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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1988)
Tuesday, February 9, 1988AFhe Battalion/Page 3 State and Local Regents take construction bids n new terminal at Easterwood writer i - n t years differem people m ns would 'eople. Lej( J e policy oil By Jamie Russell Staff Writer iThe Texas A&M Board of Re- sons nec«nts is accepting bids for the con duction of a new terminal building, lies upo[ld cess roa d an d parking lot at Eas- t other' teiw0 °d Airport until Feb. 25. )r m KThe north passenger-terminal 1 1 •tvB'lding phase of the Easterwood at witli (■ r p 0rt Improvement Plan is one of latric ho ;' the final airport construction pro- are destr fe ts, Moffatt Adams, chief architect ed masssr for A&M facilities planning, said, error novi|f The Board of Regents will award |the construction contract for the hew terminal at the March 6 and 7 meetings, Adams said. 1 “Actual construction for the new ad publis Irminal will begin in May and hope- ■ntly of®filly be completed in August of date efferi |N9.” Adams said, et Union■ ^ en ' Peel, A&M’s vice chan- ie T ^ or facilities planning and con ic Com must cons for whaiol nental I »r histomi ruction, said the improvement and tpansion of A&M’s Easterwood irport is an important step in the rwth of Bryan-Gollege Station and e surrounding area. , , The construction of the terminal mn/stfor fo,-the airport is the fourth of five pojects to be done in the im- Irovement program. Peel said the first projects in- iuded the extension of Runway i/34, which cost $6.4 million; the jrth-terminal extension of utility es, which cost $1.8 million; and e north-terminal aircraft parking ron, which cost $ 1 million. The current terminal project will cost $4.5 million and will include the 32,000-square-foot north passenger terminal building, an access road and an automobile parking lot, Peel said. “The accomodations are the best they (commercial airlines) have any where,” Peel said. A&M compiled a list of the top 13 terminal buildings in the Southwest, Peel said. A&M architects visited the top six and talked to the airport managers about what they liked and disliked about their buildings, he said. “It is a pretty doggone compre hensive list, a thorough study of what we wanted,” Peel said. “You won’t find a better terminal any where for this size airport.” The old 6,000-square-foot termi nal building will be remodeled and transformed into a general aviation facility for private aviation, he said. The airport improvement pro ject’s total cost is $14 million. “It is the most important project we, the University, have done in a long time, not only for A&M, but for the entire area,” Peel said. According to the Census Bureau, the Brazos community’s population has doubled from 20 years ago. And A&M’s student enrollment went from 12,800 students in 1967 to 39,000 students in 1987, according to A&M archives. Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce President W.R. Vance said airport needs have increased along with this population increase. “We’re very interested in promot ing, along with the University, the very best air transportation service that we can obtain for the commu nity and the University,” Vance said. The chamber’s position in regards to the airport is twofold, he said. “First, we want to be of help to the University in any way we can,” he said, “to assist them in their im provement of and operation of Eas terwood Airport. “Second, the chamber is very in terested in the type of commercial air service available into and out of Easterwood Airport, particularly to Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, be cause from an economic devel opment standpoint, quality air trans portation is very important. This aspect is something (neither) the chamber nor the University have control over.” Peel said quality air transportation is directly related to the economics of the community. An air transpor tation service will not put in a large service without being assured of a large number of passengers, he said. “It’s a chicken-and-egg proposi tion,” Peel said. “We can wait until passenger numbers dictate the im provement, or we can go ahead and create our capability. The Board of Regents chose the latter way to go.” The airport improvement plan began in April 1985 with the length ening of the runway and will be com pleted with the remodeling of the old terminal in May 1990, Peel said. When the final project is com pleted, the airport will be able to ac commodate any aircraft in the com mercial inventory, Peel said. Funding for the project is pro vided by the Federal Aviation Ad ministration, Bryan, College Station and Brazos County, Vance said. “Bryan, College Station and Bra zos County have each committed an annual amount of $100,000 for Eas terwood,” Vance said. The FAA first looks at the con tract bids on each project and de cides funds accordingly. Peel said. “We don’t know how much the FAA will fund us,” he said. Treasurer reports improved outlook for state economy AUSTIN (AP) — State Trea surer Ann Richards, the frequent bearer of bad financial tidings for state government, reported good news Monday. “We are issuing a report to the Legislature today giving them the good news that our cash flow re- E ort is looking better than it’s >oked in a very long time,” Rich ards said. “We think things look good for the foreseeable future,” she said. The upbeat outlook is a result of last year’s tax increase, state borrowing and higher-than-pro- jected tax collections in recent months. The state government financial picture plummeted with the price of oil in recent years. The cash flow situation hit bot tom late last year at a deficit of approximately $1.9 billion, Rich ards said. Her report to lawmakers Mon day included a chart showing projected increases in the state general revenue fund daily bal ance, reaching a zero deficit by the middle of 1989. “The state should have a siz able cash balance when the bien nium ends on Aug. 31, 1989,” she said in the report. When the balance is below zero, the state must either sell cash management notes or do “interfund borrowing” to meet its obligations. A total of $1.25 billion in cash management