News
Wednesday • August 6, t
Report proposes abolishing INS
Lawmakers to consider recommendation for structural changes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Frustrat
ed by persistent troubles within the
nation’s immigration service, key
members of Congress are eyeing with
interest a recommendation to abol
ish the agency and split its functions
among other departments.
The U.S. Commission on Immi
gration Reform, in a report due
Sept. 30, will recommend terminat
ing the Immigration and Natural
ization Service, saying it suffers
from “mission overload.”
The commission, in a draft re
port obtained by The New York
Times, proposes allowing the INS’
parent, the Justice Department, to
retain responsibility for controlling
the border and removing undocu
mented immigrants.
The State Department would
take over the citizenship process
and other immigration benefits,
and the Labor Department would
regulate foreign workers.
While proposals to split the INS
into separate enforcement and ser
vice agencies have swirled for
decades, the commission’s recom
mendation is being carefully eyed
on Capitol Hill by both allies and
critics of the agency.
“The INS carries out two con
flicting functions: Preventing bad
immigration and expediting good
immigration,” Sen. Spencer Abra
ham, R-Mich., said Tuesday. “It’s my
view that there is a serious question
whether we should have a single
agency charged with catching crim
inals, keeping out illegals while at
the same time letting in relatives,
skilled workers, true refugees,”
Abraham, who chairs the Senate
immigration subcommittee,
promised a “thorough review” by
his panel of the commission’s rec
ommendations.
A spokesperson for Sen. Edward
Kennedy of Massachusetts, the top
Democrat on the immigration pan
el, said her boss also wants to study
the proposal.
“Sen. Kennedy recognizes that
there are problems to be fixed at
INS,” said spokeswoman Kathy McK-
iernan. “But he also acknowledges
the strides the agency has made.”
In the House, where INS criti
cism has been more strident, ap-
propriators included language in a
1998 spending bill that calls on the
Clinton administration to transfer
some immigration functions to oth
er agencies. The committee, which
helped double the INS budget over
four years, said it “will no longer
look favorably on requests that sim
ply add resources to the current
overloaded system.”
“Major structural change is
needed in the management of the
immigration system,” the appropri-
ators said, calling for a restructuring
plan by 1999.
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Replacement crew blasts off for Mir
BAIKONUR, Kazakstan (AP) —
A two-man Russian crew blasted
off for the Mir on Tuesday, the fu
ture of the aging station — and
perhaps Russia’s manned space
program — riding on the outcome
of their in-orbit repairs.
But Tuesday’s smooth, spectac
ular launch was upstaged by an
other breakdown — this time of
the Mir’s oxygen generators.
Even as the giant Soyuz booster
rocket streaked skyward from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome, turning
the twilit sky over Central Asia
bright orange, the current Mir
crew was using oxygen canisters
for a second straight day as they
worked to fix the breakdown.
Russian and U.S. of ficials
played down the seriousness of the
latest trouble, which they said has
been an off-and-on problem for
the past week.
“Nothing terrible has happened
at our station,” Russian Mission
Control chief Vladimir Solovyov
said at the space monitoring cen
ter outside Moscow. “The crew is
not suffocating, and the oxygen
level is normal.”
But the trouble drew unwanted
attention to the Mir’s constant
need for repairs and underscored
the difficulties the new crew faces
in trying to fix them.
Since June 25, when a cargo
supply ship bashed at least one
hole in the Mir during docking
practice, the station has been op
erating at about half-power.
If the newly launched cosmo
nauts can’t manage tough re
pairs to reconnect cables, the
Russians may have to abandon
Mir — the last jewel in their
once-mighty space program and
a valuable learning tool for guest
astronauts from the United
States and elsewhere.
ij
Photograph-. Derek Dtffl
Jerry Webb, a TCA cable construction worker, hooks up fiber optic cables in fail
v_clDI6 vJ UV of Corps dorms Tuesday. The cables will improve modem operations on camfS
Teen’s shopping scam
ends with court date
HOUSTON (AP) —An illegal shopping spree is over
for a 17-year-old high-school graduate who wrote
worthless checks to net himself a Corvette, a BMW and
a three-month stay in Ireland, authorities say.
Brandon Sample was in jail on theft charges Tues
day after an indictment was returned last week, says
prosecutor John Boone.
The 1997 Memorial High School graduate’s
scheme seemed to work at first, but like most check
kiting schemes, the shortsightedness of the plan
eventually led to his getting caught, Boone said.
According to Boone, Sample celebrated his 17th
birthday last October by opening four accounts at
two banks. He then wrote checks from one account
to another to cover expenses, Boone said.
Apparently, Sample used the lag time between the
time he wrote the check and the time it clear the bank
to spend lavishly.
In the first month, Sample cashed $12,000 be
fore the banks caught on and closed the accounts,
Boone said.
