The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 28, 1979, Image 1

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The Battaoon
72 No. 106
pages
Wednesday, February 28, 1979
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Death penalty not
a capital idea?
Former Attorney General Ram
sey Clark told a group at Texas
A&M University Tuesday night that
the death penalty is chiefly imposed
by authoritarian governments, and
that they do it unfairly. See page 9.
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By ANDY WILLIAMS
| ’ Battalion Staff
Lher the extent of damage nor the
LfTuesday morning’s fire in the old
fd of Regents Quarters had been de
fined Tuesday afternoon,
twill probably be Wednesday before
an talk to some of the people we need
to,” said Harry Davis, fire marshall
College Station.
L building contained the two-
Ln apartment of former Chancellor
[jack K. Williams and his wife, Mar-
Both escaped uninjured.
It also housed the Texas A&M Univer
sity Press.
Robert H. Stiteler, safety and health of
ficer for Texas A&M, said Tuesday after
noon he wasn’t sure whether the house
was a total loss. “Right now it’s purely
speculation, but we think the fire possibly
started in the attic and was of an electrical
nature,” Stiteler said.
Howard Vestal, University vice presi
dent for student affairs, said Tuesday
morning, “That building is a total loss as
far as I can see.”
Davis said the fire started on the second
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By LEE ROY LESCHPER JR.
Battalion Staff
“At least I don’t have to worry about my housekeeping. ”
Surveying her charred and water-soaked home Tuesday morning, Mrs. Mar-
iret Williams couldn’t resist a little ironic humor. Former Chancellor Jack
Pams and his wife had narrowly escaped the fire that left their apartment on
pus in ruins early Tuesday.
Salvaging small items from the soggy apartment, the Williamses still had room
r moments of wry humor.
“You know they say people always take some of the strangest things with them
uringafire,” Mrs. Williams said. ”1 had to consciously stop myself from taking
lypillow with me.”
They had time to take almost nothing with them. The historic old building that
mce housed quarters for the University’s Board of Directors was already burning
iercely when University patrolman Michael Janecek kicked in their apartment
loorto awaken them.
"We sat outside in the car watching it burn and just told ourselves they re just
laterial things,”’ Mrs. Williams reflected.
Dr. Williams said, “We didn’t expect to salvage anything. About 3:30 it was
lurning like the Aggie Bonfire.
“But we ve still got each other,” he added quietly.
The downstairs apartment where he and his wife had lived since October re
ived heavy water and smoke damage, hut was almost untouched by flames. The
ond floor of the building was completely gutted by flames.
Carrying out a box overflowing with rescued cosmetics, Mrs. Williams pointed
lo a waterlogged embroidered pillow lying in the corner of their empty living
i.
made that myself,” she said with a mixture of humor and sadness.
University personnel who rushed to help move everything out of the apartment
ivecf most of their possessions, she said.
People from all over campus were carrying things out, Dr. Williams said.
Yarsons ^VnYvetsiVy dvrecAor of secwdty awl traffic.) was here all night.
Their possessions covered the sidewalk across the street from the hurned-out
kome, but Dr. Williams seemed to he taking it all with a marked degree of grace.
He went to bed after the fire was out, Mrs. Williams said. Watching her
husband walk outside to look through his displaced desk for a speech he 11 deliver
tonight, she maintained an air of dignity all her own. ,
Earlier in the morning her husband had told her she was ruining her clothes,
pointing to the water-soaked sweater in which she had been working.
I know,” she replied. “I decided that whatever I put on this morning would he
mined, but there’s no use worrying about that now.
We ll just let the insurance take care of it.’
Then she turned and went back into her soggy kitchen for another rescue
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floor in a room that was being repaneled.
An $80,000 renovation of the house was
under way.
It looked like an Aggie Bonfire while it
was going up,” Williams said.
I have no idea at all how much the loss
was. I do know that it could have been a
lot worse. The fire department and Uni
versity Police and all kinds of volunteers
helped move the furniture out. These
people went into the house while it was
still smoldering, and we are deeply in
their debt.”
Williams said he was particularly grate
ful to Michael Janecek, the University
policeman who woke him and his wife.
Janecek said he was patrolling with
Doug Rowe, his partner, about 2:45 a.m.
when he saw the flame coming from the
roof of the building. He and Bill Hall, a
College Station police officer, both called
the College Station Fire Department.
Janecek said he didn’t know if anyone
lived in the house, but he ran onto the
porch and banged on the door. No one an
swered.
