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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1978)
Battalion Texas inmates still striking A few of the inmates in cial says prison life should be Huntsville continue their strike back to normal by next week, against the system, but one offi- See page 5. w,n g Piniel Vol. 72 No. 35 out 14 Pa 9 es liever Thursday, October 19, 1978 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 1 shortstop | 0 | the liis towerim 425 feet in right ll(ee scoring,ir^ ™ e . Hunter» honu lie first in check innn ' my vetoes on trot was 'Save way|, rf'th whenfi a 400-foot p the centn m s double. 11 a base lij rchitecture onstruction Center: problems Editor’s note: Some of the professors d students quoted in this story are onymous because they asked to he; they t their careers would be in jeopardy if iir names were used. This is the last rt of a two-part series. By MARILYN FAULKENBERRY Battalion Staff ■e $5.9 million main building of the ngford Architecture Center, besides Gossagel '' n 8 acoustical problems and a ques- Me by stnh getting Bil s Hunter’s decision ckson’s ninii 1 Oakland, 1 nable design, has been plagued with istruction problems. ?-endingi Completed in 1977, the building leaks Icracks are appearing where the joint of building meet. Places where the joints ebeen patched are visible. Every building has leaks until it works iclluva loti, ilfout,’said Raymond D. Reed, dean of hitecture. “I think it’s possible to do nobodyW fer > hut it’s normal not to.” back to wj bulW. Stephens, acting director of the ;as A&M University System Facilities i* than anvtfP^tmtmt, sa *d new buildings always Jackson 1 «problems that need to be worked out niehow an pal ss Internil™ — Coai day then that leaking is not unusual, owever, University Vice-President for siness Affairs Howard L. Vestal said the was not aware the building leaked 1 that new buildings should not leak. I disagree with Reed and Stephens if fs what they said and I’ll have to ask m about this," he said. Neville Dobie, chief project analyst the Facilities Planning and Construc- i Division of the State Board of Control kustin, said, “Buildings that leak have ects in the roof, walls or in the joints in ween. le said that University construction is regulated by the Board of Control but Conferencf the Facilities Division of the L T niversity e a cha queeze i ston Cong ' teams nu i week, i nt Saturd tem. )obie said leaking is not accepted in ilic building construction that is regu- d by the Board and if leakage started r acceptance, the roofer would be re- nsible under warranty for repairs for to five years. feel strongVestal said buildings on campus also e been ioMe roofer’s warranties, ecord. ■'here is some disagreement as to the do get tkftousness of the cracks in the building. Ikingabonllfd said the cracks are “purely cosme- urday, Hill t is goingaff there was anything structurally into tbftngwith this building I wouldn’t lx* in he addrei Sportswriti ciation lui SMU in rkansas (o 'U, Texas lice. The M (No. 1 out thes olved in >al more player tl there’s am than . The If will be he said. However, one architecture staff member said, “This building is technically badly put together. You can judge a build ing by its joints a good building has good joints. ” He said some of the cracks are caused by inferior construction and some are inherent in the building’s design. The concrete panels in the building are joined by a pliable material, and Dobie said cracks in precast concrete construc tion are usually caused by joints that are too thin, not allowing enough room for ex pansion and contraction with weather and with the clay in the soil. “They will grind themselves to pieces until they create enough space to move,” Dobie said. “It is impossible to make a building stout enough to withstand all the forces of nature,” he said. “It is very costly and you must compromise between the amount of cracking and weathering you will tolerate and the cost of preventative measures.” Students say the building’s east steps are another design problem —they say they seldom use the steps to the building because they are too steep. One professor said actually the stairs are so steep that they violate the national stair code and that if someone slipped and hurt himself, someone may be liable. James Bond, General Counsel for the University System, said it is “purely speculative” whether or not the University would he liable in such a case. He said the injured party woidd have to prove negli gence on someone’s part. The air conditioning in the building is another problem. It is still being control led manually, said a mechanical engineer ing professor who researched the system. He said the system could be efficient if the control system was working properly. He researched the system for Drew Woods, the contractor on the job, and found it was installed acording to specifica tions, he said. “It’s the specifications that are in adequate,” the professor