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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1977)
Page 12 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1977 Love bug is kiss o’ death for cricket United Press International AUSTIN — Crunched underfoot, smashed by cars and splattered by doors, pesky crickets are sacrificing their lives for love, according to in sect experts. Dr. William Cade, former Uni versity of Texas biology professor now teaching at Brock University in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, said the crickets are sex-crazed and mate in swarms near lights. Some scientists believe the in sects use the moon for navigation and they mistake bright lights for the earth’s satellite. “But this business of crickets fly ing into lights in Austin was first recorded in scientific literature in 1912,” said Cade, who studied cric kets in Austin for six years. He said he thought this was going to be a good year for crickets be cause the egg samples he had taken were plentiful. “It’s all tied in to the love life of the cricket,” said UT biology profes sor O.P. Breeland. “This happens intermittently every year.” The breeding bugs currently are no more than a nuisance but in the late 1960s they created traffic- hazards, Breeland said. Cade said mating crickets caused several accidents on San Antonio freeways in the late 1960s. “They were so numerous on the highways, attracted by the lights, that the cars running over them created a nice slick surface of cricket guts,” Cade said. “Finally, after a few days, they decided to turn the lights out, but it took a while for them to figure that out.” Crickets do not carry disease and are harmless, Breeland said, but he did not advise cooking them for dinner, although in most areas where the insects occur in large numbers, the inhabitants eat them. UT grant embezzler captured in Oregon United Press International AUSTIN — A former Univer sity of Texas financial aid director wanted on charges of embezzling $25,000 has been captured in Oregon, Travis County au thorities reported yesterday. Edward Lee Carpenter was arrested by Portland police Aug. 5 on a bank robbery charge, Travis County Sheriff Raymond Frak reported. Frank said Carpenter was using the name Michael John Williams. Carpenter headed the finan cial aid office from 1968 until he resigned Nov. 30, 1973. An audit of his department revealed $25,000 was missing from grant and scholarship accounts. The Travis County Grand Jury indicted Carpenter on July 23, 1974, for embezzlement. Carpenter also is wanted for failing to appear for trial after he was released on a $25,000 bond. Space shuttle astronauts succee in landing Enterprise on lake United Press International EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The shuttle orbiter Enterprise with two astronauts at the controls blasted away from its jumbo jet mother ship yesterday and glided in for a perfect landing on a dry lake bed runway. It was the second free flight of the Enterprise, the 75-ton spaceship that will be in the forefront of America’s space program for the rest of this century. Bolted to the back of its mother ship, the Enterprise took off from this desert test site at 8 a.m. PDT and climbed to an altitude of about 28,800 feet for the critical separation maneuver. The separation was delayed for about three minutes when mission control in Houston lost radar contact but the delay caused no apparent problems. Explosive bolts blew the spaceship up and away from the Boeing 747. The Enterprise veered right and began making a U turn for its five-minute powerless flight back to earth. The gliding spaceship reached a speed of more than 330 miles per hour and performed several maneu vers to test its aerodynamics and its flying ability before air brakes were used to slow it down to a landing speed of about 250 mph. Astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly alternately used both a control stick and a computer to test the ship’s flight characteristics at various ‘speeds. The Enterprise made a perfect landing at 8:54 a.m. PDT. the earth 1 The spaceship is to begin making round-trips to outer space and back with men and equipment during the 1980s. Its engines function in space but cannot work sphere. Like- the first free llight, ond was a near perfect flem* (35,000 tion of the Enterprise’s aeronm smetoloj The second free flight original, become scheduled for Aug. 30butwasp y poned after a tropical < drenched the desert ranways, I L'i L CAJ id psy aper. Hail'd re th who rii iblems. Based oi rase in Puccinis home will be museum United Press International LUCCA, Italy — Opera buffs will soon be able to visit the house where Giacomo Puccini was born in this Tuscan town. The house, on Piazza San Lorenzo in the old city, is being turned into a muse composer’s works and is to ipened to the public in Octolti The six- been |cosmet< {there \ jwithou ... r “This w -urn of the In , sAn d> Included in the displays 4 | the piano on which Puccini« posed the opera “Turandot," •ector. "1 | provide and t( Huge tractor in the making hy Caterpillar United Press International PEORIA, Ill. — Cateipillar Trac tor Co. Tuesday announced it will manufacture a 90-ton crawler tractor 15 feet tall, 12 feet wide and more than 31 feet long. The tractor, dubbed the DIG, will be powered by a 700-horsepower diesel engine. It will be used primarily for large mining and mine reclamation work, including rip ping, dozing and push-loading. Englishman sets doughnut record “Several developments during recent years have led to the need for a crawler tractor larger and more productive than any previously available,” Caterpillar Board Chairman William L. Naumann said. “Among them are increased emphasis on surface mining of coal and reclamation of mined land. ” United Press International EARLS BARTON, England — Dowdeswell claimed a world record for doughnut eating Monday, then hurried to a hospital with a swollen stomach. Dowdeswell, 36, ate 113 doughnuts in eight minutes, 81 more than the previous record. Cateipillar will build the tractors in a new 770,000-square foot facility at East Peoria, scheduled for com pletion late this year. It will be built with modular components, permit ting easier testing during assembly and quick and easy servicing in the field. Production will begin early in 1978, the firm said. Air Force decorates two for past services Air Force Col. Kenneth W. Durham and S. Sgt. Richard W. Vanater were decorated Tuesday at Texas A&M University. They serve in the Air Force ROTC instructor-administration de tachment. The awards are for serv ice on previous assignments. Sgt, Vanater received his third Air Force Commendation Medal for work at the U. S. embassy in Rome, Italy, during 1974-77. The citation honored him for service as a super visor, assistant postal clerk and non-commissioned officer in charge of administration with the 7025th Air Postal Squadron. Col. Durham’s award was in recognition of his service at Dover- Meritorious Service Medal. Both Oak Leaf Clusters were pin ned by Col. William C. Deboe, South Central area ROTC comman dant from Barksdale AFB, La. Col. Deboe is at Texas A6cM this week on Air Force business. Col. Durham’s award was in rec ognition of his service at Dover AFB, Del., as deputy commander and commander of the base. S. Sgt. Richard W. Vanater receives the Second Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Force Commendation Medal from Col. William Deboe in ceremonies at Texas A&M University, Tuesday. Sgt. Vanater is presently assigned in an administra tive post of the Air Force ROTC instructor detachment at Texas A&M. 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