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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1989)
The Battalion STATE & LOCAL Monday, February 13,1989 r ide >1 not perpetrate linate violence ponsible for utt ti as the onesoc^ emotional prof ited. lon'i need to be or said, “Ifpeo- ins in cars, this ;elf to be a gun c:t 1 own seven! inting. But the d many other re cl the country for some sort of t rol laws. This that requires; ickground check /ed to buy ague a convicted fete L-iital unstabiit), n. me on this point ng, hard look;: fornia two years ening in Detron ing that compe- should be deniei I'm simply savin; rearms outoftk iren’t able to use me when your- iway, and some ou and points; a junior joum n page editor h cess department rea! lly just trying it le a very slick lav — i ■i.iin Survey: Lawmakers’ salaries too low AUSTIN (AP) — Texas legis lators who claim they are underpaid at $7,200 a year might be right — at least if compared to salaries paid by many other states. An Associated Press survey found that Texas, with the nation’s third largest population, ranks well be hind the two biggest states in legis lative pay. Many smaller states pay better, too. In Texas, serving in the biennial, part-time Legislature pays $600 a month, plus $30 per day in expenses during sessions. In contrast, California’s full-time legislators get $40,816 in salary plus $87 a day when they are meeting. New York state legislators receive $57,500 a year, which may be the na tion’s highest compesation following a raise from $43,000 starting in Jan uary 1988. New York’s Legislature meets an nually and is technically a part-time body. But it’s not just the bigger states that pay more. • In Massachusetts, the 160 House members and 40 senators all draw a base annual salary of $30,000, with party floor leaders and committee chairmen receiving bonus pay ranging from $7,500 to $35,000 for the speaker and Senate president. • Base pay of Ohio legislators is $36,650 annually. Leaders, commit tee chairmen, vice chairmen and ranking minority party members earn more. • Oregon lawmakers receive sala ries of $937 a month, or $11,244 a year. They also receive expense pay ments of $66 a day seven days a week during legislative sessions, and $400 a month between sessions. • Illinois legislators are paid $35,661 annually and receive $72 a day for living expenses during ses sions. • Colorado legislators are paid $17,500 a year. Those living less than 50 miles from Denver receive $35 a day expenses when Legislature in session. Those living 50 miles or more receive $70. • Hawaii’s 25 senators and 51 House members get $27,000 a year, just raised from $15,600. That’s scheduled to go to $32,000 in 1993, with the Senate president and House speaker getting an additional $5,000 a year. • In Georgia, legislators make $10,251 per year, plus a maximum of $4,800 per year as reimbursement for expenses. • Minnesota pays its 201 lawmak ers $25,138, with top leaders making more.Expenses are $48 a day during sessions and autorized interim work. House and Senate members also re ceive a monthly housing allowance the annual sessions. The Texas salary of $600 a month is written into the state constitution, so voters would get to decide on any proposed pay hike. House Speaker Gib Lewis has said he thinks lawmakers are underpaid and supports a raise. One leading proposal, by Rep. David Hudson of Tyler, would pay legislators 25 per cent of the governor’s annual salary. If that amendment were ap proved at curent salary levels, legis lators would see their pay more than tripled to $23,358 a year. Gov. Bill Clements, who is paid $93,432 a year and gets free rent at the Governor’s Mansion, opposes a raise. “I don’t think they need a raise. I sure don’t,” he said. Clements says recent voter outcry over the proposed congressional pay hike ought to tell state legislators something. A&M provides advice about economic growth to Texas communities By Alan Sembera SENIOR STAFF WRITER Texas A&M soon will be offer ing its technical and managerial expertise to local governments and community development groups across the state. In an effort to spur economic development, the federal Eco nomic Development Administra tion has awarded $100,000 to