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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1977)
;] a.3! X->I(V Cl v^ls lie tesi The Battalion Vol. 70 No. 68 12 Pages Wednesday, February 2, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 - Ei, 'best «. wtij et stream hift blamed for cold spell By RENE OGLETREE This may become the coldest winter on r »r ord for the Brazos Valley because of a t moving air current called the jet earn, according to Walter K. Henry, xas A&M University meteorology as- iate professor. In a recent interview, Henry said, “The current is located approximately five to miles above the earth’s surface with ads ranging up to 200 miles per hour, ' ut averaging from 70 to 80 m.p.h.” [The jet stream is located in the center of prevailing westerly winds which blow a west to east with variances in north- and southern directions. It moves like [iver of air and allows channels to branch just as a river does, Henry said, s the main cause for weather condi- Jns, it meanders like a river, following le sun and causing the air current to be more noticeable in the winter in the Orthern hemisphere, Henry said. He explained that the further south the |rrent dips, the more polar air it brings h it, causing colder temperatures. tVhen the current moves northward, it ;es warm air with it, creating the irmer temperatures. This can be found Alaska and Iceland this winter. In another interview, John F. Griffiths, A&M meteorology professor said the iver the temperature falls the greater the area is that is affected. |At College Station last October and ivember, meteorologists recorded mean rage temperatures for each month 10 [grees lower than the normal averages, cember varied only five degrees, rec- ing an average of 47 degrees to the irmal average of 52 degrees. January to- Js have not yet been compiled, Griffiths Id. lA new method to measure the coldness [winter involves determining the days Imeowners use fuel to maintain a 65- Igree temperature in their homes, Grif fis said. This year 80 per cent more days quired additional heating, Griffiths said. Carter to stress energy in fireside chat tonight Battalion photo by Pat McAuliff Flags displayed daily The United States’ flags, in front of the Administration Building are raised each morning about 6 a.m. and taken down after 5 p.m. by Uni versity policemen. This photo, taken yesterday evening, has two of the flags’ poles framing the Oceanography and Meteorology Building and emphasizes our American flag with some backlighting from the sun. By HELEN THOMAS United Press International WASHINGTON — President Carter, keeping a promise “to communicate with the folks” was expected to stress the need for sacrifices to save energy in his first tele vised “fireside chat” from the White House tonight. The broadcast, at 9 p.m. CST, will be delivered beside a crackling wood fire in the fireplace of the library on the mansion’s ground floor and is one of a series Carter plans over the next three months. Asked why Carter was going on the air so early in the presidency an aide said: “He made a commitment to communicate with the folks. This is an opportunity for him to lay out, in a relaxed way, his hopes and aspirations.” Early in the day Carter was to receive a firsthand report from Vice President Wal ter F. Mondale assessing his eight-day, six-country journey to Europe and Japan and a rundown on the leaders he met in his travels. Carter went to the airport to welcome Mondale home personally from his dip lomatic mission around the world. He said the vice president did “an absolutely su perb job.” Later in the day Carter met with Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, and told him “we re not going to back down” on U.S. defense of human rights. At the same time. Carter assured Dob rynin the American diplomatic position is directed toward promoting civil rights everywhere, and is not a campaign against the Kremlin. The subject of Carter’s conversation with Dobrynin arose on the helicopter flight back from Andrews Air Force Base when Mondale asked whether the “flap” over Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov had died down. “I told Dobrynin we’re not going to back down on that,” Carter replied. A White House spokesman later stressed that Carter was talking about “human rights” and did not mention Sakharov by name in his talk with the Russian diplomat. Carter told Dobrynin: “I’ve heard great things about you and your service in Wash ington.” An aide said Carter, in his “chat” to night, would focus chiefly on domestic themes, particularly the energy shortage and his program to prime the economy with tax cuts and rebates and the creation of 750,000 jobs for the unemployed. The aide said Carter also wants to give the American people “a feel for the way Jimmy Carter approaches the presidency ... the attitude and tone his administration will take ...” Carter plans to sit in a red