IE
l/ol. 74 No. 157
■12 Pages
Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Wednesday, June 3, 1981 USPS 045 360
College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
94 High
96
Low
72 Low
75
Chance of rain
30% Chance of rain. . . .
. . . 30%
/
\
/
i
V
I
Just an
'Ordinary 7 bike!
Awbrey Lee, a sophomore from Houston has a unique
way of getting around campus; on his 1885 Rudge Roads
ter. The big wheel bicycle, called an Ordinary (opposed
to the modern two-wheel Safety bikes) was built in Eng
land. Lee said he paid $1100 for the bike.
{International conferences offered
Two conferences dealing with topics
lof international interest will be spon-
[sored at Texas A&M University in the
[coming week.
★' International Women in Transi-
[tion,” will be sponsored June 7-9 by the
[International Programs Office at Texas
I A&M.
The conference will feature presen-
Itations by guest speakers from four dif-
Iferent countries who will discuss cultu
ral issues affecting developing nations
and the global society.
Registration is now in progress and
will continue until the beginning of the
conference. Registration forms should
be sent to the conference center on the
second floor of Rudder Tower.
★“International Agriculture Within
the U.S. Universities’ will be the sub
ject of the 17th Annual Association of
U.S. University Directors of Interna
tional Agricultural Programs Confer
ence to be held June 9-11 on the Texas
A&M campus.
Professors from several universities
across the nation will present speeches
at the conference.
Anyone wishing to attend may regis
ter by contacting the International
Programs Office at Texas A&M for
further information.
Aerobics track is popular
By BETTY ANN REID
Battalion Reporter
At almost anytime of the day or night
[you will find men, women and yes, even
[dogs jogging around the aerobics track
[at Texas A&M University. Most are
[working on conditioning their bodies
[into top physical shape.
Although the reasons for jogging vary -
[from appearance to enjoyment, people
[ofall ages are placing emphasis on phy-
[sical fitness.
“Four or five years ago the majority
[(ofwomen) expressed concern relative
to appearance and figure — they never
thought about fitness, said Judy Rych-
[lik, manager of a health spa in Bryan.
“More people are concerned about
I fitness, stamina, energy and aging,
, Rychlik said.
According to Collier’s Encyclopedia,
there were 6.5 million joggers in the
United States in 1978, more than 10
times as many as there were a decade
before.
Although the aerobics track draws the
largest number of exercisers, the tennis
courts, racquetball courts and the
weight room also draw crowds.
Students jog on the track because “a
lot of times it relieves frustrations and
tensions,” said Karen Joiner, a health
and physical education major.
“I enjoy it, it helps you get in shape
and its something you can do easily,”
she said. “All you have to do is put on
your sweats and running shoes and
you re ready.
“The social aspect of it is also strong, ”
Joiner said. “It’s something you can do
with your friends. ^
“Being in physical shape helps people
cope with problems better,” she said.
Whether the problem involves school
or other things, jogging provides time
for relaxation and a chance to clear one’s
head.
Being able to cope with problems re
lates to the emotional aspect of fitness.
Diane Wholey, a health and physical
education major, said, “If you are phy
sically fit, ;t helps your emotional fit
ness.”
“Students are more aware of their
physical well-being because of all of the
medical advances,” Joiner said.
Students are involved in all aspects of
physical fitness, but “there is no magic
way to get into shape, you have to ex
pend the energy, Rychlik said.
Although students jog to lose weight,
to get in shape or to relieve the tensions
and pressures of school, perhaps the
most important reason for jogging is to
gain a sense of well-being from being
physically fit. ,
Students jog and exercise because of
the “innner feeling that comes from
achievement when you can say, Look
what I, did, ” Wholey said.
“When I finish running that mile
under my own steam with nobody help
ing me,” Joiner siad, “that really gives
me a good sense of achievement.
a ^
‘Insurance’
included in
By BERNIE FETTE
Battalion Staff
Members of the Texas Senate Finance Committee and
representatives of Texas A&M University recently reached a
compromise in the amount of money sought as compensation
for fire losses to University buildings in the last two years.
