Goswick: Physician problems
led to Beutel care cutbacks
— Page 3
Firemen burn off chemicals
at site of train derailment
— Page 4
NFL claims USFL financial
problems league's own fault
— Page 6
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Reagan to ask for Challenger replacement
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■ WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan Wednesday night
blamed the explosion of the space
shuttle Challenger on NASA’s com
placency and “a carelessness that
grew out of success,” and said he
would propose construction of a re
placement orbiter.
I At his first nationally broadcast
news conference in more than a
month, Reagan said he has not yet
decided how to pay for the new shut
tle, which will cost an estimated $2.8
billion. He said he is studying the Ro
gers commission report on the Jan.
Arms cuts
proposed
he has' I
et ting or H
U.S. considers
Soviet offer
he piii •gE
i homei Rf
g D d eC iW ASHINGTON (AP) — The
Soviet Union on Wednesday offered
to l .S. negotiators a new proposal to
curb long-range nuclear weapons,
W ( and the offer is under serious con-
| sideration, a knowledgeable adminis
tration official said.
d jJBgDetails were withheld under a con-
| Jidentiality agreement between the
V two sides. But the official, who in
sisted on anonymity, said the propos
al Was presented formally at the site
of the talks in Geneva,
om star'® Only two weeks ago, Soviet nego-
I, imotlif tiator Victor Karpov informally sug-
rokedow gested that his government would
Butruth consider sharply reducing its arsenal
lionedai of heavy land-based nuclear missiles
if fthe United States promised to
qblerve the 1972 anti-ballistic missile
three-go treaty for at least 10 years.
talyto' 11 ! Privately, U.S. officials took a
finished 11 skeptical view but said they wanted to
ppearane see more details. Reducing Soviet
re went it missiles is the primary U.S. goal in the
> Hwang- Geneva negotiations. But Reagan
Altobelli administration officials have said
1 he desff they are wary of any overture that
might impinge on the search for a
ball. ' U.l. space-based missile defense,
rone in h « The administration has been
i it.” urging the Soviets to follow up public
mind war statements by Gorbachev calling for
It as on a inti-nuclear measures by putting
is embarrajoncrete proposals before the nego
tiators in Geneva.
Reagan last month announced he
vas perso vas prepared to disregard the SALT
ning AuOJI treaty’s limits on long-range nuc-
,vas elim& ear weapons because of what he
h Korea, daimed were widespread Soviet
g boy and violations Q f the 1979 treaty’s limita-
suchabi- ions on new missiles and testing in
i' happet brmation.
ppy 1 conn At the same time, however, he said
narkinouJe would take into consideration
i. Nobod' whether the Soviets changed their
tgain. tegotiating stance at Geneva.
j. Earlier Wednesday, a top-ranking
^^-UnrlnrUn arms control adviser
r ACH old Congress that U.S compliance
\yMwlVith the SALT II pact “is extremely
QOld # am;i g in g” as l° n g as t l ie Soviet Un-
y 1 pn does not adhere to all aspects of
Dins.diadhe pact.
Jewelry ft Reagan’s decision that, starting la-
er this year, the United States would
irg6 btO“ ot be bound by limits in the pact was
Diamond' 16 best way to force the Soviets to
, . , argain seriously, Paul H. Nitze said.
jOIQ Gnti ]\tit ze) one 0 f' Reagan’s senior arms
antrol advisers, defended Reagan’s
:XASft Ia y 27 decision during an appear-
✓ />UAMf nce l }e f ore the House Armed Ser-
\CHAlices arms control subcommittee.
4 UniversiV
846-8916
02-ATexas ; »
iss from ElCIt--
28 Challenger accident before decid
ing whether to order the space agen
cy to adopt its recommendations.
In blaming the nation’s worst
space disaster on complacency at the
space agency, Reagan said he does
not believe “that there was any deli
berate criminal intent on the part of
anyone.”
Reagan also confirmed that earlier
in the day the Soviet Union had
offered to American negotiators in
Geneva a new proposal to curb nuc
lear weapons. But the president also
said he could not discuss its details.
He said his goal is a “fair and ba
lanced” accord.
He said Soviet Leader Mikhail
Gorbachev apparently is the first
Soviet leader to voice interest in re
ducing nuclear weapons. Reagan said
he still is hoping to arrange a second
summit this year with his Soviet coun
terpart.
Reagan defended his decision to
conclude that the United States
should no longer feel constrained to
abide by the limits of the unratified
SALT II arms control treaty with the
Soviet Union.
“The Soviet Union for seven years
has been violating the restraints of
the treaty,” Reagan said.
The president said he hoped his
decision could persuade the Soviets
to get involved in negotiations to re
duce nuclear arms, not simply res
train their growth.
