Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1989)
fhe Battalion TATE & LOCAL 3 fhursday, February 9,1989 , jCity takes The Edge to court tl t Hearing results in 45-day monitoring of sound levels near club lit) By Fiona Soltes STAFF WRITER iiding product! I a great finaite ruptcy. But sin otected by Itf had no reason A steady « it ting back awed in the cot reduction for >es this mean ge Americancn ed cars being l States, the pti p. Then domes they can iy below foreign compe oducers cani md-rate cars, mg a higher pr ioducts. If the music’s too loud, you’re too old. Or maybe you just live too close. Sound levels emanating from The Edge night- :lub have been a source of complaints for resi- lents of a nearby mobile home park for the past wo years. But after a Jan. 31 hearing between }ary Seaback and Mansard House Inc., doing msiness as The Edge, and College Station, the ound levels were ordered monitored for a 45- iay period. A resident of the Oak Forest Mobile Home Park said things haven’t been quiet enough since he hearing. The park is 30 feet from the club. “Things were better for a while before the hea ring,” Robert Schrader said, “but they’re not really better now. 1 think the gentleman has a right to have a business there, but I don’t think he has the right to disturb our peace.” be applied to and clothes. If 11 given a choi o buy the high i lowest price, of the top-qu; tde in the Uniit •re. But thatisi litiated this It ail to see them iced to ask thcr isary to launch the first place, term interests nerican” will hi , short-sightedj ndustry’s lad > reign producu country a the quality •i ican, thengra tries needtopb c ustomers to he best incentu Complaints resulted in the hearing in W.T. McDonalds 85th District Court, seeking a tem porary restraining order and a temporary in junction preventing the use of the site as a club. An agreed temporary restraining order followed the hearing, allowing the club, at 2501 S. Texas Avenue in the Winn-Dixie shopping center, to remain in business provided sound levels mon itored outside the dub don’t rise above 60 deci bels, the level of normal conversation. “Before the injunction, sound levels of 78 to 90 decibels were coming from the club,” Mari anne Banks, assistant city attorney said. “Levels inside were reported by an expert as being over 100 decibels.” An engineer, hired by club owner Seaback, will check sound levels from a meter located between the park and the club during the designated time period. He also will look for other solutions to the problem, Banks said. “The engineer has come up with a few sugges tions,” she said. “It might be some sort of atmo spheric disturbance, making a difference on cloudy or clear nights. Also, the problem might lie in the metal roof, where there can be reverbe rations, or in the vacant building next to it.” Following the 45-day period, a report will be made before further legal action is taken, she said. Roland M. Searcy, Seaback’s attorney, said the club is not at fault for being close to the park. “That’s the fault of the city of College Station,” Searcy said. “The area was zoned for commercial use, and the city licensed the club to come in.” The debate between residents and the club started when the club opened in 1987. According to a petition filed before the hearing, more than 100 complaints concerning loud music at the club were made to College Station officials within a 20-month period. According to evidence presented at the hear ing, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission completed civil proceedings on charges of exces sive noise coming from the dub in 1987 and in 1988. The first time, Seaback admitted the noise was excessive and paid $450 fee in lieu of a three- day permit suspension. The second time, Sea- back’s permit was suspended for seven days. If Seaback violates the current agreement, he will be held in contempt of court and fined $1,000 per day. Worker’s comp reform bill introduced AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas workers’ compensation system would be reformed — including an increase in benefits for injured workers and an overhaul of the sys tem’s governing body — under a bill introduced Wednesday with support from House Speaker Gib Lewis. “If Texas is to keep its economic momentum, significant revisions to our current workers’ compensation process are essential,” Lewis said. ‘Without such changes, our eco nomic competitiveness will be im paired and our ability to create jobs for Texans will Ire