The University will receive $500,000 instead of the
$812,000 which was requested initially in a bill carried in the
senate by Sen. Kent Caperton, D-Bryan.
The appropriation was passed as a part of the entire
budget under the area of building maintenance instead of a
separate appropriation as it was originally introduced.
Robert G. Cherry, secretary to the Board of Regents and
assistant chancellor, said merging the bill into tbe budget
was the simpler and more expedient way to take care of it.
“We got good appropriations and we were generally
pleased with the session,” Cherry said.
The bill passed with little opposition in the House of
Representatives late in March and was stalled in the senate
because questions were raised on how the figures were
determined.
High financial
risks offset
oil profits
A study published by a Texas A&M
energy research group has found little
evidence that major oil companies have
earned windfall profits since the 1974
Arab oil embargo when gasoline prices
first began to soar.
The financial risks in the oil industry
seem to be increasing instead, spurred
by heavier use of debt financing and the
search for oil and gas in more remote
parts of the world, according to the re
searcher’s findings.
The study, conducted for Texas
A&M’s Center for Energy and Mineral
Resources by finance professor Peter
Rose and Kenneth D. Reiner, fprmerly
of Texas A&M and now at Concordia
University in Montreal, suggests that
the rate of return on investment in the
oil industry has kept pace with the risks
in exploration ancf development.
“Although petroleum’s capital out
lays have reached all-time highs since
the embargo,” Rose said, “industry dol
lar profits have fluctuated more widely
and inflation-adjusted profitability
appears to have declined.”
The 46-page study points out the pet
roleum investment climate has become
more uncertain since the embargo be
cause of both political and financial risk
factors.
The future of natural gas price dereg
ulation, transporting crude oil and gas,
environmental constraints, the applica
tion of antitrust laws to the industry and
petroleum-based synthetic fuels contri
bute to the political risks, the report
concludes.
“Because oil and natural gas have
become more difficult to find and more
costly to extract, the standard measures
of financial and operating risks have dis
played an upward trend in petroleum,”
Rose said.
While the majority of funds available
for investment by petroleum companies
comes from retained earnings and de
preciation, the industry has become in
creasingly dependent upon the financial
markets for investment capital since the
1950s. If the rates of return don’t com
pare with those in the marketplace, rais
ing new capital would become both
more difficult and more costly, Rose
said.
“Higher prices could result in a loss
of productivity, ” Rose said, “and it con
tributes to decreasing incentives to in
vest, which leads to heavier reliance
upon imported oil.”
Decreases in domestic production re
flect upon falling output from existing
fields, which now exceeds the addition
al output generated from newly disco
vered fields. Rose said.
The researchers said that coal and
lignite production will play an impor
tant role in reducing fuel costs .
money
budget
Roger Miller, a legislative assistant on Caperton’s staff,
said the reason for the decrease in the appropriation was that
some of the losses were over-estimated.
“I think Texas A&M is very happy with the agreement and
we were very happy to be of assistance, Miller said.
The losses came as a result of fire damage to buildings
which had no fire insurance. The buildings were not injured
because the state has had a policy of self-insurance in the
past. For a building to be self-insured means the state consid
ers it more economical to pay for losses due to fires than to
pay the premiums for fire insurance.
According to a press release from state Rep. Bill Presnal,
D-Bryan, that practice should be continued.
“I feel we need to continue the policy of the state being
self-insured, ” said Presnal, who is also the chairman of the
House Appropriations Committee.
“Overall, our losses to state-owned buildings and proper
ty have been much less year in and year out than fire insur
ance would have cost us to cover those same facilities.”
Social Security gets
$560 million cut
to meet budget
United Press International
WASHINGTON — A House
committee Tuesday approved $560
million in additional Social Security
cuts for next year in an effort to stay
within budget targets already
approved by Congress.
The Ways and Means Committee
agreed to three changes in Social
Security benefits for fiscal 1982 to
make up for a $411 million shortfall
in the total amount of targeted
spending cuts under its jurisdiction.
The panel oversees several health,
welfare and employment compensa
tion programs.
