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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1981)
2) and ; >'s Scott L Mark '8 er defensjj year kyi zin 8 up liis| f The Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Vol. 74 No. 113 10 Pages Monday, March 9, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather -i Today Tomorrow High .... 65 High ... .67 Low 43 Low ....46 , Chance of rain . . none Chance of rain. . none WOR EASt i5 I.L 631 ^ CASSETTE .y*79" Liability bill debate awaited United Press International AUSTIN — Sen. Bill Meier, D-Euless, ias given notice to Senate colleagues to prepared to debate a controverial roducts liability bill that would efifec- . . Jively bar suits against the manufactur- umiu) , s of cancer-causing drugs and other -products with long-term harmful ffects. J.I.L. MFM 8-TRAft UST $ 89 5i iwahs STER/EQZ y $ 95 m \R Meier, whose product liability legis lation two years ago triggered a series of Senate filibusters, said he will bring up he bill any time he is assured of the lecessary two-thirds majority vote — 21 'otes if all 31 senators are present. He included the proposal on the Sen- ite’s “intent calendar” last week, and is eaving it on the agenda for this week so upporters and opponents will know he nay bring it up. “I’m still trying to be sure we have the vo-thirds vote. I think we’re real close o having that amount,” Meier said. “I’m counting noses every day to be lure we have the right quorum present. !\Ve have 20 or 21 votes in support of the Jill, and one of two of those are suggest- ig amendments and we re looking at em,” Meier said. Asked if he is willing to accept changes to the bill in a swap for addition al votes, the senator replied, “I’m will ing to look at any amendments people have. I don’t profess to have a lock on the right way to do this, particularly when I don’t have the votes.” Meier’s bill would require product liability suits be filed within two years of the date of any injury resulting from a defective or harmful product, or within five years of the date the product is pur chased. That would eliminate suits filed as a result of cancer or other longterm harmful effects. It also would exclude evidence at pro duct liability trials of any changes or advances in technology made after the product involved in the suit was manu factured. Sen. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, has been the leading opponent of Meier’s proposals to take away some of consum ers’ advantages in products liability cases. Meier said the dean of the Senate, Sen. Chet Brooks, D-Pasadena, is one of the senators still undecided on whether to support or oppose the bill, and may seek some amendments in ex change for his support. fficials see ‘no end’ to C. S. building growth By PHYLLIS HENDERSON Battalion Reporter The number of apartments in the Bryan- ollege Station area is increasing at a tremen- lous pace, and officials don’t see an end in sight. Since 1976, 5,940 living units, in the form of iuplexes, fourplexes or apartments, have been built in the area. College Station, with 4,005 of these units, accounts for 67.4 percent of the icrease. “It’s definitely a boom,” Coy Perry, a College Station building official, said. “We just keep owing.” Bruce Bramlett, with Summitt Properties, agreed. “I don’t think there’s any question that lere’s been a boom, ” he said. “According to our jesearch, there are 2,700 units under construc- ion now.” Perry said he expects the growth to continue over the next few years. In 1980, he said, 940 units were added, more than doubling the 1979 figure of 390. “I imagine this year we’ll double last year,” he said. The growth of Texas A&M University and the influx of new industries in the area are the major causes of the increased numbers of apartments, D.R. Cain, a College Station developer, said. “I think A&M is going to continue to grow,” Cain said. Industry’ will also continue to grow in the area, he said, because it is a spin-off of the growth of the University. These factors will cause the number of apartments to continue to increase over the next ten years, he said. Jan Winniford, student development special ist in the off-campus housing office, said apart ment growth should continue increasing steadi ly. “With increasing enrollments,” she said, “I think you would assume Bryan-College Station would continue growing.” The major problem that may occur with this increasing development is surpassing the mar ket, Bramlett said. “We don’t think the market is overbuilt now,” he said, “but that is something everyone must look out for.” Developers and officials are not in agreement on where this development-will take place. “South College Station will be the major growth area,” Cain said, “because of the land availability and the desirability of the area.” Marielene Farrar, with A&M Apartment Placement Service, agreed that south College Station has the greatest growth potential. Bramlett disagreed. “The areas around malls and the western regions will experience the most growth,” he said. Students are going to realize south College Station is farther from the Univer sity than Bryan, he said, and this will limit its growth. Students have been forced to the outskirts of the city in recent years because of the increasing labor force, Bramlett said. However, he said, now there is going to be a “polarization of work ing people away from areas of student-based housing.” _ Although the supply