Tuesday, May 1,1990
The Battalion
Page 5
Candidate criticizes Clements’ lack of planning
iichards says governor needs plan
Associated Press
Gov. Bill Clements should present a school fi-
lance plan to the Legislature if he keeps his
jromise to veto the measure they’ve sent him,
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ann Rich-
irds said Monday.
“It would be incumbent upon him not only to
lave a plan now, but he should have had a plan a
long time ago,” Richards said, criticizing the Re-
ublican governor’s handling of school finance
ince the Texas Supreme Court last fall found
the system unconstitutional.
Clements vowed to veto the $555 million pro-
sal funded by a half-cent sales tax increase de-
ite the court’s order for a new system by Tues-
ay. State attorneys will appear before a judge
uesday to explain why no reforms were ap-
roved before the deadline.
Asked whether she was worried Texas public
hools would close a few weeks before the end of
e academic year, Richards said, “Of course,
e’re worried.”
But Richards would not say whether she sup-
jrted the legislation.
“I have refused in recent days to second-guess
vhat is taking place in the Legislature because I
leel sure that they’ve examined what opportuni-
ies are available to them,” she said.
“I think the sad part is we have a governor who
las no position at all in terms of a positive solu-
ion to what can be done,” she said.
Richards said Clements should have called leg-
slators into action on the issue immediately after
the October ruling, instead of pushing schools to
the brink of insolvency.
“We knew there was a lot of political cynicism
taking place when the special session was not
called until the very last minute in which any so
lution that was created was going to come about
in a crisis situation,” Richards said.
The governor calls special legislative sessions
“I
It would be incumbent upon him
not only to have a plan now, but he
should have had a plan a long time
ago,”
— Ann Richards,
Guberatorial candidate
and sets the agenda for them. The Legislature is
finishing its second 30-day special session to re
form the $13.5 billion school finance method, a
combination of state and federal aid and local
property taxes. The court said the system dis
criminated between property-rich and -poor dis
tricts.
Richards was in Washington to accept an
award in her duty as the state’s treasurer and to
meet with Texas Democrats, including Sen.
Lloyd Bentsen.
Bentsen said he was confident Richards would
beat Republican nominee Clayton Williams, a
Midland rancher and businessman, in the No
vember general election.
“She’s been an excellent administrator of one
of the state’s major agencies — treasurer — she’s
a good campaigner and she’ll be a good gover
nor,” Bentsen said.
Richards repeated her vow to keep her cam
paign focused on issues after winning the nomi
nation in a primary that drew national attention
because of the accusations of drug use and finan
cial impropriety that were exchanged.
She said remarks during the campaign became
escalated “in this present atmosphere of inter
preting and reinterpreting.”
She refused to judge Williams’ admission he
visited prostitutes as a teen-ager and his ranch-
yard comparison of foul weather to rape, re
marks that some analysts say have widened the
gender gap in the race.
“I’m going to continue not to comment,” she
said. “I believe his words speak for themselves.”
Richards received the 1990 Payment Systems
Excellence Award from the National Automated
Clearing House Association, a group of bankers
and government officials that advocates electro
nic funds transfer.
Texas has nine programs using such methods,
including tax collection and payment of state aid
to school districts. A new program that reduces
the time it takes large payments to be added to
the Texas treasury is expected to add $5 million
in non-tax revenue, she told the group’s conven
tion.
trong winds destroy balloon
lesigned to stop drug smugglers
■ MARFA (AP) — A radar-
ftuipped helium balloon designed
to deter drug traffickers lay limp on
I West Texas plain Monday where
inspectors were trying to determine
v[hy it ripped in pieces during high
Rinds.
R The balloon was moored when
irface winds of 57 mph tore the
lalloon in three sections at about
30 p.m. Saturday, officials said.
“The site personnel at the aerostat
eard a noise and went to investigate
id found the aerostat had broken
ito three pieces,” said Kathy
amor, a U.S. Customs spokeswo-
lan in Washington.
Hamor said Customs and balloon-
aker General Electric Co. officials
ere in Marfa, about 170 miles
iuth of El Paso, assessing the dam-
g e -
“Right now we don’t know the
ause and we are investigating,”Ha-
nor said.
