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Page 14 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1901
Features
The 'Great Drought of ’81’ kills crops
snow, economies
United Press International
AUGUSTA, Kan. — Glee Ralston lived through
the perilous days of the Dust Bowl era and survived
the scorching Drought of ’57.
In a half-century there’s not much a Kansas farmer
hasn’t seen nature throw at him. Ralston isn’t easily
scared.
But even a 62-year-old Kansas farmer worries
when the skies remain cloudless for months on end
and heat and wind suck the moisture from the soil.
“This is as bad as it was in 1936, as far as moisture
and weather is concerned, ” said Ralston, whose fami
ly has furrowed the land in south central Kansas since
before Ulysses S. Grant was president.
* “And feed supplies are in bad shape. Fortunately,
we re smarter than they were back then. ”
Agricultural expertise may be better now, but
Midwest farmers are having more than a little trou
ble recovering from “The Great Heat Wave of 1980”
and coping with a drought that has lingered in the
nation’s breadbasket since 1978.
Fred Ostby of the National Weather Service says
the precipitation level in the Midwest is 15 inches
below normal over the past three years. He says this
dry spell compares in intensity to the droughts of the
1930s and the 1950s.
The drought’s effects are widespread. While far
mers from South Dakota to Texas fret, some Colora
do ski resorts have closed for lack of snow, despite
calling in Indians to perform snow dances. Air pollu
tion has increased in Nebraska, and the drought
likely will drive up the price of a peanut butter
sandwich.
Even the Mississippi River has fallen to its lowest
level in 111 years, causing navigation problems.
In fact, much of the rest of the nation has been
affected by the problem — a stubborn high pressure
system over the Rockies. Even New York City Mayor
Edward Koch has had to declare a water emergency
in that city.
But Midwest farmers — the people who put the
bread on the nation’s tables — have been hit the
hardest.
Gerald McCathern, who farms 1,500 acres of
wheat near Hereford, Texas, says the situation has
become critical.
“In the last three years, it (the drought) has really
taken its toll," McCathern said. “There’s no way to
estimate how much money has been lost. The
drought, inflation and market price are all working
together and have forced about 90 percent of the
farmers in this area to seek refinancing through the
government.
“Another year like last year will put a large number
of them out of business. ”
In Nebraska, all but one county in the entire state
has been declared eligible for disaster loans because
crops and livestock were damaged by the summer’s
triple-digit heat wave and drought. And in Missouri,
the value of the 1980 corn and soybean crop was 3
percent lower.
That was last summer. But this winter certainly
has not helped the situation.
Bob Swanson of the Minnesota Department of
Agriculture called the Winter of’81 the driest winter
in nearly 100 years. Illinois Crop Reporting Service
spokesman John Unger said that state has been so dry
that soil moisture supplies are 81 percent short.
Dry winters plague wheat farmers because too
little snowfall leaves a ground cover inadequate to
protect dormant winter wheat crops from the cold.
“We’re real short on subsoil moisture, which is
real important to the winter wheat crop,” said Mike
Kubicek, assistant diector of the Oklahoma Wheat
Commission. “There hasn’t been enough moisture
for the wheat to grow.
“Much of our wheat was planted late and it just
hasn’t had the adequate moisture to develop a good
root system. If the winter remains dry and we don’t
get adequate root growth, we could be in a great deal
of stress in the spring. If we get into a severe cold
spell for any length of time, we might see a lot of
winter kill because of the shallow root growth.”
Nor is winter wheat the only threatened crop.
Bill Flanagan of the Oklahoma Peanut Commis
sion said the drought-shortened harvest in 1980—50
percent lower than 1979 — has pushed peanut prices
up from 40 cents per pound to nearly $1.50 for manu
facturers.
The prolonged dryness has also caused what Neb
raska Air Pollution Control Chief Gene Robinson
calls the worst level “we’ve ever had” of dirt, fly ash
and other particles in the air.
