The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 5 Monday, September 10, 1979 USPS 045 360
14 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
0.K
°U'RE sut
JUST
teachers’ walkout
egins fourth week
United Press International
IcLAHOMA CITY — Teachers enter
fourth week of their walkout today,
aring to fight a pennanent injunction
n g the school board from recognizing
(lining with the teachers’ union,
district court hearing is set for 9:30
at which attorneys for the American
-ration of Teachers say they will argue
inion did not order the strike.
ie school board has contended, with
(sanction, that state laws prohibit
ier strikes and that statutes prohibit
ah from recognizing or negotiating
bargaining agents for teachers who
walked off the job.
it
r), I thin!
defense, l
e things tin
aen theyi
The AFT, elected bargaining agent for
teachers, says the instructors voted to
strike and were not coerced or ordered to
do so.
Teachers have been on strike since Aug.
22 for higher wages. They demand a 12
percent increase but the school board has
offered 9 percent.
At the start of the walkout, about half
the district’s teachers refused to go to
work. But school officials Friday said 70
percent of the 2,300 teachers were back on
the job. The AFT contested the figures,
saying its counts show half the teachers
still are on strike.
Saturday, the strikers kicked off a peti
tion drive calling for a grand jury investi
gation into an alleged violation of the
state’s open meeting law by the school
board.
The teachers say they want an investiga
tion into an Aug. 17 telephone call in
which school board members were briefed
on the status of contract negotiations.
The AFT has turned over transcripts of
the conversation to District Attorney An
drew Coats and asked him to determine if
the conversation was illegal.
Both Superintendent Thomas Payzant
and School Board President Paul English
say the conversation was not illegal be
cause no votes were taken on any issues.
Counseling service helps
Indents deal with stress
>ath -iim Bv JACKIE FAIR
IS Will hkj Battalion Reporter
lellowJadi'sonly the second week of school,
eagoodjol r effort to get ahead has only put you
a< j^ ce > ^ ind, and flunking that lab cpiiz hasn’t
, ahead a ed relive your tension.
11 makeai i e |] U p xj le Personal Counseling
lostanylxK dee would like to help,
as a bette [any students at Texas A&M Univer-
Uabama, ] fi n( | that tension is often a byproduct
y re alwaj lecompetitive atmosphere here, coun-
hey aream r K err y Hope said.
ier - Inxiety, stress and depression are
gamesinv [setbacks for a lot of students,” Hope
Michigat “About 95 percent of the students
8 Purdue t 0 us have normal problems that
‘■rated Mi ]ff 0 ni this kind of tension.
Missowi be Personal Counseling Service does
ashingtont e than one-to-one counseling. Group
hio State ions are designed so five or six people
similar problems can relate to each
roup counseling has more productive
Its than personal counseling for people
se problems are similar,” Hope said,
ever, if someone prefers to have pri-
sessions, there are 10 counselors on
to help. The counselors also organize
your
group discussions.
Relaxation training, assertiveness train
ing, and career workshops offer a few var
iations in counseling methods. Sessions
have even been developed for men and
women returning to school.
“One-third of my counseling is marrital
or pre-marital,” Hope said. “The problem
with counseling married couples is that
Watermelongate?
they often wait too long to seek help. They
accumulate so much pain that they are be
yond saving the marriage.”
The Personal Counseling Service is
open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m in the basement of the YMCA
building, Room 017. Call 845-4427 to set
up an initial appointment. All information
is confidential.
Scandal sprouted
United Press International
HOPE, Ark. — Some southwest Arkan
sas residents think Ivan Bright was
cheated out of $10,000 for his world record
200-pound watermelon — weighed in
after the official deadline — and the mat
ter is causing an uproar in the home of the
Big Melon Festival.
But the controversial issue may yet de
velop into a reward for the watermelon
uo Happiness is.
but iVc ^. 0u 8 an s 4-pound catfish may not be the first he s ever caught,
Colletr a ‘ most Cer tainly the largest. Donny, 11, was one of at least 75
the i?’ ,? n ki ds to catch “keeper” catfish Saturday in a stocked pond
fliisTl, 5 P?‘ ce department has opened to fishermen 12 and younger,
look if . u k rs ^ys Focus, The Battalion’s weekly tabloid, will take a closer
whol Ps he Coll ege Station Police Department’s plan to use the pond as
° me re Creation for kids. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
grower.
First of all, residents complain the late
August deadline —- set to coincide with
Hope’s Big Melon Festival — was far too
early in the season for prize watermelons.
The last prizewinner — a 195-pounder
raised in 1935 — was not picked until
Sept., 20.
Then, too, there is some question about
the deadline. The Hope Advertising and
Tourism Commission offered the $10,000
reward and set the deadline for 5 p.m. on
Aug. '25. But when Bright inquired that
day about the reward, he said he was told
the deadline had been midnight Aug. 24.
At the time, his watermelon was gaining
about 2 pounds a day.
Alex Washburn, longtime editor and
publisher of the Hope Star, wrote that the
prize money was offered to “promote
Hope’s good name, not to defame it.” He
said the money “is going to be given or
we ll knock the tax prop out from under
the Hope Tourism Commission. ”
The editorial prompted a furious reply
from the commission members, who said
in a letter to the editor that Bright had
been aware of the rules and accepted
them.
Since then, residents have opened ac
counts at both Hope banks to solicit con
tributions to an award fund. And commis
sion members plan a special meeting to
discuss the controversy.
Wealthy Texans
showing off less,
magazine says
United Press International
NEW YORK — At least 125 individuals
and families in Texas qualify as super-rich,
but even braggart Texans are becoming
more modest about their wealth, accord
ing to Town and Country magazine.
