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The Battalion
Vol. 82 No. 135 LISPS 045360 10 pages College Station, Texas
v
Tuesday, April 14, 1987
Here Kitty, Kitty
Joanna Pridgen, a second-year A&M veterinary student, exercises
“Delilah” the lioness at the Exotic Animal Center by having the animal
Photo by Tom Ownbey
chase her around the cage. “Bucky” the whitetailed deer decides to
join in on the fun — also from the safe side of the cage.
Analysts deem
Texaco’s filing
‘superb move’
,&M team finds new heartworm drug
Medicine to make protection of dogs easier for owners
By Lisa Vandiver
Reporter
Dog owners now can do 30-times less work to
Jkeep their pets f ree from a commonplace heart-
Iworm disease, thanks to a new preventative drug
called Heartgard-30.
The new preventative has been tested and re
searched at A&M by the research team of Dr.
IGreg Troy, Dr. Alice Wolf and Dr. Tom Craig,
pH associated with A&M’s College of Veterinary
|Medicine.
Heartgard-30 — the first new development in
Iheartworm medicine in 25 years — requires giv
ing the dog a small pill once a month rather than
Ithe once-a-day treatment now offered.
Heartgard-30 tablets destroy heartworm lar
vae dogs often acquire from mosquitoes.
Heartworm disease is a condition in which par-
lasitic worms congregate in the right side of the
Iheart and adjacent pulmonary blood vessels of a
Idog. The worms can grow to 14 inches long with
Ian average length of 1 1 inches.
Dr. Kenneth Knauer, an A&M professor of
veterinary medicine and a cardiology specialist in
the small animal clinic, said the disease is trans
mitted through the bite of mosquitoes carrying
infective larvae. If left untreated, Knauer said,
the larvae grow into worms, eventually causing
severe damage and possibly death.
This area of the country is a prime target area
for the disease, he said. The highest area of in
fection is along the coasts and river valleys of
southern states because of the high mosquito
population native to these areas.
“All dogs should be treated with a preventative
in this area, whether the dog has been diagnosed
with the disease or not,” he said. “There is almost
a 100 percent chance that a dog exposed to the
outdoors in this area will acquire the disease.”
The new treatment should cost about $50 to
$60 a year, which is congruent with the cost of
the current treatment — Dietheyl Carbamazine
Citrate (DEC).
The cost of treating a dog diagnosed with
heart worms, however, could cost between $125
and $500.
Dogs currently on DEC can be switched to
Heartgard-30 with no problem, Knauer said, but
dogs should be checked by a veterinarian before
beginning new treatments.
Symptoms a dog owner should look for in de
tection of the disease, Knauer said, is lack of en
ergy or development of a cough. A dog sus
pected of having the disease should be taken to a
veterinarian as quickly as possible.
“If a dog develops heartworms and it goes un
treated, depending on how many worms are con
tracted, the dog could die within the year,”
Knauer said.
The new preventative comes in a blister-sealed
wheel similar to a birth control package, Knauer
said, and has heart-shaped stickers for owners to
place on their calendars as reminders of the
treatment. In addition, the pills are smaller and
easier for dogs to swallow than DEC.
It is available in three doses for three sizes of
dogs. Dogs should begin the treatment at about
six weeks of age to ensure a longer and healthier
life free of heartworms, Knauer said.
The new drug should be available at the begin
ning of May through A&M’s small animal clinic
and throughout the state.
NEW YORK (AP) — The multi-
billon-dollar legal war between Tex
aco Inc. and Pennzoil Co. took a
turn in Texaco’s favor with Texaco’s
filing for protection under federal
bankruptcy laws, industry analysts
said Monday.
In taking the step, Texaco re
lieved itself of the necessity of post
ing a potentially debilitating security
bond against the roughly $1 1 billion
judgment won by Pennzoil against
Texaco in a 1985 Houston jury deci
sion.
That effectively removed a nego
tiating club that Pennzoil had been
wielding over Texaco, giving the
White Plains-based giant oil com
pany plenty of time to negotiate a
settlement, they said.
This is a benefit to Texaco be
cause the more time it has, the more
chance it has of winning a reversal of
the decision, and the more time Pen
nzoil has to wait to get its money —
or some part of the award.
