Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 1981)
Bill HIM E MARviH, AhJPYOUE^ I'^cowi Vol. 74 No. 179 12 Pages Battalion Serving the Texas A&M University community Thursday, July 23, 1981 USPS 045 360 College Station, Texas Phone 845-2611 The Weather Today Tomorrow High 97 High 97 Low 76 Low 75 Chance of rain. . 20% Chance of rain. . . . . . . 20% er tohiskwi ijuries were ible * was draftee Kansas City I I baseball * kind By JANE G. BRUST vii > Battalion Staff Mils If you’d like to add to your summer lias score ardrobe and help a local cause at the televised me time, the Veterinary Services npetition rganization of Texas A&M University VFLseasu is a suggestion: buy a T-shirt. Jceptions® Tliat organization today concludes istics weri yodays of T-shirt sales at tables set up iveraging jar Rudder Fountain between 8 a.m. I 500 yard id 5 p m. Proceeds from the T-shirt ar. But ft Jes will supplement funds for the con- r who wi: ruction of the Brazos County Humane earned, jciety’s new animal shelter, receiver! yj Chris Carter, who has been working arold Ja ith the fund-raising project, said the I seasons, dirts feature animal cartoons and ,Hgs — such as “Horses Need Love 30,’ as well as ecology screen prints. T-shirt prices are $6.50 for adult sizes id $6 for children’s sizes. >w ii ap| "j} 1( , re jy-g gg different styles,” Car- tb^rsaid. She explained that students, as well I faculty and staff members, comprise ic Veterinary Services Organization. "The organization works on commun- fervice projects, raising money for eedy causes,” she said. Ground was broken in June at the site ’new shelter on Pinfeather Road in The Humane Society expects > jfc ^ ic |shelter, which will serve Brazos * ^ bunty, to be completed in the fall. m-shirt tables attracted many passers- y glider sunny skies Wednesday. Car- ||laid that in the case of rain, T-shirts Hbe sold inside the Memorial Stu- H Center. to animals: buy a T-shirt Staff photo by Jane G. Brust With some help from her mother, Kristi Riggs, 4, tion. Kristi and Sherry Riggs came to College Sta- selects a T-shirt in her size featuring a horse car- tion from Foumey with Kristi’s father, an instruc- toon. The T-shirts were sold near Rudder Fountain tor at the Fireman’s Training School. T-shirt sales Wednesday by the Veterinary Services Organiza- will end today. ttend J46-15I Velding accident cuts Bryan’s power Baft. At least 40 percent of the City of ban was without power Wednesday ht when a welding accident caused eral transformers to be knocked out the Atkins Street Power Plant in /an. Two employees of a contractor hired the city were using welding equip- mt when they apparently cut through broke a power line. This line fell over ither power line and shorted out sev- il ftransformers which caused the wer to be knocked out. Both employees received electrical ms as a result of the accident. They re treated and released from St. ;eph Hospital in Bryan. I Full power was restored by 10:20 n| City officials said crews would * throughout Wednesday night to ike sure the power system could [idle today’s peak loads of electricity. Because of the power outage and the eady low water supplies, Bryan resi- nts have been asked to limit their use water. Hall of Fame patrons dance anyway By CATHY SAATHOFF Battalion Staff Dancing by candlelight. Strolling minstrels playing quiet serenades. Whispered conversations filling the air. Not a typical evening at the Texas Hall of Fame. But that’s how it was Wednesday night as a power shortage caused by a welding accident made lights, music and action come to a screeching halt at the dance hall. After a quick stop at The Battalion office, we learned Bryan was experiencing a blackout. A nice bit of information, but it was not until we were at the door of the Hall of Shame that we put it all together and figured out that we would be drinking and dancing in a dark, silent room. A woman told us that beer was regular price and anyone who payed to get in would get a refund if the power was not restored soon. And all we had worried about was if the air conditioning vents outside the door would mess up our freshly-rolled hair. After driving out there, we decided to take our chances and hope for quick restoration of power. We joined a group of die-hards in a huge hall lit only by what daylight could find its way in through four open doors. The room was dark, but the atmosphere was light. A few couples took advantage of the darkness for crash courses on kicker dancing. One-two-three, one-two-three. If you have to count, you don’t have it down. A brave line took to the empty floor for the “Cotton Eyed Joe,” and made it once around the floor before giving in to the darkness. Two band members did what they could by strolling around the dance floor playing a fiddle and guitar. They were greeted with cheers, but couldn’t replace an entire electri fied band. Then a “Whoop” as the lights suddenly flicked on. False alarm. New records in alcohol consumption were probably set in that darkness. Fidgeting. Candles handed out to tables on the other side, of the hall. Possible heat rash; are there any good tapes in the car? Just as the asphalt was warming up for an impromptu street dance, the electricity came back. Around 