said. He also audited the air conditioning sys tem in the Oceanography and Meteorol ogy Building as part of a funded research project and found the same condition there, he said. The professor, who said he once worked in the Facilities Construction Division, said construction problems, especially with air conditioning systems, are “ad ministrative” because the specifications set down by the University are in adequate. “If the administration wanted to save energy, we would save energy,” he said. He said too few of the architects’ designs submitted are actually questioned by Facilities for inefficiency; in that way, some inefficient designs are simply passed by. Vice President Vestal said when a new building is begun, the Physical Plant writes a program of requirements in keep ing with University policies. A project coordinator who knows the basic require ments for the building advises the Physical Plant staff, he said. He said this program of requirements is taken to the Board of Regents for approval or disapproval. When approved, Stephens prepares a list of potential architects, usually three, Vestal said. Then the Board of Regents’ Planning and Building Committee either selects one of Stephen’s choices or selects one of its own. Vestal said, “They usually go with one of Stephen’s choices.” The architect is given the University’s program of requirements and he then submits a preliminary design to the board for approval or disapproval. Vestal said. He said that in the last step, the Board of Regents takes bids on the job and awards the contract. Stephens said the Facilities Construc tion Division is responsible for quality control in new buildings. It employs in spectors who are responsible for seeing that specifications are met. He said he does not think construction problems on campus are caused by “negli gence or willfulness” on anyone’s part. He said air conditioning problems are “inherent in the business of construction.” Major reworking will have to be done on the air conditioning systems in the Oceanography and Meteorology Building , Rudder Tower, Zachry Engineering Center and the new Soil and Crop Sci ences and Entomology Building, said Gerald Scott, manager of engineering and design for Facilities. Dobie said larger buildings require more complex air conditioning systems. "Problems can arise if.they don’t pay enough for competent people to maintain those complicated systems,” he said. “The more large buildings you have, the more likely you are to have problems.” This is the interior of the Langford Architecture Center.The Texas A&M chapter of the Association of Student Chapters of the American Institute is sponsoring a “Beautification of Spaces” design con test for remodeling of spaces within the buildings, says David Applebaum, secretary for the organiza tion. He says the contest is open to anyone. Entries can include use of paintings, culptures and tapes tries - “anything that will make the spaces in the building more appealing.” Entries will be judged by a jury of faculty. University staff and students. The winning designs will be submitted to the Board of Regents in hope that some of the ideas will be ap proved and implemented, he says. “That’s the tricky part,” Applebaum says. Battalion photo by Ed Cunnius Tower says campaign embarrasses Krueger Compromise in Brazos County eapportionment plan lawsuit By SCOTT PENDLETON Battalion StafT estion, « e motto jut I thin be a link]! ho lasts! ence this Plaintiffs and defendants in a suit seek- be though t to prevent the Nov. 7 Brazos County otball te heral election reached a compromise in leral court in Houston Wednesday. ic election will proceed as scheduled. It the votes for Precincts 3 and 4 Com- Issioners Court and for Precinct 4, Place lustice of the Peace won’t be canvassed, nd those elections won’t he certified until |b suit is settled. [The suit challenges the validity of a Apportionment plan for Brazos County’s sense. Kir Commissioners Court precincts, ctory ovdlThe suit was filed in August by three boost tltlKal Mexican-Americans. They charged o the topat the reapportionment plan diluted the vote of the minority population. The suit named the Commissioners Court and other county officials as defen dants and sought to bar the November election. In the agreement “both sides come out winning,” Joaquin Avila, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said at a Wednesaday press con ference in Bryan. Avila, who works for the Mexican- American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), said the agreement is typical of those arrived at in similar law suits. The ultimate goal of the plaintiffs is a redistricting of Brazos County to create a precinct that is predominantly minority, meaning black and Mexican-American, Avila said. In order to achieve this, Avila said, the minority and university populations would have to be in separate precincts. Avila brought a possible re-districting plan to Bryan to show his plaintiffs. After getting their