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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1988)
jj Thursday, September 15,1988/The Battalion/Page 5 W 1 1 ■" ' — — University gets phones, lights for campus safety Officials pinpoint danger areas By Juliette Rizzo Staff Writer M Texas A&M is taking action to nake the campus safer for students dy installing lights and outdoor imergency telephones. In a speech to the Student Senate as«week, University President Wil iam H. Mobley said a study of the :ampus is being conducted to deter- nine where more lights should be nstalled for better campus security. a!?j He said that plans are already un- lerway to install lights and emer- ' v fencv telephone boxes along the jog- fting trail near the President’s house Win all parking lots. Bob Wiatt, University Police De- bartment director, said the UPD and n.;he Office of Student Affairs are b,,vorking together to improve cam- auskafety. i t “We are working with Student Af fairs to try to pinpoint all the areas an campus that are well-traveled but aot well-lighted,” Wiatt said. “Based an pur input, it was decided that ights should be installed along the tagging trail and in all parking lots, especially the ones behind the Com- aions and the gravel lot where mar- ^^■student housing used to be.” Mme lights and new emergency ahones are being installed in identi- OnedI “problem or dark areas,” said “We are working with Stu dent Affairs to try to pin point all the areas on cam pus that are well-traveled but not well-lighted. ” Bob Wiatt Tom Murray, assistant director of student affairs. “So far, we’ve decided to install lights behind the Commons and on a new temporary poorly lighted walk way between the band hall and Un derwood Hall,” Murray said. “Also, overgrown trees that shade existing lights are going to be trimmed.” The Security Awareness Task Force, a committee created last year by the Department of Student Af fairs, decided that lights on campus should be monitored for burnouts, Murray said. “We never had a really effective method of reporting burned-out lights,” he said. “Now any student or staff member can report faulty lights to the UPD, which will notify the Physical Plant.” Two new phone systems also are being installed on campus. Because residence halls are locked from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m., eight cour tesy-convenience phones are being placed outside some halls. Murray said the phones should be installed by the end of September at Haas, McGinnis, Underwood, Hughes, Hart and Clements Halls. Phones also will be placed in the Law-Puryear area and on the golf course side of Krueger and Mosher Halls. Three emergency “blue light” phones also will be installed. “These phones will be installed on a test basis in select areas of camp us,” Murray said, “one of which will be near the jogging trail.” He said the phones will be tied di rectly into the UPD computer sys tem. Lifting the receiver will send a signal to the UPD and the computer will identify the phone being used automatically. Murray said the new safety mea sures are being implemented to en sure student safety. “Locking the doors early has nothing to do with our perception of students as adults,” he said. “We’re just trying to provide the students with a safe environment free from anything including innocent solicita tion and anyone who may cause stu dents harm. We’re just trying to pro vide the students with an increased opportunity for safety.” fexas oil-industry analysts don’t worry about world price ^■OUSTON (AP) — Texas economists and oil ana- ysts ire shrugging off a recent slide in the price of oil, vhat many consider the lifeblood of the state’s econ- )my And that’s a dramatic change from the days when the srolpect of $14-per-barrel oil would send shivers down helpine of any self-respecting Texan. Optimists may attribute the change in attitude to a di- 'ersilication of the state’s economy since the last great )il bust of 1986. But analysts say the main reason is that )il (iimpanies have grown so lean the prices will have to Irop considerably to force further cutbacks. Oil futures prices, trading on two-year lows, slipped idov' $14 per barrel this week before surging back a bit iftef King Fahd of Saudi Arabia called for better coop- ration among OPEC members. ^■hen the October contract for benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude skidded to $13.75, it marked he lowest level since Oct. 29, 1986. On spot markets, ruffle prices also have dropped below $14.50. Despite the dwindling “upstream” profits in drilling ndlproduction, Texas refineries are profitably work- tig ground the clock. And the integrated oil companies lave streamlined enough to make up for the low price if crude with the firm price of refined products. The Texas state budget, meanwhile, has grown less lependent on oil tax revenues, managing a $113 mil- onlsurplus in the 1988 fiscal year despite continuing iroblems in the oilpatch. “The feeling right now is that (oil) prices would have a almost go down to the single-digit level before we saw nylseriously detrimental effects on the Houston re gion,” Michelle Michot Foss, senior associate at Hous ton’s Rice Center, said. “The energy industry is just as important as it once was, but if you look at the region and the composition of industry, it’s a much smaller share,” she said. “Not that the others have grown so much, but because the oil industry has gotten smaller.” The Houston area alone lost about 160,000 jobs dur ing the First major drop in oil prices in 1982-83, and an additional 130,000 jobs disappeared in the 1986 price plunge, officials said. Ray Perryman, director of the Baylor University Forecasting