Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1977)
73 The Battalion Tuesday, December 13, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Inside Today: Equality: who gets the short end, p. 2. Retirement: Supreme Court rules for early exit, p. 3. Athletics: a look behind the $3 mil lion jocks, p. 8. Fall freshmen to find new parking policy in effect By KIM TYSON Battalion Campus Editor Next fall’s crop of freshmen, except women dormitory students, will be parking their cars across Wellborn Road, said Glenn Ferris, chairman of the University Traffic Panel, Monday. The new policy will require off-campus freshmen and on-campus freshmen men to park in lots 56, 61 and 63 during the day. The policy was approved Dec. 1 by Dr. John Koldus, vice president for student services. Ferris said that parking assignments will be shifted for other students, but lots have not yet been determined. “We felt that freshmen should have less priority on parking,” Ferris said. “But we didn’t want to ban them from having cars. “We felt the best solution would be to have them park in the less desirable spaces. ” Ferris said that since the policy is only for “business” hours, 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., off-campus women who must park in the lots will not need extra security. The policy is designed to help off-campus upperclassmen park closer during the day, he said. “Essentially after normal working hours, off-campus or dorm students can then park in all but a few lots on campus, ” Ferris said. Ferris said if the on-campus shuttle bus is successful in the spring, the bus service will help these students get to class easier. The bus route goes by these lots. Another change next fall will be volun tary bicycle registration, Ferris said. He said that the $1.50 fee will be drop ped to encourage more bike registration. The University currently requires all bikes to be registered. Ferris said earlier the fee was required to pay for permit cost and processing. How ever, he said the total amount collected was nominal, and bike registration will now be provided as a service to help prevent bike theft. Another proposed change is the addition of some 500 spaces to Lot 50, near the Zachry Engineering Center. Ferris said that assignments have not been approved yet, but the lot will probably be for day students. The proposal is awaiting the Board of Regents’ approval. Strike scheduled for tomorrow Farmers want to plead case games, o (lie playili land this itriots l-l-ll), :l todotogeti beat Detail id next wed e of their tmnbledoni ising to Drt [land had tf ills was to I Itimore. Hi they Stilllu t week, ie Eastern t ito nexhvtd ew Englanj imore adn Miami beak land beats into the pi I heats Balt diami,.% i the play® I too coni 1 attalion photo by Mary Elliot Posing ’possum Playing ’possum isn’t going to help senior Eva Sharp escape finals, although it is a new excuse. Eva and her pet opossum Virgil posed during an afternoon stroll across campus Monday. Over a half million in livestock United Press International American Agriculture leaders have asked to plead their case before a joint session of Congress today on the eve of the scheduled first nationwide farmers’ strike. “We wish to convey that the United States is facing a crisis unprecedented in American history,” American Agriculture spokesmen said in a telegram sent to the nation’s capital Monday. “If you allow this nation to face famine, mass unemployment and economic chaos, unparalleled in American history, the Con gress has failed the American people and must face the responsibility.” Keith Thomas, a founder of the maverick strike movement, said farm leaders want to meet with President Carter before the strike is to begin Wednesday, but there has been no action from the White House. Thomas said strike leaders hoped last weekend’s demonstrations by thousands of formers at state capitals across the country would sway the president to meet with ag ricultural leaders. Leslie Bitner, an American Agriculture leader in Washington, D. C., said the strike will begin at midnight tonight with 50 trac tors symbolizing the nation’s states being driven around the White House. The farmers, burdened with low prices for their products, want 100 percent parity, which would give them at least a break even price for crops. Farmers from at least 35 states met in Denver Monday to discuss the strike. It was the first meeting of its kind by mem bers of American Agriculture, a grassroots movement that began 91 days ago in Springfield, Colo. “The consensus is they are not going to buy, not going to sell, not going to buy any agricultural equipment and no production supplies,” said Bob Keenan, an American Agriculture spokesman. Many of the farmers have mortgages or outstanding loans, but Keenan said they will solve the problem by getting loans from the federal government. The collateral, he said, will be the farm products that farmers will refuse to sell. “The way this new farm bill is set up, it gives the family farmer an out,” said Keenan. “He can get government loans on his grain, and he can give that money to the banker or his financing company and take some of the pressure off. ” Farmers in the West have already planted their winter grain and are now in their slowest season. Keenan and other American Agriculture leaders say the wheat can be harvested, stored and used for collateral to get more government loans. Hawaiians have longer life expectancies, statistics show United Press International WASHINGTON — Hawaiians live longer than Americans living in