Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
■ Vol. 74No. 133
| 12 Pages
Monday, April 13, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
86 High
83
Low
68 Low
67
Chance of rain.
20% Chance of rain. . . .
. . . 20%
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United Press International
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space
ihuttle Columbia, first of a fleet of
jmerican space freighters, entered its
cond day in orbit today performing
dke a champ” on its initial test flight
th John W. Young and Robert L.
Grippen at the controls.
The 107-ton winged spacecraft re-
ims to Earth Tuesday, gliding to a
heels down landing around 1:28 p.m.
ST on a sprawling dry lake bed at Ed-
lards Air Force Base in California’s
Mojave Desert.
One of the jobs on today’s schedule
foi Young and Crippen was to rehearse
(reparations for that return, which will
nark the first time a large winged vehi
cle has flown in the “no man’s land’
legion between space and the dense
atmosphere.
The only uncertainty raised by Sun-
lay’s spectacular, textbook-perfect
s hunch was the state of the 30,000 heat
[hield tiles designed to insulate the Col-
s aluminum skin from the searing
= neat of reentry into the atmosphere.
Eg The astronauts discovered that 15 of
= the little ceramic tiles — or pieces of
= lies—were missing from the two bulg-
»gpods that contain the ship’s aft orbit-
| al maneuvering rockets.
3 The pilots said from what they could
see, the tiles were intact on the rest of
the 122 foot-long, 78-foot-wide spacec
raft.
What they were unable to see is the
underbody where some of the most se
vere re-entry heating occurs. Loss of
even one tile in a critical area could be
catastrophic.
Controllers said they were not wor
ried, however, and engineers said the
missing tiles posed no threat to the re
turn since they were needed primarily
to protect against takeoff heat. Analysts
in mission control concluded no other,
more vital tiles likely were lost.
However, special photography using
high-powered groundbased Air Force
telescopes was ordered to check the
spacecraft.
“The bottom line is that we think
there’s no problem at all with the pieces
of tile, or tiles, that we think might be
missing and we don’t plan to make any
changes to the entry flight plan because
of the tile loss,” spacecraft communica
tor Henry Hartsfield told the crew late
Sunday.
“Sounds good to us,” Crippen re
sponded. “We don’t think there’s a
problem either.”
Because the ship is so big, the space
agency said it should be visible to the
unaided eye shortly after sunset or just
before dawn. Depending on weather
conditions and the position of the
spacecraft, spokesman Rocky Rabb said
“it could look like one of the brightest
stars in the sky.’’
The Columbia was following a path
that takes it over the southern half of the
United States, up to 40.3 degrees north
latitude. That includes such cities as
Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Denver and
San Francisco.
Young and Crippen ended their long
initial day in space around 8 p.m. EST
by putting on blindfolds, plugging their
ears and settling into their seats for
some well-deserved sleep.
Flight director Chuck Lewis said in a
status report early today that the crew
was reported feeling fine and every
thing was on schedule.
“Everything worked just as it was
advertised to work,” he reported.
Young, in an earlier television report
to Earth, was obviously pleased with
the performance of the revolutionary
spaceship.
“It’s gone as smooth as it could poss
ibly go,” he said. “The vehicle has just
been performing beautifully, much bet
ter than anyone expected it to do on a
first flight. No systems are out of shape.
The vehicle has just been performing
like a champ.”
5
^Collection agencies
\must follow state laws
Marathon man
Photo by Todd Woodard
By KATHY O’CONNELL
Battalion Staff
Many people owing debts fear being hassled by collection
igencies, but what most don’t know is that they’re protected
y state statutes.
f|j Dan Usiak, student legal adviser, said there are state and
|federal guidelines that agencies must follow when pursuing
s Election of debts.
si The statute defines debt collection as “any action, conduct,
| or practice in soliciting debts for collection.’
||| He said the Texas debt collection statute applies to “any
aperson engaging directly or indirectly in debt collection ... and
2 jany person who sells or offers to sell forms represented to be a
I pllection system.” But, he said, these statutes do not apply to
l " rivate merchants.
The statute says debt collectors cannot collect or attempt to
jcollcct debt by using threats, such as violent means that would
ioause harm to the person or his property.
They also cannot threaten to file charges or criminal action if
the individual has not violated any criminal law. Threatening
to repossess or seize property without proper court proceed
ings is also illegal; however, the collectors can exercise their
statutory rights.
Collection agents are also prohibited from harrassing the
[individual by using profane language, placing telephone calls
without identifying themselves, causing the person to pay long
distance fees or allowing the phone to ring several times with
intent to harrass.
Collection agencies that violate any of the provisions in the
they (collection agencies) are usually good about understand
ing the problem.”
Debbie Stevener, collection manager for a local collection
agency said, “a lot of people fear collection agencies. People
have the wrong impression of us.
“We are very fair,” she said, “I’ll work with the person in
any way I can.” Stevener said she will work out a repayment
schedule with someone who owes a debt, especially if he is
having financial difficulties.
She said all the debtor has to do is reply to a letter she sends
out and acknowledge that the collection agency has his
account. Stevener said if the person does not respond after 30
days, then she turns his name over to a credit bureau.
“The credit bureau, ” she said, “is a place where a credit file
is kept on just about every person in town.” She said being
listed with the credit bureau can cause problems if someone is
applying for a loan to buy a car. Banks and financing offices
check with the credit bureau before they will lend money, she
said.
Stevener said a person’s name by law must remain on file
with the credit bureau for seven years. “This is why I try to
work with them (debtors), ” she said, “because their credit can
be ruined.”
She said if a person thinks he has been treated unfairly, he
can write or go to the credit bureau and fill out a consumer
statement explaining why he thinks he shouldn’t pay his bill.
