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The Battalion
Vol.82 No.l 12 (ASPS 045360 16 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, March 5, 1987
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Make Me Laugh
This clown exhibit, presented by Pop-abilities Un
limited, was part of a hospitality fair held Wednes-
Photo by Doug La Rue
day in the Brazos Center. The Bryan-College Sta
tion Chamber of Commerce sponsored the fair.
Local congressman pushes
for end to trucking regulation
Reagan admits deal
with Iran c a mistake’
President accepts responsibility in speech
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan acknowledged
Wednesday night that his once-se-
cret Iranian initiative “deteriorated”
into an arms-for-hostages deal and
saicT,“It was a mistake.”
Noting he had not said much
about the affair since November,
Reagan said, “I’ve paid a price for
my silence in terms of your trust and
confidence, but I have had to wait, as
have you, for the complete story.”
Declaring himself “angry” and
“disappointed” with “some who
served me,” Reagan said: “As per
sonally distasteful as I find secret
bank accounts and diverted funds,
as the Navy would say, this hap
pened on my watch.”
Reagan’s remarks shed no light on
the many mysteries of the Iran-Con
tra affair and said others will have to
find out where the Iran arms pro
ceeds actually went.
The Oval Office address marked
Reagan’s first response to the Tower
commission’s criticism of his de
tached management style and igno
rance about the details and conse
quences of his arms-to-Iran policy.
Responding to the speech, Senate
Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D-W.
Va., said, “It went part way” but that
“the president should have recog
nized it was his orders that autho
rized arms sales to Iran.”
Senate Minority Leader Robert
Dole, R-Kansas, said the controversy
“isn’t behind him yet, but it’s a start.”
He said future aid to the Contra re
bels is now “hanging by a thread.”
In his 10-minute, nationally
broadcast address, Reagan said, “a
few months ago, I told the American
people I did not trade arms for hos
tages. My heart and my best inten
tions still tell me that is true, but the
facts and the evidence tell me it is
not.”
“As the Tower board reported,”
Reagan said, “what began as a strate
gic opening to Iran deteriorated in
its implementation into trading arms
for hostages. This runs counter to
my own beliefs, to administration
policy and to the original strategy we
had in mind.
“There are reasons why it hap
pened, but no excuses,” he said. “It
was a mistake.”
It wasn’t clear if this statement
would satisfy some leaders of both
political parties who had urged in
advance that Reagan frankly state
that he’d made a mistake in selling
arms to Iran.
“I did approve it,” Reagan said. “I
just can’t say specifically when.”
Reagan said he did not ask
enough questions of his aides about
the specifics of the Iran initiative.
“I take full responsibility for my
own actions and for those of my ad
ministration,” Reagan said. “As an
gry as I may be about activities un
dertaken without my knowledge, I
am still accountable for those activ
ities.”
SMU student senate seeks
legal action after scandal
DALLAS (AP) — The president
of the Southern Methodist Univer
sity Student Senate said Wednesday
that anonymous telephone callers
have told him to get out of town for
speaking out against improprieties
in the scnool’s football program.
Trevor Pearlman, a naturalized
U.S. citizen from South Africa, said
some of the callers questioned his
right to speak for the university, and
that’s one reason he asked the senate
for a mandate to pursue legal action
against anyone associated with the
school who mishandled the scandal.
In an emergency meeting Tues
day night, the senate approved 19-5,
with three abstentions, a resolution
to explore legal action “against all re
sponsible parties and individuals.”
The action came after Gov. Bill
Clements said Tuesday that he and
some members of the university
Board of Governors knew of illegal
payments to student athletes. The
Board of Governors denied Clem
ents’ claim Wednesday.
The NCAA last week supended
the SMU football program for one
year because of rules violations.
Pearlman said at a news confer
ence Wednesday that he would con
sult attorneys this week and present
his recommendations to the Senate
for approval.
“I went to the Student Senate last
night because I wanted a mandate
from the students,” Pearlman said,
citing harassing telephone calls.
“Several mentioned that I’m not
from Texas and I have no right
speaking for the university,” Perl
man said.
He said free legal advice is being
offered by lawyers who graduated
from SMU and who “have a love for
the school.”
“The student body is so angry, so
hurt, so torn,” Pearlman said. “We
feel we have been lied to again and
again. We are exasperated by the
leadership of this university.”
Pearlman said he was not refer
ring to William B. Stallcup, the in
terim university president.
“My heart goes out to President
Stallcup,” Pearlman said. “This
thing has been dumped on him.”
