Pigeon racing fans flock
together in local group
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1981
Page 3
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Photo by Carolyn Tiller
Livin’ the laid-back life
[Graduated architecture senior Eddie Price gets some fishing
Iadvice from friends as he sits on the dock of a local lake.
Recent weather conditions have been perfect for sun-seekers
and time-wasters during the break before summer classes.
our more stores sign in new mall
The addition of four more
lores to the Post Oak Mall now
|tmder construction in College Sta-
has been announced by the
developers of the 1,020,000-
uare-foot shopping complex.
The four newest stores include
Gullenkamp Shoes, Kay-Bee Toy
k Hobby Shop, The Athlete’s
Foot and Parklane Hosiery.
| Names of the four stores were
announced by CBL & Associates
me. of Chattanooga, Tennessee,
the owners and developers of the
mplex.
“We are extremely pleased to
be announcing these latest stores
for Post Oak Mall,” Eugene H.
Schimpf, representative ofCBL &
Associates Inc. and project mana
ger for the development said in a
press release.
“We are determined to bring to
the College Station-Bryan and
Brazos County area the finest in
national, regional and local stores
and we feel this group of new
stores is indicative of our efforts.
“We have commitments from
many additional, well-known and
highly regarded retailers,”
Schimpf said, “and will be
announcing them when these
lease negotiations have been com
pleted.”
Gallenkamp Shoes is part of the
Retail Footwear Division of SCOA
Industries Inc., a general mer
chandising and footwear company
with annual sales approaching $1
billion.
Kay-Bee Toy and Hobby Shop
will feature national brands of
toys, hobby supplies and junior
sporting goods.
Another national chain opera
tion, The Athlete’s Foot, will fea
ture athletic shoes of all types in
cluding Nike and Adidas. In addi
tion to footwear, the store will
offer sporting apparel such as col
lege and professional football
jerseys.
Parklane Hosiery will offer a
selection of footwear.
Post Oak Mall is being de
veloped on a 100-acre site located
at the southwest corner of the in
tersection of Highway 30 and
Highway 6 by-pass.
Battalion Reporter
They are entered in races up to
1,000 miles and can cost as much
as $20,000. But they’re not Italian
race cars; they’re pigeons.
Friday nights during the spring
and early fall, a club made up of
about 15 members gathers in
Bryan. Like other clubs, the
members all have a common in
terest — in this case, their com
mon interest is pigeons.
The club isn’t interested in just
any kind of pigeon. They’re in
terested in racing pigeons and be
fore the meeting begins, members
of the Bryan-College Racing Pi
geon Club proudly tell of dis
tances their pigeons have traveled
and the time it took them to return
home.
This meeting is being held the
night before the big race. The next
morning their pigeons will be
transported 150, 200, 300, or 500
miles away and set free. Each
member will then wait and watch
for his pigeon to come home.
If and when the pigeon returns,
the owner will remove the racing
band placed around its claw before
the race and place it in his timing
clock. The timing clock will then
produce a strip of paper with the
pigeon’s time recorded to the
second written on it.
A call to the club president will
tell how well the pigeon did in
comparison with pigeons owned
by other club members.
From its start in Europe, the
sport of racing pigeons spread to
America. Today, clubs like the
one in Bryan-College Station can
be found all over the United
States.
The sport involves not only the
racing of the pigeons, but also the
care, training and breeding of the
pigeons. A pigeon racer can either
raise his own pigeons or buy them
from a breeder.
Pigeons are monogamous, they
have only one mate for life. The
hen lays two eggs in the nest and
the cock shares the duty of sitting
on the eggs and feeding the young
after they have hatched.
When the pigeons are seven
days old, an aluminum band is
placed around their claws. This
band will serve as identification
for the pigeons for the rest of their
lives.
When the young birds are 30 to
35 days old, they are weaned from
their parents and placed in a cage
with other young pigeons.
The training begins when the
birds are several months old. The
pigeons are placed in traveling
cages and taken one-half mile
away from their home. If the bird
returns home, the distance is in
creased to one mile, then in
creased by one-mile increments,
then five-mile increments, up to
70 miles.
At this point the bird is ready to
enter its first 100-mile race. Race
distances range from 100 to 1,000
miles.
Pigeons return home from
these long distances for food and
to be reunited with their mates.
There have been many theories as
to how they find their way home.
Dr. William T. Keeton of the
Avian Orientation Research Pro
ject at Cornell University said that
pigeons primarily use the sun to
navigate. Pigeons seem to have
some internal timeclock that tells
them where the sun should be in
the sky at any moment of the day
at home, he said.
