The Battalion
Vol. 72 No. 71 Wednesday, December 13, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611
12 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
Batt staff plans hibernation
This is the last Battalion of the cation will be resumed Jan. 15, the
semester. Issues will be printed Jan. first day of the spring semester.
3 and Jan. 10. Regular weekly publi-
suspects
ought in
oca! killing
theriffs officers are looking for four per-
jh two males and two females, in con-
tion with the beating death of a
rtson County man early Tuesday.
: dead man has been identified as
jyear-old Timothy Michael Merka, a
J3 Texas A&M University graduate,
ose address is listed as Rt. 1, Box 41B,
ame.
tlerkas body was found Tuesday morn-
on Sandy Point Road north of Bryan,
apparently died from massive head in-
es. Police identified a tire tool and
inner, found near the body, as probable
irder weapons.
Police, working with witness accounts,
they think the four suspects stopped
irka to ask for help in jumping the bat-
of the gold 1971 Torino they were
ring. Merkas wallet was stolen. The
ipects then drove away in his pickup
ick, which was found abandoned later
isday on West 19th Street outside the
an city limits. Police say the Torino
i is listed as a stolen vehicle.
Sheriff's officers are continuing the in
stigation after lifting fingerprints from
e vehicles. Sheriff Bobby Yeager said
Ij. , ednesday morning that the suspects are
'l
hen in
||ved to he from this area.
Merka is survived by a wife and four
ung children. They live outside Mum-
id in south Robertson Countv.
: Vilson deal
r o maintain
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184
IFF
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Staff
iuilding confidence in Texas A&M
iversity’s athletic program was the main
»m in awarding Tom Wilson a three-
contract as head football coach, said
Charles Samson, chairman of the Ath-
c Council.
amson said the council agreed upon a
ee-year contract for Wilson “so that pro-
etive recruits would not feel dis-
hanted about coming here.
Vilson’s contract, although set for three
rs, will actually encompass three and a
years since he assumed the job halfway
ugh this football season. It expires Jan
1981.
Is head coach, Wilson will receive
000 per year, Samson said. “Of course,
chs salaries are subject to review on an
ual basis, he said.
ormer head coach Emory Bellard will
paid through Aug. 31, 1979, the end of
academic year. Bellard’s salary at his
ignation was $50,000.
samson expressed the Athletic Council s
dings on Bellard’s remuneration:
The resignation was an unfortunate
ation, and Coach Bellard had certainly
len dedicated service to the school,
ese circumstances merited our decision
honor his salary through August,” he
Id.
The Atheletic Council’s recommenda-
regarding the position of head coach
made to the Board of Regents, which
ve final approval.
Another Aggie Tradition
Freshman Kelly Steed of Port Arthur and sopho- Yule plant is hanging in the first floor hallway of
more David Garnett of Houston show a little Krueger.
Christmas spirit beneath a branch of mistletoe. The Battalion photo by Ava King
Yuletide tire tables for Aggies
During the holidays various campus
facilities will have altered schedules.
The library will be open Thursday from
7:30 a.in. until 1 a.m. Friday it will he
open 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday and Sun
day 1-5 p.m. From Monday through Dee.
21, the hours will be from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m.
On the 22nd 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and the 23rd 10
a.m.- 2 p.m.
The library will be closed from Dec.
24-25. From Dee. 26-29 it will open from 9
a.m.- 5 p.m. The 30th the hours will be 10
a.m.- 2 p.m., and then closed until Jan. 2
when it will be open 8 a.m.- 5 p.m.,
through Jan. 5, with weekend hours of 1-5
p.m.
The Health Center will close com
pletely at 5 p.m. Dec. 21 until it reopens
Jan. 2, when it resumes 8 a.m.- 4 p.m.
hours.
Sbisa will serve the campus’s last eve
ning meal Friday from 4:15-6:30 p.m.
Duncan and the Commons will close after
lunch. All three food factories will open for
breakfast Jan. 15.
Most snack bars will close Dec. 15-Jan.
14, except the Vet School s which will
close on the 21st and reopen on Jan. 2. Vet
students will eat from the 2nd until the
15th in the MSC cafeteria at which time
they 11 eat in Sbisa.
Deware Field House will be open for
neo-jocks and others from 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
every day.
The MSC will he closed at 5 p.m. Dec.
21 until Jan 2. That includes the Rudder
Tower complex. The MSC Post Office will
use abbreviated hours from 10-11 a.m.
during most of that time.
Archer Parr’s
career over?
United Press International
BROWNSVILLE — By imposing a re
stricted 10-year probation, a district judge
apparently has ended the political career of
Archer Parr so that Duval County can
“grow up and mature politically.”
Parr, a former Duval County judge and
nephew of longtime political boss George
B. Parr, the “Duke of Duval,” Tuesday
pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft
of services over $10,000 in return that six
other charges be dropped.
