V
The'Battalion
Vol. 87 Mo. 45 CJSPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, November 2, 1987
Little drummer band
The percussion section of the Southern Methodist University band
plays during halftime this weekend at the A&M game. The Mustang
Photo by Robert W. Rizzo
band was invited to perform at the Aggie game as a show of good
sportsmanship toward the school.
Court
faces
nominee
questions
on cable deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — Su
preme Court nominee Douglas H.
Ginsburg had almost $140,000 in
vested in a cable television corpora
tion when he “personally handled” a
Justice Department effort to have
the court extend First Amendment
protection to cable operators.
An administration source close to
Ginsburg said Sunday that Ginsburg
apparently did not raise the possibil
ity of staying out of the case with Jus
tice Department superiors or with
agency ethics officers.
He said Ginsburg discussed the
situation with a subordinate.
The Supreme Court, on June 2,
1986, adopted Ginsburg’s argu
ments in a decision that will reduce
government regulation of cable op
erators.
“It is a First Amendment rights
case that had economic conse
quences to it. . a former federal
ethics official familiar with the cable
case but not with Ginsburg’s role in it
said.
“If I’m holding cable stock, that is
a good thing for me.”
Ginsburg, nominated by Presi
dent Reagan to succeed retired Jus
tice Lewis Powell on the court, ap
parently did not violate criminal
conflict of interest laws because the
company in which he invested was
not a direct party to the case even
though it could benefit from the rul
ing.
But ethics experts said Ginsburg’s
actions could be viewed as skirting a
presidential executive order forbid
ding actions that create an appear
ance of a conflict of interest or of fa
voritism.
Violation of that order carries ad
ministrative penalties, such as a let
ter of reprimand or suspension.
Ginsburg, through his informal
spokesman W. Stephen Cannon, de
clined on Sunday to comment on his
role in the cable case until he has an
opportunity to review his records.
A former head of the Justice De
partment’s antitrust division and
now a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
judge, Ginsburg, 41, is little known
to the public, and his professional
performance is being scrutinized by
the Senate Judiciary Committee in
preparation for confirmation hear
ings.
Ginsburg was assistant attorney
general in charge of the antitrust di
vision at the Justice Department
when the Reagan administration
filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a
Los Angeles cable television case.
During his confirmation hearings
last year, Ginsburg wrote the Judi
ciary Committee that the cable case
was among the 10 “most significant
litigated matters that I personally
handled.”
“I was a principal participant in
determining the government’s posi
tion . . . and supervised the drafting
of our brief,” he wrote of the cable
brief.
lection ballot provides record number of propositions
By Doug Driskell
Staff Writer
Tomorrow is an election day dif
ferent than any other election day. It
comes at a time when Texas is in fi
nancial dispair. For Bryan-College
Station, there are no city policies on
the ballot. It is an off-election.
This ballot has more propositions
on it than ever before in Texas his
tory. There are 25 constitutional am-
mendment propositions and two ref-
erendums on the ballot. This is seen
as a hurdle for proposition campain-
ers to overcome.
“Part of the problem we see from
the ballot standpoint, is the fact that
there are more propositions on the
ballot than ever before in the history
Texas,” Tom Vickers, Bexar
jnty Judge and chairman of the
Id Texas Committee, said. “This
Id have a tendency to be confus-
to the average voter.”
•reposition 19 and referendum 2
e had much attention.
•reposition 19, if voted into law,
provide $500 million in general
gation bonds to help convince
federal government to locate the
erconductor supercollider pro
in Texas, Vickers said,
f the supercollider is built it is ex-
ted to create 4,500 construction
> and 5,600 jobs in services and
ply resulting in $20 million
led into the Texas economy dur-
the life of the project, said Matt
m, a representative of the Super-
ider Committee.
’roposition 19 has no organized
losition, Vickers said.
Leferendum 2 pertains to the le-
zation of pari-mutuel betting on
se and dog races. Supporters,
the Texas Horse Racing Associa
tion, of this referendum see the le
galization of pari-mutuel betting as
bringing the horse breeding indus
try back to Texas, therefore bring
ing more money into Texas.
Opponents, like the Texans Who
Care, see pari-mutuel betting bring
ing organized crime to Texas. They
argue the money brought in from
pari-mutuel betting is not enough to
really help the budget.
Other amendments on referen
dum on the ballot are:
• Amendment No. 1 — This
would establish a grain warehouse
self-insurance fund to guarantee
payment to farmers, with public
money, in case of defaults.
