The Battalion
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tf ewweA I Serving the Texas A&M University community
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Thursday, June 4, 1981
College Station, Texas
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High . .87 High . 85
Low 73 Low 75
Chance of rain 60% Chance of rain 50%
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
New Aggies arrive as first
conference begins today
By KATHY O’CONNELL
Battalion Staff
If you happen to spot some confused
faces wandering about the campus this
summer, a friendly Aggie “Howdy!” —
and possibly some directions — might
be appreciated.
Approximately 6,000 entering fresh
man are expected to attend orientation
conferences on the Texas A&M Univer
sity campus throughout the summer,
and the first of those conferences begins
today.
Dr. Lee Millikin, assistant director
for research and summer conferences
said about 98 to 99 percent of all fresh
men enrolling for the fall semester
attend the two-day conferences.
All entering freshmen are strongly
encouraged to attend the conferences
unless they have a special hardship, he
said.
With the 17 conferences being held
— 10 in June, two in July and five in
August — there are a variety of activi
ties scheduled to acquaint the freshmen
with life at the University.
There are also conferences for trans
fer students. The orientation programs
for the entering freshmen and those for
transfer students are slightly different,
Millikin said.
The freshmen are required to take
placement tests, whereas transfer stu
dents normally do not. Depending on
test scores, freshmen may or may not
have to take “freshman English,”
courses 103 and 104, or “freshman
math,” course 102.
Incoming students and their parents
are also introduced to the many Texas
A&M traditions with a slide show and
presentations by yell leaders and other
student leaders.
In a separate presentation, prospec
tive Corps of Cadets members are fami
liarized with the University’s KOTC
program and life in the Corps. Non-
Corps members and their parents can
attend a presentation on “Student Life”
at the University. Students get a taste of
the variety of student activities ranging
from Student Government programs to
intramural sports.
On the final day of the conference,
students meet with their respective
academic advisers or deans to plan a fall
semester class schedule.
Once the incoming students endure
the confusion of their first round of col
lege registration, they are offered a bit
of relief. The senior class sponsors a
dance or “mixer for the new students
attending each conference, Millikin
said.
Housing for the conference students
and their parents is available in Krueger
and Dunn halls in the Commons area.
For the approximate 1,800 transfer
students attending summer confer
ences, Millikin said there usually isn’t a
presentation on Corps life since many
transfer students don’t “frog” into the
Corps.
. He said the transfer students also
have more direct contact with their de-
parmental advisers since they have
accumulated more hours and have more
complicated schedule needs.
Staff photo by Greg Gammon
I
Clowning around
Tests made on road material
developed from garbage
Mark Ebeling, a senior at Plainview High
School, watches as Marie Hooper paints a clown
face on Mandy Ito. All three are members of the
Hill County 4-H Club in Plainview. These stu
dents are on the Texas A&M University campus
as part of 4-H Roundup, the state competition
for 4-Hers. The conference started Tuesday and
will end today. Both Hooper and Ito are sopho
mores at Plainview High School.
exas Clipper prepares to sail
n 9-week European cruise
early 200 students at Texas A&M University at Galves-
are making final preparations for their Saturday depar-
on a European training cruise aboard the Texas Clipper,
he students — a combination of Texas A&M-Galveston
ts and recent high school graduates who signed on to see
of the world while earning college credit for basic
ses — and a 49-member crew are scheduled to sail at 3
a nine-week excursion that includes visits to Amster-
and Copenhagen.
exas A&M-Galveston’s senior cadets will be honored at a
rday breakfast hosted by Mary Moody Northen, a long-
patron of the institution and its Texas Maritime College,
amuel B. Nemirow, assistant secretary of commerce for
itime affairs, will be the featured speaker at the break-
which has become a traditional part of sailing day activi-
at Texas A&M-Galveston, the marine-oriented unit of
’exas A&M University System.
The Texas Clipper, a 473-foot converted ocean liner that
serves as the institution’s primary training vessel, will be
open for public tours from 8 a.m. Saturday until shortly
before departure, Texas A&M-Galveston officials said.
