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Business Week ’B5
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MM V Texas m m W •
The Battalion
Vol. 80 No. 88 C1SPS 045360 10 pages College Station, Texas Monday, February 4, 1985
Slippery Seat
Much of the frozen precipita
tion is slowly melting around
campus, as seen on this
bench.
Photo by WA YNE L. GRABEIN
75C Icicle
To keep the lines from freezing up, the spray nozzles were
left on at Rhea’s Car Wash on the corner of Deaco and Long-
mire Friday morning. The result was a wall of icicles.
Reagan’s 1986 budget
meets early opposition
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Congressio
nal leaders of both parties said Sun
day President Reagan’s $974 billion
budget is top-heavy with defense
spending and is likely to undergo
major revision, but they also agreed
that deep domestic cuts are inevi
table.
Reacting on the eve of the bud-
et’s formal submission, House and
enate leaders predicted widespread
congressional resistance to the bud
get's call for a military spending in
crease of some $31 billion over this
year’s levels.
Several news organization de
cided to use details of the Reagan
administration’s Fiscal 1986 budget
over the weekend even though the
Office of Management and Budget
had set a release time of 1:30 p.m.
Monday.
It proved to be the third year in a
row that details of the president’s
spending plan were not kept under
wraps as scheduled.
Following usual procedure, copies
of the plan were distributed to Con
gress and to reporters on Saturday
with the understanding that the
material not be made public —
meaning that, it was embargoed —
until Monday.
The Associated Press advised its
member newspapers and broadcast
stations Sunday afternoon that the
embargo had been broken and the
material was for immediate use after
The New York Times News Service
told its subscribers that budget, sto
ries by the Times News Service were
for immediate use.
Senate Majority Leader Robert
Dole, R-Kan., suggested the GOP-
controlled Senate might slice the
president’s defense proposal from
the 5.9 percent increase his budget
seeks — after inflation is subtracted
— to a level of around 3 percent.
Such a move would help to reduce
the deficit by $18 billion to $20 bil
lion, Dole asserted.
“No president ever gets precisely
what he sends up in his budget mes
sage,” he added. Dole was inter
viewed on the ABC-TV program
“This Week with David Brinkley.”
“The president, I must say, is in a
fairly comfortable position,” Dole
said.
“He says, ‘Don’t touch Social Secu
rity. Don’t touch defense. Don’t raise
taxes. And you can’t touch interest
on the (national) debt.’ That doesn’t
leave a great deal.
“Those of us in the Congress have
to maybe look beyond some of the
president’s promises of the cam
paign.”
However, Dole also said many do
mestic reductions advocated by the
president would have to be made if
government spending was to be
taken under control.
H ouse Majority Leader Jim
Wright, D-Texas, interviewed on the
same program, said the proposed
budget shows “a blind spot on the
part of Mr. Reagan and also Mr.
(Defense Secretary Caspar) Wein
berger.”
“When they speak of spending,
they don’t mean military spending,”
Wright said.
“When they speak of shrinking
government, they don’t think of the
Pentagon as a part of government.”
The proposed budget, for the fis
cal year 1986 that begins Oct. 1, calls
for $973.7 billion in spending and
projects a $180 billion deficit — if all
the spending cuts Reagan wants are
approved.
This year’s deficit is expected to
run $222.2 billion.
The budget recommends do
mestic spending cuts of around $39
billion — including cutbacks in
Medicare, farm price supports, stu
dent loans, housing aid and mass
transit.
It also calls for a termination of
general revenue sharing and for an
end to the federal subsidy of the
Amtrak rail passenger system, a cut
Amtrak officials say could be a death
blow.
House Budget Committee Chair
man William Gray III, D-Pa., said
the budget “doesn’t accomplish what
he (Reagan) sets out for it to ac
complish” because it fails to make a
larger dent in the deficit.
“It is not a freeze (when) you in
crease Pentagon spending by $34
billion,” Gray said.
“The president walked away from
the deficit issue jand is leaving it in
the hands of the Seriate and the
House, and that's bad news for
America,” said Gray, interviewed on
GBS-TV’s “Face the Nation."
However, Gray added: “Everyone
in Congress recognizes the cancer of
these deficits.
