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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1988)
Thursday, September 1,1988/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local C. Evar, Jpe! 'eedof 'hetraj in g that’s i, | since n the Cot; lobe 'eeknoi ier the % >ned tb n expo ting" oi - Greek ring? he noise nto itse; 100 !WI| ht to dh tffurt to i '■ be sigrui and Uln State poverty level passes 18 percent for 1980’s decade AUSTIN (AP) — The number of Texans living below the fed eral poverty line has increased by more than 1 million since 1980, bringing the state’s proverty rate to more than 18 percent, a new study says. By the end of 1987, an esti mated 3.07 million Texans lived in poverty, an increase of 1.03 million over the 1980 total. Under federal guidelines, a family of four earning less than $11,200 in 1987 was considered to be living in poverty. According to the state-spon sored study, Presidio County in West Texas had the highest con centration of poor residents. More than half of that county’s citizens, 55.11 percent, lived be low the federal poverty line, according to the study conducted by the Texas Department of Hu man Services and Texas Depart ment of Health. State officials said they weren’t surprised by the growing number of poor. Brian Packard, an associate commissioner with the Depart ment of Human Services, specu lated that the state’s sluggish economy, particularly in the pe troleum industry, helped spark the increase. Between 1980 and 1987, the period of the study, the state’s population grew to 17 million. Carol Daniels, chief of the health department’s bureau of state health data and policy analy sis, said the poverty figures will be used to help the two state agen cies channel funds to the appro priate counties. Because of the growing needs for their services, both depart ments are asking for increased funding from the Legislature for the 1990-91 budget period. The health department was al located about $311 million for 1988-89 and seeks $438 million for 1990-91. The human services department expects to spend about $2.4 billion in 1988-89 and seeks $3.5 billion in state funds for 1990-91. :ii) Bentsen’s records ’give wrong amount lyard T call a a 1 for if HOUSTON (AP) — The blind trust of Democratic vice presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen invested about $564,000 — more than twice the amount previously disclosed —in a holding company that was formed by his son last year but has con ducted little business since then, a published report said Wednesday. The Houston Post also reported that the company has been paying the financially strapped Lan Bentsen nearly $10,000 a month for his serv ices as president and board chair man, according to a record of his tes timony in an Aug. 3 divorce hearing. id wall Bentsen, the Texas senator, den ied Tuesday that he influenced the investment decision and said he saw nothing unusual about the trans action. He acknowledged, however, that trust administrators probably based their decision on what he would have done in the same cir cumstances. “I don’t consider it unusual to consider how a father would feel about the investment in his son’s buisness,” Bentsen said. “I consider it an investment in my son’s future.” Senate records show the invest ment originated as a personal loan Bentsen made to his son in October 1986 for between $100,000 and $250,000. Black man’s murder sparks life in East Texas resident HEMPHILL (AP) — The black man’s violent death and the circum stances surrounding it registered in Vollie Grace’s chest, a nightmarish, suffocating feeling like he was stand ing in a dark tunnel and the walls were closing in. His discomfort those days in early January was puzzling, Grace remem bers now, for while it occurred only a few miles from his home, the fatal beating of Sabine County prisoner Loyal Garner Jr. seemed to have little obvious bearing on what Grace considered a happy existence. Like Garner, Grace is black. But in his 47 years, most of them spent near this East Texas village, he had always been treated fairly by whites. He had carved out a comfortable life for himself and his family with hard work, owned a cement finishing business and kept his mouth shut. In his version of the American dream, Grace could come home at the end of a day, eat his favorite meal of steak and rice, and plop down on a padded sofa in a cool liv ing room in front of his color TV. To Grace, if injustice indeed existed, it existed elsewhere. But then, on Christmas Day last year, while Grace and his family “He would hardly talk before this came about. Now I just can't seem to keep up. There's something differ ent every month, something else he needs to look into or explore. Now he'll tell you what he’s thinking. ” — Alice Grace dined on holiday ham. Garner, a 34- year-old truck driver from Florien, La., just east across the border, was arrested in Hemphill for suspicion of drunken driving. Two days later Garner was dead in a Tyler hospital from head injuries delivered in jail by three white law officers, subse quent criminal charges alleged. Hemphill was hence lugged un willingly into the national spotlight. At the same time, for reasons he still doesn’t fully understand, the gentle life of Vollie Grace was changed for ever. Today, the man once so oblivious to problems outside his own life both leads and epitomizes a black awaken ing spawned in Hemphill by Gar ner’s death and its aftermath, an awakening that has turned this quiet Piney Woods town on end. “I had no business whatsoever fooling with this,” Grace said re cently of Garner’s death. “It didn’t have any business worrying me. But if I didn’t do something I would suf focate.” Days after Garner died Grace formed Concerned Citizens of Sa bine County