Battalion
Wednesday, July 26, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Wednesday:
• Dr. Clinton Phillips to serve
as acting dean of the College of
Business Administration -
p. 3.
• Picture page on the Firemen’s
Training School - p. 6-7.
• Pete Rose hits new NL record
^ -P- 9-
dormitories
et go-ahead vote
By LEE ROY LESCHPER Jr.
Battalion News Editor
lew dormitories to house 500 Texas A&M University
Jen students have come a step closer to reality,
pie University System Board of Regents appropriated
J,000 Tuesday for design of two women’s dormitories. The
(■fabricated construction dorms could probably he com
ped by August, 1979, University officials said.
Juring a board committee meeting Monday several regents
■ said they wanted to consider construction of another dor-
liti y complex similar to the University’s Krueger-Dunn-
■her-Aston complex. But any action on such a complex is
■e time away, they said.
Ae two new women’s dorms will be built west of the Uni-
Mity s All-Faith s Chapel.
Bie board also voted to grant the city of Prairie View an
■ment to lay a sewage line across Prairie View A&M Uni-
Bity's campus to the university’s sewage treatment plant. A
te between the city and university had developed over a
hgc line the i ity had laid across the campus earlier this
That dispute culminated in Prairie View’s mayor ordering
■lie View'A&M President A. 1. Thomas arrested for having
■ line disconnected.
pit the city and Prairie View V&M have resolved most ol
differences, and granting the easement is a “show of good
i,” System Attorney James Bond told the hoard. The city
university' still have to agree on a rate structure under
Ji the university will treat the city’s sewage.
During its meeting Tuesday the board approved sale of
bonds worth more than $41 million in four bond issues. Those
bonds will finance construction of health and physical educa
tion facilities, expansion of the Kyle Field football stadium, and
retirement of previously-issued Texas A&M and Prairie View
A&M bonds.
The board approved two formal policy statements that will
have long-range effects on the University system. Those state
ments were: the updated 5-year master plan for Texas A&M
growth and development; and a formalized University system
investment policy.
The master plan, required by the State Coordinating Board
of Colleges and Universities, outlines Texas A&M’s goals, plans
and guidelines for operation and growth over the next 5 years.
The investment policy, established in principle by the regents
at their last meeting, gives System Chancellor Jack Williams
authority over almost all investments made within the system.
Before that investment policy was revised, the president of
each of the system’s universities had had authority for invest
ment of the funds connected with his university.
The regents appropriated $13,000 for design work on con-
' verting the stadium lights from to be removed from Kyle Field
to use as a lighting system for the intramural sports fields on
the University’s west campus.
The board also granted a $6 per semester price increase in
Texas A&M’s optional laundry fee. Officials from the Bryan
firm handling the University laundry service had said in re
questing the increase that rising costs make the price increase
necessary.
est Texas town pays
ew taxes, cuts spending
United Press International
IAAN — Until a year ago, this town
m Bbome of Alley Oop
x year
one hank and two
Jds —was a city without a tax.
flic West Texas town of 1,050 has a
one percent sales tax that contributed
about S17,000 to city coffers the first eight
nonths it was collected.
Bhis town was incorporated in the early
,950v We survived until now without any
■it all," Mayor John Kniveton said.
■ut what is preventing a taxpayers re-
liolt is that while residents pay a small
V jfily and school tax, they don’t pay a city
erty tax. Kniveton said the commun
es along fine without it.
JiVe just don’t believe in spending more
we ve got available, he said. “The
iiple pay for what they want. II it’s un
productive, we don’t have it.”
Iraan is among about 25 cities in the
state that the Texas Municipal League says
has no city property taxes such as those
that sparked the controversial Proposition
13 vote in California to trim government
spending.
Economics was the reason the budget-
conscious town opted for the sales tax
rather than a property tax when it needed
more money.
“The sales tax is automatic,’’ Kniveton
said. “The state collects it for all cities. It
doesn’t cost anything to administer.”
Except for the sales tax, the $220, (KX)
annual budget is derived from city-owned
utilities. Volunteers also run the Fire De
partment and ambulance service.
Pecos County sits atop one of the na
tion’s largest oil fields. The $250 million
forwarded each year to the county by the
petroleum industry helps keep school
taxes low.
V.T. Hamlin was working in Iraan as a
newspaper reporter during the oil boom
days when he had the idea for the comic
strip “Alley Oop.
Kniveton said folks in Iraan are “thril
led" about passage of Proposition 13 be
cause it indicates a trend toward what they
have operated all along — efficient gov
ernment.
