features
Battalion/Page 3B
February 24, 1982
Procedures to be simplified
Travelers need passports
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And a one, and a two ...
ancy Theeman directs the Century Singers during
i practice session. Theeman also plays piano for
he Singing Cadets. She plans to leave Texas A&M
University at the end of the year to finish her
pectoral degree in music history.
United Press International
Some three million Amer
icans applied for passports in
1981 and more are expected to
be heading abroad this year.
First on their list of priorities
should be obtaining a valid pass
port.
Next to money, a passport is
considered the most valuable
possession of the American
traveler in foreign lands. As an
official document, it is accepted
as proof of identity and nation
ality in earthquakes, floods, acci
dents, wars and other natural
and man-made disasters.
A valid passport helps when
converting currency, checking
into hotels, making major pur
chases with credit cards, getting
into gambling casinos barred to
the natives or seeking help or
protection from U.S. embassies
and consulates in emergencies.
Americans are forbidden ,in
most instances, by federal law to
leave or enter the United States
without a valid passport. Excep
tions include Canada, Mexico,
Bermuda, Bahamas and the
Caribbean islands, where pass
ports are not required. Visits to
U.S. island possessions, such as
Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa and
the Virgin Islands also do not
require passports.
Passports cost $15, including
a $5 execution fee.
All that is usually needed is a
completed application and two
recent photographs. The appli
cation forms are available free of
charge at U.S. Passport Agency
offices, authorized county, state
and federal district courts and
designated post offices.
First-time applicants must
appear in person and are re
quired to establish proof of
identity through documentary
evidence or the sworn testimony
of a U.S. citizen who has known
the applicant for at least two
years.
Completed applications must
be accompanied by two dupli
cate full-face 2x2 inch (black-
and-white or color) photo
graphs taken within the preced
ing six months and a certified
copy of the applicant’s birth cer
tificate. Naturalization papers
may be substituted if the appli
cant is foreign born.
Joint husband-and-wife and
family passports are no longer
issued. Now each member of the
family, regardless of age, must
obtain an individual passport.
Passports are valid for 5 years
and are not renewable. Expired
documents, if issued within the
preceding 8 years, will usually be
accepted as proof of identity
when submitted with a com
pleted application and two re
cent photographs. Previous
passport holders may apply by
mail, including a money order
or personal check for $10 —
there is no execution fee.
Apply early — processing an
application can take from 10
days to two weeks, longer during
the busy summer months. Make
a record of the number, date
and place of issuance as a pre
caution against theft or loss.
Several passport offices, in
cluding Washington, D.C., and
Chicago, have begun issuing a
new type of machine-readable
passport which should make it
easier for the traveler to come
and go.
Customs-immigration offi
cials will still have to check the
photographs but computers will
do the rest. The key element is a
two-line code restating the hol
der’s name and date of birth at
the bottom of the information
page which can be read by an
electronic scanner. Thus, infor
mation about the traveler can be
recorded and checked against
data stored in the scanner’s com
puterized memory.
The 10 European Common
Market countries have agreed to
issue similar passports by 1985.
It is hoped all countries will
switch to the machine-readable
passports eventually.
Regardless of which type you
have, keep it handy — do not
pack it in your luggage or leave it
in an empty hotel room or un
guarded car. About the size of a
bank deposit book, the passport
lepc
fits easily in a shirt pocket or
purse and should be carried on
the person whenever possible.
Report loss or theft — U.S.
passports are hot items for drug
smugglers, swindlers and other
criminals — promptly to local
police and the nearest U.S. con
sulates. American consulates
now are authorized to issue full
five-year replacements rather
than the former temporary
three-month document.
0
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United Press International
NEW YORK — A few years
jgo, Hazard Reeves, the com
munications and computer ex
ert, was asked to find a timing
evice for the bell chimes of St.
Mary’s Episcopal Church in
Tuxedo Park, N.Y., where he
Jives.
He tried a dozen or so hard-
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id said die I ■ H
edonthejm r are anc * equipment stores and
s supportil* Mdn’t find it. He knew he
■v know then
once had seen such a device in a
mail order catalog — but whose
catalog?
