The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, August 12, 1986, Image 3

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, August 12, 1986, Image 3

Newspaper Page TextTuesday, August 12, 1986/The Battalion/Page 3 2 'unselors prepare for freshmen 5th grader takes to the skies with flying hobby Fish Camp ’86 about to begin By Kathryn Greenwade Reporter This summer 2,592 Texas A&M eshmen will be introduced to Ag- e tiaditions — and other treshmen at Fish Camp. On Friday, the first of four camps ill leave for Lakeview Methodist ssembly near Palestine for the tra- itional four-day course in being an ■ e - J'he freshmen have an opportu- ty to start over again and set new oals after evaluating all they did in di school,” assistant director Da- BLawhorne says. Reci Reeves, another assistant di- ector, said people make Fish Camp ork The counselors have the most ontactwith the freshmen, jhis year 1,300 students applied for the 648 counselor positions, she said. They aren’t paid salaries and pay the same fee to go to camp as the freshmen do. Reeves said the Fish Camp staff wants every freshman to get some thing out of camp. “I think the most important thing the freshmen gain is friends,” Reeves said. “Not only do they gain friends that are freshmen, but also upperclassmen friends who they can turn to for help.” The summer is the busiest time for the staff members as they regis ter the freshmen and assign them to camps, Reeves said. This year all the registration is being done by mail. She said the work actually begins in September when the directors are selected. There are 10 directors, Htt Texas officials back ^ 3 new banking bills JS each in charge of a different aspect of Fish Camp. Each session contains five camps that are headed by a chairman and a co-chairman, Reeves said. The chairmen have the task of choosing the counselors from the thousands of applicants. Reeves said the selection of counselors takes sev eral months. The counselors must attend seve ral training sessions and spend a great deal of time in the spring plan ning for their camp, she said. Each camp has a name, mascot and color and is named after impor tant people with ties to A&M. This year, for example, there are camps named after Shelby Metcalf, the Aggie basketball coach, and for mer Chancellor Arthur Hansen. A new addition this year will be an orientation offered for the parents so that they will understand what the freshmen will be doing for the four days of camp, Lawhorne said. The parents often seem a little worried seeing their son or daughter being greeted by counselors wearing Kermit the Frog hats and acting crazy, Lawhorne said, since they were told their children would be spending a week with responsible young adults. The directors stay in town for the summer to work on plans for camp, he said. Chairmen and counselors also come in twice during the sum mer to help out with some of the work. ARLINGTON (AP) — Fifth- grader John Hill has to prop himself up on three pillows when he takes the controls of a Cessna 172, but he says flying the four-seater is plain sailing. “It’s easy,” the 10-year-old Arling ton elementary school student said. “You just give it the gas until you get to 60 mph, you pull up the steering wheel and you go up. “And, oh yeah. You got to keep the plane in the middle of the run way.” John, who learned how to drive a car when he was seven, says he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. In the meantime, he drives a car in the parking lot at his father’s busi ness and flies airplanes. His father, Johnny Hill, noted that his son doesn’t drive without a licensed driver along as passenger and doesn’t fly without flight in structor Mike Fields. “He has to be 15 to solo legally,” said Fields, who works for Cothran Aviation. “If he were old enough, John could complete the require ments for a pilot’s license within a year.” John said he has trouble convinc- • ing his friends that he flies an air plane. He started in December 1985, when he asked his parents for flying lessons. John now flies once a week during the school year and three to four times a week in the summer. His mother, Patsy Hill says the $52-per-hour flight instruction bills make it an expensive hobby, but she said the expense is worthwhile. “If it were just a hobby, with no future for him, I don’t think I’d be supportive,” she said. “But this is what he wants to do.” John, a member of the Junior As tronauts Association, said he would like to work with the space program eventually. Before then, he wants to earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records by flying from Cali fornia to South Carolina next sum mer. “It will be the longest trip for the youngest person on a trip across the country,” John said. alters thd louldbei uistion aen ifonk eakersart otomv o: of klTO; i is defat e thatei- ree speed torapo