Thursday, February 2,1989
The Battalion
Page 9
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Photo by Richard James
Capt. Tim Fickey of the College Station Fire
Department fans smoke away from a fire that
started in the basement of Davis-Gary on
Wednesday. The incident started when
sparks from a workers’ acetylene torch caught
a door on fire. It was isolated and there were
no injuries. The renovation of the dormitory
should not be delayed because of the fire.
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East Texas’ 2-year drought kills 30,000 trees
CROCKE TT (AP) — A two-year
drought in East Texas is being
blamed for the deaths of more than
30,000 pine trees in the Davy Crock
ett National Forest.
Up to 10,000 acres amounting to
3 million to 4 million board feet of
lumber in the Neches District of the
forest in Houston and Trinity coun
ties are affected, Sten Olsen, district
forest ranger, said.
“Some areas have been harder hit,
but the dead trees are scattered,
from one to 20 per acre,” he said.
“All ages and all kinds have died —
natural seedlings up to 10 years old,
planted seedlings to six years, natu
ral pole timber and young and old
sawtimber.”
Forest Service spokesman Carl
Gidlund said Wednescfay the tree
kill appears to be confined to the
77,685-acre Neches District.
“We don’t know of any other
drought-killed trees in the forest in
the South,” he said. “At least none
has been reported to us. Location is
probably the biggest factor.”
The two counties are at the west
ern boundary of the Southern
Coastal pine forest.
“During periods of average or
higher moisture, the tree line ad
vances west,” Olsen said. “When it’s
dryy, the line retreats east a few
miles.”
For the past two years, rainfall in
the area is 28 inches short of normal.
“There’s no question we’ve the po
tential for further loss il the drought
continues,” Olsen said.
He said experts speculate that
trees are accustomed to high mois
ture and the drought has put them
under stress. One characteristic of
the dying trees is that they were in a
soil known as Keltys.
“Those are loamy soils and con
tain a lot of moisture under normal
precipitation conditions,” he said.
Salvage efforts to harvest the dead
trees began in the fall but Olsen said
there’s more work in the two coun
ties than local salvage logging opera
tions can handle.
“We still have drought conditions
and the trees have been dying at an
accelerated rate,” he said. “Even by
harvesting all we can there’ll still be
lots of dead trees left to benefit va
rious wildlife needs.”
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PRESENTED BY OFF CAMPUS AGGIES
TODAY
FEBRUARY 2,1989
PARADE
6:00 p.m. on Campus
Starts at Cain Hall
Ends at Bonfire site
DANCE
8:30 p.m.
Graham
Central
Station
door prizes
will be
given away!
Group: Increased capacity
only solution for prisons
AUSTIN (AP) — The only solu
tion to problems in the Texas crimi
nal justice system is increasing
prison capacity by 40,000 beds at a
cost of $1.2 billion, the chairman of a
Dallas-based anti-crime group said
Wednesday.
“If we do anything less than
40,000 beds over the next several
years, then we will be here again in
two years, same problem, in four
years with the same problem, and
over and over,” Richard Collins,
chairman of Associated Texans
Against Crime, said.
Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Plano, also
urged the expansion and added that
he was considering filing legislation
to allow the death penalty to be im
posed on criminals who commit mul
tiple felonies.
Johnson, one of several lawmak
ers who joined Collins at a news con
ference, said he got the idea for the
capital punishment bill after partici
pating in a radio call-in show in San
Antonio.
“Five straight callers said, ‘What
are we going to do with the repeat
felony offenders?”’ Johnson said.
“And I said I don’t know, unless we
build more prison beds and keep
them in jail, because they are not be
ing rehabilitated.”
Callers asked why capital punish
ment wasn’t available for second-and
third-time felony offenders, John
son said, adding, “I’ll tell you right
now, I’m thinking about doing that
(filing legislation) because of those
people’s suggestion.”
An additional 40,000 beds would
increase Texas prison capacity to
90,000 by 1992, Collins said, and the
average time served by inmates
would increase from about 21 per
cent of the sentence assessed to
about 30 percent.
