Texas a m W #
The Battalion
Vol.88 No. 3 CJSPS 045360 20 Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, August 31, 1988
Eastern cutback
gets approval,
4000 jobs saved
Your attention, please!
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
Scholastic Sargent Toney Buzbee, a junior from Texarkana, instructs new members of the Corps of Cadets must be taught the proper
Freshman Alex Winslow on the proper form of the hand salute. All methods of Drill and Ceremony.
‘Blue flu’ threatens to plague
WASHINGTON (AP) — A fed
eral judge on Tuesday stopped East
ern Airlines from firing 4,000 em
ployees but allowed the financially
strapped carrier to go ahead with
cutting back service to 14 cities on
Wednesday as planned.
Eastern said it will go ahead with
the cuts and will eliminate its hub in
Kansas City.
“Massive layof fs are not, and shall
never be business as usual,” U.S. Dis
trict Judge Barrington Parker said in
a 50-page opinion. “The Railway La
bor Act requires Eastern to bargain
with its unions before taking unilate
ral action to eliminate 12 percent of
its workforce.”
He signed a preliminary injunc
tion that bars Eastern from “altering
in any way the status quo working
condition of Eastern’s pilots, ma
chinists and flight attendants.” A
trial in the matter will be scheduled
later.
Eastern President Phil Bakes
called the decision “gravely wrong”
and said the carrier would file an
emergency appeal.
“Eastern, like any American busi
ness, must be allowed to prune
money-losing operations,” Bakes
said in a statement released at East
ern’s headquarters in Miami. “We
must be able to take prudent, al
though sometimes painf ul, measures
in the best interests of the company
and our employees.”
Lawyers for the three unions that
brought the court action against
Eastern submitted financial
statements and Parker ordered
bonds of $25,000 each to indemnif y
the airline if the decision is reversed.
Meantime, the airline said, “East
ern’s basic fall schedule remains in
tact. Travel agents and pasengers
can continue to book flights with full
confidence that the schedule will be
as announced.”
“This is a case of protecting work
and protecting jobs,” said James Lin-
sey, an attorney for Air Line Pilots
Association. He said the decision
“doesn’t second-guess the business
decisions of Eastern Airlines to fly
SAN ANTONIO (AP) —Two of
the state’s three uninsured banks will
close their doors by the etid of De
cember, pulling a curtain on the era
of private banking in South and
Central Texas, officials say.
D&A Oppenheimer Bank of San
Antonio has asked customers to
withdraw their funds and move ac
counts to other banks by Dec. 31.
The Farmers and Merchants Bank
in Priddy also has set a similar dead
line.
That will leave the E.L. Price
Bank of Galveston as the only re
maining private bank in Texas.
“It makes us feel unique,” said
Tom Hill, cashier of the Price Bank.
But Jesse Oppenheimer, co
owner of the San Antonio bank, has
a different feeling.
“I’m sort of sad about it because it
was started by my grandfather and
it’s got a reputation all across the
country,” he said. “It's been sort of
an interesting antique f or some time
now.”
Oppenheimer s brother, Herbert,
co-owns and operates the bank and
wants to retire.
"His son is not in it and mv son is
from Point A to Point B or to limit
service in particular cities.”
Asked what Eastern might do with
thousands of employees it claims not
to need, Linsey replied: “They get
transferred, like any company trans
fers employees from one plant to an
other.”
Parker wrote that Texas Air
Gorp., which bought Eastern in
1986, “has exerted every effort to
curb union influence at Eastern and
to reduce wage rates and economic
benefits previously obtained.”
He said there were many “indica
tions of anti-union bias” and that
Frank Lorenzo, chairman of Texas
Air, had expressed that view on
many occasions.
“Since the acquisition of Eastern
by Texas Air, Eastern’s management
has contributed to ELastern’s finan
cial instability,” the judge wrote.
“ Through a series of business deci
sions, management has led the com
pany into a number of questionable
loans and questionable ventures
which have drained off cash reserves
and other assets.”
The centerpiece of the opinion
was that Eastern could not proceed
with the mass firings. Parker did not
dwell on the airline’s plans to close
its Kansas City hub and cut service to
14 cities.
The airline claimed it would save
$50 million by the service termi
nations and $7 million in payroll. It
would cut 140 of its 1,225 daily
flights and sell between 33 and 41
airplanes.
The cities Eastern targeted to cut
are Albuquerque, N.M.; Fort de
France, Martinique; Las Vegas,
Nev.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Okla
homa City; Omaha, Neb.; Dallas;
Poime-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe; Reno,
Nev.; San Antonio, Texas; San
Diego; St. Lucia, West Indies; Tuc
son, Ariz., and Tulsa, Okla.
Parker said there is no question
that the cutbacks are motivated by
sound financial reasons.
not m it. We’ve run out oi laimiv.
Jesse Oppenheimer said. “Plus it's
sort of an obsolete organization to
day. It's not like yesterday, when
things were done on trust and conf i
dence. Today, it’s all balance sheets
and statements.”
