Thursday, September 4, 1986/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
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Top Gun'sparks increased interest
Freshman enrollment up for Corps
By Craig Renfro
Stuff Writer
Freshman enrollment in the
Texas A&M University Corps of
adets is at its highest sine e 1 ‘)82,
ind the movie “Top Cun” may
lave played a role in the increase,
a Corps of ficial said Wednesday.
Lt. Col. Donald Johnson, assis-
tntcommandant, said 7f>7 fresh-
nen are enrolled in the Corps
his year compared to 632 last
ear, a 21 percent increase. Ris-
nginternational turmoil and the
)atiiotii impact of “ top Cun”
las spurred the growth, Johnson
aid.
"Histot icalls Texans have risen
o the occasion," he said. "Now
vith the Libyan situation and a
novie like ‘Top Cun’ vou will
lave a surge in militaty growth
md patriotism.”
Johnson said interest in joining
he Corps is highei than it has
leen in many years.
This is tlit* most interest stu-
lents have shown in my l"> vears
ieie," lie said. "Several would
ome by each day.”
However, not everyone who
dins the Corps stays in it. Last
ieai 632 freshmen entered ilu-
tups, but only T18 came back
ir their sophomore year, John-
ion said.
We’ve already had some
asking out because the Corps life
style is not like the movies,” he
said.
Although some drop out,
Johnson said many of them stay
because of the positive aspects the
Corps stresses.
“The positive things they find
are togetherness and a chance to
make some immediate friends,”
he said. “Most of them are highly
motivated about being in the
Corps and about being at Texas
A&M. Every outfit wants to be
lieve they are the best one.”
Johnson said academics is the
first thing that the Corps stresses.
Academic counseling and meet
ings are provided to ensure the
f reshmen start off in the right di
rection, he said.
“We want them to understand
the large part academics will have
in their life." he said.
And for some freshmen the
Corps’ emphasis on academics
was one reason for joining.
Carl McKnight, 17, a biology
major from Miami, Fla., said the
study attitude, tradition and disci
pline of the Corps are the reasons
he decided to join.
“It’s the all or none of it,”
McKnight said.
Ryan Bolling, 18. a biology ma
jor from San Antonio, said he
joined to develop good study hab
its. Bolling said the Corps is re
quired to study three hours each
evening.
"1 thought my grades wouldn’t
he good enough if 1 didn’t have
some discipline to my studying,”
Bolling said.
He said life in the Corps is
about what he expected it to he —
a mind game.
“It’s similar to the ‘Lords of
Discipline,’ but it hasn’t been as
dramatic as they say it is,” Bolling
said. “It's a mind game. If you can
get away without showing any
emotion you’ll make it."
Andy Jones, 18, a business ma
jor from Houston, said Corps life
is nothing like the movies.
“In ‘Top Gun’ everything was
real lax, real individual,” Jones
said. “But we’re not. Unity is the
major thing.”
Pari-mutuel bill
likely to receive
veto from White
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Mark
White, upset by legislative inaction
on budget-balancing plans, probably
will veto the horse- and dog-racing
bill, the measure’s sponsor said
Wednesday after meeting with
White.
Rep. Hugo Berlanga, D-Corpus
Christi, said, “I think right now
there’s a good possibility it’s dead
and we’re just going to have to come
back in January and deal with it.”
. Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and Speaker
Gib Lewis also said Wednesday that
White indicated to them the bill was
headed for a veto if there was no ma
jor progress on the budget problem.
But Ami Arnold, White’s press
aide, said no veto decision has been
made.
“The governor has serious reser
vations about the pari-mutuel bill it
self and about the Legislature pass
ing that measure without dealing
with the budget shortfall,” Arnold
said.
The special session called by
White will end today, and, short of a
miracle, will end with no major ac
tion on the budget cuts or tax hike
pushed by White. The governor has
said he will call another special ses-
'attox could run office ‘without state funding’
■AUSTIN (AP) — Attorney Gen-
Bil Jim Mattox says he would not
■fled to ask the Legislature for
S bH 'fluey if lie could run his depart-
flm like a private law office, on a
n Civil Lib ijmingencv lee basis.
B Td oe glad to do it and make a lot
I money for the state,” Mattox said
at a news conference. “But 1 don’t
ni' :h think they will do that."
nunissiom
* sexual D;
al Dark Af
n’t liveinctflMattox annouiK
I, and ses s2'vd SI.7 billion f
bhorrentrtfl
*d that his office
ir Texas taxpay
ers and the state treasury during the
1P86 fisc al year.
“Despite our state’s current eco
nomic difficulties in both the private
and public sectors, the attorney gen
eral’s office had a record year of suc
cess,” he said.
Mattox said that when he took of
fice four years ago, succeeding now
Gov. Mark White, “it was an office
that had seen crisis after crisis after
crisis.
“That is not the case now in this
office,” Mattox said. “It is running
smoothly, doing a good job for the
state of Texas.”
Mattox said if the Legislature
would let him work on a contingency
fee basis as he did in private practice
he would not even ask legislators for
an appropriation for his office.
“Next year I would anticipate pay
ing for the entire attorney general’s
office totally and completely
through the collections division
without costing the state of Texas
any money at all,” he said.
He estimated the division would
collect about $20 million next year.
Mattox said $59.9 million had
gone straight to citizens through suc
cessful prosecution of antitrust, con
sumer protection, housing, crime
victims compensation and child sup
port cases.
He Said the department saved
$866 million through prosecution of
insurance, banking and securities
cases and by fighting for lower utility
rates.
Mattox said $722.7 million was
paid to the state treasury through
cases involving antitrust, bond ex
amination fees, taxation, consumer
protection, housing, Medicaid
fraud, environmental protection, j
energy, state and county, highway,
workers’ compensation and collec
tions.
sion soon to deal with the projected
$3.5 billion budget deficit.
Berlanga said he would not intro
duce a betting bill in the next special
session.
The House and Senate acted on
the pari-mutuel bill although White
said it was not in the agenda he set
for the special session. Under the
bill, Texans would vote in November
1987 on whether to allow local op
tion elections for legalized betting on
dog and horse races.
Pari-mutuel gambling would pro
duce significant state revenue, but
not for several years.
Berlanga said White was “ob
viously more concerned about . . .
the fact that come Dec. 1, if we don’t
come to grips with some budget cuts
and some cash flow management
and-or additional revenues, this
state’s got serious problems.”
The House has blocked consider
ation of any tax bill, but Berlanga
said White clid not seem to be trying
to hold the betting bill hostage in an
effort to get a tax hike.
“I don’t think it’s a punishment.”
Berlanga said of the possible veto.
“If I was in his position, I’d probably
be doing the same thing.”
Arnold said White had several
concerns about the bill, including
the structure of the statewide refer
endum provision. The way the bill is
drawn, pari-mutuel gambling could
become legal without a statewide
vote if a court rules the referendum
is illegal.
Berlanga said he asked White to
delay vetoing the bill until it is clear
that lawmakers cannot agree on ma
jor progress on the budget front.
And the Democratic .legislator
said he would not want White to ap
prove the bill if it became a political
albatross for the Democratic gover
nor in this election year.
“What’s more important for me is
first of all that Mark White gets re
elected,” he said.
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