Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Wednesday, July 2, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
Heat deaths climb...
United Press International
More than 70 deaths were linked to a
relentless killer Sun Belt heat wave that
held the region in its grip for the ninth
straight day Tuesday. Officials said crime
had skyrocketed due to the intense heat
and poultry prices would jump because
millions of chickens and turkeys had died.
Authorities in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkan
sas, Kansas and Missouri reported 38
deaths directly attributable to the intense
heat and 33 were said to be related.
By noon Tuesday, temperatures had
reached or exceeded the 100-degree mark
in many parts of North Texas.
A spokesman for the Dallas Police De
partment said crime had risen markedly
because of the heat.
On June 25 and 26, 1979, when tempera
tures were considerably cooler, 895
crimes were reported to Dallas police. On
the samd dates this year, with tempera
tures rising as high as 113 degrees, 1,624
crimes were reported.
“I think that’s very significant,” reported
police spokesman Bob Shaw. “I think the
jump is startling. I think it’s the heat that
makes people’s tempers shorter.”
Sgt. John Adamcick of the Crimes
Against Persons Unit said most crimes
were up significantly — except robberies,
which decreased by 37 percent.
“Maybe it’s because fewer people are
walking around in the heat, or maybe be
cause robbers aren’t willing to stand in hot
alleys waiting for them, ” he said. “I tell you
this, though, when it’s too hot for hijacking
— boy, it’s hot.”
Elderly citizens, most susceptible to
heat stress, were being urged to stay in
doors throughout the Southwest.
“We’ve been encouraging them to stay in
the buildings,” said Debbie Pollock, admi
nistrator of the Bender Terrance Nursing
Home in Lubbock. “We re having them
take their walks in the mornings, instead of
the afternoons.”
Massive poultry kills were reported in
Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. Livestock
officials, meanwhile, were worried about
the deaths of more cattle and other valuable
animals.
In Arkansas, 2.2 million broilers died,
along with 300,000 breeders and 35,000
turkeys.
Judy Kimbrell of the Arkansas Poultry
Federation said, “There definitely will be a
shortage and it will push the price up. ” She
could not estimate the extent of impending
price increases, however.
A Pittsburg, Texas, poultry breeder re
ported up to 100,000 chickens had died due
to heat in East Texas and Dr. Danny Hoog,
a poultry specialist, also said prices were
certain to rise because of the deaths.
An estimated 100,000 chickens also died
in Louisiana.
In Dallas, the Salvation Army was jam
med far beyond capacity with transients
and others seeking relief. The city of Dallas
invited anyone with heat-related problems
to come to any recreation center for relief
and promised to provide a ride for those
lacking transportation.
City officials also held a news conference
to explain to the public how to recognize
and treat heat stroke and stress symptoms.
Dallas Transit System officials told re
porters many buses were breaking down
and could not cool inside temperatures be
low 98 degrees when it was 113 degrees
outside — although each bus is equipped
with nine tons of air conditioning.
“The buses just aren’t made to operate in
this kind of heat,” said a spokeswoman.
“We have tried to cool the buses down by
running them through the bus wash but
this only created a massive steam
problem.”
June 1980 was the hottest since 1898 in
the sprawling Dallas-Fort Worth area,
when the National Weather Service firsi
began keeping records.
Meteorologists said the heat wave was
caused by a massive high pressure zone
entrenched over the Southwest. Only a
large tropical storm had the potential of
moving the high pressure system, weather
service officials reported, saying little relief
was in sight through mid-July.
In Tulsa, Okla., city water officials said
water consumption had risen sharply and
they hoped voluntary conservation efforts
could stop the imposition of mandatory wa
ter rationing. Lakes throughout the South
west were reported with lower water levels
than usual.
In Texas, 50 deaths were reported linked
directly or indirectly to the heat. Author
ities in Oklahoma reported 10 heat-caused
deaths; nine heat-caused deaths were re
ported in Arkansas; one in Kansas and a
possible heat-related death in Missouri.
Throughout the Southwest, only New
Mexico and Louisiana were spared heat-
related deaths, officials reported.
Staff photo by Bob Sebree
Ahhhhh!
gicR f
lor Meyer, a construction worker on the third deck of Station have been hovering over the 100-degree mark
Kyle Field, finds a way to beat the heat by pouring a cup this week, enough to cause discomfort, but still well shy
Jf water over his head. Temperatures in Bryan-College of the 113-degree readings in Dallas-Fort Worth.
