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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1985)
m ORIGINAL AGGIE MUSIC! Texas A&M Composers Spotlight Sunday, April 28, 3:00 p.m. All Faith’s Chapel Concert Series Admission: $1.00 at the door FISH RICHARDS HALF CENTURY HOUSE Introduces: “POOR RICHARD’S REVENGE” Join us, among friends in our atrium-like plant filled lounge for: HALF PRICE DRINKS FREE HORS D’OEUVRES LIVE PIANO MUSIC Poor Richard’s Revenge, M-F 5:00-6:30,696-4118 Avoid the traffic, located just south of Jersey on Wellborn Hwy. Lunch Served M-F 11:30-2:30 Elegant Yet Fast Entrees from $2.95 Dinner Served Mon.-Sat. 5:00-10:30 Piano Bar Nightly ‘If you haven't been to Fish Richard's iateiy, You haven't been to Fish Richard's. ” M \aggi E\\\ 3 ///cinema/ Clo/in ecStzin.Ijs.c/z i (iCai-iLc JYo'jzL. .. 2 aiiLC amzfL in. gm $ ( zdnziciay ; c/ffnitj 24, 7'-3° f2.n1. TEACHERS JOHN BELUSHI DAN AYKROYD THE BLUES BROTHERS doming J\/\cuj 3-*- ffjiuit wfizn you tfzoucjfit it cvai lafz to yo (jac(z to tfzz. f zoos. <P UJ?c4JVcM<=q- <20JV <V<2” Page 8/The Battalion/Wednesday, April 24, 1985 1 House Oks crime victim legislation Associated Press AUSTIN — The House voted Tuesday to pay more attention to crime victims by keeping them posted on court proceedings, includ ing parole deliberations that could free the criminal who victimized them. “For far too long we’ve viewed it as the state vs. the defendant,” said sponsor Frank Tejeda, D-San Anto nio. “The victim has been left out.” His measure was approved 53-0, and faces a final House vote before going the Senate. Also Tuesday, the House gave preliminary approval to bills that would: • Make it illegal to possess child pornography. • Require newspaper advertise ments notifying the public when child-care facility licenses are re voked. • Allow narcotics offenders to be placed in restitution centers. Under Tejeda’s bill, crime victims would be notified of court proceed ings involving their case. In a mur der, the immediate family would get the notification. The bill also would allow magis trates to consider the safety of the victim in determining whether to re lease defendants on bond. Victims also would be allowed to provide in formation to the Board of Pardons and Paroles when the panel consid ers release of the inmate. Prosecutors in a jurisdiction of more than 150,000 people would ap point a victim-assistance coordina tor. Tejeda’s measure drew support from several victims' organizations, including Parents of Murdered Chil dren and the Coalition for Victims’ Rights. What’s up Wednesday AGGIE SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: will meet at 7 p m in 502 Rudder for election of officers. GAY STUDENT SERVICES: will meet at 7:S0 p.m. For loca tion, call 775-1797. GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL: will meet at 10 a.m. in 206 MSC for the presentation of the George W. Kunzt Award. HISTORY DEPARTMENT: will show “Easy Rider” in 100 HEGCat7p.m. PHI KAPPA PHI: initiates should pick up banquet tickets be fore Eriday in 205 Reed McDonald. I he banquet is April 30 at 6:30 p.m. in 226 MSC. If you have questions, call Shirley Bovey at 845-2858. POLO CLUB: will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium oi the Animal Industries Building. S TEXAS A&M SPANISH & FRENCH CLUB: will meet at8 p.m. in MSC Rumours for election of officers and to view the film “Un Ferro Andaluz” TEXAS A&M BOXING CLUB: will meet at 5:45 p.m. in 260 G. Rollie White to elect officers and discuss plans for next year. UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRY: will meet 6 p.m.-7 p.m.at A&M Presbyterian Church tor an Aggie Supper. Thursday MSC LOST & FOUND: will hold an auction in the MSC lounge lOa.m.-l p.m. Cash only. MSC CEPHEID VARIABLE: will sh 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. in 701 Rud< PRE-LAW SOCIETY: will hold their 6:30 p.tn. All members are welcome. STUDENT ORGANIZATION OFFICER WORKSHOP: will hold its initial session 7 p.m.-10 p.m. in 201 Rudder. Dean Mobley will speak. SWAMP: will meet at Rudder Fountain 11 * ™ brow the Board of Re spo No. By CHARE Assistant It was a day < A&M softball t< team began the c the national rani No. 3. Then, the double-header ft 5-1. “The polls do now, said A&M “We do appreci: Valiant" at “Print Cost is $1. iquet at Cenare’sat stage a coup to overt! dent Government. in.-a p.m. to rnts and Stu- Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, no less than three days prior to de sired publication date. Twister Tentative approval also was given _ cn< ep. A trait’s bill that would make it a third- degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for possessing a film image depicting a child engaged in sexual conduct. Current state law bars the produc tion of such material. Pollok Rep. Billy Clemons’ bill would require the Department of Human Resources to publish notice when it revokes or suspends child care facility licenses. T he notices would be newspaper ads in the sec tion where chila-care ads appear. “There is no way for the public to tnow about it,” Clemons said of cur rent revocations. Midland Rep. Tom Craddick’s bill would allow narcotics offenders to serve time in restitution centers. Current law bars such offenders rom the community facilities. (continued from page 1) which occur in May. In May 1982, 123 tornadoes were reported, making it the worst outbreak in a single month in T exas. Between 1954 and 1983, T exas was hit by 3,874 tornadoes. A tornado watch means that conditions are favorable for a tor nado. A warning means that a tornado has been sighted and the public should take necessary pre cautions. Aylmer Thompson, professor of meteorology at Texas A&M, said because of the adequate warning systems in the United States, casualties are now greatly reduced. Hurricanes and