Texas Common Cause plans
Lobby Day’ in Austin Feb. 21
By JUDIE PORTER
Battalion Reporter
I Special interest groups come in
all sizes, shapes and causes,
ffliose lobbying in Austin during
b ie 66th Texas Legislature include
and gas companies, realtor as-
iations, women’s groups and any
er group that is pushing for a
Iwse or trying to kill someone
tlses, said Theo Brown, Texas di-
ttor for Common Cause, a na-
inal citizens’ lobby.
Brown was in town Thursday to
:et with local members and to.
omote a “Lobby Day” Feb. 21 for
Jxas Common Cause members to
It to legislators in Austin.
“We have made a fairly significant
contribution to effectively opening
up the Texas government, but I feel
that more needs to be done, ” Brown
Under the financial disclosure
law, for instance, any citizen of
Bryan-College Station could see
the campaign contributions or
personal finances of Sen. Bill
Moore of Bryan by checking
with the secretary of state’s of
fice in Austin.
said. “How successful well be in
Austin, I don’t know.”
Texas Common Cause currently
1
37 Aggies to compete
b games tournament
Texas A&M University students will join representatives of 30
and dan Aer schools at the Association of College Unions International
and ha; lames Tournament Feb. 15-17.
he pair; 1 The event will be at North Texas State University and will include
: poinlt! nmpetitions in billiards, frisbee, bowling, foosball, chess, backgam-
nsion® |ion, bridge and table tennis. Thirty-seven Aggies will attend.
;tch. Roger V. Messersmith, vice chairman of the Memorial Student
. But et Center’s Recreation Committee, says Texas A&M usually does well
ook aw; in the tournament.
in “do* Year before last we got what is called the traveling trophy, which
ancingl is given to the school that accumulates the most points, ” he said.
;id. {Elimination tournaments were held at Texas A&M during the fall and
, whateEPrly spring to select students to compete.
oourse, I
itM geologist to lead meet
has six priorities for the 66th ses
sion:
— Reapportionment reform,
which calls for a citizen’s committee
to draw district lines instead of legis
lators. This would help end ger
rymandering in Texas.
— Initiative, which would give
citizens the right to pass laws
through petitioning. However,
strict rules would be necessary to
protect the initiative process from
well-financed special interest
groups.
— Property tax administration re
form, which would consolidate ap
praisal districts. Common Cause
wants one office per county without
any overlapping districts.
— Sunset Texas Law, which was
created by Common Cause in 1977.
If it goes into effect, the law will re
quire state agencies to go out of exis
tence every 12 years unless re
created by the Legislature.
— Strengthening the Public
Utilities Commission by creating a
public council to represent the
people and
— Extending the time limit on
utility rate decisions to increase
public input.
Brown said that in 1973, Common
Cause pushed for open meetings in
the House and Senate committees
and for open records. The group
also supported extension of the ERA
ratification period, and worked for
financial disclosure of public offi
cials.
Under the financial disclosure
ir<
applies of uranium sought
In the next five years, American
and for uranium to fuel atomic
rgy plants will surpass current
[plies, says a Texas A&M Univer-
geologist.
is means one of three things:
ning supplies, importing them
[finding new deposits and new
's to get them out of the ground,
researcher Wen Huang.
ince the latter seems most prac-
and least controversial, both
ustry and government are anx-
to see what research centers are
eloping.
exas’ uranium deposits, discov-
ey real !t ^ n 1954, provide a multimillion
•y young
gely is i
scents in
/ersitv of
sturbed
lines aal'
lolescent
the total
d young:
far more
dollar surface-mining industry in
Karnes, Live Oak and Gonzales
counties, but such methods will not
provide enough to keep existing nu
clear equipment going in the next
few years, says Huang.
Huang has been asked to chair
the Texas Gulf Coast Plains’ first
American Association of Petroleum
Geologists conference on uranium
discovery and production,
scheduled April 1 at the Houston
Convention Center.
