Monday, November 29, 1999
Fatal flaw
Uga V, retired mascot, dies
Two new Senior Faculty Fellows named for scholarship program
Student survey, accreditation review recognize University Health Center
Lighten up
Business professor’s southern roots cultivated in the land ‘Down Under’
Reception planned for retiring associate dean
Retirees
Newsmakers
Fighting fire ants
An Associated Press article picked up by USA Today reports on UGA entomology researcher Wayne Gardner’s effort to fight fire ants, the pests from South America that have appeared around the South since they were somehow imported here in the 1930s.
Gardner’s team from the Experiment Station in Griffin is monitoring fire ant mounds after exposing them to a disease that reduces egg production in the queen.
“We’re looking more at fire ant management than eradication,” said Gardner, who is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “We’re trying to establish a balance that already exists in South America.”

Cows on waterbeds
Another Associated Press article, widely circulated around the country, tells about UGA’s $2 million, state-of-the-art dairy, where some cows relax on waterbeds while awaiting the next stroll to the milking machines. Since cows produce more milk when they’re content and comfortable, researchers are trying to keep them happy.
“Cow comfort is a big issue,” said John Bernard, a dairy scientist at UGA’s Coastal Plain Experiment Station. “That encompasses a lot of things, but bedding is one of the big factors.”
The waterbeds are one of five types of bedding the researchers are testing in a long-term study to see how well the materials hold up.

Risk takers as entrepreneurs
A willingness to accept risk is a trait shared by successful business people, according to an Orlando Sentinel article on entrepreneurship. But the risk should be reasonable or calculated.
“You don’t want to put yourself in the situation where you don’t have the ability to recover,” said Charles Hofer, a UGA professor of entrepreneurship quoted in the article. Hofer cited several well-known risk takers who choked early on--like Henry Ford, whose successful automobile company was his third attempt at entrepreneurship, and Milton Hershey, whose chocolate company was his fourth stab at running a business.
Hofer’s research indicates that business owners on their third or fourth attempt have a much higher success rate than those on their first try.


New E. coli beef danger
According to a Reuters report, a deadly strain of E. coli bacteria is far more common in U.S. cattle than previously thought, and may be found in half the animals that are made into ground beef, steaks and other cuts.
The surprisingly high rate, detected by more sensitive testing equipment used since September, has prompted the USDA to take the unusual step of re-evaluating how it regulates the food-borne disease, which is particularly dangerous to children and the elderly.
“Several companies are looking very hard at irradiation right now,” said UGA researcher Mike Doyle, of the Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement, in the article. “The economics are an important factor. How much are we willing to pay for ground beef, and
how much are we willing to throw out as adulterated?”
The USDA regulations for irradiation use in plants are to be issued by the end of December.

The UGA News Service monitors coverage of UGA in local, state and national media. Newsmakers appears in every other issue of Columns.
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