"he Battalion
STATE & LOCAL
15-3! Thursday, November 16,1989
roups strive for regulation of lobbyists
^l! AUSTIN (AP) — Expenditures
jffior entertainment and gifts by the
Ibiggest-spending lobbyists at the
^exas Legislature topped $250,000
the four months following the
I'May 31 end of the 140-day regular
legislative session.
Public interest groups Wednesday
id such spending shows the contin-
ing need for tighter regulations on
lobbyists’ giving to lawmakers.
I “We have to continue to press for
some kind of limitations,” said Pam
Bridrich, executive director of Com-
durift nion Cause of Texas. “It’s just too
liineven when some folks can spend
■housands of dollars on lawmakers.”
M Reports filed with the secretary of
Wtate by the 25 lobbyists who led the
Wjlgpeiidmg list during the regular ses-
abomion last spring showed them spend-
vktB
ing at least $252,758 on entertain
ment and gifts during the period
from June 1 to Sept. 30, an Asso
ciated Press survey found.
That spending total is conserva
tive. Many of the lobbyists haven’t
yet filed the report covering the
three-month period ending Sept. 30,
and the tally doesn’t include the
hundreds of other, smaller-spend-
ing lobbyists.
The four months since the Legis
lature’s May 31 adjournment in
cluded a 30-day special session in
June and July but no other sessions
of the full Legislature.
Fridrich said she wasn’t surprised
at the spending pace, although lob
byists’ giving has been highly publi
cized in Texas since last spring.
“Lobbyists are just trying to do
their jobs” she said. “And right now,
there’s no one to require them to
keep their expenditures down. And
if that includes customarily spending
money on meals and entertainment
(for lawmakers), then they’re going
to do that.”
Tom Smith, of the group Public
Citizen, said that high-powered in
terests were involved in the June-
July special session which — like the
one which convened Tuesday —was
called to overhaul the workers’ com
pensation insurance system.
“One of the big drivers in the last
regular and special sessions was
workers’ comp . . . and that’s where
the big business dollars and trial law
yer dollars meet,” Smith said.
During the regular session, more
than 800 registered lobbyists re
ported spending $1.86 million to
wine and dine lawmakers, and take
them on trips, according to a survey
by the Austin American-Statesman.
More than one-third of that total was
spent by just 26 lobbyists, primarily
those representing business interests
and trial lawyers, the newspaper
said.
Since then, both the House and
Senate have appointed special com
mittees to study lobby spending,
campaign contributions and other
ethics issues.
Gov. Bill Clements, who controls
the current special session’s agenda,
said he wouldn’t put an ethics over
haul before lawmakers. But an aide
said Wednesday that Clements
would consider adding to the
agenda some “fine-tuning” changes
in the law.
Sen. Bob McFarland, R-Arling-
ton, and Rep. Pete Laney, D-Hale
Center, this week said they are draft
ing legislation that could close some
loopholes and impose some stricter
standards on lobby spending.
n'lt
Fraternity
will run ball
ifrom Austin
The Delta Upsilon fraternity
bid for, and won, one of the game
balls from the Texas A&M and
University of Texas football game
and plans to use it as an opportu
nity to raise money for the pediat
rics unit at St. Joseph hospital in
i Bryan.
About 25 members of the fra
ternity will run the game ball
from Austin to Kyle Field on
Nov. 25 and 26. Delta Upsilon is
I soliciting donations this week at a
table in the MSC and next week
j in the Blocker building.
The fraternity’s goal is to raise
$3,000 to help redecorate the pe
diatrics wing of St. Joseph.
Two memberships to Gold’s
Gym will be given away in a raffle
to anyone who donates at least
$2.50 and St. Joseph will provide
medical emergency bracelets for
students who donate $10 and
non-students who give $25 or
more. The bracelets contain mi
crofilm on which emergency
medical information is stored.
Salvation Army needs donations of time
By Cindy McMillian
Of The Battalion Staff
The traditional Salvation Army
Christmas kettle depends on more
than donations of money — dona
tions of time also are critical for its
success.
Travis Bryan Jr., chairman of the
Bryan-College Station service unit of
the Salvation Army, is looking for
volunteers to work the kettle for a
day. Civic clubs, professional organi
zations or student organizations
could have members take two-hour
shifts and collect money, he said.
“If we get enough groups in
volved, we could present a plaque to
the group that raises the most mon
ey,” he said.
