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[Monday, Novembers, 1990
The Battalion
Page 9
£
Companies plan layoffs
Texas due to economy
FORT WORTH (AP) — Layoffs by some of the big-
jest U.S. companies not only have sparked worries
bout job security and a national economic slowdown,
fhey’ve also hit close to home.
The General Motors Corp. assembly plant in Arling-
on will cut back to one rotating shift beginning Mon
day because of slow sales.
That move was announced before GM said Friday
hat it would idle more than 27,000 workers nation
wide.
General Dynamics Corp. said Oct. 29 that it would
ay off between 700 and 1,000 research and engi
neering personnel in January.
The defense contractor has said it expects to cut up
to 7,000 jobs at its Fort Worth Division by the mid-
1990s because of declining government defense spend-
ing.
Texas Instruments in Dallas has lost 950 of its 22,000
workers in its Defense Systems 8c Electronics Group for
the same reason.
A study by an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank
of Dallas shows that defense companies account for 18
percent of Fort Worth’s total economic output.
Defense work is so important to the local economy
that each job eliminated by a defense contractor will
also bring about the loss of one more job somewhere
else in the Fort Worth-Dallas area, the study showed.
“We’ve been through a depression, so the only way to
go is up,” said Frank Anderson, a Financial analyst who
follows Southwest banks for Stephens Inc. investment
bankers in Little Rock, Ark.
“The Texas economy is more
broadly based than it was 10
years ago. When you look at
Tarrant County, once you go
beyond defense... our largest
employers —Tandy, GM,
American Airlines, Pier 1 —
depend on discretionary
consumer spending.”
— Robert “Bobby” McGee,
president,
Texas Commerce Bank
Fort Worth
But others aren’t so sure.
“The Texas economy is more broadly based than it
was 10 years ago. When you look at Tarrant County,
once you go beyond defense... our largest employers —
Tandy, GM, American Airlines, Pier 1 — depend on
discretionary consumer spending,” said Robert
“Bobby” McGee, president of Texas Commerce Bank
Fort Worth.
“There’s no escaping that whatever happens in the
national economy happens in the Texas economy, good
and bad,” McGee told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Businesses close up
as soldiers pull out
HOUSTON (AP) — Ever since
troops from Fort Hood joined Oper
ation Desert Shield in Saudi Arabia,
the 65,000 residents of Killeen have
felt the pinch of battle as stores and
restaurants close from a lack of busi-
ss.
“Business is off 35 to 40 percent,”
Mike Lazar, 53, owner of Scandals, a
topless nightclub that gets about 75
percent of its business from Fort
Hood soldiers, said. “There are
fewer soldiers, and those that come
in are spending less. Why? The
magic of the crowd is missing.”
Rob Morris, 29, who owns a jew
elry store in Killeen Mall said he now
trolls for shoppers.
“Normally on a day like today (a
military payday), I’d have 20 cus
tomers,” Morris said. “Today, I’ve
had five. We’re hoping for the best.”
Fort Hood’s 38,000 troops — plus
another 55,000 Army spouses and
children — provide a livelihood, di
rectly or indirectly, for an estimated
120,000 civilians around Killeen.
The Central Texas post accounts for
about 75 percent of the regional
economy, officials said.
“Since the deployment, we can’t
find people to rent from us,” Rick
Foerster, 47, a trailer park operator,
said.
“Where ordinarily I’d do $5,000
in business, I’m now doing $200,”
John Consentino, 34, assistant man
ager of an athletic footwear store in
Killeen Mall, said.
Still, Consentino is luckier than
some merchants. Last month, the
Western Sizzlin’ Steakhouse closed
its doors and Manuel Pacheco plans
to sell his Boot & Things Army
Store.
Police officer
hit by car,
driver flees
DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas po
lice officer was killed early Sun
day morning when he was run
over by someone driving a stolen
car, authorities said.
Sunny Ma Love, 39, was struck
and killed at about 1:30 a.m.
while he was placing flares at a
traffic accident site on North
Central Expressway, police
spokeswoman Vicki Hawkins
said.
The Cambodian native had
been on the police force two
years, Hawkins said.
Hawkins said the stolen car
had been recovered, but the
driver fled the scene and had not
been found early Sunday.
Another officer working a
nearby accident found Love’s
body, she said.
Lewisfinds
defense in
supporters
FORT WORTH (AP) —Many Re
publicans, Democrats and political
analysts agree: Questions about
House Speaker Gib Lewis’ tax pay
ments won’t matter much in Tues
day’s election.
Lewis said Thursday that a law
firm didn’t pay any of his company’s
delinquent property taxes. He re
versed himself the next day, saying
he would reimburse Heard Goggan
Blair & Williams for all taxes, penal
ties and interest that it paid for his
firm.
The law firm, which collects more
than half of all delinquent taxes in
Texas, paid more than half of a 1987
delinquent tax bill owed by the
Shooters’ Palace gun range, of which
Lewis owns 50 percent.
State Rep. Doyle Willis, D-Fort
Worth, a 36-year veteran of the Leg
islature, said that while he often dis
agrees with Lewis in the Flouse
chambers^ he believes the speaker
made a simple mistake.
“It’s absolutely impossible to keep
up with all those things. I don’t think
he knew about it,” the 82-year-old
lawmaker told the Fort Worth Star-
Telegram.
Willis and other legislators said
they doubted that tax-paying dis
crepancies and vacations that Lewis
"It’s absolutely
impossible to keep up
with all those things. I
don’t think he knew
about it.”
—Doyle Willis,
State Rep.,D-Fort Worth
took to Mexico with Heard Goggan
attorneys — including one in 1987 to
Manzanillo, Mexico, for which
sources said the firm paid $28,000
— would have any effect on Lewis’
re-election.
Lewis has acknowledged that he
traveled to Mexico with the attor
neys.
“I don’t think it will affect him in
the election,” Willis said. “But any
time you are a public official and you
have any criticism —just or unjust
— you have a tendency to work a
little harder.”
H ie R ice
University
Publishing
Program
The Rice University Publishing Program, July 8-August 2,
1991, is designed to develop talent, skills and career opportuni
ties for persons interested in book and magazine publishing. The
program is designed for students who will be entering their senior
year in 1991 and for college graduates. Although participants come
from all disciplines, the program has been of particular value to
students in English and other Humanities, Journalism, Art, Social
Sciences and Business.
The roster of guest lecturers includes more than 35 top professionals
in editing, graphics, marketing and production from throughout
the country.
For more information, contact the Office of Continuing Studies,
Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892.
Telephone (713) 520-6022 or 527-4803.
William Marsh Rice University is an EO/AA Institution.
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