nFfl Texas A&M ^ 0 V#
The Battalion
/ol. 82 No. 196 GSPS 045360 16 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, August 27, 1986
>enate OKs
^ari-mutuel
gambling bill
c
[AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Sen
ile gave final approval Tuesday to a
proposal that would legalize pari-
[utuel gambling at horse and dog
.faces for the first time in nearly 50
:ears.
■The 17-12 vote sends the measure
the House, where it will be de
bated Thursday, said Rep. Hugo
ter rlanga, D-Corpus Christi, sponsor
bf a similar House bill,
it BBerlanga said the defeat of a last-
ftnute amendment in the Senate
Uj will force the House to pass the mea
sure by two-thirds vote, or 100, for it
-- to be on the November ballot.
■ That amendment, which lost by a
tuo-vote margin, would have al-
Hwed the proposal to be voted on in
d l987 if it did not get the two-thirds
Majority of both houses to be on the
1986 ballot.
Caperton
named for
conference
committee
AUSTIN (AP) — State Senator
Kent Caperton of Bryan is in
cluded in the 10 Senate and
House members named to the
conference committee on spend
ing reductions (HB 1).
The complete list of the com
mittee’s members appears below.
Senate — Sens. Grant Jones, D-
Temple; Ray Farabee, D-Wichita
Falls; John Montford, D-Lub-
bock; Kent Caperton, D-Bryan,
and Bob McFarland, R-Arling-
ton.
House — Reps. James Rudd,
D-Brownfield; Bill Hollowell, D-
Grand Saline; Mike Toomey, R-
Houston; Frank Madia, D-San
Antonio, and Jim McWilliams, D-
Marshall.
The Senate tentatively approved
the bill 19-10 on Monday.
Pari-mutuel wagering’s support
ers have said throughout that the
measure was not an instant cure to
Texas’ financial woes, but said it
would be a substantial revenue pro
ducer in the future.
Opponents claimed it would be an
open invitation to organized crime
and would lead low-income people
to spend money at the tracks that
was needed elesewhere.
Sen. Bill Sarpalius, D-Amarillo,
said, “I hope the people of Texas re
alize this is not an alternative to rais
ing the state sales tax. The real ques
tion is whether the people will get
both.”
Pari-mutuel wagering has been
prohibited in Texas since 1937. The
Senate approved a betting bill in
1983 but it died in House debate. In
1985, a bill failed again in House de
bate.
If the current bill is approved by
this Legislature, a statewide referen
dum will be on the Nov. 4. general
election ballot.
If voters approve, local-option
elections could be held in 251 coun
ties on horse race betting and in
three counties for greyhound wa
gering.
Gov. Mark White has said he
would take a close look at any wa
gering bill sent him.
“My position on that has always
been there should be a statewide ref
erendum, local option and strong
protection against organized crime,”
White said.
The proposed legislation calls for
a Texas Racing Commission to su
pervise horse races and wagering in
about four large tracks in metropol
itan areas, about 17 regional tracks
with mostly weekend race programs
and any number of temporary race
meets at county fairs and other cele
brations.
Most efforts to change the Senate
bill were defeated by lop-sided votes.
But one that would have set aside all
state income from pari-mutuel wa
gering for dependent children was
settled only when Lt. Gov. Bill Hob
by’s vote broke a 14-14 tie and de
feated it.
“Without this amendment, there
is nothing in this bill for little peo
ple,” said Sen. Craig Washington, D-
Houston, who unsuccessfully spon
sored pari-mutuel bills in the 1983
and 1986 sessions.
Washington threatened to filibus
ter the bill Tuesday but called off his
effort, noting that it was still a week
away from the end of the special ses
sion.
The racing commission would
consist of the chairman of the Public
Safety Commission, the state Comp
troller and six public members ap
pointed by the governor. The com
mission would elect its chairman.
State may spend
$2.5 million settling
sexual abuse suits
AUSTIN (AP) — The attorney
general’s office is recommending
hat the state spend $2.5 million to
ettle lawsuits filed by families of
Texas School for the Deaf students
ivho were sexually abused by school
employees.