Texas A&M-Galveston cadets will operate the ship under
the supervision of Capt. George K. McKay and his staff.
Most of the cadets are majoring in marine engineering and
marine transportation. Approximately 30 of the students are
prep-cadets, recent high school graduates who will be taking
six hours of basic courses, such as English and American
history, as part of Texas A&M’s “Summer School at Sea”
program.
Ports of call for the Clipper include: New Orleans, June
8-12; Mayport, Fla., June 16-19; Amsterdam, July 2-7;
Copenhagen, July 9-14; Hamilton, Bermuda, July27-Aug. 1;
Lake Charles, La., Aug. 8. The ship returns to Galveston
Aug. 9.
ssets are convenience, energy efficiency
Motorists may shudder at the
thought of driving on broken glass, tin
cans, rusty appliances and other trash,
but it could happen.
The only thing that stands in the way
is a puff of smoke.
Littercrete — so named because it is
an asphalt paving mixture that uses a
city’s incinerated solid waste as aggre
gate — has proven successful in six
years of testing by Texas A&M en
gineers.
The problem — that puff of smoke —
is pollution caused in burning the gar-
gage which leaves an aggregate-like
litter, i
Paper products, other organics and
similar non-rock like material removed
from garbage leaves non-combustibles
for use as littercrete, said Dr. William
B. Ledbetter. Ledbetter, a civil en
gineering professor has worked on the
Texas Transportation Institute litter
crete project since a test section of road
way was built into a Houston city street.
Field observations and laboratory
tests on field core samples “show that
the littercrete is performing essentially
the same as the conventional asphalt
concrete base,” Ledbetter said.
“We make no miracle claims,” Led
better said about tests on littercrete.
Minor cracking occurrs in littercrete
just as it does in conventional surfaces,
but did not progress through the litter
crete base. The 200-foot test section on
Single Road at the Hempstead High
way intersection exhibited no rutting,
shoving or stripping.
But obtaining the incinerated refuse
to make littercrete presents problems.
“We can’t incinerate without some
pollution,” observed Ledbetter. “It re
quired special handling. There’s some
stuff in garbage that is highly detrimen
tal to precipitators and other pollution
control equipment.”
Though the problem is difficult to
control, he believes the technology will
be developed to remove the pollution
causing material before the garbage is
burned. '
He envisions one way around part of
the incineration problem, but admits it
is still down the road.
“In the future, I’m convinced it is
going to become acceptable and cost-
effective for households to separate gar
bage into three containers, one for plas
tics, one for combustibles such as paper
and one for non-combustibles like cans,
metal and glass,” Ledbetter said.
“Once the combustibles are sepa
rated from the non-combustibles, we
can take the latter to choppers and
crushers lor use in littercrete with in
cineration.
Fee deadline Friday,
enrollment ends today
While summer school students
are getting back into the swing of
attending classes at Texas A&M Uni
versity following a two-week vaca
tion, the lines in G. Rollie White
Coliseum have been forming so that
students can pay fees and drop and
add classes.
Fees can be paid through Friday,
but today is the last day to enroll in
the University for the first summer
session. It’s also the last day to add
courses to current class schedules.
Friday is the last day to drop clas
ses with no record, and June 12 is the
last day to drop classes with no pen
alty (Q-drop).
The deadline for application for
degrees to be awarded in August for
students completing degree require
ments in July is also June 12.
Registration for the second sum
mer session will be held July 9 with
classes beginning July 10.
Motorcycle sales increase as gas prices rise
JjP
By DAVID CALVERT
Battalion Reporter
|effMorris gets out of bed at 8:30 a. m.
his 9 a.m. English class. As he ar-
s on campus, he finds a parking spot
!y 50 yards from the Academic Build-
where his class meets,
fthis scenario sounds like a once-in-
(fetime occurrence, think again,
rris says the parking situation and his
bills have been like this since he
Light his motorcycle last August.
