^ 1
•5* I
Aquino's new government
releases 33 political prisoners
— Page 6
Fontenot declared innocent
in killing of high school coach
— Page 5
A&M uses second half rally
to fend off Rice in Houston
— Page 7
83 No. 107 USPS 075360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, February 27, 1986
Retailer suing System comptroller
attox:
Insurance
too costly
By SCOTT SUTHERLAND
Assistant City Editor
upnsj■Attorney General Jim Mattox
bid Wednesday that insurance
I50C fCompanies have sold the public a
on Ml of goods by insinuating the in-
s -Sto Idustry is experiencing financial
e-poffi Midship because of high jury
, awards.
bgie-icMHe said the companies have
tlatiosinspired to drive rates up and
isetheM-ce consumers to pay inflated
entrylprnniums. He likened the con-
rt gralspi! !( ' to the OPEC cartel that
,n 4t^ffiTtve oil prices up in the 70’s.
leandsB'The OPEC situation may be
ags ira nothing compared to the effects
:''oluox of the collusive efforts of big in
cased surance companies,” Mattox said.
Ifundfi: BMattox said municipalities
iedcta around Texas have discovered
i the' their rates going through the
afo! [roof, while insurance company
in ab Earnings are soaring. He cited a
Ismail community outside Austin
Texadlaspn example.
inspect:Hde said the community, West
.Thedlahe Hills, has had only one
olatio: paim against it and has only 12
doorrjemployees, yet 22 companies
aintv; have refused to cover them. Mat-
becaiKjtoi said 5 years ago the town paid
lefkxwlEOO for insurance but today
two-p would have to pay over $ 12,000.
oper-Bfut when asked whether he
sher had any direct evidence to sup-
iveonefjpoti his claim of collusion, Mat
te f( tox said he did not.
a cooktiBWe have found a lot of smoke,
: singHbug no fire,” he said.
esealinfBde added that he has people
leededii 1 inside the industry who are seek-
washind'ing information to help him
umpsw*'prove his suspicions. And he said
the industry’s lobby for a ceiling
on jury awards for certain dam-
, ages is a smoke screen.
Bin the past few months insur-
ame companies have complained
the court's exorbitant rewards
have driven them into financial
dship.
But Mattox refuted the claim,
if thttiii saling only a small percentage of
, u;> claims ever reach the trial stage.
sapling
■ trainiii
hce alotj 1 1
ersity-a
:ethe«1
it of spa 1
See related stories, page 3
$1.35 million in domoges sought
Photo by DEAN SAITO
Visitors at the Texas A&M Micro Center in the Memorial Stu
dent Center look into different types of computers.
By SCOTT SUTHERLAND
Assistant City Editor
A local computer retailer has filed
a $1.35 million, class action lawsuit
against the Texas A&M University
System comptroller seeking to shut
down the Micro Center, A&M’s low-
cost computer outlet.
KLS Computers, 701 University
Dr., filed the suit January 29 against
System Vice Chancellor and Comp
troller Bill Wasson and other indi
viduals acting under his authority.
The petition to sue accuses Was
son of promoting unfair trade prac
tices by allowing the center to sell
computers at uncompetitively low
prices.
KLS is seeking $1.35 million in
damages from Wasson and an in
junction that will close the doors on
the Micro Center.
KLS’s petition says the center uses
public funds, public employees and
public credit and hasn’t reimbursed
the public treasury for those funds.
Those practices are destroying com
petition with local computer retail
ers, the petition says. , .
The petition adds that with such
low, state-funded overhead the cen
ter is able to sell computers at prices
so low that other retailers cannot
compete. These low prices and low
overhead allow the center to capture
90% of the local market, according
to the petition.
The center operates under the
agreement that customers must be
either faculty, staff or a student in
the System. But the petition argues
that the center doesn’t police sales to
make sure that only faculty, staff
and students buy computers there.
The center has already bank
rupted one local retailer and has de
stroyed the market for retailers that
remain in business, the petition says.
The petition alleges that the cen
ter’s employees encourage custom
ers to shop at other stores and then
buy computers at the center.
Through such tactics the center has
been able to maintain a lower payroll
than other businesses could nor
mally operate with, the petition says.
The $1.35 million is a KLS attor
ney’s computed figure for all sales
made by tne center since it opened.
The petition says the center sold 450
computers at $1500 each for a total
of $675,000. But the petition also
contends that the center sold an
equal amount of software, making
the combined total $1.35 million.
The petition reejuests that the
$1.35 million be divided among the
members of the class action suit.
And the petition asks that Wasson
pay all attorney’s fees.