“It’s everybody’s money,’ Kniveton
said. “Who is the government? It’s all ot
us. I think that’s what we’ve lost sight of.
You individually and I individually)!know
there’s a limit to what we can afford and
what we can have.”
It's been a long day
Thoughts of a cold beer, a long shower or a little training at the Firemen s Training School. See re
rest dance through Fireman Aaron Younger’s head. lated photos on pages 6 and 7.
Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
h |enior citizens’
'boom expected
population
next century
Younger, from Marshall is tired after a hard day’s
Run on traveler s checks expected
Americans abroad
as dollar value falls to new low
feel pinch
United Press International
■VASHINGTON — Thirty years ago,
'Hrly half of all men 65 and over were
•nil Joyed or seeking jobs. Today, among
Iple 65 and over, only one man in five
lone woman in twelve are in the work-
But two Cabinet members and other
j^Berts question whether the nation can
^^>rd the trend toward early retirement
especially when the people born in the
Jt World War II baby boom become
I nor citizens.
IVitnesses at recent hearings of the Se-
le Special Committee on Aging testified
, I the percentages of those working over
hf and expressed concern about the So-
~ Security costs and the loss of skilled
Jrkers to early retirement.
Secretary of Health, Education and
jifare Joseph Califano told the commit-
ft other changes also are taking place
Bich may require a reconsideration of the
lole U.S. policy on work and retire-
|nt.
People are living longer, he said. In
B40, the average life expectancy at birth
s63.5 years — now it is 69 for men, 77
[or women. Three-fourths of the popula-
now reaches 65 and, once there, lives
l he average to 81.
i'We are at the dawn of the first four-
jnerational society in the history of our
nation,” said Califano.
The baby boom following World War II,
Califano said, will become a “senior boom’
in the early 21st century. In 1940, seven
percent of the population was 65 or over;
today it is 11 percent; by 2030 it will be
nearly 20 percent.
Today six active workers support one in
retirement. By 2030, the ratio is expected
to be 3-to-l, and under present trends, the
federal government will have to spend
$635 billion by 2025 — up from $112 bill
ion this year — for Social Security and
other pensions, Medicare, welfare, food
stamps and various other services for the
elderly.
This would be a growth from 24 percent
to 40 percent of total federal outlays.
Dr. Harold Sheppard, director of the
Center on Work and Aging of the Ameri
can Institutes for Research, said the com
ing senior citizen boom means that by
2000, there will be eight million Ameri
cans over 80 — 1.7 million more than had
been projected as late as 1971.
How will the increasing proportion of
Americans in their early 60s in the next
century support these octogenarians if
they themselves are retired, he asked.
Labor Secretary Ray Marshall said it
may be difficult to ensure older Americans
a comfortable retirement by shifting
money through Social Security, welfare
and other programs.
He said it will be necessary to expand
employment opportunities for the elderly.
Congress took one step in that direction
last April when it raised from 65 to 70 the
age at which a private employer can re
quire a person to retire solely because of
age, and removed the upper age limit of 70
for most federal workers.
It also agreed to allow older Americans
to earn larger amounts of money without
losing Social Security benefits, and to in
crease a worker’s retirement benefits by
three percent for each year of work past
65.
United Press International
LONDON — Americans at home may
shrug when the dollar tumbles against
foreign currencies. Americans abroad
wince.
They were wincing hard Monday.
Tourists as well as Americans who live
overseas took an immediate financial beat
ing when foreign exchange dealers de
cided yet again that the "Almighty Dollar
wasn’t.
“Americans were shocked at the rate
when exchanging over the counters Tues
day,” said an American Express spokes
man in London.
“From what you can hear,” echoed an
official of equally thronged Thomas Cook,
“most of them think the rate will go lower
still.
Sooner or later the dollar’s slide will hit
pocketbooks at home. Everything im
ported will cost more, everything made or
transported using imported oil will go up.
Overseas the impact is now.
“This is lousy,” said Stan Greenfield of
Brooklyn as he peered at the Italian lire he
had just received for his dollar checks in
Rome. “The rate was supposed to be a lot
better than this. But what can you do?”
An American in London will pay $8.30
for a seat at the National Theater. Last
week it was $8.11. In Germany, the stein
of beer which cost $4.84 last week was
$4.90. A howl of Italian pasta which could
be had last week for $1.17 was about
$1.20. A Japanese tape recorder that cost
$123 in Tokyo a year ago costs $157 now.
