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The Battalion
Voi. 82 No. 180 CIS PS 045380 6 pages
College Station. Texas
Tuesday, JJy 22. 1986
Regents devote A&M resources to aid Texas
By Mom Palmer
Asautmmt C*y Edtto*
The Texas AAM Board of Re
gents Monday announced the for
mation of “Commitment to Texas.”
a five-year program to commit intel
lectual ana pnyskal resources to
helpmgthe Texas economy.
The Texas Legislature recognized
the importance of university re
search to the state’s economy in the
last legislative session when they
passed the Texas Advanced Tech
nology Research Program
The Board intends to reallocate a
total of $53.5 million in resources —
following the lead of the Legislature
and goals of the research program
“Trus program is going to be the
most exciting thing to hit the state in
50 years." AAM Ihesident Frank E.
Vandiver said.
AAM is in an economic crossroad.
he said, and has the ability to make a
difference in the Texas economy.
Vandiver added that the Universi
ty’s role as a Texas resource depends
on what it does in the next few years
and that the plan is to re-direct Uni
versity resources to benefit Texas
and its people
"We are teetering on the brink . ..
of becoming one of the top five re
search universities (in the nation !,**
he said. "We are interested in mak
ing a real difference "
AAM Provost Dr. Donald McDon
ald gave the board a detailed decrip-
tion of the five-year plan.
He said it will pursue areas of re
search the University already has
strength in and research that is im
portant to the Texas economy.
Enhancing A A M's research also
will contribute to the fundamental
body of knowledge which is a posi
tive long-term investment. McDon
ald said.
Regent Henry Cisneros added
that the program should include an
impact statement to assure Texans
that the program is in their best in
terests.
The Board asserts that the pro
gram is good for Texas, he said, but
people need so know that they are
the top concern
The Regents also allocated
$41(1.000 to establish a branch office
of the AAM System in the Texas
Medical Center in Houston
Chairman David Eller said that
the medical center has formally com
mitted four acres to the University
System for the branch office. He
said Gen. Wesley Peel, vice chan
cellor for Facilities Planning and
Construction, has been working on a
location for the building
The Board also approved a revi-
Mon of AAM’s investment policy,
which will allow proceeds from the
sale of bonds and related bond issue
accounts to be placed in a common
account.
The common account will permit
daily investments or withdrawal of
funds on a unit basis.
In other action, the board:
• Approved an expansion of
AAM’s computer network for a total
cost of $501,656. The program will
expand the Ethernet high-speed
computer to computer network and
the port selector, terminal to com
puter. network.
• Approved a holiday schedule
for the University's state employees
with the total vacation being 15 nays.
'Excellence fund' will support program
Uaivcrsity News Service
The Texas AAM University
System’s "excellence fund" will be
the source of allocations for
AAM’s “Committment to Texas’’
program aimed toward assisting
the state in moving forward more
rapidly in economic diversifica
tion.
Board of Regents Chairman
David G. Eller of Houston said
the program calls for the system
to redirect a portion of its share
of the Available University Fund
to help the state overcome its fi
nancial crisis by broadening its
economic base.
Emphasis will be placed on re
search and development in prom
ising high-technology areas that
could create thousands of new
jobs for Texans over the next de
cade, he said.
The AUf is derived from the
proceeds from the investment of
the Permanent University Fund,
which includes oil and gas roy
alties and related income from
land committed to providing an
endowment for the state’s two
(Me Eller, page 4)
Unmasked
Photoby Tmm Owmbey
These firefighting masks are part of the training equipment used at
the Bravton Fireman Training Field. Approximately 2900 fire fight
ers from 755 cities and 25 states are partKipaiing in training sessions
at the field this week.
2 severe temblors
shake California,
felt in Nevada, Utah
High temperatures force Austin to ration water
AUSTIN (AP) — With high tem
peratures nearing 100 degrees, Aus
tin residents face fines beginning to
day for violating provisions of a
mandators water conservation pro-
gratn
“I guess the day we were trying to
avoid has finaMv come." Cicy Man
ager Jorge Carrasco said.
I he decision to impose manda
tory water rationing rules again — as
has occurred during the past two
summers —- was made Sunday after
ckvwide water use topped 155 mil
lion gallons daily for the third
straight day.
Spokeswoman Faith George of
the city’s resource management de
partment said Austin residents used
161.27 million gallons of water Sat
urday. Sunday's high temperature
hit 100 degrees, the hottest of the
year.
Voluntary water controls went
into effect May 1. The biggest differ
ence between those restrictions and
the Stage 2 rationing plan is that po
lice can issue tickets Tor violations
The maximum fine is $200,
George said.
Carrasco said the ability to have
adequate water pressure for fire
fighting was a prime concern.
