ATTALION
Serving the Texas A&M University community
'pH .l V( ji. 74 No. 52
[ } m[ H ft Paript?
id a 12 J 8Pa 9 es
'Ped Dais |
°W there, si:
Tuesday, November 11, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Yesterday
Today
High
78
High
....78
Low
59
Low
.... 55
Rain
. 0.00 inches
Chance of rain . . .
... 0%
"in,
ie ofthebesl!
tate survey taken at time
cutting back, aide says
United Press International
ALLAS — A legislative aide says an unreleased sur-
| in which nearly two-thirds of the state’s employees
they could handle more work was conducted at about
time Gov. Bill Clements was discussing his plans to
state expenses.
People wanted to keep their jobs,” said Kevin
:eran. “They didn’t want to take any chances about
jing their jobs. ”
,e 155-question survey was administered last March
onian anonymous basis to employees of 14 separate state
mcies, said Sheeran, an aide to Rep. Mary Jane Bode,
JUustin, who chaired the House Select Committee on
‘Employee Productivity.
The survey, to be released soon, showed 64 percent of
the 1,341 state workers surveyed felt they could perform
additional work if given the opportunity.
Twenty-four percent of those surveyed felt they could
not perform additional work and 12 percent declined to
answer the question.
Bode, who was elected to the House in a special elec
tion in 1977 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation
of Sarah Weddington, was defeated in her bid for re-
election last week by Terral Smith. She was out of the
country Monday and unavailable for comment on the
survey.
Sheeran said in a telephone interview the survey con
sisted of questions designed to elicit information about
state employees’ attitudes toward promotional opportuni
ties, evaluations, training and organization.
He said the committee was charged by House Speaker
Bill Clayton to “study the laws and policies of the state and
its agencies that affect the training, education, hiring,
classification, performance and promotion of employees
to determine where changes can be made to improve
employee effectiveness and productivity.”
The survey showed 22.6 percent of the participants
were in a technical field, 23.8 were secretarial-clerical,
21.3 percent administrative, 3.2 percent social service,
5.1 percent health service, 10 percent laborers and 13.9
percent other.
omeDems ready for Reagan budget
United Press International
WASHINGTON — With the lame-duck
ith Congress preparing for its final days,
ne Democrats are ready to let Ronald
agan try his hand at cutting government
tnding — now that a $38 billion budget
licit is in sight.
Some think he can do it and ought to;
|ers want to hold him to his campaign
[imises and are betting he will fail.
With 17 members of the Senate and
i)res more in the House facing voluntary
nelectoral retirement in January, Con-
ess reconvenes Wednesday to finish the
isiness set aside when it went home for
mpaigning in October.
Republicans will be calling for an im
mediate tax cut, but Democratic leaders
prefer to let them wait until January, when
the GOP will be in control of the Senate, to
pass their own and take the credit or con
sequences for it.
Congress must complete work on the
federal budget for the year that began Oct.
1 and pass 10 pending appropriations bills.
House Budget Committee staff mem
bers predicted Monday the final draft of its
panel’s work would result in a $38 billion
deficit.
Under the staffs new projection, the
$613 billion “balanced budget” passed by
Veterans Day today
Area banks and post offices will be
closed today in observance of Veterans
Day. There will also be no home deliv
ery of mail.
Formerly called Armistice Day,
Veterans Day is the anniversary of the
armistice that ended World War I in
1918. The federal legal holiday,
observed on the fourth Monday in Octo
ber during the mid 1970s, returned to
Nov. 11 in 1978.
All city offices in Bryan and College
Station will conduct business as usual
today.
Congress in June would balloon to $648
billion because of faster-than-expected
spending by agencies, new programs
enacted by the House and inflation. They
also projected a tax cut resulting in $5.4
billion less in revenues partially offset by
more than $2 billion in new taxes.
Rep. Robert Giaimo, D-Conn., the
Budget Committee chairman who is retir
ing, said a $38 billion deficit was “clearly
unacceptable.”
Giaimo proposed bringing the deficit
down to $25 billion with a 2 percent across-
the-board spending cut, which Reagan has
said he wants.
“He thinks he can cut 2 percent and I’ll
go along with it,” Giaimo said.
Asked if he was putting Reagan in a tight
spot by readily accepting a 2 percent cut,
Giaimo said, “I’m not interested in calling
the president’s (Reagan’s) bluff. I’m in
terested in helping him get control over
spending. ”
Staff sources indicated, however, liberal
Democrats want to force upon Reagan his
own promises, which they believe he can
not keep.
