I
Battalion
IVol. 71 No. 128
10 Pages
Tuesday, April 4, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Tuesday:
Special campus election section, p.
5.
Paul McCartney’s new album not
worth the wait, p. 4.
Tracksters win without Mosley and
Dickey, p. 10.
Comedian’s talk
a very good night
for ‘country folk’
Battalion photo by David Keahey
Grand Ole Opry’s Jerry Glower tells his audience a story
during Monday’s Student Agricultural Convocation at Rud
der Auditorium.
The secret to his success
By ANDY WILLIAMS
Battalion StaiT
It was a bad night for rich people,
rock stars, and city slickers.
It was a very good night for farm
ers, country folks, and those who
heard Jerry Glower’s talk at Texas
A&M University’s Student Agricul
tural Convocation Monday night.
Glower, the Country Comedian
of the Year for the past five years,
gave his usual outrageous perform
ance. As always, his anecdotes
sprang from his roots in Amite
County, Mississippi.
The audience demonstrated its
suitability for a Glower show early in
the evening. The Texas Department
of Agriculture gave a slide show for
the boot-and-hat crowd; the show
lauded the heroism of the Texas
farmer. The crowd whooped.
Aggie-style, throughout, except
when it paused to hiss the occasional
photos of the ever-expanding city
which threatened the farmer.
Glower made the most of the na
ture of the group.
“I backed into show business,’’ he
said, after whooping back to the
crowd in greeting. He told of grow
ing up in rural Mississippi, and of
dedicating himself to being like his
4-H Club director.
“Well, ’ he said,’ It’s a shame
they don’t pay 4-H Club directors
enough.”
Instead, Glower became a fer
tilizer salesman. And he found that
telling stories was more enjoyable
for the groups he spoke to than a
straight sales pitch.
And one day, to hear Glower tell
it, “A fella run up to me and said,
Jerry, them stories is fuuunnyyy.’
And the man recorded Glower’s
next talk, which was made into his
first album. The album made $1 mil
lion in the first two months.
Glower’s stories are for real
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By MARTHA HOLLIDA
What’s Jerry Glower’s secret of success? He says it’s
telling people about his upbringing.
Glower’s stories center around his family, the small
country school he attended, and life on the farm.
“The characters of my stories are real people — and
they feel great and think that it’s nice that I want to talk
about them, he said.
“My first two albums the stories were just about all
true, he remarked.
Glower, who is known as the Mouth of the Mississippi,
Started telling his stories to improve his sales techniques
while working for the Mississippi Chemical Corporation.
He proudly boasts of his agriculture background and
says he is the only member of the Grand Old Opry to
have an agriculture degree. He graduated from
Mississippi State University in 1951 with a degree in
agriculture and minor in agronomy and animal husban
dry.
Glower grins broadly when asked about the Grand Old
Opry.
“It is unbelievable, fantastic and to me the greatest on
earth. It is 52 years old and has more class, sincerity.
honesty and a greater reputation than any other organi
zation,” he says.
Besides being a member of the Grand Old Opry,
Glower performs on the radio program “Country Cross
roads” and television program “Nashville on the Road.”
Glower said he was glad to be back in Aggieland and
enjoyed being around people — especially Aggies.
“I used to come here as a fertilizer salesman to recruit
some of these fine agriculture students to work for
Mississippi Chemical Corporation,” he said.
“I let the Aggies sing their fight song on radio from
coast to coast when they were my guest at the Grand Old
Opry. He was referring to a group who visisted the
Grand Old Opry on an agri-business seminar field trip
during spring break.
As Glower autographed programs and visited with
fans, he asked them questions and introduced them to
the people with him and other waiting for his auto
graphs.
Glower performs about 200 shows a year and says he
spend about two-thirds of his time away from his family.
Glower, who speaks freely and proudly of his faith in
God, says his philosophy on life is to “do the best you can
with what you got and do it now. “
But Glower said he was glad to be
in the line of work he came into,
because he found that now it’s easier
for him to tell “egghead politicians”
things like, “It is obvious that you
are at your best when you are not
inhibited by facts.
Glower’s talk centered around a
recent publicity tour of his book,
“Ain’t God Good.”
