Friday, May 3, 1985/The Battalion/Page 3B
Snakebite
f/ete's sometf/ncf worth a
CLOSER
The best cure
is to be wary
University News Service
It’s spring and time to be wary of
snakes, a Texas A&M wildlife scien
tist warns.
“If you come upon a snake, re
main calm and simply walk away,”
Dr. Fred Hendricks, associate pro
fessor of wildlife and Fisheries sci
ences, says. “Most snakes are not ag
gressive and most man-snake
encounters go unnoticed by man. In
any case, an average person can out
run a snake.”
Hendricks says chances are only
four in 10 that a poisonous snake
will release venom when it bites. The
fatality rate from snake bite is ex-
trememly low, he says. Less than 1
percent of the victims who are struck
die from the 2,000-plus bites an
nually reported nationwide.
Snakes are most active between
April and mid-June because it is the
mating season. In early spring they
move about a great deal, but as the
weather warms up much of the activ
ity will be limited to the early morn
ing and late evening hours, the wild
life expert says.
“Nearly all bites occur from peo
ple handling snakes, rather than be
ing surprised by one,” Hendricks
says. “Most bites come as no surpri
se.”
Hendricks says people should
learn to distinguish one snake from
another, because rattlesnakes, cop
perheads, cottonmouths (all pit vip
ers) and coral snakes are the only
ones considered dangerous in
Texas.
He says people should be cautious
when picking up fallen limbs,
boards, tin and other objects on the
ground this summer.
“They ought to get rid of debris,”
he says. “If they did, it would reduce
the likelihood of a snake being
around.
“Don’t lift anything towards you,”
he says. “Lift things away from you
so a snake won’t be staring you in the
eye.”
There’s no standard procedure
for treating snakebites, Hendricks
says, although most doctors would
advise remaining calm, avoiding un
necessary movement and putting a
constricting band above the bite to
slow down but not cut off the blood
flow. Then go immediately to the
hospital.
“There’s so much controversy
about how to treat snakebites that
the best cure seems to be to learn to
avoid snakes and not get bitten in
the First place,” he says.
Americans respect
religion’s influence
Associated Press
Americans have more respect for
organized religion than for any of
the country’s other major institu
tions, and tne impression is growing
that religion is having greater impact
on society.
But there has been a downward
trend in the view that religion can
answer most modern problems, al
though a majority still tnink it can do
so.
These are among Findings sum
marized in the latest reports of the
Princeton Religious Research Cen
ter, a branch of the Gallup poll orga
nization, which gathered the data.
Results of recent surveys also
show some key differences between
evangelicals and non-evangelicals on
some major social issues, but also
some striking concurrences. Protes
tant and Catholic views ran parallel
on several issues.
A majority of both — 73 percent
of Protestants and 72 percent of
Catholics — favor prayer in public
schools. Majorities — 51 percent of
Protestants and 59 percent of Catho
lics — favor a ban on abortions ex
cept in case of rape, incest, or when
the mother’s life is endangered, Gal
lup Finds.
Most Americans also are found to
think it is proper for religious
groups to express their views about
political, social and economic mat
ters, but not to oppose or endorse
specific candidates.
Only a tiny minority, 3 percent,
say their pastors have ever sided for
or against particular candidates.
The Findings were based on inter
views with scientifically selected
cross-sections, most of them involv
ing 1,000 or more people.
The topmost degree of confi
dence expressed in organized reli
gion, compared to other institutions,
continued a consistent pattern
turned up over the past decade.
Similar to results of six previous
surveys conducted since 1973, the
new study found that two-thirds of
Americans — 64 percent — have a
“great deal” or “quite a lot” of confi
dence in organized religion.
The next highest rated among
U.S. institutions, as measured by the
degree of confidence in it, was the
U.S. military, which 58 percent of
the people voiced substantial trust.
In ensuing order, with the per
centages having confidence in them,
were these institutions:
Banks and the U.S. Supreme
Court, both 51 percent; public
schools, 47 percent; newspapers, 34
percent; organized labor, 30 per
cent; the U.S. Congress and big busi
ness, both 29 percent, and television,
26 percent.
While a majority — 56 percent —
think religion can “answer all or
most of today’s problems,” the pro-
f iortion has showed a steady decline
rom what it was 10 years ago — 62
percent.
The present level was even fur
ther down from the high optimism
of a quarter century ago when 81
percent in 1957 felt religion offered
solutions to most all difficulties.
Nevertheless, the proportion of
Americans who think religion is in
creasing its influence on American
life has risen almost steadily from a
low of 14 percent in 1970 to a cur
rent 42 percent.
Ice sculptors practice
perishable form of art
Associated Press
MIDLAND — Sculpture has tra
ditionally been one of the most dura
ble, permanent art forms, but some
sculptors’ soaring eagles, graceful
swans and proud dragons turn into
mere puddles of water within hours.
“Almost any ice carving will last
five to six hours,” said Robert Ver-
vynch, executive chef of Mission
Country Club.
Ice carvings are often used as
chilly but grandiose centerpieces
adorning banquet tables for parties.
' While primarily decorative, ice
sculptures originally had a very utili
tarian purpose.
“Ice carving was founded in the
late 1800s by Auguste Escoffier for
the purpose of preserving ice cream
bombes, which are best presented
when placed upon an ice base,”
according to Vervynch.
Vervynch still sometimes makes
ice carvings intended as much to
keep food chilled as to look pretty,
such as small ice boats to keep
shrimp cool.
Vervynch and his staff members
carve at least 40 ice sculptures a
month, he said.
One of Mission Country Club’s ice
carvers, Mike McDonald, recently
won third place in the ice carving
category at the Texas Chef Associa
tion’s Culinary Salon statewide com
petition in Dallas.
Like most Midland ice carvers,
McDonald uses an ice pick to scratch
a rough outline of his sculpture on
one face of a large ice block. The
standard block of ice weighs 300
pounds and is 22 inches wide, 42
inches tall and 11 inches thick.
Then he fires up a small chainsaw
and starts carefully — but noisily —
lobbing off chunks of ice until he has
transformed the block into a rough
statue.
Asked how he knows where to cut
and how deeply, McDonald gave a
classic sculptor’s reply, “I just elimi
nate what doesn’t belong there.”
He also adds most of his detailing
with delicate applications of the
chainsaw to the ice. McDonald pre
fers using the chainsaw to handtools
because it is faster and the power
saw’s fast-moving blade is able to cut
into ice without his having to bear
down and risk shattering the carv
ing.
“Pressure is what kills the ice,” he
said.
Not all ice sculptures use the same
techniques.
“Everybody does it a little differ
ently,” said Bill Chambers, executive
chef of the Petroleum Club of Mid
land. “I base out on a chainsaw.
Then I do the actual sculpting with a
chisel. I use a little pocket saw to fin
ish with.”
Jean Pierre Thevenaz of the Mas
ter’s Club does his ice carvings en
tirely by hand, but not because he’s
an artistic ascetic. He used a chain
saw, he said, until “I burned it out.”
Rather than replace the saw, he
now simply uses handtools.
The chefs said the ephemeral na
ture of carefully-crafted ice carvings
doesn’t bother them.
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