The recommendation was made
londay as a Senate comrqittee put
bff hearing legislation that would
have rescinded resolutions passed in
1985 giving the families permission
lo sue the state and, in some cases,
jvaived the limits on the state’s liabil-
y-
The legislation, resolutions that
Jivould keep the negligence suits in
Ktate court and would limit damages
■o $100,000 per victim, are awaiting
■learings before the Senate State Af
fairs and House Judicial Affairs
committees.
B Regarding the settlement offers,
Barents of the deaf children say
ftioney is not the only issue. They
Bvant to use settlement negotiations
I’to prompt a thorough house-clean-
I'iing at the state-funded school.
I “If it takes forcing the system to
Khange, we will and we won’t give
tip,” one parent told the Austin
l|4merican-.Sfatesman as she waited
ffputside the Senate chamber.
Sully Shines
Freshman members of Squadron 15 clean the
statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross near the Aca-
Photo by Anthony S. Casper
demic Building. The polishing of Sully is tradition
ally the responsibility of the corps freshmen.
Policemen
charged in
beating
of agent
MEXICO CITY (AP) —- Eleven
Jalisco state judicial policemen have
been charged with beating and tor
turing a U.S. narcotics agent in Gua
dalajara, the Attorney General’s of
fice said Tuesday.
A statement from the attorney’s
office said the policemen were
charged with abuse of authority and
injuring Victor Cortez Jr., a U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration
agent, after he was taken into cus
tody Aug. 13.
The United States lodged a diplo
matic protest against Mexico, charg
ing Cortez was subjected to unpro
voked, brutal and criminal acts while
in custody in Guadalajara, 360 miles
northwest of the capital.
The DEA said the agent, freed on
the order of U.S. officials who
spotted him being taken away by
Mexican authorities, was beaten and
shocked with an electric cattle prod.
Cortez is now in the United States.
Spokesmen for the Attorney Gen
eral’s office originally denied Cortez
was beaten or abused.
The government news agency No-
timex said statements from two po
licemen, Salvador Salas Castaneda
and Anselmq Pulido Galvan, said
they took Cortez to police headquar
ters after he and a male companion
failed to produce identification and
weapons were found in their car.
An automatic weapon was found
in the glove compartment and a
semi-automatic rifle and an Uzi ma-
chinegun in the trunk, Notimex said
the policemen told investigators.
Local reporters in Guadalajara
obtained the report of an Aug. 14
examination by a Red Cross physi
cian, which was filed with state au
thorities.
They said it reported light bruises
apparently produced by a sharp in
strument were on Cortez’ abdomen
and right shoulder.
Federal prosecutors asked a dis
trict judge, Oscar Vazquez Marin, to
obtain a statement from Cortez, No
timex said.
It said the investigation remains
open.
Witnesses describe gas disaster
Death toll rises in Cameroon
Larry Watts, an attorney from
Houston who represents two teen
agers who were victimized, said the
students were tied up and raped,
photographed and tortured by
school employees.
“The people who were guilty of
this had a smorgasbord of children
on which to ply their perversions,”
Watts said.
The former director of the school,
Dr. Victor Galloway, and Charles
Horton pleaded no contest to misde
meanor charges of failure to report
child abuse to police authorities.
Both were placed on probation.
Horton is now the school’s director
of security.
Three other school employees —
John Barryhill, Gary Hoover and
Robert Gates — were convicted of
felony sexual abuse charges.
Watts said sexual abuse of stu
dents took place despite reports to
school officials.
Some parents said they would not
accept the $2.5 million settlement
unless sweeping changes were made
in the operation of the school.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) —
Witnesses to the gas disaster in the
Cameroon Highlands, where 1,534
people are listed as dead, said Tues
day they saw the ground covered
with corpses and entire villages de
void of life.
Worst hit was Nios village, where
about 700 people lived beside the
volcanic lake of the same name in
this West African nation.
Lake Nios’ usually clear waters
were bright red.
Scientists said this might be a
warning of continuing volcanic activ
ity which could reactivate the chain
of events which spewed deadly gas
into the air last week.
A French rescue team that
reached the scene Tuesday reported
only two survivors in Nios, 200 miles
northwest of Yaounde.
A few hundred yards away, there
was not one victim among the ihhab-
itants of Upper Nios, a separate vil
lage on high ground, the French
said.
French and Israeli doctors said
their main concern now was pre
venting an epidemic.
