Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1986)
First Annual Egg Shoot held mmm A&M baseball teams' 14 hits in Zachry Engineering Center m i [ujj lashes Lubbock Christian, 13-4 “1C — Page 5 L'. — Page 11 Texas ASM W • The Battalion 83 No. 108 USPS 075360 12 pages College Station, Texas Friday, February 28, 1986 pple deal lets A&M xclude ealers to By MIKE SULLIVAN Reporter he Texas A&M Micro Center pi Apple Macintosh personal com- Htrs to students, faculty and stall ‘ ^Ber an agreement with 3f^>ple Ir^^^Jiputers that is no longer being pfered to other universities. along with 224 other uni- uiiities, is working with Apple un- ■ the University Purchase Pro- S 'arn, said Kathleen Dixon, anager of public relations f or edu- itiun and consumer markets for Apple Computers. Bniversities working with Apple undo the L'PP are permitted to de- fflde how much local dealer partici- paton they want in their individual ■grams, Dixon said. TU'e strongly encourage a itionship with the dealer for all of ij UPP schools,” Dixon said. “The ee to which they do that is up to ;heln.” | Dixon said some UPP schools op- e their entire program through bcal dealers, while others choose to ■rate independent centers with no |ler participation. ibout 50 percent of all UPP ols include local dealers in their rams, Dixon said, ixon said the purpose of the spe- rialagreement with the UPP schools j) gain widespread acceptance of the Apple Macintosh in the leading naersities. She said mass acceptance of the kintosh will be good for Apple its dealers in the future. John Kane, manager of the Micro ■ter, said A&M sells the Apple tintosh at a discount, but has ed to let Yes Computers sell the |>le II. ixon said although she couldn’t ment on a specific case, she is |re some Apple dealers are expe- ing a loss in sales because of the bgram. tWe recognize the need for the lers to have university business,” Dixon said. Jor that reason, she said, Apple Mil not take any more schools under thelUPP. Eixon said the nearly 3,300 other uniyersities in the nation fall under theTducational Purchase Program (EPP). A university working with Apple under the EPP is not licensed to re sell Apple computers and must work ikough its local dealer, Dixon said, ■ixon said Apple developed the Apple University Consortium pro- n in January 1984. ixon said 24 top universities, in cluding Yale and Harvard, were % V^asked to work with Apple to further develop the Macintosh computer. W She said the schools were obligated toRroduce new software programs ebnii See Contract, page 12 42nd Street Elizabeth French and James Darrah lead the final number in “42nd Street" in Rudder Auditorium T hursday. See story page 7. Lawyer says KLS trying to avoid suing A&M By SCOTT SUTHERLAND Assistant City Editor An attorney for the Texas A&M University System said Thursday KLS Computers’ $4.05 million dol lar lawsuit against the System comp troller was an attempt to avoid suing the University to shut down the Mi cro Center. Jerry Cain, associate general counsel for the TAMU System, said he doubts that System Vice Chan cellor and Comptroller Bill Wasson can be held accountable f or damages inflicted by a University-sanctioned business. The Battalion incorrectly reported that KLS Computers was suing for $1.35 million. KLS is actually seek ing $4.05 million in damages. KLS said the Micro Center has taken $1.35 million in business from local retailers and is asking that damages be tripled as a punitive measure. Cain said KLS is trying to avoid a more costly and difficult law suit that would result from suing a state insti tution. In order to sue A&M, KLS would have to receive the legis lature’s permission and sue in fed eral court. Federal court cases are often hampered with lengthy delays that drive up attorney’s fees, Cain says. KLS Computers filed the suit in January seeking $4 million in dam ages and an injunction that would close the Micro Center, A&M’s dis count computer store. KLS says the University is using public funds, public facilites and public employees to operate a business that has de stroyed the local computer market. KLS’s petition to sue asks that Wasson be held accountable for al leged unfair business practices. KLS attorney John Haw'trey says he can’t sue the University because the Micro Center is operating as a separate business. Hawtrey says Wasson himself has made numerous See KLS asking, page 12 U.S. computer dealers: Sales hurt by colleges By MIKE SULLIVAN Reporter Computer retailers in the Bryan-College Station area say the local university is unfairly un dercutting their prices, but they aren’t the only commercial dis