The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, December 09, 1986, Image 5

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    Tuesday, December 9, 1986/The Battalion/Page 5
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What’s ud
Tuesday
ERICAN RED CROSS: will hold a blood drive from 11
AlitMa.m. to 6 p.m. at the Veterinary Medicine Complex and at
J°r, he■ Harrington Tower.
'f". ftrGIE ALLIANCE: will hold a Christmas party at 7:30 p.m.
105 C. Rollie White Coliseum.
I * 1 ' EL PASO HOMETOWN CLUB: will meet at 7 p.m. in 108
he "Harrington.
he BtRAMURAL RECREATIONAL SPORTS: entries close
more Wfbr outdoor soccer at 6 p.m. in 159 Read.
■ESLEY FOUNDATION: will offer a defensive-driving
Ued, teHcourse at 6 p.m. at the Wesley Foundation.
araisi CIRCLE K: will meet at 8:30 p.m. in 402 Rudder.
iJJJ COLLEGIATE FFA: will meet at 7:30 p.m. in 208 Scoates.
bodes ml
wo c: H Wednesday
for dl||GGIE SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: will meet at 8:30
■p.m. in 502 Rudder.
TEXAS STUDENT EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: will
have a student-faculty Christmas party at 3 p.m. in the
lounge of Harrington 'Lower.
lERICAN RED CROSS: will hold a blood drive from 11
a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Veterinary Medicine Complex and at
Harrington Tower.
MU POLO CLUB: will hold a mandatory meeting at 7
■p.m. in 407 A-B Rudder.
EUROPE CLUB: will meet at 9 p.m. at the Flying Tomato.
RIG EVENT: will have a mixer with the Traditions Commit-
■tee at 7 p.m. in the party room of Plantation Oaks Apart-
■ments.
MSC LITERARY ARTS: now is accepting submissions for
■“Litmus.” Call 845-1515 for more information.
BRENTS’ WEEKEND COMMITTEE: applications for
■ nominating 1987-88 Parents of the Year are available in
Mthe Commons, the Sterling C. Evans Library, the Memorial
■fjHStudent Center and the Pavilion.
W
1 Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion,
W£216 Reed McDonald, no less than three working days
■ prior to desired publication date.
i i
Cadets get tryout
of dining system
as Duncan closes
By Bob Grube
Staff Writer
The eating arrangements for the
Corps of Cadets have changed a
little but after a one-week trial run,
evening chow seems to be running
smoothly again.
Because Duncan Dining Hall is
being closed for about a year for
renovations, the Corps is eating its
meals in the Commons and Sbisa
dining halls.
While the extra marching time is
an inconvenience for the cadets who
eat in Sbisa, most don’t seem to
mind.
Dr. Malon Southerland, assistant
vice president for student services
and interim commandant of the
Corps, says he couldn’t have asked
for the situation at the dining halls to
work out any better.
“It went as well last week as we
could’ve possibly hoped for,” South
erland says. “The quality of cooper
ation between Food Services, the stu
dent body and the Corps has been
outstanding.”
Col. Fred Dollar, director of Food
Services, was out of town Monday
and was unavailable for comment.
Cadets seem to be enjoying the
change too, except for the amount
of extra time the march to Sbisa adds
to chow time.
David Williams, regiment recruit
ing officer for the Navy Marine Reg
iment, says he likes the change be
cause it allows for interaction
;t damage estimate drops
Fort Worth gas explosion
■RT WORTH (AP) — Damage
Imaies were downgraded Monday
{inspectors tried to pinpoint the
mse of the blast that destroyed a
litter of a downtown city block.
iCit\ officials released a prelimi-
iry damage estimate of $685,000,
iifiilvn ironi the $2 million estimate
iwn
fen
Jred late Sunday by authorities
n,tfproperty owners.
niniaM Alton Bostick, coordinator of
> Worth-Tarrant County Of-
nuBaf Emergency Management,
if p tlic figure released today “could
row significantly.”
■Mte investigators may have to re-
— iove| the debris from two restau-
_ is at the center of the destruction
_ fcrn the exact source of the leak
__ wjed 10 the gas buildup and ex-
. iion. officials said.
“I don’t think in the state that
building’s in they will ever find out
what happened,” Bostick said.
No serious injuries were reported
from the explosion.
The explosion occurred at 3:30
a.m. and destroyed five businesses.
More than 30 other stores sus
tained damage.
A more detailed report on the ac
cident will be ready by Friday, and a
final report will be written in the
next few weeks, Bostick said.
Lone Star Gas Co. spokesman
Breck Harris said his company had
completed its investigation of the gas
lines in the area.
“They were all holding with no
leaks,” he said.
Lone Star is responsible only for
the gas lines running from the mains
to the gas meters, Harris said.
“From the gas meters on, the lines
are private property and not ours,”
he said. “And we now know our lines
have no leaks.”
Harris said Lone Star does not
know what caused the explosion.
Fire department spokesman
Butch Hall said fire investigators
said they were able to make enough
of an inspection to be certain the ex
plosion was triggered by gas.
“There’s no doubt in anyone’s
mind,” Hall said.
“There was very little fire, the fire
extinguished itself, there were no
traces of flammable liquids or accele
rants,” he said.