Americans who live abroad and are paid
in dollars — all servicemen, for instance,
or employees of American corporations —
faced the fact that their rents have
jumped, their local taxes have gone
higher, everything they buy “on the
economy costs more.
Most European countries reported no
instant run on dollar assets like traveller’s
checks. But some said this may be because
tourists haven’t yet gotten the word.
“It usually takes a day or two before
U.S. tourists realize what’s going on,” said
an American Express official in Vienna.
“They learn of changes in the dollar rate
with a certain delay.
From early morning onward, any tourist
with eyes in London knew of Monday’s
dollar plunge. Notice hoards at news
stands on all main streets shouted “Dollar
Falls to 34-year Low,” and banner head
lines in London newspapers backed up the
boards.
So the usual places to cash traveler’s
checks were extra busy.
“We always have big queues after the
weekend, but today there seemed to be a
few more getting rid of dollars, the
American Express spokesman said.
Vienna reported tourist dollar-changing
business “lively, Rome about normal. No
other capitals recorded tourist stampedes.
Nor did every price go up instantly.
“We are not changing the dollar price of
our rooms or souvenirs, said a spokesman
for an American hotel chain in Stockholm.
“It wouldn’t pay to change prices after
jumps in exchange rates.
College graduates failing
^professional licensing tests
United Press International
AUSTIN — Up to 75 percent of the
:xas college graduates are failing profes-
mal licensing tests, a Galveston senator
d Tuesday.
JSen. A.R. Schwartz, D-Galveston,
Dliestioned four appointees to the State
Billege Coordinating Board about statis-
|cs he said that showed 50 percent of the
i graduates of Texas colleges who take the
» lamination to he licensed as architects
|d 75 percent who take the certified pub-
account test had failed.
“We re finding out that four-year uni-
irsities in this state are doing a lousy job
of educating people, ” he said. “If you base
anything on a testing average, they’re not
accomplishing what they’re supposed to
be accomplishing.”
Harvey Weil of Corpus Christi, who has
been on the Coordinating Board since its
creation, said he was unaware of any test
ing device to determine the effectiveness
of instruction at state colleges and univer
sities.
“I do know we have a reputation
nationwide for having a very good univer
sity system,” Weil said. “I’m shocked to
learn some of them are not doing well. ”
Blackjack 6 counter
sues Las Vegas casino
Making a mess of a mess
Construction workers seem to be piling the rubble even higher. These
workers are on the crew rennovating Sbisa dining hall this summer with
heavy equipment including an oversized air hammer.
Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
United Press International
DENVER— An attorney for the Amer
ican Civil Liberties Union is handling
the case of a Nevada blackjack player who
filed suit'against a Las Vegas casino that
barred him from gambling tables because
he played the game too well.
The case of Mark Estes is set for oral
argument on Dec. 12, 1979, before the
Nevada Supreme Court. Attorney
Stephen Pevar of the Mountain States Re
gional Office of the AGLU said he has filed
a motion to expedite the hearing.
Pevar said Saturday the suit contends
the Las Vegas Hilton wants only losers
gambling in its casino, not winners.
The Nevada district court recently ruled
that the casino, as a private business,
could exclude anyone it pleased — as long
as it didn’t discriminate against them on
the basis of sex, race, or creed.
Estes, a Las Vegas resident, was ejected
in November 1976 from the gambling ta
bles at the Hilton for “card counting.” He
was arrested and spent the night in jail.
Card counters use a system devised by
mathematics professor Edward Thorp of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technol
ogy. In 1972, Thorp used a computer to
come up with a system for winning at
blackjack.
In his book, “Beat the Dealer," Thorp
explained his system of memorizing cards
dealt to the player and adjusting bets ac
cording to the number of “good” and
“bad” cards remaining in the deck.
Normally, the house wins about five
percent of everything bet, said Pevar. A
good card counter can reduce the odds to
about two percent and a superb card
counter may get the odds two percent in
his favor, said the attorney.
Pevar, who lives in Denver, said “The
Hilton is saying that a blackjack player
can’t use his mind when he is placing
bets. ” He filed suit saying Estes had been
discriminated against.
“There is something inherently con
temptible in the Hilton’s exclusion of card
counters, allowing only those persons to
play who are more certain to lose, said
Pevar in his court brief. “It is akin to a
major league baseball team refusing to
play all but minor league teams.
Pevar is appealing the case to the
Nevada Supreme Court, arguing casinos
must comply with constitutional mandates
of due process and equal protection under
the law because they are so closely con
nected to th<
supervises them.