January 1976 NOTICE: This publication may contain matter which could be considered immoral by ove rly sensitive persons. If you are likely to be offended by life as it r e ally is, please do not turn this page. Nothing in this magazine will be found offe nsive to children who have not yet formed their p r ejudices. The TEXaS caUER TSA .'v1EM3ER ORGA:-\l 1 :\ Tl 0';" ALAMO ·\REI\ CHAPTER--~\:\C Volume 21, Number 1 Greg P aSSI11U;'c 2 Q7 W,',yside January 1976 San Antonio, TX 78213 AGGIE S~ELEOL..OGICAL SOCIE! Y B () ') B lis 5 - - :\ 'i S PO Box 1 3 1-1 College S:a tion, TX 771'0 ttl COVER PHOTO Jill Ediger in Wilson' ~ Cave. BALCONES GROT fO Photo by the editor. Sus<l.n Fiese l er PO Box 5672 Austin, TX 78763 CARTA VALLEY S. U. C. K. S. C. Erlwin K,tn a th 3507 Lindenw00d S an A,lgelo, TX 7£.0901 In this iss ue .... CORPUS CHRISTI CAVI NG CLUB Noma Hueh:1': --CCCC 10515 Emmord Lp Corpus Christi, TX 78-110 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR More talk about the TSA. Praise for the 175 Editor •••.•.•••.•.••.• ROLE OF THE REGION Results of a survey by the I/O Committee ••••••••• EVELYN BRADSHAW CAVE OF THE MONTH Diamond Cave--From the files of the ISS •• ••••••. RONNIE FIESELER GALVESTON SPi!:LEOi....OGI CA 1 ~ CAVER NICOLE GaRNER Bug of the Month! The Rhadine exposed • .• ••• • •••• •• . BILL ELLIOTT THE PANCHO PEDDLER Have you seen this doubtful messenger from the east? ..••••••• •••• ? SOCI ETY --GSS GROTTO NEWS Club ne w s from around the state ..•••• •••. •.••• ••••• ••• - ••••••.••••••••••••• Barbara Strenth 10 PHOTO TRICKS Trial by error--How to test your flashbulbs •..••••••••• eRA WL E. GOONARSE 11 GARBAGE Little known facts and bits of fiction .. • .•• • .••• • ••• • •••••• •••••••••• ••• •• •••••••• B ox 5296 I Z EDITORIAL Seething philosophical exercise of the editor' s prerogative •• • • •••••••• •.•••••••• •• 14 TRIP REPORTS The last in a series of questionable events ••• ••• . .•••••••••••••••• • •••••• ••• G a l veston , T X 77550 GREATER HOUSTON GROTTO T '1e resa CO'1nolly --GHG 7143 Triola ~ Houston, T X 77036 IlIUIIia LAREDO SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY--LSS PO Box 603 Laredo, TX 78040 SOUTHWEST TEXAS STUDE',T staff GROTTO--SWT EDITOR: Gill Ediger Student Union Bldg Rt 2 Box 98 San Ma.rcos, TX 7866£.0 Falls City, TX 78113 TEMPLE CAVING ASSOCIATIOi\: SUBSCRIPTIONS: James Jasek MiMi Jasek - - TCA 5315 Laurel Lake 5315 Laurel Lake Waco, TX 76710 WilCO, TX 76710 COLLATION: Alamo Ar.ea Chapter TE)(.I\S A&r GROTTO--A&I PO Box 2213 Texas A&I tsa officers Kings ville, TX 78363 CHAIRMAN: Wayne Russell PO Box 848 TEXAS SPELEOLOGICAL SURVEY Rockport, TX 78382 Ronnie Fieseler --TSS PO Box 5672 VICE-CHAIRMAN: Jimmy Clements Austin, TX 78763 Box 7438 Corpus Christi, TX 78415 UNIVER.SITY OF TEXAS GROTTO PO Box 7672 --UTG SECRETARY: Ruth Darilek UT Station 11929 Grapevine Austin, TX 78712 San Antonio, TX 78288 3 \J (The fo ll o w in g l e tte r s are a sampling of those letters of commen­ dati on to the 1975 editor. --ed. ) D ear J a m e s : Dear Editor, C ongr a tulations o n a job well done as editor of the CAVER. I thoug ht that Ca rl KU:1 a th 's e dito ria l in D l!cem be r ' s TEXAS a m sure y our talents w ill be missed and 1 wish y ou the best of CAVER wa s good and quite time l y . I can't help b ut to a gree w ith luc k i n the future . m o st e v erything h e s a id. I' ve felt th e sa:ne t y pe of f e eling s for a long time so it was good to s e e these feelin g s in print, especiall y B est wishes for '76 , b y some one f rom the pot and needle gen e ration. I didn 't rea li z e Johnnie L. M c Dowell th e impac t it would hav e until