Friday — Cloudy to partly cloudy, g:
winds South 10-20 ni.p.h. High 66,
low 43.
Saturday — Cloudy to partly cloudy,
rain showers in afternoon, wind South
10-20 m.p.h. High 68, low 53.
VOLUME 61
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1967
Number 517
| English Institute |
I Gets 4th Grant I
i:!: &
Texas A&M has been awarded
a $56,592 grant under the Na
tional Defense Education Act for
a fourth consecutive summer in
stitute in English.
In announcing the award, Dr.
Lee J. Martin, A&M’s English
Department head, noted A&M is
one of two Texas higher educa
tion institutions to receive grants
for 1968.
“It’s almost unheard of to earn
four institutes in a succession,”
Martin commented. “There were
11 such institutes conducted last
year in Texas.”
The eight-week seminar is ten
tatively set to begin June 10 for
approximately 40 English teach
ers with a minimum of three
years’ teaching experience in
grades 7 through 12.
J. S. Jernigan, institute direc
tor since its inception, said liter
ature, language and composition
will be taught, with participants
to receive nine colege hours of
credit toward advanced degrees.
Dr. Martin noted the loftg
range goal of the institute is to
raise high school teaching quality.
Although preference will be
given to applicants from Texas
and adjacent states, Martin ex
plained, applications from teach
ers in other states are welcomed.
Teachers from 18 states attended
the earlier institutes.
Other A&M staffers for the in
stitute include Drs. Harrison E.
Tierth, Hairy P. Kroitor and
Carroll D. Laverty. Tom R. Mc-
Elroy of Bellaire High School,
Houston, will supervise the insti
tute’s workshop. Dr. Martin will
serve as a consultant.
A&M received grants totaling
$176,598 for past NDEA English
Institutes.
Martin said attention will be
directed to the introduction and
development of new teaching
methods and techniques in semi
nars, workshops and composition
laboratories. Another objective of
the institute, he noted, is to pro
vide opportunities for teachers to
discuss numerous common prob
lems and to share ideas about
ways of better integrating Eng
lish programs throughout the sec
ondary range.
Breakthrough Seen
In Artificial Heart
By JACK MILLER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON <A>) _ Public-
Health Service researchers un
veiled Wednesday a simple new
artificial heart device they de
scribed as a major advance over
existing ones.
Officials said the machine has
a number of advantages over
that of Dr. Michael Debakey, de
veloper of the world’s first suc
cessful device to do part of the
work of the heart.
Dr. Lester Goodman of the
health service said the main ad
vance is that the new heart-
assisting device could be implant
ed in the chest of a patient. So
far, he said it has been implanted
only in calves and needs further
development before it is ready
for use on humans.
MARSHALL TURNER, a me
chanical engineer who built the
machine, said he believes the
research team is close to over
coming the problems.
Turner told a news briefing
that the big advantage of the
new machine is that it provides
a smooth flow of blood. He said
this could eliminate the main
problem in the pulsating machine
developed by Debakey — blood
clots. Some clots have become
fatal to heart-assisted patients,
Turner said.
While the new device could take
over all the work of the heart,
University National Bank
“On the side of Texas A&M”
—Adv.
Turner said, this would not be
done because clots might form
in the unworking heart.
BOTH THE NEW device and
that of Debakey take over some
of the work of the heart’s left
ventricle, the main working and
pumping muscle. Both are de
signed temporarily to aid patients
in danger of heart failure.
Debakey, a surgeon at Meth
odist Hospital in Houston, per
formed the first successful oper
ation using the heart-assisting
machine last Aug. 8. The machine
had been used previously but all
of the patients died.
The new machine, driven by a
small electric motor, is about the
size of a fist. It pushes the blood
with two rotating wheels which
run against two blood-carrying
tubes, compressing but not closing
the tubes.
TWO WIRES from a small
transformer pass into the chest
of the patient.
The main problem with the
new machine, Turner said, is
with the motor. One motor burned
out after it had been working
inside a calf for 11 days, the
longest successful use of the
machine so far.
Turner said he and Dr. William
Pierce, now with the University
of Pennsylvania, developed the
machine together. They started
working on it in the late 1965
and did their first implants in
1966.
REINFORCEMENTS FOR BU DOP
Helicopters, carrying a part of the battalion of troops from
the U. S. 1st Infantry Division, are guided into a landing
zone at Bu Dop, South Vietnam. The troops will reinforce a
battalion of soldiers already there. The U.S. Special Forces
calp has been under heavy Communist attack for two
weeks. (AP Wirephoto)
Shepard, Bebout Elected
To Top Freshman Offices
tiSI
President Named
By 2-to-l Margin
FRESHMAN ELECTIONS
Freshmen Lenny Pineau, left, of Baltimore, Md., and Julio Moreno of Bolivia present
identification and activity cards to election commissioners Gerald Geistweidt, center, and
Van Taylor. Exactly 100 more voters turned out for the Wednesday runoffs than for the
primary last week.
