Thursday August 1, 1985AThe Battalion/Page 3
'ATE AND'KOCA^:
Most B-CS managers
sure of hotel industry
By D’ANNA HEIDEMAN
Reporter
“Overbuilt” vividly describes
the hostelry industry in College
Station, say five local hotel and
motel general managers.
Ralph Deitrich, the general
manager of the Aggieland Inn,
says it may take four to five years
for the city’s growth to catch up
with the saturated hostelry mar
ket.
“College Station definitely has
a great future,” he says, “but
somebody better stop building
motels someday.”
Some of the busiest times for
the hostelry industry are during
football season, Parents’ Week
end and graduation.
But Earline Ashby, general
manager of Holiday Inn, says the
last two weeks have been very
busy because of A&M’s Fireman
Training School.
Such conferences and seminars
at the University are another
source of business for hotels and
motels.
Betty Young, general manager
for Ramada Inn says about 90
percent of Ramada Inn’s business
"College Station ,
bright future/' —
Deitrich, general manager
is directly related to A&M. And
since there has been a drop in
conference attendance. Young
says the inn’s business has been
slow.
Art McKellar, general man
ager for the Inn at Chimney Hill,
says he thinks the College Station
Hilton and Convention Center
complements the local hostelry
industry.
“The Hilton provides the
meeting facility while we provide
quality rooms at a big savings,” he
says.
Deitrich, Ashby and Young
agreed that two big convention
facilities, such as the Hilton and
Ramada Inn, will draw larger
conventions to College Station.
They all predict a bright future
for the local hostelry business.
But the La Quinta Inn general
manager, Charles Shaddox, dis
agrees. He says he sees a slow fu
ture for the College Station in
dustry.
“I do not see College Station as
a convention city because of its lo
cation,” Shaddox says,
Photo by Leigh Forrest
'Wade Myles puts finishing
touches on the College Sta
tion Hilton and Convention
Center.
A&M Principals’ Center gets donation
e lawyei
joodnea
University News Service
The Abell-Hanger Foundation of
Midland has awarded a grant to the
new Texas A&M Principals’ Center,
which is dedicated to the support
and professional renewal of elemen
tary and high school principals.
The center was established this
year by the Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents. Dr. Dave
Erlandson, head of educational ad
ministration, said its goal is to pro
vide training and professional en
richment for the person who has
been shown to be the pivitol point
for educational reform in our
schools — the principal.
“There are more demands placed
upon the time and energy of the
principal today than ever before,
and consequently there is a need for
the principal to have better knowl
edge and greater creativity than ever
before,” he said.
The Abell-Hanger grant will be
used to maintain the services pro
vided by the center which include
visits by staff to principals in the
state and an 800 number advice hot
line, he said. In addition, the center
has already sponsored several pro
grams for the benefit of principals
including a six-week institute for
prospective principals and a week-
long academy for practicing princi
pals.
Dr. Dean Corrigan, dean of the
College of Education, said, “This is a
critical period for the Principals’
Center because it needs special
funds beyond those supplied by
Texas A&M to meet its goals and re
sponsibilities.
“The grant provided by the Abell-
Hanger Foundation will be very ben
eficial to the center and its staff in
providing needed training and sup
port services to elementary and sec
ondary school principals.”
Dr. Chris Borman, associate dean
for research, said the grant will
“help the Principals’ Center get off
the ground” and that services will be
expanded as the center gains addi
tional financial support.
The Abell-Hanger Foundation re
cently financed a chair in nautical ar
chaeology at Texas A&M
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Any junior or senior in the College of Science who has not pfe- •
viously taken the English Proficiency Examination shoukl plan to
take the test August 6 unless they have completed English 301 with a
minimum grade of C, Students in the College of Science are re-
""ired to pass either English 301 or the test in order to qualify as a
The English Proficiency Exam will be administered by the En
glish Department. Students in the Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics
and Physics Departments should register for the exam in 152
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Hobby, 28 senators
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Precedent-setting trial
may change venue
Associated Press
AUSTIN — Twenty-eight state
senators, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and a
former senator issued a written invi
tation urging lobbyists to attend a
fund-raiser that Sen. Carl Parker
says raised more than $40,000 for
his legal fees, it was reported
Wednesday.
Parker, facing a third grand jury
investigation into allegations of pro
moting pornography, prostitution
and drugs, said the money was
raised at a Monday night event in
Austin.
“I thank my colleagues in the Sen
ate,” Parker told the Austin Ameri-
can-Statesman. “It’s not easy to put
your name on an invitation for a guy
under attack.”
Associated Press
pr
setting trial of a nursing home cor
poration charged with murder by
neglect in the deaths of two elderly
patients may be moved from Galves
ton to San Antonio, a federal judge
said Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge William Ses
sions said special arrangements
could be made to hold the trial, ten
tatively scheduled for Sept. 9, in San
Antonio. He said the trial would be
conducted in the federal courthouse
since Bexar County courtrooms
would not be available.
Although a change of venue or
der has not been signed, State Dis
trict Judge Don Morgan, prosecu
tors and defense attorneys went to
San Antonio Wednesday to discuss
possible arrangements.
Morgan declined comment on the
plan Tuesday during a brief recess
in the fifth week of pre-trial motions
to quash murder indictments against
the Houston-based Autumn Hills
Convalescent Centers Inc., its presi
dent and four current or former em
ployees.
The defendants each are charged
with two counts of murder by ne
glect.
Defense attorneys allege prosecu
tors leaked secret grand jury infor
mation to reporters and violated the
defendants’ right to a speedy trial.
ney
:ial
from financial ruin and help me
combat this gross injustice,” Parker
said.
