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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1981)
£0 m :4 Towns fail to agree on who is oldest THE BATTALION Page 11B WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1981 Age recognition causes dispute United Press International BETWEEN SAN AUGUS- NE and NACOGDOCHES — 'or more than a century, resi- nts of these two East Texas iwns have feuded over which is Jexas' oldest town, ignoring a nst of geography 800 miles away lat clouds both claims. Both sides have documents and tails to prove their claim to ing the oldest city in Texas. “I don’t know where they come with that Nacogdoches is the It just isn’t so,” said Sam alone, publisher of San Augus- ic’s newspaper, The Ramb- |r. “Our mission was established st in 1717. We have the site of rmission and plenty of artifacts, ey don’t even know where their ission was. ” But Carolyn Ericson of Nacog doches, an historian who has au thored two dozen publications ab out history in East Texas, said her community clearly can be documented as the oldest. She said the missions in both Nacogdoches and San Augustine were established the same year, possibly 1717, but both also were abandoned a few years later. After a while, Anglo and Mex ican people moved back to the piney woods of East Texas and re settled the area, and since 1779 there has been a continuous set tlement in Nacogdoches. She says San Augustine cannot make the same claim. A census in 1790 showed Nacogdoches had a population of several hundred people, many of them of Mexican origin. Both cities were part of Mexico until Texas gained its independence in 1836. “I can’t understand how anyone can dispute these records. If the people in San Augustine are bas ing their history on Indian (mis sion) towns, well, no one can put a date on them. That’s just whistling in the wind,” Ericson said. “San Augustine is the oldest Anglo town in the state (she traces it from the 1790s), but Nacog doches has had a continuing set tlement since 1779 and that makes us older.” About 800 miles to the west, near El Paso, Ysleta traces its ori gins to 1682 when its mission was established and the town began to form. El Paso officials say Ysleta is the “oldest permanent settlement in the present limits of Texas.’ But they are playing with words. Librarian Danny Escontrias said that, at the time it was estab lished, Ysleta was on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. During the floods of 1829, the river changed its course and Ysleta be came a part of Texas. The tiny town which is now part of El Paso is having a 400th birth day celebration this year. East Texans are unmoved by Ysleta’s change of nationality and claim to fame. Nacogdoches, which is still a quaint little town with brick roads encircling the old-fashioned town square, even erected a sign be tween it and San Augustine on Texas 21 welcoming motorists “to the oldest city in Texas.” “They declared it to the whole world and that really got to some of our people, although it shouldn’t,” said Willie Earl Tindall, one of the local historians in San Angustine. Tindall said she thinks her rival city may be older, despite San Au gustine’s collection of age-old arti facts. “The legal documents that formed the two towns were actual ly in the same paragraph of the same law,” she said. “But common sense tells you if people came from Mexico to settle East Texas, they had to walk through Nacogdoches before they came to San Augustine.” Today's Almanac Today is Wednesday, Aug. 26, the 238th day of 1981 with 127 to follow. The moon is moving toward its new phase. The morning star is Mars. The evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. Scottish statesman and novelist John Buchan was born Aug. 26, 1875. On this date in history: In 1883, the volcano of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies began erupting. Before it subsided the following day, two-thirds of the island had been devastated and 36,000 people were killed. In 1920, American women were given the right to vote as the 19th amendment to the U.S. Gonstitution went into effect. