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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1986)
mm Shakespearean production lets audience interpret setting — Page 8 A&M ends three-game slide with 71-58 victory over Tech — PagelO ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ nn ■ Texas A&M m m m • The Battalion Vol. 83 No. 102 CJSPS 075360 14 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, February 20, 1986 ft ii c- ,c: yG lements: 13% cut labsurcT \Thafs not the way fou cut a budgef By FRANK SMITH Staff Writer Former Gov. Bill Clements Rilled Gov. Mark White’s request Ira 13 percent budget cut from lath state department “absurd” fii a Wednesday press conference ■ Texas A&M. - I Clements, a Republican guber- I,aerial candidate, later ad- jfiessed an audience of about 150 in the Memorial Student Center, but not before he had questioned |Vhite’s experience in budgetary ,ttiatters. I “1 think that what that (White’s request) really says to the public is It at this is a clear indication and solid evidence that he has had no experience in this field,” Clem ents said during the press confer ence. “That’s not the way you cut |t budget. You don’t cut it 13 per- ent across the board. “fve already said that you do actly the opposite. You set your iriorities. You recognize that ou’re going to have to increase one things and decrease others. ,nd that’s just nonsense — it’s ab- Surd —to think that we in Texas just going to suffer a 13 per- entcut across the board.” System comptroller: Budget cuts take time Former Gov. Bill Clements, a 1986 gubernatorial candidate, speaks at the Memorial Student Center. White had made the request Monday in an attempt to over- ome an estimated $1.3 billion hortfall in the two-year state [udgetthat ends in August 1987. Clements, whose visit was part pi M.SC Political Forum’s guber- iturval series, said if he was gov ernor he would immediately call ar a special session of the Legis- tuve, set the budget priorities, nd charge the Legislature to rub the budget and open it for Restructuring. “We in Texas have the highest tax revenues that we’ve ever had in our history,” he said. “The tax revenues in Texas are up 41 per cent in the three years since I’ve left office. Just think about that. “1 don’t know of any business in the state of T exas where their profits or their revenues are up 41 percent. It’s an all-time his toric high. And so what I’m say ing to you is that we have ample revenues and what we have to do is set our priorities and, to borrow a phrase, we have to cut the cloth to fit the pattern. And we can get by with no tax increases whatsoe ver.” But Clements said he thinks a state income tax is “a very real possibility” if White is re-elected. “In fact, I will say to you that, in my judgment, if he is re elected it is inevitable that we will have either a personal income tax, a corporate income tax, or both,” Clements said. “And to the contrary, I’m telling you that if I’m elected governor, just as in the previous four years, there will be no new taxes in Texas as long as I’m your governor.” Clements also elaborated on what his ownbudgel pri.outies for the state would be. “I can name you two things that I know that I would in crease,” he said. “One has to do with our prison system. And the other is our Department of Public Safety, which looks after us from a crime standpoint. “Another one that I can tell you that should be set aside and be in a priority area would be higher education. Any kind of an anticipation of what Texas should be like and the quality of life in Texas in 2001 has to have as a fundamental building block higher education.” See White’s, page 13 By MONA L. PALMER and SONDRA PICKARD Staff Writer Texas A&M administration and faculty aren’t looking for quick solu tions to Gov. Mark White’s 13 per cent reduction order, Bill Wasson, vice chancellor and System comp troller, said Wednesday. Chancellor Arthur G. Hansen Tuesday asked the presidents of the four System universities and the heads of the eight University exten- tions to develop an impact statement as a preliminary move toward March 1, the deadline for the reduction im plementation plan. Wasson said, “There’s a need to carefully look at size and type of cuts and what they will or won’t do. “Then you’ve got to sit down and analyze what you can and can’t do.” It’s also useless for the administra tion to speculate on what budget items it will cut, he said. “You have to take it item by item and area by area — and move very quickly,” he said. Dr. Cordon P. Eaton, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said the governor’s goals of retaining faculty members and raising salaries by 3 percent aren’t compatible. “The arithmetic just doesn’t work out,” he said. “Apparently they didn’t do their arithmetic in Austin before the press release. “If the cuts remain as deep as they are, then the governor’s goals simply can’t be realized.” White’s executive order states that salary increases mandated by the ap propriations bill for the current biennium will be honored. The man dated increases for state employees, including staff personnel at public