tant prott t he caul [ speediii studeiti avetode lalismiM' editor for ■ AUSTIN (AP) — Interstate and branch banking got support frjom state regulatory officials Monday but some legislators still rad questions. ■ “What does an old family bank db if someone buys the Taco Bell atross the street and puts in a branch bank?” Rep. Stan Schleuter, D-Killeen, asked at a paiing of the House Financial Institutions Committee. ■ Rep. Bill Haley, D-Center, alked, “Who’s to say if the money will come in here or go out to other states if an out-of-state bank buys a Texas bank?” 1 The committee held a long public hearing on three measures piesented by Rep. Bruce Gibson, ■-Cleburne, and supported by ■exas independent bank and : holding companies. Gibson said the three measures one on interstate banking and ittvo on branch banking — would not be brought up for a commit tee vote until, and if, Gov. Mark ; tyhite opens the special session to banking issues. 1 Gibson said one measure would allow nationwide interstate ^banking, meaning that any bank ird ditor it iff ncM' SfW; IS MMm those of i/tf essarilfif itors, fM‘ l ! or holding company in another state could buy a bank or holding company in Texas, or the other way around. The other two measures, one a proposed constitutional amend ment, would allow banks to have up to three branch banks within a county. Present law allows a bank to have service branches only within a certain distance of the home bank. State banking commissioner James Sexton said, “Generally we are a supporter of these bills.” L.L. Bowman, commissioner of the Savings and Loan Depart ment, said, “We agree with Sex ton.” Bob Lane, speaking for the Texas Bankers Association, said there could be no “Taco Bell” branch banks because a provision in the bill would protect home of fices for five years against new competition. Sexton urged that branch banks be required to fulfill the same requirements that a home bank does when it applies for a state charter. FFA membership hit by economy HOUSTON (AP) — Enrollment in Future Farmers of America, a vo cational club that was enjoying a boom in secondary schools just a few years ago, is going down because of education reforms and the de pressed farm economy, officials say. For example, 136 students en rolled in agriculture classes at Cy press Creek High School in Houston three years ago and the school planned to add a fourth agriculture teacher. But last year, FFA enrollment dropped to 92 students and agricul ture teachers now are being forced to teach other subjects. Statewide, enrollment fell 3.5 per cent from 55,336 students in 1985 to 53,380 students this year, said Jay Eudy, the Texas Education Agency’s director of agricultural education. “We’re starting to feel like Cus ter,” said vocational agriculture tea cher Larry Cooper. This fall. Cooper expects to teach biology for the first time since join ing the Cypress-Fairbanks Indepen dent School District 22 years ago. Under educational reforms passed by the Texas Legislature in 1984, students were given an ad vanced curriculum option that re duced the time available for elective courses. The no-pass, no-play rule also prohibits students who fail a class from participating in extracurricular activities, including FFA, for the en suing six-week grading period. Daryl Smith, a 1986 graduate of Cypress-Fairbanks High School, said, “When I first got into ag, it was booming. That was the thing to do. And once no-pass, no-play came in, it really killed ag.” Smith, 18, belongs to a family of farmers, who in better times made agriculture their lives work. Company sends pets up, up and away HOUSTON (AP) — Pets no longer have to be left behind when their owners travel by air, thanks to help from a new company specializ ing in animal shipments. The 7-month-old company, named Animal-Port-Houston, han dles all the details involved in ship ping pets, from picking up the ani mal at home to delivering it to the owners at the scheduled destination. An affiliate company handles ground transportation for the pets, Animal-Port-Houston company president Tom Schooler said. The bulk of the company’s busi ness is relocations. Customers mov ing to Houston can arrange for the pet to be shipped before the move and the pet will be housed at the air port kennels until the owners move into their new home, he said. “We house them overnight while they’re awaiting customs clearance,” said Schooler, who added that the company is the only private com pany of its type in the United States. Since many foreign flights arrive late at night, customers can arrange to have the pet picked up, exercised and housed in the airport kennels, Schooler said. The animals usually remain in airport warehoses until they get customs clearance and move on to their U.S. destination. The cost to ship a medium size an imal from Houston to Boston is about $300, he