10:20, patience was rewarded as the die-hards greeted illumination and the sound of the jukebox playing dancing music. Regents’ agenda includes budget, enrollment limit Consideration of operating budgets for fiscal year 1982 and new enrollment management policies — including a proposal to limit the number of students attending Texas A&M University — dominate the agenda facing the Texas A&M University System Board of Re gents Tuesday. The proposed System budget totals a record $528,605,983 for four universi ties, seven state agencies and the Sys tem offices. Enrollment increases at Texas A&M and expanded programs there and elsewhere in the statewide system figure prominently in the $118 million increase over the budget for the current year, System officials say. Higher Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) requirements for all students ex cept those ranking in the top quarter of their high school graduating classes be will be considered as one means of man aging enrollment at Texas A&M, along with possible limits on the number of entering freshmen and transfer stu dents. Texas A&M, which has been the fas test-growing university in the nation for the past decade, has more than doubled its enrollment within the past 10 years and is expecting an increase of approxi mately 2,000 students this fall, giving it a student body in excess of 35,000. While exploring ways to stem growth at Texas A&M, regents will be review ing proposals to stimulate enrollments at Prairie View A&M University, Tarle- ton State University and Texas A&M University at Galveston. The regents’ meetings are scheduled as follows: — Sunday 10:30 a.m. — Executive Committee — Sunday 1:30 p. m. — Planning and Building Committee — Monday 8:30 a.m. — Meeting of the Committee as a Whole: Reports of the Planning and Building Committee, Committee for Service Units, Commit tee for Academic Campuses and Execu tive Committee — Monday 1:30 p.m. •— Report of the Executive Committee continued. The meeting of the full board is sche duled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Fleas: just another summer problem By BERNIE FETTE Battalion StafT Fleas are always an annoyance for both people and pets during summer months, but three factors are contribut ing to Texas’ worst flea problem yet dur ing this particular summer. Dr. Phil Hamman, an extension urban entomologist for the Texas Agri cultural Extension Service, said the big gest contributor to the problem is toler able environmental conditions for the fleas. “Last winter was particularly mild,” Hamman said, “so there was a good carry-over.” The fact that fleas live indoors as much as outdoors is another factor, he said, since there is a more constant en vironment for them indoors. A growing pet population is a third contributor to the problem, Hamman said. “People could do themselves a great favor by not having pets.” But if people do want pets, he said, the pets should be treated once a week if they are allowed to run free and some what less often if they are confined in doors. Flea collars are not as effective as shampooing and flea powder treat ments, Hamman said. Flea bites can also be very annoying for people, said Dr. John M. Owens, also an urban entomologist. Fleas most often bite people about the legs and ankles. A small red spot with a light colored center appears where a person is bitten. Effective treatments for the bite which will relieve the itching include pet roleum jelly, calamine lotion and ice. Hamman said some people are more susceptible to the bites than others, de pending on individual characteristics. Therefore, severe infections resulting from flea bites should be treated by a physician. Spraying lawns, porches and outdoor buildings with insecticide can be effec tive in coping with the flea problem, but the areas sprayed must be allowed to dry before pets or children are allowed near them. Eating the caveman’s high-fiber diet can be healthy )5 MOST mericM CARS! By SUSAN HOPKINS Battalion StaiT Just as prehistoric cavemen ambled vly across the tall grass plains in east 5 million years ago snacking on grass seeds, roots, nuts, field |ce, lizards and insects, so Dr. Vaughn Bryant eats a breakfast of raw car- , bananas and peaches. Bryant, head of the anthropology de- rtment at Texas A&M University, is a caveman diet. He is an expert on prehistoric diets, d has learned much about how cave rn ate by studying human coprolites fossilized feces. “We were designed to be hunters and therers,” he said, “but technology has ed faster than our own physiology. “We don’t have to abandon our mod- n technology and return to living in ves to benefit from what we’ve imed about the diets of prehistoric Itures. Instead, we can adapt their etary ideas to foods we have available day. And that’s exactly what Bryant, age , has been doing for the past seven :ars: instead of foraging in the wilds, : forages his way through the super- arket. “Just last week I spent $22.50 on all 'oduce, and one small package of eat, he said. “That has to be the big- :st disadvantage of the caveman diet, resh produce is expensive, even when s in season.” Bryant said that although he officially rted his diet by cutting out “canned jp processed foods with