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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1981)
THE BATTALION Page 5 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1981 eer lover’s collection just an empty dream 'CttgCii rversal 'ednesdif By MARTY BLAISE Battalion Reporter beer lover’s dream would be walk into Alex Van Steen’s me and see the hundreds of cans lined up on shelves, ere’s only one problem — the is are empty. Van Steen, a dairy science ma- from Houston, collects and des beer cans. He began his by while living in St. Louis in fo. It was something everybody for a hobby in the Midwest,’’ said, “and I started collecting a y cans, too. ter he moved to Houston in r 2, Van Steen stopped collect- for awhile, but soon found sev- beer can collectors to trade th and began to build on his [lection again. “The last time 1 counted, I had jiewhere between 550 and 600 ferent cans, ” he said. IVhen he began his hobby, Van a said, he collected every he could. “We’d take these big family is around the United States and national parks,” Van Steen 1. “I’d hit every trash can and ;ry liquor store and get all these ferent cans.” hile looking for cans on a hik ing trip in Canada, Van Steen found an outhouse full of old Cana dian beer bottles. “I took these back to Houston and traded them off for some nice beer cans,” he said. “I collected cans with a different type of tab or a different colored lettering, and then I decided I wanted to collect something more specific,” Van Steen said. Although at first he collected all types of cans — different types of tabs or different colored lettering — now Van Steen specializes in collecting tin beer cans. Van Steen gets his beer cans by finding them, trading and buying them. He also barters beer memor abilia such as trays, posters, and coasters for the cans. His collection also is comprised of contributions. “There was a man that came over from Great Britain on a busi ness trip and was so impressed with my collection that every two or three months he sends me a couple of cans,” Van Steen said. Van Steen, who was bom in the Netherlands, said he also has an uncle who lives there and also sends him beer cans. Several oak shelves in the game room of his parents’ home in Houston hold the beer can collec tion. Van Steen said he liked to alphabetize his cans. When categorizing cans by the same brewery, Van Steen consid ers year, the type of beer the can contained, the type of pull-tab and the type of material the can is made of. “I like to keep all my cans bot tom-opened,” Van Steen said, “so it looks like the cans were never opened, but I don’t keep cans that still have beer in them.” The most valuable can in Van Steen’s collection is a Drewry’s Ale which he said is worth $90. A can may be valued by age or li mited series. Van Steen said. The two cans he said he would like most to add to his collection are an old Miller Malt Liquor can and a Budweiser Malt Liquor can. To those who might be in terested in starting a beer can col lection, Van Steen said, “Don’t buy any cans, but try to collect or find them.” He advised keeping the cans clean, and not getting old, rusty or dented cans unless they are valu able. The first beer cans were made in about 1935, Van Steen said, and these cans, along with some cans that were only on the market for a few weeks, like the 007 series, are some of the most valuable. rn Ixtension service offers chemical control course he risk of human exposure to rdous chemicals is growing as q Up: volume of chemicals trans- Ul Bled across the nation increases, Hpeeialist in charge of training pi B^gency response teams says. Bln 1977, one of the last years ciw ®8 ures are available, more j uW 1 14’000 accidents were re- ®®di*Bt e d involving trucks hauling lical(*Bi e sort of hazardous material r Hceb® about 1,600 reported mishaps missioBBolvmg railway tank cars, said Bry Payne of the Texas En- tlffcering Extension Service Krps). othinj! P a y ne directs the TEES ( dfjjjjjBgrain that trains officials and ties witlB er § enc y s 9. ua ds in the control satisfy®^ spills and hazardous mate- jeijBssuch as gasoline and chlorine. ^ B^he need for swift, but safe and said ®^^y planned, action in che- ’ pical disasters prompted TEES, a epowei® Texas A&M University P 1 ’Btem, to develop a five-day Bardous material control course idedtl*® ts CeUege Station headquar- igramfal’ Pa y ne said ' Association to conduct a two-day workshop at various locations across the