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Takes pot shots at Top Gun
Reviews by Julia Spencer
Seven Keys to
Baldoate -
Stage Center's
new play
“ page 5
Fish Camp
1991
page 2
The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 183 USPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
"Serving Texas A&M since 1893"
Thursday, August 8, 1991
Madlso
m
[Federal Reserve emphasizes instability of economic recovery
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.
economy is going through a “slow, un
even" period of growth, the Federal
Reserve said Wednesday in a bleak re
port analysts said underscored the
danger of the nation slipping back into
recession.
The Fed's downbeat assessment
came in a survey of business condi
tions that found lackluster factory de
mand, a commercial real estate market
still in the doldrums and rising layoffs
in such industries as banking and air
lines and among state and government
workers.
The “beige book," compiled from re
ports received from the Fed's 12 re
gional banks, will guide Fed policy
makers when they meet Aug. 20.
Analysts said the new report
showed that Fed officials were becom
ing more worried about the possibility
that weak growth in the spring could
falter and topple the country back into
a recession.
Analysts said the pessimistic view
from the regional banks was obviously
a factor in the Fed's decision Tuesday
to nudge a key interest rate, the federal
funds rate, down by 0.25 percentage
point to 5.5 percent. Many forecast the
rate cut would be followed either later
this month or in early September by
further rate reductions.
The Bush administration had been
stepping up pressure on the Fed in re
cent weeks to do more to cut rates to
stimulate demand and boost growth in
the nation's money supply, which ac
tually declined in July.
Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitz-
water praised the Fed's decision to cut
interest rates, the first Fed rate cut
since April 30. He said it “should be
helpful to the recovery."
A number of weak economic statis
tics in recent days have begun to raise
fears among private economists that
the feeble 0.4 percent positive eco
nomic growth in the April-June quarter
could falter and turn negative in subse
quent quarters, plunging the country
into a double-dip recession.
“We believe the recovery is on track
and we would like to see a steady
growth path out of the recession," Fitz-
water told reporters in Kennebunk-
port, Maine, where Bush was vacation
ing. "The president's always said
lower interest rates are helpful in that
regard."
The Fed's latest economic survey
painted a rather gloomy picture of the
recovery so far, saying any upturn in
activity had been spotty at best, with
some segments actually doing worse in
recent weeks.
The Fed survey found that retail
sales were declining in the New York,
Cleveland and Richmond federal re
serve districts. Other regions reported
either no gain in sales activity or only
slight increases.
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15 East 29th
Embassies
keep watch
for release
U.S. officials prepare for possible freeing
of Western hostage in light of rumors
. #
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Au
thorities in the Middle East, Eu
rope and the United States as
sembled specialists and kept
watch into the
night
Wednesday in
hopes a West
ern hostage
would be
freed.
Major West
ern embassies
in the Leb
anese capital
were on alert,
staying in their offices and close
to telephones late into the eve
ning.
Marlin Fitzwater
with diplomats
Speculation grew as the
United States said it was assem
bling medical experts to be sent
to meet a American freed hos
tage if needed. A U.S. State De
partment reception team also
was organized.
Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater
said the White House had no
new evidence a release was im
minent. He did say that Ameri
can officials have heard rumors
from several sources, including
diplomatic channels, of an im
pending release.
"We mainly just wait and see.
In preparation, we've notified
the families of six American hos
tages that we have these rumors
and so there's always a possibil
ity," Fitzwater said.
U.N. Secretary-General Javier
Perez de Cuellar said he was re
ady to meet anywhere, any time
with any envoy sent by those
holding Western hostages. He
dispatched Giandomenico Picco,
a trusted aide versed in the hos
tage issue, to Geneva but denied
the mission was related to the
captives.
Park, College
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A&M receives national prize for cost efficiency
By Tammy Bryson
The Battalion
Texas A&M continues to dis
cover new and more efficient
ways to operate, and its efforts
have been nationally recognized
for the eighth time in the last 10
years.
A&M received a $1,000 prize
from the National Association of
College and University Business
Officers (NACUBO) for its entry
in the organization's 1991 Cost
Reduction Incentive Awards
Program.
NACUBO recognized A&M
for its implementation of bar
code parking permits that saved
the University several thousand
dollars last year and will con
tinue to do so in the future.
Tom Williams, director of the
Department of Parking, Transit
and Traffic Services (PTTS), said
the bar-code system provides
better service to students, who
previously had to stand in line
up to four hours to receive park
ing permits and bus passes.