According to the 10-year probation im
posed by District Judge Darrell Hester,
Parr must make a $25,000 restitution move
from Duval to Nueces County and not
leave it without court permission. Hester
said Parr cannot seek public office, support
political candidates nor try to influence
them.
“You have served 41 months in prison
and further imprisonment would serve no
good purpose,” Hester told Parr. “If we
have you unde supervision for 10 years,
maybe the county can grow up and mature
politically.”
Parr, 53, was released from a federal
prison in Texarkana Dec. 6 after serving
three years and six months of a 10-year
sentence for lying to a federal grand jury
during a 1974 investigation of the corrupt
political machine of Duval County.
Parr, who served 16 years as county
judge, his uncle, George, and great-uncle,
the late Sen. Archie Parr, had ruled the
South Texas county for six decades until
federal and state authorities began investi
gations that led to more than 100 indict
ments.
Computers keep
holiday hours, too
United Press International
The University computing centers have
posted operating hours for the Christmas
holidays. Any changes in scheduled hours
will be posted at the computing centers.
Teague Computing Center (TCC) is lo
cated on the ground floor of the Olin E.
Teague Building, The Zachry Computing
Center (ZCC) is on the ground floor of Zac
hry Engineering Center, the Remote
Computing Center (RCC) is in the old
Cushing Library, and the Kleberg Com
puting Center (KCC) is in the Kleberg
Animal and Food Science Center on the
West Campus.
TCC
12-15 — 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
12-16 — 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
12-17 — 1 p.m. - 10 p.m.
12-18 - 12-20 — 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
12-21 - 12-22 — 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.
12-23 — 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
I2'24 — 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
12-25 — CLOSED
12-26 - 12-29 — 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.
12-30 — 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
12-31 — 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
1-1 — CLOSED
1-2 - 1-5 — 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.
1-6 — 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
1-7 — 1 p.m. - 7 p.m.
1-8 - 1-12 — 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.
1-13 — 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
1-14 — 1 p.m. - 10 p.m.
ZCC and KCC
12-15 — 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
12-16 - 12-17 — CLOSED
12-18 - 12-21 — 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
12-22 - 1-1 — CLOSED
1-2 - 1-5 — 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
1_6 - 1-7 — CLOSED
1-8 - 1-12 — 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
1-13 - 1-14 — CLOSED
RCC
12-15 - 12-21 — same as ZCC and KCC
12-22 - 1-14 —CLOSED
Regular schedules will resume on Jan.
15. The help desk in Room 6B Teague will
be closed Dec. 22 to Jan. 1 and will resume
regular schedule on Jan. 2.
No Yule songs heard
from Vienna Choir
VIENNA — The famous Vienna Boys
Choir will be prevented by child labor laws
from singing their traditional carols this
Christmas for the first time in nearly 500
years, their director said Tuesday.
“It has never happened since the Boys
Choir was founded by the Hapsburg
monarchs in 1498,” said Director Walter
Tautschnig. “We regret it very much, but
we can’t help it.”
Tautschnig, who has directed the choir
for the past 23 years, said somebody has
discovered that child labor laws forbid chil
dren under 15 years of age to work during
school holidays.
“As a result, our choir will be prevented
from performing on Christmas Eve and six
other days during the coming Christmas
school holidays,” Tautschnig said.
The Vienna Boys Choir sings every Sun
day morning at Catholic Church services in
the Hofburg chapel attached to the former
imperial palace in the heart of town. Their
traditional Christmas songs include “Silent
Night” and several other carols.
Tautschnig said it is hoped parliament
will pass a revised version of the child lavor
laws next year that would skip the prohibi
tion of work during school holidays.
lease
mm
Hr***
on *
Brazos ambulance service
Officials to discuss medical care now provided.
•■****
3
By SCOTT PENDLETON
Battalion Staff
State and local officials will meet
Dec. 19 to discuss the status of ambu
lance services in Brazos County and
the possibility of one county-wide
service.
The county judge, the mayors and
city managers of Bryan and College
Station, and representatives from
Mid-Tex ambulance service, Texas
A&M University, and St. Joseph
Hospital will attend the meeting.
The participants will discuss the
kind of emergency medical service
they provide.
Rod Dennison, a field consultant
for the Emergency Medical Services
division of the Texas Department of
Health will evaluate the county’s
emergency facilities and discuss pos
sible improvements with the offi
cials.
The meeting will be held at the
Brazos Valley Development Coun
cil.
Bryan Mayor Richard Smith initi
ated the talks about establishing a
county-wide service partly in re
sponse to the city’s ambulance prob
lems.
Last October Mid-Tex Ambulance
Co., which provides the city’s ambu
lance service, requested a subsidy
from the Bryan City Council to make
up uncollected fees.
