The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 18, 1978, Image 12

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 18, 1978, Image 12

Newspaper Page TextPage 12 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1978 Shady future no longer A&M protecting trees While “only God can make a tree,” grounds-keepers at Texas A&M University have a hand in preserving His work. At Aggieland, that’s no small chore. There are 7,859 trees, one- half of them oaks, throughout the 890-acre core of the campus. The trees blend into the academic environment to provide boulevards, canopies over walks, building screens and shade for outdoor study or leisure. Aesthetically priceless, the trees have a computable value making them a multimillion dollar asset. For example, one 24-inch diameter live oak, in prime condition, has a value of $4,523.90, according to Eugene Ray, director of grounds maintenance. Construction projects, how ever, have been the main cause of tree damage or loss, specifi cally street and sidewalk con struction. The value of a prime 24-inch diameter live oak can be deter mined by the “shade tree formula:” the square of the diameter times .7854, times $10 (24 x 24 x .7854 x $10 $4,523.90). “This University has always taken great pride in its trees,” Ray said. Complete Line of Used Books. ROTHER’S BOOKSTORE 340 Jersey — At the Southgate “The majority of the mature trees were planted 30 to 60 years ago, primarily live oaks in a street tree fashion.” A recent inventory by the Grounds Maintenance Department showed 7,859 trees - 4,297 mature and 3,562 planted since 1971. An additional 370 trees will be planted on the western portion of the cam pus in the near future, Ray said. The 890 acres surveyed are com prised of the central campus area, the 150-acre golf course that serves as the front lawn for the southeast side of the campus and the develop ing portion of the campus across Wellborn Road. It does not include any of the 4,000 acres of research farms or Hensel Park, a large, un molested wooded recreation area north of the University’s main stu dent apartment complex. Nature, machines and man have affected some of the trees during the past five years. “We have lost some 60 mature trees since 1973 and have approxi mately 130 mature trees in some state of weak growth,” Ray said. Tree diseases, primarily oak de cline, have caused some damage in the park area around the president’s home, Ray said. The persimmon wilt fungus affects sycamore, hackberry, persimmon and the vari ous oak trees. It generally requires a laboratory culture from the sus pected tree to confirm the disease, he said. Thirteen post oaks have been lost near the president’s and vice- president’s homes, Ray said. Six sycamore trees in various loca tions have also been lost. Ray has recommended that new syacamore plantings be restricted to areas for academic research only, since they appear to succumb quickly to the fungus. Ray said a few of the pine trees north of Zachry Engineering Center were probably killed by traffic exhaust pollution from University Drive and South College Avenue, one of the heavily used intersections around the campus. Aesthetically priceless, the trees on the Texas Ai?M Univer sity campus have a computable value making them a multimill ion dollar asset. Construction projects, however, have been the main cause of tree damage or loss, Ray said, specifi cally street and sidewalk construc tion. “We have had one mile of new street construction, 2.3 miles of street removed and 3.72 miles of new and rebuilt sidewalks,” he said. About 130 trees, including 26 along Old Main Drive, have been weakened by road and sidewalk work, yet Ray said proper feeding and pruning will stimulate active growth. Weather ^ Cidl> average 4103 S. TEXAS AVE. Bryan Place Bldg. If you have money to invest Suite 208 846-5018 Optional Retirement Plan Tax Sheltered Annuity Deferred Compensation Financial Planning Saturdays by Appointment 10% DISCOUNT ON STYLES OR MERCHANDISE WITH THIS AD Call Hays Glover GUGGENHEIM GLOVER, ASSOCIATES 779-5555 Friday Night Special Frog Legs $1.50 a pair (served with salad) Happy Hour doubles 4:30-6:30 Mon.-Fri. 913 Harvey Rd. (Hwy. 30) 11 A.M. Mon.