The Battalion
off
e*
Vol. 73 No. 116
24 Pages in 2 Sections
Thursday, March 6, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
Senate requests
standard Q-drop
■4
IM, ORC battle
over equipmen t
By MERIL EDWARDS
Campus Staff
The Texas A&M University student sen
ate will recommend to the University Rules
and Regulations committee today that it
standardize Q-drop policy among the
academic colleges.
The Q-drop standardization bill that the
senate passed in its meeting Wednesday
calls the present Q-drop system unfair. It
said it is discriminatory for students in dif
ferent colleges to be subject to different
Q-drop policies.
John Calhoun, vice president for acade
mic affairs, said the present Q-drop policy
allows a student to drop a class up to the
12th class day with no record. He said if the
class is dropped between the 12th and 25th
class day, the student must receive approv
al from the dean of his college and the drop
will go on record.
‘This bill would exclude the dean’s pow
er,” Calhoun said, “and give it to the stu
dent. It would allow the student to drop up
to the 25th class day on his own, without
approval from the dean.”
In other action, the senate voted down a
proposal to change senior boot line’s forma
tion to before football games instead of at
halftime.
Brad Smith, vice president for student
services, said it isn’t necessary to have boot
line before games and that it would cause
too much confusion.
“The boot line confusion can be solved
by more organization rather than a radical
change in a tradition,” Smith said.
A bill urging reinstitution of free coffee
refills in the Memorial Student Center
Cafeteria was held in committee until more
work can be done on it.
Bills before the senate for a first reading
Wednesday were the adoption of student
senate bylaws and the continuation of sur
vival kit distribution.
In another first reading, George Black,
vice president for finance, presented a stu
dent service allocation amendment to the
senate.
Black s amendment concerns the fund
ing of Texas A&M’s women’s athletic prog
ram. Women’s athletics is currently funded
by the Athletic Department. Because of
the Department of Health, Education and
Welfare Title IX regulations, their cost has
increased.
I m proposing that a portion of student
service fees be allocated to the athletic de
partment,” Black said. “And that the stu
dent service fee increase not be more than
50 cents for this purpose and that no ser
vices be reduced as they are presently allo
cated for.”
Black said he had no concrete figures of
the money needed to bring the women’s
athletic program into compliance with Title
IX regulations to present to the senate, but
would be talking with Texas A&M Presi
dent Jarvis Miller and would have more
details at the next meeting.
Also up for first reading was a bill oppos
ing the Traffic Panel’s recommendation to
raise the parking ticket fine from $5 to $10.
The vice president for rules and regula
tions, Paul Bettencourt, proposed that the
senate support the current policy of the
campus police department, under which
two tickets are given to parking violators
who don t have a valid permit.
Another bill introduced was a request
that permission be granted the Basement
Coffeehouse to apply for a permit to sell
beer on weekends.
Mary Elizabeth Herring, a junior in agricultural economics, is running for a
seat on the College Station city council. She has served as the Texas A&M
student senate liaison with the council since October and will continue in that
position until April 1. For the related story, please see page 5.
Staff photo by Lynn Blanco
Cancer not linked to saccharin, studies say
United Press International
NEW YORK — Two new studies pro
vide good news for diabetics and other us
ers of saccharin, showing there is little or no
link between the artificial sweetener and
bladder cancer.
Similar conclusions were reported in a
National Cancer Institute study released
three months ago.
The NCI and the American Cancer Soci
ety funded the two latest studies, which
support the American Diabetes Associa
tion’s policy on saccharin. The ADA last
year reversed its position on the artificial
sweetener, recommending continued
availability until Congress can study all
food safety laws.
People who use sugar substitutes “have
little or no” increased risk of bladder can
cer, said Dr. Alan S. Morrison and associ
ates from Harvard University School of
Public Health, reporting Wednesday in
The New England Journal of Medicine.
