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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1981)
The Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Vol. 74 No. 169 Wednesday, July 1, 1981 USPS 045 360 12 Pages College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611 Today The Weather Tomorrow High 93 High 95 Low 75 Low 75 Chance of rain. 30% Chance of rain. . . . . . . 20% i Both sides claim win in close Israeli election United Press International TEL AVIV, Israel — Shimon Peres battled Prime Minister Menachem Be gin for tie-breaking votes today in Israel’s deadlocked national election, but Begin emerged in the strongest position to form a coalition government and lead the Jewish state for four more years. With 50 percent of the votes I counted, Shimon Peres’ Labor Party led Begin s Likud 49 to 48 seats in the 120- member parliament hut both sides claimed victories in the tightest election in Israel’s history. Nine smaller parties split the remain ing approximate 20 Knesset seats, but the strongest among those was Josef Burg’s National Religious Party ex pected to win six seats, and it was com mitted “in principle” to staying on as a partner in a new coalition led by Begin, political sources said. Forming the new government will take several weeks. The law calls for President Yitzhak Navon to charge any member of Knesset, traditionally the leader of the winning party, to form a government. The candidate has three days to accept and 21 days to form his coalition. The period is extendable, but if the can didate fails, the president may name another party deputy to form a govern ment, and-should that lawmaker fail, new elections may be called. Moods at the respective party head quarters swayed from bleak to cheerful as American-born pollster Herbert Smith updated his initial forecast that showed Labor leading Likud by two seats. Peres hastened to announce Labor would be called upon to form the next government. But appearing before campaign workers. Begin ridiculed Peres for being premature. “God willing, I will form a government for the next 4 l /i years,” Begin said. Begin, 67, who ousted Labor in 1977 to lead the first non-Labor government in the state’s history, drove to his official Jerusalem residence to start what Burg earlier termed the “mathematically complex task’’ of trying to form the new government. Peres, 57, did likewise, scheduling a meeting with Burg, whose National Re ligious Party has been in every Israel government since 1952. Begin s outgoing Cabinet will stay on in a caretaker capacity, its responsibili ties virtually unchanged. If the projected results and the Na tional Religious Party commitment hold, Begin will be able to form a coali-* tion comprising the NRP, the ultra orthodox Agudat Israel, tipped to win five seats, the right-wing Tehiya Party;- which may win two, and former Foreign' Minister Moshe Dayan’s Telem Party, who just managed to get himself elected, or one seat. These parties are Begin s natural allies and back his hard-line stance on Palestinian autonomy and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Fish Camp fills despite expansion By DENISE RICHTER Battalion Staff Question: What do you get when you combine 2,300 freshmen, intramural games, mixers and a generous helping of Aggie traditions and history? Answer: Fish Camp, an annual four- day retreat for new freshmen at Texas A&M University, sponsored by the Stu dent Y Association. Students may submit their applica tions for the 28th annual Fish Camp in person while they are at Texas A&M for their freshman conferences, or by mail. This year, with two-thirds of the confer ences completed, the four separate Fish Camp sessions set for August are more than 80 percent filled. Fish Camp is held at the Lakeview Methodist Assembly camp in Palestine. The first session begins Aug. 15 and the last session ends Aug. 30, the day before the fall semester begins. Each session can accomodate approximately 560 freshmen. . This will be the first year that four sessions of Fish Camp will beheld, said Venita McCellon, director of Fish Camp 81. This year, about 40 percent of the freshman class will be able to attend Fish Camp, she said. “There are no further plans to expand Fish Camp,’’ McCellon said. “We can’t go earlier in the summer because the staff is in summer school. We probably won’t expand unless we can find facili ties that can accommodate more people.” The fee for attending Fish Camp is $57 and covers all lodging, board, trans portation and medical attention, if needed. This fee is paid by all campers and counselors. Each camp session is broken into four smaller camps with 140 campers and 40 counselors. These smaller camps have their own camp yells and are named for campus landmarks and people associ ated with Texas A&M. Some of the names to be used for Fish Camp 81 include Camp Duncan, Camp Reveille, Camp Rudder and Camp Ranger (named for Earl Rudder’s dog, Ranger). Different activities are planned for each day of the session. During camp meetings, held each morning, each small camp is broken down into groups of 10. Presentations by faculty and staff members and by student leaders who head groups in which freshmen are eli gible to participate are also presented during Fish Camp. Study habits, ways to adjust to college life and Aggie tradi tions are