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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1989)
A&M ng the goats. imals stepptj he Battalion WEATHER FORECAST for WEDNESDAY: Sunny and mild. HIGH:65 LOW:40 he ranch aft ( tnals went ban (I police lui a the streets ses happily j, te animals /s. -vho abuses nything ~ tys. would help,;, :y is animals, e ranch idrens’ ol. 88 No. 115 USPS 045360 8 pages Study: Texas fails WASHINGTON (AP) — exas scores jehind most states in nearly all areas of re- . orm needed to foster a thriving business fflucab slimate, according to a study released Mon- lay that also gives the state a failing grade 'or economic performance. gtoiif out and seed >ee related story/Page 6 The Corporation for Enterprise Devel- jipment used more than 125 economic and wlky measures to grade the 50 states in our subjects — economic performance, justness vitality, resource capability and de velopment policy. On a scale from A to F (with no E’s t(v$n), Texas earned a D in performance jecause of “wide economic disparities yitflin the state,” a C in business vitality, a B n economic capacity, and a D in policy itrpgth. ^ast year, Texas scored better in business utility, with a B, and in policy, with a C, but ceeps the same grade for performance and apacity. In assessing business vitality, the 1989 “report ' ud” bv die private, non-profit re search organization found “a high level of entrepreneurial activity” in Texas, but weakness in existing businesses. A strong showing of available financial, infrastructure and amenity resources ac counts for its B on the index that measured capacity for growth. But Texas gets a D in policy because while it “ranks among the most active states in education reform, it trails other states in nearly every other area of development policy measured.” Henry Gandy, director of the state of Texas office in Washington, said the study does not reflect reforms the Legislature is undertaking this year. Because the Legislature was not in ses sion last year, reforms that were being con sidered in 1988 are not reflected in the 1989 report card, Gandy said. Lawmakers are now tackling such issues as reform of workers compensation insurance and better regulation of state-chartered savings and loan institutions. College Station, Texas Tuesday, March 21,1989 economic-performance test At the same time, the state’s economic performance is low because the economy, battered by tumbling oil prices in 1986, a depression in agriculture earlier in the de cade, and a downturn in real estate, is “on its way back but is still not thriving,” Gandy said. Nevertheless, Gandy said several na tional industries recently decided to expand or move to Texas, indicating that “a num ber of businesses feel Texas is a good place to do business, that the economic climate is a good one.” Gandy points to a decision by Mitsubishi Metal Corp. to build a copper smelter in Texas City that will create hundreds of jobs; the consolidation of general office headquarters for GTE Telephone Opera tions in Dallas-Fort Worth; plans by For mosa Plastics Corp.-Texas to build a man ufacturing complex in Calhoun County expected to create 1,700 jobs; and plans by Fujitsu America to consolidate operations in the Dallas area. The study said states that scored a D or F in performance depend largely on either agriculture or energy. “Poorly diversified, none of these states has growing sectors to take up the slack, and recovery is a distant prospect,” said the study, supported by contributions from corporations, labor unions and private foundations. The performance rating was based on 1 7 measures, including employment growth, unemployment rate, earnings and job qual ity, health coverage, poverty and crime rates, environmental quality and infant mortality. Business vitality w'as judged on such fac tors as the competitiveness of existing busi nesses, trade sector strength, business fail ures, entrepreneurial energy, and diversity. The study said states like Texas, New Mexico, Montana and Alaska, after under going economic slumps, appear to have “entrepreneurship of necessity” — people forming businesses that substitute for jobs they have lost and that wall permit them to continue living where they are. “We also may be detecting the fact that new' businesses in these states are running into real barriers to growth — whether it be lack of available financing or weak local markets to support their growth,” the study said. Although this trend “should be a great concern to economic development profes sions,” the study said high rates of new company formation are a good sign. The study said investments in capacity — from literacy to energy costs — are directly linked to eventual economic performance increases. “Postponing such investments simply mortgages the future,” the study said. The policy report card graded the tax and fiscal environment, education, infras tructure and amenities, business support including export promotion, development finance, and disadvantaged communities and individuals. listance o(\i ) rings. Foi IONS: ARfj I stabilizers st not excee w lever. N it points on; RS: Gene: Rec Class! :iy, Marches ad after Ipr Is outsidetlii i you plat eHall, WPEF/m y skilled ait i eliminate ive a t-shiit eceiveaw i/e a Genera ofthebesli > deuce), Si) at 6 games red. E( icquetanda Fhe winning [ match. )0 perteaia 'A/S: Men's, MU Volley r Winners e in Class A ramuralet ecreationai CAPTAIN'S ReadBi Salvadorans choose right-wing Cristiani for president’s seat ntramurai /inners SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Alfredo