Thursday, February 12,1987/The Battaiion/Page 9
Brazos County Jail
overcrowding not
from TDC overflow
By RaeAnn Warmann
Rc/xH'Icr
The heavy iron door thuds as it
slams shut, and (lie lock, flashing
into place, makes an eerie echo
through the vacant hall.
There’s not much sound com
ing through the small windows
lined up neatly one alter another,
the lirsl looking like (he second,
which looks like the third, and so
on.
Il you were on the other side ol
that window, you could he a hig
problem Tor lira/.os County —
you could he overcrowding the
jail.
But overcrowding in the Bra
zos County jail is a problem origi
nating within the county system,
not Trom any overflow ol prison
ers from the Texas Department
of Corrections, llra/.os County
Sheriff Ron Miller said Monday.
To avoid overcrowding, the
Texas prison system is trying to
remain under the ilfi-percent ceil
ing on the numlier of inmates the
system lakes in. The system has
lieen closed down twice in the
past three weeks.
“We look 2(B) prisoners over to
(he TDC last year, and this year,
we’ve already taken alxnit 2. r » pris
oners over there, and they
haven’t refused them yet,” Miller
said.
Monday the jail was carrying
I2H inmates: HO were convicted of
felonies, IH were convicted of
misdemeanors and BO were serv
ing time. The jail has 1(>0 cells,
hut this is not a realistic figure.
Miller said. Six prisoners are
sleeping on the door of the jail,
even though hunks are available.
“You have to classify prisoners,
not just pul them wherever
there’s a hunk,” the sheriff said.
Classifications are according to
the inmates’ charge and sex.
Miller said. Murderers will not he
jailed with shoplifters.
“There’s live to six women in
the women’s tank, and it’s a 12-
man tank,” Miller said. “Naturally
you can’t put a male in (here with
them.”
The sherif f said (lie main prob
lem is the county court, which
gives BO days in (he county jail to
those convicted of misdemeanors,
such as misdemeanor theft, shop
lifting, driving while intoxicated
and simple assault charges. Only
two 12-man cells, which make 24
hunks, are set aside for these pris
oners, leaving six to sleep on the
floor, Miller said.
“You reach a point where you
can only pul so many on the
floor,” the sheriff said. “When
that happens, we start turning
them loose, starting with the mis
demeanors first, and then some
of the serving timers.”
“Serving timers” are those who
are brought in after 5 p.m., spend
the night and then released be
fore 7 a.m.
Located on the fourth floor of
the Bra/os County Courthouse in
Bryan, the new county jail is at
tached to the old jail, which re
cently has been renovated.
Because of recent changes in
jail laws. Miller said prisoners will
have to he classified by charge,
sex and age group, and age
group division will lake up even
more jail space.
Fifty-one guards work at the
jail, which costs the county close
to$l million per year. Miller said.
One guard is required for every
4H inmates, and it lakes about 4.2
to 4.B jailors to (ill one position
considering 24-hour surveillance,
vacation and sick leave. Miller
said each additional inmate adds
to the cost.
The sheriff suggests a mini
mum security facility be built that
would need fewer guards, would
require less maintenance and
could be constructed of conven
tional material such as wood, con
crete or brick.
“They wouldn’t have to be
housed in a piece of iron because
you don’t have the escape prob
lem,” Miller said. “I could see 40
prisoners moving out of this jail
right now, and that would elimi
nate my overcrowding problem.
“It costs us about $B() a day per
inmate, whereas if you go into a
facility like this (minimum secu
rity facility), you’re going to cut it
down considerably,” he said.
Reagan urged by congressman
to create U.S. oil industry oolicv
WASHINGTON (AP) — A
Texas congressman advised Presi
dent Reagan and Energy Secretary
John Herrington on Wedneday to
put ideology aside and create an
energy policy that will help the de-
vestated domestic oil industry.
At a hearing of the House sub
committee on energy and power.
Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, ad
monished the administration for
pushing a free market policy that
permits foreign governments to
manipulate the price of oil at the
expense of domestic producers.
“The issue is price,” Bryant said.
“Do you agree that the price of oil
is unreasonably low because of ma
nipulation by a foreign govern
ment, specifically Saudi Arabia?”
Herrington agreed.
Bryant continued, “Then I say
to you, what is the administration
doing to protect the domestic in
dustry from that kind of a foreign
onslaught? Your philosophy is we
just can’t do that?” to which Her
rington also said yes.
Herrington defended the ad
ministration’s policies, saying that
a DOE analysis of all the energy
options, including an oil import
fee, is being compiled and should
be completed by the end of the
month.
“Is this the one the president
asked for right before the elections
last November?” Bryant asked.
“And you still have no proposals
Oilmen investing in old wells
instead of drilling new ones
FORT WORTH (AP) —Despite
the sleep rise in crude prices in re
cent weeks, most oil industry observ
ers forecast little, if any, increase in
drilling this year.
Although some Texas oilmen say
they will drill more wells, others are
shifting their focus — and money —-
to buying already established oil and
gas production.
