September
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the war.
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illegal trade migh
Campus
Tobin Boenig ready to serve
as speaker of student senate.
Opinion
JAY ROBBINS: Political selfishness and public ignorance
. have perverted the health care plan into a typical mess of
red tape.
Page 9
Sports
Trent Driver looks forward to
taking the field during Saturday's
game in Baton Rouge.
Page 5
FRIDAY
September 2, 1994
T
ot. ]
VoT. 101, No. 5 (10 pages)
“Serving Texas A&Msince 1893"
_
Jriefs Economic relief likely for N. Ireland
encies group to
ve endangered bird
IOUSTON (AP) — A giant forest-
(ucts company has joined forces
three federal and state agencies
escue the endangered . red-
;aded woodpecker,
lhampion International Corp.
hed an agreement Wednesday to
w the government agencies to
age 2,000 acres of the company’s
y Col. William Nt ierland in East Texas.
:ommander of thf )fficials said the agreement is the
of its kind in this area and one of
a few in the entire country.
al “observer group
ized to monitor!
Deutch and Talbot;
? could guess hoi|)ats soized to
otect turtles
igh (>st imated tha: K .,,., wroi ._.. T _
mn „ff„ o il jALVEST0N - Texas AP — Coast
,000 gallons of fu U d gnd federa , mar v in e ; f j sh eries
g carried across thi ,j a | s dave se j ze( j th e catches of two
lean border, mostlj imping vessels for violations of
rn sector. ulations meant to protect turtles
cost of the missk iped in shrimpers' nets.-
d at S 1.1 million !|A catch of 3,828 pounds of shrimp
seized by the National Marine
heries Service Thursday from a
tore "is" scheduledl3 rah ' Texas * based shrimping boat
tore is scneauiea. lhe Ga | veston Bay Entrance
nnel.
NMFS agents found that the grids
ment at Ft. Lewii|f the Turtle Excluder Devices
^tailed in the boat were at an
roper angle, making escape
icult for any trapped turtles.
The fisheries service sold the
it’s catch to a Galveston fish house
$18,160.55. The captain was
lued a citation.
ichardson takes a
ot from Bush
EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — The
United States is holding out the possi
bility of increased economic aid for
Northern Ireland to help cement the
cease-fire the Irish Republican Army is
offering after 25 years of violent resis
tance to British rule.
The Clinton administration has made
no promises and the specific outline of an
aid package remained unclear Wednesday.
But the Irish Republic is dispatching
Deputy Prime Minister Dick Spring to
Martha’s Vineyard, President Clinton’s va
cation island off Cape Cod, to discuss on
Friday the prospects for peace and for an
aid package to help keep it glued together.
“I think we’re looking for ways to cer
tainly facilitate and encourage the peace
process ... including facilitating economic
development,” White House Press Secre
tary Dee Dee Myers said.
Clinton to discuss aid package with deputy
prime minister in hopes to secure cease-fire
contingent of
next week. They
d Battalion, 9th Ib
e to be joined
nd Argentine troo|
tember.
nd!
or
pur is:
HOCKLEY, Texas (AP) — Republi-
;ah gubernatorial candidate George W.
Ish took a shot at his opponent’s
Ime policies today, then grabbed a
Hotgun and took some real shots at
qves as the state dove hunting season
^yan.
Using a borrowed 20-gauge shot-
jdn, Bush fired off seven shots at
yes during a more than hour-long
it in a field northwest of Houston. He
me.
Before picking up the weapon be-
[e sunrise, Bush took aim at incum-
|nt Gov. Ann Richards, saying she
mid apologize to voters for signing a
penal code he contends actually
luces prison time.
ental facility shut
wn for violations
ndation
ater)
696-7313
ou
-4818
rr
Specials
5179.95
$99.00
louse
$99.00
lo believe it)
$109.95
$149.95
0 3.1)
AUSTIN (AP) — A facility for the
ntally retarded will shut down
lowing investigations that turned
numerous problems, a state
icial says.