Morris, a sophomore from Dallas,
d he bought a motorcycle because he
ikl not afford a car but wanted some
y to get around.
‘.‘I paid just over $1,000 for my motor-
de, and the gas mileage and the
lintenance costs make it unbeatable,”
said. “With the hassle of on-campus
rking with a car, it looks even better,
e never found a lack of parking spaces
' a motorcycle.”
Many motorcycle riders, however,
>k beyond economics when buying a
itorcycle.
“You can’t find the performance and
citement found in a motorcycle unless
u want to shell out over $10,000 for a
ortscar,” loe Frey, a junior from San
itonio said. "There’s nothing to me
ea ride in the country on a motorcy-
: to relieve tensions.”
Sales in local motorcycle shops sup-
rt the evident growing popularity of
lotorcycles. Joe Peterson, owner and
rator of University Cycles in College
ation, said his sales have risen annual-
since the price of gasoline skyrock
et.
“We get a lot of students who don’t
ve lot a of money to spend, but are
wking for a good buy on some kind of
bstitute for a car,” he said. “They are
|sually satisfied when they don’t have to
end more than $2,500 and get a
achine which will get at least 45 miles
t gallon. ”
Peterson said his sales went up 21
percent in 1980, from 43 bikes sold in
1979 to 52 in 1980. He said the average
annual increase before that had been
around 10 percent.
“My sales have increased so much, I
have had to move to a larger show
room,” he said.
Other dealers in the area report fi
gures which support Peterson’s claims.
Mike Newsom, manager of Sports Cen
ter Suzuki, said his sales for 1980 in
creased 27 percent, from 36 new bikes
sold in 1979 to 46 in 1980.
“I feel the increased demand for bikes
is due to the need for cheap transporta
tion,” he said.
Two other dealers in Bryan also re
ported sales figures which reinforce this
opinion. Mike Ford, a salesman at Cen
tral Cycle Supply, said the dealership
sold 35 motorcycles in 1980.
The shop was not open in 1979, so
sales figures for that year were not avail
able. Ford said, however, that this fi
gure was high f or a dealership in its first
year.
Emory Tyson, a salesman for Twin
City Honda, said their sales incresased
around 25 percent from 1979 to 1980.
Tyson said exact figures were not avail
able because the dealership was being
moved to a new location.
Statewide statistics show motorcycle
registrations have increased. Allan
Reis, director of motor vehicle registra
tion for the Department of Transporta
tion, said there were 44,980 new regis
trations made in 1979. In 1980 there
were 56,227 new registrations, a 25 per
cent increase. Reis said Texas is cur
rently fifth in total registrations.
The number of motorcycle parking
stickers issued at Texas A&M Universi
ty has increased greatly in the past three
years. After a 20 percent decrease from
the 1976-77 school year to the 1978-79
school year, 1,097 motorcycles were re
gistered on campus in 1979-80, a 62
percent increase.
Staff photo by Greg Gammo
Parking places for cars are a valuable commodity on campus. The small
space requirements for parking motorcycles makes it much easier to find
a parking place, even though there are over 1100 motorcycles registered
on campus. The convenience of motorcycles, coupled with their energy
efficiency, make them popular for college students.
Permits have increased 25 percent
since the 1978-79 school year. Col. Tom
Parsons, University director of security
and traffic, said 1,377 motorcycle per
mits were issued for the 1980-81 school
year.
The price of gasoline and motorcycle
sales followed a similar trend in the
1970s. An informal survey of gas prices
showed a 73 percent increase in the
price of gasoline from April 1969, when
gas cost 28.9 cents a gallon, to April
1974, when gas cost 49.9 cents a gallon.
During this same time period, motorcy
cle registrations increased 70 percent to
3.9 million.
As gas prices continued to rise in the
late 1970’s, motorcycle sales also in
creased. Gas prices rose from 47.9 cents
a gallon in April 1976 to $1.19.9 a gallon
in April 1981, a 150 percent increase.
During this same time period, motorcy
cle registrations increased 36 percent,
up to 5.3 million in 1980.