he Battalion
|/0l. 74 No. 128
in theai|4 Pages
egetraJ
ing po s ,l
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Monday, April 6, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
74 High
72
Low
45 Low
52
Chance of rain.
none Chance of rain. . . .
-sday,
iav 'ing»
a filled
S-Olitritb;
■S and ti>
Sam Ho
ibablyb
round,
mior Stf
inces.
six inni
irnedFi
losing!
year alts
impress;
the Cti
ihingwiS
Newi
nished
ly i-2«
staff, Hi
ecordaiti
aginst i 1 ’
Lueda
tarterstt
ighthaniii
rter spo!
Wellborn Road
may be elevated
Stretcher race, Corps style
Martha Langford, Kim Russell, and Susan Melde, Class of’84, and
Mary Stubbert, Class of’85, race for women’s Corps unit WI in the
games at the Brazos Bottoms Staurday. The games were part of the
annual Corps March to the Brazos to raise money for the
Dimes.
Photo by Skip Merrick
March of
'S voters re-elect councilmen
By BELINDA McCOY
Battalion StafT
ige Station voters Saturday re-
two council members to the
i Council, and appointed one new
mber.
Incumbent Tony Jones defeated
iengerjim Gardner, a Texas A&M
liversity urban and planning profes-
I, in the race for Place 5 by 19 votes,
lies received 50.4 percent of the vote
— 1,316 votes — and Gardner received
1,297 votes — 49.6 percent.
Incumbent Larry Ringer succeeded
in his bid for Place 3, defeating challen
ger Nancy Ann Thomberry, an elemen
tary school teacher, with a 1,483 to
1,130 margin.
The 16.8 percent voter turn-out
elected newcomer Dr. Alvin Prause to
the Place 1 post, with 1,492 votes to
incumbent Roy W. Kelly’s 1,093.
Gardner is considering a request for a
recount of his 19-vote loss to Jones, he
said. Before he makes his decision, he
said he will first have to find out the
exact process in requesting a recount
and its subsequent cost.
Voters also approved a $27.3 million,
seven-proposition bond issue. The
seven propositions included improve
ments to the city’s water, sewer and
electric systems,' streets^ public build
ings, and public par ks, and a park lands
aquisition plan.
The last four propositions could re
sult in a 10-cent-per-$100 increase in
the city’s tax rate.
A non-binding public opinion poll
was also included in the ballots Satur
day. In the poll, voters supported the
city’s financial involvement in industrial
recruitment, calling for commercial de
velopment and recruitment of high-
technology industries in the pity-
By BELINDA McCOY
Battalion Staff
Wellborn Road may someday be
above our heads, but those of us now
here at Texas A&M University prob
ably won’t be around long enough to
enjoy it, said County Judge Dick
Holmgreen.
Holmgreen led a delegation of coun
ty, city, civic and university officials
March 19 in a formal request before the
State Highway Commission to elevate
Wellborn Road.
The request includes a plan to ele
vate Wellborn Road from University
Drive to Jersey Street. A pedestrian
mall between Old Main Drive and Joe
Routt Boulevard is included in the plan,
along with two pedestrian crossings —
one between University Drive and Old
Main Drive, and one between Joe Routt
Boulevard and Jersey Street.
Holmgreen asked the Highway
Commission to put the project on its
20-year masterplan. But if the Commis
sion approves the plan, it probably
won’t take 20 years for the improve
ments to be made on the road.
But it could take several years,
Holmgreen said.
“It could take two or three or four
years if they have the money before
they could do anything,” he said.
The proposal has now been turned
over to the state highway engineer for
consideration, Holmgreen said. The
final decision about the proposal should
come within two or three weeks.
J. Malon Southerland, assistant to
the president at Texas A&M, and Dr.
Charles McCandless, associate vice
president for academic affairs, both
said they were optimistic that the Com
mission would approve the plan.
Since the state will be the funding
the proposed project, the chances of the
Wellborn project getting put on the
master plan will depend on the availa
bility of state funds, Holmgreen said.
The project is estimated to cost $13
million, hut Diane L, Bullard of Texas
Transportation Institute, said the de
legation told the Commission that the
project could be completed for $11 mil
lion if only two lanes were built above
ground.
The extra $2 million includes plans
for a four-lane highway, Bullard said.
The proposal presented to the High
way Commission allowed the railroad to
remain where it is now located. An
alternative to the plan would call for the
relocation of the railroad, an additional
$13 million.
An estimated 20,000 vehicles will
travel this segment of Wellborn Road
daily by 1985. And 185 accidents occur
red' between Univeristy Drive and
Jersey Street between 1977 and the first
nine months of 1979, according to a
study conducted by the Metropolitan
Planning Organization, composed of
the Texas Transportation Institute,
Texas A&M, the city of College Station,
State Department of Highways and
Public Transportation, District 17, and
the Federal Highway Administration.
Wellborn Road presently splits Texas
A&M’s campus, which is rapidly ex
panding westward beyond the road.
The completion of the project will aid in
a one-campus concept for the Universi
ty, the study said.
A second alternative in the plan calls
for the depression of the road, for an
estimated $39 million. A subalternative
to that plan requires the movement of
the railroad for another $13 million.
