Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1978)
The Batt vei on Vol. 72 No. 47 Monday, November 6, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611 14 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611 Silky paintings One of Taiwan’s most promi nent painters is the 72-year-old mother of a Texas A&M graduate student. Chen Chin is visiting her son and tells her story on page 10. Election races neck and neck United Press International AUSTIN — The outcome of races for exas two top political offices may be lose enough with two days remaining in lie campaign that bad weather on election lay or a last minute campaign error by a undidate could have a major impact on Ihe outcome. I Republicans show unprecedented op- imism that Dallas millionaire Bill Cle- nents can upset Attorney General John lillanmbecome the state’s first GOP gov- imor this century, but are concerned bout the chances for survival of their only jirrent statewide ofBceholder, Sen. John 1. Tower, R-Texas. Hill appeared an easy winner in the [overnor’s race after his upset of Gov. )olph Briscoe in the Democratic primary, iut Clements, aided by a $6.4 million ampaign that shattered all previous pending records in Texas political races, us closed the gap. Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, who faces only oken opposition from Republican Gaylord farshall in his re-election campaign, said iweekagohe thought Hill would win with it least 55 to 56 percent of the votes in Tuesday s election. I But Hobby said he thinks now, for the list time, there is a possibility Clements kuld win and that Hill s vote will be no Bore than 51 or 52 percent if the Demo- [rats maintain control of the governorship. Another Capitol political observer says loter turnout could be a factor in the gov- imors race, with Clements’ chances ris- ng with lower voter participation in the lection. “If it rains in South or East Texas on llectionday, Hill could be in trouble, the ibserver said. Hill has traditionally run strong among Mexican-Americans in South Texas and blacks in East Texas, his home region. John Rogers, the chief strategy man in Hill’s campaign organization, says Hill will win regardless of the turnout, but said the turnout could be a factor in how big a mar gin Hill has. “If Clements is successful in his turnout effort, he’ll cut the lead to 54 or 55 per cent,’ Rogers said. But he said if the turn out is “normal” — meaning ordinary per centages from each faction of the popula tion — Hill could receive as much as 57 to 58 percent of the vote. Clements’ perform ance in the Republican primary is convinc ing evidence his supporters will make it to the polls. The GOP nominee, who has personally signed loans for $4.2 million to his campaign, has organized an astonishing phone bank operation that pinpoints his supporters then urges them to vote on election day, in some cases checking with the voters on the day of the election to see if they voted and offering necessary trans portation to polling places. Some Democrats have expressed con cern at a lack of enthusiasm among Hill supporters in the fall campaign, contend ing Hill’s campaign organizers have spent too much time planning his activities as governor and too little time working to as sure his election. The race between Tower and Rep. Bob Krueger, D-Texas, could be even closer than the governor’s race. Both sides in the final week have claimed polls showing their candidate in the lead. Also at stake are nine proposed amendments to the Texas constitution, in cluding a “tax relief amendment” adopted by a special summer session of the Legisla ture. The se students got a bird’s eye view of the Texas good use. The game was regionally televised. For a A&M-SMU football game, by putting a television to review of the game, please see pages 13-14. Handshake could topple Texas Tower United Press International AUSTIN — Candidates in the U.S. Sen ate campaign have spent more than $5.5 million in a heated, year-long campaign for that office, and now it appears the out come of the contest may hinge on voters’ reaction to a handshake attempt. Sen. John G. Tower, R-Texas, elected to the office from a field of 70 candidates in 1961 to succeed Lyndon B. Johnson, has spent more than $3.5 million in his effort to fight off the challenge of Rep. Bob Krueger, D-Texas, a two-term con gressman openly ambitious for national of fice. Krueger, given the best chance of any Democrat in 17 years of ousting the state’s only Republican statewide office-holder, has spent slightly more than $2 million in his race against Tower. Despite the heavy spending and intense campaigning by the two major candidates, the campaign incident that has over shadowed issues in recent weeks is Tow er’s refusal to shake hands with Krueger at a joint appearance before the Houston Press Club. Tower, steamed at the circulation by Krueger’s campaign organization of a newspaper column questioning the morals of an unnamed senator, had canceled four joint television appearances before Krueger approached him at the Houston Press Club and extended his hand. Tower turned away and pictures of the incident made front pages throughout the state. Tower now has taken the offensive con cerning the incident, running television commercials explaining he was taught a handshake was a sign of friendship and ac cusing Krueger of slurring his wife and daughter. County judge candidates... GOP: cities need some help By KAREN ROGERS Battalion Staff County government should take re- iponsibility in helping to alleviate some of be problems experienced by its cities, iays Republican candidate for