The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 02, 1986, Image 1
trqm; The Battalion /ol. 83 No. 24 GSPS 045360 10 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, October 2, 1986 obby speech kicks off A&M symposium By Olivier Uyttebrouck Staff Writer Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby visited Texas A&M Wednesday, criticized the performance of limself and his fellow legislators in the re lent special sessions, spoke out against cuts In higher education and referred to budget luts and sales tax increases as “band-aid” Hobby’s comments came during a dis- Jussion kicking off a two-day symposium, ■Shaping the New Economy of Texas.” lobby presented a public perspective on |he need for university research. Peter O’Donnell, who has served on a lumber of state and federal committees on iducation — including Gov. Mark White’s iNT? Child inter help planned? >-5577 Select Committee on Higher Education — xesented a private perspective on the same opic. Hobby said that of the $512 million in mdget cuts authorized by the Legislature, 189 million — about 30 percent — came out of higher education. “These cuts were far too deep and our universities will suffer,” he said. Hobby cited a recent survey of 22 Texas state uni versities that found that 217 faculty mem bers had resigned this year as of July and that another 225 prospects had declined positions at Texas universities. “We are in a fierce battle with other states for high-technology industries and some of these states have incorporated Texas’ plight into their recruiting strategies,” Hobby said. “We are in a constant race for the cut ting edge in new technologies that will cre ate entire industries.” The Legislature’s strategy in recent years has been to speed the transfer of new ideas and techniques to the private sector and to create a profit motive for university re searchers, he said. The Texas Science and Technology Council was created in 1984 with the inten tion of developing an “intellectual property policy” to ensure that a reseacher benefits from the fruits of his own work, Hobby said. He said that last year the Legislature cre ated a $35 million Texas Advanced Tech nology Research program to encourage re search in the state and that Gov. Mark White soon would announce an initiative that will encourage private funding of high- tech research. “But all of these efforts to speed technol ogy transfer are moot if we don’t have the technology,” Hobby said, “and the Legis lature’s actions during these special sessions have done considerable harm to one of the essential ingredients in technology devel opment — our state universities. “This session was devoted to damage control. The next session must be devoted to damage repair.” O’Donnell said Texas will not be able to rely on oil in the future even if it wants to. He presented graphs showing that oil and gas production in Texas peaked in 1972 and has declined sharply since then despite a three-fold increase in the number of new wells drilled since 1972. The declines in Texas oil production have been obscured by the rapid increases in the price of oil and gas since 1972, O’Donnell said. Oil prices have climbed by over 700 percent and gas prices by over 1,200 percent since that year, he said. And while Texas can expect little help from the oil industry in the years to come, the growth in the state’s population be tween now and 1990 will create a need for 1.5 million new jobs, he said. The most promising growth industries emanate from university research, O’Don nell said. Because Texas always has been able to rely on the oil industry in the past, it has neglected higher education and has not pushed actively for federal research money, he said. The federal government funded 64 per cent of all university research in 1984, with military research and development ac counting for most federal money, he said. Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby tSH 1, silver, diamond: ilry Repa 1 Stock of londs Chains SCOIN ANGE ersity Dr, 8916 ;xas Ave. :i Chico,fyanj 7662 .OMB'f jy-Bans jroffes^ 1 Iclans, ■E2^ n ICRESTM >5-91 11 Photo by Anthony S. Casper Texas A&M yell leaders, from left, John Bean, Doug Beall, Marty Holmes and Troy Ireland talk to a crowd about the importance of maintaining traditions at A&M Wednesday afternoon at Sully’s Sym posium. The symposium is held Wednesdays at 11:50 a.m. TDC expecting uphill struggle after funds cut Caperton, Smith: State prison system in a bad position, facing more cuts By Craig Renfro Staff Writer The Texas Department of Cor rections faces an uphill battle against overcrowding following budget cuts of $3.7 million, state Sen. Kent Ca perton and state Rep. Richard Smith said Wednesday. Caperton, D-Bryan, and Smith, R- Bryan, addressed the problems at the Texas Corrections Association Southeast Regional Conference at the College Station Hilton. Smith said the state’s criminal jus tice system is not in a good position and faces the possibility of more cuts when the Texas Legislature meets in January. He said that current reve nues are insufficient to build more prisons. “There is a growing element of frustration among people that we should lock them (prisoners) up and throw away the key,” Smith said. “But the challenge is through the probation departments to come up with innovative ways to avoid build ing more jails.” Caperton said 38,500 inmates cur rently are housed in Texas prisons. The cost to house one prisoner is $32 each day, he added. During the recently completed special session the Sunset Commis sion, a group of legislators that re views state agencies, passed a bill that would prohibit early release of inmates convicted of violent of fenses, Caperton said. In addition, the commission set 115510*1 ,3 PM S. Africa threatens to end purchases of grain from U.S. ivup WASHINGTON (AP) — The South African foreign minister warned two U.S. farm state senators his country would immediately end purchases of U.S. grain if the Senate overrides President Reagan’s veto of economic sanctions against South Africa, Sen. Richard Lugar said Wednesday night. Lugar, R-Ind., called the action by Foreign Minister Pik Botha “despi cable” and an unacceptable intrusion into Senate business that amounts to “bribery and intimidation.” Lugar, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Commit tee, said the two senators — Edward Zorinsky, D-Neb., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, — were called to the telephone in the Senate Republi can cloakroom by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., a strong opponent of the sanctions. According to Lugar, Zorinsky said the South African foreign