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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1994)
State & Local Page 2 The Battalion Monday, January 24,1994 A chip off the old block ... Senior Stephanie Williams, left, and Tanya Black Student Leadership Conference. He Williams look on as Jesse Jackson Jr. speaks spoke, last Friday, on the importance of in Rudder Auditorium for the Southwestern motivating black collegiates. Super Collider closing forces scientists to discover new jobs in private sector The Associated Press MIDLOTHIAN — By the time many of his peers at the super collider finish packing their computer disks and fami ly photographs, Dave Lambert will have started his new job. The computer scientist began work last week at the retail petroleum sys tems division of Schlumberger Tech nologies in Virginia Beach, Va. He had worked for the company for four years in Houston before taking a job with the super collider in 1990. "We're lucky. We've got a decent job to go to," his wife, Tracee Lambert, said. "There's still people out there that are stressed out looking for jobs that don't have the kind of benefits package that we got." On Monday, the super collider will undergo the first round of official lay offs. Personnel Director Doug Kreitz said that 346 people already have received 60-day notices and two more waves of layoffs are scheduled for February and March. Collider officials expect 963 workers will be left by the end of March, from an original 2,250 in October. "We actually predict more than that because the attrition rate is going up through voluntary resignations," Kreitz said. Collider employees say that working on the giant atom smasher, which Con gress officially canceled Oct. 21, has been a wild ride. Lambert, who has three children liv ing at home, said the family could not make major decisions, such as whether to build on to his Midlothian home, without wondering about his job status. "Constantly up and down. Up and down. Are we going to do this? Are we going to do that?" he said. Collider employees say that working on the giant atom smasher, which Con gress officially cancelled Oct. 21, has been a wild ride. "if 1 could go into a state of sort of suspended animation where ... govern ment decided if they want to (continue funding the super collider) or not and they say, 'All right! You can start living your life now,' I wouldn't mind." Candy and Will Robinson left jobs they both held more than 12 years at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Northern California to take positions at the collider. The couple, who have four children, believed they were making a good deci sion by moving away from nuclear test ing to getting involved with a peace time project. Robinson likens his collider job to "w'orking on the Titanic." Mrs. Robinson, a software engineer, and Robinson, an electrical engineer, say they believe their skills will make them employable. Both were prepared financially for the possibility that Congress would kill the $11 billion project. "There's a career day at school here that I was thinking of responding to, but I don't know if I'm doing ... these students a favor in telling them to go into engineering and science," Mrs. Robinson said. "I'm not sure that's what the coun try needs right now." Scientists had hoped to learn more about the nature of matter by colliding beams of subatomic particles at near light speed in a 54-mile tunnel. The science also could have provid ed volumes of spinoff technologyii banking, medical applications, commu nications and other areas, Lambert said The project's cancellation will set back high-energy physics 10 years, Robinson said. "It's very difficult to believe we'd take $2 billion and pour it down a hole" and then abandon the project, Robinson said. "But this country managed to do it in first-class style. I've never seen anything like it in my life." Mond in f groi at & P at 7: reqt 696- R Firs Kok C 7:00 an ii ed ir (Stu and Free E 302 : Call E: form Call A Fans ese < LRD Reco T( First 202 1 764T D at 7:( 6524, A prok 9:00 0907. Former Navy The Associated Press BEEVILLE— Three years ago, a hous ing shortage was the last thing this town expected. But with Chase Field Naval Air Sta tion being renovated into a mini-hub for the state prison system, officials predict a shortage of about 600 apartments or houses later in the year. "What many people took as a devas- base turned prison brings employment boom to Beeville tating blow to the community turned out to be a tremendous opportunity," said Brad Arvin, executive director of the area's redevelopment council. The 1,500 military and civilian jobs lost through the base closure are being replaced with the 1,300 to 1,350 workers who will staff the new prison facilities at Chase Field. The facility's annual operating bud get is estimated at $40 million to $45 million, officials said. