la'
State
Monday • December
Texas surpasses NewYork in population
according to national statistic abstract
WASHINGTON (AP) — The govern
ment’s bean counters are at it again, re
leasing statistics that measure the Amer
ican way of life in details great and small
— from the number of births and deaths
per year to the amount of ice cream and
broccoli consumed annually.
Each year since 1878, the federal gov
ernment has issued its weighty Statisti
cal Abstract of the United States, pulling
together an array of statistics horn
dozens of government agencies and
trade associations.
Dry-sounding in name and in fact, the
1997 edition issued a few days ago
nonetheless offers some interesting
nuggets of news to those willing to pore
through its 1,023 pages.
Take the Lone Star State.
In its 267,277 square miles of space (a
territory second only to Alaska’s 615,230
square miles), Texas packs 19.1 million
residents who drive 13.6 million regis
tered vehicles on 296,186 miles of urban
and rural highways.
ThoseTexanseatat 16,621 restaurants
and shop at 27,354 food stores, pumping
their gasoline at 11,053 service stations.
Overall, the state has 2,906 of the nation’s
42,130 shopping centers.
Texas was one of the 10 fastest growing
states between 1990 and 1996, its popu
lation rising by 12.6 percent. During that
time span, Texas nudged NewYork aside
to become the second-largest state in the
nation behind California.
As of last year, the Texas population
stood at 19.1 million — a 71 percent in
crease over the 11.2 million people living
in the state in 1970.
The state boasts one of the country’s
youngest populations, with only 10 percent
The Census Bureau projects that
the state’s population will top 28
million by 2025, second only to
California’s 41 million estimate.
STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE
UNITED STATES
of its citizens 65 and older compared with
a national average of nearly 13 percent.
Among the other Texas-related tidbits:
—Some 5.8 million Texans drive alone
to work, while another 1.1 million carpool.
The typical travel time to work in Texas is
22.2 minutes, almost exactly on par with
the national average of 22.4 minutes.
,—Texans spent nearly $22 billion on
public elementary and secondary schools
last year, an average of $5,593 per student.
The national average is $6,103 per pupil.
—The 1995 median household in
come in Texas was $32,039, slightly below
the national average of $34,076. Seven
teen percent of Texans had incomes be
low the poverty level that year, compared
with 14 percent nationally.
—The state took in $86 billion from
Washington last year, an average of $4,522
for each Texan.
—The Census Bureau projects that the
state’s population will top 28 million by
2025, second only to California’s 41 mil
lion estimate.
—There were 321,114 live births in
Texas in 1994, the most recent year for
which statistics are available. That same
year, there were 136,000 deaths.
—In 1995, 188,500Texans were joined
in matrimony, while 98,400 dissolved
their unions.
—Texans spent $21.5 billion on hospi
tal care in 1993, another $10.5 billion on
physicians’ bills, and $3.1 billion for pre
scription medicines.
Sweeny man says killing
not for life insurance mo
CLUTE (AP) — A former Sweeny funeral
home owner admits he fatally shot his com
mon-law wife more than six years ago, but de
nies allegations that he killed her to collect life
insurance money.
Jury selection begins Monday in Jay John
son’s capital murder trial. Johnson, 65, now
lives in Houston, about 50 miles northeast of
the Brazoria County community of Sweeny.
Prosecutors aren’t seeking the death
penalty, so a conviction would result in an au
tomatic sentence of life in prison.
“It didn’t happen the way they think it hap
pened,” Johnson told The Brazosport Facts. “I
came to the world with a good name and I
want to leave with a good name.”
On the morning of Sept. 30,1991, Sweeny po
lice found Edwina Prosen, 57, dead with a gap
ing wound in her chest in an apartment above
the Sweeny Funeral Home. Johnson sat nearby
Johnson told police he had a cramp in his
left leg and right hand and accidentally shot
his common-law wife in the chest with a 12-
gauge shotgun.
The next day, Ms. Prosen’s corpse was tak
en from a Houston funeral home. Later, police
stopped Johnson driving a hearse earning her
body and a copy of her life insurance policy.