“We have not experienced any
unusual problems, but we feel that
because of the hot weather and high
demand, the only course of action is
to impose Stage 2 mandatory conser
vation measures,” he said.
The city’s key problem isn’t with
water supply but with a distribution
system mat hasn’t kept pace wkh
Austin's booming growth, officials
said.
George said the conservation
rules require that residents may use
water for outdoor purposes, such as
lawn watering, only every fifth day
as determined by the last number of
street addresses.
Should the controls fail and water
use tops 165 million gallons daily for
three consecutive days, the city could
impose even tougher Stage 5 restric
tions.
BISHOP. Calif (AP) — A severe
earthquake and a powerful af
tershock rumbled across California
and parts of Nevada and Utah Mon
day. wrecking up to 20 homes, cut
ting off a town's water and trigger
ing rockslides in the High Sierra.
One giant fissure — 200 yards
long and 150 yards wide <— swal
lowed a parked pickup truck and
stranded 50 campers, but no injuries
were reported. Later Monday, vio
lent thunderstorms prompted a
flash flood warning.
The temblors measured 6.1 and
5.2 on the Richter scale, according to
the University of California at Ber
keley. and was the second strong
earthquake in as many days. It was
Hb* fifth suable quake to lut Califor
nia in two weeks
The quake struck at 7:42 a.m. in
the White Mountains. 240 miles
north of Los Angeles and was felt
from San Francisco to Las Vegas.
Nev., and in Salt Lake City, more
than 500 miles away. The aftershock
came nine minutes later Both were
centered 15 miles north of Bishop in
the same area where a 5.5-magni
tude auake hit Sunday, said Dennis
Mereaith. spokesman for California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
“A number of mobile homes were
rocked off their foundations” in
Chalfant Valley. 17 miles north of
Bishop. Mono County sheriffs Sgt.
Tfrrv Padilla said.
"Currently there are about 145
homes in the immediate Chaifont
area with about 500 residents," For
est Service spokeswoman Lorraine
Parrish said “Of those, about 50 to
60 are mobile homes. . . Probably
about 50 mobile homes were shaken
off their foundations."
Chalfant firefighter Rick Mitchell
said 20 homes, mostly mobile homes,
were damaged beyond repair. But
he said several non-mobile homes
also were damaged, and one frame
house nearly collapsed
System helps predict juvenile behavior
COLLEGE STATION — Brazos
ountv authorities are using a new
coring system created by a Texas
tAM criminologist in an effort to
>redirt if juvemle offenders will
nove on to more serious crimes
"It’s like the actuarial tables used
jy insurance companies." the sys-
em's creator Ben Crouch said
Crouch received a $9,200 grant
rom the Cnmmalfustice Division of
he governor's office to develop the
neasunng tool that is expected to
telp juvenile probation officers
non nor their charges
He and E.A. Wentrcek Jr., Brazos
County’s chief juvenile probation of
ficer, sav they expect tne test to be
accurate 69 percent of the time.
"We can flip a coin and be right
half the time." Wentrcek said "With
this svstrm. we’ve improved on that
by 19 percent."
The juvenile probation chief
asked Crouch to develop the system
after reading about a similar pro
gram in Calhoun County. Mich
Crouch and a graduate assistant,
with the help of Wentrcek’s staff,
pored through records of 500 juve
nile offenders in Brazos County,
checking cases stretching back seven
years.
They were looking for more than
100 different variables in each case
— such as school background, pre
vious offenses, family history and
age After feeding the information
into a computer, they found six fac
tors that suggest a juvenile may have
more run-ins with the law.
The factors include crimes com
mitted at art early age. school prob
lems and whether the offender has
spent more than 24 hours in a juve
nile detention facility, Wentrcek
said.
Using these factors. Crouch then
developed a three-page tool that
ranks an offender’s probability to fu
ture crime.
"Lots of departments in Texas
have their own systems, but this is
the only one developed scientifically
with university research," Wentrcek
said
Officials will use the system to
help decide what type of probation
to give to a client as well as determin
ing a probation officer’s workload,
he said
The tests also will alert workers to
which youngsters they should spend
more time with, he said
Both men said the system isn't
foolproof.
“All of these systems have short
comings," Crouch said. "You will al
ways have errors. But a tool like this
is used in conjunction with the pro
bation officers common sense and
experience."
Although the system is modeled
for Brazos County only, it can be
modified by plugging local statistics
and data into the formula. Crouch
said.
Customers of the Denny’s restau
rant m Bishop dove under tables or
broke for the doors when the 6.1
? iuake hit, assistant manager Dave
ampbell said.
"They were grabbing hold of each
other and just trying to hang on." he
said. "Anything that was laying
down flat was just going across the
counter."
