Battalion
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
Last day to q-drop classes
Today is the last day students may
drop classes with no penalty. A stu
dent’s record will show a “Q” for
classes dropped through today. Stu
dents who drop a class later will re
ceive an “F” unless unusual circum
stances exist.
GTE trying to fix
campus telephones
Saturday. For more on the game, see pages 12 and
13.
Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
By PAMELA RIMOLDI
Battalion Reporter
Officials say they are trying to solve
problems with Texas A&M University’s
telephone system, particularly the diffi
culty in dialing off campus numbers at
rush hours.
“You cannot get a phone call through to
off-campus until maybe the third or fourth
time you try dialing nine,” said Sonia
Jerez, a senior engineering technology
major. “At the beginning of the semester,
I would pick up the phone and it would be
completely dead.”
“We are aware of the problem and we
are working on it,” said Bill Erwin, divi
sion manager of General Telephone.
He said that for every 100 telephone
numbers there are 17 switches on which
phone calls come in and go out. If in a
group of 100 numbers there are many
heavy telephone users, they will have
trouble getting calls through.
A phone-traffic study completed by
GTE two weeks ago shows where the
heavy calling is. Adjustments are being
made to spread out heavy users among
light users, Erwin said. The phone com
pany continually makes these adjust
ments, he said.
At the beginning of the semester the
phone company does not know where the
heavy users are, Erwin said. So phone
problems are most acute then.
The phone company may also add
switches to the present system so there
would be more than 17 per 100 phones,
Erwin said.
The ratio of switches to telephones was
established when the campus phone sys
tem was installed in 1968; that number
was sufficient to meet demands then.
“We are evaluating our studies right
now to determine how many switches are
needed,” Erwin said. “If our plans indi
cate that we need additional switches,
they will be added. ”
If GTE decides to add switches, it
would take about 60 days to order equip
ment and install it.
The heaviest phone-usage period at
Texas A&M is between 8 p.m. and mid
night, Erwin said.
Another cause of the phone problem on
campus is the addition of two new dorms
and the addition of telephones to Legett
Hall, Erwin said.
He said the rapid growth of Texas A&M
naturally contributes to increased use of
the phone.
The phone company is now working
with the University on an entirely new
electronic telephone system which will
take two to five years to complete, he said,
Instead of taking traffic studies and re
wiring switches by hand, as is done now,
Erwin said the adjustment of heavy and
light telephone users will be done by
computer.
“By the addition of switches to the pres
ent system, I think service will be im
proved. But as far as the long term is con
cerned, the eletronic system is definitely
the way to go,” he said.
Eddie Davis, assistant vice president for
business with the University, said the
University began 18 months ago on plans
for the new electronic system. He says he
expects the system to be completed by fall
of 1981.
The University foresaw that the present
phone system was not going to meet future
needs, Davis said, and so a special com
munications committee was set up to de
termine what those future needs would
be.
Committee members report what kind
of phone service they want, such as push
button phones or phone lines which ring
directly to an individual office rather than
to a secretary first, Davis said.
After the kind of services the University
needs is determined, a cost estimate must
be made.
“At this time plans are so uncertain that
I cannot say how much it will cost, ” Davis
said.
Eugene Oates, residence hall safety and
maintenance supervisor, said it will cost
millions of dollars for a new system and a
proposal will have to be made to GTE.
The Board of Regents would have to ap
prove any plans.
Starting Wednesday, students having
specific problems with their phones can
call Debbie Pigg of the Student Govern
ment External Affairs Committee to make
a complaint. She will take complaints from
on-campus students straight to Erwin. The
number is 693-9446.
If the problem requires rearrangement
of switching loads or checking equipment
to make sure it is functioning properly, it
will be looked into, he said.
