Tuesday, January 26, 1988/The Battalion/Page 9
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Robertson calls for national plan
to make U.S. energy independent
AUSTIN (AP) — Republican
presidential candidate Pat Rob
ertson called for a national energy
policy Monday and said the current
generation of Americans may win or
lose world peace in the oil fields of
the Middle East.
Robertson said the United States
does not need an oil import fee but
should use other methods of becom
ing energy independent by 1992.
He compared that goal to former
President John Kennedy’s challenge
in the early 1960s to put a man on
the moon within a decade.
Robertson said the United States
must negotiate long-term mutually
beneficial contracts to obtain oil
from Canada, Mexico and Venezu
ela, then take take matters into its
own hands.
“That which threatens freedom in
this day and time screams from the
oil fields of the Middle East,” he
said. “It is there that this generation
of Americans will win the peace, or
possibly lose it.”
He appeared in the Senate cham
ber at the Capitol, and 500 to 600
supporters gathered downstairs af
ter the balcony was closed for appar
ent security reasons.
In releasing his own energy plan
for the first time, the former tele
vision preacher called for reinstate
ment of the controversial 27 and
one-half percent oil depletion allow
ance and repeal of the so-called
windfall profits tax.
Robertson said Congress should
declare a “tax holiday” for two years
on all new oil wells drilled in the con
tinental United States.
That proposal drew the loudest
applause from his audience.
He said conservation incentives
must be given to the energy industry
and strategic reserves should be in
creased from 500 million barrels to 1
billion barrels.
He also asked the energy industry
to commit itself “to making ours the
first nation to develop safe nuclear
fusion as an energy source.”
“Though I am convinced that the
petroleum industry currently holds
the key to our present standard of
living, I further believe that nuclear
fusion holds the key to our long
term survival,” Robertson said.
“We are hereby putting the world
on notice that the next great break
through in energy development will
not be made in Japan or Mexico or
Canada or Saudi Arabia,” he Said.
“It will be made in America. And by
God’s help it will be made by Ameri
cans, and by Texans.”
In other political developments:
• South Texas elected officials
announced a committee of more
than 1,000 residents of that area
support Massachusetts Gov. Michael
Dukakis for the Democratic presi
dential nomination. The Dukakis
supporters are from 32 counties.
State Sen. Hector Uribe, D-
Brownsville, said Dukakis’ “proven
record of job creation and innova
tive government is what gets peo
ple’s attention in the Rio Grande
Valley.”
“He’s created almost 300,000 jobs
in Massachusetts in the last three
years,” Uribe told a Capitol news
conference. “We need jobs, and we
believe a Dukakis presidency will
end government’s complacency and
get things moving again.”
State Rep. Ernestine Glossbren-
ner, D-Alice, said Dukakis will
inspire “the nation to produce a
strong cadre of professional educa
tors.”
• Illinois Sen. Paul Simon’s cam
paign for the Democratic nomi
nation said Illinois businessman Ber-
nie Alchon would visit seven Texas
counties Wednesday through Friday
on Simon’s behalf.
• Railroad Commission candi
date Jerry Langdon said incumbent
Jim Nugent “laid a giant dinosaur
egg” at last weekend’s Mexican
American Democrats convention,
getting only about 25 percent of the
vote.
Minorities
use lawsuit
as protection
DALLAS (AP) — Widespread
opposition from minority organi
zations wanting continued court
protection for. Dallas students
could put an end to recommen
dations the school board seek a
court judgment declaring the dis
trict desegregated.
“I think the school board
would have to think hard about
voting to ask the court to do that
and I would think the court
would be prone to weigh that in
terms of the reasons the commu
nity is in opposition,” Kathlyn
Gilliam, board vice president,
said.
Minorities account for 80 per
cent of the Dallas Independent
School District’s 131,000 stu
dents, and some ethnic organiza
tions say they will oppose any ef
fort by the DISD to end the 18-
year-old desegregation lawsuit.
Minority leaders said they
wanted to maintain the court or
der as protection against a return
to separate and unequal schools
that federal courts ruled the dis
trict was operating.
In 1982, U.S. District Judge
Barefoot Sanders issued the third
integration plan stemming from
the 1970 lawsuit.
“All we want to do is make cer
tain there is a check and balance
in place,” the Rev. S.M. Wright,
head of the Interdenominational
Ministers Alliance, said. Several
members of the group are op
posed to ending the lawsuit now.
“We just don’t feel with the
present composition of the board
that we will get fair treatment,”
said Guillermo Galindo, chair
man of the Hispanic Advisory
Committee, a DISD-created
panel of citizens.