minister told him that “the moment that you override President Reagan’s veto, South Africa will immediately ban U.S. grain imports.” Lugar said Botha also declared that South Africa would react to the override of the veto by barring from its ports U.S. grain shipments bound for the so-called frontline black Afri can nations, some of which are land locked and all of which are largely dependent on South Africa for transportation facilities. “I believe that all Americans, and especially American farmers, will condemn foreign bribery and intim idation to change th$? votes of the U.S. Senate,” Lugar said. He said South Africa has turned to the American grain market and increased purchases of U.S. grain in the aftermath of sanctions imposed by Canada and Australia, which also are major grain exporters. “We are being bribed because oth ers have had moral courage and done what they should have done,” Lugar said. Lugar said he believes the White House lacks the votes needed to sus tain the Reagan veto and said, “I feel confident the veto will be overrid den.” The Senate, which was to vote on whether to override the veto Thurs day afternoon, opened a four-hour debate on the issue as Senate Major ity Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., said senators might legitimately consider the possible adverse impact of sanc tions on their states. Helms said sanctions will “shoot the American farmer in the foot.” Law limiting malpractice awards in Texas ruled unconstitutional DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge ruled that the Texas law lim iting medical malpractice awards is unconstitutional. Judge Jerry Buchmeyer ruled Tuesday that the 1977 Texas law limiting malpractice awards to $500,000, violates parts of the state and U.S. Constitutions allowing in jured people to recoup damages. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans hasn’t con sidered the appeal of two similar federal court rulings and the Texas Supreme Court hasn’t handed down an opinion, said Rocky Wil cox, general counsel of the Texas Medical Association in Austin. However, other attorneys said the Buchmeyer decision is not bind ing. Bryan Maedgen, a malpractice attorney at Strasburger & Price in Dallas, said, “It’s not by any means the final answer on the issue.” Buchmeyer’s ruling came in the case of Dennis C. Waggoner, who sued Dr. Burney W. Gibson and Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas for damages to his son. In his opinion, Buchmeyer wrote the Texas law unfairly discrimi nated against malpractice victims who suffered the worst damage. forth several proposals that have not yet passed. The commission proposed that good : time credits would be reduced from a maximum of three days for each day served to a maximum of two days for each day served, Caper ton said. He said the commission also pro posed a safeguard to ensure that prison crowding is not a problem by reducing parole eligibility for non violent criminals from one-third of the prisoner’s sentence to one- fourth of sentence length. Caperton said those proposals will be seriously considered during the next regular legislative session in January. While the public calls for longer sentences and more jails, the courts are jammed with pending cases, and the prisons are at 95 percent capac ity, he said. Caperton said this problem won’t get any easier. “We were fortunate in Texas be cause of a low tax burden and a bud get surplus,” Caperton said. “But now we don’t have that luxury any more and the problem is, ‘Which agencies do we cut?’ ” Indian news reports attack on Gandhi NEW DELHI, India (AP) — An attempt was made on the life of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Thursday as he left a shrine to the late Mohandas K. Gandhi, the United News of India reported. There was no immediate official confirmation of the report. The agency said a man shot at the prime minister from a tree, but that Gandhi was not wounded. It said two other people received minor in juries. The assailant was arrested by po lice, UNI said. Gandhi’s mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was shot and killed by members of her per sonal bodyguard on Oct. 31, 1984. Daniloff praises Reagan for concern WASHINGTON (AP) — Nicholas Daniloff told President Reagan Wednesday that if it hadn’t been for Reagan’s “very deep and personal interest” in his case, he probably would have been kept in the Soviet Union for years. Reporter Daniloff, spending his first full day in the United States, met briefly with Reagan at the White House before the two made a joint appearance in the Rose Garden. They were joined there by Nancy Reagan, who stood next to the re porter, and Daniloffs wife, Ruth, and Daniloffs children, Miranda, 23, and Caleb, 16. Reagan defended the arrange ment with the Soviets that led to Daniloffs freedom, saying: “I don’t think there’s caving in at all.” Dani loff had been arrested Aug. 30 by the KGB and charged with spying in the Soviet Union. Asked whether U.S.-Soviet rela tions are back on track with Dani loffs release, the president said, “We’ll find out in about 10 days.” That was a reference to the planned meeting in Iceland Oct 11-12 be tween Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The meeting, described as prelim inary discussions to a formal sum mit, was part of the deal ending in Daniloffs release. Daniloff, 51, praised Reagan for his involvement in the case. “This is a very complex situation and if it hadn’t been for President Reagan taking a very deep and per sonal interest in my case it would probably be some years before I could stand in front of you and say, ‘Thank you, Mr President,’ ” he said. Earlier, Daniloff was given a warm welcome by co-workers in the lobby atrium at U.S. News & World Report. He said he was pleased with the “mini-summit” between the super power leaders in Iceland, and wanted to cover it. Daniloff said he would thank Rea gan and the American officials “who, I think, turned themselves in side out” to secure his freedom. He was arrested in Moscow Aug. 30 on espionage charges, which the admin istration said were phony. The principal lesson Daniloff said he learned from his experience was that the American system em phasizes the preciousness and the dignity of a single individual. The journalist arrived in the United States Tuesday, a day after Washington and Moscow worked out a multi-part deal that included a Reagan-Gorbachev meeting in Ice land Oct. 11-12. The arrangement also called for the release of accused spy Gennadiy Zakharov to the Soviets. Zakharov, a Soviet employee at the United Na tions, flew back to Moscow after he pleaded no contest to espionage charges.