Helpers buried victims in mass
graves. Dead animals were hurriedly
interred.
More than 7,000 dead cattle were
counted, Israeli rescue workers said.
The program director of Camer
oon’s state radio, refusing to be fur
ther identified, said many people
were being evacuated.
One doctor said many survivors
had serious lung lesions and were in
danger of getting pneumonia.
The few hospitals in the region
overflowed with hundreds of casual
ties, some sleeping two or three in a
bed.
In Geneva, the Office of the U.N.
Coordinator for Disaster Relief said
1,534 bodies had been counted and
others were still being discovered.
Its figures showed 300 people
hospitalized and 20,000 affected.
Kenneth Kritby, a Canadian Bap
tist missionary in Wum, said after
visiting the nearby disaster site Tues
day that many bodies remained in
the grass and mud huts and went
unreported because no relatives
were alive.
In the lakeside village of Soubo,
he said, more than half the Baptist
congregation of 300 people died,
“but ... no one living on higher
ground was affected.”
Disaster investigator Francois Le-
guern, of the French National Cen
ter for Scientific Research, said the
red lake water was due to particles of
laterite mud, indicating continuing
underwater volcanic activity.
Leguern said the disaster was
caused by a huge bubble of heavy
volcanic gas long trapped in the lake
and released by an explosion deep
down in the waters of the long-dor
mant crater.
“The gas was heavier than the air,
so those on low ground were the first
victims,” he said.
“It was as though a neutron bomb
had exploded,” the Rev. Fred Tern
Horn was quoted as saying by the
British Broadcasting Corp. “Noth
ing was destroyed, but every living
thing was killed.”
Horn, a Dutch Roman Catholic
missionary, said he traveled with a
group from his mission station in
Wum to the stricken area 30 miles
away.
“In the first village we came to, we
found men, women and animals
stretched out dead on the ground,
some in front of their huts or in their
beds, some on the road,” he said.
Experts: Quake or landslide
could have released gases
NEW YORK (AP) — Volcano
experts in the United States say
an earthquake or landslide could
have triggered the release of what
was probably a combination of
carbon dioxide and smaller
amounts of poisonous gases from
a lake in Cameroon.
Furthermore, the harmful ef
fects of the gas might have been
enhanced by chemical and physi
cal processes in Lake Nios, re
searchers said.
“It may be that the lake acts as
a stopper that allows carbon diox
ide pressure to build up,” said
Terrence Gerlach, a volcanologist
and geochemist at Sandia Na
tional Laboratories in Albuquer
que, N.M.
Or, he said, the lake may be
acting as a sponge, absorbing car
bon dioxide and eventually re
leasing it in response to some dis
turbance.
Many authorities have now
said that carbon dioxide — not
hydrogen sulfide, as first re
ported — is the most likely cause
of the deaths of some 1,500 peo
ple living near Lake Nios in
northwestern Cameroon.
Donald Peterson, a geologist
with the U.S. Geological Survey
in Vancouver, Wash., said the
carbon dioxide may have come
from volcanic vents underneath
the lake, or may have been gener
ated in the lake itself.
The lake could be rich in iron
and carbon, if studies of a similar
gas release in 1984 at nearby
Lake Manoun are any guide, Pe
terson said.
“With this combination, carbon
dioxide is one of the gases that
can develop,” he said.
Peterson, who has studied gas
releases from Mount St. Helens,
provided the following specu
lation about the cause of Friday’s
disaster:
The gases most commonly
found in volcanoes are carbon di
oxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen
sulfide and carbon monoxide,
and these may have been gently
bubbling to the lake’s surface.
High pressure at the bottom of
the lake might have held carbon
dioxide and the other gases back,
however, until they were released
by a volcanic burp, a landslide or
an earthquake. This could have
been caused by a small earth
quake that did not register on
seismographs elsewhere, Peter
son said.
“Carbon dioxide is not poison
ous, but it’s heavier than air,” he
said. “If it is present in large
amounts, it will collect in a low-
hanging blanket. When people
are enveloped in carbon dioxide
gas, it’s just as if they were enve
loped by water — they have no
access to oxygen and are unable
to breathe.”
The other gases that Peterson
mentioned are poisonous. He
said that if substantial amounts of
these other gases were present,
the people would have suffocated
faster.