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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1981)
The Battalion Vol. 74 No. 112 12 Pages Serving the Texas A&M University community Friday, March 6, 1981 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High .... 67 High '. . . .. .60 Low 52 Low . ..47 Chance of raifi . . 20% Chance of rain . . . 50% Mid-term grades ue in Monday By KITTY FRALEY Battalion Reporter All Texas A&M departments have been notified that mid- jpterm grade reports are due Monday, rather than Friday, as an arlier Registrar’s Office memo said. “It was just a small internal mistake that has been cor- vreeled,” Harold Pace, assistant registrar in the Office of liAdmissions and Records, said. t‘ Texas A&M is one of the few schools in Texas that sends out [mid-semester grades to undergraduate students. I “The main reason we do this is so the students may have the opportunity to see where they stand in their classes,” Pace [ said. “They need to have some official feedback from their Instructors as to where they stand at this point in time.” ||i “It would certainly be easier for our office not to send : mid-terms out, but this is something we do for the students,” ho said. H Mid-terms are sent to the student’s local address that is [recorded at the Registrar’s Office. If no local address is listed or the student has moved and not notified the office, he will ! not receive the grades. If a student is claimed as a dependent on his parent’s federal income tax report, either the student or his parents may request the parents receive a copy of the student’s mid-term grades. “Students don’t always know that their parents have re quested copies of their grades,” Pace said. A copy of the mid-term grades also goes to the student’s college and department. Many students don’t know how official mid-terms are, he said. Mid-terms are not averaged in with the overall grade point ratio or recorded on any permanent records. If a student fails to get a copy of his or her mid-term grades, they will be available, free of charge, on March 23 in 112 Heaton Hall. As a tentative schedule for mid-term grades, they will be turned into the Registrar’s Office Monday, March 9, proces sed Monday night and returned to the office Tuesday, March 10 and mailed to students Wednesday, March II. “That is, if there are no computer problems,” Pace said. ommittee will hear ousingpolicy appeals By TERRY DURAN Battalion Staff | ; Opposition to a Housing Office policy that will exclude most fifth-year and gra duate students from on-campus housing in the fall has generated about 70 appeals. h The appeal deadline for the Fall 1981 semester was Monday. ' A committee, chaired by Associate Student Affairs Director Ron Sasse, will finish reviewing the appeals before spring break begins March 14. The committee of six students and two University officials was called for in the policy, which was finalized in mid- February. Other members of the committee are Scott Hall, a sophomore student senator appointed by Student Government President Brad Smith; Betsy Dungan, a sophomore management major; Carol Casey, a senior animal science major; Bill Way, an industrial engineering senior; Charlie Jumper, a senior indust rial distribution major; northside area coordinator Tom Murray; and manage ment graduate student Earl Tipton from Port Arthur, who is also the head resi dent at Mclnnis Hall. Sasse said the committee was trying to “be flexible,” adding that some late appeals had been accepted. Committee member Hall said most of the appeals were based on financial hardships that would be incurred by moving off-campus; he said the commit tee will check for proof to be sure the hardship “will be more than just an in convenience.” Sasse said review of the appeals was taking longer than originally antici pated, but both he and Hall were confi dent all appeals would be reviewed by spring break. Stores sign in new mall The Dixie Chicken and this woman who refused to give her name were the center of attraction as the crew of NBC’s Today Show visited the College Station bar to film a segment for “Cross Country,” one of the show’s features. The show’s producer Staff photo by Greg Gammon said the feature will center around those who use smokeless tobacco, or, “dippers and chewers.” Op erating the camera is Scott Bremmer of Houston (left). Conducting the interview is NBC Corres pondent Mike Leonard. By BELINDA McCOY Battalion Staff ! When College Station’s new Post Oak Mall opens next year, area residents and students at Texas A&M University will no longer have to drive to Houston to do “major” shop- jping. I joske’s, Dillard’s, Wilson’s, Bealls, and Sears department stores have all signed contracts to lease space