tributers in the country w'ho are voicing that complaint. Kevin Henderson, account ex ecutive for Chip’s Computer Cen ter in Hanover, N.H., the location of Dartmouth College, said the college is buying the popular Ma cintosh computer in volume from Apple Computers and sell ing them at prices so low he can’t possibly compete. Jerry Pierce, assistant director of admissions at Dartmouth, said the college does encourage the students to purchase computers through the school, but they don’t require it. “Eighty-five percent of the stu dents (incoming freshmen) did purchase computers through the college,” he said. Bob Croot, director of fresh men admissions at Clarkson Uni versity in Potsdam, N.Y., said they have been requiring their in coming freshmen to purchase Ze nith Z-100 personal computers through the university for three years. “Next fall, the cycle will be completed,” Croot said. “With that class, every student will have his own micro computer.” Croot said the cost of the com puter is built into the tuition, and when the students arrive in the fall, computers are waiting for them. Croot said students like the convenience of their personal See Retailers, page 12 Tips to help expedite income tax returns given By JIM LUTHER A P Tax Writer Editor’s Note: This is the fifth in a series of five articles written to help taxpayers prepare their 1985 in come fax returns. This installment covers expediting your return. WASHINGTON — A foreteller in Washington claims to have the formula for getting your tax return through the Internal Revenue Serv ice without an audit or any other hitch. Just be sure you file it when the moon is in proper alignment with the stars, she says. Lynn Koiner says there are four periods in 1986 when that will hap pen. The final “window”: from 6 p.m. to 1 1:43 p.m. on April 14. If you don’t believe in astrology and you’re due a refund, you might want to file your return as quickly as possible. Although the IRS is going all-out to avoid a repetition of last year’s de lays in processing returns, the sooner you file, the sooner you are likely to get your refund. An early filing could produce a refund in as little as four weeks; waiting until the April 15 deadline may mean a wait of up to 10 weeks. Some other tips that might expe dite your refund and help you avoid a costly or troublesome mistake: • There’s just no way to pay the tax you owe now? Don’t let that keep you from filing a return and work ing out an arrangement with the IRS to pay later. There’s one penalty for failure to file and a separate penalty for not paying on time. • If you don’t have the records in hand to complete your return by the April 15 deadline, file a Form 4868 by that time and get an automatic four-month extension. You’ll still have to estimate what you owe and pay it by April 15. • Generally, a person you claim as a dependent must have had a gross income of $1,040 or less last year. But the limitation does not ap ply if the dependent is your child who was under 19 at the end of the year, or was a full-time student (in cluding on-the-farm training courses) during five months of the year. • Such a dependent child also must file his or her own return if in come totaled $3,430 or more, or if self-employment income was at least $400, or if unearned income, such as interest, was $1,040 or more. Even if you don’t have to file, do so to get a refund if any tax was withheld. • Income averaging is less benefi cial since passage of a 1984 law, but it still can save money for a person, such as a farmer, whose income can fluctuate sharply from year to year. See Early filing, page 12 IRS: Taxpayers receiving refunds faster than last year IRS News Release Tax returns are now arriving at the Internal Revenue Service’s Austin Service Center faster than they were a week earlier, and tax payers are receiving refunds at more than twice the rate of last year, according to the IRS. As of Feb. 14, the Austin Serv ice Center — which processes re turns from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas and New Mex ico — had received 2,456,000 re turns, compared with 2,584,000 last year at this time — a decrease of five percent from last year. Currently the Service Center has processed 442,000 returns, up 63 percent from last year’s 271,000 at this time. So far 18 percent of the returns received have been processed, compared with only 10 percent last year. Nationwide, the IRS has re ceived 20,102,000 returns, down 1 percent from last year’s 21,621,000. A total of 5,413,000 returns have been processed, up 54 percent from last year’s 3,520,000. The IRS has mailed 1,934,000 refunds nationwide, up 68 per cent from last year’s 1,151,000 at this time. The average refund is $606, down from last year’s $684. A new toll-free number, 1-800- 554-4477, not listed in the in struction packet, will allow tax payers to call TeleTax, a system of about 150 recorded messages. The instructions for using the system are in the tax instructions. I-* 1 "',,,!’' 