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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1987)
Tuesday, April 21,1987/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local LIES ociety re-creates medieval life, history By Lawson Reilly Reporter gladiators, the two armored men slowly approach one another — shields high, sw< ids ready — as a crowd of spectators watch. Then, suddenly, the pair is a blur of winging swords and parrying shields. ■Onlookers wince each time sword and shii Id connect with a loud crack. ■Seconds later, one of the fighters receives a blow to his heavy metal helmet. He steps back from his opponent, knees wobbling, and falls. ■The Society for Creative Anachronism may be well-known for its re-creation of medieval jjcoiniut, but the non-profit research organiza- |tjoi is more than chain-mail deep, says Allen Hurst, a Texas A&M junior animal science ■jot and seneschal of the local SCA shire. ■TheSCA's main function is to find out how People lived in the Middle Ages, Hurst says. B|‘We don't want people to think all we do is beat each other up,” he says. Hiraduate student and SCA member Gorrie leigeron says the SCA’s roots go back to the University of California at Berkeley in 1966, | when a group of fantasy and history buffs got Hgetlu r one weekend to participate in a tour- ne) in celebration of spring. ■hirst says they used wooden swords and football pads to simulate medieval melee, and ! they apparently enjoyed it so much they did it again the next weekend — and the next, bday the SCA has more than 20,000 members worldwide, he says, including shires and baronies in Australia, Europe, East Asia and even aboard the USS Nimitz. A&M’s shire has 45 members and contin ues to grow, Hurst says. Bergeron, known as “His Lordship Bren dan O’Corraidhe” to other SCA members, says each member adopts a persona — a his torically possible character — from a period between 800 and 1650, such as a Viking, a crusader, a bard or a jester. If they wish, members can register their personas with the SCA so that no one else can use them, he says. Hurst says a persona cannot represent a person who actually lived or a character from a book or a movie. “You can be King Arthur’s first cousin, for all we care, but you can’t be King Arthur,” he says. Most personas chosen are from the middle class, such as merchants or artisans, although some members prefer to be peasants. Mem bers help each other research personas and create costumes, he says, and clothing can have a lot to do with the persona adopted. “If you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing tights then you’re not going to be 16th centu ry,” he says. “If you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a dress then you wouldn’t be an 11th century Norman or Saxon.” Asian personas are becoming more popu lar in A&M’s growing shire, Hurst says, which has enhanced members’ cultural knowledge even further. “I’m learning a lot about Japanese armor,” he says. “I can’t pronounce it, but I know it.” Hurst studies medieval blacksmithing of armor and weapons. Other SCA members learn Middle Age songs and dances; brewing techniques for ale, wine and cider; and spin ning and weaving, he says. “You take a sheep and make a shirt out of it somehow,” he chuckles. Bruce Hartweg, a junior geophysics major, says he has known members who learned fal conry and book binding. Hartweg practices heavy fighting, which simulates combat with heavy weapons such as axes, spears, broadswords, halberds, maces and two-handed swords. The weapons are made of rattan bamboo, he says. The SCA has strict safety rules for fighting, which include weapon regulations and mini mum armor limitations, Hartweg says, and the most severe SCA injury he has heard of is a broken arm. “For the most part injuries are bruises,” he says. Combatants are on their honor to admit when they receive a crippling or killing blow, Hartweg says. Judges are not used, although marshals are on the combat field to ensure safety rules are followed. Tammy Hobbes, a freshman computer sci ence major, says most women in the SCA are dress ladies who help buckle and lace fighters into their armor. Hobbes, however, chose to enter the male-dominated area of heavy fighting. She says everyone in the SCA has been supportive of her decision. “They recognized that I wanted to be dif ferent, and I could probably handle it,” she says. The fighting requires a lot of skill and sta mina, Hartweg says. “What I wear when I’m fully armored is about 80 or 90 pounds,” he says. Hurst says most fighting is done in tour neys on weekends. The SCA divided the United States into 11 kingdoms, he says. A&M is part of the Shire of the Shadowlands, which is part of the Ok lahoma and Texas kingdom, Ansteorra. At least two SCA events take place some where in A&M’s kingdom each weekend, Hurst says. Most of the events are fighting tourneys, but they often include art and sci ence contests, as well as gaming tourneys. Hall feasts are also popular during holidays. In the fall the SCA will sponsor King’s Col lege — a series of classes in Rudder Tower dealing with life in the Middle Ages. One of the SCA’s largest events is the Pen- sic War, in which about 200 people from the East and West kingdoms fight each other an nually at Cooper’s Lake, Pa., Hurst says. “We usually hire ourselves out for, oh, like a six-pack,” he laughs. “We try to pretend it’s real, for the weekend at any rate.” lements predicts defeat for ‘budget busters’ UOIW >ense. nythine; >es not li jthersell finussiji hv. LAREDO (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem- Js, chastising legislators who en dorsed a budget with spending levels higher than his plan, predicted Monday that