The meeting, which will include
more than a dozen speakers from
government, industry and universi
ties, will focus on topics from min-
1
United Press International
USTIN — Few speakers receive
attention of all 150 members in
Texas House of Representatives,
in fewer are applauded,
he Rev. Gerald Mann has won
attention of lawmakers with his
norous but pointed prayers at
opening of the daily legislative
sions, and Thursday was
•lauded by laughing House
nbers.
Our Father, help us remember
the only difference between a
it and a sinner is that one has
n caught and the other hasn’t,”
nn prayed.
louse members smiled, then
ickled, then light applause broke
as Mann, pastor of University
itist Church, stepped from the
lium.
t was not the first time his invo-
ons have brought smiles to the
es of legislators.
lis prayer at the opening of the
»ate session was, “Lord, deliver
from evil, ourselves, and long-
ided prayers.”
ouse applauds minister
r non-Texas-size prayers
A week ago he opened the Senate
session with this prayer: “Lord, de
liver us from people who never
make mistakes, and also deliver us
from people who make the same
mistake twice.”
Last month his invocation for a
House session was, “Our Father,
may we find the strength to stand
for our principles today, by remem
bering that only a mediocre person
is always at his best.”
Although the House and Senate
each pick a chaplain for the session,
both houses this year chose Mann.
ing plans and problems to
environmental and regulatory con
cerns.
Huang has been conducting
studies at Texas A&M into in-situ
leaching as a means of extracting
Texas coastal plains uranium from
deposits of lignite and sandstone, in
which the uranium is intertwined
unpredictably.
Perfection of such methods, he
predicts, could make Texas the na
tion’s second leading producer of
uranium ore in just a few years. In
that case, a third of all uranium ore
would originate in Texas. .
Huang, who already holds two pa
tents for recovery of aluminum from
coal ash, says Texas A&M’s recogni
tion nationwide has increased since
a University of Nevada-sponsored
uranium mining conference in Reno
last November, when Huang and
graduate student Ken Pickett pres
ented research findings.
Another thing that has contrib
uted to Texas A&M’s leadership has
been development of ways to
analyze uranium in lignite concen
trations in order to tell miners if top
layers of coal contain the radioactive
material as well as pinpointing other
pockets.
Before Huang was asked by
AAPG to head the Houston meet
ing, scientists from Japan, West
Germany, Israel and Taiwan has re
quested permission to come to Col
lege Station for training.
law, for instance, any citizen of
Bryan/College Station could see the
campaign contributions or personal
finances of Sen. Bill Moore of Bryan
by checking with the secretary of
state’s office in Austin.
Common Cause is a public inter
est citizen’s lobbying group. Brown
said. It is non-governmental,
funded by contributions and mem
bership dues.
“We try to make the process of
government more accountable and
efficient,” Brown said.
“We try by supplying information
about bills and issues currently in
the Legislature to our members and
urging them to write or call their
Congressmen.”
The Texas Common Cause
started in 1972 and now has about
6,000 paying members around the
state. The Austin office has one full
time lobbyist, Shiela Cheaney, who
attends the Congressional sessions;
an overall director, Theo Brown,
who works on fund-raising and visits
the local Common Cause groups; a
part-time office manager and other
volunteers; and a board of directors
that chooses issues to support.
Bryan/College Station has a local
Common Cause group of about 85
members, said Mrs. Mildred Lowy,
network and telephone coordinator
for the local group.
“We started with about 150
members right after Watergate, be
cause there was a lot of activity to
open up the government,” Lowy
said.
“We don’t have any meetings of
our own because everyone is al
ready involved on other organiza
tions. We get our information fiom
the printed page.”
The “printed page” is a newslet
ter sent by Texas Common Cause to
inform its readers. It explains what
issues Common Cause supports and
gives its proposals for bills.
“We don’t have a well-organized
group here,” Brown said. “I have
been to just about every city in the
state to try to re-establish local help
. and gain volunteers to interview
senators and staff our office in Aus
tin.”
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