Eleanor Gromatzky, co-owner of
the Priddy bank in Mills Countv,
said increasing state regulations
were among the reasons the bank
will be closed.
“I’ve just surrendered. I fought
just as hard as I could,” she said.
“This is just a real small bank and I
just wanted out.
“Regulatory authorities have
made it practically impossible for a
small bank to continue bv requiring
detailed reporting and (with) regula
tions that require expensive electro
nic equipment in order to comply,”
she said in a letter to customers.
Private banks are not insured bv
the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corp., which insures deposits at
other banks up to SlOO.OOO per per
son in each of four account catego
ries.
Larrv Chilton, an examiner with
HOUSTON (AP) — Officials of
the nation’s fourth-largest city are
bracing for a possible bout of “blue
flu” Thursday when members of the
4,200-member Houston police force
may call in sick to protest pay cuts
and rising insurance premiums.
Police Chief Lee P. Brown has
urged the heads of the city’s two
largest police organizations to de
nounce the wildcat action, but the
leaders say Brown has admitted it
would be difficult to prove who was
and wasn't sick.
The threat of a “sickout” is the lat
est in an ongoing dispute between
police and the city adminstration.
the 1 exas Banking Department, said
private banks usually are “typically
family held, one-owner type situa
tions and they serve the needs of
themselves plus other close business
associates and family members.
I hey are not out engaging in public
banking business as other banks
are.”
Brothers Dan and Anton Oppen
heimer created the Oppenheimer
Bank in 1858, operating from a
store front in downtoyvn San Anto
nio. The bank has moved twice since
then.
The bank, however, remained
small, with an estimated 300 custom
ers in recent years. The bank didn't
pay interest on deposits, made very
feyv loans and had only a handf ul of
safety deposit boxes.
But it did have its advantages.
“You didn’t have to deal yvith
bank examiners. It yvas a very inde
pendent yvav of doing business,” Op
penheimer told the San Antonio
Light. “You could buy anything
from a rat skin to a ranch, and no
body could do anything to criticize
you.”
A flier circulating among police
officers urges them to participate
Thursday in a protest of rising medi
cal insurance costs and a 3 percent
pay cut, and Browm is making con
tingency plans in case a large num
ber of police officers call in sick.
A disclaimer on the flier says the
action is not sponsored by the Hous
ton Police Patrolmen’s Union or the
Houston Police Officers Association,
and HPOA President Mark Clark
said what happens Thursday is up to
the of ficers.
“I think this time the mayor has
thrown enough gasoline on the fire
that, unfortunately, it’s really out of
my hands and out of Mark’s hands,”
agreed Tommy Britt, president of
HPPU. “I don’t know what (officers)
are going to do Thursday.”
Britt said this is the first time he
can remember police officers se
riously threatening an organized
strike.
Texas law prohibits firefighters
and police of ficers from engaging in
a strike against the governmental
agency that employs them. If found
guilty of violating the state law, they
can be terminated.
‘It’s certainly our desire that all of
our police officers continue to un
derstand their responsibilities under
their oath of office . . . and would
not be involved in anything that
would constitute an illegal job ac
tion,” Brown said.
Houston
Whitmire, long a target of con
tempt by police officers, said she be
lieves officers will consider the wel
fare of the people of the city.
“I know Chief Brown has made
some plans, but I think, like me, he
believes the officers will act profes
sionally,” Whitmire said.
“I think that I and my board and
Mark (Clark) and his board are hon
estly concerned about what is going
to happen Thursday to the safety of
this city,” said HPPU’s President
Tommy Britt. “But I don’t think the
mayor does because she’s ignored
the city’s most valuable asset, and
that’s its people.”
Jet disaster
leaves 6 dead
in Hong Kong
HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese
jetliner carrying 89 people skidded
into the sea off the runway at Hong
Kong’s airport in pouring rain
Wednesday, and six people were
killed, the government said.
Flight 301 from Canton, the capi
tal of China’s Guangdong province
about 90 miles northwest of Hong
Kong, crashed at about 9:30 a.m.
(9:30 p.m. EDT), government-run
Radio Television Hong Kong re
ported.
At least three of the dead were re
covered from the wreckage of the
plane, which was immersed in the
sea, the radio reported.
Officials said the aircraft was a
British Aerospace Trident.
Earlier reports said it was a Boe
ing 737.
“It fell into the sea at the end of
the runway,” police spokesman
Tony Leung said.
The Government Information
Services said 83 people were rescued
and 13 were hospitalized.
Solidarity leader holds
labor talks to end strike
GDANSK, Poland (AP) — Solida
rity founder Lech Walesa will
hold his first talks with the Polish
leadership in six years Wednes
day in a government effort to end
two weeks of labor turmoil, his
advisers said.
Walesa will confer in Warsaw
with Interior Minister Czeslaw
Kiszczak at a meeting attended by
a representative of the Roman
Catholic Church but will not call
off the strike at his shipyard in
Gdansk, the advisers said.
The announcement resulted
from four days of maneuvering
started by Kiszczak’s proposal on
Friday that officials and worker
representatives hold “round-ta
ble” discussions.
