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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1981)
Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Vol. 75 No. 20 Pages Thursday, September 3, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High 88 High ... .90 Low 75 Low ....75 Chance of rain. 30% Chance of rairi. . . . . 30% Corps Commander Kelly Castleberry, Dr. Charles H. Samson, Samson’s wife, Ruth, and Dr. John Koldus, vice president for student services, review the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Wednesday during a passby recognizing Samson’s service to the University. During a dinner with the Corps following the passby, Samson, who was the University acting president until Tuesday, was also presented with an honorary saber. 150 need temporary shelters No-shows forfeit rooms to walk-ins and triples By DENISE RICHTER Battalion Staff All students who were originally assigned three-to-a-room in Texas A&M residence halls have been assigned to permanent quarters. The 100 women who were assigned three-to-a-room in Clements Hall and the 85 men who were tripled in North and Central areas’ Corps-style dormi tories and in the Commons Area all have been assigned to new spaces on campus. A large number of no-shows (stu dents who sign up for an on-campus space but never claim it) made it possi ble for all “triplets” to be assigned to two-to-a-room quarters. “Everyone who was tripled has moved or is in the process of moving, ” said Dena Todd, housing services su pervisor. A greater number of no-shows than triples has created some vacancies in both the men’s and women’s dorms, she said. These spaces will be filled by walk- ins, people who didn’t receive a dorm space but who are still interested in on- campus housing. Those assignments will be made Friday starting at 1 p.m. Priority for these on-campus spaces will be determined by the date the ori ginal application was filed, Todd said. For example, a student who filed his campus housing application in January will have priority over a student who filed his application in June. However, starting next year, stu dents who file their applications early will be given no special consideration. A lottery system will be used to assign residence hall spaces. The female athletes who were tripled in Mosher Hall earlier this week also have been moved into permanent quar ters. Linda K. Don, assistant athletic dire ctor for women, said: “There were four female athletes that we didn’t have space for in the basement (of Mosher). We tripled four women until spaces in the basement opened. “There was no emergency. We could have put them on the second, third or fourth floors. We decided to triple them instead and they were moved into rooms in the basement Monday and Tuesday.” For two years female athletes have been assigned to rooms in the basement of Mosher in order for them to live together. Reagan sticks to his guns United Press International CHICAGO — President Reagan is challenging the Soviets to negotiate legitimate reductions in nuclear arsenals or face an arms race “they can’t win. ” Fired up at an Illinois Republican fund-raising gathering Wednesday night, Reagan also pledged no retreat from his military build-up despite announced plans to cut Pentagon spending by a total of $30 billion in fiscal 1983 and 1984. The president remained overnight in Chicago to address the AFL-CIO of Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners at their 100th anniversary convention and aides indicated a cool reception could be awaiting him because of his tough hand ling of the air controllers’ strike. Reagan was to return to Washington later today. The president was met by boos and chants from more than 100 picketing controllers when he arrived in Chicago from Los Angeles Wednesday. In remarks prepared for delivery at the union convention, Reagan defended the firing of 11,400 controllers on grounds they broke their no-strike oath with the federal government. “The American Federation of Labor supported municipal, county, state and federal employees when they decided to organize,” Reagan said. “But from the very first, organized labor predicated its support and help on the premise public employees do not have the right to strike.” The president denied being a union buster. “Some people forget I was the first man to achieve this high office after having been president of an AFL-CIO union,” he said in reference to his six terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, noting he led the guild “in its first major strike.” In his remarks to his fellow Republicans Wednesday, Reagan appeared particularly irked by a Washington Post article that indicated he was retreating on promises to vastly increase military spending. He explained that although cuts are projected