opinions, he will draw up a final plan to present to the Commissioners Court. Avila said if the county is willing to negotiate, the litigation could be finished within six months. If not, Avila said, it could go on for one or two years. “Our organization is committed to this lawsuit,” Avila said, referring to MAL DEF. The organization has the resources and experience to stick with the suit, he said. If the plaintiffs win their suit, the elec tions must be held again. Despite his stated intention to “stick to the issues”, incumbent Senatorial candi date John Tower spent a good portion of his brief Brazos County campaign stop at Easterwood Airport Wednesday explain ing recent non-issue confrontations with ' opponent Bob Krueger. During a 20-minute press conference. Tower was asked to comment on the Senatorial race that has become one of the hottest mud-slinging campaigns in the elections. Bob Krueger is “obviously embarrassed by having attention called to the fact that he is conducting a scurrilous personal campaign,” Tower said. He referred specifically to a Houston Press Club luncheon Tuesday where he and Krueger were speakers. A newsman at the luncheon questioned Krueger about a letter mailed by his cam paign workers that suggested Tower was a womanizer and liked to drink. Krueger said he had no way to prove the allegations were true, but when ques tioned again, he said, “Let’s move on to the next question.” Tower told the small gathering of local Republicans present that Krueger “refuses to talk about the issues and that his cam paign is largely based on. personal attack and the use of deception and misrepresen tation.” Tower has canceled four television de bates between the two candidates, saying that Krueger has lowered the tenor of the entire campaign and that he would not help him spread his “gutter politics”. Senator John Tower When asked if the debates would have been just the tool needed to define issues instead of personalities. Tower said “it would have depended on how the debates were structured.” A favorable note for Tower’s campaign came Monday when a report issued by the committee investigating the Koreagate in cident said Tower is free of any entangle ments with Korean businessman Tohgsun Park. The report probably “impacted favorably’ on his campaign, Tower said, “because the committee also said that I had been very cooperative. Park, an unregistered agent of the Ko rean government, had testified that Tower or someone acting in his behalf had re quested a contribution for the senator’s 1972 campaign. Although the committee found that Park- had visited Tower’s office on seven diffe rent occasions, no evidence was found linking them to an illegal contribution. The legislative efforts of the 95th Con gress were not as fruitful as he would have liked. Tower said. "We left a lot of things undone. ” Among the things he said he was not pleased with was the recently passed energy bill. “We passed bad energy legislation that will impact adversely on Texas in my view,” he said. “I hope the authorities in this state will follow through with the suit to determine the constitutionality of in trastate regulation extending the allocation authority to state resources.” Tower said he was also unhappy with the Panama Canal treaties “which resulted in giving that (the canal) away. “I don’t think there was much legisla tion of merit passed in the last Congress except the tax relief. I think that was long overdue.” The last Congress did not pass a tuition tax relief bill favored by Tower which would have provided a tax credit for pa rents of college students. “I think that’s something that’s sorely needed. Tower said. “But it has to he meaningful tuition tax credit because the costs of education are high even in state- supported schools. ” Tower continued on his campaign tour Wednesday with stops in Temple and Dal las. He is schedvded to be in Lubbock to day. >ach M 11 i re SMH dgingb'l e tackle! d MitcM ampus-wide recycling effort wasted r-out qui iaturdayl By DIANE BLAKE Battalion Staff chell, Wasted days and wasted nights seem to and bas ic the only result of efforts to begin a son. impus-wide waste recycling program. ;oman sfllom Brosnan, head of the Texas A&M terestia-Bnergy conservation and awareness com- a kid Wfcttee, said the group included a few ” for theBergy tips in the Off-Campus Students □’t outrtoBsociation newsletter last year, but never worl |1 (got a recycling program off the ground. ■n hasp’* “The student government never showed _jinst 8 -Much response or support,” Brosnan said, roman *t was toward the end of the year and ^ebeen* ey weren’t very interested in getting a f Texa* Icycling program started then.” 2.5poi |lli Brosnan said he called a meeting to -nes, diJ (gin a program, but no one came. Although there is no organized recycl- fensepk [g effort campus-wide, there are a few g. I do* altered efforts to reuse waste in the =l yed lil* ryan-College Station area. -jies. Tl 1 ' 1 The Oceanographic