A communique from the Com
munist Party’s ruling Politburo,
distributed by the official news
agency PAP, mentioned a round
table meeting, endorsed it and
said Kiszczak should “carry on
with the mission entrusted to
him.”
It was not clear, however.
whether the reference was to the
Wednesday meeting or the min
ister’s original proposal on Fri
day. No other official reference
was made to the Walesa-Kiszczak
talks.
Ten enterprises in Poland re
mained on strike Tuesday. At its
height, the current labor trouble
involved 20 sites employing
100,000 people and was the worst
since 1980.
Solidarity spokesmen said
there was no agreement for an
immediate end to the strikes, in
which a central demand has been
making Solidarity legal again. It
was suppressed after the declara
tion of martial law in December
1981 and outlawed in 1982.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a senior
Solidarity adviser, called the deci
sion for talks “a historic mo
ment.”
On Tuesday evening, Walesa
left the strikebound Lenin ship
yard, where he works as an elec
trician, to confer with advisers.
Two uninsured Texas banks
set for closure by end of year
‘Greenhouse effect’
may be inevitable
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of climate
researchers has warned that the “greenhouse
effect” warming of the Earth will continue
even if there are sharp cutbacks in the use of
the chemicals which cause the problem.
The heatup “appears to be inevitable, even
with . . . drastic, and probably unrealistic re
ductions, of greenhouse forcing” bv the re
lease of carbon dioxide and other gases, the
scientists reported in the Journal of Geophy
sical Research-Atmospheres.
The group, led by James Hansen ol the
National Aeronautical and Space Administra
tion, reached that conclusion after running
computerized climate models in an effort to
predict the climate in the future.
The models looked at the effect ol chemi
cal releases at three different levels: continu
ing rapid release of the chemicals, as in recent
years; release at slower rates, and a drastic
cutback in those chemicals.
In the First case, the Earth’s average tem
perature was calculated to rise bv 1.6 degrees
Fahrenheit within 20 years.
It would take 25 years for that increase in
the second model.
And even with the drastic “and probable
unrealistic” cutback in chemical releases, the
temperature would rise that much event uallv.
and probably would climb by 0.8 degrees
within 15 years, according to the study.
The greenhouse effect has drawn increas
ing concern recently, although most meteo
rologists contend that it is too early to deter
mine if it is responsible for the cut rent
drought and hot weather affecting much of
the nation.
It occurs when carbon dioxide, largely
from burning fossil fuels, and other gases —
such as methane and nitrogen oxides — in
crease in the atmosphere. These gases let in
coming heat from the sun reach the Earth,
but block the Earth’s own heat from traveling
into space, much as a greenhouse traps heat
indoors. As the gases become more abundant.
more heat is trapped anu the planet s icmpei -
ature rises.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration reported late Tuesday that
global concentrations of carbon dioxide have
increased by 25 percent since the mid-1800s.
Pieter P. Tans of NOAA’s Boulder, Golo.,
laboratories said concentrations of the gas
now top 350 parts per million in the atmo
sphere, up from about 280 parts per million
in the mid- to late-19th century. Analysis of
air trapped in ice cores indicates little, il any
change, in carbon dioxide for many centuries
before that time.
Earlier in the summer that the current hot,
dry conditions are an example of things to
come.
In particular, he noted in the new report,
while the average increase in global warming
doesn’t sound like a lot it means increasing
frequency for hot summers. The chances of
any particular summer being hotter than nor
mal would top 50 percent, compared to a 33
percent chance of the past.
Such a change would be large enough to
affect the quality of life, Hansen and his co
authors reported.
For example, they noted that over the past
30 years, Omaha, Neb., experienced a run of
five or more consecutive days with a high of
95 degrees or more on an average of 3 times
in 10 years. The climate model predicts that
this could increase to 5 years out of 10 in the
1990s and 7 years out of 10 by 2020.
Such an increase in the number of runs of
hot weather can damage corn and other
crops, Hansen warned, and can also affect
forests, water supplies, animals and people.
A warming of 0.8 degrees in a decade is
faster than any found in historical studies and
is thought to be faster than most plants are
able to accommodate.
“We emphasize that it is the possibility of
rapid climate change which is of most con
cern for the biosphere,” wrote Hansen and
his co-authors.
Government spokesmen at the
scene said the remaining six people
were confirmed dead.
Phone calls to the Chinese airline
did not get through.
It was not immediately known if
the flight had any foreign passen
gers.
The Kai Tak International Air
port runway juts into Hong Kong’s
famed Victoria Harbor, and the
plane was possibly broken in half,
the radio reported.
The radio reported that helicopt
ers were ferrying some of the res
cued passengers to military hospitals
and that an emergency treatment
center was set up at the airport.
All incoming and outgoing flights
were canceled, the radio said.
There was no immediate indica
tion of what caused the accident.
Initial reports from the gover-
ment indicated that the exact num
ber of passengers on the plane at the
time of the crash was not known be
cause the airline did not confirm the
passenger list.