The expansion could be financed
through taxes, bonds, spending cuts
in other areas or passage of a lottery
and dedication of the game’s pro
ceeds, Collins said.
The prison system is under a fed
eral court order because of crowded
conditions, and an estimated 8,000
to 11,000 inmates who have been
sentenced to state prison are being
held in local jails.
Gov. Bill Clements has called for
nearly 11,000 new prison beds, with
expansion to be financed with $343
million in bonds.
Lawmakers also are looking at al
ternatives to incarceration, such as
prison “boot camps.”
“Texas is the leading state in the
country in providing alternatives,”
Collins said. “We have 290,000 pro
bationers on probation. We have
67,000 people on parole. What more
alternatives can we provide?”
A proposed constitutional amend
ment authorizing the issuance of
general obligation bonds for correc
tions facilities is in the House Cor
rections Committee.
Rains: Texas political hopefuls
should reveal funding sources
AUSTIN (AP) — Public disclosure of where political
candidates get the money to run for office is essential in
Texas, the chairman of campaign finance reform task
force declared Wednesday.
“I can find no reason in the law or in just plain com
mon sense that we should allow a situation to exist
where it is impossible to trace money in a campaign and
know its true source,” Secretary of State Jack Rains said.
Rains, a Republican, heads the bipartisan task force
that will recommend changes to the Legislature.
“Everyone who is close to campaign finance in this
state, I think, shares a troublesome concern,” Rains
said. “We may be giving the public the wrong impres
sion in that we do not disclose enough so that reasona
ble voters can say with assurance and certainty that they
know who is financing each and every campaign.”
Rains said campaign reform has the support of the
state’s top leaders, including Gov. Bill Clements, House
Speaker Gib Lewis and Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby.
Another committee member, state Rep. Ashley
Smith, R-Houston, noted the soaring costs of Texas
campaigns. Clements, for example, spent some $12 mil
lion on his 1986 race.
“The size of contributions in the political campaigns
that we have on a statewide basis, as well as a legislative
and local basis, have gotten so large they merit a re
view,” Smith said.
Rains presented the panel with a lengthy list of pro
posed reforms, that included:
• Limiting contributions to a candidate to $5,000 a
year by individuals and $10,000 by political committees.
• Limiting individuals to total contributions of
$25,000 a year to any combination of candidates or po
litical committees.
• Prohibiting “laundering” of political funds
through a series of political action committees.
• Expanding reporting to require candidates to give
cumulative totals on contributions from individuals and
PACs.
• Requiring accurate reports to end the current
practice of some politicians who hide the nature of
spending by reporting only credit card payments or
staff “travel.”
Sen. John Montford, D-Lubbock, said he has been in
terested in campaign finance reform for years but
added, “It’s been lonely ... In 1985, I couldn’t even get
a committee vote on campaign finance reform. In 1987,
I got it out of committee, even though it was on the last
day of the (legislative) session.”
Former state Sen. Searcy Bracewell of Houston said
one improvement would be to reduce the length of time
between primary and general elections. In 1988, the
state primary was March 8, with the general election in
November.
The partners and professional staff of Peat Marwick
Main & Co. are
pleased to announce the following
graduates of Texas A&M University, class of 1988-89,
will be joining our Firm:
Becky Barta
Robert Muckleroy
Lisa Bauer
John Muschalek
Rusty Bay
Melissa Owens
Jeff Boone
Sharon Pechal
Lisa Felak
Kevin Peter
Kimberly Ferrell
Donna Ross
Pat Fletcher
Andrew Smith
Karen Gilbert
Tammy Speetzen
Rhonda Hohertz
Amy Sternenberg
Betsy Jacks
John Wall
Kindra Jackson
Michael Walther
Kimberly Knopp
Andre Warren
Laura Liles
Jimmie Williams
Mitch Madison
Welcome to Peat Marwick!
Peat Marwick Spring Campus Interview Dates:
February 20
March 3 (summer positions)
Peat Marwick