The Battalion
1
Vol.82 No.92 GSPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, February 5, 1987
Inside
The search for culture
in Bryan-College Station
ements seeks funds from PUF
From Staff and Wire Reports
I AUSTIN — Gov. Bill Clements
unveiled his long-awaited state bud
get Wednesday, proposing to fi
nance it in part with $276 million of
the capital gains earnings from the
Pfcrmanent School Fund and the
Permanent University Fund. Law
makers sharply criticized the idea of
((aiding the PUF and PSF when it
was proposed last year.
I A University of Texas official who
manages Permanant University
Fund assets reacted negatively to the
Governor’s proposal to use PUF and
PSF funds to finance the budget.
■ “We think it is unacceptable and
we plan to oppose it,” said Michael
Patrick, UT executive vice-chan
cellor for assets management. “It
would reduce the income generated
by the PUF. It would impair the
bonding situation of the two schools
(Texas A&M Univerity and the Uni
versity of Texas).”
Patrick said he knew no details of
the Governor’s plans, such as what
share of the $276 million would be
drawn from the PUF.
“This is basically no different than
any of the other efforts to draw
money out of the fund that we’ve
seen in the past,” he said. In August,
House Speaker Gib Lewis proposed
drawing $1.1 billion from the two gi
ant trust funds.
The proposed budget in general
featured a “hold-the-line” spending
plan and acknowledged the need to
keep $2.9 billion from temporary
tax increases approved last year.
Clements said his budget reflects the
mood of the Texans who elected
him over Democratic Gov. Mark
White last fall.
“The time is past for business as
usual, for the old politics of tax, tax,
tax, spend, spend, spend,” Clements
said in his State of the State address
to a joint session of the Legislature.
“The simple fact is that this bud
get holds the line on government
spending while we get our economy
moving again,” Clements said.
Clements proposed total spending
for 1988-89 of $36.87 billion, an in
crease of $766 million over current
levels.
In presenting his plan to the Leg
islature, Clements also endorsed
keeping the higher level of tax reve
nues that began Jan. 1 when “tempo
rary” sales and motor fuel tax in
creases took effect.
Those hikes — passed by lawmak
ers last fall and signed by White —
raised the sales tax rate from 4 Vs
percent to SVi percent and lifted the
motor fuel tax from 10 cents per gal
lon to 15 cents. They are scheduled
to expire on Aug. 31.
But Clements said in his 35-min
ute speech and at a subsequent news
conference that the extra $2.9 billion
raised by those temporary levies still
will be needed after Aug. 31.
He said he would sign legislation
to keep that additional money flow
ing into the state treasury.
Clements said he favors restruc
turing the sales tax system to lower
the rate — to perhaps 4 percent or
4.5 percent — while expanding the
base to include services not now
taxed. He also voiced support for
lowering the fuel tax to 13 cents per
gallon.
The extra $2.9 billion is the limit
for any tax bill sent him by the Legis
lature, Clements said. “I will veto
any plan that increases revenues
above current levels ... I will veto a
$5.8 billion tax hike.”
Comptroller Bob Bullock has esti
mated that lawmakers face a $5.8 bil
lion deficit over the next 30 months.
During his campaign, Clements
criticized White for signing the tem
porary tax increase into law.
On Oct. 1, one day after White
signed it, Clements campaign man
ager George Bayoud — now the gov
ernor’s executive assistant — said
Clements wanted Texans to “fully
realize Mark White gave them the
tax increase and Bill Clements is the
See Clements, page 12
I
A&M research
leads company
to new product
Firm provides yes or no' test
for dangerous mycotoxins
Sizing It Up
Pedro Samaniego, a senior environmental design major from Laredo,
carefully fits a piece of the roof onto his model of a gas station at Lan-
Photo by Dean Saito
gford Architecture Center Wednesday night. Samaniego’s model was
part of a design class project.
Five cadets sentenced for assault at bonfire
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By Curtis L. Culberson
Staff Writer
Bpive of the six freshman cadets
charged with Nov. 18 misdemeanor
assault of a female cadet at the bon
fire site were sentenced Wednesday
to six months deferred adjudication,
while the sixth cadet had his case dis-
Defense attorney Henry C. Paine
|said the most important condition of
deferred adjudication is that the Five
cadets don’t violate any state laws.