The American Health Foundation report
was even more definitive, saying there was
“no association between saccharin and
bladder cancer. ” The report by Drs. Ernst
L. Wynder and Steven D. Stellman
appears in Science, the journal of the
American Association for the Advancement
of Science.
They said the risk is no greater for those
drinking diet beverages than for those tak
ing the sweetener in tablet or pill form,
even though diet beverages contain a very
high amount of sweetener.
Their study also showed no evidence sac
charin plays a role in promoting cancer
among cigarette smokers, as previously
claimed. Wynder, AHF president, is the
health detective who first linked heavy
cigarette smoking and lung cancer.
Wynder’s study found there were no
more diabetics in the bladder cancer group
than in controls, even though diabetics use
a greater amount of saccharin than the gen
eral population.
It also found there were no more obese
bladder-cancer patients than non-bladder
cancer patients — even though obese peo
ple use significantly more artificial
sweeteners.
The Harvard investigators surveyed 592
bladder cancer patients and compared
their use of sugar substitutes in soft drinks
and diet foods to 536 non-patients. They
found bladder cancer risks generally were
the same for users and nonusers.
The AHF studied detailed histories of
302 men and 65 women who were bladder
cancer patients in hospitals in six American
cities. These cases were compared with a
control group of an equal number of pa
tients without bladder cancer.
The NCI study was conducted among
3,000 patients.
Carter—U.S. for detente
despite Soviet actions
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter
says the United States is “still committed to
detente” with the Soviet Union despite the
current showdown over Afghanistan.
Carter made his remarks Wednesday
night while delivering a toast to West Ger
man Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who
quickly endorsed the president’s position.
The German leader, who met with Car
ter for 2V2 hours earlier in the day, came to
Washington seeking assurances that de
tente is not dead.
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev has cal
led for Washington to continue detente,
but Carter has avoided responding. He said
only he did not wish to resume the Cold
War.
“We recognize that there are serious
threats to stability and that we have come in
this last few years to value highly the be
nefits of detente,” Carter told guests at the
dinner for Schmidt.
“These commitments have been shaken,
but not changed by the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan. We are still committed to de
tente. We are still committed to avoid a
resumption of the Cold M ar. Carter said.
Carter said the United States and its
allies must "meet this threat in a carefully
planned, moderate but effective way.
Schmidt, whose government has been
concerned about the fate of detente, quick
ly backed the president’s statements by
saying his host “has not said one single
word to which I could not subscribe.”
The German praised continuation of de
tente and said his country' stands “side by
side with the American nation.”
He said the allies “will continue to main
tain an equilibrium with the Soviet Union
and described a “balance of military power
as a prerequisite for detente. ”
In a related development, a White
House official said a decision was made to
proceed with arranging for alternate games
to the summer Olympics in Moscow as part
of the U.S.-backed boycott.
The games are expected to be held in late
August at several different sites around the
world.
Round ’em up, move ’em out—
town readies for rattlesnake hunt
United Press International
S\\ EETWATER — Sleepy diamond-
rattlers, coaxed out of their dens each
March by the sun, will be the primary
fractions again this weekend at the
"odd s largest annual rattlesnake roundup.
Since 1958, rattlesnake hunters have
an annual pilgrimage to this com-
^nnity 44 miles west of Abilene to sack up
me fanged denizens that populate the
ireas rocky, tree-dotted ranchland.
Hunters, using a gasoline spray mixture
j®roust the rattlers from their dens, curl a
jj 00 ^ pole over the snakes’ necks and
bustle them into burlap bags or 20-gallon
S^bage cans.
hunters will receive a $3-per-pound
for the first 5,000 pounds of snakes
•ne\ bring in and $1 for each subsequent
Pound
With each successive year, the crowds at
olan County Coliseum have swelled.
reaching an estimated 25,000 last year —
more than twice the population of Sweet-
water.
