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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1988)
Thursday, December 8,1988 The Battalion Page9 oman saves $227 using 499 coupons ls create j ^turers ' > them,; ^ maife SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Estrella ietz has turned grocery shopping into a marathon event. | Although aisles stacked with aves of bread and bottles of ket- We v . chup seem an unlikely setting for an 1 endurance contest, Dietz has set re- girds. The super shopper used reven grocery carts and 499 coupons in her latest shopping event. Her mreful planning saved more than 1200 at the finish line, a new record I for the marathon shopper. I A secretary at St. Mary’s Univer- ic Ity, for the past three years she has hr to t ^ ie g rocer y store only twice th vm y ear ’ tas ^ * s monumenta l> a ' ' feat of stamina and strategy. After ^ Hionths of preparation, clad in Ree- loks and armed with hundreds of ^WW&tupons, she began her most recent ■5-hour odyssey at the Lackland Air ■orce Base commissary. ■ Her husband, Richard, a retired master sergeant, accompanied her. get the fruits and vegetables and I |ush the baskets,” he said. But she took charge of the opera- n. “I hate crowds and I hate shop ping,” she said. ‘‘I would rather just ) once or twice a year and get it er with.” Her first 1988 trip was early this Ijummer. This time she came without ■list. “I didn’t prepare a list this time cause I wanted to check out the 7 heard there was a lady [ n here with seven carts. I .bought it was a joke!” —Michelle Scallion, commissary checker & ■SI lU* )■& W nany new items in the store. Also, I ranted to take advantage of the spe- ials. I don’t need a list. I can re- nemberwhat I need.” She began her shopping at 9 a.m. Vith her tray of coupons arranged Iphabetically and propped in the eat of the cart, Dietz began selecting terns: four jars of super chunky pea- fmt butter, 30 cans of tdmato sauce, iight cake mixes in assorted flavors rom German chocolate to lemon. Most of her purchases were basics nd staples. She is allergic to milk nd both she and her husband are liabetic and have to watch what they :at. At the beginning of aisle 2 she got erious and removed her jacket. By 10 a.m. she was on aisle 3. “Get me another basket, honey,” Dietz asked her husband. She loaded the cart with packages of tea. “Right here I can save $20, since I have $ 1 off coupons for each box.” There were 2,000 tea bags in the cart. Dietz combed through the dam aged goods section for bargains. “You can find things that are per fectly good here and use coupons with them and really save. You can get some great bargains.” She got a dented box of pancake mix for just 19 cents that way. Midway through her trip, disaster happened. Dietz dropped her cou pons. Luckily, only a few dozen spilled to the floor and she quickly retrieved them. Barely 5 feet tall, she gets quite a workout on her grocery store rounds. She must clamber onto the lowest shelves to reach goods stacked on top shelves. One cart overflowed with cat food — 13 bags of dry plus assorted cans of feline chow. A new cat collar also went into the cart. Aisle by aisle the load increased. Sixteen rolls of paper towels. Fabric softener sheets for only 7 cents. Dishwashing liquid. Dietz took the day off from work to do her shopping. “Last time, seven months ago, I went on a Satur day. It was too busy.” Checking her coupons she ex plained that she gets free milk, free orange juice, free bread, free fruit, and free soup with various cereal purchases. After nearly six hours, she was giddy with success. During her hours at the commis sary, she took filled carts to a special waiting area at the front of the store, marking each cart with a sign, “Pa tron still in store,” so the groceries would not inadvertently be res tocked. Upon reaching aisle 14, Dietz smiled broadly and heaved a sigh of relief. “I’m almost through!” At the checkout counter, Michelle Scallion, a checker with four years’ experience looked wide-eyed at the carts of groceries. “I heard there was a lady in here with seven carts,” she said. “I thought it was ajoke!” Dietz put her first can on the con veyor belt at 3:40 p.m. She got her receipt at 4:17 p.m. One store em ployee helped her unload her bas kets, two checked the coupons and Scallion rang the items on the cash register. Two baggers worked rapidly to fill the 76 bags. As she tallied cou pons, Teresa Garza joked, “The cashier next to me went home. He was afraid she would come to him!” The