THeBattalion
82 No. 34 GSPS 045360 10 pages
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College Station, Texas
Thursday, October 16, 1986
State high court
OKs liability law
for bar owners
AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court
led Wednesday that bar owners can be held Je
lly liable in traffic deaths caused by drunken pa-
irons who become drunken drivers.
In affirming a Houston appeals court ruling, the
Supreme Court effectively gave Texas a
amshop” liability law that the Legislature has re
ed for many years.
J'The courts have taken on the role of the Legis-
ture in that they have departed from a long-stand
ing tradition that an individual is not responsible for
“e acts of a third person,” said Richie Jackson, ex-
tive director of the Texas Restaurant Associa-
i.
Iforty-one other states have laws or court deci
sions that impose liability on commercial servers of
pholic beverages, according to the National Alco-
jit Beverage Control Association in Washington.
JWithout writing an opinion, the Supreme Court
let stand a 14th Court of Appeals ruling in a lawsuit
filed against an El Chico restaurant. A Houston
pdge had ruled in the restaurant’s favor, without
convening a full trial, because the state has no
iramshop liability law.
■The suit was filed by the parents of Larry Bryan
Bole, who was killed in a Jan. 31, 1983, traffic
peik in Houston when a drunken driver ran a red
iglit and slammed his car into Poole’s.
■The runken driver, Rene Saenz, pleaded guilty
to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to
0 months in prison and 15 years on probation.
Saenz testified he had consumed “a lot” of scotch
ind water during “Happy Hour” at an El Chico in
[orthwest Houston.
toole’s family sued El Chico for unspecified dam-
he Houston appeals court said, “He remem
bered arriving at El Chico and getting his first
drink The next thing he remembered was the im-
|:t of the crash. He remembered nothing about his
le spent at El Chico or when or how he left.”
lustice William Junell, in his June 12 opinion for
the Houston appeals court, said jurors should have
Itn allowed to decide if El Chico was liable because
hallowed Saenz to drink and then drive.
|VVe hold that a bar operator owes a duty to the
Sgtoring public to not knowingly sell an alcoholic
Berage to an already intoxicated person” Junell
laid “Whether El Chico breached that duty and
whether that breach was a proximate cause of the
atal accident are issues for a jury to decide if the ev
idence raises such issues.”
Jjiinell said, “It is up to the civil courts to change
Bcepts of duty as social conditions change.”
nadian, 2 Americans
ake Nobel in chemistry
Oft
Astros’ last-gasp rally falls short
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Photos by Greg liuiley
Students gathered to watch Wednesday’s Astros-Mets game outside Hart Hall. The Mets’ 7-6 win sends the team to the World Series where it will face the Boston Red Sox.
r ? > i fj ^
/•'Ts:
Mets nab NL series 7-6 in 16 innings
HOUSTON (AP) — Ray Knight
keyed a three-run 16th inning
Wednesday and the New York Mets
survived one last Houston Astros’
rally to win their third National
League pennant, 7-6, in the longest
postseason game ever.
The Mets’ extra-inning rally was
their second of the game as they
erased a 3-0 deficit in the ninth in
ning and took a 4-3 lead in the 14th
before the Astros’ Billy Hatcher tied
it in the bottom of the inning with a
home run that hit the screen at
tached to the left-field foul pole.
New York will open the World Se
ries at home Saturday against the
Boston Red Sox, 8-1 winners over
California in Game 7 of the Ameri
can League playoff series.
It may take that long for the Mets
to come down from their pennant
clincher, a game that provided bril
liant pitching and clutch hitting and
saw the Astros’ dream finally die
with the winning run on base.
Astros left-hander Bob Knepper
held the Mets to two hits before they
rallied in the ninth, while Mets pitch
ers shut out the Astros from the sec
ond until the 14th.
Darryl Strawberry, hitless in four
previous at-bats, started the winning
rally with a pop-fly double off losing
pitcher Aurelio Lopez. Strawberry
hit the ball off his fists into center
field, and the ball fell between
Hatcher and second baseman Bill
Doran. The ball hit the artificial turf
and bounced over Hatcher’s head as
Strawberry went to second.
Knight, traded from the Astros to
New York in 1984, then singled to
right field. Houston right fielder Ke
vin Bass’ throw was up the third-base
line and too late to get Strawberry.
Knight went to second on the
throw, and Jeff Calhoun relieved
Lopez. Calhoun threw a wild pitch
that sent Knight to third, and Wally
Backman walked. A second wild
pitch by Calhoun scored Knight and
Len Dykstra added a single off the
glove of first baseman Glenn Davis
to score the final run.
New York reliever Jesse Orosco,
who allowed Hatcher’s home run,
earned his third victory in the series
despite allowing Houston to once
again draw near.
