The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 15, 1979, Image 1

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    The Battalion
played his ('anitfev
>rs might’ve fcjtov
that’ll happen it Vol. 72 No. 74 Monday, January 15, 1979 News Dept. 845-2611
' n s a lot at stj 16 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
id Ham.
HELD-up’ by
schedule?
Having a hard time figuring
out what those building abbrevi
ations on your class schedule
stand for? A quick phone call will
solve your problem.
The student locator has a list of
the abbreviations and the build-
ings they represent. The on-
campus number for the student
locater is 7, but dial 845-4741
off-campus.
Also, the office of Admissions
and Records, at 845-1031, can
help.
dly, though, hi
is assignment all,
enjoy himself as
end L.C. Oreetn
it was just likel,
1 hing lot playiti
laughed Greeiiw
were times
Battalion photos by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Bad night in Goodwin Hall
Water spewing from a broken hot water line flooded
three floors of Goodwin Hall Sunday night. The
building, one of the oldest on the Texas A&M Uni
versity campus, sustained water damage in most
oflices on the building’s north end. A similar broken
water line had flooded the south end of the building
two weeks ago. Parks & Recreation Department
students and professors, whose offices were flooded
by the water, worked from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. mopp
ing up the water and surveying the damage. Univer
sity maintenance officials had not determined a
cause for the broken line last night.
\e says she s still alive
lomputer ‘kills’ woman, checks
69
United Press International
:| BURLINGTON, Iowa — Christena
mth returned to life this week, several
ii! bnths after a Medicare computer “killed’
Ijjr and refused to change its mind.
f|i“It feels pretty good to be alive again,’
id the 79-year-old woman, who finally
iillpived a check Thursday to pay doctor
Sills due since May 1978.
® “At first I thought it was a joke,” Mrs.
S hith said. “But it went on and on and on
I f and then it was no joke. I owe the doc-
::| is nearly $500 and when Medicare stops
lying, so does Blue Cross. ”
One of the letters “to the estate of
Christena F. Smith” said Mrs. Smith’s son,
Richard, could collect $255 in death bene
fits if he sent his mother’s medical and fu
neral bills to Des Moines. The letter also
asked Smith to sign a statement that his
mother, who lives next door, was dead.
While Medicare and Blue Cross acted as
though Mrs. Smith was dead, she still re
ceived her Social Security checks.
And her dilemma persisted for months,
despite her efforts, and work by Rep. Jim
Leach, R-Iowa, to correct the problem.
“I’m surprised this thing has gone on so
long without being resolved,” said Bob
Watterson, director of community rela
tions for Blue Cross of Iowa. “We are going
to send her a check.”
Watterson, who said his firm has been
trying since July to straighten out Mrs.
Smith’s accounts, said the firm now will try
to get the computer corrected so Blue
Cross can be reimbursed.
A medical assistant for Mrs. Smith’s doc
tor said she was “disgusted” by the com
puter problem.
“You wonder how many old people there
are out there who this might have hap
pened to and they just sat back and were
afraid to say anything,” she said.
tjnlikely killer — molasses — remembered
ON
United Press International
| BOSTON — On Jan. 15, 1919, a tidal
| five of sweet, sticky death gushed through
| 'Ston’s North End leaving 21 dead, 150
ured and homes and businesses crushed
[ heath tons of brown, sugary syrup.
•Today is the 60th anniversary of The
I eat Boston Molasses Disaster, truly one
the most bizarre disasters ever to happen
||ywhere. In its day, news of the accident
| Imporarily made larger headlines than the
■ ris Peace Conference and the events in
. ’ yolution-torn Russia.
^roostonians working and shopping in the
Iw’s commercial waterfront area were
il jlying a rather warm afternoon for
' |puary when disaster struck at about 12:30
■un. Commercial Street and Atlantic Av-
I ue were busy with Model T cars and
! icks and horse drawn wagons were clat-
" nng over the cobblestones.
|j,Nearby, Boston patrolman Frank
IjCManus had just checked his pocket
l|i®h and was calling his precinct station
. * >m a signal box at base of Copps Hill.
jiNot far away from McManus stood the
’ -foot high, 90-foot wide cast iron tank of
J je Purity Distilling Co., a subsidiary of the
s S. Industrial Alcohol Co. Inside it was
dging 2.2 million gallons of gooey molas-
At the time molasses — used in making
rum — was as much a part of Boston as the
baked bean. The Boston waterfront was a
center of the molasses trade and ships by
the dozen moored on the waterfront.
There was no warning except for a rum
ble which shook a two-block area.
Suddenly the tank burst open, sending a
wave of molasses two stories high down
Commercial Street. The tidal wave of goo,
which weighed about 12 pounds per gallon,
was traveling at about 35 mile per hour as it
swept over and through everything in its
path.
Patrolman McManus, who was probably
the first eyewitness to the disaster,
screamed into his call box. “Send all availa
ble ambulances, all police, everybody!”
