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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1994)
ed theirs; ward a )mised.Hi vision sb Tilton i : fronuoi pressed; when ska Radioactive container remains missing near Corpus Christi y, which Tlu . her a let testimonf e success J The Associated Press FREER — Don’t open the container of radioac- Itive material that bounced off a truck in Duval County, health officials are warning whoever found it. Authorities had no luck locating the container on Thursday, two days after it fell from a Tucker Wire- line Services truck at the Los Lomas Ranch about i 6 miles south of Freer. "Somebody has found it and we don’t know who," said Joyce McMillan, corporate safety direc- orfor Tucker Wireline Services. The container, carrying radioactive material used for oil exploration devices, isn’t a health threat un less it’s opened, authorities said. "So far we’ve come up empty. We’re obtaining names of people working at that site as well as any one who may have been traveling in the area,” said Bob Free of the Bureau of Radiation Control in the Texas Department of Health. Free said Tucker Wireline Services, a Corpus Christi electric wireline company, reported Tuesday afternoon that the container was lost on the ranch about five miles west of Texas 1 6. The driver didn’t notice the mishap until he reached Freer, 80 miles west of Corpus Christi, the company reported. Free said his agency didn’t issue a news release on Wednesday because it believed the company had a good chance of locating the container. The company found paint marks on the road where the container fell, but the container itself was gone, Free said. “This thing was reportedly locked by a chain to the truck. The report is that the chain broke and the shield (container) fell off the truck with the chain and the lock,” he said. The spherical container has a 14-inch diameter and is painted purple, reportedly with markings warning of radioactivity. It contains americium-241. The radioactive material is commonly used to probe underground formations for oil exploration, Free said. “Someone would have to take specialized tools to open it,” he said. The company is advising whoever found the con tainer to return it unopened for an unspecified re ward. Health officials said prolonged exposure to the ra dioactive material inside the container would cause serious health problems. Earth Day Extravaganza 1994 April 22 10 am - 3 pm Population may not help Hispanics, advocates say Hie Associated Press jitor onsediw ; Bern* ;son I, Amy ; a valet J risline indsp^ , hoi# :ation T ity m re in ^ , by : |ass# urs a'd HARLINGEN — More economic and political clout won’t be auto matic for Hispanic Texans even when they grow to 40 percent of the state population by the year 2020, advocates say. "We’re heading in exactly the opposite direction,” Albert Kauff man, senior litigation attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said Thursday. “What it’s heading to is a real lack of educated leaders and pro fessionals in the year 2020,’ he said. Kauffman is concerned that al though Hispanics steadily make up a greater proportion of the popula tion, they aren’t gaining fast enough in education, especially in higher degrees. The U.S. Census Bureau pro jected Wednesday that 40 percent of Texans will be of Hispanic ori gin in three decades, up from 27 percent in 1993. Nationwide, immigration and rapid population growth are ex pected to make Hispanics the largest U.S. minority, totaling 51.2 million by 2020. That would make 15.7 percent of the population, up from 9.7 percent in 1993. Kauffman noted that Hispanics already make up 3 5 percent of Texas public school enrollment hut only 1 8 percent in four-year undergraduate college programs. EARTH DAY OME HUGE PARTY «T THE GLOBE 25C BAR DRINKS & 750 LONGNEGKSTILL 11:00 1/2 PRICE 22 az-EARIHQIIflKE REFILLS ALL NIGHT LONG NO COVER TILL lO.-OO & NO COVER 21 & UP JILL 13:00 SATURDAY WIGHT The globe goes live TWO HOURS OF THE BEST DANCE MIX HEARD ALL OVER THE BRAZOS VALLEY AND YOU CAN BE THEBE. NO COVER FOR ANYONE BEFORE 10:00 NO COVER 21 AND UP TILL 12:00 250 BAR DRINKS & 750 LONGNECKS TILL 11:00 FOR MORE INFO. CALL 76-GLOBE Rudder Fountain Come promote environmental awareness while having fun !!! OS' 2 live bands will play from noon - 1 pm to promote the FREE EARTH DAY concert April 23 3 pm - 11 pm at the grove with 7 local bands OS' co-hosted by EIC and Texas Environmental Action Commission TUDENT ERNMENT UNIVERSITY