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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1988)
Page 2B/The Battalion/Wednesday, August 24, 1988 ~ljARANTEE h Refund Thru Sept. 9,1988 Fill* C " . a aV rlow s*i^ e Time & $$$ te Redmond Terrace Jersey Street Nortny . (next to Academy) (Southgate) r^m Post v (across Coming soon! thank you for your business LiP 81 *- AS S YOU DESERVE THE BEST AND AEROF1T IS THE BEST. A6ro\ i r £ Bryan/CoUege Station s only »no multi purpose fitness complex. FREE AEROBICS...AU of our Aerobics classes are free mcluoing water aerobics and we have classes at all hours of the day and night. WEIGHT EQU\PMENT...Both Otyrnp'^ free weight and Eagle circuit machin 6 RAQUETBALL & TENNlS...with leagues and plenty of open play. INDOOR POOL...swim year round ifj the comfort of our heated indoor po 0 '* EXTRAS...Karate, complete gymnasf' 09 area, indoor track, and tanning bed- BASKETBALL & VOLLEYBALL... Whether you are looking for pickup games or organized play. MAKE NEW FRlENDS...in our rt j eS lounge and restaurant, and at our P ar and special events. w CqqNOMX AeiS STUD^R f P EO^ Help wanted to assist county youth program I Wtiei Lve ban I You By Kelly S. Brown Reporter Help wanted: Need people 2 1 and older to spend two to four hours a week exposing children to a positive world. “Too many youths today have lim ited horizons,” said Joy Sneed, head of Expanding Horizons, a volunteer program set up by the Brazos County Juvenile Services Depart ment. “They don’t see the possibilities beyond their neighborhood or school. They can’t. They don’t know what’s out there because they’ve never been shown. “The program is designed to show them (the possibilities) by opening doors and expanding the horizons of children, ages 10-17, who have made mistakes and have been in trouble with the law.” The program seeks to give chil dren positive role models. “Children learn from watching,” Sneed said. “For many, the only thing they’ve seen is poverty, so when they see a pimp or drug dealer flashing around money, they think that is the only way they can succeed. They are in dire need of positive adult role models . . . “That is where the college com munity comes in. They help the pro gram greatly, but we need more of them.” Big brother-big sister volunteers are needed to show the children more of the community and help with schoolwork, Sneed said. “The only requirements are that the volunteer be at least 21 years old and able to devote at least two to four hours a week for a minimum of six months,” she said. Some of the big brothers-big sis ters show children the Texas A&M campus or take them to movies, games, plays, museums or just listen to music, Sneed said. “The time spent with the children is what is important,” she said. “One big brother took his boy to the top of Rudder Tower to look out over the campus and found out the boy had never been in an elevator.” Dr. Paul Kingery, a professor of community health education, is a big brother in the program. “If people could open up a few hours a week to help the children they will also be helping themselves,” Kingery said. “In the program you’re put in a situation you have never been in before and you get a new perspective on life while in the program.” Kingery requires some of his classes to work for a health-related agency in the county, like the Juve nile Services Department, and then write a paper about the experience. “When I read their papers, they are all telling me they felt very good about the work they did,” Kingery said. “Not only are the children’s ho rizons expanded but the volunteers have their own horizons expanded as well.” Volunteers also have the opportu nity to work in detention at the courthouse, where support is pro vided to the juveniles in secure cus tody. A volunteer can be an educa- Incentives credited in Corps By Marcena Fadal Staff Writer What goes up must come down. But suppose we’re talking about grades. Can it be that what is down has to go up? That’s what the Texas A&M Corp of Cadets is trying to figure out. Corp Commander Todd Reichert said the Corps average has increased to an all-time record of 2.534 in the spring due to a few changes and in centives. “We have added an extra call-to- quarters,” Reichert said. Besides the regular call-to-quarters, last spring we added an extra 10 hours of study a week. The freshmen and sophomores can sign up for 10 hours whenever they feel like it, but not during regu lar call-to-quarters. This has brought good results. Call-to-quarters is a three-hour study period from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Sunday through Thurs day for freshmen and sophomores. A grade report which they fill out themselves is also posted on the wall, Reichert added. ' “They write out their test grades, mid-terms and finals to remind them how they are doing,” he said. Another way to improve the scholastic average of each outfit is for each to have its own mentor, otherwise known as a faculty adviser. grade rise “This is not new among the Corps,” Reichert said. “A faculty ad viser is attached to each outfit and what he does is helps, advises and really gets involved with the outfits. 1 think it is something that can help us.” Reichert said the Corps asks for volunteers to fill these positions but most have been advisers for many years. Scholarships also are available as incentives. “We have the Sul Ross Schol arship which goes to incoming fresh men and sophomores,” Reichert said. “There are 197 at present . . . funded by former students and ef forts of the Corps Development Council.” He said there is no minimum and the recipients are those with high GPRs who are involved in, extracur ricular activities. Either those enrolled or incoming into the University are eligible. “The ROTC also offers its own scholarships, and they have differ ent requirements,” Reichert added. Reichert said that a member goes on Corps scholastic probation if his average falls below a 2.0. The member then has one semes ter to bring the average up or be re leased from the Corps until it is brought up. Reichert said the Corps is expect ing approximately 750 new cadets this fall. lion aide, helping the teacher either a 9 a.m.