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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1990)
ROTHER’S BOOKSTORES Page 1 O The Battalion Friday, November BO, 19 WHEEL OF FORTUNE SELL YOUR BOOKS & SPIN TO WIN Insurance policy faces reform 340 George Bush 901 Harvey BAKERY BLUEBERRY banish FRENCH BAGUETTE WITH BUTTER, JAM AND COFFEE STRAWBERRY CROISSANTS Specialty Breads 101 Church Open 7:00 A.M. DALLAS (AP) — Natural and economic disasters have helped set up another showdown in the Legis lature over the tumultuous Texas in surance industry. Independent insurance agents, who have seen more companies this year refuse to write policies for Texas homeowners and drivers, hope lawmakers will end state regu lation of rates. They say that will spur competition and cause rates to go down. Consumer advocates say deregu lation will lead to higher rates. They want the Legislature instead to even things out by enacting rules for county mutuals and other insurers that are now unregulated by the State Board of Insurance. The new Legislature will likely ‘T/ie problems in insurance in Texas are wide and deep ’ face several insurance matters. A special committee of the Texas House and Senate will meet next Wednesday to decide which of 50 policy proposals will be introduced when lawmakers convene in Jan uary. “The problems in insurance in Texas are wide and deep,” Sen. John Montford, the Lubbock Democrat who chaired the joint committee, said earlier this week. The industry’s troubles caught public attention with the $54 million failure of Dallas-based National County Mutual Fire Insurance Co. in 1988 and the struggle to reform workers’ compensation laws, which took the Legislature two special ses sions last year. Nineteen Texas insurance compa nies failed in the state’s last two fiscal years, up from five in 1987. Fort Worth-based National Benefit Life Insurance Co. will close its doors Fri day. The number of companies to be placed in the supervision or con servatorship of state regulators declined from 58 in 1987 to31(J year. Some of the problems in the dustry have been aggravated by it ural disasters. Insurance compai in the past year have been stungl huge payments for losses in ' cane Hugo and the San Fram earthquake. Flood and storm loi have been heavy in Texas duringt last two years. Insurers also have been besei higher payments for medical cij and large jury awards in lawsuits, /ol. 90 $14 y JULIE if The Ba “They just haven’t been raise the rates to keep up with that] Ernie Stromberger, executive tor of the Independent Insurat: IjiiUon fo Agents of Texas, said. ® • ■ The fu Iroposals lecided Northgate. Continued from page 1 Steak Experts. Agree, wm Select your tavorite cut Item out trestvcul choice Midwestern- com ted beet. Season to taste & U-CooK Itt you prater, our expert chets W#1 cor* your aeaW t-bone top SIRLOIN K..C. STRIP R\B EYE SH\SH K.ABOB FILET MtGNON Cooks for the best steaks & best time in town! •AUSTIN* 9012 Research Burnet Rd* 183 453-835 biggest concern about the roads is the enormous amount of vehicle tra ffic in Northgate every day, and the safety of the equally large number of pedestrians. “We have a children’s program in the church and the traffic driving fast really presents a lot of prob lems,” he said. “There’s also not enough handicapped parking and the crosswalks aren’t marked well or not at all.” The limited number of parking spaces behind the Northgate strip also presents a problem for property owners and patrons. But Ringer said the city can do nothing. Unless property owners want to turn some of the area’s vacant lots into parking areas or build parking garages, cars will continue to clog the Northgate area. Though the homes and vacant lots in the Northgate area don’t get as much attention as the more glar ing problems, city leaders and others agree improvement is needed. Schneider said the problem with rundown houses, unkept yards and weedy lots is because many of the houses are rented to A&M students who might not care as much about the appearance as the actual owners. Both he and Callaway agree the city can do little more than try to en force city ordinances concerning trash and weeds, and follow up the enforcement efforts with inspections by city officials. The Northgate area also is on the University’s agenda, and A&M is making a move to buy more land in the Skaggs area for development. “The University shares the same concerns about cleaning it up,” Schneider said. “What their long term goal is, I don’t know. “Many of the (home)owners are absentee owners, and one of the problems in developing an area like this is the inability to put a large tract of land together so you can develop it,” he said. “The University hope fully will be able to put together a large tract of land.” James Bond, deputy chancellor for external affairs for the Texas A&M University System, failed to re turn several phone calls. Although Callaway of the city planning department recognizes the problems in the area, he also is opti mistic they can be overcome. students c Howev bond elec ,120 po ‘It’s not all bad,” he said. Tts r om the tpartmei irecincts. distinct neighborhood — it's | own identity that can be built u Ringer, however, predicted iL The within a couple of years CollegeSs ludes tl don, the University and Texas Ai) yould lev University System Board of Regen would form a coalition to discusstj future of the area. “What’s it going to look like Ida 15 years down the line? I dor know,” Schneider said. “It looks like a type of that there won’t be one big change the face of Northgate, k [nility rel you will see it gradually." I lowever, Estes of A&M Presbw rian doesn’t share the dty's opt mism. ast and