As usual, he managed to add a bit
of fiction to his tales of his tour ad
ventures, just to keep his audience
amused.
Accompanied by Marcel Ledbet
ter, his ever-present friend from
Amite County, it seems that Glower
arrived in Boston to start his tour.
He recalled that he’d been to Bos
ton not long before, and drew big
ger crowds than “Englebert
Humpledinkum,” as well.
Finding the hotel to be “about
100 degrees. Glower and Ledbet
ter turned off the heat (produced by
natural gas taken away from Texas
and Mississippi, he noted fre
quently) in their room and went to
supper.
“You’d be surprised how much a
help it is to a man in a hotel if he can
breathe while he’s in it,” Glower
noted, adding that he and Marcel
found they could revive themselves
by swabbing the condensate from
the windows onto their foreheads
from time to time.
Glower dealt masterfully with
what few interruptions he had.
“There s a feller drunk, and we ain’t
even had a social hour yet, he said
after one particularly loud yell from
the crowd.
Rich ladies in Hollywood got a bit
of Glower’s criticism, too, especially
the one who was sickened by the
thought of the lizards that had to die
so that Glower could wear his boots.
“ ‘You would kill a pore, he’pless
lizard,’ she says. And I said, No
ma’am, a Greyhound bus run over
this lizard on a highway. And I run
out and fought the buzzards for him.
And, as Glower tells it, the
woman had the gall to show up on a
television show with him, wearing a
fur coat. “An act,” Glower said,
“that caused me to want to vomit.”
Dwelling on his fury at the wo
man’s hypocrisy. Glower said, “And
I’m settin’ there prayin’, cause I can
just visualize the headlines in the
Los Angeles paper the next mornin’:
Grand Ole Opry Star and Born
Again Baptist Whups Woman on TV
Show.
Naturally, Glower found a more
subtle method than that to deal with
the woman. He told her of the time
he and his brother Sonny fed their
dog so many live rats they could see
the rats moving in the dog’s
stomach.
“Last time I saw that woman, she
was runnin’ through that CBS park
ing lot, going ‘WHAAA!
WHAAA!’ ”
His audience Monday night had a
somewhat different reaction.
jyes
ongressional campaign
Gramm ‘wants to carry Texas A&M’ in Sixth District race
By JANICE STRIPLING
I don’t know how many people are
lease l ;oing to vote, but I know that I want to
ie daV'airy Texas A&M,” said Phil Gramm, sixth
,g wh :0n gressional district candidate to his
i n eone)® w \y' a PP°i n t e d Texas A&M student
t ly J|B er ing committee.
me 1 n k
1 made
Gramm met with the 12-member com
mittee Monday in the Memorial Student
Center (MSG), where he expressed ap
preciation for the committee’s support.
Gramm stressed that with the help of
the student committee, every voter on
campus could be reached.
“I believe this broad-based steering
committee represents a new coalition of
young people who are concerned about
the future of our country,” Gramm said.
“I share that concern and will work in
Congress to assure a revitalization of pri
vate enterprise, continued
economic
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is as
{Ron Godbey formally opens
Brazos campaign office
New officials
join Council
By GARY WELCH
Battalion Staff
Newly re-elected mayor Lorence
Bravenec stalked into the silent College
Station City Council chambers shortly after
4 p.m. Monday, bringing the business and
activities of a new term with him.
Only councilwoman Anne Hazen and
members of the press were waiting for
Bravenec. The rest of the councilmen, old,
new and current, along with various city
officials and other interested persons, fol
lowed on the mayor’s heels.
After a bit of informal discussion the
council, including the two departing mem
bers, Lane Stephenson and Jim Gardner,
seated itself and addressed the first item on
the special session agenda, the canvassing
of city election results.
Bravenec read a resolution stating the
winners in Saturday’s city elections and the
council unanimously adopted the results as
valid.
Bravenec then stood with a smile and
announced it was time to swear in the
newly elected officials. He stepped down to
the podium, and with his right hand raised
was sworn in by councilman Jim Dozier.
Dozier started back to bis chair.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Bravenec said.
“While you’re up here, why don’t I swear
you in?”