“I think the House is Willing to
take cuts on everything if everything
is on the table.”
Rio Grande Valley would lose valuable aid
New budget could cost Texas millions
Trial date
confirmed
for ex-cadets
By DAINAH BULLARD
Staff Writer
A March 25 trial date has been set
for three former cadets indicted in
connection with the Aug. 30 death
of Bruce Dean Goodrich.
The trial date was confirmed at a
brief pretrial hearing Friday af
ternoon.
Anthony D’Alessandro and Jason
Miles, of Houston, and Louis.
Fancher, of San Antonio, were in
dicted by a Brazos County Grand
Jury Sept. 28 on charges of hazing
and criminally negligent homicide.
The three juniors are represented
by Bryan attorney W.W. Vance.
Brazos County Court-at-Law
Judge Carolyn Ruffino Friday said it
has not been determined which
charges will be dealt with first.
A fourth former cadet, Gabriel
Cuadra, was found guilty Thursday
of tampering with evidence. Cuadra
entered a plea of not guilty to the
charge.
The six-woman jury gave (madia
a $500 fine and a jail term to be de
cided by the court at a later date.
The jury also recommended proba
tion for both punishments.
The jury deliberated for two
hours before returningthe guilty
verdict. Both the prosecuting attor
ney and the defence attorney recom
mended probation for Cuadra.
Cuadra, who is attending a Flor
ida university, still faces a enlarge of
hazing.
The guilty verdict was the result
of a two-day trial. A Jan. 28 trial
ended in a mistrial after a Houston
Post reporter questioned a juror
during a recess.
A second pretrial date is set for
March 15. Ruffino will consider a
motion from Vance to quash the
charges against the three juniors.
The penalties for criminally neg
ligent homicide, a class A misdemea
nor, are a fine of up to $2,000 and
up to one year in jail. Hazing carries
penalties of 10 days to three months
m jail, and a fine of $25 to $200.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Texas law
makers already facing a $1 billion
deficit would likely lose another
$440 million in federal grants if
Congress approves budget cuts pro
posed by the Reagan administration,
state analysts said.
The rug could be pulled out from
under aid programs for the econom
ically depressed Rio Grande Valley,
and other changes proposed in the
fiscal year 1986 budget could have
far-reaching effects on Texas agri
culture and the petrochemical in
dustry.
The administration wants Con
gress to eliminate general revenue
Editor’s Note: Eli is is the first arti
cle in a two part series on health care
in rural Texas.
By VIVIAN SMITH
Reporter
Rural Texas communities are con
sidered to be “quiet little towns” with
clean air, blue skies and lemonade
summers. But is this a true concep
tion of rural America?
The death rate in rural Texas
counties is 62 percent higher than
the urban counties, according to the
latest figures published by the Texas
Department of Health.
Further health statistics reveal
that in the fall of 1982 a total of 22
rural counties were without primary
care physicians, 37 counties without
hospitals and six counties without
emergency ambulance services. The
doctor patient ratio in the nonme
tropolitan areas was 1-to-1,301.
Of course, health resources and
services follow people. Where the
population is sparse there are few or
no health professionals, facilities or
services.
However, an increased interest in
improving the delivery of health
care in these areas does exist.
But, as Texas has become more
sharing, the Small Business Admin
istration, economic development as
sistance grants and urban devel
opment action grants.
SBA and EDA programs had
been offered by the administration
to help the Valley.
The area suffered continuing se
vere unemployment because of peso
devaluations and a freeze last winter
that killed crops.
Under the proposal to base Medi
caid payments on a 1984 base in
stead of 1985, as Texas officials had
wanted, Texas would lose about $98
million in benefits, state officials
said.
Analysts at the Texas Office of
urbanized—rural areas have been
invaded with urban problems.
“The line between rural and ur
ban has become blurred,” Mary
Walker, Director of the Texas Rural
Health Field Services program, said.
“There is a tendency to take ur
ban models and expect them to work
in rural areas—or when one rural
solution works to use it in all areas,”
W’alker said.
However, this is wrong Walker
said. The strategies vary, depending
on what community you’re dealing
with, and not all communities have
the same set of resources. ,
Currently more and more rural
communities are combining their re
sources, using state and federal assis
tance to provide emergency and
quality medical service. These com
munities are starting local Emer
gency Medical Service (EMS) units
and trying to recruit competent doc
tors to their communities.