-Sat. College Station 5 p.m. Sunday H Announcing the restoration, activa tion, and hopefully motivation of the San Angelo-West Texas Hometown Club. The masses should converge at Mil. Sci. Bldg., room 109 at 7:00 p.m. on Wed. Oct. 18, 1978. Discussion will in clude business and ACTIVITIES. PETROLEUM/GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING & CONSULTING WHERE DOES A GROUND FLOOR OPPORTUNITY REALLY START? CORE LAB, where we can offer Petroleum and Chemical Engineering graduates job opportunities in the rapidly expanding oil field service industry, through our highly technical entry level training programs. A history that holds water Mural sketched on dam wall United Press International BELTON — The history of Bell County is being painted in Texas-size proportions on the face of an 800-foot long dam by volunteer artists, including Girl Scouts and farmers. A year of planning and prepa ration went into the mural project before volunteers this month began painting the sur face of Lake Belton’s overflow dam. The idea originated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cover an accumulation of graffiti on the dam wall and is being supervised by Maurine Burks, art professor at Mary Hardin- Baylor College. She expects the finished painted history to attract visitors, especially history buffs, from throughout the state. “I was volunteered (by the col lege), that’s how I became in volved,” she said. “We’ve worked on it for nearly a year, just doing the research. We re doing impressions of Bell County history — my impressions. If I’m doing the work, they’re going to be mine.” The mural is hardly freelance since several college art majors and high school students first put their sketches on paper and then transferred them to the dam be- We’ll name if H<**> d&caf ginning in July. The corps had sandblasted the dam surface be forehand and primed it with a sealant. “We did research into the dif ferent historical things in Bell County,” Burks said, “then did a master plan. That’s what we have followed. We stated off with Peter Bell, the third governor of Texas in the center. “We are doing the historical buildings of Mary Hardin- Baylor. This college is 130 years old. There are houses from Be lton, Temple, Killeen, Salado, Moffitt, Rogers and all the little villages around in Bell County. They all have something repre sented on the dam. “We also are showing the rec reation that’s here, the lakes. plus Fort Hood and wealsohau the ranchers and farmers repre- sented on the dam.” Some of the sketches are small they require very close ij speetion. Other scenes are re ognized easily from the highway “We invited everyone in Be! County to come out and \ Burks said. “They’re part of tin project and I figure this will keep the graffiti off of it.” in Texas- Don’t look in Texas record books for the summer of 1978. It was ... (ho hum) ... only average. Despite a popular notion that June, July and August were among the hottest ever - they weren’t, according to State Climatologist John Griffiths of Texas A&M University. Temperatures were even below normal in some areas and the hot test sections of the state - the Northeast and Trans-Pecos - only pushed the mercury a little past 1 degree above average. Widespread news accounts of record number of days in the 100s may have contributed to the belief that 1978 would earn a hot spot in history, Griffiths says. However, the three-month period differed very little from the preceding year, the Texas A&M meteorologist says. The 1978 figures were higher than 1975 and 1976, but temper tures those years were as much as 3 degrees below normal. Rainfall, too, was about average in Texas, even in areas nothitk killer floods in August that followed drought-like conditions. In fact, eight of the 15 weather reporting regions received above normal totals and the rest recorded 60 percent to 90 percent of their average for that period, Griffiths says. Long strings of 100-plus days and rampaging floods make head lines, he explains, but they occur at only a few of the hundreds d weather reporting stations across Texas that turn in readings 365days a year. When abnormal conditions are thrown in the hopper with the rest, the average is often affected very little, Griffiths says. TTI engineers trying to solve highway maintenance problems A “maintenance crisis ’ on the na tion’s highways has engineers at the middle of a candle buring on both ends. On one end, the flame is fed by increasing traffic and heavier loads combined with pavement deteriora tion. Last winter’s severe weather boosted the deterioration rate. Opposite that burns the eco nomics of highway maintenance, which traditionally takes abvout 50 cents of each dollar earmarked for highways. Inflation fans the flame. “It costs more to maintain high ways now than it did to build them 15 years ago,” remarked Dr. Donald Saylak of the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University. Complex problems are ahead, but Saylak and other highway engineers MSC Political Forum say they feel