Transportation Expert Tells
RR Crossing Safety Needs
Railroad crossings are some
times “booby-traps” in disguise,
a National Transportation Safety
Board member asserted here
Wednesday.
Oscar M. Laurel of Washing
ton, D. C., urged both railroads
and motorists to exert greater
awareness to the dangers of rail
highway intersections in an ad
dress before 175 transportation
authorities attending a national
grade - crossing symposium at
Texas A&M.
“Railroad crossings provide a
problem of interaction between
two modes of transport,” the
former Texas legislator noted,
“neither of which has been tra
ditionally geared to interact with
the other.”
“The regulatory powers are
separate, the technical designers
are separate, the drivers of the
two types of vehicles are sepa
rate and the separate systems
we have employed in the past to
prevent grade-crossing accidents
have failed to arrest the number
of such accidents,” Laurel con
tinued.
HE SAID the country needs
more crossing gates to prevent
cars from entering the inter
sections when there is a danger.
A toot of the train whistle and
flashing lights at crossing are
not enough to insure safety, the
NTSB member stressed.
“Legal authorities sometimes
discuss the (train) horn as though
it were an insurance policy, if
only drivers would not disobey,”
Laurel stated.
He said close examination,
however, shows a railroad horn
does not provide a dependable
system.
“It is not even reliable as an
element of a system,” the La
redo native contended.
He based this conclusion on the
fact there are no practices or reg
ulations which insure a horn can
be heard.
“A DRIVER can operate leg
ally with all windows rolled up,
with radio music and conversa
tion inside and with heater and
air-conditioner fans operating,”
Laurel reminded. “Now that we
have air-conditioners in cars,
windows will be closed over a
much longer period of the year.”
“Furthermore,” he continued,
“drivers can be completely deaf
and still operate a car. I am
aware of no state law which re
quires a hearing test.”
The train horn is an added
measure, he concluded, not a re
liable system.
Turning to the subject of flash
ing lights at crossings, Laurel
said there is significant evidence
that drivers cross tracks despite
Bryan Building & Loan
Association, Your Sav
ings Center, since 1919.
—Adv.
BB&L
these visual warnings because
they gradually come to believe
that not much risk is involved
and that considerable time will
be lost if they do not cross.
HE SAID the NTSB suspects
that local people who are familiar
with a flashing light crossing-
may be in greater danger than
strangers to the locality.
“Local people may anticipate
the kind of train tiaffic, only to
be rudely surprised,” Laurel re
marked.
He said this impression can be
strong when it “appears” that a
crossing is used only by slow
railroad traffic. This is particu
larly true if switching is con
ducted over a crossing, he added.
“What should a driver believe
when he comes to a crossing near
a yard with lights flashing and
no train in sight? What should
a driver think when, after he has
stopped for flashing lights, a
switching- locomotive blows a
loud blast, edges slowly onto this
crossing and proceeds to keep it
blocked for five minutes?”
CHANCES ARE the driver
wonders whether he shouldn’t
have crossed while he still had
the chance,” Laurel answered.
“What we are talking about
is known universally by a pimple
name — booby trap,” he sur
mised. “We are talking about
the signal that cries ‘wolf’ and is
later disbelieved when it tells the
truth.”
Laurel said the solution to the
problem is to prevent drivers
from entei’ing the crossing by
electing more gates.
“The effectiveness of crossing
gates as opposed to flashing
lights has been shown repeat
edly,” he said. “In general, there
will be only about one-fourth
as many accidents at a given
crossing after gates are in
stalled.”
Dabbs To Present
Paper In Chicgao
Dr. Jack A. Dabbs, head of
Texas A&M’s Modern Language
Department, will participate in a
Modern Language Association
meeting Dec. 27-30 in Chicago.
During a session of an affili
ated organization, the American
Name Society, Dr. Dabbs will
present a paper, “The Central
Registry of War Criminals and
Security Suspects.”
CROWCASS, Dabbs explained,
was the acronym for an organi
zation sponsored by the United
States, Great Britain, France
and the Soviet Union at the end
of World War II, assigned to
identify alleged war criminals
and notify proper authorities.
Dabbs was administrative offi
cer of CROWCASS from 1946
until the work was completed in
1948.
Why aren’t more crossings pro
tected by gates ?
“YOU HERE today know there
are many reasons,” Laurel told
conference participants, “a n d
most of them are rooted in a
one-word sentence: Money.”
He said states are working
hard to stretch funds they have
available for grade crossings. He
implied, however, that too often
action gets delayed by red tape.
“The question of how many
lives will be lost (at crossings) is
one of how much delay,” he con
tended.
Laurel said Congress felt it
was attacking the grade-crossing
funding problem when it passed
the existing provisions in the U.S.
