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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1977)
The Battalion Vol. 70 No. 70 6 Pages Friday, February 4, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 anels may resist arter’s economic plan By DONALD H. MAY United Press International \SHINGTON — Congress has given Hrst solid clue as to what it may do with pent Carter’s tax cut and jobs plan. 3 House Budget Committee, first of al panels to act on the proposal, d yesterday to double the amount WMer proposed for jobs during the first the I iar an|1 It left Carter’s tax rebate and tax cut •ose kjoposals unchanged, but some of them ® under attack in other committees, i still are considering the package, re President had proposed $1.8 billion bending for jobs this fiscal year as part is $31.2 billion, two-year package. By es of 14-10 and 15-8 the committee ap- led an additional $1.8 billion in the form of job-creating programs for youth, minorities, state and local governments and public works construction. That still was not as much as the AFL- CIO and the Conference of Mayors wanted for jobs,and there were certain to be new fights when the bill reaches the full House, reaches the full House. Budget Committee Chairman Robert Giaimo, D-Conn., said heavy pressure from constituents and mayors to reduce unemployment and fears about the eco nomic impact of the cold winter prompted the panel’s action. Arthur Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve, told the House Banking Com mittee the adverse weather would have no “large or lasting” effect on the economy. He said “‘further good gains in economic activity” are likely during 1977. Burns said Carter’s proposed $50 per person tax rebate is an ‘“inefficient” way to stimulate the economy. He said the ad ministration “has not proved any stimul- tion is needed. I would have preferred to wait a little.” The rebate also was criticized in the House Ways and Means Committee but many said they would learn to live with it because by now the American people have come to expect it. The Senate Banking Committee urged that $5 billion be added to Carter’s pack age for low-interest mortgage purchasing to encourage housing and that $20 billion be committed for housing programs over the next several decades. There were moves in several commit tees to compress Carter’s proposed $2 bil lion authorization for public works this year and $2 billion next into $4 billion this year. The House Budget panel concurred in that, although it included only $500 mil lion of this in its spending estimate for this year. It said the rest would be spent later. Ski Aggieland in any type of weather Battalion photo by Kevin Venner Even though an Aggie may not be able to make a trip to Colorado or New Mexico for some snow skiing, he can always utilize the slope on the Texas A&M University campus. Bill Gregory (second from right), a sik instructor with the Physical Edu cation department, instructs a class on fundamen tals of skiing. The artificial snow used on the slope near G. Rollie White Colesium resembles a thick form of Astro-turf, the synthetic grass that is used to cover many football fields. ‘Dolphinese” presented to crowd Scientist studies dolphin speech Roots Battalion photo by Pat McAuliff X '4 Frank Matta, a floriculture greenhouse technician, doesn’t expect to find his ancestoral history in these roots as did Alex Haley in his novel. Roots, produced for television. Actually, the graduate student is inspecting this [ dumb cane (dieffenbachia plant) for diseased and rotting roots. Matta ays that if the juice of the plant is taken orally, temporary paralyses of the ;vocal cords occurs. Matta also said that he enjoyed the Roots series, shown last week on ABC. By DEBBIE PARSONS A tape recording of “dolphinese” was played last night by Dr. John C. Lilly dur ing his lecture on “Interspecies Communi cations. ” There was standing room only in Rud der Theatre to hear the first lecture spon sored by the Great Issues Committee. Lilly restarted his research in dolphin communication and dolphin-human rela tions two years ago. He had taken a vaca tion from the research in 1968, but since he first began there have been many changes. Lilly said the apparatus and computers had improved 100 per cent when he re turned to do research. “This encouraged me to go back and work with the dolphins and to try to com municate with them at a level that humans can understand,” he said. “What we need is an understanding of them (dolphins),” he added, “based upon our understanding of one another. This is difficult.” Lilly first started working with dolphins at the California Institute of Technology, where he said he looked upon dolphins as animals, as opposed to humans. He then realized that he was prejudiced, that we are all animals. “I then went to medical school and realized that man is indeed an animal,” Lilly said. “I found man, without knowing, treats those who have been damaged men tally or physically in ways that are hardly special. “Sometimes I’m a little worried about the medical profession and its attitudes towards its own species.” Lilly became interested in dolphin brain functions, structure, and the relation of the dolphin brain to the human brain. “These basic questions took up my whole life,” he said. “As I began working with dolphins, I began to be very deeply disturbed by the reactions of the dolphins to our training program,” Lilly said. In their dolphin brain research, Lilly and his colleagues used electrodes. “I was startled to find that the animal was pleading, not fighting, against what we were doing, he said. “It was pleading that we stop the electrodes, and it even went so far as to mimic my voice.” At first Lilly said he thought it was his imagination, but tapes of the dolphin were recorded and played back, and the plead ing dolphin could be heard. Lilly played a tape of what he called, “dolphinese” to the audience. “I’d like you to see how different and alienated their language is from ours,” he said. The audience listened to a dolphin put ting out single pulses of sound at 150,000 cycles per second. The tape had been slowed down 100 times from the original tape, so the audience could hear it proper ly- Dolphins transmit a beam of ultrasound that goes out from the larynx, through their bones and teeth, hits an object, and bounces back to the dolphin, to let it know where the object is. Dolphins are totally dependent on this beam, in order to find fish to eat and to communicate with one another. Lilly then played another tape of the two other voices that dolphins have, a sound he termed “very peculiar.” “We tend to interpret these voices in terms of our own acoustic knowledge, and we re caught in the confines of our own language and our own treatment of other species,” he said. “I hope to be able to convert these sounds and interpret them. “I feel humble. Dolphins have been around longer than we have, they’ve adapted to their environment