The task of tracing blame for the
explosion is up to insurance investi
gators unless they ask for assistance
from the fire department, Hall said.
between cadets and non-Corps stu
dents.
“Since we’ve been eating at Sbisa,”
Williams says, “I’ve been able to eat
with my friends from north side for
the first time in four years. And the
food at breakfast and evening chow
is much better than Duncan’s.
“But now it takes us almost an
hour and a half to eat chow when it
only took us about half an hour to
eat at Duncan. As it is now, we don’t
get back to the dorms until about
7:25. Time-wise, it needs to be quick
er.”
The cadets will not be going to
chow in formation until next semes
ter, but will continue to eat individu
ally for the rest of the semester.
They will continue eating in uniform
this week only.
Supreme Court
delays action
in Texas case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Su
preme Court on Monday ordered
Texas authorities to let seven people
remain free until it decides whether
to act on a contempt appeal stem
ming from their refusal to stand
when a judge entered a courtroom.
The justices could act soon, per
haps next week, on the formal ap
peal by the seven who contend the
contempt citations against them vio
lated religious freedom.
The Texas Court of Criminal Ap
peals last June ruled that the rights
of the seven people were not vio
lated.
The state court said, “A direct re
fusal to rise upon the judge’s en
trance interrupts the normal pro
ceedings of the court (and)
disregards the formality and serious
ness of a court’s function.”
The case resulted from the Port
Neches municipal court appearance
of Charles Krupps on charges of
driving without liability insurance.
Krupps and his friends remained
seated on June 13, 1985, when
Judge Donald Floyd left the court
room as court recessed for the day.
The bailiff told Krupps and the
.others they were required to stand
when Floyd entered or left.
The next morning Floyd told the
bailiff to inform Krupps and the
others they would be held in con
tempt if they refused to rise when he
entered. The judge also said they
could remain outside the court until
the session began and then come
into the room if they chose not to
stand for him.
arfism doesn’t worry woman
long as she finds size J shoes
ANO (AP) — What is it like to be a small
son in a tall world?
Ragsdale, 22, of Plano, stands only 4 feet,
ffichcs tall. But she doesn’t let her height stand
i|he way of her life.
plvatched a show on television about a little
bple’sclub and I couldn’t understand why they
1 so depressed,” Ragsdale said. “They
Id really hostile and asked ‘why me, why
Jnd I thought ‘Why not you? What’s so terri-
’I would rather be 4-foot-4 than 8-foot-4.”
rsdale, in her second year at Richland Col-
{ias a double major in English and advertis-
The Texas Rehabilitation Center finances all
ny schooling, my books and tuition. All I have
Uolis make something of myself, which is ba-
|lly what we are all trying to do, isn’t it?” she
jtagsdale says she does have one concern in
Mon with other “small people” — gaining
Jghi.
fAU the girls get to the stage where they say
■t-l’m fat,’ but I was really getting fat. Up
til about the eighth grade I was really chubby,
now it doesn’t sound like much to you, but I
igetting to where 1 weighed 100 pounds. I
faroly-poly,” she said.
Ragsdale says she watches what she eats and
just stays active to burn calories.
She says another concern that plagues dwarf
sized people is clothing. She wears size 3 or 5 in
women’s clothing, but girls’ clothes don’t fit her.
“I wear size 1 in children’s shoes, which is great
because they are cheaper. The only drawback is
that they don’t make pumps for little girls. I don’t
even own a single pair of high heels,” she said.
She could have special shoes made by a mold,
but the mold alone cost $500 and the first pair of
shoes averages $200.
Ragsdale has an extension on the pedals in her
car, and when she goes shopping, she says she
doesn’t hesitate to ask someone to reach some
thing on the shelf for her.
And she says she is not insulted by jokes about
her height. “If it’s funny, it is funny,” she said.
“No one has ever hurt my feelings or insulted
me, so why should I take it as an insult.”
Ragsdale says her parents noticed something
was wrong when she was about 9 months old.
“My parents would pick me up, and I would
cry all the time because it hurt. The bones were
too soft,” she said. She says she did not notice her
own size until she was in the second grade and
everybody else kept growing.
“It’s just a form of dwarfism. The short bones
grow a lot faster pushing on the long bones
which makes them bend,” she said. “The doctors
really don’t know why some people are affected
this way. My mom didn’t drink or take drugs or
anything when she was pregnant.”
She is part of a normal-sized family. Her par
ents, Janie Dobbs and Sammy Ragsdale, are of
normal height and her brother, Sammy Jr.,
stands 6-foot-5.
“I have never worried too much about my
size,” Ragsdale said. “My folks didn’t worry too
much about it. My mom has always told me to do
anything and everything and I have always been
involved in school, in the pep squad, the drama
club.”
She also participated in band and was secre
tary of the student council and president of the
Thespian club.
“I do not feel like I have missed out on any
thing in high school because of my size. I had a
steady (boyfriend), then I wanted to date around.
No, I never missed out on anything, although my
mom wished I would have,” she laughed.
She says she would eventually like to marry
and have a family — about four children. Dwar
fism doesn’t run in her family, but twins do, she
says.
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