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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1993)
:ember2,i)i irdinol Kwus wfinf;;.- ^ Piciviie^ fnrfc Battalion Vol. 93 No. 68 (8 pages) 1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Friday, December 3,1993 FBI sting operation uncovers bribe scandal at NASA The Associated Press f Crit( SPACE CENTER, Houston — About a half-dozen NASA employees and up to 24 workers from outside the agency were implicated by a federal sting operation, a I government official said Thursday. The FBTs sting, dubbed Operation (lightning Strike, netted evidence that NASA employees and contractors took kickbacks and bribes and sold inside in formation, according to reports by two (Houston television stations and NBC News. The report cited anonymous sources. — Johnson Space Center spokesman Harold S. Stall said officials were told ■ about the investigation by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's inspector general on Wednesday. “We are cooperating fully," Stall said. Both the FBI and the U.S. attorney's of fice in Houston refused to comment on the sting. The government official told The Asso ciated Press that the investigation impli cated six or seven NASA employees, 12 to 24 non-NASA employees, and a couple of corporations. The official spoke on condi tion of anonymity. Discussions were being held with some of the targets to resolve the matter through pleas, the official said. The investigation was active until news organizations publicized the probe this week, the source told the AP. An FBI agent posing as a wealthy busi nessman peddled a fake medical device — one that supposedly would cure kid ney stones without surgery — to people within NASA, the broadcasters reported. The agent told NASA workers he wanted the space agency's endorsement and the device flown aboard the shuttle to increase its worth, KHOU reported. He then paid a contractor in the Life Sciences Projects Division and a NASA technical manager to say the machine was real even though they knew it was not, according to the report. The investigation caught at least two major aerospace companies offering bribes and kickbacks for inside informa tion on the project, KHOU said, adding that an unidentified astronaut also was implicated. The investigation's results were turned over to the U.S. attorney's office in Hous ton and the contractor and technical man ager involved have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. NASA and Johnson Space Center in particular have come under heavy scruti ny this year for cost overruns and con tract abuse. In one instance, the sprawling Houston complex was blamed for $1 bil lion in overruns for space station con tracts it oversees. “Unfortunately, NASA's dismal record ... may have opened the door for these kinds of improprieties," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House Government Operations Committee. Conyers' committee in October heard testimony from NASA Inspector General Bill Colvin that the agency is plagued with abuse, including contractor over charges and contracts that are awarded non-competitively. He added that NASA had more than 400 criminal fraud investigations already under way. Rep. Ralph Hall, D-Texas, chairman of the Science, Space and Technology Com mittee's panel on space, said he would ask for hearings on the matter when Con gress reconvenes in January. But he urged the lustice Department to make the investigation public so a pall is not unnecessarily ca st over all of NASA. 7 s Registration woes Computer shut-down causes 8,000 freshmen to wait on matriculation By Jacqueline Mason nBroi The Battalion Freshman attempting to register for spring semester classes at Texas A&M on Thursday ran into a big surprise. The Student Information Management System, Texas A&M's com puterized registration system, had a problem with its hardware drive on Wednesday night, closing the entire system down through Thurs day evening. Larry Malota, SIMS project leader, said up to 8,000 freshman trying to register for classes may have been affected by the failure. Thursday was freshman make-up day for preregistration. "This is the first time we have been down for an extended period of time," he said. He expected the system to be functioning again by Thursday evening. Texas A&M was considering allowing freshman to register throughout Thursday night until 6 am. Friday. Beginning Friday, registration will be open for all students. j Student Senate to forward food services bill to Gage By Jennifer Smith The Battalion A bill passed by the Student Senate Wednesday supporting the University's decision to con duct an independent manage ment review of the Department of Food Services will be for warded to A&M Interim Presi dent E. Dean Gage. Student Body President Brian Walker said the University will have to decide who is qualified to conduct the review. "But, I'm sure there will be some student input," Walker said. The review might be conduct ed by a private firm that will re view past and present manage ment policies, purchasing prac tices and employee relation poli cies to make recommendations for improvements. The call for a review into Food Services comes after months of speculation into the reasons be hind the reassignment of three of the department's top-ranking ad ministrators. Lloyd Smith, former Food Ser vices director, George Nedbalek, former Food Services business manger, and Col. James Moore former assistant director of Food Services, have all been reas signed to other positions within the University. But, Dr. Richard Floyd, inter im director of Food Services, said Col. James Moore was still the assistant director of Food Ser vices and had only changed of fices and would be assigned new duties despite Moore's claim he had been demoted because of his opposition to Robert Smith's for mer plans