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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1990)
Texas A&M Battalion 'i here WEATHER TOMORROW’S FORECAST: Cloudy with a high chance of thunderstorms HIGH: 64 LOW: 48 — ^11(1/01.89 No.83 USPS 045360 10 Pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, January 30,1990 heney proposes ilitary cutbacks ■ WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Becretary Dick Cheney recom- ProtcsiBjgHdcd Monday closing or scaling iPjack more than 60 U.S. military fmJi9 ases ’ ' nc ^ u ^* n S eight in Texas, and ^■nding operations at 12 overseas fa- ; Bilities, a plan that immediately drew •^—^congressional Fire. I “I understand the problem Biey’re faced with, but it’s absolutely vital that Congress have the guts to take the right decisions as we go (hrough this period of time,” Che ney said as he released a $292.1 bil- Bon fiscal 1991 spending plan—with ■he base closing proposal — and sig- tialed lawmakers that the battle has egun. Cheney said he had no Figures yet lor the potential savings from the Inoves. He said the numbers were |till being analyzed. But because it costs money to shut ases down and legislation is needed jo do so, the savings are not usually Iccrued until years later. The Texas installations Cheney broposes to close are the Army am- [nunition plant at Karnack, Chase •ield Naval Air Station at Beeville, iergstrom Air Force Base at Austin ind the Defense Contract Adminis- [ration regional office in Dallas. Reductions were proposed for r ort Hood near Killeen, where the 6nd Armored Division is proposed tor disbanding; Fort Sam Houston and Kelly Air Force Base in San An- pnio and the Red River Army De- )ot at Texarkana. The plan, far less extensive than khe 86 closings and five realignments hat Congress adopted last year from a federally-mandated commis- ion, also calls for closing a signifi- :ant number of facilities in Califor- Figart I Japan tightens grip on U.S. economy Career week helps students find jobs. ■ II mbers • Clements offers plan/Page 4 Among the candidates for closure there are Fort Ord, Alameda Naval Aviation Depot and Naval Air Sta tion, Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Moffett Field Naval Air Station and Oakland Naval Supply Center in California. Asked whether politics influenced the choices on the closing list, which largely targets bases in the districts of liberal Democrats on Capitol Hill, Cheney said the charge “wasn’t a valid one.” “I did not assemble this list,” said the former Republican congressman from Wyoming. The list was com piled by the services, said Cheney, who smiled at suggestions that the services may have been political in their choices. The proposed deactivation of the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood would involve the loss of 12,000 troops. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, rushed into action to try to work out a deal to save the division. “We worked out an agreement that if we are able to successfully ne gotiate round one of the conventio nal disarmament agreements with the Soviets, that would bring home 21,600 Army personnel from Eu rope, and the first 12,000 of those would go to Fort Hood,” Gramm said in Texas. But he added, “The Army is looking at a reduction of 135,000 men in uniform. There’s no way you can do that without affecting us. We want to minimize that effect. Brian Rogers, a senior management major from Longview, tea ches 8-year-old Tamra Garvin, a yellow belt from Caldwell, the proper technique for a front kick. Rogers has taught Tae Kwon Photo by Fredrick D.Joe Do since he was a high school junior and has owned Tae Kwon Do USA in the Manor East Mall since his freshman year in col lege. Ten classes are offered per week at Tae Kwon Do USA. By CHRIS VAUGHN OiThe Battalion Staff The United States must become more compet itive in the ’90s or Japan will continue to tighten its grip on America’s economy, a Dallas business woman said Monday. Valerie Freeman, president of Word temps Inc., recently returned from a tour of Japan’s business industry. She told a group of Texas A&M business students gathered for the Women n Business Symposium that America is lagging far behind Japan in areas critical to competing in a global economy. Freeman said U.S. business philosophy must put more emphasis on long-term rather than short-term gains. “1 hey (Japanese) are willing to operate at no profit Tor a while to grab mote of "tlie market stia- re,” Freeman said. “They have done it to us time and time again. Our stockholders are banging on the door wanting immediate dividends (while) they just wait. Pretty soon, they win out.” The Japanese are more interested in market share analyses than Americans, Freeman said. She said Japanese companies currently have 90 percent of the VCR market, 80 percent of the vi deogame market and almost one-third of the auto market. Freeman said LJ.S. companies also must com mit more resources to research and development if they want to become more competitive. Japan spends more on research and devel opment, $1,600 per worker, than any country in the world, Freeman said. The United States spends $500 pei workei oi resea’rch and d vel- opment. “Many of our companies have too much debt to be able to spend money on R&D,” she said. “A- nother reason is because of our short-term busi ness philosophy.” Because of the shortage of research and devel opment, Freeman said many American compa nies must form unequal alliances with Japanese firms. “We may have the idea, but few of our compa nies have the money to carry it out,” she said. “I don’t think alliances are bad, but I think they See Business/Page 9 By PAM MOOMAN Of The Battalion Staff Texas A&M students can get a hand with job-hunting this week during Business Career Week, spon sored oy the Business Student Coun cil. Lynn Zimmerman, adviser to the council, said Business Career Week has grown continually since its be ginning in 1980. It now has 27 