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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 2004)
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Coupon must be presented ot time of service ^ Total Care Care- From Wiper Blades to Engine Repair FRIDAY Volleyball vs. Texas Tech 6 p.m. -and- 12 th MAN TEAM Soccer vs. Oklahoma St. 8 p.m. GO TO GAMES GETSTUFF free SUNDAY Soccer vs. Oklahoma 1:30 p.m. VtOMI flti/f Tickets: B45-Z3 1 1 anuAHTaEi WwnvmM Thursday; September 30 to Saturday; October 2 8 am = 8 pm Sunday, October 3 9 am ± 5pm jludt fautr ‘Tieyie 'pteCtC at f f 2 0 rty<Me*tuut STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION I'EXlXS A&M UNIVERSITY Election Commission CLASS OF 2008 VOTE!!!!! For your CLASS OFFICERS and SENATORS WEDNESDAY (Sept. 29) AND THURSDAY (Sept. 30) 9ani-5pm MSC, SBISA, COMMONS AND ONLINE https://vote.tamu.edu/ 8B sin Thursday, September 30, 2004 THE BATTALIfl Oil prices a ‘mixed bag 5 in Texas By Pam Easton THE ASSOCIATED PRESS n HOUSTON — Texans aren’t reliving the heyday of the oil boom as oil prices hover around $50 a barrel. In the decades since the oil boom-to-bust in the late 1970s and 1980s, Texas has worked to diversify its economy, causing it to become “less susceptible to oil price shock,” said Craig Pirrong, director of energy markets at The Global Energy Management Institute at the University of Houston. The petrochemical and airline industries will take a hit while the oil and natural gas industries experience a high, experts say. “There will definitely be some people who will be happy,” Pirrong said. “And I think for the foreseeable future the market is predicting prices well north of $40.” Houston-based Anadarko Pe troleum Corp., an independent oil and gas exploration and production company, will use money generated by the higher prices to pay down debt and return excess cash to its shareholders, said spokeswoman Teresa Wong. “You are not going to see a lot of change in drilling activities,” she said. “There is a lot of expectation by the investment community that you Texas may be about the only place outside the Middle East that this price of oil is good. will outline a program and you will stick to it. You can’t go out and change that on a whim with higher prices just as you can’t when prices drop.” For oil companies who remember the lessons of the bust, “there is always the fear that if prices go high, they will fall,” Wong said. “It’s an all-time high in terms of dollars, hut when you correct for inflation the prices we saw in the mid-1970s were closer to $100 a barrel,” Pir rong said. “We are still a long way from where we were 30 years ago.” According to Baker Hughes, which tracks the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States, there were 165 rigs exploring for oil and 1,073 for natural gas last week compared to a year ago when there were 148 rigs looking for oil and 943 for natural gas. “Everybody who doesn’t produce oil wants prices low,” said Ray Perryman, an ecoj mist based in Waco. “It is not like everybody out and starts drilling oil wells like they We still get some benefit within the state andcli ly you will have some very big winners fromit; For companies like Houston-based Cot nental Airlines, higher fuel prices make an ready difficult situation worse, said spokes® Rahsaan Johnson. “Coupled with what was already a weak enue environment, the persistent, stubbornlyli!| cost of fuel has been challenging our effortloj back to sustained profitability,” he said, a that according to an investor update fuel for 2004 are expected to be J|J billion with the anticipatedpri«i $1.13 a gallon. Petrochemical companies are taking a hit from the hi| fuel costs, said Thomas Metzg a spokesman for the Amenc Chemistry Council. “It is the stuff we use to ruji chemicals and plastics, so wearel twice as hard,” Metzger said. “Tea is definitely one of the largestsa chemical industries that wehave.| fact, it is the number one chemic producing state in the country^ now, so it is going to be impa more than any other state.” Texas produces about 20 perca of the nation’s oil supply and 30(8 cent of the nation’s natural gas, said Texasfc — Mark Baxter director of the Maguire Energy Institute road Commissioner Charles Matthews. “There is an awful lot of activity going everywhere,” he said. “The oil and gas ind try has traditionally created a lot of jobs, communities where they have oil wells belt drilled, there are a lot of dollars being gera ated in those local economies.” And those dollars will help, he said, evenifii “not the boom days of the 40s and the 50s.” “Texas may be about the only