—
Wednesday, January 16, 1985/The Battalion/Fage 3
"• STATE AND LOCAL
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1S New telephone prefix marks updating of service
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By PATRICE KORANEK
Stn If Writer
The increasing use of home com
puters and the developing high tec h
nology industry in the Bryan-Col-
lege Station area is causing some
changes in local telephone serv ice.
The current electronic switching
systems are being replaced by more
By ANN CERVENKA
Staff Writer
Senator Kent A. Caperton, a
Democrat from Bryan-College Sta
tion and a 1971 graduate of Texas
A&M, has been appointed by Lieu
tenant Governor William 1‘. Hobby
to three kev committees for the 69th
session of tne Texas Legislature.
Caperton will chair the newly cre
ated Committee on Criminal Justice,
and will also serve on the Finance
and Education Committees.
“I am pleased and honored, since
these committees w ill be addressing
some of the most important issues
faced by the current Legislature,”
Caperton said.
In general, the committees do the
technical work and research before
discussion on the floor. “ The coin-
efficient digital switching systems.
The first digital switching systems,
which use fiber optics instead of cop
per cable, were put into operation in
December 1983. The changeover is
scheduled to be completed by early
1987. Digital switching systems make
the marriage of computers and tele
phones more compatible.
A direct result of the new switch-
mittee system is basically where the
work of the Senate takes place,” he
said.
More specifically, the Committee
on Cr iminal Justice deals with legis
lation concerning the Texas Depart
ment of Corrections and all matters
pertaining to the Criminal Justice
System.
The committee will deal with all
aspects of criminal justice. “My goal
is to allow a comprehensive look at
the criminal justice system,” he said.
The Education Committee will be
largely responsible for reviewing the
Reform Package, which passed in
1984.
The Reform Package proposes to
reduce classroom sizes, increase tea-
cher salaries and require athletes in
public schools to maintain at least a
/() percent average.
ing systems that the customers will
see is a change in phone number
prefixes. The changes, scheduled to
begin in November, will take place in
two areas. One is the area east of
Texas A&M, bounded roughly by
Carter Creek on the south and Old
Reliance Road on the north which
will receive a 776 prefix. The other
area is south of campus surrounding
Kent Caperton
The committee will also try to
solve the problem of inequalities be
tween the rich and poor school dis
tricts, the Senator said.
The Finance Committee, on
which Caperton served during the
previous session, reviews all budget
ary requests.
“ The main goal of the committee
is to fund a state government with
out a tax increase,” Caperton said.
Caperton said his appointments
"will pm me in an excellent position
to represent the interests of the 5th
District.”
Senator Caperton
appointed to key
state committees
Proposal would allow King’s birthday
to be optional holiday for state workers
Associated Press
AUSTIN — The birthday of slain
dvil rights leader Martin Luther
King Jr. should he an optional state
holiday available to state workers
who prefer to honor King than
Christopher Columbus, a Houston
lawmaker said Tuesday
"1 don’t want to be in the posture
of forcing people to observe King’s
birthday," Rep. Ron Wilson said at a
news conference.
His proposal would allow state
workers to take King’s birthday —
which was Tuesday — as a holiday
instead of Columbus Day, the sec
ond Monday in October.
King’s birthday is a holiday in at
least 15 states. Beginning next year,
the third Monday in January be
comes a federal holiday honoring
King's memory.
Wilson is making his third push
for a state holiday for King. The
Houston legislator said the proposal
has never been a “priority” with
many lawmakers.
“We passed a bill which allows us
to observe June 19 (Juneteenth),”
Wilson said. “That satisfied the con
science of some members of the
House and Senate and the lead
ership that there was a holiday for
black Americans.”
Wilson said he wants to keep the
designated holidays, but only allow
slate workers to choose a reduced
amount from that list.
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member f.d.i.c.
the city of Wellborn beyond College
Station which will receive a 690 pre
fix.
“Changing the numbers will not
improve service, but it is a necessary
part to implementing a new switch
ing system which will make service
more efficient,” said John Wallace,
local public affairs manager for Gen
eral Telephone Co. “When the
change is completed we will have the
latest state-of-the-art switching
equipment of anyone in the coun
try.”
To keep the number of changes
down, Wallace-said, phones installed
in those areas already are receiving
the new prefixes.
Wallace said the cost of making
the change in systems and numbers
will he about $40 million.
“The cost won’t be directly tied to
the rates, but obviously it is a cost of
our doing business,’ he said. The
changes are part of the company's
overall capital improvement pro
gram and the money comes through
those funds, he said.
Computer demonstration to mark
students' academic proficiency
By LYNN RAE POVEC
Staff Writer
The Department of Educatio
nal Technology is sponsoring a
computer demonstration
through noon today. The mobile
unit is set up behind J.R. Thomp
son Hall near the Harrington Ed
ucation Center Complex.
The United States branch of
DEGEM Systems Ltd., a company
that develops and manufactures
educational systems for all levels
of learning, developed the system
in Israel. The first one was in
stalled in October 1977.
The system’s aim is to provide
students self-paced instruction in
math, typing, computer pro
gramming and English as a sec
ond language.
The systetp’s keyboard is a sim
ple one of about 25 keys, aud
each user is assigned a number
code that wall give him access to
the system.
“Students can go at their own
speed in each different topic,"
said Dr. Roberta Stock, who is as
sisting DEGEM Systems with the
computer.
Moshe Zinman, director of the
U.S. branch of DEGEM, ex
plained that teachers can obtain a
print out of the level at which
each student is operating, and
they can use the data to gauge
studen'ts’ progress.
Photo by ANTHONYS. CASPER
Gideon Nimoy works at the master computer.
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