universities, total 3 percent for the fiscal year which began Sept. 1. Eaton said the System guideline had raised the mandated salary in creases from 3 to 4.5 percent, but now they’ll have to try to go back to the 3 percent increase. Faculty salaries don’t fall under the mandated increase, so there’s a See Comptroller, page 13 Budget cuts won't affect A&.M construction By CRAIG RENFRO Staff Writer The current construction and renovation of buildings at Texas A&M will not be affected by the or dered reduction in general revenue spending, an A&M System adminis trator sard Wednesday. Daniel T. Whitt, assistant vice chancellor for facilities planning and construction, said construction will continue on the eight projects now under construction despite Gov. Mark White’s order to reduce gen eral revenue spending by 13 per cent. This translates into budget cuts of more than $68 million for TA- MUS. Whitt also said five proposed pro jects, budgeted at a total cost of $26.6 million, are under design for fiscal years 1986 and 1987. “I don’t know how it (budget cuts) will affect us (on proposed pro jects),” Whitt said. “It wouldn’t help to speculate, but we will go on as planned until told otherwise.” Whitt said if planned construction is allowed to continue, none of the “We will go on as planned until told otherwise.” — Daniel T. Whitt, assistant vice chancellor for facili ties planning and con struction at A&M. money will come from the general revenue fund. “Most of our money comes from the Public University Fund,” Whitt said. “And you can’t reduce the PUF unless the (state) constitution is changed.” According to White’s proposed budget reduction, all state agencies are to implement water and energy conservation measures. Joe J. Estill, physical plant direc tor, said the plant is in the midst of composing an energy and water re duction plan, but did not know whether the plan will be approved or not. Estill said planned utility operat ing costs are $62 million for the next two years. A 13 percent reduction would amount to savings of $8 mil lion over the next two years. Estill said the plant is limited to what it can cut back on. “Do we shut down buildings?” he asked. “Do we turn off the power at 5 p.m. and then turn it on again in the morning?” he asked. System Chancellor Arthur G. Hansen Tuesday called together the presidents of A&M, Prairie View A&M University, Tarleton State University and Texas A&M at Gal veston and heads of the eight state agencies that comprise the System. They were told to initiate a plan that would achieve the reductions pro posed by the governor and to have the plan ready for implementation by March 1. More than $38 million would come out of the budgets for A&M if the 13 percent reduction were to be applied proportionally throughout the System. solid i hadopi iesli# )Cr j aspre^j said'd* r dirtf* y pro'q com^ speditf ore U' rhiok° |f mceT" Millionaire teaches A&M students about business world Associated Press J"Welcome to bullshit 438.” With that Clayton Willliams, Midland’s millionaire and self-pro- aimed warrior, kicks off his lecture. [Williams is teaching young Aggie entrepre- urs the do’s and don’t’s of the business world. And who would know better than a former insur- salesman and brick maker who worked his Way up to owning a string of major companies. But his business advice isn’t the stuffy bit on !gh finance. It’s more of a self-help course on how to be lieve in yourself and trust your own judgement. Williams uses examples of his own successes and ilures to teach his students that entrepreneur- ing is tough. He likens it to a halfback cutting n the field, dodging defenders. [Tonight he’s talking mostly of failures. And Is lecture is flavored with Williams’ own sense of humor, Texas style. ■Advice like — “Do business with good people;” ‘Don’t buy anything someone else is through with. Get the best;” “Don’t give it away until it’s Brned;’ and “Dance with the one who brung R Some of these have to be put into context. Others speak for themselves. But to Williams they all make perfect sense. Williams, Class of’54, got his degree in animal husbandry. And though he’s achieved much of his wealth in production industries, Williams is an active rancher. But he runs his ranch differ ently than most others, he says, his ranch makes a profit. And like the ranching business, Williams has made his fortune in risky ventures. But not all of them turned out the way he planned, especially the first few. He says he made his first money by renting his garage to the local domino club for $40 a month. And with his steady income he began his first real business by starting a paper company. It lasted about two years. He moved on to his next idea — adobe bricks. Williams and his partner bought a brick ma chine and the rights to a “magic formula”. But he says in the end, eating money was about the only magic the machine performed. Still undaunted, but more skeptical, he and his partner struck out on their next road to riches by buying a gold mine. He admits it sounded crazy. But he and his partner were convinced, after looking at the gold flakes lining the cave, they would