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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1981)
THE BATTALION THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1981 Page 3 Local ally By CATHY TERRELL Battalion Reporter It s been said that there are jasically three causes of fire: men, women and children. College Station Fire Marshal t , Q p a V,i n p(J Harry Davis agreed that fires are laused by people; people who lon’t use common sense. Unfor- ing rodtorpi tunately, Davis said, these people soaring pritf don’t only endanger their rely heardt ives, but the lives of many others - particularly residents of apart- nent houses and other multi- amily dwellings. While Bryan Fire Marshal Ramond Janac reports only three Reral 1 P artment f ires for 1980, College . . j ,' Station monthly reports from July nimsteredi ;0 j anuar y s how that the fire de- i like to bk be reduced n has its war billion insj^' ivisioned It iuts. in 1979, Ei ger warned 1 by energys i improviiiE Well-informed residents are key to prevention partment dwellers facing many fire dangers partment responded to 21 calls to various apartments. Seven of these calls were recorded as fires, while others were false alarms identified as smoke smells. Despite efforts to prevent fires conducted by the local fire depart ments such as voluntary inspec tions of apartments to check for fire hazards, the departments still spend most of their time respond ing to emergency calls. Even the elaborate set of ordi nances, standards and state sys tems does little toward preventing fires. “In the field of fire prevention, the efforts expended in securing a well-constructed building, con ducting regular inspections to control fire hazards and enforcing fire regulations are a losing battle as long as people remain unin formed about fire, its causes, and its effects,’’said William K. Bare in his book, “Fundamentals of Fire Prevention.” Understanding the system de signed to deal with fire prevention is not easy, and, in fact, it is more difficult in Texas because Texas uses a fire insurance rating that differs from those in the other 49 states. Texas is the only state that attempts to give cities and towns credit for their fire prevention and protection activities. The theory is that the towns will improve in these areas to obtain better rat ings. The State Board of Insurance determines a town’s rating, and the local fire departments are re sponsible for developing prog rams. The positive effect of the rating system on town programs has never been established, de spite claims that the rating system inspires local departments to in crease their effectiveness. Two separate evaluations are given each town — the key rate and the fire record credit. The key rate is based on a max imum number of cents — $1 for totally unprotected areas. Points, or cents, are added for penalties and 10 percent is deducted from the total for each fire department improvement. Bryan has a key rate of 18 cents and College Station has a key rate of 20 cents. Both cities are first key towns because their rates are good — under 40 cents. Key rates are de termined “pretty much on an annual basis,” said Jack Sawyer of ANCO Insurance. But a city may request a re-evaluation if it has made some improvements that will affect its rate. “Most people who come in to buy insurance have no idea how the key rate is determined or how it affects their insurance costs,” Sawyer said. Most people are also unaware of Distinguished alumni to be honored :rished spa i, solar hit. Admii that these already coi)j| By KATHLEEN WAITREK Battalion Reporter The real measure of a universi- success can be found in the ichievements of its alumni. Texas University will honor four of its former students with Disting uished Alumni Awards at spring idwide oiljl! Mmmencement exercises Friday and Saturday. Joe C. Denman Jr., Class of 46; 5y crisis migl R A. Murray Fasken, Class of’38; >ut it certi C.E. Pat Olsen, Class of ’23; and Clayton W. Williams Jr., Class of 54, will receive Texas A&M’s highest award for career achieve ment. The Distinguished Alumni Award is given to former students who have made significant contri butions to society, shown great in terest and support and whose career accomplishments have children as! I)r0u 8 llt creclit t0 Texas A&M. would help;! ng a prospet! Denman received his bache lor’s degree in architecture and is an active member of the Aggie Club, Association of Former Stu dents, Century Club and the Angelina County Texas A&M Club. He is an executive officer with Temple—Eastex, a division of Time Inc. He has also served as a director for the Southern National Forest Products Association and the Na tional Forest Products Associa tion. Fasken is a banker and current senior chairman of the board of the Midland National Bank. He has also served on the First Citibank Corp.’s board of directors. He has been a member of the Aggie Club since its beginning and is a member of the Association of Former Students and the Mid land Texas A&M Club. Fasken served for seven years as a trustee on the Development Foundation of Texas A&M, and through the Fasken Foundation he has distributed funds to various segments of the University. Olsen, also an active alumni at Texas A&M, has been named to “Who’s Who” in the South and Southwest, Texas Hall of Fame, “T” Club and the Diamond Cen tury Club. Olsen Field, Texas A&M’s 5,000-seat baseball stadium, was named in his honor in 1977. He has also donated money for lights, clock, scoreboard and flagpoles for the baseball stadium. A manufacturer, Olsen is a for mer president of Gearench Manu facturing Co., a leader in the field of inventing and manufacturing tools used in oil fields throughout the world. Williams is an independent oil things to Ml sur experte n (I have ns ubt that piii system vlfy hat a child g® in a ;e