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ol. 88 No. 54 USPS 045360 14 Pages College Station, Texas Thursday, November 10, 1988
RESERVED
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Alysia Gonzales and Sheri Hermesmeyer celebrate dur
ing the third game of Wednesday’s match against the
Photo by Jay Janner
University of Houston. The Aggies lost the game and the
match at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
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?BaBILENE (AP) — The Air Force on
; Jesday temporarily grounded the na-
B-1B long-range bombers for a
fficty inspection as military investiga
tor tried to find out what sent one of the
Hnes hurtling into a West Texas pas-
■The crash Tuesday was the third since
B|1 aircraft began flying four years ago,
m came on the heels of a federal study
■ticizing the B-l s’ performance and the
Hr Force’s failure to Overcome mainte-
Hnce problems that often keep the $204-
I Hllion-apiecc planes grounded.
HMilitary investigators spent Wednes
day morning mapping wreckage that was
strewn across a west Texas rural area 7
miles by 2 miles, Air Force spokesman
A1 Dostal said.
Armed sentries could be seen standing
watch over two ejection seats, left in a
cow pasture by the crewmen who bailed
out of the doomed bomber. The B-1B
was on a routine training flight out of
Dyess when it caught fire .
All four crewmen escaped the plane
safely and were listed in good condition
Wednesday at the base hospital. The pi
lot, Capt. Michael E. Waters, was hailed
as a hero for steering the flaming craft
Bentsen Senate campaign
clobbers record in big win
AUSTIN (AP) — Lloyd Bentsen
walked away with the state’s record haul
of votes for a U.S. Senate race despite
splitting between Texas’ top two tickets,
his campaign manager says.
Although he lost his bid to become
vice president, Bentsen won re-election
to his fourth Senate term with 3,127,768
votes — or 59 percent — to the 40 per
cent won by challenger Beau Boulter,
with 99 percent of the vote counted.
That breaks the record for highest
number of votes for a U. S. Senate candi
date in Texas, said Jack Martin, Bent-
sen’s Senate campaign manager. He said
the previous record was 3,111,348 votes
for Republican Sen. Phil Gramm in
1984.
Martin said Bentsen’s popularity
proved a stumbling block for the Repub
licans.
“The senator’s presence on the Demo
cratic presidential ticket combined with,
his coattails in the Senate race to prevent
a Texas presidential loss of the magni
tude of 1984, when President Reagan
carried the state with 63.6 percent of the
vote,” Jack Martin said.
Republican President-elect George
Bush captured Texas’ 29 electoral votes
by a much smaller margin — 56 percent
— to 43 percent for Democrat Michael
Dukakis, with 99 percent of the precincts
reporting.
“Senator Bentsen received more votes
than George Bush did in the presidential
race and his margin of 59.1 percent was
also better than the 56 percent margin for
Bush,” Martin said. Bush got 3,028,528
votes for president in Texas, with 99 per
cent returns.
Boulter said that despite his loss, the
campaign was “a wonderful experience.
I wouldn’t trade it for anything ... I
think we ran a real good campaign.”
The two-term Amarillo congressman
said that in the end, Bentsen had too
much money to beat.
“Obviously, I wish I’d done better,
but given all of the financial resources he
(Bentsen) had available to him out of
both campaign pots, and the limited re
sources we had available to us, we did
well,” he said.
The name of Bentsen, 67, appeared
twice on the Texas ballot under a 1959
state law written to allow Lyndon John
son to run at the same time for U.S. Sen
ate and the White House.
Republican Gov. Bill Clements also
said Boulter did surprisingly well.
Bentsen raised more than $8.2 million
for his Senate re-election, according to
campaign spokesman Jack DeVore.
Boulter, 46, raised about $1.5 million,
said campaign manager Greg Graves,
excluding money spent on his behalf by
the OOP’s campaign committee for sen
ators.
Boulter, who was endorsed by Bush,
said, “There weren’t any (Bush) coat
tails anywhere I could observe.”
Reagan swept other Republicans to of
fice with him in 1980 because he pre
sented a “positive agenda” that included
cutting taxes, reducing spending, build
ing military strength and “getting the
government off the backs of the Ameri
can people,” Boulter said.
But he added, “I think he (Bush) ran
the campaign that he had to run, given
the way the Democrats started out their
campaign.”
Bush announces
secretary of state
Republican President-elect George
Bush, saying the people have spoken
and the verdict was clear, moved
swiftly today toward forming his ad
ministration, designating campaign
chairman James A. Baker III as the
next secretary of State.
