Wednesday
AGGIE SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: will meet at 8:30
p.m. in 404 Rudder.
AGGIE PARTNERS FOR SPECIAL OLYMPICS: will have a
party at 8:30 p.m. in 226 MSC.
STUDENTS AGAINST APARTHEID: will meet at 8:30
p.m. in 401 Rudder.
TAMU SCUBA CLUB: will meet at 7 p.m. in 504 Rudder.
THE PRE-MBA ASSOCIATION: will meet at 7:30 p.m. in
120 Blocker.
OUTDOOR RECREATION CLUB: will meet at 7 p.m. in
146 MSC.
THE ENGLISH CLUB: will discuss “Mythology in History
and Literature” at 7 p.m. in 404 Rudder.
PHI KAPPA PHI HONOR SOCIETY: Applications for
g raduate study are available in 219 Engineering Physics
uilding.
AGGIE GOP: will meet at 8:30 p.m. in 502 Rudder.
CATHOLIC STUDENT ASSOCIATION: will have a New
man Liturgy at 7:30 p.m. at 103 Nagle in College Station.
UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRIES: will have an Aggie sup
per at 6 p.m. at the A&M Presbyterian Church.
RACQUETS ALL CLUB: will meet at 7 p.m. at Court 7 in the
Read Building.
MSC HOSPITALITY: will have an Aggie Christmas Fair
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the ballroom on the second floor
of the MSC.
Thursday
SPEECH COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION: will meet
at 5 p.m. at the Sundance Club at the College Station Hil
ton and Conference Center on University Drive.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FORUM: Dr. Miguel
Velez will discuss “Dairy Production in Developing Nations
— Facts and Alternatives” at 7 p.m. in 404 Rudder.
STUDENT Y: YOUTH FUN DAY III: will meet at 8:30 p.m.
in 228-230 MSC.
MSC HOSPITALITY: will have a fashion show at noon in the
MSC flag room.
FRESHMAN AG SOCIETY: will have a Christmas party at
5:30 p.m. in the Kleberg Building.
MEXICAN-AMERICAN ENGINEERING SOCIETY: will
meet at 7 p.m. in 501 Rudder.
S.H.A.R.E.: Applications for S.H.A.R.E. staff are available
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until the end of the semester at the
Off-Campus Center.
MODERN LANGUAGES — GERMAN FACULTY: will pre
sent “Die Hose” at 8 p.m. in 201 MSC.
WOMEN’S STUDIES: will show the movie “To the Light
house” at 7:30 p.m. in 120 Blocker.
TAMU CYCLING TEAM: will meet at 7 p.m. in 350 MSC.
Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion,
216 Reed McDonald, no less than three working days be
fore desired publication date.
Program tracks prisoner
by electronic ankle device
HOUSTON (AP) — A state pris- “I will sleep with it, I will eat with
oner became the first Texas inmate it and I will go to work with it if I can
released under electronic surveil- find ajob,” he said,
d&nce Tuesday, going home two “Somebody will be controlling my
^months before he would have been life but I’d rather be out there with
; "Considered for parole, officials said. my family than in here,” the gray-
’ ’ Electronically monitored ankle haired man said from the Correc-
bracelets have been used in Texas tions Corporation of America prison
for probationers and parolees but facility near Humble where he was
this is the first time someone who transferred a few weeks ago.
would otherwise be sitting in a Mike Roach, a spokesman for the
prison cell was released on the elec- Texas Board of Pardons and Pa-
tronic device. roles, said Saucedo is being released
Legally, Domingo Martinez Sau- as part of a pilot program,
cedo, 43, is still an inmate of the Saucedo, a former truck driver,
Texas Department of Corrections, was sentenced to five years proba-
but he is being confined to his South tion in 1985 for cocaine possession.
Houston home. But because traces of marijuana
“When they hook (an ankle brace- showed up in one of his urine tests,
let) up on tomorrow I can’t remove he was sentenced in September to
it,” Saucedo said. three years in prison.
Wednesday, December 2, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5
Grounds director:
A&M parking lots
built improperly
By Debbie Halley
Reporter
Some parking lots at Texas A&M
are in bad condition because they
were constructed with improper
foundations, says Eugene Ray, direc
tor of the University Grounds Main
tenance Department.
Ray explains that at one time,
A&M had “thin section” lots, which
were made by putting a base of lime
into the soil, then simply covering it
with asphalt.
