Silver Taps honors
fallen Ags tonight
Aggie spikers sweep
Baylor in SWC match
See page 9
Sally's symposium
features Rollins today
mm TexasA&M M f V •
fhe Battalion
Serving the University community
V0I8O Mo.24 GSRS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, October 2, 1984
Taxes increase
1/8 of cent today
Congratulations
Photo by MIKE SANCHEZ
Junior cadets, while in the leaning-rest posi-
tion* read their letters of acceptance into the
Ross Volunteers, an honor organization
within the Corps of Cadets. The RV’s, the
honor guard for the governor of Texas, are
chosen by the senior cadets each year.
By ROBIN BLACK
Senior Staff Writer
Starting today, Texans are going
to feel the first effects of the educa
tion reforms the State Legislature
passed this July — today Texans are
going to start paying for a better ed
ucation.
Consumers will be paying because
a tax package created to support the
reforms, as well as highway repairs,
goes into effect.
What starts today is actually the
second part of the comprehensive
package. The first part — an in
crease in the state gasoline tax and li
cense plate fees — started Aug. 1.
The second part of the package
includes a '/s-cent-per-dollar in
crease in the sales tax plus a loss of
exemption for many services and
products that were not taxed at all
up to now.
Since the sales tax is increasing
only a fraction of a cent, a local
spokesman for the state tax office
said stores may take the addition to
the tax out of total earnings rather
than from each individual sale.
The difference would be minimal,
he said, so stores will probably just
take the loss instead of passing it on
to the buyer.
Just how consumers feel the new
increase is up to the merchant in
many cases, the spokesman said.
Movie tickets, for example, have
lost their tax-exempt status. Most
theaters, though, are not simply
adding the straight sales tax to the
price of a movie ticket.
Schulman and Plitt theaters in the
Bryan-College Station area are up
ping their ticket prices by a rough
amount. Adult tickets are going to
cost movie-goers $4.50 starting to
day instead of $4.
The tax office spokesman said the
theaters are probably figuring in the
extra bookkeeping costs the taxes
will requite along with a little extra
profit.
Although almost all products and
services — with the exception of
some repair services and plants and
fertilizers used for agricultural pur
poses — will now be subject to the
state sales tax, the products and serv
ices of non-profit organizations will
remain tax exempt.
What this means locally is that al
though the sales tax will be applied
to tickets for professional sporting
events and other entertainment
events, tickets to University events
such as football games or MSC Town
Hall events will not have the tax
added on.
However, this does not mean that
goods purchased in the University’s
bookstores will be tax-free. The Uni
versity always has and always will
add a sales tax in its stores.
Nightclubs will have to start add
ing a sales tax to their cover charges
starting tonight.
Willie Bennett, booking agent for
Dr. G’s in Bryan, said he’s undecided
as to how he’ll figure the new tax
into the cover charge.
“I don’t see increasing the cover,”
Bennett said. “At least not that
much. I’ll probably just take it out of
the straight cover of $5 or whatever
the price happens to be that night.”
The state comptroller’s office has
been running a series of ads in state
newspapers — the series here ap
peared in the Bryan-College Station
Eagle — to educate the public on
some of the specific effects. One of
the ads has the caption “Let it slide,
Clyde,” and tells readers that the ad
mission to waterslide parks will also
include the state sales tax.
MSC Council debates computers, concert
By KARI FLUEGEL
Staff Writer
The Memorial Student Center
Council discussed the MSC com
puter system, the possibility of a Chi-
rago concert, a joint MSC/Student
Senate committee to discuss MSC fi
nancing, career development and
|MSC OPAS activities at the council’s
neeting Monday night.
Council members received a re-
ort on the state of the MSC com
puter systems from Phillip Shiffrin,
Icomputer programmer for the MSC.
Ilhe MSC presently uses four com
puters with 12 terminals divided be
tween the director’s office, the Stu
dent Programs Office, the
accounting office and the Student
Finance Center. The computer sys
tems eventually will be expanded to
include 20 terminals.
“I see this as a key element in
doing what the MSC has historically
done,” Jim Reynolds, MSC Council
secretary-treasurer, said.
Council members also discussed
the possible scheduling of a Chicago
concert. The Entertainment Pro
grams Study Committee submitted a
report to the council, first rejecting
Nov. 13 as a possible date for a Chi
cago concert and then later, at a spe
cial meeting, accepting the date.
Some council members were con
cerned that a Tuesday night concert
would not break even financially.
After discussion, the council, by a 7-
4 vote, accepted the report which al
lows negotiations for the concert to
continue.