-l 1 a.m. or 2 p.m- p.m. session, Monday through,fi day. Volunteers assist with fixh meals, playing games or just prom ing a listening ear. (Creativity is welcomed in the4 tent ion center. lollege rom cc Sneed said: “If you have an interest like an photography — we’re open to so: gestions — then you can sharetf« exas with the kids. “Being a volunteer is not ahta easy and you have to he faithful, “You’re making a commitmeni the kids that you will come an spend two or four hours a week will them. The children sometimes asl us why we play with them.” tajor, lall of nan. He ountr onairt fall <i Dallas firm may request FDIC help n DALLAS (AP) — After trying to raise money from private in vestors, MCorp officials also art considering using cash fromtlx Federal Deposit Insurance Corp to recapitalize the bank-holding company, a newspaper reported If MCorp took such action,it would indicate a shift intheatti tude of chairman Gene Bishop, who said as recently June at the company’s annual meeting that he hoped to raist money from private sources anil not involve regulators, The Mat Morning News reported Tues day. MCorp has sold various iated operations, including dau processing and credit card units Citing unnamed banking sources, the newspaper reported that die holding company may seek addi tional asset disposals and will continue to press for private funds on its own. Bishop, through a spokesman said, “We are continuing to pui sne all alternatives for raisingne* capital.” MCorp would not comment I recffy on possible FDIC involve ment, and the federal agency had no comment regarding MCorp. Bishop, in an Aug. 1 letter to stockholders, mentioned a “gron ing perception that private capital for Texas banks may be available only in combination with some form of public sector investment (falls to Bishop by the AP were not immediately returned. MCorp officials have said they are confident the company remain afloat indefinitely and it not under immediate pressureto turn to the FDIC. But, source! said, growing loan problems and commitments of federal moneyt« other Texas hank bailouts have convinced Bishop public assis tance is necessary to raise private capital. MCorp has been trying since last spring to raise at least " million in new capital vvi government assistance, but Bishop has said that effort hai been hindered by adverse public ity about Texas banks. ang. “I U! latres * ,ghts, Ten iat to ryan- Ray and c rom P seve nd At The laying Ik If there’s live bomb around this sergeant will defuse it HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Why would a soldier want to defuse bombs instead of type letters, cook breakfast or drive a truck? “They told me I could make $55 more a month, which was a 50 per cent increase,” said Army Master Sgt. Stephen King. “And there’d be no KP or guard duty the rest of the time I’d be in the service. So I took it.” What the Army didn’t tell King, now a 19-year career soldier, was that he would have to learn to defuse about 60,000 types of military explo sives. That’s not including homemade bombs, which he described as “up to the imagination of the person” building them. “ That’s why we don’t want to talk about anything we do to defeat de vices,” said King, who was drafted into service. His business card is about as secre tive as he is. “Explosives Are Our Business” and “When in Doubt, Call,” the card reads. There’s a phone number listed, but no name. King said his staff of six enlisted men and one officer are on duty 24 hours a day. They answer calls in a 44-county area and assist Army teams in other states. Only police or federal agencies can call the Explosives Ordnance Department, or EOD, for assistance. About half of the calls are to pick up war souvenirs, such as World War II grenades people find in rela tives’ homes while settling estates. Or, like the World War II Japa nese mortar shell they found re cently in Punxsutawney. His men tape grenade handles in place so the pin doesn’t fall out, and take the devices back to the impact area to explode them. Old dynamite used to blow up tree stumps is another problem EOD faces. Army regulations prevent EOD soldiers from destroying com mercial explosives on post, but the technicians can help remove the de vices, King said. “Commercial explosives, like somebody finds in an old shed or back yard, could have been there for 15 years,” he said. “But all of a sud den, it’s a big problem and has to be handled today.” One source said the EOD techni cians also check buildings for explo sives before political figures arrive. King would only say that his group assists the Secret Service in the pro tection of the president, vice presi dent and presidential candidates. King said the technicians have above-average intelligence and good manual dexterity. Recruits attend a nine-week pi liminary ordnance school Redstone, Ala., where they learn assist EOD technicians. They tin work for 12 to 18 months as apprtf tices for an EOD attachment. The EOD company command* decides whether the recruit shoti be allowed to attend an addition 19-week training course, qualifyii him as an EOD technician. Sgt. Eric Crawford, an EOD ted 1 nician, said: “It’s kind of like a weeding process for the units before learn if it’s the quality of soldierd community wants. It’s a closed group.” King said a number of misconct] tions exist about the unit’s soldiers- “A lot of people think we just! around like a fire department,'' said. “But first we’re still an An 1 soldier. We’ve got as much ment to maintain as a 100-mano pany.” The technicians also lecture and fire departments, school a hospital stalls on how to hat!' bomb threats. Sgt. Duane J. Cole, another te nician, said: “The teaching helps so much, can save us a lot of driving time.” But they can’t reach everyone, said. Tin J