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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1985)
Page 10/The Battalion/Friday, September 27,1985 FUTURE TEACHERS! PREPARE FOR THE PPST DATE: Saturday, Oct. 5 TIME: 9-12 1-4 or 5-8 COST: $35 PLACE: The Hilton INSTRUCTOR: Dr. De Johnson CALL 822-2254 (after 5:00) For Reservations or Information AGGIE PULL HIGH POWER TRUCKS & TRACTORS Brought To You By The Bryan/College Station Jaycees and The Lone Star Truck & Tractor Pullers Association PLACE: BRAZOS RODEO ARENA TIME: FRIDAY & SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH & 28TH 7:00 P.M. BOTH DAYS Tickets: $8.00 Adults, $5.00 Students and $3.00 children under 13 Tickets Available at These Sponsors: Fred Brown Mazda/BMW Bossier Chrysler Dodge-lsuzu Beal Ford Gallery Jeep Cen-Tex Tractor Quality Pontiac CMC Buick Subaru Brazos Group (John Deere) Lawrence Marshall Chevrolet International Harvester — Case Power & Equipment Bryan/College Station Jaycees 775-7885 or 779-314-9 In case of rain, pull will be rescheduled for Sunday. September 29th at 2 p.m., same place 44 DAZZLING. Three of the year’s best performances make ’Agnes’ soar, a movie that pulsates with dramatic urgency.” —William Wolf, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE “There are 3 Oscar nominees in this one picture!’ — Leonard MaJtin, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT A jSMMfegi 0lccm Top of the Tower Texas A&M University Pleasant Dining - Great View SERVING LUNCHEON BUFFET 11:00 a.m. -1:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday $5.25 plus tax Open each Home Football Game 11:00 A.M. till game time Serving soup & sandwich 11:00 A.M. — 1:30 P.M. Monday — Friday $2.75 plus drink Available Evenings For Special University Banquets Department of Food Service Texas A&M University World and Nation Mexico slow to request help U.S. makes cautious aid offers Associated Press WASHINGTON — Among the side effects of Mexico’s devastating earthquake was a ticklish diplomatic problem: How much aid should the United States offer and how much should Mexico request? Mexico has always sought to mini mize its one-sided relationship with the United States and, whenever possible, attempt to maintain a dis creet distance from its big neighbor. For example, until the recent disas ter, Mexico had not asked for U.S. government assistance since an earthquake there in 1964. It has never taken part in U.S. bi lateral aid programs; it shunned participation in President Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress program and has never accepted U.S. Peace Gorps volunteers. Despite pressing needs, Mexico has had a go-it-alone attitude, and U.S. officials took that into account in deciding how to respond to this month’s earthquake. “We know that you don’t shove aid down Mexico’s throat,” said one official. “Mexico has not asked for aid but we cannot refuse to accept it. ” — Mexican Foreign Minister Bernardo Sepulveda said as planeloads of food, clothing and medicine began ar riving the day after the quake. But there were counteracting pressures from American citizens, who felt the neighborly thing for the administration to do was to be as generous as possible. “We couldn’t afford to look like we were sitting around doing no thing,” said the same official. Tnus, the administration made it clear from the outset that it stood re ady to meet Mexican requests for aid but took no initiative beyond that. Thirty hours after disaster struck, Mexico came forth with its first re quest for U.S. aid in more than 20 years — demolition teams to destroy buildings beyond repair and person nel trained in spotting survivors in devastated areas. It was a modest request indeed. Secretary of State George P. Shultz expressed admiration for Mexican self-reliance. Subsequently, the Mexican re quest list grew longer but the U.S. government role in the relief effort remains relatively limited. After the first six days, U.S. assistance totaled more than $3.5 million. Some Latin American and Euro pean countries dispatched aid with out asking Mexico for a list of nec essary items. As the planeloads of food, clothing and medicine began arriving the day after the quake, Mexican Foreign Minister Bernardo Sepulveda said, “Mexico has not asked for aid but we cannot refuse to accept it.” Mexico also has discouraged goodwill expeditions by well-met' ing foreigners, and the Reagam. ministration has done what itcanl support that stand. When San Antonio Mayor Heitl Cisneros announced plans to J Mexico shortly after the earth™ he was publicly rebuked by U.S.,il sistant Secretary of State Ely Abrams. Cisneros ignored therJ quest and flew to Mexico on apt,] loaded with relief supplies. The caring but cautious l).S.t| proach was reflected in the to: j first lady Nancy Reagan to MeJ City four days after trie quake I:| visit was kept brief to cause r| mum disruption. In addition j touring devastated zones, she ppj sented a $1 million check to Mexican government. Still, U.S. officials said therekf consistent indications of a Mend government desire to downplaya extent of the damage. In the H few days after the disaster, US q mates of the death toll invariabhtJ ceeded the official Mexicangoval merit count. Official attacks state of bilingual education Associated Press NEW YORK — Hispanic leaders condemned U.S. Education Secre tary William J. Bennett’s call Thurs day for revising bilingual education by giving local clistricts more control and placing greater emphasis on tea ching English. Critics and supporters alike said they suspected the proposal was a veiled attempt by the administration to pull back from federal involve ment in the controversial program. “After 17 years of federal involve ment, and after $1.7 billion of fed eral funding, we have no evidence that the children whom we sought to help . . . have benefited,” Bennett saicl in a speech before the Associa tion for a Better New York. Bennett said the original purpose of bilingual education has gradually taken a back seat to teaching for eign-speaking children about their native language and culture. “Pride in/one’s heritage is natural and commendable,” Bennett said. “But the responsibility of the federal government must be to help ensure that local schools succeed in teaching non-English speaking students En glish, so that every American enjoys access to the opportunities of Ameri can society.” The Reagan administration is pre pared to press for increased federal funding of bilingual programs, but only if local school