Wednesday, September 14, 1988/The Battalion/Page 7
A&M computer center provides
something for almost everyone
By Melissa Naumann
Reporter
If computers seem like a far-off
entity or if they’re second nature,
computer users on campus can find
something to suit them, Kay Clay-
bourn of the Electronic Media
Group of the Computing Services
Center said Tuesday in a meeting of
the Computer Users Group.
“We may not have the most so
phisticated system, but you’d be
hard-pressed not to find some ma
chine that can suit your needs,”
Claybourn said in a lecture titled
“Intro to Campus Computing.”
Through the computer access fee
paid by students at enrollment, each
student has the opportunity to estab
lish an account on the mainframes,
Claybourn said. Students can claim
their accounts at the Teague Con-
puting Center, the Remote Comput
ing Center or the Academic Com
puting Center.
“To find out which account to
open, you need to look at your goal,”
Claybourn said. “What kind of docu
ment do you need to produce?”
Claybourn’s advice to beginning
Classroom needed
for gifted students
DALLAS (AP) — When teacher
Sharon Arnold tells one of her sixth-
grade students to go to the head of
the class, all the pupil has to do is
walk up the stairs.
For the past two weeks, her 21
gifted and talented students have
been meeting under a stairwell at
Lakewood Elementary School as
they await a portable classroom.
The students are still getting their
lessons away from the traditional
classroom setting. But they have had
to put up with noisy hallways be
tween classes, no air conditioning
and poor lighting.
Penumbra, which means “a space
of partial illumination,” was one of
the vocabulary words during a
morning reading lesson, made more
difficult by burned-out light bulbs.
“Now when your parents ask you
about your classroom at school, you
can tell them it’s a penumbra,” Ar
nold told the students.
“At least you’ll have a good vocab
ulary, no matter where we’re having
class.”
The teacher doesn’t have far to
look to show her students the steps
to higher education.
Her pupils call their classroom
“the townhouse.”
Colorful pictures showing steps
for higher-order thinking and illus
trating the importance of reading
line one wall.
Other signs explain pertinent vot
ing terms, and still others encourage
students to “be risk takers.”
The stairs’ first landing acts as a li
brary, the second as a study area. It
has a couch, rug and 10 small pillows
for students to use as they recline on
every other step to read a Jack Lon
don story.
“I never tried to approach this
place as a traditional classroom, and
I think that’s why it works,” Arnold
said.
“The only thing that really both
ered me was not being able to do
bulletin boards.
“All the decorations are held up
with duct tape, and I spend the
weekends worrying about how much
is going to be on the floor when I get
back.”
Arnold returned to teaching this
year after six years of retirement
when increased enrollment left the
Dallas Independent School District
short of teachers and space. She was
first told her class would meet in the
orchestra pit in the auditorium.
“I just couldn’t visualize that be
cause there essentially is no orches
tra pit,” she said. “So I went hunting
around the school for spaces. I got to
this stairwell, which was full of tables
and books, and thought, ‘It just
might work.’”
computer users was to ask questions
and keep pursuing.
“There’s just not a big handbook
that says how to do everything, but
don’t give up,” she said.
Claybourn urged all students to
get involved with computing on
campus and take advantage of the
tools available to them.
“Initially it is a lot of trouble,” she
said. “Anytime you learn a new
thing, it is difficult, but the benefits
down the road are incalculable. It’s
ultimately a great timesaver.”
Everything from Macintosh com
puters to a number of supercom
puter systems are available to stu
dents and faculty, Claybourn said.
Claybourn also invited faculty,
staff, students and visitors to use
INFO, an electronic bulletin board
service that is for distribution of gen
eral information.
“Almost any department you can
name will be putting information on
this system,” she said. For example,
the Placement Center has input in
formation for graduating seniors on
companies conducting on-campus
interviews and the Student Pro
grams Office and the Student Activ
ities Office will be adding informa
tion on their activities. -
INFO can be reached from any
terminal on campus and users do
not need to have accounts.
Other services that computer us
ers should use are the introductory
computer courses offered by the
Computing Services Center, Clay
bourn said.
County commissioners
approve pay increases
ANGLETON (AP) — Despite
protests from several residents, Bra
zoria County commissioners voted to
boost their salaries 16.5 percent to
$50,000, while most of the other
county employees will be getting
only a 5 percent raise.