I walke d i nto a U T Grotto m e eting in Austin D ecembe r and some one came up a nd ask e d if I had read the l e tter a nd proc la imed that a bunch of Austin cave rs h ad tagged m e as a Dea r Ji m, catagory I pe rson. 11m not sure that Kunath would a gr e e to this or Tha nks for an exciting 1975. Keep up the good work and my not, but ~'ll s ay one thing, 11m not g oing to sit a round and preach appr e c iation to Mimi for her effort s and to you for a job well done. safety; I 'm going to try and DO some thing a bout it. E s pecia lly when there a re many cavers in Texas that seen to be s a tisfie d Margaret Wright with the low standards of safety that s eem to be appa r e nt in s ome San Antonio grottos. It's important that muc h effort s hould be expended to preve nt the t y pe of accidents and nea r accide nts that have happen­ E ditor, ed in Texas (and San Antonio) in 1975. But it' s going to take more Congratulations on an outstanding D ecember issue. That is a than just me to push a little harder a ll the time . W e are all i nter­ perfect example of wbat the CAVER can be . I would no t mind a t e s ted in conserv ation, how about m aking 197 6 the year for better all h aving the subscription r ate increa s ed if we could have a mag­ conservation of c avers in T e xas. The real r eason for this l e tter azin e l ike tha t e v e ry month. (Even now it's great f or $4.50. ) is to add a little to Kunath 's rambling s. It i s one of m y opinions, I hope the next editor can do as fine a job as you have . May be of which 1 hav e m a ny, that the TSA i s the b est instrunlcnt, if not some of us from the 93'1. c ould join the r a nks of tbe 5'10 Carl talk­ the only one , that can be construe d as a S o unding Board i n the e d about. I guess there are too many like me-expecting a lot and state. Wh e r e e lse can one sound off, proc l aim , b itc h, g ripe , c ontrib uting nothing except out $4.50 . make ame ndme nts, m ake mockery , beat c hes ts , ki c k a s s , and in g e nera l l e t off steam (not Stuehm) than a t a BOG m eeting? Da vid Roberts The fa c t that there is this o utlet nlay be ano ther r eason that D y ess AFB p e opl e or a r ea 's of Texas don't go o ff on th e ir own a nd te nd to sti c k togeth e r somewhat in th e h ope s tha t some th ing good can be (W e ll D avid, you just got one step closer to that 5'10 . I'll be look­ a ccon'plished for caving and c ave rs in Texas by the TSA. ing for m o re from you. --ed. ) L a s t year disc ussi on and dial o g w as dis couraged, if not s up­ pressed , for the s ake of short m e etings . 1 say this shoul d b e E d itor, avoided i n the futu r e. Let there b e r a nting a nd r a ving a nd le t I pro te st your quitting as editor of the TEXAS CAVER. I know thos e who wish to speak out be abl e to have the oppo rtunit y. Isn't it ' s a lot of h a rd work and y o u're criticiz e d a lot, but r'm backing it better to have a place to s ound off a nd be liste ned to r athe r than you a nd I kno w lots of others who a r e , too. I hope to see y ou r e ­ h ave too m a n y muttering in their b ee r c ans fa r into the sJn aH s Utne yo ur editors hip soon. hours a fte r eve r y TSA mee ting , whic h c ould cau s e s plinte r g r oup s breaking o ff into who knows what. Da l e P a te A nd if the r e ar e th o s e wh o do no t like l o n g nlee tin gs , l e t Austin the m run, not walk, to th e nea r e st bee r keg ( hc a l'-hear ) whil e those w ho wi s h can stay a nd ta lk or lis te n. Beli eve it o r not, J a nl Cs , Minli , et a l: the re a re new p eo ple in cavi ng w ho conlC to TSA ;ll e e tings in o r der I tha nk you fo r"'7.