local/state Battalion/Page 5 May 6, 1982 85Weather guide illustrates exas’ often-stormy past Hins, an ^the Virjd Gosper, an t ' n ’ajorfrot' by Amy Polk *1) a pre-Ur Battalion Reporter forth; Texans have a saying: If you larris, anilon’t like the weather, just wait a a on ma/ew minutes and it’ll change. Borne Texas A&M University loradam, researchers now have shown Katy; hat if you wait long enough, ;ph,anap/oull see almost everything, lajor froiil. Researchers at the State Cli- Bologist’s Office here have teed, a mffimpilcd a new publication, major frol “One Hundred Years of Texas Weather,” that summarizes re cords of Texas’ weather during the past 100 years. John Griffiths, Texas state climatologist and professor of meteorology, and Greg Ains worth, a former Texas A&M graduate student, spent two years of their spare time resear ching the state’s weather history. Some of the stranger weather Iarreal,ai fingw i (taker, at i -ring 4 folff,an ig major (i Investigation hurts trade with Mexico, firm says United Press International Seniors and Jr., a vSk HOUSTON-A Washington ' . TBnd jury’s investigation of major lni™ r g es 0 f iij e g a j payments by LB. oilfield equipment firms to Mexico’s national oil company is ' """ biting business between the linger, ai tW(! countries, a local firm under ^.i 1 scrutiny contends, rspie,airc|BD () cumerits filed in a civil law ny 311 ' suit in Houston disclosed Tues- ter,an i Crawford Enterprises Inc. )m Mult 0 f Houston is being investigated in,amam?f or payments to Petroleos Mex- ouston; j canos j n the late 1970s. Hughei ■rhe investigation reportedly j or front liJ first major criminal in- :kson, ai/iSicy under the 1977 Foreign gy ma J 0, Brrupt Practices Act, which p|ovides criminal penalties for n, an accompanies and executives who or front ' engage in bribery and kickbacks overseas. es, a bwh^l Crawford, which charged the i; Bvestigation is hurting Amer- 4cCcllon|Jban foreign trade, issued a state- 'om Gilffi; ment saying its superior natural er, a coitijjffis compressors and related ser- from Sanlylce won its Pemex contracts. ■he statement denied any im- «loahJr.,i proper payments, from 8ip| “As a result, Pemex has cur- ■liled purchases from CEI and in, an agri its American subcontractors and ajorfront) competitors, and has begun to shift its immense purchasing »Smith,Bower away from the United on majoti States,” a company statement yder, a m The company also said Pemex sciences *and the Mexican government s had investigated similar charges her,anaH .and found no wrongdoing in s major Mrawford’s winning of Pemex ' contracts. jpoliticalipf “Despite vigorous and repe- msdn; Rated denials of any wrongdoing e Jr., a 6 as. e studeni ]ox, a bn student SPECIALS THIS WEEK OLD MILL LONGNECKS $E95 p '« ta# Case Deposit PEARL & PEARL LIGHT 12-Packs $719 SHllMER bock $ Plus Deposit events in Texas include a storm in February 1895 in which 10 to 20 inches of snow fell along the Gulf Coast while the rest of the state remained dry. Another was in Thrall, where 38 inches of rain fell within 24 hours during a major storm Sept. 9 and 10, 1921. And one day in 1899, the high temperature in the Panhandle was minus 2. Griffiths and Ainsworth ex amined 1,200 months’ worth of publications, including monthly weather reviews and weather re ports from newspapers dating back to 1880. Griffiths said the work was compiled because the state has no single-volume record of weather history. He said the climatologist’s office often has been besieged by inquiries about various re cords and his publication will serve as a good handbook for those interested in keeping track of extremes in the weather. The College of Geosciences published the handbook, which is available from the Depart ment of Meteorology or the State Climatologist’s Office. Garry Mauro hits Snelson for changing tax stand United Press International Land commissioner candidate Garry Mauro wasted no time be fore attacking Sen. Pete Snelson, D-Midland, in the wake of his narrow victory over third-place finisher, Rep. Dan Kubiak. Mauro criticized Snelson Tuesday for changing his posi tion on the need for a state prop erty tax and called him an old- style politician. “Old-style politicians believe that it’s no big deal to change critical political positions for personal political gain,” Mauro said. “But the people of Texas expect consistency, honesty and the strength to stand behind your words and actions and to keep them the same.” Voters will decide June 5 which of the two will be the Democratic nominee for land commissioner. During the last session, Snel son was the author of a constitu tional amendment that would have authorized the use of a property tax to fund construc tion at colleges and universities. However, Snelson now says he opposes any property tax and will work to abolish constitution al provisions for the tax during a May special session of the Legisl ature. Mauro said he hoped to pick up support in Snelson’s home base of West Texas, but would concentrate his campaign in the urban areas of the state. Mauro indicated he expects the support of Kubiak in his ipport run-off campaign. He edged him out by less than 6,500 votes to earn a place in the runoff. Kubiak, who had the lowest campaign budget of the candi dates, said he may ask for a re count of the votes if he can raise the money to pay for the second tally. in connection with these allega tions, the (U.S.) investigation has continued for three and a half years,” the statement said. Crawford said Pemex de cided in 1977 to capture the mil lions of dollars’ worth of natural gas it was flaring from its oil fields and turned to Crawford for help. The firm said Pemex, relying on Crawford’s expertise, was quickly able to begin suc cessful capture of billions of cubic feet of natural gas. The Washington Post quoted “knowledgeable sources” as saying the grand jury was look ing at a period in the late 1970s when oil prices were rising and Mexico bought equipment in the United States to increase production. The Post said the company experienced a sudden upsurge in business with its Mexican con tracts in 1978, doing between $250 million and $600 million in business between that year and 1980. The papers that confirmed the investigation were filed in a civil suit brought against Craw ford by a Mexican company, Grupo Industrial Delta S.A. Delta charges Crawford failed to pay $25 million in brok erage fees. The company says Crawford refuses to participate in depositions because of the pending criminal investigation in Washington. A spokesman for the Mexican federal attorney general said no thing is being investigated in volving U.S. companies in Mexico. Enjoy the liatening accuracy