Texans will not tolerate I'ncv taxes. ■dements began his 1 7-city auster- pty-|)l,m tour in the border city of La ired >, where he also met privately ftvii 1 Gov. Jorge Trevino Martinez of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon to dluss regional issues. ■dements planned another no- fnev-taxes stop in Harlingen later in ihe Jay. But in Laredo he told about 75 supporters that he would veto a ■iv 1989 budget above his $36.9 billion spending plan. S\ House committee has approved a $ ’>8.4 billion budget proposal and the full Senate approved a $39.9 bil lion proposal. The state faces a pro- fectnl $5.8 billion deficit and either mtist cut spending or raise taxes, ■dements said he would not cut Btnan services, education or prison expenditures. “The truth is this is a battle be tween fiscal conservatives on one side and budget busters who want to greatly expand the size, role and cost of state government on the other “I will veto any attempt to raise taxes $5.8 billion. . . . We're going to live within our means. ” — Gov. Bill Clements side,” Clements said. “Right now, the only thing the Legislature is talking about is spend, spend, spend and tax, tax, tax. ... I will veto any attempt to raise taxes $5.8 billion. . . . We’re going to live within our means,” Clements said. He said he agreed to the exten sion of the temporary sales tax and the motor fuels tax increases think ing legislators would agree with him. “I was mistaken,” Clements said. “I did not get cooperation. The re sponse of too many, especially in the Senate, was ‘Bill, you’ve only gone halfway. Go whole-hog and support a $5.8 billion tax bill.’ Clements said a tax increase would not attract new businesses to the state and would do little to help the unemployment rate, which in Laredo is about 18 percent. “The best thing we can do for those out of work, for those in need, for our schools, is to get our Texas economy moving again so we can create jobs and have the increased revenues from a growing economy,” he said. House Speaker Gib Lewis has said legislators do not want to raise taxes, but it might be necessary to maintain current services. Clements said that when he left office in 1982, me budget for the biennium was only $26.6 billion and has increased by $10 billion. “In the last year and a half, the people of Texas made it clear to me they understand we can restrain “The best thing we can do for those out of work, for those in need, for our schools, is to get our Texas economy moving again. ” — Gov. Bill Clements spending without cutting essential services, even if they don’t know the line-item detail of the budget,” Clements said. The governor told Laredo sup porters that he endorsed the twin- plant manufacturing concept along the border. He said the governors from U.S. and Mexican border states would meet within 60 days to discuss regional issues. Later, in Harlingen, Clements ad dressed the controversial Casa Oscar Romero. The Catholic-run sanct uary for refugees from Central America has drawn the ire of some Cameron County residents as it at tempts to move to a new location near Brownsville. “I am fundamentally opposed to the theory of a sanctuary for illegal aliens,” Clements said in response to a request for assistance from Joe King Jr., a spokesman for a group opposed to the Casa. He said he would ask the U.S. At torney General for an opinion on whether the Casa Oscar Romero le gally could house illegal aliens. If the practice is against the law, Clements said, he would ask the U.S. Immigra tion and Naturalization Service “to do something about it.” Pre-trial sessions begin in Austin drug-test case AUSTIN (AP) — Brenda Jen nings says her employer should not have the right to test her urine unless the firm has reason to believe she is taking drugs. The 27-year-old production in spector at Minco Technology Labs Inc. of Austin is the central figure in a court test of the right of a private company to order mandatory, random drug tests. “We are not machines, we are people,” Jennings told reporters during pre-trial sessions. “They can’t check our oil to be sure we are productive.” The class action suit was filed by the Texas Civil Liberties Union in the name of Jennings, a Minco employee for three years. She alleges her right to privacy is violated by the company’s an nounced program for routine, periodic urine testing. The firm, which tests and dis tributes computer chips for mili tary and space contractors, says the drug tests are necessary. A year ago an employee addicted to heroin stole $250,000 in com puter ships and tried to sell the chips to support his expensive habit. Minco is backed in the suit by the Texas Association of Busi ness, which contends random testing is necessary to control drug use in the work place. The electronics firm’s man agers have been tested, but the firm agreed not to test rank-and- file workers until the court chal lenge is complete. “I am against random testing,” Jennings said. “I think there should be at least some suspicions before they call you down to the laboratory.” Jennings says she has never been asked to take a urine test nor has she volunteered for one. But she said she feels she has been working under pressure since the suit was filed in Decem ber 1986. “I know there are several peo ple watching me, all the time,” she said. 1 could! vou nuis meiifc' ii a lelefi be loo * ;s a vantP illy imp’ ed counsel -that is. |> : of etp aot a lui sef lath®® a disease-' it. Man) ? ularco“ s to help s' i is inafe’ e my inf ) fortm# hey0 c i :iiathiw' : [doling Hffioll'' 1, . Mya^ .Hi ismf 30. : rstof*' illtheff ior/ 1 atedl/ a this' Are # lairf. 9 ! “IVe got a terrible secret. 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