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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1988)
Welcome Back Ags! 10-gallon tank set ups includes undergravel filter, pump, gravel, tubing, heater, therometer $29 99 $1 00 OFF ANY FISH* with this ad-one per visit Check out our NEW marine fish & supplies Page A/The Battalion/Wednesday, August 24, 1988 *exp. Sept. 4-not valid with other offer ANIMAL WORLD Manor East Mall 822-9315 TEXAS* A&M 17ATVERS*ITY S*TMPHOXI€ RAAT* rehearsals twice a week membership by audition activities include concerts instrumentation set for 75-80 renew acquaintances from All-State, Area, Region and District Bands open to all students MEET (TUES)AUG. 30th 12:30 P.M. E.V. ADAMS BAND BLDG. The Symphonic Band offers students at Texas A&M University the opportunity to play their instruments with others from across Texas and the nation. Rehearsing twice weekly, Tuesday and Thursday, from 12:30-1:45 p.m., the band allows students to play in a group while concentrating on their major field of study. For additional information call; Band Hall (409) 845-3529 Ray E. Toler Conductor Symphonic Band E. V. Adams Band Bldg. That’s the maximum we ll charge you per minute to call anywhere in Texas from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. any day of the week, all day Satur days and until 5 p.m. on Sundays, (even less to some locations) For more information or to sign up: Contact our office at the corner of 22nd and Texas in Bryan or When Saving Money Rings a Bell Drop by our booth in the MSC (Thru Sept 2) 779-2830 Call STAR TEL 779-2830 crYM tv STATION •Nutritional & Instructional Consultation •Flex, Nautilus & Icarian Equipment Ae •Olympic Weights & Dumbells •Sontegra Tanning Beds •Specialized Aerobic Floor •Whirlpool/Sauna •lifefitness® lifecycles Licensee of Golds Gym Ent,lnc. We Give Great R only$49 FuliyFacMHy$89 (weightl & Aerobics)! 1308 HqrVey Rd. Call or Come by 764-8000 Lubbock lawn provide^ grass for landscaping LUBBOCK (AP) — Emory Thomas probably has the largest lawn in Lubbock County. At 220 acres, the grassy vista near the Slaton Highway provides not only local nurserymen with land scaping materials, but last year was a source for about 12 million square feet of grass marketed by the com pany in seven varieties throughout a 200-mile radius of Lubbock. The family-operated business, al though relatively new to Lubbock, was launched in 1968 on a farm near Granbury by E.A. Thomas. His sons, who are now active in the Thomas Brothers Grass business, include Mike, Mark and Ike, as well as Emory. In 1974, the company opened a second farm two miles northeast of Lorenzo, and in 1985 planted the Lubbock land. Two other company farms are now growing grass in Ten nessee. According to Emory Thomas, the company is providing its grass stock for both residential and commercial projects primarily through nurseries and landscapers. Thomas said the firm is phasing out its retail operations to avoid competing with its customers who buy wholesale. “In order for us to have a very large market area, we have got to service their needs,” he said of the nurserymen. “They are actually our sales people,” he added, noting that a very large sales force would be needed to successfully market grass to retail accounts. Thomas Brothers Grass makes an efficient use of whatever water is available. “We use some sewage effluent that has been treated,” Thomas said. “When the SPS plant is operating, we use their blow-down water, which starts out as sewage water. It is also treated,” he said. Southwestern Public Service oper ates a plant across Farm Road 3020 from where the grass farm is lo cated. Thomas said the excess water has a higher salt content than regular well water, and requires an applica tion of gypsum and sulphur as a countermeasure. way 419, in addition to U-3 H\ H^rmuHn <-r>rnnnnv ( plies Fesque, Zoysia and Raleighs o' 1 ' Augustine. th ve “We have two irrigation wells, but they are not very strong, and we just use them when we are running short on water,” he said. The firm has no problem in West Texas with loss of soil when a strip of sod is taken up for sale, Thomas in dicated. He said the soil that is blown in is captured by the by the grass, and more than replaces what is taken. According to Thomas, the firm sends a salesman to area towns to call on nurserymen and landscapers. Ac counts also include schools, cities and golf courses. Thomas Brothers markets three types of bermuda grass, including Texturk 10, Tifgreen 328 and Tif- Thomas said the Texturk, ] green and Tifway do well in Lf 1 bock and are popular in this an The Zoysia requires about much mowing as the Bernu grasses, he said, noting that iti slow-growing variety. He thinls takes about as much water forZc sia, however. Thomas said there is a trendu der way to replace articial turfs»i grass in athletic facilities, and pit to fill a portion of that marti Thomas quotes one of his busints partner brothers, Ike, as sayingi artificial turf playing area is about: degrees hotter than grass because the reflected heat. Ike played foe ball for Texas Tech from 1969-/S According to Thomas, athletici partments look for a grass which take a lot of wear and recover™ iritc idly. 2 TV stations make audience of Hispanics HOUSTON (AP) — Two Span ish-only television stations are capi talizing on Houston’s burgeoning Hispanic population at the expense of English-only stations that may add more programming geared to ward the Hispanic audience. About 75 percent of metropolitan Houston’s estimated 1 million His panics are tuned into KXLN-TV and KTMD-TV, which became Houston’s newest television station in February. “We’re affecting their (English- language stations) viewership be cause we’re achieving threes, fours, fives, and sixes in Arbitron ratings, which means those viewers are com ing from others,” said Jose Adan Trevino, president and chief exec utive of KXLN, which started as a low-power station in 1984 and has been full-power since last Septem ber. The marketplace is really open for development, said Mauricio Mendez, vice president and general manager of KTMD. During the May sweeps, CBS affil iate KHOU-TV and ABC affiliate KTRK-TV saw their sign-on to sign- off averages drop a share point each while NBC affiliate KPRC-TV dropped by two. Together, the Spanish stations got a share of four. Man’s life portrays Texas’ traditions DENTON (AP) — Tall, lean and always dressed in Western clothes, Weldon Burgoon’s looks are the essence of a Texan. Not surprisingly, since his