“Thin section lots were a bad
idea,” Ray says.
Now A&M has to worry about the
fast wear of these lots and the cost of
reconstruction, which could have
been prevented if they had been
based properly, he says.
The lots are being redone, due to
deterioration, by either grounds
maintenance or by contracted con
crete companies. If grounds mainte
nance reconstructs a parking lot, it
puts a base of lime in the soil, which
keeps the soil from expanding.
Then, a layer of limestone and a
layer of asphalt is added, he says. If a
concrete company is contracted to
redo a lot, steel-reinforced concrete
is used.
These construction techniques
help prevent wear from elements
such as weather and the continuous
parking of large machinery trucks,
buses and other heavy vehicles on
campus, Ray says.
If there were a preferred tech
nique, Ray says he would choose the
steel-reinforced concrete simply be
cause it would allow the grounds
maintainance to work on other pro
jects on campus that need attention.
However, there are high dollar
contracts involved when concrete
companies do the reconstruction, he
says.
“The costs can be as much as
$ 1,200 to $ 1,700 a space,” he says.
The funds for any repairs or re
construction of the lots is not appro
priated, Ray said. The money comes
from a sub-account of parking facili
ties that earns its revenue from park
ing permits issued each year.
Grounds maintenance works clo
sely with the University Police De
partment, Ray said. If there are any
decisions to be made about parking
plans, the two departments discuss
the needs.
Grounds maintainance is aware of
problems with parking lots and is
working on improvements each se
mester, Ray says. However, it takes
time to reconstruct a whole lot.
When a lot is being redone, the
job takes place in the summer when
the demand for parking is not as
great, he says.
If the parking lots are constructed
properly, he says, they can last from
25 to 30 years.
Mental records show
thousands committed
under now invalid laws
AUSTIN (AP) — A Texas Civil
Liberties Union official says he is
stunned by records showing that
thousands of mentally disabled peo
ple in state institutions were com
mitted under laws that no longer are
valid.
Government records show that
2,280, or 30 percent, of residents in
the 13 state schools for the mentally
retarded were committed before
1978, when the commitment law for
retarded people was changed, the
Austin-American Statesman re
ported Tuesday.
Records also indicated that 591,
or 16.6 percent, of mental patients
in the eight state mental hospitals
were committed before 1983, when
Texas law was rewritten to make it
more difficult to commit mentally ill
people against their will.
The records were obtained from
the Texas Department of Mental
Health and Mental Retardation in
response to a Texas Open Records
Act request filed by the newspaper.
Names were not included in the in
formation in order to maintain con
fidentiality.
“The numbers are really over
powering,” said Jim Harrington, le
gal director of the Texas Civil Liber
ties Union. “I must say I was reially
stunned. The problem is much more
substantial than anyone thought it
was.”
None of the nearly 3,000 mentally
disabled people are being confined
illegally, said Kent Johnson, chief at
torney for the mental health depart
ment.
The 1983 law that changed com
mitment criteria for mental patients
and the law that in 1978 changed
commitment standards for retarded
people did not require the depart
ment to hold new commitment hear
ings for all those committed under
the previous standards, Johnson
said.
“If they (lawmakers) had meant
for us to do that (hold new commit
ment hearings), they would have just
said recommit everybody,” he said.
Seventeen people were committed
in the 1920s and 96 people in the
1930s, records show.
The department was sued in Oc
tober by TCLU and Advocacy Inc.
on behalf of Opal Petty, 69, a bor
derline retarded woman who lived
in state institutions for 51 years be
fore being released two years ago.
The lawsuit alleges that Petty, who
spent 37 years in Austin State Hospi
tal and 14 years in San Angelo State
School, never received a judicial
hearing to determine if her 1934
court-ordered commitment re
mained necessary.
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questions about literature
as you study and review.
Each is designed to help
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tfcciA LIGHT
COMEDY COMMANDOS
4r MSC Town Hall Presents
A Live Night Before a Dead Week
Featuring
Tim Settimi and David Master
Friday, Dec. 4,1987 8 p.m.
Rudder Theatre
Tickets $2 9 °
Available at MSC Box Office
845-1234
Thurs. Dec. 3,8 p.m. till 12 at Flying Tomato.
Don’t miss your chance to win free Coors
Light Comedy Comando tickets, t-shirts &
hats. No purchase necessary
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