Veteran professional snake handler Bill
Ransberger, a virtual fixture at this event,
said the roundup should be a success again
this year, particularly in terms of numbers.
"I look for a big crowd. ’’ he said. “We had
the largest crowd ever last year, and this
year, if we get any more, F don t know
where we’re going to put ’em. That bunch
that was here last year is going to come back
and bring their friends.
Most of the people do not join in the
hunt. They come for the coliseum show,
where piles of noisy rattlers are dumped for
demonstrations and milking.
Mans of the snakes brought in actually
have been caught before the three-<lay
roundup officially opens on Friday Rans
berger predicted recent cold weather in
the area may result in a drop in the total
weight of captured snakes this year, from
about 3 tons to 4,000 or 5,000 pounds.
"The weather this year has been pretty
much against us. I talked to the National
Weather Service and they said Wednes
day, Thursday and Friday were supposed
to he cool, but Saturday and Sunday should
be good days, he said.
Arnsberger said hunters from Washing
ton, Pennsylvania and Kansas are in Sweet
water as well as television crews from Bri
tain and the Netherlands. Renowned New
York photographer Richard Avedon. who
showed up last year, is expected back,
Arnsberger said.
With a flea market, the crowning of a
Miss Snake Charmer Queen, a dance, and a
gun and coin show% the annual roundup
takes on the air of a carnival, but Ransber
ger reminds that snake capturing is serious
business.
“We don t allow no horseplay. It’s strict
ly for education and entertainment, he
said.
By CATHY SAATHOFF
City Reporter
Rental rights on $10,000 worth of recrea
tional equipment are up in the air: the In
tramurals office wants them, and the Out
door Recreation Committee doesn’t want
to let them go.
Nothing can be done until somebody
comes up with a place to put the whole
operation. The equipment, which includes
10 complete sets of backpacking gear and
eight canoes, is stored in the Grove now.
Dr. John Koldus, vice president for stu
dent services, will have the final say in the
matter, but he’s waiting for the Intramurals
department to come up with a proposal
about how to operate the rental. ORC
members are keeping their fingers crossed.
“The intention is to provide a service to
the university community,” said Dennis
Corrington, director of Intramurals. “We
feel that to provide a better service, we
need to have a full-time service. ”
The ORC rental, operated out of the
Grove, is open 24 hours a week. Commit
tee chairman Charlie Walter said that is
more hours than Texas Tech’s rental ser
vice, which is the largest in the state.
Tech’s rental, a part of that school’s intra
mural department, is open 14 hours a
week.
Walter said 24 hours a week is enough.
He said most people renting equipment for
weekend trips pick it up on Thursday after
noon or Friday and return it on Monday or
Tuesday, and that those are the days the
ORC operation is open.
James Welford, associate director of In
tramurals, said, “We think we can offer
better hours for checking out equipment. ”
He said ORC would still have a say in how
the equipment is handled.
Walter said a full-time equipment check
er would twiddle his thumbs most of the
day.
“I see no real need to keep it open 40
hours a week,” he said.
Welford said his department could hand
le the longer hours.
“We have a program set up that can
handle that,” he said. “We have the stu
dent staff to handle it.”
Hie Intramurals office is open until mid
night during the week and from 10 a. m. to
10 p.m. on weekends. Welford said those
hours are flexible.
Corrington said his department has
wanted to get involved in adventure-type
sports since 1976, but ORC had a head start
of two years. The ORC program started in
1974, and Walter said the MSC Council
was dubious about its success.
“It’s been a long haul to get the thing off
the ground,” Walter said. “As of December
1979, we doubled our inventory.” The
canoes made up the bulk of the new equip
ment.
He said the committee members have
always had to prove themselves, but that
Spring break starts when?
From his expression, it’s apparent that Gary Griebal, a freshman in Corps unit
A-l, won’t mind having a vacation from this kind of thing next week. The two
amused seniors are Stuart Sasser, left, and Norman Linkenhoger, right, both of
A-l. Texas A&M’s spring break starts Saturday and ends March 16.
