Monday, August 28,1989
The Battalion
Page 11
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Re-
earchers will spend $250,000 trying
determine why the incidence of
iabetes among Mexican-Americans
t San Antonio is 50 percent higher
ran among residents of Mexico
ity.
Unraveling the phenomenon may
elp researchers discover what di-
tary or other lifestyle factors trigger
he chronic disorder.
“Diabetes in Mexico, as it is in
ost of the world, is a major killer,”
id Dr. Clicerio Gonzalez, a physi-
lan at ABC Hospital in Mexico City.
“Most of the beds in the hospitals
i the specialized units are occupied
y patients with diabetes or diabetes-
elated diseases,” Gonzalez said Fri
day at the UT Health Science Cen
ter.
“It seems like now the problem is
at the level of an epidemic,” he said.
A preliminary study during the
past two years by Mexican doctors
showed nearly 10 percent of Mexico
City residents of lower socio-eco
nomic status.
But in San Antonio, 15 percent of
Mexican-Americans from similar
backgrounds had diabetes, said Dr.
Michael P. Stern, chairman of the
study of disease trends at the health
science center.
The health science center com
pleted a computer link with research
facilities staffed by Gonzalez and Dr.
Joel Rodriguez, a professor of dis
ease trends at the Universidad Na-
cional Autonoma de Mexico in Mex
ico City, for the diabetes study.
Stern said the differences ap-
E eared to be occurring despite simi-
irities among the subjects in Mexico
City and San Antonio in genetic pre
disposition to diabetes.
Native American ancestry is a key
indicator of susceptability to diabe
tes, researchers said.
San Antonio Mexican-Americans
living in lower-middle class neigh
borhoods are 40 percent to 45 per
cent Native American, Stern told the
San Antonio Light. Among Mexico
City residents the percentage is be-
3 M
1
ew law fines for possession
f milk cases, other containers
lieved to be 50 percent or better.
Heavy sugar use has long been
suspected to increase the likelihood
of developing diabetes, Stern said,
and Mexico rates at the top of all na
tions in sugar consumption, making
the lower incidence rate even more
puzzling.
“What we have is an opportunity
to study a population that has a high
genetic susceptibility, that has a high
sugar consumption and yet may
have less diabetes than the corre
sponding San Antonio Mexican-
American population,” Stern said.
Eyebrows raise
at morgue
wedding party
AUSTIN (AP) — A new law taking effect Sept. 1 to
fine people who illegally possess milk cases and similar
tontainers will help save millions of dollars, a Texas da-
y official said Friday.
“The (milk) case loss in Texas and across the nation is
jtremendous,” said Glenn Brown, president of the Dairy
Products Institute of Texas. “The state of Texas had a
Boss last year amounting to over $7 million.”
Brown said the colorful milk cases, which are used to
deliver milk to groceries and restaurants, are popular
among college students who use them for shelving in
dormitories and apartments.
The cases also are popular for storing things in ga
rages and trucks, he said.
However, Brown said, the losses dairies suffer “not
only affects the dairies but ultimately raises the price of
milk to consumers. The industry regrets that this action
had to be taken, but the costs are prohibitive and keep
increasing year after year.”
Under the new law, illegal possession of a milk case
can bring a fine of up to $300 for each case. The law
also applies to grocery carts, bread trays, laundry carts
and egg baskets.
There will be a 60-day grace period, lasting until
Nov. 1, during which people can return milk cases with
out penalty.
“College students are big violators, as they use them
for shelves and supports in their dormitories and apart
ments,” Brown said.
Dallas cleans up from exhibit
of ancient Egyptian god-king
DALLAS (AP) — Ramses, the
L-3,000-year-old god-king, is leaving
|town, but the effects of the interna-
Itionally famous exhibit will linger, as
(the city counts the revenues and
[reaps the good will it produced.
And as the last visitors left the
[Dallas Museum of Natural.History
[on Sunday, officials prepared for a
[public sale next month of every
[Ramses sign, badge and administra
tive knickknack.
During preparations for the
[March 5 exhibit opening, officials
predicted it would draw one million
visitors, $10 million gross income,
and $50 million to $100 million for
the Dallas economy.
