The Battalion
STATE & LOCAL 3
Tuesday, April 4,1989
Long-distance companies say
local access fees increase rates
Employees of GTE ask
legislators to save jobs
AUSTIN (AP) — Several GTE
Southwest Inc. employees who
fear a rate reduction imposed on
the company could cost them
their jobs and hurt the Texas
economy asked for help from
state lawmakers Monday.
The company has announced
that it will cut about 1,100 jobs
and reduce investments in re
sponse to a $59 million rate cut
and $128 million refund of over
charges to customers that was or
dered by the Public Utility Com
mission.
The Senate Nominations Com
mittee will begin confirmation
hearings Tuesday for two of the
three PUC members, Chairman
Marta Greytok and William Cas-
sin, who were appointed by Gov.
Bill Clements. Also this week, the
PUC is to consider a motion for
rehearing in the rate case by
GTE.
“As one of more than 8,000
tax-paying voters of GTE South
west Inc., I am asking for your
help to save my job, along with
I, 099 more jobs that will be lost
because of a force adjustment
caused by a recent Public Utility
Commission decision against
GTE Southwest Inc.,” stated the
letter distributed to legislators by
J. D. Cooper, James Hart, John
Brown and BJ. Smith of Texar
kana.
Cooper and Hart said they are
cable splicers, Brown is a mainte
nance splicer and Smith is a cus
tomer service specialist.
The PUC decision “will send a
message to all companies large
and small — stay out of Texas!”
stated the letter, which said the
approach to officials was being
made “without the knowledge or
consent of my employer.”
“I strongly urge you to vote
against confirmation of the pre
sent nominees of this commis
sion, and to look elsewhere for
more responsible individuals to
represent the utility rate payers
of Texas,” the letter stated.
AUSTIN (AP) — Long-distance
telephone companies distributed a
letter to Texas lawmakers Monday
saying access charges paid to South
western Bell cause rates for long dis
tance calls within Texas to be “much
higher than they should be.”
“For example, it’s cheaper to call
from Dallas to Honolulu than it is to
call from Dallas to Waco,” stated the
letter signed by representatives of
ClayDesta, MCI, US Sprint, AT&T,
Metromedia and ITT.
“In fact, it’s cheaper to call any
where in the U.S. from Texas than it
is to call practically any place within
Texas,” the letter stated.
More than half of a Texas car
rier’s costs of providing long-dis
tance service is made up of the
charges paid to the local telephone
company for access to the local net
work, according to the letter.
The companies said Southwestern
Bell’s Texas access rates, set by the
Public Utility Commission, are more
than double the rates set by the Fed
eral Communications Commission
for interstate calls and at least 57
percent higher than rates the com
pany charges in any other state.
“High intrastate long-distance
rates are a significant deterrent to
economic development in Texas,
and a burden to residential and busi
ness users alike,” the companies said.
AT&T spokesman Rick Morrison
said the company pays 20.8 cents per
minute in Texas for access to the
Southwestern Bell network. That
compares to 9.4 cents in Oklahoma,
10.4 cents in Kansas, 11.4 cents in
Missouri and 1 1.8 cents in Arkansas,
he said.
In Texas, access charges make up
about 70 percent of AT &T’s cost of
handling a long-distance call, he
said.
Morrison said long distance com
panies sent the letter with an eye to
the Senate confirmation hearings to
begin Tuesday on PUC Chairman
Marta Greytok and PUC member
William Cassin. The two commis
sioners on the three-member PUC
were appointed by Gov. Bill Clem
ents.
"We think questions may come up,
and we’d like for the legislators to be
as well-versed on the subject as possi
ble,” Morrison said. “We think that
there is a lot of concern on the part
of lawmakers with respect to the
telecommunications industry in the
state.”
Southwestern Bell has proposed
an economic development plan
called “Texas First” that includes a
freeze on local rates for five years
and upgrading of the state network.
Part of the plan would lower
charges to long-distance companies
for use of the local network, and
Southwestern Bell has said that re
duction could allow long-distance
companies to lower rates.
But the long-distance companies
said the proposed reduction is
“nominal” and would “have little im
pact on Texas long distance rates.”
Morrison said the “Texas First”
proposal includes “something less
than a 5 percent reduction” in access
charges, but Southwestern Bell
spokesman Dave Lopez said the pro
posed decrease could be as high as
14 percent.
“I would say a 14 percent reduc
tion is more than nominal,” Lopez
said. He said Southwestern Bell
must balance access charge rates
against basic local service rates.
“The basic local service rates in
Texas are 20 percent below the na
tional average” for residential cus
tomers, with $9.71 the average
monthly one-party rate, Lopez said.
“The reason that those access
charges have been high previously is
to try to keep basic local service rates
as low as they are,” Lopez said.
Professor says South Korea
is recovering economically
By Sharon Maberry
STAFF WRITER
South Korea’s economy is recov
ering at a rapid pace 35 years after it
was devastated by the Korean War, a
Southern Methodist University po
litical science professor said at the
MSC Jordan Institute’s presentation
of “Korea: History, Culture and Fu
ture Prospects” Monday.