Next week the External Affairs Commit
tee will publish a list of what problems
students have with the phone company
and who they can talk to about the prob
lems.
ersonal feud touches off killing of president
United Press International
SEOUL, South Korea — The assassina-
ion of President Park Chung-hee by
south Korea’s CIA chief who feared dis
missal was touched off by a bitter personal
feud between him and Park’s chief body-
Iprd, a government report says.
An interim report Sunday by a martial
aw investigating team probing the Friday
night massacre said the director of the Ko
rean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim
Jae-kyu, premeditated the killings of Park,
the pfesident’s top bodyguard, Cha Ji-
chul, and four other presidential security
men.
Acting President Choi Kyuhah met with
key Cabinet members and top military
commanders for two hours this morning to
review the situation since the assassina
tion.
Government officials said today the top
U.S. military commander in the country
assured them his troops Will defend South
Korea in case of attack from North Korea.
At a scheduled Firday dinner meeting,
Kim and Cha got into a “vehement argu
ment” and Kim pulled a .38-caliber pistol
from his waistband and from close range,
shot two rounds at Park and Cha, the re
port said. Hearing the shots, three KCIA
men, two armed with revolvers and one
toting an M-16 rifle, stormed into the ad
jacent kitchen and killed two presidential
security men.
Two other KCIA men charged into a
waiting room and mowed down the other
two bodyguards.
The report spoke of the hatred between
Cha and Kim, each an adviser to Park. Cha
often intercepted Kim’s recommendations
and Park and Cha were disturbed by the
intelligence chiefs failure to control dissi
dents.
The president had reprimanded Kim
several times and “in view of a rumored
plan to reorganize key government posts,
Kim came to fear that he would be forced
to take responsibilty and would be dis
missed,” the report said.
Since the assassination, there has been a
virtual halt to all public politics in the
country ruled by the authoritarian Park for
18 years.
Park’s body lay in state at the presiden
tial mansion. National mourning has been
declared, culminating in the funeral serv
ices Saturday.
Under the constitution, a new election
must be held within 90 days.
ist says fingerprints verified Oswald’s identity
United Press International
NEW YORK — The pathologist who
lerformed the autopsy on presidential as
sassin Lee Harvey Oswald says he
documented the identity of the body
through fingerprints.
I And the chief counsel to the House
Select Committee on Assassinations said
fingerprints of the man arrested in Dallas
fallowing the fatal shooting of President
John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, per
fectly matched those of Oswald taken
when he joined the Marine Corps in 1956.
The counsel, Robert Blakey of Cornell
University, said speculation that the man
apprehended as Kennedy’s assassin was
not Oswald but a Russian impersonator is
an unfounded “sideshow” that casts doubt
on legitimate questions surrounding Ken
nedy’s death.
Earlier this month, Dallas County Med
ical Examiner Charles Petty requested
exhumation of the body in Oswald’s grave
to answer discrepancies reported between
Oswald’s military record and the autopsy
report compiled after the assassin’s mur
der by Jack Ruby.
But Dr. Earl Rose, who performed the
autopsy, offered possible explanations for
the reported discrepancies in an interview
with UPI. His explanations were sup
ported by other pathologists.
The discrepancies include differences in
height and weight between the autopsy
report and Oswald’s service record and the
lack of notation on the autopsy report of a
small mastoidectomy scar behind Oswald’s
left ear.
Rose, who now teaches at the Univer
sity of Iowa, said he documented the corp
se’s identity by taking its fingerprints. He
said he then concentrated on establishing
the path of the fatal bullet and whether
Oswald had suffered from police brutality.
“I took X-rays and I took fingerprints,”
he said. “I was primarily looking for in
juries and the bullet.”
Measurements of the length of a corpse
lying flat oij an autopsy table often differ
from height measurements taken before
death, Rose said.
“We did not weigh the body because we
did not have a proper scale. And measur
ing the body on the morgue table, we
could have had inaccuracies as well,” he
said.
This was supported by other
pathologists, including Dr. Michael Baden
of New York City, who was a consultant to
the House Select Committee.