Houston’s Mike Scott, who won
two games while allowing one run
and eight hits in 18 innings, was
named the series most valuable
player.
The Mets have won three divisio
nal titles since they were born of ex
pansion in 1962. They won the
World Series over Baltimore in 1969
and lost to Oakland in 1973.
Houston’s only other playoff ex
perience was in 1980 when it lost in
five games to the Philadelphia Phil
lies, with four of those games going
extra innings.
The longest previous game in
postseason play had been Game 2 of
the 1916 World Series when the
Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston
Red Sox played 14 innings.
Houston’s final attempt at victory
came when pinch-hitter Davey
Lopes walked with one out. Doran
singled to left, advancing Lopes to
second. Hatcher singled to left-cen
ter, scoring Lopes with Doran stop
ping at second. Denny Walling hit
into a forceout. Glenn Davis singled
to center, scoring Doran and send-
See Mets win, page 8
Shrimp farms hold promise for Texas
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) —
#oAmericans and a Canadian won
e|Nobel Prize in chemistry
esday and three Europeans
the physics prize, with all six
Ifor helping man view the tiny
arid of molecules and atoms,
budley R. Herschbach, 54, of
pard University, Yuan T. Lee,
i,of the University of California at
irkelev and John C. Polanyi, 57, of
f University of Toronto shared
tchemistry prize for their study of
^molecules interact to form new
(stances, the Swedish Academy of
iences said.
The academy awarded the physics
iieto three inventors of high-pow-
«(f microscopes: Ernst Ruska of
est Berlin, who built the first elec-
iwnicroscopes in the 1920s and
30s, Gerd Binnig of Frankfurt,
estGermany and Heinrich Rohrer
Switzerland, who designed a new
I of electron microscope called
['scanning tunneling microscope.
The academy described Ruska’s
microscope as “one of the most im
portant inventions of this century”
and said it made possible important
advances in physics, biology and
medicine.
For example, electron micro
scopes, which magnify objects up to
1 million times, enabled scientists to
see many viruses too tiny to be per
ceived through conventional micro
scopes.
The scanning tunneling micro
scope developed by Binnig and
Rohrer can magnify objects up to
300 million times.
It scans surfaces with an electron
beam so fine that a single atom
forms the tip, and has given re
searchers the first pictures of indi
vidual atoms.
appl
d tht
of
research and the manufacture
tiny silicon computer chips.
Herschbach, 54, told The Asso
ciated Press after learning of the
See Nobel, page 10
By Bob Grube
Staff Writer
Shrimp could be the agricultural
crop of the future for Texas, a
Texas A&M professor says.
“Shrimp is the new kid on the
block as far as an agricultural crop is
concerned,” says Dr. Addison Law
rence, a mariculture professor. “We
could have another chicken on our
hands.”
While shrimp mariculture (farm
ing) already is being practiced in
South America and the Orient,
A&M researchers and others are de
veloping it for Texas and the Gulf
Coast.
Today, two-thirds of all the
shrimp eaten by Americans are im
ported. This not only increases the
cost per pound of shrimp but also
creates a large imbalance of trade
for the United States.
Amy Broussard, head of the Ma
rine Information Service, says while
shrimp mariculture can’t eliminate
the trade imbalance, it could lessen it
by some degree.
However, Lawrence, who also is a
project leader for the Texas Agricul
tural Experiment Station, says the
shrimp industry’s problem is that the
world’s oceans currently are being
harvested at maximum yield.
“The oceans are giving up as
many shrimp as they can,” Lawrence
says. “If we had 10,000 more
shrimpers, the amount of shrimp
taken from the oceans would not in
crease. It would probably decrease.”
Broussard says Texas shrimpers
should not worry about mariculture
cutting into their profits.
“Since mariculture started in the
mid-1960s, shrimpers have worried
about decreased profits,” Broussard
says. “In 1980 the United States im
ported $3.65 billion of shrimp. The
goal of shrimp mariculture is to off
set the trade imbalance.”
Lawrence says because shrimp
mariculture still is being developed,
it has a high capital investment risk.
However, he says, it can have high
economic returns because the poten
tial profit for shrimp farming is
about $400 per acre. Grain sorghum
profits run about $250 per acre.
The real economic impact of
shrimp farming can be seen in its
crop value. The crop value of
shrimp can be as high as $4,000 per
acre, compared to $500 per acre for
cotton.
Of the 200 varieties of shrimp,
Lawrence says about 10 are being
farmed around the world today.
Lawrence says people may not
think of farming shrimp the same
way they do other farming.
“When you think of shrimp farm
ing, think of cattle, horses and pigs,”
Lawrence says. “You can’t give the
same feed to all the animals, and you
can’t give the same feed to all the
shrimp. Each variety is raised differ
ently.”
