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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1987)
Texas ASM m a m • The Battalion Vol.82 No. 109 GSPS 045360 12 pages College Station, Texas Monday, March 2, 1987 Missile offer draws praise from Europe LONDON (AP) — Western Euro peans on Sunday welcomed the sur prise Soviet offer of a separate deal to eliminate medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe, saying it was the long-awaited breakthrough to an agreement. Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher of West Germany said it See related story, page 8 removed “the main obstacle” to an accord. NATO Secretary-General Lord Carrington called the offer "a substantial step forward.” The Danish Foreign Ministry said it was “a good and positive signal” TDC begins new program to reduce crowding HUNTSVILLE (AP) — About 187 Texas convicts were released to halfway houses Sunday through leg islation approved by the governor in an effort to ease overcrowding within the prison system, a prison spokesman said. Gov. Bill Clements on Friday au thorized the use of a new state law that awards up to 60 days of good- conduct time to selected prisoners, allowing them to be moved to super vised halfway houses. The action followed a Texas De partment of Corrections announce ment that the prison population at midnight 1’hursday was 139 inmates over a 95-percent state-mandated ca pacity ceiling. The count totaled 38,529 inmates, or 95.34 percent of capacity, prison spokesman Charles Brown said. The 187 inmates released under the new legislation will go to halfway houses throughout the state. Brown said. Another 55 inmates were re leased on parole Sunday, he said. The inmates released Sunday and Friday will allow the prison system, the nation’s second-largest next to California, to open its doors to new prisoners Tuesday. The prison system closed for the fifth time this year Wednesday after the population exceeded 95 percent. In signing the action releasing the imates, Clements insisted it was not n early-release program and said he prisoners actually were serving mger sentences than if they had een paroled. and Belgian Foreign Minister Leo Tindemans said his reaction was to “rejoice.” The governments of Britain, France, the Netherlands and Italy were among those which refrained from any quick assessment, saying they wanted time to study the Soviet offer. U.S. Gen. Bernard Rogers, the departing commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza tion, warned against abolishing me dium-range nuclear missiles in Eu rope without making progress on other East-West disarmament issues — a warning echoed elsewhere. In a major policy switch, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev an nounced Saturday that the Soviets were dropping their insistence that an agreement on medium-range missiles be linked to a deal limiting testing of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, known as “Star Wars.” Soviet and U.S. arms control ne gotiators in Geneva scheduled a spe cial session today to discuss Gorba chev’s appeal that an accord on medium-range missiles be reached “without delay.” Sens. Claiborne Pell, D-R.L, and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and U.S. As sistant Secretary of Defense Richard N. Perle, all in Geneva to observe the arms talks, welcomed the offer. Genscher said the Soviet lead ership recognized that the issue of medium-range missiles could not be linked to East-West disputes over President Reagan’s Star Wars pro gram. ‘ B y separating medium-range missiles from other disarmament is sues, Gorbachev has removed the main obstacle to an agreement on re ducing and destroying all Soviet and American medium-range missiles,” he said. “It is reasonable to hope that a breakthrough on the question of me dium-range missiles will have a posi tive effect on negotiations over other (disarmament) issues,” Genscher said. Carrington said he had asserted repeatedly that it was “artificial and unreasonable” for Gorbachev to in sist on a link between Star Wars and medium-range missiles. “The appar- ent recognition of this marks a sub stantial step forward,” he said. Since NATO’s decision in Decem ber 1979 to deploy 572 medium- range U.S. cruise and Pershing 2 nu clear missiles in five European na tions, the Atlantic alliance repeat edly has said it would be willing to dismantle the rockets if the Soviets agreed to destroy their intermediate SS-20 missiles. At the end of 1986, NATO said 208 Cruise missiles and 108 Per shing 2s had been deployed. NATO claims the Soviets have 441 SS-20s in place. We’re Number Opening ceremonies for the Student Y Youth Fun Day were close to the high noise level of an A&M basketball finals game, as the local Photo by Doug La Rue t prepared to fao day of assorted games and competitions. See