The Odessa American from Odessa, Texas • 9

Jhurscf-y, February 4, 1993 ODESSA AMERICAN npnnntio nil i hit J. 3 Deaths 2 Stocks 4,5 Weather 6 3 8s rt Kit lis i Liili utlu fit ill sro fo phone any I i -4 AUSTIN (AP) A state appeals court Wednesday upheld most of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. rate settlement that was challenged by the state's advocate for utility customers and more than 100 Texas cities. The 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin said the Public Utility Commission acted incorrectly on a portion of the settlement involving federal income taxes, and directed that the case be sent back to the agency to fix the matter. Clarence Johnson, director of regulatory analysis for the Office of Public Utility Counsel, said he expected to ask the court lo reconsider its decision on other issues in the case.

The 1990 settlement -approved by the PUC provided in part for rate reductions of $73 million annually, the court said. Cities that appealed had argued in the PUC case for about $738 million in rate reductions, and the public counsel for about $595 million. Southwestern Bell said overall benefits to customers would be $1.2 billion over' four years, including telephone network improvements and rate cuts. The telephone company reached the agreement with parties including the PUC general counsel, large long-distance companies and a separate group of cities and chambers of commerce. The package included a four-year cap on basic local rates; an immediate $87.5 million customer credit; reductions in some customer charges, such as residence service connection; a cut in access charges that long-distance companies pay, which Southwestern Bell said would mean lower long-distance rates; and service upgrades.

The agreement also allowed Southwest-em Bell to keep a larger share of its earnings on investment. la Erta show digs Looking ahead a little too far 1 he world is stuck on fast forward. I- i up new clues to old mystery By Dean Stephens The American After almost five years, a brutal Ector County homicide remains open, but investigators are now finally finding themselves with information to go on thanks to a national television show, according to the Ector County Sheriff Office. In late February 1988, a former Odessa man was found dead in the 7500 block of Andrews Highway. He had been shot twice in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun and set on fire with a heap of trash in a vacant lot.

James Neal Jennings, 59, who owned Western RV Center, 621 E. 2nd when he lived in Odessa, was thought to have recently moved to Abilene at the time of his death. For nearly five years, Jennings' killer has remained at large. Sheriffs office investigators were stumped and were getting no new information, Sheriffs Inspector Mark Donaldson said. On Jan.

20, that situation changed. NBC aired an "Unsolved Mysteries" program shot in Odessa last October concerning the case. Since then, Donaldson said his office has received five Federal Express packages containing close to 200 pages of computer printouts recording calls the show's production company has fielded. In all, Donaldson estimated receiving 425 calls concerning the case. "Not all of them are good leads," he said.

"Probably one-third are ones with a lot of good information that can Please see MYSTERY3B MLK committee asks for funds for monument By Johanna Bennett The American Two years after attempts to rename an Odessa street in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. failed, the committee bearing the name of the slain civil rights leader is seeking private donations to pay for a public monument in his honor. The Martin Luther King Jr. Committee hopes to raise $8,500 in the next month to pay for the completion of a pair of busts of King. The busts one of which will be placed at the Martin Luther King Jr.

Center on Second Street and the other slated as a gift to the King family were commissioned from a local artist, Tom Griffard, last August. They are expected to be completed by March according to Richard Abalos, committee chairman. "The way I look at it is if 8,500 people each donate $1, that's $8,500," he said. Although a bank account has been established for the donation fund, no official fund-raising activities have been scheduled. Committee members will meet Friday to discuss, organize and finalize efforts, Abalos added.

The completion of the busts will mark the end of a two-year drive by local minority leaders to establish some sort of public recognition for King's efforts. After the street renaming initiative failed, the city created the Martin Luther King Committee to advise officials as to how best recognize King's memory. The committee won council approval for measures using private donations to commission a public statue and rededicating the Martin Luther King Center on Second Street. Abalos said the committee has not abandoned its effort to rename a city street after King and intends lo pursue the matter at a later date. But for the time being, the committee's immediate attentions were focused on the completion of the busts, he said.

BAnd the media can take a big share of the blame. Of course, the media gets blamed for everything. When in doubt, find fault with the messenger. Happens all the time in politics. During the presidential campaign, supporters of George Bush spent a good deal of the time bad-mouthing the media, as if their man wouldn't have had any problems without the reports of sinking ratings in the opinion polls, which were conveyed endlessly by radio, television, newspaper, magazine and skywriting.

Now that Bill Clinton has ascended to the highest office in the land (thanks to the blasted liberal media), his boosters are blaming the 42nd president's rocky start on you guessed it, the media. Sure, there is bias in both of the basic philosophical directions, liberal and conservative by those who report and analyze the news of the day. But that's not the point. The real problem with media hounds is thaf they are always thinking too far down the road. This helps contribute to the notion that today's news is stale.