; The cadets also must fulfill a com-
i munity service requirement, to be
> decided later, Paine said,
f Justice of the Peace Wesley Hall
will delay judgment on the case for a
six-month probationary period. If
all conditions are met, the judge will
not find the five guilty and the of
fense will not become part of their
records.
Brian MacManus, James L. De-
Rose, Andrew C. Cooper, Cody Sco-
gin and William Paul Miller all
pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor
assault of Simone Weaver. Clinton
D. Taylor had his case dismissed be
cause the case against him was weak,
Paine said.
Interim Corps Commandant J.
Malon Southerland would not reveal
what, if any, disciplinary action the
University had taken against the ca
dets, saying that information was
protected by the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.
The charges stem from a Nov. 18
attack in which five men knocked
Weaver off the 55-gallon drum she
was standing on to direct traffic.
When she got back onto the barrel,
she said, the five returned and forc
ibly dragged her from the bonfire
perimeter.
Southerland said that male-fe
male relations in the Corps are not a
problem and that the case was an iso
lated incident.
Southerland said he thinks the ca
dets involved have realized that they
made a mistake and that anyone
should be able to work on bonfire,
regardless of sex.
Southerland’s sentiments were
echoed by bonfire adviser William
Kibler.
“Women are equally entitled to
participate in all the activities of bon
fire as much as men,” he said.
Kibler said University policy
clearly prohibits behavior such as the
assault against Weaver and said mea
sures to prevent such an incident
were already in place.
By Carolyn Garcia
Staff Writer
For the past six years the
Maryland-based firm Diagnon Corp.
has occupied its time and energies
with medical research. But when the
firm decided to branch out into agri
cultural and veterinary research it
headed to Texas A&M.
Bill Gordon, Diagnon vice presi
dent for research and development,
read an article about three A&M re
searchers developing a system for
the simplified identification of al
most 200 toxic chemicals and de
cided A&M was the place for his
firm.
The company got in touch with
Dr. Melvin DeGeeter, coordinator
for research development with the
Texas Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion, and the wheels for a joint
agreement for manufacturing the
product began to spin.
The development that caught
Gordon’s eye was pioneered by Tim
othy Phillips, Beverly Clement and
Norman Heidelbaugh, also with
TAES.
The trio found a way to transform
complicated laboratory techniques
and tests into a “yes or no type test”
for discovering mycotoxins, De
Geeter said.
Mycotoxins, or mold toxins, are
poisonous chemicals produced by
several types and combinations of
fungi that can cause disease in both
humans and animals who consume,
contaminated agricultural products.
The test operates on a similar
scale with “any of the at-home preg
nancy tests you can buy,” Gordon
said. “It simply reads either yes or
no.”
The real advantage of the test,
Gordon said, is that it can be per
formed outside of a laboratory and
the tester is not exposed to any toxic
or hazardous substances. The only
thing the tester touches is the sample
taken from the fruit or grain being
checked.
The test, in part, involves placing
Financial aid director: Pell Grants, GSLs to suffer
Reagan budget may cut student aid options
By Audrey Cardenas
Reporter
If Reagan’s proposed 1988 fis
cal budget is passed by Congress,
many Texas A&M students may
find that some of their current fi
nancial aid opportunities will be
come nonexistent in future se
mesters, said Taft Benson, A&M
student financial aid director.
According to the proposed
udget, domestic spending will
ecrease while revenues for Rea-
an’s defense programs will in-
rease. The decrease in domestic
spending will affect higher edu-
ation and, more specifically, fed-
ral financial aid, Benson said.
To A&M students, this means
eductions in the number of Pell
Grants and Guaranteed Student
Loans awarded and possible elim
ination of the College Work-
Study program and the State Stu
dent Incentive Grant, he said.
I “I was suprised,” Benson said.
■It was more drastic than I expec
ted.”
In October 1986, Congress re
viewed, changed and reautho
rized the existing financial aid
services, and now is eliminating
these same programs.
The Pell Grant, which is the
largest federal supplement,
would experience a drop from
$3.8 billion in 1987 to an esti
mated $2.7 billion in 1988. It
would then decrease in 1989 to
$2 billion, where it would remain.
Since the largest amount of
federal grant money comes
through Pell Grants, most stu
dents relying on Financial aid re
ceive these grants, Benson said.
“There are 3000 students that
receive Pell Grants,” he said, “and
more than one-third will lose
those grants altogether.”
