TKeBattalion
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, February 18, 1987
$20.4 million
OK’d to fund
prison reform
lements: Texas going
attract supercollider
l^■USTIN (AP) — Texas will pull
out all stops in bidding to lure the
multibillion-dollar
ded
died
supercollider”
' ftsean h project to the state, Gov.
Bill Clements pledged Tuesday.
ind
^mVe’re going to leave no stone un
turned,” said Clements, who put the
1 w project at the top of the agenda for
l! ‘ his|week-long trip to Washington
1 that begins Friday.
^ Clements, who will attend a Na
tional Governors Association meet-
m in Washington next week, said
g| Wants to talk with everyone from
President Reagan and on down”
jpht putting the huge atom-smash-
, ing project in Texas.
girhe state has two good candidates
for the site — Dallas-Fort Worth and
111,1 ‘ the area between Austin, Houston
111 and Bryan, Clements said.
L i; . IfWe’re going to go all-out,” Clem
ents told his weekly news confer-
L a
stand.
ence. “We’re going to turn on every
cuu #tof contacts that we have, every bit
l'' 1 ' tV of influence that we have.
“It’s going to he a real battle. It’s a
all ' ! tremendous plum. We’re a state
• without a federal research cen-
K . . . I’m saying to you as the
^J®rnor of this state that we are en-
r***^B[ to one.”
; The superconducting supercol
lider would be the largest piece of
scientific research equipment ever
built, officials say. Cost estimates
range from $6 billion to $10 billion.
When completed, the supercol
lider would employ about 3,000 peo
ple and have an annual budget of
$270 million.
According to the U.S. Energy De-
artmenf, the supercollider would
a unique research tool for high-
energy physics, the science that stud
ies the fundamental nature of mat
ter and energy.
When completed in 1996, the su
percollider will be housed in a 52-
mile circular tunnel about 10 feet
across and several feet under
ground. Superconducting fnagnets
would focus and guide two beams of
subatomic protons in opposite direc
tions through the tunnel. After acce
lerating to nearly the speed of light,
the protons would collide head-on.
Some scientists say that on a tiny
scale, the energy from such a colli
sion could be compared to the so-
called “big bang” that created the
universe.
“This supercollider will be the ab
solute razor-edge in technology in
regard to physics,” Clements said.
“This will be the No. 1 physics re
search facility in the world.”
The atom-smashing supercollider
is sought by other states, including
California, Illinois, Colorado, Wash
ington, Utah and New York.
But Clements said the two Texas
sites have a good chance because
‘all-out’
project
they meet the criteria outlined by the
energy department.
Helping in the bid are the pres
ence of Texas A&M University, the
University of Texas, Rice University
and the University of Houston, he
said.
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem
ents and legislative leaders Tuesday
agreed on a $20.4 million emer
gency funding plan for prison re
forms, a pact Clements said will
show good faith in meeting federal
court orders.
Clements announced the plan at
his weekly news conference and,
within hours, the House endorsed it
by adding the funds to another
prison bill that was passed, 125-11.
U.S. District Judge William
Wayne Justice has threatened to fine
Texas $800,500 a day beginning
April 1 if numerous prison reforms
agreed to in 1985 aren’t carried out.
“This is the obvious first step in
that direction,” Clements said.
“We’re going to do everything that I
know to do to bring ourselves in a
spirit of good faith in compliance
(with the court) and avoid those
fines.”
Rep. Bill Ceverha, R-Dallas, car
ried the funding plan on the House
floor, saying, “It’s much wiser to
come up with (the money) now than
have to come up with $800,000-a-
day on April 1.”
Under the funding plan, the state
would take money from the High
way Department and use it for
prison-related programs, including:
• $8.4 million for salaries of med
ical personnel.
• $2.2 million to increase salaries
for prison nurses.
• $2 million for 400 prison beds
to help futher separate violent and
non-violent inmates.
• $1 million for the Adult Proba
tion Commission to expand inten
sive supervision and electronic mon
itoring of some released inmates.
• $2.2 million for placing additio
nal prisoners in halfway houses.
• $4.9 million creating an extra
1,000 halfway house beds.
The House added the spending
plan onto a Senate-approved bill
which sponsors said would give the
Texas Department of Corrections a
better chance to manage the state’s
packed prison system.
