The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 26, 1987, Image 3

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 26, 1987, Image 3

Newspaper Page Textlember of -CS cable State and Local Forbes 400 will buy television franchise U By Olivier Uyttebrouck Senior Staff Writer 430,000 basic subscribers, according to the McCaw release. C The McCaw Communications Inc., Bryan-Col- ege Station’s cable f ranchise, will soon belong to &r me of the wealthiest men in the nation: Jack Cent Cooke. The transaction may go through as (U arly as late March, a local McCaw official said. Cooke — cited by Forbes Magazine this year as me of the 400 wealthiest men in America —owns , he LA. Daily News, a Los Angeles newspaper; he Washington Redskins and a number of thor- mghbred horsebreeding farms in Kentucky and * J /irginia, according to a McCaw press release, eir to uals ihatt Cooke will buy the entire McCaw system in an H-cash transaction that local McCaw Systems lanager John Southard estimates at $755 mil- pn. McCaw — the 20th largest cable company in le nation — operates in 40 U.S. markets and has Southard said the new owner plans no person nel changes, from the senior staff on down. Nor are any rate or programming changes in the works at present, he said. Cooke, who resides in Middleberg, Va., was unavailable for comment. The College Station City Council approved the transfer of the local franchise on Feb. 12 and the Bryan City Council approved the transfer on Feb. 23. Bryan City Manager Earnest Clark said the cit ies based their approval of the transaction only on the financial stability and management capa bilities of the buyer — qualifications Cooke had no difficulty demonstrating. “If the buyer has the management capability and the wherewithal we have no reason to deny the sale,” Clark said. “We have been told by the new owner that there will be no change in the operation of the ca ble system,” he said. The two McCaw brothers, Craig and John, will be the only two personnel changes, Clark said. “There may be more personnel changes down the road, I don’t know,” he said. Clark said Cooke has made no indication of rate changes, “as of yet.” However, the latest Federal Communication Commission regulations have stripped cities of control over cable rates, a power cities previously enjoyed, Clark said. In 1964 Cooke founded the American Cable- vision Co. which eventually became the largest privately-owned cable company in the country, the McCaw press release noted. Thursday, February 26, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmBammmmHammmBmmmmBmmmmamammmmmmmmmomBmmBxsBmm Business association supports drug tests AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Association of Business went to court Wednesday on behalf of employers who want to give drug and alcohol tests to their workers. The TAB, which represents about 3,000 firms in Texas, asked to join in defense of a suit filed against Minco Technology Labs Inc. of Austin to stop random drug tests. “There is simply no basis, ei ther legally or logically, to inter fere with efforts by Texas em ployers to address the menace of drug use in the workplace,” said the intervention motion, filed in state district court. The Texas Civil Libertes Union filed the suit in the name of Brenda Jennings and other employees of Minco, claiming their constitutional rights were vi olated by the drug tests. Philip Pfeifer, a San Antonio attorney for the TAB, said the TCLU suit involved only drug tests, but the TAB considered the suit a challenge to rights of em ployers to give both drug and al cohol abuse tests. “We are intervening to stand up for the rights of employers in Texas,” Pfeifer told a news con ference. “We are not pushing any particular test. We want the right to test for drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace in Texas.” Pfeifer said drug and alcohol abuse cost Texas employers $11 billion in 1984 alone. iave first 'esi- 11 oftk nd is for iable eto 3r [OK Photo by Dean Saito Investigative journalist Karl Grossman American intervention in Nicaragua parallels Vietnam, NY professor says By Jade Boyd Reporter America’s ongoing intervention in Nicaragua closely parallels the United State’s involvement in Viet nam during the 1960’s, an investi gative journalist said Wednesday. Karl Grossman, a professor with the New York University System, award-winning journalist and five time author, spoke to an audience of about 75 at Rudder Tower on his book “Nicaragua: America’s New Vietnam?” The program was sponsored by MSC Political Forum. “We’re talking about a potential confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Nicaragua,” Grossman said. Nicaragua is not the classic exam ple of a communist country. Gross- man said. Its economy has both public and private sectors, he said, and ban ners and billboards across the coun try proclaim, “There is no contra diction between Christianity and revolution.” Grossman showed slides from his trips to Nicaragua and Honduras and cited examples from his inter views with Sandinista leaders and soldiers, as well as his contacts with Contra leaders in Miami. Grossman said most Contra lead ers were soldiers in Nicaragua’s So- moza regime, which was over thrown by the Sandinistas in 1979. He said human rights violations by Contra soldiers far outnum bered those of Sandinista troops. “I’m worried about terrorism and terrorists being supported by my government,” Grossman said. He said that U.S. support of the Contras is a contradiction of the charters of the United Nations and the Organization of American States', and it also violates the U.S.’s own Neutrality Act. Grossman showed slides taken from the freedom fighters’ manual that was printed by the CIA and distributed to Contra soldiers. “This is a terrorist comic book,” Grossman said. The greatest current danger sur rounding the Nicaraguan issue, he said, is the possibility of an invasion by U.S. troops. “There are people in the admin istration who feel that an invasion of Nicaragua would be just like Grenada,” Grossman said. He showed pictures of several Sandinista arms caches and said that Nicaragua would be consider ably harder to invade than Gre nada. “They’ve trained an entire pop ulation in guerilla warfare,” Gross- man said. He cited a Rand Corporation study that said several thousand U.S. soldiers would die and over ten thousand would be wounded if U.S. troops were ordered to invade Nicaragua. Grossman answered several ques tions from the audience amid some heated debate. He advised Aggies to check out the situation in Nicaragua for themselves — both by reading and by visiting the country for them selves. Nicaragua is only two hours from Texas by airplane and the people are friendly, Grossman said. He said students would benifit from a visit to the country. e.(G*I -king my 35 Jasi ath* ithS' I# 1 ; irnei aPP* mo 1 to aiild and SIGMA CHI present: Texas Toga Tour ‘87 P ’,©1/ OTIS DAY J and the ANIMAL HOUSE BAND Thursday Feb. 26 Doors open at 7 p.m. PARADISE BAR opens STRUTZ for one night only Tickets available at Paradise Bar and Sigma Chi For more information call 291-2729 Full Bar Service and Drink Specials 291-2729 1632 Sam Houston Ave. at 17th Huntsville, less than an hour away $2 off with TAMU or Blinn I.D. °<\ P//A c c presents UtHtedoif _ feP* XmdM Jl JK Jm? J* Ju/ fir The Neon Madmen m ■ ■hi jiliil Friends OYSTER BAR 4 CRAWFISH Autulcup ALL YOU CAN EAT CATFISH $4 75 | Julius t Mil The Untouchables Miller* Blue Band 103 Boyett (next to Campus Theater) i 3-6 p.m. 3 25 /doz. oysters Bargain Beer! 846-3497 RALPH MACCHIO PATMORITA The Fri., Sat., Feb.27, 28 7:30,9:45 $2 Rudder Theatre Part 4!u Janis F eb .27&2 8 Midnight $1.50 Rudder Theatre MSC Aggie Cinema The Concert Film Port Arth Texas’ songbird performs Me and Bobby McGee Mercedes Benz A Piece of My Heart and other 1960's hits

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

Texas A&M Newspaper Collection

The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 26, 1987, Image 3

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