Funding for state prison system
to come from highway programs
2S
uce
ant
3N
N
Y
By Frank Smith
Senior Staff Writer
State Sen. Kent Caperton is spear
heading an effort to deregulate rate
schedules for intrastate trucking in
Texas, but a spokesman with a
trucking trade association contends
that deregulation will jumble car
riers’ revenue pictures and drive
them toward unsafe cost-cutting
practices.
Deregulation legislation co-spon-
sored by Caperton, D-Bryan, was in
troduced in the Senate on Feb. 16,
and a companion bill has been intro
duced in the House of Representa
tives by Rep. Bill Hammond, R-Dal-
las.
Two basic aspects of motor-trans
portation service in Texas are regu
lated — entry into the marketplace
and rate schedules.
Jerry Threet, legislative aide to
Caperton, said the senator’s bill
doesn’t suggest changing entry re
quirements; rates are the issue.
“Right now everyone pays the
same rate for the same kind of trans
port of goods in the state, so there’s
not any competition on those rates,”
Threet said. “What our bill does is
make the rate set by the railroad
commission the maximum rate that
could be charged, and it allows any
carrier to charge under that
amount.”
But advocates of deregulation
have their opponents. T im Raven is
one of those detractors.
Raven is the vice president of gov
ernment relations for the Texas Mo
tor Transportation Association, a
trucking trade association represent
ing the truck and bus industry in
Texas.
Based on the consequences of the
1980 federal deregulation of inter
state commerce, Raven fears the re
sults that intrastate deregulation
might have in Texas.
When interstate rates were dereg
ulated, Raven said, the competitive
forces shippers exerted on the sys
tem, combined with an influx of new
companies into the marketplace,
prevented carriers from securing
any kind of stable revenue picture.
“As a result, what you’ve seen is a
slow deterioration in the ‘soft costs’
that carriers get or develop as they
operate over a period of time,” he
said.
He explained that fixed costs are
those the carrier always must pay,
those he can’t change — such as his
drivers’ wages, equipment, office
force and insurance.
Soft costs can, and are, cut by ex
tending the lives of the vehicles, Ra
ven said.
“Before (interstate) deregulation,
the average life span of over-the-
road trucks was around four years,”
he said. “Now the data is showing
that life span is approaching 10
years.
“The maintenance schedules have
been lengthened. They’re running
the tires longer. They’re running the
oil and maintenance schedules
longer. They’re running brake
schedule maintenance longer. And
coupled with that, the carriers are
substituting quantity hauls for qual
ity hauls.”
Raven cited Department of
Transportation statistics that show
the number of interstate carrier acci
dents with damages of over $2,000
rose from about 30,000 in 1980 to
more than 39,000 in 1986.
Threet, however, said there are a
number of effects that result from
the difference between interstate
and intrastate shipping rates in
Texas, and that a case can be made
that deregulated rate schedules pro
mote safety.
He said some shippers are making
use of ‘hot haulers,’ independent
truckers who haul illegally.
“They’re doing something that’s
illegal anyway, so there’s not as
much attention paid to safety,”
Threet said. “We believe that, under
the present system, the pressures
that are on shippers are pushing
them toward that type of thing.
“And although we also support in
creased safety, we think that in
creased competition will also lead to
greater safety.”
Raven conceded the existence of
‘hot haulers.’
“There’s a certain amount of utili-
See Deregulation, page 16
By Jamie Russell
Reporter
Lack of funding is causing chaos
in the Texas prison system, and to
relieve the problems in the prison
units, Gov. Bill Clements is taking
money from Peter to pay Paul.
Peter — the State Department of
Highways and Public Transporta
tion — understands the situation
Texas is facing regarding Paul — the
prison system. But the way in which
the state is relieving the problem is a
major concern for the highway de
partment.
Adding to the prison system’s fi
nancial problems is a court-man-
dated fine of $800,000 per day, be
ginning April 1, if prisons remain
overcrowded.
On Feb. 17 and 18, in a unani
mous vote by both the House and
the Senate, Clements successfully
pushed a plan through the Legis
lature to divert $32.5 million in
highway funds to bail out prisons
and the workers compensation fund.
The Texas prison system will receive
$20.5 million.
This controversial plan has raised
questions over the legality of Clem
ents dipping his hands into one fund
to make up for the lack of another
department’s fund.
“It is not a matter of legality,” said
Eugene Robbins, president of the
Texas Good RoadsATransportation
Association, a lobby group. “It is a
matter of morality.