the Texas Engineering Experiment Station to establish a state-wide network of economic devel opment outreach centers. “The major objective of the program is to assist Texas com munities in improving economic conditions and the standard of living through the creation and maintenance of jobs for Texas residents,” said Dr. Helen Baca Dorsey, director of the new TEES Municipal Assistance Program. This program was initiated, Dorsey said, because there was a need for local governments and economic development groups to have better ties into a research agency in order to get technical assistance. Dorsey said her division will be providing technological and busi ness information to local commu nities through the 254 county agents of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. The expertise mostly will come from within the Texas A&M Uni versity System, she said. Some of the services the new program will offer are: • A toll-free telephone num ber that local governments and development organizations can call for information about eco nomic development-related pro grams. • Helping local areas to iden tify economic development needs See jobs/Page 8 SCONA panel: U.S. can learn from Japan’s global economy By Holly Beeson REPORTER World economy has been transforming into'a global marketplace and Americans can learn much from the Japanese about how to operate in a global economy, a participant in a SCONA panel discussion said Friday. Dr. S. Kerry Cooper, director of Texas A&M’s Cen ter for International Business Studies, said American and Japanese differences are conducive to learning. At the 34th MSC Student Conference on National Affairs, Cooper said Americans have a good deal to learn from Japanese business culture. Guest speakers for the panel discussion, titled “U.S. and Japanese Bilateral Businesses,” were an American, Steve Levy, senior adviser to a United States company operating in Japan, and a Japanese, Dr. Kiichi Mochi- zuki, president of a Japanese company operating in the United States. Japanese and U.S. economies are different in many aspects, Cooper said. “The United States and Japanese economies are mar ried to each other in the sense that opposites attract,” he said. “The Japanese save a lot, and we don’t. They em phasize quality in production first, foremost and always. We tend to emphasize quantity.” The United States has problems trading with Japan because of trade barriers, Levy said. “We need to remove some of the barriers that exist in Japan,” he said, “perhaps by use of political backing.” Levy said the Japanese know how to operate in a global economy as evidenced by their success. He said major differences exist between Japanese and Ameri cans. “In Japan, the Japanese customer demands ex tremely exact delivery of merchandise,” Levy said. “They expect delivery on a specific day, and sometimes at a certain time. If their expectations are not met, it is likely they will find a different merchant to do business with.” The internal market in Japan is highly competitive, he said. The Japanese compete vigorously among themselves. Because of the Japanese, the United States uses sta tistical sampling methods on quality control, placing limits on the number of defects found in a certain num ber of products. “If there are more than 50 defective products in a to tal of one million, that is not acceptable in Japan,” Levy said. “Their high standards have been responsible for causing us to improve our quality control levels nation wide.” When the Japanese purchase a product, he said, they buy the service behind it almost as much as they buy the product itself. Therefore, excellent after-market serv- See SCON A/Page 8 «• | “nj:;rn; -i tq ■jn.uifiii .in;;;. > i ". Zeta Beta Tau ends pledging nationwide By Holly Beeson REPORTER More than 45 men have died because of fraternity hazing activ ities in the past 25 years and Zeta Beta Tau fraternity’s national body has decided to confront the issue by abolishing pledging in ZBT chapters nationwide. In a statement, James Greer Jr., executive vice president of ZBT Fraternity Inc., said every imaginable method has been tried to eliminate hazing, includ ing workshops, seminars, screen ing of written pledge programs and disciplinary action