l lie tsattalion
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, December 2, 1986
Star Tel announces
chance for amnesty
Offenders may settle bills for service misuse
By Christi Daugherty
Staff Writer
Star Tel Inc. has announced a 15-
day general amnesty period for all
who have misused the service’s long
distance access codes, including five
Texas A&M football players who
had been scheduled for arrest this
week.
Dr. Ed Stephenson, Star Tel’s
chief executive officer, said that un
til Dec. 15, anyone who has made il
legal calls can turn themselves in, ei
ther to Star Tel or to the University
General Counsel, and receive am
nesty by making full restitution for
the calls made.
A&M President Frank Vandiver
issued a statement applauding Star
Tel officials for their decision.
The statement read, “We certainly
do not condone action such as that
alleged, and concur that the firm is
entitled to restitution for any unau
thorized use of its services. Our only
concern all along was that some stu
dents were apparently being tar
geted as examples when, in fact, the
problem is broad-based and cer
tainly not limited to this campus or
this community.
“It is our understanding that the
company has withdrawn its com
plaints against those students and
that no charges will be filed, and we
are most appreciative of the com
pany officials’ reconsideration of this
matter. We are confident that all of
our involved students will take this
opportunity to clear their records on
an individual basis and avoid such
situations in the future.
“We ardently encourage them to
do so.”
Stephenson said that all charges
filed last week or planned for this
week have been dropped, including
those against the athletes, and all le
gal action will be postponed until af
ter the amnesty period.
Stephenson insisted that the fact
that those to be charged were ath
letes had nothing to do with Star
Tel’s decison.
"No it didn’t, they just happened
to be the ones that we could prove
and file charges against,” he said.
“In fact, we had several charges
planned for today against non-ath
letes, and they were also dropped.”
He said that until Star Tel actually
started prosecuting, his company
was unaware of the number of peo
ple committing the crime.
“After investigating and realizing
the number of people involved, and
the number to be charged with a fel
ony, which carries a prison sentence
of from two to 10 years, we realized
a lot of these people didn’t know the
seriousness of their actions,” Ste
phenson said.
He said the company decided to
take the action based on a similar
amnesty plan used by cable compa
nies last summer.
“We didn’t want anyone to go to
prison or to have a prison record if
we can get our message across an
other way,” he said. “But after Dec.
15, we are going to pursue and pros
ecute anyone who hasn’t come for
ward and made restitution.”
Stephenson was unsure how the
amnesty decision would affect the
case of Archie Roberts, an A&M
track athlete who was arrested two
weeks ago and charged with theft of
a service.
“My personal opinion is that if we
make amnesty available for some, we
have to make it available for every
body, and I think he (Roberts) falls
under that,” he said. “But this will
have to be a board decision, and we
will have a board meeting next Mon
day.”
Ted Hajovsky, University general
counsel, said that those in his office
will be working with Star Tel by as
sisting students who are unwilling to
work directly with the long-distance
service for some reason.
Some students don’t want to vol
unteer their names, or are unable to
pay extremely high bills all at once,
he said. In that case, the counsel can
be of help.
Hajovsky said - that after a period
of discussions between the counsel
and Star Tel, the service volunteered
the joint program to the A&M legal
service, with the idea that under
such a plan more students might be
willing to come forward.
“My opinion is that Star Tel is not
as interested in prosecuting students
as they are in getting restitution for
the calls,” Hajovsky said.
He said that the amnesty is aimed
at those who have made calls since
Sept. 1, and that they must come for
ward before the Dec. 15 deadline.
“If nothing is done before that
time, there’s nothing I can do for
them,” he said.
Bob Wiatt, director of security
and University Police, said that Star
Tel’s decision will not affect any
cases the University Police Depart
ment currently is working on.
Although the company originally
had issued complaints against the
football players, Wiatt said, none
had been arrested or charged.
Reagan cuts operations
of NSC pending review
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan ordered his National
Security Council staff Monday not to
conduct diplomatic, military or intel
ligence operations while a review
board investigates the agency’s role
in the secret sale of arms to Iran and
the diversion of profits to Nicara
guan rebels.
