Battalion
Friday, September 7, 1979
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
Weather
Clear to partly cloudy today. In the low 90s today
and low 70s this afternoon. Winds 10 to 15 miles
per hour today and 5 to 10 tonight with a 20%
chance of rain.
A&M game in Houston
means business loss here
By RICHARD OLIVER
Battalion Staff
Miami Beach has its Hurricane David,
South Padre Island has its oil spill and
Texas A&M University has its uncom
pleted Kyle Field.
For College Station merchants, an un
completed Kyle Field means lost business
as a football game originally scheduled to
be played here this weekend moves to
Houston.
Managers of several Bryan-College Sta
tion business establishments are con
cerned about the situation and express
hope that the stadium will be completed
soon.
Gary Ross, manager of Danver s Re
staurant, said his business is resorting to
selling 25-cent beer on Friday night before
and after Midnight Yell Practice to make
up for lost sales this weekend.
“Last year we did a heckuva business
doing this,” he said. “What we’re trying to
do is get back a little of the business we are
going to lose this weekend.”
Despite University assurances that Kyle
Field will lx? finished in time for the Uni
versity of Houston game on October 13,
Ross is skeptical.
“I’m not sure it’s going to open until
November or December,” he said. “It’s a
shame. You always want to have as much
business as possible. I’d really rather see
the people here in town, and not in other
places.
“Also, I’m sure the Ags and the football
team would rather have the game here,
too. I think the town is going to lose all the
way around. ”
Ralph Deitrich, manager of the Aggie-
land Inn, said the situation is unfortunate,
and his business will definitely feel the ef
fects of an out-of-town home game.
“It all adds up to the fact that instead of
a full house this weekend, we re going to
have a slow time,” he said. “Eighty to 85
percent of our business depends on the
University and its activities. Of course, a
business doesn’t live on five football games
a year, it lives on everything combined.
It’s definitely going to hurt us, though.
After all, a full house is a full house.”
Virginia Arnold, manager of the MSC
Hotel, echoed Deitrich s views.
“On home football weekends, we re full
occupancy,” she said. “Naturally, it will
hurt. It will affect us a great deal.
Joe Ruiz, manager of Ft. Shiloh Steak
House, said his sales would be about 50
percent of what they would have been had
the football game been in College Station.
“I’m very displeased,” he said. “We
count on five games a year, so this does
put a big hole in our business. I don’t think
it would hurt us as much as it would some
other people in this town, but usually a
home game doubles our normal business. ”
Don Aiken, manager of Ken Martin’s
Steak House, feels the situation will signif
icantly affect the entire Bryan-College Sta
tion economy.
“It will definitely put a big dent in the
whole economy,” he said. “As for us, it
could pull us down somewhere near 20 to
40 percent of our normal home football
weekend business.”
Aiken pointed out that once the stadium
is completed, however, the additional seat
capacity might compensate for this
weekend’s loss.
“I think it will bring in enough added
business to offset this,” he said. “It should
bring in a certain amount of added traffic. I
really don’t expect that one missed game
will have any big effect, but it will hurt a
little. ”
Gary Nolan, manager of the Last Na
tional Bank restaurant, said he believes
the added seat capacity at Kyle Field will
help the Bryan-College Station economy,
but that his establishment will not profit
too much.
“There’s only so much volume a re
staurant can do,” he said. “We can only
pack so many people in here on football
weekends, and once we hit the capacity,
that’s it. On home football weekends here,
we usually are filled to capacity anyway.
“I think it’ll help the economy of the
town, but not so much individual restaur
ants. But if it helps the economy, it’ll help
us, so that’s fine with me. ”
Nolan said his business usually makes
nearly $4,000 more than usual on home
football weekends, so he expects to lose
quite a bit.
“Our football weekends are usually
three to four times our normal business,”
he said. “There’s a lot of profit involved, so
naturally it hurts.”
Nolan, who has operated in College Sta
tion for five years, added that because of
increased restaurant competition in
Bryan-College Station, he believes the
businesses will feel the losses more se
verely.
Governor must consult council
Clements to lose ration power
el
ip
15
ck
Delayed construction on Texas A&M’s Kyle Field third deck seats will
at least one weekend invasion of football fans whom local merchants
welcome with open arms. College Station businessmen fear they’ll lose a
great deal of the business they were counting on if the stadium is not
ready by the present Oct. 13 deadline. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
United Press International
AUSTIN — If Gov. Bill Clements wants
to reinstitute an odd-even gasoline ration
ing plan during October, he may have to
convene a meeting of the Texas Energy
and Natural Resources Advisory Council
to get pennission.
)rug detectives to look
nto Kennedy’s mugging
That council Thursday balked at a pro-
posal that would have given Clements and
his top energy adviser, Ed Vetter, author
ity to implement emergency gasoline or
diesel allocation plans during October if an
emergency arose.
