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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1982)
local Battalion/Page 3 March 30, 1982 Night-time magic Nocturnal physical plant workers keep A&M operating Editor's note: This is second in ;i ihe-purt series on people who aren't vampires, but come out .ind work mainly at night. by Johna Jo Maurer Battalion Staff It may seem like magic — dean offices, classrooms and buildings, around-the-clock emergency telephone assistance and heating, cooling and elec trical power — but the magic is the work of physical plant work ers in the wee hou rs of t he night. Every morning, students and instructors begin their day in the mam classrooms and offices cleaned nightly by the nearly 250 custodial employees of the University physical plant. Cornola Moore, custodial leader in the Sterling C. Evans Library, has been on the night shift since she began working for the Uniyersity in 1955. Be cause she needs her days free to get things done, Moore prefers a night-time job. Her family also works at night, so their work schedules coincide. Moore supervises the activi ties of about 25 other custodial workers, and said she is close Centrex operator Teresa Hanson, a freshman biomedical science major from Dallas, information call. [Funding requests approved by Council friends with the people she works with. Margarette Bray, a custodial worker in the Coke Building, will complete 35 years with the University Saturday — the last 18 of them on the overnight shift. She also prefers to work nights so she can be at home during the day. Cleaning isn’t the only night time duty of the physical plant. Emergencies can happen any time of the day or night, and many of them fall right into the lap of Centrex. The Centrex radio room takes on-campus emergency calls and dispatches help by radio. Centrex also handles all campus information calls and the student locator 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A Centrex operator for six years, Mary Anderson chose to work nights because her family needs her at home during the day. She sleeps from 5 pan. until she comes in for her midnight to 8 a.m. shift. She says that is all the sleep she needs. Anderson says she stays busy during the day with P EA, Cub Scout groups and activities she may not be able to take part in if she worked during the dav. photo by Gabriel Elliott l ulie Smallev, another Cen trex radio room operator, also handles a late-night works from midnight until 8 a.m. Her usual schedule is 4 p.m. until midnight, but she has been filling in for a vacationing operator for the past month. She likes the late-night shift, she said, because she can spend more time with her family dur ing the day. Her job includes taking check-in calls from the Corps of Cadets guard room each hour, answering trouble calls from dormitories and taking reports of campus maintenance prob lems and power outages. She keeps a log of every call she receives, so jobs that can be handled during the day will be assigned to the appropriate per sonnel. While some employees pref er late night shifts, others are on rotating day and night sche dules. The campus power plant is staf f ed by a five-man night crew. The shifts are rotated every six weeks, so the men don't get stuck permanently on the graveyard shift, William E. Hol land, associate director of utili ties at Texas A&M, said. The night crew is made up of a chief operator, two assistant operators — one to watch over the electrical generators and one to watch the chilled-water sys tem — a fireman for the boilers and an apprentice power plant worker. They are responsible for the smooth performance of the complicated boilers, generators and air conditioners in the pow er plant during the night. Wednesday: \ot all students party at night: some work. by Johna Jo Maurer Battalion Staff The MSC Council Monday approved three funding prop osals from MSC committees and denied one request. The re quests will be sent to the enrich ment fund board of directors for its consideration. The enrichment fund is a supplemental fund established b\ a group of former students. Its purpose is to aid in the de velopment of new MSC prog rams. Any proposals intended for ihe enrichment fund board of director's consideration must be approved by the Council. The MSC Awards Banquet Committee requests an enric h ment fund subsidy to cover a 2982deficit. This will be used to cover the cost of plaques ordered for the banquet and will preclude charging students a higher price for tickets. Kirk keliev, council vice president of student development, said. MSC Basement Committee is requesting enrichment funds in order to purchase curtains and build a cage to house sound equipment for its “Rumours" facility in the MSC. Poor acoustics have been a problem in Rumours, a commit tee spokesman told council members. Bv hanging curtains over the glass doors and behind the stage area, acoustics would be improved. Council President Doug De- deker was opposed to approving the Basement (Committee's proposal becauses he said he f elt it would be better to ask the en richment fund board of dire ctors to help the committee raise funds rather than subsidize them. He said it was illogical to channel more funds into a f acil ity not operating at 100 percent efficiency. The MSC Spring Leadership Committee requested enrich ment fund subsidy of a $2,253 deficit. Dedeker said the com mittee will try to raise these funds bv the fall semester, but is asking for enrichment funds to cover any amount not gener ated. The Council did not approve the MSC MBA/Law Day Com mittee proposal asking for an enrichment fund subsidy of $1,054.48 to cover losses sus tained at this year’s program. Low attendance and ineffective advertising were reasons for the loss, Dedeker said. Dedeker expressed concern over asking for enrichment funds to cover an unsuccessful program. The enrichment fund is not intended to bail out a com mittee, and he recommended the Council not approve this proposal. Two committee chairmen, two projects chairmen and a Council director were appointed, completing the in stallation of new officers for MSC Council programs and projects. April 3 yvill be the effective date of transition to next year’s Council. March Sale on BRIDAL SETS! 20% off All Bridal Sets and Wedding Bands in Stock Layaways Available Sale Discount through March 31 Only Douglas Jewelry 212 N. Main in Downtown Bryan and Culpepper Plaza in College Station Former Air Force POW to talk on Vietnam at 7:30 Co 1 . John Stavast, a Vietnam War veteran, will speak about his experiences as a prisoner of var tonight at 7:30 in 302 Rudder. Stavast. a L.S. Air force oflirer was shot down over Vth Vietnam in the late 1960s Mule on an information gather- m. mission. He spent five years in the “Hanoi Hilton." a prison er-of-war compound. Stavast was released in 1973 at the end of the war. Ihe lecture is sponsored by the Young Conservatives at Texas A&M University. Stavast also will discuss what the United States learned from the war, the war’s effect on southeast Asia’s f uture and Cen tral America’s political situlion. Stavast will answer questions from the audience after the lec ture. Stavast, who has spoken at other Southwest college cam puses, retired from the Air Force last year and lives in Au stin. Give us Ihour. Well give you the way to higher grades and more free time. Find out how you can improve your life at an ¥ } OUTWARD BOUND % PARTY l Hot dogs & Beer ^ Arbor Square Party Room Friday, April 2 6-8 p.m. Outward Bound Alumni please come! ^ This party is for anyone interested in a trip to the Colorado Rockies that nk can teach you leadership and mountaineering. lit. A newly released film on Colorado Outward Bound courses will be there. You B/ be there too! For more info call: Charlie Walter 5-1515 Morris Salge 779- ^ 9095. ^ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Would you like to: □ Raise your grade average without long hours over texts. C End all-night cramming sessions. Cj Breeze through all your studying in as little as 1 3 the time. C Have more free time to enjoy yourself □ Read 3 to 10 times faster, with better con centration, understanding, and recall. Evelyn Wood works — over 1 million people, including students, executives, senators, and even presidents have proven it A free 1 hour demon stration will show you how to save hundreds of hours of drudgery this year las well as how to increase your speed immediately with some simple new reading techniqv •. It only takes an hour, and it’s free Don’t miss it SCHEDULE OF FREE SPEED READING -LESSONS You'll increase your reading speed up to 100% on the spot? m* <41 |3-m. and 7:30 Quinta Motor Inn Certified by Texas Education Agency EVEIYN WOOD READING DYNAMICS 11 ^€VTl v *WOCOHEAO , NGD' ,r **A**CS