endangered.” Correction A story in Friday's Battalion in correctly reported that Head Football Coach R.C. Slocum had been backed for not retaining two individuals in the Sports Infor mation Department. Athletk Di rector John David Crow was the person responsible for the deci sion. The Battalion regrets the er~ enwr econoti. it for The Baal ion tes. The raiai 1. decays. Tfc • m man kind; at \ seople must fit i • material wot! figures, of s licit are carrif . Ours is a sm le else but inti and needs, t from the pit t sent. say, “No i tow for v heir gree ing themselvt sophomore ft lumnist for If House Bill 1 — whose primary sponsors are Reps. Richard Smith, P--Bryan, and Rick Perry, D-Haskell — was referred to the House Busi ness and Commerce Committee, which promptly scheduled a Mon day hearing. It comes after a one-and-a-half year study of the workers’ compen sation system. Premiums for work ers’ compensation — paid to em ployees injured on the job — have increased more than 100 percent since 1985, and another 19 percent increase took effect Jan. 1. “Our current workers’ compensa tion process is broken,” Lewis said. “The Legislature must take the nec essary steps to repair the system and reepature the spirit that accompa nied this law’s enactment some sev enty years ago. That basic goal was to provide a quick and certain recov ery to injured workers without re gard to fault.” The bill, Smith said, addresses in creasing safety in the workplace; reorganizing and strengthening the Industrial Accident Board, which would be re-named the Texas Work ers’ Compensation Board; changing the benefit structure; and changing the adjudication process for dis puted cases. Instead of a workers’ compensa tion case getting a completely new trial at the district court level, the district court action would be treated as an appeal of the agency action. The maximum weekly benefit for an injured worker would be raised from the current $238 to the statewide average weekly wage, cur rently $416. “Today, the people that should be most happy in Texas with what we’re doing are the rank and file workers of this state,” Perry said. “No longer are they going to have to take what I consider to be a pittance in the weekly benefits that they have avail able to them.” The system would remain a vol untary one. “They’re trying to clean up Bos ton Harbor, but I wouldn’t ask any body to swim in it until they get through with the job,” Smith said. “The system we’ve got today is such a mess that I just simply in good con science couldn’t ask anybody to force them to participate in this system.” Among other provisions in House Bill 1: J New Shipment of Loose Diamonds Received Shop Now For Best Selection ROUND Our Price Compare at $7,850 $16,000 4,965 10,000 5.325 11,000 3,875 9,000 5,550 11,500 2,475 5,000 2.325 4,600 2,750 5,200 2.350 4,650 3.595 8,500 1,975 4,000 2.195 4,200 3,875 9,000 2.750 5,200 1,650 3,300 2,395 4,700 1.595 3,200 1,650 3,300 3.195 6,400 1.750 3,500 1.350 2,700 1,340 2,700 1,685 3,300 2,150 4,200 1,595 3,200 2.250 2,250 1,360 2,700 1,235 2,500 895 1,700 1.325 2.700 795 1,500 795 1,500 795 1,500 895 1,700 695 1,300 695 1,300 795 1,500 895 1,700 795 1,500 1.250 2,500 795 1,500 695 1,300 795 1,500 750 1,450 650 1,250 495 900 335 700 185 400 165 300 215 450 165 300 155 290 118 250 111 240 95 200 EMERALD Our Price Compare at $8,500 $17,000 4.850 9,000 1.850 3,200 695 1,350 PRINCESS/RADIANT Our Price Compare at $2,750 $5,000 1,650 3,200 2,570 5,000 2,385 4,500 1,475 2,800 PRINCESS/RADIANT ^ Carat Our Price Compare at j .52 1,250 2 400 .33 395 800 ^ .28 385 800 Z .25 325 600 < HEART \ Carat Our Price Compare at .90 $1,890 $3,600 " •75 1,590 3,000 ' .58 1,375 2,600 OVAL { Carat Our Price Compare at 1.61 $5,875 $11,000 1.21 2,890 6,500 ' 1 11 2,750 6,400 ' 1.03 2,575 5,000 ‘ .99 2,375 4,500 ■71 1,450 3,000 I ■70 1,395 2,950 62 1,275 2,500 .58 1,195 2,300 .58 995 2,000 •53 1,225 2,500 .51 1.095 2,000 .50 1.050 2,000 i .10 105 200 PEAR Carat Our Price Compare at 1.75 $5,425 $11,000 1.43 3,780 7,000 1.24 4,285 . 