Service said, “Our short-term dependency on oil during this recovery, oddly enough, is not that great. But the state’s long-term dependency is signifi cant.” Texas’ gradual economic recovery, he said, has been primarily driven by export industries, including petro chemicals, paper, aircraft and electronics. “I think that a year from today, if the price of oil stays at that level, the economic outlook in Texas will be lower than otherwise,” Perryman said. “But I don’t think we’re going to have any significant problems un less the price drops below the Texas production levels of $ 11.50 a barrel and stays there.” Tony Proffitt, a spokesman for State Comptroller Bob Bullock, agreed that a sustained depression in oil prices would hurt the state economy, but downplayed the effects of any temporary price declines. “Oil and gas revenues once accounted for 27 percent of all economic activity in the state,” Proffitt said. “But now it only accounts for 9 percent of all economic activ ity in the state, so the importance is lessened.” Bentsen: Dukakis will pursue ‘real’ defense Three officers bitten, beaten by suspect B)ENISON (AP) — Three offi cers trying to take a bite out of crime were bitten and beaten as they arrested a man Tuesday, po lice said. All three policemen were given shots for hepatitis after the scuffle, and the 32-year-old man was being checked for commu nicable diseases. l||rhe suspect, who was not in jured, is expected to face a num ber of charges, including aggra vated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, public intoxica tion, and criminal mischief after he damaged the inside of a patrol car, police said. PUjCapt. H.C. Strandlien lost a fingernail and had to have stitches in both thumbs after he was bitten. One thumb was bro ken. Lt. John Nelson was treated for multiple bites, bruises and a broken thumb. Officer Ray Aa ron was treated for bites and bruises. Bfhe incident took place after police tried to arrest a man who allegedly shoved and grabbed a woman delivering a pizza. An other woman said the same man had banged on her door saying someone was trying to kill him. Police spotted the suspect and tried to talk to him. When they in formed him he w'as under arrest, the suspect turned on them curs ing. Fighting, kicking and biting, police said. ijThe man was subdued and handcuffed, then shoved into the police car, where he started kick ing again, police said. 1: Officers said they had to stop several times en route to the po lice station to try and quiet the man. At police headquarters, the man continued to battle officers. HARLINGEN (AP) —Democratic vice presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen, seeking votes in his pro-de fense home state of Texas, said Wednesday that Michael Dukakis would pursue practical weapons in stead of the “Buck Rogers” Republi can program. “We live in the real world these days, not some science fiction movie,” said the former bomber pi lot, speaking on a podium amid a collection of World War II combat planes. “And in the real world, real wars are still fought with real tanks and guns and fighter planes,” he said. “Under this administration, Buck Rogers has been promoted and our conventional forces have been ne glected” while the Soviets have gained in that area, he said. “Mike Dukakis and I are going to devote more defense resources to areas where America is most vulner able,” he said. Bentsen toured the Confederate Air Force, a private collection, and spoke to an audience including uni formed students from the nearby Marine Military Academy, a board ing high school. The Texas senator donned a leather flight jacket, climbed aboard and Fired up a single-engine trainer. He waved to the crow'd and cameras from the open cockpit as the wind from the prop blew back his hair. Both Bentsen and Dukakis were hitting the military theme to counter Republican efforts to portray the Massachusetts governor as weak on defense. Vice President George Bush has said Dukakis opposes every weapon devised since the slingshot, citing the Democrat’s opposition to the MX and Midgetman missiles and deploy ment of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative. “Under this administra tion Buck Rogers has been promoted and our con ventional forces have been neglected. Mike Dukakis and I are going to devote more defense resources to areas where America is most vulnerable. ” — Sen. Lloyd Bensen In a speech prepared for delivery later Wednesday at an LTV corpora tion plant in Grand Prairie’ Bentsen said Bush’s comments were wild charges and innuendo from the vice president and his handlers . . . hit and run attacks staged for the net work news. Bentsen said Dukakis supported the cruise missile, the Stealth and B- 1 bombers, and an array of other weapons including continued SDI research. The Republican’s problem was that they never met a weapons system they didn’t like and misman aged the Pentagon Bentsen said. “Any objective person would have to acknowledge that defense spend ing over the past eight years has been mismanaged,” he said. “This administration’s idea of a Pentagon watchdog is one that bites the whis tleblower and wags its tail at the con sultants getting their kickbacks on military contracts.” The wasted money, he said, was adding to a federal deficit that could threaten the country as surely as a military attack. Bentsen planned to travel Thurs day morning to Shreveport, La., but his staff was watching the progress of Hurricane Gilbert to see if plans would be changed. Stroll through the vineyard and taste the award winning wines of Messina Hof Wine Cellars PUBLIC NOTICE BRIEF EXPLANATORY STATEMENTS , * 1 OF PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS , GENERAL