"Parking (registration) was a
real circus a few years ago," he
said. "The whole process took
quite a while, and students have
better ways to use that time."
Williams said the bar-coded
permits have saved the Univer
sity a considerable amount
money in labor costs.
"With the old system you
filled out a form and the infor
mation was entered by a data-
entry worker," he said. "The
new system saves us from hav
ing to enter the data manually."
During Summer 1990, PTTS
purchased three hand-held scan
ners that read bar codes on park
ing permits and bus passes.
The scanners automatically
register the numbers on each
pass or permit to a student's ac
count, adding the charge to the
fee statement. Students who
choose fee options during regis
tration receive a permit or pass
in the mail with their fee
statement before arriving on
campus.
This system has eliminated the
long lines for students and the
several months it used to take
PTTS to process parking permit
registration, Williams said.
"The system has worked well
because it decreases the amount
of time spent (on parking and
bus pass registration) without
adding costs," he said.
Williams said in the future
PTTS will refine the system as
technology allows.
"Right now we're on the lead
ing edge of bar-code technolo
gy," he said. "But we will con
tinue to improve the system as
technolgy changes."
A&M also received an honora
ble mention for reducing the
costs of cleaning stove burners,
grates and vent hood filters by
switching from household de
greasing products to cresylic
acid.
The change, instituted at the
University-Owned Apartments,
is saving several thousand dol
lars annually.
Fat Burger's daiquiri orders
broke state law, TABC says
By Greg Mt.Joy
The Battalion
Frozen daiquiri deliveries by
area Fat Burger restaurants are
illegal, a Texas Alcoholic Bev
erage Commission official
said.
Clyde Collins, TABC district
supervisor, said the delivery of
daiquiris made with wine vio
lates state laws pertaining to
the sale of liquor away from a
licensed location.
Moe Moati, owner and man
ager of Fat Burger, said the
restaurants ceased delivery of
the beverages three weeks
ago.
The Battalion, however, has
learned that Fat Burger deliv
ered a peach daiquiri to a Col
lege Station resident Wednes
day.
Collins said TABC agents
talked with Fat Burger man
agement Thursday, and the
situation was taken care of im
mediately.
Fat Burger management told
TABC they had not known the
deliveries were illegal, Collins
said.
He said there is no provision
for the delivery of liquor
within the law.
"Only beer can be deliv
ered," Collins said. "But you
can't do it if it has liquor in it.
You can't deliver a daiquiri or
See Permit/Page 4
Thomas faces uphill battle, expert says
By Karen Praslicka
The Battalion
U.S. Supreme Court nominee
Clarence Thomas faces an
uphill battle to get to the
tion's highest
reaches it at
all, a Texas
A&M asso
ciate professor
said Wednes
day.
Dr. Judith
Baer, an asso
ciate professor
of political sci
ence and Su
preme Court
scholar,
said President
much
court.
Clarence Thomas
Bush
consideration
gave too
to Court
nominees' ideology.
"Both Reagan and Bush put
too much importance on political
views," she said. "The Senate
has no choice but to do the same
thing."
The conflict between the Dem-
ocratic-controlled Senate and the
Republican presidency is an
other problem, Baer said.
"If I had to make a prediction,
I would say the situation is very
unstable," she said.
Baer said essentially there are
three criteria the president con
siders before deciding on a Court
nominee.
A candidate's merit, political
views and representativeness of
the population are all factors in
volved, but the president de
cides which is most important,
she said.
The Senate Judiciary Commit
tee will meet Sept. 10 to discuss
Thomas' nomination. If the com
mittee refuses to act on the nom
ination, it will die. Baer said if it
appears this will happen, the
“Every day the opposition
has to get stronger, the
harder it will be to get the
(Thomas) nomination
passed.”
Dr. Judith Baer
Supreme Court expert
nominee will usually withdraw
himself from the candidacy, but
this is not a requirement.
If the Committee votes on the
nomination, even negatively,
the issue will go before the full
Senate.
Baer said many people doubt
Thomas' qualifications for the
Court. She said, however, it is
hard to base an argument on
those terms because there are no
specific qualifications.
Baer said she doubts citizens
know what they want in a Court
nominee because most citizens
do not keep up with what goes
on in the Supreme Court.
"People spend little time
thinking about it," she said.
"Most people can't remember
Court decisions."
Thomas' nomination has been
challenged by black groups, civil
rights leaders and the elderly,
and the nomination could lose
even more support, Baer said.
"Every day the opposition has
to get stronger, the harder it will
be to get the nomination pas
sed," she said.