About the mastoidectomy. Rose said,
“It’s possible I could have overlooked
some remote scar. A pathologist seldom
records every scar he sees if there’s been
other means of identification. ”
Mst week’s decision changed
iHotard to stay open next term
By CAROL HANCOCK
Battalion Reporter
lotard Hall residents may be feeling
s playing cards being shuffled in a deck,
flexas A&M University President Jarvis
Miller had given the Department of Stu
dent Affairs the go-ahead earlier last week
to close the dorm for the spring semester,
but residents were told Thursday that
raotard will stay open.
■Student affairs thought Hotard should
be closed because of inconveniences that
will be caused by construction of two
idorms nearby, said Ron Sasse, associate
Birector of student affairs. The possibility
wfhaving to move residents out for renova
tions was another factor, he said,
i Although no formal proposal to renovate
{lotard has been submitted to the Board of
bgents, the board has discussed the idea
tod has generally decided some sort of re
novations will be done.
Dr. John Koldus, vice president for stu
dent services, said the decision to keep the
dorm open came after Hotard residents
expressed concern about having to move
out.
“The students know about and under
stand all the inconveniences and still want
to remain in Hotard,” Koldus said.
With this in mind, Koldus, along with
Howard Vestal, vice president for business
services, and Ron Blatchley, director of
student affairs, decided any renovations
could be done during two consecutive
summers.
Some proposed exterior renovations,
roofing and water proofing can be done
during the spring semester with little in
convenience to the residents, Koldus said.
Proposed interior renovations — among
them new windows, showers, carpeting
and repainted rooms — can be done dur
ing the summer. Addition of air condition
ing will be put off until the following
summer, he said.
David Bergen, Hotard head resident,
said residents will have first priority to any
vacancies in other dorms if they choose to
move, as previously planned. They will
also have first priority if they want to move
back into Hotard after nearby construction
is completed in fall 1980.
Overall, the Hotard residents are will
ing to put up with the constructiona and
inconvenience, Bergen said. So far, he
said, he hasn’t had many requests for
transfers.
Every effort will be made to minimize
the inconveniences, Bergen said. Any
empty rooms facing north, away from con
struction, will be filled first or used for
study rooms, he said.
epuhlican heads for runoff
Louisiana governor s race
United Press International
Ej NEW ORLEANS — Rep. Dave Treen,
B-La., won Louisiana’s first open primary
election for governor and headed into an
Rjparent runoff with Lt. Gov. James
Bitzmorris, complete but unofficial re-
pirns showed Sunday.
B Public Service Commission Chairman
ijUmis Lambert, however, was not ready to
P)ncede the runoff spot against Treen and
JpEontinued campaigning pending an official
tabulation.
H The two top vote-getters will face each
other in a general election runoff Dec. 8.
The disputed runoff position could
cause a costly bloodletting for the Demo
crats.
“It is so close, we had a transition team
set up to move the campaign into the
runoff phase,” Lambert said, “and that
transition is in motion. ”
Lambert said the race was one “our an
cestors would be talking about. ”
“We have a team of lawyers working to
see we have a network of people present
when the machines are opened, ” he said.
“I’m willing to wager there will be changes
in the final results.”
Fitzmorris, who once lost a race for
mayor of New Orleans by 200, said he
could understand Lambert’s disappoint
ment. But he said a check and recheck of
the tabulations would not show any sub
stantial difference.
Treen, who led all polls on the race for
nearly a year, is considered the best Re
publican chance to win the Louisiana gov
ernor’s mansion since Henry Clay War-
moth did it in 1868.
Ride
Axi Aggie cowboy busts out of the chute atop a buck
ing bronc during the All-Aggie Rodeo this weekend
in Snook. The contest was open only to Texas A&M
em
University students and alumni. The rodeo will be
featured in Thursday’s Focus magazine supplement
to The Battalion. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.