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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1986)
t hree newcomers eek Bryan City ouncil's Place 2 2 By Jill A. Bumby and Mary Keough Reporters lie winner of the Place 2 |an City Council election will a newcomer to Bryan politics se the election lacks an in- ent. Candidates include Randy , John R. Powell and Lena tnas. ■ter a 16-year leave of ab- «£§ from the political arena, ff Rer Brazos County Cominis- M ler Sims, 46, is returning to Iscene. He earned a bachelor’s degree I Business administration from ag Rsa&m. ■ith21 years of business expe- Re, he says he knows the ups Rdowns and how to tighten the Jt. Rovernmental agencies are no %li® rent t ^ ian * )lis i nesses *” h e jl|B “They’ve got to stay within * I Vjgets.” Rns says Bryan is facing hard Rs because oil prices are down ■ the city budget depends on Irevenues. |lew taxes are one way of in- Ring revenues, he says, but *‘ ave fobably no one in the commu- igan. Mean stand too much of a tax vick TkRase. t of l®°jects which already have 1 Inivf J approved by the Council, |, R as bond issues for street im- .' Renient, park improvements ... ■sewer treatment facilities, will rmitylRotuinued, but any new pro- . UniR would have to be looked at tr Coitfigand hard, Sims says. WesItRfhoever is elected, he says, is and t0 have to hold the line on tpenditures. “Rowell, 48, moved to Bryan six nenl tars ago from Houston. He pre- puslylived in Virginia. , Stwfcf W Covington, Va., he was city tieritiRneer for nine years and city thatla|® a S er f° r one before moving (Texas. I yRwell was Bryan’s city engi- jeei in 1983, so he says he knows 1 nevIm makes this particular coun- campiii|work. estionRowell is also the president of ilv thef 1 J.P. Powell Enterprises, a project management company. Powell says he is qualified for the council because he keeps up with the city. “Once you get involved with the city government,” he says, “it kind of gets in your blood and you feel you have to participate.” He said a council position in volves a lot of research as well as a lot of listening and it’s important for those holding positions to do their homework. Powell says his campaign goals will better Bryan. He says he wants to make some improvements to downtown Bryan and work on the beautifi cation of all of Bryan. He says Bryan has come a long way in its street programs and parks and recreation programs, but he wants to see more done in less time. Powell also says he would like work on improvements to Bryan’s irregular busing schedule. Thomas, the third candidate, was born in Bryan but spent most of her life on the West Coast. She recently returned to Bryan with her family. Thomas says her difficulty in getting involved with the commu nity is one of the reasons for her decision to run for the position. Thomas is a homemaker and also spends a lot of time writing. She was the managing editor and a columnist for a central Texas bi monthly news magazine. Thomas says her ability to meet people will help her clinch Place 2. “I want to represent the people because I am the people too,” she says. She says community concerns include the Bryan school system, land and community devel opment, drug education, the care of senior citizens and programs to keep young people off the streets. Thomas says she is running as a concerned citizen and her being a woman and being black is not the issue. She says she could bring a new perspective into the Coun cil by listening to the people of the community. State and Local Thursday, April 3, 1986/The Battalion Page 3 HaMnMHBHnNmHnspssRKaiBssaesar&evsRiMBHBMaaiBMMaBMaRHHi Candidates see a brighter future 3 vie for council Place 4 spot By Katherine Cooper Kristi Gill ' Nancy Neukirchner Reporters Whichever candidate’s campaign trail voters choose to follow, all roads in the race for the Place 4 seat on the Bryan City Council are said to lead to a better, brighter Bryan. The candidates are incumbent C.P. “Peck” Vass and challengers Larry Gatlin and Mike Kennedy. Mike Kennedy, account executive for KTAM-KORA radio, says his main objective as a council member would be to bring Bryan into the ’80s. Kennedy, 25, says he has lived in the Bryan-College Station area since he entered Texas A&M in 1978. “In my opinion, Bryan is still liv ing in the ’50s and ’60s,” he says. “I think, being a young councilman, I can add a little bit of young, new blood to the Bryan City Council.” He says the main complaint he hears is that people do not think Bryan is keeping up with College Station. “Most of the nice clubs, restau rants and new businesses are locat ing in College Station,” he says. “I want to try to attract some of those businesses back to Bryan and make it a fun place to live.” If he wins a seat on the council, Kennedy says he wants to start a pro gram for revitalizing Bryan and see it through to the end. Another Place 4 candidate is Larry Gatlin. Catlin, 38, co-founded a Bryan law firm five years ago after serving as Bryan city attorney and assistant district attorney. Catlin says that because he advises people on a daily basis about their businesses and operations, citizens have approached him in past years about running for city council. Because Bryan is experiencing an economic low, the city needs some one who has a vision and a sense of the future to try to get Bryan back on its feet again, he says. He says he views the council posi tion as a civic duty, not a political as piration. If he is elected, he plans to remain on the