When released in a strange
location, they compare the sun
there to the way it is at home and
find the right direction.
Professor Charles Walcott,
head of research at Lincoln Uni
versity, has found a tiny, iron-rich
object in the head of pigeons. This
may explain how they use the
earth’s magnetic field for naviga
tion, he said.
Research is continuing to try to
learn the secret of these birds, but
the people who race them enjoy
their pigeons even if they don’t
know why they return home.
VALERIE MARTIN’S
GALLERY OF DANCE ARTS
will have
tj^cjinnincj Qiinz 1±t
Enroll Starting May 4th
Ballet Tap Exercise
Jazz Aerobics C& W
^WM)owling
693-035^
(Frontier artist’s work featured
in new book from A&M Press
endencyt
i nearby pf
;ned
fow there ii
;; Collected works by a West Texas
Brtist who was praised by Frederic
Remington for drawing “a better
borse than I do” are featured in a
lew book of reproductions from
le Texas A&M University Press.
H.W. Caylor: Frontier Artist”
as commissioned by the Herit-
ge Museum at Big Spring,
aylor’s home for four decades,
e museum houses an extensive
aylor collection.
The 125-page book contains 52
(color plates, several sketches and
an introduction by Joe Pickle,
West Texas newspaper editor, au
thor and local historian.
Harvey Wallace Caylor, is only
punch kevii low being rediscovered and con-
ne, compla! irmed in Texas, the book’s editors
aid.
Pickle said Caylor, largely self
aught and combining his painting
with his life as a rancher, tried on
several occasions to solicit advice
Tom the giant of Western art,
Frederic Remington. After study-
d wife wasp ingCaylor’s form, Remington sug-
fdled her 1 ? este d Caylor go seek nature as a
“eacher because he could already
draw a better horse than I do. ”
Caylor’s work has great historic-
3, doorbells al importance because Caylor was
lesired to! '"one of the select few who
ith olderwn;
eeimmatofin _•!
1 bugihara
; and see®- [
pick f announces
behisAu»!f>
resignation
Dr. Thomas Sugihara, dean of
Science at Texas A&M University
ince 1978, has announced that he
will resign Sept. 1 to accept a simi
lar post at Oregon State Univer-
|ity.
Sugihara, a professor of chemis
try, joined the faculty in 1967 after
chairing the chemistry depart-
X ceed300»«t Nnt at Clark University in Mas-
[achusetts. From 1971 to early
1978 he served as director of the
Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute.
Tt has been a memorable 14
years that I have spent at Texas
istraintsa^ WcM University,” Sugihara said.
“The affiliation with the Cyclot
on Institute has been especially
ewarding,” he said. “I feel pri
vileged to have had the opportun-
^ ity to participate in the remark-
% able growth and development of
rS the University during this period.
At the same time I am looking for
ward to new challenges at Oregon
tation.fi^ State University-”
■ Dr. J.M. Prescott, vice presi-
1 [| en t f or academic affairs, cited
documented the transition from
open range to fenced pastures,”
Pickle said.
Texas folklorist J. Frank Dobie
also became an admirer of Caylor’s
style and referred to the painter as
“important, significant and
genuine.”
Fitness class offered
Summer aerobics classes designed for men and women in the
Bryan-College Station area will be offered by Texas A&M’s health and
physical education department.
The purpose of the classes is to teach adults about health mainte
nance through diet and aerobic exercise.
Registration forms are available in the health and physical education
department through May 22.
The following classes will begin June 8;
— Noon aerobics; mixed group. Classes will emphasize stretching
and limbering exercises. The class will meet at noon on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays. Cost is $35 a person.
— Noon dancercise. Includes pre-dance stretching, figure toning
and aerobic dance workouts. Class will meet at noon on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays. Cost is $35 a person.
— Evening adult fitness classes. Class will meet on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays at 5 p.m.
Cost for the classes includes a complete testing battery to determine
fitness.
ICY
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laintain tta
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;o welcome,
nee to: c
iS A&M H
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$33.25 per
rales
r hereia
. juj uem rur acaueunc anaiis, cneu
ctieS C ln rtse!* Sugihara’s accomplishments dur-
Simply Great
Mexican Food.
THE WEDNESDAY SPECIAL
MONTEREY DINNER
1Q/ REG
J»9/ $4.75
FIESTA DINNER
ft Q/REG.
90«09/ $4.35
ENCHILADA DINNER
dji* ftQ/REG
90 •\/*7/ $3.55
^ V MEXICAN ^K-^RESTAUR ANTS
ing his tenure here and said his
esignation is a loss for the Univer-
lity.
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