“We basically hit them all,” Robert
Townsend, executive director for
the museum association, said.
About half the visitors came from
outside the metropolitan area, and
more than half of those stayed at
least one night, Townsend said.
Each out-of-town visitor spent be
tween $180 and $200 a day, he said.
Since Ramses arrived, the mu
seum, which had about $20,000 in
the bank six months ago, stands to
stash away a $1 million endowment
and its membership (has soared to
more than 5,000 froriii about 350-
The exhibit was £oupled with an
unexpected debate hbout how Afri
can and how black Ramses was.
Some Dallas black leaders threat
ened to boycott the exhibit unless or
ganizers portrayed Ramses as black.
DALLAS (AP) — She’s deadly se
rious, but Pat Epley has taken an ex
treme amount of kidding since peo
ple have learned her wedding
reception will take place in the Dallas
County morgue.
“The people at the marriage li
cense bureau just about came ung
lued when I told them,” Epley said
Saturday. “And the lady delivering
the wedding cake didn’t believe it at
first, either. I bet she doesn’t look
left or right when she brings the
cake in.”
But Epley, 56, said the Sept. 1
wedding reception location make
sense.
She has worked for the Dallas
County medical examiner’s office
for more than 11 years and many of
her friends who work at the morgue
can’t attend the private ceremony
earlier in the day when she marries
Jack Frost, a 63-year-old retired rail
road worker.
Epley expects many of the 100
employees at the Dallas county fa
cility to attend what she is sure will
be one of the livelier gatherings
there in some time.
“I’m sure there won’t be any back
talk from neighbors,” she said.
Epley said the morgue has been
the site of several birthday parties
and baby showers in the past.
The honor attendants for the
wedding are Dallas County forensics
director Mildred O’Dell and her
husband, Charles O’Dell. He is bet
ter known as “Digger,” after a Jack
Benny radio show character.
“We’ve heard a few jokes about
that, too,” Epley said.
Man pulls co-worker’s Houston demonstrators
skirt; another takes photo i a 'U f or pro-choice laws
AUSTIN (AP) — A Travis
[County sheriffs deputy resigned
and a veteran lieutenant was de
moted after the lieutenant told his
fellow deputy to snap a photograph
of a co-worker ps he pulled down
her skirt, officials said.
John Barton, 45, who was in
charge of the department’s informa-
!tion services section, instructed Dep-
[uty Mike Phillips on Aug. 14 to get a
Polaroid camera and be prepared to
take a picture, officials said.
As a civilian employee walked
past, Barton pulled down the wom
an’s skirt, Deputy Chief Dan Rich
ards said.
"As soon as the skirt had been
tugged down, the lieutenant said
■something to the effect of, ‘Now,’ or
‘OK, Mike,’” Richards said, “and the
picture was made in just a matter of
a few seconds.”
Barton, who has been with the de
partment since 1972, will begin his
new duties Tuesday as senior patrol
deputy. His annual salary will be cut
22 percent, from $41,200 to
$32,136, Richards said.
“It was horseplay, but it turned
out not to be amusing to anybody,”
he said.
Following an internal investiga
tion, Phillips, 40, was told he could
keep his job but he chose to resign,
Richards said.
“The investigation supports his
(Phillips’) story that he reacted to the
order of his superior, and that it
happened quickly enough that he
didn’t exercise his own good
judgment in it,” Richards said.
Richards said officials discussed
firing Barton but decided on the de
motion after considering his length
of service with the department and
his work record.
HOUSTON (AP) — Pro-choice
demonstrators, some carrying signs
warning lawmakers not to pass legis
lation restricting abortions, gathered
at a rally Saturday in an effort to
demonstrate widespread support for
legalized abortion.
Sarah Weddington, the attorney
in the historic Roe v. Wade case that
led to legalized abortions in the
United States, told the crowd that it
was up to them to lead the fight in
keeping abortions legal.
Weddington said that while she
and others were part of the past
struggle, “you are the ones we look
to in the future.
“All we can do is take a step at a
time and remember our dreams,”
she said, adding that she looks to the
day when “every child is a wanted
child and every mother is a willing
mother.”