Saying that “I want all the facts to
come out,” the president also said he
would welcome appointment of a
special prosecutor if recommended
by the Justice Department to investi
gate possible wrongdoing.
Reagan reiterated that he had
known nothing about the secret
transfer of up to $30 million to the
Nicaraguan rebels, known as Con
tras.
In a statement, Reagan said, “You
can tell them flat-out that I had no
knowledge whatsoever of it until
(Attorney General) Ed Meese
briefed me on it Monday afternoon
(Nov. 24).”
Meanwhile, the Senate Intelli
gence Committee went behind
closed doors to begin its own investi
gation of the Iran-Contra affair.
Drinking age
appeal goes
to high court
■WASHINGTON (AP) — The Su-
Breme Court said Monday it will de-
pi* whether states may be denied
ionie federal highway money if they
fail to adopt a minimum drinking
of 21.
■The justices, in a multi-million
■llai dispute, will hear South Dako
ta's challenge to a federal law apply
ing financial pressure for a national
alriuking age.
■Atissue in the drinking-age case is
|h( constitutionality of a 1984 fed-
pal law aimed at reducing drunken
Mving by teen-agers, a major cause
fcldeath among that age group.
r
■The law requires the secretary of
[Transportation to withhold part of
jilt federal money otherwise avail-
|ble (o a state for highway construc
tion if the state permits “the pur-
■tse or public possession . . . of any
Bcoholic beverage” by someone un-
dei 21.
■Under the law, those states with a
■ininium drinking age under 21
lost 5 percent of the highway funds
Otherwise clue for fiscal year 1987
pd 10 percent of such funds during
■ralyear 1988.
■South Dakota, which permits pec
■ 19 and 20 years old to purchas
pd publicly possess beer containin
TIow percentage of alcohol, sue
Brretary of Transportation Elizt
belli H. Dole shortly after the hr
■s passed by Congress and signe
;b|President Reagan.
■ Lower courts ruled against South
|bakota, discounting its argument
Pthai the 1984 law infringes coristitu-
llionally endowed state power to set
drinking ages. The lower courts said
[-states remain free to set those ages
— at the risk of losing federal high
way money.
GM buys out Perot’s EDS stock for $700 million
DETROIT (AP) — General Mo
tors Corp. on Monday agreed to buy
back the stock of its largest share
holder and most vocal cx itic, Electro
nic Data Systems Corp. founder H.
Ross Perot, and the feisty Texas bil
lionaire agreed to xesign as chaix-
man of the GM subsidiary.
GM also said that EDS, which it
bought two years ago for $2.5 bil
lion, will be incorporated into a new
group along with subsidiaries
Hughes Aix craft Co., Delco Elect io
nics and GM’s defense operatioxxs.
The announcement by GM Chair
man Roger Smith followed a GM
board meeting in New York, where
members voted to buy out Perot in
exchange for his resignation as EDS
chairman and as a director on GM’s
board.
GM’s board approved the pur-
See related story, page 5
chase of all 12 million" GM Class E
shares owned by Perot and three
other top EDS executives — Morton
H. Meyerson, J. Thomas Walter Jr.
and William K. Gayden — for $33 a
share, or $400 million. The board
also agreed to pay contingencies, to
taling $350 million, agreed upon
when GM bought EDS.
GM spokesman Cliff Merriott was
unable to bxeak down the package
but said Perot’s share came to $700
million.
Merriott said Pexot and the three
EDS executives agxeed neither to
con)pete with GM for three years
nor try to hire away EDS employees
for 18 months.
In a statement released after the
board meeting, Smith said, “Perot’s
entrepreneurial spirit and visionary
ideas have been of tremendous ben
efit to the company.
“We have always agreed on the
primary goal: to be the leader in our
industry and the most technologi
cally advanced company in the
world.”
But in recent months, Perot has
become increasingly vocal in his crit
icism of what he has said is GM’s
sluggishness, inefficiency and top-
heavy management.
“We’ve got to nuke the GM sys
tem,” Perot said recently.
A committee member, Sen.
Thomas Eagleton, D-Mo., said for
mer national security adviser Robert
McFax lane testified under oath dur
ing the afternoon.
Earlier, the panel’s incoming
chairman, Sen. David Boren, D-
Okla., told reporters, “I have not
been surprised so far by what I’ve
heard” from witnesses.