The panel agreed by voice vote to
keep the retirement exemption age
at 72, rather than lowering it to 70 on
Jan. 1 as scheduled, to save $170
million next fiscal year. The exemp
tion allows a person 72 years or older
to earn any amount of money and
still receive Social Security retire
ment benefits.
After considerable debate, the
committee voted 11-6 to eliminate
the $255 lump sum death benefit if
there are no surviving beneficiaries.
Elimination of the benefit, normally
used for burial fees, would save $200
million in fiscal 1982.
The Senate Finance Committee
also recently approved elimination
of the death benefit, and the admi
nistration supports scrapping it.
The panel also agreed by voice
vote to save $190 million in fiscal
1982 by delaying recipients’ first
checks by one month unless they be
come eligible on the first of the
month.
Monday, administration officials
and Senate leaders discussed possi
ble elements of a compromise for
long-term Social Security finahcing,
which includes limiting cost-of-
living increases.
Trainees use Texas
A&M reactor
By KATHY O’CONNELL
Battalion Staff
Several employees from a Louisiana
nuclear reactor plant are attending
training sessions at the Texas A&M
Nuclear Science Center.
Bill Asher, manager of reactor opera
tions, said the trainees are prospective
operators of the nuclear reactor that is
currently under construction in St.
Francisville, La.
Asher said the trainees are being sent
to the Texas A&M center by Gulf States
Utilities, which owns the nuclear plant.
The training sessions are organized
into three six-member classes for two
weeks at a time. The sessions include
instruction in plant staff discipline,
rules.afvd regulations and communica
tion within the various levels of a typical
power plant organization.
Asher said the trainees are also
taught safety operations and how to con
duct “start ups” on the one megawatt
nuclear reactor.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC), Asher said, requires prospec
tive nuclear reactor operators to con
duct ten start ups before they can
actually begin working with the reac
tors. The other training is conducted on
a simulated computer system.
Asher said the Texas A&M Center
has also trained health physics techni
cians from Westinghouse and the Texas
State Technical Institute at Waco.
These technicians are totally different
from the nuclear reactor operators, he
said. The technicians conduct environ
mental testing as it relates to nuclear
activity.
For instance, he said, the technicians
test contamination levels in water
where there is a nuclear power plant.
As far as training nuclear operators,
Asher said this is the first time the cen
ter has offered training sessions in this
area. “This is our maiden voyage so far, ”
he said.
Asher said the sessions, which are
expected to end June 19, have been
very successful.
Water helps more than salt tablets
Salt tablets and hot summer days don’t go together, says a
physical fitness expert at Texas A&M University.
While many who work or exercise in the broiling sun
generally believe summer temperatures require extra salt to
make up for losses from sweating, it just isn’t so, says Dr.
George Jessup, head of Texas A&M’s Human Performance
Laboratory.
What is important for people in hot climates, Jessup said,
is water intake. A person can rarely get too much water, he
said.
“Salt intake isn’t very important and, in fact, may be
negative,” he said. “People taste salt on their skin after
they’ve been sweating and assume they’re losing a lot of it.
But what has happened is that the water in that sweat has
been evaporated away and the salt content isn’t representa
tive.”
Jessup said the naturally occurring salt content in many
water supplies is high enough that very few people need
extra salt to meet their body’s requirement.
National surveys show that more than 40 percent of the
population drinks water containing in excess of the optimum
level of 20 milligrams per liter of sodium recommended by
the American Heart Association.
“If a person who is not acclimated to the hot, humid
weather is going to be in the heat for a long period of time, he
or she might want to salt their food, but that’s all,” he said.
Dr. Elvin Smith, associate dean of the Texas A&M College
of Medicine, said people who routinely work in hot, outdoor
temperatures get acclimated to high sweat rates. He, too,
recommends no increased salt, but instead, adequate water.
Normally, the kidneys will get rid of extra salt. Smith said.
But if a person has developed a tendency towards hyperten
sion or high blood pressure, additional salt intake can accel
erate those problems.
“We don’t know yet if heavy salt intake in itself causes high
blood pressure. But the American Heart Association be
lieves there is enough evidence to recommend moderation,”
Smith said.
“One thing for sure is that reduction of salt intake will do
no damage.