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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1990)
Use as directed. Gxitains caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee. © 1990 SmtthKline Beecham Wednesday, December 12, 1990 The Battalion Page 5 onsumer groups wary of USD A 1 WASHINGTON (AP) — Con sumer advocates say they’re wary [about the Agriculture Department’s [willingness to implement food safety Rid environmental reforms in- duded in the 1990 farm bill. R Officials of two consumer groups -^the League of Women Voters and Public Voice for Food and Health [Policy — promised Tuesday to keep 'the spotlight on USDA and Con gress as the work begins to fund and put into practice the policy decisions iongress made in drafting the five- year farm bill. I Ellen Haas, executive director of the Public Voice, said there is “no question” that she is skeptical of US- DA’s willingness to implement new environmental and consumer poli- |des, given its record on those issues, ii Areas of concern include organic ifoods certification, water quality pro- Itection, pesticide record-keeping llid sustainable agriculture research. 1 While the farm bill is described as landmark legislation because of its Speaker Lewis hires lawyers, spokesmen AUSTIN (AP) — House Speaker | Gib Lewis, whose ties to a large law Hrm are under investigation by a Brand jury, has hired two former Irosecutors and two former aides to av.-elect Ann Richards to rep- bsent him. Political consultants Glenn Smith ad Monte Williams, who worked in Richards’ campaign, will act as De press spokesmen on the case, R^illiams said Tuesday. The four-term House speaker Iso has hired lawyers Bill Wilms and H. Allen Hill Jr., Williams said. Both Rwyers have worked for the Travis Bounty Public Integrity Unit, which is conducting the investigation. Smith was Richards’ campaign aanager during the Democratic pri- jiary. He and Williams said Lewis wants to ensure that the investigation does [not detract from his ability to lead Die Texas House when the Legis- Bature convenes next month. H Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said the focus of the Igrand jury probe is widening to in- iclude more lawmakers and lobbyists. K The inquiry started focusing on jfLewis and the San Antonio law firm of Heard Goggan Blair & Williams, |which paid about half of a delin- I quent tax bill in 1989 for a company half-owned by Lewis. ■ The grand jury also has been looking into three tropical vacations Lewis took with Heard Goggan em- bloyees. i Earle said questions have arisen Concerning Heard Goggan’s influ- _ ence on the Legislature that would I pave affected government contracts by private firms in collecting delin quent property taxes. “We probably will be calling mem bers of the Legislature and lobbyists to testify before we’re through,” he ifaid. “The general subject has to do Jvith the Legislature and its Relationship to the lobby.” I jm At least one state lawmaker, Rep. jerry Beauchamp, D-San Antonio, |Jias been subpoenaed to appear be fore the grand jury, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Tuesday. There is an “administration-wide policy to try to anesthetize consumers that the food supply is safe when in fact there are enormous gaps.” — Ellen Haas, executive director of the Public Voice for Food and Health Policy environmental provisions, Public Voice said the initiatives do not nec essarily mean substantial gains for consumers and the environment. At issue are whether adequate funding will be provided and whether fed eral agencies implement and enforce the policies effectively. “These environmental and con sumer breakthroughs are only as ef fective as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s commitment to imple ment them,” Haas said. She said there is an “.administra tion-wide policy to try to anesthetize consumers that the food supply is safe when in fact there are enor mous gaps.” USDA spokeswoman Kelly Shipp said the agency would “implement the law — that’s our job.” She said Public Voice over the last decade had not been happy with any admin istration,^ implementation of any kind of environmental provisions. “It’s fine if Public Voice wants to put the spotlight on USDA because we’re always under a tremendous amount of pressure,” Shipp said. Keith Jones, director of the office of sustainable agriculture at the Texas Department of Agriculture, said however that “we are dealing with an obviously hostile agency” when it comes to issues such as sus tainable agriculture. “There’s a general concern out there that we’re dealing with a hos tile agency and we don’t really know what that’s going to translate into,” Jones said. “It is common knowledge that USDA has been hostile to anything that would move agriculture in-~a more environmentally sound direc tion —they’ve certainly dragged their feet on almost every occasion.” TDA has certified more than 200 organic producers in Texas, who sell everything from grains and aloe vera to citrus and peaches. Texas’ certified organic producers use no synthetic herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. The state’s organic food market is worth $45 million at the retail