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Wednesday, December 1,1993
The Battalion
Page 3
!linton signs
ontroversial
Irady Bill
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - As James
3rady turned in his wheelchair
:o watch. President Clinton
signed into law the most sweep-
ng handgun control bill in a
quarter century Tuesday.
'Americans are finally fed up
with violence," the president de-
lared.
Cheers and applause erupted
fin the East Room as Clinton
kigned the long-fought bill be-
Ifore an audience of law enforce
ment officials, mayors, gover-
ors, members of Congress, and
: amilies who have lost relatives
to gun violence.
The new law will require a
five-day waiting period and
background check on handgun
buyers when it takes effect in 90
days. It was named for Brady,
the White House press secretary
who was gravely wounded and
left disabled in the 1981 assassi
nation attempt against then-
President Reagan.
Reading slowly from notes as
his wife, Sarah, held a micro
phone for him, Brady called the
ceremony "the end of unchecked
madness and the commencement
of a heartfelt crusade for a safer
and saner country."
It was the first major gun bill
since 1968 when Congress
banned mail-order purchases of
rifles, shotguns, handguns and
ammunition and curbed out-of-
state buying of those firearms.
Clinton said the Brady bill fi
nally passed "because grassroots
America changed its mind and
|j demanded that this Congress not
i| leave here without doing some
thing about this. And all the rest
of us, even Jim and Sarah, did
Iwas to somehow light that spark
that swept across the people of
this country and proved once
again that democracy can work."
"America won this battle,"
the president said. "Americans
are finally fed up with violence
that cuts down another citizen
with gunfire every 20 minutes."
A major anti-crime bill is ex-
i|{)ected to be high on the agenda
1 for- Clinton and Congress next
year. IPS a politically popular is
sue, since polls show that vio-
■ lence-weary Americans say
£i*n| crime is their top fear.
Clinton said that opponents
have successfully portrayed gun
I restrictions as an impingement
on the American culture of hunt-
lesignedfaf|’ n S®j9 fishing.
“ We have taken this impor
tant part of the life of millions of
Americans and turned it into an
instrument of maintaining mad
ness," the president said.
"It is crazy," Clinton said.
"Would I let anybody change
that life in America? Not on your
life. Has that got anything to do
with the Brady bill or assault
weapons or whether the police
have to go out on the street con
fronting teen-agers who are bet
ter armed than they are? Of
course not."
He said that signing the
Brady bill was "step one in tak
ing our streets back, taking our
children back, reclaiming our
families and our future."
Critics contend the Brady bill
will have a limited effect because
criminals will simply buy their
weapons in illicit markets.
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intersec-
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laustive files
eview alw' E
Ton Review
to Princeton
tes
Texas Christmas tree industry
booming after start with A&M
The Associated Press
DALLAS — The Texas Christmas tree industry
has grown up.
Take Glen Gray, for example.
Gray and his wife, Bitsy, began planting Vir
ginia pine trees in Van Zandt County 13 years ago,
when the Christmas tree industry was getting a
push start from Texas A&M University's Agricul
tural Research and Extension Service, Their St.
Nick's Picks farm now has about 30,000 trees and a
little something for every visiting family member.
"We've got a team of horses, hayrides, an arts
and crafts tent that's got hot dogs, barbecue and
other goodies, and Santa Claus," said Gray, 63. "1
don't know what else they'd
want."
Texans haven't always
been so lucky.
The Christmas tree in
dustry in Texas began in
1972 with one tree farm in
Smith County and another
one in Orange County, and
with a team of A&M re
searchers hoping that the
tiny Virginia pine seedlings
would take root.
Twenty years later. Gov.
Ann Richards proclaimed
December as Texas-Grown
Christmas Tree month to
honor an industry that had
grown to 448 farms in 103
counties with a statewide
economic impact of $17 mil
lion.
Texas growers now pro
duce West Texas pine, cedar.
South Texas pine, Arizona
cypress, and even Virginia
pine.
Lanny Dreesen, market
ing coordinator for the Texas
Christmas Tree Growers As
sociation, said he joined A&M's extension service
as a forester in 1976 and saw the industry peak
during the 1980s.
"Soon the news got out that we could grow
trees in Texas," Dreesen said, "We had our best
increase in 1989, with peak membership at 480
members."
"It's stabilizing now with members that are
more serious about farming," he said.
The tree growers' association works with the
Texas A&M Agricultural Extension Service and the
Texas Agriculture Department to provide its mem
bership with information about advanced growing
and marketing techniques and the best pesticides
and farming equipment to buy.
The association now has 317 members which in
clude suppliers and growers and 300,000 to 400,000
Christmas trees for sale this year, Dreesen said.
The membership fee is $40 a year, and $15 to be
listed in the growers brochure published in No
vember for Christmas sales.
Dreesen said the growers in this industry are
rather unique: The more experienced growers are
willing to share with the inexperienced ones.
One pair of experienced growers in Mont
gomery County ask growers to remember the
"mom and pop" stops that gave the industry its
sweetest beginnings.
"The best thing for the mom and pop farm is to
stay small, the smaller the better. When the farms
f et so large, it gets to be like a large theme park,"
red Whiteside, 74, said. "If you could keep the
size down, the customers could enjoy themselves."
Whiteside and his wife, Catherine, owned
Whiteside's Christmas Tree Farm before leaving
the business last year. They said theirs was one of
the first farms to start planti
ng. They began operation in
1978.