Part of the ceiling caved in at a
Burger Ring restaurant in Bishop,
U S. Forest Service spokesman Brian
Miller said.
At Pleasant Valley campground
near Bishop, 50 campers were
stranded when a crevasse obliterated
a road and swallowed a parked
C kup truck. Inyo County snerifTs
. Dick. Wood said All those in the
tamp's $00 campsites were safely
evacuated later Monday, authorities
said.
Wood said the opening was 150
yards wide and 200 yards long but
didn't know how deep, although it
was “enough to put a pickup truck
down into.
The pickup truck sank about 30
feet deep and caught fire, Parrish
said. At Kast one occupant was re
moved uninjured and tne truck was
later pulled out as well, she said.
The Richter scale is a measure of
ground motion as recorded on seis
mographs. Every increase of one
number means a tenfold increase in
the strength of the shaking. Thus a
reading of 7.5 reflects ground
movement 10 times stronger than
one of 6.5.
An earthquake of 3.5 on the Rich
ter scale can cause slight damage in
the local area. 4 moderate damage, 5
t (insider able damage. 6 severe dam
age. A 7 reading is a "major" earth-
3 m uake, capable of widespread heavy
a mage. H is a “great" quake, capa
ble of tremendous damage.
The San Francisco earthquake of
1906 has been estimated at 8.3 on
the Richter scale.
Energy summit
postponed
AUSTIN (AP) — A second en
ergy summit meeting planned for
Thursday in Houston was post
poned Monday, Gov. Mark
White’s office announced.
White's aides said the meeting
was being delayed because of the
upcoming Aug. 6 special legis
lative session.
White, who for six months has
unsuccessfully urged President
Reagan to tax imported oil. orga
nized a summit meeting of oil
state governors and energy in
dustry leaders in Dallas last April.
Southeast drought forces farmers to ask for federal aid
(AP) —- Farmers in the Southeast
need immediate help, beyond loans
they can't pay off, tor the drought
that has dried up their crops, farm
ers and state officials told a federal
task force Monday in the midst of a
triple-digit heat wave already
blamed for 27 deaths
“The farmers are absolutely
broke," Frank Strickland, who stows
tobacco near Lakeland. Ga . told the
panel "We re going to see farmers
walk into the bank, throw their pa
pers on the desk and tell the banker.
‘Here — take k.’ And rural banks
can’t handle that."
Crop losses in the Southeast’s
worst drought tn 100 years are esti
mated at up to $700 million in just
Virginia, the Carolina* and Georgia.
The drought also is withering crops
in parts of Alabama, northern Flor
ida and into Delaware and
Maryland.
Some major Georgia rivers are
Howmc at less than 40 percent of
normal and scattered towns in the
Southeast have imposed water-use
restrictions
In addition, temperatures have
been near or above 100 decrees for
15 days in parts of the CaroTinas and
Georgia, and some cities have had
highs above 90 for more than a
month.
Although scattered thunder
storms cooled some parts of the re
gion Monday, the official high for
the 48 contiguous states was a record
105 at Augusta and Macon, Ga., and
at Columbia. S.C., where it tied the
record, the National Weather Serv
ice said. Atlanta and Columbus, Ga.,
hit a record 102 and Charlotte. N.C.,
reached a record 103 degrees
The U.S. Department of Agricul
ture task force, headed by Assistant
Agriculture Secretary George Dun
lop, met with Georgia officials and
toured an Alabama farm. They also
planned to study farms in the Caroli
na*
"We re heading for one of the
worst disasters Southeastern agricul
ture has ever experienced, Rep
Lindsav Thomas, who represents
southeast Georgia, told the group. “I
don't know of anyone with a crop in
the ground and a considerable in
vestment in it who can survive this
without outside help."
Politicians and farmers asked
Dunlop for money, livestock feed
and debt restructuring.
"We don’t need any low-interest
loans," U.S. Sen. Mack Mattingly
said. “What we’re looking for is free
commodities, surplus commodities.’’
Dunlop touted the Federal Emer
gency Feed Assistance Program,
which provides surplus commodities
at low cost, but saicf there is "no pro
vision in the law" for free commodi
ties.
"We have to recognize that the
farm bill provides $2? billion worth
of freebies this year, and many farm
ers qualify.” Dunlop said.
Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace
has already asked for federal
drought disaster assistance, but only
limited relief so far has been ap
proved.
Two Air Force cargo jets took off
for South Carolina Monday with hay
donated by farmers in Illinois end
other Midwestern states, and a third
trip was scheduled Tuesday to
Georgia with another flight planned
Wednesday
"Farmers always receive a lot of
rhetoric and politics ... and this is
really something concrete." Gov.
Dick Riles of South Carolina said.