This statement, she said, also goes on file.
Stevener said doing this doesn’t really have any effect on
Tinker Murray, 29, won his third Texas A&M
full marathon Saturday. Murray finished the
26.22 miles in two hours, 40 minutes and 28
seconds. In training for the Boston Marathon,
Murray had planned to run only 20 miles, but
cloudy skies and cool temperatures enabled him
to make thei full marathon without breaking
down too much. See related story page 3.
Computer changeover
improves future service
statute are guilty of a misdemeanor and are subject to a fine of whether a lending institution will grant a loan, because it’s up
'not less than $100 nor more than $500.” Charges against
collection agencies must be made within one year of the
I violation.
Usiak said there are a few students who go to the legal aid
|office for advice and these usually involve mail house orders,
j What will happen, he said, is that someone will order some
thing through the mail and have it sent to someone else
[without that person’s knowledge.
“I write a letter explaining the situation, he said. “Then
to them to decide whether to grant a loan or not.
She said it’s better to go in person than to send a letter to a
credit bureau.
Stevener said the agency she works for collects mostly for
people in the medical profession, since “those are the bills
people put offfirst. ” She said sometimes creditors, particularly
doctors, will request that the account not be collected.
“They feel it’s no use,” she said. “It’s really up to the
creditor to do what he wants to do. ”
By BERNIE FETTE
Battalion Staff
The Texas A&M computing system
now may be experiencing numerous
problems following recent equipment
additions, but Data Processing Center
Director Dr. Dick B. Simmons is pre
dicting better service in the long run.
The recent problems are small in
comparison with those usually experi
enced when changes are made, Sim
mons said.
“If you compare it with large major
industrial firms, our cutover has gone
very smooth for the number of software
systems we had to cut over,” he said.
Cutover is the addition of a new compu
ter version to an old one.
Specific problems with the system,
including those terminals in the Remote
Computing Center, he said, involve the
“locate” and “fetch” commands.
After additions were made to the
system, those commands were taking
hours to complete when normally they
should require only seconds. Now the
situation has improved to minutes and
will hopefully be back to normal in the
fall, he said.
Operational problems, however, are
not the only concerns surrounding the
University computing system. Sim
mons said the DPC is also planning to
install a new security system, pending
contract approval.
“Any user will soon have a much
higher level of security on all of his
data,” Simmons said. “He can put in
extra passwords that are very difficult to
break. ”
Security problems have been only
minor so far, he said.
“The security problem is usually in
the office of the guy that’s using it,”
Simmons said. “The security problem
has been more of a personality problem
than a mechanical or technical problem.
For example, he said, presently it is
essentially impossible for unauthorized
users to gain access to secured data,
such as grade reports.
But, if someone doing research
doesn’t take proper precautions, some
one else could get access to the informa
tion, he said.
Simmons also said it is possible for
someone with a thorough knowledge of
computers to cause the system to break
down, but that such an act could easily
be detected.
“We would eventually catch it,” he
said. “But we don’t go out of our way to
protect ourselves from the students.”
Simmons said monitors also keep us
ers from monopolizing computer time. '
However, it is only remotely possible
for someone to tie up the system, he
said.
“Theoretically, it’s possible, but
that’s not what’s happening.
“Anyway, we’d know if they were
doing it because we have hardware
monitors and software monitors,” he
said. “It would be very difficult to do it
and to my knowledge, nobody knows
how to do it. ”
Simmons said the University is faced
not only with existing problems but se
rious potential problems as well.
He said the University will be at a
considerable disadvantage in the future
compared to other universities if acade
mic departments do not receive more
money to spend on computing.
“The academic computing at Texas
A&M is grossly underfunded,” Sim
mons said. “Here at A&M, they do not
put the amount in that they should for
the largest engineering college in the
United States.”
Simmons said the DPC is similar to a
bookstore on campus in that it provides
a service. But, he said, sometimes cer
tain academic departments don’t have a
large enough budget to afford the ser
vice.
“We sell our services and make
enough by the end of the year to cover
our expenses,” Simmons said. About
nine percent of the computing done by
the DPC is for academic purposes and
the DPC’s expenses are about $5 mil
lion yearly.
Blood drive registration
begins today in MSC
Students work to cleanup Northgate
Photo by T. Garrett
Frank Mitzed and Gerogeanne Collins, both landscape architecture
majors, are two of the many students who participated in Cleanup
Day Saturday sponsored by the Beautify Brazos County Associa
tion. Five Texas A&M University organizations worked with the
BBC A to try and clean up areas around the University. Cleanup day
is just one of the activities of “Beautify Brazos County” month.
Battalion Reporter
The Aggie Blood Drive will take place
between April 20-23 at two sites on cam
pus. Students interested in donating
blood are encouraged to sign up this
week in the Memorial Student Center.
Doug Snow, chairman of the Aggie
Blood Drive, said the • goal for this
semester’s drive is 2,000 pints of blood.
He said 2,100 pints were collected in
last semester’s drive.
The Wadley Blood Bank of Dallas
comes to Texas A&M University each
semester for the drive.
To donate, a person must be 18 years
old and must not be taking any medica
tion for serious disorders. The blood
drive will take place on the second floor
of the MSC and in a mobile unit outside
of Sbisa Dining Hall.
The donor’s family as well as other
Texas A&M students can benefit from a
blood donation. Snow said he estimates
400,000 people could receive blood free
from the benefits of the Aggie Blood
Drive.
“This is probably our biggest incen
tive for both having the drive and get
ting students to donate,” Snow said.
Wadley personnel will handle opera
tions for the blood drive, and a nurse
from Wadley will be in the MSC April
15 to answer questions about donor eli
gibility.