“South Korea has emerged as the
showpiece of Western capitalism in
Eastern Asia and in the Third
World, as a whole,” Wonmo Dong,
Director of SMU’s Asian Study Pro
gram, said of the country that is
smaller than one-fourth of Texas.
“Even with all the problems it has
encountered since 1945, it has be
come one of the miracles of eco
nomic development in the book of
economic history.”
The Honorable Seung Ho, con
sulate general of the Republic of Ko
rea in Houston, agreed that South
Korea’s economic recovery has been
miraculous.
“For 10 years after the Korean
War, Koreans desperately focused
on meeting the basic human needs
of food, clothing and shelter,” Ho
said. “The country was sustained
only by grants from the U.S. govern
ment and other foreign powers.
“However, in the last 25 years, the
country has expanded greatly. In
the last three years, we have seen an
impressive annual growth rate of 12
percent with relatively stable prices.
We are the 12th largest trading na
tion in the world and our gross na
tional product of $118 billion is 17th
in the world.
“When the Korean War broke out
in 1950, many American soldiers
had never even heard of Korea. To
day, that war-torn, wretched country
has become a major trading partner
with America.”
Ho credited Korea’s economic re
covery primarily to its hardworking
labor force and its innovative entre
preneurs. He also recognized the
United States’ role in developing Ko
rea’s economy.
“America has played an important
role and will continue to further Ko
rea’s economic development,” Ho
said. “South Korea has the same po
litical idealogy of the United States.
The future of the United States-
South Korean relationship shall be
characterized as a partnership. We
are confident that we can be a re
sponsible partner of the United
States.”
Although South Korea’s economic
recovery is regarded as a great suc
cess bv its people, the reunification
between North and South Korea is
still doubtful, Dong said of the 44-
year national division.
The majority of Koreans want na
tional unification because 10 million
families are divided in the country
with a total population of 72 million,
Dong said.
He said reunification will not re
sult as long as North and South Ko
rea have radically different ap
proaches to the issue.
April Fool’s joke ends
in shooting of teen-ager
AUSTIN (AP) — A 17-year-old
boy was hospitalized in good condi
tion Monday after he was shot in the
head by another teen-ager in a
movie theater during the showing of
a horror film, officials said.
Robert Latta of Round Rock was
admitted to Brackenridge Hospital
late Saturday with a .25 caliber gun
shot wound to the head near his left
ear, officials said.
Round Rock police chief Wes
Wolff said the shooting was under
investigation, but preliminary re
ports indicate it was accidental.
Officials planned to decide Tues
day whether to charge the 14-year-
old girl who allegedly fired the shot,
Wolff said.
“It was an April fool’s joke; that’s
the way it started out,” Wolff said.
Those involved “thought the gun
was unloaded,” he said.
The girl got the .25-caliber auto
matic pistol, which Wolff described
as a “real small pistol” from home.
Authorities said Latta and three
friends entered the Movies 8 theater
in Round Rock on Saturday night
and purchased tickets for “The Ter
ror Within.”
The shooting occurred several
minutes after the 9:30 p.m. show be
gan, authorities said.
Wolff said the bullet split into two
pieces, and that hospital officials
were unsure whether vision in the
youth’s left eye would be affected.
He said the teen-ager’s hearing had
been affected, but it could not be de
termined whether that would be
permanent.
The showing of the movie contin
ued without interruption and most
of those in attendance were unaware
the shooting had occurred, officials
said.
Correction
Curtis Rick was incorrectly
identified as the 1988-89 Off-
Campus Aggies president in
Monday’s Buttalhm. Laurie Lust-
field, a senior political science
major, is the OCA president.
Rick is in the run-off election
against Shawn Knight. Knight
and Rick are directors in OCA
this semester.
The .Batrah'onregrets the error.
Sugarfree
Low, Lite n Luscious:
We’ve trimmed everything
but the taste.
Sugar free, sweetened with NutraSweeV
97% fatfree. Calcium rich.
Vs less calories than ice cream.
Only at Baskin-Robbins.
Low, Lite ’n Luscious exchange information: 1 serving ('/z cup) = 1 bread/starch exchange.
! mm " “ ~m off ^
jlBB Low, Lite n Luscious treat
©NutraSweetI
I
I
fe ©1989 Baskin-Robbins Incorporated. Printed in U.S.A.
Offer good with coupon only. Not good in combination with any other offer. One coupon per visit.
Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Offer good only at location(s) listed.
NutraSweet and the NutraSweet symbol are
registered trademarks of The NutraSweet Co.
601 University Dr.
The Middle East:
Peace or Powder Keg
April 12,1989
Sxcettettctf
Javier Perez de Cuellar
United Nations Secretary-General
'rfyoHosict&le sfdtH&uzt
Robert C. McFarlane Stansfield Turner
former National Security Advisor former C.I.A. Director
Ed Bradley
Co-Editor "60 Minutes"
■S-MSC
Wiley Lecture Series
8 p.m. Rudder Auditorium
Tickets on sale now at the MSC Box Office
Tickets $6-$8-$10 for all TAMU students, $8-$10-$12 for all others