place outside ofll Middle East that this price of oil is good,’’joked Mi Baxter, director of The Maguire Energy Institute Southern Methodist University. “You still haveai of people walking around Texas with smiles on iki faces, but for Texans as a whole, it is not as n a good, happy story as it was in the past.” Inmate’s execution delay request cites problems in Houston lab u ck CORA dent Bust jnordenn out Sadd; debate, at “I agre lenuer he In a 90- more thar diversion forOsami The foi better job Sept. 11-i fightinj “But w verting ot to Iraq.” I “This p pening ov feet away Bush s\ changes h “He voi the wrong lead if yoi message c seeking a The del n. with battlegrou the d HOUSTON (AP) — Lawyers for a death row inmate asked a judge on Wednesday to postpone his pending execution because of problems at the embattled Hous ton Police Department crime lab. Edward Green III, 30, is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 5 for the fatal shooting of a 72-year-old man and a 63- year-old woman in their car during a robbery 12 years ago at a Houston intersection. The request presented to Dis trict Judge George Godwin says Green’s execution order should be lifted because of questions over the reliability of ballistics testing in his case and the recent announcement that lab evidence for thousands of criminal cases had been mislabeled and im properly stored. While Houston police have said the evidence stored in 280 large boxes is connected to cases from 1979 to 1991, Green’s at torneys say his execution should not go forward until officials have had a chance to review all of what they’ve found. The evidence could include information related to Green’s case that could save his life, said David Dow, director of the Tex as Innocence Network, who is working with Green’s attorneys. Dow said officials do not know if the boxes contain infor mation on cases later than 1991. Judge Godwin did not imme diately issue a ruling. Marie Munier, chief of the trial bureau for the Harris Coun ty district attorney’s office, said prosecutors have not seen Green’s motion. “Any claim we’ll take a look at it to see if there’s any merii it,” she said. The crime lab’s DNA seciffl has remained closed since aDt cember 2002 audit revealed analysts lacked training, m were insufficiently documema and evidence might have exposed to contaminants. Dow said Green is the death row inmate to seek a of execution based on develop ments at the troubled crime In an interview on deal! row earlier Wednesday,Gres told The Associated Presstki he was unaware of any appeal on his behalf. Dow dispute that assertion. “He knew we were in them die of ongoing litigation,”Do said. “We would never do lb without the inmate’s consent. Pie As Pres day for thi ered to wa Bush Sc “six-party sia and So But Kerry North Kor Un NEWS IN BRIEF Death penalty not sought in human smuggling case HOUSTON — A member of an alleged human smug gling gang accused in the death of 19 undocumented immigrants will not face the death penalty. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft filed notice Wednesday that he will not seek the execution of 24-year-old Fredy Giovanni Garcia Tobar, of Guate mala, The Houston Chronicle reported in its online edition Wednesday. Of the other 13 people indicted in connection with what has been called the nation’s deadliest smug gling attempt, Ashcroft is seeking the death penalty in only one case, truck driver Tyrone Williams. He is the first accused smuggler in the United to face execution. Authorities say Garcia took Williams to a where the truck driver accepted $7,500 in cashbefe at least 74 immigrants were loaded into histrailer.f lice discovered the abandoned trailer in May 2003 a truck stop near Victoria. Nineteen immigrantsd» of dehydration, hyperthermia and suffocation. Garcia’s attorney, Nemecio Lopez, has saidthaf client lacks the mental capacity to understand b proceedings, and a psychiatric examination haste ordered for Garcia. If he is ruled competent to stand trial, Garcia will tried Nov. 29 with three others. Williams’ trial issefe uled for Jan. 5. Represei College St; tlie train sp The trair tiot| miles over t an Drive, The train find out abc Miscomr caused initi not notified “Normal Co RECOGNIZED? LAST CHANCE, Is your student organization recognized? flV( 2 Pre-Recoanition Seminars Left! For groups that elect officers between April 1 - October 1 Thursday, September 30 @ 4pm Friday, October 1 @ 5pm Register online: http://studentactivities.tamu.edu If you have any questions, please call the Recognition Desk at 845-1133 \ Department of Aw* Student Activities / At Texas A&M University