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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1981)
‘age 8 THE BATTALION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1981 State / National Na Rare form of lightning is powerful ‘Superbolts’ studied on prairies United Press International NORMAN, Okla. — Researchers are con centrating in Oklahoma and surrounding states in their efforts to locate and study a rare form of “super” lightning bolts, scientists at the National Severe Storms Laboratory said. The “superbolts,” previously thought only to strike tall towers or in mountainous areas, have been recorded striking the prairie lands, researchers said. David Rust is a member of the Storm Elec tricity Group, headed by three storms experts at the NSSL, that is conducting pioneer re search on the bolts. Rust, a physicist, said 31 of the bolts have been documented in severe Oklahoma storms in the last two years. He said the lightning team once documented six positive bolts within eight mi nutes in a storm near Norman and 18 others in 50 minutes in a severe thunderstorm in the Texas Panhandle. The superbolt research is centered in Okla homa, the Texas Panhandle, and parts of Arkansas and Kansas, he said. The bolts have been linked to aviation acci dents during winter storms near Japan, he said. The power-packed bolts now found in se vere storms can cause explosions or can melt objects. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists believe. Rust said the superbolts can carry 10 times the 20,000 to 50,000 amperes found in normal lightning and can cause rapid heating that could trigger an explosion or melt an object. Common lightning is a discharge from a negatively charged cloud base to the positively charged ground or from cloud to cloiid, he said. But the superbolts are a strike from a positively charged cloud to the positively charged earth. . He said it has not been determined why the charge jumps from the positive cloud to the positive earth, but he suspects it’s because the ground charge is much less than that of the cloud. Rust said the superbolts look like any other lightning to the naked eye and the team has been unable to determine where the bolts have struck to investigate the damage caused. The study group uses measurements of the electrical fields around the storms and optical and video recordings of the lightning to docu ment the positive bolts, he explained. He said the bolts aren’t something new, but the research on them is. Bald eagle stolen from Uncle Sam A study W.C. Fields would appreciate United Press International SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Drinking for “medicinal pur poses” — the excuse comic W.C. Fields used on more than one occasion — has some basis in fact for middle-aged men. A University of Rhode Island study, released Wednesday, found middle-aged men who down the equivalent of up to five beers a day have fewer nut ritional inadequacies than their teetotaling counterparts. “We expected just the oppo site,” admitted Susan S. Perciv- al, instructor of Food Science and Technology, Nutrition and Dietetics at URL “We expected alcoholic beverages might re place some foods in the diets, thereby causing a greater num ber of nutritional deficiencies.” The study suggests the con sumption of alcoholic beverages may supply some necessary nutrients — niacin, riboflavin and phosphorus — that are mis sing in nondrinkers’ diets, Per- cival said. Percival stressed URI resear chers don’t recommend people improve their diets by drinking alcohol. Rather, they suggested people eat the right kinds and proper amounts of food and drink alcohol in moderation. The Percival study started out as research into the caloric and nutrient composition of the diets of 61 Rhode Island men, with an average age of 48. Researchers wanted to lem more about the eating aid drinking habits of middle-aged men and the causes contribut ing to overweight. Eight of 10 men, 40 to 65, are 10 to 20 per cent overweight. The reasons for midriff bulge weren’t that mysterious! A leu active pace during middle age rather than more eating added pounds to the men’s waistlina, Percival found. While the drinkers werejuit as prone to a thick middle as the non-drinkers, she found the) were getting a larger share of their recommended dietary In take of nutrients established u adequate for healthy people. Ra If * United oakda: say racial te battle betw have ‘jcoole co-very of a w^s serious rage of bull ■'Henry C persons bit flit betwee 1(X) to 150 H| tfas str arid side,' guarded coi pifal in Ne' ji “We’re pehs tonigh Virgil Clian day. “But e Pcsjm.. It s< United Press Internationa] BROWNSVILLE — Whoever snatched an American bald eagle from the Gladys Porter Zoo was literally stealing from the govern ment. “Whoever did this is in trou ble,” zoo deputy director David Thompson said Tuesday. “That bird belonged to the U.S. govern ment and they (the thieves) are in possession of stolen property.” Thompson said the 10-year-old male northern eagle, considered orie of an endangered species, was taken from a pen in which zookeepers had placed the bird for shipment to Florida. Thompson said the bird, which had not been on display at the zoo EASIAS Home Style i i pizza » 4 ' t % SPAGHETTI Pasta s! lasagna FRIED CHICKEN AND SPUDS INTRODUCING: Aggieland Spuds Super baked potatoes with super fixings! Try our: SCORER SPUD ITALIAN SPUD AGGIELAND SPUD You’ll find our delicious fried chicken at our daily noon buffets and Tuesday and Sunday evening buffets. DON’T FORGET!! Pasta’s Monday Night 990 Pitcher Every Monday 7 p.m. to 10p.m. There's no pizza like Pasta's Pizza! We guarantee it! 