better, and they have a survival record that we might not match. Their ancestory goes back, un broken, 15 million to 50 million years ago, so I would like to talk to an old whale or dolphin.” Lilly’s previous research was funded by government grants, grants from foun dations, and individual contributions. Lilly would rather not be backed by the gov ernment. He said he would rather be backed by people who are really interested in his research with dolphins. “We are asking friends to contribute: friends of dolphins, friends of ours; people who are really interested,” Lilly said. “We don’t accept contributions unless the per son is really interested.” lEN’S of feu? meal plan offers $50 coupon books ms v ing ishiM 9 1 1 By RAY DANIELS here is now a board plan allowing you at anywhere on campus except the ath- dorms. he new plan is a system of $50 Coupon ks, redeemable in the dining halls, bars and Memorial Student Center ities. It is the result of efforts by the dent Services committee of Student ivernment . [he advantage of the plan is conven- Ce. Students can pay for a number of |als in advance, avoid carrying large punts of cash, and eat in a variety of Pes. The principle objection is that no count is given. ]T.P. Awbrey, administrative assistant of Services, explained the cost of the The seven-day board plan is based iO per cent of the meals being missed,” aid. This allows the price to be less an the actual cost of 20 meals a week, ith the coupons there are no missed pis so no discount can be offered. Troie Pruett, chairman of the Student vices committee, said they had origi- y requested a one or two meal a day Student Body President Fred McClure. He said the promotion is being done with inexpensive flyers. The books themselves are about football ticket size with tear-out stamps of $1, 50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents and five cents. They are available in the Food Services offices in the basement of Sbisa Dining Hall. If the program becomes widely used, several things could happen said Davis. First, Student Government would try to have the coupons put on fee slips to make it more convenient. Second, large sales or a switch from board plans to coupons by board students could upset the financial system of food services. The results of this would probably be higher board prices, he added. Only 14 of the books have been sold since the beginning of the semester, and Davis said he didn’t know of anyone trying to switch from the board plan. “I don’t forsee any volume sales,” said Awbrey, “since there is no discount.” McClure said he considered the pro gram a step toward a one meal board plan, and did not seem to think the coupons would sell widely. Consumers can expect price stability Florida resumes citrus fruit shipments ftSM at 7'- : ruett contacted Ed Davis of Business rs about the program. He explained at several ideas were discussed but the pon book plan was agreed upon, tudent Government is currently pro- ting the coupons. We said we would be willing to do the motion if they took the program,” said United Press International WESLACO — Consumers can expect citrus prices to stabilize now that Florida has resumed shipments, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture market ing specialist. John Engle said that yesterday prices for ruby red grapefruit had increased about $1.25 a 48-piece carton (medium size fruit) since a Jan. 21 freeze caused a 10-day embargo of Florida fruit, but that oranges increased only about 25 cents a carton for all sizes. “Now that Florida has resumed ship ments, we don’t anticipate any further in crease. Prices already have begun to stabilize,” said Engle, who heads the de partment’s crop reporting service in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Engle said the stabilizing market had reduced demand for Texas citrus fruits. The Florida embargo caused shipments of grapefruit from semitropical South Texas to zoom above 100 carloads of 1,000 Energy proposal causes action in Texas legislature weather Fair and mild today, continued fair tomorrow. High today in upper 50s. Low tonight in upper 30s. High to- . morrow in low 60s. Winds light and . 7 P variable. No chance of precipita- *tion. United Press International AUSTIN, — Speaker Bill Clayton wants action to insure Texans will not suffer be cause of President Carter’s emergency energy law. “We in Texas will do all that we can to help those energy deficient states, but we will not sit back and watch our businesses and industries close and our people shiver in the cold,” Clayton said yesterday. “We paid a price for our assured supply of natural gas. If out of state consumers want an assured supply of natural gas in the future, they too must be willing to pay the price. He said he has asked two state agencies to draft contingency plans to protect Tex ans in the event the federal government attempts to allocate Texas gas supplies to other states or a federal energy bill causes higher gas prices in the state. He said he has asked the Railroad Commission and the Governor’s Energy Advisory Council to prepare the con tingency plans. Clayton said the state may have author ity to ban escalation of prices under exist ing gas contracts, but conceded he does not know if the state has any power to pre vent allocation of natural gas to other states if Congress approves it. cartons each at the end of January, Engle said, but by yesterday demand had taped off to 31 carloads. Orange shipments also increased to at least 90 carloads during the same period, but fell to 42 carloads by yes terday. Besides slow demand preceding the Florida freeze, the wettest winter in years has hampered the harvest of Texas citrus this winter. Despite the lack of sunshine, Dr. Richard Hensz of the Texas A&I citrus center said Texas fruit is of excellent qual- ity- “It’s in good condition, good quality. There’s nothing wrong with the fruit,” Hensz said. “There’s no trouble with the fruit ripen ing. It’s really at its peak. The trouble is getting in there to harvest it. We’ve been plagued this whole season, going way back to the fall, from getting in there to harvest. “You can see the fruit on the tree and you can’t get in there to pick it.” Engle said Texas producers enjoyed the biggest price increases in grapefruit be cause the state’s production of 12.5 million boxes compares favorably with Florida’s crop of 14 million boxes of pink seedless and ruby reds. However, he said Texas’ output of 7.3 million boxes of oranges is almost insignif icant when measured against Florida s projected 142 million boxes in a bumper crop before the freeze. fMlS *4 ^ 4 - . Battalion photo by Pat McAulif- Ten. . .nine. . .eight. . .seven. . . An alpha model rocket is launched at sunset by Bill Jackson and Jimmy Bell, freshmen political science majors. The rocket and its equipment cost about $20 and will fly up to 2,000 ft. before a parachute automatically ^ opens and eases the rocket safely back to earth.