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(Available in Austin, Beaumont, Bryan/College Station,
Conroe, Ft. Worth, Dallas, Houston, Lubbock,
San Antonio, San Marcos, and Waco)
Dorms, Residences, and Businesses
7 ^ Per M inute Anytime, Anywhere US
(No Monthly Minimum, Surcharges or Fees)
Synergy Long-Distance Service
Authorized Rep. Twister Communications
Austin (512) 345-6497 (800) 460-1847
Frontiers
Monday • Apru
Twisting the night away
Scientists try to guess El Nino’s impact on tornado activity
Science
onday • A]
Student
Counseling
Volunteers Heeded
etp£in
ALL MAJORS WELCOME
INTERVIEWING NOW
to begin service in the Summer or Fall.
Summer Training Class will be May 25-30, 1998.
For more information call Susan Vavra at 845-4-427 ext. 133.
AGGIE WRANGLERS
AN AGGIE TRADITION FOR THIRTEEN YEARS
c4iVGL^d
Do you love country & western dance? Would you like to perforin for others?
Would you like to represent Texas A&M in Texas,
across the nation, as well as internationally?
Then we’ll see you at...
TRYOUTS!!
Mandatory Informational Meetings:
(You must attend one of these meetings to be eligible to tryout)
When: Wednesday, April 15 MSC 292B 6:30-8 p.m.
Thursday, April 16 MSC 292B 6:30-8 p.m.
Who: Anyone interested (come even if .vouVe just thinking about Irving out)
Applications will be distributed at the meeting, and will he due by 5 p.m.,
April 28 in the Aggie Wrangler cubicle in the Koldus Building.
Tryouts will be Sunday, May 3
EMI: http://www.tamu.edu/aggie wranglers
FORDLAND, Mo. (AP) — Each
spring, with every ugly dark green
cloud, Jamey Wright's father would
usher the family into a cellar, out
of storms’ way. Wright professes
no fear today, but he learned early
to respect the weather.
That may be good, because
since 1950 the geographical center
of tornado activity in the conti
nental United States is Fordland,
about 175 miles southeast of
Kansas City — and, more precise
ly, on Wright’s 136 acres.
Nearly five decades of data av
eraging twister latitudes and lon
gitudes place Wright’s property in
the middle of the action although,
to his knowledge, no tornado has
ever hit his farm.
Perhaps one never will. With tor
nadoes, die past offers no clue to the
future. And statisticians attach little
significance to such a finding.
But Joe Eagleman, a meteorol
ogy professor at the University of
Kansas in Lawrence, has plotted a
similar “center of activity” on
graphs for individual years. Such a
spot, he says, is usually in central
or southern Missouri.
Weather is a favorite topic for
farmers here, and April, the start of
tornado season, keeps the conver
sation flowing. The big talk this
year is El Nino, already blamed for
rain and storms in the West and
Southeast.
Though Wright insists “you
can’t outguess the weather,” tor
nado experts are already watching
for the funneling winds and guess
ing about El Nino’s impact.
“The atmosphere is chaotic,”
says Howard Bluestein, meteorol
ogy professor at the University of
Oklahoma, Norman. “It’s very, very
slight changes in what happens at
the beginning — slight changes in
what happens right now — that
will affect what happens a week
from now tremendously.”
‘The atmosphere is
chaotic.”
Howard Bluestein
University of Oklahoma
A factor or not, El Nino faces
tough precedents. The planet’s
fiercest tornadoes touch down
most often in the United States.
On average, 836 sightings are re
ported each year.
From its Storm Prediction Cen
ter in Norman, Okla., the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin
istration recorded more than
38,000 segments — twisters that
stay on a straight path — between
1950 and 1995.
Those storms caused nearly
71,000 injuries and more than
4,100 deaths. That’s an average of
two injuries per twister, according
to data compiled from newspaper
accounts and National Weather
Service reports.
An Associated Press analysis of
that data shows that 75 percent of
the tornadoes touched down in 17
states — in the Plains, Midwest
and Southeast. These include Al
abama, Arkansas, Colorado, Illi
nois, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Geor
gia, Kansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska,
Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas
and Wisconsin.
Just this past week, tornadoes
swept through Alabama, Georgia
and Mississippi, leaving dozens of
deaths in their wake.
Meteorologists do agree that El
Nino — the intense warming of
the Pacific Ocean off South Amer
ica— has intensified in the United
States and shifted south the jet
stream’s winter winds, bringing
floods to southern California and
heavy rains and winds to Florida.
Will El Nino add kick to this sea
son’s tornadoes?
Many side with farmer Wright,
claiming flat-out that no one can
make a sound prediction. KU’s Ea
gleman and Joe Schaefer, director
of Norman’s center, say their stud
ies show no definite correlation.