Meanwhile, the Mississippi, the nation’s largest
river, has fallen to its lowest level since 1870 and its
main tributaries, the Missouri and the Ohio, have
become sluggish streams.
The Army Corps of Engineers has begun dredging
operations at some points on the Mississippi to keep
channels deep enough for river traffic, and barge
owners have been forced to lighten their loads to
reduce the chances of running aground.
A spokesman for Riceland Foods in Stuttgart,
Ark., said the White River is so low that barge ports
have been closed, forcing the company to t
grain to a Mississippi River port.
The Kansas Wheat Commission reports fa
ing slowdown in grain movement to the GulfolJ
ico has pushed wheat prices up sharply.
Just as barge traffic has slowed on the Miss
so has the stream of skiers to Colorado. Tliei(|
hasn’t been enough snow.
Breckenridge, Colo., resort manager Jim Gl|
he lost almost all of his Christmas businessb
the barren slopes. In Steamboat Springs,!
percent of the ski runs are open and the towij
mates it has lost $6.5 million in business.
without measureable precipitation since ttieKj
al Weather Service starting keeping records i
— went the first 26 days of the month will
drop.
When will the skies open up and dump sum
the Colorado ski slopes, swell the Mississippi
and dump moisture on Glee Ralston's
No one is sure.
Fred Ostby of the National Weather Servict
he’s uncertain because the jet stream which®
brings moisture from the Pacific Ocean conti*
be diverted toward Canada.
LUNCH
SPECIAL
I Last crank phone system is Americana;
I
DOMINO’S
PIZZA
Good Only
11:30 AM-4:30 PM
I pushbuttons coming soon, owner
By RIC
Sp
The Univen
touncil authi
range Mondr
nnghorns gai
niversity to T
College
The move 1
ince last mont
all
693-2335
I
$2.00 OFF ANY LARGE 2 OR
MORE ITEM PIZZA
I
I
OR
$1.00 OFF ANY SMALL 2 OR
MORE ITEM PIZZA.
I
I
ONE COUPON PER PIZZA. FREE DELIVERY WITHIN LIMITED AREA.-
COLLEGE STATION STORE ONLY. 1504 H0LLEMAN — EXPIRES 2-28-81.
United Press International
BRYANT POND, Maine — Most
folks in Bryant Pond don’t bother
with things like telephone numbers.
They just crank up the old phone on
the wall and ask the operator to call
the neighbor.
The lakeside community of 1,000
residents in western Maine is the
only town in the nation that still uses
crank phones. But Elden Hathaway,
the owner of the Bryant Pond Tele
phone Co., says it may not be long
before his customers have to start
getting used to the new-fangled dials
and push buttons, like other Amer
icans.
After 30 years in the business, he
WANT TO STUDY
OVERSEAS? NEED
FINANCIAL HELP?
The MSC OVERSEAS
LOAN FUND is available for
students interested in over
seas travel.
Information, applications & interview sign
ups at secretary’s desk in Rm. 216 MSC. Sign
up by Monday, February 9th.
Interviews will be conducted February 11,12
EXTRA MONEY
ATTENTION — Students, Faculty, Employees of thej$!;
Texas A&M System, and others:
WOULD YOU LIKE TO EARN EXTRA MONEY?
liyou, your parents, relatives or friends own 500 acres or $
more and would be interested in leasing for oil and gas, £!;
we will pay you a finders fee for just a name, phone
number, and location of the tract of land if in the event we |?
buy the lease.
CALL COLLECT:
GARRY OR LARRY KENT
713-723-2388 DAY OR NIGHT
713-652-4969
HAROLD KENT
9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
y a
says he is looking for a buyer for his
tiny company.
“I’m not going to keep it too much
longer, my overhead’s too high hav
ing to pay the operators,” said the
63-year-old Hathaway, whose living
room serves as the company’s main
office.
“I won’t go automated, but some
body else will,” he predicted.
The phone company had 31 lines
when the weathered, bearded Hath
away bought it in 1951. His phone
number is 32.
The system now has 208 lines serv
ing 440 customers, or about 700 resi
dents, most of them sharing party
lines.