com panies setting up booths for one day. “I think we’ve had more compa nies come each succeeding year, with the exception of one year,” he Said. This is the first year that cor porate booths have been manned for three days, Zimmerman said. Usually the companies only are here on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said. “All those business skills students learn about in the classroom they put to work this week,” Zimmerman said. Although a few companies may See Career week/Page 9 Aggie Watch offers bike registration By SEAN FRERKING Of The Battalion Staff Many students at Texas A&M are unknowing accomplices to the thefts of their own bicycles, said Lt. Bert Kretzschmar of the Uni versity Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit. During the past year bicycles worth more than $60,000 have been reported stolen. UPD found this Figure alarming and decided to offer free bicycle registration during Aggie Watch, a forum promoting public awareness and stressing the prevention of crime, Kretzschmar said. The event, taking place this week and Monday, is sponsored by the Residence Hall Associa tion, the Department of Student Affairs, the Department of Food Services and UPD. Various programs will be fea tured throughout the week in cluding discussions on theft pre vention and bike registration. Kretzschmar said some of the programs will focus on bicycle se curity. On Wednesday, the Depart ment of Parking, Transit and Traffic Services, in conjunction with Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, will offer free bicycle registration at two locations on campus. Registration booths will be in front of the Commons and by the Rudder fountain. After completing registration cards, students will be given re flective stickers with control num bers. The control numbers on these stickers are entered into the Texas Crime Information Cen ter/ National Crime Information Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack See Bicycles/Page 9 A&M organization aids Vietnam vets HELP created to educate public By STACY E. ALLEN Of The Battalion Staff Some Vietnam veterans and their families have needed HELP for years. Now a Texas A&M organization with that name has been created to do just that. Carol Maxwell, president of HELP and a graduate sociology stu dent at A&M, said the organization’s objective is to make people aware of veterans’ issues. HELP devotes most of its time to educating the public about post trau matic stress syndrome, which affects many war veterans. PTSD causes damage to the cen tral nervous system. Maxwell said We want to alert veterans of (post traumatic stress syndrome) because some may have it and not know it yet.” - Carol Maxwell, HELP president the symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, hallucinations, lack of emotional control and reclu’siveness. Suicide is the leading cause of death among veterans and Maxwell said PTSD is largely the reason for it. “People who sustain life-threaten ing injuries themselves or see some one else sustain them are likely can didates to develop the symptoms of PTSD,” Maxwell said. “The younger you are, the more likely you are to develop it.” Through research in her grad uate studies, Maxwell found that 4.8 million people have PTSD and most do not know about it. Most of the time, it can only be detected by a spe cialist. Maxwell said HELP is launching a national public awareness campaign this month. “We want to alert veter ans of PTSD because some may have it and not know it yet,” said Maxwell. “Since PTSD also travels through the family, the spouses and children need to be alerted so that they can also be tested.” HELP will give presentations all over the nation about veterans, and Maxwell said many of the presenta tions will be given to student groups on A&M’s campus to increase stu dent awareness and membership in HELP. The campaign will kick off at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the College Sta tion Hilton. Another show will be at 9 p.m. Maxwell said the shows will be a tribute to veterans and will feature Nashville stars. Tracker, a country star, will per form his famous song “Cripple Cow boy.” Tracker received his inspira tion to write the song about veterans after meeting a Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair struggling to get into a van. The veteran referred to himself as the cripple cowboy. Tracker was so impressed by the man that he wrote the song “Cripple Cowboy” and is donating half the proceeds from the video and the song to HELP. Tickets are $5 and can be pur chased at Copy Corner or Wednes day at the door. Those attending can register for a Nashville trip for two. Silver Taps ceremony to honor 3 The solemn sound of buglers playing “Tims” and the sharp ring of gunfire will be heard on campus tonight as three Texas A&M students who died during December and January are honored in a Silver Taps ceremony at 10:30 in front of the Academic Build ing. The deceased students being hon ored are: • Kirk Jason Mauthe, 18, a freshman biomedi cal sciences major from Plano, who died Dec. 26. • Marjorie Ann Johnson, 21, a junior ki nesiology major from El Lago.who died Dec. 24. • Timothy D. Hogg, 19, a freshman business adminis tration major from Lamesa, who diedjan. 1. Dating back almost a century, the stately tradition of Silver Taps is practiced on the first Tuesday of each month from September through April, when necessary. The names of the deceased stu dents are posted at the base of the flag pole in front of the Academic Building, and the flag is flown at half-staff the day of the cere mony. Lights will be extinguished and the campus hushed as Aggies pay final tribute to fellow Aggies. The Ross Volunteer Firing Squad begins the ceremony, marching in slow cadence to wards the statue of Lawrence Sul livan Ross. Shortly after, three volleys are fired in a 21-gun sa lute and six buglers play a special arrangement of “Taps” three times — to the north, south and west.