Lawrence says other countries
have a headstart on the United
States but that U.S. researchers have
developed a feed that is about $800
cheaper per ton than the feed used
by the other countries.
Lawrence says the feed used by
other countries is made of animal
meals, which increases the price of
the feed. The feed developed by
U.S. researchers is made of surplus
soy, corn and wheat, which de
creases the price per ton and helps
the farmer at the same time.
Shrimp mariculture in Texas also
can use hundreds of miles of land
from Port Aransas southward along
the Gulf Coast. That land is too salty
for normal crop growth.
“Shrimp farming can make a
profit on land along the coast that
isn’t in use now,” Lawrence said.
Shrimp mariculture has the po
tential to solve many economic prob
lems for Texas, but several areas
must be refined through research
before Texas can reap benefits.
louse approves compromise immigration plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
ouse passed a bill Wednesday to
)wthe influx of illegal aliens with a
■ot-and-stick program of amnesty
those with roots, and penalties
employers who hire undocu-
Ked workers.
This came less than three weeks
|e Election Day as the House
Senate pushed to whittle a stack
major domestic measures to over-
1 immigration laws and finance
government.
mgressional leaders tried to
Ip up legislative business and ad-
Bt by today or Friday, two weeks
|r the original adjournment tar-
t of Oct. 3.
The compromise immigration
Jjtion, written by a conference
nmittee, went to the Senate after
B-173 vote.
Voting for the bill were 161 Dem-
|t$and 77 Republicans. Opposed
Ire 80 Democrats and 93 Republi-
he Hispanic caucus was split,
Gramm calls immigration bill an 'outrage of spending'
WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas congressmen
opposed an immigration reform bill passed by
the House 20-6 Wednesday, with some members
expressing concern that it would cause the state
economic problems.
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, called the bill an
outrage of spending, and said he would begin
studying related laws to determine if the expen
ditures contained in the bill violate budget rules.
“This is a very expensive bill,” Gramm said.
“As you can imagine, legalizing 4 million people
and moving them toward public assistance is a
very, very big cost.”
The House version of the immigration bill
would have cost $9.2 billion and the Senate ver
sion $4.5 billion, according to the Office of Man
agement and Budget, Gramm said. That could
violate budget ceiling limitations, he said.
The bill retains criminal and civil sanctions
against employers who knowingly hire illegal
aliens and provides amnesty for millions of for
eign workers.
Several Texas congressmen said this amnesty
could cause further economic problems for the
state.
An agreement favored by all but one of the
House-Senate conferees was announced Tues
day after over 5 hours of closed-door bargaining.
The House dropped its proposal to end crimi
nal and civil employer sanctions after 6‘/a years
unless Congress extended them.
Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, the only Texan on
the committee, said, “The purpose of this bill is
to send a message to the world that people
shouldn’t come here illegally hoping to find
work.”
An estimated 3 million aliens entered the
United States illegally last year and numbers are
growing, according to figures a Bryant aide said
were released by the Congressional Budget Of
fice.
Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, agreed that the
time had come to stop negotiating and pass a bill,
saying,“This is not a perfect bill, but apparently
it’s the best we can get. I intend to vote for it.”
with five members voting “yes” and
six voting “no.”
The Texas delegation, whose
members expressed concern that
amnesty would cause the state eco
nomic problems, opposed the bill by
a 20-6 margin.
House approval of the compro
mise immigration measure had been
expected. But the legislation still
could become tied up by opponents
in the Senate.
The bill would use as its “stick” a
system of fines and prison terms
against employers who knowingly
hire undocumented workers. As a
“carrot,” those who crossed the bor
der illegally before 1982 and estab
lished roots in the United States
would be given legal status.
The bill would provide $4 billion
over four years to reimburse state
and local governments for providing
benefits to newly legalized aliens,
who would be barred from receiving
federal assistance for five years.
The employer penalties would
start after a 6-month education pe
riod. Employers would have to keep
records to show they checked docu
ments to verify that employees were
legal residents.
Another major item on the
agenda was a more than $560 bil
lion, spending bill to meet the fund
ing needs of most government oper
ations and programs for the fiscal
year which began Oct. 1.
Congressional negotiators settled
on the final version of the massive
spending bill Wednesday morning.
However, the Senate was not tak
ing up the measure before today,
leaving the government technically
broke.
Consideration of the spending
package was made possible Tuesday
night after bargainers settled on
$291.8 billion worth of military
spending — less than the adminis
tration’s $320 billion request.
During the day, Congress ap
proved this separate military spend
ing authorization — first by 283-128
in the House and then by voice vote
in the Senate.