armchair and will use a teleprompter. Groundhog Day . Legend or hoax? reachers have choice in enforcement IS ttendance mandatory, affects grade By MARY HARDIN Professors at Texas A&M University can w make class attendance mandatory as ited in A&M’s 1976-1977 attendance licy. The attendance policy given in A&M’s lies and Regulations book says that the iversity feels that class attendance is le responsibility of the individual stu nt. Students are expected to attend s and instructors are expected to take ^Individual instructors may use class at- adance as a factor in determining a stu- [nt’s grade. ‘It s just an opportunity for a few pro- jssors to use attendance in determining ades,” said Susan Rudd in reference to Be current policy. Rudd, who is Student Government vice Jesident for rules and regulations, said Je policy, in effect, reads, “We realize ■' "Ou are mature enough to take care of yourself, but we are going to make you come to class anyway.” Student Government decided in favor of nonmandatory class attendance after the new policy came out. It has been trying since then to get the old nonmandatory policy reinstated. “When I came here in 1973 there was mandatory attendance. I worked to change the policy to nonmandatory,” said Dr. John J. Koldus, vice president for stu dent services. He was upset when the new mandatory policy came out in the spring of 1976. Dr. Diane Strommer, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts was involved in rewriting the attendance policy. Strommer said she does not believe the policy to be mandatory. “It put the matter of attendance between the student and the professor.” “This is not a new policy, but a clearer Legal adviser withdraws to begin private practice By MARK PENNY ||fflThe former head legal adviser for Texas A&M students, Kenneth M. Robison, v ent into private practice yesterday. ■ Robison said that he wanted to get more M klistic trial experience. ^ * “I want to get it out of my system,” he aid. H| It has been most rewarding to help idents even though their matters may , j, iem trivial to someone else,” Robison The legal advisers handle 200 to 300 ses a month. Robison said that most of |e cases are solved quickly. This brings a lot of personal self- atisfaction,” he said. iiRobison graduated from Texas A&M jfDiversity in 1968. He earned his law de- jfee from Houston’s South Texas College flaw in 1974. In March, 1975, Robison joined the udent Services staff as legal adviser, y'lfs been a most enjoyable two years,” : said. “I’ve gotten (the program) started nd firmly introduced. ' “This service is a relativly new idea,” he lid .The advisers not only work with in- weather Mostly cloudy and mild today with winds gusting from the southeast at 8-14 mph. Precipitation proba bility 10 per cent today, 30 per cent tonight and 60 per cent tomorrow. High today in the low 50s. Low to night in the low 40s. High tomor row in the low 50s. dividuals, they also council student or ganizations. Robison said the 200 to 300 cases a month refer only to appointments, not to people who telephoned or who walked in to try to catch them during a free moment. “I’ve also hired another attorney and a part-time secretary to help with the case load,” Robison said. Chris Kling, who joined the staff in Sep tember, 1976 as assistant legal adviser has assumed Robison’s position. Kling said that he is now interviewing for the assistant position. A part-time ad viser may be hired soon to fill the gap until a permanent replacement can be found. The permanent adviser may not be hired until May. Present law school graduates taking their bar examinations in February will not recieve the results until May. Linda Brochu, former full-time secre tary for the legal advisers, joined Robison in his private practice. Susan Kitchen ad vanced from part-time status to replace her. “I am presently interviewing for an im mediate replacement for the part-time secretary position,” Kling said. Robison said that he enjoyed working with the other people in the student serv ice area. “Dr. Koldus, vice-president for student services has been very helpful and benefi cial,” Robison said. “He has never tried to hold me down. “Dr. Goswick (director of the health center), the University Police, and the MSC have all been very helpful,” he added. “They all have the students’ best interest in mind.” Robison is going into practice with Mike Calliham, justice of the peace for precinct version of the old one, Dr. Strommer added. Dr. Koldus said that the major differ ence between the two policies is that in structors are expected to take roll and that they can use attendance as a determinant in grading. This makes attendence mandatory, he explained. Rudd said that the statement about using attendance in grading is the major reason Student Government wants the policy changed. “As long as the student turns in his as signments and takes the tests on time, I feel he has