election NOVEMBER 8, 1988 PROPOSITION NO. 1 ON THE BALLOT Senate Joint Resolution 8 pro poses a constitutional amendment providing' that when the federal government reimburses the state for expenditures of state funds dedicat ed to acquiring' rights-of-way and for constructing, maintaining, and policing public roadways, such fed eral funds must also be used for those purposes. The proposed amendment will ap pear on the ballot as follows: “The constitutional amendment and/or clarification providing that federal reimbursement of state highway dedicated funds are themselves dedicated for the pur pose of acquiring rights-of-way and constructing, maintaining, and policing public roadways.” PROPOSITION NO. 2 ON THE BALLOT House Joint Resolution 2 proposes a constitutional amendment to estab lish an economic stabilization fund in the state treasury. The fund would consist of one half of the un encumbered balance of general rev enues at the end of a biennium and three fourths of the difference between the net oil and gas produc tion taxes received in a fiscal year and the net oil and gas production taxes received in the 1987 fiscal year. During any fiscal biennium, the amount in the economic stabili zation fund could not exceed 10% of the total deposited in general reve nue in the preceding biennium. The state comptroller and the state treasurer could decide to trans fer monies from the fund into the general revenue fund to alleviate a temporary cash shortage in general revenue. The legislature could make appropriations from the fund on ap proval by a three fifths vote of each house to make up the difference between anticipated general revenue and appropriations. On approval of two thirds of the members of each house of the legislature, the legisla ture could appropriate monies from the fund for any purpose. The proposed amendment will ap pear on the ballot as follows: “The constitutional amendment establishing an economic stabili zation fund in the state treasury to be used to offset unforeseen shortfalls in revenue.” PROPOSITION NO. 3 ON THE BALLOT House Joint Resolution 5 pro poses a constitutional amendment that establishes the Texas growth fund. All investments of the Texas growth fund must be directly re lated to furthering economic growth and employment opportunities in Texas. At least 50 percent of the fund must be invested in equity and/or debt security for the initial construction, expansion, or moderni zation of business or industrial fa cilities in Texas. Not more than ten percent of the fund may be invested in venture capital investments. Of the funds available for venture cap ital investments, not more than 25 percent may be invested unilateral ly, and the remaining investments must be matched at least equally by funds from other sources. The Texas Paid Advertisement growth fund will be managed by a board of trustees consisting of four members appointed by the Governor and one member from and elected by the membership of each of the fol lowing: The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System; The Board of Regents of the Texas A&M System; The Board of Trustees of the Teacher’s Retirement System of Texas; The Board of Trustees of the Employee’s Retirement System of Texas; and the State Board of Edu cation. The trustees may set the in vestment policy of the fund, enter into investment contracts, and take any action necessary for the crea tion, administration, and protection of the fund. The amendment autho rizes the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System and the State Board of Education, in man aging the permanent university fund and the permanent school fund, to acquire, exchange , sell, supervise, manage, or retain any kind of in vestment, including investments in the Texas growth fund. The fund will be phased out after the tenth anniversary of its creation, but the Legislature may create a second growth fund by a two thirds vote of each house. The proposed amendment will ap pear on the ballot as follows: “The constitutional amendment to provide for the investment of the permanent university fund, the permanent school fund, and public employee retirement sys tems in the Texas growth fund created by the amendment, which will directly create, retain, and expand job opportunity and eco nomic growth in Texas.” Estos son los informes explan<v- torios sobre las enmiendas propw- estas a la constitucidn que apara- cerdn en la boleta el dia 8 de noviembre de 1988. Si usted no ha recibido icna copia de los informes en espahol, podrd obtener una gratis por llamar al 1 /800/252/868S o por escribir al Secretario de Estado, P.O. Box 12060, Austin, Texas 78711. She's always dieting. Always dissatisfied. She's obsessed with her weight. And now you wonder what happened to that happy person who had such an appetite for living. If your daughter is totally obsessed with being thin, she may be suffering from an eating disorder like anorexia nervosa or bulimia. People with anorexia nervosa have an overwhelming fear of becoming fat. And if they don't get help, anorexics literally starve to death. Instead of avoiding food, people with bulimia binge on huge amounts of food, then purge, either by vomiting or using diuretics or laxatives. Both disorders cause severe medical problems, and can be fatal. So if you think your daughter has an eating disorder, call the number below for help. Our family- based program is covered by many insurance plans. In a warm supportive environment, patients learn the skills to deal with their compulsive behavior. If your daughter has become irrational about eating, call us. Now. We can help you reach your daughter. And help her get back to a healthier life. Greenleaf Hospital (4.09)690-0039