More than 1,000 people attended
the “Rally for Choice” Saturday
morning at Sam Houston Park. The
rally served as the kickoff to a grass
roots campaign aimed at showing
legislators that all types of voters
support legal abortions, organizers
said.
“The best person to make a deci
sion about abortion is the woman
herself,” rally emcee Susan Nenney
of Planned Parenthood said.
Supporters wore pins and carried
signs at the rally, including some
that read: “Responsible Parents for
Choice,” “We Vote,” and “Baby,
Maybe. I’ll decide.” Another sign
that specifically addressed legislators
said, “Take our rights, lose your
job.”
Some wore white clothes and pur
ple sashes in honor of the suffra
gettes who wore all white as they
fought for a woman’s right to vote.
Parachuters jump with instructors’ help
ODESSA (AP) — Mark Owen told his mother
in Union Mills, Ind., that he probably would not
parachute out of an airplane.
He did.
Jumping from 3,800 feet, he landed standing
fcup.
At heights up to 8,000 feet, the last thing most
people would like to hear is, “Get out of my
plane.”
But skydivers at the Eagle’s Nest Parachute
Club are accustomed to soaring from planes at
[high altitudes.
Owen, 19, and Rodney O’Shields, 20, both
trained and jumped in the same day recently at
(Eagle’s Nest, 22 miles southeast of Odessa.
They got involved in the sport through two
I friends, Todd Robins and Craig Kersting, both
I 19, who made their second jumps the same day.
They are all in the Air Force stationed at Abilene.
Jim Fowler, owner of Eagle’s Nest, has been
skydiving for 31 years.
He and his instructors train about 150 people
to parachute every year.
f 'Snow skiing is more dangerous than skydiv
ing,” the 50-year-old Fowler said.
“If you’re skiing down a hill, you don’t have a
second chance. Where do you end up? At the
bottom of a hill in a tree. In skydiving, you do
have a second chance.
“The element of risk is there; and that’s why
w e do it.
“The American way is to carry it to the line
without losing it.”
Fowler has only had to use that second chance
or reserve parachute once in 4,468 jumps.
He credits his success to being safety-con
scious.
“The equipment now has been so tested that all
the problems come from the individual,” he told
“8
If you’re skiing down a hill,
you don’t have a second chance.
Where do you end up? At the
bottom of a hill in a tree. In
skydiving, you do have a second
chance.”
— Jim Fowler,
skydiving instructor
his students. “If that gear is put on by me it’s on
right.
“If you have a question during the day, you
ask. If you’re at 3,800 feet in the air, that be
comes a big question. And once you leave the air
craft, you have to answer that question on your
own.”
As the time came closer for their jumps, the
four students began to realize what they were
going to do.
“OK, now I’m nervous,” Robins said as he
climbed into the Cessna 182.
“You’re supposed to be,” Fowler replied.
The small plane took off in a cloud of dust,
and Robins and Kersting landed about 15 min
utes later without incident — except for the wind
changing direction while they were gliding down.
“I almost hit a swing set,” Kersting said. “But
they were watering the grass, so I just sort of slid
in to home plate out there.”
Robins said that the three seconds of free fall
were the most exciting for him.
“You’re out there in the air and you know
there’s nothing you can do about it now,” he said.
Carl Chelette of San Angelo began parachut
ing in college.
“I have been to about 10 other jump centers
and this is clearly the best,” he said.
“They have a lot of hands-on training here.”
Chelette, 40, re-entered the sport after about
seven years.
“Once you do it for a while, it gets in your
blood,” Cnelette, who has 143 jumps, said. “You
can’t get rid of it,”
“This sport is not for everyone,” Fowler said.
“About 90 percent of the people jump one time
and only 10 percent come back tojump again.”
Owen and O’Shields made their first jumps
only hours after they began training.
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THINGS TO BO
1. Go t>y the "bookstore
2. Go "by English. Annex and. pick
up ’88 Aggieland
Did you forget to pick up your
1988 (Fall ’87/Spring ’88) Aggie
land? You can still pick your
copy up. Come by the English
Annex, Monday thru Friday,
8:30-4:30, and bring your I.D.
The 1989 Aggieland (Fall ’88/Spring
89) will "be available in October. Look
for furtber announcements in the
Battalion.