family goes back five generations in Denton County. The owner of Weldon’s Saddle and Western Wear, Burgoon has been a force in the county’s agri cultural community for almost 20 years. “A lot of people don’t realize it, but this is still an agricultural county because income will vary between $60 and $80 million a year,” he pointed out. “The beauty of that is the farmer or rancher has his end product that he sells. Now to create his prod uct, he’s going to buy Harpool fertilizer. He’s going to buy diesel from somebody locally. He’s going to buy seed locally and his labor, probably, is going to be in the area. Whereas, most other manufacturers buy their (raw) materials from outside. So, it’s a very important part of our county.” While Burgoon works with the agri-business committee of the Chamber of Commerce and has worked with the North Texas Fair, his first love is working with young people. He was one of the organizers of the Denton County Youth Fair, Rodeo and Horse Show. “He works religiously every year, mostly putting together the ro deo. He helps tremendously with the auction and is always willing to sponsor an event or donate a prize,” Ricki Harrell, Denton County extension agent, said. “Weldon’s still a kid at heart. He can still imagine where they’re coming from and look at things from their level. They have a lot of respect for him because of that.” The youth fair, which attracts hundreds of Denton county young people, is an outgrowth of a youth stock show and sale which began in the ’40s. “I showed some chickens when I was a kid,” Bur goon laughed. The fair in its present state be gan about 13 years ago when, with the sponsorship of the Den ton County Livestock Association, it became a three-day event which included all the projects under taken by 4-H, Future Farmersof America and Future Homemak ers of America. To help the youth fair, Bur- ? ;oon and other supporters ormed the Blue Ribbon Club four years ago. He’s been presi dent since its founding. doing somethine | ien - ■ strn “If kids constructive, it’s better than sit ting around doing somethingde- mi structive. ® 1! “Besides, 1 just like kids.” And to prove it, he always has students — from both Denton High School and University of North Texas — working in the store. Burgoon, whose words come out in a slow, easy drawl, never seems flustered or rushed, yethe accomplishes an enormous amount. He runs his business which has been at the corner of | Hickory and Bell since 1957. He worked with the chamber, the youth fair and yoAith rodeo- both the North Texas School Rodeo and the Denton High School Rodeo Club. Hesac live in his church, First United Methodist, and in the Denton | n Wesleyan Foundation. And he and his son-in-law feed cattle ( what Burgoon calls his “countn place” east of Denton. And with all this, he still I time to rodeo himself. “I’ve roped and competed in j n ' rodes since 1941. Don’t misun ^ ai derstand me, I never did ropt well enough to think that 11 live without working.” Today he’s a member of tht Old-Timers Rodeo Cowboys As _ sociation and travels with his wife i, 1 Joy to compete in roping events around the southwest. “It’s amazing to me,” he “At Seguin an old gentleman 71 years old tied a calf in 12 seconds That’s great, if you can bethatat- live.” And he’s not worried about the danger. Computer companies ready for fall From Associated Press It’s August and the merchants of home computing are on their annual hunt for the wallets of worried par ents, heaping to bag a few before the quarry wises up. The hunters lurk in the aisles of computer stores and hide between the lines of computer magazines as they lure their prey with the call: “If you don’t buy your chil dren a computer, they’ll fall hopelessly behind at school. A computer will make learning easy and fun. Buy!” Parents who fall for lines such as this one most cer tainly shcauld only hope that their intelligence isn’t he reditary. Computers are universal thinking tools and one of their uses is education, but that’s a big step away from the idea that a $500-plus personal computer system is “necessary” for any student, particularly those in el ementary school. Even by high school and college, when long papers and reports make the computer’s word-processing ca pabilities attractive, an ordinary electronic typewriter can efficiently handle even those chores. Computers running educational software can pro vide drill and reinforcement on basic skills but so can a parent and a pack of flashcards or a workbook. And while learning to program a computer is a handy skill and a fascinating hobby, it’s no more a “necessity” than learning how to build an automobile is necessary in driver’s education. And many school provide comput ers and classes in computing as part of the curriculum. If you can afford it, a careful selection of computer and software can provide you and your child with some fun and some learning, but it’s not a magic bullet that will turn an indifferent scholar into an amazing honors student. Teachers and coaches on the delivery sideoftheafc rational system might want to take a look at the Sept(5 her issue of COMPUTEl’s PC Magazine ($12.95,CO! PUTE! Publications). The bi-monthly magazinecosti much because it comes with a floppy disk of progra® but the attraction here is a list of MS-DOS com software that helps with the job of teaching. Progras 6 listed offer help with tracking grades and attenda#! | planning lessons, creating tests and quizzes, cross* puzzles and flashcards. One program, School Dicipline Manager, by lv MicroMedia, will help you keep track of “35 differ infractions by students in as many as 20 different^ tions.” It costs $199. Cost of the other software ra«£ ! from $22.95 to $295 for V-Scout, a program byM west Sof tware that is for football coaches to use in he ing scout opponents. The same issue contains an article suggesting!- DOS machines are making inroads into the Apple-d® inated school market, but that’s probably expectablf a magazine about MS-DOS computing. Software on the disk included with the issue indu# a screen editor that allows you to create fancy ope^' screens that can be called either from batch files or 8 SIC programs. Two of the files on the disk, one source code and another with an appointments-kee| were compressed and stubbornly refused to deo press. If you have a question or comment of general inn about microcomputers, especially those intended! home use, the address is The CompuBug, AP NlP| tures, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY, 1666.