Dozier then took his oath of office and
signed it.
“Congratulations,” Bravenec said.
“Same to you,” Dozier replied.
Bravenec then swore in Homer Adams, a
former member of the council who has
been absent for two years. Stephenson
stepped down and Adams took his chair to
murmurs of “Welcome back, Homer.”
Patricia Boughton, now the second
woman on the council, was sworn in, re
placing Jim Gardner.
Gardner read a parting statement thank
ing the city council for its cooperation and
joke that he would leave the “mundane”
problems of the airport, moving the rail
road tracks from west of the Texas A&M
University campus and metropolitan tran
sit to the remaining council members.
Councilman Gary Halter introduced a
resolution thanking Gardner and Stephen
son for their faithful service.
“I’ll use the gavel on this one,” Bravenec
said after the resolution passed unanim
ously.
The council then considered an appeal
from a restaurant executive whose com
pany bought land and wants to erect a
building on the east side of Texas Avenue at
Park Place.
The College Station Planning and Zon
ing Commission had rejected the com
pany’s application on the grounds that the
restaurant would cause more traffic conges
tion on Texas Avenue.
The council voted to return the plat to
the Planning and Zoning Commission with
instructions that they “seriously consider”
approving it.
Results of the city bond elections were
canvassed and accepted unanimously.
Suggestions for future council operation
were voiced at the end of the meeting.
They included increased effort to condemn
unsafe buildings, holding council “work
shop” meetings in more informal places
and establishing better relations with Texas
A&M students.
No decision
reached in
Coleman trial
By TERESA HUDDLESTON
The jury failed to reach a decision
Monday on the Coleman case after four
and a half hours of deliberation.
Coleman, 19, is charged with the Jan.
12, 1977 shooting death of Lawrence
Baugh, a former Texas A&M University
instructor.
Lawyers in the case agreed to let the
jury go rather than sequestering them
until a decision is reached. Judge John
Barron Sr. dismissed the jury Monday,
warning them not to read about or discuss
the case or their deliberations.
District Attorney Roland Searcy asked
the jury to return a verdict of guilty on
charges of murder. Alternatives to this
guilty verdict are charges of voluntary
manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter
and criminally negligent homicide.
Defense Attorney Kent Caperton told
the jury to reread Coleman s statement in
which the defendant described the man
ner in which the gun fired. Coleman had
said Baugh put a gun to his chest and, after
a struggle, Coleman hit Baugh in the head
with the gun and the gun discharged.
Defense Attorney Fred Davis con
tended that testimony of a co-worker of
Coleman was a weakness in the state’s
case, as it was the prosecution’s only evi
dence.
Charles Komegay told the court he sold
a gun to Coleman and had seen the defen
dant on the night of Jan. 12. At this time,
Kornegay said, Coleman fold him, “I
walked up to him and shot him between
the eyes and threw him in the river.”
Davis said Coleman’s actions before the
murder were not those of a person who
planned to kill another. He said Coleman
caught a ride to Baugh’s house with some
friends and talked with a man who was
working next door to Baugh. Davis con
tended that if Coleman had jdanned a
murder, he would have been less outgo
ing-
The jury was dismissed at 12:15 p.m. for
deliberations, and at 4:25 p.m. they asked
to see part of the testimony. Deliberations
were scheduled to continue at 9 a.m. to
day.
By ANDREA VALLS
[one i"!
;us. I nS | As the municipal elections finally come
urie- i° a standstill, state and national elections
irs ago *» e jnst gaining momentum. And the race
it besT ""
iship
[ Ron Godbey, sixth-district Democrat
ngressional candidate, formally opened
ig n 1 gis Brazos County Campaign office
n0\' M Monday at 2601 Texas and named his
r and l ll '|razos County staff and steering commit-
e.
Godbey, candidate for Olin Teague’s
sition, said his 26-member campaign
am, headed by campaing manager Pete
lasota, has been active for several weeks
precinct organizational work. “Were
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? rest i
epts 11,1 i
11 nev f j
kins
ec ri’tM )w working on the second phase of the
stu
mpaign — the visible part,” he said.