House Speaker Gib Lewis, D-Fort
Worth, predicted the plan would be
well-received by Justice and said
House members had no choice but
to back it.
“None of us really would like to al
low anyone out of the prison system,
but unfortunately we are facing a
court order — and also contempt
charges — that would cost the tax
payers $24 million a month,” he
said.
Texas prisons
admit 400
at reopening
HUNTSVILLE (AP) — The
Texas prison system reopened Tues
day after closing its doors for six
days, but officials said the prisons
probably will close again this week
after more than 400 inmates were
admitted.
The Texas Department of Cor
rections began accepting new admis
sions after the inmate population
had dropped below a state-man
dated 95-percent capacity mark,
prison spokesman Charles Brown
said.
“The doors opened at 8 a.m.,”
Brown said Tuesday morning. “I’m
sure we’ve already got some in. If
tradition holds true, we’ll probably
get a lot in today.”
Brown accurately predicted the
tradition as a record 475 inmates
were admitted Tuesday from county
jails throughout the state. Just 130
prisoners were released.
A head count taken at midnight
Monday and released Tuesday af
ternoon showed there were 38,275
inmates. That number was 94.73
percent of capacity, or 111 inmates
below the legal limit. An official
count due today probably will force
the system to close again.
Reagan urges U.S. to be competitive
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Reagan,
trying to derail import-restricting trade legis
lation in Congress, challenged the nation Tues
day to “work harder and work better” and re
store pride in the label reading. “Made in
America.”
In a speech to 200 business leaders, Reagan
summoned Americans to undertake “a quest for
excellence” in education and business to make
the United States competitive into the 21st cen
tury.
The address was the kickoff of Reagan’s cam
paign for a package of “competitiveness” propo
sals, including easing antitrust laws, changing
product •liability statutes, a $980 million job re
training program and other intentions to help
shrink the nation’s $170 billion trade deficit.
Competing with Reagan’s plan are labor-
backed measures moving through Congress that
would restrict Reagan’s hand in dealing with
trade disputes and provide mandatory retaliation
— through tariffs or quotas — against nations
that have huge trade surpluses with the United
States.
“History has taught us that we cannot become
more competitive or enjoy major job growth by
restricting imports across-the-board,” Reagan
said. “In 1930, the United States imposed major
new tariffs, against the advice of most econo
mists.
“Three years later, the unemployment rate
stood at 25 percent. Free trade is one of the few
things almost all economists agree on.”
Reagan said it’s “going to take some doing” for
the United States to be competitive with other
countries. “In the years ahead, we’re going to
have to work harder and work better.”
progr;
hat the
^e all Ameri
cans to be all that they can be, to work together to
seek new opportunities, to be the very best in a
strong and growing international economy.”
Reagan’s speech did not include many details
of his plan, but it has been outlined in depth by
other administration officials.
Experts still question
shuttle-design testing
SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP)
ill Ii xactl y one year before shuttle
}eC ... flights are scheduled to resume, ex-
continue to question the way
^A^NASA is correcting the rocket flaw
^^^■caused the Challenger disaster.
The new booster design and its
testing have come under attack from
Congress, from industry experts and
Hh astronauts whose lives will de-
pend upon the solid-fueled rocket
engine.
^■ASA officials and engineers
•iB'qfa Morton Thiokol Inc., man-
fjUl^fturer of the rocket, say they re-
^ main confident the new design will
^■critical firing tests scheduled to
tagin this summer.
^Btallenger exploded 73 seconds
ifter launch on Jan. 28, 1986, killing
'' f<llr even ' rnem ^ er crew - A presi-
jjnkffr dential commission that investigated
said the accident was caused by a
1 solid rocket booster joint that leaked,
IP allowing superheated flame to ignite
jug f 1 a rocket fuel tank,
jpjtickl The three remaining shuttles
ruefl'FH been grounded while engineers
redesign the rocket joint and con-
5^ duct tests. Flights are scheduled to
. $|ie ■ resume on Feb. 18, 1988.
n 1975^’ Investigators believe three factors
PfliiS' Bperf the rocket joint to fail: a
b flawed design that allowed the joint
■X 0 move slightly at ignition, compro
mising the seal formed by two rub
berized O-rings; frigid temperatures
on the morning of launch that made
the O-rings stiff; and a series of wind
shears that buffeted the rising space
craft, perhaps causing the joint to
open still further.