The Cresthaven Nursing Center
been cited by the Texas
partment of Human Services for
ving life-threatening conditions,
idents left unattended in dangerous
ations, and lack of staff.
In May, DHS took over operation
the facility for two weeks. In June,
facility failed to pass its annual
ite inspection.
Tony Venza, deputy
mmissioner of DHS, said
esthaven officials notified the state
they decided to cease operation,
hey threw in the towel,” he told the
stin American-Statesman.
sxas county named
ast-populated
/Vhat's Up
White House aides said that while no
commitments have been made, it was like
ly Clinton will approve an aid package.
Myers noted the United States already
contributes $20 million a year to the In
ternational Fund for Ireland for projects
on both sides of the north-south border
that divides Ireland.
And she said that while there were no
plans for a summit with the nations and
parties involved, “I certainly wouldn’t
rule it out at some point in the future.”
Clinton caused a stir in Britain when
he pledged during the 1992 presidential
campaign to send a peace envoy to Ire
land. The British government has resist
ed outside involvement in what it consid
ers an internal matter.
Clinton on Wednesday placed calls of
congratulations to Irish and British lead
ers, talking to them at the beginning and
at the end of an early-morning family bi
cycle ride along the ocean shores of
Martha’s Vineyard.
He first called Irish Prime Minister
Albert Reynolds and then British Prime
Minister John Major. He made both
calls from one of the vans of his accom
panying motorcade.
“The IRA’s decision to join the political
process can mark the beginning of a new
era that holds the promise of peace,” Clin
ton said in a statement.
From Clinton on down, administration
officials repeatedly used the word “per
manent” to describe their view that the
cease-fire offered by the IRA did nearly
everything that could be done in words to
encourage an end to the carnage that has
marked a quarter century of civil strife in
Northern Ireland.
“I urge the IRA and all who have sup
ported it to fulfill the promise of today’s
announcement to end the use and sup
port of violence,” Clinton said.
In discussing developments, the White
House gladly claimed credit for expand
ing diplomatic contacts with both coun
tries and approving temporary visas for
IRA leaders to come to the United States
for discussions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — West Texas’
ving County, home to more oil wells
n people, is the nation’s least-popu-
id county.
That’s according to the .1994 County
City Data Book, which the Census
reau unveils today.
Loving County, named after a one-
le trail boss, provides plenty of elbow
om for its 141 residents, some of
10m tend the county’s 1,022 oil wells.
Joining Loving in the nation’s least-
pulated category are King County in
irthwest Texas, with 339 inhabitants;
A&M president
names interim vice
president, provost
Texas A&M FYesident Ray Bowen named Dr. J. Charles Lee as
interim executive vice president and provost.
Lee, associate vice chancellor and executive associate dean of the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will replace Dr. A. Benton Co-
canougher, who has served in the interim position since last August.
“I am honored to have this opportunity to serve the University,”
Lee said, “and look forward to working with President Bowen and
our faculty, staff and students in moving the University ahead.”
Bowen selected Lee after receiving recommendations from a
search committee and then consulting with other faculty, staff and
administrators across campus.
A search committee will now start looking for a permanent re
placement.
“Dr. Lee brings to this position a wealth of experience that will
make him a valuable member of the University administration,”
Bowen said. “He has pledged to be an advocate for faculty members
all across the University and to represent their interests while seiz
ing in this interim position.”
Lee has served for the last 11 years in a variety of administrative
positions at Texas A&M and within the A&M System. He joined the
University in 1983 as head of the Department of Forest Science.
Cocanougher resigned as senior vice president and provost Aug. 5
and has returned to his former position as dean of the College of
Business Administration.
Measures taken to collect
money for student loans
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defaults on student loans are declining
as indebted graduates scramble to “do what’s right” and the govern
ment uses new tools to dig into their wages and tax refunds in case
they don’t.
Taxpayers are expected to spend $2 billion this year paying off
uncollected student loans, down from a peak of $3.6 billion in 1991,
Education Secretary Richard Riley said Thursday.