Surprisingly, the petition asks that
KLS be represented by the Attorney
General.The Attorney General also
represents A&M in certain legal
bouts.
“It is the Attorney General’s func
tion to protect the general business
public, of which the class is a mem
ber,” the petition stated.
The petition says System attor-
See Suit, page 10
Vendors: Computer sales ruined
By MIKE SULLIVAN
Reporter
Some local computer store opera
tors claim the Texas A&M Micro
Center, which sells computers to stu
dents at discounts, has destroyed the
computer market in Brazos County.
Judy Wright, president of Yes
Computers, says she’s lost between
one-third and one-half of her busi
ness since the Micro Center opened
last March.
“Since the Micro Center opened, 1
have sold five Macintosh compu
ters,” Wright says.
The Apple Macintosh is a popular
personal computer which Wright
says used to account for 50 percent
of her sales.
Wright says because the Micro
Center buys from Apple Computer
in volume, it’s able to sell computers
at retail for less than her dealer cost.
Kathleen Dixon, manager of pub
lic relations for education and con
sumer markets for Apple Comput
ers, says the relationship between
A&M and the local computer dealers
is left up to A&M.
Dixon says there are only 225 uni
versities, including A&M, that have
the authority to decide what the uni
versity/dealer relationship will be.
She says Apple encourages these
universities to work with the local
dealers, and even requires the re
maining 3,000 universities to work
through their local dealers.
The Micro Center restricts sales to
students, faculty, and staff members,
but Wright questions whether the
University can enforce that regula
tion.
About 50 percent of the people in
Brazos county are affiliated with the
University in some way, she says.
Larry Berry, president of KLS
Computers, says the best market, the
University population, has been cap
tured by the Micro Center.
He says the remaining market
isn’t interested in buying computers.
Wright says she asked the com
puter manufacturers to offer dis
counts to University affiliates
through the local computer stores,
but she says they told her the local
outlets wouldn’t be able to handle
the volume.
Yes Computers does have an
agreement with the Micro Center al
lowing them to sell the Apple II at
the same price as the center, but Ke
vin Cureton, Yes’ service technician,
says the Apple II isn’t even remotely
as popular as the Macintosh.
Wright says the Micro Center has
an exclusive contract to sell the Ma
cintosh at prices the vendors can’t
touch.
According to the center’s price
list, the Macintosh sells for $2,100-
2,500, depending on the package.
John Kane, manager of the Micro
See Vendors, page 10
A&M Micro Center seeks
to help students, faculty
By DAVID CARTER
Reporter
Although local computer re
tailers complain that the Texas
A&M Micro Center is putting
them out of business, the center’s
manager says its only purpose is
to offer computers at discount
prices to students, faculty and
staff of the Texas A&M Univer
sity System.
In 1984 the micro computer
subcommittee, comprised of
A&M officials, decided that the
University’s best interests would
be served by a discount computer
center on campus.
John Kane, manager of the
computer center, says, “The sub
committee identified the need to
bring microcomputers to campus,
both into the offices and onto the
desks of the faculty, staff and stu
dents.”
The subcommittee considered
selling computers at a discount
through local vendors, Kane says,
but felt those discounts wouldn’t
have been as significant as those
offered at the center.
The subcommittee also felt al
lowing local vendors to sell com
puters would lessen the Universi
ty’s control over the quality of
computer training and support
and the location of training cen
ters.
The second option considered
by the subcommittee, the one
they eventually chose, was to es
tablish a center on campus that
See Center, page 10
leagan pleas for $320 billion defense budget
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Reagan
li'iclared Wednesday that it would be
$desSi dangerous and wrong” for Con-
to reduce his $320 billion military
get request, saying cuts “could fatally
^promise our negotiating position” with
he Soviets.
Military spending cuts would be
balksliding of the most irresponsible
he said in a nationally broadcast
jch. Democrats, in reaction, were crit-
nd even Republicans said the budget
askure to be reduced.
Trying to reverse dwindling public and
congressional support lor his 5-year-old
defense buildup, Reagan argued that
“American power is the indispensable el
ement in a peaceful world.”
Congress already has “undercut our ne
gotiators” at the Geneva arms talks by ban
ning tests of anti-satellite weapons and uni
laterally giving the Soviets “a concession
they could not win at the bargaining table,”
the president said.
In a bluntly worded address prepared
for national broadcast from the Oval Of
fice, Reagan said to cut defense now is “not
cheap (and) it’s not safe.”
“Just as we are sitting down at the bar
gaining table with the Soviet Union, let’s
not throw America’s trump card away,”
Reagan said.
