Battalion/Page 3
February 9, 1982
local
rate
^iGTE
:arjr 1
7 $110 million
hikes
increase possible in mid-March if request approved
by Johna Jo Maurer
Battalion Staff
rate increase for General
Telephone of the Southwest
could go into effect as soon as
mid-March.
|GTE filed a $ 110 million rate
increase request with the Public
Utilities Commission of Texas
Jan. 29, after the PUC lifted a
GTE service penalty Jan. 28.
Most Bryan-College Station
customers can expect a $1 per
month increase in their local ser
vice charges if the request is
approved.
“The $ 110 million increase in
additional revenues that we are
asking for is required to meet
customer pressure for a better
quality of service,” GTE Division
Manager Bill Erwin said.
The service penalty imposed
on GTE by the Public Utilities
Commission a year ago deman
ded that GTE raise the level of
its service capabilities.
“We’ve been working very di
ligently to get our service levels
up,” Erwin said. “Quite honest
ly, we’ve got to overcome a bad
image problem that we’ve had
with service levels in the past.”
Bryan-College Station re
sidential customers have seen a
30-cent increase in their phone
bills while business customers
have seen a 95-cent increase in
order to maintain these service
levels, he said.
GTE has added about 1,400
employees to the company and
increased construction and
maintenance. A 58 percent in
crease in maintenance expenses
and a 29 percent increase in out-
side-plant construction has been
acheived since 1980.
82,
Crime Stoppers looks
for robbery suspect
The armed robbery of a down-
town Bryan pizza parlor is this
week’s Crime of the Week.
■Onjan. 30, about 7:49 p.m., a
»n entered Mr. Gatti’s, 100 N.
jrfain. He stood in the service
line and waited until when no
er customers were present,
n pulled a .38-caliber blue-
revolver and asked the
rtjprk for money.
I vp After she gave him the
gney, he thanked her and
ked out of the restaurant,
ice do not know in what dire-
n he headed.
|The robber is described as a
losopfo fhite male, 5 feet 9 inches tall,
pighing about 170 pounds. He
eresshasir 5 a complexion, dark
, tn uffir, heavy mustache and wide
® ■ Sieburns. He is right-handed
ma v) Hid may be either Hispanic or
es of fiT K -
izos County
STOPPER
775-TIPS
At the time of the robbery,
the man was wearing a dark,
waist-length jacket, blue jeans
and a ski cap.
This week, Crime Stoppers
will pay $1,000 for information
that leads to the arrest and in
dictment of the man responsible
for this robbery. Crime Stoppers
also will pay cash rewards of up
to $1,000 to anyone who pro
vides information leading to an
arrest and indictment of any un
solved felony.
In all cases, Crime Stoppers
guarantees callers’ anonymity.
Callers can reach Crime Stop
pers at 775-TIPS.
The crime will be dramatized
tonight on KBTX-TV, Channel
3, during its 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
news broadcasts.
is to su
dulent
it, howev
reinely
nation w
s releases
for e:
i:51-year-old FFA chapter
m i y a
till promoting ag at A&M
by Brenda C. Davidson
,L Battalion Reporter
ation ontff Th e Future Farmers of Amer-
as succesijica at Texas A&M University is
urtail leak one of the oldest and largest col
late COndBgiate chapters in the United
anch the pates.
which law Collegiate FFA at Texas
n underi! MM was , first rec «S™ ed on u a
.. national basts in 1931 as the
i e S e ' ,, Winkler Chapter of Collegiate
ect, W0"‘ ipA. The chapter was named
:rs a year after Charles Winkler, dean of
^ne Grislijthe School of Vocational
bill to IwjTeaching.
ise nie/OTr Collegiate FFA serves as a
ie session f
19
only 931*
no congre
m himselfi
egislatioii
se with sti
House
bureaucfi!
year.
rickirt
continuation ol high school
FFA. At the college level, FFA
prepares students professional
ly for careers in agriculture and
especially for careers as future
vocational agriculture teachers,
FFA adviser Jeffrey W. Moss,
visiting professor of Agriculture
Education, said.
With more than 120 mem
bers, the chapter is an active
force in promoting agriculture
at Texas A&M and throughout
the nation, Moss said.
