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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1993)
State & Local Page 2 The Battalion Monday, July 26,1993 Senator's memo causes controversy 'Just a typing error/ Gramm says THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS — Aides to U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm tried to create a fund ing scare over an Army hospital in San Antonio during his 1989-90 re-election campaign even though the senator had been assured the center's budget was secure. The Dallas Morning news reported in a copyright story in its Monday editions. A spokesman for Gramm confirmed the document, but told The Associated Press on Sunday that it was simply a case of an embar rassing error in which a dropped "not” reversed the meaning. The newspaper built its story on no more than a typographical error, Gramm spokesman Larry Neal said. The Morning News reported that as Gramm prepared to visit Brooke Army Medical Center near San Antonio in January 1990 for a construction update on a new hospital, his staff gave him a brief ing paper warning of a "Potential Risk." "We have tried to create a 'BAMC funding scare' while feeling comfortable that BAMC is safe from the budget knife," said the pa per, written a few days after the Pentagon had assured Gramm pri vately that the center's budget was secure. "The situation could change to our detriment." The papers were provided by three former Gramm aides, who were among nine ex-aides interviewed by The Dallas Morning News. They said they left the senator's staff for reasons ranging from disillusionment to a desire to continue their education. Gramm denies that his office sought to create a "funding scare" over the hospital. Gramm and briefing paper author Jay Velasquez say the word "not" was omitted from the Jan. 17, 1990, warning, Neal told The Morning News. "The sentence should read, 'We have not tried to create a BAMC funding scare while feeling comfortable that BAMC is safe from the budget knife,'" Velasquez said in a memo accompanying Neal's statement. Neal repeated the explanation to The Associated Press on Sunday. "There was no funding scare. In fact. Senator Gramm's entire mission was to deliver the news that funding for BAMC was se cure," Neal said. University consortium to aid Pantex research By GENEEN PIPHER The Battalion The Texas A&M University System has joined forces with the University of Texas System and Texas Tech University in a consor tium to help the Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant in Amarillo ex pand and redefine its research mission. Dr. Kenneth L. Peddicord, in terim dean of the College of Engi neering, said Pantex was the site where the weapons for the U.S. nuclear arsenal used to be assem bled. "Now Pantex is the site where they are disassembling or taking apart the nuclear warheads," he said. "The consortium will bring to gether the principal universities in Texas to utilize the collective re search capabilities," Peddicord said. "We will work on the issues that will face Pantex in the next few decades." Mike Downey, science writer for the Texas Engineering Experi ment Station Communications, said the purpose of the consor tium is to help Pantex in the tran sition from weapons assembly to other activities that will benefit so ciety and the United States. Peddicord said the world's po litical scene has dramatically changed the mission of the Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant. "With the end of the cold war, the break up of the Soviet Union and the scale down on the number of nuclear weapons that the Unit ed States has in its arsenal, Pan- tex's function has changed enor mously," he said. Peddicord said with the disas sembly of nuclear weapons, Pan tex faces many challenges, mainly changing activities within the plant and dealing with the large amount of leftover materials that made up the weapons. "Some of the materials are kind of scarce or unique," he said. "Some of the components are ra dioactive. The plutonium, for ex ample, and some of the rare met als could all be useful. There is a potential for use of all of these components and we hope to fig ure out how to make use of them/' Peddicord said some of issues involved in the taking apart of the nuclear weapons deal with envi ronmental, health and safety con cerns. "In disassembling these war heads and bombs, we can not just ignore the environment or safety," he said. "These things are not go ing to go away. There are going to be important environmental and safety questions here. With health, safety and the environ ment you can always do a better job and we are going to be looking for new ideas and more ways to do things better. "I think the eyes of the world will be on Amarillo to see if going in this direction completely differ ent from the cold war of disassem bling weapons can be done and done safely," Peddicord said. Energy Secretary decides project's fate Super collider employees wait for changes THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - One of the dark clouds of uncertainty hovering over the super collider project should be dispelled by week's end. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's self-im posed deadline to review management of the $10 billion construction project — and take ac tion that could include firing the prime con tractor — is up Friday. Since O'Leary chastised the collider's builders at a congressional hearing June 30, thousands of employees whose livelihoods are linked to the giant atom smasher have been nervously awaiting her decision. "It's a tough thing," one collider employ ee says. Options on the table are: — firing the main contractor. Universities Research Association; — strengthening DOE oversight; or — stripping construction duties from URA, leaving it only the scientific component. Few on Capitol Hill or at the super collider laboratory 35 miles south of Dallas profess to have a sense of what O'Leary's decision will be. But some predict it will be dramatic. "Because of all the hullabaloo that's been raised — on very shaky grounds — there are going to be a number of fairly drastic changes made in the management structure and the op erational structure," says Rep. Joe Barton, whose district is home to part of the SSC. "That's going to cost in all probability a number of very, very good people their ca reers," the Ennis Republican says. "I think that's very unfortunate." The review was sparked by criticism