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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1978)
Battalion News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Inside Tuesday Tornado drill exposes real dangers, p. 7. The Sex Pistols — an average band, p. 6. A day in the pits, p. 9. Canal compromise attempted before vote takes a TGIF break from studying on the park bench in front of the Academic Building. By United Press International WASHINGTON — A quest for com promise to satisfy undecided senators con tinued to the eve of the Senate vote on the final Panama Canal accord, with treaty foes and backers alike claiming victory within reach. Sixty House members have been trying to establish that the House should vote on the treaties as well as the Senate, because under the constitution the president may not dispose of U.S. property without the consent of both houses. The two Panama Canal documents, which Carter signed on Sept. 7, have been handled as treaties requiring approval of the Senate only. The Senate already has approved the first one and takes a final vote today on the second. Senate leaders worked to preserve a fragile pro-treaty coalition in the face of threatened defections. A number of senators said they were considering last-minute changes of heart because of an amendment attached to the companion neutrality treaty. The amend ment allows the United States to intervene in Panama to keep the canal operating in the event of labor strife. Senate leaders worked over the weekend to clarify the provision without alienating senators won over by it. They tried to work out a pledge to Panama that the United States would not intervene in the nation’s domestic af fairs. evised constitution up for approval By LIZ NEWLIN Battalion Staff vas be» le student government proposes to he w,i ^’tribute the power in the revised stu- [uck Jnt body constitution, which is up for ap- RutheP 1 '! Wednesday. eld. Benators OK’d the new document at ce n t 0 p-,lust meeting with little debate, but an. Du tents must ratify the whole constitution trained 1 majority vote before it can take effect. el les | # dents may vote 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed- [ij s y lay in the Memorial Student Center, j vjjjjj, ies of both constitutions will be availa- ors said , and w he proposed constitution gives the )me U aker of the senate more power, and it joonSi 1 clarifies grade point requirements for president. Under the proposed con- jijj btion, the student body president must g s yj Isfy GPR requirements in University 17351 !es and Regulations. Those standards . Wor |[, |v state that a student officer must post a ^ n| l(! GPR each semester, lowte "^ e S rac l e provision in the proposed the Her ti istitution also applies to members and cers of the senate. The cause of at least time-consuming controversy over t auades would have been eliminated if lan era - ej j ige in the current document was that n( ] jjjj alicit. The former president and vice aresenl his Co) 19.485 d set® 1 president for student services claimed ambiguity in the constitution as a defense before they resigned for poor grades. Another significant change would be the complete separation of the legislative and executive branches. The executive com mittee would be replaced with a “legisla tive board” of the vice presidents and offi cers of the senate. This move would give the speaker more power, enough power to balance the News Analysis might of the president. The speaker would lead the legislative board, which would act for the senate during breaks and the sum mer. Now part of that responsibility is with the president. The speaker in the proposed constitu tion also would have another tool for power — the senate internal affairs com mittee. This committee, appointed and chaired by the speaker, would appoint students to fill vacancies in the senate. The president does this now. The committee could also be charged with checking grades or anything else the speaker wanted. The speaker would be responsible for assigning all pending legislation to a com mittee for review. Most of the legislation is assigned for study now, but it is not man datory. The new constitution also would all ow a bill to "die in committee, some thing that can’t be done now. In the executive branch, the student body president would have more freedom to structure his department. He would lose his strong voice in the executive committee, but he would gain a vice pres ident. The executive vice president, recom mended by the president and approved by the senate, would replace the executive director. The executive VP would proba bly have more administrative power than the executive director does not. One interesting feature of the proposed constitution is the revised succession schedule. If the presidency becomes va cant, the executive VP would automati cally become president. Now the choices are limited to the five vice presidents. If the executive VP refuses to serve, the se nate could choose any student to fill the top spot. Results might have been quite different if the senate had been free to fill the presi dency from the student body at large. The proposed constitution would more clearly separate the executive and legisla tive branches, with trade-offs in power for both. School leader against proposed tax program Jneva t a John mdretli :he bad place. loff,l ow wen Undents receive awards for academic excellence By CONNIE BURKE Iwenty-nine students received the omas S. Gathright Academic Excel- ice Award in Rudder Auditorium