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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1988)
arrld/Nation The Battalion Friday, Nov. 18, 1988 Page 7 FA e power tint | recommenj rators, turer in tli f re and Enti ush names Sununu chief of staff , which ii ofessionallh i and couii. r educatioii, ives and loh n said. is, IFA has dstrativede. iculty mem. lem tenure, ght :Ouse show, vas an over tie! Vanessa les for MSC acked,” she time consis- able type o( i the public, dy orgs’s iden. his claim k rk that was of the ren- Dttokar de ni- Peter to .Titian is not the perfor- ett, an asso- aodern lair- le play, said, WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent-elect George Bush Thursday named New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu White House chief of staff and tapped wily campaign strategist Lee Atwater as chairman of the Re publican National Committee. Bush’s selection of Sununu as his top White House adviser prompted the resignation, effective in January, of long-time aide Craig Fuller, who said he had told Bush he was eager for the job. Bush said he would like Fuller, co- chairman of the transition team and his chief of staff since 1985, to con sider a role in his administration but that he chose Sununu because he was the right man for the job. “John Sununu has the back ground and experience necessary to work not only with his former col leagues in the nation’s statehouses but also to build a constructive relationship with the U.S. Con- gress,” he said. Atwater will succeed Frank Fahr- enkopf Jr., who announced months ago that he would relinquish the GOP chairmanship at the end of President Reagan’s term and return |to Nevada to practice law. Bush said Atwater’s function will be winning elections. While Republicans have won the presidency in five of the past six lections, they have been less suc- essl'iil in Congress, where Demo- rats hold comfortable majorities in wth houses. The Republican National Com mittee will formally act on Bush’s hoice in January. Bush made the announcements ifter meeting over breakfast with Iritish Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and his customary weekly unch with Reagan. Atwater is considered a master of regative campaigning, and was an rchitect of the strategy that helped Bush wipe out a 17-point poll lead >y Democrat Michael Dukakis and omp to a 40-state victory in the rresidential race. ttorney e governmf verdict. 1 Rochester! - and operat ndictmetUH irs in cash an Savings and audulentlyot' ans, dividends i-related fees f concealing!, in Odessa in ck in norni* ines rsy d change v although ible to Conors strict courts® ; courts if .ituation.'h® for a trans® member Cs® said. Obscure sites to appear in McNally atlas CHICAGO (AP) — There’s nobody home in Yturria, Texas, except maybe a few prairie drags and armadillos. But it’s on the map, along with 51 other obscure sites that have made the big time for the first time in the 1989 Rand McNally Road Atlas, due to appear this week in stores nationwide. Michael Dobson, director of cartographic services at Skokie- based Rand McNally, said late Wednesday most of the towns were put on the map because travelers wrote to suggest they be added. “In most cases they had pointed out a town that had some value to the traveling public and there was no reason it shouldn’t be on,” Dobson said. Yturria, about 50 miles north of Brownsville, has no human residents. But it was added this year be cause it is the site of the Yturria Ranch, recognized as a historic site by the state of Texas. “Yturria’s on there more as a point of interest than as a pop ulated place,” Dobson said. “We really look at places and say, ‘Do they have a travel-consumer re lated value?’ In some cases they might be the only point of signifi cance in the area.” Dobson said lie receives thou sands of letters each year from travelers who suggest changes. Those have led to 18,116 new or different items in the 1989 atlas, which covers the United States, Canada and Mexico. Vermillion, Kan., was added after Dobson received a letter from a man who said the 167 mostly elderly residents of Ver million enjoyed looking at the at las and planning trips, both real and imaginary. Rohwer, Ark., was added after someone wrote to note that it was the site of an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II, Dobson said. “We felt there was a historical significance to that,” he said. Sununu, 49, an engineer by train ing and a former Tufts University professor, has no previous experi ence in Washington. He has a reputation for being a quick study, highly intelligent and assertive. Some also regard him as arrogant and abrasive, traits that could hurt him in working with Congress. Sununu made light of that reputa tion Thursday. “I’m a pussycat,” Sununu said “Let me tell you about Washington. Certainly I have a lot to learn in re gard to the details. I think I’m a quick learner. “I consider a great number of congressmen to be close frineds, both Democratic and Republican.” Jewish lobbyists have criticized the New Hampshire governor for being the only governor to refuse to en dorse a proclamation attacking a 1975 