This proposition is a result of
some grain warehouses going out of
business and leaving farmers with
out full payment for the grain they
had stored in the warehouse. If
passed, it should reduce cost of busi
ness for the operation of grain eleva
tors. It would provide assurance to
farmers to have grain in state-ap
proved warehouses.
The downside is that it will rely on
state taxes until the funds are built
up.
• Amendment No. 2 — This
would raise property taxes in certain
unincorporated, rural, fire districts.
• Amendment No. 3 — If passed,
this will limit school tax increases on
the homestead of surviving elderly
spouses.
• Amendment No. 4 — This
would permit the Legislature to au
thorize the loans and grants that
would fund the Texas Agricultural
Fund, the Texas Small Business In
cubator fund and the Texas Product
Development Fund, which would be
established by Proposition No. 6. It
also would permit local governments
to issue general obligation bonds for
economic development programs,
subject to voter approval. Alone, it
would not obligate any state money.
Other constitutional amendments
would have to be approved to allo
cate money.
• Amendment No. 5 — This
amendment would allow the State
Highway Department and the Texas
Turnpike Authority to cooperate in
road and bridge building using pub
lic monies to guarantee bond issues.
• Amendment No. 6 — This
would permit the Legislature to fi
nance Texas products and busi
nesses.
• Amendment No. 7 — This
would provide state bonds for local
public works projects. This could
help Bryan-College Station. It would
allow local communities to borrow
money from the state thus giving a
lower interest rate than if they bor
rowed from private institutions.
• Amendment No. 8 — This
would provide bonds to pay for cor
rectional, mental health and mental
retardation facilities.
• Amendment No. 9 — This
would allow legislators to seek dif
ferent state offices while restricting
pay increases for the new office they
may have previously voted to ap
prove. The current state constitution
says any legislator who voted on a
pay increase for the attorney general
could not later run for attorney gen
eral. If approved, legislators could
run or be appointed to an office, but
they would not receive their pay in
crease until a certain time period has
elapsed.
• Amendment No. 10 — This
would allow local voters to approve
ecurity adviser expects Senate
d approve nuclear missile treaty
WASHINGTON (AP) — National
security adviser Frank C. Carlucci
said Sunday that a U.S.-Soviet
accord on intermediate-range nu
clear missiles is “98 percent of the
way there” and predicted Senate ra
tification.
However, a leading Senate Demo-
trat warned that the superpower
pact could be doomed if conserva
tive Republicans tamper with it by
attaching amendments on issues like
the Soviet occupation of Afghani
stan.
“I do think that there could be
problems,” said Sen. Alan Cranston,
D-Calif., the Senate Democratic
whip who is also a member of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and the Select Committee on Intelli
gence.
“There are 15-20 very conserva
tive Republican senators who I think
are very likely to take on the treaty
directly, and I think there are others
who might take it on by indirection. .
. ,” he said on NBC-TV’s “Meet the
Press.” “They might well suggest va
rious reservations or amendments
that would, in effect, kill it.”
Sen. Richard Lugar, a leading Re
publican and a member of the Sen
ate Foreign Relations Committee,
also predicted some tough sailing in
the Senate for an INF treaty.
“I think there are a number of Re
publican senators, and there’ll be a
few Democrats who are not in favor
of any treaty with the Soviet Union,
feel it’s unverifiable, unenforcea
ble,” the Indiana Republican said on
measures that would exempt certain
personal property not used to pro
duce income from taxes.
• Amendment No. 11 — This
would exempt property held within
the state temporarily for manufac
turing and processing. If a ship were
to import steel for the building of an
oil rig that steel would not be taxed
until the construction began.
• Amendment No. 12 — This
would allow married couples to own
community property with the right
of survivorship.
• Amendment No. 13 — This
would allow creations of districts to
provide emergency fire and medical
services. These districts could create
new taxes to support these services.
• Amendment No. 14 — This
would allow the state a limited right
to appeal in criminal cases. Cur
rently the state does not have this
right.
• Amendment No. 15 — This
would do away with the office of
County Treasurer in Fayette,
Nueces and Gregg Counties.
• Amendment No. 16 — This
would allow for more than one jus
tice of the peace in larger counties.
• Amendment No. 17 — This
would give the state legislature, not
the courts, the power to determine
how much liability a city has for each
of its activities. If passed it could sta
bilize insurance costs for cities. This
directly effects Bryan-College Sta
tion.
• Amendment No. 18 — This
would create jail districts that would
construct and operate county jails.
• Amendment No. 19 — This
w r ould provide state money for the
superconductor supercollider.
• Amendment No. 20 — This
would allow for the tax exemption of
idle offshore oil equipment.
• Amendment No. 21 — This
would include the speaker of the
house as member of executive agen
cies or committees."
