The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 25, 1986, Image 1
ecializingi kNDARD ^ ^ ^°' ^ ^-ISPS 045360 10 pages )MATICtrai ons, CLUTOii stments.an placement! TlS xa i^ M D _ 4. j. ^ 12 ^ M The Battalion College Station, Texas Thursday, September 25, 1986 •reign and dome? hite allows betting bill to pass into law New Ownersl; USTIN (AP) — Saying it is a 21^ Tv Aw> question each Texan must decide, Bv. Mark White on Wednesday al- ' bend inTx.AlfB' 6 ^ a that could legalize pari mutuel wagering on horse and dog yan / / 9-2626 j races to become law without his sig nature. he bill calls for a statewide vote held on the gambling question ovember 1987. will vote against pari-mutuel Igering, but each one of us will h|ve one vote to cast — a very im- prtant vote — as equal citizens of | Bxas,” White said. TO ORDER: SeMto BWhite said the idea of gambling or moneyoriWbSl rut 5 counter to his conscience and ($4 99 plus sh« RENCO PO 80x2739 CoKtoeSUMn. )UR AGGIE SPIRIT! religious beliefs, but he said the issue is one the public ultimately must de cide. “I am convinced that unless the will of the majority is allowed to be expressed, this divisive issue will come back again to tie up — and even plague — future sessions of the Legislature,” White said. The bill was approved during the special legislative session that ended Sept. 4. White had until midnight Wednesday to sign the bill, veto it or allow it to take effect without any ac tion on his part. As approved by the Legislature, the bill calls for a statewide referen dum in 1987 on whether to legalize pari-mutuel wagering for the first time in half a century. Such a referendum was one of three requirements White insisted on for him to approve any racing bill. The other two, which White ac knowledged were included in the bill, were local elections in the areas where race tracks would be located and protections against infiltration by organized crime. Gambling on horse races hasn’t been legal in Texas since a four-year period during the 1930s when the Legislature permitted it as an exper iment. White issued a one-page statement explaining why he de cided against signing or vetoing the bill. He said his was an action taken as a public official, not as an individ ual. “All of my personal and religious values are against it, there is no place for it among what I believe is good and right and best,” he said. “My op position stems from individual con science, from my Baptist convictions and from my belief in the traditional values of Texas.” However, he noted that Legis- t on initial visit 11 Clinic scount d Employee 0i5c:.j i/e. x. tudent ID RequiiK A Different Drummer ■Sophomore Todd Nelson plays his drums Wednesday afternoon on ■the polo field out of consideration for his neighbors at Scandia Apart ment Complex. Nelson, a natural history major, played along with a tape of the band Missing Persons. alawsuit slapped on A&M, Corps Cadet claims negligence at bonfire cut caused leg injury ‘ By Olivier Uyttebrouck Staff Writer . {fA Texas A&M cadet filed a law suit Monday against Texas A&M and the Corps of Cadets for injuries he allegedly received cutting wood for the 1985 Aggie Bonfire. ■The suit charges that Keith Van Bpskirk, a 20-year-old junior in Squadron 15, was injured through the negligence of A&M employees and that the injury will cause him “physical pain and mental anguish, loss of earnings and loss of earning capacity.” The suit was filed in Brazos County district court Monday nearly a year after the injury allegedly oc curred on Oct. 20, 1985. Van Boskirk’s attorney, James Mehaffy Jr. of Beaumont, said that the injury resulted from a partially cut tree that was left standing by one of the crews. The tree was unat tended when it fell, knocking over a second tree which, in turn, struck Van Boskirk, Mehaffy said. Van Boskirk suffered a broken leg, Mehaffy said. The break was high up on the femur, where the bone fits into the hip socket, he said. The resulting medical costs ran about $6,000, he said. Mehaffy said his client was not considering bringing suit against the members of the crew that left the tree standing. Rather, the employees of Texas A&M and the Corps are the targets of the suit, Mehaffy said. Jerry Cain, associate general counsel for the A&M System, said the defendants had not yet been served and had no comments con cerning the lawsuit. No dollar figure was named in the suit and Mehaffy said that it is “im proper” at such an early point in the suit to discuss precise figures, but he did say the suit fell in the “several hundred-thousand-dollar category.” Survey: Doctors admit to use of drugs Nor# 1 ' ■BOSTON (AP) — Nearly 40 per- eem of doctors under age 