The T em Boa pend $f jroject, igreed to College lion will Includes afl-you can-eat salad and poiato bar & garlic loasl. Discrimination “My perception is that the city the University are saying, We dor care what happens in Northgate he said. Continued from page 1 people have to believe the law is good, right and just,” Cauley says. ’iffi- “It’s easy to pass laws, but it’s di cult to get people to accept them. ' Open Daily 5pm~l 1pm However, civil rights laws have been de-emphasized and eroded over the past ten years, Cauley says. These changes have hurt local mi norities, he says. Cauley says economic parity would be a big step toward ending all racial discrimination. “Most of the time we’re the last hired and the first fired,” Cauley says. “You have to be better than av erage to get a job.” Bonne Bejarano-Sandars, student development specialist at the Texas A&M Department of Multicultural Services, says minorities on campus feel a different type of discrimina tion. Subtle stereotypes that discrimi nate against minorities are prevalent on campus and disturb many mi nority students, she says. Examples of this underlying dis crimination are the broad assump tions made by some students. Beliefs that all African Americans are ath letes, or that all Asian students are math majors fall into the category of subtle discrimination, she says. Racial and ethnic jokes are an other source of discrimination aimed at minorities. Particularly troubling to minority students are assumptions they at tend A&M because of lowered ad mission standards, she says. “That type of discrimination hurts people the most because it questions their abilities,” Bejarano-Sandars says. “People say things that reflect that opinion all the time, both in and out of the classroom. demographics. Changing demographics means the composition of students attend ing universities will change. By the ~ tht “Actually, SAT scores of incoming minorities are high. We recruit and retain the top students in Texas, in cluding minority students.” Bejarano-Sandars says a push for multiculturalism at A&M is making people more aware and tolerant of racial issues. Because both students and administrators are working for racial sensitivity, A&M is gaining ground in the fight against racism and discrimination. year 2000, one-third of the United States’ population will be an ethnic minority. Currently, there are 14.6 million Hispanics and 26.5 million African Americans in the nation. By the year 2020, the number of Hispanics will increase to 47 million, and the num ber of African Americans will rise to 44 million, according to demogra phic estimates. Bejarano-Sandars says Texas’ de mographics are shiftng even more quickly than the national average. Change is slow, and it’s one per* at a time.” Cauley says more than eduai is needed to end discrimination : sees built-in inequities embeddec society’s structure. “It’s because of the system, says. “You have nobody at the top pull for you. “You don’t belong to thecoui club. You’re not one of the f so you’re left out. You can’t al good education, so you can’t good of a job.” “When people work from both ends, it’s much easier to meet in the middle,” she says. Compared to other universities, A&M has an average amount of ra cial tension, she says. The University ranks high in regard to the pro grams it is implementing to increase racial harmony, she says. A nationwide trend toward a mul ticultural focus exists on most col lege campuses. Bejarano-Sandars says this trend is a result of changing “We’re in trouble if we don’t real ize differences the changing demo graphics will cause,” she says. “If we don’t adjust the way we do things, we’re going to start feeling the ef fects both economically and moral- Jy” Education is the best weapon against discrimination and racism, she says. However, untraditional tea ching methods are necessary to reach different groups of people, she says. Individual ethnic minoritiesL been able to advance themselvesl true equality is far from reached by most, Cauley says. “I see progress for a few, bull for the masses,” Cauley says. ‘Al nority can’t just be average. Tfcl looking for the ‘Super-Black average white can get a job, bull average black or Hispanic a 1 times can’t.” Cauley suggests the “Go!| Rule” as a guideline to promoitj cial tolerance. “What we do is challenge people to examine their belief system,” she says. “Education just through knowl edge is not going to be enough. Peo ple actually have to feel things. “Do unto others as you wi have them do to you. If pel would think about that, they’df lot more tolerant, helpful and ff “We wouldn’t have some o(| problems we have now if would follow the golden rule. , YESTERDAYS Daily Drink & Lunch Specials ^-Billiards • Darts • Shuffleboard $ I | Near Luby'a / House dre.sa code kiLT- 846-2625 MEW’S SK\ JACKETS Re$- HOW $29.95 Cj ^ WEN'S & LMllES OUE PltUt INbULMtQ Req. $200 HOW $99.95 is back in town with Ski-wear for the entire family. A great selection ^ °f name brand ski apparel & ski ~ ^ ^equipment at prices you won’t MEW’S St \AD\ES STRETCH PAWTS NS LOW NS $79.95 ^HiSsEa CAT OVA THIS SW POWER PAWTS ohlt $A9.95 m o nrtaM WoYembet ^— ThutstaN to™ Sund N ' o.qo nm Y0U CANT TOUCH THESE PRICES! Attention on-campus studetov TIME IS RUNNING OUT!! If you are a December grad, or if you are Co-oping, Student Teaching, Studying Abroad for the Spring 1991 semester Your $200.00 Housing Deposit will be refunded if written notification is received in the Housing Office, 101 YMCA Building, by: 5:00 pm, Monday, December 3, 1990 All other cancellations will result in a forfeiture of the entire deposit. DON’T DELAY ByMlKL Of The 1 The [ must be I lytical i cation c William: “Coi