council until he feels he can no longer contribute. “I believe it is a job that ought to be passed around to other folks to let them have the opportunity to serve and represent their feelings and constituents,” he says. Catlin also promises to promote joint cooperation between Bryan and College Station, if elected, to help stop service duplications in areas such as law enforcement and fire fighting. The incumbent for the Place 4 seat, C.P. “Peck” Vass, 66, says he wants a chance to finish projects he started in his previous term. Vass, Class of ’49, has been a resi dent of Bryan for 40 years. He spent 36 years working in the Bryan Independent School District as a teacher, coach and principal. Retiring from the school system at the age of 64, he went to work at the First Bank & Trust of Bryan. He describes his past term as a stimulating and different learning experience. “But sometimes the position is a nuisance because you have to be here all of the time for the meetings and it is a person’s responsibility to be here if they’re elected,” he says. During his term on the city coun cil, Vass says he has supported the construction of a new municipal building and a man-made body of water to provide surface water for future residents. The community has been good to him, he says, so he does his job for the citizens, not for personal gain. “It’s not a thank-you job, it’s a thankless job,” he says. Newcomer, incumbent have equal record By Melissa Spann and Shelley Simmonds Reporters Though one candidate for Place 6 on the Bryan City Council has eight years of council ex perience and the other has none, both candidates have a history of serving the Bryan public. The candidates are John Mobley, Place 6 Bryan City Council incumbent, who is running for his fifth term in office and Dan Bragg, a 1954 Texas A&M graduate. Mobley, 61, was first elected to the council in 1978. He said he has always liked history and government, which is why he enjoys serving on the council. “It’s certainly not the pay in it,” he said. “People will very seldom come up to you and say, ‘Hey, boy, you’re doing a good job. I appreciate it.’ They’ll come up to you if you’ve done some thing that they don’t like, and they fuss about that.” Mobley said he is proud of the work he has done on the council. “I will defend any vote that I’ve ever taken, proudly,” he said. “I’ve never voted on an issue that I was ashamed of. I’ve never been ashamed to take the stand that I did, and I’ll give my rea sons for doing it.” The incumbent said he doesn’t yet know the extent of his campaign, but said he plans to run advertisements in the newspaper and some spots on television. Mobley believes most people know who he is and know his record, he said. “I don’t think it would be right for me to go out and try to beg someone to vote for me,” he said, “and if they don’t want me, well then, I’d just go on. But it would hurt to get beat. Nobody wants to be a loser.” Mobley has lived in Bryan for 30 years, but is not a native Texan. Dan Bragg, Mobley’s opponent, said he con siders himself a “babe in the wilderness” when it comes to running for councilman. “But I’m learning fast,” Bragg said. Bragg said he was asked to run for city council by a number of people who had heard about his work with volunteer clubs related to hand icapped or poor people. He became involved with charity work through his church, First United Methodist, he said, and also through the Society of St. Stephen, a program which does charity work. As a result of this work, he said, he has been on the Twin City Mission Board and also on the boards of the Brazos Valley Rehabilitation Cen ter and the Prenatal Clinic. He became interested in the city council be cause of his involvement and volunteer work with the church, Bragg said. But when he de cided to run his first consideration was his wife and children, he said. “It’s basically a sacrifice,’’ Bragg said. “It’s a non-paying job, and you still have to take care of your job and your family.” Because of this, many people say it’s a thank less job, Bragg said. “But that’s not true,” he said. “Since I’ve an nounced for this office, I’ve been overwhelmed with people calling on the phone, stopping me at places, shaking my hand and telling me how much they appreciate the fact that I’m here. “The biggest reward is the fact that people thank you for serving.” Bragg said he thinks he is probably the best candidate because he has no vested interests. “I feel like I have the concerns of the commu nity at heart,” Bragg said. If elected, he will take a general approach to make Bryan a better place to live, he said. “Put some common sense and good judgment into the things we do,” Bragg said. inst (fe ?nts fins s was 'ii lard of I linistraii and menti I'ournafi Fhe Baa to alP he ieeniS' I ir from ffortsio tie real- i, etc. asa I *1 years lelniet cracM ioped s f idn’t at bi^ j -ou e veI torts >f the I (i.e. hey ! road*-, ravel 11 iaJs# ,de^ just about everyone. Not just puzzle and mystery fanatics. Because we’re offering a $10,000 prize to anyone who can solve it* And that’s not all that makes Maze a rewarding experience. It also happens to be the most fascinating, delightful, infuriating book of its kind ever published. So, pick it up at your bookstore today. We can’t promise you’ll solve the riddle and win the money. Just that it’ll be worth it either way. MAZE: SOLVE THE WORLD’S MOST CHALLENGING PUZZLE By Christopher Manson/Paperback/$5.95. 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