Southerland said this plan was prob
ably not suggested to the Commission
because of the additional cost.
The delegation of over 25 included
Holmgreen, Bullard, McCandless,
Southerland, Acting President of Texas
A&M Dr. Charles Samson, Chancellor
Frank W. Hubert, Director of TTI
Charley Wootan; College Station
Mayor Gary Halter; Brazos County
Commissioners Billy Beard and Walter
Wilcox and Bryan-College Station
Chamber of Commerce’s Switzer
Deason.
jA&M may soon be left
In computer ‘dark ages’
By BERNIE FETTE
Battalion StafT
jDuetothe rapid growth of Texas A&M University and the
jenmore rapid advancement of computer technology, the
liversit) is now faced with the possibility of being “left in
park ages" if it does not keep up with what the director of
llexas Engineering Experiment Station calls the “compu-
f revolution.'
pwomonths ago, the Data Processing Center added a new
[aputercosting$2.5 million which doubled the the system’s
parity. And since that addition, the University has been
led with a transition period of “getting the bugs out. ”
[ In acquiring the new computer, we’ve experienced prob-
ps in connecting it with the existing one and have had to
Ivelop a new operating plan for the system,” said Dr. Wil-
IrA.Porter, directorof the TEES. “That transition period is
pmain cause of the problems with the Wylbur terminals in
P Remote Computing Center. ”
Porter heads a committee whose purpose is to study the
Ns of the University in the area of computer service and
make recommendations to the chancellor concerning
pre needs.
Three user committees have been formed to recommend
feds for each of three major computer functions: administra-
je, academic and research. Those three will report to the
i committee, Porter said, and hopefully there will be
mgh information to present a plan to the chancellor by
it. 1.
| The biggest problem in the RCC, he said, is the wait
ween the time the user enters his program and the time he
sresults on the screen.
I The DPC will soon be increasing their capacity again in
r to accomodate some 200 additional terminals which are
Ihe housed in the Academic Agency Building when it is
finished, DPC Director Dick B. Simmons said.
Porter said there is really no complete solution to the
University’s problem because it’s next to impossible to keep
up with technological advancements. “No matter what you
have today, it’s going to be out of date tomorrow,” he said.
“But we ll get left in the dark ages if we don’t do something
now. ”
Porter said the lowered prices and higher sophistication of
pocket calculators is a perfect example of such technology.
He also said that paper memorandums would soon be
replaced by memos sent by one party to another’s personal
computer terminal.
“You just don’t know what the Japanese or IBM will come
up with next,” Porter said. “The system that used to fit in a
room now fits in a desk, and will probably fit in your pocket
tomorrow.”
He said that future needs as well as current requirements
have to be considered. The problem now is the computing
capability of the present system.
A single system in the DPC is being used for administrative
computing as well as academic and research computing.
“These are very diverse functions and the three combined are
also an incredible strain on the system’s computing capabil
ity,” he said. “The system has been strained to the limits.”
A multi-unit computer system, however, is not being consi
dered. Porter said the main need is for more specialization,
not more computers.
Some departments on the campus, of course, are heavier
users than others, Simmons said. The engineering depart
ment is one example.
Light users are the colleges of Liberal Arts and Education.
But Simmons said, even those departments will experience
an increasing need for computer service in the future.
Students involved in run-off dec-
os for the offices posted Thursday
lit will meet at 6 p.m. tonight in the
identGovemment office (216 Memo-
I Student Center).
The positions are: Class of’84 presi-
nt and vice president; Class of ’82
ir, election to be held today
i scons*'
un-off candidates to meet
o draw for ballot positions
historian and Graduate Student Council
representatives for the colleges of Agri
culture, Education and Engineering.
Candidates will draw for ballot posi
tions at this time. If a candidate is un
able to attend the meeting, a member of
the Election Commission will draw for
him.
The run-off election will be Wednes
day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Polling sites
will be the Memorial Student Center,
the Commons, Evans Library, Sbisa
Dining Hall and the guard room.
Graduating seniors, previously for-
iden to vote in the Student Govem-
•»telections, will have the opportun-
tocast their ballots in a special elec-
itoday.
The election will be held in the
"norial Student Center from 9 a.m.
p.m.
\l graduating seniors, including
& who had their I.D. cards punched
but were then denied the right to vote
in the March 31-April 1 election, will be
allowed to vote for the following offices:
student body president; legislative vice
presidents; living area senators (except
Corps senators); academic at-large sena
tors; Residence Hall Association offices;
Off-Campus Aggies offices and yell
leaders.
Rolls will be used to check the status
of voters at the polling place.
The special election is a result of the
Student Government Judicial Board’s
decision that graduating seniors have
the right to vote in student body elec
tions.
This decision came after a four-hour
closed meeting of the Judicial Board
Thursday night.
What’s cookin’?
Photo by Dave Einsel
Dave Kinkaid, a senior industrial distribution
major and Mark Phillips, a senior range science
major, tend to their pot of Brazos Bottom chili at
the chili cook-off Sunday. The cook-off was spon
sored by Krueger Hall to benefit the Brazos
County Humane Society. The team placed 10th
in overall competition.