White House spokesman Larry
Speakes said the administration “has
raised no objection” to key figures in
the case testifying before Congress.
However, he said information that
constitutes advice to the piesident
“could come under the claim of ex
ecutive privilege” and might be with
held.
Budget cuts may affect TAEX in long run
Editor’s note: This is the first
of a three-part series on the ef
fects of state budget cuts and
Texas' slumping oil economy on
the Texas Agricultural Extension
Service. Part I is an overview of
the current budget situation at
TAEX.
By Bob Grube
Staff Writer
The Texas Agricultural Exten
sion Seiwice is the economic and
mental health guardian angel of
thousands of farm families across
the state, but recent budget cuts
have clipped its wings a little bit.
While the TAEX’s $39.8 mil
lion budget was cut by about 8
percent — about $3 million for
the 1986-87 biennium — by the
Texas Legislature, Ronald Jack-
son, fiscal and management af
fairs officer of the TAEX, says
the budget cuts won’t affect the
TAEX as visibly as they might af
fect other state agencies.
“The cuts for TAEX are much
less dramatic than what people
expected,” Jackson says. “When
people think of budget cuts, they
think of them in an industrial
context, whexe 500 people get
laid off.
“In educational cuts, you lose
programs and quality, not people.
The effects of the cuts are seen
five years down the road.”
The TAEX is different from
many state agencies in that it x e-
ceives money from three sources:
the federal government, the state
and the Texas’ 254 counties. This
multi-source funding gives the
TAEX thx ee funding problems.
The funds garnered fi'om the
federal government and the state
are non-restricted funds. The
TAEX has direct control over
these funds. The county funds,
about $11 million, are not in
cluded in the TAEX budget be
cause the counties control tliem.
Each state in the country has
an extension service. The federal
government allots a certain
amount of funding for all 50
services and the monies are allo
cated to the states on a formula
basis. This formula considers the
number of rural farms in the
stare, the amount of crop produc
tion in each state and the size of
each state.
These funds are kept in the
U.S. Treasury and are disbursed
when states submit vouchers to it.
“We do not get a lump sum of
money at the beginning of each
fiscal year,” Jackson says. “We
must draw it down on a letter of
credit because the fed and the
state have this inoney invested.”
The TAEX has no control over
the county funds and therefore,
the budget cuts will affect this
area of funding the most.
Jackson says federal and state
budget cuts directly affect the
county funding because the coun
ties don’t have surplus money to
take up the slack caused by de
creased federal and state funds.
“County taxes are not able to
cover everything,” Jackson says.
“We (TAEX) axe not able to pick
up the funding shortages. More is
being expected of the counties
with less money coming into
them.”
The added financial burden on
the counties has forced many to
either cut back services or cut out
field agent positions.
Jackson says Dallas County xe-
cently had to cut $100,000 from
its extension service budget and
Bexar County had to lay off two
field agents.
Jackson says Gramm-Rudman
cuts have affected only the fed
eral funding in the TAEX bud
get. He says Gramxn-Rudman cut
federal funds by about 4.9 per
cent last year, but he didn’t know
what next year's cuts would be.
“We are still up in the air about
our actual, final amount from the
federal government,” Jackson
says, “because you raxely know
until about five months into the
fiscal year how much funding you
will receive.
“With the state, you know be
fore the fiscal year starts.”
Jackson says the TAEX also
helped itself in January by adher
ing to Gov. Mark White’s request
to implement a hiring freeze.
“We stopped filling vacant po
sitions,” Jackson says. “When the
Legislature cut our funds in the
second special session, it allowed
us to carry forward the amount
we saved during the freeze.
“This helped TAEX because
normally, what is budgeted and
not spent during a fiscal year goes
back to the state treasury to be ap
plied to other deficits. The car
ryover funds reduced our state
budget cuts from 10.5 percent to
about 8 percent.”
Jackson says the TAEX has a
basic staffing pattern of assigning
at least one agricultural agent and
one home economic agent to each
county.
“This is the backbone of the
TAEX because these agents have
direct contact with the people
who need help,” Jackson says.
The field agents turn research
See Budget, page 10