I
11
The Battalion
Sfuesday, February 24, 1987
College Station, Texas
Vol.82 No.105 GSPS 045360 10 pages
Board approves
9.8% increase
in car insurance
AUSTIN (AP) — The State Board
of Insurance Monday approved a
9.8 percent average increase in auto
mobile insurance rates, an increase
the board chairman said would have
been higher if Texans were not
buckling up.
The increase, ef fective May 1, fol
lows two years of Ixtard-ordered rate
decreases and brings premiums back
to 1984 levels.
Because of the increase, Texans’
could pay an additional $270 million
a year in premiums. Insurance in
dustry officials pushed for a 19.7
percent increase that would have
added about $550 million to annual
premiums.
Auto insurance rates in Texas
vary widely. In addition to separate
rates for 66 territories set by the in
surance board, many insurance com
panies are granted permission to
charge rates lower than those set by
the board.
Kick Gentry, spokesman for the
Insurance Information Institute, es
timated that 65 percent of Texas
motorists pay rates that are lower
than those set by the board.
The largest average increase ap
proved Monday was $88, or 16.6
percent, for Kaufman and Rockwall
Counties. The next highest was $79,
or 14.9 percent, for Bexar County.
Chairman Lyndon Olson and
board members David Thornberry
and James Nelson voted for the 9.8
percent increase recommended by
the board staff. However, Thorn-
berry said the 9.8 percent increase
was “on the lower end of what a rea
sonable rate would be,” and Nelson
said, “It’s on the high end of what
should be considered.”
Olson said the 19.7 percent in
crease sought by the industry was
not reasonable.
“I totally think the industry’s rec
ommendation is out of line,” he said.
“They probably knew better than
that.”
Olson and Gentry agreed the in
crease would have been higher if not
for the seat belt law. Olson said seat
bells have reduced injuries and
deaths and so have saved Texans
money on their insurance bills.
Gentry said the industry was
pleased to get the rate increase, but
he said, “I don’t think what they ap
proved is what we thought should
have been. I think it would be fair to
say we were disappointed.”
He said many Texans still will be
able to find auto insurance at rates
below those set by the board.
“There are some 400 to 500 insur
ance companies in Texas competing
for the auto insurance dollar,” Gen
try said. “Each of these companies
will have to make their own market
ing decisions based on where they
feel they are positioned in the mar
ket.
“It’s a very competitive market
place out there, and I think if people
look around they will find that peo
ple are aggressively seeking their
business.”
'r. Heckle and Mr. Gibe
Hecklers at Sunday’s baseball game at Olsen Field showed little re
spect for the visiting team of McNeese State. While the Aggies swept
Photo by Doug La Rue
McNeese in three games over the weekend, A&M only managed a tie
Monday against Sam Houston State. See story, page 7.
Coast Guardsman charged
after bizarre campus chase
IS
leform bill dead, but not forgotten
Legislation questioned effectiveness of Student Senate
fed
iti#
i of In'
By Christi Daugherty
Stall' Writer
I Miles Bradshaw stepped out of his
it)le as Senate Speaker Feb. 1 1 to
lobby for the reform legislation.
Handing his gavel to the speaker-
nro-tempore, he pleaded with the
senators to pass the bill that would
Have cut the 87-member body in
Half.
■ But the much-debated Student
Senate reform bill, which had the
support of the most powerf ul mem-
:rs of the Senate, including both
e student Ixxly president and the
aker, failed by a considerable
argin to garner the necessary two-
tfiirds majority.
It was the latest and most drastic
Reagan said
to like parts
of proposal
bn welfare
vsAf
WASHINGTON (AP) — The na-
pOft * ion’s governors came away from a
fVhite House meeting with President
Reagan on Monday saying he agreed
with low-cost elements of their work-
Iriented welfare reform proposal
>ut not their call for a national stan-
lard for welf are benefits.
attempt to end the Senate’s prob
lems with attendance, apathy and
low productivity.
The co-authors of the bill, Chris
Dowdy and Jay Hays, heatedly de
bated the issue for almost two hours
with other senators before a vote was
taken, and Dowdy admits some
friendships were permanently dam
aged in the sometimes angry debate
before the vote.
But Dowdy said his inevitable dis
appointment at the bill’s failure is
tempered by the fact that a majority
of Senate membeTs voted for the bill,
and he feels it made the rest think
about the possibilities.
Dowdy, a senior biochemistry ma
jor, said the Senate’s failure to
achieve a quorum in the last meeting
of the fall semester spurred the writ
ing of the hill, which had been dis
cussed for years but never seriously
attempted.
“We decided to try the bill because
we felt that even if it lost, if it caused
everyone to be less sure of them
selves, and to he a little more wor
ried about their jobs, it would be a
success,” Dowdy said. “It made peo
ple think.”
Some senators said the bill, which
used a mathematical formula to as
sign a number of senators to each
living area and college, might have
had a better chance if changes still
weren’t being made on it during the
Senate meeting.
Others said if the cut in size,
which would have made the Senate a
51-member organization, had been
less drastic it might have passed.
But Dowdy said the point of the
bill was to increase the importance of
the senators’ jobs, without making
the group elitist, and to make the
member^ feel more needed.
Cutting the size of the Senate also
might eliminate students who join
for the purpose of resume enhance
ment but don’t intend to attend
meetings, he said. With an average
attendance of 50, more than 30
members miss each Senate meeting.