The court voted 3-1 Monday for
the pay increase, which was part of
l the 1989 budget. Commissioners
unanimously approved an un
changed tax rate of 27.5 cents per
$100 of assessed value.
Commissioner Ronnie Broaddus
voted against increasing salaries
from $42,888 to $50,000, saying it
would be unfair to most other
county employees, who will receive a
5 percent pay increase.
Broaddus, the only commissioner
facing opposition in November elec
tions, voted last month for the spe
cial raises but said he since has
changed his mind.
County commissioners now are
the fifth-highest-paid in the state,
according to a study by the Texas
Association of Counties. They are
the second-highest-paid in the
Houston area, exceeded only by
Harris County commissioners,
according to data compiled by the
Taxpayers Research Council, a non
profit civic group.
About 100 people turned out for
the budget hearing, and 20 people
who addressed commissioners op
posed the raises.
“The proposed increase in your
own salaries is totally out of line with
the reality of these present economic
times in Brazoria County,” said Bill
Fletcher of Surfside, spokesman for
the Brazoria County Taxpayers’ As
sociation, another citizen watchdog
group.
Commissioners have commented
that they deserve the raises because
they put in 80-hour work weeks.
Instead of giving themselves
raises, commissioners ought to en
gage the services of an efficiency ex
pert to show them how to get more
work done in less time, said Tom
Mays of Sweeny.
Commissioners Billy Joe Plaster of
Alvin, John P. Gayle Jr. of West Co
lumbia and G.L. “Bubba” Rouse of
Angleton approved the special
raises. County Judge John Damon
was opposed to the raises but did not
vote. '
Mosquito control districts forgotten
by county citizens until biting starts
ORANGE (AP) — Most of the
year, their phones ring as often as
those of the lonely Maytag re
pairman of television commercials
past.
People tend to forget that county
mosquito control districts even exist
until this time of year, when mosqui
toes start tearing at their legs like ra
bid dogs.
“People don’t think about us until
they have a problem,” said Lee Chas-
tant, director of the Orange County
Mosquito Control District. “And
when they do call us, they’re usually
not in a very good mood.”
What usually is the worst time of
the year for mosquitoes occurred
about two weeks early this year, in
late August, Bob Selton, director of
the Jef f erson County Mosquito Con
trol District, said.
Chastant said,“It’s the worst we’ve
had over the last three, four, five
years.” He said he blames a good
part of this year’s influx of mosqui
toes in Southeast Texas on the rem
nants of Tropical Storm Beryl,
which didn’t exactly come barreling
through but dumped enough rain
on the area to render ideal mosquito
hatching conditions, he said.
Moreover, the mosquitoes that are
hatching floodwater mosquitoes are
more aggressive, more mobile and
more vicious biters than most of the
35 other species that plague South
east Texas, Chastant said.
They don’t necessarily have to
hatch in the immediate area — they
can fly up to 200 miles, which means
the rains Beryl brought to Louisiana
brought mosquitoes to Southeast
Texas. “If you listen closely to them
humming, you might notice a slight
Cajun accent,” Chastant said.
Shelton says an increase in rice
farming also contributes to an in
crease in the mosquito population,
since flooded lands are needed to
cultivate rice. “Back when rice pro
duction was at its heaviest, from
1974 to 1980, our office received
from 200 to 300 calls a day,” he said.
But, he says, mosquitoes aren’t de
pendent on rains or flooded land.
“There’s not a yard or house or
street that’s not within the flight
range of rice lands or other flooded
areas,” Shelton said.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Panels
of sheet metal are crafted into tough
aircraft skin at Randolph Air Force
Base under the capable tutelage of
Juan M. Lopez.
Lopez has spent the past eight
years teaching young airmen to
sculpt the thin sheets into the wings
and fuselage of T-37 Tweet aircraft.
“Mostly what I teach the airmen is
pride in getting the job done,” he
said.
Lopez learned his trade in the Air
Force, from which he retired a tech
nical sergeant.
He has worked with the 12th Field
Maintenance Squadron at Randolph
— which has 368 military personnel
and 125 civilians — the past 15
years.