in the 1.02- ihillion-square-foot building area, announced Bucky Wol ford, executive vice president of CBL & Associates Inc., owner and developer of the mall. At a luncheon and groundbreaking ceremony hosted Thursday by the Tennessee-based company, Wolford said Site-grading and installation of site utilities have already be gun on the 100-acre site at the southwest comer of Highway 30 and Highway 6 Bypass, across from Plantation Oaks Apart ments. The developers are also expecting the delivery of building pads for the Sears and Dillard’s stores in the near future, Wolford said. “So far, we’ve received commitment for 60 percent of the mall,” Wolford said at the luncheon. The firm is still negotiating with local merchants and some out-of-town chains to lease space, he said. When completed, the mall will house approximately 130 stores. It will feature a fountain, overhead skylights, enter tainment and seating areas, and a food court area, said Wol ford. The building is on schedule at the present, and Wolford said his firm plans to open the mall Feb. 17, 1982. “We re not behind. We’re right on time,” said Wolford. “We will make it. Just have faith.” NBC makes the Chicken a spittin ’image for ‘Today’ By BERNIE FETTE Battalion Staff Many of the pool shooters, domino players and beer drinkers in the Dixie Chicken were probably expecting a routine break Thursday afternoon in the Crickets described as ‘popcorn-like’ Student serves meal of bees, worms By TERRI ZAWACKI Battalion Reporter The candle-lit table is set for a meal. On the table, a late is filled with helpings of vegetables and fried Crickets, bees and mealworms. Another plate contains a pizza topped with cheese and bees. J Wayne Moore, an entomology graduate student at |Texas A&M University, wants to give people a reason to utilize insects as an important food source. Moore used the unusual table setting for pictures to ; accompany an article he wrote for Mother Earth News [called “Bugs in My Soup,” which tells of his first experiences in eating insects. Although the meal wasn’t eaten, Moore and two entomology graduate students, John Mirenda and Ann Sorenson, fried and baked other crickets, bees and mealworms for consumption. Moore said that about 15 people were willing to sample the insects. “Once we decorated them up and told people they (the insects) were good, they weren’t shy about eating them,” he said. Only one person was displeased after he tasted them, Moore said. He said the crickets were described as tasting like popcorn, the mealworms like shoe-string potatoes, but the bees having a slightly bitter taste. Serafin Fernandez, an entomology graduate stu dent who sampled the insects, said: “I don’t think much about eating insects. After all, people eat snails. They just call them escargot.” Moore said the fried insects were appealing to him because they were crunchy like snacks. “We all eat insects more than we think we do,” Moore said. Fruits and vegetables sometimes contain various insects. Tomatoes contain fruit fly eggs and moth lar vae, raisins contain fly eggs, canned mushrooms con tain mites and fly larvae and peanut butter contains insect fragments. But, insects may be even more nutritious than other more common edibles. Spending cuts to bring fight United Press International WASHINGTON — The administra tion says it wants a bigger defense budget even if Congress doesn’t cut other programs enough to pay for it, and some Democrats are making it clear [ they will fight some proposed reduc tions. Budget Director David Stockman testified Thursday before the House Banking Committee which has jurisdic tion over nearly half of President Reagan’s approximately $45 billion in proposed spending cuts. He said even if Congress approves only about half the suggested cuts, Reagan’s proposal to increase defense spending by about 16 percent next year, to $184.8 billion, is essential. Stockman said the proposed in creases “are basic to national security and must be funded.” Meantime, House budget writers went after the “waste, fraud and abuse” they said were not mentioned in Reagan’s budget message last month. Reagan made a campaign pledge last fall to cut 2 percent from the federal budget by eliminating that triple threat to government efficiency, but Budget Committee Chairman James Jones, D- Okla., said Reagan’s early proposal lack ed the promised assault on mismanage ment. “There is waste, fraud and abuse and this committee intends to eliminate that before valuable programs are des troyed,” Jones said at a committee hear ing. He later said the effort would accompany program cuts, rather than precede them. “The fraud, waste and abuse effort we are going to make is not at all intended to avoid efforts to reduce program