“ This year we’re probably going
to put HO percent of our would-be
drilling budget into acquisition of
producing properties,” said Fort
Worth oilman Ray Richey, Bl, a col
lege accounting graduate who
formed his own oil company at age
2B.
In 19HB, Ray Richey Sc Co. drilled
. r >0 oil and gas wells. It drilled only 20
in 19B(>, when oil prices made a re
cord drop.
This year, Richey expects to drill
but “five or 10” wells, and that will
be done in part to keep leases that
would otherwise expire.
“Frankly, it’s a heckuva lot easier
to raise money (from outside inves
tors) to buy producing properties
than it is to raise money for a drilling
deal right now,” Richey said.
Drilling, fraught with often un
predictable costs and the potential
for dry holes, poses a much higher
risk than buying exisiting oil and gas
reserves, Richey said.
His company, which raises much
of its money from a stable of HO to
100 regular investors, expects to
spend at least ,f4 million this yeaf
buying producing wells. Richey
hopes to close a deal March 2 for the
purchase of 40 wells in .Eastland
County in west central Texas.
last year, the highest percentage
since 1981, while overall oil im
ports climbed from 27 percent in
1985 to 36 percent by tne end of
last year.
“Decreasing our dependency on
foreign oil is our primary goal,”
Herrington said.
“How do you propose to do this
when you are buying oil from
Mexico instead of from our own
domestic producers?” asked Bry-
ant.
Herrington said the DOE pur
chases Mexican oil for the coun
try’s strategic reserves because it is
cheaper than American oil and
ed Bryant how he would ex-
four months after the president fi
nally addresed this issue?”
Herrington said the administra
tion is currently pursuing a policy
that encourages further domestic
oil exploration offshore and in
Alaska along with a series of de-
regulatory measures designed to
aid the domestic energy producers
and cut oil imports.
“I’m obviously for all these pro
posals,” Bryant said, “but they are
not going to raise oil revenue to a
survtvable level.”
The consumption of Persian
Gulf oil by Americans grew from
six percent in 1985 to 15 percent
asked nry*
plain to the American people why
the government should pay the
higher price.
“We would prefer to buy from
U.S. producers,” but they didn’t
bid a tow enough price to make a
purchase ecnomically reasonable,
Herrington said. “I ao not believe
the U.S. government should set
-the price fdr oil — the market
; should.”
Bryant Countered by asking
whether Herrington thought the
Saudi Arabians nad manipulated
the international oil market to
bring the price of oil to an artifi
cially low level, to which the secre-
tarysaidyes.
“Then - why shouldn’t we do
something to force the price back
up to where domestic producers
can survive?” Brant asked.
Mexico cracks down on diet pill dispensers
DALLAS (AP) — Diet clinics just over the bor
der in Mexico were shut down briefly because of
health worries about the pills they dispensed, but
have since reopened under severe restrictions,
U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Mexican authorities advised the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration Tuesday they were shut
ting down the clinics in Nuevo Laredo and Jua
rez, but they revised that statement Wednesday
to say the clinics had re-opened, FDA spokesman
Donald Healton said.
“Now they are under severe restriction,” he
said. “Each one is limited to 10 to 15 patients per
week and may only issue up to 60 prescriptions
per week for the so-called diet products. And
when they do issue one, the Mexican health de
partment has to get a copy of it.”
Healton said no deaths have been proved as a
result from use of the diet pills, but he said they
can aggravate high blood pressure, heart disease
and mental problems such as schizophrenia.
The U.S. Customs Service has ordered its bor
der checkpoints to stop anybody crossing into the
United States carrying the diet pill Redotex —
which the FDA considers dangerous — and con
fiscate the drug.
“We feel that ought to take care of things,”
Healton said. “The import alert will give our
Customs the backing to remove these materials
from Americans who go down there. And the
Mexican government’s restrictions will help.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Texas Depart
ment of Health halted its investigation into the
deaths of four Texans who perished within the
last year after taking the Mexican diet pills.
“We haven’t established any association” be
tween the deaths and use of the pills, TDH
spokesman Dennis Baker said, adding that no
further investigations will take place until addi
tional evidence is found.
The Customs alert for Redotex also expressed
concern about some otherwise legal drugs — in
cluding Ponderex and Moduretic — being taken
along with Redotex.
But Customs apparently >vas not told to auto
matically detain them unless they were being
brought in along with a subply of Redotex, offi
cials said.
FDA spokesman Ed Nida said the import alert
called for Customs to “automatically detain all
entries including those encountered . . . during
routine examination of baggage, of Redotex; and
other diet drugs mentioned above if encountered
in combination with Redotex.”
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Offer Good Feb. 12-18, 1987
your ticket to romance
on Valentine’s Day!
MSC Town Hall/Broadway presents the National Shakespeare Company in a Valen
tine’s Day performance of “Romeo and Juliet’’. This classic love story is a perfect gift
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Good seats remain for this special performance February 14 in Rudder Auditorium at
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