'V Panel chief criticizes NASA decision-making Associated Press WASHINGTON — The chair- tn of the presidential Chal- iger commission bluntly de nounced NASA Thursday for a Iplearly flawed” decision-making process, after hearing of a second instance in which the space agency brushed aside contractor fears for the safety of the shuttle and crew. I Summarizing three days of hearings at which several wit nesses complained their concerns were not passed to the agency’s top officials, Chairman William Rogers lectured four senior NASA officials: “You eliminate the element of good judgment and common sense.” K Rogers said he was speaking for the entire panel in saying the process “should require people to take stands, and you should have a record on it.” His statement after testimony by the official who decided to launch Challenger that he re jected an unsafe-to-fly warning from the spaceplane’s manufac turer, because “it was not an ob jection to launch.” Arnold Aldrich, the No. 2 man in the shuttle program, said he rejected an objection on the morning of the jan. 28 liftoff by Rockwell International that ice on Pad 39B made conditions “not safe to launch.” But, he told the presidential commission, “I would think it was more than reasonable that if someone were still concerned this was a very bad judgment or bad action, they would call me. I left every opportunity for that to hap pen.” No such call came. New president suspects pilfering Aquino’s Cabinet takes over Associated Press MANILA, Philippines — Corazon Aquino’s Cabinet officers took over their posts Thursday and she or dered all departments to check their records because of reports that some documents had been destroyed by supporters of the deposed Ferdi nand E. Marcos. T he new government said hun dreds of political prisoners held by the fallen Marcos regime probably would be freed next week. Thirty-nine prisoners were or dered set free Thursday. A spokeswoman for Task Force Detainees, a human rights group, said that as of Friday morning, 16 prisoners had been released from military detention. The process was slowed by medi cal clearances and the fact that each release had to be signed by several people in different locations, offi cials reported. Former Sen. Raul Manglapus re turned to his homeland Friday from the United States, where he had spent 14 years opposing Marcos’ government. Manglapus had left the Phil ippines the day before Marcos de clared martial law' in 1972. “So, I’m back, and as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by Ferdinand Marcos, we are going to be the greatest democracy in the world," Manglapus said at a news conference at Manila International Airport. He praised Aquino as a “goddess of democracy,” and President Rea gan for help in persuading Marcos to leave. “It was the people of the Phil ippines, people power, that pushed the dictatorship to the brink,” Mang lapus said, “but it was the final Rea gan touch that pushed him over.” Philip Habib, the special U.S. en voy. spent 1 '/j hours with Aquino on Thursday. A statement from her office said Habib extended “the warmest greet ings of President Ronald Reagan and the American people.” He told Aquino that the popular uprising that forced Marcos from of fice, which was largely peaceful, had “deeply moved the American people and those in the highest circles of the U.S. government,” the statement said. It did not say what the two dis cussed. Aquino’s executive secretary, Joker Arroyo, ordered heads of gov ernment offices to preserve all re cords and make inventories of their assets and finances. A government announcement said he issued the directive in re sponse to reports of “deliberate de struction and pilferage” of records at several minstries and agencies. Among them were Human Set tlements, a heavily funded ministry headed by Inielda Marcos, the for mer president’s wife; the Govern ment Corporate Counsel; and a gambling regulatory board. Aquino’s official spokesman, Rene Saguisag, told a news confer ence that a five-member committee was reviewing lists of political pris oners and decisions on release were being made on a case-to-case basis. He said the committee would meet again Saturday, and “we would hope to be able to announce by then the release of maybe hundreds of political detainees.”