The Battalion
STATE & LOCAL 3
Monday, March 20,1989
Congress considers new procedure
for granting aid to college students
Bill would make civil service work mandatory for grants, loans
By Kelly S. Brown
STAFF WRITER
Students wanting a loan or grant
from the federal government will
have to do civil service work before
getting any money, if legislation
pending Congress is approved.
Tammy Tobin, a member of the
Graduate Student Council, said a
problem exists with the current fed
eral loan system, while a problem
also resides with the lack of people
helping in civil service.
“So to remedy the situation, Con
gress put the two problems together
hoping they’d solve each other,” To
bin said. “Students defaulting on
their loans is a legitamate concern,
and a decrease in civil service sign
up also is a legitimate concern, but
other means of solving the situation
are out there.”
Tobin said the National Associa
tion of Graduate Students (NAGS)
believes a better solution would be to
have the civil service work as an op
tion.
“It would be a great way for some
one to earn $10,000 to $20,000 with
out having to pay it back, but requir
ing it is too extreme,” she said.
The bill, sponsored by Senator
Sam Nunn, has a grandfather clause
stating that any student already re
ceiving a federal loan or grant will
not be required to do civil service
work.
Under the proposed bill, students
would work one to two years for civil
service, making a $100 per week liv
ing allowance. And after completion
of one year, for example, the stu
dent would receive a $10,000 tax-
free grant that could be applied only
to tuition, the cost of education or
buying a new home.
Students are exempt from the bill
when no positions are available in
the area, if they’re over 26 years old,
if they’re handicapped, or if the stu
dent has extreme personal circum
stances.
Tobin said the prime fault with
the bill is the negative impact it will
have on the lower economic class.
The United States Students Asso
ciation and NAGS are asking stu
dents to call their local congressmen
and voice opposition to the legis
lation.
Taxes stocked politician’s land with quail
AUST IN (AP) — Taxpayer money was used to
stock quail on the ranch of Texas Parks and Wild
life Commission Chairman Charles D. Nash Jr.,
although such stocking was stopped years ago be
cause it was unsuccessful, a newspaper reported
Sunday.
The commission also spent at least $10,000 to
stock wild Rio Grande turkeys on two ranches
owned by Texas House Speaker Gib Lewis,
according to records obtained by the Dallas
Morning News from the Parks and Wildlife De
partment.
Neither Lewis nor Nash received special treat
ment, department employees said, although they
acknowledged that neither entered into formal
agreements with the state, as is usually required
in stocking programs.
Such agreements generally prohibit hunting
the stocked animals for five years and allow the
state to bill the federal government for up to 75
cents of every $1 spent.
Don Wilson, department program leader for
upland game, said 53 Gamble’s quail were
stocked on Nash’s 11,000-acre ranch in Val
Verde County in 1988 and disappeared almost
immediately.
“Unfortunately, they just took off. We never
saw them after that,” he told the Morning News.
A San Marcos automobile dealer, Nash was ap
pointed to the Parks and Wildlife Commission in
February 1987 by Gov. Bill Clements. He was
named chairman in July 1988.
Wilson said he didn’t know what it cost the
state to stock the quail, but said department em
ployees spent about three days trapping the birds
at the Ocotillo Wildlife Preserve in Presidio
County.
Nash’s ranch is about 75 miles east of the outer
limit of the normal habitat of the Gamble’s quail,
according to Wilson. He said Nash had agreed to
plant the winter grains on his ranch the birds
would need to survive.
The department discontinued a quail stocking
program in 1966 because it was unsuccessful,
Wilson said. But, he said, after consulting with an
Arizona biologist he became convinced it might
work on Nash’s property.
Wilson said no formal habitat study was con
ducted before the stocking, as is normally re
quired, “because I was familiar with the ranch.”
“I felt like this was a small investment and it
could have been a good thing for the state if it
had worked,” he said.
On Lewis’ ranch near Milford in Ellis County,
118 Rio Grande turkeys were stocked beginning
in January 1987 to try to establish the birds in
that part of Texas, records show.
Although the habitat was considered “margi
nal,” the turkeys are doing well, said Bill Brown
lee, director of programs for the department.
The department earlier stocked 45 of the tur
keys on Lewis’ Williamson County ranch. They
have fared so well that a third stocking was
canceled, Brownlee said.
He said Lewis didn’t receive any special treat
ment, noting that the department has never re
fused a request for turkeys from anyone with a
suitable place.
Brownlee said he did not know what the stock
ings cost the state. Wilson said the costs have
ranged from $66 to $93 per bird.
The department does not charge landowners
for turkey stockings, Brownlee said.
Brownlee said a written agreement with Lewis
was not needed because the state already had ex
hausted its allotment of federal wildlife restora
tion funds at the time.
Insurance agencies
in state foreclosing
in record numbers
DALLAS (AP) — Life insur
ance companies are foreclosing
on commercial properties at re
cord rates, and most of the prob
lems appear to be in Texas.