torna does are now tracked by ad vanced radar systems which pro vide for advance warnings. Several precautions should be taken when a tornado is in the area. • Stay away from windows, doors and outside walls. • When in a home or small building, go to the basement or to an interior area such as a closet, bathroom or hallway. • When at school, a shopping center, hospital or similar tmild- mg, go to the designated shelter areas or interior hallways on the lowest possible floor. • When in a high-rise build- mg, go to small interior roomsor hallways. • If in a mobile home or a ve hide, leave them immediate!' and seek a more substantial strut ture. If there are no buildings nearby, get into a ditch or ravine and lie Hat. Though similar, tonadoes and hurricanes are two completely different types of storms. Hurricanes are born overva ter and are not classified as a hut ricane until they reach wind I speeds of 74 mph or more.The] intensity of hurricanes is gat by the wind speed. Texas A&I her way he Baylor Tue Aggies trav Hurricane season begins’ 1 but the peak time for the storms I is in September, Thompson said (continued from page 1) collected from the oil industry, Bul lock says, from $372 million in 1982 to $250 million in 1984. “You may have heard that the oil man is a dying breed in this state,” he says. “Well, that may be true. But when they go, they’re going to have to pay the inheritance taxes as well.” He estimated oil prices will drop from about $27 a barrel this year to $24.15 in 1987 and $19.48 in 1989. So what does this indicate? Every time the price of a barrel of Texas crude drops $1, Craymer esti mates the state loses about $100 mil lion in total revenues. “For every $ 1 drop in the price of oil, we lose about $30 million in sales taxes alone,” he says. “By about 1990, for every ($1) drop in oil, in stead of $30 million we’ll probably lose about $37 million.” Jared Hazelton, president of the Texas Research League, says Cray- mer’s predictions are “optimistic.” “I want to remind you that the consensus forecast has been wrong for the last 15 years,” he says. Hazelton, whose non-profit, pri vately-financed group studies state and local governments, .predicts Texas will one day be faced with a “fiscal crisis” that will force legis lators to consider cutting state serv ices, making them the responsibility of the private sector or local govern ments. The other options are to increase revenues by raising taxes, to expand the state’s tax base, or to create new taxes, Hazelton says. Dr. James Griffin, a Texas A&M economist specializing in the inter national oil market, recently con cluded a study of the Texas oil in dustry. “We have been blessed with lower taxes than many states have, mainly because of the oil industry,” he says. “In 1932 oil sold for 67 cents per barrel. In 1981 oil sold for $36 a bar rel, but then the prices started fal ling.” Griffin says ad valorem taxes, the primary source of local government funding in Texas, have been de clining steadily in previous years be cause of a healthy oil industry. However, fiscal problems are in store for jurisdictions heavily depen dent on taxes generated by oil and gas production, he says. On the local level, the implications of the drop in energy output are erosion of the tax base and deterio ration in the quantity and/or qu: of the services that a local [ ment is able to provide, due tofim cial pressures, Griffin says. In 1910 oil and gas taxes were® plemented in fexas. Dr. Thomas Plant, manageri| economic forecasting at the Uni sity of Texas Bureau of Business search, says that since IfHOtkeij and gas tax rate has increased ste* ily — which has led toabasicstn ral problem for theTexasbudgei I T wenty-four percent of the’ get relies on oil and gas revenue^ says. That is more than fivetimT national average of oil andgaif ducing states. “We can get through this s and develop a budget with tneas already taken to compensate fori suffering oil industry," Plautsa« | With declining oil and bringing about declining sever* taxes, Texas’ financial crisis ij from over. Texas- lawmakers | looking into their crystal I what direction the oil ii going, and are planning for ( means of generating once revenues. Students at debate vote in favor of increases in university tuition By Susan McDonald Reporter Students voted 92 to 70 in favor of passing a bill to increase college tu ition at the Texas A&M Forum Tuesday night. The bill, sponsored by State Rep. Wilhelmina Delco, D-Austin, calls for an increase in resident tuition from the current $4 per semester hour to $8 per hour for the 1985-86 school year. Tuition would even tually reach $20 per hour in 1990. Non-resident tuition would be raised from $40 per hour to $120 per hour in the fall and then to $180 for 1986-87. Non-resident students would then be required to pay 100 percent of their education costs. Andre Dean, a junior economics major, spoke in favor of the resolu tion. He said one advantage of the bill is that students will share more of the burden of the costs of higher education. “If the bill is passed, the cost of education will fall back more on those who take advantage of it . . .,” Dean said. The bill would also help the state’s billion dollar deficit with its increase in revenues, he said. Larry Fulton, a sophomore speech communications major, spoke against the bill sayingjj bill is passed, the quality of the 4 higher education system wil pear. The bill will cause studeni'l i uc uni win cause mucu-- withdraw, hurting the Universe nancially and culturally, r ' l ‘" n 11 “The legislature is returnWj percent of the funds they thinj so crucial to this state's eco» j survival just to attempt to rep4 damage they incur with thispi^l garbage legislation,” Fultonsaifj He added that the bill is unfa cause the initial increase in tufa so high.