Volunteers are needed on the Sat
urdays between Thanksgiving and
Christmas to ring a bell and thank
people for dropping donations into
a kettle.
Collections are especially impor
tant this year because the Army’s
funds have been cut, Reyburn Ruhl,
a service unit field representative
said. The group has received funds
from United Way in the past, he
said, but this year was allotted a
much smaller amount.
The group has no specific goal for
Bryan-College Station, he said, but is
hoping to raise enough to cover an
nual programs.
Local Salvation Army projects in
clude sending children to summer
camp and providing medicine for
needy individuals. Last year, medical
aid and more than $4,000 of medical
prescriptions were provided in this
area, Ruhl said.
The army started kettle collec
tions here two years ago, he said,
and last year raised $3,300. Ruhl
said he has met with some campus
organizations to ask for their sup
port and suggested combining kettle
collection with organizations’ other
activities.
Anyone interested in volunteer
ing as a bell ringer may contact Ruhl
by writing to 28 Dogwood Lane,
Splendora, Texas, 77372, or by call
ing (713) 689-6640 or (214) 353-
2731.
ACS says 155,000 Americans will get lung cancer
By Pam Mooman
Of The Battalion Staff
It’s a matter of life and death.
In 1989, it’s estimated that 155,000 Americans
of all ages will develop lung cancer, said Richard
Stein, senior field representative for the Brazos
Unit of the American Cancer Society. Only
13,000 of those diagnosed will survive, he said.
The American Cancer Society said cigarettes
are a major cause of lung cancer. Overall, smok
ing is responsible for 85 percent of lung cancer
cases, Stein said. However, cigarettes are not the
sole cause.
“Smoking is the largest cause of lung cancer,”
Stein said. “(But) there’s lots of different causes.”
According to the American Cancer Society, ex
posure to asbestos increases the risk of devel
oping lung cancer, especially for smokers. Asbes
tos exposure combined with smoking makes
developing lung cancer 60 times more likely.
Exposure to radiation also increases the risk.
Radiation comes in the form of X-rays, although
most are adjusted to deliver the lowest possible
radiation dosage. Radon in homes is also a poten
tial source of radiation exposure.
Involuntary smoking is another big risk factor
for developing lung cancer. Several scientific
studies, including one by the American Cancer
Society, show that breathing smoke from some
one else’s cigarette is just as dangerous as first
hand smoking.
“If you live with somebody who smokes, you
can very easily develop lung cancer,” Stein said.
Lung cancer mortality rates are so high be
cause the disease is very difficult to detect in its
early stages, Stein said. According to the Ameri
can Cancer Society, however, if a smoker quits
while the disease is still in early precancerous cell
stages, the bronchial lining often returns to nor
mal.
The American Cancer Society listed several
warning signals for lung cancer. A persistent
cough, sputum streaked with blood, chest pain
and recurring cases of pneumonia or bronchitis
could indicate lung cancer.
NSF speaker
talks about
competition
Meier discusses future
of world powers
By Selina Gonzalez
Of The Battalion Staff
Students are the most effective
method of transferring techno
logical information that universi
ties have, Dr. W.L. Meier of the
National Science Foundation
said.
Meier presented “People: The
Critical Factor in Economic Com
petitiveness,” Wednesday as part
of the E.L. Miller Lecture Series
“Tomorrow’s Technology To
day.” The series is sponsored by
MSC Political Forum and Union
Carbide.
Meier discussed the issue of
competitiveness, the availability
of people in science and engi
neering and the economic com
petitive powers of the United
States in the future.
World markets and market
shares, as well as purchasing
power, have been lost, Meier said,
and the standard of living has de
creased.
“We are in a generation of our
population for whom the Ameri
can Dream is not a reality,” Meier
said. “The American Dream has
always been (passing) on to your
children a life and a standard of
living that is better than the one
you were born into.
“We are in a period of pro
found instability in which the bal
ance of world power in being re
distributed,” Meier said. The free
world is reshaping itself just as
the Soviet bloc, who was the last
major holding of power, is being
broken up, he said.
Meier said there have been
structural changes in the world of
economic competition. In the
See Meier/Page 13
1
1
Move up in
the world.
University Tower is now ac
cepting a limited number of
leases for the spring semes
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410 South Texas Avenue
College Station, TX 77840-1 724
(409) 846-4242 or (800) 537-91 58