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Life Insurance and Annuities Martin Elfant, CLU 4223 Richmond, Suite 213, Houston, TX 77027 sine OFCANA Spiders .. . the first thing that springs to mind when you mention the word “web.” But, our web is a press –high speed and economical! From newspapers to quality book work, in black and white or color. Call us at 442-7836 for a quote on your next project. Em loyee Owned and Managed COMMUNICATIONS, INC. AUSTIN, TEXAS 1714 S. Congress 442-7836 Data Processing Typesetting Printing Mailing Whole Earth Provision Company ,1 Nature Discovery Gifts amaze, inform, delight Choose from our business or family gifts of lasting value, for all ages, price ranges and any occasion. Call or stop by and let us make suggestions. . 2410 San Antonio St. 4006 South Lamar Blvd. 8868 Research Blvd. k te in the state’s official population should not result in added costs to education, Texas’ largest expenditure, since public schools in Texas already enroll children of illegal aliens. State and local governments will receive federal payments to help cover the costs of providing services to newly documented residents. The report says that long-term implications cannot be measured, but that the new law will have no immediate impact on the state’s finances and economy. t/ The Reagan administration has proposed that the U.S. Customs Budget be cut considerably, removing about 2,000 personnel, $93.7 million from the agency’s drug enforcement program, and $27 million in salaries and expenses. In recent hearings, business leaders in Laredo and Brownsville told Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Mission, that the proposed cuts would hurt the maquiladora industries operating along the border because the reduction in customs inspectors would slow the movement of commercial traffic between the two countries. Critics said that because service companies doing business with maquiladoras are traditionally on the Texas side of the border, a bottleneck on the bridge could cause difficulty in shipping goods to and from Mexico. One businessperson said the Reagan administration’s emphasis on stopping the flow of drugs will take precedence over commercial traffic regulation. I/ Texas Agricultural Commissioner Jim Hightower has blasted new lending rules proposed by the Farmer’s Home Administration, calling them a “sneak attack on rural America.” Hightower said FmHA pretended to offer “nonmajor” housekeeping regulations, quietly issuing 98 pages of rules that would change the agency from a “lender of last resort” to an agency that would “dump the very producers it is required by law to serve.” The rules, which if adopted become effective in mid-April, would radically alter FmHA’s credit application and appeal process, reversing 50-year-old lending practices. They CORRECTION Peggy Rosson of the Texas Public Utility Commission says that she never had any qualms about finishing out her commissioner’s term which ends in September, as was suggested in the February 20 Observer cover story on nuclear power. “I’m staying on because I made a commitment to serve this term. If the consumers have a voice at all on the commission it is mine,” she says. also would prohibit FmHA from making loans to any farm operation producing crops determined to be in surplus. Hightower said this puts the lending agency is the positon of conducting a supply management program for the government, and is probably a violation of federal law. A group of five state attorneys general who have also objected to the changes in policy said the proposed rules could prohibit further loans to as many as 50 percent of the agency’s current borrowers, or 5,000 in Texas. The FmHA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, lends about $480 million a year in Texas for operating, farm ownership, and emergency loans to agricultural producers who are unable to obtain credit from other sources. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 17