just a few of the topics discus sed during these meetings. A highlight of each Fish Camp is the formal welcome to Texas A&M by Acting President Charles Samson, McCellon said. “Texas A&M’s Fish Camp is the only program of its kind in the nation,” McCellon said. “Other schools have started programs after hearing about ours, but their programs haven’t gone over like A&M’s. “We like to feel it’s the uniqueness of the University that causes this. Blood Drive begins today on campus Members of the Texas A&M Univer sity community today and tomorrow have opportunity to help out fellow Americans and fellow Aggies in the pre fourth of July blood drive sponsored by Student Government. Bloodmobiles from the Wadley Blood Blank in Dallas will be stationed by Rudder Fountain and outside the Commons on the Texas A&M campus from noon to 8 p.m. each day. Donors are reminded to eat a good meal prior to giving blood, and to drink plenty of fluids after donating. Shannon O’Farrell, blood drive dire ctor, said donors and their relatives can receive blood for their own medical needs by notifying the Student Govern ment Office of the need, the person involved and the hospital in which the person is being cared for. City bugged with mosquito problem By JANE G. BRUST Battalion Staff The city of College Station has heard 400 percent more complaints of mosquito problems this year than in years past, says the city forester. Because the city has had a wet summer, contrasting last year’s dry season. City Forester Eric Ploeger said the city has sprayed for mos quitoes three times in the past month, covering the entire city. “This year we’ve had so much water, we’ve had a lot more of a problem,” Ploeger said. “We’ve had Because the city has had a wet summer, contrasting last year’s dry season, the city has sprayed for mos quitoes three times in the past month, covering the entire city. about 400 percent more calls this year than in past years. Ploeger said the city determines where and when to fog for mos quitoes based on species sampling and citizens’ complaints. Ploeger said he works with Dr. Jim Olson, an entomologist at Texas A&M University, who samples the species of mosquito in a specific area of town. Sampling determines the specific species and the density of the mosquito papulation. Some species stay around for only a week, Ploeger said. “There’s a floodwater species that will be around high water and flooding, but they’re gone once things have dried up.” Weather conditions are another factor in mosquito fogging. “You can’t spray if it’s windy,” the forester said, “but you want some wind so the fog will spread. “We try not to spray," Ploeger said. “As far as we know there aren’t too many environmental hazards — the poison is fairly safe — but it’s expensive to spray. There’s the cost of the poison and the cost of the fuel for the machine.” Ploeger said the price of the poison is $35 per gallon. Each of the three nights that the city sprayed this past month, the foggers were out for four or five hours, he said. “Spraying is really the secondary effort,” Ploeger said. “The primary effort is eliminating breeding sites — that’s the only way you’ll ever con trol them (mosquitoes).” Flooding can flush out the breed ing grounds for mosquitoes, but wa ter remaining after heavy rainfall will serve as a breeding site for more mosquitoes. Mosquitoes commonly breed in standing water. The forester said old tires are a favorite breeding site, as well as garbage and anything else that will hold water. He said some species favor pots and pans for breeding. Psrophora Columbiae, or the dark riceland mos quito, is one of the more common species found in the Bryan-College Station area. Dr. Jim Olson, an entomologist at Texas A&M University, said the species likes the lowland grass areas common to the Brazos Valley. The mosquitoes can travel 5-10 miles from their breeding grounds. Olson said this is only one of 30-40 varieties of mosquitoes that have invaded the area this season because of the unusually wet weather. Mosquitoes bring encephalitis threat to summer Critical months lie ahead for mosquito control officials along the upper Texas coast trying to prevent an outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis, says a Texas A&M entomologist. “The virus has been a problem over a number of years but was particularly serious in Houston last year, when nearly 50 cases were reported, four resulting in death, ” said Dr. Jim Olson, whose research emphasis is mosquitoes. “One species of mosquito, commonly known as the Southern House mosquito, carries the disease and can be found almost anywhere in the South,” he said. Olson said no cases have been reported in the Houston area this year but he suspects agents that carry the disease may be there. He said the disease is carried by birds and transmitted to humans through the Culex mosquito, which usually becomes active during this part of the year, but is most active in August. The disease is called St. Louis encephalitis because the first descriptions were recorded from cases near St. Louis. While health officials are alert in the Houston area, the Texas A&M entomologist said other areas of concern include the Lower Missis sippi River Valley. The mosquitoes breed in polluted water, commonly found in city storm sewers and ditches. Olson pointed out that recent