their preser- itives, additives and oils, and fats like marine and butter,” he had already id a small taste of the caveman diet. In an article in Prevention magazine, ptember 1979, Bryant told of his first ated experience as a caveman. •Hie summer of 1974, he said, he took udents on an archeological dig in luthwest Texas, near the Mexican bor er. He said that since the foods prehis toric people ate — cactus, agave (a plant that looks similar to yucca), wild onions, nuts and berries — are still abundant in the area, the group decided to try living like the cavemen did, “just for an ex periment.” Bryant said they got up each morning around 6 o’clock and walked four road- “We don't have to abandon our modern technology and return to living in caves to benefit from what we've learned about the diets of prehistoric cultures. Instead, we can adapt their dietary ideas to foods we have avail able today, ” said Bryant. less miles to the archeological site. “In stead of eating breakfast before setting out, we’d forage — which is what the cavemen did,” Bryant said. According to the article, the group cooked cactus, which made up 60 per cent of the prehistoric diet, fish and even a rattlesnake. However, Bryant doesn’t make a practice of eating the exact foods eaten by prehistoric people of Texas. “Even if I wanted to eat rattlesnake, mice and lizard, where would I get them in Col lege Station?” he said. So, instead, he has replicated the caveman regimen with wholesome foods, matching vitamin for vitamin, protein for protein and carbohydrate for carbohydrate. The result was a diet full of high-fiber, low-calorie foods. Physi cians and nutritionists have assured him the diet is healthy, he said. 1 Bryant, 5 feet 10 inches tall, lost 30 pounds the first four months on the diet, and has remained at his high school foot ball-playing weight, 165 pounds (plus or minus five pounds, he said) for the past seven years. However, Bryant said, eat ing these foods is not the only way he remains trim and healthy like the cave men — he also exercises by, swimming one mile of laps each morning. Bryant said that he has an accurate record — from analysis of human cop rolites — of what prehistoric people were eating. He said that things like pollen, plant crystals, feathers, bones, hair and eggshells passed through peo ple’s digestive tracts thousands of years ago, and have been preserved in the feces. Bryant said it is clear that cavemen were not obese. In fact, he said, they had to be in pretty good shape to live in places where they did. When he took 19 Texas A&M students to an archeological site in Southwest Texas, he said, 12 of them couldn’t climb up the side of a cliff to a place where Bryant said cavemen walked in and out of everyday. “When 12 young men, supposedly in their prime, are that out of shape, it makes me wonder about the American diet,” he said. “We live in a junk food revolution,” he added, “where sugar is the number one, two or three ingredient in most of our foods — even in vegetables like can ned com and peas.” The caveman diet may not be for everyone, Bryant admits, but, he said, “I want to enjoy good health as long as I can, and I personally have a better chance of surviving on this diet.” Bryant said he doesn’t consider him self a nutritionist or a fanatic. “I like modem amenities like air con ditioning, football games on television and hot baths, but we can have the best of both worlds,” he said. “Modem sci ence and primitive practice fit together. ” Staff photo by Greg Gammon Dr. Vaughn M. Bryant, head of the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University displays a toothless skull from India. Bryant speculates the skull is missing all of it’s teeth from a combination of tooth decay and gum disease caused by poor nutrition. Junk foods historical part of man's diet By SUSAN HOPKINS Battalion Staff Five million years ago, prehistoric men were trim and fit. They relied only on the foods they could find growing wild. Ten thousand years ago, when plants and animals were first domesticated, diets became less varied and full of fats like milk, pork, butter, cheese and eggs. In 1981, 80 million people in the United States are overweight, and six of the 10 leading diseases in the United States are linked to modem man’s diet: heart disease, cancer, obesity, dental disease, diabetes and hypertension. Dr. Vaughn M. Bryant, head of the anthropology department at Texas A&M University and an expert on pre historic diets, found that the pleasure Americans get out of committing the simple sin of eating the junk foods that flood the market has caused alarming statistics about the average amount of various foods each American consumed last year. The average consumption consisted of: — over 100 pounds of refined sugar — 55 pounds of fats — 300 soft drinks — 200 sticks of gum — 20 gallons of ice cream — 18 pounds of candy — 63 donuts — 15 pounds of salt — over 50 pounds of cookies and cakes. Bryant said that although modem man would do well to eat like cavemen did, they, too, consumed a few junk foods items. Examples are: — dirt to fill their stomaches and stop hunger pangs — chewed leather to give a false sense of eating and to cause salivation — ground up tree bark to eat