In addition, by putting its fate in
the hands of a federal bankruptcy
judge, Texaco also opened up the
possibility that it could lose its ap
peals all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court — but still wind up better off,
said Bruce Lazier, an analyst at the
Prescott, Ball & Turben Inc. securi
ties firm.
“Pennzoil could win the final
suit,” he said. “But it’s up to the
bankruptcy judge to determine how
much Texaco is going to pay.”
In addition. Lazier noted, Pen
nzoil will have to stand in line for its
money with other creditors whose
claims are not backed by Texaco as
sets.
“I think it was a superb move,” La
zier said of Texaco’s filing for reor
ganization under Chapter 11 of
bankruptcy law. “They had little
choice. Their banks, their creditors,
their suppliers were starting to shut
them down.”
In announcing the move Sunday,
officials of the White Plains, N.Y.-
based Texaco insisted the company
will be conducting business as usual
while reorganizing its finances.
A few industry watchers sug
gested, however, that this view was
optimistic at best.
“It’s not mirrors,” said Richard
Lieb, a bankruptcy specialist at the
Kronish, Lieb, Weiner & Heilman
law firm. “It’s a real bankruptcy.
Texaco’s got real problems.”
One of those problems stemmed
from Texaco’s previous warnings
that it might file under Chapter I 1 if
it could not negotiate a resolution to
the Pennzoil judgment. This had en
couraged worried bankers, suppliers
and others to stop doing business
with Texaco out of fear of not get
ting paid.
Those concerns should be less of a
problem now, said Rosario Ilaqua, of
the L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg,
Towbin securities firm.
“First,” he said, “they had $3 bil
lion in cash on hand. Second, with
Chapter 11, their interest and divi
dend payments are suspended —
that’s another $1.5 billion; and third,
their cash How looks like $3 billion.”
Under Chapter 11, Texaco will be
free to conduct its business while all
debts to creditors remain frozen as it
seeks to work out a way to pay the
debts.
Bill to give
SWC schools
right to sue
boosters
AUSTIN (AP) — Texas senators
gave quick approval Monday to a bill
that would let Southwest Conference
members sue ambitious boosters
who get their alma maters into
NCAA violations.
The bill goes to the House for fur
ther action.
The measure, by Sen. John Mont-
ford, D-Lubbock, received no debate
or opposition.
“This is the product of a year of
research,” Montford told the Senate.
“We consider this a workable ap
proach to an increasing problem.”
Montford’s bill would give col
leges and universities and their re
gional associations, such as the
Southwest Conference, the right to
bring suit against individuals whose
actions result in sanctions against
schools by the NCAA.
Colleges and universities cur
rently have no recourse against
boosters who are not associated di
rectly with the schools but bring on
the suspensions by their violation of
NCAA rules.
“Four of the nine Southwest Con
ference schools are on probation
now, mostly because of these viola
tions,” Montford said. “This has
caused the loss of ticket revenue and
the loss of TV revenue and other
costs. This bill would allow civil suits
to be filed.”
Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Aus-
tin, asked if the bill would cover the
board of governors of a university,
in apparent reference to Gov. Bill
Clements’ former role as chairman
of the Southern Methodist Univer
sity board of governors.
Montford said, “This would allow
SMU or the conference to bring suit,
but not the board of governors. I
would think if this bill had been in
effect SMU probably could sue for
several millions of dollars.”
Attorneys say Texas
should not be fined
for prison conditions
HOUSTON (AP) — The state
is making a good faith effort to
comply with court-ordered
prison reforms and should not be
fined $800,500 a day for failure
to meet those reforms, state attor
neys said Monday.
“The state is in substantial
compliance,” special assistant at
torney general F. Scott McCown
said. “What we’re asking the
court to do is vacate those fines.”
U.S. District Judge William
Wayne Justice on Dec. 31 found
the state in contempt of an
agreement to improve prison
conditions and gave the state un
til April 1 to comply or face fines
of $24 million a month. The fines
were delayed pending the out
come of the hearing that began
Monday and was expected to con
tinue most of the week.
“They are not delivering the
necessities of life — like clothing,
plumbing, heating,” William Ben
nett Turner, attorney for the in
mate plaintiffs, said. “There are a
number of issues.”
Attorneys for both sides said
they did not expect Justice to is
sue an opinion from the bench,
but instead take the matter under
advisement.
The state also has appealed the
fines to the federal appeals court
in New Orleans, which has not yet
ruled in the matter.