U.N. resolution that equated Zi onism with racism. “I’m very sensitive to that issue,” said Sununu, who is partly of Arab descent. He acknowledged that he was a considered a conservative Republi can governor and had no intention of changing his political philosophy. But he promised to be a “honest broker” and consider both sides of Sununu is credited with helping revive Bush’s candidacy with a vic tory in the New Hampshire primary last February after the vice president finished a poor third in Iowa’s cau cuses. After her meeting with Bush, Thatcher described him as a leader with a very, very wide knowledge who needs no introduction to for eign affairs. But she said she told him a fresh approach was needed in the Middle East. Bush has already named two long time friends, James A. Baker III and Nicholas F. Brady as the cornerstone members of his Cabinet, as secretar ies of state and treasury, respec tively. Brady replaced Baker at Treasury after Baker quit in August to become Bush’s campaign chair man. Farmers wait for insurance checks to cover crops lost during drought WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of farm ers are waiting for government insurance checks to cover crops scorched by last summer’s drought, as the agency that handles the program wrestles with its biggest caseload they’ve ever seen. The government will end up making about $1 billion in crop insurance payments for the 1988 season, an official said, but for a pair of South Texas farmers who have been waiting for their checks since summer, the delay has been tough on their cash flow. “I’d be bankrupt if I didn’t have a seed corn crop,” said Edinburg farmer Gene Houts, who has been waiting since July for insurance pay ments on cotton and corn crops devastated by the drought. “It’s the only thing that keeps me going.” Harlingen cotton and grain farmer Tommy Funk said,“There must be a tremendous backlog because we’re not getting much satisfaction down here. I’m about ready to go to Washington on it.” Funk said he received a check for a withered grain crop early on, but has been waiting since late August for a check in the thousands of dol lars on his cotton crop. Houts said he was appealing to Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and Rep. Kika de la Garza, a Mission Democrat and chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, to investigate the situa tion. He said he knows of several other Valley farmers in similar circumstances. John Marshall, chief executive officer of the Federal Crop Insurance Corp., said the U.S. De partment of Agriculture agency has received more than 53,000 claims and has processed and paid about 44,000 of them. But that leaves 9,000 other farmers waiting for “There must be a tremendous back log because we’re not getting much satisfaction down here. I’m about ready to go to Washington on it. ” — Tommy Funk, Harlingen cotton and grain farmer their checks, and Marshall said a few thousand of them have had delays of over 60 days, while a few hundred have had to wait more than the 90 re quired days. “This is the heaviest workload we’ve ever had,” Marshall said. “The unprecedented volume led to some of the delays.” On top of that, the agency has been phasing in a new computer system and has had to work out the bugs. “We’ve solved those problems and they are humming along now,” Marshall said. In addition, overtime shifts were instituted to meet the crush of claims due to the drought. The FCIC writes and pays directly on 20 per cent of crop insurance claims, with the remaining 80 percent handled through private companies that are reinsured by the agency, Marshall said, meaning that thousands more claims have been filed. But he said the private companies have on the whole been more efficient than the government in getting the checks out. Marshall expects $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion in crop insurance payments will eventually be made for drought-devastated crops, with the govern ment picking up about 90 percent of the total cost. In an average year, he said, the entire system pays out $1.40 for every $1 in premiums taken in, but this year the ratio is more than $3 for ev ery $1 in premiums. A representative of two insurance companies that work through the office of FCIC said: “The horror stories are all over. I don’t know if they’re going to clean it up in 90 days. I think we’ve got a real horror story going. The poor farmer — the guy is getting short-shrifted and it’s FCIC’s fault.” Presidents-elect of U.S., Mexico plan Dec. 1 meeting in Houston WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent-elect George Bush said Thurs day he will hold a pre-inaugural visit with Mexico’s incoming president and promised not to take unilateral actions on issues affecting that coun try’s well-being. Bush made the pledge in a letter he sent to the Bilateral Commission on the Future of United States-Mex- ican Relations, which issued a report containing a series of recommenda tions on solving cross-border prob lems. Bush’s deputy national security adviser, Col. Sam Watson, presented the letter to commission members on receiving a copy of the 238-page re port. The