flooding in Houston flushed out the mosquito’s breeding grounds, helping to curtail mosquito populations. “There are no vaccines for the virus, ” Olson said, adding that it attacks the central nervous system. “While we can’t treat encepha litis, we can treat symptoms and let the human body take care of its own battle under the best of conditions. ” Olson said initial symptoms are similar to the flu, but then discoordination and sometimes paralysis occurs. Some victims completely recover from the disease and others are left with partial paralysis, he said. Between 10 to 20 percent of all reported cases result in death. Olson said the best measure of control would be using insecti cides in areas densely populated with mosquitoes. In addition, he urges better management of sewerage to prevent breeding. Dieting propaganda: some fact, some fiction By CHRISTI A. WILLIE Battalion Reporter What do acupuncture, massages, and hypnosis have in common? They all are reputed methods of dieting. Americans are bombarded with diet ing propaganda every day. Amidst all the confusion, how to diet has become a problem for the serious dieter. In her book, “The Right Diet, Dr. Bessie Dituri included acupuncture and massages in a chapter entitled “Miracle Remedies-Fact or Fiction?” Fiction was her overall verdict. Dituri said in her book that in the acupuncture method of weight loss, a needle is inserted in an appetite control “point” in the ear. Dituri said a lot of objective research indicates that acupuncture works on the mind. “Ear devices become a middle man between yourself and your will power. ” She described massages as “passive exercise.” “Passive exercise helps you feel good .a but you don’t burn energy,” Dituri said. “You cannot lose weight when you don’t burn energy.” She said the masseuse or masseur doing the work burns up the calories. Other diet methods are practiced through therapy programs as with hyp nosis. The Techniques for Living Clinical Hypnosis Program runs a newspaper advertisement that proclaims in bold type, “Lose Weight! Stop Smoking Easily & Permanently.” A telephone call to the program sum moned a woman who would only iden tify herself as Roz. She said the program basically consists of a three-hour semi nar on hypnosis in which participants can get ,a money-back guarantee after the first hour if they do not feel they are responding. Participants are also given a tape program on hypnosis that they can play at home. “You lose weight without craving, anxiety or withdrawal symptoms,” Roz said. Still other programs stress regulation of food intake for effective weight loss. Pat Hennessey, head of the Bryan Weight Watchers program, said she lost 60 pounds while in Weight Watchers. She now helps others lose through re duced food intake, a weekly pep talk and belief in the proverb, “there is strength in numbers. “The main thing is the positive atti tude,” she said in her weekly talk to fellow Weight Watchers. “As long as you don’t give up, you’ll make it someday.” Hennessey said the Weight Watch ers program encourages a well-balanced diet consisting of a specified number of calories per day. She stressed change in eating habits, good attitude and group support. “Eat what you’re supposed to, don’t say can’t and remember, people here understand,” Hennessey said. Lynne Ploeger, Texas A&M sopho more, said she ate food prepared along Weight Watcher guidelines when her mother lost 40 pounds in the program. She said she hardly noticed the differ ence between the diet and her previous meals except for “an occasional missed pizza or lasagna dish. ” Another program with a local chapter is Bryan’s Nutri-Medic Medical Weight Loss Clinic, which employs a low- carbohydrate diet to induce weight loss. Elaine Luza, assistant administrator for the program, said patients are gener ally placed on a diet of 12 ounces of protein and 1.2 grams of carbohydrates per day. “This puts them into ketosis, Luza said. Ketosis is a condition where the body produces an excess of ketones, waste products of burned up fats. Luza, who is also a nurse, explained that the process occurs because the body has no sugar to burn on the Nutri- Medic diet, so it must burn excess fat for energy. She said that fat on the inside of the veins actually “dissolves. ” Four pounds of weight loss are guaranteed in seven days. Patients are first given a complete lab work-up and then referred to nutrition al counseling. Luza said patients are instructed to keep a diary of everything they eat, to take vitamins (provided by Nutri-Medic without sugar coatings) and to visit the clinic three times a week to have their urine checked for ketones to insure they are still in ketosis. She stressed the importance of avoid ing sugar and an excess of carbohy drates. “We tell patients not to lick stamps, use mouthwash or take communion,” Lusa said. “This can knock them out of ketosis. ” Another dieting method names cook ing as the key to weight loss. In “Stop Dieting, Start Losing,” Ruth West recommends “a new cooking technology” which consists of “leaving out certain high-calorie ingredients as fat, and substituting low-calorie ingre dients for fattening ones without chang ing the taste of food. ” Some of her ideas include substitut ing stiffly beaten egg whites for flour, sucaryl for sugar and evaporated milk for whipped cream. 0