University of Arkansas Monticello - Boll Weevil Yearbook (Monticello, AR)

Page 124 text:

120 Student Life UAM students who attended summer school in 1980 will look back someday and remember they survived one of the hottest summer’s ever experienced in southeast Arkansas. The searing heat wave began in Texas in mid-June, with temperatures in Dallas and Wichita Falls reaching 113 degrees. The heat gradually moved into Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, setting records and causing serious damage to crops, livestock and poultry. Temperatures in Arkansas climbed above 100 and stayed there for days. Little Rock reached 107 while the mercury climbed to 104 in Monticello. Grass turned January- brown, electric circui ts overloaded, air conditioners broke down, and no one ventured outside unless they had to. The heat wave of 1980 reminded old timers of the terrible summer of 1936, when over 15,000 people in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma died due to the heat. With air conditioning, the death toll in 1980 still climbed well over 150 mostly older persons in homes with no cooling systems. For Southeast Arkansas farmers, the heat meant the threat of losing their crops. With water supplies drying up, soybean farmers watched their fields wilt The extreme heat of the summer of 1980 caused UAM grounds workers problems. Water sprinklers worked overtime trying to prolong the life of the campus landscape.

Page 123 text:

Graduation is also a time to say good- bye to friends made during a four-year quest for learning. UAM awarded 227 baccalaureate and 19 associate degrees during commence- ment exercises held May 16. Due to the threat of inclimate weather, graduation ceremonies were held before a capacity crowd in the field house. Guests for the evening included the Uni- versity of Arkansas Board of Trustees, Interum President, Dr. James Martin, and James Curlin, the 20th recepient of UAM’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. Left: Tammie Jones prepares to receive her diplo- ma. Student Life 119

Page 125 text:

under the unyielding sun. Tomatoe plants dried up, causing all the fruit to ripen at once, leaving rotting tomatoes on the vine. About the only crop not effected by the heat was cotton, which continued to thrive in spite of the heat and drought. ¢ ¢: 4.64 oa e eee @%, Left: Temperatures climbed above 100 degrees to break a state record of 10 consecutive days. Above: UAM students were forced to peel out of sweat-soaked clothing while enjoying some of their favorite pasttimes. Arkansas poultry farmers buried millions of breeder hens that died of suffocation in the intense heat. Milk production from dairy cattle dropped dramatically, while in Texas, ranchers shipped their steers to the northern plains to find grazing land. Temperatures rarely dropped below 80 degrees at night, and rose to the mid 90’s by 9 a.m. About the only people who enjoyed the summer of 1980 were swimming pool operators, ice cream vendors, and air conditioner salesmen. Student Life 121 ne