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