Wednesday, September 17, 1986/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local &M Ph.D. candidate prepares r 70-day antarctic expedition y-—/f/Orh *r By Rodney Rather Stuff Writer Hejdoesn’t have a weather-beaten Knd can often be seen sporting sses Austin Mardon, a Texas cM doctoral candidate in geog- )hy, doesn’t look like a tough, ad- iture-seeking explorer embarking ■ expedition to Antarctica. But talks like one. ■ographers are not laboratory ups, says Mardon, a native of “a who, at 24, is the youngest ix-member team of scientists ting Nov. 20 on a 70-day for meteorites in Antarctica. |e Indiana Jones, geographers vel to exotic places and delve into , dangerous work, Mardon Onihis expedition, funded by the itional Science Foundation at a Jf about $2 million, the scien- Austin Mardon tists are going meteorite hunting, he says. “ 1 he exact whereabouts of them (meteorites) are unknown, so they’re essentially found randomly,” Mar don says. The team will find meteorites by driving snowmobiles across 620 miles of frozen ground, looking for dark spots in the snow, he says — a method that often is dangerous. “You can be going along and just disappear because you can’t see the crevasses,” he says. The crevasses he referred to are large cracks in the upper surface of glaciers, which are often covered by snow. Mardon’s main objective on the trip is to take photographs of each meteorite and its surrounding area, which will provide a general field orientation for future research, he says. “The primary work I’m doing this year will be used as the basic inter pretation key to interpret aerial pho- tograhs that will be taken in one or two years,” Mardon says. The trip also will test the perfor mance of camera equipment in frigid conditions, he says. During his trek to the world’s un dermost continent, Mardon will weather chilling winds of up to 80 mph and Fahrenheit temperatures as low as 30 degrees below zero, he says. Because it will be summer, the team will bask in 24-hour sunlight. Mardon says the extreme cold, ab sence of bathing facilities and cramped housing — small, two-man tents — don’t bother him because toughness runs in his family, as do voyages to Antarctica. “In my family, the idea that you’re supposed to do important things is important,” Mardon says. I I ■^■rtides in Friday's At /',isr| I mi incorrect dates for the up- i | Bing Dana Davis c oncert .it Ru- MVIIAWs The Best Bets column '■ I 111 - B the com t begins at N p.m. ^ * *®jSpBay and an article on the artist ■ she would give a preview of a _ f Bof her songs at noon Sept. 17 .ic ed ^ unc ’ s ‘ 0i BRudder Fountain. Actuallv, d)0 million in B) the noon concert preview 185). All acrossi!i?nd the 8 p.m. concert will be ev seek it. In the rati r , selling and t Corrections held this Thursday. Also, a story on dormitory ren ovations in Friday’s issue of The Battalion incorrectly stated that a proposed project to renovate the Corps-style dorms, if approved, would begin in May 1986. Such a project actually would not begin until May 1987. The Battalion regrets the er rors. The following were reported to the University Police Depart ment through Monday: MISDEMEANOR THEFT: • Seven bicycles were stolen. • Two vacuum cleaners were stolen from the new Engineering and Physics building. BURGLARY OF A BUILD ING: • Several rings of master keys were stolen from an office in the basement of the Zachry Engi neering Center. CRIMINAL TRESPASS: • Two juveniles were reported throwing rocks at pedestrians from the roof of Langford Ar chitecture Center. Two officers reported they were unable to find the juveniles when they went up on the roof, but another officer on the ground saw two juveniles and detained them. Both juve niles were given criminal trespass warnings and held until their guardians picked them up, the report said. DRIVING WHILE INTOXI CATED: • Police reported pulling over a driver for speeding. The report said the officer noticed a strong odor of alcohol on the man’s breath. When the man stepped out of his car, the officer said, he was unsteady on his feet and was unable to pass a field sobriety test. The man was arrested for driving while intoxicated and was taken to the Brazos County Jail where he failed a breath test. He was then taken to a friend’s home. PUBLIC