“If there’s waste and fraud there, there’s
no reason we can’t get at it,” said Rep. Leon
Panetta, D-Calif. He said he might propose
an across-the-board cut larger than 2 per
cent because Reagan advisers say it will be
so easy to trim waste.
'r—; :— ""^r'
■NMMMMBMHHIIMMNIMi
-A - ^IS' tv
9
c
mm.. jUsL Wmm \
■■I Jr
MMiMl
m
® tew 4
^1|f ^ ^§t
Staff photo by Pat O’Malley
The great escape
Rick Hansen, a senior from Houston, is evacuated by College Station Fire
Department paramedics from the 11th floor of Rudder Tower during a
fire Monday. According to CSFD Capt. David Giordano, an overheated
motor in the Basement of the Memorial Student Center was to blame for
the fire. Parts of the MSC were evacuated as smoke from units of the
electrical system was sent through the vents. Three CSFD units re
sponded to the call.
New economy report out
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Two new government reports show higher
prices and interest rates are keeping post-recession recovery
farther around the comer, but a drop in oil imports holds out the
promise of lower gasoline prices next year.
In reports issued Monday:
— The Commerce Department said retail sales at the nation’s
stores fell slightly last month, after rising for four consecutive
months.
— The same department reported sales of new single-family
houses fell 13.8 percent in September, as a result of high interest
rates that resumed their upward climb in July.
— The Energy Department said U.S. imports of crude oil and
petroleum products fell 31.8 percent in the first 10 months of this
year below comparable 1979 levels.
The retail sales and housing figures are graphic examples of the
slow and weak economic recovery, and possibly stagnation, that
most economists predicted would follow the recession.
In a preliminary report, the Commerce Department said retail
sales fell a marginal 0.1 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted
$79.9 billion, after rising 1.5 percent in September. Retail sales
were 5.7 percent above year-ago levels.
Most of the decline was due to a drop in auto sales, which fell 2.1
percent in October to a seasonally adjusted $14.4 billion, down
from September’s $14.7 billion.
Excluding car sales, total retail sales rose 0.3 percent, the
department said.
Student dies
in Sunday
car accident
A Texas A&M University student died in
a car accident early Sunday morning.
Randolph Mason Dilworth, 21, a senior
agriculture economics major from Tilden,
died in a one-car roll-over in Tilden. Fun
eral services were scheduled Monday in
Pleasanton. Burial was scheduled for the
Tilden Cemetery.
Silver Taps for Dilworth will be held
Dec. 2.
eason for campus blackout a mystery to officials
ID
G
By DEBBIE NELSON
Battalion Staff
even minutes into noon classes Monday, power blacked out on
ipus. It was a good excuse for students to skip class, and a
stery to physical plant officials.
We probably never will know exactly how it happened. We ll
bw what happened, but we won’t know why,” said Joe Estill,
ector of the Texas A&M University physical plant.
Today, all power is operating again. No similar blackout has
urred before.
'ower was restored to most of the campus by 1 p.m., but parts
the West campus and scattered other areas remained without
Ower.
Allpowerwas restored by 7:30p.m. Monday, Estill said, butair
onditioning units were not restarted until at least 5 a.m. today.
The power outage occurred when voltage arced between two
four-inch copper buss bars, which opened the circuits and shut
down all power, Estill said. Power does not normally jump be
tween the bars.
Estill said some power was going to all areas of the campus, but
one or two circuits were still down at 5:30 p.m.
“When this thing went down, you don’t just punch a button and
bring it all up again. You bring one thing onto the line, stabilize it,
and then bring another thing onto the line,” Estill said.
Jeff Alford, associate director of public information, said even
the tie with Brazos Electric was cut off, leaving the campus with
no electricity.
Early reports said all power outages would be corrected by 4:30
p.m. But Rudder Tower, the Commons and the Oceanography
and Meteorology Building and parts or West campus were still
blacked out at that time.
At 4:30, a physical plant spokesman said, “We re just trying to
get this thing back in operation over here.”
The Corps dorms and the Commons regained power by 4:45
p.m. Monday.
Although Kleberg Center and the Soil and Crop Sciences
Building had power by 2:45 p. m., the School of Veterinary Medi
cine remained without power.
