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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1985)
Page 6/The Battalion/Wednesday, February 13,1985 Evacuation procedures atA&M Fire drills not required By CARMEN MOLINA Reporter Many students remember fire drills in high school that provided a few minutes escape from the bore dom of class. But at Texas A&M, that diversion rarely is provided. Fire drills are not required by law beyond high school, says Harry Sti- teler, University safety and health officer. “We would like to have a fire drill in each building each semester, but it is not required,” he says. The University policy does re quire fire safety and emergency evacuation policies for each budding on campus, Stiteler says, but it is the responsibility of the assigned build ing proctor or fire marshall to sched ule the drills. “There are some buildings that have never had fire drills,” Stiteler says. “It is somewhat of an inconve nience.” College Station Fire Marshall Harry Davis says one or two drills per year for each building is an ad equate number. Glenn Ferris, housing operations supervisor, says all residence halls are required to have at least one drill E er semester. He says the fire drills eld here the last few years have been very satisfactory. Jake Canglose, assistant building proctor for the O&M Building, says the first priority in the O&M Build ing is evacuation. Canglose says he is concerned with the difficulty of vacating the multistory building. Canglose and the other staff members rehearse their drill at least once or twice a year and then make the necessary revisions. Karen Burke, the building proc tor for the Blocker Building, says Blocker has neither a building plan nor regularly scheduled drills. After the alarm goes off, everyone simply vacates the building, she says. Rosemary Rousseau, building proctor for Sterling C. Evans Li brary, says one drill usually is sched uled for the library per year, but there were some problems with false alarms last semester. This has cre ated a “cry wolP’ situation for the students, and some students refuse to vacate the building, she says. Burke says Blocker has had simi lar problems with false alarms and with students refusing to leave the building. Stiteler says some of the false alarms are caused by the new fire safety system. The new system, which is more extensive and elab orate than any found in Bryan-Col- lege Station, has not yet been in stalled in all buildings on campus, he says. Though there are no laws that re quires vacating a building during a fire drill, it is a University policy to clear the building, Stiteler says. Senate approves veterans’ housing, prison transfer bills Slouch By Jim Earle I Senate heo Waii “He’s the most organized person I know. He’s already work ing on his excuse for leaving early for Padre Island for spring vacation. ” laws debate Associated Press AUSTIN — A Senate conn heard testimony Tuesdayotin that would narrow the meaiii; “community standards” in(]u«i of obscenity. Sen. Bill Sarpalius, D-Cao who introduced the bill,i statewide standards are now tod determine what is considc, obscene in accordance with a ^ Supreme Court ruling thatt “community standards’' shouldi ply- , L , JH Sarpalius said the bill fcouldi hibit attorneys from prescaj obscene evidence, bought huh parts of the state, tojurorsoN counties. Sen. Ted Lyon, D-Mesquiie,a lioned whether the state wouBi 254 different standards. But Susan Hoeler, .ittornB| Dallas, said there would nottei many different standards bea jurors have to comply with the« statute on obscenity. The statute includes pram that juries must review thecoa nity standards and that a k obst ene acts must be shown.; 4 Hoeler said,"This bill allo«i people in the county to definti decency of their county. Teu very diverse so the rationalise cable.” Associated Press AUSTIN — The Senate on Tuesday approved two s’ housing t proposals that would keep the veterans’ housing pro gram alive and would allow Texas to exchange prison ers — including troublemakers — with other states. The Senate also approved and sent to the House a bill that would set up a two-tiered program for judicial retirement, with future judges included under a less generous benefit formula than current judges. A proposed constitutional amendment by Sen. Lin den Williams, D-Houston, would raise the limit on bonds for the veterans’ housing program from $500 million to $1 billion. Williams said the program, which allows eligible Texas veterans to borrow $20,000 at less than 10 per cent interest for the purchase of a home, is so popular that it will run out of money by November if the bond limit is not increased. Williams said his proposed amendment would ex tend the housing program to military personnel on ac tive duty. If the House also approves the measure, it will go on the November statewide election ballot. Sen. Ray Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, sponsored the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the state to transfer inmates from Texas prisons out- of-state. Farabee said more than 40 states now have similar authority, and the Texas Department of Corrections requested the measure. Farabee said prisoners could be transferred for medical reasons or to rid a prison of a certain trouble maker. Another example, he said, “would be a state witness who might be in clanger in a given setting.” Farabee’s constitutional amendment would go to the voters in November. A bill implementing the amendment also cleared the Senate and was sent to the House. The judicial retirement bill is a money-saver, according to its sponsor, Sen. Kent Caperton, D- Bryan. T he fiscal note says it would cost the state $500,000 the first two years, $1.9 million the following two years and so forth. If we do nothing, Caperton said, the state would be paying out $200 million a biennium for the retirement system starting in the year 2010. The current plan allows a judge to retire at any age with 20 years of service, and the proposed plan would raise the service requirement to 25 years. Rejected (continued from page 1) posed a plan to kee 1 Basement going, but it was rejectee Reinarts says the council in creased Basement’s budget from the $500-$ 1,000 range to $4,000, so the committee could add variety acts to its programming. He says he asked the council to re duce the budget back to the previous amount and allow Basement to pro gram acts like they had previously gotten before the budget increase. Reinarts says committee members liked those acts better and did a bet ter job of selling the entertainment. According to a committee report, the program review committee con sidered this suggestion but decided to eliminate the committee and allow it to reapply sometime in the future. The report says a reduction in Base ment’s budget would not allow the committee to satisfy students’ pro gramming needs. “One of the reasons Basement has been looked upon unfavorably is be cause Basement doesn’t do anything that is ’important’ in the nature of a SCONA, Wylie Lecture Series, or OPAS,” Reinarts says. “But 1 feel that Basement was important be cause it was fun. We weren’t affect ing as many students as say a Town Hall, but we didn’t spend as much as Town Hall either.” He also says that althougfc committees know this is theiras mester, they are working dilige:. “They’re really trying to go out with a bang,” he says. Basement is planning a rod roll show in Rumours on Feb.i . has tentative dates for two n groups. In the past Basemenu Drought in such entertainers as King Carrasco and Channels. Sh fir cai The decision to eliminate these groups was one the council found difficult to make. Wood says. But it will probably be better for the MSC in the end. A white water rafting trip Rio Grande is in the works fori door Recreation as well as ate packing expedition to the Gn Canyon. T he group also will bet ing the Outcuror Horizon Coni: ence from Feb. 22 to March 2.wrt will f eature speeches by several* doorsmen. Mi By RC The M litt; EATRES Scholarsh busy pro $2.50 twill W' latiiui# pageant. StudwWtittlil 'Tl,„ aiimwumk i ne pc ruary Post Oak Mai ■ .. . Hospitalil mine the in the Mi mer in Fo ■Christy tional ma ,v“.» has been this year’s the MwtcK! One pi iUt “^ at Post C >.m. The 0 contes donor’s f: Also p a talent ( shower her with fragrant sentiments this Valentine’s Day A romantic collection of perfumes. . . each distinctly feminine. An inspired gift for your lady love, one she is sure-to treasure for all the days of the year. From our collection: A. Chld£, 1.7 oz. spray. . . 22.50 B. Shalimar, 2V? oz. spray... $19 C. Lauren, 2 oz. spray. . . 22.50 D. Anais-Anais, 1.7 oz. spray. . . 18.50 E. Opium, 1.2 oz. spray. . . 32.50 F. White Shoulders, 2 3 /4 oz. spray. . . 19.50 shop Dillard s monday thru Saturday 10-9; post oak mall, college station