Johnson has said he tookh:
i ause the couple had proniN . .
handle the other’s funeral, depe P^j
diedfirst. L, 1
I he Brazoiia ( (Miniydistric £ f .
lice says Johnson killed Ms.Pr j.1
on neai 1\ S7 no uonh ol. .I
i j Str< I
ctes, many she had wnitcn : gt
censed insurance agent. ,
Johnsons case has beendM
prosecutors appealed state 1 m
Ogden Bass’ 1993 decision t:||
certain copies of Ms. Prosen’sIcB
policies. Earlier this year, thelfl
o! ( i iminal \ppeals upheld if
that the documents wereilleg |f
by Ms. Prosen’s children.
Bass also ruled that insurant |
police discovered after findingjotep
the hearse containing Ms. Prose:*
improperh seized withoutaseasil t
In April, 1 iouston policearres
en’s son, Jeff Prosen, after he I
hostage at gunpoint mlhcYeie « ,
tuition I lospital parking lot. Ik-
leased Johnson unharmed.
Jeff Prosen was recently sen
years’ probation for the incider
an
Suspects arrested in Carrollton murder
CARROLLTON (AP) — Five men were in custody
Sunday on capital murder charges after the body of
a teen-age girl who had been missing since Oct. 25
was found in a Grand Prairie creek.
The men were arrested Saturday in the death of
Lindsay Williams, 17, of Carrollton. She had been
shot several times and her body was wrapped in
sheets and a garbage bag, Carrollton police said.
Investigators believe Williams was killed after she
refused to divulge the location of a friend who had
fled with the group’s drug money.
Charged with Williams’ death are: Shawn Tutton,
19, of Farmers Branch, being held in the Lew Ster-
rett Justice Center; two brothers, ages 15 and 16, and
a 16-year-old friend, all of Carrollton, being held at
the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center; and
John Harris, 19, of Carrollton, being held in Carroll
ton City Jail.
Tutton also was being held on $500,000 bond on
a capital murder charge in an unrelated fatal shoot
ing described by police as drug-related. Carrollton
police said they were tipped to Williams’ death
while investigating the other shooting.
Police said the suspects were part of a small
time drug ring.
Police believe that Williams was killed Oct. 25, the
day she disappeared. Earlier in the day, she had gone
with a male friend to a Carrollton apartment com
plex where the friend had planned to steal the sus
pects’ drug money, Sgt. Jack Adams said.
After the money was exchanged, the friend left
to pick up the marijuana but never returned.
School improvements incomplete, investigation cobiX
DALLAS (AP) — Pipes leak, light fix
tures dangle and classrooms are chilly
when it’s cold outside. And that is after
the Dallas Independent School Dis
trict spent $4 million on repairs.
The district and The Dallas Morning
News conducted separate investiga
tions with the same results: an energy
improvement project has resulted in
incomplete and shoddy work.
The findings have prompted Act
ing Superintendent James Hughey to
advise that the contractor, Johnson
Controls Inc., put off additional work
until the district finds answers to its
questions, The Dallas Morning News
reported Sunday in a copyright story.
Michael Flores, an Irving-based
manager for Johnson Controls, de
nied serious or widespread problems
with the company’s work.
He said the report by the school
district’s consultant, Heery Interna
tional Inc., was incomplete. And he
suggested problems Heery and the
newspaper found were not the fault
of Johnson Controls.
“Everything that was in our scope
to do we have done and we have done
very well,” Flores said.
The energy savings project, which
could cost the district up to $120 mil
lion, was intended to save taxpayers’
money in the long run.
Tlie Dallas Morning News hired
Roger Davidson, a former chief build
ing inspector for the0:1
review work on energyd
schools where JohnsonC;]
formed work.
The spot-check ir- ’
vealed a variety of slow
daily unsafe constructicl
newspaper reported. ,
At I Jolmes Academy ’
smoke detectors outside ^
were covered with plffij
tape. A school custodian .:
CControls workers covered
“There appears tobeJ
sence of coordination,tv
supervision and quality. |l''
I )ISD projects," Davidst c
report of his findings. t
4 * Juniors & Seniors!
GREA T ELECTIVES
LAND 340-500 Landscape Architecture in America (3 crs.)