Like the ancient volcanic explosion of
Mt. Vesuvius in Pompeii, men, women,
children, horses, cars, trucks, stores and
homes became smothered in the
onslaught.
Eyewitnesses later testified they heard
machine-gun-like noises as the tank burst
its rivets. They said six children im
mediately were swallowed up. Six city
workers eating lunch at a public works
yards were drowned where they sat.
A fireman was killed as the wave swept
into the harbor and turned a fireboat into
splinters. One woman testified she
watched as men in horse-drawn carriages
tried to outrun the sticky wave.
At its most destructive moments the mo
lasses wave was 15 feet tall and 100-feet
wide and after it was finished it covered a
two-block area.
The force of the bursting tank created a
vacuum which sucked in pedestrians,
horses and automobiles. A section of the
towering tank crashed into nearby elevated
railway tracks leaving it twisted and dangl
ing. Only minutes before, a train had rum
bled past. Buildings were knocked off their
foundations and roads were impassable for
days.
The task of cleaning up and recovering
bodies lasted days and involved hundreds
of volunteers. Crews found a man and his
wagon embedded in a mountain of molas
ses. The driver and his horse were frozen
and preserved — as if time had stood still.
The cause of the disaster was debated for
years. Some said it was the work of anarch
ists or communists. It was the height of the
Red Scare era. The more logical theory is
the molasses had been fermenting and built
up an explosive force too much for the tank
to contain.
Ticket pickup
for basketball
different now
A new ticket distribution system for
Texas A&M University home basketball
games will go into effect this week, accord
ing to Wally Groff, assistant athletic direc
tor.
Texas A&M students who have pur
chased a season basketball pass must pick
up game tickets at the ticket office begin
ning on the workday immediately preced
ing the game. There will be a limited
number of tickets available for each game,
so tickets will be distributed on a first-come
basis. All general admission seats will be
available to students and will not be sold to
the general public unless students do not
pick up all their tickets.
For example, student tickets for the Ar
kansas game Wednesday can be picked up
by showing a season pass beginning Tues
day at 8 a.m. and on Wednesday until game
time or until all tickets have been distrib
uted.
When a home game is played on
Monday, students can begin picking up
their tickets on the preceding Friday.
Students may purchase a date ticket for
$1.50 at the time they pick up their own
tickets. Also, students will be allowed to
obtain tickets for other students as long as
they have a season pass for each ticket.
Those students who have not purchased
season passes can do so through Friday in
Room 113 of G. Rollie White.
The remaining home schedule for the
Aggies has them hosting Arkansas Wed
nesday at 7:30 p.m., Texas Tech Saturday
at 7:30 p.m., TCU Jan. 24 at 7 p.m., SMU
Jan. 31 at 7:30 p. m., Houston Feb. 3 at 2:40
p.m., Texas Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Rice
Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Reserved seat tickets are sold out for the
Arkansas and Texas Tech games, but a few
are available for other home games.
Briscoe names
2 new regents
AUSTIN — Gov. Dolph Briscoe Friday named Norman N. Moser of DeKalb and
Royce E. Wisenbaker of Tyler to the Texas A&M University System Board of
Regents and re-appointed Clyde H. Wells of Granbury and Dallas, who has served
as board chairman for the past 10 years.
Moser and Wisenbaker are both Texas A&M graduates and recipients of their
alma mater’s Distinguished Alumni Award, the institution’s highest honor. Wells is
a 1938 graduate of Texas A&M and a 1936 graduate of Tarleton State University,
which is also part of the Texas A&M University System.
Retiring from the nine-member board after one term are Richard A. Goodson of
Dallas and Mrs. Wilmer Smith of Wilson.
Wells was appointed to a fourth six-year term on the governing board for the
statewide teaching} research and public service institution. He was initially ap
pointed in 1961 by former Gov. Price Daniel and re-appointed by former Govs.
John Connally and Preston Smith. He has been elected by his colleagues to an
unprecedented five consecutive two-year terms as chairman of the board.
Wisenbaker, a 1939 agricultural engineering graduate, is senior partner in
Wisenbaker, Fix and Associates, a consulting engineering firm.
He received his Distinguished Alumni Award in 1973, is a past-president of the
Association of Former Students and the Aggie Club and was originator of the alumni
association’s Century Club.
Wisenbaker, 61, also was the architect of the University’s President Endowed
Scholarship program, contributing the first $25,000 to honor Earl Rudder, then
president of Texas A&M, and he has made three additional PES contributions.
In 1972, Wisenbaker was honored by the Texas Department of Mental Health
and Mental Retardation for “extraordinary contributions to public health.” He
served as the only non-medical directory of the department and also has served on a
special state commission studying waste disposal.
Moser, 65, is a 1937 agricultural administration graduate who received the
Distinguished Alumni Award in 1971. He currently serves as a director of Texas
A&M’s Center for Education and Research in Free Enterprise and has been active
in alumni affairs.
