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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 24, 1978)
The Battalion Leaking gas causes explosion that damages Barcelona complex Wednesday, May 24, 1978 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Inside Wednesday • Southern Pacific railroad and the economic value of life — p. 2. • Review of “J aws 2” — p. 3. • Aggie baseball team heads to Ann Arbor — p. 5. By DEBBY KRENEK Battalion Editor A natural gas leak has been blamed for the explosion that damaged an eight- apartment complex at Barcelona last night. No one was injured. College Station Fire Marshal Harry Davis said the stoves in these apartments had been disconnected yesterday after noon. Although the main gas line was dis connected, Davis said, a valve was left par tially on in the upstairs apartment where the explosion originated. “We think the source of ignition was an air conditioner on the roof of the com plex,” Davis said. “When the air con ditioner kicked on it sparked the explo sion.” Some window frames were blown into the parking lot more than 50 feet away from the complex and the back part of an upstairs apartment was almost totally blown out. Little fire damage occurred with the explosion, however firemen doused several smoldering mattresses that they removed from the complex. “The explosion pulled most of the heat and fire up to the top of the building,” Davis said. “It really blew itself out.” Ceil ings in the upstairs apartments were char red. Little fire damaged was visible from the outside of the complex. Firemen were called back to the com plex after midnight when the cedar siding that lines the apartments began smolder ing. No fire broke out. Apartment manager Susan Schnatterly said that since the apartments were closed for the summer, the stoves were being disconnected to avoid gas leaks from pilots blowing out. Ms. Schnatterly told a maintenance man at Barcelona to discon nect the stoves in all the apartments that were vacant. He disconnected the stoves in that particular complex at 3 p.m. yes terday afternoon. No one was in the eight-apartment complex at the time of the explosion, how ever one of the bottom apartments was still occupied by a male student who was in the process of moving home for the summer. Ms. Schnatterly had no estimate of the damage. However, she said the complex suffered severe structural damage. She was scheduled to talk with the owners of Barcelona this morning to find out what to do next. The complex is considered unsafe, Davis said, and has been roped off to keep people away from the debris. Cleanup began this morning. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr. A College Station fireman shoves a smoldering mattress out the hole an explosion had blown in the back wall of this second-story apart ment at Barcelona Apartments. The explosion, which firemen theorized was caused by a natural gas leak, heavily damaged several unoccupied apartments in the Barcelona complex. No one was in jured by the blast. College Station firemen returned to the scene early this morning to extinguish a small fire which started after the firemen left the first time. ill wants changes LoVaca settlement HEW representatives interviewing officials on possible discrimination United Press International • ((|| ^USTIN — Attorney General John L. IjHffll Tuesday recommended the Texas $ |jy-fiaikoad Commission approve the pro- |;!Jj$s e d LoVaca settlement plan, but with ■ •Tinges to P revent immediate increases in jlsipral gas prices for millions of Texans safeguards to prevent utility com- I«»iJlnies from profiting unduly from the ar- |; rangement. [The changes Hill urged could jeopar- ;e the settlement plan worked out by iastal States Gas Producing Co., LoVaca |thering Co., and major customers of the ubled pipeline system, ill said the Railroad Commission uld require Coastal to pay more under settlement and force utility companies [pass financial benefits on to consumers, one Star Gas Co. has threatened to ttle the settlement if it is not allowed to p more than $41 million it expects to eive from the deal. erms of the settlement agreement | J if stipulate it must be approved by custom- ■!: - ers representing at least 90 percent of !#." LoVaca’s 1975 gas sales. IV9 iLo’fte Scat’s purchases that year I! iitnounted to 16.8 percent of LoVaca’s vol- H:i ume - j'Lone Star’s only justification for keep ing the money is the contention that its ocent stockholders have been injured, i the record does not show, Hill d. “We belive the commission must hdition approval of the settlement on percent of the settlement trust bene- h being flowed through by LoVaca’s util ity customers to consumers. If the settlement falls through, the Rail road Commission has said it will imple ment a Dec. 12, 1977, order requiring LoVaca and Coastal to refund billions of dollars to customers. “To enforce that refund obligation, the commission and LoVaca’s customers would have to go through a hard-fought legal war, lasting for years,” Hill said. LoVaca and Coastal say the refunds would bankrupt the companies — a pros pect Hill said casts considerable doubt on the amount of money customers would ul timately receive. Hill estimated the value of the settle ment agreement at $200 million and said he thinks it would be a better choice for consumers. “This is no glowing endorsement; it is a conclusion that, as modified, the settle ment should be somewhat better than the only realistic alternative,” the attorney general said. In addition to