districts are given a bigger say in creating those pro grams. Hispanic advocates roundly con demned Bennett’s speech. “He is using local flexibility as a code word for federal abandon ment,” said Norma Cantu, director of education programs for the Mexi- can-American Legal Defense and Education Fund in San Antonio. She also challenged Bennett’s assertion that bilingual programs are teaching youngsters more about their culture than about English. “I don’t know of any studies that show that,” she said. “States are very conscientious about keeping English proficiency the main goal of these programs.” The Puerto Rican-Latino Educa tion Roundtable, a New York-based coalition of nine Hispanic advocacy groups, said it was “appalled” by Bennett’s speech. “The secretary’s call for local flex ibility represents a bald attempt to undermine the hard-fought gains of our community over tne last 15 years,” the coalition said in a pre pared statement. Gary Marx, associate executive di rector of the American Association of School Administrators in Arling ton, Va., applauded Bennett’s em phasis on local control, but said it would be up to members of the edu cation community to be vigilant to make sure the federal government doesn’t abandon the programs. Controllers' training being questioned Associated Press WASHINGTON — The sus pension of an air traffic control ler in this week’s near-collision of an Eastern Airlines jet and a heli copter raises new questions about controller stress and training — and concern over the limitations of the air traffic control system since a 1981 strike. The Federal Aviation Adminis tration has struggled to replace the 11,400 experienced control lers that were fired because of the walkout. Last February its re building goal was reacned with 14,306 controllers on the job. But today there are only 14,064 controllers in airport tow ers and enroute centers, about 70 percent of them qualified to han dle traffic without supervision. Before the 1981 striKe, there were 16,412 controllers with about 80 percent considered fully qualified. Since the strike, the volume of air traffic has increased by about 9 percent, according to the FAA. At the same time, the airlines have restructured their opera tions increasingly toward a “hub- and-spoke” routing system that concentrates more planes in cer tain areas during certain times of the day. This has prompted concern among aviation safety expert' alx>ut whether controllers an able to deal with traffic at cod- gested airports and in crowded air space nearby. Such is the case at Washing ton's National Airport whereon Tuesday, as an evening Eastern Airlines “shutde” roared down the runway, a helicopter liftedofi and began to cross the planes path. The Eastern pilot slammed on the brakes and aborted the take off, resting his Boeing 727 ona grassy area beyond the runway only 40 yards from the Potomac River. The helicopter piloi veered away when he saw the jet liner coming. Investigators said a five-year veteran controller had failed to I direct the helicopter away from I the runway when she gave the pi-1 lot his departure clearance. Tne E controller, one of the few who [ had lx*en rehired after the 19811 strike, has been suspended from I tower traffic duty and directed to I undergo additional certification, | undergo FAA of fie ials said. Some argue the problem is one of experience rather than num bers. And gaining experience to handle all types of air traffic con ditions takes controllers at leasi two to three years. Study: elderly hurt by Medicare cuts Associated Press WASHINGTON —- Thousands of sick, elderly Americans have been kicked out of hospitals too soon or given bad medical treatment because of a Medicare cost-cutting program, a congressional study said T hursday. Senators said they were disturbed by it and vowed to correct and fine- tune the so-called Prospective Pay ment System, which began two years a s o - , . Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, said the study by the panel’s staff indicates “seriously ill Medicare patients are being denied admission to hospitals or catapulted out of hos pital doors prematurely. . ..” The study also said many patients are not informed of their right to ap peal hospital decisions. It said “a number of other very serious quality of care issues are not being ad dressed at all.” The cost-containment policy has created for doctors of “a dilemma of medical ethics vs. profitable prac tice,” said Heinz at a hearing to dis cuss the report. The program’s intentions are “to rein in inflation and unnecessary spending without sacrificing the of care available to Medicare beneficiaries,” said Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio. The savings program, established in October 1983 to save the $71 bil- lion-a-year Medicare program from bankruptcy, requires that hospitals be paid a predetermined, specific amount for the care of beneficiaries, depending on the diagnosis. Previously, Medicare, the govern ment’s health care program for the elderly, reimbursed hospitals after treatment based on reasonable charges. Wliile the report said it was im possible to calculate precise figures on the extent of the problem, ill “more severe and widespread’’tlui the Department of Health andHt man Services’ preliminary estimatet HHS’s division which runs Med care, the Health Care Financing^ ministration, says between 2,SOflaik 3,700 patients have been preiw turely or inappropriately dfr charged. Dennis Siebert, a HCFA spoke* man, said the agency is concerned about possible program abuses, ht has not found any “systemwideev deuce” of premature discharges. SOCIETY OF MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS Gen.Meeting Oct 3, 1985 at 6:00 p.m. in Fermier 305. Guest Speaker Dr. Don Phillips on “FACTORY OF THE FUTURE” General Dynamics Plant Trip Registration FISH RICHARDS HALF CENTURY HOUSE Invites you to experience the casual elegance that is Fish Richards, and enjoy ROAST PRIME RIB OF BEEF for $3 off regular menu price on Mondays and Tuesdays. Lunch Poor Richards Revenge Dinner Mon-Fri Mon-Fri Mon-Sat 11:30-2:30 4:30-6:30 5:00-10:30 PIANO BAR NIGHTLY Featuring Jim Williams and Dave Ellis 5:00-6:30 and 8:00-10:00 801 Welborn Rd., College Station 696-4118 SHC Or ac NEW change F ing thus that seer tims. Consic use to pa conduct transacts In rec of paper competit But tl out. In the busir ing print never be! Delux< Minn., b< in profit! Nixon ad In 19t million. $87.8 mi decade t Survey j. lion. 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