Tlvirsikiy, September 7, 20(X) He^ilVUy bo Ay, Ue^ilfUy ia\Ivv-;Even junior high was a breeze; after structured lessons, everyone went to the gym for p£. or athletics. _ High school was a bit more challenging because academics had to be balanced with athletic periods. College, on the other hand, leaves very little time for physical education because, obviously, more empha- sii is placed on academics. "for most college students, kinesiology classes are the least of their worries and hitting the books is a top pGority. - What happened to the good old days where athlet ic’s broke the monotony of academics? With demand ing standards for graduation. Aggies are lucky if they make it to graduation within four years. According to Physical Education Activity Pro gram Chairman Frank Thomas, the Faculty Senate has passed a bill that will reduce the number of re quired physical education hours for incoming fresh man from four credits to two. With Texas A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen's signature, more lec ture time with less recess will become a reality. • - Ever heard the expression, “All brains and no bfawn?" That is exactly where the University is head ed if these credit hours are reduced. .Many students do not realize the importance of ki nesiology. It is critical for the human body to be emo tionally and physically fit. Kinesiology classes not only teach students a beneficial sport, but also help reduce stress and break up the monotony of demand ing academics. Four credit hours is not a lot of activity. The time is justified in that it helps teach students how to es tablish consistency and maintain sanity in what would be an even more hectic life after graduation. ■ In light of all this, it is difficult for the Faculty Senate to justify rhe reduced credits. They claim it will allow more time for studies, allowing students to graduate sooner. But really, how much harm can two credit hours do? Kinesiology teaches many habits that students re tain for the rest of their lives. Physical attributes such as coordination, skills and physical fitness are all positive effects of kinesiology classes. Contrary to popular belief, kinesiology is not ex clusively meant for the physically fit. Classes offered include golf, aerobics — even yoga. Yoga focuses on stress relief and finding inner peace. Aerobics classes are aimed at more ac tive students and is an upbeat activity that often reduces tension and stretches the mind and body. For those students who enjoy a thought provoking sport, golf is the answer. It is a game that requires four to six hours of continuous and intense concen tration and muscle and body coordination. The golf course is also an important business plat form. Deals can be made, accounts won, and clients can be recruited within the scope of a “friendly” game of golf. Furthermore, employers are not just looking for a brain to do the job, if that were the case they would hire robots only. In many cases, employers look for outgoing people who can balance demanding intel lectual tasks with physical fitness. What the Faculty Senate and Bowen must realize - is that four credit hours of a variety of kinesiology I classes is not as bad as it is made out to be. They can not lose sight of the fact that being active is neces sary in almost every aspect of life. Cayla Carr is a junior speech communication major. Two birds with one stone Feral-cats could minimize bird problem A t one time or another, most Aggies have won dered how many stu dents have ever parked under a tree on campus. ' How many of them have done that more than once? Probably not many. Once is mbre than enough for many people. Specifically, the birds that inhabit the trees are the rcwt of the'problem. They swarm and chatter in an eerie Hitchcock-like manner. Worst of all, they de posit their feces over the expensive paint finishes on student and visitor automobiles. What would a person say if there were a solution to this bird debacle? A solution that would be low- cost, environmentally sound and would take an exist ing environmental program and alter it slightly. The Aggie Feral Cat Alliance of Texas (AFCAT) is thq program. As stated in their promotional pamphlet (W'ww.cvm.tamu.edu/AFCAT), AFCAT is “dedicated to jhe welfare, study and management of the feral-cat populations on the campus at Texas A&M University.” A feral-cat is one usually born in the wild that is too savage and uncivilized to be kept as a pet in the home. Feral-cats have been on the A&M campus for more than 20 years and the AFCAT program has been feeding and taking care of them for only two years. This program has been very effective at A&M, de spite many critics' hopes that it would fail. The pro gram has kept the feral-cat population under control and monitored.The alternative of trapping these cats and killing them off would be an empty void filled soonafter by more stray cats. Theoretically, AFCAT could takes these wild cats which are already on campus and use them to help control the birds. AFCAT also actively maintains the current popu lation, keeping it free from disease. The program could be expanded to aid in the Bird Relocation Active Management Program (BRAM). Instead of catching, spaying, neutering and monitor ing the animals, cats could be released with monitor ing collars to be breeding stock as bird-management devices. This population could be carefully moni tored and maintained using existing systems in order to ensure the cat and bird population remained at an ecological balance. In addition, this proposed system is modeled after the one at Stanford University. As cited by the Physical Plant, feral-cat colonies are located ne^r Kyle Field, Sbisa Dining Hall, Northside and various campus dumpsters. According ly, these cats could be relocated to more target rich environments.’The parking surrounding the Student Recreation Center and the resident area parking on Northside and Southside would be prime candidates. This seems to be a very simple and effective fix. However, it seems a little too good to be true. According to third-year veterinary student Dawn Fradkin, the BRAM plan “might not be feasible.” Most cats are not hunters at all. They are more likely to eat bugs and dig through trash from dump sters than to catch birds. When a project was undertaken to use radio tags to track and follow the feral-cats in order to learn more about their lifestyle, they were never actually seen to kill anything. So, for the BRAM plan to be effective, cats would either have to be selectively bred as hunters, or some form of “little kitty boot camp” would have to be developed in order to train them. According to Fradkin, “cats come out at night, when the birds are roosting,” adding more roadblocks to BRAM. Another complication is the familiar cloud of black birds — they are grackles, which are not native to this area. Pigeons — especially around Kyle Field — are also a