[ir conditioner fix-it men very popular
Repairmen try to cool it
... local safeguards urged
United Press International
Jlobody, but nobody, has been more he
ld to those trying to cope with the days
(irelentingheat in Texas, Oklahoma and
ansas than the air conditioning re
man.
■he eight-day stretch of 100-plus record
Iperatures has had its tragic side, result-
fin the deaths of possibly as many as 55
pie, mostly the very old or very young
)are too poor to afford air conditioning
I too weak to withstand the heat without
pople whose air conditioners have
iken down are keeping repairmen weeks
ind in their calls. And their pride and
of honor know no bounds when it
es to bribing and lying to get the re
's made.
I’ve had it with people lying about
urgencies,’’ said Marge Kaplan of Dal-
who handles service requests for her
hand, Jack.
“If you are going to tell us you are a heart
patient who will die unless you get your
unit fixed, you’ll have to come up with a
doctor’s statement.”
William Robinson said customers have
offered him Dallas Cowboys football tick
ets, sent roses to his wife, offered to pay
triple and, as a last resort, cried. But the
calls he remembers best are a little embar
rassing.
“I guess it’s so hot people just don’t wear
too many clothes,” he said. “I can’t tell you
how many houses I come to for repairs and
find naked people running around.
“One naked woman opened the door.
She didn’t even look ruffled. She just
wanted to know what took me so long.”
Even keeping drinks iced is becoming a
problem, since commercial ice companies
are hard-pressed to keep up with the de
mand.
“This is getting terrible,” said Bob Rus
sell, owner of Crystal Ice Co. in Dallas. “I
can’t make the ice fast enough. I got a man
who’s been working here for 45 years and
he says it hasn’t been this bad since 1946. ”
But 1946 was a breeze compared to the
hard summer of1980. The National Weath
er Service, closing out its monthly temper
ature tabulations Monday, said Texas had
not experience a hotter June since record
keeping began in 1898.
Some victims of the heat have numbered
in the millions — chickens in Texas and
Arkansas that have succumbed to high tem
peratures and humidities in their metal
poultry houses.
“The loss of (the chicken) breeders will
have a tremendous impact on the future
broiler market,” the federation said in a
news release. “Breeder hens lay eggs from
which broilers are hatched. ”
Normally, poultry houses are cooled
with large fans, but one producer said
under present conditions, “There’s not a
way to move enough air through a house
that’s got 1,500 chickens in it to keep them
all breathing. ”
by SCOT K. MEYER
Battalion Staff
Common sense has been the key factor in
keeping students from falling victim to heat
exhaustion or sun stroke, the director of the
Beutel Health Center said Tuesday.
In spite of temperatures which have con
sistently been in the high-90-to-101-degree
range all month, only one student has
required treatment for heat exhaustion.
Dr. Claude B. Goswick said.
Common sense measures include
staying out of the heat and avoiding stre
nuous physical activity whenever possible,
and drinking liquids to replace water and
salt which the body loses through perspira
tion, Goswick said.
Heat exhaustion is caused by a loss of
water or salt, Goswick said. The symptoms
include heavy perspiration, weakness, diz
ziness, muscle cramps and nausea, he
said. Treatment involves cooling the pa
tient off, and replacing the lost water and
salt.
Goswick said that heat stroke, or sun
stroke, is a much more serious condition.
“Heat stroke can result in a person going
into a coma, or even dying,” he said. “I’m
sure some of those people in Dallas are heat
stroke cases.”
Goswick was referring to eight deaths in
Dallas caused by the heat, and 39 addition
al deaths in which heat was a primary con
The Weather
Yesterday
High
...... 103
Low
76
Humidity
40%
Rain
0. Oinches
Today
High
102
Low
76
Humidity
40%
Chance of rain.
none
s
J
tributing factor. Statewide, 62 deaths are
reportedly linked directly or indirectly to
the heat.
“Heat stroke occurs when the part of the
central nervous system which regulates the
body’s heat goes out of kilter for some
reason, ” Goswick said. “The person doesn’t
perspire, and doesn’t lose heat, so the body
temperature just goes up and up. ”
Goswick said that he saw a case of heat
stroke last September at a football game.
There were a number of cases of heat ex
haustion, he said, and one woman whose
skin was “very red, like a shrimp or a lobs
ter,” and very dry. Her temperature was
about 106 degrees, he said.
Heat stroke is treated by icing the person
down, Goswick said.
According to the flight information ser
vice at Easterwood Airport, the tempera
ture in College Station has reached 101
degrees four times this month, and 100
twice. There has been no rain in June, or in
the last five days of May, the service re
ported.