“Operator, can I help you?”
answered Linda Fraser.
The “drop” on the antique wooden
switchboard had fallen over hole
122. Number 122 had just cranked,
wanting to talk to 155.
“I’m sorry, that number’s busy,”
Fraser said.
There was already a wire plugged
into hole 155.
“I think a lot of people in town
couldn’t cope if we weren’t here,”
the operator said. “They ask for
names, they don’t even know peo
ple’s numbers.
“And we’re always asked what
time the church service starts, the
dump hours and the library hours,”
she said. “Old people take naps and
ask us not to ring them for a couple of
hours.”
Bryant Pond became the last crank
system in the country last year, after
residents of Grand River, Iowa,
voted 121-73 to go modern.
The system can call all over the
world. Cards listing toll calls are
punched on a time clock for billing
purposes.
“I’ve gotten Belgium quicker than
West Paris sometimes,” said Fraser.
Belgium is the European country.
The town of West Paris is 8 miles
c Director Bi
jssed it with r
O 'W7 O j lirector Marv
^ 1 mual meeting
J -■exas A&M I
vintage telephones, wall d
with two mounted bells and‘i
lesticks” — thin hand-h
models popular in the 18
call them “Bonnie and Clydes,'
At the nearby Boiler 1
taurant, a candlestick sits ontlel
lea before
llin'gton.
The Texas c
oposed chan
ttle discussii
mild mean bo
e game with <
ration after a
“It’s worth every penny d
aggravation,” said co-owner Li Tuesday,
Robiller. “It’s a bastion of Amenpice confirme
they haven’t done away with,a
would be a shame if they did,'
UNIVERSITY
LUTHERAN
CHAPEL
315 N. College Main - 846-6687
Hubert Beck, Pastor
WHAT DOES
THE LUTHERAN
CHURCH TEACH
AND CONFESS?
WE ARE BEGINNING A STUDY OF THE TEACHINGS OF
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT
4 P.M. THESE SESSIONS ARE FOR THOSE WHO MAY
WISH TO FIND OUT WHAT THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
TEACHES, FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO REVIEW BASIC
CHRISTIAN TEACHINGS, OR FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE
INTERESTED IN JOINING THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. WE
INVITE YOUR ATTENDANCE.
WORSHIP SERVICES AT 9:15 Att. AND 10:45 A.M.
BIBLE CLASS 9:30 a.m.
Fellowship Supper 6 pjn.
Holy Communion
(Folk Setting) 7 p.m.
away.
Hathaway, who worked for 40
years on the Grand Trunk Railroad,
keeps an old caboose on his side yard
— equipped with beds, a gas stove
bought for “a half-gallon of vodka”
and a crank phone. A friend recently
slept there “when his wife kicked
him out.”
His cluttered house is filled with
Hathaway said he has hadsn
offers from other small telefl
companies and individuals, bul
no rush to sell out.
“Whenever the price and the
is riEht,” he said.
But he confessed, “It’ll be
day for me when I have to give
and she goes automated, a:
people feel the same way.
the Smithsonian should comeii
make it into a museum.”
Eclip
se groupies
chase the sun
ay rivalry wo
The Athletii
had alrea
Tam
United I’r
PH1LADELJ
irennial sta
jrld’s best 20
e Tanner sat <
d took a lor
reer.
MSC BLACK AWARENESS
COMMITTEE
MSC ARTS COMMITTEE
KERMIT OLIVER
RETROSPECTIVE
1968-1981
February 3 through February 27
There will be a Reception in the MSC Arts Gallery on
Tuesday, February 4, 1981, 7:30-8:30 p.m. Everyone
jnvited.
United Press International
It used to be that the status thing
to do was to escape to Pago Pago,
peel down to the bare essentials and
sit under palm trees sipping cooling
beverages while everyone else was
home worrying about the stock
market.
Now status-seekers have found
something more stimulating than ex
otic Pago Pago: watching the total
eclipse of the sun while sipping cool
ing drinks aboard a luxury liner.