nation. Another spin-off of the course has been development of a two- day tank truck rollover at Brayton Field, in which emergency teams will practice controlling the mate rial while unloading and upright- ing the trailer. Hazardous material extension courses are also being taught by the TEES division as a result of the program, Payne said. These courses are oriented towards the theory of contingency planning and hazardous material control, with limited hands-on training. While training emergency teams to handle sometimes life- and-death situations, the same TEES division also conducts a widely recognized oil spill control program at a special facility in Gal veston. Nearly 30 of the five-day oil spill classes are now held each year, Payne said. As with many engineering ex tension service programs, special contract courses are arranged when possible. The oil spill control training in cludes experience in skimmer and boom operations, spill sampling and documentation, moving oil slicks across the water’s surface and recovering underground spills. ’theiii interni es. Sk to and ening!l| lepooi* ie read* lie course is offered on a regu- iasis. It is designed so students spend most of the time in istic hands-on situations — n a fiery truck crash to finding patching leaks. egun only two years ago, the rdous material control course _ow held more than 12 times a licesot year at Brayton Firemen Training our o#’field, a 60-acre, facility southwest katow f the Texas A&M main campus. lll.lt f: in many cases, the fluid used in fese simulated exercises is only ired water, but students are jected to think, dress and act as jie water were a deadly poison, Ine said. addition to the five-day, fcds-on program, the TEES Oil Jd Hazardous Material Control uning Division has arranged :h the Chemical Manufacturers Youngsters ‘scared’ by business world, A&M professor says Tai A Texas A&M University market ing professor wanting to learn more about young consumers has found youngsters are disen chanted with the business world. After surveying 45 third- graders and 54 fifth-graders. Dr. James McNeal of Texas A&M’s College of Business Administra tion and a former doctoral stu dent, C.J. Anderson, said many children expect to get “ripped off” or misled by stores, packaging, advertising and salespeople. “Half the children felt scared or uneasy while shopping, particu larly when they shopped alone,” McNeal said. “They said they felt like they were being neglected by store personnel, and that it was sometimes difficult to get people to sell them things.” These findings, the professor said, though limited by sample size and research prodedures, in dicate that businesses who cater to children need to get more in volved in consumer education. Stores — particularly self-service stores — need to be more respon sive to children as consumers, perhaps by going into the clas srooms and describing purchase procedures and by letting them know how to obtain remedies for faulty products, he said. “Most of the guidelines for de veloping consumer education materials for children have been developed from an adult’s point of view. No one has asked the chil dren what consumer problems they have and what consumer competencies they lack,” McNeal said. mM 3t63ll ivy >sand .(her HE DIDN’T MEAN TO ROCK THE WC HE ONLY . liiipip! . 1 . |>rrcTCFT 1 mn RIOORAPHICAL NOVEL IRVING STONED over g Momrrts on THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSBUUWUSTI •ft I? 1 ' TO -^the mi THE HAGmnCJTtT SAGA OE CMAKLES DAIWIN. "AJ1 OVERPOWERING NARRAnVEJ —THC WflR TWft» P- ■ - LITERARY GUILD ’ ■ MAIN SELECTION any I $8.95 A HARDCOVER-SIZE PAPERBACK A PLUME BOOK Dairy science major Alex Van Steen estimates he has more than 550 beer cans in his collection. Van Steen has been col- Show your colors! Ours exclusively, the JCPenney Comfort Suit in maroon. Photo by Marty Blaise lecting and trading beer cans since 1970, and has accumu lated such valuable cans as the $90 Drewry Ale Can. 57.99 Reg. $74, jacket and slack. Our suit that lets you move in comfort. Tailored in a new two-way stretch fabric of To day’s 100% Dacron® polyester from Klopman Textured Wo- vens. The slack has a flexible stretch waistband, too. Both are also available in tan, gray and navy as well as maroon. If purchased separately: Jacket, reg. $55 Sale $43 Slack, reg. $19. Sale 14.99 From our Gig ’Em collection of maroon and white coordinates and sportswear. 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