Sun- n /-type 15 * 1 The award is given each year to the stu- Int with the highest grade point ratio in [class and college. It was established by , 3 student government in 1973. : ‘ ie , ca f Gathright was the first president of polisi ). lodgers wins )Y IN ^ m parathon United Press International For the second year in a row Bill Rod- jrs of Melrose, Mass, won the Boston (arathon. Rodgers slithered through a ight headwind to gain the narrowest Jctory in the 82-year history of the event. iHis time of 2:10:13 gave him the fastest Id second fastest finishes in the Boston ■arathon annals. Pie set the mark of ,—•<109,55 in 1975 on a sunnier day with the HHlllHfind at his back. Jeff Wells, a Rice University graduate d now a seminary student in Dallas, lished second in a time of 2:10:15. Wells, io was not among the top five runners itil midway through the race, ate up all [it 15 yards of the 200-yard lead that Rod- [rs had built on the field of 4,212 official krants. “I’m really disappointed that I didn’t ish earlier in the race,” Wells said. “I ay have made my push too late.” 1 Frank Shorter fell to the same curse as |ght other Olympic gold medalists, finish- ig 23rd after straggling over the 2.5-mile Iretch of hills. Defending champion Tome Drayton dropped out of the race cause of a bothersome hamstring. In the women’s division late entry Gayle iron of Atlanta took command on the ills to win her first marathon in 2:45:24. fill Texas A&M University, serving from 1876 to 1879. Deans of each college selected three students (a sophomore, a junior and a senior) to receive the award. If several students tied for the highest GPR, the winner was selected on the basis of his ex tracurricular activities and his total number of credit hours at Texas A&M. The College of Agriculture awarded Karen Moore (senior), Thomas Wallace Paterson (junior) and Sherly Ann Hausinger (sophomore) the Gathright award. The recipients in the College of Ar chitecture and Environmental Design were Melanie Jane Francis (senior), Donald Eugene Jeffers (junior) and Rollie D. Childers (sophomore). The College of Business selected Michael Glass Pate (senior), Sara Joanne Feldman (junior) and Theresa Louise Bates (sophomore). The College of Education selections were Bonnie Sue Bendele (senior), Cathy Marie Robinson (junior) and Kim Louise Whisenant (sophomore). The College of Engineering recipients were Stancy Jean Akers (senior), Marcus A. Watts (junior) and James Zimmerman (sophomore). The College of Geosciences awarded Ronny Jay McWhorter (senior), Robert Merrill (junior) and William Kingsbery (sophomore). Those selected in the College of Liberal Arts were Donald Riche Deere, Jr. (senior), Casey Eugene Zesch (junior) and John Michael Earners (sophomore). Moody College awarded Charmiane Walter (senior), Pierre J. Riou (junior) and John B. Sullivan (sophomore). The College of Science selected Robert Legare (senior), James Donald Seaver, Jr. (junior) and Jan Leenette Dymke (sopho more). The College of Veterinary Medicine awarded George Cantrell (third year) and Jana L. Robbins (second year). United Press International AUSTIN — A proposed federal tax credit program for private schools will make public schools an educational waste land and revert the nation to segregation, a Texas school leader said Monday. Will Davis, a member of the Austin school board and until April president of the National School Boards Association, said a proposal to allow tax credits or grants of as much as $500 per student in private schools will encourage further "white flight from public schools. “It will be a re-segregation of schools in a very detrimental manner,” Davis said. "If you allow tax credits to these schools you’ll have middle income and richer stu- Rock band • ‘punk without teeth’ By DOUG GRAHAM Battalion Staff They came to shock and to rock a local club, advertised as a fifties group with punk rock overtones. They were Vince Vance and the Valiants, somewhat fresh after 56 days on tour. The college crowd was packed around the tables, sons and daughters of the fifties rock heritage, trying to taste vicariously that which their older brothers and sisters had drunk deep draughts. Yet, Sidney, “The Professor, ” one of the 8-man band’s guitar players said, “Please don’t use the word, ‘Fifties. ’” Yet, what could you call it? Punk? Glen Himmaugh, their sound man put it simply, “We feel punk rock isn’t going anywhere. We were punk before they ever got started.” Which is true. When it comes to punk, the Valiants are about as punk as possible, except for one thing. They are punk without teeth. And punk without teeth becomes almost fun, almost too camp, which is something “The Incredible” Andy Stone, the new leader, said they didn’t want to occur. He said they did songs they felt like doing and that they weren’t a mere “study in genre. ” The audience of affluent college stu dents enjoyed the almost lewd, definitely risque jokes and acts. After one crude re mark, Stone said, “Hey, this is a family show.” Review “A classic Catch-22 situation” in which treaty backers risk losing votes either way was the way Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., characterized the situation. Some senators opposed any tampering with the intervention amendment au thored by Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz. The defection of any senator could jeopardize the outcome of Tuesday’s vote on whether to yield U.S. control of the 51-mile waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999. Rejection of the second accord would scuttle both agreements negotiated during 13 years of arduous U. S.