Readers and listeners have gotten used to being fed scenarios that might happen weeks or months into the future. This instant gratification syndrome mirrors the business world. The world is full of people on the fast track, in a hurry to get to another goal. They don't even stop long enough to realize that the final goal they will reach (and most people do at some point) is becoming personally obsolete. No matter how fast and how far race horses run, they will eventually be put out to pasture if they survive.

So the media has fostered this today-is-history attitude. Remember the Persian Gulf War? Americans paused only briefly after their patriotic orgy and said, "Well, we won. What's next?" What came next was general disapproval of the way a victorious president was handling things on the home front. A parallel can be found in the result of Super Bowl XXVII. Even as the victory celebrations continue, most Dallas Cowboys fans have an eye toward the future.

That attitude, in part, can be laid directly at the feet of media members because they started asking about the possibility of a repeat or even a Dallas dynasty before coach Jimmy Johnson's hair had even dried from the now trite ice-and-water victory dousing. The same mindset can be found in the barking dogs of the media who cover the Capitol scene. The first two weeks of President Bill Clinton have been stormy. The media types are gnawing away at every scrap of news (which is their right and duty) and reminding everyone that this guy promised change. As a result, those ever-present opinion polls show Clinton dropping like a rock.

They've given him two weeks and he hasn't produced. Where's all that good stuff that he promised? And, by the way, Where's that Minute Rice they ordered 30 seconds ago? Maybe Americans have gotten into the fast lane and can't get out. They're like a dog chasing its own tail and wondering why the thing can't ever be reached. But folks here in West Texas can laugh at this runaway attitude because they have a different perspective. Life is somehow slower here.

One example: For years different officials have been talking about comprehensive plans to synchronize traffic signals. Odcssans smile and say, "Yeah, right." If it happens someday, it'll be a marvelous surprise. But they ain't holding their breath. Great expectations are fine, but they must be tempered with the reality of the moment. In fact, not enough attention is paid to individual moments.

Life is like a mystery novel with one big difference you can't flip over to the final few pages and see how it comes out. The Odessa American: Jake Schoellkopf Bystrinsk Oil's chief engineer Andrey Atepaev, center, and Manager Anatoly Nuriev, right, watch as Highland Company employee Joe Ornelas demonstrates a progressive cavity pump to them and other Russians touring the plant Wednesday. Russian oil officials visit supplier By Josh Margolin The American Officials of one of Russia's largest oil and gas firms visited Odessa's Highland Company Wednesday to tour the facility where some of the oil field equipment they use is manufactured. The five executives represent Bystrinsk Oil in Surgut, Siberia, a subsidiary of Russian oil giant Surgutneftegas. The firm purchases much of its oil field supplies from Highland, which began its dealings in the former Soviet Union about two years ago.

"It (Russia) is a great opportunity for all U.S. service com Highland about 1 12 years ago and now is contemplating a joint venture with the American company to open an equipment service center in Siberia. Should that proposal go through, the center would be staffed by Russians and managed by Highland employees. The afternoon tour took the Russian producers around High: land's 45-cmployee Rotaflex plant on South Grandview, where they watched equipment demonstrations and saw a normal day in the life of the manufacturing facility. "It is very impressive," Bystrinsk Manager Anatoly Nuriev Please see RUSSIANS2B panies," said Highland Sales Vice President Warren Bradshaw, who extended the tour invitation about four months ago.

Bradshaw compared Surgutneftegas which means Surgut oil and gas to major integrated American oil companies like British Petroleum or Mobil. In fact, the breadth of the Russian producer, said Bradshaw, was one of the things that first struck him. "I was a little impressed with the size of the oil company," Bradshaw said. "And with the great distances that they have to travel in Russia" from market to market. Surgutneftegas began using Counties seek funding for literacy programs test.

The library will provide $10,000 in matching funding through in-kind services like a volunteer program coordinator-director, volunteer aides, classroom space and utilities, Tschauner said. The program, since its inception, has served 116 people: 36 in reading and math, 25 with GEDs and 55 in English as a second language classes, Tschauner said. Andrews County Library also is seeking federal funding to continue its literacy program. The library has been federally funded each year, Tschauner said. The Andrews library is asking the DOE for $35,000 to provide GED test preparation and litency, ESL and citizenship Please see LITERACY3B Tschauner said the library's program has been funded since its creation, but the library did not receive any federal money in fiscal year 1991-92.

The application recently submitted to the federal agency will be for 1993-94 funding. "Average attendance in 1985 was 15 students," he said. "But attendance now consistently averages 25 to 29 students weekly. For several years, instruction in the program was on a one-to-one basis, but has now evolved into small groups with guidance and assistance from teachers and tutors." In its application, the library is proposing to provide intense onc-on-onc tutoring of students in htcracy classes and preparing them for the general education development By Mike Wheeler The American MIDLAND The regional planning commission Wednesday approved plans by two West Texas counties to get federal funding for literacy programs. Ward County Library is seeking $10,000 from the Department of Education to hire two teachers and purchase supplies and books for its literacy program established in 1985, said Jerry Tschauner, planning director for the Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission.

The Board of Directors met Wednesday at the agency's offices at Midland International Airport..