Code. Problems, however, have
cropped up on the state level
concerning usage of the funds.
*T HOPE that Congress will
take up these problems soon so
that the proven methods of auto
matic gates can be put where
they are urgently needed,” he
said.
“It would seem from previous
experience that authorizations
don’t save lives until they are
converted into gates,” Laurel
concluded.
The three-day symposium,
jointly sponsored by A&M’s Tex
as Transportation Institute and
the U. S. Department of Trans
portation, closes Thursday with
an address by Under Secretary
of Transportation Everett Hutch
inson and a summation by Dr. C.
V. Wootan, TTI associate direc
tor.
By BOB PALMER
Battalion Staff Writer
More than 750 freshmen turned
out Wednesday to elect William
E. Shepard class president by a
two-to-one margin.
In the runoff election, the
freshmen picked John W. Bebout
as vice-president, Thomas C. Fitz-
hugh, secretary - treasurer, and
Michael E. Godwin, social secre
tary.
Shepard fielded 520 vites, top
ping his opponent, Charles Hoff
man, who polled 241. Shepard is
pre-med major from Hillsboro
and is in Squadron 12.
“Although my opponent cam
paigned as the civilian candidate
for president, I intend to work for
the entire class, both Corps and
civilian,” Shepard said after the
votes were in.
“I WANT to thank all those
who supported me,” he remarked.
“My door is always open. I live
in dorm 6, hole 219. If any mem
ber of our class thinks we should
do something as a class, come by
and we will get to work on it.”
In the vice-presidential contest,
487 voters pulled the lever for
Bebout over Dennis L. Blaschke,
who received 240 votes.
Bebout, a mechanical engineer
ing major from Lake Jackson, in
Company A-2, also stressed class
unity and cooperation between
Corps and civilians.
“The freshman class should
take the lead in keeping Aggie
spirit alive,” Bebout said. “We
should start caring what happens
to A&M and be working for
Aggieland.”
AN 80-VOTE margin separated
the contestants in the race for
secretary-treasurer. Fitzhugh, a
geophysics major from Waco,
polled 397 ballots, beating Edward
J. Hickey who had 317.
The social secretary’s race was
the closest of the election. The
margin of victory for Godwin,
who is from Orange and majors
in aerospace engineering, was
only six votes. He beat out Dana
G. Strebeck, who received 351
votes.
In the primary elections, the
freshmen voted four Student
Senate representatives and five
Election Commission members in
to office.
Turnout in the runoff increased
by 100 voters over the primary.
The voting was off over 300 votes
from last year’s primary election.
Jones Anthology
Receives Praise
An anthology by Dr. Earl
Jones, Programa de Educacion
Interamericana at Texas A&M,
has earned commendation from
the Consul General of Guatemala.
Mrs. Stella Chessman congrat
ulated Dr. Jones for his 88-page
anthology of selected writings of
1967 Nobel Prize winner Miguel
Angel Asturias of Guatemala.
Jones’ work contains poems,
essays, short stories and excerpts
of novels by Asturias, now serv
ing as Guatemala’s ambassador
to France. Asturias won the No
bel Prize for literature.
YELL PRACTICE
TONIGHT
Talent Group
Will Present
Guion Musical
A musical production, “Holiday
in San Francisco,” is scheduled
Monday night at Guion Hall un
der auspices of the Memorial Stu
dent Center Talent Committee.
Talent Committee Chairman
Michael Curd of Fort Worth said
the program is set for 8:15, im
mediately following Christmas
banquets in university cafeterias.
Written by Wesley Booth of
Dallas and directed by David
Landmann of College Station,
“Holiday in San Francisco” por
trays the adventures of Cadet
Slouch as he goes to San Fran
cisco on a recruiting mission.
Curd said the program, which
replaces the Aggie Talent Show,
spotlights student performers in
a two-hour show.
Among performers are the
“Bob and Larry Trio,” featuring
Bob Wilkerson of Beaumont and
Larry Ludwig of Atlanta, Ga.;
Joe Kitzman, a pianist from Ban
dera; vocalist Pat Hill of Bryan;
kettle drummer Gary Martin of
Houston; vocalist Michael Hoff
man of Irving; guitarist Bill
Jeanes of Fort Worth; vocalist
Donna Parr of Bryan; and “The
Manhattans Minus One,” a bass
and drums group composed of
Bill Lucas of Houston and Law
rence Lippke of Yorktown.
The Aggieland Orchestra will
provide special music for the
program.
Curd said admission is 75 cents
for students with activity cards.
General admission is $1.
First Bank & Trust now pays
5% per annum on savings certif
icates. —Adv.
HEART-Y APPETITE FOR TRANSPLANT PATIENT
Louis Washkansky, the world’s first human heart transplant patient, eats a meal of por
ridge and boiled eggs in his room at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South
Africa. (AP Wirephoto by cable from Cape Town)