5 Environment
April 1999
Recycling: Not Just a Catchy Phrase
doing well at recycling. As she
notes, “The Village is doing a
great job, along with the other
dorms.”
As students of Brevard
College, we should all join the
battle against pollution by
washing and depositing
recyclables into appropriate
containers throughout the day.
If we, as a college community, all
do bur part to help the environ
ment, we can win the war
against pollution.
BC recyclers are (from left to right) Bill Rickman, Joe Raymond,
Steven Frazier, Denny Weaver.
Get Mugged Yet?
The Brevard College Mug Program, jus. one of marry f tTo's" lo "
way with several local businesses offermg iscoun s o ^ minimal
have not yet been mugged, should proceed immedia y g ’
charge of $4.99, someone will gladly “take care of you. Psst....take I he uano
receive a 10% discount!
Mick Daniel, Shawn Stevens Flying High
Over Two Rare Local Bird Sightings
Shannon McGuigan
Reporter’s Note; The following information was adapted with permission
17, 1998, and Feb. 15, 1999, Transylvania Times articles Birds in Focus.
note of the bird’s features and
Jeremy Christian
There is an on-going
battle throughout the world,
bigger than World War I or
World War II. The nations of
the earth have pulled together to
fight a common enemy; pollu
tion. Now Brevard has entered
the fight. Armed with enthusi
asm, dedication, and an excellent
plan of attack, BC’s community
is ready to make the world a
better place.
Brevard College’s
recycling program is drawing
rave reviews. Headed by
students and faculty, the
program is taking great strides in
reducing the amount of Brevard
College trash through recycling.
In 1998 alone, the program was
responsible for recycling over 15
tons of Brevard College waste!
Begun in 1990 by Dr.
Bob Glesener, the program now
is under the direction of Dr.
Jennifer Frick and Linda Helms,
Director of the Center for
Service Learning. These leaders
share their knowledge and
discipline with a cast of Brevard
College students. Bob Bridges,
Durbin Davis, Stephen Frazier,
Angela Hayes, Amanda Jacobs,
Joe Raymond, Bill Rickman,
Denny Weafer, Selome Bekure
and Katie Smith all volunteer
their time to this worthy project.
Work-study students in Beam
Administration and environmen
tal study students also give
their time to the recycling cause.
Other staff members who
consistently recycle are Ray
mond Floyd, Angela Hemphill,
and Bobbie Jean Whitmire.
Joining in the battle is
the town of Brevard. ACE
Hardware discounted recycling
containers for each BC dorm and
the Village. These containers
hold steel and aluminum cans,
#1 and #2 plastics, glass
containers, and mixed papers.
Classrooms also have contain
ers for mixed paper and other
recyclables.
Impressed by the
student response to the
recycling containers, Dr. Frick
states that BC students are
Everyone wants to
make his or her mark in history.
Here at Brevard College, Dr.
Frick’s birding class seems to be
helping students accomplish
that task. Last semester, Mick
Daniel, a student in Dr. Frick’s
Biology 110 class, spotted a
partial albino cardinal at a feeder
close to Brevard. The cardinal’s
head was totally white. Al
though albinism is not extremely
rare in birds, it is unusual.
Surprisingly, another different
yet also partially albino cardinal
appeared soon after. Now, the
question being asked is whether
two such birds in the same area,
at the same time is a rarity.
In October of last
semester, junior Shawn Stevens,
who was taking Dr. Frick s Local
Birds, Biology 374 class, put a
bird feeder in his yard to attract
some of the birds he was
studying at the time. Two weeks
later, he saw a bird that he could
not identify. He wanted to take
ask Dr. Frick to identify the bird
type. His video camera hap
pened to be nearby, so he taped
the creature for about 10
minutes.
Upon viewing the film.
Dr. Frick could not identify the
bird either, so she queried local
birders in the Transylvania
County Bird Club, who led her
to Simon R.B. Thompson, Chair
of the North Carolina Bird Club
Records Committee. After two
months of investigation, the
surprising answer came: the bird
was a brambling, a species
common to England and other
nearby regions, but extremely
rare in North America.
Bramblings were sighted in New
England a few decades ago, and
one or two others have been
spotted recently in other parts
of the United States, but only a
few states have accepted it onto
their bird lists. The brambling is
not on the NC list.
from Norma and Bill Siebenneller’s Dec,
The task at hand now
is for the North Carolina Bird
Club Records Committee to view
the tape and decide whether the
bird was wild or just an escaped
caged bird. If determined to be
wild — a position many local
birders hold to — the brambling
will stand as the first such
record in North Carolina. This
being the case, Shawn Stevens’
name will go down in history as
the first ever to sight a
brambling in the southeastern
United States.
Obviously, looking up
is paying off these days. In fact,
the Transylvania Times would
like to know of any possible
sightings of albino birds,
bramblings, or other rare species
in the area. Those who believe
they have spotted such birds
are asked to call any reporter at
884-5443. Those wondering
whether or not the bird they
have seen is unusual, might
first check with Dr. Frick!