“After years of rising defaults, it’s going the other way,” he said.
The proportion of loans in default dropped to 15 percent in 1992
— the latest year for which figures are available — from a high of
22.4 percent two years earlier.
“What it demonstrates is that the country is not made up of a
bunch of people trying to con the federal government,” said Leo Ko-
mfeld, deputy assistant education secretary.
“The large majority of people are trying to do what’s right.”
As usual, federally backed loans for students of beauty, hair and
cosmetology schools were among the hardest to recover.
The government took it biggest gamble in Nevada, where three
gaming schools joined a long list of other institutions to drive up the
state’s default rate on student loans to 34 percent, by far the coun
try’s highest.
Louisiana (23.1 percent), Connecticut (22.3), Alaska (21.1), Flori
da (20.9) and California (20.1) were the other states where more
than one in five student loans was in default.
Blake Griggs/THE Battalion
Step off on Hullabaloo
Members of the Fighting Texas Aggie Band Thursday for this Saturday’s game against
drum corps practice their halftime routine on LSU in Baton Rouge, LA.
Texas study shows smoking regulations hard to enforce
d Kenedy County in
South Texas,
"ampus
2
Classified
4
)pinion
9
ports
5
bons
7
Veather
10
10
ATLANTA (AP) — Cigarette vending
machines are frequently located where
children, especially young adolescents,
can easily buy their products, a Texas
study found.
Of 116 vending machines surveyed,
59 machines, or 51 percent, were in ar
eas considered easily available to chil
dren, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention reported Thursday.
That’s more than double the nation
wide estimate, 22.5 percent, by the in
dustry group National Automatic Mer
chandising Association.
The head of the CDC’s Office on
Smoking and Health, Michael Eriksen,
said the study reinforces how simple it
is for children to buy cigarettes from
vending machines.
“Any kid can buy cigarettes if they
want to from vending machines as long
as it’s not broken,” Eriksen said.
Vending machines, which the in
dustry group says account for about 1
percent of cigarette sales, must be
Vending machines cause problems by making
cigarettes readily accessible to children
registered in Texas, but the owners do
not have to inform the state of their
locations.
Health officials found most of the
machines surveyed in the Arlington,
Texas, area in gas stations, motel lob
bies, restaurants, food stores and recre
ational sites.
“We hit every vending machine in 22
contiguous ZIP codes,” CDC epidemiol
ogist Jane Harmon said.
A Texas law prohibiting the sale of
tobacco products to minors imposes a
maximum fine of $500 on merchants
who sell tobacco products to children.
About 3 million teen-agers are smok
ers and they consume nearly 1 billion
packs a year. Fifty-three percent of
adult smokers were daily smokers by
age 18.
Teen-agers, particularly those ages
12-15, depend on vending machines for
cigarettes because store owners are
more likely to refuse them, health offi
cials said.
“Kids aren’t stupid. They use
vending machines when they have to to
avoid getting caught,” Eriksen said.
The Texas Department of Health
last September paired adults with
youths ages 15-17 to enter sites where
cigarette vending machines were con
sidered easily accessible to children.
The teen-agers bought cigarettes at
41 of 42 sites.
One youth was prevented from buy
ing cigarettes from a vending machine
that was electronically locked by the
owner of an Arlington store. That com
munity requires such locks on all ciga
rette vending machines.
Teen-agers bought 35 of the packs
of cigarettes, or 83 percent, in restau
rants. Fifty-nine percent, or 24 packs,
were bought within a half-mile of a
school.
None of the business owners chal
lenged the teen-agers making the pur
chases, according to the study.
The Tobacco Education and Child
Protection Act, introduced in Congress
last November, would ban cigarette
vending machines from places accessi
ble to children.
The legislation is still in subcom
mittee.
Tobacco companies spend $4.6 billion
a year in advertising and promotions,
but insist they do not target children.
They support campaigns to discour
age'children from smoking, most no
tably spending hundreds of thousands
of dollars to print placards warning
teen-agers that buying cigarettes is il
legal.