Tuesday, July 29, 1986/The Battalion/Page 3
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'oint plan changes to deter pullouts
By M.K. Pfeifer
Reporter
The Aggie Point Account will un-
jdergo some drastic changes this fall
Ito discourage students from pulling
lout of the program, said Lloyd H.
ISmith, assistant director' for the
I Food Services Department.
“We have a certain group of stu-
Idents that have found that getting
[on point plan and then getting off of
it, is a good way to get money from
I their parents,” he said.
Smith said the changes made by
food services and business services
lare meant to make students take the
point plan more seriously.
Originally, students or faculty
[could start an account with food
services lor $150. Students paid full
price for food, instead of getting the
discount that is offered with the
I board plans.
To put additional money into the
I account, the student had to add a
minimum of $50, and bonus points
were given for larger depbsits.
In the fall, however, it will cost
I $250 to start an account and additio
Cyclists to hold
anti-nuclear
rally at Rudder
Texas bicyclists will travel to
the Texas A&M campus today
and will hold a rally at 1 p.m. at
Rudder Fountain to protest nu
clear arms buildup.
In addition, members of Bra
zos Valley Peace Action will at
tend the rally to discuss connec
tions with nuclear weapons
buildup at A&M and Bryan-Col-
lege Station.
The cyclists are participating in
the “Pantex Pilgrimage” in which
they ride from Houston to the
Pantex Nuclear Weapons Facility
north of Amarillo. Pantex is the
only final assembly- point for nu
clear weapons in the United
States.
This is the third consecutive
year the pilgrimage has been
made to the Pantex plant. People
are traveling by car and bike
along various routes to converge
on Pantex for a ‘Peace Witness’ to
be held on the site August 6.
nal deposits must be for at least
$100. The large deposit discount has
been eliminated.
Students must also put a deposit
into the account to keep it active,
otherwise the account will expire in
two semesters and the money in the
account w ill revert to food services.
If a student drops point plan, the
semester or dp aw'ay with the point
plan altogether.
*Smith added that the problem
seems to be prevalent in the entire
meal plan program.
Smith said he assumes some stu
dents ask for money from their par
ents to get on point plan, then open
an account and close it a few days
“We have a certain group of students that have found
that getting on point plan and then getting off of it, is a
good way to get money from their parents. ”
— Lloyd H. Smith, food services assistant director.
money is refunded with a $50 fee
deducted to pay for the charges food
services incurred by having the fiscal
office process the refund check.
If these changes don’t work,
Smith said, the administration will
raise the fee to withdraw from point
plan, make a provision that a student
cannot withdraw until the end of the
later without making a transaction.
“As an example, the Fiscal De
partment tracked down a girl who
every semester for five years, got on
board plan only to drop it without
ever using it,” he said.
Food services has had the same
point plan account opened and
closed as many as three times in one
semester. Smith said.
He said food services has about
8,000 active point plan accounts, but
the average daily movement of cash
through the accounts is only about
$1.60.
He explained that refunding
money for meal plans is an account
ing nightmare for the fiscal office
and food services. The point plan
has become a major accounting
problem because they have a 35 per
cent return rate, he said.
“In one week at the beginning of
the summer semester, we took in
$20,000 and refunded $7,000,”
Smith said.
Also, he said, the red tape that the
department has to go through is a
bureaucratic triumph.
“They have to process, we have to
process . . .,” he said. “Then, we rec
oncile both of our books to make
sure (the student) got the check and
the account was taken out of our
books.”
“We didn’t want (the changes),”
Smith said. “It’s penalizing everyone
else because they’re playing games
with it.”
Four killed in Beaumont house fire
BEAUMONT (AP) — A woman
and three children died Monday in a
house fire that the victims might
have survived if smoke detectors had
been installed in the residence, au
thorities said.
Killed were June Droddy, 26, of
Beaumont; her 4-year-old daughter,
April, and 8-year-old son, Michael;
and her niece Cheryl Keith, 14, of
nearby Buma, said Justice of the
Peace Harold Engstrom.
The fire, which was reported just
before 3 a.m., apparently started in
the living room and had been smol
dering for a long time, Engstrom
said.
The cause was not immediately
determined.
The mother and her two children
were found huddled in the hallway
of the one-story frame house, appar
ently trying to escape the billowing
smoke, Engstrom said.
The niece, who also apparently
had tried to get out of the house, was
found beside her bed, he said.
Fire officials said the victims
might have escaped had precautions
been taken.
“Two mistakes they made: One,
they didn’t have a smoke detector
and two, they hadn’t had fire drills
or had a second way out,” said Jeff
McNeel, a fire department spokes
man.
Beaumont has had nine fire fatali
ties so far this year, compared to the
annual average of about four to five,
the spokesman said.
Northgate parking
problems continue
By Nancy Conces
Reporter
Despite signs warning against
illegal parking in the parking lot
at Skaggs Alpha Beta, Music Ex
press and Fat Burger, people
continue to park there illegally,
store managers say.
The lot is across the street from
the Zachry Engineering Center
on University Drive and is conve
nient to the Texas A&M campus.
Although the majority of the
lot spaces are reserved for
Skaggs’ patrons, the store direc
tor, Oliver Bishop, declined to
comment on how Skaggs handles
the illegal parking problem.