Godbey elaborated on some of his major
ncerns in Congress. “One of my princi
pal efforts in Washington will be meaning
ful tax reform,” he said. The amount of
excess tax cuts in the past four years, $12
billion for individual taxpayers, is approx
imately the same amount taxes have gone
up due to inflation, therefore, there was
no real cut at all, he said.
Godbey said he prefers “indexing” the
tax tables to the rate of inflation. Under
this system, if the cost of living goes up 10
percent in a given year, the tax bracket
would be adjusted accordingly by the IRS.
This would prevent a family whose in
crease in income kept pace with the infla
tion rate from being thrust automatically
into a higher tax bracket, he said. A bal
anced federal budget is the solution to this
problem, said Godbey.
If elected, Godbey said he will try to
create a beneficial climate in Washington
for the sixth Congressional District. Indus
try will be moving into Texas from the
North because of the abundance of coal,
he said. Texas is not ready for that industry
and the state needs to develop a regional
airport and a four-lane highway system be
tween Houston, Bryan, and Austin; and
between Ft. Worth and Bryan, he said.
There should be some limits on the
term length of office for Congressmen,
said Godbey. If someone has been in office
more that 12 or 15 years, he said they
begin to lose touch with the district and
lose effectiveness in Congress. “I think 8
to 10 years in office is reasonable,” he said.
On other matters, Godbey said he is
pleased with the way the campaign has
been progressing thus far. “I intend to
base my campaing on my own merits and
not on the demerits of my opponents, he
said.
growth and efficient and responsible gov
ernment.”
Gramm said his main concern is getting
the people involved in their country and
its future.
“If we can get the people in Texas as
interested in their country and its future as
they are in the Dallas Cowboys, we
wouldn’t have a problem,” he added.
Gramm said he will hold a barbeque in
the Fiesta Ballroom on April 24. He added
that the barbeque is not a “fund raiser,”
and that the $4 admission is to cover the
price for the food and entertainment.
The Texas A&M Steering Committee
also had some suggestions they felt would
benefit Gramm’s campaign.
Vicki Young, member of the committee,
suggested that Gramm invite all the stu
dent leaders of Texas A&M government
and dorms for a get-together, in which
Gramm could ask for their support.
Gramm said that since the on-campus
vote is regimented, the bulk of his cam
paign should be geared to them.
Although the on-campus voter is more
accessable, the committee felt that the
off-campus voter should not be neglected.
One member suggested putting
pushcards in the apartment offices because
students go there at least once a month to
pay rent.
The steering committee considered that
on election day (May 6) there will be many
activities going on (finals, graduation, and
students preparing to leave town) and this
could be a detriment to voter turnout.
One member of the committee
suggested that students be reminded of
absentee voting.
Care of handicapped
rests with schools
By MICHELLE BURROWES
Handicapped education will be the responsibility of every school district in Texas
starting next fall, the A&M Consolidated attorney told school board members
Monday night,
Without additional federal or state funds, school districts will be made to comply
with the HEW regulations to provide evaluation, placement, and education of the
handicapped, regardless of the nature of the handicap, said attorney Jack Woods.
The board will hold a public hearing to inform taxpayers of the regulations at an
undetermined future date.
The school board also swore in Bill Wasson’, who was elected Saturday to replace
Roger Feldman. A run-off election was called for April 15 between Ann Jones, a
housewife, and Bruce Robeck, who is currently serving as school board president.
Absentee voting will be from April 5 to April 11.
Emmett Trant, a local architect who was hired by the board two weeks ago to
draw up detailed plans for the proposed field house, presented those plans at the
board meeting. Plans were needed so that bids may be accepted for the construc
tion. Bids will open at noon on April 20, and the contract will then be awarded. The
plans are posted for public inspection in the school district’s main office.
Louis Hecox, an unsuccessful candidate for the school board, made several in
quiries at the meeting. He said injuries at a recent baseball game made him wonder
if school personnel were required to have first aid training. The board replied that
there were no such requirements, and put discussion of the subject on next meet
ing’s agenda.
Hecox also asked if the board had considered putting a limit on the amount of
money a candidate for school board could spend, and suggested that $500 would be
a fair amount. This was also placed on the next agenda.