The president opened his news
conference with a prepared state
ment in which he repeated his long
standing vow to veto any tax bill that
crosses his desk — a threat he said
stands for the balance of his term.
He also embraced the tax simplifi
cation bill that is pending in the Sen
ate, and called on the House to hold a
quick “up or down” vote on his plan
for $100 million to rebels battling the
leftist regime in Nicaragua.
Reagan noted as he discussed the
space program that there was discus
sion within his administration of
whether to resort to unmanned
throwaway rockets to lift a backlog of
cargo into space. But he did not say
whether he would approve a plan to
build those as well as the new shuttle.
The commission appointed by the
president found that a faulty joint in
the shuttle’s booster rocket caused
the Jan. 28 Challenger accident that
killed seven astronauts. It called for a
redesign of thejoint, and also recom
mended sweeping changes in NASA
management practices.
Earlier in the day, Reagan traveled
to the National Air and Space
Museum, where he told youngsters
the nation “will do everything we
planned to do before” the Challenger
disaster.
See related story, page 8
Over Easy
Photo by Tom Ownbey
A member of the College Station Junior Olympic track team
gives his all to get over the high bar at Wednesday’s practice
track meet against Brenham. On June 18 the College Station
team will host Caldwell and Bellville at Kyle Field.
Senate refuses to restore
deductible IRA’s, 51-48
WASHINGTON (AP) —The Sen
ate refused Wednesday night to res
tore deductible Individual Retire
ment Accounts for all workers, clear
ing away the biggest obstacle to pas
sage of a sweeping plan to overhaul
the federal income tax.
On a 51-48 vote, the Senate tabled,
thus killing, an amendment by Sens.
Alfonse D’Amato, R-N.Y., and
Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., that
would have granted all workers a tax
saving of up to $300 a year for contri
butions to IRAs. The $ 15-billion,
five-year cost of the amendment
would have been paid by raising taxes
on upper-income investors and pro
fitable corporations.
Later, President Reagan told a na
tionally broadcast news conference
that the tax revision bill before the
Senate was “one of the best poverty
programs, one of the best job-
creation programs and one of the
best pro-family bills this country has
ever seen, all rolled into one.”
The administration supports the
measure approved by the Senate Fi
nance Committee, including its prop
osal to eliminate full IRA deductions
for many Americans.
Restoring IRAs for all, said Sen.
Bill Bradley, D-N.J., “frustrates the
goal of tax reform, which is (that)
equal income pays equal taxes.” IRAs
favor saving for retirement over sav
ing to buy a home or to educate a
child, he added.
The IRA amendment, said Dodd,
would boost the tax bill’s benefits to
middle-income Americans, many of
whom could face tax increases other
wise. “This $300 looms large for a
family with $20,000 to $40,000 in
come” in determining whether they
save for retirement, he added.
The Senate earlier in the day voted
in favor of a non-binding resolution
that expressed a desire that tax-
deductible IRAs should be allowed as
many workers as possible. The re
solution, approved 96-4, did nothing
to assure that will happen.
That left the bill untouched, de
nying IRA deductions for workers
who are covered by company pen
sions. But because the tax bill passed
by the House retains fully deductible
IRAs for all, the final chapter on the
issue will be written in a Senate-
House conference.
With the non-binding resolution,
said Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-
Kan., “I believe we can handle the
IRA problem later,” in the confer
ence.
But Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-
111., who will head the House delega
tion to that conference, suggested the
Senate face up to the issue instead of
passing the buck.
The resolution instructs Senate de
legates to the conference to “give
highest priority to retaining max
imum possible tax benefits” for IRAs
but without raising the sharply re
duced tax rates in the bill or tilting it
toward any income group.
D’Amato called the resolution
meaningless for many of the 40 mil
lion Americans who own IRAs. Ab
out three-quarters of IRA deductions
are claimed by taxpayers with incom
es under $50,000.
“It can’t be done, it’s hocus-pocus,”
D’Amato said of the resolution. “The
public should not be deluded. It’s not
good enough to come to the Amer
ican people and say IRAs are great”
without actually voting to keep them,
he said.
“I will try to observe it (the resolu
tion) in conference,” Packwood said,
but he repeated he will oppose any
change that would increase the tax
rates in the bill.
Bradley was among the four sena
tors voting against the resolution.
The others were Sens. Max Baucus,
D-Mont.; Gary Hart, D-Colo.; and
Pete Wilson, R-Calif.
Dole predicted defeat of all major
amendments to the bill, including the
one by D’Amato, which would raise
taxes on some wealthy investors and
profitable corporations to pay for
universal IRAs. All sides in the de
bate have said the IRA fight would
pose the biggest test to the tax bill.