against of fending chapters, but nothing has worked. Greer said the only thing left is to abolish pledging. The new policy will go into ef fect this fall and all ZBT chapters are required to follow it. As a result of the non-pledging policy, ZBT’s national organiza tion is creating a new program, “Introduction to Membership,” to recruit new members. The na tional body is sending informa tion to chapters on how the pro gram will be run. “A set program has not been established yet,” Spencer McDon ald, ZBT president of the A&M chapter, said. “The national body is taking input from fraternities around the country. They’re try ing to develop a program that will help everyone.” This fall, ZBT will have rush like all the other social fraternities on campus. “The difference in pledge pro grams will be that ours will be much shorter, and we will em phasize education,” McDonald said. He said choosing members still will be a selective process. “Just because we’re changing our pledging policy doesn’t mean we’re lowering our standards,” McDonald said. New members will be chosen See ZBT/Page 8 wear my best© and bought a spe i me that gaveu; mocent patrioti I work out for tin triotic speech tin e practiced it (ti t stuck during^ e it up as I wen performance« trough to the A; Board of Regeif tiers praising tf )irit. Since most a up for re-electh d to postpone!! ctions. en nice. I’ve b II ing book,maltt ash from speak® st generally erf i ting up again,o| what 1 did becaiil > what was besiti' 1 junior joumli! 'olumnist for It New Shipment On Display Texas Coin Exchange has restocked after Christmas. Shop now for best selection and price. Ask about our 30 day money back guarantee. Don’t forget our huge selection of gold chains and gold chain bracelets. Mens and Ladies Texas A&M Watches $32 50 Carat ROUND Our price Compare at 2.08 $7,850 $16,000 1.78 4,965 10,000 1.61 5,325 11,000 1.51 3,875 9,000 1.43 5,550 11,500 1.33 2,475 5,000 1.18 2,325 4,600 1.17 2,750 5,200 1.11 2,350 4,650 1.03 3,595 8,500 1.06 1,975 4,000 1.03 2,195 4,200 1.03 3,875 9,000 1.00 2,750 5,200 1.00 1,650 3,300 .95 2,395 4,700 .93 1,595 3,200 .92 1,650 3,300 .91 3,195 6,400 .90 1,750 3,500 .89 1,350 2,700 .88 1,340 2,700 .85 1,685 3,300 .84 2,150 4,200 .83 1,595 3,200 .81 2,250 2,250 .76 1,360 2,700 .70 1,235 2,500 .64 895 1,700 .64 1,325 2,700 .62 795 1,500 .60 795 1,500 .57 795 1,500 .56 895 1,700 .55 695 1,300 .55 695 1,300 .53 795 1,500 .52 895 1,700 .52 795 1,500 .51 1,250 2,500 .51 795 1,500 .50 695 1,300 .50 795 1,500 .47 750 1,450 .46 650 1,250 .46 495 900 .30 335 700 .22 185 400 ROUND Carat Our price Compare at .21 $165 $300 .21 215 450 .19 165 300 .18 155 290 .16 118 250 .15 111 240 .14 95 200 EMERALD Carat Our price Compare at 2.16 $8,500 $17,000 1.37 4,850 9,000 .73 1,850 3,200 .47 695 1,350 PRINCESS/RADIANT Carat Our price Compare at 1.11 $2,750 $5,000 1.02 1,650 3,200 .99 2,570 5,000 .81 2,385 4,500 .62 1,475 2,800 .52 1,250 2,400 .33 395 800 .28 385 800 .25 325 600 14K Gold Charms $12 95 $21 95 Carat HEART Our price Compare at .90 $1,890 $3,600 .75 1,590 3,000 .58 1,375 2,600 Carat OVAL Our price Compare at 1.61 $5,875 $11,000 1.21 2,890 6,500 1.11 2,750 6,400 1.03 2,575 5,000 .99 2,375 4,500 .71 1,450 3,000 .70 1,395 2,950 .62 1,275 2,500 .58 1,195 2,300 .58 995 2,000 .53 1,225 2,500 .51 1,095 2,000 .50 1,050 2,000 .10 105 200 Carat PEAR Our price Compare at 1.75 $5,425 $11,000 1.43 3,780 7,000 1.24 4,285 8,000 1.21 2,375 4,600 1.21 3,475 6,500 1.01 2,675 4,900 .64 1,295 2,600 .60 1,150 2,300 .58 995 1,900 .52 665 1,300 .45 325 600 .10 95 200 MARQUISE Carat Our price Compare at 2.04 $11,875 $25,000 1.56 4,775 9,000 1.35 2,650 5,200 1.23 3,350 6,700 1.17 3,650 6,800 1.04 2,585 6,000 .83 w/GIA report 2,575 6,000 .79 1,895 3,200 .72 2,130 5,000 .71 2,095 4,100 .70 1,795 3,100 .70 2,250 4,500 .64 1,385 2,600 .55 850 1,700 .47 625 1,300 .45 795 1,400 .41 650 1,300 .39 795 1,400 .35 495 900 .25 250 500 .23 275 550 .18 195 400 .11 110 200 Diamonds For AGGIE RINGS .05 $35 .08 $48 .10 $63 .15 $111 .21 $215 $15 mounting $25 with your diamond TEXAS COIN EXCHANGE 846-8916 846-8905 Jewelry Repair on the Premisis 404 University Drive • Behind Shellenbergers Texas 6 Texas Ave. £ m ft- ★ Texas Coin Exchange 0) > c 3 Texas A&M