of apartments is meeting the demand now, Winniford said, in the fall there will probably be a scarcity. “It’s tight in the fall when enrollment is highest,” she said. When enrollment drops in the spring, she said, more apartments are available. “Every apartment we’ve got... will be in use (in the fall),” Bramlett agreed. Students should begin their search for fall housing in the spring, Farrar said. “The best time is in early April,” she said. Students who wait until the fall to look for housing often can’t find anything, Cain said. “I’ve seen students sleeping in their cars until something became available,” he said. The increase in the number of apartments has several effects, Bramlett said. “It makes for a healthy economic atmosphere,” he said, “but the community is losing its small-town atmos phere.” It also makes it difficult for the cities to main tain the quality of services they provide, he said. For example, he said, there have been problems with phone service and garbage collection, but “they’re not without effort.” Bramlett said: “I hope they (the cities) can keep up satisfactory services, and in time, get even better. ” Freeman considered for A&M presidency An official at the University of Pittsburgh is under con sideration for the presidency of Texas A&M University, The Battalion has learned. Dr. Jack E. Freeman, senior vice chancellor for adminis tration at Pittsburgh, visited the Texas A&M campus over the weekend, talking to University vice presidents about the permanent presidency, a Texas A&M source said Saturday. Freeman checked into the MSG Hotel Friday and checked out Saturday morning. Dr. J.M. Prescott, vice president for academic affairs, would not comment on Freeman’s visit. Freeman, in a tele phone interview from his home in Pittsburgh, also had no comment. Freeman, 49, is a native of Fort Worth. He received his bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in 1953. A retired air force major, he has taught at the U.S. Air Force Academy and has worked with the U.S.A.F. headquarters. He served as president of the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown from 1971-1974. Freeman’s name is the first to surface from the search committee’s list of 20 nominees. The chancellor’s office has said the list includes people from within and outside the System. The search committee, authorized by the Texas A&M System Board of Regents, has narrowed over 400 nominees down to 20. These names are being screened by a personnel consulting firm, and a final list of candidates will be presented to a special committee of regents. That committee, including Board Chairman H.R. “Bum” Bright, Vice Chairman John Blocker, Chancellor Frank W.R. Hubert and former Chairman Clyde Wells, will recommend one final candidate to the regents for consideration. Miners protest benefit cut United Press International WASHINGTON — Coal miners by the hundreds converged on Washington today for a march on the White House to protest President Reagan’s plans to cut their black lung benefits by nearly $400 million next year. The protest coincides with a two-day “memorial period” walkout by 160,000 union members to honor dead and dying black lung victims. Black lung, a respiratory disease con tracted by inhaling coal dust, costs 4,000 deaths annually, according to the Un ited Mine Workers union. The union estimated 8,000 miners would take part in today’s rally outside UMW headquarters and march to the Ellipse, the grassy oval just south of the White House. Union President Sam Church Jr. was to address the protesters from the head quarters balcony, the first time the gal lery has been used for a labor speech since the days of union leader John L. Lewis. Miners from Pennsylvania, West Vir ginia, Kentucky, Virginia and other coal states, including Utah and Wyoming, traveled by bus, plane and car to Washington for the rally. The miners oppose the administra tion’s proposal to reduce the federal black lung program by $378 million in the fiscal 1982 budget. The 12-year-old program provides benefits to 80,850 miners and theii families. The union has acknowledged the black lung disability trust fund owes the government more than $1 billion and needs to be put on a sound financial footing. At present, it is financed by a tax of 25 cents per ton on surface-mined coal and 50 cents per ton on under ground-mined coal — insufficient re venue to pay for all current benefits. Election filing closes today Today is the final day for student elec tion candidates to file applications. Ap plications may be picked up and filed in 216A Memorial Student Center. A notice in Friday’s Battalion incor rectly stated that the filing deadline was Tuesday. The Battalion regrets the error. Offices to be filled include: student senators and student body officers; yell leaders; class councils and the Graduate Student Council; Off-Campus Aggies and the Residence Halls Association. Students wishing to run for a Student Government position must turn in a petition of signatures from their consti tuency by 5:30 p.m. today. Candidates for student body presi dent must have an overall grade point ratio of 2.5, while student senate vice presidents and college and living area senators must have a 2.25 overall. Election dates are March 31 and April 1. On March 30, The Battalion will in clude a suppliment listing all offices and their candidates along with interviews and pictures of candidates for some of the positions.