The federal government will
also reduce its support for the
GSL program by an estimated
$1.1 billion in 1987.
To help cover shortfalls in the
Pell program, Benson said, $2.7
million will be transferred from
GSL funds, which will aid in the
reduction of the GSL program.
Also, students will be unable to
receive a GSL through the short-
needs test, Benson said. Under
this test, a student’s family shows
that their adjusted gross income
does not exceed $35,000 per
year. In 1988, students seeking a
GSL will be denied this short-cut
method and will have to fill out a
Financial Aid Form, he said.
According to the budget, those
students who do receive GSLs
would be required to pay an in
surance fee to cover the costs of
defaulted loans, and would also
be subject to higher interest rates
than in the past.
Drastically affected by the fi
nancial-aid cuts will be the Col
lege Work-Study program, which
currently receives $582 million
from the federal government. Af
ter the revisions, the program will
receive zero funding and will be
eliminated, Benson said.
“College Work-Study provides
money and job experience for the
student and inexpensive labor for
the University,” Benson said.
He added that the University’s
budget is being severly tested
right now and when cuts are
made, the first thing eliminated is
student jobs.
The 1988 budget also calls for
reductions in the SSIG. This
grant receives half of its funding
through the state, and the federal
government funds the remaining
50 percent.
However, according to the
budget, in 1988 the government
will eliminate its financial assis
tance to this program, which
leaves the state to finance it en
tirely.
This is unlikely to happen be
cause of the poor state of the
Texas economy, Benson said. He
believes that the federal reduc
tions will in effect kill the pro
gram.
But a new program that may
help make up for some of the
budget cuts is being tested by the
Reagan administration.
The Income Contingent Pro
gram allows students to receive
loans that could be paid back af
ter graduation. The interest
could also be deferred until after
graduation, but as Benson points
out, the interest rates will increase
because they will be based on the
student’s income.
This program, receiving $5
million in government funding, is
currently underway at 10 univer
sities across the nation, he said.
Bob D. Piwonka, manager of
student financial services in the
See Aid, page 12
the sample inside the testing canister
and shining an ultraviolet light at it,
DeGeeter said.
The test was developed in part by
$33,000 in assistance from the Texas
Advanced Technology Research
Program and should bring at least
$2.4 million.
Gordon said the test will benefit
any manufacturers of fruit or grain
products. This includes companies
like Kelloggs, General Mills, and pet
food companies, he said.
“The poultry industry has seen a
big result in the elimination of myco
toxins from the feed given to chick
ens in the form of larger eggs and
such,” Gordon said.
Not only do the chickens, dogs
and people of the world benefit
from this advancement; A&M and
Diagnon benefit as well.
DeGeeter said the arrangement is
a “very nice partnership approach.”
“When they manufacture (the
test) A&M gets up front a license fee
and then royalities,” he said.
DeGeeter said A&M is in the re
search business, not in manufactur
ing, but is quick to see potential.
See Toxic, page 12
Waite tried
by Shiites,
TV reports
LONDON (AP) — Missing hos
tage negotiator Terry Waite has
been taken before a drumhead court
of radical Shiite Moslems and or
dered “detained,” the Independent
Television network reported
Wednesday.
Correspondent Brent Sadler said
from Nicosia, Cyprus, that “a usually
reliable Moslem source” reported
that several Shiite fundamentalists
appeared in the unofficial proceed
ing as witnesses against Waite, the
personal envoy of Archbishop of
Canturbury Robert Runcie.
There was no corroboration and
the Church of England said it had
no confirmation that Waite, who
dropped out of sight in Beirut on
Jan. 20 to negotiate with kidnappers
of foreign hostages, had become a
captive himself.
The West German cable station
SAT 1 said Waite was being held in
the Lebanese capital by Hezbollah,
or Party of God, and the radical
Shiite group intended to try him.
SAT 1 gave no sources and did
not specify the charges.
It said Waite was being kept in Bir
al Abid, a southern suburb of Beirut,
and had never been taken to the Syr
ian-occupied Bekaa Valley of east
Lebanon, as has been reported.
Hezbollah is believed close to, or
synonymous with, the Islamic Jihad
group that holds American and
French captives.
Among the captives are two
Americans for whom Waite was said
to be negotiating: Terry A. Ander
son, 39, chief Middle East corre
spondent of The Associated Press,
and Thomas Sutherland, 55, acting
dean of agriculture at the American
University of Beirut.