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
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amp
taff
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said,
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□ 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
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