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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1984)
Page 4E/The Battalion/Monday, August 27, 1984 B-CS Chamber of Commerce has new stall I With 1300 members and nine committee divisions, the chamber serves the community through civic services*. $pe£tit ' programs and economic growth support. By LESLIE HEFFNER Reporter When Ed Brady took over as exec utive director of the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce, it marked a new beginning for the chamber and for Brady. Brady began his job in July after serving more than six years as gen eral manager of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. He says it was “time to look for new challenges, a new area to go to. I’d been watching this area for a while.” Brady says that the Bryan-College Station area is like Austin was 15 to 20 years ago. “I want this area to be vibrant,” he says, “so that if an A&M graduate wants to stay and work here, there will be a job available.” Brady plans to make Chamber of Commerce work his life-time career. He uses a favorite phrase to describe what he thinks a chamber of com merce does: “To make its commu nity a good place to live and to make a living.” With 1300 members and nine committee divisions, the chamber serves the community through civic services, special programs and eco nomic growth support. “The chamber is a quasi-public sort of organization, quasi meaning we do anything the community wants or needs,” says Chamber Pres ident Randy Newman. “The cham ber encourages the improvement of the quality of life in the community.” Brady says the chamber promotes community development by offering special programs that are not busi ness oriented, but human oriented. He hopes to institute programs in Bryan-College Station that were suc cessful in Austin. One such program is “Adopt a School.” Brady explained that the chamber recruits businesses to adopt schools. The business then contrib utes whatever the school may need — financial support, hired tutors, vi deo recorders or labor to repair buildings. Brady says it gives the school children an opportunity to see the private enterprise system at work and it also gives businesses a good feeling to be involved in the education of children. “Bryan-College Station in Action” is another program on Brady’s agenda. The purpose is to match community groups who need volun teers with people who are willing to be volunteers. The chamber will ask businesses to take what Brady calls an “employee volunteer inventory of special interests.” The chamber will then compile a list of possible volun teers for community groups to use. The chamber also has begun a Brazos Leadership class. The pro gram involves 40 young business people who are considered potential leaders of the community. They par ticipate in eight full days of seminars throughout the year. Mayors, judges, county commissioners and other community leaders discuss their jobs at the seminars. Newman says the goal of the program is to fa miliarize potential leaders about county and city jobs, so that they be come interested in those jobs in the future. “A good place to make a living,” the last half of Brady’s favorite phrase, could be defined as the eco nomic side of the community. “To make a community a nice place to live and a good place to make a liv ing,” Brady says, the economy has to be strong. “We can’t count on A&M forever to strengthen our economy." Developing an overall marketing package that will attract target orga nizations to hold their conventions to Bryan-College Station is a goal of Brady. The package will include: what is available in hotel rooms and meeting rooms, ideas on how to transport delegates to the area and what Bryan-College Station has to offer. As for transportation an airport is going will be a key issue in tne fu ture, Brady says. A new airport would take only five to eight years to build, he says. He also plans to talk to the Texas A&M System Board of Regents about refurbishing either Easterwood Airport or the old Bryan Air Base. Newman says one convention scheduled for College Station will bring 1,300 delegates to the area. That is the 1986 State Lulac conven tion. It should boost the economy by about $850,000, Newman says. Another way to strengthen the lo cal economy is to recruit industry to the area, Brady says. “We can to do this by planning an economicdw opment strategy for the future,"li says. Questions to be considered ini veloping a strategy, Brady says,it. elude: “What kind of industrydm: want to go after for the future What do these industries looltfe Can we provide what they want What kind of marketing strae should we use.” Brady declined to discuss infc tries which are considering coit| to this area because theindustrittiii sist on privacy until they have mill a final decision. To attract conventions, indut, and vistors to Bryan-College Statior. the chamber has a special office,tit tourist and convention bureau.Tl* bureau will have a new officeprotn bly within six months at Universit Drive across the street from the Hi ton Hotel, now under constructios Brady sums up his primarygoalt excutive director this way: “Toil what I can to keep Bryan-Colleyt Station working together tocontinm to grow in a healthy way." Better Business Bureau can Arts Council promotes art, answer students’ questions cultural activities in area By DOLORES HAJOVSKY Reporter When a student has a dispute over an apartment lease or a grievance with a local business, the Better Busi ness Bureau may be able to help. “The BBB investigates and acts on any kind of marketplace dis agreement,” says LeRoy Balmain, executive director of the bureau in Bryan. “The BBB is the only place in town to check the reputation of a company. This service is free to con sumers. All they have to do is call and inquire.” Balmain says the bureau will in vestigate any complaint a consumer makes about a company, in addition to investigating anything it notices out of the ordinary. Balmain says the most common complaint the BBB hears from stu dents is about apartment leases. A lease is legally binding to both par ties, Balmain says. “Many students say they didn’t have time to read their leases,” he says. “And that’s a mistake. The stu dent needs to read the lease care fully, fill in any blank spaces and be sure to get a copy of it.” Balmain says the manager can go back and put information in the blanks and the students are legally bound because they signed the lease. “The students need to look at the check-in sheet, also,” Balmain says. “If there’s one nail hole not reported they will be billed for it.” Balmain says apartment managers are in the business to make money and they will take advantage of the students’ negligence. “Consumers need to contact the BBB before they do busipess with anyone,” Balmain says. “Once