for the Defense Department, he intends to keep his commitment to 7 percent real annual growth in military spending to restore “defensive capability.” At the same time, he said, “we are going to continue to urge” the Soviets “to sit down with us in a program of realistic, strategic arms reductions.” “But it will be the first time we will ever have sat on our side of the table and let them know there is a new chip on the table,” Reagan said. “And that chip is: There will be legiti mate arms reduction, verifiable arms reductions, or they will be in an arms race they can’t win.” Local crime stoppers program seeking community sponsor ! Riverside cities evacuated United Press International VICTORIA — Another round of pounding rains posed the threat of addi tional flooding in watersoaked portions of south central and southeast Texas ear- Jy today. I Water from upriver rains that pushed the Guadalupe River to its second high- ’ est level in history worked its way past the city late Wednesday, leaving 150 t people in need of temporary shelters. No deaths or injuries were reported. However, the National Weather Ser vice at 4 a.m. reported thunderstorms ranging across an area bounded by Col- ! lege Station, Laredo, Seguin, Lampas- sas, Victoria, and Alice. A flash flood watch was issued for I Burnett, Williamson, Goliad, LaVaca, : | Jackson, Victoria and Travis counties. Pre-dawn storms dumped between 6 and 8 inches of rain north of Liberty Hill, touching off flooding in sections of western Williamson and eastern Burnet counties, the weather service said. Heavy thunderstorms also hit the San Antonio area, causing some flood ing of low lying areas. Early morning thundershowers also prompted a flash flood watch for a por tion of north Texas south of a line from Kileen to Palestine to Marshall. The flooding began earlier this week when a tropical depression drifted in land and triggered heavy thunder storms. The water from the 19-inch down pours caused officials in cities along the Guadalupe and Lavaca rivers to evacu ate people from low lying areas. The final city threatened by the swelling wa terways was Victoria, just up from where the Guadalupe empties into the Gulf of Mexico. “This the second worst they’ve re corded,” said Victoria County deputy Claude Hawkins. “The highest was in 1936. I don’t recall the river ever going above 31 feet.” For several hours Wednesday the Guadalupe ran at 31.1 feet. At 4 a.m. today the Guadalupe was at 30.2 feet and was expected to crest at 30.5 feet, the weather service said. Today’s forecast called for showers and thunderstorms over most of south central and east Texas. Barring ex tended heavy rains, the weather service said, it appeared the worst of the flood ing was over for sections hit the hardest earlier in the week. Fall semester deadlines approaching Friday is the last day for Texas A&M students to add new courses to their class schedules. It is also the last day for students to enroll in the i University for fall semester classes. The following is a list of other fall semester dates and deadlines for stu dents, faculty and staff to mark on their calendars: Sept. 11 — deadline for applying for undergraduate and graduate de grees to be awarded in December Sept. 15 — last day for dropping courses with no record Oct. 2 — last day for dropping courses with no penalty (Q-drop) Oct. 19 — mid-semester grade reports Nov. 26-29 inclusive — Thank sgiving holidays Dec. 11 — last day offall semester classes; commencement Dec. 12 — commencement Dec. 14 — first day offall semester exams Dec. 18 — last day offall semester exams Spring semester classes will begin Jan. 18, 1982. Bible required textbook for archaeology class More than two dozen Texas A&M stu dents will be totin’ Bibles to class this fall — not as a religious text, but as a historical reference for a new class which will explore ancient civilizations in the Holy Land. Response to the course has been ter rific, said course instructor Dr. Bruce Dickson, an anthropologist. Dickson said he’s not sure how much of the interest in the class has been spur red by the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which depicts the search for a Hebrew religious artifact in Egypt as World War II approaches. But Dickson, who went to high school with “Raiders” star Harrison Ford in Chicago, half jokingly says the “rob-and-run” approach to archaeology taken by the film “could set the profes sion back 100 years.” Dickson has emphasized to students that the class will not approach the Bible on a spiritual basis, but as a valuable contemporary account of the events in Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt—the “fertile crescent” that gave rise to civilization as it is known today. The archaeological period studied will include the years from