spending,” he told United Press Inter national. He said the administration failed to address those issues in its haste to produce a package of budget and tax cuts. If the House budget panel succeeds in ferreting out waste, it could compen sate for program cuts some Democrats vigorously oppose. But if defense spending is increased to the proposed level without cuts in other areas, the fiscal 1982 deficit would grow well beyond the $45 billion already anticipated. Banking Committee Chairman Fer nand St. Germain, D-R.I., said the budget cuts represent “a substantive shift of priorities and a major downgrad ing of our commitment to urban com munities.” And Rep. Parren Mitchell, D-Md., a black who represents Baltimore, drew Stockman into a philosophical discus sion of racial injustice and the govern ment’s role in redressing it. Stockman agreed racial problems still exist and said the government should fight them by enforcing civil rights laws. But he seemed to take personal offense at Mitchell’s comments and shouted, “I refuse to admit the test of compassion is how many (public service) jobs you sup port. ” Jones has predicted the House might approve $30 billion in spending cuts, but eager Senate Republican budget writers are hoping to reduce the budget by as much as $55 billion. rustic College Station bar. That is, until an NBC news crew entered and the usual casual atmosphere was broken by flood lights, microphones and a movie camera. The crew made the visit to film a segment for the Cross Country series of NBC’s Today Show. Stuart Dan, the show’s producer, compared the Cross Country series to Charles Kuralt’s “On The Road,” and said the Dixie Chicken segment would be part of a feature on “dippers and chewers,’’ or users of smokeless tobacco. The segment is tentatively scheduled to be aired Wednesday from 7:45 to 8 a.m. if no problems arise, Mike Leonard, an NBC Chicago correspon dent said. “Dipping got its start in the South west,” Dan said. “And now it’s achiev ing a great deal of popularity in urban areas.” Dan said the group came to College Station about two months ago. They de cided then that the Dixie Chicken had the atmosphere they wanted. “We were looking for the type of place where a lot of people came to enjoy themselves, and I think that’s just what we have here,” he said. “They were looking for an authentic Texas bar, ” said Don Canter, one of the bar’s two owners. “I think they wanted to show people in other places that places like this actually do exist, not just in paperback books,” said Donnie Anz, who is the bar’s other owner. “They thought the place was really unique.” The first filming took place near one of the pool tables which, understand ably, was surrounded by a larger than usual crowd. Soon, shouts from the producer such as “I want more people outside,” made the festivities shift to the front porch. There the crew concentrated on the theme of the feature by interviewing a “dipper,” in this case, a female dipper. The woman, who declined to give her name because “this is too local,” said, “It’s really relaxing after you get used to it, ” as her hands trembled while trying to open the Skoal can with one of her long, freshly painted fingernails. “I don’t want y’all to watch me put it in my mouth.” She tried not to let anyone see her dipping, she said, “but the ones who do know about it just laugh. T only do it when I’m studying, be cause it’s really relaxing,” she said. “Do you spit?” the interviewer asked. “You have to'spit,” the woman said. “Some people don’t, but I do. ” Many of the Dixie Chicken’s patrons seemed enthralled by NBC’s presence. The feeling was obvious from the wide eyes amid whoops and shouts of “Hey, we want to be on TV!” But then there were, of course, those who were much more interested in the domino games, pool games, music and beer. “Man, I can’t believe NBC’s really here!” one customer said. T really don’t give a damn, ” another said. “I’m just gonna sit here and drink my beer.” Election filing closes Tuesday is the final day for student election candidates to file appheations. Apphcations may be picked up and filed in 216A Memorial Student Center. Offices to be filled include: student senators and student body officers; yell leaders; class councils and the graduate student council; Off-Campus Aggies and the Residence Halls Association. Students wishing to run for a Student Government position must turn in a petition of signatures from their consti tuency by 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Candidates for student body presi dent must have an overall grade point ratio of 2.5, while student senate vice presidents and college and living area senators must have a 2.25 overall. Election dates are March 31 and April 1.