strike it rich. And the salesmen assured them that the mine also held a valuable mineral that was being used to build space capsules. So they hired a crew and began mining the gold and other minerals. It turned out there was no gold in the mine. The flakes that he and his partner had seen were instead shotgun blasts fired into the wall by the con artists who had sold them the property. And the mineral that he had been told was in the cave was of such poor grade that they just abandoned it. He had been duped. Needless to say, Williams decided to invest his money a little more wisely the next time. So he began brokering oil and gas leases in West Texas. To some that may sound even more risky than gold mines, but Williams was confident. ^The rest of the story is history. Williams even tually hit a large gas well that made him wealthy but not too proud. See Millionaire, page 13 Clayton Williams, Class of ’54, at his ranch in Midland. Searchers retrieve part of right booster CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Underwater searchers have re covered a part from Challenger’s ight rocket booster, considered a major culprit in the spacecraft’s explosion, and have located other shattered pieces, officials said Wednesday. There has been no sighting of the section of that booster which includes a seam investigators be lieve was the source of a destruc tive spurt of flame. Air Force Col. Edward A. O'Conner, head of the shuttle search and recovery operations, and Capt. Charles A. Bartholo mew, supervisor of Navy salvage, ran a videotape clearly showing three objects in murky \\uier at a depth of about 1,200 feet. They were the recovered 11- by-20 inch hydraulic reservoir, part of the steering system for the booster’s rocket nozzle; a stain less-steel sphere about 15 inches in diameter which normally con tains about 3 ] /j gallons of hydra zine fuel for the controls; and a 10-foot-long portion of the boost er’s expansion nozzle. Current theories into the possi ble causes of the explosion center on a leak of flame, through a joint between the lower two sections of the booster, that may have deto nated the shuttle’s external liquid fuel tank. See related story, page 9 Floods cause over 12,000 to flee Associated Press Torrents of muddy water from a week-old series of Pacific storms continued cascading across the sod den Western states Wednesday, and the estimated number of flood refu gees rose past 12,000. But some riv ers receded and people began re turning home. At least 16 people were dead and three were missing in floods, mudslides, avalanches, icy roads, high wind and smashing surf from Southern California into Canada. Hardest hit was Northern Califor nia with up to 22 inches of rain and 9 feet of snow in the mountains. Res ervoirs were brim full, towns and farmland were flooded and water and landslides blocked major high ways. “There’s no town left,” said Guer- neville, Calif., resident Beatrice Wood. She and nearly 600 other res idents were stranded in a church and were removed Tuesday by heli copter. The unincorporated resort community north of San Francisco remained under water Wednesday, although the Russian River had re ceded 6 feet from its record peak of 49 feet; flood stage is 32 feet. The sky cleared over some areas during the morning, and w hile more rain was forecast, Ed Clark, a Na tional Weather Service forecaster, said “it looks like we’re on the uphill side of things now. We’re expecting more rain on Friday and Saturday, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be as major as anything we’ve had.” Elsewhere, rain during the night caused renewed flooding that forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 people in northwestern Nevada and sandbag crews were hurried back out in one northern Utah county. Many Nevada state office buildings were closed and 15 square blocks of the downtown area were flooded. Part of one Colorado town was evac uated during the night. High water also forced evacuation of the Mustang Ranch brothel east of Sparks, Nev. Harry Stone, spokesman for the brothel, said, “The girls are pretty shaken up. “Some of them ran out barefooted.” Dick Hunt of the state Office of Emergency Services said floods had chased more than 11,000 northern Californians from their homes since the series of storms arrived Feb. 12. Company spokesman Ron Rutkow r ski said about 12,000 homes served by Pacific Gas & Electric were without power Wednesday. “We’ve had in the last five days, (rainfall) equivalent to half of our normal annual total,” said William Helms, spokesman for the state-fed eral Flood Operations Center in Sac ramento. In the heart of California’s wine country, the Napa River fell about 9 feet Wednesday at Napa, where 4,200 people had been evacuated. The river had hit a record 30 feet Monday, 5 feet above flood stage, and flooded much of the downtown. Authorities said 1,350 residents of a small community in Glenn County fled because of a threat of flooding from the Sacramento River. An ad ditional 1,500 were evacuated from Thornton in San Joaquin County be cause of danger of levee failure and more had fled homes elsewhere.