to make si How would it cos! Four ‘diplomats’ to speak on female issues in world By LAURA HATCH Battalion Reporter Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico and Lebanon will be represented by ome from?!' ^ ema ' e "diplomats” at the Interna- ? Large si ;nts of violf igh to the! with pondt: s”, readers), opted to w. ous verbosif tional Women’s Conference the Texas A&M University cam pus in June. This conference may be the first in the Southwest region to have four internationally disting uished professional women to address international issues on women and development, Cynth- when theyl ' a ^ esse h informational represen- ile suchasyn dted, 1 but it a dictions) 3ss twistings) quandary.. )dis of lone! min. 1 to dem® transient dis biquitous in mageddonk i apocrypha. but thisf /our article, 1 or a textbod i and psycW .) Itisaprivili ut people snd abuse that; iderstand,^' essingpurv#) oes denntii# 1 istic ca) vspaper r# ;e of your'*’’ tative for this conference, said. The speakers for the confer ence will be Nawal El Saadawi of Egypt, Jasleene Damejia of Ethiopia, Martha Lamas of Mex ico and Rosemary Sayegh of Eng land, who is married and lives in Lebanon. Azizah al-Hibri, assistant pro fessor of philosophy and the origi nator of the conference said, “This could be the first of this type in the United States. Tm doing it myself as a mem ber of the philosophy department. The event was made possible through a grant by the “Title XII Strengthening Grant Program.” Organizations helping al-Hibri put the conference together are Women’s Studies Association of the Southwest, American Associa tion of University Women, Undergraduate Women’s Associa tion at Texas A&M University, and Texas A&M Women’s Net work. On the first day of the confer ence, from 9 a.m. to noon, the guest speakers will give individual speeches followed by question- and-answer periods. Four workshops will be held from 1:45 to 4:30 p.m., featuring the following topics: Women in Patriarchal Institutions; Women and Technological Transfer to the Third World; The Role of the U. S. Women in the International Women’s Movement, and Women, Geopolitics and the Fu ture. A barbeque and dance will be THE FIRST TIME WAS ONLY A WARNING PIRANHACON II coming May 8 iamqntd Room Let Her Remember. .. Say It With Gold And save over 33% $2950 reg. *45 75 You can choose a 14 karat yellow gold chain with three 4 millimeter gold beads or a chain with one 5 millimeter cultured pearl, come with a Quite-A-Catch to make adding beads in the future — simple. Whether for Mom on Mother’s Day or that \ special friend for Graduation J SAY IT WITH GOLD J 707 TEXAS AVE. 693-7444 operator and is currently chief ex ecutive officer of Clayco Inc., Wil liams Gas Liquids Co. and Wil liams Aviation Co. He received the 1979 award for distinguished service from the American Asso ciation of Petroleum Landnan and has spoken on national television on the topic of energy. Williams is a member of the Century Club and the Association of Former Students. He is a for mer vice president on the board of directors and a contributor to the Texas A&M University System Press.. the building codes and what they encompass. Bryan and College Station have adopted the South ern Standard Building Code — an imposing set of guidelines which fill a three-ring notebook. The purpose of the building code is to control design and con struction by designating the methods and materials that may be used, based on location in fire zone, type of use, height and area of the building to be constructed. For instance, there must be windows easy to open in every bedroom. Multi-family dwellings over two stories in height must have a front and rear exit in every unit, and wooden shingles are pro hibited in commercial buildings. To supplement the building code, Bryan and College Station have passed city ordinances. One such ordinance requires that smoke detectors be in every unit of a multi-family dwelling. Older complexes may not have the de tectors, however, because the ordinance is not retroactive. Ordinances may change be cause of difficulty in compliance. Fire extinguishers had been re quired throughout large apart ment complexes, but the apart ment owners were losing money because they were constantly hav ing to replace the extinguishers. Now, the extinguishers are only required in areas where they are not likely to be stolen, such as mechanical rooms. Davis warns that merely be cause an apartment has a smoke detector does not mean that all fires will be detected. The fire de partment checks all smoke detec tors when they are installed, but maintenance is often neglected. Davis said, “Sometimes the detec tors need to be replaced but often all they need is a good cleaning and dusting to be made operable. “If residents will take the time to clean and dust the detectors that will often make them oper able,” Davis said. NOW OPEN We LOADING ZONE Family Restaurant ALL YOU CAN EAT Tender fresh fish fillets with all your favor ite trimmings ONLY held that evening. On the second day, a panel dis cussion will be held and the same workshops will be given in the afternoon with the speakers alter nating their topics. Nawal has been active with the United Nations in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) working as an adviser on women’s programs. Now she has resigned from that position and is devoting her time to writing. Damejia is a technical adviser for the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Africa in Ethiopia and is particularly interested in women’s programs there. Lamaz is an anthropologist, feminist and co-founder of the Mexican feminist Magazine “FEM.” Sayegh is a journalist and publi cist. The conference will be held June 8 and 9 in Rudder Forum and Rudder Tower and is free to the public. 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