James Lynaugh, the interim di
rector of the Texas Department
of Corrections and the leadoff
witness called by the state, out
lined what he said were increases
in staff hiring within the depart
ment and the pressure he put on
the governor and Legislature to
comply with the court orders.
Lynaugh said the department
was recruiting additional medical
staff even before the Legislature
made an emergency $12.6 million
appropriation to pay salaries for
the new help.
“We did everything short of
hiring these people,” he said.
Lynaugh also noted that the
numbers of corrections officers,
psychological and rehabilitation
aides and supervisory officers
also exceeded the court
guidelines, and that he had asked
for total compliance in his budget
request to the Legislature for
1988-89.
Brazos’ planned parenthood center
out of funds, forced to increase costs
By Kelley Bullock
Reporter
Since Planned Parenthood of Bra
zos County expended its Title 20
funding from the government in
February, many women at Texas
A&M cannot afford to pay for birth-
control pills and examinations.
“The Title 20 fund is available for
agencies that provide family plan
ning and health care for indigent
people,” Sally Miller, Planned Par
enthood clinic director, said. “We
have a contract that is renewed an
nually on a bid basis, and there’s just
so much that is available for a partic
ular area of the state.”
On Sept. 1, 1986, Planned Paren
thood was given a contract for
$89,000.
“We use this money in the method
that is prescribed by the state until
the money is all gone,” Miller said.
“When the funding is no longer
available, in order to keep the bills
paid, we have to charge for services.
We’re giving the maximum amount
of care with the minimum amount of
pay, in order to keep the doors
open.”
Miller said Planned Parenthood
exhausts Title 20 funds every year.
When first informed of the higher
prices of pills and examinations,
workers at Planned Parenthood said
they were too high.
“Students would come in for the
first time and receive services for a
reasonable rate,” Terry Delagarza, a
Planned Parenthood worker, said.
“They would come back four
months later, and the funding would
be gone. They were very disappoin
ted.”
Of the 10,880 visitors to Planned
visit would cost $25 or less, including
a full examination and four cycles of
pills.
Since funding has ceased, the ex
amination costs $36 and each cycle
of pills costs $3 to $4.
Although the prices seem high,
Miller said, most still can afford
them.
“When you consider the cost of an
“Students would come in for the first time and receive
services for a reasonable rate. They would come back
four months later, and the funding would be gone.
They were very disappointed. ”
— Terry Delagarza, Planned Parenthood worker
Parenthood since 1986, about 70
percent, or 7,616 patients, were af
filiated with A&M. Women must be
at least 18 to use the services.
About 50 people per day visited
Planned Parenthood when Title 20
funding was available, but, after
funding was lost, visitors dropped to
about 35 or 40.
“The decrease in visits per day
may be a result of the loss of funds,
or it may be related to the depressed
economy of this community,” Miller
explained.
When it was available, a typical
exam, especially when it’s being paid
by both a woman and a fellow, it’s
not really expensive,” Miller said.
“People go to dinner and to a movie,
and it costs almost that much.
“So we’re not talking about some
thing that is totally out of reach for
most of the students. It’s just such a
big change from what it was before.
“If students would think, ‘Yes, it’s
more expensive, but it is a good buy
and it’s something I need to do for
myself,’ then they would realize it
was a good bargain.”
Compared to prices of $3 to $4
for pills at Planned Parenthood
without the Title 20 funding, prices
for pills at pharmacies cost at least
three times as much. On the aver
age, prices of pills range from $12 to
$14 if purchased at pharmacies.
If students cannot afford to pay
for pills and an examination at
Planned Parenthood, Miller advises
using an alternative form of birth
control.
“Foam and condoms are ex
tremely inexpensive and students
can get them cheaper here than in
the stores,” Miller said. “We pass out
three free condoms, and they’re very
effective if used properly.
“Also, if students are on their par
ents’ insurance, sometimes the insur
ance will cover these visits, depend
ing on the kind of insurance,” she
said.
A&M students also can receive
birth-control pills and an examina
tion at the A.P. Beutel Health Cen
ter on campus. An examination costs
$ 13 for the lab work and pills cost an
initial $2 for filling the prescription
plus $3 for each cycle.
Title 20 funding is still available to
other Planned Parenthoods in
Texas.
Possible effects from the loss of
Title 20 funds, such as an increase in
unwanted pregnancies, are too diffi
cult to measure. Miller said.