Page 6/The Battalion/Wednesday, March 9, 1983
Watt raps suit
on Matagorda
United Press International
DALLAS — Interior Secre
tary James Watt Monday
charged the Sierra Club with
suing the federal government,
over the transfer of Matagorda
Island to state control, merely
to boost its fund raising efforts.
The Sierra Club and the De
fenders of Wildlife filed a law
suit Dec. 23 to block an agree
ment transferring management
of part of the 35-mile-long is
land from the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to the Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department.
“They sued us for fundrais
ing purposes,” Watt said at a
news conference at Union Sta
tion. “We get these lawsuits so
they can say, ‘Jim Watt is trying
to destroy Matagorda. Stop
him.’”
Matagorda Island is one of
the last undeveloped barrier is
lands on the Gulf Coast of Texas
and serves as a refuge for en
dangered species like the who
oping crane, peregrine falcon
and loggerhead sea turtle.
Texas representative of the
Sierra Club, Brandt Mannchen,
said fund raising was not the
primary purpose of Filing the
suit, though the club may use the
controversy to raise funds.
“We sued simply because we
felt that the action was in viola
tion of federal laws,” Mannchen
said. So far the club has raised
only $1,000 for the Matagorda
suit.
He also said the club is con
cerned that the transfer could
result in more recreational de
velopment and set a precedent
that could weaken the federal
wildlife refuge system else
where.
Public worker
union to rally
United Press International
AUSTIN — Upset over the
prospect of a pay freeze, a public
employees union Tuesday cal
led for a rally of state workers at
the Texas Capitol on April 21.
Dwight Lusk, president of
the Texas State Employees Un
ion, said a wage freeze imposed
on the roughly 170,000 state
workers would be “penny wise
and dollar foolish.”
“This proposal will not only
accelerate the rate of state em
ployee turnover, but also will de
crease productivity, lower
morale and deteriorate vital
public services,” he said.
Lusk said delegations from
Rusk, Lufkin, Dallas, Fort
Worth, Lubbock, Houston, Can
ton, San Angelo, Corpus Christi,
San Antonio, Waco and the Rio
Grande Valley already have
signed up for the trip to Austin.
“We hope that by meeting
face to face with state em
ployees, legislators will under
stand that there’s no fat in our
salaries to be cut,” he said. “Most
state employees are barely earn
ing enough to get by.”
The Texas Public Employees
Association has said it wants pay
hikes during the next two years
totaling about 24 percent. The
Legislative Budget Board has
recommended increases of only
12 percent for the biennium.
Association director Gary
Hughes said the LBB recom
mendation must be considered
as the bottom line for state work-
“State workers have a place of
importance on the Legislature’s
priority list,” he said. “And their
concerns, mostly, even in lean
years, are fairly considered.”
Employees decry
care of battleship
United Press International
AUSTIN — The Battleship
Texas Commission wasted
money on a ski boat and a Ger
man Shepherd puppy instead of
taking proper care of the badly
deteriorating tourist attraction
berthed in the Houston Ship
Channel, ship employees told a
House committee Monday.
After hearing an hour of tes
timony from ship workers who
decried the alleged poor man
agement of the battleship, mem
bers of the Environmental
Affairs Committee unanimously
approved a bill to abolish the
commission .that now adminis
ters the ship and place the
shrine’s operation under the
State Parks and Wildlife Depart
ment.
Workers on the ship, which
has been berthed in the channel
since 1948, told the committee
of alleged health and safety
hazards, poor maintenance and
improper expenditures of state
funds by the Battleship Texas
Commission.
“We need an administration
that knows what it’s doing and
will care about the ship and em
ployees,” said Eleanor Green, a
three-year battleship employee.
“Under parks and wildlife, the
money we make would be spent
wisely and on things the ship
needs instead of frivolous
things.”
The bill now goes to the
House floor for action.
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Sunday through Friday J
11:00 a.m. to 1:30
Delicious Food
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Oil prices affect Texas budget
Revenue estimates dropped
United Press International
AUSTIN — State Comptrol
ler Bob Bullock, who in January
said state revenues would fall
$1.5 billion short of expected
levels, announced Tuesday that
sagging oil prices have forced
him to trim another $867 mil
lion from his revenue estimate
for the coming biennium.
Bullock must certify what
funds the Legislature has to
spend according to the state
Constitution. He said that he
was forced to make the second
cut because of falling world oil
prices and sluggish tax receipts.
“We’re cutting back what we
expect to receive, but we’ve still
got the biggest cash surplus in
the country and the Legislature
still has 17.8 percent more
money than the last time they
wrote a state budget,” Bullock
said.
According to Bullock’s re
vised estimate, lawmakers will
have $22.9 billion in major fund
revenues available for the
budget, a 3.8 percent reduction
from the estimate he gave in
January.
Lower oil prices alone, Bul
lock said, forced $318.9 million
of the recent cut and slumping
sales tax receipts accounted for
another $334.9 million.
According to Bullock, the
state loses $40 million dollars in
revenue every time the price of a
barrel of oil drops by $1. His
previous estimates were based
on an expected oil price of
$29.60 this year and a rise to
$31.85 in 1984 and $33.81 in
1985.
Because of the worldwide
drop in oil prices, Bullock said,
he has revised those estimate to
$28.24 a barrel in 1984 and
$29.61 in 1985.
“If the price falls below those
levels and stays there, we will re
vise this estimate again,” Bullock
said.
Mark White also commented
on the revenue cut.
“It will be a significant reduc
tion, but it is one which I think
we can live with,” he said. “We’ve
anticipated most of this. It will
require some adjustments in
order to make the ends meet.”
White, who promised no new
taxes during his campaign, said
balancing the budget is going to
We’re cutting back what
we expect to receive, but
we’ve still got the biggest
cash surplus in the
country and the Legisla
ture still has 17.8 per
cent more money than
the last time they wrote
a state budget. — state
comptroller Bob Bul
lock
be difficult to do without new
taxes. The governor is sche
duled to give his budget address
to lawmakers today.
“Our budget will probably
have to reflect some budgetary
decreases," he said. "At the same
time, I’m not prepared to come
out for a tax increase.”
Meanwhile, the chairman of
the House committee that would
have to approve any new tax bills
said he does not believe a tax
increase is needed.
“It’s not necessary," Rep. Bill
Presnal, D-Bryan, chairman of
the House Appropriatons Com
mittee told Url. “It’s not neces
sary to maintain government at
its current level.”
Presnal said that the reduc
tion in revenue will mean that
the Legislature is going to have
to cut the budget a lot.
House Speaker Gib Lewis,
who opposes new taxes, said the
new revenue estimates didn’t
come as any particular surprise.
“They say forewarned is fore
armed and I still feel a state
budget which falls within the re
venues available can lx* written
and passed by this session of the
Legislature,” he said.
Sen. Grant Jones,!
< hail man of the SenaJ
(Committee, said then
larger than he expen
“I expected someJ
but not the magnitaj
one," he said. "Itmaoj
for an increase in ina|
obvious.”
|< >nes has advocatj
increase this year, W
.m\ revenui i.iimiiH
miisi in inmate in tM
Asked il Bulhxk'slait*
might sway some lanitj
support a tax, he sadl
hoped so.”
Lt. Gov. Bill HobbJ
hxk's projection
Legislature’s buda
task even tougher.
Hobby has schedul
c ial meeting of the!
Thursday to disemstfl
financial crunch. Bull
present his estimate! i
venue alternatives to I
makers.
Junior
Recio,
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