Wednesday, September 14, 1988/The Battalion/Page 9
Unleaded gas shortage
Mexican city mystery
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP)
— A severe shortage of unleaded
gasoline has hit this city of 1.2 mil
lion, causing some gasoline stations
to close and sending some motorists
across the border to refuel their ve
hicles, officials said.
The reason for the shortage re
mains a mystery.
Some officials said the problem is
caused by a damaged pipeline in the
Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, dis
rupting truck deliveries to the north.
But Raul Mena Burguete, direc
tor of the Juarez office of the na
tional Chamber of Commerce, said
Monday that the nationalized petro
leum company, Pemex, has declined
to provide an explanation.
Pemex has promised to truck in
gasoline from Mexico’s west coast.
About one in 10 Pemex stations
had run out of gasoline and shut off
their pumps by Monday, the daily El
Fronterizo reported.
Though leaded “Nova” gasoline
was available, unleaded “Extra” was
virtually impossible to find in the
city, the newspaper reported.
Most new cars sold in Mexico
burn leaded gasoline, but many Jua
rez residents buy used American
cars that use unleaded fuel.
Unleaded gasoline is relatively un
common in Mexico.
Stations in many small towns sell
only leaded fuel, and dependable
supplies of unleaded are found in
only larger cities.
Mena said many Juarez motorists
are buying enough leaded gasoline
to get them across the international
bridge and to U.S. gas stations to buy
unleaded fuel.
The economic effect on owners of
Pemex stations is undetermined,
said Mena, wTo also said that the
Juarez motorists are crossing the
bridges in increasing numbers to
buy gasoline.
Pemex has no local gasoline re
serves in the Juarez area, Mena said,
who criticized Pemex for the over
sight.
Last spring, a spectacular fire
heavily damaged a gasoline tank
farm in Chihuahua City, 220 miles
south ol Juarez.
- In July, a gasoline shortage in
Chihuahua City became so severe
that only one station remained open.
Lines grew blocks long, and some
of those waiting up to six hours in
line got in fistfights when motorists
tried to cut in. No such incidents
have been reported in Juarez.
Reagan authorizes release
of funds to pay debt to UN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan has authorized the re
lease of $188 million in U.S. dues
payments to the United Nations and
has directed the State Department to
work on a plan for settling all past
debts, the White House announced
Tuesday.
Presidential spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater told reporters in a late af
ternoon briefing that Reagan told
the State Department to work out a
multi-year plan for paying a grand
total of $520 million in current and
HOUSTON (AP) — Mary Phillips
once dreamed of being a missionary,
and today is known as Houston’s
“Church Lady.”
But her answer to her religious
calling is ministering to the sale of
churches. The church real estate
market in Houston is booming and
Phillips has cornered and cham
pioned it.
“Right now I deal with 80 differ
ent pastors,” said Phillips, who
formed Phillips International Co. 16
years ago to deal with commercial
real estate. “And 1 deal with the
clergy all day long. I’m in church
seven days a week, sometimes 14
times a week.” She closed her over
seas office in London in 1986 and
deals strictly with church sales.
Phillips said there are many rea
sons behind the sale of churches, the
most frequent being congregations
that outgrow their facilities and need
to either buy a larger existing church
or build a new one.
Another reason includes a con
gregation schism that leaves one
group at the existing church and the
other looking for a new meeting
place. Sometimes the neighborhood
changes, causing a declining mem
bership and congregations opting to
leave.
Whatever the reasons, Phillips
now has 35 churches with a com
bined asking price of $52 million on
the market. Prices range from a
$250,()()() church accomodating 100
to $1 million or more, like the 1,000-
seat Grace Community Church in
nearby League City.
Members there outgrew the
30,000-square-foot complex and
Phillips helped them find 14 acres in
neighboring Friendswood for a new
80,000-square-foot complex.
A devout Christian who once as
pired to be a missionary in foreign
countries, Phillips said the mission
ary has come to her.
“Now it’s like my dream’s come
true. I’m a missionary in my own
backyard,” she said. “The mission
field is right here — every national-
late U.S. dues payments to the world
body.
The U.S. also has $1 1 1.8 million
in past due payments separately to
the U.N. peacekeeping fund.
Fitzwater said the United Nations
has reformed its operations to the
point where Reagan felt he could
act.
