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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 1995)
Page 2 • The Battaeion A^ORLT) ^ LOCAL Wednesday • March 22, IDj ^ eC * n 4-H conference to focus on workshops, career planning □ Members of 4-H clubs from across the nation will attend the National Collegiate 4-H Conference this weekend. By Lynn Cook The Battalion The Texas A&M Collegiate 4-H organization will host the 21st annual National Collegiate 4-H Conference Thursday through Sunday. Nicole McDonald, co-coordinator of this year’s conference, said A&M’s 4-H organization, which has about 65 members, helps 4-H clubs on the high school level. It also works with many stu dent groups by presenting workshops and provid ing role models. “There are more than 3,000 members nation wide, and we are one of the largest groups in the nation,” McDonald said. “The conference will have workshops about issues pertinent to college students.” The conference will focus on two workshops se lected by the 4-H National Action Board: Charac ter Counts, and Science Experiences and Re sources for Informal Education Settings. Career planning for after graduation and envi ronmental presentations will also be part of the week’s activities. McDonald said she expects at least 250 stu dents and advisers from around the nation and "People really like the idea of com ing to Texas." — Devon Robinson, co-coordinator Canada to attend. Co-coordinator Deron Robinson said A&M was chosen for this year’s conference site because of its reputation as a strong leader in agriculture. “For some reason, people really like the idea of coming to Texas, and specifically A&M, for this conference,” Robinson said. “We have a lot of as sets and attractions. This is one of the best engi neering and agriculture schools around.” Texas exports set national record □ Electronic equip ment, computer equip ment and chemicals brought in billions of dollars for the state. AUSTIN (AP) — Exports of Texas merchandise rose nearly 15 percent in 1994, to a record $59.97 billion, the state Com merce Department reported Tuesday. And for the first time since state figures became available in 1987, electronic equipment and components became the state’s No. 1 exporting indus try, with a dollar value of more than $11.2 billion. “Once again, Texas’ export growth rate is higher than that of the entire nation’s,” said Brenda Arnett, Commerce De partment executive director. The state’s 14.9 percent growth rate compared to 10.2 percent for the nation as a whole. Arnett said the fact that elec tronic equipment topped the list of products being shipped to oth er countries shows the diversity of the state’s economy. Industrial machinery and com puter equipment accounted for just over $11 billion in exports, while chemicals and allied indus tries, which ranked No. 3, export ed more than $10.6 billion. Mexico and Canada, the state’s two primary export mar kets, showed large percentage increases during the first year of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Commerce De partment reported. While Texas exports to Mexi co climbed 17 percent, to $23.85 billion, shipments to Canada rose 28.7 percent to $5.5 billion. Among Texas’ top 25 export markets, Thailand showed the strongest growth in 1994, with Texas shipments doubling. Other leading markets showing at least 30 percent growth last year in cluded Argentina, Venezuela, the Philippines and China. “For decades, Texas and Mex ico have en joyed a proud relationship built on strong cultural and economic ties,” Arnett said. “The Texas De partment of Commerce will continue to pro mote and develop trade between Texas, Mexico and Canada,” she said, while also seeking markets worldwide. According to the Commerce Department, transportation equipment was fourth in Texas exports, with a value of $6.6 bil lion, and scientific instruments were fifth, valued at $2.69 billion. "The Texas Department of Com merce will continue to promote and develop trade between Texas, Mexi co and Canada." — Brenda Arnett, Commerce Department executive director COUNSELINE Learning Skills Center helps bridge grade gap By Lyle Slack Student Counseling Service So, you think you’re a fairly average student, but there’s al ways that one thing separating you from the grades you deserve. Finding help for that one thing is finally easier. It re quires no preregistration or seminar fees. It only requires that you make the journey to Henderson Hall. The Learning Skills Center Lab at the Student Counseling Service contains a variety of self-paced materials designed to help students overcome their own barriers to better grades. The lab houses a multitude of books, videos, cassettes and computer programs that are ac cessible on a walk-in basis. Whether you use the lab for 20 minutes or two hours, we have topics on that one thing that’s keeping you from improv ing your academic life. So, what is the one thing standing between you and aca demic success? Would you like to learn how to manage your study time? Maybe you’d like to eliminate that helpless feeling of test anx iety. Or, maybe you would just like to learn how to study at the college level. See if any of these titles might apply to you: • “How to get the “B.S.” out of College” • “Making A’s in College” • “The “Now” Habit” • “The 10 Natural Laws of Time and Life Management” • “Power Learning” • “Study Tactics” • “The Seven Habits of High ly Effective People” • ” Speed Reading Secrets” • “Note-Taking Made Easy” • “Personal Excellence” • “Taming the Paper Tiger” • “Student Success Secrets” • “Goals and Goal Setting” • “Controlling Stress” • “Test