Tuesday, December 9, 1986/The Battalion/Page 7
^Israelis, Texans to start
^cooperative farm effort
■\USTIN (AP) — Israeli experts
who have turned deserts into cro-
itiom pland are trying to help Texans do
15 issu ? the same with some of the state’s
more forbidding farmland, State
'otedi Agriculture Commissioner Jim
id ofi Hightower said Monday.
theljfMrhe cooperative effort will be
°r Jei showcased in a Laredo project that
pallet jcoiild introduce new cash crops in
fsbnie parts of the state. The list of
award products officials from the Jewish
d (I stare will help grow includes
Danu Christmas trees.
ntofoB'If this is economically viable, we
il tht^are agreeable,” said Arie Necham-
fram kin. Israel’s minister of agriculture,
ram, Hi'With us, we’re not big experts be
zant!’cause there isn’t a big demand for
itingtt,Christmas trees” in Israel.
worlBpIechamkin, who spoke through
spiral an interpreter, joined Hightower at
a news conference. The Israeli offi-
spitali . rial is on a four-day tour of Texas,
itreai^fcightower has aggressively
o h worked to establish links with Israeli
farm experts because he believes Is
rael has solved many of the prob
lems now faced in Texas.
“There is a very logical connection
between the state of Texas and the
state of Israel,” Hightower said. “In
addition to us sharing very hand
some ministers of agriculture on
both sides, we also happen to share
the same latitude on the globe. We
have very similar soil and climate
conditions.”
He said Israel and Texas also
share an attitude.
“You cannot tell a Texan or an Is
raeli that you cannot do something,”
said Hightower, who toured Israeli
farms in November.
A team of Israeli farm experts will
evaluate the 135-acre “blueprint
farm” that will be developed next
year. Most of the land — scrubland
along the Rio Grande — is owned by
Laredo Junior College.
The Jewish National Fund, a pri
vate fund-raising organization, will
Police seek
'o suspects
in shooting
I PORT ARTHUR (AP) — Po
lice searched Monday for two sus-
ects in a shooting spree at a
rowded game room that resulted
i the deaths of two men and the
ounding of three others.
Four of the victims were shot
inside Tam Game Room, located
n a mostly Asian neighborhood
i this coastal city, and another
as shot outside the building
bout 6:10 p.m. Sunday.
Police were searching South-
ast Texas and Southwest Loui-
iana for the suspects described as
oung Vietnamese men.
“No one has been appre-
ended, but we have leads as to
r fe«who they are,” Port Arthur Police
ISgt. W.C. Wright said.
Witnesses told authorities the
jtwo gunmen jumped into a light
blue 1976 Monte Carlo and a
klark 1986 Nissan with out-of-
state license plates.
Some onlookers told police the
shooting was gang-related, but
Wright said, “we have nothing to
indicate it was gang-related at this
time."
Police believe the attack was in
tended for one or more of the vic-
|tims.
Sgt. Mark Blanton said a crowd
Jof about 200 mostly Vietnamese
Ipeople were inside the game
iroom when the gunmen opened
[fire with what police believe were
|a shotgun and an M-16 machine
Igun.
Wounded were Nang Pham,
|30, and Dinh Nguyn, 20.
Commissioners delay
decision on permits
for shelter for aliens
BROWNSVILLE (AP) — Cam
eron County commissioners delayed
a decision Monday on whether to
grant permits for a controversial
shelter for illegal aliens, despite
warnings that their action could
prompt a civil rights lawsuit.
“There is no legal basis for deny
ing the permits,” County Attorney
Brian Janis told commissioners at an
emotional meeting to consider a re
quest by the Catholic Diocese of
Brownsville to locate Casa Oscar Ro
mero east of this border city.
Failure to comply with federal
civil rights laws could subject the
county to a lawsuit and stiff dam
ages, he said.
A divided commissioners court,
however, voted to postpone the deci
sion until Friday, a day after a hear
ing is scheduled in state district court
on a lawsuit seeking to bar the di
ocese from locating Casa Romero on
six acres outside the city limits.
County Judge Moises V. Vela said
the county was stuck with the prob
lem because no one else is dealing
with the issue of finding shelter for
illegal aliens seeking refuge from
Central America.
“The cities have been unable to
solve it, the state doesn’t want to look
into it, so the counties are burdened
with it,” Vela said. “The state won’t
take them, the cities won’t take them,
the federal government won’t take
them, so the county has to take
them.”
County commissioners voted last
month to temporarily suspend per
mits for the diocese to locate five
mobile homes at the site for use as a
shelter. Residents of nearby mobile
home parks had complained Casa
Romero would lower property va
lues.
Janis said the permits complied
with state and county regulations
and should not be denied.
Church spokesman Herman Gon
zalez, following the meeting, said,
“We’ll see what legal remedies we
have.” The meeting was attended by
at least 200 people on both sides of
the controversy.
The diocese has been looking for
a new location for the shelter since
officials in San Benito moved to oust
it, saying it violated city building
standards. Church officials had
agreed to move it by last Friday, and
now face fines of $ 100 per day from
the city of San Benito.