fulfilled his part of the bar gain,” Rudd said. Sam Houston State University has a mandatory attendance policy similar to A&M’s policy. “We don’t like to call it mandatory, but the students are expected to attend class,” said Dr. Robert G. Brooks, vice president for academic affairs at Sam Houston. Sam Houston’s policy states that the students may not be penalized for three or less unexcused absences. “We try to discourage professors from using attendance for grading purposes,” Dr. Brooks said. Dr. Brooks said that the policy is ac cepted by the students and is not a politi cal issue. Whitey Greer, president of student government at Sam Houston said that most of the students there view mandatory attendance as unneccessary. “The type of class should dictate the need to attend class,” Greer said. He said they have tried to change the attendance policy, but can’t get the admin istration to agree. Rudd said she feels that Student Gov ernment can get the policy here changed. “The students might abuse the non mandatory attendance, but it is still their responsibility,” Rudd said. “The Rules and Regulations Committee changed the policy with very little student input,” she said. The committee consists of four students and nine faculty and staff members. United Press International PUNXSUTAWNEY,Pa. — In a winter as bad as this, with the weatherman pre dicting more of the same, it may be under standable if some winter-weary Americans look to the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil for some hope. But no, Virginia — and Ohio and New York and Michigan and Illinois and the rest of you in the freeze belt — there really is no meteorologically omniscient critter living in a burrow on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, a southwestern Pennsylvania community. It’s all a hoax, albeit a good-natured one, to give the town’s 10,000 residents an excuse to shuck the winter doldrums once a year and have a good time — with com munity leaders in formal morning clothes and top hats to lend an atmosphere of pomp and circumstance to the silliness. The festivities have been an annual event since 1887, when a group of “old timers,” who got together on Gobbler’s Knob to play poker, drink beer and have a good time, formed the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. “Everyone wanted to get in on the ac tion,” said Sam Light, president-emeritus of the club. “The club has grown and grown to where there’s more than 1,000 members today and everyone has had a marvelous time.” The official groundhog ceremony is fol lowed by a huge breakfast at the Punxsutawney Country Club; the crown ing of a Groundhog King and Queen by the local high school; and the awarding of the Man and Woman of the Year awards at a banquet that night. The current Phil — no one is sure how many there have been — was imported from the Pittsburgh Zoo three years ago. He is kept with his mate, Phyllis, in a glass-enclosed home at the local civic cen ter most of the time. But today, local leaders dumped him on Gobbler’s Knob for the Groundhog Day ritual. Phil emerged from his burrow exactly at 7:27 a.m., as scheduled, but what he saw — his shadow — doomed the country to six more weeks of miserable weather. If he had not seen his shadow, spring would have been right around the corner. Phil’s unwelcome prognosis was greeted by a chorus of boos from the several hundred high school students who braved the 12- degree temperatures to view the ground hog’s entrance. Human forecasters say the formula usu ally works out, at least for the short term.. A bright winter morning is likely to be cold and a cloudy one warm. Light, who headed the Groundhog Club for 25 years, does his best to promote the legend, claiming Phil has been on target every year since 1887. “At the first crack of dawn, Punxsutaw ney Phil, the Seer of Seers, the Prophet Extraordinary, comes out of his lair, stands up on this hind legs, looks over his shoulder at the sky, and in groundhogese, he whispers in my ear and tells me what the forecast is,” Light explained. “In 90 years the groundhog has been right every time. Once, during World War II, the government asked us not to make a prediction because they didn’t want to give peace and comfort to the enemy.” Light attributes Phil’s longevity to a se cret “Groundhog Punch,” saying “one swallow adds 10 years to his life.” But don’t turn those thermostats back up yet, folks. Control of pest birds investigated By DEBBIE LIGHTFOOT Methods of controlling pest birds with out destroying them are currently being studied by ornithologists with the Texas A&M University department of wildlife and fisheries sciences. The influx of an estimated 1.5 million birds to the A&M campus during the Christmas holidays was just one example of a problem that has been under investi gation at A&M for 10 years, Dr. Keith A. Arnold, associate professor of wildlife and fisheries sciences, said Friday. He