The city council agreed to provide
a $2,000 per month subsidy as a tem
porary measure until another alter
native could be found.
But acting city manager Hubert
Nelson said that that wasn’t Smith’s
only reason.
“The mayor has been concerned
about an area-wide seivice since be
fore that,” Nelson said.
“There’s a need for us to coordi
nate what we do and not have one
guy going off half-cocked,” he said.
College Station officials are not
very enthusiastic about a county
wide service right now.
“We feel reasonably satisfied that
we have a good emergency medical
service, adequate control, person
nel, and training. We don’t refuse
service to anyone,” Bardell said.
“We don’t see any advantage to
going to a county system,” he said.
But he said that if a county system
was less expensive without lessening
the quality of service. College Sta
tion would consider it.
Operating the ambulance service
costs the city about $90,000 annu
ally, Bardell estimated.
The two city and county govern
ment have been trying to provide an
ambulance service since October of
1973. That month three local funeral
homes announced that they would
cease to offer ambulance service ef
fective Jan. 1, 1974.
The need to continue having an
ambulance service was very real.
Among a population of 100,000 —
the approximate size of Brazos
County — there will be 293 fatal
heart attacks, 27.2 highway deaths,
and 27.4 deaths from other accidents
each year, Management Information
Service reports.
As many as 20 percent of the
deaths in the first and second group
could be prevented, the report esti
mates, by effective and prompt at
tention at the scene.
To date, Brazos County has had
funeral home service, a private
county-wide service, a private serv
ice, a private service receiving a sub-
People die
sidy, and a fire department ambu
lance service.
The last two currently operate in
Bryan and College Station respec
tively.
Bryan has contracted Mid-Tex, a
private company owned by Bill
Thornal, to provide the city’s ambu
lance service.
Mid-Tex also takes calls from any
where in the county, including Col
lege Station if requested.
Mid-Tex handles all the transfer
calls in the county. A transfer call
involves moving a patient from one
■ needlessly
By SCOTT PENDLETON
Battalion Staff
Sixty thousand people die needlessly each year for lack of prompt and effective
treatment at the scene of an injury or accident.
An additional 25,000 people are permanently injured or disabled each year by
untrained ambulance attendants and rescue workers.
The reason is that many ambulance services, especially in rural areas, continue
to operate with obsolete equipment, poorly trained attendants, and insufficient
supplies.
The above estimates appeared in the August-September, 1973 issue of Health
Service Reports. Only partial progress toward implementing better emergency
medical services has been made since then.
Two related articles appear on page eight and nine. The first article explains the
federal government’s commitment to improving emergency medical services and
the obstacles it faces.
The second article deals with emergency medical service, and the lack of it, in
Texas. Local resistance to improvement, aided by an obsolete state law, allows
many ambulance services to operate in open violation of ambulance regulations.
possible improvements
hospital to another one usually out of
the county.
The company has one modular
ambulance and three other ambu
lances. All the ambulances meet the
state registery requirements, which
are more exacting than those for the
state permit.
Mid-Tex employs about 12 people
to work as attendants, Thornal esti
mated.
All of Mid-Tex’s employees are
Emergency Medical Technicians or
Emergency Care Attendants, Thor
nal said. It takes 120 hours of training
to be an EMT and 24 hours of train
ing to be an EGA.
The College Station fire depart
ment provides that city’s emergency
medical service. The fire depart
ment will take an ambulance call
anywhere in the county, Bardell
said.
The city has three modular ambu
lances, the last just purchased a few
weeks ago for over $31,000.
The 30 College Station firemen at
tend the ambulances. All the fire
men are EMTs, Bardell said.
From 1974 to 1977 Brazos County
received federal assistance to im
prove its emergency medical serv
ices.
The BVDC administered the in
dependant grant from the Depart
ment of Health, Education, and
Welfare as part of assistance program
that included Brazos and six other
counties, Ellen Nelson said.
Nelson was the program director
of the BVDC’s emergency medical
services program for its final six
months.
The county and two cities each
bought a modular ambulance with
matching federal funds. One of these
is being used by Mid-Tex, and the
other two by College Station.
The funds were also used to buy
bought radio communications
equipment, emergency room
equipment for St. Joseph Hospital,
and to hold EMT classes. Nelson
said.
The grant period was intended to
last five years. Nelson said, but
the BVDC wasn’t able to justify it
adequately after the third year.
The problem was a lack of financial
participation by some communities,
she said.
“It wouldn’t be fair for the federal
government to spend money estab
lishing emergency medical services
unless the local communities were
going to support it,” Nelson said.
For instance, the seven counties
needed to provide their emergency
rooms with telemetry equipment (a
cardiac monitoring device) and a
physician 24 hours a day, she said.
Not one emergency room in the
seven-county region met those re
quirements, Nelson said.