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New computer system to replace
drafting tables for some students
By Todd Riemenschneider
Stuff Write t
A Dev*' compuiei system .Hcjuired
by tlu- b il enginei ring department
at Texas A&M v\ tli atlc^w students to
pjodutf p;otessional vv<nk without
^elt.in,^ then hands dntv
It is a wave of the future, said
l)i jtm Earle, a professoi in the civil
engineering department, referring
to the Hewlett-Packard computer
system acquired to aid students with
drafting.
“We spent about $400,000 on the
system,” Earle said, “and that is ap
proximately half-price, because
Hewlett Packard gives A&M a dis
count."
The system will take the place of
drafting tables and has some advan
tages over pencil-and-paper draw
ing.
It makes lot greater accuracy,
improves storage ot drawings and
makes work easier to convey and
communicate from one geographic
site to the next. Earle said It en
ables people to change and edit
drawings eaiset than it would with
an eraser '
Earle said the computer also will
help students who do nor draw very
well
“It seems to be a means for people
who have difficulty drawing,” he
said. “They seem to adapt and do
better.”
Dr. Richard Skowronek, an asso
ciate professor in the engineering
graphics department, agrees the
computet is very valuable.
“It allows a person to produce
very professional documentation,
regardless of how well a person
draws,” Skowronek said.
"Changes can be made to a set of
drawings alreadj created very
quickly, as opposed to manual draw
ing where you would have to do
some cutting and pasn.ng and start
ail over again,” he said.
The computer will be used in En
gineering and Design Graphics 105
and ENDG 407.
The freshman level course is com
prised of 40 percent to 50 percent
computer work
The senior level course familiar
izes students with sophisticated com
puter-aided design.
“It gives us the opportunity to ex
pose every freshman student to cur
rent technology and computet -aided
design,” Skowronek said. “This wall
give us one ol the most, outstanding
graphics capabilities of any univer
sity in the nation.”
Skowronek said the department
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School’s use
of lie detector
riles parents
HOES EON (AP) - Some par
ents of high school students are
upset that Houston school ofli
cials had students take he dei.ee
tor tests in a’tempts to resolve the
theft of a puise containing about
$4
Miib\ High School Principal
Claude Brinkley said Monday the
tests weic given alter parents
signed consent hums, but he
wouldn t sa\ if the> were advised
of theit children’s lights or of
possible legal ramifications.
Yolanda Pena, mother ol a Ib-
year-old Milbv student, said she
was stunned to learn that her
daughtet and four othei students
were threatened with die poly
graph tests if one >1 them did not
confess to theft ot the- purse
Pena said her daughtei came
home Dec lb tired confused and
frightened after being questioned
at length hy a Milby assistant
principal about the alleged theft.
Pena said Assistant Principal
Sarah Smith told the students
they would have to take the poly
graph test and, that the guilty
party would have to pav the $50
administration cost.
Pena refused to permit the test
and immediately called the Hous
ton branch of the American Civil
Liberties L r nion.
Cold weather diminishes
nutritional value of grass
By Kimberly Motley
Repot tet
The sudden cold weather that
swept across Texas this month has
caused summer grasses to remain
dormant, which diminishes their al
ready poor nutritional quality foi
beef cattle, Texas Agricultural Ex
tension Service experts say.
The importance of the beef cattle
industry to the Texas economy
brings with it concern ovei quality
pastures and rangelands, T AES Di
rector Zei le Carpenter said.
Dr. Neal Pratt, a TAPS specialist,
said the summer grasses stopped
producing nutrients because of the
cold weather. T ins could endanger
the state's beet cattle industry il
ranchers cannot provide adequate
nutrition for the cattle
To counter the negative effects,
Pratt suggests that farmers and
ranchers plant winter pastures,
which are foliage pastures that grow
in the winter and aie high in nutri
tional value.
Although tfie cold weather was
anticipated and some farmers did
plant winter pastures, Pratt said the
pastures did not get much ol i
chance to grow The warm-season
perennials (grasses that grow all
year) kepi producing nutrients be
cause of late-season warm weather
and took over the winter pastures,
Pratt said.
Also, he said, some ranchers did
not plant winter pastures bec ause of
expense. Pratt explained that winter
pastures cost $100 or more per acre
each winter including labor, ferti
lizer and equipment such as tractors
“Winter pastures have to be plan
ted every year,” he said. “They don’t
just come back with cold weather the
way summer grasses come hack with
warm weather.”
Pratt said b8 percent of the value
of beef cattle comes from the pas
lut es. Even il a cow were raised in a
feed lot. its mother was probably
raised on pasture he sairi.
Because ol its poor nutriupnal va
lue, summer foliage tan barely sup-
peat a cow. Pratt said. When cold
weather hits, tin summer pastures
become dormant ami othei nutntio
nal support is needed. Pratt said
winter pastures are 20 percent to 24
percent, protein
The extra nutritional support that
wintei pastures provide is worth the
expense, Pratt sairi because it. im
proves the heel's quality But piovid-
ing it when cold weather hies can be
difficult. I he problem he said is
knowing when the cold weather will
Tome.
Man who shot police officer
was diagnosed schizophrenic
UT consultant
warns Capitol
of fire hazards
AUSTIN (AP) — The century-old
Texas Capitol is a fire hazard, a Uni
versity of Texas management con
sultant has warned the State Preser
vation Board.
Terrell Blodgett, who teaches at
the Lyndon B. Johnson School of
Public Affairs, said the following ob
servations were based on talks with
the state fire marshal, Austin Eire
Department, and a consulting re
storation architect, Joe f reeman of
Austin.
• Electric transformers are in
poor condition.
