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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1985)
Thursday, November 7,1985/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local Students can sign up to speak Senate approves open forum By FRANK SMITH Staff Writer The Student Senate Wednesday night passed a bill creating an open forum session to be included regu larly on the biweekly Senate agenda. The open forum session will allow students to sign up for speaking privileges with the presiding officer of the Senate before a meeting. Each student signing up would be granted five minutes to address the Senate. The bill, sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Miles Bradsnaw, qrigi- nally called for the open forum to be conducted after the Senate had al ready dealt with both the old and new business scheduled on its agenda. “The reasoning behind that is that we were elected as senators and its our job to debate and decide and represent our constituents,” Bradshaw said. “If we allow students to talk before we get to vote on a par ticular item of business, then they may influence our vote one way or another. “I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad, but I don’t think it’s their place to do that. I think that place lies in each of our positions.” But the bill was amended so that the open forum would come before the Senate conducted its business for the night. Jim Cleary, vice president of aca demic affairs, cited two reasons why he supported placing the open fo rum at the beginning rather than at the end of the meeting. He said that having such dis cussion at the end of the meetings would be self-defeating. “It (the bill) wants to increase stu dent input, but what student is going to wait around . . . through these te dious meetings?” Cleary said. Cleary also said he supports the idea of students coming nefore the Senate and trying to sway the vote because senators should know as much as possible about the various stances on a bill before they vote. The amended version of the bill passed. The Senate also passed a bill al lowing those students who are not a part of Student Government to pro pose legislation and follow it through its appropriate Senate com mittee. To begin such a process a student would be required to com plete a form and return it to the Stu dent Government secretary. In addition, the Senate passed a bill calling for the reorganization of the Student Government book ex change program. Grand jury checking cave-in deaths Photo by JOHN P. KARP oil ihuttle.l i first n to shoe nto the: e to mil •ointedi n theft 1 lusiasnf ly name. iiirnalisH outhCal Two Tough Customers John Barry (left) and Dale Daniels model their jeans in a Wran gler jeans contest near Rudder Fountain Wednesday. MSC Town Hall sponsored the contest to promote the George Strait concert. Barry, a junior accounting major from Houston, won the contest, receiving two tickets to the Nov. 14 concert. Dan iels, a sophomore business major from Bowie, was runner-up. Associated Press AUSTIN — A Travis County grand jury will hear evidence about three men killed in trench cave-ins at Austin construction sites. Prosecutors in the county attor ney’s office are in the final stages of a five-week criminal investigation into two East Austin trench accidents that killed three construction work ers, County Attorney Ken Oden said Tuesday. “W'e’ve had several requests to look into the circumstances sur rounding several recent construc tion deaths,” Oden said. “We have obtained relevant docu ments over the past weeks of the cir cumstances surrounding these con struction site deaths and have conducted an investigation to see if there’s a possibility of criminal liabil ity for any of these deaths.” The grand jury will review the evi dence to determine if it is sufficient to indict company officials, or their corporations, for criminally neg ligent homicide, authorities said. The charge is a Class A misde meanor punishable by a one-year jail sentence or a $2,GOO fine, or both. A corporation can be fined $10,000 for eacn case of criminal negligent hom icide. Oden said the grand jurors will be Official: Bill passage may cause water grab Associated Press I AUSTIN — Texans’ approval of (lie $1.43 billion water package could lead to a water grab t>y local governments that have thirsted for lelp with local problems, a sponsor If the plan said Wednesday. I “If I were a political subdivision in need of a water project, I’d be get ting in line as soon as possible,” said [tale Sen. John Montford, D-Lub- iock. “There are a lot of projects on the drawing boards that will now lualify for funding.” Final, unofficial vote totals re leased Wednesday bv the secretary of state’s of fice showed big wins for the two constitutional amendments /that made up the plan. Montford said the plan — worked out by lawmakers this year — suc ceeded because the Legislature worked hard to balance it. Previous efforts to work out a state water plan were killed by voters. “It never got branded as a re gional or provincial process,” he said of the approved plan. “ The problem in the past has been a grandiose scheme and grandiose funding. In the ’60s, the plan was to dig a ditch across Texas. In the early ’80s, it was to dedicate half the state surplus to waiter projects.” Opponents of the plan said it could lead to open season for devel opers w'ho make money by pushing major water projects. State Sen. Car los Truan, D-Corpus Christi, called it “pork-barrel heaven for the water hustlers.” Edward “Ned” Fritz of Dallas, who Ted a push against the plan, called Tuesday a day of infamy that Texans will regret. “They will look back on it and say, ‘That’s where we began to lose the last of our natural resources,”’ he said. Fritz said state water officials now are free to approve unneeded water projects and expenditures. “I predict tne water developers will get enough state money to cover up hundreds of thousands of acres of valuable forests,” Fritz said. “We have . . . conducted an investigation to see if there’s a possibility of criminal liability...— Ken Oden, Travis County Attorney. given evidence about trench cave-ins at two sewage construction projects in East Austin being built by private companies under contract to the city of Austin. The first cave-in occurred July 17 at the Govalle Wastewater Treat ment Plant and killed Margarito Maldonado, 18, a citizen of Mexico. Federal inspectors say there were no supports inside the trench to pre vent its collapsing. The second cave-in occurred Sept. 10 near Ed Bluestein Boule vard and killed Benjamin Eatmon, 40, of Houston and Juan Rodriguez, 32, a native of El Salvador. City officials said the men were employees of Sabine Consolidated Inc. of Beaumont, which is installing a sewer line to service the 42-acre Bluestein Park subdivision. The workers were inside a 15-foot steel trench box designed to protect them from cave-ins, but dirt from the sides of the 30-foot trench poured in the top of the box, suffo cating both men, investigators said. Oden said his office has taken statements from witnesses and has obtained construction documents from employees of the city. The county attorney’s office also has issued subpoenas for the records of inspections by the federal Occu pational Safety and Health Adminis tration, which investigated both acci dents. In the Govalle accident, which killed Maldonado, the federal safety agency levied $8,080 in fines against Peabody Southwest Inc., a Houston- based firm that has several contracts to build improvements at city waste- water facilities. Oden said the investigation has shown that accidents have occurred when shortcuts are taken with safety procedures. “The way it looks to me is the greatest threat to workers is the in credible emphasis there is on getting the work done fast, because with ev erything we’re talking about, there are ways of dealing with it or making it safer,” Oden said.“It just takes time.” Experience the ultimate in/ Mobile Sound Special Price This Week Only Experience the ultimate in Mobile Sound in the environment in which it was meant to be heard. The Nakamichi Mobile Sound Shuttle, a multi-media exper ience on wheels, will be here for a limited engage ment. Mark your calendar now! You’ll be able to hear the best in Mobile Sound from the acknowledged leader in home high fidelity at rneifffi FrMV j holier ■ r 33l^ rx0 The Lt’s not too long until you'll be walking up to get your degree. But there’s something you could get right now that will help you in any walk of life. The American Express® Card. 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