The proposal by Vetter also would have
required the concurrence of Lt. Gov.
William Hobby.
Vetter said the odd-eveh allocation plan
imposed by Clements in June, and ex
tended to 17 Texas counties before the end
of the summer, was authorized by Presi
dent Carter’s delegation to the governor of
emergency authority to deal with the fuel
shortage.
But the president’s power to grant gov
ernors such authority runs out Sept. 30
and may not be extended, Vetter said. He
asked the new Energy and Natural Re
sources Advisory Council, which was
created by the 1979 Legislature and given
authority to handle gasoline allocations, to
delegate the authority to the governor,
lieutenant governor and himself until the
panel can meet again in October.
Sen. Peyton McKnight, D-Tyler, led
the opposition to the move, contending
the allocation authority was given by the
Legislature to the Energy and Natural Re
sources Advisory Council and should not
be delegated to other officials.
“This council was charged with the re
sponsibility of giving its advice on any par
ticular energy plan. As a public official, I
don’t think I should delegate any authority
to anyone else,” McKnight said.
“This is absolutely no lack of confidence
in the governor, the lieutenant governor
or Mr. Vetter. I don’t want to give any
body a blank check. I think it is the duty of
the council to look at the plan before it
gives its approval.”
Both McKnight and Sen. Bill Meier,
D-Euless, suggested the council could be
convened in emergency session on short
notice in the unlikely event of a gasoline
shortage in October.
ap
19
"Oriiletl Press International
NEW YORK — Narcotics detectives
lursday were ordered to investigate the
iigging of David Kennedy, 24-year-old
n of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, in
seedy hotel in Harlem where police con-
rated 25 bags of heroin.
Deputy Inspector Peter Prezioso said
enarcotics officers are investigating “the
ili':y of a drug sale involving this
Report new
ahone number
To help avoid confusion and make sure
numbers are listed correctly, stu-
ents should notify Centrex of any changes
their phone numbers.
Changes need to be reported so that the
diversity information operator’s direc-
irycan be updated.
Forms for making the changes can be
Jttenfrom Dorothy Heine, chief Centrex
perator. She can be reached at 845-5171.
A police spokesman said Kennedy, who
was not hurt in the incident, reported he
was driving his BMW car in the vicinity of
116th Street and Eighth Avenue about
6:15 p.m. Wednesday when two pedest
rians signaled him from the sidewalk.
Police said Kennedy told them he pul
led the car over and approached the two,
who lured him into the lobby of the Shel
ton Plaza Hotel at 300 West 116th St.
Police said Kennedy told them that once
inside the hotel, a third man joined them
and “using physical force” stole $30 from
him.
Prezioso stopped short of linking Ken
nedy to a drug transaction.
“There were definitely drugs found on
the premises,” Prezioso said. “About 25
glassine envelopes (of heroin) were on the
landing. But you have to remember that
Kennedy is a victim in this case, and how
ever much exploring reporters want to do,
we don’t investigate victims.”
The New York Post reported that Ken
nedy admitted to police at the scene that
he was in the area to purchase drugs.
Police declined to comment on the report.
A police spokesman said “right now, as
far as we re concerned, he (Kennedy) is
just a victim of a crime, a complainant.”
A high police official said “all of the im
plications (for the incident being related to
a drug sale) are there, but I don’t know
that this took place. It’s a bad-rep hotel.
You can get any kind of stuff you want up
there.”
During the attack on Kennedy, a call
was placed from the hotel to the
emergency 911 number, and police ar
rived on the scene and arrested Sam As-
kins, 25, who they said appeared suspici
ous.
But when asked to identify the suspect
at the Eighth Avenue stationhouse, Ken
nedy could not and Askins was not
charged.
Askins was wanted on charges of grand
larceny and criminal possession of stolen
property.
The police spokesman said he did not
know why Kennedy followed the men into
the hotel lobby. He said Kennedy told
police he was “passing through” the area.
The three-story hotel has 41 rooms. A
single room rents for $7.50 for 12 hours
and a double for $15.
Muhammad Ali to speak here
on world peace Sept. 25
By TODD HEDGEPETH
Battalion Reporter
Former heavyweight champion
Muhammad Ali will speak at G. Rollie
White Coliseum Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.
The MSC Great Issues and Black
Awareness Committees are co-sponsoring
Ali’s visit, and tickets will go on sale Tues
day at Rudder Box Office, Great Issues
chairman Dan Ayre said. Prices are $2 for
Texas A&M University students and $2.50
for non-students.