-Panamanian talks. The March vote to ratify the neutrality accord was 68 to 32, giving victory to treaty backers by a scant one vote. Two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 senators if all 100 vote, is needed to ratify the treaty. School board hears complaints on election A large crowd gathered Monday night as the A&M Consolidated School Board heard complaints about possible dis crepancies in last Saturday’s runoff elec tion. Ann Jones, who unsuccessfully opposed Robeck in the April 1 election and the Arpil 15 runoff, told the board she felt the runoff election Saturday was “sloppy. ” She called upon another citizen to speak on her behalf . He said he saw the election clerks emptying the ballots onto a table while the election was in progress. He said the clerks told him they were counting the ballots, but not the votes. “That’s just not the way it ought to be,” he said. Doris Watson, who has served as an election judge, told the board it is “nor mal, legal procedure” for election clerks to unlock the ballot box during the election. Since the ballots are punched to be counted by a computer, she said, the clerks must make sure that all the holes are clearly punched and that no ballots are mutilated. Watson said clerks are also re quired to count the ballots before sending them to be counted by the computer. In other action, former board member Roger Feldman asked the board to rescind an April 3 motion to raise high school graduation requirements. He was applauded by the large crowd. The board rescinded the motion, and scheduled a public meeting to discuss the issue. The meeting was set for 7 p.m. today in the A&M Consolidated High School cafeteria. The board accepted Watson’s state ments and swore in Robeck for another term as school board president. The board also scheduled a Board of Equalization meeting for 3 p.m. Tuesday at 107 Timber. dents in private schools and a public school system that’s composed primarily of minority students. “The tuition tax credit is probably the biggest threat to public education at any time since Congress has been involved in public education,” he said. “It will erode support for public schools.” Davis and representatives of the Texas Association of School Administrators, Texas Association of School Boards, Texas Council of Parents and Teachers and Texas State Teachers Association held a Capitol news conference Monday to urge defeat of the $1.7 billion tuition tax credit bill pend ing in Congress. The Professors’ reply was, “Yeah, the Manson family.” They let the audience in on their pun- kified tough act. It was almost gratifying to see them hint that those “collegiates” in the audience were actually “tuff,” too. Stone licked his microphone, grabbed a girl from the audience, and hammed it up for the audience while in a cast. He said Battalion photo by Jana Hazlett The guy with the chains on his chest is called “The Hood” and he’s part of a band from New Orleans called Vince Vance and the Valiants. The group performed in College Station Monday night. he’d broken his foot performing at Willie Nelson’s Whiskey River in Dallas. The Professor, too, had his ankles taped, com menting the band was the "walking wounded” after their 56 day tour. Yet they performed, and they per formed with intensity. They were having fun, and they wanted to let the audience in on it. The New Orleans based band was not merely camping it up; they were play ing their own sort of game using their fa vorite elements of the fifties and sixties music. Stone said, “There’s nothing important in the past, it’s the entity tonight.” He was referring to the group’s act. He said each act to them is something new, a chance to participate with the audience and ram “our fantasy down their throats so they won’t think about their troubles. ” And the audience did just that; they swallowed the act and left Texas A&M be hind them. When the Professor asked what time it was, one guy in the back of the audience ventured, “Howdy Doody?” “No,” was the reply, laced with friendly profanity, it was “Hoodsy Woodsy Time.” And then they introduced the Hood. Girls in the audience yelled out “Hood, Hood,” which Stone said was both annoy ing and gratifying. It was annoying in that the Valiants still needed to get on with their lines, but ul timately gratifying in that they were get ting that intimate participation they wanted from the people in the crowd. They are skilled musicians, which showed they possess something greater than the ability to parody. In fact, theirs is not so much an imitation of the fifties as a departure from it, though they still retain a close feel for their roots. Amidst a group of kids whose toughest encounters lately are probably exam inations and bouts at the backgammon ta bles, Vince Vance and the Valiants poured on the semi-punk. From swaggering with their fifties heritage, to playing their guitars behind their backs, they invited the audience to escape the world of trou bles. Stone said his band’s biggest asset is an affinity for crowds. He said they want to see people leave their shows smiling, as many in the club did. They want participa tion, he said, and get it. Compared to punk rock groups which attack their audiences this is different be havior than what might have been ex pected. Vince Vance and the Valiants fouled up. They showed that beneath their punk, they’ve got at least a little civilized lining, and beneath the fifties label there’s a group of talented entertainers.