Chapter members participate
in such projects as Agriculture
for more info please call 845-1514 or slop by MSC 216
The rate increase requested
by GTE is separate from the
issue of the PUC ruling and only
occurred coincidentally within
the same year, Erwin said.
The $ 110-million proposed
rate increase must be approved
by the Federal Communications
Commission. The total amount
and the final determination of
how the increase will be spread
over the areas to be affected by
the increase will be decided by
the FCC.
A directory assistance charge
also is being proposed by GTE,
based on the philosophy that
“the cost causer is the cost
payer.” A customer will be
charged for directory assistance
calls if he makes more than three
directory assistance calls a
Phone conversion
nears completion
month; however, the amount of
this charge has not yet been de
termined.
“In Bryan-College Station,
over 80 percent of our custom
ers make less than three calls to
directory assistance for numbers
so that (the directory assistance
charge) is not going to affect the
majority of customers,” Erwin
said.
The rate hike requested by
GTE could go into effect any
where from 35 days to Five
months from the date of filing
after approval.
“We have to provide the PUC
with a lot of back-up data per
taining to the case,” Erwin said.
“They take their staff and very
carefully and adequately re
search all of our facts and fi
gures. The PUC has a strong re
sponsibility to consumers.”
The last GTE rate increase
was more than two years ago, so
the increase over a two-year
period will be about 24 percent.
“For us to continue to meet
the PUC requirements, to give
service, to meet the demands of
Bryan-College Station,” Erwin
said, “we’ve got to have good
earnings, and unfortunately,
we’re talking about higher
rates.”
by Johna Jo Maurer
Battalion Staff
The update of the Texas
A&M phone system, which in
cludes changing parts of the
campus from the 845 prefix to
the 260 prefix, should be com
pleted within three months,
University Telecommunications
Manager Bob Sather says.
Since the start of the conver
sion process in August, about 65
percent of Texas A&M campus
buildings have had new touch-
tone phones installed, and in
some buildings, new lines have
been added.
A conversion schedule was
set up by the administration in
conjunction with General Tele
phone of the Southwest, giving
priority to buildings with switch
board telephone systems.
Departments converted early
in the schedule included the
Data Processing Center, the Re
search Foundation, Admissions
and Records, the Fiscal Depart
ment and the A. P. Beutel
Health Center.
Bill Erwin, division manager
for GTE, said the campus tele
phone system was converted so
that GTE could better accomo
date the University’s needs.
g]
1
m
m
il
m
m
ij
i®
m
Come Join Us For
Happy Hour!!
qq 2 p.m.-6 p.m. Daily
Pitchers of Lowenbrau and Miller Lite
990 Orders of Nachos
at
ALFREDO’S TACOS AL CARBON
509 University Dr.
NORTHGATE
846-3824
JUAREZ
■tequila
TEQUILA
TEQUILA
TEQUILA
Day and Career Day. During
Agriculture Day, members work
with professional career plan
ning, a project that gives stu
dents an opportunity to meet
with prospective employers.
Other chapter activities in
clude working at the Houston
Rodeo and Livestock Show and
sponsoring livestock judging
contests for high school stu
dents.
Each spring the Collegiate
FFA holds a Student-Professor
Banquet to show appreciation
for the staff •
It might be a nuclear sub or a billion
dollar aircraft carrier. At the Norfolk
Naval Shipyard, you can provide engi
neering support for the maintenance
and testing of the most sophisticated
technology in the world, with hands-on
experience that will challenge your
personal creativity, stimulate and en
hance your engineering knowledge, and
accord you a good measure of respon
sibility on important projects.
Our shipyard recruiter will be on campus on
Feb. 12, 1982 in the Placement Center.
An Equal Opportunity Employsr U.S. Citizenship required.
Located in the Tidewater, Virginia
area, the shipyard is surrounded by a
vast array of recreational and cultural
activities. Just minutes away, the resort
city of Virginia Beach hosts water activ
ities of all types and descriptions. Also,
the shipyard is just a short drive from
the Blue Ridge Mountains with its spec
tacular fall foliage and numerous
winter ski resorts.
Mrs. S.M. Peters
Code 170.3
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Portsmouth, Virginia 23709
Call Collect: (804) 393-7340