One insurance company, Hart
ford, Conn.-based The Travelers,
foreclosed on 47 commercial
properties in Texas last year, rep
resenting more than $280 million
in outstanding loans, according to
statements filed with the state in
surance department in Austin.
Nationally, The Travelers
foreclosed on 96 properties rep
resenting more than $535 million
in loans, the Dallas Morning
News reported.
Some cases involved some of
the strongest and most estab
lished developers in the business.
Aetna Life Insurance Co. of
Hartford, Conn., for instance, re
cently took back an industrial
property in suburban Richardson
from Dallas-based Trammell
Crow Co.
Equitable Life Assurance So
ciety of New York earlier this
month foreclosed on Dallas-based
Lincoln Property’s 21-story Tur
tle Creek Centre in the Oak Lawn
area. Equitable loaned $44 mil
lion, or the equivalent of $145 a
square foot, on the 300,000-
square-foot building in 1986.
“There is a lot of concern that
today’s underperforming prop
erty will become the distressed
property of tomorrow,” Paul Say
lor, a principal in the Atlanta of
fice of Institutional Property
Consultants said. Saylor helps
pension fund managers and
other institutional investors eval
uate performance and prospects
of real estate investments.
Insurance companies invest in
real estate two ways.
Direct ownership, or equity, in
vestments typically account for
between 2 percent and 4 percent
of a company’s total assets.
Mortgage investments, in
which a company lends the
money for a project, typically ac
count for about 20 percent or
more of total assets.
Some insurance executives say
the commercial real estate cycle
has hit bottom and have funds
available for new purchases in
Texas, especially in Dallas and
Houston.
But many look for a long turn
around of three to seven years.
They say there is too much real
estate available and too many un
certainties with the ongoing bank
and S&L situation.
“We’re optimistic that we may
be able to invest in Texas again
someday, but not now,” Mike
Towner, real estate vice president
at New York Life, said.
With more than $490 million
in loans on Texas urban prop
erties, New York Life foreclosed
on 10 Texas commercial prop
erties in 1988, representing loans
of $57 million. The company
foreclosed on 21 commercial
properties nationally represent
ing loans of $ 121 million.
The New York City-based
company has seen one of the
most dramatic increases in prob
lem loans. At the end of 1985,
New York Life listed just
$500,000 in foreclosed commer
cial and agricultural property on
its books. At the end of 1988, that
number had increased to $100.3
million.
Travelers appears to be the
hardest hit company. It also is
more concentrated in Texas than
any of the other large life insur
ance companies.
In its annual statements on file
in Austin, the company said it
had urban loans — mainly for
commercial projects like office
buildings, apartments and shop
ping centers — of $1.4 billion in
T exas.
A. K. Psi OPEN
GOLF
TOURNAMENT
FOUR MAN SCRAMBLE
BRYAN GOLF COURSE
APRIL 2, 1989
ENTRY FEE INCLUDES:
A V A
AmericanAirlines
Sports airline
of America
Entrance into a drawing for two American Airline tickets to anywhere in the continental
U.S.
Green Fees
Golf Carts
Entry into individual hole contests
winner of “long drive” contest wins a dinner for two from Rita's Restaurant
winner of “closest to the hole” wins a dinner for two from Ken’s Martin Steak-
house
winner of “longest putt made” wins a dinner for two from Cenare Restaurant
Official Tournament T-shirt
Two scorekeepers for each team
Chance at overall prize
1st - $50/person (gift certificate)
2nd - $30/person (gift certificate)
3rd - $20/person (gift certificate)
Free beer
Putting tournament for 3 month membership to 24 HR GYMS OF TEXAS
<
Ken Martin's STEAKHOUSE
>
COST:
$100 per team ($25/person)
Payable by March 24, 1989
Registration Form:
Name of team
GYMS
OF TEXAS
Name of contestants-
A)
B)
0)
D)
T-shirt size
Telephone Number.
Address (confirmation will be mailed w/ tee time.
Preferred tee time (begin @ 10:00
Send the entrants fee of $100 and this detatchable portion to:
-make checks payable to A. K. Psi
For more info, please contact Larry Crane 764-8508
A. K. PSI
P. O. BOX 7115
C. S., TX. 7784
Texas A&M
Flying Club
^Teaching the ‘Best to < J r Cy the Best
Interested people are urged to attend our meeting
Tuesday, March 21 at the Airport Clubhouse
For information
Call President Bodie Kirby 822-3788 m
MSC JORDAN INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS
JORDAN FELLOWS LECTURES
March 23, 1989, 7:00PM, Memorial Student Center, Room 206
Karen Antell: German Democratic Republic
Eric Henderson: Spain
Scott Rosen: People's Republic of China
These presentations relate recent student experiences of
research and study in preparation for careers concerned
with international affairs.
Call battalion Classified 845-2611