“It’s a hard job, a dirty job,” the
54-year-old said of the work. “But
the kids are really sincere about
learning.
“Kids today need a little more mo
tivation, a pat on the back, but they
like to learn,” said Lopez. “Treat
them like adults. Let them do their
Mosquitoes lay their eggs on dry
ground in low areas, and the eggs
hatch within five to eight days of
coming in contact with water, Chas
tant said.
“They all hatch at the same time,
and they all go looking for supper at
the same time,” he said.
While both mosquito districts
spray the insecticide malathion from
trucks, and Jefferson County sprays
“Kids today need a little
more motivation, a pat on
the back, but they like to
learn. Treat them like
adults. Let them do their
own thinking and they do
a better job. ”
—Juan M. Lopez
own thinking and they do a better
j° b ”
Lopez said nine of 10 times the
young airmen make the right deci
sion.
“But you have to let them do it for
themselves,” he said. “You can’t
train a man by doing the work for
them.”
The airmen not only do structural
repair work on the aircraft, but in
spect them thoroughly looking for
with cropduster aircraft as well,
spraying has only a limited effect,
both directors said.
“The spray kills only the mosqui
toes that are hit directly there’s no
residual effect,” Chastant said. “Just
because your neighborhood gets
sprayed one day doesn’t mean there
won’t be mosquitoes there the next
day.”
items such as fuel leaks that are out
side their field but could adversely
af fect the pilot.
“They might see something that
others miss,” Lopez said. “Repairing
it might save a crash.”
It takes about six months of on-
the-job training before the student
finishes the course.
“We get them motivated,” Lopez
said. “I really take pride in my work
and want them to, also. The pilot is
putting his life in our hands.”
Lopez totally has rebuilt three air
craft that crash-landed with their
wheels up.
“It gives you a lot of pride to do
that,” he said.
Lopez and wife Sara have three
daughters — Vannessa, 21; Laura,
20; and Veroncia, 17; and son
Johnny, 26, all of whom attended
Clark High School.
“I like to bowl and fish and like all
sports, but I guess you’d have to say
I spend most of my spare time sup
porting the Clark Cougars,” he said.
“I never miss a game.”
Retired technical sergeant
teaches new airmen his craft
UFA
University Pediatric Association
1328 Memorial Drive 1602 Rock Prarie Rd. Suite 150
Bryan College Station
Full Range of Medical Service
for College Students
including
Gynecological Services
(Dr Kathleen Rollins)
Call for appointment 776-4440 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
extended hours for illnesses only
William S. Conkling, M.D.,F.A.A.P. Kathleen H. Rollins,M.D..F.A.A.P.
Kenneth E. Matthews, M.D.,F.A.A.P. Robert H. Moore, M.D.,F.A.A.P.
Jesse W. Parr, M.D.,F.A.A.P.
(•FACTORY*)
Call 76-GUMBY
Ask about our DAILY SPECIAL
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Wednesday Special I
16” 1-item pizza
$6.05 plus tax i
valid thru 9-30-88
2 fer 1
two 12” 1-item
pizza
$7.95 plus tax
valid thru 9-30-88
DESIGNER
[BRIDAL GOWN)
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ftOM Steakhouse
108 Coll«s« Main
Announces A Dinner Special!
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You are invited...
to join with us in a
worship service to God
our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ at the All-
Faith’s Chapel on
Wednesday Evening,
September 24, beginning
at 7:00 pm.
Organized by a group of
Primitive Baptist at Texas
A&M University. More in
formation???
Call Randy or Vince at
260-0520
MSC Visual Arts Presents
Dan Younger
‘Objects in My Father’s Basement”
a collection of original photographs
Monday, September 19, 1988
Lecture 7pm, MSC 206
Reception 8pm, MSC Gallery
STUDY ABROAD
JR. FULBRIGHT
DEADLINE CHANGE
YOU MUST HAVE:
1- -personal interview
2- -completed application
3- three references
4- -all transcripts
TO THE STUDY ABROAD OFFICE BEFORE OCTOBER 3.
CALL THE STUDY ABROAD OFFICE TO
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT FOR AN INTERVIEW.
Interviews must be completed before Sept. 20th.
STUDY ABROAD OFFICE
161 W. Bizzell 845-0544