• Amendment No. 22 — This
would limit the appointing of office
vacancies by a lame-duck governor.
• Amendment No. 23 — This
would issue $400 milion in bonds for
water supply, water quality and flood
control.
• Amendment No. 24 — This
would allow one county to work for
another without compensation.
• Amendment No. 25 — This
would allow hospital districts to
change boundary jurisdiction with
the distric’s voter approval. It would
also permit Amarillo Hospital Dis
trict to serve Randall County resi
dents.
• Referendum No. 1 — A “no”
vote would allow citizens to elect the
members of the State Board of Edu
cation. A “yes” vote would mean re
taining the appointed board system.
This will not effect the quality of ed
ucation.
• Referendum No. 2 — This
would legalize pari-mutuel betting
on horse and dog races.
Research assistance was given by
Dr. Gary Halter in the Political Sci
ence Department, Dr. Roland D.
Smith in the Agriculture Economics
Department and the Free Market
Foundation.
The polling location on campus
will be in the Memorial Student Cen
ter.For off-campus locations, call
(409) 361-4490.
ABC-TV’s “This Week with David
Brinkley.”
Lugar said he is inclined to favor
the treaty but is holding off a final
decision until he sees the finished
Carlucci, who accompanied Secre
tary of State George P. Shultz on his
trip to Moscow a week and a half
ago, said he didn’t foresee any prob
lems in Congress for the treaty.
“We think it will be ratified,” he
said on the NBC program. “It’s a
good treaty.
“It’s been carefully worked out
and the verification provisions are
going to be the most intrusive in the
history of arms control.”
Carlucci said the accord is “98
percent of the way there.”
A&M’s patented research development
could prove useful in testing, fighting AIDS
By Jenny Hynes
Reporter
A recently patented process
created through Texas A&M re
search may prove useful in accu
rately testing and fighting the
AIDS virus.
“If we are correct, we may have
an explosive impact because the
procedure would have uses as a
test and a vaccine,” says Stephen
Wechter, a scientist who was in
volved in the project as a research
assistant for the Department of
Pathology and Laboratory Medi
cine at A&M’s College of Medi
cine.
Dr. Luther Lindner, an asso
ciate professor in the depart
ment, was also involved in the re
search, which developed a
procedure that has detected ac
quired immune deficiency syn
drome (AIDS) during laboratory
tests.
Unlike AIDS tests now on the
market, which test for the pres
ence of Human Immunodefi
ciency Virus, a factor found in
those exposed to the AIDS virus,
the new process uses a different
concept.
“We identify people with AIDS
using something else — a specific
antibody,” Wechter says. “I feel
that we have a predictive test for
those exposed to HIV who may
get the disease.”
In developing their testing
method, which was patented in
September, Lindner and Wechter
used a colony of monkeys already
showing clinical signs similar to
those found in human AIDS pa
tients. From these animals they
isolated antibodies — disease
fighting cells — that react with
human AIDS tissue.
Lindner says while there is
great potential for the project,
more research is needed to pro
duce a useful test.
“It still is basically a fairly crude
system,” he says. “What remains
to be done is to identify exactly
what the antibodies were reacting
to and their relationship to the
disease. Once that is done we can
determine whether the thing can
actually be developed.”
Wechter says the process could
eventually help in the fight
against AIDS in three ways: pro
duction of a vaccine to prevent
the disease, a method of screen
ing for AIDS before symptoms
appear and a drug to treat the
disease.
The research, which Lindner
says was conducted over a period
of about U/a years, stopped two
years ago — before a usable prod
uct was formed. He says this was
because of the sale of the animal
colony and the lack of appropri
ate researchers at A&M who
could continue the study.
Wechter has since formed his
own company, Scientific Ven
tures International, and is work
ing in Houston to secure support
for more research on the finding.
Lindner says although their
work is promising, no company
has yet contracted for licensing of
the research for two reasons.
“First of all, it is not a devel
oped system at this point,” he
says. “(The companies) can’t look
at it and say, ‘This is going to be
commercially valuable,’ so anyone
who picks up the patent is taking
a big gamble.
“The other thing is the time
frame. Because there are already
a bunch of commercial tests out
based on the HIV, getting this to
a commercially viable point
would take a couple more years.”
Lindner and Wechter hold
rights to the process and will re
ceive royalties if any commercial
use is made of their findings.
“Assuming anything ever
comes of it — after the expenses
of the patent are paid off and that
sort of wonderful stuff — some
thing would probably eventually
come down the pipeline,”
Lindner says.
After patent expenses are paid
from royalties, the University and
the developers split the income
evenly.