40 ad- mined in a survey that they used marijuana or cocaine to get high with friends, and a quarter of doc tors of all ages said they recently frlated themselves with mind-affect ing drugs. ||bverall, more than half the physi cians and three-quarters of the med ical students who participated in the Harvard University survey said they have used drugs at least once for self-treatment, to get high or to help them stay awake. Only 1 percent of the doctors sur veyed said their drug use had ever caused them to give poor care to pa tients. Most physicians use these drugs only occasionally, if at all. But the re searchers say medical students and young doctors are more experienced with drugs than are older physicians. And they predict that the propor tion of drug-taking doctors will grow as medical students set up practice and take their habits with them. “Perhaps for the first time,” they wrote, “appreciable although small proportions of persons entering medicine have histories of extensive drug use and dependence.” But they concluded that the drug use they found should not be cause for great alarm because it simply re flects growing drug use throughout American life. “When psychoactive drug use be comes a fad and is approved by the latures have been grappling question for years, and he a with the question tor years, and he acknowl edged that there are arguments on both sides. “If my decision were only a matter of personal preference, I would have vetoed this bill immediately, but it is not,” White said. “The issue is the right of every person to de cide, and the issue is my duty to serve all of the people of this state. “I believe other Texans should have the right to make up their own minds just as I have, because we are all equally entitled to our own be liefs.” Gov. Mark White Texas may join highest taxers if plan passes broad spectrum of society, just about all groups get involved,” said Dr. William E. McAuliffe, the study’s di rector. McAuliffe, a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, published his findings in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. His study was based on a random survey of 500 practicing physicians and 504 medical students in Massa chusetts conducted in November 1984. AUSTIN (AP) — A tax plan sup ported by the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee would make Texas one of the na tion’s highest-taxing states, Comp troller Bob Bullock said Wednesday. Chairman Stan Schlueter’s plan includes raising the state sales tax from the current 4'/8 percent to S'/a percent and adding 5 cents to the current 10-cent per gallon gasoline tax, according to Bullock. “We estimate that this boost will fall unevenly on Texas wage-earners since low-income persons spend a higher proportion of their income on taxable purchases,” Bullock said. The increase in sales tax would give Texas the nation’s eighth-high- est tax rate. “Texas will climb near the top of the high-taxing states,” the comp troller said in a letter to Schlueter, D-Killeen. Schlueter denied having any plan, although Bullock referred to “The Schlueter Tax Proposal.” Schlueter told reporters,“I’m not pushing anything. I told you, what ever it takes to get 76 votes.” But other House members said Schlueter laid out what sounded like a plan in a Tuesday meeting in Speaker Gib Lewis’ office. Rep. Bruce Gibson, D-Godley and a ways and means committee member, said the program also included: • Establishing a 3 percent gross receipts tax on bingo games. • Allowing rural counties that do not collect a transit tax to collect a half-cent sales tax to be divided among city and county govern ments. All the increases would expire af ter three years. Bullock said he had not yet calcu lated how much money the increases would raise for the state. “There is little doubt that the bill will greatly help the Texas cash flow and deficit problems, but in doing so will make significant changes to the Texas tax burden,” he told Schlueter. Schlueter said he is merely trying to piece together a tax bill that can win House approval. “I think the combination can be found, but it’s not going to be that easy,” he said. Speaker Gib Lewis, who opposed a tax hike until it became obvious that lawmakers would not approve sufficient spending cuts, said Wednesday he likes the one-year tax increase plan. “I think there’s a lot of support for a temporary” tax increase, Lewis said. But Schlueter said majority sup port is not there, and that there is no such thing as a temporary tax hike. “The word temporary should never be applied to taxes,” he said. “I don’t think any taxpayer is ever going to believe a temporary tax. If they do, they’re as foolish as