The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 15, 1987, Image 1
TKe Battalion /ol. 82 No. 136 USPS 045360 12 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, April 15, 1987 rivate prison ill approved y Clements Ion Inis AUSTIN (AP) — Legislation to al- \ private construction and opera- of prisons in Texas was signed ito law Tuesday by Gov. Bill Clem- s, who said it could help relieve vercrowding in the state prison sys- |em. Clements and A1 Hughes, chair man of the state Board of Gorrec- nons, said the law is a big step to ward solving the crowding problems diich repeatedly have forced the texas Department of Corrections to [top admitting new inmates this [ear. The new law allows the TDC to Contract with private companies and lounties for construction and opera- lion of minimum- and medium-se- [urity prisons. Clements said facilities built un- Herthis plan must meet all state stan- nards, as well as court-ordered re quirements of the long-standing awsuit against the prison system. The state prisons currently hold tbout 38,000 inmates. A court-or- pered population ceiling has forced TDC officials to stop accepting new Prisoners on 11 occasions this year. Countries luestion rise In radiation BONN, West Germany (AP) — Vest Germany, which was in the path of Chernobyl radiation, said uesday it is asking Moscow hether higher radioactivity levels letected in Europe last month were aused by another Soviet nuclear ac- ident. West Germany, Sweden, Switzer land, Norway and France confirmed uesday that varying increases in at- tospheric radiation were recorded n March, but reported no damage at injuries. Kremlin officials denied he Soviet Union was the source. The Soviets were criticized for a ielay of nearly three days in report- ng the explosion and fire last April t the Chernobyl nuclear power lant in the Ukraine. It killed 31 people and spewed an invisible loud of radiation over Europe that ventually worked its way around he world. Officials in Bonn said unusual lev- Is of the radioactive element iodine Il31 and four to five times the nor- [mal amounts of xenon gas were measured in West Germany between March 9 and March 15. Environment Ministry spokeswo- Iman Claudia Conrad said the radia tion posed no health threat, but the government asked the Soviet Union |for further information. “The experts are all saying it was [almost certainly a nuclear power ac cident,” Heinz-Joerg Haury, a spokesman for the government-fi nanced Institute for Radioactivity and Environmental Research in Mu- [nich, told the Associated Press. A Western diplomatic source in [Moscow said Tuesday that the Sovi ets were asked about a possible ra- Jdiation leak after some Scandinavian jcountries registered an increase in jemissions last month. The source, [who spoke on condition he not be further identified, said the Soviets [denied any such leak. The source said it was unlikely a [nuclear power plant accident had oc curred, since it would have released [many radioactive isotopes, not just iodine 131. Hughes said he hopes bids can be obtained by Aug. 3 1 for construction of up to 2,000 new prison beds. “August is the outside date,” he said. “We’re going to try to beat that date.” Sen. Ray Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, the bill’s sponsor, said that while the new law won’t solve all the crowding problems, it should help. “It’s not an answer, but it is an al ternative and one of the tools that I think will be helpful to meet the in creasing need for corrections facili ties in the state of Texas,” Farabee said. Hughes said a number of counties have voiced interest in the program. “We anticipate the majority of them will be around urban areas,” he said, but rural areas aren’t being ruled out. Hughes said the plan is “some what of an experiment,” since it could make Texas the leader in con tracting to private entities the opera tion of prisons. The 2,000 beds that could be built would be “probably close to the total amount of privatization of all other states combined,” Hughes said. The guards and other personnel would be private employees, with state corrections officials assigned to each new prison to keep tabs on the operations. “There will be TDC employees in every facility monitoring the opera tion of the facility,” Hughes said, adding that he expects no trouble using private employees to staff the new prisons. “It’s done ... in other states at this time,” he said. “It’s done here in the state for federal facilities. We think the problems are not insurmounta ble. Obviously, you have liability problems, but they can be insured around.” On another issue, Clements said he now opposes the idea of asking voters to approve a tax increase that would be dedicated to prison fund ing. It’s the job of lawmakers to raise money for such things, the governor said. “I think the Legislature has the primary responsiblity,” Clements said. “We need to earn our pay and make the decisions that will answer these questions. We are in session, so let’s answer the question.” Asked why he backed away from earlier support of a prison tax refer endum, Clements said, “I just gave it some considerable thought that dur ing this regular (legislative) session and with the prospect of some spe cial sessions that we have a job to do and we need to earn our pay.” IvIL ®|||I M ft ^ -V , Ill : ' i •<* ; ' -* * V * * I «?-• vmpki On Your Mark... Goldwire Stanley Kerr, a member of the Texas A&M track team, gives his 2- year-old niece, Tiffany Allen, lessons on how to come out of the start ing blocks. Allen was visiting the 19-year-old agricultural education major at track practice. Student Publications Board chooses editors for Battalion, 1988 Aggieland By Robert Morris Staff Writer Senior journalism major Sondra Pickard was nominated as editor for The Battalion for the summer and fall semesters, and junior accounting major Joanie Pate was nominated as editor of the 1988 Aggieland by the Student Publications Board Tuesday afternoon. Both nominations must be ap proved by Provost Donald McDon ald. The board delayed its nomination for editor of the video yearbook for two weeks in hopes of attracting more applicants. Pickard, who has worked for The Battalion for about two years as staff writer, senior staff writer and assis tant city editor, was a unanimous choice for both semesters. Pate’s experience includes acting as assistant section editor for classes for the 1986 Aggieland and classes editor for the 198 / edition. Both Pickard and Pate said they feel their respective publications are successful as they are now, but some changes will probably occur. “Overall, I’m pleased with The