Officials said the opposition ef
forts stemmed from distrust of
the Anglo-dominated board,
which holds a 5-4 majority.
DISD attorney Robert Thomas
recommended Jan. 6 that the
board ask Sanders to declare the
district desegregated.
San Antonio-based group
opposes domed stadium
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A com
munity-based group that has fought
for the poor has voted to oppose a
proposed $158 million domed sta
dium because taxes would have to be
raised to pay for it.
In a voice vote Sunday, Commu
nities Organized for Public Service
gave a resounding “no” to a proposal
that would raise the VIA Metropol
itan Transit Authority’s sales tax by a
half-cent to pay for the proposed
65,000-seat Alamodome.
The Rev. Rosendo Urrabazo, one
of the five co-chairmen who head
COPS, said the organization wants
any tax increase to be used for basic
services, not for stadiums.
“We believe the spending of pub
lic funds is a public trust,” Urrabazo
said.
“We are not against taxes when
they are used for the public good,”
he said.
Urrabazo said the city needs to ad
dress the problem of housing, jobs
and much-needed capital im-
E rovements before public funds can
e used on the Alamodome.
“The risk should not fall on the
backs of our people,” Urrabazo, a
Catholic priest, told about 1,000
people at the COPS rally.
Mayor Henry Cisneros, the stadi
um’s chief proponent and a grad
uate of A&M, said he had expected
the negative vote.
“I don’t know of any other way
that this facility can be built but with
the sales tax hike,” Cisneros said
Sunday.
“I have researched ways to build
this facility for six years,” he said.
“What is being proposed is the only
configuration that is available. De
laying or covering old ground won’t
change that.”
He has declined COPS’ suggestion
to postpone a May referendum vote
on the stadium proposal.
Exhibit showing circus world
illustrates Mardi Gras theme
GALVESTON (AP) — A work of
art is under construction at the Gal
veston Arts Center.
Adriana Russo, 28, an American
artist who has lived in Florence,
Italy, for the past seven years, is cre
ating “II Circo.”
The exhibit, an elaborate circus
environment featuring larger-than-
life, garishly finished sideshow and
big top performers, is being pre
sented by the Galveston Arts Center
in conjunction with this year’s Vene-
tian-theme Mardi Gras activities.
celebrates Mardi Gras for a month.
Even the baker can be seen with a
mask. The French are much more
reserved, where the Italian cele
bration is really in the streets.
“The circus theme has always
been in my work, since the begin
ning,” said Russo, who began her art
studies at 18. She grew up near
Cleveland and attended school there
before transferring to Florence to
continue her study of art.
“Italy is the perfect place for me,”
Russo said. “In Italy the entire city
“Although it’s a Christian country,
the Carnevale Mardi Gras in Italy is
really a pagan festival deriving from
the Greek mythology feast of Diony
sus.”
Russo’s “II Circo” project will fill
the entire main gallery of the Arts
Center through Feb. 29 and trans
form it for a month into a kind of
“Carnevale” sideshow.
The fat lady and strong man will
be there, as will many other conven
tional sideshow characters such as
jugglers, acrobats and fire-eaters.
Using a variety of materials —any
thing from plastic and wire to rope
and styrofoam — the finished prod
uct promises to convey all the vi
brant excitement and earthiness of
the Italian circus tradition as seen
through the eyes of the contempo
rary American artist.
“I represent most often and have
been most fascinated with the freaks
of the circus, such as the fat lady and
the strong man,” Russo said. “But I
don’t see freaks as persons to be
stared at or pitied. As with anything
in life — celebrate it and it turns into
magic.” Russo explained that a lot of
love and a lot of herself goes into her
works.
Although each piece of art could
stand on its own, each is an integral
part of the whole “Carnevale,” ex
plains Russo, who since the early
1980s has either traveled with or fol
lowed a number of well-known cir
cus troupes in Europe and the
United States in search of themes
and images for her work.
Train enthusiast remembers rail’s golden era
ODESSA (AP) — Warren Taylor
remembers the days when the rail
road streamliners roared prospe
rously along their tracks from coast
to coast.
Today, he savors those times with
his collection of railroad collectibles,
which are on display at Odessa’s
Presidential Museum.
Taylor, 42, of Midland has been
collecting pieces ranging from cus
tom-made china to engineer’s lan
terns for the last 15 years. Born in
1945, he says he was able to get in on
the tail end of the golden era before
the U.S. government look over rail
service with Amtrak in 1968.