Parker, D-Port Arthur, is chair
man of the Senate Education Com
mittee. He twice has been indicted
by Jefferson County grand juries,
which looked into operations of
Happy Times Video Inc., a firm ac
cused of selling pornographic films
from a house once co-owned by Par
ker.
The indictments were dismissed
because of questions about how the
grand jury investigations were han
dled. Authorities asked the attorney
general’s office to direct the third in
vestigation, which is expected to end
next month.
Parker said he borrowed
$200,000 when his legal problems
began last year. “That money is
gone,” he said. He has spent an addi
tional $80,000 for his defense
against charges he insists are politi
cally motivated.
Sens. John Montford, D-Lubbock,
and Don Henderson, R-Houston,
were hosts for the fund-raising
event, which attracted 250 to 300
people.
“I’m worried about how he’s being
treated down there,” Montford said.
“There is some concern about the
abuse of the district attorney’s office.
I consider Sen. Parker a close friend,
and I’m not a fair-weather friend.”
Two senators did not join Hobby,
the 28 senators and former Sen. Lin
den Williams of Houston in the writ
ten invitation. They were Sens. Bus
ter Brown, R-Lake Jackson, and
Cyndi Krier, R-San Antonio.
Brown, a candidate for attorney
general, has questioned the use of
contributions by Democratic Attor
ney General Jim Mattox for his legal
fees when he won acquittal on com
mercial bribery charges.
“There’s at least a question of rais
ing funds for legal fees,” Brown
said. “I have been unable to see with
clarity if it’s legal.”
Gramm wants judge to prohibit audit
Associated Press
AUSTIN — U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm wants a
federal judge to prohibit the Federal Election
Commission from auditing his 1984 campaign fi
nance records.
The election commission staff alleges that the
records include discrepancies in reports on fund
raising and spending, according to an EEC re
port Gramm filed as part of his lawsuit.
The Washington lawyer who filed the suit for
Gramm’s campaign committee said an audit
would be a waste of money. Attorney James
Schoener concedes the campaign might have
unintentionally erred on campaign reports, but
he said no major violation occurred.
According to his own reports, Gramm spent
$9.8 million in a campaign against Democrat
Lloyd Doggett.
Gramm’s press secretary, Larry Neal, Wednes
day said the Texas senator has done nothing
wrong, although some clerical errors did creep
into the campaign finance reports.
“There were what amounted to clerical errors
in the course of dealing with 50,000 and more in
dividual contributions . . .,” Neal said. “We had a
lot of volunteers doing a lot of work on an enor
mous report.”
The EEC staff investigated allegations first
raised by Donna Mobley of Austin, former direc
tor of Texas Common Cause. The probe per
suaded the six-member commission there was
“reason to believe” Gramm’s campaign violated
finance laws and a full audit was ordered.
But on June 19, Gramm filed suit in U.S. Dis
trict Court in Dallas, alleging the deadline had
E assed for the EEC to audit his 1984 campaign
ooks.
The campaign committee will respond to spe
cific questions, but it doesn’t believe a full audit is
proper, Schoener said.
“An audit is terribly expensive, probably some
where between $60,000-$70,000,” he said. “. . .
That’s too costly and too wasteful of the taxpay
ers’ money and the campaign’s money.”
FEC officials, who claim they are bound by
confidentiality requirements, have little to say
about the case.
The agency’s response to Gramm’s lawsuit is to
be filed in the Dallas court by Aug. 19-
“I cannot divulge what is going ori in the inves
tigation until the matter is closed,” said Lois
Lerner of the FEC’s general counsel staff.
The six-member commission is made up of
three Republicans and three Democrats.
The allegations against the Gramm campaign
include charges that it mishandled donations to a
joint fund-raiser breakfast in Dallas last year.
An FEC staff report said at least one contribu
tor did not realize that some money from the
Presidential Nomination Breakfast Ball would go
to Gramm’s campaign.
“The Gramm committee appears to have de
posited these checks into the committee’s account
instead of depositing them in a separate joint
fund-raising account as required,” the report
said. “A review of reports does not appear to in
dicate how or when the committee distributed
these proceeds.”
The FEC report said the Friends of Phil
Gramm committee reported illegally large con
tributions from several sources. Federal law lim
its individual contributions to $1,000 and politi
cal action committee donations to $5,000 for
each primary and election.
Some individuals gave Gramm $2,000 for the
general election, according to the FEC report.
The report also said there were errors in dates,
names and amounts of contributions; and how
donations from married couples were recorded.
Schoener said there was no chicanery in
tended. Of the GOP convention breakfast, he
said one “sweet lady” misunderstood that some
of her money would go to Gramm.
“You can’t help that at a joint fund-raiser,” he
said. “The tickets clearly said there was more
than one sponsor.”
Schoener also denied allegations that the cam
paign improperly took post-election contribu
tions after reporting it had no outstanding debts.
Some bills came in late, he said.
“We admit we failed to disclose debt,” he said,
“but a lot of it wasn’t known at the time.”
No hearing date has been set by U.S. District
Judge Robert Porter, in whose court the case was
Edward Zuckerman, publisher of a Washing
ton newsletter dealing with campaign finances,
said Gramm’s battle against the FEC lacks merit.
“It’s one thing for a lawyer to raise off-the-wall
theories to protect a client.” Zuckerman, editor
and publisher of the newsletter PACs and Lob
bies, said. “But when that client is a member of
the U.S. Senate, who has certain responsibilities
and is accountable to the public, it’s nothing less
than an outrage to let his lawyer go into court
and claim a federal agency does not have the au
thority to conduct an audit.”
“It’sjust a case of stonewalling,” he said.
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