Bryan-College Station Eagle from Bryan, Texas • 1

15 Weekend in The Eagle enthusiasm A career in law enforcement for police chief was a matter of chance he really wanted to be a fireman After 35 years as a policeman however JD Burke still has a great deal of en thusiasm for the job Read story in Eagle on the Perspective Page seminar Secretaries will be featured Sunday in the amily Section Local women will discuss the distinction of a Certified Professional Secretary and the annual seminar for secretaries in ebruary Stellar shortstop Texas stellar shortstop Robert Bonner decided to forego a chance in the major leagues after being drafted last summer to play his last year of collegiate eligibility with the Aggies Bonner talks about the team and his goals in Eagle he Eagle i riday January 27 W7t Killer strikes Midwest 3 Bryan College Station '7 4 VMM'S ri VW1 5 By Associated Press lash floods today threatened states already reeling from heavy snows hurricane force winds a thaw that turned mountains of snow to slush and a vicious blizzard that stranded thousands of travelers As the Midwest was clobbered Thursday by what Ohio Gov James Rhodes called killer blizzard looking for the Southeast was drenched by rain sleet and snow Tornadoes touched down in Virginia and North Carolina and temperatures dipped to the 20s At least 43 people were killed in mishaps blamed on the erratic weather: nine tn Wisconsin six in Michigan five in Indiana four in both Ohio and Kentucky two each in Illinois Maryland Pennsylvania Alabama Georgia and North Dakota and one each in Maine Virginia and Minnesota President Carter declared a federal state of emergency in Ohio and today ordered units of the 5th Army into the state to help exhausted National Guardsmen rescue stranded motorists and assist utility repairmen in restoring electrical power to thousands of homes The Michigan National Guard was mobilized and Gov William Milliken declared a state of emergency so the state could apply for federal aid The storm which cut power to 160000 homes piled up 12 foot drifts and almost sank an ore freighter Overnight temperatures ranged from 23 below zero in Devil's Lake ND to 61 in Key West la Winds gusting up to 85 mph well beyond hurricane strength caused damage all over the East and Midwest The storm that hit the Midwest sent barometer readings to record lows indicating very low pressure generating a severe storm In Pitts burgh the barometer plunged to 2849 the lowest since records were first kept there in 1870 Creeks and rivers are already over their banks or near flood stage today in North Carolina Virginia Pennsylvania New 'Jersey West Virginia Rhode Island Vermont and Massachusetts The flooding appeared most widespread in West Virginia where water isolated three towns and forced at least 3000 people to flee The Little Kanawa has caused major flooding at Creston and Glenville parts of which were 10 feet under water The Tug ork overflowed in Mingo County where disastrous floods last April almost swept several tiny mining towns out of the hollows On Thursday the homes from which some families fled were government trailers supplied when their houses were destroyed last spring Pennsylvania reported flooding along the Monongahela River in the southwestern corner and along the Susquehanna to the east which rose to the firststory level in flood prone Wilkes Barre and further south forced evacuations from rural homes in Lancaster County Rhodes noted that at least 150000 Ohio homes had been without heat most of Thursday: are helpless victims of something they have no control He said his office was receiving 25 it Air Sic' jls 4 'X WHILE BRAZOS VALLEY RESIDENTS like freshman Lisa Scott left enjoyed some of the warmest weather in "weeks those in other areas were not so lucky Wind gusts of almost 100 miles an hour were recorded in Toronto where even crossing the street was hindered (Staff photo by Bob Daemmrich) (Photo by AP) calls every five minutes of mercy they want help and you get to More than 5700 motorists had been rescued from stranded vehicles along snow blocked Ohio highways and officials said more than 2000 remained beyond reach Winds gusting to 65 mph sculpted snowdrifts 15 feet high Neighboring Indiana was virtually shut down Indianapolis was so crippled by its 17 inches of snow that the Indiana Pacers canceled National Basketball Association game against the: Detroit Pistons Schools factories and roads closed High drifts strand train passengers ROACHDALE Ind (AP) Rescue workers dug through a wall of snow today to remove 60 people from an Amtrak passenger train that froze to the rails after it stalled in snowdrifts tall as Amtrak spokesman Joseph Vranich said workers dug through the giant drifts to allow two rescue locomotives to join the stalled loridian and the 45 passengers and 15 crew members walked through the locomotive to the rescue units Vranich said the loridian passengers were taken by train to a crossing in Brainbridge about three miles from the stuck train and from there walked to a nearby high school The seven car train on a run from Chicago to lorida stalled about noon Thursday 55 miles north of Bloomington as it tried to plow through the massive drifts The passengers and crew moved into one car but shortly before the rescue it ran out of water used in the steam heating system Passengers huddled under layers of blankets to keep charter changes CS City Council approves where it is Presnal will seek sixth term in Texas House Bill Presnal State and in the city the tax poll complaint after the ckoing will be dealt wMh naait aspoesible h' Inside The Eagle' county voting precincts practical to do so Each qualified voter whose name appears on will receive via mail a copy of the proposed amendments Discussion of the charter changeshas been underway for several months and Thursday the council agreed on all the changes The only disagreement came when Councilman Gary Halter suggested the changes appear in numerical sequence to allow voters to study the changes with the present charter more easily How ever the rest of the council agreed to leave the propositions in the order they appear in the ordinance calling the election and the highway each of these past two sessions when I have had a major Presnal said legislature wrote the budget within available revenues and without the need of additional state Presnal said he has been the prime