Page 16/The Battalion/Friday, September 28, 1984
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Gas bill decreases planned
in four southwestern states
Ft. Bliss to move
from the pencil
to computers
United Press International
EL PASO - Gas bills will be de
creasing in at least four southwes
tern states, thanks to a $100 million
annual reduction in the price of nat
ural gas, it was announced Thurs
day.
The rate reduction was approved
by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, said John McFall, pub
lic relations director of El Paso Natu
ral Gas Co.
Bud Quimby, spokesman for the
Southern Union Gas Co., said his
Firm will pass on the reduction to do
mestic customers in West Texas.and
southern New Mexico.
United Press International
GLEN ROSE — A rancher who
worked for biblical researchers seek
ing to debunk the theory of evolu
tion now insists that, contrary to
their claims, no ancient human foot
prints were found alongside dino
saur tracks in a Texas riverbed.
The footprints have long been
used by literal believers of the Bible
as evidence that humans coexisted
with the dinosaurs whose prints lit
ter the Paluxy River bottom south of
Fort Worth.
Creationist Carl Baugh has re
peatedly claimed 47 different “man
tracks” were found along the river-
McFall said the reduction is the
largest sought by El Paso Natural
Gas since 1973. As of Oct. 1, 1984,
the firm will receive a reduction of
11.5 cents per thousand BTUs, or
$100 million a year. Quimby said he
did not yet know how much the av
erage home gas bill will decrease.
Southern Union’s portion “is tiny,
compared to what El Paso Natural
sells in southern California,” he said.
McFall said the reduction reflects
El Paso Natural’s “continuing pro
gram to reduce overall costs, includ
ing the cost of gas purchased by the
company from producers for even-
bank.
But rancher Alfred West, who
sold Baugh and his associates the site
where they built their Creation Evi
dences Museum and then helped
with the excavation, told the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram Thursday the
prints were contrived from Baugh’s
imagination.
“I can safely say I have seen no sci
ence in their (creationist research)
activities,” West said. “The facts have
flat been dismissed.
“In the face of all this evidence he
(Baugh) has continued on telling the
public he has man tracks when
they’re not,” said West.
tual sale to its customers.
“El Paso Natural has exercised
‘market-out’ options contained in its
purchase contracts and has other
wise renegotiated certain high-
priced gas purchase contracts, all of
which have contributed to the an
nounced rate reduction,” McFall
said.
El Paso Natural sells gas wholesale
to distribution companies that serve
El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson, as
well as other areas in California,
southern Nevada, Arizona, New
Mexico and West Texas.
Most scientists believe dinosaurs
existed long before man and have
long disputed Baugh’s findings.
“When wetted they (Baugh’s ‘man
tracks’) show they are much larger
prints (than those of humans) and
have the familiar three toes of a di
nosaur,” said Kyle Davies, who stud
ied the region. Davies holds a mas
ter’s degree in paleontology.
Baugh, who was unavailable for
comment Thursday, reported the
human tracks ranged from 16 inches
to 25 inches. He said that probably
meant giants and normal-sized peo
ple coexisted 4,800 years ago,
roughly the time at which he placed
the great flood described in Genesis.
United Press International
EL PASO - The pencil, once the
mainstay of tedious office work, is
on the way out at Fort Bliss, Army
officials reported Thursday.
The change is due to the new “in
formation center” established by the
Directorate of Automation Informa
tion Management to increase use of
computers at the Army’s Air De
fense Center, said Ralph Wood-
bridge, chief of the information re
sources division.
On Wednesday, computer experts
at the center made the first official
presentation of their services. Rep
resentatives of the civilian personnel
of fice, who will be getting three new
personnel computers to help relieve
them of tedious work they once had
to do by pencil, were the first cus
tomers.
The new center came about as a
result of a study last year of prob
lems presented by the numerous
computer systems at Fort Bliss,
Woodbridge said.
The study grew from the recogni
tion that “the functions of data col
lection, processing and reporting
across Fort Bliss were fragmented.
of ten redundant, and not being cen
trally managed,” according to the
preface of the study.
