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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 28, 1975)
Page 4 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1975 Fuel access, board study The Congressional Technology Assessment Board has begun a study of institutional constraints and incentives affecting access to fuel minerals such as oil and gas. The board is chaired by local Texas Democrat, Congressman Olin E. Teague. The results of the study are in tended to provide Congressional policy-makers with balanced and objective information pertaining to: (1) future supply and demand fore casts for key domestic minerals; (2) the importance and impact of exist ing State and Federal regulations affecting mineral accessibility; (3) a range of alternative legislative strategies and their expected im pacts, and (4) the flexibility of such School officials to be abolished by bill A bill is on its way for Governor Briscoe’s signature which woidd terminate the office of County School Superintendent in many Texas Counties,' including Brazos and Robertson. The bill terminates state fiscal support of a county school superin tendent, county school trustees, and a county school board in coun ties that contain no common school district with less than 150 students in average daily attendance. Independent School districts of a county, may, under this bill fund the county school offices and boards by voluntary contract. The bill abolishes the county school offices and boards which are not supported by ad valorem tax revenue or by voluntary local contract on Sep tember 1, 1977. 2,500 years of kissing still enjoyable Man s (and woman’s) preoccupa tion with kissing has been around at least 2,500 years even though few of the world s cultures kiss, says a Texas A&M University an thropologist. Dr. Vaughn Bryant Jr. says that the Romans were probably the most avid artisans of the kiss, dividing them into a virtual triumvirate ac cording to the the purposes served. One kiss was for greetings (os- culum), another for close friends (basium) and the kiss of passion was called savium. Bryant notes, It s hard to trace the origin of kissing. We ve never found anything like a pair of lips imprinted on a cave wall. “But we have kissing going very strong by 5(X) B.C. in the Greek culture and soon after in the* Roman Empire, he says. Touch, taste and smell were a strong reason for kissing, he thinks. “The inner skin is sensitive, the most sensitive part of the body. The lips are merely an external part of that skin. More neuron endings are exposed and the lips are more sensi tive, explains Bryant. Today, man has lost most of the sense of smell that could be derived from kissing primarily through dis use of the nose for survival. But phrases describing the taste of a kiss are all through literature, he adds. Cross religion marrying means less church One in every four American cou ples stating a religious preference has a so-called “mixed marriage, one crossing lines of major religions or denominations, says a Texas A&M University social survey analyst. A, major trend, says Dr. Jon P. Alston, is that couples under 30 years of age have the highest rate of such marriages, 40 per cent. The sociologist believes such cross-marriages often result in the couples attending church less often and in feeling less interest in relig ion generally. From his analysis of a 1974 sur vey, the figure could go as high as 30 per cent overall, with Lutherans and Presbyterians demonstrating the highest rate of line-crossing in marriages. Catholics and Protestants show little difference in the ratio of mixed marriages, having roughh 22 per cent and 26 per cent ratios respec tively. The sample of Jewish per sons was too small to be reliable, Alston adds. The rate of Catholic and non- Catholic marriages matches closelv the rate of Baptists and Methodists in the 22 per cent figure. Education, occupation or size of urban residence make no difference in the ratio. People in the southern region of the U.S. or those living in rural areas, compared to the rest of the nation, show a higher tendency not to cross religious or denomina tional lines when marrying. strategies in the face of changed conditions in the future. Objectives of the study include an examination of the effects of reg ulatory modifications, including possible new State and Federal con straints and incentives, affecting exploration for, and development of, domestic resources of vital in dustrial materials. Also within the scope of the study is an assessment of the potential role, and impacts, of environmen tally protective technologies for mineral extraction and land recla mation. The assessment will focus on Federal and State influences on the accessibility of 15 important hard- rock and fuel minerals believed to exist in large quantities on Federal lands, exclusive of the Outer Con tinental Shelf, in the Western Un ited States and Alaska. The OTA study will include a detailed exami nation of State regulatory influences in Alaska, Colorado, and Wyoming. Particular attention is being fo cused on Federal lands, because their utilization is subject to a wide variety of restrictions, including classification for wilderness preser vation and administrative with drawals of tracts from mining for such purposes as military reserva tions. In this assessment the term "ac cessibility refers to all necessary steps leading to and including the application of technology for the purposes of mineral exploration, development, extraction and initial processing and delivery. The assessment is scheduled for completion in April, 1976. O. O. Haugen (far right) pre sents letters of appreciation to Texas A&M custodial workers with 25 or more years service, and still going. Recipients are (from left) Ness Washington, with 30 years; Floyd Woodfork, 25; Dennis Watson, 30; Lizzie Tubbs, 25; Elija Mitchell, 27, and Margaret Bray, 28. Velma Parish, with 25 years, is not pic tured. L Sou iig