“For the amount of money they
are taking, the highway department
could build 30 miles of new two-lane
highway.”
Don Clark, director of the high
way department’s travel and infor
mation division, also sees problems
in the fund transfer.
“There is no way they can take
$32.5 million out of our program
and not hurt the program,” he said.
But Rosser defends the plan as a
necessity.
“It was an exhaustive search to
find funds needed to solve a major
state crisis,” he said. “One would
hope the highway department
would understand the serious prob
lem Texas faces.
Still, Robbins is worried about the
outcome.
“If they are successful in diverting
funds, they could, and would, do it
again,” he said. “This is an impor
tant issue.”
The state highway fund consists
of state and federal funds divided
into three categories:
• Revenue from state fuel tax
and vehicle registration fees ded
icated by state constitution to con
struction and maintenance of public
roads.
• A federal highway fund held in
trust by the state to spend only on
highways.
• Money that the Legislature, by
See Highways, page 16
Children don't realize consequences of truancy
Local officials warn against ‘playing hooky’
By Janet Goode
Reporter
The verdict: guilty.
The crime: not wanting ah ed
ucation.
The judge’s gavel strikes the
bench with overpowering force.
A wide-eyed child looks up from
below in awe.
During the last school year, 42
truant children in Bryan-College
Truancy among local children
Part one of a two-part series
Station were referred by a judge
to the county juvenile probation
office for what is termed “infor
mal adjustment.”
If a justice of the peace deter
mines a child has broken the law
by not attending school, the child
may be sent to a probation offi
cer, not necessarily for detention,
but for “adjustment,” or counsel
ing.
Gloria Collins, a juvenile pro
bation officer for Brazos County,
says because truancy and run
away cases are considered “sta
tus” and not criminal offenses,
they can’t keep truant children in
detention.
“We can’t force anybody to
want an education, and we cer
tainly can’t lock up these kids with
serious criminals,” Collins says.
“All we can do is talk to them.
“We can give them a set of
rules to follow, but if they don’t
comply, the consequences will
only come later in life.”
Lora Powell, a counselor for
the College Station Independent
School District, says children who
won’t attend school don’t under
stand they are forming attitudes,
behaviors and ultimately a way of
life.
“Kids believe in magic and in
dulge in magical thinking,” Pow
ell says. “They think that if they
can just get out of school then ev
erything will be all right.”
But probation and school offi
cials agree that in the long run,
the impact on children who are
truant from school is detrimental.
“Children who skip school to
escape today’s pressures are only
setting a future trap for them
selves — a trap of unemploy
ment, disillusionment and de
spair,” Collins says.
The juvenile services depart
ment tries to help children un
derstand the importance of an
education, Collins says, but if pro
bation officers are unsuccessful
after a six-month period, all they
can do is discharge the juveniles
and send them to another coun
seling agency.
Billie Douthitt, a counselor at
the Brazos Valley Stepping Stone
— a local agency that deals with
status offenders — says when
children are brought before a
judge, they view themselves as
criminals, which only makes the
situation worse.
A judge is helpful only if the
child’s parents are found to be at
fault, sne says, and if this is the
case, they can be fined for failure
to get their children to school.
Collins says the county may
soon quit dealing with truancy
cases because the State Board of
Education has decided these chil
dren are not criminals —just kids
with problems.
Lack of funds may also cause
the county to stop dealing with
these cases, Collins says. The ju
venile services department has
decided its top priority should be
with the criminal offenses so it
will be spending more money in
this area, she adds.
In the future, truancy cases
that can’t be handled in the
school will bypass the legal system
and will be referred to counseling
agencies such as Brazos Valley
Stepping Stone.
Douthitt, who works at the
agency, says by 1988 the agencies
will take over completely.
Collins says House Bill 72 also
has decreased their truancy refer
rals because schools are being
forced by law to provide more
rules to help combat truancy
problems.
Jerry Ellis, assistant principal
of Bryan High School, says Bryan
Independent School District uses
the legal route only as a last re
sort.
Ellis says when HB 72 passed
in 1984, it did more to curb
truancy than school policy. In the
past, attendance policies were set
mostly by the school board, but
are now pretty well set by law, he
says.
According to section 21 of the
Texas Education Code, a student
shall not receive credit for a class
if the student has more than five
absences during a semester.
Also according to state law, a
child must adhere to “compulsory
attendance” and attend school
until he is 16 years old. A student
is considered truant if he misses
even one class unexcused.
However, most administrators
in both districts do not consider a
See Truancy, page 16