th
Friday, April 17,1 QSTA'he Battalion/Page 5
Whooping cranes make comeback
with increased success in breeding
9 pm
nee
By Kimberley Roddy
Reporter
Last year was the most successful
ear for breeding of endangered
hooping cranes since the early
940s, when conservation efforts by
mericans and Canadians began, a
'exas A&M professor said.
Dr. Doug Slack, professor of wild-
jle and fisheries science, attributed
he successful breeding to the clear
ing of fields with fires and to the
Jarge amounts of rain last spring.
There are now about 110 whoop
ing cranes in the world, an increase
jrom an estimated 95 birds the pre-
tfious year and an all-time low of 21
lirds in 1941.
I Clearing uplands by brush burn
ing attracts the birds because it pro-
ides open areas so the 5-foot cranes
n watch for predators such as
olves, bears and coyotes, Slack said.
Fires also increase the availablility
of acorns, which fall from burned
ees, and insects, which serve as
food for the awkward-looking birds,
hr said.
I The Aransas National Wildlife
Refuge, off the south Texas coast of
Port Aransas, was cleared with con
trolled fires and attracted cranes
wthin a day or two, Slack said.
I "People don’t generally under
stand that you can use something
like Ore as a wildlife-management
tool,” Slack said. “It’s been used ex
tensively, but rarely do you get to
use it for helping out an endangered
species.”
The large amount of rain in Can
ada last spring also helped the
crane’s survival and successful re
cranes leave Texas in the first few
weeks of April and fly over Okla
homa, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dako
tas and Montana, and arrive in Can
ada in early June. In groups of two
or three, they annually fly the same
path back to Texas in late October.
Howard Hunt, an A&M graduate
“Cranes are a natural part of the environment and
there needs to be a place for them. . . . we are obligated
to keep all different kinds of life forms on the planet. ”
— Dr. Doug Slack, wildlife and fisheries professor
production, he said. Marsh environ
ments, where the birds build huge
nests and graze in the waters, protect
them from predators that avoid ven
turing into waters.
Whooping cranes are very sus
ceptible to predation, Slack said.
This is the main reason why the spe
cies, one of the world’s rarest, is en
dangered. Adult cranes can fly away
when approached, but chicks are vir
tually helpless, he said.
The birds usually find a mate in
Texas during the spring and fly
2,600 miles to Canada in the sum
mer for breeding, he said. The
student of wildlife science, said most
whooping cranes in the United
States winter along a 20-mile stretch
of marshland on the peninsula of
the 55,000-acre Aransas refuge.
Many are killed by predators on
their migratory journey between
Texas and Canada, Slack said.
Usually lasting a few weeks, the mi
gration begins when the birds circle
overhead for a few hours so they can
travel together. Then they fly most
of the day, land in wet fields for the
night and take off in the morning.
When they sleep overnight, they stay
in unknown territory and can be eas
ily preyed upon.
The mating process is another
cause of scarcity of this species.
Whooping cranes, which live about
25 to 30 years, have one mate for
life. The female lays two eggs and
only the first chick to hatch survives.
The other is born dead.
The increasing number of birds
last winter show whooping cranes
stepping up the ecological ladder
with increased reproduction rather
than down toward extinction, he
said.
Crane families tend to live to
gether, yet spread out across the ref
uge, maintaining large territories for
themselves. These territories can be
very noisy because the birds screech
a loud whooping sound when they
are disrupted.
Whooping cranes, which have
been around for about half a million
years, play a small role in ecology as
marshland predators, Slack said.
“Cranes are a natural part of the
environment and there needs to be a
place for them,” he said. “I think we
are obligated to keep all different
kinds of life forms on the planet.”
nestic
268-AUK
2:107:10
nalll
Nf
'rug dogs
;niff out ton
>f marijuana
FALFURRIAS (AP) — Border
'atrol agents seized almost a ton
f marijuana hidden in a truck-
[oad of iced-down cabbage early
hursday after four drug-sniff-
ngdogs alerted their trainers, of-
iicials said.
The dogs had been on duty
lust a week when they helped
[gents with the largest single sei-
!ure since the pilot program be-
|an, said Silvestre Reyes, chief of
ic McAllen sector of the Border
'atrol.
Reyes said the 1,637 pounds of
arijuana was valued at $1.3 mil-
ion and puts the McAllen sector’s
izures for six months at $74
illion — more than the past
ur years combined.