“I got to ride a few of the wonder
ful old streamliners,” Taylor said,
fondly recalling trains with names
like “California Zephyr” and Santa
Fe’s “Super Chief.”
In the days when the trains were
owned individually, passenger serv
ice was a high priority, Taylor said.
“And many of those trains were
very deluxe . . . having dinner in the
diner was always an incredibly spe
cial experience,” he told the Odessa
American.
“The food was always incredibly
good and there was always a lot of
it,” he said. “And it was served on
custom-made china, sometimes with
the railroad crest.
“And then, of course, there was
the silver — and the linens were
damask. The waiters wore starched
white jackets and they were trained
carefully so that the way people were
served was according to a very spe
cific etiquette.”
Taylor belongs to an association
of railroad collectors, and attends
antique shows that specialize in rail
road collectibles.
In his collection, Taylor said, he
has 150 pieces of china from rail
road diners.
Other items include stepstools
used to board trains, lanterns, Pull
man blankets and dining car menus.
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CRP AND GOWN
MORTAR BOARD
SENIOR
HONOR S0CIETV
IS SELECTING NEW MEMBERS FOR 1988-89!!!!!!!!!!
SRC
LIBRARY
INFORMATION SHEETS ARE AVAILABLE AT:
STUDENT GOVERNMENT OFFICE
STUDENT ACTIVITIES OFFICE
INFORMATION SHEETS SHOULD BE TURNED IN TO THE YMCA
BLDG.ROOM 110 BY FEBRUARY 5, 1988 5:00 P.M.
* SHOULD ATTEND AN INFORMATIONAL MEETING
-X- WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27 7:00 PM
* OR
* TUESDAY FEBRUARY 2 7:00 PM
vr
* MARGOT MAYER DOUG SCHEIDING
* 696-9549 693-7283
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The mayor said the tax increase
would be about $18.63 a year for a
family of three with an income of
$10,000.
“That’s roughly one 21-piece bar
rel of Kentucky Fried Chicken with
trimmings per year,” Cisneros said.
He said the stadium would be
built in three years and paid for
within five years.
Councilman Frank Wing, who
said he supported the sales tax, said
the tax-increase proposal has merit.
“Private funding cannot fund it,”
Wing said. “It is just too much of an
enormous amount of money to be
tied to the private sector.”
Cisneros, who has been at odds
with COPS since last fall, did not at
tend the rally.
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ATP -ATTENTION-AFP
Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity Announces Spring ’88
RUSl l
We invite you to attend the rush activities
of the agricultural fraternity, AFP
Jan 26
Tue.
7:00
CASINO NIGHT
Jan 28
Thu
6:00
Come-N-Get It
Jan 31
Sun.
2:00
Super Bowl Blast
Feb 1
Mon.
9:00
Conference
TEXS A&M
Jersey St.
FM 2818
X3
GC
c
Deacon St. (Fraternity Row)
L§
AGR House
For more information call:
^ AGR House 696-5507
Tracy Spaeth 693-0304
m
BUSH ’88
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING:
Aggies For Bush
Tuesday, January 26,1988
7 p.m.
Room 231, MSC
Paid for by George Bush for President
ATTENTION UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
ORDERING A SENIOR RING
The last day a senior ring can be ordered with 92 hours is January
29, 1988, 5:00 p.m., providing the following criteria is met:
1. The hours were completed by December 31, 1987.
2. 30 of the 92 are in residence at A8cM.
3. Your cumulative grade point average at A&M is a 2.0.
4. You are in good standing with the University.
If you have any transfer courses that were completed by the end of the Fall 1987 semester or before, which will en
able you to meet the 92 hour requirement, it is your responsibility to see that Transfer Admissions. Heaton Hall, re
ceives an official transcript from the school attended. These transfer credits must be entered onto your A&M tran
script before January 29, 1988. After that date, it will require 95 hours to qualify for a ring.
If you will complete 95 hours and all the other requirements at the end of the current spring semester, please come
by the Ring Office, Clayton W. Williams. Jr. Alumni Center after February 5 to sign up for a preliminary eligibility
check. Further details will be available at that time about placing your application for a ring order during the se
mester.
Any student that has already met the requirements and wishes to order a ring in January, must come to the Ring
Office and fill out the form for eligibility to be verified. This must be done at least 2-3 days in advance of ordering.
January 29 is the deadline for ordering a ring for receipt prior to May graduation. February 26 is the deadline for the
receipt prior to August graduation. Office hours are 8:90-5:00 p.m.. Monday - Friday.