to organize the black community where no organization had existed before, and thereby as sumed the mantle of black lead ership here. And eight months later, on a swel tering day in early August, it was Grace who joined Garner’s widow to lead 300 people, most of them black, on a loud march through Hemphill. The unprecedented demonstra tion, organized by Grace, protested the July acquittals of suspended Hemphill Police Chief Thomas Ladner and suspended Sabine County deputies James Hyden and Bill Horton, who were accused of vi olating Garner’s civil rights. Grace now is president of the fledgling Sabine County chapter of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, is a newly appointed minority represen tative to an East Texas government council and is still president of Con cerned Citizens. Even Grace’s wife of 21 years finds the turnabout in her husband curious. “He would hardly talk before this came about,” Alice Grace, 44, said. “Now I just can’t seem to keep up. There’s something different every month, something else he needs to look into or explore. Now he’ll tell you what he’s thinking. “Now he’s thinking about it all day and dreaming at night about some thing he needs to do.” Don Coleman, Grace’s close friend from nearby Jasper, thinks there is a Vollie Grace in every rural community in America, waiting to be summoned by circumstances to lead ership. Paper says official paid for appointments AUSTIN (AP) — A state official under investigation for allegedly of fering a $100,000 contract in return for the hiring of a state employee made a similar offer to the commis sioner of the Texas Higher Educa tion Coordinating Board, the Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday. Gene Shelton, whose resignation as deputy director of the Texas De partment of Commerce takes effect Thursday, is one of several people under investigation by federal au thorities for an alleged deal in which an Austin-based job-training pro gram partly funded by the U.S. De partment of Labor was offered the state contract in April 1987, the newspaper said. It said the investigation concerns whether in return for the contract, the jobs program director, David Duke, agreed to hire Jane Johnson, then an employee of the Texas De partment of Community Affairs. Duke eventually hired Johnson. Shelton at the time was assistant director of the TDCA, which writes contracts with private programs and other state agencies to disburse La bor Department funds. Sources in state government and people familiar with the investiga tion told the newspaper that Shelton previously tried to get Ms. Johnson hired at the Coordinating Board. The sources said that at the same time, he either offered to expand the board’s TDCA contract, or threatened or implied the contract could be rescinded. Johnson apparently was unaware of the alleged efforts in her behalf. Higher Education Commissioner Ken Ashworth, asked about Shelton allegedly tying Johnson’s job to the contract, said: “I’m reluctant to re spond to that. My understanding is that this may end up in litigation. I’m aware there are some investiga tions going on.” Shelton said he met with Ash worth to ask if Johnson could be hired at the Coordinating Board, but he added: “I don’t think we ever talked about the contract the Coor dinating Board had with TDCA. “Without any question at all, there was never any implication or cer tainly any direct threat to Ash worth,” Shelton said. “I would have avoided any type of implication like that.” The American-Statesman re ported that its sources said Ash worth was told a dropout prevention program funded with TDCA money would receive more money if John son was hired, but that Ashworth flatly rejected the offer. One source said Shelton then threatened to re scind the contract unless Johnson was hired, the newspaper said. The contract in question funded Youth Opportunities Unlimited, a program lor disadvantaged teens. Correction In a story in the Aug. 30 issue of The Battalion, it was incor rectly reported that permits for the parking garage currently un der construction on the north side of campus cost $150 per se mester. They cost $150 per year. Also, Robert Smith is the vice president for finance and opera tions, not the interim vice presi dent for fiscal affairs as was re ported. nd ha: ent sa 1’t ho: Your Basic ^bur BASIC Problem: Solution: 5S3K.C SXKSO Linear Algebra with Applications ^ Deci$fON ANALYslis^ Elements of Econometrics Tbsrd rdltfesn PROBABtiTY AND SWWCS FOR ENONffiJS Fluid Mechanics [ « | MUMtKKM MSWCKH I COlUEOS PHYSICS X Advanced Engineering b Maihemaiies The TT74 BAS1CALC: The BASIC language programmable calculator from Texas Instruments. The mathematics and statistics cartridges are two of five optional application software available. The TI-74 BASICALC ™ is a BASIC calculator that’s also an advanced scientific calculator. In effect, it’s two calculators in one. In its BASIC mode, you have direct, twodceystroke access to 41 BASIC commands, as well as 10 usendefinable keys which can make doing your coursework a basic snap. Switch to its calculator mode and you’re armed with 70 scientific functions to help you easily solve those tough technical problems. And the large, color-coded keys, QWERTY keyboard and separate numeric keypad make it easier to use than any other programmable calculator. Your BASICALC specs: • 8K RAM expandable to 16K RAM. • 113 BASIC keyword set. • Optional software cartridges for chemical engineering, math, statistics and finance. • Optional PASCAL language cartridge. • Optional printer and cassette interface. Stop by your bookstore and see both sides of the TI-74 BASICALC for yourself. Either way, it’ll blow you away. IfTYAC; ^ Instruments ™Traclemark of Texas Instruments Incorporated ©1988 TI.