Taking Without F ear” • “1,000 Ideas and Topics For Term Papers” • “The 15-Minute Organizer” • “The Study Game” • “Instant Recall” • “Conquering Test Anxiety” The LSC Lab allows all Texas A&M students access to these and many other topics in a no-waiting, hassle-free envi ronment. For more information, visit the Learning Skills Center Lab at the Student Counseling Ser vice, 114 Henderson Hall, or call 845-4427. Our lab hours are: Monday through Thurs day, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Handling of airlines case prompt probe into ‘selective prosecutiot □ Airline size played role in penalty differ ences for illegal Viet nam airspace tolls. WASHINGTON (AP) — When it came to the government’s en forcement of the Vietnam trade embargo, major airlines found the skies far friendlier than a small Texas charter service did, government documents show. In 1990, the Treasury De partment prosecuted to the maximum the small BaseOps International of Houston for paying $400 to Vietnam and $200 to Cuba when planes it chartered flew through the two countries’ airspace. The company president was sent to prison for six months, and the company was fined. Less than two years later, at least four major companies — Delta, United, Federal Express and Northwest — disclosed they had paid Vietnam hundreds of thousands of dollars for the same thing. This time, Washington gave the airlines written reprimands and licenses to make future pay ments legal. The vastly different treat ment, by the same Treasury De partment office, had the govern ment’s own enforcers complain ing about “selective prosecution” and “preferential treatment,” documents obtained by The As sociated Press show. An investigation was recently opened by the Treasury inspec tor general, the department’s in ternal watchdog. At least two Office of Foreign Assets Control section chiefs ob jected in writing to a decision by R. Richard Newcomb, the office’s director, to reject criminal prose cution of the big airlines and give them licenses. “Objections based on criminal penalty invoked against BaseOps for similar payments,” the office’s chief of enforcement, William Wasley, wrote in a 1992 case summary. When questioned recently by the inspector general, the agent who handled the first prosecution described the internal uproar caused by Newcomb’s decision to overrule the staff recommenda tion to prosecute the airlines. “These decisions by Newcomb caused expressions of outrage and heated debate within the of fice,” agent Steve Plitman wrote in an affidavit. Plitman, who has a separate personnel action pending against his boss, wrote that Newcomb’s decision came “despite potential accusations of ‘selective prosecu tion’ .... and the appearance of granting preferential treatment to the large airlines.” Newcomb did not return phone calls to his office seet comment. The conduct of the Office! Foreign Assets Control isbei reviewed by both a fedei grand jury in Washingtonj the inspector general after lier AP stories raised quest: about other embargo enfoi ment cases. It is common for airlim pay foreign governments as: fee, known as an overflight •; ment, when their planes through a country’s airspace If that country is underai C The* e embargo, however, such;; shoul ments are prohibited witi special permission from the fice of Foreign Assets Contro. BaseOps was indicted bj U.S. attorney and pleaded^ in August 1990 to violating Trading With the Enemy Ac A joint investigation bj Office of Foreign Assets Co: D e P a exui Le and the Customs Service eluded that the charter se: had made the small overt payments to Vietnam and( n y aI without the necessary licens year. In January 1991, Basel 30 °k then-president, Donald S.b hast was sentenced to six morctlP 3 ^. federal prison for making statements to Treasury a; locke about the Cuba payment. He and the company k total of $30,000 in fines for ing the Vietnam payment out a license. Passengers attempt first workda commute after nerve gas attac Ws and ii Sg ice C amp taff alwa 1 “I said, place Da es we “V □ Subway riders, warned to watch for suspicious packages, head to the trains that serve as their only transportation. TOKYO (AP) — Subway signs urged jittery passengers to be es pecially vigilant Wednesday dur ing the first workday commute since a terrorist nerve-gas attack in Tokyo. Police pursued a chemi cal trail they hoped would lead to the attackers. Investigators were using chemical traces to search for links between Monday’s subway attack, a mysterious poisoning last year in central Japan, and nerve-gas byproducts found near the rural commune of a shadowy religious group. There was still no known mo tive, no claim of responsibility and no arrests in one of the worst terrorist attacks in Japan. But authorities were said to have a suspect: a man eyewitne- ses said to have planted one of the deadly parcels before being overcome by its fumes. The unidentified man was hos pitalized and investigators were waiting until he recovered suffi ciently to be questioned, Japanese newspaper and television reports said. Police would not comment. The casualty toll was on the in crease. By late Tuesday, police said 4,708 people had been treat ed for nerve-gas effects including convulsions, fainting and vomit ing. About 700 people remained hospitalized, 75 of them in critical condition. The three central Tokyo sub way lines contaminated in the at tack resumed full operation Tues day after military chemical-war fare experts in masks and protec tive clothing sprayed chemicals in cars and platforms to neutralize the gas. Police said the substance was deadly sarin gas. Tuesday was