Wednesday, October 28, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
on; ipening night of circus offers
hills, thrills to B-CS residents
breaking the
uch-abused
ar embarrasstr.
r in the middled
f course, the e\e
>w threat thatca []
i behind the Ree:
By Karen Kroesche
At Ease Editor
It was colorful, crowded and, at
imes, chaotic. It was electric, excit-
iland highly entertaining. In es-
aff stafferstolt * eI £ e ’ il w f, s the ci ^ cus - . , . ,
rh RfMlf P ircus Vargas has arrived in Col-
is( untA'. ,g e s tat i on; bringing animals, acro-
g a new victim, jgtsand entertainers of all varieties.
carbacktodat P ^*8 ^°P was ra * se< d ut 10:30
R Tuesday at the Brazos County
or journalism i£| eo Arena, setting the stage for
)Uge editor for !i 1C opening performance Tuesday
night.
Kn estimated crowd of 4,000 at-
i Red the opening night perfor-
f t Bee, which began at 7:30 sharp
nd lasted a full two-and-a-half
louiv People of all ages watched in
■zement as jugglers juggled.
Brers danced, and, of course, the
Bns clowned around, in three dif-
; B’t rings.
■he crowd consisted mostly of
jmilies with cotton candy-faced
ildren, but Texas A&M students
scattered throughout the
iwd, and they seemed to enjoy the
iow as much — if not more than —
ii younger counterparts.
! Jennifer Bobbitt, a sophomore
Sp<
“dragged out” to the circus by fellow
student and friend Steve McCann,
but was glad she made the effort.
“It’s a great study break,” Bobbitt
said.
Senior Michelle Fox, a psychology
In addition to the elephants, the
show was highlighted by animal
trainers, tightrope walkers and dar
ing acrobats.
One acrobatic feat in particular,
sometimes called the suicide act, set
audience members on the edges of
“We’re impressed. We thought ‘How much fun could a
circus be in College Station?’ but it’s been better than
we expected. ”
— Michelle Fox, A&M student
major, won tickets to the show from
a local radio station. She and her
friends said they enjoyed the show,
and were particularly pleased with
the quality of the entertainment.
“We’re impressed,” Fox said. “We
thought ‘How much fun could a cir
cus be in College Station?’ but it’s
been better than we expected.”
Fox said her favorite part of the
show was the elephants, for an ob
vious reason.
“I’m a senior,” she explained. “I
like elephants.”
their seats. The Ayak Brothers, a
duo from South Africa, performed
on the trapeze 40 feet above the
ground — without a net.
At one point, one member of the
duo jumped off the shoulders of his
partner and was airborne for a hair-
raising second, before interlocking
his ankles with those of his brother.
The tension was quickly relieved,
however, with the entrance of a full
entourage of clowns, accompanied
by elephants and sequin-costumed
performers.
Ringmaster Joe Pon, who’s been
with Circus Vargas for six years,
kept the show moving with short
bursts of dialogue between the acts.
He was appreciative of the opening
night audience, and said he was
hearing “a lot of hootin’ and
hollerin’.”
“It’s a great audience,” he said.
“This is definitely an Aggie crowd.”
Pon, a former high school tea
cher, said he enjoys Texas audi
ences, because they are more likely
to vocalize their appreciation.
“People here tend to enjoy them
selves more,” he said. “It’s more a
cal crowd.”
Circus Vargas, a $ 15-million pro
duction that bills itself as North
America’s “largest traveling big top,”
includes 400 performers and ani
mals and travels to 150 cities across
the United States and Canada.
Last night’s performance was the
first of five shows; the remaining
four are scheduled for 4:30 and 7:30
p.m. today and Thursday. Tickets
still are available at the Circus Var
gas office in the Food Court at Post
Oak Mall, at the MSC Box Office
and at the circus.
exas seeks $525,000 in federal aid
rehabilitate damaged oyster reefs
^RUSTIN (AP) — The state is seeking more
thai a half-million dollars in federal disaster as-
'<04% pstame to rehabilitate flood-damaged oyster
Wm freeh in San Antonio Bay, officials said Tuesday,
■'he Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s
fisheries division has applied for $525,000 in di-
# T saster funds for the work.
yl department has asked for emergency aid
to allow us to place 32,500 cubic yards of cultch
Boss 500 acres of public reefs in the bay,” said
' pan Matlock, fisheries division director.