Music Express manager Carlos
Rodriguez says the store uses a
tow service to remove cars parked
illegally and will warn non-pa
trons verbally from parking in
their reserved spaces.
“It’s extremely embarrassing
for a business owner or manager
to have a customer come in and
complain about walking in the
hot sun because they had to find a
parking space away from your
store,” Rodriguez says.
He says he works closely with
Fat Burger, the restaurant next
door, to regulate people who
park illegally in the 12 to 14
spaces reserved for their employ
ees and patrons.
“I don’t tow unless I inform
them (Fat Burger),” Rodriguez
says. “When his spaces are filled,
his customers park over here and
when mine are full my customers
park there.”
He says the store used to spend
about $30 a month on spray paint
and flyers to warn people about
illegal parking, but because the
store has reduced the hours it’s
open this summer, they can’t af
ford the materials.
Rodriguez says the store puts
warning signs in front of the store
during the beginning of semes
ters because illegal parking is es
pecially bad during that time. But
the signs detract from the store,
he says.
“Right away the signs present a
hostile attitude and that goes
completely against the grain of
the store,” Rodriguez says.
“We’re really carefree and loose
here and we run a clean and effe-
cient business, but we don’t want
to give the impression of hostility.
So, when people who park ille
gally say they didn’t see the signs
we try to be nice about it.”
He says illegal parking is a
problem in the summer from
about 8 a.m. until 1 p.m., but dur
ing the regular school year illegal
parking is an all-day occurrence.
“There’s people we see park
here three days in a row,” Rodri
guez says. “We have to tow these
people because they’re getting
into a habit we can’t afford. I feel
bad about towing, but some days
I just have to, because literally, I
don’t have any room to park.”
Fat Burger manager Moe Ab
del Moaty says about 80 percent
of the cars parked in front of the
restaurant aren’t customer cars.
“We used to come to the res
taurant at about 6 a.m. to tell the
construction workers not to park
here,” Moaty says.
He says he thinks it’s better to
warn people instead of towing
their cars because many of the
construction workers and stu
dents may be regular lunchtime
customers.
Moaty says that although the
restaurant put up illegal parking
signs about a month ago, the ille
gal parking problem continues to
be serious because there is no real
control of the area.
LTV renews health care: strike continues
EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) —
LEV Corp. announced Monday
night it had arranged retiree-paid
group medical insurance coverage
for its pensioners, but a steelworkers
union official, anticipating the move,
dismissed it as company officials’ at
tempt “to ease their conscience.”
Jack Parton, director of District 31
of the United Steelworkers of Amer
ica, predicted earlier Monday that
the strike that has idled an LTV
plant for four days may spread if the
corporation fails to restore its insur
ance benefits to retirees.
“I don’t think we’re talking weeks
or months,” he said.
LTV, which filed for protection
from its creditors under Chapter 11
of the federal bankruptcy code, also
operates major steel facilities in
Cleveland and Hennepin, Ill. No
work stoppages have been reported
at either plant.
LTV, in an announcement read
by spokeswoman Jolice Pojeta, said
Monday night it had made arrange
ments with Metropolitan Life Insur
ance Co. and John Hancock Mutual
Life Insurance Co. to offer retiree-
paid group medical insurance cover
age to the retirees.
The coverage will provide alterna
tives to the company-paid medical
coverage, which LTV is prohibited
from continuing after filing July 17
in bankruptcy court.
The coverage provides benefits
retroactive to July 17 for all retirees,
surviving spouses and their depend
ants covered under prior plans,.
LTV said. Monthly costs for each
covered retiree will be $39 for indi
viduals eligible for Medicare and
$132 for others, it added.
Parton anticipated the announce
ment and said before it was released
that LTV officials “are trying to ease
their conscience.”
“They (retirees) don’t need LTV
to arrange that,” Parton said. “If
they had money, they’d go out and
get it themselves.”
Parton’s prediction that the strike
would spread challenged a warning
issued by LTV when the members of
Local 1011 began refusing to cross
demonstration lines set up by re
tirees at the Indiana Harbor Works.
“I've got a
terrible secret.
If they only knew
what I go through
to stay thin.”
When the extreme fear of being
overweight becomes obsessive, it
leads to unusual and harmful
eating practices.
Anorexia and Bulimia are eating dis
orders which are becoming more
prevalent Anorexia, the excessive
pursuit of thinness, can result in mal
nutrition, low blood pressure, loss of
hair, irrational thinking and even
death Bulimia, compulsive eating
binges followed by the purging of
food, can lead to severe dental
problems, kidney failure or cardiac
arrest
Warning Signals may vary, but
often include:
□ The secret fear of becoming
fat
□ Feeling out of control around
food
□ Binging on huge quantities of
food and then purging, by
vomiting, laxatives, or diuretics
□ Feeling irritable, depressed
and self-conscious
□ Extreme dieting and exercise
Greenleaf’s Eating Disorders
Program can help you regain
control of your life. Our specialized
treatment team understands your
pain and despair.
Living with your secret could be
killing you. Call us now and ask
for a counselor with the Eating
Disorders Program.
(409)822-7326
405 West 28th Street. Bryan TX 77803
Your call will be kept confidential
reenlea
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