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
¥
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^ 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. ^
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