Photo by D.vkI Etatri
the council has been behind them.
Don Rohel, adviser for ORC, said, “I
an emotional issue, because Outdoor Rec
a group of people who have put their heai
and souls into the program.
“There are a lot of people in Outdoor R
that are students who are experts in th<
fields. ”
Walter said the whole idea behind MS
committees is that students should work f
students.
Corrington said Intramurals works i
the same goal.
“We feel we re here to serve the si
dents,” he said.
Koldus said nothing will be done up
the Health and PE department, which 1
tramurals is part of, comes up with a pi
for managing the equipment.
“Everybody must be agreeable,” I
said.
Space is at a premium in the H-PE c
partment, with various groups clamori
for a spot in the G. Rollie White additiq
Intramurals will move from its prese
site in Deware Fieldhouse to bigger qul
ters when the new section of the Colisei
is done. It would like to keep its prest
space as an equipment rental storage roo
Corrington said access by car will be
important factor in choosing a locatic
since much of the gear is too bulky to
hauled across campus to a parking lot. OF
has a road leading up to the door of t
stage in the Grove, so equipment can
loaded easily.
Walter said the equipment is a vital p .
of ORC’s three-phase outdoor educati
program.
The first phase of the program indue’
seminars which give people the opporti
ity to look over the equipment and s i
what’s available.
The second phase is practice, in wh
participants do things like canoeing in I
lake by the fireman’s training school
rapelling down the fire tower there.
The third phase is the weekend tr
During the spring, ORC sponsors a t
nearly every weekend. These are suppl
partly with rented equipment.
‘The majority of equipment is for peo
going on ORC trips,” Walter said. “1
equipment is an integral part of our pr
rams.”
The rental is a self-supporting ent
prise. It averages making $200 a mon
which goes into maintaining old and p
chasing new equipment. The origi
money to start the program was includec j
the ORC budget, which comes from
student service fee.
The group is looking into hiring a f
time professional to handle its trip plann
and the rental. Corrington said Intramu:?
might hire another staff member to emp
size outdoor recreation if the rental cor
under his office’s control.
Both groups dream of an outdoor recr
tion complex devoted entirely to outd
sports such as backpacking, canoeing ;
rock climbing. But this is far in the futu
“Because the university has grown
quickly, there are many organizati<
needing space,” Walter said.
Fire kills
four childre
in Houston
United Prei» International
HOUSTON — Four children, two
them infants, died and five other per#
were hurt early today in a house fire ini
tigators said was set by a teen-age girl an
at a boyfriend who lived in the one-stj
frame dwelling.
Fire Department arson investig^
Sterling Jones said the victims, age
months, 1 year, 5 and 14, and nine ot
persons were asleep when the fire stai
on the outside of the house about 3 a.
‘Two of them (the 5-and 14-year-
were right at the front door. They aln
got out of there,’’ Jones said.
“It was arson. We got witnesses that
there when it occurred. They had a yo
girl that set it on fire. She was staying th
with her boyfriend off and on. She justf
an argument with him."
Jones said police were seeking an
year-old girl.
“Right now I don’t know what she use
start it. Until we investigate a little 1
farther we won t know just what she u
but she did start the fire from the outsic
the building.
The victims were identified as Fra ;
Dwayne Wells, 6 months, Bridgette G;
1, Telisa Williams, 5, and Gwendolyn
Wells. 14, Frankie's sister. Jones said
apparently died of smoke inhalation
tnims.
Fireman Steve Sparks said firefigf 1
were delayed getting to the scene bee
they were fighting a 2-alarm fire ne ,!
when the house fire alarm came in at
a. m
'That dkin t have any impact on the
lities. but it had some impact on how !o
took to get it out. Sparks said.
Jones said 13 persons were crowded
the house when the fire broke out and
managed to escape.
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