explained that the goal of the re search has been to learn about the biology of the birds in an effort to control them. Arnold said he favors natural methods of pest control, such as altering the environ ment to discourage undesirable species from moving into an area. “If we know something about the biol ogy of the birds, he said,then we can alter the environment more effectively. Current research has focused on the behavior, ecology, feeding habits and re production of cowbirds and grackles, Ar nold said. Beginning this fall, more work will be done with starlings and house sparrows, two of the major nuisance species in our area. The birds that flocked to the A&M cam pus during the holidays were mostly cow- birds and starlings, he said. They are so cial species that gather in large numbers in the winter, and they need clumps of trees as roost sites to provide protection from wind and rain. The birds, however, will not crowd up too close to one another, Arnold said. They need some space between them selves and other birds, so decreasing the available roosting space by trimming trees may be one way to drive the birds from an area. He explained that by reducing the available roosting space, the birds become crowded and agitated at night. Hopefully, he said, the turmoil will eventually drive the birds away from the roost. Arnold said that future research will be aimed at finding ways, like tree-trimming, to move birds and keep their numbers down to levels humans can tolerate with out having to actually destroy the birds. Texas natural gas could go interstate ■f • , era 'Zj- ? DRIVE 90 | FREEZE A YANKEE — -* - Mm.n ■( ; , i>y Pat McAii Cold hearted rebel Some Texans have no sympathy for Northeasterners because they feel that persons in the Northeast, who are suffering from a severe cold spell, will cause price hikes and curtailment of Texas gas supplies. This bumper sticker, which was seen in the parking lot behind Kyle Field on the Texas A&M University campus yesterday, reflects the sentiment that Texans have exclusive rights to Texas gas supplies. United Press International DALLAS — Easterners who want to buy hoards of Texas natural gas to alleviate their winter energy crisis may find a bill pending in Congress to allow such pur chases more a hope than a guarantee. And Texans, who have been relatively secure in knowing there was at least enough gas in the state for the right price, may soon find there isn’t enough gas at any price. “During peak demand times here in Texas there just isn’t that much gas avail able,” said Don Newquist, a spokesman for Lo-Vaca Gathering Co., one of the state’s largest intrastate suppliers. “During normal times here, yes, we may be able to help out (the East). But during peak times there just may not be enough to go around.” The congressional bill would allow in terstate gas suppliers to bid on gas nor mally available only to intrastate suppliers. If the bill is passed and signed by President Carter, Newquist said it could result in higher prices for Texas res idents, and even curtailments. Newquist said most Texas-produced natural gas was purchased by intrastate suppliers on long-term contracts — and the Congressional bill would do nothing to affect those contracts. He said, however, that when tempera tures dropped in the state more gas was needed than the contractors could provide, forcing suppliers like Lo-Vaca to buy what is called “spot” gas. The con gressional bill would allow interstate suppliers to bid on spot gas along with in trastate suppliers. Newquist said if Lo-Vaca and other state suppliers could successfully bid against; the out-of-state suppliers then there would be sufficient quantities for Texans — although consumers would have to pay the higher price. If the state suppliers were outbid, however, there could be cutbacks in Texas. Dr. Phil Gramm, economist at Texas A&M University and unsuccessful Demo cratic U.S. Senate candidate, says federal price controls destroyed the interstate natural gas market and set the basis for the current crisis. The proof, he said, comes from the fact that Texans pay more for natural gas but during times of normal demand have all they need. “Now they say, ‘Well, since we have a shortage in the Northeast, we want to ad just the market so we can get some of your gas,” he said. “That seems to me inequitable. We’ve paid for 16 years not to have a shortage. It’s like the guy on his deathbed who says to the Lord, Tf you can help me out, I will repent until I get well and then you can go to hell.’” Federal controls on natural gas prices were installed in 1960 and Gramm said exploration immediately slowed. The governors of Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas have all advised Pres ident Carter that controls should be per manently lifted from interstate natural gas so that a free market can generate adequate supplies. Oil companies sur veyed by UPI echoed the sentiments.