Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1988)
Monday, October 3, 1988/The Battalion/Page 7 Photo by Mike C. MuJvey Apartheid shanty Members of Students Against Apartheid gather on to build a shanty. Joe Anderson, a junior from Col- campus behind the Academic Building on Sunday l e £ e Station, and a friend were helping. Texans prepare to destroy 90-foot fire ant sculpture MARSHALL (AP) — Anyone who has been stung by a fire ant and is looking for revenge on the varmint, may be able to find it this weekend in East Texas. The Sixth Annual Fire Ant Festival, held Oct. 7-9 in this city about 140 miles east of Dallas, will feature a giant sculpture of the ir ritating critter. After festival- goers get a good look, they’ll be invited to take it apart. “It’s a chance for people to get back at the fire ant because we’re going to take it apart limb by limb,” George Carter, festival chairman, said. That’s okay with Mill Valley, Calif, artist Art Grant, who the Marshall Cham ber of Commerce commissioned to build the 90-foot-long fire ant. “The most important thing about creating art is to have fun and enjoy it,” said Grant who is known for his bigger-than-life sculptures. And Texans may be more anx ious than ever to get revenge on the fire ant, which has behaved badly this summer. The ants have been invading homes to find moisture because this summer’s drought left the ground dry and made it difficult for the ants to build their mounds. The sculpture will be con structed Friday by volunteers us ing 4,900 cans of Dr Pepper and Big Red soda, two Texas-made soft drinks. The sculpture will be built in side a sculpture of the state of Texas made from 5,500 one^ pound bottles of Amdro, a fire ant pesticide produced by Ameri can Cyanamid in Wayne, New Jersey. Carter said $55,000 worth of merchandise will be used for the sculpture and festival-goers who dismantle it will be allowed to take the products home. With the pesticide costing up to $10 a bot tle and an abundance of fire ants in this part of the state, the givea^- way is quite a treat, Carter said. Based on estimates from last year, chamber officials are ex pecting 45,000 people to attend the festival that also features a Fire Ant Stomp street dance, the Tour de Fire Ant bicycle ride, the Fire Ant Roundup and the Fire Ant Calling Contest. “It’s a time when a conservative town in East Texas can let its hair down and go absolutely nuts over something as wild as a fire ant,” said George Smith, chamber president and publisher of the Marshall News-Messenger. Smith founded the festival in an attempt to stimulate the local economy which went sour during the early 1980s. Since then the festival has grown and received national attention. “If we had a bluebonnet festi val or an azaela festival the chance of getting national public ity would be remote,” Smith said. “With the fire ant we get publicity and that’s what a festival needs to grow,” he said. In addition to the national limelight, Smith said the city re ceives a good return on its parody of the Texas critter. This year the chamber of com merce budgeted $20,000 for the festival, but also will receive about $45,000 in merchandise and serv ices from the makers of Amdro. Coors Brewing Co. and local sponsors also are contributing to the festival for an event that has a more than $100,000 price tag. “A lot of people stay at the ho tels and motels; a lot of booths at the festival are local people and that turns over in the commu nity.” The festival also is an opportu nity to educate people about the fire ant, which Smith’s says has received more attention because of the event. “We do take the problem se riously,” Smith said. “We don’t make any bones about the fact that there is absolutely nothing that we do to honor the ant. ciifiSi ss3df|P' sj® ‘Igr ‘INYADS. BUT REAL HEAVYWEIGHTS WHEN RESULTS REALLY COUNT. matter whar you've go to say or sell, our Classi fieds can help you do the big job. Battalion Classified 845-2611 ^ I wasn’t rubbing it in-I just wanted Eddie to know the score of last night’s garnet Go ahead and gloat. You can rub it in all the way to Chicago with AT&T Long Distance Service. Besides, your best friend Eddie was the one who said your team could never win three straight. So give him a call. It costs a lot less than you think to let him know who’s headed for the Playoffs. Reach out and touch someone® If youd like to know more about AT&T products and services, like International Calling and the AT&T Card, call us at 1 800 222-0300. AT&T The right choice.