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility that is taking over 280 acres of the former base is a mini ver sion of the prison system's headquarters in Huntsville, said system spokesman David Nunnelee. In addition to an adult prison, he said. Chase Field will have a warehouse distribution center, training facilities for guards and a boot camp for young of fenders. . The prime South Texas location and easily converted ex-Navy facilities were attractive qualities for expansion, Nun nelee said. "Everything we have here (in Huntsville) will be there, although on a smaller scale," Nunnelee said. "It makes sense to establish ourselves out in that part of the state. . . It's becoming one of our major areas in the state. We are making use of what already exists there." The boot camp for young, first-time offenders is set to open next month. Construction of two, 2,000-bed medi um-security facilities should be finished by May or June. Th^y will hold conn'd- ed felons who are now in county jails because of a lack df^late prison space. The rest of the programs should be in place within a year. D, A.u< w/ dren i ter-ca TEXAS A&M DANCE ARTS SOCIETY GENERAL MEETING JANUARY 24, 1994 READ RM. 268 7:00 p.m. *BRING STUDENT I.D. TO ENTER BUILDING *FOR MORE INFO. CALL DANEDRA AT 696-6804 ATTENTION: Fall 1994 Student Teachers WHAT: Orientation Meeting WHEN: Monday, February 7, 1994 TIME: 7:00 p.m. WHERE: Rudder Tower, Room 601 This meeting is MANDATORY! &. & aft Eft ^1- Gst e|: St ^t Git c£ FLOPPY Jo E T 5oftwo.>-e s t o f~ SAYS Welcome Back Aggies! If you missed it last year, you get anof/ier chance !! Give line r l ONE YEAR Taking CPSC 1 10 OR 120? We have Turbo Pascal and Turbo C++. We stock Borland and Lotus Student Software including Quattro Pro, 1*2*3, and Ami Pro. 1705 Texas Ave. - Culpepper Plaza 693-1706 CONTACT LENSES ONLY QUALITY NAME BRANDS (Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Sola/Barnes-Hind) Disposable Contact Lenses Available For Standard Clear or Tinted FLEXIBLE. W.LAB Soft Contact Lenses (Can be worn as daily or extended wear) I + FREE SPARE PAIR SAME DAY DELIVERY ON MOST LENSES. ASK ABOUT OUR “BUY MORE PAY LESS” PRICING Call 846-0377 for Appointment *Eye exam and follow up visits not included CHARLES C. SCHROEPPEL, O.D., PC. DOCTOR of OPTOMETRY 505 University Dr. East, Suite 101 College Station, TX 77840 4 Blks. East of Texas Ave. & University Dr. Intersection The Battalion JUU PHILLIPS, Editor in chief MICHAEL PLUMER, Managing editor KYLE BURNETT, Aggie!ifeeditor BELINDA BLANCARTE, Night News editor DEN A DIZDAR, Aggie!ife editor HEATHER WINCH, Night News editor SEAN FRERKING, Sports editor TONI GARRARD CLAY, Opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, Photo editor JENNIFER SMITH, City editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Special Sections editor Staff Members City desk - Lisa Elliott, Michele Brinkmann, Kim McGuire, Eloise Flint, Jan Higginbotham, Geneen Pipher, James Bernsen, Laurel Mosley, Angela Neaves, Mary Kujawa and Karen Broyles News desk - Rob Clark, Andreana Coleman, Josef Elchanan, Mark Evans and Drew Wasson Photographers - Amy Browning, Chad Cooper, Robert Dunkin, Darrin Hill, Kevin Ivy, Mary Macmanus, Jennie Mayer, Stewart Milne, Tim Moog, Gus Morgan and Amanda Sonley Aggieiife- Margaret Claughton, Jennifer Gressett, Paul Neale, Traci Travis and Claudia Zavalela Sports writers - Mark Smith, Drew Diener, Nick Georgandis and lose De Jesus Ortiz Opinion desk - Jay Robbins, Lynn Booher, Roy Clay, Erin Hill, Michael Landauer, Jenny Magee, Melissa Megliola, Frank Stanford, Jackie Stokes, Robert Vasquez and Dave Winder Cartoonists - Boomer Cardinale, Chau Huang, George Nasr, Kalvin Nguyen and Gerardo Quezada Clerks- Eleanor Colvin, Wren Eversberg, Jennifer Kerber, Tomiko Miller and Brooke Perkins The Battalion (USPS 045-360) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring seme'll' and Monday through Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods).i 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 Universil) College Station, TX 77843. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division 0 ^ Student Publications, a unit of the Department of Journalism. Editorial offices are in 013 Reed McDont |:l j Building. Newsroom phone number is 845-331 3. Fax: 845-2647. Advertising: for campus, local and national display advertising, call 845-2696. For classified advertising, 0 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald and office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday throu?' Friday. Fax: 845-5408. Subscriptions: Mail subscriptions are $20 per semester, $40 per school year and $50 per full year. TocMP by VISA or MasterCard, call 845-2611. raw st house festat groun Au of He inspe some also b child crimir Tbt inspec care, 1 progn North Pn Contir as wel Alt! ter, M< es in b