Last Dec. 4, Sample went to a Chevrolet dealer
with his father and bought a $40,000 Corvette. He
told his father he had money from stock investments.
n* * ): • * ri 'l > '
Pitt’s lawyer discounts
news value of nude pics
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nudes of Brad Pitt are not
news, his lawyer says.
John Lavely, the actor’s attorney, made that argument
in court Tuesday in the actor’s push to ban the sale of a
Playgirl magazine that carries two-
year-old nude photos of him with
then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow.
“There is no newsworthiness to
these photos,” Lavely said. “It was
simply an attempt to use them to
sell magazines.”
Superior Court Judge Robert
O’Brien left his temporary restraining
order in effect until he can study pa
pers filed by lawyers for Pitt and the
magazine and decide whether to
make the order permanent.
Pitt, who is shooting a movie in New York, was not in
court for the brief hearing, but Lavely said his client is
committed to going forward with a trial.
“He’s just trying to stand up for his right of privacy
and to prevent the commercial use of his image and like
ness,” he said.
Pitt
Weather Outlook
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
Thunderstorms
High: 92°
Low: 73°
Partly Cloudy
High: 95°
Low: 75°
Partly Cloudy
High: 94°
Low: 75°
h
By Quatr
C 4
improvisationcd comedy
Last show of the summer
We put the “fun” in
sum-fun-mer!
Friday, July 25
10 p.m. Dixie Theatre (doors open at 8)
Tickets are $6 available in advance at Rother’s
Bookstores and Marooned Records.
http://http.tamu.edu:8000/~fslip
AGGIE RING ORDERS
THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS
CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER
DEADLINE: August 7, 1997
Undergraduate Student Requirements:
1. You must be a degree seeking student and have a total of 95 credit hours reflected on the
Texas A&M University Student Information Management System. (A passed course, which is
repeated and passed, cannot count as additional credit hours.)
2. 2Q credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University, providing that
prior to January 1,1994, you were registered at Texas A&M University and successfully com
pleted a fall/spring semester or summer term (I and 11 or 10 weeks) as a full-time student in good
standing (as defined in the University catalog).
60 credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University if your first
semester at Texas A&M University was January 1994 or thereafter, or if you do not qualify under
the successful semester requirement. Should your degree be conferred with less than 60 res
ident credits, this requirement will be waived after your degree is posted on the Student
Information Management System.
3. You must have a ZQ cumulative GPR at Texas A&M University.
4. You must be in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks
for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc.
Graduate Student Requirements
If you are a August 1997 degree candidate and you do not have an Aggie ring from a prior
degree, you may place an order after you meet the following requirements:
1. Your degree is conferred and posted on the Texas A&M University Student Information
Management System; and
2. You are in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for
past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc.
If you have completed all of your degree requirements and can obtain a “Letter of Completion’’
from the Office of Graduate Studies, the original letter of completion, with the seal, may be
presented to the Ring Office in lieu of your degree being posted.
Procedure To Order A Ring:
1. If you meet all of the above requirements, you must visit the Ring Office no later than
Thursday, August 7, 1997 to complete the application for eligibility verification.
2.
If your application is approved and you wish to receive your ring on October 2, 1997, you
must return and pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your personal Visa or
Mastercard (with your name imprinted) no later than Friday, August 8, 1997.
14K-$409.00
14K - $200.00
Add $8.00 for Class of ‘96 or before.
The ring delivery date is October 2, 1997.
Stew Milne
Helen Clancy, Managing Editor
John LeBas, City Editor
April Towery, Lifestyles Editor
Kristina Buffin, Sports Editor
James Francis, Opinion Editor
Staff
, Editor in Chief
Jody Holley, Night News Edit
Tim Moog, Photo Editor
Brad Graeber, Graphics Edit!
Joey Schlueter, Radio Editor
David Friesenhahn, Web Editc
Members
City- Assistant Editors: Erica Roy & Matt Weber;
Reporters: Michelle Newman, Joey Schlueter &
Jenara Kocks; Copy Editor: Jennifer Jones
Lifestyles- Rhonda Reinhart, Keith McPhail,
Jenny Vrnak & Wesley Brown
Sports- Matt Mitchell, Jeremy Furtick &
Travis Dabney
Opinion- John Lemons, Stephen Llano, Robby Ray,
Mandy Cater, Leonard Callaway, Chris Brooks,
Dan Cone, Jack Harvey & General Franklin
Night News- Assistant Editor: Joshua Millet
Photo- Derek Demere, Robert McKay, R(
Angkriwan & Pat James
Graphics- Quatro Oakley, Chad Mallam
Ed Goodwin
Radio- Will Hodges, Missy Kemp, Amy Montgon*'
Michelle Snyder & Karina Trevino
Web- Craig Pauli
Office Staff- Stacy Labay, Christy Clowdusi
Mandy Cater
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