Whiteside said the tree in
dustry is not a get-rich-quick
venture.
He said some people get
"dollar signs in their eyes,
and think they can put a seed
in the ground, come back at
Christmas time and cut it off
and decorate it.”
The Whitesides said they
sold the tree farm because the
work was more than they
could physically handle.
Mrs. Whiteside, 70, said
that the industry has gotten
to be very commercial. "We
were building on family tra
dition, and we had a wonder
ful time doing it,” she said.
"Some of the farms are so big
and so busy we didn't want
to be that way."
However, Dreesen said the
farms have become more
commercialized as a matter of
practicality.
"Hayrides are necessary to get the customers to
the fields and back,” he said, adding, "If they can
get the experience then it's a lot more fun, so they
get a double benefit."
Besides hayrides, many farms now offer one or
more of the following attractions: petting zoos, gift
shops, picnic and playground areas, bonfires, na
ture trails, snack bars, free drinks and cookies,
horseback riding, mule-drawn wagons, music, face
painting, craft fair, photo sittings with Santa Claus
and bed and breakfast.
Janet and Richard Johnson, owners of the Cy
press Spring Tree & Berry Farm, 36 acres in
Franklin County, also sell strawberries, blueberries
and blackberries in season, as well as Christmas
trees. The farm has a log cabin, and a team of hors
es and a wagon to carry customers to the tree
fields.
"On weekends we've got a bonfire going every
night," Mrs. Johnson said. "It's a family affair."
Angel ttenZJ'm. S.Anvuro.v
Shuttle mission to include 5 spacewalks
in attempt to repair Hubble telescope
The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.-
Feel free to put in your 2 cents
worth once spacewalking astro
nauts start trying to fix the Hub
ble Space Telescope.
That's what it costs each
American citizen each week in
taxes to operate and maintain the
billion-dollar-plus observatory,
which has bad eyesight, bad
memory and a bad case of the jit
ters.
Space shuttle Endeavour was
due to blast off before dawn
Wednesday on the multimillion-
dollar mission, considered the
most complex shuttle flight and
biggest repair job in space ever.
Bad weather threatened to de
lay the flight.
Forecasters gave only a 30 per
cent chance of favorable condi
tions for the scheduled 4:57 a.m.
EST launch.
The telescope's future lies in
eight gloved hands — four
spacewalkers who will go out in
pairs to install corrective lenses,
a new wide-field planetary cam
era, new solar panels, new gyro
scopes, new computer and more.
A record five spacewalks are
planned during the 11-day flight,
and three more are possible if
problems arise with either Hub
ble or the shuttle.
The tab for the mission is $629
million: $251 million for Hubble
parts, ground operations and re
lated activities and $378 million
for the shuttle trip.
While just about everybody
has criticized NASA for launch
ing Hubble with an improperly
ground mirror, few have com
plained about the basic premise
of studying the universe above
Earth's distorting atmosphere.
Nonetheless, some scientists
have complained that ground ob
servatories could do the job al
most as well.
David Leckrone, Hubble's se
nior project scientist, said he
doesn't think American taxpay
ers have gotten their money's
worth out of Hubble — yet.
The telescope has been in orbit
31/2 years and has 111/2 years
of work remaining.
Once Hubble's vision is re
stored and the telescope can peer
back 14 billion light-years with
clarity instead of 4 billion light-
years, Americans will be "getting
a bargain for the money invest
ed," Leckrone said.
elite editor ;
irts editor
Sports editor y
in, Jan
; Miura, Step!®*;
Hopkins II
ola,Jay
Robbins,
juezada and j
'
5 a&M Universil'
in the DivisH
Reed McDon-
d advertising'“j
Monday lhrollt
I year.
To c™ 1 ? 1 1
DECEMBER GMDS
I F you ordered a 1993 Aggieland and haven't picked it
up, stop by room 216 Reed McDonald Building between
8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Yearbooks
will not be held and refunds will not be made on books not
picked up during the academic year in which they are pub
lished. If you did not order a 1993 Aggieland, you may
purchase one for $30, plus tax, in room 015 Reed
McDonald.
I F you ordered a 1994 Aggieland and will not be on cam
pus next fall to pick it up, you can have it mailed. You
should stop by room 015 Reed McDonald between 8:30
a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and pay a $5
mailing and handling fee. Refunds will not be made on year
books not picked up during the academic year in which they
are published.
I F you ordered a 1993-94 Campus Directory and haven't
picked it up, get in room 216 Reed McDonald Building,
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you did not
order a Campus Directory, you may purchase one for $3,
plus tax, in 230 Reed McDonald.
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4353 WELLBORN RD.
WESTGATE CENTER
Next to Cargo Bay
268-4353
, Commerce
National Bank
November 29, 1993
Dear Graduate,
CONGRATULATIONS on your graduation from
Texas A&M University and best of luck as you are
now about to begin a new career! Your hard work
and dedication are the traits we value in customers.
Commerce National Bank is offering special new car
financing to all 1993 TAMU graduating Seniors.
With proof of employment and no credit problems,
100% FINANCING will be available. If a new car
is in your future, please stop by our original location
on Texas Avenue in College Station or our new
location on Briarcrest in Bryan. We are looking
forward to fulfilling your financial needs.
Gig ’Em Aggies!
Sincerely,
Randy Malazzo
Assistant Vice President
Member F.D.I.C.
2405 Texas Avenue South P.O. Box 10089 College Station, TX 77842 409/693-6930