commission, comprised of prominent Mexican and U.S. citi zens, spent two years preparing the report. Among other recommendations, the report said unilateral measures Kentucky has highest rate of smoking ATLANTA (AP) — On the day of the Great American Smokeout, a government report released Thurs day shows Kentucky with the na tion’s highest smoking-related death rate. Utah has the lowest. Kentucky reported 176 smoking- related deaths for every 100,000 res idents in 1985, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported. Utah re ported just 45 smoking-related deaths for every 100,000 people over the course of the year. Nationwide, smoking killed 314,574 Americans that year. The worst states, after Kentucky, were West Virginia, with 172 smok ing-related deaths per 100,000 peo ple in 1985; Arkansas, 164; Rhode Island, 164; and Florida, 161. must be avoided on issues affecting the two countries. “I fully agree that two new admin istrations taking office at about the same time gives us tremendous op portunities to work together,” Bush said in the letter. At a news conference earlier, Bush appeared taken aback when asked about reports he will hold a get-acquainted meeting Tuesday in Houston with his Mexican coun terpart, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who will take office Dec. 1. He stopped short of confirming the encounter would take place but said that any such meeting would symbolize the importance he places on relations with “our front yard . . . neighbors.” But Bush then quickly launched into an explanation of what he hopes to accomplish from such an early get-together. “When and if such a meeting is announced, I will address myself to the question,” Bush told reporters. “But, if I were to have a meeting with the incoming president of Mex ico before he is sworn in on Dec. 1 while I am still in transition, it would be to symbolize the importance I place on the relationship with Mex ico.” The vice president’s office late Thursday night confirmed that Bush and Salinas would meet and have lunch at the Johnson Space Center in Houston next week. “Their meeting symbolizes the close relationship of our two coun tries and the vice president’s high re spect for Mexico,” Bush spokesman Steve Hart said. “It is intended to further develop a close consultative relationship and a bilateral approach to problem solving.” Chemical company gets fine for contaminating Texas soil ODESSA (AP) — The Texas Wa ter Commission has fined an Odessa chemical company $4,000 and or dered it to clean up soil contami nated in 1986 and 1987. The penalty, imposed Monday, requires Rexene to submit a cleanup plan within 180 days. Rexene is then required to initiate the plan and clean up the contaminated ground. Jon Wheeler, Rexene’s vice presi dent of administration, said Wednesday the company agreed to accept the fine and would begin to undertake further corrective actions to clean up the contarhinated soil if the Texas Water Commission found it necessary to do so. Wheeler said Rexene voluntarily notified the Texas Water Commis sion that it had discovered an unin tentional discharge of limited indus trial waste on Rexene property in December 1986. It is the second water pollution penalty imposed against Rexene this fall. The first occurrence resulted in a $24,000 fine by the Texas Air Con trol Board in October for violations of the state ACB rules and the Texas Clean Air Act. Kevin Hamby, assistant director of public information for the TWC, said its investigation uncovered three violations: ® Dissolved-phase hydrocarbon contamination. • Xylene releases in product stor age tanks. • Solid waste sludge contami nation from the facility’s waste-water treatment plant. The violations were discovered during a TWC investigation after Rexene, then El Paso Products Corp., reported free-floating hydro carbons in shallow groundwater Dec. 15, 1986, and Feb. 23, 1987. The TWC said it will continue to monitor the situation to make sure no further soil contamination oc curs. “It appears that the contami nation is all trapped within the prop erty, but obviously we are concerned for the nearby aquifers that provide drinking water,” Hamby told the Odessa American. Terry James, TWC District 10 bi ologist in Odessa, said Rexene is be lieved to have stored sludge in un lined holes in the ground. The contaminants seeped through the soil into nearby groundwater. James said a plume of contami nants lies underneath the Rexene fa cility. “It has been estimated there is in excess of 500,000 gallons of this stuff sitting on top of the groundwa ter zone,” James said. “It has also been detected in the drinking-water aquifer.” The extent of the contamination in the aquifer has not been deter mined, he said. James said the TWC also is inves tigating possible petro-chemical pol lution in Monahans Draw, a stream that runs through Odessa and nearby Midland. In the first penalty, the ACB con tended that Rexene was in violation of a permit condition for failing to operate and maintain a vapor-con densation control device, which is used to steam-clean tanks and rail- o: E o .2 § o ~o CN O *5 o 0 Q ~o >>■0 O =3 -O ^ 0 o o -R £ O go**! c X CNI wmam