Bultch, usually made of oyster shell, is material
■ down on reefs to provide a spawning bed for
9ysters.
■Because the oysters in San Antonio Bay were
devastated by a natural disaster, this is the only
area in Texas that might qualify for this type of
financial assistance,” Matlock said.
Until this past summer’s unusually heavy rains
that damaged oyster production, San Antonio
Bay in Calhoun County had been the second-
most productive in Texas, supplying 20 percent
of the state’s harvest, officials said.
During the previous three years, the bay’s
oyster reefs yielded an annual average of 1.7 mil
lion pounds of shucked meat with a dockside va
lue of $2.7 million.
Last week, Parks and Wildlife officials took a
representative of the National Marine Fisheries
Service out to the reefs to inspect the damage
and validate the application for emergency aid.
“Not a single live oyster was found in any of
the samples,” Matlock reported.
Matlock said the existing shell base on the
reefs are heavily infested with various marine or
ganisms and algae. Once the surface of a shell is
fouled, free-swimming oyster larvae are less able
to adhere and mature.
Parks and Wildlife experts say that fresh shell
layered on top of the old reef would provide a
clean site suitable for oyster larvae to attach and
would slow the spread of further infestation.
The Parks and Wildlife Department request
covers only the purchase and planting of cultch
material.
Former student seeks
A&M support in race
for seat in Congress
By Cindy Milton
Staff Writer
An old Aggie Tuesday night
discussed his tie to the University
to let students know that being an
Aggie can lead to a lot down the
road.
Greg Laughlin, Class of ’64
and a candidate for United States
Representative for the 14th Dis
trict spoke to about 30 students
during a program sponsored by
the Aggie Democrats.
“I’m the only Aggie running
for U.S. Congress,” he said, “and
I’m running as an Aggie.”
Laughlin told the students that
the 14th District and its sur
rounding counties — including
Brazos County — will play a big
role in supporting him for the
Congressional position.
Laughlin majored in history at
A&M and after graduation
earned a law degree in Austin.
He went into the Army, working
in military intelligence, where he
received the nation’s highest se
curity clearance.
Laughlin remains active in the
Army Reserves. Keeping up with
the military, he said, is one factor
that is a campaign bonus for him.
“I have insight to the military
that few people in Congress
have,” he said. “The military duty
served by its members is low, and
that is something I think is really
sad.”
Laughlin said it is important to
know what is going on in the mili
tary before Congress can take ac
tions and know exactly how they
are going to work.
He got laughter from his audi
ence when he referred to Presi
dent Reagan as “the great actor,”
who, after promising to decrease
the deficit has done nothing, he
said, to improve it.
“The Administration is trying
Greg Laughlin, congressional
candidate
to convince everyone that they’re
conservative, but they are spend
ing more money than ever
before . . . especially on defense,”
Laughlin said. “One of these days
someone up there is going to
have to realize they’ll have to pay
for all of that.”
Laughlin also said that he sees
the Persian Gulf as a big issue in
the future. He talked about his
buddies in the Corps of Cadets
during his four years at A&M
that never returned from Viet
nam.
“The United States shouldn’t
be policeman for the world,” he
said. Congress, he said, should be
concerned with young Ameri
cans, and national commitment
should be a top priority.
Laughlin wrapped his speech
up by stressing the importance of
more Texas representation in
Congress. He said Congress has
14 members from “that school in
Austin,” and only one Aggie —
Democrat Joe Barton.
“A friend told me that being an
Aggie may be one of the greatest
things going for me — there’s a
lot of support here,” he said.
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Texas Race of Champions
THE TEXAS CARS
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Four Races
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Q| | DETD QTrtOk'Q
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Saturday, Nov. 7
INTERPLANETARY
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