level, Jones said. ‘Saudi Arabia After Dark’ teaches navigation Stars used as guides in desert DALLAS (AP) — “Saudi Arabia After Dark” — it sounds like Dallas’ newest exotic nightclub. But not at Richland Community College. At Richland, Saudi Arabia After Dark means an in tense, two-part course about the Saudi Arabian night sky. It is intended to prevent future American soldiers who might be assigned to Operation Desert Shield from getting lost in that country’s vast, featureless desert. The course is the only one of its kind in the United States, accoi ding to Bill Dexter, planetarium director. “Our advantage is nighttime warfare,” Dexter said. “If these guys just get some basic skills under their belt, they’ll be able to know where they are.” The class, a study of celestial navigation, is normally taught over a semester. But last Saturday (Dec. 8), Dexter crammed everything into a two-hour session for about 24 Marine recruits. A second session will be held in about a month. The students learned how to orient themselves using a dime, an aspirin and a fist and how to divide the night sky into halves. They were told that if they became lost, they should sit calmly — if possible, Dexter joked —and search the constellations for the North Star. That would then serve as their beacon. He reminded them that their tanks wouldn’t come equipped with local maps. Overhead as he spoke, the Saudi night sky appeared. The stars were brilliant and dense. The college’s plane tarium can display the sky anywhere on Earth, from any time in the present, past or future. The students, mostly nigh school seniors who plan to join the Marines after graduation, said they enjoyed the session. Some said they’d be spending a lot more time in their back yards, mapping the heavens. “I think it was really good,” said Robert Boyett, 17, a senior at Alvarado High School. “I had never seen any thing like that before.” “This was really educational,” said Rhonda Stephens, an 18-year-old senior at Arlington High School. “I didn’t know anything about the stars before.” Dexter, an astronomy teacher at Richland, said knowing how to use the sky is crucial for soldiers in the desert, where landmarks are virtually nonexistent. American troops in the Middle East use magnetic compasses, but the instruments are limited because they are almost impossible to read at night, he said. Gunnery Sgt. Jeff Kilroy, head of the Marine recruit ing office in Arlington, said he wished the course were available to troops in the field. “One of the things to being a Marine is being a sponge” and soaking up information, he said. “You never know when something like this could come in handy.” Dexter says he plans to prepare a training manual to send to soldiers in the Persian Gulf. “I think there’s a need for this,” he said. “If nec essary, I’ll go to Saudi Arabia with my sky chart.” Commission allows expansion HOUSTON (AP) — A small Houston trucking firm is the recipi ent of an unprecedented license from the Texas Railroad Commis sion that will allow it to build the state’s largest intrastate trucking company. Joel Mallory said Monday he plans to transform his 40-truck firm, known as Mallory’s Dependable De livery Service, into a mammoth com pany almost overnight. He is talking with investment bankers about raising $20 million in the next 18 months to buy 200 trucks in the next year and set up di visions for refrigerated, tank, flat bed, dry goods, oil-field and small- parcel delivery. After more than two years of hearings on the subject, the Texas Railroad Commission last week granted Mallory a certificate to pro vide trucking service statewide for a broad range of commodities. The ruling provides the first such wide-ranging authorization ever granted under the commission’s mi nority business enterprise rules and is the broadest trucking authority ever permitted by the panel. “It’s almost mind-boggling what they just received,” said Tom Burke, director of public relations for Waco-based Central Freight Lines, the state’s largest intrastate trucking line. “They may not realize what they possess. ... It’s the biggest, most sig nificant authority ever granted by the Railroad Commission.” Central Freight Lines, with 4,500 employees operating more than 2,500 trucks and 4,500 trailers, has authority to service only 1,800 of the state’s delivery points, Burke said. The commission has awarded dozens of certificates under its mi nority enterprise rule — which was adopted in 1988 to increase the “It's almost mind- boggling what they just received. They may not realize what they possess. ” — Tom Burke, Central Freight Lines number of minority trucking firms — but those have been for only lim ited areas of the state, said agency spokesman Brian Schaible. The agency has been criticized in the past for tightly restricting com petition in the state at a time when interstate trucking has been largely deregulated. ADVENTURE TRAVEL "We Neuer Cho-rge Tor Trirr>eX Services Specializing In International, Scuba, And Ski Travel Mon -Fri 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. / Sat 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 3 13 B. 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