a public holiday — spring equinox day — and sub way ridership was light. Wednes day morning marked the first full "Th is is a bold challenge to the nation's social stability." rush hour since the attack. Riders were resigned to having to use the train, even if they were still frightened. “The subway is scary, but we have no other means of trans portation,” 42-year-old passenger Hideyuki T&naka said Tuesday. In Tokyo, few people can get around without trains. Private cars are uncommon, and most workers are reimbursed for train commuting expenses. In the subways, white signs about one foot wide and two feet long bore bold red or black letter ing urging riders to be on the lookout for suspicious packages. ‘We hereby express our condo lences to the victims and our sym pathy to those who were injured,” read other signs at the hard-hit Tsukiji subway station. All trash cans were removed from 148 stations because::) - of another attack. The stepm security extended to TokyL port, where announcement half hour appealed to pass’ to inform police of any sus; objects or people. The subway attacks the more of a blow bet Japanese tend to feel comp: safe on their clean, well trains. People routinely slet tween stops with no fear ofi- robbed or injured. Once the initial shod sided, officials commentators pressed detei tion to find ant ish the perpetrs “This is a- challenge to tion’s social stak — Daily Yomiuri said the country’s largestnf per, the Daily Yomiuri. “Tk: sengers were innocent#' who had no means to pr : ' themselves from such C' thinkable crime.” Bookstores, meanwhile,:# 1 ed strong sales of a 1991 Bfl novel, translated into Jap: whose plot was eerily simi Monday’s attack. In the “Deadly Perfume,” terroris cuss spreading anthrax, a bacteria, in the London and - subway systems. And real-life development not lack for intrigue. News# reported trading in the sti# company that has a mono?#' gas mask manufacturing Japan was 100 times above® age on Thursday and Frida# two trading days beforfp’ nerve-gas attack. Am mi on ON-mm mimw. CONTRACT RENEWAL MARCH 21 - 22 7 - 10 p.m. in your hall renew your contract hali change room change transfer to corps student teaching Look for the bright yellow brochure! All On-Campus Residents must renew their contract or cancel their housing for the Fall 1995-Spring 1996 academic year. Make your plans now! MARCH 25-26 1995 T-Oy^. ACTIVITIES: HUGE DEALERS ROOM. ART SHOW, WRITERS WORKSHOP. GUEST PANELS, AUTOGRAPH SESSIONS, MOVIES, GAMING, MASQUERADE BALL AND COSTUME CONTEST, SCAVENGER HUNT, QUEST, MISS AGGIECON, ANIME, AD&D TOURNAMENT, GAMES WORKSHOP TOURNAMENTS, OPEN GAMING, AND LOTS, LOTS MORE... WE ARE MSC CEPHEID VARIABLE INFO: (409) 845-1515 TICKETS:RUDDER BOX OFFICE (409) 845-1234 E-/AAIL: AUSTINC@CENESIS.TAMU.EDU http://cenesis.tamu.edu/-austinc/cv.html PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES PLEASE CALL (409) 845-1515 TO INFORM US OF YOUR SPECIAL NEEDS. WE REQUEST THREE (3) WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO THE EVENT TO ENABLE US TO ASSIST YOU TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITY. The Battalion MARK SMITH, Editor in chief JAY ROBBINS, Senior managing editor HEATHER WINCH, Managing editor JODY HOLLEY, Night News editor TIFFANY MOORE, Night News editor AMANDA FOWLE, City editor STERLING HAYMAN, Opinioneditu ROB CLARK, Aggielife editor NICK GEORGANDIS, Sports editor DAVE WINDER, Sports editor STEWART MILNE, Photo editor Staff Members City desk— Stephanie Dube, Kasie Byers, Eleanor Colvin, Lynn Cook, Brad Dressier, Cheryl Hefe ' Lisa Messer, Gretchen Perrenot, Tracy Smith, Wes Swift, and Brian Underwood News desk— Kristi Baldwin, Michele Chancellor, Kristin De Luca, Kristen De Rocha, Libe Goad Randy Goins, Robin Greathouse, Derek Smith and James Vineyard Photographers— Tim Moog, Amy Browning, Robyn Calloway, Nick Rodnicki, Eddy Wylie, Bart ; Mitchell, Roger Hsieh and Rogge Heflin Aggielife— Michael Landauer, Amber Clark, Amy Collier, Keryl Cryer, Nikki Hopkins and Jay Knioum Sports writers— James Anderson, Kristina Buffin, Tom Day, Shelly Hall and Robert Rodriguez Opinion — Erin Hill, Drew Diener, Laura Frnka, Zack Hall, David Hill, Kyle Littlefield, Jenny Magee, Jim Pawlikowski, Elizabeth Preston, Gerardo Quezada, David Taylor and Amy Uptmor Cartoonists— Greg Argo, Brad Graeber, Alvaro Gutierrez and Quatro Oakley Office Assistants— Wendy Crockett, Heather Fitch, Adam Hill and Julie Thomas Graphic Artist — Ines Hilde Writing Coach— Mark Evans The Battalion (USPS 045-360) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall andsp# semesters and Monday through Thursday during the summer sessions (except University holiday’ exam periods), at Texas A&M University. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 778* POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A^ j University, College Station, TX 77843. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Publication, a unit of the Department of Journalism. Editorial offices are in# Reed McDonald Building. E-mail: BATT@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU. Newsroom phone number is^ | 3313. Fax:845-2647. Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Batumi For campus, local and national display advertising, call 845-2696. For classified advertising, ca' 1 i 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 01 5 Reed McDonald and office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m- Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678. Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a #| copy of The Battalion. 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