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson and Sen. Hubert Humphrey were selected to head the Democratic ticket. They won in , November. redit cards may soon be improved Photo by JcriJm United Press International SAN FRANCISCO — The nar- iw brown stripe on the plastic ird that holds the secret key to jur credit may soon carry all your ther secrets as well. Drexler Technology Corp., of fountain View, Calif., has de- iloped a strip, one-half inch by iree inches, that can carry 5 mil- ion bits of information or the [uivalent of 100,000 words. That’s a good-sized book. There are a number of applica nts,” said Jerry Drexler, head of e company. “The obvious ones financial transactions of all les. You see, a card could last |ve to 10 years and could be used accumulate information such as [ou have in your passbook. ” Thus, when you flash your card to pay the dinner bill or buy a pair If shoes, the readout might show for dwar- about 114 those embarrassing overdrafts five years ago. But, on the positive side: “In the medical field, for exam ple, we can visualize carrying a card with your entire medical his tory, including a digital recording of electrocardiograms and all your medical records. If you are brought into the hospital, they could take out your card and have your entire record. It could perhaps save lives,” said Drexler. The card might well survive the automobile and be sent back to General Motors for research pur poses when the vehicle is junked. Can you record a whole book on it? “Yes. In fact, if you covered both sides of the card — and we have such a product — the Lon don Times calculated you could put 16 novels on it.” This quantum leap in Card tech nology is well beyond the de velopment stage. “We are now selling the sys tems,” said Drexler. “We have re ceived more than 300 corporate inquiries and we are beginning to negotiate with companies. Five companies have bought sample quantities.” The secret of the new card stripe is Drexon, a patented pro duct made of gelatin and two kinds of silver particles that are sensitive to light. SRI International, on assign ment from Drexon, has produced a small laser device which makes “holes” five microns wide in the strip of Drexon. A micron is a fifth of a thousandth of an inch. A human hair is 75 microns in diameter. “We make holes one-fifteenth nplementedii \ small business rate under ont rvices av: ions, Henaull financial plan ers, small bnsi- terns, training, and insurant the Control e Commercial mcial servfes irovides 1 iall businesses s needs to trail a person want or himself, t Control Datais inked with tk i Minneapolis e or potend I cess to ednci -anging ble Collect Building communicate using a sirapls 1 machine re tudent’s nan; program. ies in Dais )ata system I It said. schedule trait from the coit to audiovid® fit his ownfo ; training, I :er also off for third gral ol studentsl •aining ranges ti $80 to $5f cost of a tern is aroute mrage anyoit for a systef. system •ommodate & Renault et s-based at na City as tk usiness cente of the Oklal less commt HELLO AGAIN AGGIES! It sure is good to see all you Aggies back home where you belong! Remember JUST BOOTS and save dollars on all your boot needs!!! Victor is giving away a soda pop to the first 500 Aggies who come by!! BOOTS * Banana Boots * Senior Boots fir Dress Boots •k Cowboy Boots SHOE SERVICES Polishes — Sole Dressings Metal Taps — Army Rings 5 MINUTE SERVICE!! WESTERN WEAR Straw Hats Felt Hats Feather Bands Hat Pins Western Belts (Free Name Printing) Western Shirts CORPS Insignias in Brass or Cloth B.Q. Caps Midnights SENIOR BOOTS VICTOR’S II JUST BOOTS 3601 Texas Ave. Ridgeway Shopping Center 846-4114 the size of a human hair. We can record approximately five million holes on a strip the same size as the magnetic strip on a credit card. We read the information on the strip with the same tiny laser, ” said Drexler. The Drexon systems are now available for testing by potential customers, said Drexler. He anti cipates that Drexon will become the major product of his company, which is publicly owned and has annual sales of $15 million in photochemicals and other pro ducts for the semiconductor in dustry. But they will have to think of another name for this card. After all, you will be walking around with a piece of plastic that contains not only your bank state ments and balances, but possibly a history of your traffic violations, college grades, library fines, medical visits and other data. It would be lack of reverence to call it a mere “credit card.” (lave your en /'!\ YDUR CHILDREN MAY NEED \V LiAJVET is ready to serve you We Have a Buffet to fit your schedule Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Sun. Evening 6 p.m.-8 p.m. $3.05 $3.35 $3.35 When We Say Buffet, We Mean All The Pizza, Spaghetti and Trips to the Salad Bar You Want! Pizza Planet isn’t just another pizza place, the place to eat pizza. it’s 303 Villa Maria (Between College and Cavitt) (We’reReadyWhenYou’re Ready! V|v CARPETS Aggie Rug Riot once again offers their sensational ROLL ENDS AND REMNANTS Save UpTo 70% on beautiful rugs! 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