The report offered a program to
bring centralized management of in
formation to the post, and estab
lished a list of offices which should
be automated in the f uture.
Because of the great variety of sys
tems, the lack of coordination be
tween existing systems and poor
planning in adding new ones, man
agers often did not have timely in
formation to use in making decisions
and had trouble getting the current
status on projects, according to the
report.
Also, managers often lacked valid
information for planning purposes,
sometimes had conflicting informa
tion from different sources and in
curred excessive costs because of
multiple data processing activities,
the report indicated.
Woodbridge said the new infor
mation system plan at Fort Bliss will
take about five years to solve all the
problems.
Lt. Col. Charles Raney will direct
the new data center.
Old ‘footprints’ questioned
To every roommate
about to become a friend.
Right now, about the only thing you have in
common is the same room. But you and those
strangers who moved in with you are going to
crack a lot of books and bum a lot of mid
night oil together.
You’re going to discover the people
behind the nametags, the ones inside
the roommates. And who
knows? Before the term is
over, your roommates may
very well turn out to be good
friends.
To each of you we say, let it
be Lowenbrau.
Lowenbrau. Here’s to good friends.
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THE J—
HICHAM |£
SMITH
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Last Spring, Bill Presai
our former Statil
Representative res:
from office in order to (j
to work for Texas AM
This allowed Gov. Mari
White (Dem.) to calls
Special Election to fillili|
vacancy. Wouldyoii,
believe he setthf
election duringA6?l!
Spring Break? He di(
Why? To keep theAggjf
from voting. He knew
could make a difference
There are only 45,0); |
registered voters;;
Brazos County (whit;'
alone makes up thi;
State Representative!
District.) There ail
37,000 students atASl
s o obviously if we
register to vote and vci
we can makea
difference. As it tumet
out, many Aggies die
register to vote and volet
absentee for Aggie
Richard Smith ’59. He is
the only experience)!
conserva t ivej
independent candidate,
who can go to Austin I
and get the job done.Tci
Richard Smith AfifMisni
Just a part of the distri|
A&M is a commitmei
and a concern that a!
Aggies share. It ended up
that over 13,000 peep)
voted last March. Our,
candidate, Richaril
Smith, lost by 29 votes
(to force a runoff).
two tenths of one percei
of all the votes cast
March our candidate lodj
The c o n s e rvativei
Republican lost to Marl
White’s chosenl
Democrat, Neeley Lewis.I
That was the Specialf
Election.
The Battalion Editorisj
Board called the;
scheduling of the Special;
Election by the
Democrats “an attache:
Texas A<5?M students,:
staff and facility!
members.” The Student
Senate passed a
resolution in opposition
to the setting of the;
election date when;
Aggies could not vote;
Governor White (Dem,)!
refused to even see the i
student government;
leaders concerning the:
issue. The Biyan-College;
Station Eagle Editorial
Board said, “Let’s face
this whole thing smacks,
of partisan politics at its
most petty level,"
“...Democrat Party official;'
j FO
; answe
[merits
; invest
1proce
I for U
I g on 01
I Dei
tagon
1 said a
Ience \
ing wi
4 suade
* only f;
“I 8
J
had described March 10
as a ‘convenient day’for
the election.” Convenient 1
to keep the Aggies from,
voting. Convenient for i
the Democrats to unfairly 1
help Neeley Lewis. !
On Nov. 6, we have a i
chance to prove that we j
won’t be pushed around)
again. Richard Smith 1
and Neeley Lewis are on)
the ballot again-thisl
time in a fair fight. Vie j
will determine the
winner, if we register to {
vote (the deadline is Oct j
6) and then vote on Nov, I
6. Mark White and the I
Democrats can’t set this!
election when the Aggies ?
can’t vote. It’s up to us! f
MORAL:
TOGETHER WE
CANMAKEA
DIFFERENCE.
want to helf
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Jlf you
* make a difference,
X join Aggie GOP or
J call the Smith
* Headquarters at
J 846-0047.
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