Heavy drug activity in the re
ion helped Reyes’ sector obtain
ic four Belgium Melnois dogs,
le said. After they complete field
i 4:207:1581 ■aining in the McAllen sector,
o will be assigned to the Laredo
ctor and a pair will remain with
eyes’ agents.
They are the only dogs on duty
jith the patrol nationwide in
ich a manner, Reyes said,
i Since joining the patrol last
hursday, Reyes said the dogs
have helped in another 15 sei
zures of marijuana weighing
1,019 pounds worth $ 1.6 million.
U -^The 18-month-old dogs spent
e past three months in training
pail in San Antonio before being sent
to help at the sector’s three check-
joints in Falfurrias, Sarita and
north of Rio Grande City, Reyes
)ate
4:30 7:008:!i|
nal
For
>ad : \
4:109:10
nal
ers M
Jury finds drug dealer guilty
of slaying narcotics agent
BROWNSVILLE (AP) — Jurors
found a Mexico City man guilty of
first-degree murder Thursday in the
slaying of a federal narcotics agent
who was gunned down in a New
Year’s Eve drug bust.
Felipe Molina Uribe faces up to
life in prison for the death of Wil
liam Ramos, 30, a special agent with
the Drug Enforcement Administra
tion, court officials said.
Ramos’ 24-year-old widow,
Thelma, sobbed and hugged their
22-month-old daughter when the
verdict was returned after 4 1 /2 hours
of deliberations.
U.S. District Judge Filemon Vela
said he would sentence Molina next
month. Molina, 29, pleaded guilty to
two drug charges before the trial be
gan, and jurors also found him
guilty of using a firearm in the com
mission of a violent crime.
The judge said he believed the
proper sentence for the first-degree
murder conviction was life in prison.
Prosecutors said they did not seek
the death penalty because “federal
statutes are screwed up.”
“The verdict speaks for itself,”
said Ken Miley, agent in charge of
the DEA’s McAllen office and Ra
mos’ boss.
Defense attorney J.M. Ramirez
said an appeal was being considered,
although he noted that “the jury has
spoken.”
“There is no sense in second-gues
sing the jury verdict,” he said.
In their closing arguments earlier
Thursday, prosecutors said Ramos
was killed by a “big-time dope
dealer” while trying to keep drugs
off the street.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack
Wolfe said, “It was a simple, brutal.
vicious, malicious murder of agent
William Ramos.”
Molina’s court-appointed attor
neys said their client was a victim of
“a simple conspiracy of silence.”
Jurors were being “flim-flammed”
by government prosecutors who re
lied on DEA informants to identify
Molina as the triggerman, Ramirez
said.
Ramos was shot in the chest as he
and DEA informant Roberto Ortiz
struggled with Molina over a gun,
witnesses testified. The three were in
Ramos’ car.
Ramos, Ortiz and DEA informant
Ernesto Rodriguez had gone to Ju
nior’s Supermarket in Las Milpas on
New Year’s Eve, where they had told
Molina they would exchange cash
for 300 pounds of marijuana, testi
mony showed.
Fatal helicopter crash in Texas
being investigated, sheriff says
BEN WHEELER (AP) — Federal
authorities Thursday interviewed
people who saw a helicopter ex
plode, break in two, crash and kill
both occupants.
Van Zandt County Sheriff Travis
Shafer said investigators were trying
to determine what caused the crash
on Wednesday of the helicopter, be
ing flown from Alabama to Fort
Worth for maintenance.
The helicopter was owned by the
University of South Alabama Medi
cal Center, officials said.
Killed in the crash were Ray
Wood, about 45, the pilot, and John
Palmer, 35, director of maintenance
for SouthFlite USA Program. South-
Flite, which began service last Sep
tember, serves the northern Gulf
Coast area, including parts of Missis
sippi and Alabama.
Sorority-sponsored clothing drive
called ‘overwhelming success’
By Melanie Perkins
Staff Writer
l clothing drive sponsored by the
Kxas A&M chapter of Omega Phi
pha service sorority has been an
prwhelming success so far, said
Becker, first vice president of
sorority and the coordinator of
t drive.
lollection boxes for the drive,
Jch began April 6 and runs
thfcugh Monday, are located in each
[the four Bryan-College Station
Donald’s. Free food coupons are
ig distributed to those who bring
[lothing items during the promo-
said Katy Edmonds, McDon-
lllite
•uo*
aid’s community relations represen
tative.