sponsor of more than 50 bills and has been co sponsor of numerous others He noted his work on the appropriations bills a con stitutional amendment allowing state employees to serve on local governmental boards and numerous bills affecting the growth of Texas AiM University "I trust that my expanded role in the legislature and my performance over the past five terms have been an added advantage to the citizens of the 28th the veteran Democrat said today He is the first person to file in the legislative race for the 28th District budget He also serves on the Legislative Audit Committee and the Legislative Library Committee He serves on the steering com mittee of the iscal Affairs and Government Operations Committee of the 17 state Southern Legislative Conference He is a member of the National Conference of Science ward four No present councilman lives in ward two It also means that Councilman Lane Stephenson who lives in ward five is ineligible to seek re election to the council until next year when the ward five position held by Anne Hazen comes up for election Presently only1 the posi tion is elected citywide Under the proposed charter change which would really revert the election process back to the old pre ward system all council positions would be elected citywide When the charter is revised assuming the proposition passes it will note that city council members are elected by place but citywide However the ballot on city manager to designate someone to countersign checks on his behalf and still a further change would allow the city to set its fiscal year by ordinance rather than have the fis cal year imbedded in the charter The remaining two changes re duce the Charter by eight pages including taking out the metes and bounds description of the city which changes whenever an an nexation is made and designating the boimdries of the city by re ference to the articles of incorpora tion the annexation ordinances and the official zoning map of the city The provision changes includes allowing the city to establish voting precincts as necessary and requires that these precincts conform with election will not have the words on it to minimize confusing the voters Proposed charter revisions also call for setting a minimum of 34 per cent of the votes cast for council offices In the event that a person does not receive 34 percent of more of the vote the charter will provide for a runoff election The rest of the charter changes just clean up the charter and make it conform to the state laws that bind the city anyway councilmen said Two provisions relate to an nexation either by petition or on the initiative Both change the charter officials said to conform to state law Another change would allow the Eagle cetutete of MI page in 2 lection for any reaaon yon did not recehre tH ot paper (call OMTM before 7 pm today After Tn call 7TMM5 and yonr cMMuht? Citing his influence in the Texas Legislature State Rep Bill Presnal of Bryan said today he will seek a sixth term in office Presnal paid his $400 filing fee to Democratic Party Chairman Calvin Guest in Bryan this morning The legislator who was first elected to the post in 1968 said the allocation of the state's resources to keep within the money available will be a key issue of the 1979 legislative session in Austin "I will undoubtedly be called upon to play a major role in those decisions once Presnal said In 1975 he was named chairman of the House Appropriations Com mittee He was reappointed to the post in 1977 by House Speaker Billy Clayton of Springlake Presnal currently serves on several other committees including the Legislative Budget Board which draws up the preliminary Technology Committee Today Presnal said "Texas state government has served the people of Texas and the citizens of the 28th District quite well in providing essential state services including support for public and higher education within a policy of fiscal responsibility and restraint a time when several states are faced with financial crises due to unsound state fiscal policies and sagging economies state fiscal policies have been the sound est in the nation aiding our state economy in its he added Presnal pointed to his efforts to keep the spending within its revenues these past two sessions I have had a major role in writing a state budget responsive to citizens needs while at the same time leaving a balance in the state treasury for substantial increases in state support to our public schools warm The two snowplow equipped rescue locomotives of the Louisville Nashville Railroad reached the train shortly after midnight The locomotives tried to couple with the train's lead locomotive and haul away the one car into which all passengers and crew members had moved they could not plow through the drift Vranich said The tracks were in a gully Vranich said and the snow was sol deep it was impossible for passengers to walk from their train to the rescue locomotives what told it was one hell of a Vranich said tried to push their way out but they Normally trains can do that unless the snowbank is the size of an By DAVID LINDSEY Staff Writer Charter changes ranging from dis carding a one year old ward system to ridding the College Station charter of excess verbiage were ap proved Thursday by the College Station City Council The voters will act on the eight provisions April as part of the municipal election for mayor and three council positions as well as a probable $5 7 million bond issue The city is now on a ward system with representatives elected from specific geographic areas in the city Only one election has been held un der the system Three of the six council members were elected from wards while three were already on the council prior to the adoption of the ward system Technically the three wards up for election do not have specific ward representation although Councilmen Jim Dozier lives in ward six and Jim Gardner lives in Consensus The question this week The Bryan City Council and the Bryan Independent School District have been negotiating over transfer of utility funds from the city to the district In the discussions it ha been suggested that the school district and the city be split politically Would you favor such a move? To respond call: 822 0557 f' Church7 7A 10B Comics 9A4I Editorial 7J amily 1 (It'r 10A eatures SA Garden Horoscope I 9A Movies 5B Obituaries 4B Sports 2B 3B Television Weather 5B.