“So I took the liberty of busting out the
glass in the west door and opening the
dead bolt,” Janecek said. He woke the
Williamses and took them outside.
Lt. Tim Fickey of the College Station
Fire Department said the attic and much
of the second floor had burned when his
crew arrived. He said the fire burned until
about 5 a.m., but the department still had
a unit at the scene Tuesday afternoon,
“making sure there are no hot spots.”
Three units were dispatched from Col
lege Station and two from the Bryan Fire
Department. Fickey guessed it had taken
about 15,000 gallons to extinguish the
blaze, but said, “that may be way low.”
Llovd Lyman, director of the Texas
A&M University press, could offer no es
timate of his operation’s loss.
“Most of the stuff that was really valu
able was in a vault in that building over
there,” he said Tuesday afternoon as he
stood in the mud lawn of the house. The
building he indicated was a garage adja
cent to the main house.
“We didn’t lose any manuscripts at all.
“Our big worry today was that we
wouldn’t get the rest of the stuff out before
it rained.
Lyman was among the people who car
ried objects out of the burning house.
Workmen spent Tuesday afternoon
loading furniture and other objects into a
moving van.
Bill Hill, head resident adviser of
Hotard Hall, said he was awakened about
3 a.m. by some of the men who live on his
floor. He said a good bit of smoke was
blowing in the windows of the dormitory.
“I walked out of the dorm onto the
sidewalk and saw the flames starting to
come up.” He said he went inside and
called the University emergency number.
When he got back outside the firemen
had arrived.
State budget hearing focuses
n raising Prairie View funds
By LIZ NEWLIN
Battalion Staff
fWoTIN — Prairie View A&M Univer-
Pad a starring role in the chambers of
e House of Representatives Tuesday.
II committee members seemed espe-
y concerned with the predominantly
black institution, and state representatives
not on the committee testified in favor of
giving the school more funds. So did two
students and one businessman.
Prairie View dominated the hearings on
the Texas A&M System’s budget requests
Tuesday afternoon.
11a Mar' 0
lon.-Stf
'he floor of the Texas House, Prairie View President A-I- Thomas
lS members that his campus needs at least $13 mil ion in an j
trs for repair and renovation. Rep. Wilhelmina e ro, ■
drman of the House Higher Education Committee, .s .
jund. The budge, hearings Tuesday were
^committee on Appropriative Matters.
The state’s two largest university sys
tems — Texas A&M and The University of
Texas — appeared before a subcommittee
of the Texas House of Representatives
committee on higher education.
Subcommittee members discussed
Prairie View for about 1 of the 2 1 A hours
that Texas A&M was before them.
The hearings Tuesday afternoon, which
detailed the systems’ pleas for more funds
than are currently recommended, lasted
about 3V2 hours.
The first indication that the hearing
would spotlight Pairie View was during
opening remarks by H.C. Bell, vice
chairman of the Texas A&M Board of Re
gents. After explaining System requests
for higher appropriations for salaries, re
novations and other items. Bell was ques
tioned about Prairie View’s library.
Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston and
chairman of the subcommittee, asked
about its funding and general lack of
adequate facilities.
Then Rep. Wilhelmina Delco,
D-Austin, questioned the regents’ method
in presenting the budget — letting each
institution “fend for itself’ by allowing
each institution’s executive speak. The
chancellor of The University of Texas Sys
tem had presented requests for his whole
system in an hour earlier that afternoon.
Delco said it was unclear who made
budget decisions at Texas A&M, the in-
sitution or the regents.
Regents should present one priority,
she said.
Rep. Wilson suggested:
“It seems the board would be interested
in presenting Prairie View as a priority this
session.”
Bell did not act on his suggestion, not
ing that comparison would show that the
institution has fared better since it joined
the System in 1958.
Bell was not planning to speak for the
System. By custom, board Chairman and
acting Chancellor Clyde Wells would have
(Please turn to page 3)
Former Texas A&M Chancellor Jack Williams and
his wife stand inside the door of the apartment
struck by fire Tuesday (above). The Williamses are
looking for a new home today. As soon as the fire
was under control. University personnel began car
rying furniture and belongings out of the house and
stacking them across the street from the smoldering
house (below). Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Carter asks for ration coupons
in anticipation of energy crisis
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter
has asked Congress for authority to order
coupon-type gasoline rationing and three
other mandatory conservation measures
for use in severe energy emergencies, the
Energy Department said Tuesday.
In addition to rationing of the kind last
used during World War II, Carter’s pro
posed standby measures to force fuel sav
ings include weekend service station clos
ings, temperature limits for public build
ings and a ban on non-essential advertising
lights and lighted store window displays.
