West Virginia University - Monticola Yearbook (Morgantown, WV)

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SWINE FLU WAS THE ISSUE Everyone knew what it was called. Others wondered whether you really contracted it from pigs. Scientists questioned whether its cure could paralyze or kill you. Swine flu was the issue. And from mid-November through December the university community joined Monongalia County and the rest of the United States in a mass immunization program to combat the new virus. Nationally, the program cost was $135 million dollars. Locally, the County Health Department innocTilated 17,815 at the Federal government ' s expense. West Virginia University staff and students innoculated totalled to 5,300. Controversy, however, hindered the program from the start. First, many disagreed that an epidemic would occur. Others, didn ' t feel this type of flu was linked, as many said, to a 1918 breakout that caused half a million deaths. Later, heart attacks that killed several elderly people in Pittsburgh immediately after immunization and other cases of polio were linked with the innoculations. Ultimately, the program was cancelled, but speculation continues. Three officials involved with the local program in the Morgantown area gave their views on the program. 26

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HERE TO STAY. . . by Frank Lovece We ' ve heard the story a hundred times ■ make good against impossible odds. a boy and his dog Taylor and Toadie make stories come true. They ' re mythic quality, these two. yet as anyone who has seen them perform during the Mountaineer football season can testify, the Frisbee Dog is for real. Together, Taylor Runner and eight-year-old Toadie romp through the pre-game air, psyching out the crowds with virtuoso displays of frisbee fetch. Their seemingly impromptu performances have become a tradition at WVU, as well as a feature at Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirate games. They made a rainy debut in 1974 at the Mountaineer Week game against Kentucky, and all told, Toadie has been retrieving airborne f risbees for five years. People ask me how long it took to train her, says Taylor, usually avoidant of such words as train or master. I say it took HER five years to teach me how to throw! It fascinated me at first, says the 25-year-old Taylor, but I never thought it unusual for Toadie, because she ' s always been an intelligent dog. She picked it up on her own. His and Toadie ' s first performance was, he recalls, a shaky experience. I was probably nervous because I was wondering how Toadie would feel, and whether I would throw the frisbee well enough. Thousands of cheering fans later, Taylor knew he had a natural show dog. Toadie gets off on it; she really knows the crowd gets excited. Taylor speaks with pardonable pride when referring to his mutt (Toadie is half collie, half German Shepherd); the two have been written up in such newspapers as THE WASHINGTON POST and the PITTSBURGH PRESS, among others. The unusual name Toadie had come about through sheer chance. The dog had been named by Taylor ' s sister after the comedienne, Totie Fields, and Taylor unknowingly would slur the letters. Even so, recalls Taylor, a Wheeling native, we were doing a game at Three Rivers Stadium last year, and the scoreboard read, Welcome, Toby! The relationship between the two is a close one. Toadie, says Taylor, is a dog-friend, just like a real good buddy. Toadie traveled with Taylor across the country and Taylor found the dog likes mountain climbing and hiking. Taylor plans to return next season but he said Toadie is not getting any younger. Even so, Taylor wants to entertain with Toadie, the Frisbee dog, as long as they both can. 25

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COMMENT The program was successful because had there been an epidemic breakout we would have had enough protected to keep it from spread- ing rampantly. It was difficult to mount a full scale campaign and also take care of 220 patients a day in health services. Part of the time, it was a major problem. The students were probably less susceptible than older people to the heart attack scares. The scares were primarily heart attacks and the older people were more frightened. We haven ' t had a breakout of the flu ... a lot of the experts are calling the whole thing a ' Medical Bay of Pigs ' . The Arts and Crafts festival attracted many of the innoculations we gave at the Lair. We could have gotten more at a Rock concert. Dr. E.J. Morgan, Director Student Health Dr. I. A. Wiles, Director Counr Health Dept. Wc hoped to innoculate 40,000 but what we did was about all we could handle. But if there hadn ' t been so much adverse publicity, about the pro- gram, we would have reached our goal. After the heart attack scare in Pittsburgh, we got a call about an attack that occurred after the shot was given. It turned out, the guy didn ' t tell us he had already had a stroke rw-o days before he was innocuiated. 27