notes have been is sued. Richards said an issuance of approximately $700 million in cash management notes is antic ipated for this year. “As long as tax collections and expenditures occur at different times and you have an imbalance between cash coming in and the cash going out, you are always going to experience some period of deficit,” she said at a Capitol news conference. It’s cheaper to sell Cash man agement notes than to juggle money among different state funds, the treasurer said. Texas will have “no difficulty in redeeming and paying off the cash flow notes that we issued last year,” Richards added. She said the “two real factors” responsible for the improving economic picture are the $5.7 bil lion tax increase approved last year and the “small, but signifi cant, gains in the Texas econ omy.” “We are seeing a slow return of the Texas economy,” she said. ast-minute state holidays will not affect A&M calendar By Karen Kroesche Senior Staff Writer After some debate, the Faculty lenate passed a resolution Monday lat protects Texas A&M’s academic ^lendar from last-minute state holi- ays granted by the governor. Dr. Peter Hugill, chairman of the enate’s Academic Affairs Commit- fce, said an unplanned holiday last year on Good Friday, a holy day ob served by Christian denominations, caused substantial problems for fac ulty. The resolution proposes that “the academic calendar approved each semester by the Faculty Senate of Texas A&M University be fixed ex cept in cases of severe emergency as determined by the president.” The Senate also listened to a guest presentation by Lloyd Colegrove, president of the Graduate Student Council. Colegrove challenged the faculty members to work to change the perception that problems do not exist on the A&M campus. “We have allowed ourselves to ig nore certain problems within this community that exist on other cam puses and are dealt with more open ly,” he said. Colegrove cited several examples of naivete on this campus and said the Graduate Student Council be came aware of this lack of awareness when it looked into the Student Counseling Service. “These views came from students and from faculty,” Colegrove said, “that students at Texas A&M do not suffer from problems like drug and alcohol abuse, that students at Texas A&M do not suffer major emotional crises or contemplate suicide, women here do not fall victim to sex ual harrassment or assault. Aggies do not lie, cheat or steal.” In other action, the Faculty Sen ate: • formally moved the date of the next Senate meeting to March 7. • approved a resolution from the Academic Affairs Committee that requires all colleges or departments to make it clear in their catalog de scriptions that courses taken to sat isfy the foreign language require ment of the core curriculum may not be used by students to satisfy the cul tural heritage requirement. • approved new courses, course changes and course withdrawals within the graduate curriculum. ie ego ) tickets'I t,” ties® isn’t a k and an better it ing tef awards^ lat FM tches, ttj vvorH md M 1 siate 5 ir oft] hinkj f ' »ng 1 K YJaj it *•<*¥■»* Class of ‘88 Voting for Senior Class Gift Class Gift Proposals th< r vA v)- Please cast one vote for your choice of senior class gift. □ Audobon Collection - “Birds of America” The collection will consist of 435 Audobon prints divided into four leather-bound volumes. These prints will be limited to 350 sets for worldwide distribution, therefore, making these prints a valuable rarity. The volumes will be displayed in a very visible location in Sterling C. Evans Library enclosed in glass. If this gift is purchased by our class, it will be the largest and most notable gift given to the library by a class. The class will be recognized as “Major Donor” of the library. □ Aerobics Track Warm-Up Area The warm-up area will be located on the corner of Houston Street and Rudder parking lot across from G. Rollie White. This landscaped corner will enable students to exercise and stretch before jogging. A bulletin board will post sports and aerobic information including dif ferent routes and mileage. This area will enhance and beautify the track for students and visitors. □ Lettering for Kyle Field Four feet maroon letters spelling “Welcome to Ag- gieland” and “Home of the 12th Man” will be placed on the 2nd and 3rd deck of the students side of Kyle Field. This will be an expression of the student body’s spirit behind their team as defined by the 12th man tradition. It would also show A&M’s friendliness and hospitality to any visiting teams. Being in Kyle Field, this will be an everlasting gift. □ Visitors Information Center Located at the main entrance of campus this drive through area will enable visitors to park their car and view a graphic map of the entire campus. This map will be provided along with brochures and other helpful information that will assist visitors in inquiring about partic ular points of interest. Because of the growth of our campus this information center is much needed. Please bring this ballot and your I.D. to the table located in the MSC flag room. Monday-Friday, Feb. 8-12, 10:00a.m. to 4:00 p.m. More bytes, less bucks. There is no reason to pay full retail price for a “name brand” computer when you can buy a compatible that works exactly the same for less money The CA 88/2 is the IBM compatible com puter that will save you hundreds of dollars. The CA 88/2 has an 8088-2 processor, 640KB RAM on the motherboard, 4.77/8 MHz, 360KB 5 1/4” floppy disk drive, hi-resolution monochrome monitor (amber or green), AT-style keyboard, parallel printer port, graphics card (Hercules compatible) and 150 watt power supply Fully compatible with IBM, the CA 88/2 runs 1.7 times faster than the IBM PC. For only $658. Other models with expanded memory at comparable savings. Every Computer Access computer comes with a one-year limited warranty (compared to 90 days for the name brand makers) and guaranteed 48-hour turnaround on upgrades and repairs. Plus a 30-day money back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied. CO/HPUTER (409) 268-0730 403B University Drive (Northgate) College Station VISA/MasterCard IBM and Hercules are trademarks of their respective companies.