Engineers have settled on a new
design they believe will create a
more positive seal for the three
joints in the solid rockets. This new
design includes a metal lip that will
limit joint movement and adds a
third O-ring in each joint.
Additionally, the engineers are
experimenting with the use of a sili
con material in the O-rings to give
them more resilience in cold. If the
material proves inadequate, hfeaters
will be aoded to the joint.
The new joint also includes insula
tion that is interleafed in such a way
that pressure from the rocket will ac
tually tighten the seal.
But to date these elements remain
largely untested.
Thiokol has made three firings of
partial rocket engines that included
two field joints, but these tests used
the design that failed on Challenger.
Partial rocket tests of the new joint
design will not be conducted until
June, Thiokol spokesman Gil Moore
said, followed by a full-scale test later
in the summer.
Planned facility sparks opposition
A&M parking garage coming soon
By Robert Morris
Staff Writer
It will rise six stories above the
earth, provide convenience for
faculty and students alike and
safely accommodate its occupants
— motor vehicles.
It’s a 2,010-space parking ga
rage, recently approved by the
Texas College and University
Coordinating Board. The garage
will be located on the site of the
soon-to-be-demolished physical
plant facility between Asbury
Street and Ireland.
The building will be closely
monitored with alarm facilities,
numerous closed circuit tele
visions, and guards.
Construction will begin on the
$12.6 million structure in April
and is to be completed by late
spring next year.
But there has been some oppo
sition to the building.
In a letter to the Bryan-College
Station Eagle, Dr. Thomas Ca-
ceci, assistant professor of inter
nal medicine at Texas A&M ex
pressed his discontent with the
plan.
“At a time when the University
is facing fiscal crisis after fiscal
crisis,” he said, “and when faculty
morale is rapidly sinking; when
faculty and staff salaries are, for
the most part, frozen; when new
staff cannot be hired, nor new
equipment purchased; when aca
demic programs have been cur
tailed or terminated because of
budget cuts; and when student fi
nancial assistance has been lim
ited, it makes little sense to spend
money on a parking garage.”
Director of University Police
Bob Wiatt said Dr. Caceci has a
could plow it into faculty salaries,
etc. Well, you are prohibited
from doing this.”
The money for the garage
must come from auxilary income,
not state funding, Wiatt said.
Funding for the garage will
come from a bond issue. The
bonds then will be paid for with
revenue generated from the sale
of garage parking permits.
“We will sell permits for a ga-
“I will hope that it will take some of the squeeze off the
central campus parking, but I’m not prepared to say
that this will be a panacea to our parking problems.”
— Bob Wiatt, director of University Police
misconception of the funding
process for the structure.
“No state funds are being
used,” Wiatt said. “No student
service funds are being used for
this garage. It is totally funding
we get from selling permits and
from fines in our parking ac
count, and through a bond issue
that will have to be paid off from
parking revenue.
“What I gathered from the let
ter was that rather than use this
$12 million for the garage, you
rage occupant,just like a faculty
person buys a permit for a spe
cific lot,” Wiatt said. “We intend
to sell permits to anybody who
wants to park throughout the day
in the garage. Now, for anybody
else, and that will include anyone
who does not have a permit, we
are going to have access lanes that
will pay a daily fee of possibly a
dollar.
“We are trying to give flexiblity
to anyone who wants to use the
garage.”
Anyone will be able to buy a
permit which will, however, re
strict the buyer to the garage, just
like any other permit restricts
them to a certain area, Wiatt said.
The cost of a permit for the ga
rage will be the same as a regular
reserve lot permit.
“We are not going to raise any
parking fees this year, and possi
bly next year, so the cost will ini
tially be $82 per year,” Wiatt said.
Although he still sees contin
ued problems, Wiatt said the ga
rage will help the current parking
problem by adding 2,010 parking
places to the current 16,000.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Wiatt
said. “If there is a surface lot
closer to where a person wants to
go, they are going to take a
chance and park illegally. I will
hope that it will take some of the
squeeze off the central campus
parking, but I’m not prepared to
say that this will be a panacea to
our parking problems.”
Added traffic caused by the ga
rage should not be a problem,
Wiatt said, because the state high
way department and the city of
College Station are planning to
widen University Drive in the
area around the garage.