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.”
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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.”