Ali, who is the only boxer to win the
heavyweight title three times, will speak
on “Future World Peace. ”
Ali, formerly Cassius Clay, won the
light-heavyweight gold medal at the 1960
Olympic Games in Rome and in 1964, at
age 22, he captured the heavyweight
championship by stopping champion
Sonny Liston on a seventh-round TKO.
Immediately after the fight, he changed
his name to Muhammad Ali and an
nounced that he was a member of the
then-feared Black Muslims.
Ali was stripped of his title in 1967 when
he refused to be inducted into the Army,
claiming his religious beliefs prohibited
him from going to war.
In late 1970, after 3V2 years of inactivity.
Ali was allowed to fight again. He won two
bouts before dropping a 15-round decision
to new champion Joe Frazier on March 7,
1971.
Ali started the comeback trail and finally
regained the title in October 1974 when
he knocked out George Foreman in the
eighth round in Kinshasa, Zaire. ,
In March 1978, at age 36, Ali was upset
by young Leon Spinks in a 15-round split
decision. In a rematch later that year, Ali
became the only man in boxing history to
win the crown three times by winning a
15-round decision over Spinks.
Artifacts sold to ‘right people
United Press International
LA COSTA, Calif. — Just because you
five the $70,000 asking price for one of
three original, signed copies of the
iBianeipation Proclamation doesn’t mean
<eon Becker will wrap it to go.
Becker, one of the world’s premier
ealers of historical memorabilia, is fussy
)outplacing the better items from his col
ection in the proper home.
Tm not going to sell to anyone just be-
ause they can walk in and pay for some-
jiing. I interview everyone before selling
man item and ask them why they want
says Becker.
Six years ago Becker chose to turn his
»bby, called philography, into a vocation
nd he converted the items he’d collected
vera lifetime into the inventory of a store
* called Memorabilia Ltd. He calls him-
clf a “custodian of history. ”
On display in the museum-like estab-
jshment, located in the posh north San
;o County community of La Costa,
., are more than 300 genuine articles
jd with fame, including historical
locuments, letters, pictures and signa-
ures of pre-eminent figures throughout
vorld history.
The pieces, collectively called “histori-
al art,” touch on the lives and times of
residents, statesmen, royalty,
entertainers and scientists.
Becker treats the collection with rever-
nce befitting its subjects’ accom-
lishments.
“I’ll only sell certain pieces to certain
people who can appreciate and provide
the proper environment the personality
could have flourished in,” Becker said. “I
want Frank Lloyd Wright to go to an ar
chitect and theatrical folk should go to a
great artist.”
“Obviously, I don’t give a damn about
the smaller pieces,” Becker added. “But
say a (President Thomas) Jefferson letter, I
have to know why they want it before I’ll
put it in their hands. I don’t want them to
just buy it as an investment.”
Becker began collecting memorabilia in
1934 after he graduated from college and
spent a summer in the Princeton, N.J.,
home of Albert Einstein.
Einstein had spoken at Becker’s com
mencement and extended an invitation to
Becker, the class valedictorian, to visit at
his home.
Becker gathered signatures and
memorabilia from the notables who passed
through Einstein’s residence as a way of
remembering his stay, he said.
Becker now employs agents in eight
foreign countries and regularly attends au
ctions throughout the world to bid on
pieces of interest to hira.
His extensive collection includes the
famed statement “Ask not what your coun
try can do for you, but what you can do for
your country, ” written by hand by Presi
dent John F. Kennedy on White House
stationery. Its price is $35,000.
The most expensive piece, which is not
displayed but hidden away in a safe, is the
copy of the Emancipation Proclaimation
signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It is
one of three original copies signed by Lin
coln. The document costs $70,000.
“I outbid the Smithsonian Institution on
that,” Becker beamed. He concedes,
however, his collection inevitably will be
passed on to such institutions.
“You really can’t own these historical ar
tifacts. I’m lucky to have them in my pos
session for a time, and I take my role as
custodian very seriously,” Becker said.
“But inevitably they belong in the public
domain were everyone can see them.”
Fall enrollment
exceeds 31,000
for all-time high
First-day enrollment for the fall semes
ter at Texas A&M University surpassed
31,000, easily eclipsing the record 30,255
official registration last year.
Registrar Robert A. Lacey said students
may continue to enroll through Friday.
Texas A&M’s official fall enrollment will
not be determined until the close of
classes Sept. 18, the twelfth class day,
which Lacey explained is the prescribed
reporting period for the Coordinating
Board, Texas College and University Sys
tem.
Radical treatment
Rhett Everett (right) and drag racing partner Paul
Funderburg decided they needed something ex
traordinary to match the ’67 Camaro dragster they
nicknamed “Radical Treatment.” So the Texas
A&M University engineering students, both from
Brazosport, adopted their “radical” Mohawk hair
cuts.
Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.