In an ironic twist, exactly 51 sen-
See Reform, page 9
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Senior Stull' Writer
Gus Peter Grammas’ arrest in the
north campus area of Texas A&M
Sunday night began with a report to
University Police that the Coast
Guardsman was astounding the resi
dents of Dorm 9 with a pistol and a
bizarre story.
Grammas was charged Monday in
Brazos County Court with felony
charges of possessing weapons on
school premises, which carries a
maximum penalty of two to 10 years
in prison, and misdemeanor charges
of resisting arrest, said Bob Wiatt,
director of University Police.
Grammas, who came to A&M
early Sunday to stay with a friend,
told dorm residents that he was a po
lice officer fleeing for his life, Wiatt
said.
Grammas had three bullet holes
in his jacket and shirt to substantiate
his story, he said.
Grammas claimed that a bullet-
proof vest he wore under his shirt
had saved his life from mysterious
assailants, Wiatt said.
Grammas had, in fact, tied his
clothes to a tree stump in some re
mote place and fired three shots into
them with a stolen .45 caliber auto
matic pistol, he said.
Police said Grammas stole the pis
tol, two ammunition clips and the
bullet-proof vest from the arms
room of the Coast Guard cutter
Point Monroe.
He is believed to be absent with
out leave from the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard administrative
office in Houston refused to com
ment Monday.
Police cornered Grammas follow
ing a r(x>m-to-room search of Dorm
9, but the armed man jumped from
a second-floor window and fled to
the PA 25 parking lot pursued by
patrol officer Vici Jarrott, Wiatt said.
Grammas then drove off in his
friend’s 1969 Buick, Wiatt said.
See Guardsman, page 9
will)
27 f
S#
besu"
re#
“He basically agreed to support
nore of our program than I thought
ie would,” said Arkansas Gov. Bill
Clinton, chairman of the National
governors’ Association.
New Hampshire Gov. John Sun-
Unu said, “I think the governors and
fhe administration, at least on the
ulk of the kinds of things we’re try-
ng to accomplish on welfare reform,
|li(l reach an agreement.”
The governors, holding their an
nual winter meeting, are expected to
ipprove a formal policy statement
today calling for major overhaul of
Ihe welf are system.
Clinton said Reagan endorsed
irtions of their proposal requiring
vork for any welfare recipient with a
child 3 or older, and establishing a
lontract between the government
nd each welfare recipient prom
sing job assistance in return for an
tlfort to get off welfare.
'Dorm eviction notice'draws fire from parents
Walton residents given short-term reprieve
Walton Hall’s E-ramp residents vacate the premises.
By Carolyn Garcia
Stall Writer
Walton Hall E-ramp residents,
who had been ordered to lie out
of their dorm rooms by last Satur
day, were given a reprieve until
Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. by Uni
versity officials to help the stu
dents juggle relocating and tak
ing exams.
“We (officials) decided to give
them an extension because so
many of them had come to us say
ing that they couldn’t make the
deadline,” Mhry Keck, assistant
area coordinator said. “This deci
sion was based entirely on the stu
dents’ needs.”
All 32 E-ramp residents are be
ing relocated by the North Area
Office of campus housing be
cause officials believe this to lie
the best way to fight the recurring
incidents of vandalism and
rough-housing anti to improve
the students’ study environment.
The students were given a
choice between alternative dorm
assignments or moving off cam
pus.
Almost 50 percent of the stu
dents have opted to move off-
campus, David Smith, a senior fi
nance major and former Walton
Hall president, said.
Although University officials
say they cannot pinpoint those re
sponsible for the incidents, apart
ment manager “B” Riley was
given a “clean bill of conduct” on
students that she called A&M of
ficials to ask about.
But the evicted are not the only
ones upset by the upheaval —
some parents are not pleased, ei
ther.
Ron Sasse, associate director of
student affairs, said that about a
dozen parents have called his of
fice.
Donna Canario, mother of a
junior aerospace engineering ma
jor from the ramp, said she and
her husband are very upset.
“My husband got on the phone
as soon as he heard about it to try
and get this resolved,” Canario
said. “I tried to call both (John)
Koldus (vice president for stu
dent services) and Sasse, but I
didn’t get any further than the
secretaries.
“We went through orientation
and everything together and
what impressed us was what we
were told about the family atmo
sphere of living on campus. I
■ don’t know if I would want my
son back in a dorm now. We have
a son in high sch<x)l now who we
were planning to send to A&M
next year, but now I don’t know if
we are going to send him there.
“The parents are the ones who
are paying money for their kids
to go to school there,” she said. “I
feel that the University should
have contacted the parents before
taking the action it did.”
Students ch(x>sing to move off-
campus are being offered pro
rated rent refunds and r<x>m de
posit refunds.
John Southard, manager of
McCaw Cablevision, said the com
pany will not charge a cable re
connection fee for those students
who rel<x;ate on campus.
“This is the kind of thing you
l«x)k at on a case-by-case basis,”
Southard said. “The reason we
are not charging is because it (the
move) was not the students’
choice.”
The E-ramp residents had
been written up for 10 housing
violations since Jan. 30. The inci
dents include shaving cream and
water fights, fhxtding of the hall,
harassment of the RA, fire
cracker throwing and having bro
ken bottles and trash on the stair
wells.
Housing officials have charged
the students with a Feb. 11 at
tempted assault of their RA — a
charge which the students insist
they had nothing to do with.
Anthony Bolner, a senior agri
cultural economics major, said he
See Eviction, page 9