Cristiani, who has tried to end memories of his right- wing party’s links to death squads that killed thousands of his country men, was recognized as the victor Monday in the presidential election. Fidel Chavez Mena of the incum bent Christian Democrats, conceded and told a new's conference, “I have called him personally to congratu late him and express my desire that God illuminate him in governing the country.” Cristiani, of the Republican Na tionalist Alliance, or Arena, will take charge from President Jose Napo leon Duarte on June) 1.' Although Duarte was one of the 1’nited States’ top allies, he was unable to end nine years of civil war with leftist rebels that left 70,000 dead. In Washington, the State Depart ment said it was prepared to support the new Salvadoran government, but only if it protects democracy and protects human rights. “Our relationship with that new government will depend on its ad herence to democracy and respect for human rights, the twin pillars of our approach to LI Salvador,” de partment spokesman Charles Red man said. Redman praised the Salvadoran people for braving “violence and ter ror" by leftist guerrillas who, he said, tried harder to disrupt Sunday’s bal loting than any other in seven years. White House Press Secretary Mar lin Fitzwater said the elections “rep-: resent a strong desire by the people of El Salvador for the ability to par ticipate in the election process.” But he said the United States was “con cerned about the level of guerrilla attacks and human rights abuses” during the balloting. Asked whether the United States accepted the results, Fitzwater said: “I don’t think we’ve reached a judgment about the validity” of the results. U.S. Ambassador William Walker denied an Arena victory would be a defeat for U.S. policy. The United States has supported El Salvador with $3.5 billion in aid this decade, and some congressmen have said the results leave much to be desired. Cristiani, a 41-year-old coffee- grower and businessman, said late Sunday he “would be the president of all 5 million Salvadorans. We are going to unify these people in order to pull ourselves out of this pro found crisis.” Arena was linked in the early 1980s to extreme-rightist death squads blamed for the murders of tens of thousands of suspected left ists. Cristiani contends the party has changed significantly and that the candidacy of a so-called moderate like himself is evidence of that. But fanatical rightists remain prominent in the party, including party founder Roberto D’Aubuis- son, who was once called a “patho logical killer” by a U.S. ambassador. Sophomore Aggie quarterback Kent Petty, from Dallas, prac tices calling snap counts. The Aggie quarterbacks are expected to have an expanded role on the 1989 team under a pass-based offense that Coach Slocum is implementing. Monday was the first day of spring practice. The workout was cut short because of lightning and rain. TEAMS ec teams 4 women, Calendaf VTDATE ►/VS: Indi- jperstars sully and onwillbe of the 12 obstacle fting.Cy- i, Volley- ZJbstacle ^ forthei -cling will Z>S: Higli i Hon will I ntrarnu- meeting E34 Read meting is f^M-6 rental 7826. 0U coach has year to reform football team AUSTIN (AP) — University of Oklahoma head football coach Barry Switzer has about a year to shape up his team in discipline and academics, OU interim Presi dent David Swank said Monday. Swank, speaking to Texas newspaper executives, expressed confidence that Switzer could turn around the football program that has been at the center of a firestorm of criticism. “If he cannot, then we will have to find someone who can,” Swank said. He told members of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association that Switzer must implement stricter disdpline and a recruiting system that emphasizes academic as well as athletic achievement. “I think that within this next year we have to see signs of major changes in the program, or changes will have to be made,” he said. Problems began for the Sooners in December, when the NCAA placed the Oklahoma football program on three years probation for recruiting viqla- tions. In January, a football player was accused of wounding his tea mmate in a dorm shooting. Three football players have been charged with an alleged gang rape in a dorm, and starting quar terback Gharles Thompson has been accused of selling cocaine to an undercover FBI agent. The incidents have cast the university into “dark days,” Swank said. “An idol has been toppled from its pedestal.” Texas has record number of toxic railcar leaks WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas had the greatest number of railcars leaking toxic materials in 1987, according to a study released Mon day by Citizen Action. The nation wide grassroots lobbying group con siders toxic leaks to be the most accurate measure of toxic rail acci dent severity. Texas had 29 toxic leaks in 1987, nearly one-third of the national to tal. The report said toxic railroad ac cidents pose a growing threat to communities nationwide but lax fed eral regulation has resulted in in creasingly inadequate safety over sight. More than 24,000 people were evacuated as a result of 351 major rail accidents involving toxic materi als in 1987, according to the organi zation. Forty-one of 50 states were affected by at least one accident. Illinois led the nation with 49 rail accidents involving hazardous materials, followed by Texas with 46 and Louisiana and Michigan tied for third place with 15 each. And Pennsylvania led the country with 12,360 evacuations. Although