Marching chief returns

The new publisher of the Tallahassee Democrat is 50 years old, plays the saxophone and has borne the title of president, but he's done things Bill Clinton never dreamed of - like leading the FSU Alumni Marching Band with a toilet plunger.

His name is J. Michael "Mike" Pate (graduated FSU in 1968), and if you were at the FSU Homecoming game in 1969, you may remember him.

He was the one strutting across the field in pre-game activities, leading the new Alumni Marching Band with a toilet plunger (complete with suction cup and garnet and gold streamers).

But that was when the alumni band first started with 27 members. Last Homecoming the band performed with almost 400.

"Judy (Pate's wife) and I and another couple came up with the idea for an alumni band and recruited others," Pate said. "The Marching Chiefs were like family, and we didn't want to lose our association with those folks."

Pate has dreamed of moving back to Tallahassee since he and his family left town in 1975 to pursue his career. He has returned for several football games each year and has performed for Homecoming for 20 of his 22 years in exile.

"In every person's career, there is one town and one job that they've always dreamed of," Pate said. "Well, I've got mine!"

Food means a lot

The lunchrooms of 1964 would be hardly recognizable to students today: no breakfast, no self-serve food, no salad bars, and - though the kids wouldn't have known it - the lunch programs often operated in the red.

Carina (Connie) Beaudoin changed all that.

As a 1964 FSU graduate with a bachelor's degree in food and nutrition, Beaudoin started as Leon High School's lunchroom manager and then become the county schools' operations director.

She has served FSU on the Alumni Board of the College of Human Sciences, most recently as president from 1993 to 1996.

Beaudoin retired in 1996 and, this year, received the FSU College of Human Sciences' Outstanding Service Award.

All there is to know

Florida has a brand new atlas, thanks to Dr. Ed Fernald, Dr. Elizabeth Purdom and a small army of other geographers and cartographers from FSU's Institute for Science and Public Affairs. The 288-page volume gives a broad look at Florida from infrastructure to recreation and sells for $49.95.

Take the quiz below. Answers are at the bottom of this column and in the new Florida Atlas.

True or false?

1. T F In 1995, Florida's Hispanic population surpassed that of African Americans.

2. T F Florida's murder rate has stayed above the U.S. national average since 1991.

3. T F More foreign tourists visited Florida than any other state in 1995.

4. T F Gainesville used to be named "Alligator."

5. T F Jefferson County has the highest divorce rate in Florida.

6. T F Tigers, elephants and zebras can be found in Florida.

To order a copy of the new Atlas of Florida, call 1-800-226-3822.

Answers:1. T 2. F, below national average 3. T 4. F, Lake City used to be named Alligator 5. T 6. T, at the Miami Metro Zoo

Napoleon sleuth

Ben Weider, the French Canadian who uncovered the real cause of Napoleon Bonaparte's death on St. Helena in 1821, was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from FSU this spring.

Weider's research showed that Napoleon was slowly murdered with arsenic and did not die of stomach cancer as long believed.

Weider, who quit school to help support his family during the Great Depression, is a self-taught historian who, with Swedish dentist Sten Forshufvud, co-wrote: "The Murder of Napoleon" in 1982, and "The Assassination of St. Helena Revisited" in 1995.

Weider released the findings for his second book in conjunction with FSU's Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution.

Soaring choir

FSU's School of Social Work established a program for disenfranchised youth, but never expected it would have international recognition quickly.

That is exactly what has happened with The Boys Choir of Tallahassee. Under the direction of Earle Lee, a master of social work, the 65-member choir returned from international competition in the Bahamas with first-place medals in all five categories the choir entered, including the overall highest score.

The 7- to 18-year-old boys also excel in academics. Of the 65 members, 48 stay on the honor roll, and five maintain a 4.0 average.

Two fish stories

Sport fishing is popular in Florida. But there's more to the work of biologists John Miller and David Conover. Their work could stave off starvation for whole populations of people in underdeveloped countries.

Fish, not wall street

When John Miller hears about a stock collapse, he isn't likely to call his broker. As the first of two Mote Eminent Scholars on Fisheries Ecology at FSU, Miller is more likely to set about determining what made the species of fish die out and what kind of ecology could have saved them. (In marine parlance, a "stock collapse" is what happens when a species has been over-fished or otherwise decimated, and not enough fish remain to replenish the species.)

Miller is world-renowned for his work on juvenile fish ecology and, since his Mote appointment began April 1, has been working at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota on stock enhancement or replenishing saltwater fish populations.

Stock enhancement could be used to increase fishermen's chances of catching sport fish in Florida waters - a potentially important application for people like Bill Mote, who financed the $1-million chair and loves to fish for snook.

More critically, this could save whole populations of humans who depend on dwindling species of fish for food. "Stock enhancement may be the only way to stave off starvation in underdeveloped countries," Miller said.

Fish sex determined by water temperature

Conover, whose Mote Eminent Scholar appointment began July 1, is well known in scientific circles for his 1981 discovery that the sex of fish is determined by the water temperature surrounding the larvae at the end of the breeding season. (Cold water produces predominantly female offspring and warm water produces predominantly male offspring.)

At FSU, Conover will be extending his more recent study of variations in the growth rate and development of fish, depending on the climate and length of the growing season in which they live.

"Given unlimited food, the longer the growing season, the slower the fish grow; and the shorter the growing season, the faster fish grow," Conover said.

Conover has studied fish in the Atlantic from the near-Arctic conditions in Newfoundland to the northern part of Florida and plans to extend his study to South Florida's tropical climate this year at FSU and the Mote Marine Laboratory.

"This adaptation to climate is important because in aquaculture you want fish that will grow the fastest," Conover said.

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Copyright © 1997 Florida State Times