Statistics show more accidents oc
cur in rural areas than in urban
areas. Since the closest hospital may
be 20 miles away response time is
very important.
“The first few minutes after an ac
cident is the most critical time in the
State-Federal Relations, after a quick
appraisal of the proposed budget
over the weekend, were not sure of
the extent of the effect on Texas of
proposed cuts in farm programs or
the loss of SBA disaster loans.
The budget calls for massive cut
backs in farm commodity programs
as part of a 15 percent cut in Agri
culture Department spending, to
$38.5 billion from a near-record
$45.1 billion.
The administration proposes to
cut farm commodity support prices
while it phases out agricultural de
pendence on federal programs and
wants to increase guaranteed private
loans for farmers and phase down
updating
u Tlm first few minutes af
ter an accident is the most
critical time in the rescue
operation. The battle may
have been won or lost by
the time the patient gets
here.” — Dr. Joseph
Buck waiter of University
of Iowa Hospital.
rescue operation,” stresses Dr. Jo
seph BucKwalter of the University of
Iowa Hospital.
“Sitting back here at the hospital,
we frequently don’t make the differ
ence between life and death after a
serious accident,” he said. “The bat
tle may have been won or lost by the
time the patient gets here.”
Williamson County began its EMS
unit “more or less out of despera
tion,” Assistant EMS Director Robert
Chambers said.
direct loans from the Farmers Home
Administration.
An increase in the Enviromental
Protection Agency’s “Superfund”
for cleanup of toxic waste sites could
benefit Texas, which has the third
largest number of hazardous waste
sites in the country.
But the administration wanted
$874 million of the $900 million for
the fiscal year 1986 Superfund bud
get to come from special taxes, and it
was not clear if that would mean
proposed increases in taxes on the
petrochemical industry.
In a move that would directly af
fect Texas’ NASA program, the
budget calls to increase the nation’s
In times past, funeral homes had
provided much of the emergency
service since EMS systems as we now
know them were almost nonexistent,
Chambers said.
However, in 1974, Williamson
County was confronted with a situa
tion in which funeral homes could
no longer transport the sick and in-
j u red.
As mayor of Florence, a small city
of 600, Chambers and other city of
ficials worked to convince county
commissioners of the need for a
county ambulance service.
In January 1975, Williamson
County began its EMS with paid per
sonnel in four stations. The county
purchased Florence an ambulance
and the volunteer operation began
in March 1975, Chambers said.
The key to the success of commu
nity EMS units is having enough
trained volunteers to permit round-
the-clock response to calls for help,
Chambers said.
Presently, three volunteer para
medics offer advanced life support
for Florence, whose nearest hospital
is 20 miles away.
civilian space budget by $425 million
to $7 billion, including $230 million
in design funds for a 1990s space
station, and $25 million to begin de
veloping an “Orbital Maneuvering
Vehicle” to snag satellites from high
orbits.
Community development block
grants would be reduced by 10 per
cent, but at the same time take on
the FHA rural development pro
gram.
Education impact aid would be
frozen at 1985 levels, and aid to stu.-.
dents for higher education would be
reduced by $2.3 billion.
. Federal aid for highways would be
frozen at the 1985 level.
All paramedics have received ini
tial training of more than 120 hours
of classroom and hands-on experi
ence, Chambers said.
Chambers commends all of the
paramedics for the hours of training
and the hours away from home mak
ing calls—without pay. The only re
ward is the sell -satisfaction of help
ing others, Chambers said.
Concern for fellow residents is
also evident in the small lexas com
munity of Desert Haven.
An old abandoned van, restored
by volunteer workers for less than
$800 serves as Desert Haven's emer
gency vehicle. Project organizer Bob
Dart’s restaurant serves as ambu
lance headquarters.
“This is really an area-backed ef
fort,” Dart said. “We run on dona
tions including those from a collec
tion jar at the restaurant.”
Many times while responding to
calls the Darts have left the restau
rant unattended—only to return
and find the patrons running the
cafe.
“That’s just the way folks are
around here,” Dart said.
Rural communities
medical services