county udge, John Raney. A start would be a common tax ap- iraiser’s office, Raney says. He advocates laving one tax appraiser instead of the five hat are working for Bryan-College Sta- ion, their school districts and the county. “Presently every piece of property is ippraised by at least three appraisers. I bink this could be eliminated and possible iroduce a tax savings. “The only way to implement this pro- pam is in a suggestive manner. I would lave to present it to each taxing body so as io prove to them it would be a savings of noney.” Ambulance service, especially a prob lem in Bryan-College Station, may need to be county-supported to insure adequate service to everyone, Raney says. A study to determine if a countywide service is the best solution should be conducted, he says, but adds that “we need coordination between the county and cities to make sure everyone has ambulance service. Raney has not drawn up a plan for com- John Raney bined service since he has not talked with Bryan-College Station officials. He says he thinks problems in the fire departments are being taken care of by the volunteer fire departments. He explained that since they are not equipped to handle major structural fires he would like “to eliminate the cities from having to make rural calls unless for these major fires.” The effect county involvement in these services would have on the tax rates would have to be decided later, he says. “Our tax rate is already the highest al lowed by law. We re either going to have to trim the present budget which I’m in favor of doing or raise taxes. He explains taxes could be legally raised by reapprais ing property. Raney says he has not formed an opinion on the gerrymandering suit filed against the county in federal court. The suit, which involves six other counties, alleges that voting districts were drawn to dilute the Hispanic vote. It was filed last month by Mexican-American Legal De fense and Education Fund. Raney adds he would need to talk to the individuals in volved in the suit before he could discuss it. Raney is a graduate of Stephen F. Aus tin High, Bryan and Texas A&M. He now operates a College Station bookstore. The bid for county judge is his second try for elective office, the first being an unsuccessful attempt for a Bryan City Council seat. Democrat stresses services By KAREN ROGERS Battalion Staff Cautiousness could describe Democrat HJ. Dick” Holmgreen’s campaign for county judge as he emphasizes knowledge of existing situations and studies on what changes could be made. Holmgreen explains that while many areas within the county need attention, he must, if elected, become more familiar with the facts and commission studies for possible solutions before he could make decisions. An answer to adequate county ambu lance service at a reasonable cost is one area for which Holmgreen says he would like to see a study done. This is necessary, be says, because “it depends on what people in different parts of the county ex pect from an ambulance service.” If reaction time is important to them, Holmgreen says “we couldn’t afford enough ambulances around the clock to provide them with short reaction time services. ” He explains that it would not be possible to have enough equipment to reach outlying county regions within two or three minutes. The same problem exists with having a countywide firefighting department, he says. “There’s no way to get enough prop erly equipped fire stations to handle struc tural fires. The tax rate would be unreal. Tm a great advocate of volunteer fire departments to handle small fires. I would like to see the city fire departments back up the volunteers on major fires.” Tax rates may not be affected should the could be derived from this.” Improvements in railroad safety, roads and bridges and the county jail are also needed, he says. “The railroad tracks, in my judgement, are not up to what they should be as far as safety, especially running through so closely knit a community.” He adds that a study would have to be done before he could suggest a solution to the county commissioner’s court. “Our roads and bridges are bearing a tremendous amount of traffic,” he says. “They were designed for rural use and now that we re getting to be a metropoli tan type of community, we’re going to county decide to support these services, Holmgreen says because cities in the county “are experiencing a lot of growth and revenues from some of these monies have to upgrade some of our road sys tems.” Improvements in the county jail and construction of a juvenile jail unit are also necessary for a growing Brazos County, Holmgreen says. “You can’t have communication be tween an adult and a juvenile and meet jail standards,” he says. “Something must be done, although I won’t be sure what until after the election.” R. J. “Dick” Holmgreen The bid for the county judge’s seat is the second time around in politics for Holmg reen. He has previously served as secre tary on the Bryan Independent School Board. He has been a Bryan resident since he was one-year-old and is a graduate of Bryan High School. He now runs a local tire store. Brazos County polls open More than 30,000 Brazos County residents are registered to vote in tomorrows general election, and polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The voting precincts for Brazos County are as follows: 1 - Millican Community Center 2 - Wellborn Water Supply Build ing 3 - S.P.J.S.T. Hall at Smetana 4 - Cav School 5 - Fellowship Hall 6 - Edge Community Center 7 - Steep Hollow Community Center 8 - South Knoll Elementary 9 - A&M Consolidated Kindergar ten