Each blimp costs $11.5 million to
12.5 million and $1.5 million a year
|d operate, but all costs are now be-
pg paid by GE which still owns the
b.illoon and still is testing it.
I “The balloon just came apart,”
Danny Morris, a GE Marfa aerostat
systems service engineer, told the
Odessa American on Sunday.
The Kevlar balloon ripped apart,
broke into three pieces and hit the
ground, Morris said. The three bal
loon sections — its nose, hull and
tail-fin — all landed within the site
yard, a fenced-in area of 1,000
square feet.
The sophisticated “look-down” ra
dar package, which was affixed to
the belly of the balloon, also suffered
a lot of damage, he said. Morris was
unsure if the winds were at fault in
the accident.
“We’ve been through this before,”
he said of the high winds. “It ap
peared the balloon suffered a rip ...
Once it started ripping it kept
going.” It took 10 to 15 seconds for
the balloon to come apart.
The unmanned balloon has been
grounded since December 1989,
when a similar balloon hovering
about 6,000 feet over Eagle Pass
snapped a tether and floated away.
Workers deflated the balloon by re
mote control, allowing it to crash-
land at Carrizo Springs, about 46
miles southeast of Eagle Pass.
A GE investigation released Feb.
21 revealed lightning had struck the
moist tether where it had been pre
viously repaired. The company is re
designing a tether for the balloons.
Three balloons with a 260-mile ra
dar range each are supposed to
monitor the Texas-Mexico border
for low-flying drug-smuggling air
craft that avoid conventional ra-
dar.A balloon launch planned for
Rio Grande City, about 90 miles
southeast of Laredo, was delayed be
cause of the Eagle Pass accident.
The government plans to launch
16 aerostats, tethered 10,000 to
15,000 feet in the air from the Pa
cific Coast to the Grand Bahamas.
Currently five are in operation in
Deming, N.M., Yuma and Fort Hua-
chuca, Ariz., Grand Bahama Island
and Cudjoe Key, Fla.
“The whole aerostat line of de
fense is a big part of the entire war
on drugs in the Southwest, and once
it’s fully operational we expect it to
pay big dividends,” Dick Wert, a
U.S. Customs spokesman, said.
ury convicts police officer
of voluntary manslaughter
Dallas police
warn drivers
of new law
DALLAS (AP) Dallas police
say they are going to great
lengths to warn ^cruisers” to stay
away from the West End district
of downtown.
Although enforcement of a
ban against cruising — driving
around with no apparent destina*
tion — in the shopping and din
ing district won’t begin until May
11, the city already has signs up,
and Dallas police are running
newspaper ads telling about the
ban.
“It’s the first time we’ve used
ads,” Dallas police Sgt. Jim Chan
dler said Monday. ‘“The reason,
of course, is we expect the (new)
ordinance to be challenged.”
Chandler said a city attorney
recommended that police buy the
advertising so no one can claim
they did not get fair warning.
A violation of the new ordi
nance will result in a fine of up to
$560.
Police said they will stop motor
vehicles that pass through traffic-
control points more than three
times between the hours of 8 p.m
and 4 a.m.
, DALLAS (AP) — A former Houston police officer
was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison for the
freeway shooting of Houston newspaper janitor Ida
Lee Delaney.
| Alex Gonzales, 25, was convicted in Dallas Friday of
voluntary manslaughter in the Oct. 31 shooting death
of Delaney. Gonzales had testified that Delaney shot at
him and two other off-duty officers before they chased
heron a Houston freeway for 12 miles.
; During the early morning chase, Delaney pulled her
truck over to the side of the road, near a highway de
partment vehicle, apparently seeking help. Delaney
fired at Gonzales after he ran to her truck, gun in hand,
and punched her in the face, witnesses testified. Crit
ically wounded, he returned gunfire, killing the 50-
year-old woman.
Gonzales is a very coldhearted,
ruthless person. He has no feelings.”
Janice Myles,
victim’s sister
i An eight-woman, four-man jury spent most the day
Monday determining Gonzales’ sentence. He could
have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
I The punishment phase in Gonzales’ trial began Mon
day in Dallas County district court before Harris
imunty District Judge Ted Poe. Poe moved the trial to
pallas because of extensive publicity in Houston.
cut here
Charlotte Ragsdale, a member of the Ida Delaney
Justice Committee, said the sentence “is at least a step in
Dallas.”