Moser is president of the State Bank of DeKalb, served as a director of the First
National Bank of Texarkana and is a director of the General Telephone Co., the
Texas Livestock Marketing Association, the Umnak Co. Inc. of Alaska and the
Nationan Finance Corp.
Moser initiated the screwworm eradication program for the Southwest when he
served as president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
While chairman of the National Livestock and Meat Board, he successfully com
bined its efforts with those of the Beef Council to make one organizations:
Dallas native Moser attended the University of Cincinnati and the North Texas
Agricultural College prior to enrolling at Texas A&M.
Tract©rcade begins today
on protest roll to capital
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Members of the
American Agriculture Movement plan to
begin their second parade of tractors from
the heartland of America into Washington
today to lobby for higher farm prices.
Members of the radical farm group,
which sprang up in Colorado fields in De
cember 1977 after wheat prices hit rockbot-
tom, predicted their lobbying effort would
C lements
takes oath
Tuesday
United Press International
AUSTIN — Thousands of Texans will
jam the Capitol Tuesday to see William
Perry Clements Jr. sworn in as Texas’
42nd governor and first Republican chief
executive in more than 100 years.
Ecstatic Republicans will begin celeb
rating a day ahead of time with a $125-a-
person victory reception and $25-a-plate
dinner Monday billed as a “Texas Heritage
Festival.”
The festivities will bring together at
least two Republican presidential aspirants
— former UN Ambassador George Bush
and ex-Gov. John Connally, who switched
to the GOP after serving as President Nix
on’s Treasury Secretary.
Democrats, hardly aglow at losing the
state’s top post to the GOP, will gather for
a “rump victory party” hosted by Lt. Gov.
William P. Hobby Jr.
Hobby, 46, will be sworn in for his
fourth term in the same ceremonies when
Clements, 61, will be inaugurated at noon
Tuesday on the south steps of the Capitol.
Chief Justice Joe R. Greenhill will ad
minister oaths to both men using a
sheepskin-bound Bible that dates back to
the days when Texas was a Republic.
The Dallas oil drilling contractor, who
wrote a new chapter in Texas history books
with his Nov. 7 victory, will alter the tra
ditional inauguration custom somewhat to
have his wife, Rita, hold the worn Bible.
Then Clements and his family will go to
the Governor’s Mansion for lunch after the
ceremony — the outgoing governor tra
ditionally leaves a meal prepared for his
successor.
Gov. Dolph Briscoe’s press secretary
said he is expected to leave the Capitol
before the inauguration and depart for a
European vacation.
Barbecue will be served in the Capitol
for the public.
Clements and Hobby, with their wives,
are scheduled to ride at the head of an
inaugural parade up Congress Avenue at
2:30 p.m. and make a round of joint ap
pearances at an ice cream party for chil
dren on the Capitol grounds at 4:30 p.m.,
a special symphony performance at the
Lyndon B. Johnson Library 5 p.m. and
five separate inaugural dances between
7:30 and midnight.
be less emotional and more sophisticated
than last year.
One farmer said they have learned more
“tricks of the trade,” such as the impor
tance of lining up support from the most
powerful senators and congressmen.
Already farmers from the West Coast
have gathered at seven points in mid
continent.
Tractorcades were to begin at sunrise,
marking the day Congress convenes, in
Amarillo, Abilene and Houston; Goodland,
Kan.; North Platte, Neb.; Mitchell, S.D.;
and Bismarck, N.D.
The tractorcades plan to reach the Wash
ington area the weekend of Feb. 2-4 and
enter the capital Feb. 5. Other farmers will
head to Washington by air, train, bus or
car.
Some agricultural leaders said the
movement has lost momentum and that
only the hard core of the movement would
converge on Washington. Prices of cattle,
wheat and cotton have increased substan
tially from last year, and might be enough
to keep some farmers at home.
However, movement leaders said farm
ers were still suffering financially and
would return.
Wheat and cotton prices are up in part
because of an emergency farm bill enacted
after thousands of farmers lobbied Con
gress last winter. Feed grains prices are up,
but are lower than wheat prices.
“They just tossed us a bone to keep us
happy, ” said Sam White, a grain and cattle
producer from Stratford, Texas. “We want
a piece of meat.”
White and other leaders declined to pre
dict how many farmers would return, but
White guessed anywhere from 50 to
50,000. About 2,000 protesters converged
on Washington last January for a four-day
rally.
The District of Columbia hotel industry
said thousands of farmers staying in hotels
made 1978 prosperous for industry. This
year, AAM leaders said, farmers will try to
cut costs by living in campers and cheaper
accommodations outside Washington.
The tenet of the movement has been that
farmers should receive prices high enough
to keep up with inflation in costs of living
and producing crops.
A familiar sight
The start of a semester brings some of the same old chores, such as moving
in. Bill Hall, right, and Bill Riley lent a helping hand Sunday afternoon to
Hall’s sister, a Mosher Hall resident. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
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