monetary benefits, Hill said the settlement would provide a vehi cle for divorcing LoVaca’s operations from Oscar Wyatt, Coastal States Gas Corp. board chairman, and others responsible for the mismanagement authorities say caused the pipeline system to fail to meet its contract obligations. The settlement plan calls for Coastal to spin off LoVaca and create a new customer-controlled pipeline company, spend at least $180 million in the next 15 years searching for gas to sell at discounted prices to the new company, and transfer certain assets and securities to a trust fund to benefit customers. '&Z commission suggests new park near Consol liisi II Battalion Campus Editor | |!;l The College Station Planning and Zoning I | lominission has recommended that the | i'-UfY acres of land next to A&M ■ |'. ^Consolidated High School west of Welsh , j|V Avenue for recreational development. |;fjjc College Station Parks and Recreation liyBireetor Andy Czimskey said at the com- § [pinission’s meeting last Thursday that the Policy dispute :auses Eagle editor to quit Paul LaRocque has resigned as editor of |The Eagle for what he termed a policy dis pute. LaRocque, who has been editor of The Eagle since July 1976, left the newspaper LFriday. Eagle Publisher W. S. “Dub ■earson announced the resignation to the |taff Monday. City Editor Bob Lutgen has taken over §s acting editor until a new editor is cho- Jen. “There’s not much to say other than we lust had a disagreement over policy,” LaRocque said Tuesday. He refused to hunment further. Pearson also refused to comment on ^aRocque’s resignation, saying it was a Personal decision. By FLAVIA KRONE Battalion Campus Editor Department of Health, Education and Welfare representatives of the Office for Civil Rights are on the Texas A&M Uni versity campus this week to review uni versity compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act says schools that receive federal financial assis tance should not discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin in their programs and activities. MVILES Schulze, branch chief of the office for Civil Rights in Dallas, says a 1973 federal court order required HEW to begin compliance reviews in eight south ern and eastern states which formerly maintained dual “separate but equal” sys tems of higher education. South Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas are among the states targeted for review. Schulze says the Dallas Office for Civil Rights will conduct compliance reviews at 18 Texas universities and junior colleges including Texas A&M, Prairie View A&M University, the University of Texas at Aus tin and the University of Houston. The 18 schools represent a combination of junior, senior and professional educa tional institutions of various sizes located in both urban and rural areas throughout the state. “We re trying for a cross-section,” Schulze says. “It’s physically impossible to go to all 150 schools in Texas.” Schulze adds, “Our sample contains 65 percent of the student population in the state.” Associate Vice president for Academic Affairs Haskell Monroe says two represen tatives of the Dallas Civil Rights Office will interview about 100 Texas A&M adminis trators, department heads, counselors and athletic directors this week. Monroe says the Civil Rights Office rep resentatives are seeking information about the recruitment, admissions, student fi nancial aid, counseling, athletics and em ployment programs at Texas A&M. “They are trying to find out if we are discriminating in any of these areas,” Monroe said. Civil Rights office chief Schulze says his staff will be looking for evidence of both “de jure” and “de facto” discrimination. “De jure” discrimination is that which remains encoded in the law. “De facto” discrimination is that which is in fact, al though unintentionally, discriminatory. “Determining de facto discrimination is a tough question,” Schulze said. “What if a school like Texas A&M has a large agricultural department and does most of its recruiting in agricultural areas,” Schulze asked. “But what if most of the minorities are in urban areas?” Schulze says that this type of recruit ment policy could constitute a case of de facto discrimination. Schulze would not say whether a small minority enrollment necessarily consti tutes de facto discrimination. Monroe said minority enrollment fig ures at Texas A&M will be released after they are presented to the Civil Rights Of fice representatives now on campus. Schulze said, “The bottom line is how much discrimination remains.” He added, “The bottom line is the same whether it is intentional or just ends up that way. Monroe says the two Civil Rights Office representatives will be joined later this webk by two more interviewing teams, These teams will review four academic programs and several campus facilities in cluding the Memorial Student Center, health center and physical plant. The Academic program review will focus on the agriculture, business adminis tration. education and engineering de partments. “These are four specialty areas common to both Texas A&M and Prairie View,” Monroe said. “They are comparing us to see if there is duplication in our pro grams.” Schulze said, “We re interested in how schools which have a high proportion of minority students are doing compared to schools with a high proportiuon of white students in terms of dollars, facilities, re cruitment and accreditation.” Schulze said that duplication of academic programs may have a discrimina tory impact. “Suppose you give