In a brief reference to the ousting of
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos
and his replacement by Corazon Aquino —
his first public statement on the switch —
Reagan applauded the “remarkable re
straint shown by both sides to prevent
bloodshed during these last tense days.
“Our hearts and hands are with Presi
dent Aquino and her new government as
they set out to meet the challenges ahead,”
he said. “Today, the Filipino people cele
brate the triumph of democracy, and the
world celebrates with them.”
House Democratic leader Jim Wright,
giving his party’s response to Reagan’s ad
dress, said the president’s defense budget
must be cut to protect the nation from an
other danger— huge deficits.
“We think the deficits themselves pose a
danger to our national security,” Wright
said in remarks prepared for broadcast af
ter the president’s speech.
Wright said if Congress approves the
11.9 percent boost in authorized military
spending that Reagan seeks for the fiscal
year beginning Oct. 1, “we’d be spending
almost four times as much on the military
by the end of this decade as the nation
spent during the height of the Vietnam
War.”
Wright criticized “glaring waste,” such as
$400 hammers and $7,600 coffee pots, and
said “even the Pentagon should be held to
strict standards of accountability in spend
ing, taxpayers’ money.”
Reagan, defending his administration
against charges of wasteful and sometimes
fraudulent defense spending, said Defense
Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger “should
be praised, not pilloried, for cleaning the
skeletons out of the closet.”
Bullock says shortfall
of $6.1 billion possible
By JERRY OSLIN
City Editor
[State Comptroller Bob Bullock
said Wednesday that Texas will
be facing a $6.1 billion shortfall if
the state Legislature allows the
|fis(,tl 1988-89 budgets to increase
atihe present biennium’s rate.
■ Bullock, in College Station to
address a state conference of
bounty judges and commission
ers, said the 8 percent increase al
lowed for fiscal 1986 and 1987 al
ready has caused a projected $1.3
billion shortfall.
‘Even if they (the Legislature)
enact a bare bones budget, and I
dedi; mean a bare bones budget (for
leal 1988-89), they will still be
$2.1 billion short,” he said.
Bullock said Texas’ financial
crisis is not only due to the recent
slide in crude oil prices but is also
the result of a surge in the state’s
population.
“Spending patterns do track
population,” he said. “More peo
ple mean more kids, more class
rooms, more schools. About 50
percent of all money spent by the
Legislature goes to education.”
Increased population means
more needed funds for educa
tion, highways, social services, the
Department of Public Safety and
the Texas Department of Correc
tions, Bullock said. He said the
five categories account for about
90 percent of the state’s spend
ing.
Breaks available for working parents
Tax deductible expenses listed
By JIM LUTHER
AP Tax Writer
Editor’s note — This is the fourth
in a series of five articles written to
help taxpayers prepare their 1985
income tax returns. This installment
covers expenses you may deduct.
WASHINGTON — Parents who
must pay for child-care services in
order to hold a job may qualify for a
tax cut of up to $1,440 from the fed
eral government.
The tax benefit is available to a
person who pays someone to care
for a dependent child w ho is under
15 or is disabled (or a disabled
spouse) so the taxpayer can work or
seek work. The credit — which off
sets taxes owed dollar for dollar —
may be claimed by filing either Form
1040 plus Form 2441, or Form
1040A and Schedule 1.
Expenses eligible for the credit in
clude household services, such as
provided by a cook or maid if at least
part of the service is for the depen
dent. Costs of feeding or educating a
child generally are not eligible. How
ever, if a day-care center provides
lunch and some education as part of
its child-care program, the full cost
may be eligible.
You may not hire your own child
under 19 to babysit and claim the
credit, but you may pay your
mother, for example, even if she
lives with you, so long as she is not
your dependent.
Expenses of up to $2,400 are eligi
ble if you are paying for the care of
one person, or up to $4,800 if for
two or more. But the qualified ex
penses also may not exceed your
earned income for the year —wages,
tips, commissions and the like, but
not interest or unemployment com
pensation.
The credit is also limited by your
total adjusted gross income. The full
credit of 30 percent of eligible ex
penses goes only to those with in
comes of $10,000 or less. It declines
gradually as income increases — the
credit is 20 percent for those with in
comes over $28,000.
Medical expenses that are not re
imbursed by insurance or some
other third party may provide a sub
stantial tax reduction. But only the
portion of expenses exceeding 5
percent of adjusted gross income
may be deducted. You must file the
long Form 1040 to itemize those de
ductions.
When you are totaling unreim
bursed expenses, keep in mind you
may count costs of transportation in
connection with health care. That is
See Some income, page 10