“The president will release $44
million, which was withheld in fiscal
1988, and $144 million which was
ity, every culture you can think of is
here in Houston.”
That rich religious mix hasn’t al
ways made the church real estate
business easy for Phillips.
Because of her strong religious
beliefs, she said she first hesitated
helping a Moslem representative
find a site for an Islamic educational
center.
“Then I decided, ‘Well, we have
freedom of worship in this coun
try,’ ” she said. “I remembered that
in this great country of ours we all
have a right to worship the way we
see fit. The freedom to worship as
We see fit is a great f reedom we have
been given.”
Now she not only helps Moslems,
but Buddhist monks. Baptists, Cath
olics, Methodists, Greek Orthodox
and any of the many other religious
groups found in Houston.
To deal with the different reli
gions, Phillips says she has had to
learn about the different beliefs and
often refers to her other bible —a
book titled “Religions in America^'
She bought the book after show
ing an Egyptian Orthodox Church
group a site. She didn’t know to re
move her shoes before reaching the
altar, as is the Egyptian Orthodox
custom. The faith also requires
worshipping east to west.
“I have to only show them things
that face east and west,” she said. “I
showed them First Baptist Church of
Alief and we couldn’t manage turn
ing it around.” That church faces
north and south.
The 40,000-square-foot “wrong
way” church sits on a six-acre site
and is listed for $ 1.5 million.
“Our needs have just changed and
we have a lot we don’t need,” said
the Rev. Jay C. Riley. The First Bap
tist congregation is planning to build
new facilities on adjacent land.
“I know if anyone can get a buyer,
she will,” Riley said. “We’ve given
her a big problem to solve. She’s very
positive, conscientious and just stays
right with it.”
withheld in fiscal 1989. He will re
quest full funding of the United Na
tions’ in Fiscal 1990, which amounts
to approximately $476 million,” he
said.
The $44 million will be released
immediately, Fitzwater said, while
the $144 million that had been ear
marked in Fiscal 1989, beginning
Oct. 1, will be set free as funds be
come available.
Officials in the U.N. press office
said they were aware of Reagan’s ac
tion but that they could not com
ment until it is communicated offi
cially to the United Nations.
Fitzwater noted that Gohgress re
quired the president to determine
that the United Nations had made
reforms, including cutbacks in the
(U.N.) secretariat, the hiring of tem
porary employees and improved
budgeting procedures.
Fitzwater said Reagan was con
vinced that the United Nations had
made progress in instituting reforms
and that the president noted the in
creasing peacekeeping role of the
world body in such hot spots as Af
ghanistan, Namibia and the Persian
Gulf.
The United Nations, he said, is
serving iimportant longterm interests
of the United States in these trou
bled regions.
Investigators
wait for pilot
to recover
DALLAS (AP) — National Trans
portation Safety Board members in
vestigating the crash of Delta Air
Lines Flight 1141 were waiting
Tuesday to begin interviewing the
injured pilot, whose jaw is wired
shut.
Gapt. Larry Davis’ physician ap
proved the interview on Monday, a
spokesman for Parkland Memorial
Hospital said.
Parkland spokesman Paula Jones
said the interviews could begin
Tuesday afternoon, following the
approval by Dr. William Thompson.
Davis, hospitalized since the Aug.
31 crash that killed 14 people, is
walking but is wearing a back brace,
a spokesman said. He has had sur
gery for traumatic injuries.
N I SB officials in Washington did
not immediately return phone calls
from the Associated Press on Tues
day. The Greenville pilot has said he
was ready to be interviewed by the
agency on the crash.
Davis, his co-pilot and flight engi
neer were among 94 people who
survived the crash of the Boeing
727-200 shortly after takeoff at Dal-
las-Fort Worth International Air
port.
‘Church Lady’ sells
sacred real estate
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Audiology
Richard L. Riess, Ph D.
Cardiology
Dr. J. James Rohack
Dermatology
Dr. David D. Barton
Family Medicine
Dr. Art Caylor
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Dr. Frank R. Arko
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Internal Medicine
Dr. Valerie Chatham
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Obstetrics/Gynecology
Dr. James R. Meyer
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Dr. Mark R. Coffman
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Call 268-3322 For Appointment
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