some of us are.” White said Wednesday he still prefers his one-year tax bill. “I would like to make certain that any tax increase is going to be termi nated at the end of this fiscal year,” he said. Schlueter drew mixed reaction when he briefed House committee chairmen on his proposals, accord ing to Gibson. “It was controversial, particularly the part about three years,” he said. “Well, really all of it was controver sial. It obviously complicates the sce nario tremendously.” Bill may help loss of tuition Senate OKs fund for'shortfall' AUSTIN (AP) — The Senate voted Wednesday to transfer over $42.5 million from the state high way fund, part of which would cover college tuition losses, on the condition that the Legislature en act an increase in the gasoline tax. The Senate took a House-ap proved bill that would transfer $24.6 million in savings from the highway fund to general revenue and added an amendment by Sen. Bob Glasgow to transfer an additional $17.96 million from highways to a special “tuition shortfall fund.” Glasgow said a House-Senate conference committee had ap propriated $18 million to make up for tuition losses, and an extra $3.21 million also is available. Put together, these would recoup all of the tuition shortfall for 1986. Some state-supported colleges lost money in the 1985 tuition hike because enrollment dropped. He said his amendment was contingent upon the special legis lative session raising the state gas oline tax. The bill transferring a total of nearly $42.56 million in highway funds was sent back to the House on a 24-0 vote for con sideration of Glasgow’s amend ment. colleges study new core curriculum plan By Sondra Pickard Senior Staff Writer ■The proposed 51-hour core cur riculum recently approved by both the Faculty Senate and President Flank E. Vandiver is being studied b)' each college to determine the im pact it will have on the University. ■f the plan is implemented as writ ten by the Faculty Senate, all Texas A&M undergraduates will be re- E red to complete a 51-hour core of ses in 10 separate disciplines be ginning in Spring 1988. SThese include: computer science; foreign language; speech and writ ing; mathematics/logical reasoning; science; cultural heritage; social sci ence; technology/renewable re sources; physical education and cit izenship. After the proposal was approved by Vandiver, a committee of four headed by Dr. Lawrence Cress, assis tant provost, was appointed by the provost and vice president for aca demic affairs, Dr. Donald McDon ald. Each of the 10 colleges at A&M has been asked to review the core curriculum and report back to the committee on their findings, Cress said. The colleges are considering, among other things, such academic and fiscal questions as whether more faculty will be needed, whether en rollment will increase or decrease and whether degree plans will change. For example, the added computer science entrance requirement may bring a need for more computer sci ence classes and faculty. And an esti mate of how many incoming stu dents have had computer science in high school will have to be made. Besides Cress, four others have been assigned to the committee to conduct the impact study: Dr. Carl Erdman, associate dean of engi neering; Dr. Samuel Gillespie, assis tant dean of business administra tion; Dr. Manuel Davenport, professor of philosophy and human ities; and Dr. Davis Fahlquist, asso ciate dean of geosciences. From the 10 reports — due back to the committee at the beginning of October — Cress said the committee will write a comprehensive statement to the deans and the provost, who will review it and either accept it or ask for more changes. “The point was not to represent every college on this impact study,” Cress said. “The idea was to get enough people to look at the issue from a university level and then re port back to the deans. “The question is, given what the senate has proposed, what does this mean to the University?” At present, the only courses com mon to all undergraduate degrees are a state-mandated requirement of six hours in American history, six hours in political science, and a Uni versity requirement of four hours in physical education. The Faculty Senate began work ing on the core curriculum in Feb ruary 1984 after Vandiver requested that the Senate study the general ed ucation requirements for baccalau reate degree programs. Vandiver told the Senate that A&M is one of the few major univer sities in the nation that fails to re quire a broad background in the arts and sciences, which he said was “the heart of a university education.” After much research and debate, the Senate developed and approved the final core proposal in April.