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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1982)
L state Battalion/Page 7 April 5, 1982 By Scott McCullar Crime victim fund low in Texas, has backlog ornado hits Paris; nine damage widespread Peck owns the Dial ill in El Paso. The discussion the group’s plans hospital building# of the purchase com said. Peck has offered for the hospital buil I03 acres surroundi building has been vi mid-1981 when the hildren's program loused there was a Mbuquerque. Marr said a menil»| taff plans to meetPaL .ospita! sometime ll ^ Thuge, nd determine what® tornado smashed i\ed equipment hei* eS) businesses, churches ll| y- communications facilities, ...aying the city’s 25,000 resi- he stat< won ems to co j n v i,-tual isolation eterm.ne the vakC, death | inJ and destruc . quipment, she said. E I lien ut ' t‘in a(iii:|0 IK , un j dend j- ed witness said it proposed contiao etwisler hk Friday with “ a dul | i writing, she sail )ar f 0 n owed by two atcamic |i to him and iiis,iwiH ns » Mai i said the oiiiliM,. | east n j ne p eo ple died and issiblv lx* ready b) 150 were injured as the A. potential problerf 11(lic storm system ravaged id, is non-fixed eqiii] 0 lp ieast Texas. e facility the Alk® an y sa ’d a 15-minute warn- sed hospital wants a 1 ? 1 efore th e tornado battered re. The Hospital phnV shortly after 4 p.m. had lo new (juarters in.l® et * save l> ves - c within two vean'B 1 saw il coming and we had a tit cannot take the ^ to warn the people,” said lil that time. Be Boots, emergency manage- Htt coordinator for the city. One possible solut-Bien it was forming, I could re the equipment sB two or three vortexes that told site aftei Pedljrjned together.” spital, she said, assuiBoots and others estimated ? goes through, lat the tornado destroyed an If he does buy thetxqrea from ‘/a mile to 3 /i mile wide angement for stormnd 4.5 miles long, e to be negotiated,Split was huge,” said Cheryl rr said it currenth mith, who was visiting her e about $7,000 a utbjther at McCuistion Regional ntain the abandon-: edical Center, about 500 yards >, tom the path. “I was up on the kcond floor of the hospital and he proposed m e U w k coming. Back over yon- has genei.ited er (to the north) nearly every- n seveial peoph ^j n was w jp ed out sequences, she san y t p ar i s Lumber Co., they y olhual she talk j m |)l 0 y ees and others) survived s the sale of the pit® eck has several 1 :l for the site, sites ids to conductastui line its best use. include a health-o rt-like complex, ipparently he’s coni ole host of functions! h related," she » exclude a nursinjj* Peck buys the said he planstocoij hish and expands ui ingas many towns ssible in the procesj by hiding in a vault.” The assistant administrator at the hospital, Tejan Cunning ham, said authorities gave about 15 minutes warning before the killing winds hit. “We had a report that there was a tornado in a neighboring town and police called us,” he said. “They also had sirens.” Hospital personnel helped move all patients and employees into interior corridors, Cun ningham said, to provide as much protection as possible. “The hospital is built on a re ctangle (design), and we had everyone in the center corridor and away from any glass. They had as much protection as possi ble from outside walls.” The Rev. Raymond Arm strong, pastor of the $2 million, 8-year-old church said he saw the tornado from his home 10 blocks away. “I heard a roar and crackling and popping, he said. “It was awesome. It was smoky white and snapping and popping. And you could see debris mov ing around in it.” Southwestern Bell resorted to a tape recording to advise cus tomers of the problems. “We’re sorry, tornado damage in Paris, Texas, has blocked your call,” the voice on tape advised. “No one knows how many are homeless or without electricity,” Sheriff Roger Peterson said. A curfew was placed on the town at 10 p.m. to prevent looting. “Our entire medical staff of 35 to 40 physicians were called in,” Cunningham said. “We’ve had great participation from off duty people. We’ve handled the (emergency) traffic real well.” The tornado destroyed the Paris Lumber Co., and a fire erupted following the storm. Volunteer firemen from neigh boring communities help battle the blaze. rallied to “It’s pretty much wholesale destruction,” Lewis said. “A lot of houses, mostly wood frame houses, in the northwest section of town were destroyed. A lot of power lines are down; trees up rooted. A car was on top of one tree that was blown over.” United Press International AUSTIN — A special fund created to help victims of violent crimes in Texas is more than $1 million short of funds and has a backlog of almost a year of cases awaiting payment. Jerry Belcher, administrator of the Crime Victims Compen sation Fund, says the additional court costs levied by the 1979 Legislature are not sufficient to meet the monthly demands of the program. A bill to increase the funding passed the Senate during the 1981 session, but died in com mittee in the House. The program was designed to provide medical expenses, payments for loss of wages or loss of support, and funeral ex penses for crime victims. “If the benefits are approved, we can pay up to $ 150 a week for loss of Wages or loss of support to dependents of deceased vic tims, plus medical coverage, funeral benefits, psychiatric counseling and attorney fees, up to a maximim of $50,000 per claim,” Belcher said. For the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 1,526 persons applied for benefits under the program, and the Industrial Accident Board granted benefits in 346 cases totaling $988,182. There had been an additional 424 ap plications filed from Sept. 1 through January, Belcher said. “Our problem is that we do not have sufficient funding and we have a waiting list on the cases,” he said. “Right now we have approximately 400 cases on the waiting list, with benefits of $1,078,524 which have been approved but haven’t been paid because of insufficient funding. “As of now we’re more than $1 million behind, and I esti mate we’ll be probably $3 mil lion behind at the end of this fiscal year.” If you’re from SAN ANTONIO Come to the meeting to discuss YOCJR PARTY! 