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The Battalion
Vol. 73 No. 27
10 Pages
Tuesday, October 9, 1979
College Station, Texas
US PS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
bngressman proposes
egulation of oil prices
pror
By MARCY BOYCE
Battalion Reporter
Blaming increasing energy costs for
esent double-digit inflation, U.S. Rep.
ib Eckhardt, D-Houston, Monday night
posed reinstating government control
of oil prices.
|Inan MSC Political Forum presentation,
Eckhardt said that energy prices alone
raised overall inflation 3.09 percentage
ints from March 1979 to April 1979. In
jmparison, during the July 1973-July 1974
Hriod, they contributed only .03 percent-
5agc points, he said.
H“And this inflation in the cost of oil trig
gers inflation in all other items,” he said.
■For example, he said, consumers are
forced to spend more on transportation. In
addition, housing — with the cost of heat
ing — now accounts for 38 percent of the
total budgetary dollar, up from 28 percent
in previous years, he said.
jAnd, Eckhardt said, these increases in-
Jnge upon spending in other areas such as
pthing, entertainment, medical care and
en food.
Previous attempts by the government to
counteract the impact of these energy costs
by increasing interest rates have only
Rep. Bob Eckhardt
provided additional fuel for inflation,
said.
he
“Energy and interest both press toward
greater inflation,” Eckhardt said.
It is easy to blame OPEC and the Arabs
for escalating energy costs, he said. But
from January to the present, Eckhardt said,
domestic policy, not foreign oil, has been
responsible for the 36 percent increase in
gasoline and the 50 percent increase in
middle distillates (home heating oil and
diesel fuel).
Oil imports in the first quarter of this
year actually increased over the first quar
ter of 1978, he said. But in November 1978,
domestic production fell considerably
below the normal dip for that period and it
didn’t recover as quickly in the spring.
Discounting the possiblity of a conspi
racy among the oil companies, Eckhardt
said the production decrease was probably
a result of their anticipation for higher
prices once Carter phased out oil controls.
Therefore, Eckhardt said, inflation could
partially be resolved by reinforcing price
controls, but then gradually phasing them
out. This, he said would permit an increase
in price, but not as rapid.
Classes
under
water
Engineering technology students, seemingly oblivious to the tons of water
above them, work in one of two temporary classrooms built under the
Texas A&M University water tower. Battalion photo by Lynn Blanco
By TODD HEDGEPETH
Battalion Reporter
Some students have found themselves
taking classes under two million gallons of
water at Texas A&M University this semes
ter.
Due to current renovation of the four
mechanical engineering shops, 27 sections
from four engineering technology classes
are being taught under the blue water
tower.
“The shops were built in 1921 and were
completely outdated,” department head
Everett E. Glazener said. “Renovation was
a necessity.”
Machine shop, woodworking and foun
dry equipment were moved to the new
location and temporary sheetrock walls
were built to provide two classrooms.
Glazener said the water tower was the
only space available with room enough for
all of the equipment.
The area beneath the tower had pre
viously been used for storage by the Physi
cal Plant Department.
When asked what it’s like to have class
underneath all that water, student David
Glass said, “Whenever we hear any noises
from men working outside we all slowly
look up to make sure it’s not coming from
above.”
The water tower isn’t the only new loca
tion for E.T. classes, though. Glazener said
that the Agricultural Engineering depart
ment has been helpful, allowing E.T. 106
classes (a metal forming and fabrication
course) to be located in the P&M Building
across the tracks.
Renovation on the shops began June 15
and construction is scheduled for comple
tion by next fall. Glazener, though, said
work was ahead of schedule and classes
might return to normal before then.
Close Friends
Chuck, a 6V6-foot boa constrictor, is thankful to his
owner, Richard Myers of Houston, for a chance to
get out of his traveling bag and stretch after a long
drive. They recently
College Station area.
were visiting the Bryan-
Battalion photo by Kathryn Williford
New commissioner says
public schools outdated
United Press International
SAN ANTONIO — Public schools need
to clean out a 50-year accumulation of out
dated, ineffective programs and concen
trate for the next five years on improving
students’ reading skills, the new state edu
cation commissioner declared Monday.
Alton O. Bowen indicated bilingual edu
cation may be among the ineffective pro
grams, although he said non-English in
struction should be continued until studies
are completed to determine its effective
ness.
Bryan Municipal Utilities District
d sports.»
) John
Stovall ^
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Council rejects MUD annexation
By SYLVIA FELLOWS
Battalion Reporter
The Bryan City Council rejected annexa
tion of the Municipal Utilities District by a
vote of 4-3 Monday night.
Councilmen Henry Seale, Joe Hanover,
Wayne Gibson and Peyton Waller voted
against the ordinance while Councilmen
Pies Turner, John Mobley and Mayor
Richard Smith voted for annexation.
The council chamber was packed with
spectators as 75 residents of the MUD at
tended the meeting, presenting new evi
dence in favor of annexation.
The MUD is the only utility district in
Brazos county. It was set up to provide
utilities for approximately 2,000 residents
in an unincorporated, 695-acre area west of
Bryan. The MUD pays for installation of
utilities and service through the sale of
bonds.
Presently, the MUD has a $2.3 million
bond debt. The city of Bryan would take
over this debt if it annexed the MUD.
Laurence Dillon, MUD resident, told
the council that the MUD has $500,000 in
escrow account money which the city
would acquire if the annexation passed.
The money, he said, could be used to help
pay off the debt the city would inherit
through annexation.