to have a private food company manage the Sbisa Un derground Food Court. Walker said the review will not look into personnel matters and will instead center on man agement matters. "From what I understand, the process of looking into personnel matters is an internal process," Walker said. Walker said the review will look into the past of Food Ser vices as well as the future. "It will be a diagnostic re view'," Walker said. Sen. Owen Ross said looking into the past dealings of Food Services will help the organiza tion. "If they're going to conduct a review, I don't see how you can avoid looking into the past," Ross said. Ross said many employees of Food Services have told him they are happier with the new man agement of Food Services. "But I think looking into the past would only be a benefit be cause the same mistakes won't be made in the future," Ross said. Walker said the results of the review will benefit students at A&M. "A management review with the intended outcome of giving more quality to the students can only be a benefit," Walker said. Radio MASH: Making A Smile Happen KORA and Texas National Guard sponsor toy drive for needy children Pam Ivey (left) and Jason Hightower (right) broadcast live for KORA near Post Oak By James Bernsen The Battalion L ocal needy children go without many of the things that other children re ceive, but this Christmas they won't go without toys. Radio MASH (Making A Smile Happen) is sponsored by KORA and collects toys to distribute to children in need for the holiday season during a 100-hour drive that began Thursday morning. Benny Springer, vice president and gener al manager of KORA/KTAM, said the pro gram is in its 10th year and has been very successful. "Our purpose is to get enough toys so that no child in the area goes without at least one toy under the tree," he said. The program is also accepting donations and will conduct a "silent auction" of several items, including two baseballs autographed by Nolan Ryan. Jason Hightower, promotions director of KORA, said that last year the program col lected 35,000 toys and $4,000 in cash.The Mall Thursday afternoon. The station is conducting a toy drive for underprivileged "Our purpose is to get enough toys so that no child in the area goes without at least one toy under the tree." - Benny Springer, vice president and general manager of KORA/KTAM cash is used to buy toys. Donations are distributed to families on lists compiled by local churches and chari ties. Various groups also volunteer to help sort toys in boxes for boys and girls of various ages. Elizabeth Sanders, a volunteer from a lo cal Star Trek fan club, said the experience is great. "We're letting kids who otherwise wouldn't have a Christmas have at least one Amy Brouming/l'HE Battalion children in the Bryan/College Station com munity that will continue through Monday. toy," she said. "It's just good to see people giving their money and their time and such." Sanders said she volunteered because it cost nothing and she "gets a lot in return." "Seeing those people getting those toys was great," she said. "That was my Christ mas." Springer said that when he sees the chil dren's smiles, he knows it's worth it. "One lady we helped two years ago was down on her luck, and her husband couldn't work," Springer said. "She came back last year and left $200 worth of toys. She told us 'It's my turn to give.'" The program is co-sponsored by the Texas National Guard, HHC 4th Battalion 112 Armored Brigade, which contributes time and equipment to display, including tents, heavy machinery and a Humvee jeep. In addition, a WWII/Korean war style jeep and ambulance were loaned by the Confed erate Air Force. The drive is being held at the corner of Harvey Road and the East Bypass, near Post Oak Mall. 560. Inside Campus •Panhellenic Council wraps-up clothing drive Page 2 Sports •Preview of Lady Aggie Invitational Page 5 Opinion •Pro/Con: Should marijuana be legalized Page 7 Mideast peace Top PLO leaders boycott meeting on negotiations The Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia — Two senior PLO officials boycotted an emer gency meeting Wednesday on stalled negotiations with Israel, underlining the growing discon tent with Yasser Arafat among the movement's highest ranks. The boycott by Mahmoud Ab bas and Yasser Abed Rabbo, two of Arafat's closest aides, helped deny the PLO chief a quorum for the meetings of the group's Exec utive Committee, Palestine Liber ation Organization sources said. Arafat had scheduled the meet ings after coming under fire for his leadership style and handling of negotiations with Israel, the sources said, speaking on condi tion of anonymity. Much of the criticism of Arafat focuses on his visits to nearly a dozen European nations in the last month seeking financial assis tance as talks with Israel were foundering, and violence in the occupied territories rose. Under the Israel-PLO accord, Israel is supposed to begin with drawing from the Gaza Strip and Jericho on Dec. 13. Morales announces plans to run for second AG term The Associated Press HOUSTON — Dan Morales, touting his efforts to remove federal courts from control of state departments, said Thursday he will run for a second four-year term as Texas attorney general. The 37-year-old Democrat, a native of San Antonio, cited resolu tion of the 20-year legal battle that kept Texas prisons under federal control as a top success of his first term. “Texans do not believe that the courts should be running our state institutions," he said. “I am proud that we have taken back control of our prisons from the federal court and returned the keys to Texas leaders. For the first time in more than two decades, the Texas prison system is no longer under federal court supervision and control." Morales, a former Bexar County prosecutor and three-term state See Morales/Page 4