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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
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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
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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
$32 each day, he added.
During the recently completed
special session the Sunset Commis
sion, a group of legislators that re
views state agencies, passed a bill
that would prohibit early release of
inmates convicted of violent of
fenses, Caperton said.
In addition, the commission set
115510*1
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S. Africa threatens
to end purchases
of grain from U.S.
ivup
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
South African foreign minister
warned two U.S. farm state senators
his country would immediately end
purchases of U.S. grain if the Senate
overrides President Reagan’s veto of
economic sanctions against South
Africa, Sen. Richard Lugar said
Wednesday night.
Lugar, R-Ind., called the action by
Foreign Minister Pik Botha “despi
cable” and an unacceptable intrusion
into Senate business that amounts to
“bribery and intimidation.”
Lugar, who is chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Commit
tee, said the two senators — Edward
Zorinsky, D-Neb., and Charles
Grassley, R-Iowa, — were called to
the telephone in the Senate Republi
can cloakroom by Sen. Jesse Helms,
R-N.C., a strong opponent of the
sanctions.
According to Lugar, Zorinsky said
the South African foreign minister
told him that “the moment that you
override President Reagan’s veto,
South Africa will immediately ban
U.S. grain imports.”
Lugar said Botha also declared
that South Africa would react to the
override of the veto by barring from
its ports U.S. grain shipments bound
for the so-called frontline black Afri
can nations, some of which are land
locked and all of which are largely
dependent on South Africa for
transportation facilities.
“I believe that all Americans, and
especially American farmers, will
condemn foreign bribery and intim
idation to change th$? 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.