• The electrical system needs
coni plete re wiring.
• The fire detection systems need
replacing.
• False ceilings and voids above
them can help spread fire
DAI.1,AS (AP) — A homeless man
who shot a Dallas police officer to
death once lived in his family’s
stately North Dallas home, but spent
his last night in the Union Gospel
Mission downtown.
Carl Dudley Williams, 34, was an
accomplished high school athlete
who was voted most handsome of his
class, but his family twice sought to
have him committed for mental help
after he was diagnosed as a paranoid
schizophrenic.
Williams saw visions, heard voices
and believed he was being perse
cuted by his family and prevented
from succeeding, court records
show.
On Saturday, he shot and killed
Officer John Chase, 25, with the of
ficer’s revolver, police said.
As a child, Williams struggled
with schoolwork, but was an avid
athlete who seemed eager to suc
ceed, friends and records say. He
was picked as a promising athlete
and student leader and as most
handsome boy in North Dallas High
School.
His father, Carl L. Williams, is a
middle school principal. His mother,
Marie Williams, is a Blue Cross-Blue
Shield employee.
“He was very easy to get along
with —- very motivated, very inclined
to do well,” classmate Charles Long-
Law officers attend funeral
DALI,AS (AP) — Thousands of
law officers, then badges masked in
black, ringed a Baptist church and
packed a sanctuary I uesday to
mourn a policeman shot three times
in the face by a deranged transient
“We’re hurting this morning, O
God,” Sgt. Carroll Pruitt prayed.
“We don’t understand the tragedy of
this man whose life was taken from
him because of the uniform he
wears.”
Meanwhile, thousands of Dallas
residents offered a silent show of
support for the beleaguered police
department. Tuesday as they drove
to work with theit headlights on. A
group of homeless people marched
Tuesday afternoon to hack police,
while other citizens scheduled a can
dlelight vigil foi Tuesday night.
Chase, 25, died Saturday in a
downtown parking lot when a man
who lived on the streets wrestled his
gun away and, ignoring the officer’s
pleas for mercy, shot him in the face.
Carl Dudley Williams, 34, then
walked away, firing a shot at two
pursuing off-duty officers, and was
killed in a hail of return gunfire.
oria, 36, who played with Williams
on the football squad, said.
But his family recalls a different
man.
They remember finding him at
the foot of his grandmother’s bed
with a hand saw, laughing and talk
ing to himself. They recall Williams
threatening to shoot his father with a
.22-caliber rifle.
T wo years after graduating from
high school, Williams was arrested
on attempted kidnapping charges.
Williams dropped out of at least
one community college, enlisted
with the U.S. Navy and served in
Vietnam. He was honorably dis
charged after 15 months because of
unnamed problems.
In 1978, Williams’ parents sought
to have him committed.
“We have been in prison with him
living with us, locking him up in his
bedroom w hen it’s time to sleep,” tlie
elder Williams wrote in a petition for
his son’s commitment. 'We cannot
leave him alone with the little one or
alone in the house.’
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has been looking at the svsttTn foi a
few years
“We started looking it the system
four oi five years ago, he said, and
getting it into the graphics curric
ulum, we fell, was the wave ol the lu
lu re
“ To get out on the cutting edge of
technology, you have to keep up
with it. It is a good investment — pe
riod.
Earle believes this system will help
students in their careers.
“A lot of people in the industry
are anxious to move in this direction
and someone who has a little exper
tise will he thought of as an asset,” he
said.
“Computers in the past have been
burdensome,” he said. “Now they
make a lot more sense; you can use
them as a productive tool.”
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Major areas of graduate study
and research (M.S. & Ph.D):
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Financial aid per calendar year:
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Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332
(404) 894-6046
Office hours: M-W 2-4:30
HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW
[TO TT-J
FEB. 17-MARCH6
1988 Performanc® Times: Saturday Matinees - 11 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 28 Matinee 1 p.nr.,
Sunday, Feb. 21 & March 6, 4 p.m. performance only
ALL EVENING PERFORMANCES ARE AT 7.45 P.M.
categories: Collage, Drawings, Paintings, Pastel,
Miscellaneous (no photographs)
will be accepted in the MSC Gallery from
11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., February 22-24.
Entry fee is $3.00 per piece, limit 4 pieces
PRESENTED BY
Kenny Rogers
Bud Light & Channel IWo
Alabama
Februay 28 Matinee & Evening
February 21
(special 4 p.m performance only)
Wifiie Nelson
Februay 29
PRESENTED by
Miller Lite & Channel 11
Gloria Estefan and
George Strait
Miami Sound Machine
Februay 22
March ' l
Jimmy Buffett
Emmylou Harris
Februay 23
Ricky Van Shelton
March 2
Barry Manilow
Februay 24
The Oak Ridge Boys
March 3
Randy Travis
Februay 25
Reba McEntire
March 4
Conway IWitty
Loretta Lynn
The Jets
Februay 26
March 5 Matinee
Restless Heart
The Staffer Brothers
Sweethearts of the Rodeo
March 5 Evening
February 27 Matinee
The Judds
Anne Murray
March 6
Februay 27 Evening
(special 4 p.m. performance only)
TICKETRON OUTLETS: Texas A&M University Main Student Center box office; Dillard’s stores
For information or to charge tickets by phone, call RAINBOW TICKETMASTER at
1-800-992-8000 or TICKETRON at 713-526-1709.
FOR TICKETS BY MAIL, WRITE: Ticker Director. P.O. Box 25395. Houston, Texas 77265-5395
NET PROCEEDS BENEFIT YOUTH AND SUPPORT EDUCATION