Becker said radio station KSTR
made a promotional tape for the
drive and is donating air time
through Monday to increase aware
ness of the drive.
Clothing from the drive will be
donated to Twin City Mission Inc.,
Phoebe’s Home and Sheltering
Arms, Becker said. Then they will be
distributed to the homeless and
needy in Brazos Valley.
This is the first time the OPA
chapter at A&M has sponsored a
clothing drive, Becker said, and it
has been so successful that she hopes
it will be made an annual event.
Clothes collected from April 6 to
Monday filled 50 large garbage bags
and 30 grocery sacks — with cloth
ing to spare.
OPA is sponsoring the drive as
part of its National President’s Pro
ject to help the homeless of the
United States.
“I’m really pleased — I never
dreamed we would have this many
people bringing clothes to McDon
ald’s,” Becker said. “I think the
Bryan-College Station community
has really turned this project, which
was just the idea of one organization
at A&M, into a community-wide
event.”
Shafer said witnesses were watch
ing the helicopter.
“They said there was an explo
sion,” Shafer said. “It seemed like a
small explosion, but it separated the
craft in two pieces in the air, and it
plummeted to the ground.
“The front half of the helicopter,
where the pilot and the other gen
tleman were, was on fire, and when
it hit the ground, there was one
small explosion and then a large ex
plosion. It was completely melted
down from the heat.”
The back half of the helicopter,
still intact, fell about 150 to 200
yards from where the front half ex
ploded, the sheriff said.
The crash occurred at about 4:30
p.m. in a meadow about 60 miles
east of Dallas in southwest Van
Zandt County, near the community
of Ben Wheeler, the sheriff said.
Investigators from the FAA and
National Transportation Safety
Board arrived late Wednesday and
early Thursday to interview wit
nesses and gather debris, trying to
determine what caused the crash.
“They said they would wind up to
day,” Shafer said Thursday.
South Alabama spokesman Mon
ica Knight said Wood had 16 years
of experience and had the highest
rating a helicopter pilot can receive.
Tr
MSC Recreation
SAND CASTLE BUILDING CONTEST
Uq
PRIZES awarded for:
Most Creative
Best Detail
Best Overall
Fountains by Chemistry Bldg.
Building begins at 11 a.m. - judging at 2 p.m.
For more information: 845-1515
Max of 5 people per team
Entry fee: $4 per team
Sign up in the MSC.
EASTER MORNING
The STUDENT Y and the
United Campus Ministry
will hold
Easter Sunrise Service
7 a.m.
in the DOBSON GARDEN of the
A&M PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
-on Church St., behind the Chicken-
the UCM Choir will sing and a light
breakfast will follow
MSC Visual Arts Committee
presents
Joann Moore
Helen Finney
Sculpture and
Painting Exhibit
April 5-May 2, 1987
Reception: April 23, 1987
MSC Gallery
Open 8-8 daily
Give a “fun” arrangement
• long stemmed lollipops
• bubble gum buds
• assorted hard candy
flowers, stems, etc.
Candy in Bloom
The bouquet that lasts...unless you eat it first!
Great Gift Idea For Special Occasions For All Ages
• BIRTHDAYS • HOLIDAYS • GET WELL • GRADUATION • SCHOOL PARTIES
• NEW BABY • MOM’S/DAD’S DAY • VALENTINES • CONGRATS
Bryan, Texas
846-9292
Contact Lenses
Only Quality Name Brands
(Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-Hinds-Hydrocurve)
$79.
00 -STD. DAILY WEAR SOFT LENSES
$00 00 -STD. EXTENDED WEAR SOFT LENSES
^'^-^SPARE PR ONLY $20 with purchase of 1st pr. at reg. price
00 -STD. TINTED SOFT LENSES
$99.
SPECIAL ENDS MAY 29, 1987 AND APPLIES TO CLEAR STAN
DARD EXTENDED WEAR STOCK LENSES ONLY
Call 696-3754
For Appointment
* Eye exam and care kit not included
CHARLES C. SCHROEPPEL, O.D., P.C.
DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY m
707 South Texas Ave., Suite 101D
College Station, Texas 77840
1 block South of Texas & University
pelican’/
wharf
WIZ AT THE WHEEL?
Play
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with Vanna White
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THE PUZZLE...
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6:30-7:00 pm
Monday-Friday
693-5113 2500 Texas Ave.
across from Winn Dixie