Bush announced the choice of
Baker, a friend of long standing who
served as White House chief of staff
and then as treasury secretary under
President Reagan, at a news confer
ence in Houston hours after his solid
victory over Democrat Michael Duka
kis was assured.
Bush returned to a tumultuous wel
come in the nation’s capital today,
telling his cheering supporters he
would continue the good policies of
the last eight years.
Bush, accompanied by his wife,
Barbara, made brief remarks to the
crowd at nearby Andrews Air Force
Base. He praised his running mate,
Sen. Dan Quayle, as a man who was
going to be a great vice president.
And Bush said President Reagan
would be a tough act to follow, but
said the good policies of the last eight
years will continue.
Dukakis also had a news confer
ence in Boston and said of the cam
paign, “I gave it my best shot.”
As for the attacks leveled at him
during the campaign, Dukakis said,
“The negativism we had in the cam
paign is something that had an impact
on me. ’ ’
“I hope it doesn’t happen, but I
fear that this will be a signal now at
the national level that this kind of
campaigning is effective,” he said.
‘ T certainly hope not. ’ ’
With 99.7 percent of the nation’s
precincts reporting, Bush had 54 per
cent of the vote to Dukakis’ 46.
Turnout for the election, following
a long, often negative campaign, was
around 50 percent, the lowest since
1924, according to preliminary esti
mates.
Officials: Bentsen’s win
gives state more muscle
away from homes before bailing out.
Air Force officials refused to speculate
on the cause of the crash of the B-1B,
one of 29 at Dyess.
The Strategic Air Command, which is
responsible for the land-based nuclear
bomber and missile forces, said the order
to ground the aircraft was a “normal pre
caution” in the wake of a major acci
dent.
The flight suspension order will be
followed within 24 to 48 hours by spe
cific instructions to B-1B mechanics on
what aircraft systems they must inspect,
a SAC spokesman said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Lloyd
Bentsen’s rise in national stature and the
addition of two Texas Democrats in the
House could give the state more muscle
on Capitol Hill, Democrats said Wednes
day.
Democratic victories in the Panhandle
and Southeast Texas on Tuesday put 19
of the state’s 27 seats in the party’s con
trol, leaving the Republicans with eight.
Democrats see the gain as strengthen
ing Speaker Jim Wright’s hand and be
lieve it enhances the state’s influence in
the Democratic-controlled House. The
more Democratic members a delegation
has, the more committees it can cover
and eventually assume more leadership
positions, says Rep. Martin Frost of Dal
las.
The House is already chock full of
Texans in powerful positions: Wright is
from Fort Worth; Rep. Kika de la Garza,
D-Mission, is chairman of the Agricul
ture Committee; Rep. Jack Brooks, D-
Beaumont, is chairman of Government
Operations but is giving it up to take over
the Judiciary Committee in January;
Rep. Bill Archer, R-Houston, is the
ranking Republican on the Ways and
Means Committee; and Bentsen is chair
man of the Senate Finance Committee.
Others hold subcommittee
chairmanships, caucus chairmanships, or
ranking positions on key defense or
spending panels.
Although his bid to be vice president
failed, Bentsen’s appeal on the campaign
trail and the months of national exposure
had Democrats predicting Wednesday
that the powerful Washington insider
would see influence widen even more.
But Republicans questioned the Dem
ocrats’ assertions of greater influence,
saying a slight shift in the Texas dele
gation would have a minimal impact and
that Bentsen’s powers as chairman of the
Finance Committee may not be broad
ened much by his new appeal in the
party.
And with a Republican-controlled
White House, the GOP members in Con
gress hold their own with the executive
branch, said Republican Rep. Steve Bar
tlett of Dallas.
“We have to have strength on both
sides of the aisle,” Bartlett said, adding
that major projects like Sematech or the
super collider usually take bipartisan
support.
“The loss will hurt in terms of our
ability to have bipartisan representation
on both sides of the aisles in commit
tees,” Bartlett said.
But Bob Mansker, press secretary for
Frost, a Dallas Democrat, said, “It’s a
strengthened delegation because we
really lost two members who were not
effective in any way what so ever. ’ ’
State Sen. Bill Sarpalius of Amarillo
will take over the 13th District seat that
Republican Rep. Beau Boulter gave up
by running against Bentsen’s re-election
bid.
Finals dates
to be given
by Nov. 15
Students will take final examina
tions in less than a month, but exact
exam times have not yet been an-
nounced for the revised testing sched
ule.