a school a business department and suppose a school 20 miles away has the same program,” Schulze said. “You haven’t helped either school become competitive.” However, Monroe said that “Texas A&M and Prairie View have different missions” within each of their similar pro grams. The Office for Civil Rights will sum marize its findings of this week and make its -recommendation to HEW by Sep tember of this year, Schulze said. Surplus grain may help save livestock United Press International AUSTIN — Agriculture Commissioner Reagan Brown, saying he had found starv ing cattle and barren pastures in a tour of 28 South Texas counties, Tuesday asked U.S. Department of Agriculture to permit use of surplus grain as feed to help save livestock from drought conditions. Brown said he toured the drought- stricken counties Monday with members of the Agricultural Stabilization and Con servation Service state committee and prepared the request for emergency use of the surplus grain immediately after the tour. “We have asked that the U.S. Depart ment of Agriculture allow grain sorghum which would be destroyed under provisions of this year’s set-aside program to be either grazed or made into hay in the counties hardest hit by drought,” Brown said. “This is an emergency request. It seems foolish to destroy grain fodder on set-aside acreage when cattle are starving.” Brown said he expects a quick reply from the agriculture department on his request. Brown said if the emergency use of the set-aside grain is approved, details of the program will be available through county ASCS offices. He said the request seeks permission for emergency grazing and hay bailing on the set-aside grain until Aug. 1 Provisions of the 1977 farm bill require a farmer to destroy up to 20 percent of his normal planted acreage of grain sorghum so the rest of the crop may qualify for price supports and land diversion payments. Brown said. ‘With pastures barren and even poor quality hay bringing premium prices, this readily available fodder could save cattle now faced with death because they are too poor to be sold but too costly to feed,” he said. Brown said he found cattle dead and dying because of the drought conditions in Hidalgo, Starr, Brooks and Kenedy Coun ties. He said rains which fell in the South Texas area during the weekend were too late to do any good. 30-acre purchase combined with the 30 acres already owned by the high school would provide the city with a 60-acre rec reational complex. The 30-acre tract will cost about $350,000, Czimskey said. The land is cur rently divided into three 10-acre parcels, each privately owned. Czimskey said two of the parcels will cost about $125,000 each and the third parcel about $100,000. “As yet it is undecided where the funds will come from,” Czimskey said. “Possibly they could come through a general fund or perhaps through the bond issue that was passed in April, but I’m not really sure,” Czimskey said. The College Station City Council must approve the Planning and Zoning Com mission recommendation before the city can buy the land. If College Station does buy the land, it may become the location of a community center, Czimskey said. City Manager North Bardell said the city currently has plans for a 16,000 square foot community center designed to serve as a convention hall. He said the center will contain meeting rooms, office space and food service facilities. Czimskey said the proposed 30-acre purchase would reduce the need for a rec reational facility that had been planned for the Southwood Valley area. “That doesn’t mean those plans will be abandoned,” he said. Czimskey said the proposed site is more accessible to College Station than that in the Southwood Valley area. “We can also share parking with the high school,“Czimskey said. Work crew cleans up wreckage Work crews have completed cleanup of the nine-car freight train derailment that occurred early Monday morning along Wellborn Road near the Texas A&M Uni versity campus. Total cost of removing the cars was about $6,000, R. E. Dipprey, assistant superintendent for Southern Pacific rail road, said. The train was northbound from Houston to Ennis when it left the track about 2:30 a. m. between F&B Road and Old Main Road. The train was carrying no hazardous ma terials. One car contained crude oil, but there were no leaks or fires. No one was injured in the derailment. A Southern Pacific spokesman said a faulty wheel bearing on the crude oil tank car probably caused the mishap. The train had met a southbound Southern Pacific train, and as the two trains were passing the conductor of the southbound train spotted a fire in the other train’s wheels. He radioed the conductor of the other train, and when the engineer applied the brakes the train left the track. Dipprey said applying the brakes may have broken the tank car’s axle and caused the accident. Besides the tank car, one of the cars was carrying lumber and the other seven were empty. Damage to the cars was estimated at about $35,000. Dipprey said there was little track dam- jage. He said it would cost about $300 to repair the track. Southern Pacific Railroad workmen load a mangled railroad tank car onto a flat-bed car, to move it from the site north of the Texas A&M campus where nine Southern Pacific cars derailed Monday. Southern Pacific offi cials said a bearing failure in one of the tank car’s wheels caused the accident. Workmen had finished removing the derailed cars late Monday afternoon. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.