The National Weather Service office in
San Antonio reported that the record high
temperature for College Station in June is
102 degrees, set in I960. So, unlike much of
the state. College Station has not had re
cord-breaking temperatures. Dallas, on
the other hand, has had temperatures as
high as 113 degrees.
The average rainfall for College Station
in June is 3.59 inches, the NWS reported.
Dr. Kenneth Brundidge, head of Texas
A&M’s meteorolgy department, said that
the weather conditions are currently “ex
tremely stable.”
Which means he doesn’t know when the
heat wave will end, or when it will rain.
nderson stays
n; plans trip
United Press International
VASHINGTON — Independent John Anderson made the
|vious official Tuesday — that he will continue in the presiden-
1 race — and announced an ambitious foreign trip aimed at
owing voters his expertise in foreign affairs.
(Anderson, who April 24 said he would explore an independent
ndidacy and then acted for two months like a full-blown conten-
:r, told supporters he was in the race to stay and expected to win.
He said after spending two months raising money and getting
isnameon state ballots, “I now believe that an independent can
in.”
Polls show Anderson getting 18 percent to 22 percent of the
)te in a three-way race with President Carter and Ronald Reagan
T the likely Democratic and Republican candidates.
I Butpolls done by Louis Harris report that if he is taken serious
ly by voters, Anderson could carry the eight largest states and
ossibly win the presidency.
Anderson, with an interpreter at his side translating his re-
larks into sign language for the deaf, said he would leave next
eekforan extensive trip to the Middle East and Europe.
He said he had scheduled appointments with Egyptian Presi-
ent Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin,
owever, Begin was hospitalized Monday after suffering a heart
Ik.
| Anderson said he would announce the rest of his schedule soon,
Wadded he expected to meet with a number of heads of state.
I Iwant their appraisal of the current state of relations” with the
piited States, he said. “It will be a chance to learn from these
flple.”
Anderson so far has met the requirements to get on the ballot in
Instates and campaign manager Michael McLeod said Monday
: expected his boss to be listed almost everywhere.
The Anderson candidacy worries the White House because the
nsensus is he will take more votes from the president than he
Ifrom Reagan.
Anderson has so far raised $3 million and is planning on a
jWipaign budget of about $15 million — half the $29.4 million the
kpublican and Democratic candidates get from the federal
r 6asury.
Ga tes going up in staffparking lots
Gates like this one in Parking Annex 14, behind Scoates prevent students and other unauthorized personnel
Hall, are being installed in several University staff lots to from parking there. staff photo by Bob Sebree
by DEBBIE NELSON
Battalion Staff
Enter, if you know the code number.
Installation of parking gates with push-button codes on eight re
served campus parking lots is beginning this summer.
Tom Parsons, University director of security and traffic, said the
gates will help control illegal parking in the lots. But, he added, “it
doesn’t take very long for the code to get around.”
Similar gates were previously in use on several staff parking lots.
Planning for the eight new gates began two years ago. Parsons said
planners had promised to install them during Christmas break, 1979.
The physical plant should have completed the gate on Parking
Annex 21, the 125-car Military Science Building lot, by Monday
morning. Construction was completed two weeks ago on a gate at PA
14, across from the new Chemistry Annex.
Other lots scheduled to receive parking gates are PA 10, by Heaton
Hall; PA 22, behind Heldenfels; PA 32, behind Haas and McFadden
halls; PA 34, by the Plant Sciences Building; and PA 57, near Zachry
Engineering Center.
Parsons said the original project estimate was $32,000, but the price
has been inflated since then. The gates came about through a recom
mendation from the Traffic Panel, a student-staff-faculty group that
discusses parking grievances.
Only authorized users of the lot receive the code that opens the gate.
Besides staff and faculty, emergency vehicles, trash trucks, and hand
icapped students may use the lots.
Parsons said the code can be changed if too many unauthorized users
park in the lots. “It doesn’t take very long to get around,” Parsons said.
“A professor gives it to his T.A. and then it gets around.
Arms on parking gates have been broken 12 or 13 times since last
September, Parsons estimated. Some were vandalized. Some were hit
accidentally. But each broken gate arm cost about $50 to replace.
The gate at the chemistry annex lot was broken last week, Parsons
said.
Gates are timed to be in service at various times of the day. Parsons
said, depending on traffic patterns. Some of them will remain open at
night. Physical plant workers can lock the gates open or change the
timer. Parsons said.
Parsons offered some encouragement for students searching for
parking places next fall.
When construction on the Kyle Field lot near Wellborn Road is
completed, 500-600 additional day student parking spaces will be
available.