Donald Gardner, assistant regis
trar, said be will meet with Registrar
Donald Carter this week. Gardner
said they plan to announce the exam
times by Nov. 15.
Finals will be held from Dec. 9 un
til Dec. 14.
r Credit ratings depend upon several f actors
By Denise Thompson
Staff Writer
■He buries his head in desperation over
the seemingly endless number of enve-
llpes marked “past due.”
■After paying off his Visa with his
MasterCard and paying for rent, utilities
and food, he realizes that the $150 left in
ft checking account won’t quite cover
his car payments or the “necessities” he
put on his Dillard’s, Foley’s and Ameri
can Express credit cards.
■ Although a dramatization, to thou-
■nds of people this scenario is a reality
not revealed with the brightly colored
displays and gifts exchanged for a com
peted application for credit cards or
nk loans, Kem Morgan, an account
■resentative for Chilton Credit Report-
, said.
Understanding credit provides the best
i. insurance against credit-related prob
lems, Morgan said.
■ “Credit is any type of loan or situation
where you have to repay someone,” she
said. “When you buy a product under
certain terms, you agree to those terms,
and you need to abide by those terms.”
Unfortunately, to establish credit, the
consumer must begin by having a debt,
Morgan said.
“Once there is a debt established, that
is credit,” she said. “If you get a J.C.
Penney’s charge card and make a pur
chase on that card, J.C. Penney’s reports
that purchase to us. They also report any
payments that are or are not made.”
Despite the popularity of credit cards,
Morgan said one fairly safe way of estab
lishing credit is to take out and repay a
bank loan, because banks generally re
port loans to credit bureaus.
“For people without credit, I suggest
opening a savings account with a bank
loan to establish credit,” she said. “They
shouldn’t have a specific purpose in
mind for the money, but should borrow
the money with the understanding that it
is going into a savings account and will
only be used to repay the loan every
month.”
A credit bureau is a clearing house for
credit history information. Credit grant
ors provide bureaus with information on
how customers pay their bills. The bu
reau assembles that information into a
credit report. Businesses, credit card
companies and banks report revolving
credit lines, installment credit lines,
mortgages and student loans to credit bu
reaus every 30 days, Morgan said.
Credit reports are a history of pay
ments to stores, banks and credit card
companies. The reports also include
items from the “public record,” which
comprises information about bankrupt
cies and other information that reflects a
person’s ability and willingness to pay
bills. This credit history is used by credit
grantors to help them decide if they are
willing to extend credit to the applicant.
However, not all credit grantors use
credit bureaus. The Texas A&M loan of
fice does not report short-term loan in
formation to credit agencies unless the
student agrees to release the information,
Morgan said.
“It is up to the lending institution to re
port the loan,” she said. “It is their op
tion. You can request that they report it,
or you have a right to obtain a copy of
TEXAS AGGIE CREDIT UNION
your credit report and request that any
credit items be added to your file.”
Most negative information remains on
a person’s credit record for seven years.
However, bankruputcies and matter of
public record are reported on credit his
tories for at least 10 years. After the ini
tial 10-year recording, the information
can be re-entered for another 10 years,
Morgan said.
“A public record is probably the worst
thing a person can have on his file, be
cause it cannot be removed,” she said.
Switzer Deason, president of Check
Worthy, said although writing bad
checks does not directly affect credit, it
is a serious crime.
Writing bad checks is not a credit mat
ter, Deason said, because credit falls un
der civil law, and theft by check is a
criminal offense. The distinction is im
portant, he said.
“You won’t go to jail for not paying
your MasterCard off,” Deason said.
“You will go to jail for writing hot
checks.”
Responsible for about 75,000 checks
in Texas each year, Check Worthy is not
a collection agency but a processing and
verification service, he said. Although
some students do write bad checks, Dea
son said that people with an educational
background usually pay for their checks
as soon as they are notified of fund short
comings. For people who do not pay for
the checks, penalties are stiff.
Depending on the amount of money
stolen, the penalties for bad checks vary.
One type of bad check is classified as a
Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a
fine not to exceed $200. Another bad
check offense is a second degree felony,
punishable by a fine not to exceed
$10,000 or two to 20 years in the state
penitentiary.
“People are taking a worthless piece of
paper with your signature on it for pay
ment for services you received,” Deason
said. “That is extremely trustworthy, and
if there weren’t fairly harsh penalties for
doing it, no one would accept checks.”
Morgan agreed that students should be
wary of writing hot checks, and said col
lege students also should be extremely
cautious when using credit because of
See Credit/Page 7