7:00 p.m. 107 Held. Monday, April 5 lor out-of-town business, picking up a phone can costless than dropping a line. 411 calls r closin schooll ■ ited Press Iiiternalioni'l SSA — Ector tf officials have pro! a mostly minorii'f as part of a ■gation plan order# judge. _ 00I officials mat 11 Friday in resp strict Judge Fredj <ler late Thursday comprehensive |)lan in the non, who orcl|9 -etnedies to con* practices in tlifj Independenl last October, toUl lie 10-year-c Lse they wouldM • review propo by school distjidj ion scheduled a on the case forj il officials said! solution would] closing Ector ] predominant!)! ■ in south Odes'*f —tion would I minority studetl Kiict schools, ind High School aniij - h School intheic —f the city, official! “ising would all ■m prehensive to minority st those consideniij —rs. ■n said the disl =)leni was that mi! —lust now attencH to receive a 1 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiimiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ OFFICIAL NOTICE | General Studies Program Students who plan to Pre-Register for the Fall | Semester in the General Studies Program are i URGED to pick up a Pre-registration Form in 1 Room 100 of Harrington Tower from Mar. 29 | thru Apr. 16. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Recent press coverage of the Hilton Inn proposal by the Texas A&M Board of Regents included portions of statements or opinions of mine. To avoid any misunderstanding that could result from selective reporting of this issue and my feelings, I have decided to pay for the publication of this statement, which reflects my entire philosophy on the issue. March 25, 1982 After giving quite a bit of consideration to the Hilton Hotel being placed on the Texas A&M University campus and having given in- depth consideration to what I think will happen in this community over the next decade, I compliment the University in their progres sive attitude in making Texas A&M University a prominent University to compete with other Universities in this Nation. I cite, for example, the announcement of the Research Development Park. Texas A&M University does approxiamtely $84 million per year in research development, and I agree with the Board of Regents that we do need a research development park of the dimension of Stanford and Princeton Universities. I welcome the Hilton Hotel to our community if it will compete on the same basis that all hotel and restaurant owners do in this community such as paying taxes, becoming a member of the Cham ber of Commerce and contributing to all local functions. It would be of concern to all of the tax paying citizens of this community and the State if the Hilton Hotel were built on the University because no ad valorem taxes would be paid to our city and school system, yet the City has to provide municipal services free, i.e. fire, police, sewer, etc. The Hilton Hotel should secure private property and all work together towards accommodating the University's expansion pro gram. One of the needs that would make the University even greater would be to have a better transportation system, for example, a new airport facility. For this, the University and the community need to have a closer working relationship. At present we have one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation. I compliment Chairman H. R. “Bum” Bright for his aggressive approach to the University and since I have lived here all of my life and dedicated my business life to the growth and servicing of the University, I hope to someday have the privilege of talking to Chair man Bright and the Board of Regents and further discuss the need for upgrading the facilities in this community. According to the Chamber of Commerce records, we have approximately 2,000 rooms in this community and approximately 1,000 rooms on the drawing board. (Sheraton, Quality Inn, The Marriott, and the Hilton The Ramada Inn will do its part in assisting the University in this next decade of growth. We are building a 17 story high rise that will accommodate over 350 first class rooms and condominiums/con dominium offices, which was designed, constructed and supervised by licensed engineers. This expansion is a part of the overall plan and I, Joe Ferreri, today dedicate to this community a facility that everyone will be proud of. JOE A. FERRERI icinoco kw m a ^nnall part of the cost of domg business by ail. y 0 u h^ ve to include the cost of secretarial time, m eri a | S) ma j| handling and overhead. Th a f adds U P to something like $6.63* You can do a lot of business with long distance for that amount, take care of orders faster, and save time and energy as well. Plus you never have to lick stamps.