“Obviously, there was enough information and evi
dence to bring some form of justice and that was critical
in my opinion,” said Ragsdale, the sister of Dallas City
Councilwoman Diane Ragsdale.
“The family was looking for hope in the system in
they were able to find it.”
Charlotte Ragsdale said she believes that most people
watching the case would feel that the sentence is fair.
Defense attorneys had argued that sending a police
officer or former officer to prison is like imposing a po
tential death sentence because inmates often carry
grudges against them.
But prosecutors contended that police officers
should be judged by a tougher standard than average
citizens because officers are expected to enforce the
law.
Janice Myles, Delaney’s sister, said she was pleased
with the sentence. Myles said she was not concerned
about Gonzales’ fears that his life might be threatened
in prison.
“Gonzales is a very coldhearted, ruthless person,”
Myles said. “He has no feelings.”
Myles said although Gonzales has been sentenced to
prison, he is still better off than her sister.
“You know she’s gone,” Myles said. “The only thing I
can do is go talk to her at her grave. But they can go
visit him.”
Gonzales and the two off-duty police officers were
fired by former Houston Police Chief Lee Brown. All
three have appealed their firings.
Attendance skyrockets
Record crowd
sees air show
in Fort Worth
FORT WORTH (AP) — Spirits
are soaring at Carswell Air Force
base after record crowds turned out
for a two-day air show over the
weekend.
Officials estimate that more than
1 million people attended the event,
easily eclipsing the 1987 attendance
record when an about 750,000 peo
ple watched the show.
“We were ready for a large
crowd,” said Capt. Barbara Carr,
chief of public affairs at Carswell.
“But we had no idea how large it
would be.”
The combination of the F-117A
Stealth fighter’s first air show ap
pearance and the Thunderbirds, the
Air Force aerobatic demonstration
team, were probably the main rea
sons for the free event’s success,
Carr said. The Thunderbirds pilots
flew F-16s built in Fort Worth.
The base is normally closed to the
public.
About 500,000 people jammed
through the gates Saturday, and
about 600,000 people attended the
show Sunday, Carr said.
Defensive Driving Course
May 14,15 & May 30, 31
College Station Hilton
For more information or to pre-register phone
693-8178 24 hours a day.
cut here i
Battalion
Classified
SORORITY FORMAL
FALL RUSH •1990
Registration in the MSC
TUESDAY • MAY 1
9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Cruising Through Rush
845-0569
People will be available
to answer questions.
BOTHER’S BOOKSTORES
THE PRICE IS RIGHT AT ROTHER’S
SELL YOUR BOOKS NOW
340 George Bush Dr.
901 Harvey
New Release
Movie Rentals
On Tuesday
& Thursday
M-Th 10-9
F&St 10-11
Sun. 1-9
693-5789
Located on the comer ot Texas & SW Parkway
In the Winn Dixie Center, College Station
MAJOR CREDIT
CARDS
ACCEPTED
CO-OP STUDENTS
REQUIRED MEETING
FOR CO-OP STUDENTS
SCHEDULED TO WORK IN
SUMMER 1990
* Receive final reminders and instructions from co-op staff
* Meet in small groups by major to receive additional instructions
on co-op report
* Meet in small groups by geographical location
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Individuals (21-55 years old) who occasionally have trou- $iq0
ble sleeping due to short term stress to participate in a 1 $100
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%\ NEW COLD STUDY
$75 Individuals who have recently developed a cold to participate in a
$75 short research study with a currently available prescription medica-
$75 tion. $75 incentive for those chosen to participate.
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ADULT SORE THROAT STUDY $100
$100 Individuals 18 years & older with severe sore throat pain to $10°
$100 participate in a investigational research drug study. $100 $100
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IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME STUDY
Symptomatic patients with recent physician diagnosed, ir
ritable bowel syndrome to participate in a short research
study. $100 incentive for those chosen to participate.
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HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE STUDY
Individuals with high blood pressure, either on or off blood pressure
medication daily to participate in a high blood pressure study. $300
incentive, PLUS $100 RAPID ENROLLMENT BONUS for enroll
ing and completing study.
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Individual with recent lower back or neck pain, sprain,
strains, muscle spasms, or painful muscular sport injury to
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