807 Texas Ave. 696-3380 for a year, was to be shipped to Florida, for display in a “living museum” when it was taken Mon day. He said the bird had required surgery on its wing several years ago and was unable to fly. “It’s either the first thing they (the thieves) saw or they were only interested in the bird,” Thompson said. Although it is illegal to sell American eagle feathers, Thomp son said the bird’s plumage can bring at least $25 per feather on the black market. He said when the bird sheds its feathers each year, the zoo was required to turn the plumage over the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Pusser wanted his own funeral home, mom says •di4>ye\& John Duri( would depc be black oi ■vvounded ir We don long as Mr {TRADITIONS { COUNCIL J POSITIONS ARE OPEN » I 1 } For President ^4 Vice President ^ Secretary/Treasurer Literature Chairman Silver Taps Chairman Howdy Chairman History Chairman 54"Pick up applications in Rm. 216 MSC Student Gov-] ^-ernment Office. yL ^Qualifications: Motivated Aggies enrolled J ^ at Texas A&M. fT United Press International ADAMSVILLE, Tenn. — Buford Pusser, the clubswinging sheriff of “Walking Tall," actually wanted to be a mortician and “could have gone right to the top” in the box business, his mother says. Helen Pusser, 72, said in a copyright interview Wednesday in The Memphis Commercial Appeal her son was the opposite of the volatile Buford Pusser por trayed in the movies. “The movies are just bug dust,” she said. “Buford wasn’t anything like the pictures. He never tre ated people like that. He wouldn’t hit you unless you hit him first three times. But if you hit him that third time, you better look out be cause you’d be on the floor. “It’s like that car of his that they’ve got in a museum with a bullet hole in it. People think somebody was shooting at Buford. Well, he came home one night and told me what really happened: “He said he was chasing another car and he was going to shoot the tires out with his pistol. He was driving with his right hand and trying to shoot with his left hand. But he missed. ‘“Mom,’ he said, ‘you know what I did last night? I shot a hole in my own car.’” Mrs. Pusser spends most of her time telling a mother’s version of the sheriff, who died in a car wreck. “Buford’s whole heart’s desire was to be a mortician,” she said. “He’d come home from the Marines with asthma, then had been in a wreck. I got him a job at the funeral home. The man in charge said he was the best hand he ever saw. “Buford embalmed a man all by himself three months after he went to work,” she said. “I believe WASHIN oined two '< King Presidi if Buford had lived long eiiots he’d have got himself a fuid home.” Instead, her son left tke ftari home bound for Chicago, wh he worked in a bag factory ul took wrestling lessons. "Buford needed a ing for ever quitting his job will the bag company. He could hi Ij^ethtebwc gone right to the top maltia L provti( ] t h boxes. But he wanted to com ffog home. He never wanted to kb from here.” , J with the lar I wish I d never heard of Ik movies — they got things» wrong,” she said. “In‘FinalClii|> ter, ’ they show Buford out tl work, boys beating him _ sticks, him having to work on olt ! ; |] a l ancec i j ca ^ s ■ i ■ . Supportive ( "Shoo, Buford neverfixedupi: Armstrori old car in his life. He drove a nc* George Bui one every year. He wanted Ik Treasury Se newest cars and the best clotbfi iiafsbn Max 1 — and he had them.” i the Reagan l Budget Con bsed spendi In an inti discussed wi ofidentifyin into balance Tarleton student’s death follows ‘near drowning’ Armstronj balanced bu But sineetb heeonimitt ilmost as bi- United Press International STEPHENVILLE — An auto psy report indicates a Tarleton State University football player died from complications of near drowning, police said Wednes day. Garry Dean Wright, 24, a senior from Mart, Texas, died ear ly Tuesday, six hours after he was pulled from the swimming pool at the off-campus apartment com plex late Monday. About 20 Tarleton students were “horsing around” and throw ing each other into the pool at the Royal Manor Apartments after the apartment’s private club closed, police said. When it was noticed that Wright was in trouble in the wa ter, he was taken from the pool, and two other students tried to revive him. Wright, who was scheduled fc graduate in May, was aleNuli- tercollegiate Athletic Assocwto all-conference defensive end IB year. Sgt. Pat Davis of the Stephr- ville Police Department saiatlb' mal ruling in the death would k made later by Justice of the Petf Sarah Miller. LOUIS’S TV SALES & SERVICE BUY & TRADE TV & STEREO GOLD OR SILVER IMPORTED & BOTTLED BY TEQUILA JALISCO S A. ST LOUIS. M0 . 80 PROOF BRING THIS COUPON FOR: $5.00 OFF COLOR TV $2.50 OFF BW TV OR RADIO 1 I I I I I I I Rep. Delco receives recognition for Texas public school ed bill FB m United atlant. safety comr exception V' 'gent s comi young bla wnths we embers be ances. ' *4 Commisi reporte n g the ren PURCHASE OR SERVICE J3517 TEXAS AVE. 846-4124 j United Press International „ _ AUSTIN — Rep. Bill Haley, D-Center, paid tribute Wednesdayto llgerit Mike Rep. Wilhelmina Delco, D-Austin, for her efforts to change thecunl- ilvie club Ti culum in Texas public schools, although Haley said he was theoie fessional - ui receiving the credit for the effort. be tolerated “My name and picture are in the papers, but it should be Ref Delco,” Haley said during a rare personal speech on the Housefiooi Haley said Delco had been responsible for the bill because shehnl sought to get similar legislation done during the last session. 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