related items, page 5. children who participated in the Saturday event prepared to face a icfga Loxalt: Reagan not ready to renounce deal WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Sen. Paul Laxalt said Sunday he doubts President Reagan is ready to renounce the U.S. arms-sale initiative with Iran, despite the Tower Commission’s con demnation of that policy and Reagan’s subse quent replacement of White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan. Laxalt of Nevada, one of Reagan’s closest long time political confidants, said that in his address to the nation later this week, Reagan should ad mit “this was a flawed policy ... a trip that shouldn’t have been taken. . . . I’d like to have him do that, but I don’t think he’s there in his own mind yet.” Reagan acknowledged in his Jan. 27 State of the Union address that “serious mistakes were made,” but he has never conceded that the ad ministration was seeking to trade arms for hos tages. Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas joined Laxalt in publicly urging Reagan to take full responsibility for the Iran-Contra affair when the president makes his nationally broad cast speech, probably on Wednesday or Thurs day. See Iran, page 12 Governor’s task force suggests ways to help economy in Texas By Frank Smith Senior Staff Writer It boasts a diverse membership of distinguished Texas business peo ple. Its mission is to identify actions that can be taken to “remove obsta cles or provide new stimulus for job creation in the state.” Its prospects for success depend largely on the willingness of Gov. Bill Clements and the Legislature to follow through on and implement its pro posals. “It” is the Governor’s Task Force on Business Development and Job Creation, a blue-ribbon panel ap pointed by Clements in December. The group responded with a list of 35 recommendations, which it sub mitted to the governor on Jan. 23. James R. Adams, co-chairman of the task force and president of State debates making prisons private TDC examines cures for crowding Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on the issues surrounding pri vately-opera ted prisons in Texas. By Amy Couvillon Staff Writer Although a bill allowing some Texas prison operations to be turned over to private firms is be ing considered in the Texas House of Representatives, politi cal scientists and prison officials are unsure as to whether privati zation could be a long-term solu tion to Texas prison woes. “We’re open to any alternatives because of the situation that we are in,” Department of Correc tions spokesman Charles Brown said. “We have crowding prob lems. We also have a hnancial problem. If private industry could come in and (run prison operations), and we see that there are not going to be any liability problems, then of course we are open to that. “(Privatization) is a viable op tion, but we would have to look at it to see if it would be more feasi ble.” The bill, which passed 23-2 in the Texas Senate Feb. 19, would authorize privately-operated pris ons for “minimum-” or “medium- risk” inmates on the condition that any contract granted would save the state at least 10 percent of the cost of a similar govern ment-operated facility. Dr. Gary Halter, former Col lege Station mayor and associate professor of political science at Texas A&M, said although gov ernment contracting to private corporations is not new, it does not automatically mean money savings for the state. “You can’t make the assump tion that anything the govern ment does, business can do more efficiently,” Halter said. “It isn’t true.” Sometimes private industry can run government operations more cheaply, Halter said, not be cause it is necessarily more effi cient than the government, but because of different tax require ments, or because private cor porations don’t have to meet the same employment requirements to which the government is bound. Civil service require ments, various benefits and work ers’ compensation make up much of government costs, he ex plained, but private industry has other options, such as the use of temporary workers. “The private sector may not be bound by the same kinds of con straints,” he said, “and they can save on labor costs.” The legislation now is being considered in the House Correc tions Committee. To become law, the bill must pass in the House, be reapproved by both chambers and be signed by Gov. Bill Clem ents. Texas prisons have seen a re volving door of openings and closings in the last month because of overcrowding. After the pris ons closed again Wednesday, pa role restrictions were being eased to allow earlier release of non-vio lent inmates. On Thursday, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles recom mended extra good time for 185 inmates, and on Friday, Clements moved to ease the crisis by autho