Problems cropped up when the power was off.
Several people were trapped in the Rudder Tower elevator for
30 minutes, said Aria Gammon, information center coordinator in
Rudder Tower.
But job interviews continued in the tower, Gammon said, with
students walking up ten flights to the Placement Office to keep
their appointments.
When the power dropped, fire alarms were activated in several
campus buildings, including the Sterling C. Evans Library, which
was evacuated, Alford said.
College Station firemen assisted a student in a wheelchair who
was trapped on the eleventh floor of Rudder Tower, Captain Dave
Giordano said. Rick Hansen, a senior from Houston, had gone to
the Tower Dining Room for lunch.
When the power went out, the fire department evacuated
Hansen since it was not known how long the electrically-operated
elevators would be out of service.
The fire department was at the Memorial Student Center,
responding to a call from a minor electrical fire which sent smoke
through the air-conditioning system, Giordano said.
Russ McDonald, University Police chief, said, “We haven’t had
any problems at all.”
PED
Xp.
jl colof
Food problems
met with ease
By BERNIE FETTE and PHYLLIS HENDERSON
m only,
roll per
es
10’
Battalion Staff
While the biggest inconvience experienced by some students
curing yesterday’s power outage was having to do without their
TVs and stereos for a while, campus dining facilities had problems
of their own to worry about.
2(| ; But the problems at the dining halls were handled with moder-
0 ate ease, Director of Food Services Fred Dollar said.
; “Bystraining, we thinkwe did an adequate job,” Dollar said. In
larder to cope with the lack of power, the preparation methods for
iome of the foods had to be changed. However, the power came
lack on in time to avoid any big problems at Sbisa Dining Hall, he
said.
j: Besides not having power to prepare food, the power outage
Iso prevented the use of soft drink machines and ice cream
iachines in the dining halls.
Monday the Corps of Cadets ate supper before dark at the
equest of Food Services, Dollar said, and other students who
brmally eat in Duncan were asked to eat their evening meal at
1 sbisa. Students who usually eat at the Commons were also asked
Ip eat at Sbisa.
j There were some minor problems at Duncan, but “nothing to
peak of,” Duncan Manager Carl Tatum said.
“You always have minor problems with a power outage, but
ve’re still serving a hot meal,” he said Monday afternoon.
The A.P. Beutel Health Center reported only a momentary
ower outage, and the Remote Computing Center was shut down
bring the blackout.
A spokesman for the health center said the emergency gener-
itor was activated immediately when the power went out and the
ghts were out only momentarily. The lights in the center’s
dministrative offices remained out, however.
No injuries due to the blackout had been reported, and there
m no serious backlog of cases, a spokesman said.
Staff photo by Pat O’Malley
Even with no lights, cashier Linda Forson kept working The only illumination for her booth was a candle on the
in the Fiscal Office in Rudder Tower Monday afternoon. counter in front of her.
Zachry 'soars'
with no lights
By LAURA CORTEZ
Battalion Reporter
Where were you when the lights went out?
If you happened to be in Zachry Engineering Center, you were
in the middle of an air show extravaganza.
It all started shortly after the clocks stopped at 12:07 p.m.
Monday. A student launched a small paper glider from the third
floor, and within minutes, a barrage of paper flying objects filled
the air.
While secretaries sat idly at their electric typewriters in dar
kened offices, professors and students swarmed to the lobby and
second and third floor railings to observe or participate in the
show.
Two electrical engineering graduate students were the center
of attention with their variations of the circular glider (or “flying
hole"), a design they claimed to have borrowed from some aeros
pace engineering students.
It wasn’t long before more people got into the act, launching
everything from traditional paper airplanes to giant versions of the
flying hole.
The successful flights were met with whoops and applause from
spectators, while the failures were subjected to hisses, and some
times even hysterical laughter.
As more classes were dismissed early because of darkness, the
number of spectators grew, and it wasn’t long before a scoring
section was formed. Its members, located on the third floor, held
up signs rating the flights on a scale of 1 to 10.
The air show continued to be a success until about 1:15 p.m.,
when the activity was rudely interrupted by a sudden flash of light
and the hum of the air conditioning system.
As students reluctantly returned to their academic routine, the
lobby looked like a deserted battlefield — hundreds of paper
flying vessels lay motionless on the floor.
And what had minutes before been a spectacular air show arena
reverted to a simple lobby.
What did you do when the lights went out?