INTOXICATION: • Officers reported they saw a white male disappear into a ditch as he was walking toward the married student housing area. The officers said the man was try ing to crawl out of the ditch into the married student housing area. As he crawled out of the ditch, officers said, the man be gan kicking his legs and waving his arms. The officers said they ? |uestioned the man, but he re used to give any answers. He then was arrested and taken to the Brazos County Jail and incar cerated for public intoxication. Banks post more Hunt property in foreclosure DALLAS (AP) — Banks targeted in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by the Hunt brothers have posted more of the family’s property for foreclosure, an attorney says. Steve Gordon, the Hunt brothers’ attorney, said the posted property includes a 48-acre tract of land in Collin County owned by the per sonal trust funds of Bunker, William Herbert and Lamar Hunt. The three brothers are suing 23 banks for $ 14 billion. Banks have also posted the Mont Belvieu, Texas, processing plant owned by Placid Refining Co., Gor don said. Banks, including Bankers Trust Co. and RepublicBank Dallas, seek payment on more than $1.5 billion in loans to Placid Oil Co. and Penrod Drilling Co-, energy companies owned by the brothers’ trust funds. Bunker, Herbert and Lamar Hunt have three weeks to rework the loans or seek an injunction, un der Texas foreclosure laws. If no agreement is reached, the property will be auctioned off at the Dallas County Courthouse. Last month, Placid Oil and Her bert Hunt’s personal trust filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Senate OKs bill giving governor more budget authority s, whatever pci: uncriticallyain®STIN (AP) — The Senate ap- the Romanem^Bd a bill Tuesday to hold up or ireus of a druetift budget funds while the Legis- :ers, the medii3 ure ' snot ‘ n session, prompting an become a ;«lff ent t0 sa y il would allovv the jBnor and a few legislators to is assertions an« (bstitute their wi ,| for lhe wil | of the is. so that dnfajljty, icr important k The shift of a single vote would led to the deleave blocked the measure, which e or even lhiifl ent t0 the House on a 20-10 buser InsteadofjH^ l era . 1 ! te y, VO j e ’, aIso ,^ 0 ‘ 1 °’ a1 ' . MM the hill to he debated, vision inpartM A iwo-thirds vote was needed to [ripping piCtOiEflugtheijji] before the Senate. mg situation binH situation wontB mve taken« The bill would allow the gover nor, if he found an emergency existed, to propose that certain funds be impounded or that funds be shifted among agencies or within an agency in the budget approved by the Legislature. The Legislative Budget Board could approve, reject or modif y the governor’s proposal. The governor could approve or reject any modification by the 10- member board. Sen. Carl Parker, D-Port Arthur, said, “What you’re doing now is giv ing a blank proxy to a governor who may or may not have the same feel ings toward your constituencies that you have. What you’re going to do is allow governors — if one gets elected like some we’ve had — to march us in lockstep backwards, and we will be 49th and 50th instead of 48th in mental health and things like that.” He argued that the bill would al low the governor and six members on budget board — or a majority — “to substitute their feelings about priorities in this state for those of the collective will and wisdom of the Legislature.” “What you are doing, you are placing some handcuffs on your wrists when it comes to exercising your discretion and your responsibi lity as a voting member of the Sen ate, and you’re handing the hand cuffs to the governor and the key to the budget board,” Parker said. “If you want to do that fine, but this will be another one of those things where in a few years I’ll be around to some of you to tell you, once again, ‘I told you so,’ ” Parker said. Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby was asked about Parker’s complaints, and Hobby said, “Budget execution is something that has been around a long time. It’s certainly needed since we have biennial sessions. To avoid special sessions of the Legislature, it’s certainly needed, and I think the procedure that Sen. (Grant) Jones (D-Temple, the bill’s sponsor) has ... is as good a procedure as