Racial violence
Cleveland shooting sparks FBI civil rights investigation
CLEVELAND (AP) — Months of
racial tension in a overwhelmingly
white neighborhood erupted with
the shootings of eight whites by a
black man, and the FBI said Wednes
day it has begun a civil rights investi
gation into whether the area’s only
black family was harassed.
A 24-year-old black man opened
fire with a shotgun late Tuesday
night, aiming at a group of people
who had earlier set fireworks outside
the black family’s house in the work
ing-class neighborhood on the city’s
West Side, police said.
The man, a resident of suburban
Parma who had been visiting the
family, was arrested but not charged.
None of the eight people shot was
seriously injured.
The black family, which moved
into a county-owned house in Febru
ary, had been subjected to taunts by
some neighborhood whites for
weeks, said city Councilman Jay
Westbrook. In April, the letters
“KKK” were spray-painted on their
home.
Some whites said Wednesday the
See Cleveland,page 8
Flooding
will cost SA
$2.5 million
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP)
— Damage from last week’s flood
ing, which ravaged streets, river
channels, bridges and buildings,
will cost the city at least $2.5 mil
lion, according to a report.
The report, prepared by Public
Works Director Frank Kiolbassa,
says the drainage channels and the
river walls supporting the River
Walk along the San Antonio Riv
er, a popular tourist spot, suffered
the most damage.
Damage to county roads and
buildings has been pegged at
$230,000, pushing the total public
cost to about $2.73 million. The
estimate does not include damage
to private property.
The city has issued an emergen
cy contract worth $300,000 to
shore up the walls of the River
Walk in one section where officials
fear the structure may collapse.
Officials were expectea to ask the
City Council Thursday to approve
the contract with the H.B. Zachry
Co.
Assistant City Manager Alex
Briseno said the bulk of the flood
damages likely would be covered
by existing money in the city oper
ating budget and the capital re
serve fund.
“What that means is the normal
work program will be delayed,”
Briseno said. “So, citizens can ex
pect the grass in the parks will be
cut less frequently and less critical
potholes will wait for repair over
the next few months.”
Briseno said the $2.5 million
would be the most paid by the city
for repairs in the aftermath of a
natural disaster in recent years.
779-761:
onditions, morale improving for Dallas air controllers
FIND
GRAPEVINE (AP) — Air controllers criti-
jj’.ed after last year’s crash of Delta Air Lines
’ieht 191 now work under better conditions
ght 191 now work under better conditions
W/L ■ morale is up, although many still believe
I fy handle too much traffic at peak times,
VIA Igderal officials say.
J® j. Since a General Accounting Office survey
l|fl THpoi led substandard working conditions for
ntrollers at Dallas-Fort Worth Internation-
Airport, improvements have been made,
icials said Tuesday.
Controller morale in the tower and at an
traffic route center, which monitors re-
)nal traffic, also has improved, officials
d.
In the GAO survey, the controllers’ dis
content at DFW was greater than that found
at the nation’s four other busiest airports.
The GAO reported nearly 80 percent of
the controllers complained that they handled
too many planes during peak hours last sum
mer. More DFW controllers said they consi
dered air safety “poor” or “very poor” than
their counterparts at other airports.
But Norm Scroggins, DFW tower mana
ger, said he believes the controllers’ negative
responses to survey questions about their
workload and system safety were “an emo
tional response to quite a few things that were
going on” last summer.
On Aug. 2, Delta Flight 191 crashed near
the airport, killing 137 people.
Also during the summer, new policies
were implemented including tripling of con
trollers’ training hours, limiting vacations to
only two weeks and banning smoking in the
tower cab and radar rooms, Scroggins said.
Another policy change included requiring
controllers to clear aircraft to take off and
land on all four DFW runways, when pre
viously two runways were used for takeoff
and two others for landing.
The airport continues to have a problem
with controllers being swamped with traffic at
peak times, Scroggins said. But that problem
has been somewhat alleviated over the past
year by the addition of 19 full-performance
level controllers, he said.
With the additional manpower and more
experienced workers, overtime has been
halved. For the first time since the 1981 con
trollers’ strike controllers will be able to take
more than two weeks of vacation at a time
without causing staffing problems.
At the air route center, the number of
full-performance level controllers increased
by 30 over the past year and the total control
ler staff increased by 15.
Don Hensley, deputy tower manager, said
that despite complaints, a recent internal
FAA survey of controllers shows marked im
provement in their attitudes about their jobs.
Controllers surveyed by the FAA during
the winter said managers showed support for
them after the Delta crash and “brought the
facility together,” Hensley said.
Scroggins said, “Really what the Delta 191
thing did was let people see the best side of
everyone else. It made them see management
in a different light.”
There have been no changes in procedure
since the crash, he said.