8,000 - 1 21 2,375 4,600 1.21 3,475 6,500 1-01 2,675 4,900 .64 1,295 2,600 .60 1,150 2,300 •58 995 1,900 ■52 665 i ,300 .45 325 600 .10 95 200 MARQUISE Carat Our Price Compare at 2.04 $11,875 $25,000 1.56 4,775 9 000 1 -35 2,650 5,200 1 23 3,350 6,700 1.17 3,650 6,800 1 04 2,585 6,000 .83 WA3IA report 2,575 6,000 79 1,895 3,200 ■72 2,130 5,000 •71 2,095 4,100 .70 1,795 3,100 •70 2,250 4,500 •64 1,385 2,600 .55 850 1,700 •47 625 1,300 .45 795 1,400 .41 650 1,300 .39 795 1,400 .35 495 900 .25 250 500 .23 275 550 .18 195 400 .11 110 200 TEXAS omn EXCHANGE Behind ShellenbergeTs 404 University Dr. East 30-day money back guarantee 846-8905 • The prohibition of recovery by an intoxicated worker would be ex panded to include drug-related in toxication. • The governing board would be increased from three to nine mem bers, and a business-labor committee would advise it. • The new Texas Workers’ Com pensation Board would include divi sions on compliance and practices; medical review and compliance; in dustrial safety; education and train ing; and hearings and appeals. • Death benefits would be limited to “truly dependent” people. • Individual self-insurance would be allowed under strict guidelines. Smith said the reform legislation was filed as one bill, rather than sep arate measures, to facilitate cooper ation among doctors, insurance, la bor, business and lawyers. “In order to move this off dead center, break the gridlock, you have to have a package in which all five in terest groups have some gain and all five interest groups give up some thing in order to move to a new sys tem,” he said. Farm Bureau calls meeting to discuss commissioner’s post AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Farm Bureau is calling a special meeting next month to discuss urging replacement of the elected agriculture commissioner’s post with an appointed board or com missioner, the organization said Wednesday. “It’s to re-evaluate our posi tion,” said Vernie Glasson, an of ficial at bureau headquarters in Waco. “Calling the special meet ing is one thing ... I’m not sure exactly what our delegates are going to do.” He said the meeting is sched uled for March 20 in Waco. A spokesman for two-term Democratic Agriculture Commis sioner Jim Hightower called the meeting another shot in the bu reau leadership’s long-running political feud with Hightower. “This is the same old stuff. They (Farm Bureau leaders) can’t beat Hightower at the polls, so they’re going to try again through the legislative process,” Andy Welch, the commissioner’s press secretary,said. “The people of Texas have said repeatedly that they prefer choosing their public officials,” he added. Leaders of the Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organiza tion, have been highly critical of Hightower. That criticism has in creased in recent weeks, after the European Economic Community banned imports of American beef treated with growth hormones. Hightower has been pushing the U.8. Department of Agriculture to allow exports of hormone-free Texas beef. Farm Bureau President S.M. True issued a statement calling that effort wrongheaded. “Hightower is either perpetrat ing the biggest fraud in Texas po litical history, or he has become the comic sidekick for the Euro pean Economic Community in the ^growth promotant dispute,” True said. The Texas Department of Ag riculture is subject to the state’s “sunset” review process during this legislative session. The agency is scheduled to go out of existence Sept. 1 unless the Legis lature passes and the governor signs a bill authorizing it to con tinue. Glasson said changing the agri culture commissioner’s job from an elected position has been dis cussed by Farm Bureau members for several years. “Our people believe in the right to vote,” he said. “But this past year there was a large degree of activity among our county farm bureaus. We had 46 county farm bureaus which submitted resolutions to our state conven tion to move toward either an ap pointive commissioner or an ap pointive commission.” But Welch noted that the Farm Bureau’s regular convention in December decided to continue supporting an elected agriculture commissioner’s post. “The hierarchy of the Farm Bureau has been pushing for this for the last four, if not the last six, years at their statewide conven tions. They did it again last De cember and failed. But the hier archy and True are just going to keep trying until they get their way,” Welch said. “It doesn’t matter who the gov ernor is — Republican or Demo crat — people don’t like the idea of their agriculture commissioner being apppointed by cronyism,” he said. Hightower decided to seek re- election and not run for the U.S. Senate in 1990, and the agricul ture commissioner also has voiced a desire to expand his organizing of a populist political movement. GRAB A FRIEND AND COME IN FOR 5 PIECES 2 MASHED POTATOES & GRAVY 2 COLE SLAWS 2 BISCUITS 3320 South Texas Ave., Bryan 2501 Texas Ave., College Station