there are economically feasible solutions that can meet in creasing demands placed on public roads. If the problems can be corralled and successfully attacked in Texas, the candle flames may be slowed and stopped, perhaps snuffed. Texas has 73,000 miles of state- maintained highways, Saylak said. Solutions are possible in several areas. They range from repaving with material taken from roadways and new, lower-cost binders and aggregates, to new pavement evalu ation methods. Jon Epps. Sulphur-extended a: sections are being tested in thi cations in Texas and one in Carolina. Others will soon be structed in Mississippi and Fl Another TTI project is inve: ing use of fly ash as a replace for portland cement. Fly asl solid waste from lignite coal bustion. Even more basic TTI is going into building bette: coats. General William Westmoreland “At times it comes to a tradeoff between resurfacing or other maintenance, or completely re building after a section shows exces sive distress,” Saylak said. Another factor is the effect of the new policy on use of Federal High way Administration funds. It places highway engineers in transition, from “research on how to build new pavement to how to take care of what we’ve got,” said Joe Mahoney, a civil engineering graduate student from Mathis. “Trouble Spots Around the Globe” Oct. 19 8 p.m. Rudder Theater One concept being pursued in Minnesota takes up old pavement, rejuvenates it and reapplies the mix ture. Saylak noted that softeners and additional binder are required in the process, still in development. “Oxygen attacks asphalt surfaces and makes them brittle,” he said. “The nice thing about this type of maintenance is that it doesn’t just lay something on top of old pave ment.” He explained that this pro cess allows retaining the original grade line which is importnat on city streets between curbs. “There’s one hangup,” he com mented. “When asphalt is exposed to open flame, a lot of smoke is gen erated.” A partial substitute for the expen sive petroleum-based highway con struction material is being de veloped through TTI research x>f Proffessor Bob Callaway and Dr. Maintenance on freeways major Texas cities struggles aga and adds to congestion. Dr. Will Ledbetter at TTI is lookingfor«i to schedule work in off-peak k and get crews on and off the quicker. A new pavement evaluationta nique is among “a lot of things! pening now,” Mahoney said, technique is to be implement soon by the Texas Department Highways and Public Transport tion, with which TTI researd closely associated, and is expert to better utilize maintenance li« by getting work crews on the jo! the optimum time, before a secS degrades to a more expenst maintenance point. “The technique considers k things,” Mahoney said. “Crachi rutting and potholing are combi# with ride smoothness, skid re# tance and aggregate polish, am# other things, to make the deter# nation.” Saylak said a highway may* work from a safety standpi though no obvious signs of M rioration are evident. “Aggregate polish and rou«l reduces traction betwen acarsli and the surface. Untrained obse# tion cannot detect this problem, I said. “Other concerns, such asj# patching potholes, exist,’ ' Sal added. “A sulphur-extended pat# ing mixture is in development, being tested, but data is insufW as yet.” Core Laboratories’ Engineering and Consulting Department furnishes the oil industry with Engineering and Geological Consulting Services on a worldwide basis. While achieving a record of professional and unbiased services, we have become the largest organization of our type servicing the international petroleum industry. Let Sunshine into your life!^ Ground floor opportunities at CORE LAB are challenging, rewarding and professionally growth oriented. We offer excellent starting salaries, and a complete company benefit program. We will be interviewing on your campus, Tuesday, October 24th. For further information contact the Engineering Placement Office. WE CAN SAVE YOU HUNDREDS ON A NEW CAR? WE BROKER STRAIGHT FROM DETROIT! SUNSHINE LAUNDROMAT 3815 E. 29th Street HOUSE OF CORE LABS, INC. 7501 Stemmons Frwy (Near Mockingbird and Stemmons) Dallas, Texas 75247 Equal Opportunity Employar M/F Featuring: coin operated machines attendant on duty at all times Wash, dry and fold services done in-house air conditioned lounge with T.V. Professional dry cleaning and laundry service I. YOUR SUPERMARKET FOR NEW AMERICAN CARS CALL 822-7139 OR 846-2526 Town and Country Shopping Center GA4L nTAOl

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 18, 1978, Image 12

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