total, before subtracting the 499 coupons, was $860.46. Dietz saved $227.52 by using coupons. The total after coupons was $673.91, which includes a 5 percent sur charge ($40.97 here) normally ap plied at the commissary. Dietz was thrilled with her coupon savings. “And none of them were double coupons,” she declared. Cashiers broke into applause as Scallion read out the total from the 10-foot-long receipt. “673.91 and my arm is still there!” The baggers stuffed the 76 bags, 20-pound sack of potatoes and giant boxes of laundry detergent into the couple’s Mazda truck. By 4:40 p.m. the Dietzes were on their way home. Once there, it took Dietz more than an hour just to unload the bags from the car. It took four hours to unpack the bags, she said. Now she’ll begin preparing for her next trip, probably in May or June. “I would recommend that ev eryone save coupons. I tear them out of newspapers or magazines each day and spend about an hour each weekend organizing them.” As for her marathon shopping ex pedition, she’s glad it’s done for half a year. “It’s tedious but it’s worth it.” Atom smasher poses big change of pace in small Texas town MAYPEARL (AP) — On this par ticular fine morning, the talk around the tables at the Busy Bee Cafe is about things you can’t eat with false teeth, squirrel hunting, hauling fire wood and a cow named Dorene. It isn’t much different from con versations most mornings at the Busy Bee, where the men of May- pearl gather to drink coffee, gossip, kid each other and express opinions about what’s going on in the big world outside — a world that until recently had thoroughly ignored Maypearl. But last month the Department of Energy announced its intention to build the $5.4 billion super collider — the world’s largest atom smasher — in a 53-mile, doughnut-shaped tunnel under the fields and pastures of Ellis County. Maypearl is about to become part of the big world, and life here is speeding up. “Reporters came from every where,” Ann Heath, the Busy Bee’s owner and chief cook, says. “A TV crew from Houston spent a whole day in here. They even came in the kitchen and took pictures of us cook ing. When they showed it on the news, we had people driving all the way from Houston just to see May pearl and eat at the Busy Bee. ” If the super collider actually is built, everyone agrees, life in Ellis County will be transformed. And Maypearl will undergo the most rad ical transformation of all the towns. Just outside Maypearl a campus re sembling a small university will be built for the offices of the project’s researchers and administrators and the laboratories where the giant in strument’s brain work will be done. Thousands of people will move in, particularly construction workers, during the years it will take to bore the tunnel and build the related fa cilities. Maypearl, a quiet farming community of 400-some odd souls, about a dozen businesses and one policeman, will be one of the major science centers of the world. Though the government says it wants the super collider in Ellis County, the fight in Congress to pay for its construction has only begun. If the money is approved, though, the super collider would be the big gest thing that has happened to Maypearl since April 29, 1903, when Irene Bowers hammered in the golden spike that signified the com pletion of the International & Great Northern railroad line. What’s Up Thursday DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY/JUNGIAN SOCIETY OF BRAZOS VAL- LEY:Dr. David Rosen will speak about the “Death of the Inner Witch and Birth of the Creative Self” at 7:30 p.m. in 301 Rudder. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: call the Center for Drug Prevention and Educa tion at 845-0280 for details on today’s meeti ng. NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: call the C.P.D.E. at 845-0280 for details on to day’s meeting. SWAP: will answer questions from “The Book of Questions” at 7 p .m. in 402 Rudder. TAMU INTERNATIONAL FOLKDANCERS: will teach and demonstrate folkdancing from 8-10 p.m. in 231 MSC. TAMU MACINTOSH USERS GROUP: will meet at 7 p.m. in 206 MSC. FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN UNIVERISTY STUDENTS: will have a Bible study at 7 p.m. in 407 Rudder. Friday AGGIE PARTNERS FOR SPECIAL OLYMPICS: will have a Christmas dance at 7 p.m. in 212 MSC. INTERNATIONAL CELEBRANT SINGERS: will give a free concert at 7 p.m. at Aldersgate United Methodist Church. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: call the Center for Drug Prevention and Educa tion at 845-0280 for details on today’s meeting. FISH CAMP ‘89: counselor applications will be available Jan. 16 in 213 Pavilion. Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, no later than three business days before the de sired run date. We only publish the name and phone number of the contact if you ask us to do so. What's Up is a Battalion service that lists non-profit events and activities. Submissions are run on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no guarantee an entry will run. If you have questions, call the newsroom at 845-3315. Clements promises to veto any bill that increases taxes A TTQTTM (A drw/ Rill cofr aeirlr* r*r\-\rc. AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem ents said Wednesday he sees no need for a tax increase when the Legis lature convenes in January. “I have said that I will veto any new taxes,” he told reporters during an impromptu news conference. “I don’t want any misunderstanding about this. I am set in concrete.” Clements made the comments to reporters after a ceremony where he received a small bronze bust of him self and one of President Reagan from sculptor Jonas Perkins of Fred ericksburg. Comptroller Bob Bullock last week issued his forecast of state rev enue, estimating that lawmakers would have about $1.6 billion more to spend in the 1990-91 budget years than was spent in the current budget period. Bullock said another $1.5 billion needs to be set aside to cover possi ble losses from various court chal lenges to the corporate franchise tax and other legal actions. The Legislative Budget Board es timated on Monday that lawmakers will face at least a $1 billion shortfall, possibly more, to continue the cur rent level of state services. One of the major factors that could raise the need for more money is a state district judge’s ruling that the current method of funding pub lic education is unconstitutional. An appeal of that decision is pending in the 3rd Court of Appeals at Austin. “We’ve taken the first step in a 1,000-mile journey,” the governor said of the coming budget-writing Legislature. The Legislature in 1987 raised taxes a record $5.7 billion to cover a 1988-89 deficit. SHOP FOR CHRISTMAS! SWEATERS — SWEATERS — SWEATERS COTTONS — WOOLS — CARDIGANS MEN’S—LADIES’ REG. 40.00— 12.99 CLOTHING CONCEPTS prinuc Presents A MANUFACTURER’S DIRECT CLOTHING SALE job. K0 V /677Y rvuARNE-n ONE DAY ONLY! Save 50% - 70% Outback swatchn B5T Tee Shirts Sweatshirts Rugbys $5.99 Values to $30 Outback £1 FASHION TOPS SWEATERS SWEATSHIRTS ATMENTIC SPORTWEAR 40%-50% off Reu NON V l I I 1 API Regular Retail Men’s Surf Tees by O.P. and Maui & Sons Reg. 18 00 $599 Men’s VUARNET Novelty Tees Unique Prints! $999 Now If perfect to $24 RGGbokSEi Reebok Rugbys With Crests $099 NOW W Values to 65 00 Reebok Tees $5" Tommy Hilfiger Men’s Sportshirts Current Styles NOW $ Reg. 38 00 12 99 GEAR ywotuanooBi MEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT RUGBY SHIRTS NOW $ Reg. 26 00 9 99 Men’s Ocean Pacific Novelty Sweatshirts Ski & Surf Prints NOW Reg. 25 00 $599 sujatchn SWATCH NOVELTY Sweatshirts Current Styles!! NOW Reg. 30 00 $799 Men’s All Cotton Turtlenecks Made for Leading Dept. Stores NOW Values to 24 00 $999 A THE OWGJNAL party Authentic Novelty SWEATSHIRTS NOW Reg. $12 GUMBY’S • FLINTSTONES S9.99 , . Print Sweatshirts I Outrageous Surf Prints NOW stHUi uJGJfc Re 9- $ 13 $999 odidas^ KongaROOS MEN’S — LADIES’ etonic Leather Basketball • Tennis • Running • Aerobic • Track SHOES Hi Tops & Lo Tops New Balance NOW $ 35.99 Pt'T.fl 819.99 to ONE DAY ONLY! Friday, December 9th 10 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. UNIVERSITY INN Main Ballroom (formerly Ramada Inn) 410 So. Texas & University College Station Park & Enter South Entrance CD 3 (A X CD _ 0) X < 05 1 S’ <5<=l 3 I S ^ 2 2 ca 5 I >! s| ^ i z ' < ^ <D (D I if § I !£. m •< * *8 3 I ” 9 </> ■Nj (O CO Dr. ATTENTION FRESHMEN! CLASS OF 1992 | FRESHMAN RECORD AVAILABLE IN MSC s £ N DEC. 5—9 11AM - 2PM ^ Paid ad by Kappa Sigma V SOMETHING’S BREWING! happy hour friday 2-6 movie rental over 5,000 titles $1.99 feature films 99< Tues. & Wed. Children's 99< Everyday • Adult & New Releases $2.49 $2.00 off all IP’s and cassettes $8.98 and up all CD’s $13.98 and up all books 25% off (excludes remainders and sale books) OPEN: Sun.-Thurs., 10-10 Fri. & Sat. 10-11 25% OFF 30% OFF Paperback Bestsellers! Hardback Bestsellers! EVERYDAY EVERYDAY hastin&s Something's Always On Sale! n College Station • Culpepper Plaza • Music • Books • Movies • Video • Music • Books