Battalion now; I’m not looking to make any sweeping changes,” Pick ard said. “However, there are a few adjustments I would like to make in the area I am familiar with (city and campus coverage).” Part of that adjustment may be the inclusion of non-journalism ma jors as staff writers — an occurence which in principle is now done but in reality rarely occurs, she said. Pickard also hopes for im provement in coverage of campus organizations and events, but tem pers that hope with the knowledge that The Battalion is a professional Sondra Pickard newspaper and not a campus public relations tool. Tentatively, applications will be accepted for The Battalion staff po sitions within the next two weeks. Pate feels the Aggieland is suc- Joanie Pate cessful as is and sees the need for change to be minimal. “There is no need for structural changes,” she said, “but possibly a few administrative changes will be made.” Mattox opinion nixes Granada-TAES project By Carolyn Garcia Staff Writer Attorney General Jim Mattox has- ruled that a business partly owned by a member of the Texas A&M Board of Regents may not enter into a proposed research project with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Sta tion. Mattox said there would be a con flict of interest if Granada Devel opment Corp., partially owned by board Chairman David Eller, en tered into an agreement with the ex periment station. The ruling followed an A&M re quest that Mattox review the inter pretation of a case that set the prece dent for contractual conflict-of- interest questions in Texas. Eller said A&M requested the re view to clarify the ruling. “The reason (A&M) requested it was to get a ruling,” he said. “The verbal interpretation of the ruling left many questions. I brought it up to get the issue on the table.” Eller, who has been giving A&M money since 1977 in the form of re search grants and contracts, said that expanding technology and research is the only way A&M will be able to compete in the world market. The Granada Genetics building, which is scheduled for completion this summer, will not be owned by Granada Corp., but leased through a Houston developer. “This is not uncommon,” he said. “. . . Most of the time the building is named for the largest tenant.” Mark Money, vice chancellor for research park and corporate rela tions, said Granada will be the sec ond occupant of the research park. “The first in the park was the Ocean Drilling program of the Na tional Science Foundation,” he said. “Granada will be the second. The question was asked for a research unit of TAES to enter into a contract with Granada to do joint research which would result in commerciali zation and which they (Granada) would have a monetary interest. “Granada will be in the park on leased land,” he said. “. . . They leased on fair market value. The purpose of a research park is to en courage corporations to establish re search and to provide a place for stu dents and spouses to work.” Eller said his research relationship with A&M has aimed to fund pro jects, not to make a huge profit. “The only successf ul — really suc cessful — thing I could ever do is get back what I put in,” Eller said. “I’ve never had a contract (with A&M) where that (making a lot of money) has been the reason. We’re just the funder. “All this was brought on because I give money to Texas A&M. ... I have no quafrels with the attorney general. I talked with Jim Mattox to day (Tuesday) and he personally supports my endeavors regarding research at A&M.” David G. Eller ’86 farm crisis ruined 5 percent of Texas farmers By Olivier Uyttebrouck Senior Staff Writer A Texas A&M University st-udy has found evidence the farm crisis put nearly 5 percent of Texas farmers out of business in 1986 and may claim one-fourth of all Texas farmers by 1990 if the crisis holds its pre sent course. The study also suggests that the crisis has been especially harsh on farmers of the Plains region of West Texas, medium-size farmers and farmers who got into business since 1970 — a period of high interest rates and land prices. “Farmers may be facing their most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression,” says the study, conducted by A&M’s De partment of Rural Sociology. The study is based on a survey of ap proximately 1,000 farmers around the state See related story, Page 4 in 1986, compared with a similar survey of the same farmers a year earlier. Thj detailed telephone survey asked questions ranging from such bread-and- butter issues as energy, fertilizer costs and debt levels to personal questions concerning marital problems and suicides resulting from the crisis. “A year’s time has brought no noticable •mprovement in the economic crisis in Texas Agriculture,” the study notes. “In 1986, about one out of every four Texas farmers still had levels of debt that were likely to be difficult for them to manage and which may result in their inablility to remain economically viable.” In general, farmers are no longer bor rowing money, the study says. Thus, the av erage farmer’s debt remained roughly the same from 1985 to 1986, at around $109,000. But because of plummeting land prices, average farm and personal assets fell more than 20 percent between 1985 to 1986, from $815,000 to about $640,000. ’ Dr. Don E. Albrecht, an A&M professor of sociology who participated in the study, says that farmers have been devastated by the collapse of land prices in 1981, follow ing 40 years of speculative buying that drove prices up to unrealistic highs. “From 1941 to 1981, we had 40 contin uous years when, every year, the average acre of farmland in the United States was higher than the year before,” Albrecht says. “The price of land was far above what it could justify in its productive potential. It was being held up there on speculation.” Since land prices reached their peak in 1981, the value of farmland has declined an average of 30 percent nationwide. Texas, as a whole, has gotten off rather lightly, Albrecht says. The average price of farmland here has declined only 12 percent since 1981, while Plains states such as Ne braska and Iowa have suffered drops in land values as high as 59 percent. The Plains region of Texas — the Panhandle and northwest Texas —has experienced the same drastic price declines as other Plains states, and it is here that many farmers are dropping out of the business. The Plains region is by far the most pro ductive agricultural region in the state, Al brecht says. “There’s mainly one way of making a liv ing up there, and that’s farming,” he says. “Anybody who’s not employed in farming is employed in oil, which bottomed out at the same time.”