any other state; and residents of the nation’s capital have the shortest life expectancy — two years lower than in any other state — the National Center for Health Statistics said today. The figures, based on the decade ending in 1971, also found the life expectancy of a black man in America fell to 60 years for the same decade — well below the average life expectancy for all races. Black women av eraged 68.3 years for the same period. Current life expectancy in the United States for all races is 69 years for a man and Earthworms: fun for student rancher Domta^ 81 , Arcing By PEGGY EMERSON “I have over a million head of livestock nd a half acre of land and I’m not over- tocked,’’ says Charles Whitton, a senior nimal science major at Texas A&M Uni- ersity. Whitton, a worm rancher, raises earth worms for fun and money. “I saw an ad in the Bryan Eagle last year bout worm ranching,’ he says. “I had ever thought about raising worms before, ut I did research on worms for six weeks nd decided to get into the business. ‘My banker really looked at me funny dien I told him I needed some money to uy worms, but I had done research and lad everything written down to show him I ould make money;’’ he says. Mike Turner, a friend and worm- anching partner, kept the worms in his ard until he graduated from Texas A&M in day 1977, with a degree in agriculture en- jneering. Turner later moved to South ixas. Whitton and his wife decided to buy a louse in Bryan with a half acre lot so he vould have a place to keep his worms. “One nice thing about the worms is that ou don’t hear from your neighbors about ets making noise, Whitton says. “The worms are a good way to meet people. We met all of our neighbors be cause they came over to ask us what we have in our yard,” says Whitton’s wife Charlotte, a senior accounting major. “The worms are disease-free arid are easy to take care of,” Whitton says. “Dur ing the summer I killed about 25 grass snakes in the worms beds. When I found the snakes they were full and contended. The only other real problem is mites, but I can control that.” Whitton keeps his worms in eight-foot wooden beds. He says he started with about 500,000 worms and 10 beds, but has split the beds and now has 20. This month he will split them again for 40 beds. “Their reproductive rate makes a rabbit look slow,” Whitton says. “They are bisex ual so of course any two will do. You can wait 60 days and split the box or you can harvest them every 30 days. Whitton sells his worms wholesale for $2 to $3.50 per pound and can harvest 10-20 pounds from each bed per month. He covers the top of the beds with thick straw mats to protect the worms from the sun. And when it rains, he covers them with plastic sheets to keep them from crawling out. “I’m conditioned to wake up when it 76.7 for a woman. Hawaii not only had an average life ex pectancy for both sexes of 73.6 years, but it also was the state with the smallest differ ence between, the life expectancy of men and women. Hawaiian women still could, expect to live 5.77 years longer than a man during the decade studied, statistics showed. The center could not explain why Hawaiians live longer. In the District of Columbia, the average life expectancy for both sexes was 65.7 years. The closest competitor for the lowest life expectancy was South Carolina, with a life expectancy of 67.96 years for both sexes. Comparing the decade ending in 1961 with the decade ending in 1971, the center found a shift in longevity among states. The states with the longest life expec tancy for the decade ending in 1961 were Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and North Dakota in that order. For the decade ending in 1971, the top five were Hawaii, Minnesota, Utah, North Dakota and Ne braska. California, the nation’s most populous state, ranked 17th among the 50 states for life expectancy. Men and women lived 71.7 years, not as long as residents of Washing ton state but longer than Vermonters, who ranked 18th. Improvements in ranking on average life expectancy were made by Arizona and New Jersey, while Kentucky and West Virginia slipped in relative rankings in the compari son between decades. All 50 states recorded some increase in life expectancy. The center tried to explain statistically the virtues of Hawaii for longer life, but had to rule out such factors as ethnic composi tion of the island state, “It is clear that Hawaii’s males have a commanding advantage over males in other states in the age-adjusted death rates for all causes and for diseases of the circulatory system,” the report concluded. But it said further examination of the information “has failed to reveal any spe cific causes that play a major role in differ entiating the males of Hawaii from those of other states.” Dormitory fire kills seven, 16 injured starts raining at night. Also, I watch be tween classes to see if it’s going to rain. I’ve gone home in the middle of the day to cover them with plastic,” he says. “Worms take a lot of time but I was raised on a farm and missed working with animals, and with worms I can run my own busi- He says few people realize how impor tant worms are to the soil or that worms are a good source of protein for humans. “I ate a cookie made with worms and they weren’t bad at all. They had sort of an oatmeal flavor with the consistency of bacon bits. They are okay if you don’t think about what you are eating,” he says. United Press International PROVIDENCE, R. I. — Seven Providence College students were killed early today — two by jumping out windows — in a fire