problem. The fecal matter builds up to where every year before football season, the stadium under goes undergoes a massive cleaning effort. Unfortu nately, the bird population is so large here that cats would make a negligable impact. There are some other solutions that could possibly* be used to solve the bird problem. A special feed could be distributed that does not kill the birds, but sterilizes them, preventing the population from ex- » panding any further. As the grackles die naturally the amount of birds * on campus would gradually decrease. One major * problem with this type of feed is that there is no way ' to know which birds are eating it. After all, there are * native birds in this area that no one wants to harm. Techniques also exist for scaring the birds away from their current roosting areas — equivalents to fireworks, for instance. However, these heavy-hand ed methods have a history of incited outcry from the student body. The problem with the birds here on campus is def initely very real: in terms of money spent on clean up, as well as the inconvenience and wasted parking spaces on a campus where parking is at a premium. As with any other civic project, however, it is very hard to devise a plan that satisfies everyone. In the end it may become as Hitchcock portrayed . it: man vs. the birds. Andrew Stephenson is a sophomore environmental design major. Bull Board Good Bull — Props are in order for First Yell organizers lur ing comedian Bill Cosby to cam pus this weekend. Undoubtedly, his perfor mance will give.the entertain ment-starved community a shot in the arm. It is no secret that big tame, headliner shows sre traditionally a diffi cult find in Bryan-College Station. iWith recent visits Torn World Champi onship Wrestling and Singling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, hope is building that one day Reed Arena will be come a regular stop on most major entertainment toprs. — David Lee Bad Bull — It is 150 de grees outside, and people are wearing the least amount of clothing as possible. Gatorade and Ozarka are making a killing. Yet, as students enter class rooms dripping with sweat, they en counter an entirely new problem. Whose idea was it to turn the ther mostat down to 40 degrees? Yes, it is hot. Beyond hot, even. When people are wearing little more than a cotton T-shirt and thin shorts, sitting in a freezing class room for an hour is unbearable. RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion But have no fear: come January, when everyone is wearing long johns and sweaters, the heaters will be on full blast. People will be stripping down, wishing for a little August air con ditioning. — Jennifer Ramby Bad Bull — Nearly everyone has watched a car chase or hostage negotiation on a major television network. For some reason, viewing audiences cannot seem to turn their eyes away from these horrible sights and sounds. Welcome to ABC’s “Po litically Incorrect,” the late- night show which attempts to create an intelligent conversation among a panel of washed up actors and fanatic activists. In lieu of relevant discus sion about topics along the lines of abortion and the en vironment, the show digress es to arguing irrelevant topics between a collection of extrem ists and idiots. One cannot help but slow down and rubber-neck at the train wreck that should more appropri ately be called “Politically incom petent.” — Marcus White Late bar closing argument flawed In response to Shannon Green wood’s Sept. 6 column. Have you ever had an idea that sounded good in your head — but when said aloud, sounded absolute ly idiotic and ridiculous? Well, congratulations are in order for Shannon Gfeenwood. Allow me to review some of the more laughable idiotic arguments put forth by Greenwood for an extra serving hour at the bar. “[Texas A&M is] famous for gal lons of beer consumed every year...” I think I can speak for scores of other Aggies when I say that this fact was the sole reason I chose to come here. Not academics, not tra ditions, not athletics—nope, just gal lons and gallons of frothy beer. Oh yeah — getting to drink a pitcher of beer in 102 seconds, that was the other reason I decided upon Texas A&M. Not to be outdone by the insight ful argument that with the extra hour of drinking, Greenwood states the “bars [would be] more liable for peo ples’ irresponsibility.” “With all the money [the bar would receive from the increased hour of serving] at stake, the bars would serve ... despite this extra lia bility.” So the argument here is that in creased irresponsibility and beer consumption are justified by in Mail Call creased bar profits. Superb. But my favorite part of the entire story was Shannon’s call to action. “So the next time a bar kicks someone out at 1 a.m., he or she should not futilely gripe ... he or she should register to vote locally ... stu dents have the numbers to elect their own representatives...” Amen. Let’s not be contented to drink only until 1 a.m. — let us rock the vote and elect some people that will let us get sloshed for another solid hour. Who is this oppressive Big Broth er who’s ripping the bottle from our hands at such an early hour? Screw the presidential election. Gubernatorial and congressional votes? No thanks, I’ll pass. I don’t want to elect no stinking school ■ board member. As for me, I’m backing the pro beer ticket. Who’s with me? Mark Korzenewski Class of ‘02 Greenwood loses credibility due to inaccuracies in his column. He states that Austin, Dallas, Houston and Lubbock bars stay open later as a result of people in those cities voting for the bars to stay open until 2 a.m. This is untrue. Chapter 105 of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code defines the hours of sale and con sumption. For any county with a population of 500,000, the extend ed hours are applicable. This would be the case in the Houston, Dallas, and Austin exam ples. For any counties under 500,000, it takes the City to enact an ordinance extending the hours of consumption. At no point is this law voted on by the population. Thus, it would have been nice if Greenwood did some fact checking and actually looked up some voter’s registration numbers before he states that “ more than half of the voting population of College Station” is in college. John Denholm Civil engineering graduate student The Battalion encourages letters to the ed itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in clude the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 014 Reed Mc Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 014 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University 1111TAMU College Station, Texas 77843 Campus Mail: 1.1.11 Fax: (979) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com . Columns and letters appearing in The Bat talion express the opinion of the authors only. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administrators, faculty or staff.