cafeteria 10 - College Station Fire Station 11 - Crockett Elementary School 12 - Sul Ross Elementary School 13 - Henderson Elementary School 14 - Ben Milam Elementary School 15 - Fannin Elementary School 16 - Bowie Elementary School 17 - Travis Elementary School 18 - Bryan Central Fire Station 19 - Bonham Elementary School 20 - TAMU Center (MSC) 21 - College Station Municipal Building 22 - Army Reserve Center 23 - LBJ Elementary School 24 - College Hills El ementary School from 7 to 7 25 - American Legion Hall 26 - Bryan High School 27 - Bethel Baptist Church 28 - Peach Creek Community Cen ter 29 - VFW Hall 30 - Fellowship Hall 31 - A&M Consolidated High School Anyone in line at 7 p.m. Tuesday will still be eligible to vote. Voters should bring their voter registration cards. Person who do not know what precinct they should refer to may call the county clerk’s office at 822- 7373 for assistance. Brazos sheriff candidates... Incumbent: more staff needed By JAMIE AITKEN Battalion City Editor Acting Brazos Gouty Sheriff Bobby Yeager says manpower is the priority problem with the county law enforcement department. The 38-year-old Democratic can didate for the sherifFs post is an 11- year veteran of police work in the county, having worked with both Bryan and College Station police departments and the sherifFs office. “The main problem that I brought to the attention of the commission ers court is our being understaffed with enough people to carry out this job and render the service to the people that they’re entitled to,” Yeager said in a recent interview. Yeager asked Brazos County commissioners last month to finance additional jailers and deputies for the department. The commissioners turned down the request for next year’s budget. Yeager said that currently only one jailer is on duty after 5 p.m. and on weekends, and is away from the telephone and sherifFs office much of that time while attending to pris oners on the fourth floor of the court house. Three more deputies were re quested by Yeager to work criminal cases in the county. “We have three civil deputies now who serve citations, subpoenas, warrants and handle mental pa tients,” Yeager said. “These three deputies cover the whole county. “That leaves me with five criminal deputies to patrol the county and to investigate and follow up on cases,” he said. “We do utilize the reserve force, but still it spreads us pretty thin. “I’d like to bring up our staff to where we could have a car roving in the north part of the county and one in the south part of the county to give us quicker response to these calls” Yeager said he is satisfied with the job his office is doing at this time, taking its size into account. He said he is confident he will be able to work with commissioners to eventu ally add personnel to the depart ment. He said that although the newly enacted Speedy Trial Law will place added case loads on the sherifFs of fice, it will work within his policy of a firm hand in law enforcement. “I think if we had enough people to apprehend these people who commit crimes, the Speedy Trial Act will help us render justice to them,” he said. Yeager said he does not anticipate any administrative changes in the of fice if he is elected. He was ap pointed acting sheriff after the death of Sheriff J.W. Hamilton earlier this year. Owens: Use facilities better By JAMIE AITKEN Battalion City Editor Republican sheriff candidate W.R. “Bill” Owens says the key issue in the race is how well the Brazos County sherifFs department is run with the personnel it has. The 65-year-old Bryan resident cites his private investigation work in persons and property investiga tions as qualifications for the office. “The most pressing issue,” he said in an interview last week, “is utilizing what we have now — the jail, the deputies, the time that they spend — in other words, what re sults are the people getting for their money? “I don’t think we have any prob lem whatsoever in getting the com missioners court to give us what we need,” he said. “I don’t think they’re going to give you five or ten or twenty men right off the cuff. I think they’re going to want to know what you can do with what you’ve got.” Owens said his main priority is to “get something done about crime in Brazos County.” Owens said he doesn’t think the present sheriff administration is ef fective enough in fighting county crime, and he added that he doubts commissioners will give them the added personnel being requested. He agreed that additional per sonnel is needed in the department, but that administrative changes should be instituted as well. “We ll have to assign the men a little differently,” he said. “We don’t need that stack of unserved papers up there. You have three men serving civil papers who are way behind. There’s no need for that. “The greatest need is to reduce this crime,” he said. “People have no fear of the sherifFs department, or a whole lot of the police depart ment. Anytime rape is going up as fast as it is there’s something that can be done on that matter, “In fact,” he added, “it can be done on all this stuff if you put your self to it and do it.” Owens said he does not think changes in the sherifFs department will be as costly as expected. Acting sheriff Bobby Yeager has estimated an additional $80,000 a year is needed to beef up the department personnel. “We’ve got to get it where a lady can walk to the Post Office with no danger,” he said. “You’ve got to teach a criminal to think twice. You never know when that heavy hand is going to drop on your own shoulder if you accost her — and it will drop sooner or later on those guys.”