W 6:30-9:30 PM, ARCH C105 Instructor: Nancy Volkman
Phone: 845-5041, email: nvolkman@archone.tamu.edu
PREREQUISITES: None
PLAN 370-500 Intro, to Health Systems Planning (3 crs.)
MWF 3-3:50 PM, PSCY 338 Instructor: Don Sweeney
Phone: 845-7888, email: dsweeney@archone.tamu.edu
PREREQUISITES: Junior classification
BROADLY EDUCATED INDIVIDUALS EXCEL IN LIFE
Call or email for more information • Register today
ATTENTION:
UNDERGRADUATE & GRADUATE STUDENTS
Students who will either complete all of the ring requirements as
described below after the Fall ‘97 semester final grades are posted, or
after commencement, may order their rings beginning approximately
January 20, 1998. Please visit the Aggie Ring Office between December
15 & 19 to complete an audit request and to receive further information.
In the event you will not be in the College Station area between January
20 and February 10 to place your order in person, please pick up a mail
order form and be sized for your ring between December 15 & 19.
IMPROVE YOUR WEALTH-
BY SHARING YOUR HEALTH
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1 first 2 weeks. * more months.
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sjlj|55 Student Counseling
m^BkAAJUUUUUUUUUuH £ tp£i
Volunteers Heeded...
INTERVIEWING NOW - All Majors Welcome! ^
For information call Susan Vavra at 845-4427x 133.
The Helpline is a program of the Student Counseling Service,
a department in the Division of Student Affairs.
The Perfect Gifts
for Your Aggie
Graduation
or Christmas.
AGGIE RING ORDERS
THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS
CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER
DEADLINE: December 11, 1997
Undergraduate Student Requirements:
1. You must be a degree seeking student and have a total of 95 undergraduate 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. 30 undergraduate 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 completed a fall/spring semester or summer term (I and II or 10
weeks) as a full-time student in good standing (as defined in the University catalog).
60 undergraduate 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 undergraduate resident credits, this requirement will be waived
after you graduate and your degree is posted on the Student Information Management System.
3. You must have a 2J0 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 December 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 completed all of your course work prior to this semester and have been cleared by the thesis clerk, you may
request a “letter of completion’’ from the Office of Graduate Studies no later than December 5th. 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:
It you meet all of the above requirements and you wish to receive your ring on February 19,1998 , you
must visit the Ring Office na later than Thursday. December 11. 1997 to complete the application for
eligibility verification.
If your application is approved, you must return and pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your
personal Discover, Visa or MasterCard (with your name imprinted) no later than Friday, December 12,
1997.
Men’s 10K-$290.00
14K - $394.00
Women’s 10K - $170.00
14K - $195.00
Add $8.00 for Class of ‘96 or before.
The ring delivery date is February 19, 1998.
improviscitional comedy
We have 2 shows for you,
pa rump a pum pum
Friday & Saturday, Dec 12 &13
9 p.m. Rudder Theatre
Tickets are $4 in advance (MSC
BoxOffice)
http://http.tamu.edu :8000/~fslip
(actual size)
14K Gold Aggie
Pendant $24 95
Cm
Watches*
Official A&MSf-
Gold-Tone $17?
Two-Tone $15?
Quartz Movement. 3yr. Warranty. Walcrte J
*CalI for Quantity Pn ;
TAGHeuer
SWISS MADE SINCE I860.
John D. Huntley 79 is n Jn_l
also an official authorized
dealer for Tag-HeUer B REITU-
and Breitling.
ORDER FORM
Ship To:_
Address:.
City:
State:
ZIP:
Signature: (Credit Card OrdmMusili'r
METHOD OF PAYMENT: (Make Checks/Money Orders payable to: John D. Hunllt).:
□ Check □ Money Order □ Visa □ MC □ Discover. Expires _—U
Card No:
Gift
Gold-Tone Watch
Two-Tone Watch
14K Gold Pendant
Price
$ 179 95
$ 159 95
$ 24 95
John D. Huntley, Inc.
313 B. South College Ave.
College Station, TX 77840
409-846-8905
Quantity*
Texas Residents add
8.25% Sales Tax
Shipping: $10
2nd I)ay UPS
TOTAL