Graduate Student -all lUOBmncil recycles computer paper from the ndzom Brious computer centers on campus. -wn thtoBThe organization gets about a ton of now. iBaper a week and stores it until about ot tk 000 pounds accumulate. The Golden ■e, setfpiangle Paper Co. in Beaumont picks it Bro" li |>and pays $2 for 100 pounds of computer dido" 1 tperand $3.25 for 100 pounds of compu- 3 r Dan® 1 r cards. The council makes about $200 every six eeks, said Tony O’Brien, the club’s trea- rer. The profits are used to finance OGC ut se'8 udents’ travel to conferences, some re- proba" arch and parties, said club member Sue ion to c diauffler. rlier. Dr. C.R. Benedict, professor of plant physiology, is also involved in a recycling program. He has been recycling cotton gin waste to produce hydrogen. Benedict uses photosynthetic bacteria and prefers this method over other cotton waste recycling programs. “Other people burn the waste to pro duce electricity, but I think this method is more efficient,” he said. Another teacher on campus recycles a different way. Carlson Yost, an English in structor, takes a plastic bag when he walks with his family and picks up cans. He and his two sons pick up the cans to clean up the area and to finance the boys’ book purchases and bowling. They were also curious about what kinds and how many cans were thrown down. Yost said Dr. Pepper cans were most frequently found on campus. The most they picked up in one trip, two big bags, was when the Aggies were waiting for tickets to the Houston football game. “They were throwing cans all over the place,” he said. Yost had a warning for others who might want to start picking up cans. muck Tiesaif p moi^ nere. 8' Some of these newspapers could be recycled, but there is no recycling facility in the Bryan-College Station area. Attempts to start a campus wide recycling program at Texas A&M University have been unsuccess ful. However, other universities have made some progress. Please turn to page 7 for more information of Rice and the University of Houston’s Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr. “Ants are murder sometimes,” he said. “The ants’ll really get you.” The Twin City Mission Inc. in Bryan recycles corrugated and mixed paper. Mixed paper is office and typing paper — anything but newsprint. The Rev. Warren Barnes, director of the mission, said it stopped accepting newsprint last January because the price dropped so low that it wasn’t profitable. The mission sells about 240 tons of cor rugated and mixed paper every six weeks, sending it on boxcars to two recylcing plants in Oklahoma. Twin City Mission gets $30 a ton for both corrugated and mixed paper. It also collects about 20 tons of rags every seven weeks, Barnes said. United Waste Material in Dallas pays it 4 cents a pound for the rags. The mission has several drop boxes in supermarket and church parking lots in the area where citizens can deposit paper or rags. Mission workers also pick up paper from local furniture stores and supermarkets, Barnes said. “We recycle clothing, too,” the director said. “People donate clothes and we give them to families whose houses have burned or who cannot afford to buy clo thing. “We sell some of the clothes at our store. The clothes are very inexpensive, like 30 cents,” he said. (Please turn to page 7.) Weekend... Baylor tickets still available Baylor University has returned 1,500 tickets to Texas A&M Univer sity for Saturday’s game between the two schools. The tickets went on sale at 8 a.m. today for non-student seating only. If any are left, they are available at Ticket Window 7 of G. Rollie White Coliseum. Kevin Patterson, student senate vice-president for student ser vices, made the announcement at Wednesday’s senate meeting. Senators also learned that Texas A&M’s football games with South ern Methodist University and the University of Arkansas will be televised. No ‘Star Wars’ at Aggie Cinema The farce, not the force, will be with Aggie Cinema this weekend, despite advertisements to the contrary. Much to the surprise of Aggie Cinema members, unauthorized ads appeared all over campus Wednesday advertising that Aggie Cinema will show “Star Wars’ this Saturday. Don Rohel, the adviser to Aggie Cinema, said the signs were appa rently someone’s idea of a joke. Rohel has no idea who’s behind the hoax. He said the signs were apparently reproduced on a photocopying machine. Aggie Cinema will be presenting “The Return of the Pink Panther” and “The Pink Panther Strikes Again” Saturday as scheduled. Atlanta Rhythm Section coming The Atlanta Rhythm Section is still coming Friday, says James Randolph, student program coordinator and adviser for the Town Hall Committee. The group had canceled performances in Waco, Houston and Wichita Falls because the drummer is sick and has been in the hospi tal. But they will still perform in Aggieland, so hang on to tickets; the concert is sold out. The performance will begin at 8 p.m. Friday in G. Rollie White Coliseum.