said. “We’re just now breaking even,” said Schooler, who plans to expand the company by offering service to 12 other U.S. cities within the next two years. Legislators warned of MHMR suits AUSTIN (AP) — The attorney general’s office reminded legis lators Monday that federal court suits must be considered when re viewing appropriations for the Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Department. Two federal court settlements have been made in suits filed against MHMR, one involving pa tient-staff ratios and another in volving treatment of the retarded in state mental hospitals. “The department has asked for an additional $5.5 million, not a cut in funds,” Patrick Wiseman of the attorney general’s office told the Senate in a committee-of-the- whole meeting. “That much was committed in these agreements. “If these commitments can be made, it would be a valid attempt to comply with the federal court orders. If we do not comply, it could cost us ten-fold or a hun dred-fold. “All we can do is give you our best hunch of what will cost less or more money.” Central Texas officials want pipeline route moved north [ aUST IN (AP) — Public officials can Pipeline Go. would put the pipe- an out-of-court agreement was source of drinking water for much She said she hoped the bureau zales, said there is no such th USTIN (AP) — Public officials jrom Central Texas on Monday tied up in support of an alternate prpposal to move an oil pipeline fjith of the Edwards Aquifer, a key element of the region’s water supply. P'lf we continue to allow pipelines tolbe built over this aquifer in this Ba, the result, I believe, is clear,” Ben. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, told a Bureau of Land Management Raring. “The future water supply of Central Texas will be a disaster waiting to happen.” ■The route proposed by All Ameri can Pipeline Co. would put the pipe line from California to McCamey, Texas, 460 miles through Central Texas to Webster, south of Houston. C.M. Hoffman of Austin, area su perintendent for All American, said the pipeline will move up to 300,000 barrels a day of surplus crude oil from the West Coast to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. What William Haigh of the fed eral Bureau of Land Management called a “flurry of lawsuits” halted the McCamey-Webster segment of the 1,700-mile 30-inch pipeline, and an out-of-court agreement was reached between the bureau, state of Texas and pipeline company. Haigh, who works out of the bu reau’s Riverside, Calif., office, said All American had agreed to abide by the bureau’s environmental impact statement in the pipeline route. The hearing Monday was the first of 10 public meetings in Texas this month as the first step in preparing a preliminary statement by January, and a final statement early next sum mer. The Edwards Aquifer is the source of drinking water for much of Central Texas, and Rep. Anne Cooper, R-San Marcos, said she was concerned about oil spills seeping through the overlying limestone for mation into the aquifer. “Unless you can assure the people who live in that area that you can clean up something or that this kind of thing won’t happen, you know you’re talking about two or three years without water and this is not acceptable to people, and it’s not ac ceptable to me,” she said. r.V77Wl The Bawl' (in'. Bring this ad to save 50°/o when you bring a friend to lunch! Buy 1 entree, get the second entree for 1/2 price. Pelican's Wharf is starting a new tradition: lunch. For a limited time, buy one entree at regular price, get the second entree for half-price. Bring a friend for lunch and enjoy seafood treasures like shrimp etoufee, sauteed flounder, Alaskan king crab salad, seafood fettucini and other de/ectables. Pelican's Wharf for lunch. It's a great way to begin the afternoon. Monday through Friday 11:30 cum.-2:00 p.m. (Offer expires August 22, 1986) 2500 Texas Ave. S./College Station 693-5113 She said she hoped the bureau would recommend an alternate northern route, which would loop near McGregor in McLennan County, before turning southeast to Webster. Barrientos said, “There are just some places an oil pipeline should not be built and over our water sup ply is one of those places.” He also suggested moving the pipeline north. Rep. Phyllis Robinson, D-Gon- zales, said “there is no such thing as a leak-proof or break-proof pipe.” Hoffman said the pipeline “will provide additional tax revenue for the state and counties crossed by the pipeline (and) will serve the public interest and enhance national secu rity.” He also said pipelines historically “have provided the safest, most cost- effective way to transport oil with less environmental impact than other transportation methods.”

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, August 12, 1986, Image 3

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