Dennis Sanchez, an attorney for
four Brownsville residents who are
suing to block the move, said the
church’s handling of the center in
San Benito boded ill for the
Brownsville area.
“It’s not a pretty place . . . it’s
crowded, it’s an eyesore,” he said.
Casa Romero has housed up to
500 refugees at a time, although San
Benito officials say city building
standards are violated when the oc
cupancy rate exceeds 50 a night.
Report: prison director had
role in early release system
/I HAUSTIN (AP) — Members of a legislative committee
say Texas prison director O.L. McCotter misrepre-
tsented the role his administration played in speeding
up the early release of prison inmates, the Dallas Times
Herald reports.
fuMriie Legislative Budget Board’s corrections subcom
mittee found that McCotter directed a change in status
' for incoming inmates that resulted in more new in-
Imates being automatically classified as trusties, the
I J^nes Herald said Monday.
Before McCotter issued the directive, approximately
ii69 percent of inmates had trusty status. By October that
^percentage was up to 83.5 percent, the newspaper said.
1 The committee staff also found the Texas Depart
ment of Corrections has allowed inmates who were vio-
i lent or who repeatedly broke the rules to earn bonus
> | good time.”
pSen. Ray Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, said the commit
tee will use the findings in a probe to determine
whether legislation to tighten good-time rules is needed
or the rules should be eliminated.
Farabee and Rep. Bob Melton, D-Gatesville, said the
good-time issue will be a top priority with the 1987 Leg
islature, which convenes next month.
Farabee said the good-time program, originally in
tended to encourage good behavior, has become a tool
for releasing prisoners.
“It’s one response to the overcrowding problem,” he
said. “I don’t feel that it’s the best or proper response. If
it isn’t contrary to existing law, it’s certainly contrary to
tradition and good judgment.”
A state law prohibits incoming inmates to be classi
fied as trusties and are barred from earning good time
for the first 90 days of their incarceration.
“Good time should be earned, and if you have to ac
celerate good time for certain non-violent types, then I
think the public will understand that,” Farabee said.
Melton said, good-time provisions should not be used
to control prison population, but as a reward.
McCotter has said that his administration has not es
tablished any new policies and that the prison system is
operating under rules conceived by his predecessor,
Ray Procunier.
i Organized kill of tame deer stirs
fast response from eager hunters
J l RICH MOND (AP) — Texas Parks
and Wildlife officials say an orga
nized deer kill at Brazos Bend State
Park netted 91 deer for the 100
hunters who participated in a week
end hunt of the tame animals.
Officials say they have received an
overwhelming number of calls from
f people who want to kill one of the
deer, now teeming in the park about
five miles east of Richmond.
K There also have been complaints
from people who philosophically op-
ppose the killing, said Herb Koth-
I inann, program leader for public
hunting for the department.
■“But, we’ve gotten far more calls
( from people who want to hunt than
from people who complain,” Koth-
ntann said. “The trouble is, all the
hunters were chosen in a drawing in
September and all the spots have
been filled. There’s no room left.”
i Parks and Wildlife officials say the
number of deer in the 5,000-acre
park has grown to about 2,000, re
ducing the grazing area for each ani
mal.
“We’ll be removing 250 to 300,
then determine if the others need to
be thinned out further,” Kothmann
said.
Laird Fowler, the park’s superin-
tendant, said most of those who
failed to bag a deer over the week
end probably passed up a shot at a
doe in hopes of killing a buck. The
shooters are limited to one deer,
which may be of either sex.
Each hunt lasts 48 hours, to be
spread over three days. The sixth
will end at noon Sunday. The first of
six groups of 50 hunters each was
admitted at noon Dec. 2.
The park has been closed to the
public since Dec. 1.
The shooters are required to wear
bright orange clothing and are taken
to fixed positions and not allowed to
roam during the day, Kothmann
said.
There have been complaints that
the event is not a true hunt because
the park deer have become too tame
and have lost their natural fear of
humans.
“We sort of have the philosophy
that we would prefer any removal of
wildlife from a public park be done
by the public, if it’s feasible, rather
than surgically by sending our staff
in to kill them,” Kothmann said.
“The public owns the park and
they’re the public’s deer.”
Kothmann said similar shootings
have been held in Yellowstone Park
where elk became too prolific.
Another kill is being conducted in
Pedernales Falls State Park near
Johnson City.
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cost of the preparation studies.
Hightower said the farm could be
used to show South Texas farmers
how traditionally non-productive
land can be used to raise Christmas
trees, fish, cut flowers, specialty veg
etables and other products.
“Because of the depression in our
overall agriculture economy in this
nation and also here in Texas, we
have got to find new crops that make
sense for the farmer and rancher,”
Hightower said. “If we’re not mak
ing money on corn and cows and
cotton, then we need to be moving
into some new commodities that do
allow our farmers to make a profit.”
Nechamkin said Israeli officials
also are learning from Texas farm
ers and ranchers. Specifically, he
said Israel wants to produce more of
its own beef, and he was impressed
with the Texas cattle ranches he has
seen on the tour.
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