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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1990)
The Battalion STATE & LOCAL 3 Monday, October 22,1990 Grad student buys antique instrument By ISSELLE MCALLISTER Of The Battalion Staff Before there were telegraphs and telephones and fax machines, there were heliographs, and one Texas A&M graduate student has one. Peter Warnock purchased a heliograph — an instrument that sends light signals via a two-mirror reflecting device — for $ 180 at an antique store in Bryan, a price he believes is a bargain for an instrument usually found only in museums. He says the heliograph probably was made at the turn of the century. It is between 80 and 120 years old, he says, because heliographs were used in the late 1860s and became obsolete before World War I with the advent of the telegraph. Warnock says the heliograph was phased out because it was not practical. “It is too dependent on sunlight and long horizons,” he explains. “It is ineffective at night or on cloudy days.” With the sun’s help, the military during the Civil War used a code much like the Morse Code to communicate with the heliograph, he says. It was used originally by the British in South Africa, India and Afghanistan, he says. The United States then adopted this heliograph to track American Indians. Apache Chief Geronimo was captured by the U.S. Cavalry, which used the heliograph to communicate his whereabouts. The instrument’s design is simple: Two mirrors attached to a tripod aim light signals at a target. Warnock is not quite sure of all the uses of his new treasure because oflimited resources. He will write, however, to the Library of Congress for more information. Warnock, a history buff, says he was lucky enough to know what a heliograph was when he came across it. Peter Warnock, a Texas A&M graduate student, uses a heliograph to send signals of light. Two yell leaders to appear on television talk show Two Texas A&M yell leaders will appear Tuesday on the national tele vision talk show “Attitudes” racing armadillos with University of Texas cheerleaders. Senior Kevin FitzGerald and ju nior Drew Davis square off against UT’s cheerleaders at 2 p.m. on the Lifetime channel. The show, how ever, was taped earlier. The race is to show the rivalry be tween A&M and UT. FitzGerald, the yell leader who raced the armadillos, said he was im pressed that so many people outside of Texas knew of the rivalry between A&M and UT. The special “Attitudes” episode was shot in San Antonio on the Riv- erwalk. The show also will have country singer Holly Dunn, “Grow ing Pains” actress Chelsie Noble and Miss USA. East Coast bankers seek Texans HOUSTON (AP) — Texas bank ers are finally in demand on the East Coast. As Yankee banks begin to feel the pinch of Texas-sized losses, exec utive recruiters are looking to the Lone Star State for banking talent able to handle bad loans. “It’s really ironic,” says Ivonne Dominguez, manager of the Hous ton office for the Chester Group, an executive search firm. “Now the ta bles have turned.”' Only a year ago, Texas bankers were blamed for the financial trou bles of the state and treated as pari ahs of the business. Personnel re cruiters said the bankers were “redlined,” the basic equivalent of being “blackballed” in other profes sions. But now, executives at Chester Group and the Houston search firms of Spencer Stuart & Asso ciates, Stan Goss & Associates and Russell Reynolds Associates all re port they have been contacted re cently by Eastern institutions looking for interviews with local bankers. “There are banks from Boston to Miami looking,” Stan Goss told the Houston Chronicle. “There’s been a lot of recruiting down here in Okla homa and Texas.” The turnaround comes at a time when eastern institutions are begin ning to feel the crunch of a slowing economy. Real estate prices are de clining, developers are defaulting on loans and banks are faced with fore closing on properties they can’t eas ily resell. BATTIPS Anyone with story suggestions can call BATTIPS, The Battal ion’s phone line designed to im prove communication between the newspaper and its readers. The BATTIPS number is 845- 3315. Ideas can include news stories, feature ideas and personality pro files of interesting people. Hong Kong financiers invest in Houston HOUSTON (AP) — Hong Kong investors are putting their money in Houston real estate as they attempt to free funds from their homeland before the Chinese take over the city in 1997, market observers say. Michael A. Pollack, a former Houston broker and developer, said he’s considering moving back to Texas from California early next year as an agent for a Hong Kong investment group. Pollack’s clients are among three major invest ment groups from Hong Kong now looking to Houston projects. A Hong Kong partnership represented by Larry Wong wants to buy as many as 10 office buildings in the Westchase and Galleria areas and in southwest Houston. Another Hong Kong group will visit Houston this week with an investment fund of $100 mil lion to spend on commercial property in Hous ton, the Houston Post reported. Wong, who moved here from New York last fall to represent his clients’ interests, organized the purchase of the Arena Towers office com plex in late 1989. The group paid the Bank of America $40 million for the 19-story Arena Tower I and later bought the adjacent Arena Tower II for $80 million from the Bracton Group and the Midland Bank of England. Wong said he and his colleagues hope to sign contracts soon for additional purchases in down town and suburban Houston. But individual Hong Kong investors also have been active in Houston. Gordon Chen of Hong Kong recently paid Alamo Federal Savings Association $1.5 million for 84 apartments in the Village of Fondren Con dominiums in southwest Houston. P i Your Future's Bright With M.W. Kellogg! Make Plans to Interview With Us on Campus, Oct. 31,1990 Engineering Graduates: Check with your placement office today and make plans to interview with M.W. Kellogg. Remember, M. W. Kellogg is one of the most renowned engineering companies in the world. We have set more first-of-a-kind technologies than any firm in this country. Come learn about Kellogg’s Graduate Development Program. It's one of the finest going, and can catapult your career to even greater highs than you've ever imagined. We will be conducting interviews on campus Wednesday, Oct. 31, 1990. Let M. W. Kellogg show you how to have a future so bright you'll have to wear shades! —JXr\ - . [KELLOGG] Engineers of Quality The M. W. Kellogg Company REAL WORLD 1990: Life After Aggieland (A Special Seminar for Soon-To-Be Graduates) Wednesday, October 24, 1990 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. at The Association of Former Students Clayton Williams Jr. Alumni Center Pre-Registration is Necessary For More Information, Contact: Jan Paterson, 845-1133 Department of Student Activities or Jean Herbert-Wiesenburg, 845-7514 Association of Former Students Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland "T3 e <3 ^2 $0 "O e <3 « tl e § •3 e 3 I "3 3 ,3 'I "3 3 3 I Pictures Through Friday Oct. 26 OdTss mf Oct. 22 - Nov. 16 AR Photography 707 Texas Ave. Suite 120B Monday-Friday 9-12;l-5pm -3 3 3 ^2 to X "3 8 _3 "3 So to "3 3 3 "3 8 a •2 to to '"C "3 8 a 1 *3 3 3 I ''C 3 3 i to ■3 8 3 to Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland Aggieland