of this condition is:
a) extent of disability
b) duration
c) life-threatening
Since mortality rates are life-threatening, it may be
ranked a high priority item. The results are combined and
the health concern considered a high priority may be
acted upon by the agency.
What’s up. Doc?
With Easter only a few days away, some Davis-Gary Hall residents
are awaiting the arrival of the infamous Peter Cottontail. These
two inflatable fellows were spotted four floors up in the window of
senior biology major Philip Robinson. Battalion photo by i^uu Hejtmanek
water heater, refrigerator, clocks and
appliances. Our bill for the period was $19
more than our average monthly bill.
Bardell said the city had received simi
lar complaints from residents of Sevilla
Apartments, 401 Anderson, and the
Southwest Village Apartments, 110]
Southwest Parkway. All of the apartment
complexes in question have individually
metered units.
The council said the city would continue
to look into the matter.
In other action, Dr. and Mrs. Duane C.
Kraemer, 1208 Austin Ave. and Mrs. Mic
key Ray, 1206 Austin Ave., addressed the
council concerning their pet dogs which
they said were mistakenly destroyed by
the city.
Normally, College Station strays are
picked up by the police and kenneled at
the Anderson Ridge Veterinary Hospital,
1101 Anderson. A description of the animal
is logged at the police station. If the animal
is not claimed within 72 hours it is taken to
the city dump and shot.
Owners of lost pets must inquire about
their animals at the College Station Police
Department. On the basis of descriptions
in the stray animal log, police will say
whether or not an animal has been picked
up. In the past, the city refused to identify
where an animal was being confined, pro
hibiting any visual identification by the
owner.
Kraemer said he called the police re
peatedly but was told that no animal had
been picked up in his area, even though
the police had logged a description match
ing that of his dog.
Mrs. Kraemer said, “ I kept telling them
that I knew they had picked up my dog
and to please tell me where it was so I
could identify it. They kept saving they
weren’t allowed to do that.”
Mrs. Kraemer said she heard from the
Humane Society that stray animals were
confined at the Anderson Ridge Veteri
nary Hospital. At the hospital, Mrs.
(See Council, page 3)