Monday, March 27,1989
The Battalion Page 5
Bluebonnet hunters
can use phone line
to find wildflowers
By Andrea Warrenburg
REPORTER
Remember as a youngster, your
mother dressed you in your Sunday
bests, threw you in the car and drove
for hours to find a bed of bluebon
nets she could turn into a makeshift
portrait studio with you as the sub
ject?
Well, now such wildflower enthu
siasts will be able to find out exactly
where the flowers are with a phone
call. The Texas State Department of
Highways and Public Transporta
tion is providing a Wildflower Re
porting Service which began on the
first day of spring, March 20.
This “Wildflower Hotline” pro
vides information on the nearest
wildflower patches in the area.
“Blooming wildflowers have al
ways been a prime event in Texas in
the spring,” Rosemary Neff, public
information officer at the transpor
tation headquarters in Austin, said.
"People are always calling, wanting
to know where they can find the
flowers.”
Each of the 24 disticts in Texas
obtains information on wildflower
location and keys it into a computer.
When one of the 12 Texas Tourist
Bureaus or the nearest district office
is called, the caller can talk to a per
son — not a recording — about the
exact location of the nearest wild
flower patch. Bryan-College Station
is in the 17th district.
“The project has practical as well
as poetic reasons,” Neff said.
The highway department encour
ages the growth of native vegetation
with landscaping and vegetation
management. The beauty of the
wildflowers attracts tourists and pre
vents highway driving monotony or
“highway hypnosis,” she said. The
project also helps to protect the envi
ronment from erosion.
Neff said no law exists which spe
cifically forbids picking wildflowers.
But if a person is recklessly and fla
grantly destroying the flowers, it can
be a misdemeanor punishable by a
fine.
“We discourage picking the flow
ers because it’s in everyone’s best in
terest to leave them to be enjoyed by
all and to seed for the next year,”
Neff said.
f or local reports and information,
call 778-2165. A spokesman in the
Bryan office said the wildflowers in
this area will not be blooming until
mid-April. Location reports will be
available at that time.
Houston shelter violates
housing, sanitary codes
HOUSTON (AP) — The city’s
largest shelter for the homeless
houses hundreds of men each night
without occupancy permits, which
violates the city’s housing code, and
its sanitary conditions are so poor its
food dealer’s permit could be sus
pended or revoked, officials said.
After the inspections found the vi
olations, officials from Star of Hope
applied to the city for the occupancy
permits, which include specifications
for the number of people allowed in
side. Star of Hope is a non-profit or
ganization that operates the shelter.
One official said the number of
beds in the 38,GOO square-foot,
three-story building at a Preston lo
cation might have to be reduced.
The building, which began to pro
vide shelter for men about 15
months ago, has more than 400
beds. The La Branch shelter —
which fire department records indi
cate was last inspected in 1979 — has
about 100 beds for men.
The average number of men stay
ing in the shelters per night in 1988
was 380. Earlier this year during a
cold spell, there were more than 600
men in the shelters.
In addition to looking at space al
location in the buildings, city public
works code enforcement officials are
inspecting the buildings’ plumbing,
heating and electrical systems and
structural integrity, said Jack Gil
lum, a department spokesman.
Zoe Laurence, a spokesman for
Star of Hope, conceded that a new
men’s shelter is needed and said a
general oversight was the reason the
shelters did not have the permits.
“We’re sitting here faced with an
enormous need to do something
about the men’s shelter,” Laurence
told the Houston Chronicle. “It’s
going to involve millions of dollars.
We have to go back to these same
corporations, same foundations and
individuals, all the heavy hitters in
Houston (who have donated money
in previous fund-raising drives for
the Star of Hope) and say, ‘You
know what? You have helped us and
helped us. But we need you to help
us out again.’”
Fire department inspections last
week showed the Preston building
has a sprinkler system, but, among
other problems, it lacks a fire alarm
and smoke detectors.
Glenn Duhon, chief of the food
inspection bureau for the Houston
Department of Health and Human
Services, said a recent inspection of
the kitchen at the La Branch shelter
showed 21 violations of the city’s 28
food sanitation regulations.
Violations considered critical in
cluded: mice infestation, the leaking
and pooling of water in wash and
walk-in cooler areas, no soap or pa
per towels at the kitchen lavatory
and toxic materials such as Comet
and a can of enamel in food areas.
The Preston shelter does not pro
vide food services.
Car plunges 42 feet; toddler,
2 women survive accident
HOUSTON (AP) — Three peo
ple, including a toddler, mirac
ulously escaped death when their
car ran through a construction site
and plunged to the bottom of a 42-
foot deep excavation, authorities
said.
Paramedics and firefighters used
nylon rappelling rope to hoist the
injured people out of the hole,
which is about 20 feet wide and pro
tected by a 3-foot high metal bar
rier.
The car’s driver, Norma Vasquez,
50, was flown Saturday night to
Hermann Hospital by a LifeFlight
helicopter from the construction
site in southwest Houston.
Vasquez’ 20-month-old grandson,
Sergio, was pulled from the hole in
the arms of firefighter Pat Kasper,
who was suspended from a
sling.
“It made me think of Jessica Mc
Clure,” Casper said, referring to the
dramatic rescue in Midland last year
of the young girl from a well. “All
he did was cry, but he was the cal
mest one down there.”
Vasquez and her daughter-in-law,
Bonnie Vasquez, 20, were lifted out
on litters suspended from ropes
hoisted by several firefighters as a
crowd of spectators applauded.
Vasquez and her grandson re
mained at Hermann Hospital, au
thorities said Sunday. Bonnie Vas
quez was treated and released.
Calling the mishap a “very freak
accident,” Houston accident investi
gator G.J. “Jerry” Moran said: “It
was lucky nobody was killed with the
amount of distance the car fell.”
A witness to the accident, Brent
Griffin, 18, said he was following
the Vasquez’s car when he saw an
other car pass them and run them
off the road.
Moran said there were no notice
able skid marks in front of the hole
that might have helped accident in
vestigators determine how fast Vas
quez’s car was going, or whether
Vasquez made any attempt to
stop.
The traffic investigator said if her
car was struck by another vehicle,
she may not have had a chance to
stop. Vasquez’s car drove across a
muddy construction site, slammed
into a 3-foot high steel barrier, and
plummeted to the bottom of the
hole.
CLINICS
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Weight Reduction Program
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AGGIE HOSTESSES
The AGGIE HOSTESSES are a true ex
pression of the 12th Man and what
it means to be a fightin' Texas Ag
gie. These young ladies donate so
much of their time and effort in our
recruiting process and towards
what we are trying to accomplish
in our total program.
R.C. Slocum
If you would eiyoy helping Texas A&M
football recruit prospective athletes
please join us for an organizational
meeting;
Monday, March 27
7:30 p.m.
MSC Room 225
★Any questions, call James Pittard at the football
office. 845-1241
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