This gave Reeves the idea of
creating a chain of stores con-
aining the catalogs of hundreds
pfmail order houses with a com
puterized index that people
could use to find practically any
thing and order it by mail.
Since Reeves owns and di-
ects half a dozen companies,
he idea lay neglected in his
mind for awhile. Then a fellow
resident of Tuxedo Park, O.L.
i Bibeau, who owned a con
struction company, got in
terested in the idea and offered
|o come in with Reeves and help
launch and manage the venture.
They named it Catalogia. The
jfirst store opened in November
in an upstairs location in Tux
edo Park, the second opened
(Feb. 1 at Montvale, N.J., and a
third will be launched soon.
Thereafter Reeves and Bibeau
intend to franchise Catalogia.
The two men said they are
nnfident they can have 100
stores within a year and they
hink the idea will go so well they
ultimately will have several
thousand franchised stores.
Although the stores are com
puterized, the Catalogia custom
er does not use the computer
terminal. A professional oper
ator, by means of keyboard and
cathode display screen, will dig
out of the computer listings a
minimum of nine versions of the
requested item from various
catalogs. The customer then
takes the right catalogs to a table,
looks up the items, and, if one is
suitable, files an order.
Reeves said the more he
thought about his original idea
and gathered information about
the mail order business, the big
ger its potential appeared to be.
“I discovered there has been
an enormous growth in mail
order sales for many reasons,”
he said. “With both husband and
wife usually holding full time
jobs, there’s just less time to go
shopping in stores and the high
price of driving is a further in
centive to shop by mail.”
But Bibeau said Catalogia has
an even bigger incentive for
much of America. “I was raised
on a farm in Vermont,” he said.
“Shopping facilities in rural
Vermont were awfully limited
and still are, and even the fattest
single mail order catalog gives
only a small sample of what’s
really available.”
Not too many years ago it was
said that nearly 75 percent of
retail sales resulted from im
pulse buying and point-of-
purchase advertising signs and
displays exploited this fact. To
day a somewhat larger propor
tion of retail sales are planned in
advance and Bibeau said that
fact should help Catalogia.
0
G G ***
AGGIE ARCADE
The Adult Fun Center
Wednesday Nite
Happy Hour
All Longnecks .40
6 p.m. till Midnight
Enjoy the Finest in Electronic Games:
Pac - Man - Stargate - Qix - Tempest
Donkey Kong - Centipede - Missile Com
mand -
Frogger and more.
4 Pool Tables - Pinball - Foosball
Longnecks - Wine -
Aggie Arcade — Woodstone Shopping Center
behind Hamburgers by Gourmet
Open Noon to Midnight
Seven days a week
G S G
Q
0
0
Q
Tower
Dining Room
Serving Luncheon Buffet
$ 4 50 + tax
Sunday through Friday
11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Top Floor of Tower Dining Room
Sandwich & Soup Mon. thru Fri.
$ 2 19 + Drink and tax
Open to the Public
“Quality Oriented,
Service Dedicated’
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MSC
TRAVEL
KEYSTONE SKI TRIP
Limited Spots Open!
Deadline: 12 noon I
Spring Break Marc
Loaded Package
Only *360
Call MSC Travel 845-1514 or
stop by MSC #216
Feb. 25
March 12-19
CONFERENCE ON
GLOBAL;'CONCERNS
HU
DR. OWEN COOPER
Director. Mississippi Chemical Corporation
Past President. Southern Baptist Convention
GARY RAND
Singer. Composer
FEBRUARY 26 - 27, 1
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
Texas Avenue at 27th and 28th Streets
Bryan, Texas
FRIDAY: 7:00 PM Convocation
Dr. Owen Cooper
Gary Rand
SATURDAY: Symposiums 9:00 AM — 12:00 N
AGRICULTURE: Carl Ryther, Former Missionary to Bangaiadesh
Director of World Hunger Relief Incorporated. Waco. TX
MEDICAL/DENTAL Dr. Donald Meier. Associate Professor of Surgery,
Southwestern Medical School, Dallas
Southern Baptist Missionary Appointee
VETERINARY: Dr Stan Lee. Southern Baptist Missionary to Rwanda