rizing use of a new state law to speed up parole eligibility. The actions followed a TDC an nouncement Thursday that the prison population was 139 pris oners over the 95-percent capac ity ceiling. “There’s no room at the inn,” TDC spokesman Brown told the Associated Press. The new law allows extra good time for non-violent, non-assaul- tive inmates who are serving sen tences of less than 10 years and who officials believe do not pose a threat to the public. If court-mandated im provements are not made by April 1, the state could be slapped with fines of up to $800,500 a day. Dr. Ben Crouch, an A&M asso ciate professor of sociology who is familiar with the Texas prison system, said the TDC is in a bind and is looking at private prisons as one of many solutions. “There aren’t but two or three options,” Crouch said. “One is to quit sending them. One is to let some go. And one is to build more room. . . . Right now the state is trying to let some go. And it’s trying to build more facilities.” Halter listed other government operations that have been suc cessfully turned over to private firms, such as trash collection, road construction and tax assess ment. But privatization can bring problems, he said. “Any time a government con tracts out for services, there’s a potential for losing control,” Hal ter said. If unforeseen problems de velop, such as rising costs, a pri vate firm owner only has to live up to the contract — he doesn’t have to be responsive to the peo ple, he said. A government tends See Prisons, page 12 Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.’s Texas Division, commented on the group’s work in an address to the Brazos Valley Economic Outlook Conference on Feb. 12. He explained the committee’s prompt response to its assignment. “Does that mean we didn’t know what we were doing so we just put something together?” he asked. “No, what it means is that most good ideas aren’t necessarily brand new. The problem is that sometimes we study things to death. . . . “We also were very aware that the Legislature was going to be in ses sion and we didn’t want to miss that opportunity to have some things down for it to consider.” The 72-member panel includes several people closely associated with Texas A&M. Among them are H.R. “Bum” Bright, former chairman of the A&M System Board of Regents; Jarvis Miller, former A&M presi dent; Clayton Williams Jr., Midland oilman and head of Claydesta Com munications; and H.B. Zachry, pres ident of H.B. Zachry Co. in San An tonio. Task force recommendations call for, among other things: • The governor and Legislature, through public policy statements and resolutions, to clearly signal to the world that Texas is committed to education. • Active solicitation of federal re search dollars and representation on federal boards by the governor. • The recruitment of federal re search laboratories by the governor. • Deregulation of intrastate trucking, with the exception of the transport of hazardous materials. • The development of a Small Business Development Center pro gram. The centers are intended to pro vide counseling for small-business See Economy, page 12 Mother of murder suspect warned of perjury charge By Carolyn Garcia Staff Writer The mother of the man arrested in connection with the Julie’s Place restaurant murder was arrested Fri day on suspicion of lying to a grand jury about that case. Leona Maxey, 47, of Route 5 out side of Bryan, was arrested early Fri day afternoon and warned of a pen ding charge of aggravated perjury. Maxey was released late Friday af ternoon after she posted a $2,500 bond. If convicted, Maxey could be sen tenced with up to 10 years in the Texas Department of Corrections and/or a $5,000 fine, criminal lawyer W.W. Vance said. Maxey is the mother of Terry Washington, 23, who was arrested Wednesday in connection with the murder of Beatrice Huling. Huling was killed Jan. 15 at the restaurant where she was employed as a night manager. Washington, who worked as a dishwasher at the restaurant until Feb. 22, is being held in Brazos County Jail without bond on a charge of capital murder. Lt. Irvin Todd of the College Sta tion Police Department said Maxey testified to the Brazos County grand jury in early February while it was investigating the Huling murder case. Officials would not discuss the na ture of Maxey’s testimony. Vance said the difference between a charge of perjury and one of ag gravated perjury is a serious one. Perjury is a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of up to one year in county jail and/or a $2,000 fine, Vance said. An example of perjury would be lying on a sworn, written affidavit, he said. The charge becomes aggravated perjury when someone lies “during or in connection with an official pro ceeding and is considered material to the case by thejudge,” Vance said.