money is transacted it’s difficult to do anything.” The bureau tries to settle disputes between consumers and companies informally and privately. “It helps the Ittle guy who can’t af ford a lawyer,” Balmain says. Both parties sign a binding agreement to resolve the problem and follow the BBB’s arbitration program. “The judgment is legally binding but the BBB doesn’t have any legal powers,” Balmain says. “If a com pany doesn’t comply with the BBB’s decision, the matter is turned over to a county attorney, the attorney gen eral or the Federal Trade Commis sion.” Balmain says the BBB puts out a membership directory of stores in the area that consumers can patron ize with confidence. It’s strictly vol untary, but most stores that do join report an increase in sales, Balmain says. Balmain says consumers need to be aware of company policies be cause each store has its own method of handling refunds and exchanges. Another major complaint the bu reau receives from students, Bal main says, concerns their cars that have been towed from University Square. In most cases the shopping center is within its rights. “Students will go into Skaggs and buy something,” Balmain says. “They feel that since they were a cus tomer of the shopping center, they have parking privileges and go to class. “When the students return from class their cars have been towed.” The sign in the parking lot reads: “If you park and leave shopping center your vehicle is subject to be towed at owner’s expense.” Balmain says the owners of the shopping center have spotters watch for students who park their cars and go to campus. Once the student crosses University Drive the spotters contact the tow trucks and the car is towed away, Balmain says. It costs about $40 to get a car back and not many students can afford that on a college budget, he says. By MICHAEL RAULERSON Reporter Artrain and five Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra perfor mances are among events sched uled for the 1984-85 season of the Arts Council of Brazos Valley. Artrain, originating from Michigan, is making its first ap- f iearance in Texas. It consists of ive railroad cars carrying art dis plays and practicing Texan art ists, Bonnie Yarbrough, Arts Council Executive Director, says. The displays contain art celebrat ing the past 100 years in Texas history, and the artists will dem onstrate fine arts such as painting and pottery making, sne says. The Artrain will be in College Station, one of only 10 Texas cit ies on its schedule, on Nov. 16-20. Temple and Austin also are scheduled, but the other seven haven’t been finalized. The Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra will feature the pre mier of conductor Franz Krager in November, Yarbrough says. Krager has selected Ossie Borosh, an A&M Consolidated High School student, as piano soloist. He will begin auditions for the rest of the orchestra in August. is your calculator in the same class you are? Move up to theTl-66.The easy 512 step programmable. You’re into higher math and your old calculator helped get you there. But now it’s time for something more. The 71-66 from Texas Instruments. The TI-66 offers full programming power and flexibility so you can solve complex and repetitive math problems quickly, easily and with fewer keystrokes than you thought possible. Its 512 merged pro gram steps and over 170 built-in scientific, engineering and statistical functions make for powerful program- ming. And the sleek, streamlined design makes for easy use. Its Algebraic Operating System makes it easy on your brain by allowing you to key in problems as they are written, left to right. And a 10-digit angled Liquid Crystal Display not only makes it easy on your eyes but provides alphanumeric notation of your program steps so you can make easy modifications as you go along. There are large, readable keys for your fingers, and an easy-to-follow guidebook so you shouldn’t get confused. And last, but certainly not least, at a suggested retail of $69.95, there’s a price that’s easy on your pocketbook. All in all, if we made the TI-66 pro grammable calculator any easier to use, it would deserve its own degree. Texas Instruments Creating useful products and services for you. With events such as these, the Arts Council is keeping in step with its cultural policy statement which says the “primary responsi bility is the development and pro motion of the arts and arts detiv- “The arts haven’t nearly kept pace with business and industry in this com munity. But they will. ” ities in the Brazos Valley.” The Arts Council also is a central in formation center for art groups, Yarbrough says. The Arts Council, an umbrella organization for 14 participating member groups, helps coordinate programs, gives technical assis tance and helps fund programs for each of the groups, Yar brough says. The participating member groups must have an ac tive memoersnip of 25 or more people. The groups are: Brazos Valley Art League, Brazos Valley Embroiderers Guild, Brazos Val ley Museum, Friends of the Bryan Library, Community Sing ers, Brazos Valley Symphony So ciety, Bryan-College Station Po etry Society, Citizens for Histore Preservation, KAMU-TVFM, Music Teachers Association of Bryan-Cxjllege Station, Texas De signer/Craftsmen, Opera and Performing Arts Society and Stage Center. Funds needed to support tht Arts Council and its groups are acquired through several means. Yarbrough says. The majority of the funds come from private foundations, state agendes such as the Texas Commission on the Arts, federal agencies and Brazos County. A small percentage comes from the local hotel/motel tax. Individual and corporate memberships also comprise a portion of the income for the non-profit corporation, j Memberships, open to anyone interested in supporting the Council, are ranked accordingto the amount of contributions. For individuals, bronze, silver and gold memberships are given with a gift of $30, $50 and $100, re spectively. “The arts haven’t nearly kept pace with business and industn in this community,” Yarbrough says. "But they will.” Parkway Medical Clinic 2604A South Texas Avenue 693-0202 or 693-0204 Open Seven Days a Week-No Appointment Necessary General Medical Care, Minor Emergencies, Immunizations, Laboratory and X-Ray Facilities 20% Discount to TAMU Students! FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, BRYAN/COLLEGE STATION (Disciples of Christ) ? 900 South Ennis Street Bryan, TX. 77801 409-823-5451 Services Sunday School 9:40 AM Worship 10:50 AM. Youth Activities 5:00 PM. Dr. JohnJ. Walker, Pastor U-RENT-H wants to be your party connection for BACK TO SCHOOL... We carry a full line of quality pa per products and we rent ev erything from linens and crystal to party tents and dance floors. Two Locations: 1904 Tx. Ave, Bryan 779-0085 2301 S. Tx. Ave, College Station 693-131