“Super wealth in the super-American
state is finally reaching a kind of maturity,”
writes Dan Rottenberg in the September
issue of the magazine. “Texans . . . still
make most of their fortunes from oil and
land, but nowadays the land is as likely to
breed condominiums as cattle.
“And unlike their flamboyant forebear
ers, today’s Texas super-rich are positively
modest about their financial condition.
“A casual observer, noting the decline of
big oil strikes and big Rolls-Royces, might
conclude that hard times have come to the
Lone Star State, when, in fact, the soaring
price of oil and land has created more
Texas super-millionaires than ever be
fore.”
In what it called “an attempt ... to
separate the super-rich in Texas from the
merely rich,” the magazine published its
estimate of the 125 Texas individuals or
families it believes have a net worth of $30
million each or more.
The magazine listed the Hunt family of
Dallas, founded by the late H.L. Hunt, as
the state’s wealthiest family with an esti
mated worth between $600 million and $1
billion, mostly based on oil.
The second wealthiest was estimated to
be the Murchison family of Dallas,
founded by the late Clint Murchison Sr.,
with a $400 million to $600 million net
worth.
Helpless
Texas A&M quarterback Mike Mosley watches in dis- Young scored a touchdown and two point conversion
belief as Aggie place kicker David Hardy’s 51-yard field with less than a minute left. Brigham Young won, 18-17.
goal attempt sails wide left with four seconds left in the Related stories, pages 12 and 13.
game. The Aggies dominated the game until Brigham Battalion photo by Pat O’Malley
"Miss Lillian* shocks crowd
with Kennedy comment
United Press International
DOVER, N.H. — The president’s
mother, Mrs. Lillian Carter, has left parti
sans in all three Democratic presidential
camps in a state of shock with the state
ment she hopes “nothing happens” to Sen.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
Miss Lillian, California Gov. Edmund
Brown, Jr. and key draft-Kennedy leaders,
traveling separately, formed a Democratic
campaign caravan Sunday as they cut
across New Hampshire from one political
picnic to another.
A hush fell over more than 1,000 Demo
crats attending a chicken barbecue in
Nashua when the 81-year-old “Miss Lil
lian” spoke of Kennedy’s snowballing but
as-yet undeclared candidacy. <
Miss Lillian, sharing the podium witn
Brown and draft-Kennedy leader Dudley
Dudley, told the gathering she does not
expect Kennedy to run.
“If he does run, I wish him all the luck
in the world,” she said. “I hope to good
ness nothing happens to him. I really do.”
Her remark was first greeted with si
lence, then a smattering of boos from
Kennedy partisans at the gathering which
attracted about 200 reporters and photo
graphers from across the nation.
“I don’t know whether you are booing
me or him,” Miss Lillian said. “But don’t
you boo either one of us.”
Later at a picnic on the other side of the
state in Dover, Miss Lillian said she hoped
she hadn’t offended anyone with her re
mark about Kennedy.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. I certainly
did not mean it the way it sounded,” she
said.
But key Carter supporters in New
Hampshire were troubled.
“She really screwed it up,” one said.
“She has got to get her act together.”
The Kennedy camp also was taken
aback.
“I couldn’t believe she said that,” one
said. “It blew me right away.”
Earlier in the day, Miss Lillian arrived
at the Nashua picnic on the arm of Gov.
Hugh Gallen, Carter’s campaign chairman
in New Hampshire. Surrounded by Secret
Service agents, she hinted her son might
not be totally committed to running for
re-election.
“If Jimmy runs, he will win,” she said.
Later, in Washington, Carter told re
porters he is “not a candidate yet.”
Miss Lillian’s statement overshadowed
the much-publicized arrival of Brown.
The California governor was making his
first presidential campaign swing through
New Hampshire, home of the nation’s first
Democratic presidential primary.
Brown drew hearty applause from fol
lowers at both picnics by voicing his strong
opposition to nuclear power.
“I’m the only candidate to stand up to
the nuclear power plants and say ‘no,’”
Brown told the 300 or so Democrats who
showed for the Dover affair.
He said Americans are ready for a
change and he would wage an all-out,
coast-to-coast battle against Carter — and
Kennedy if he decides to jump in the race.
During her talk. Miss Lillian described
Brown as “a very courageous man” for dar
ing to challenge her son.
See related story, page 7
Former Disney animator
passing on his art to kids
United Press International
DALLAS — Tex Henson has had
long, meaningful relationships with
the likes of Bullwinkle the Moose,
Casper the Friendly Ghost, the
rabbit in the Trix cereal commer
cials and a string of characters in
Walt Disney’s animated works.
Those friendships occurred dur
ing what Henson considers the gol
den age of animation — when he
was among the best in his field and
working for Disney, Paramount and
other companies before coming
home to Dallas.
Now Henson, 55, says he has
“stepped away’’ from big-time
studio animation — although free
lance offers keep him busy — and is
teaching his trade at Dallas’ Arts
Magnet High School.
“I think there’s a lot of animation
work starting to stir around this
area, and I mean good animation,
not this stuff you see now on Satur
day mornings,” Henson said.
“I’m one of the old-timers in this
business, one of the few left stand
ing on my feet. And the thing is I
can get the chance to be a part of
this new work. I help them, show
them things that can only be learned
through years and years of experi
ence.”
Henson left Dallas at 19 to be
come an animator in Hollywood.
“I showed up on D-Day (June 6,
1944) and it became my own per
sonal D-Day. Disney Day,” he said.
In three years with Disney, Hen
son either helped create or worked
on most of its innovative, animated
films.
“I can look at a Donald Duck film
now and tell you who is drawing
Donald,” Henson said.