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Vol. 88 No. 169 USPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
WEATHER
FORECAST for THURSDAY:
Partly cloudy with d. 30 percent
chance of thundershowers in the
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HIGH: 90s LOW: 70s
Wednesday, July 12,1989
s Group says Legislature needs ethics overhaul
9-4756
I AUSTIN (AP) — Lobbyist-paid vacations
lor lawmakers and a businessman handing
Out $10,000 checks in the Senate chamber
■how the need to overhaul the Texas Legis
lature’s ethics rules, a public watchdog
roup said Tuesday.
“Texans are getting the kind of Legis
lature they pay for,” Tom Smith, director
jjpf the group Public Citizen, said.
“They’ve got legislators who work part
ime, who don’t pay much attention to the
affairs of state because they can’t afford to,
ho have to look to the monied interests
H^nd look after the interests of those who
ive them money,” Smith said.
But the public could change the system
y boosting lawmakers’ salaries from the
urrent $600 a month and linking that pay
aise to reform, Smith said.
“If they want a Legislature that works for
hem instead of special interests, they’ve got
o ante up and pay the salaries,” he said.
They’ve got to vote in November to raise
salaries — and demand significant reform
in campaign finance and lobbying.”
A referendum on the November ballot
proposes tripling legislators’ salaries from
“I
If they want a
Legislature that works for
them instead of special
interests, they’ve got to
ante up and pay the
salaries.
— Tom Smith,
Public Citizen director
.#7,200 a year to more than $23,000. It also
would remove the constitutional require
ment that voters approve all salary hikes by
paying lawmakers 25 percent of the gover
nor’s salary — which the Legislature sets.
Smith suggested that as legislators ask
voters for the raise, they should promise to
reform the campaign finance system and
ethics laws which place no limits on how
much lobbyists can spend to wine, dine and
take lawmakers on trips.
“I think there ought to be that kind of
promise made by legislators around the
state,” Smith said. “And people should de
mand an answer from their representatives
on whether they’re going to vote for some
limitations. They need to make it clear they
want this system to change.”
Another group, Common Cause, also is
calling for changes.
Pam Fridrich, that group’s executive di
rector, agreed that citizens should tell law
makers what they think.
“The public needs to be contacting legis
lators and telling them, ‘We want you to dis
close this information to us, we want cam
paign finance reform, and we want you to
be above board with us,’ ” she said.
In the past two weeks, the Legislature has
been embarrassed by two incidents.
In late June, news reports revealed that
the Texas State Troopers Association
helped pay for a lobby-funded ski trip for
some lawmakers and gubernatorial aides.
The association opposed a bill, eventually
vetoed by Gov. Bill Clements, to require po
lice groups to publicly disclose where they
spend money raised through telephone so
licitations.
Then late last week, two days before a
Senate vote on a workers’ compensation
bill, East Texas millionaire Lonnie “Bo” Pil
grim offered $10,000 checks to one-fourth
the members of the Texas Senate after tell
ing them of his unhappiness with the cur
rent workers’ comp law.
The checks — with the payee’s names left
blank — were intended as campaign contri
butions, said Pilgrim, who distributed seve
ral in the Senate chamber while a commit
tee was meeting there. Most of the nine
senators offered the checks rejected or re
turned them.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie
Earle said he is investigating.
Although lawmakers can’t accept cam
paign contributions during regular legis
lative session, there is no prohibition during
special sessions like that going on now.
Unlike federal law, Texas law places no
limits on how much money individuals can
donate to political campaigns.
Unlike some other states, Texas also
places no limits on how much money lobby
ists can spend on legislators. Dinners,
drinks, hunting and fishing trips, golf out
ings at exclusive clubs and other favors are
common.
Reports filed with the secretary of state
showed that some of the 900 registered lob
byists spent thousands of dollars a month
during the regular session on entertain
ment and gifts for officials.
rotesters of
ie Mannfl i • • . , t
limes protected
y House bill
(usac*
AUSTIN (AP) — After abortion
pponents expressed concern about
Jtheir right to picket at clinics, the
House passed a bill Tuesday to en-
S sure a new “hate crimes” law would
not apply to protests unless property
Sis damaged.
I The law, approved in the regular
session that ended May 29, makes it
a felony beginning Sept. 1 to dam
age or destroy a place of worship or
a community center that offers med
ical, social or education programs to
the public.
If the damage is less than $20,000,
I the maximum punishment is 10
I years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
; Greater damage carries a maxi-
j mum penalty of 20 years in prison
I and a $ 10,000 fine.