the number of toxic rail accidents nationwide declined 3.7 percent from 1986, Citizen Action said the severity of those accidents “increased significantly,” with the number of railroad cars leaking toxic substances up 12.7 percent, from 79 in 1986 to 89 in 1987. Those numbers, however, are down from 109 railcars that released hazardous materials in 1985 and 100 in 1984, the Federal Railroad Ad ministration said. Most toxic rail accidents were con centrated in heavily populated states bordering the Great Lakes and the Gulf Coast — states with heavy in dustry or oil and gas production, Citizen Action said. “Toxic railroad accidents are a growing public safety problem across the country,” said Robert Creamer, spokesman for Citizen Ac tion and executive director of the Il linois Public Action Council, which conducted the study. “Few commu nities are safe from the environmen tal contamination of these catastro phes on wheels.” Citizen Action said four billion tons of hazardous materials are shipped annually, involving 250,000 shipments and 3,000 carloads a day. Yet while 53 percent of rail acci dents involving hazardous materials stemmed from mechanical failures, the Federal Railroad Administration does not effectively enforce rail safety standards, the study charged. T he Citizen Action study said FRA’s reliance on industry self-regu lation of accident precautionary- measures has “repeatedly failed to prevent toxic rail accidents.” Sophomore dies Sunday in car wreck Texas A&M student Jeffery Robert Wetuski, a sophomore an imal science major from Plan- tersville, died Sunday at about 2 a.m. in a car accident. Wetuski, 20, was traveling west on State Highway 105 in Plan- j tersville when he veered to the right while approaching a left curve. Wetuski, who was not wearing a seatbelt, apparently overcompensated to the left, crossed the roadway and struck a culvert, causing the vehicle to roll over. Justice of the Peace Bill Bay de clared Wetuski dead at the scene at 3 a.m. The body was taken to Noble’s Funeral Chapel in Navasota. Services and burial will be today at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Stoneham at 10:30 a.m. Ecologist says Earth’s enemy is ‘us’ By Juliette Rizzo STAFF WRITER Invaders from space will not destroy the Earth, but humans will if they do not take steps to stop destroying the planet’s natural environ ment, Dr. Russell Peterson, a leading conserva tionist and ecologist said Tuesday. In his lecture “The University, The Biosphere and Our Grandchildren,” Peterson told students and faculty at Rudder Theater if today’s society does not take precautions to preserve the global environment, generations of the future will be in danger of severe economic decline and social dis integration. “We have met our enemy,” Peterson said. “He is us.” Peterson said the peoples of the world must learn to work with their “fellow men” to solve the inescapable problems facing everyone on the planet. He also stressed the importance of a mu- tually-beneficial interdependent relationship be tween men and their environment. “We are all dependent on each other, the air, water, soil and the sun.” The Earth and all its in habitants will face unprecedented crises if these resources are wasted, he said. The Earth’s population is five billion and steadily increasing. More than one billion of these people live in absolute poverty. The population as a whole does not work to gether closely enough to prevent global deterio ration, he said. Human disregard for natural resources is causing deforestation, soil erosion, water deple tion, and a thinning of the ozone layer, which protects the Earth’s surface from the sun’s harm ful rays. Clearly the Earth has come a long way for its occupants to enjoy a better quality of life than royalty did years ago, he said, but even though it has, and people today are more qualified to de fine the Earth’s problems, few solutions to such problems have been implemented. The world has an ample food supply to feed its entire population if the food were distributed when and where it is needed, he said, and yet people are dying. Why? Forty thousand children die each day because they are born into subhuman environments cre ated by those who look out for themselves and not future generations, he said. Peterson said the major reason for the Earth’s deterioration is society’s preoccupation with material progress and money. “Each citizen needs to adopt the concept of ‘earth ethics,”’ he said. “It is our duty as citizens to protect the biosphere — our environment —to make responsible choices for alternative futures. The invisible foot will kick us in the future if we ignore the long-term effects of our present ac tions.” It is extremely important for all members of society to educate themselves about the long term biological consequences of the three major threats responsible for global deterioration: the threat of nuclear war, excessive population growth and the degradation of the environment, Peterson said. Today’s leaders are spending time and money addressing the issues of increased nuclear pro tection and anti-abortion when the Earth is al ready overpopulated and has enough nuclear fir ing power to kill 1.2 million people, he said. To ensure a decent quality of life for future generations, today’s leaders need to devote a fair amount of their attention to the conservation of the Earth’s resources, Peterson said. “These are critical times for the planet Earth,” he said. “Humanity thrives as the Earth thrives, but for the Earth to thrive depends on how hu manity treats her.”