Adds colleague Louis Wicker, a
professor at Texas A&M Universi
ty: "I’ve chased storms, and I’ve
been doing that for 18 springs. I
can say with some confidence 1
have no clue.”
With expertise rooted in local
lore, some of Fordland’s 530 resi
dents offer their own ideas, theo
ries and memories of “the big
ones.”
Baby
boomd
of touch will
NEW YORK (AP
more kids are tryingm
earlier age, babybot
are convinced thatdt
to their children, accc
tional study by the Par
Drug-Free America.
“Boomers —many o :
‘been there, donethai
prisingly and ironies ,
with the reality of drug
dren's lives,” Partner
Richard D. Bonnettess
Past Partnerships:.:
that 60 percent of thet*
tried marijuana at leas:
The group's 10th po
Sunday, showed that a
derestimated the avails
ijuana, their childrens
risks and whether thei
friends were smoking.
“Few sincerely belie
dren are exposed to
drugs are widely avai
schools their children
nette said.
The current study s*
among children ages
number who had tried
was up from 334,000
571.000 last year-?
from 3 percent to Spec
age group.
Marijuana use amorgij
16 remained stable,butj
a significant increase:]
and 18-year-olds—frr-j
in 1996 to 48 perc
m
■
Asa
By Stepi
Staff
ANNOUNCING
Physician Assistant
Workshops
Interested in applying to a Physician
Assistant Program for 1999 Admission?
If YES, then you need to attend
one of the following PA Workshops to learn the
ins and outs about the application process.
April 13 @ 10 a.m.
April 14 @ 2 p.m.
April 22 @ 2 p.m.
To register, call 847-8938 or go by the Office of Professional
School Advising in Room 205 Academic Building.
OPSA is partially funded by the Former Students Association.
Need a Job For The 1998 Fall Semester?
Are you a fun person?
Do you enjoy working with kids?
Looking for valuable work experience?
Are you available Mon.-Fri., 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.?
If you answered yes to any of these questions,
we may have a job for you.
Applications are now being accepted for the Kids Klub After School Program
at Central Park Office until April 14
For more information call:
764-3486
ita'
nl993, the Ku 1
hold a rally in C
emit new mem
inity. Several stuc
:idea of the KKK
Tiffany Inbody, Edil
I Md
0131
Fax: 845-2647; E tc
Advertising Publication
and national display advert)
Tied advertising, call 845-C
015 Reed McDonald, ando
Monday through Fiiday. Fax:
Subscriptions: A part of (lie Stifew-
eaeh Texas A&M student to piotr??
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for the fall or spring semester and I®
To charge by Visa, MasteiCaid, D*
Express, call 845-2611.
The Battaijon (ISSN #10554?26| s-
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University. Second class postage patmOf
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Battalion, 015 Reed McDonald Wf
University, College Station,TX 77843-1111
cided to hold an
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Thus, the first V\
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Christina Wrigh
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There is no second opinion
" Quantxx
Univ. I
Need a little free time?
Try
102
Revievi
Lab Fin;
Organ
Question: L Pacl
Who invented
toilet?
Acct 229
Test
Reviews
Cassidy
Sun Aprl2
9pnt-]2am
Deere
Joiner
Mon April
6pm-9pm
fit
: : T 'T vi
Acct 229
Shomuker
Parti
Tue Apr 14
6pm-9pm
Part U
Wed Apr 15
6pm-9pm
Part 111
Thu Apr 16
6pm~8pra
.
Acct 230
Test Review
Mon Apr13
3pm«6pm Ca
Test Review
Mon Aprt3
1 9pm-12am
:
Biol 113
Part I
Sun Apr 12
6pnt-9pm
Part II
Mon Apr 13
6pm-9pm
Partlll
Tue Apr 14
dpm-fipra
P-j
Math 141
Part I
Mon Apr 13
6pm-9pm
Part II
Tue Apr 14
6pm-9pm
Partlll
Wed Apr 15
fipm-9pm
Math 142
Parti
Mon Apr 13
9pm-12pni
Part U
Tue Apr 14
9pra-12pm
Part III
Wed Apr 15
9pm-12pm j
Fine 341
Parti
Sun Apr 12
7pm-10pm
Part II
Mon Apr 13
7pm-I0pm
Part III
Tue Apr 14
7pm-9pm
Tickets go on sale Sunday 5:30 p.m.
4.0 & Go is located om the comer of SW Pkwy and Tx Ave, behind KFC next to Lack’s
(First 5 to coll
with answer
get free
review!)
Bi
PsycIi
HELP
PAP
Answer appears Ihursdai
Last week's answer: Walter Citf
was never able to succeed
after he dropped outoft.u,
696-TUTOR (f
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Look for cur e:
in the Baft on
Mondays
(^Thursdays
StL
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