Groups afraid that the measure
I would apply to people who stand
I outside clinics to discourage abor-
I dons, if they cost the clinics money
I by turning away business, have met
I with Gov. Bill Clements’ staff.
a
) Rep. Steve Wolens said he was
told the governor might veto the bill,
which was prompted in part by de
struction at synagogues by skin
heads, if changes were not made in
I the law.
“The governor was seriously con
sidering vetoing the bill for reasons
that had no semblance of legitimacy,
in my opinion,” Wolens, D-Dallas,
said. “People were concerned about
ghosts and hobgoblins.”
Ann Raborn, an Educational Administration graduate student rington Tower Tuesday afternoon to get something to drink be-
from Lafayette, La., takes a walk down the stairs outside of Har- fore returning to her job in the building.
Senate passes
A&M, WTSU
merger bill
The Senate approved a bill Tues
day to merge West Texas State Uni
versity with the Texas A&M Univer
sity System.
The measure was passed by voice
vote in the House, with only eight
days remaining in the special 30-day
legislative session.
The merger would reejuire appro
val by boards of both institutions and
the Texas Higher Education Coordi
nating Board.
The bill is non-binding and
doesn’t require either institution to
follow through with the merger.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Teel Bi
vins, said the benefit to A&M, gener
ally considered a flagship university
in Texas, would be that it “is the pre
mier agricultural institution in the
world” and West Texas State at Can
yon “is located in the center of the
production of agriculture in this
country.”
Sen. Kent Caperton, whose dis
trict includes A&M’s main campus,
said, “I’ve had certain reservations
about the wisdom of this move.
“Are you satisfied that sufficient
thought, study, reflection, examina
tion of this proposed merger has
taken place . . . ?” asked Caperton,
D-Bryan.
Bivins responded that the boards
and administration of both schools
“have evidenced their support of the
concept” of a merger, and faculty
and student studies were still going.
/
J
A&M business grads with M.B. A.,
M.S. degrees fare well in job market
By Mia B. Moody
STAFF WRITER
Texas A&M students who obtain
graduate business degrees are doing
well in the job market, according to
statistics released by the College of
Business in June.
Students who obtained a Master
of Business Administration or Mas
ter of Science degree from the busi
ness college last year made from
$24,000 to $50,000, said Dan Rob
ertson, associate dean of academic
programs and director of the mas
ters programs of the college.
Robertson said the average salary
for a graduate with an M.B.A. is
$32,533, and with an M.S. degree is
$32,400 per year.
U II
■ ligher salaries usually
go to students who have
job experience either
through cooperative
programs or internships.”
— Dan Robertson,
associate dean
Ninety percent of M.B.A. and
M.S. recipients from A&M obtained
jobs in Texas, he said.
“Sometimes jobs outside of Texas
will pay higher salaries, especially in
the Southwest,” he said. “But this is
usually balanced out because the cost
of living in Texas is often lower.”
Robertson said that according to
data from the department’s re
search, internships usually increase
salaries for graduates.
“Higher salaries usually go to stu
dents who have job experience ei
ther through cooperative programs
or internships,” he said. “Even if stu
dents just get a small summer inter
nship, we have found that this helps
them in the job market.”
Robertson said the data is com
piled from students who have jobs
and report the amount they will be
making either to the Placement Cen
ter in Rudder Tower or to the Col
lege of Business.
“We hope that every student will
turn in their salary amount,” he said.
“Not only does it increase accuracy
in our data, but it also helps to in
crease salaries for other students.”
Robertson said salaries can in
crease for undergraduates because
recruiters often ask what average
salaries are for A&M graduates and
if students have turned in their sal
ary amounts, the statistics are avail
able for the recruiters.
Bush hails Hungary’s democratic reforms,
nourishes freedom in East-bloc countries
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — President Bush,
sped on his way by thousands of cheering Poles,
on Tuesday hailed the democratic “reforms and
changes” taking root in Hungary as he pursued
an extraordinary journey to nourish freedom in
communist lands.
“We want to work with Hungary to continue
the changes and reforms you are going forward
with in your great country,” the president told
several thousand people who braved the rain to
hear his arrival remarks. More thousands lined
the streets as Bush’s motorcade made its way into
the city, just minutes after a storm with hurri
cane-force winds blew through.
Air Force One brought Bush and the presi
dential party to Hungary — where Soviet troops
once brutally crushed democratic yearnings —
after a tumultuous scene in Poland at the birth
place of the Solidarity trade union movement.
“For those who say that freedom can forever
be denied, I say let them look at Poland,” he told
a cheering crowd estimated at 25,000 at a Solida
rity monument outside the giant Lenin ship
yards.
