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. Frank
Hernandez, Janet Holder, Carrie Miura, and Geneen Pipher
News desk — Lisa Borrego, Joe Holan, Lance Holmes and Denise Wick
Photographers — Mary Macmanus, Nicole Rohrman, and Stacy Ryan
Aggielife - Jacqueline Ayotte, John Bayless, Margaret Claughton and Jennifer Salce
Sports writers - Roy Clay, Matt Rush and Mark Smith
Opinion desk — Matt Dickerson, Tracey Jones, Frank Stanford and Robert Vasquez
Cartoonists — Boomer Cardinale, George Nasr, Joe Reyes, Sergio Rosas and Paul Stroud
Graphic Artist - Angel Kan
Clerks- Grant Austgen, Alishia Holtam and Lisa White
The Battalion (U5PS 045-360) is published daily, Monday through Friday durina the fall and spring semesters and
Monday through Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods), at Texas
A&M University. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77840.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University,
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