July 31, a select group of high seas
adventurers will be aboard the Brit
ish cruise ship Coral Princess chas
ing the path of a total eclipse of the
sun. The ship will, in fact, serve as a
mobile observatory for 500 scientific
and non-scientific “eclipse
groupies,” and even, perhaps, a few
celebrities.
The cruise, dubbed Voyage to
Darkness VII (the seventh such ex
pedition), departs Tokyo on July 27
on an 8-day sail to pass through the
narrow path of the moon’s shadow,
1,200 miles off the east coast of
Japan.
The completely stabilized,
10,000-ton Coral Princess will be
equipped with state-of-the-art elec
tronic and optical apparatus for view
ing the eclipse as well as solar scien
tists and others who will teach on
board seminars to the eclipse hun
ters.
The ship will use continuous
weather data from satellites which
will enable the expedition’s
meteorologist Edward M. Brooks to
chart the liner’s course to the
clearest possible observing site —
about 40 degrees north latitude by
166 degress east longitude.
clipsec# ing:
Brooks, professor of geophyj
Boston College, who has madts
eclipse meteorology a lifetimf!
ciality, has served as thetopwo
man on the previous ecli
The eclipse enthusiasts will*
the solar event from positions)
ship’s outdoor decks and they®
so luxuriously, the cruise ol
say, attended with food, drinli
music from a dance orchestra
At one point
rving left-han
the ranking?,
my but quite r
climbed as
jacked the W
TO. He also wc
final matches
The cruise will also feat®
tures and a “Science at Sea” prof
whose previous speakers ini
science writer Isaac Asimov,
fiction writer Arthur C. Cla
former astronaut Neil A. Arnist
The July 31 eclipse will te
the Soviet Union and sweep*
the Northern Pacific Ocean an
end about 300 miles north d
Hawaiian Islands. The eclips
not be seen anywhere in the H
States and the next readily accfi
total solar eclipse over a largep 1
North America won’t occm
2017.
In addition to the scientific''
tions, the release said the Corf
cess will also offer all the luxui
comforts associated with cm®
comfortable staterooms,
cuisine, swimming pool,
and entertainment.
The eclipse cruise, run hyO®
Eclipse Cruises, Inc. ofNewW
supplemented with a choice! 1
day, land-based excursions in
or 9-day overland tours of
Kong, Macao and China.
Eclipse-chasing in si
an idea of Dr. Philip Sigler, ap 11
sor of sociology at the City pi*
ty of New York, with his wifirf
and brother-in-law Theodore f*
planetarium director at Yoturf
State University in Ohio.
Since 1972, more than 8,(KM
pie have witnessed eclipses«
ler’s “voyages,” five on cruise
— one in 1972, two in 1973 p
in 1977 — and the sixth in $
land-based expedition to
Montana.
Marcy Sigler, who handles?-
ity, arrangements and almost* 1
thing else for the cruise as ^
serving as social director on l* 1
said the response to the ci#
been unusually enthusiastic.
“Some people said, ‘If you’**;
one eclipse, you’ve got tose* 1
all. ’ Others told me ‘It was no 11
ary booze-snooze cruise.’ Anil
aren’t. The social status lies i*
binoculars or telescopes or rf
and not in your clothes or wrf
you,” she said.
“Others said they had ^
thought they would be taught*®
ce and love it so much,” she**'
He called upc
, to help hi
“We discussei
the playe
s were cost
ar, I let thing
messing up:
going throu
tiled to do, w
tennis or do
fanner showe
nday that he
The sevenl
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Prior to the
some defied
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happened. H
Days later thi
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Many othe
gathered for
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The story c
living on the s
have been fi
economic eru
what eruption
social life. Yo
Even God r
long toleratec
divine wrath v
a tremendous
passage of S
stand?" With!
Do you rea
side of an awi
buried under
receive it. “Fc
saved. He the
and the dears
storm of God’
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name from de
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realm of judgr
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whosoever sh