He said the struggles by Poles against the Nazis
four decades ago and more recently against sup
pression of Solidarity had produced “a time
when dreams can live again.”
“We have sown new seeds,” Polish leader Woj-
ciech Jaruzelski told Bush before the president
left on his 90-minute flight from one Iron Cur
tain country to another.
For Bush it was an altogether remarkable day,
and one that took him from one Eastern-bloc
country where recent elections placed hundreds
of opposition members in the parliament to a sec
ond where reformers and hard-line communists
now share power. Bush’s trip served as a coun
terpoint to Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s
recent visits to West Germany and France.
Like Gorbachev, Bush looked ahead to an op-
porunity to surmount the 45-year Cold War and
“end the division in Europe.”
Bush’s text for his two-day visit to Hungary
was expected to be similar to Poland, just as the
visit was designed to showcase American support
for the economic and political change sweeping
the nation where Soviets troops once brutally
suppressed democratic yearnings.
Bush was understood to be taking to Hungary
proposals for improved trade opportunities with
the United States, as well as ideas to strengthen
cultural and business ties.
In Hungary, as in Poland, Bush’s goal was to
nudge a Soviet-bloc country toward private en
terprise, and the target of his attention was a will
ing pupil.
Hungary already encourages private entrepre
neurs, has a small but energetic stock market,
and permits the sort of free speech that the Bush
administration sees as going hand-in-glove with
capitalism.
Also like Poland, the Hungarians have Soviet
troops stationed on their territory. And, like Po
land, the president would like to see the forces
removed, but has not made a big point of it.
‘Perhaps the greatest
man of theater ever, ’
Lord Olivier dies at 82
LONDON (AP) — Laurence
Olivier, the foremost actor of a
distinguished generation and the
man whose Hamlet and Henry V
defined Shakespeare for modern
mass audiences, died Tuesday at
82.
A rare fusion of superb classi
cal and extraordinary contempo
rary actor, Olivier was at home in
the plays of Shakespeare, Shaw
and Chekhov, as well as the movie
thriller “Marathon Man” or the
TV mini-series “Brideshead Re
visited.”
Knighted and ennobled, he
was Lord Olivier when he died
but still plain Laurence Olivier on
his stage and screen credits. He
also led a distinguished roll call of
actor-knights and dames who
made British stage and screen
history.
The founding father of Brit
ain’s National Theater and two-
time Academy Award winner was
mourned throughout the acting
world as the greatest of his time.
“It isn’t too much to say that
Olivier was perhaps the greatest
man of the theater ever,” said Sir
Peter Hall, who succeeded him as
artistic director of the National
Theater.
Flags were lowered to half-staff
outside the National Theater,
and theaters from London’s West
End to Stratford — the birthplace
of Shakespeare — were ordered
to dim their exterior lights for an
hour Tuesday night in respect.
Death came at his home near
Ashurst, a village near Steyning
in West Sussex about 50 miles
south of London. He had been ill
for years, fighting cancer, pleu
risy and a muscle disease that
made even handshakes agony.
“His last few days were very
peaceful,” said Richard Olivier,
the 27-year-old son of his third
marriage, to Joan Plowright. “He
died in his sleep at noon. All the
family was at his side.”
A private funeral is planned,
with a public memorial service in
London later.
As an actor, Olivier was re
nowned for his daring. “However
many times you’d seen him, it was
probably the most dangerously
thrilling moment you’d seen on
any stage,” actor Jeremy Brett
said Tuesday.
He was a tragic film hero in
“Wuthering Heights” and por
trayed the painful experience of
aging in “The Entertainer” on
stage and “A Voyage Round My
Father” on television.
His genius owed much to a
sweeping imagination and atten
tion to detail. To conjure up King
Oedipus’s unearthly cry of an
guish, Olivier said he imagined
the sound ermines make when
they lick salt laid out by their
hunters and their tongues stick to
the ice.
His career was highlighted by a
triumphant procession of Shake
spearean roles, from “Romeo and
Juliet” in 1935 and “Hamlet” in
1937 on stage to a TV production
of “King Lear” in 1983.
He reached mass audiences
with title roles and directors’
credits in “Henry V” in 1944,
“Hamlet” in 1948, for which he
won the Academy Award as best
actor, and “Richard III” in 1955.
He brought “Othello” to the
screen in 1965, a year after play
ing the jealous Moor on the Lon
don stage.
Born May 22, 1907, in Dork
ing, southwest of London, Lau
rence Kerr Olivier was the third
child of an Anglican clergyman.