that swept the top floor of a women’s dormitory. At least 16 persons were injured, authorities said. One student was dead on arrival at Roger Williams Hospital. The other six bodies were taken to a makeshift morgue in the campus chapel and later transferred to the state morgue. School officials said two of the students died when they leaped from their top-story window to the ground. At least 15 students and one fireman were admitted to local hospitals after the four alarm blaze. The fire broke out about 3 a.m. in one section of the fourth floor of Aquinas Hall. The cause was under investigation. School officials refused comment on reports that the building, which housed 150-200 stu dents, had no sprinkler system. Students aided firemen by hauling hoses, moving parked cars and helping raise ladders to those who stood at upper windows screaming for help. “Seven to 10 girls were at the windows screaming “Get us down.’ There were not enough engines to get them down. Kids from the dorms helped put up ladders to get them out and brought blankets for the girls who were burned,” said sophomore John Colusardo of Garrison, N.Y. Fire officials did not indicate the cause of the fire, which began about 3 a.m. and was brought under control in about an hour. rogress reported in miners’ strike United Press International Coal industry and union negotiators re torted progress on major issues in strike A togotiations, while roving caravans of f Jnited Mine Workers members forced the liutdown of several non-union operations n Appalachia. Vandalism was reported Monday in 'ennsylvania, arrests were made in In liana and non-union coal was dumped in entucky, where UMW pickets closed on-union mines in at least six counties. “We’ve just got pickets running out of Ur ears. They’re trying to shut down ev- hing,” state police at Pikeville, Ky., id. In Utah, the scene of most of the labor trife, a coal-hauling railroad and three ion-union mines sought relief from the tourts, charging that pickets prevented roduction and movement of coal during he week-long UMW strike. In Lawrence County, Pa., on the Ohio border, a group of about 25 men with crow bars damaged four heavy machines at a non-union strip mine owned by Ralph Zeon, Inc. The company estimated $12,000 damage was caused to two bulldozers, a dragline and a frontloader. Hundreds of pickets from West Virginia showed up at non-union operations in western Penrisylvania, most of them at mines in Clarion County. One non-union source estimated there were about 600 West Virginia pickets in Clarion County alone. A non-union mine in Mercer County, Pa., closed “voluntarily.” Seven people were arrested in Spencer County, Ind., where helmeted state police with riot sticks maintained order when about 500' strikers converged at a non union loading dock on the Ohio River. The seven were ordered to pay $229 each in fines and costs on disorderly conduct charges. Kentucky state police estimated about 200 autos carrying hundreds of striking miners entered eastern Kentucky from Ohio and picketed non-union operations. Two shots were fired at mining equip ment at the Canada Coal Co. in Kimper, Ky., but no one was injured. Pickets forced the drivers of two trucks to dump 60 tons of non-union coal on a high way near Catlettsburg, Ky. “They told them to dump it, and they dumped it,” a state trooper said. The strike by approximately 188,000 miners in 22 states began Dec. 6 when the UMW’s three-year contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association expired. Negotiations for both sides met for two hours Monday in Washington and recessed for an indefinite period to allow both sides to reassess their positions. “We’re making progress and moving,” UMW president Arnold Miller said. Strict fuel standards proposed for 1980 cars United Press Internationa] WASHINGTON — So many people are using pickup trucks, vans and jeeps as everyday passenger ve hicles that strict new fuel economy standards are needed in the 1980 model year, the Transportation De partment says. While the proposed changes would add as much as $160 to the showroom price of each vehicle, con sumers would find the higher cost more than offset by a reduction of $760 in fuel bills over a vehicle’s 12-year lifetime, transportation analysts said. Joan Claybrook, head of the de partment’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, proposed the improved standards Monday. The changes would save an estimated 12 billion gallons of fuel, worth a total of $2.7 billion, she said. The new proposal, covering three times as many vehicles as the current 1979 standards, would require fuel economy improvements by 1981 — ranging from 12 percent in vehicles with two-wheel drive to 20 percent in those with four-wheel drive. Analysts said the biggest economy improvement — 25 percent of the total — would result from switching to diesel engines. Other savings could be achieved through better transmissions, advanced engine de signs, new lubricants and stream lined bodies, officials said. Ms. Claybrook scheduled a public hearing in Washington Jan 16 on the proposed standards and said written comments can be submitted to her office through Jan. 26. The existing standard applies to all 1979 vans and utility vehicles with a loaded gross weight of up to 6,000 pounds. It requires vehicles with two-wheel drive to average 17.2 miles per gallon and those with four-wheel drive to average 15.8 mpg. The new proposal would apply to vehicles with gross weights up to 8,500 pounds, tripling the number of vehicles covered, Ms. Claybrook said.