Noise pollution called harmful
Associated Press
Noise is the most inescapable
form of pollution — and it is hazard
ous to your health, according to an
article in the March issue of Science
Digest.
Studies show noise pollution can
harm the ears and reauce learning
ability. There even are indications
that it can injure the brain.
Audiologist John Mills of the
Medical College of South Carolina
believes the brain is “the most signif
icant area in need of further study.”
He reports that in several animal ex
periments, 65 decibels of sound —
the noise level of an air conditioner
— damaged the brain stem.
Noise can interfere with learning.
The California Department of
Health Services reported children in
schools on loud streets score well be
low their socioeconomic coun
terparts in quiet schools.
Even a modest level of noise can
be troublesome. Two British psy
chologists, reporting last year in the
Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America, found that suburban traf
fic noise of about 46 decibels — com
parable to the hum of a refrigerator
— impairs sleep.
Environmental noise can be more
damaging than the blast of an explo
sion, Science Digest reported. Rup
tured eardrums can be at least par-
urgery,
damage caused by high noise levels
over time can be irreversible.
While the Environmental Protec
tion Agency’s $14 million noise-
abatement program was scrapped
four years ago, much noise pollution
can be hushed by common sense.
Stereo headphones top the list of
controllable noisemakers. A study by
ear, nose and throat specialist Phillip
Lee of the University Hospital in
Iowa City, Iowa, showed that teen
agers who use stereo headphones
for three hours suffer temporary
hearing loss, especially when the
headphones are played at high vol-
“People should not turn them up
above a normal conversational
level,” Lee said.
Neurobiologist Barbara Bohne, of
the Washington University School of
Medicine in St. Louis, suggests limit
ing the duration of noisy activities.
“If you have to cut wood with a
chain saw, do it for an hour one Sat
urday and another hour the follow
ing week, rather than for two hours
at once,” she says.
Ear plugs and muffs can reduce
noise by as much as 25 decibels, Sci
ence Digest reported.
Army red tope detains awards 40 years
WWII vet finally gets medals
Associated Press
TEXAS CITY — After 40 years
and yards of red tape, Charles W.
“Bill” McCartney has finally received
.the medals he was awarded in World
War II.
“These medals are something that
will make my grandkids proud of
me,” said McCartney, 59. '‘They can
look at them and say, ‘This is what
my granddad done! ”
McCartney won a Distinguished
Service Cross, a Purple Heart and
eight other medals while serving
with Company C, 328th Regiment of
the 26th Army Infantry.
He received seven of the awards
from the Department of the Army
earlier this month. But McCartney
isn’t about to complain.
“Better late than never,” he said.
He said he wrote the Army several
times, but without success.
“The Army told me some papers
were misplaced when I was dis
charged, and they had no record of
my medals,” McCartney said. “They
said they are backlogged with cases
similar to mine and it takes a long
time to sort out the paperwork. I’ve
heard of some guys who lost an arm
or leg in combat and still don’t have
their Purple Heart.”
McCartney’s company was
awarded the cross for rushing
against the Germans in Luxembourg
on Jan. 11, 1945.
A citation states McCartney was
shot in the shoulder, but while his
wound was being dressed, he cleared
his gun in preparation for more ac
tion. He continued to fight, destroy
ing two more machine gun nests.
Ifs official now, Ha
Cut and Shooi
Associated Press
CUT AND SHOOT — A town
hall suffering an identity crisis
has settled a long-standing con
troversy over a community never
quite certain of its own name.
Documents have proven the
tiny town east of Conroe is Cut
and Shoot — with the ‘and’ fully
spelled. So the structure is offi
cially the Cut and Shoot Town
Hall.
The rustic log cabin looks like
anything but the municipal gov
ernment meeting place that it is.
“People thought it was nothing
but a beer joint, right there by the
fire station,” alderman Gene
Douget says.
So, at a meeting a few months
ago, he suggested a sign to clear
up any misconceptions about the
hall. But misconceptions about
the spelling of the town’s name
were not as easy to clear up. Va
rious sources refer to it as Cut
and Shoot, Cut’n Shoot, Cut 8c
Shoot or Cut’N’ Shoot, and there
are probably others.
“We started getting the sign to
gether, so we thought we better
get it right,” Douget says.
The city fathers consulted the
not-so-ancient chronicles anij||
spoke. They checked the chartctH
drafted in 1969, and found tkK ABIL
town spelled Cut and Shoot. g|wed chi
The words, “Town Hall—QtElk As!
and Shoot, Texas,” now eracetli^ wou
the hall’s unpainted cedar exlf |i|rhip t
rior. Looking at the 30-feet4|^ eat h er
40-feet hall, it is easy to see j n (
might have caused the confusid™*
about the building.
“You know the old Westerns
loon with the porch on it?"Dot
get says. “It looks just like that.'
And thanks to the sign, re Monday
dents need no longer wondelfflied to
where their town hall is. fordinn*
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know where tne town hall was,
y in <
The ti
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until
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fere h;
he says. “It’s been sitting thereil gashed
the lime.” K reca
They need no longer wonde inea l S ot
how to spell their town’s namL^n-y to
though a host of referencesoffeif He wa
conflicting advice on the corth f r0 ntage
form. truck slii
The town’s community centeiELeona
shows the municipality’s naut|the true!
spelled correctly, and so do maii f no t jn gi
maps. But the town’s fire stati : j.jj tu l a tic
has the wrong spelling on its jap 1 ! did
rage doors, as do phone boo! g 0W) to 1
listing Cut and Shoot numbkgsaid.
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