Imposing all the steps short of rationing
would save more than 500,000 barrels of
oil a day, department analysts said.
Carter sent copies of his request to key
members of Congress Monday but de
layed public announcement of details until
Tuesday to assure that lawmakers got the
first word. Formal transmission of the re
quests was scheduled for March 1, the first
day both the House and Senate will be in
session.
Energy Secretary James Schlesinger
told the nation’s governors Tuesday the
Iranian oil shortage is not serious enough
to force the imposition of rationing but
may, by this summer, require some of the
less severe mandatory conservation propo
sals to be put into effect.
“These (mandatory) contingency plans
will be important elements of our capabil
ity to respond to serious petroleum supply
interruptions (such as a new oil embargo),’’
an Energy Department statement said.
The Iranian cutoff is costing the United
States 500,000 barrels a day, producing
shortages that Monday caused Atlantic
Richfield to join Phillips, Shell and several
other oil companies in curtailing gasoline
deliveries to service stations. Some air
lines have canceled flights, for lack of fuel.
Administration and congressional
sources said Carter approved four of the
five standby mandatory conservation mea
sures sent to him this weekend by the
Energy Department. Those four were:
—Coupon-type gasoline rationing, to be
used only as a last resort. The same
number of coupons, worth one gallon
each, would be issued monthly for each
vehicle registered in the United States.
The degree of rationing would depend on
the severity of the fuel shortage.
—Weekend gasoline station closings,
probably starting with closings on Sun
days. The purpose would be to discourage
pleasure driving on weekends, producing
estimated savings of about 280,000 barrels
of oil a day.
—Temperature limits for heating, cool
ing and hot water in public buildings. This
would produce the greatest fuel saving —
estimated at about 460,000 barrels a day.
Enforcement would be handled by local
police and building inspectors.
—A ban on unnecessary commercial ad
vertising lighting. Estimated savings from
this largely symbolic move would be about
40,000 barrels of oil daily.
The president vetoed a fifth proposed
stand-by measure — restrictions on the
number of parking spaces offered in
downtown commercial lots and by em
ployers including the government —
largely because of difficulties enforcing it,
sources said.
Parking permission granted, they say
Car towing angers apartment dwellers
,. „„ . „ „ hax/lno' crixion fonanti; n#>rmi««inn to to use Shf 1 said reason for the ehanve was
BY ROY BRAGG
Battalion §tafT
Several residents of the Scandia apart
ments, claiming they received permission
to park their cars in the office parking lot,
are complaining because their cars were
towed away last weekend at a cost of $45
apiece.
Dave Cunningham, one of several
Scandia residents who met with reporters
Monday, said his car was parked in the lot
for 15 minutes when it was towed away at
2 p.m. Sunday. He went inside his apart
ment to change clothes, and when he re
turned, he saw his car being taken away by
a wrecker.
The manager of the apartments, Cun
ningham said, had told him at the begin
ning of the fall semester it was all right to
park in the office lot on weekends and after
business hours.
But the manager, Maura Casey, denies
having given tenants permission to to use
the lot.
In addition, Casey said “no parking
signs have been in the lot since last fall.
The signs, also stating that unauthorized
vehicles would be towed away, were torn
down sometime Saturday night, she said.
The curbs, painted yellow last year, also
have “no parking” stenciled on them in
black paint, Casey added.
“Anyone who drives ought to know a
yellow curb means no parking,” Casey
said.
Another reason for the apparent
crackdown on residents was that Scandia
recently changed towing companies,
Casey said.
A-l Wrecker Service, the company that
does the towing for Texas A&M Univer
sity, had been towing for Scandia, Casey
said. She said D&H Towing Company had
been asked to take over because the situa
tion had gotten “out of hand. ”
She said the reason for the change was
that D&H makes daily rounds of parking
lots they serve in addition to answering
calls to remove cars. Previously, Casey
had to call the wreckers for a car to be
towed away.
Casey said that tenants parked in the
unauthorized areas in the past because the
office was usually empty on the weekends
and no one was there to report violators.
D&H, co-owned and operated by Sparkey
Hardee, was contacted by Casey about the
situation three weeks ago and began tow
ing cars at Scandia Friday.
“We decided to hit ’em hard for a few
days or so to show them that we mean
business,” Hardee said.
When towing a car without the owner’s
permission, Hardee said, D&H radios the
license plate number of the car and its de
scription to police to avoid any confusion
(Please turn to page 5.)