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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1985)
Page 6b/The Battalion/Thursday, September 5,1985 jMilisi. Finger Lickin’ Good p^k^h^s This squirrel enjoys a treat specially prepared by Mother Nature near Texas A&M’s Le K eet Hall. For more another squirrel shot, see page 6. Today's social concerns influence revolutionary investment decisions Dowser finds wells with wood, metal and inheritance Mornings hectic for family of 12 Associated Press SACHSE — After a dozen show ers, two dozen eggs and a vat-full of orange juice, the McCauley house hold was almost ready for the day kids dread and some parents live for. “We’ve got to get cracking here,” Mike McCauley, 41, urged his family of 12 as the first day of school dawned Tuesday. Mike, 17, a high school senior, gulped down his juice as he waited for 12-year-old David, a 7th grader, to finish dressing. They were head ing to school early for football prac tice, and Tami, a 16-year-old sopho more, was riding with them so she could visit with friends before school. In the kitchen, Meagan, 7, and Shannan, 10, quietly argued over who was going to stir the scrambled eggs- In addition to eight schoql-aged children, the McCauleys have two pre-schoolers, Meredith, 18 months, and Jonathan, 4. The family lives in a six-bedroom house near Dallas and keeps one horse and a very large dog in the back yard. Prepping all the kids ready for school requires a well-tested and tightly woven schedule, said Linda McCauley, who ferries the kids to jobs and assorted practices. “The kids make the lunches the night before and they shower in the morning. We hjive a shower sched ule. They each know just how long they have and that’s it, because Mike (her husband, a lawyer) is the last to shower and he better have hot wa ter,” Mrs. McCauley said. The first morning of the school year usually goes well, Mrs. McCau ley said. It is the preceding weeks that are hectic. Friday, for example, the last busi ness day before the start of school, was filled with errands. Mrs. McCau ley packed nine of the 10 kids into the family van and zoomed off to a plethora of destinations. By 7:15 a.m. Tuesday, all eight of the school-age children had either driven to school or climbed on the bus. Associated Press NEW YORK — As they choose in vestments these days, more and more people are thinking about the social, political and ethical issues in volved. “Investing with a conscience” is by no means a new idea. But circum stances like the turmoil over apart heid in South Africa, concern over the international arms race and con troversy over nuclear power plants have given it fresh impetus in the past few years. One trade group, the Boston- based Social Investment Forum, has said that as of the end of 1984 about $40 billion was invested in profes sionally managed portfolios operat ing with social as well as financial standards. Several mutual funds are available to the public that pick stocks and other investments according to a set of political and social criteria. The Dreyfus Third Century Fund, for example, looks at compa nies’ records in protecting conlsum- ers and the environment and in pro viding for equality in employment and health and safety on the job. Others shun companies that make weapons, alcoholic beverages or to bacco products, businesses that op erate in “socially repressive” coun tries, or those that are involved in the casino gambling industry. A new fund has been organized to invest under the tenets of the Moslem faith. This kind of approach is widely regarded as revolutionary in the supposedly amoral world of interest, dividends and capital gains. When you stop to think about it, however, most of us manage our money with an active conscience. Associated Press SAN ANGELO — Each time wa ter witch Barbara Leathers finds wa ter, she feels a charge of excitement. “I love to find water for people,” she says. “Water in West Texas is so rare. When that pole pulls down, there’s no way you can stop it. Can you imagine all that magnetism?” Leathers has been finding water for customers of water well driller Henry Curtis, friends and neighbors for a year and a half. She has found, with 100 percent success, more than a dozen wells. Unlike some dowsers, Leathers cares little about what kind of wood or metal she uses to find water deep in the ground. “I use mesquite, a peach branch or a coat hanger,” she says. “It doesn’t matter.” Indeed, there seems to be no pref erence in Leathers’ case. In her back yard in Grape Creek, Leathers approaches a peach tree with a pair of pruning shears. “This thing needs trimming any way,” she says as she snips off a slim, forked branch. "A peach branch is easier than a mesquite. I don’t have to cut the thorns off.” Leathers walks deliberately to ward a vein of water she knows was flowing underground through her back yard. Her steps are slow and measured. Her expression is intent as she concentrates on the ground. The point of the peach fork be gins to move in a barely discernible downward progression. Leathers walks a little further and stops. The peach fork continues in a downward arc. Incredibly, after it reaches the low point, it turns up ward on itself, the point moves to ward Leathers’ waist. Leathers hangs onto the branch, refusing to allow it to turn in her hand. “Sometimes it will turn completely over,” she says softly. “There is a lot of water down there.” Leathers backs away from the site and begins again. As the peach fork bends once again, she stops. “This is where the well should be dug,” she says. “It is so much stronger here than my first well. We I will put a well here someday.” I Leathers says her father dowsed | for water for his neighbors. She I learned to look for certain signs be- [; fore she began dowsing. “You need a horse or a pickup to 1 ride around in,” she says. “You find | the largest healthy trees, eithermes | quite or oak. Their roots godeepto I find water. “Near the trees, look forthelarj 1 est red ant hill. They always makei I bed not far from water.” After squaring off the area in I about an acre, Leathers says she be gins walking with her stick, crossing the area several times. When the stick Iregins its pull,sht walks until it stops pulling. Then sht walks slowly backwards and begins again. She marks the spot wheretht pull is strongest. On either side of that marl Leathers finds an area of strong pul to establish the flow direction of tht underground stream. Finally, she walks along tht stream until she finds the strongot pull and says "drill here.” Although she does not remembe having dowsed as a child. Leathern certain she inherited the ability froit 1 her father. She believes the trait is passed | from father to daughter or froi I mother to son. Of her five children | only her son Bill Leathers can finl I water with a divining rod. Ten years ago, Leathers dowsed | water for the first time on propetn 1 she and her husband purchased. She did not witch for water agaii I until about a year and a half ago. One day Leathers looked out the | window and saw a drilling compi 1 dig for water on her neighoor's land | The hole was dry. “I went over and told them 1 wasi 1 witcher and I would find water f« | them,” she says. "I found a spotand I the next day the driller found waU | at 80 feet running 55 gallons a min [ ute. The word spread. Next, 1 found F water for another neighbor at 851 feet with 65 gallons per minute." Since then, Leathers has worked l in Carlsbad, Spring Creek, Wall and j, Robert Lee, finding water each time I < T6e *W&rd is getting around... CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST A dynamic opportunity to grow in your Christian faith. MEETS , f-CO VMV&E*- IE.COM lot ‘Help spread c W&rd CALL-AMERICA No installation fee. 30 minutes free. Your first 30 minutes of long distance calls on Call-America are free! 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Currei de las Ca elected t state uni\ by the lav News i groups o number virtually tation in with som sacking st Excelsi tional me front-pag dents set and “do sacked bti with auth them.” In a tel day, Orn Ochoa b “dozens” seized by there was property. Alfred strike lea terview tl the pres: which he mands a morning. MS Bro hou Tin J M: name tamu addk city/e PHor^