that the project's managers hadn't implemented the controls necessary to ensure no money was wasted. Members of Congress, the General Ac counting Office, the DOE inspector general and others repeatedly have faulted the pro ject's lack of a full-scale accounting system. The project's overseers also stand accused by O'Leary of a "sense of arrogance" in their dealings with outside auditors. Lubbock, Nagle Street to become walkway Mall near Quad to serve as path to library, recruiting area San Antonio begins curbside recycling project THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN ANTONIO - It's been years in the making, but San An tonio is scheduled to kick off its curbside recycling program on Monday'. "We're asking people to re duce, reuse, recycle, and re-buy," says Bonita Turner, acting coordi nator of San Antonio Recycles. Nearly 60,000 green, 18-gal lon plastic containers have been distributed, along with fliers outlining all the "do's and don'ts" of the program: what to put in the bins, what not to put in them, when to put them out at the curb and when not to put them out. The $1.5 million program has been in the planning stages for several years after individuals re quested curbside recycling and a grassroots group known as Citi zens for Curbside Recycling Pick up conducted two petition drives urging the City Council to pro vide such a program. The city's first response was to set up pilot recycling pro grams in four Northwest Side neighborhoods. Those programs, which are three years old Aug. 22, were successful enough to convince the council to expand the program. Officials say their ultimate goal is to have all of San Anto nio's 240,000 households recy cling in two more years. By LISA ELLIOTT The Battalion Motorists driving down Lub bock Street past the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets.' Quadrangle may find their path cut short next year wheruthe siceet be comes a walkway. The proposal to turn the street into a mall in the area between Spence Street and Coke Street was approved by the Texas A&M Board of Regents Friday. Gen. Wesley E. Peel, vice chan cellor for facilities planning and construction, told regents during their planning and building com mittee meeting that converting this section of the road into a mall will cut down on traffic problems on the southside. "Lots of students cross that street to get to the library and to class," he said. "They need a safe path to the library without cross ing the street." Peel said the new mall area will also be a good recruiting area for new students. In addition to converting the section of Lubbock Street and Na gle Street, Lamar Street will be converted to a handicap parking lot. The project is expected to be finished by the end of 1994 and will cost approximately $750,000, he said. Funding for the project will come from Major Repair and Re habilitation Projects and General Fee Revenue Fund. The Boaxd also approved the use of $914,000 for the improve ment of the parking lot on west campus, including a covered parking lot. Also during Thursday's com mittee meeting, Albert G. Stir ling, head of occupational and environmental training for the Texas Engineering Extension Ser vice, said that by training its own people to remove asbestos from campus buildings, the A&M Sys tem could save some of the $60,000 it spends annually on as bestos abatement. Stirling said the System could purchase restrictive licenses for abatement work at about $100 each. Proposed Moll area between Spence and Coke Streets angel KAN/rheBatt Lamar Street Lubbock Street Commons Quadrangle _i|jj|f Campus Meat association honors student with scholarship Benjamin Weinheimer, a senior agriculture major at Texas A&M, received the 1994 Edward Price Toby Memorial Scholarship from the Western States Meat As sociation. Weinheimer is one of two students to receive the award, which is presented annually. The $1,000 merit-based award will be presented at WSMA's Annual Meeting to be held in March 1994 in Monterey, Calif. Deadline for tree planting project set for July 30 Texas Forest Service offi cials, in cooperation with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M, announced last week the deadline for applications to participate in the Texas tree planting program is July 30. The funds, part of $14 mil lion allocated by Congress in a jobs creation bill, will pro- News Briefs vide grant money to buy and plant trees from small busi nesses on public land. Local governments or non-profit groups are eligible for the grant money. To qualify, proposals must promise to target public land, buy trees from small busi nesses and plant trees adapt ed to the area. For more information, call 845-2641. Architectural researchers study building viewing Architectural researchers at Texas A&M are combining architectural skills and psy chological expertise to find out exactly what makes us re call a certain building. They've used volunteer subjects to study two-dimen sional line drawings and found the volunteers remem bered those drawings located closest to a never-before-seen composite. Researchers hope to dis cover how city' residents view certain buildings and whether that perception changes across cultures. CAREER CENTER UPCOMING EVENTS July 26 - August 3 Monday, July 26: Placement Orientation 2:30 106 Blocker Tuesday, July 27: Job Search Strategies 3:30 106 Blocker Tuesday, August 3: Placement Orientation 1:00 402 Rudder FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 845-5139 CarePlus^fff Presents Roc, The Good Doc “Roc, the good Doc, is in at CarePlus” Roc, the good Doc at CarePlus Medical Center is in. In fact, he's available seven days a week without an appointment to all you Aggies who want quick, convenient, quality medical attention. A&M students even get a 10% discount at CarePlus. So next time you're ill, chill out and come see Roc, the good Doc, at CarePlus Medical Center. CarePlus^ni 2411 Texas Ave. and Southwest Pkwy • College Station, TX 77840 696-0683 The Battalion JASON LOUGHMAN, Editor in chief MARK EVANS, Managing editor DAVE THOMAS, Night News editor MACK HARRISON, Opinion editor BILLY MORAN, Photo editor STEPHANIE PATTILLO, City editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Aggielife editor KYLE BURNETT, Sports editor SUSAN OWEN, Sports editor Staff Members City desk - Jennifer Smitfi, James Bernsen, Reagan Clamon, Michele Brinkmann, Jason Cox, Lisa Elliott, J. 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