The discovery of the $500,000 came from
the latest MUD quarterly report, he
added.
Mayor Richard Smith said the $500,000
was important, and asked for a delay in the
vote over the annexation. The motion to
delay the vote failed.
Of the four other tracts being considered
for annexation, only one — an undeveloped
tract southeast of Bryan with no residents
— was approved.
In other action, the council also ap
proved the second and final reading of the
1979-80 budget by a vote of 4-3.
Councilmen Seale, Turner, Mobley and
Mayor Smith voted in favor of the budget
with councilmen Hanover, Waller and
Gibson voting against it.
The new budget totals $38 million — an
increase of $5 million over last year’s
budget.
The only change in the budget from the
first reading was an additional $11,000 for
funding of the Neal Day Care Center, a
child development center for 35 children
under age five.
Although the budget increase calls for
$11,000 to be given to the center, the actual
cost to the city will be $5,000 since $6,000
in building use fees will be returned to the
city by the Bryan school district, owners of
the building.
Gibson spoke out against the center. He
said he was against funding the center with
city money because it did not serve the city
as a whole.
Smith, speaking in favor of the center,
said he thought the program was part of the
community development program and
could be justified.
The head of the Texas Education
Agency, which oversees operation of public
schools across the state, said he supports
the back-to-basics movement as well as
new emphasis on realistic vocational train
ing, discipline in classrooms and local con
trol of schools.
“Just as war is too important to be left to
generals, education is too important to be
left to educators, Bowen told the annual
convention of the Texas Association of
School Administrators and Texas Associa
tion of School Boards.
Bowen, 63, urged school officials to lis
ten to demands from taxpayers and parents
for a return to basics in education and to act
decisively to “recreate the confidence of
the people we serve and justify the hope of
the children in our care. ”
“I’m suggesting that we concentrate all of
our resources — both human and monetary
for the next five years on reading,” Bowen
said.
The former Bryan school superintendent
who became head of the Texas Education
Agency on Sept. 1, minced no words in his
first major public speech.
“We have added on, incorporated into,
infused, and I sometimes think confused
just about every element of our public
school curriculum,” Bowen said. “Would
you believe that in the past 50 years, we
have not cut anything out of the cur
riculum.”
Bowen said a statewide curriculum study
will begin soon to make a realistic assess
ment of the desired elements of a basic
curriculum.
On one of Texas’ most controversial
school issues, Bowen said the value of
bilingual education is unclear.
“There is some evidence that bilingual
education facilitates the educational de
velopment of limited English-speaking
children. Other research indicates that it is
not the most efficient and expeditious
method,” Bowen said. “The jury is still out
on bilingual education.”
Bowen said for now educators should
adhere to state laws requiring bilingual
classes for young children with limited abil
ity to speak English, but said the programs
should be “transitional” and aimed at mov
ing children into the mainstream rather
than trying to preserve their home lan
guage or culture.
The education commissioner said too lit
tle recognition is given to vocational educa
tion students and called for improved train
ing to prepare students to earn a living.
“You and I know that no child can tread
the economic waters — much less swim
upstream in the mainstream —without the
training to make a dollar,” he said.
Bowen said educators need to involve
business and industry representatives
more deeply in planning for vocational pro
gram s.
“They may wonder why we are spending
$300 million a year to provide vocational
education to people in this state and indus
try still can’t find well-trained skilled em
ployees,” he said.
Bowen told school administrators there
is no place for violence in schools and called
for swift imposition of discipline.
“We should not allow our teachers to be
abused and the learning process to be dis
rupted by a few rowdies in the schools,” he
said. “We must have order.”
Bowen said federal education efforts are
uncoordinated, fragmented, unplanned
and aimed at social goals rather than im
proving teaching.
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Castro to visit U.N. ‘in the middle of this week’
United Press International
UNITED NATIONS — Cuba’s
ambassador to the United Nations
confirmed Monday that President
Fidel Castro will visit the United
States for the first time in 19 years to
address the U.N. General Assembly.
He will speak as chairman of the 93-
nation bloc of non-aligned nations.
“The Secretary General has been
informed by the Permanent Repre
sentative of Cuba to the United Na
tions that President Castro will visit
the United Nations headquarters
this week to address the General As
sembly,” U.N. spokesman Rudolf
Stajduhar said.
“We understand he will be coming
in the middle of the week, ” a State
Department spokesman said Sun
day. “But we don’t have a precise
date yet. I’m not sure if that has been
set by the Cubans.”
In Washington, earlier the State
Department said Castro will visit the
U. N. this week amid continuing ten
sion over the stationing of Soviet
troops in Cuba.
It will be Castro’s first trip to the
United Nations since his celebrated
1960 trip shook up security men and
angered U.S. diplomats. That also
was the General Assembly session at
which Soviet Prime Minister Nikita
Khrushchev banged a shoe on a table
during a debate.
The United States and Cuba have
maintained “special interests sec
tions” in Havana and Washington
under the flags of other countries
since Castro expropriated American
businesses in 1960 and diplomatic
ties were broken off.
Relations between the two nations
had warmed somewhat in recent
years, but took a turn for the worse
recently with the debate over Soviet
troops in Cuba.
The State Department said admin
istration officials do not plan to con
fer with the Cuban leader during this
week’s visit.
“There are no plans for a meeting
between him and any U.S. officials,”
the spokesman said. “As far as we re
concerned, he’s visiting the United
Nations — not the United States.”