about 8000 B.C. to just before the birth of Christ and the arrival of Roman legions in the area. “This course is designed to introduce the interested student to the archaeolo gy of the Near East which figures prom inently in the Old Testament,” Dickson said. He said the class will steer away from being too technical and could be taken by any student with no prerequisites. Dickson said no one can really under stand the history and archaeology of Palestine without understanding the role of Egypt and Mesopotamia, but that the Bible is often lacks details on surrounding civilizations. “The Bible mentions in detail events in Palestine, but not those in the rest of the Near East,” he explained. “It’s like trying to learn American history by studying only the history of Texas. ” To compensate, the class will also use texts by two of the world’s foremost au thorities on Near East archaeology, “Archaeology in the Holy Land” by Kathleen Kenyon and “The Rise of Civi lization” by Charles Redman. The problems of trying to identify such Biblical peoples as the Canaanites, Moabites and Philistines will also be discussed, he added. By DENISE RICHTER Battalion Staff Crime Stoppers, the program geared toward public involvement in the fight against crime, needs a sponsor in the Brazos Valley. University Police Chief Russ McDo nald called a press conference in July to acquaint representatives of law enforce ment agencies and the media with the proposed Crime Stoppers program and how it would work in the Brazos Valley. However, no action has yet been taken to implement the program. “Most Crime Stoppers programs have gotten started through the local chamber of commerce,” McDonald said. “The Brazos County program would be no different — it would have to depend on private donations of money, office space and typewriters. No city or state money would be used. ” “The delay lies in the (Bryan-College Station) Chamber of Commerce,” McDonald said. “I had a meeting with two people from the Chamber of Com merce and ... they said they would bring it up during their next meeting. They met Aug. 25 and again today (Tuesday) but never brought it up. “They (the Chamber of Commerce) don’t have to support Crime Stoppers. I suppose this could be done without their support. Any organization could get behind this and help provide the office space and equipment. “But, all we can say right now is that the program is in the mill — it’s not going anywhere until we get support from some civic organization. ” Steve Melton, chairman of the public recognition committee of the Chamber of Commerce, said the plan would be brought up before the Chamber’s ex ecutive committee in two weeks. “I’ll make my recommendation (to the executive committee) then,” Mel ton said. “I’m very high on the project — it seems like it would be a great thing for our area. But, the executive commit tee has to make the final decision.” During its five-year history, the nationwide Crime Stoppers program has compiled an impressive set of statis tics. More than 6,000 felonies have been solved, 2,071 defendants have been brought to trial, 2,059 convictions have been made (a conviction rate of 99.4 percent) and $19.5 million worth of property has been recovered. As proposed, the local Crime Stop pers program would have a civilian board of directors who would oversee general operations and would decide how to administer the reward funds. The county sheriff*s office would fur nish one criminal deputy to be the pro ject coordinator. The deputy would be a non-voting member of the board and would serve as a liaison between the police departments, the board of dire ctors and the news media. Initially, the program will deal with unsolved felonies including homicides, rapes, armed robberies, burglaries, aggravated assaults and arsons, McDo nald said. Each week, a specific unsolved crime would be selected as the crime of the week by the board of directors and a $1,000 cash reward offered for informa tion leading to the arrest and indictment of the criminal. The crime of the week is then re enacted during a television news broad cast, on the radio and in newspaper arti cles. Anyone contacting the Crime Stop pers office with information about the crime is given a code number. If the tip leads to the arrest and indictment of the criminal, the board of directors then decides how much to pay the informant. The informant’s code number is broadcast over television, radio and in the newspapers so that the informant can then contact the Crime Stoppers office to be paid. Complete anonymity is guaranteed, McDonald said. The Crime Stoppers program was started in Albuquerque, N.M. in 1976. It is now used in more than 90 cities. Texas cities with Crime Stoppers prog rams include Austin, El Paso, Dallas, Houston, Waco and San Marcos.