Negotiations with Chicago have
not been completed. The council’s
approval does not insure that the
program will be presented.
Executive Vice President for Ad
ministration Cory Courtney re
ported on the formation of a joint
MSC/Student Senate committee to
investigate student services funding.
The committee, to be co-chaired
by Courtney and Student Senate
Vice President of Finance Mike Kel
ley, will research ways to make the
student center a self-supporting or
ganization. The 10-member commit
tee will be selected, and the research
will begin by the end of October,
Courtney said.
The council also discussed career
development programs. In the past,
career development sponsored the
MBA/Law Day, a day when students
interested in master of business ad
ministration and law programs re
ceive career information.
This year, career development
programs will be expanded to in
clude a resume workshop, a dress
for success seminar and separate
MBA and Law Days.
Tad Pruitt, chairman of MSC
OPAS, reported on new OPAS activ
ities to supplement the regular sea
son. Such activities, to include a
mini-concert series and spontaneous
exposure experiences, are designed
to raise the cultural awareness of the
student body.
The mini-concert series will be
shows designed to provide original
programming — such as symphonic
band and choral groups — not
scheduled for the regular OPAS se
ries. Spontaneous exposure experi
ences are short programs in active
campus areas between classes. These
programs may include mimes and
string quartets, Pruitt said.
Campus preacher fights apathy with Christianity
By ANN BRIMBERRY
Reporter
RonTewson is fighting apathy.
Tewson is the man seen regularly
— almost every weekday around
noon — preaching outside the Aca
demic Building.
As pastor of the Fellowship Com
munity Church and an off-campus
advisor for A&M Christian
Fellowship, Tewson says that his big
gest challenge in preaching at Texas
A&M is dealing with the apathy of
the students.
“I would actually rather speak to a
crowd that is jeering and throwing
stuff because I know they are taking
a stand on something,” Tewson said.
“Out here I think one of the biggest
problems is that everyone thinks he
is a Christian because he is a Texan
and goes to the Baptist, Methodist or
Catholic church.”
Tewson says A&M is fortunate to
have the freedom to bring issues out
in the open which never arise in the
classroom.
“One of the reasons I am at a col
lege campus is because this is sup
posed to be where thinking people
are,” he said, “but you would be sur
prised how many unthinking people
there are that have never even ex
amined the thing that has molded
the world.”
Tewson said he has heard many
misconceptions about Jesus Christ as
a result of classroom lectures.
“I can give you many examples
from students who come to me say
ing things their professors have
said,” Tewson said. “In the class
room, frequently a one-sided ap
proach is being presented and the
people don’t get the other side.
“As I became more and more
aware of this, I thought we should
have a forum out in the open where
people can come and hear another
side that they probably are not get
ting in the classroom.”
Tewson began the student forum
about four years ago. He said at first
it was sporadic.
“People might walk by 20 times on
20 different occasions before they fi
nally stopped to listen,” Tewson
said.
There is a courteous spirit at
A&M, Tewson said.
In Today’s Battalion
Local
• Don’t let limited finances keep you from studying
abroad. See story page 3.
• Members of MSC SCONA talk about their visit to China.
See story page 4,
where they throw things at you and
it is a real discourtesy. But here,
even when those who are violently
opposed act obnoxious, their spirit is
still one of general courtesy and that
of wanting to listen.”
Tewson said he doesn’t take oppo
sition personally..
“There is no animosity toward
anybody,” he said. “I just want them
to know the truth, and the interest
ing thing about truth is that it has a
way of working in a person’s mind
and conscience.
“The God that I know loves peo
ple and motivates me to love people.
So when you love people, you want
the best for them and want to help
them.”
Tewson said his goal is to give stu
dents exposure to Christianity.
“If Jesus Christ is truly the only
way, then people need to know
that,” Tewson said. “If there were
many ways, then I wouldn’t bother.”
Tewson said some students want
to live the “fun life” — but they are
living under a deception of what a
fun life is.
“Leaning over the toilet throwing
up with a hangover isn’t what any
one would call fun; or having your
girlfriend tell you she’s pregnant
and you have to figure out what to
do,” he said. “There is so much de
ception about what is fun that peo
ple dive into it only to find out they
are getting hurt.”
Tewson said he’s been a Christian
for 14 years.
“It’s been a lot more fun than the
first 21,” Tewson said. “I came to
Christ because it was true. It was the
most logical decision to make for any
thinking person.”
Photo by FRANK IR WIN
Ron Tewson, pastor of the A&M Christian students near the Academic Building about
Fellowship Community Church, speaks to the Bible.