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Wednesday, June 12,1991
Pari-mutuel gambling
Law lowers race taxes
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Ann Richards has signed
into law an 80 percent cut in the state's share of
horse race wagering, which supporters said will
bring major league horse racing to Texas.
"There is no reason for Texas to take a backseat to
anyone, and racing is no exception," David Free
man, executive secretary of the Texas Racing Com
mission, said Tuesday.
But opponents described the tax break as a breach
of trust between state officials and voters who ap
proved pari-mutuel gambling at the state's current
tax level.
"It makes us look like we've been fooled again,"
said Sue Cox, executive director of the anti-gambling
group Texans Who Care.
The new law scraps the 5 percent tax on each dol
lar gambled and replaces it with a sliding-scale tax
that would start at 1 percent for the first $100 million
wagered at a track.
The law also allows wagering at Texas horse and
dog tracks on televised broadcasts of races held in
other parts of the country and sets up a new cat
egory for county fair horse racing, which will be al
lowed to run 5 days per year.
The law does not change the 6 percent tax on grey
hound racing.
Richards has said the lowered tax is needed to get
major horse tracks in Texas.
Only a few smaller horse tracks are currently oper
ating. No Class 1 tracks, allowed in the Houston,
Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio areas, have been
licensed.
Horsemen, who initially agreed to the 5 percent
tax when the question was adopted by voters in
1987, subsequently said that tax was too high to al
low profitable operations of a Class 1 track.
"I think people felt that when racing passed, they
had in mind something more in the nature of Re
mington Park (in Oklahoma City)," Freeman said.
He said lowering the tax will help that become a
reality by making it more attractive for investors to
sink money — estimates are in the $45 million to $75
million range — to build and operate top flight
tracks.
Harris County court rejects
state's prison reform plan
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion
Editorial Board
Editor
Timm Doolen
Managing Editor
Todd Stone
City Editor
Sean Frerking
News Editors
Jennifer Jeffus
Callie Wilcher
Art Director
Richard James
Lifestyles Editor
Rob Newberry
Opinion Editor
Krista Umscheid
Sports Editor
Jayme Blaschke
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non
profit, self-supporting news
paper operated as a commu
nity service to Texas A&M
University and Bryan-College
Station.
Opinions expressed in The
Battalion are those of the edi
torial board or the author,
and do not necessarily rep
resent the opinions of Texas
A&M students, administra
tors, faculty or the A&M
Board of Regents.
The Battalion is an entirely
student-managed branch of
Student Publications, an inde
pendent entity that operates
closely with the Department
of Journalism.
The Battalion is published
daily, except Saturday, Sun
day, holidays, exam periods
and when school is not in ses
sion during fall and spring se
mesters; publication is T ues
day through Friday during
the summer session. News
room: 845-3313.
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BATTIPS
The Battalion encourages
its readers (o contribute story
ideas and suggestions by call
ing BATTIPS, The Battal
ion's phone line designed to
improve communication be
tween the newspaper and its
readers.
The BATTIPS number is
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Ideas can include news sto
ries, feature ideas and person
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couraged to offer any other
| suggestions that could im
prove the newspaper.
HOUSTON (AP) — The Harris
County Commissioners Court on
Tuesday rejected the state's offer
to solve crowded conditions at
county jails, scuttling the Legis
lature's $500 million prison reform
plan.
Last month, the Legislature ap
proved a bill that would end law
suits against the state over inmate
backlogs. Twelve counties are su
ing to force the state to take thou
sands of felons currently held in
local jails.
But a provision in the bill holds
that if afl of the counties involved
do not agree to a settlement by
June 15, the bill automatically dies.
The state is offering to accept all
its prisoners from overcrowded
county jails bv Sept. 1, 1995. But
counties that accept the plan
would have to agree to drop jail
crowding lawsuits* against the
state and would only be partially
reimbursed for the costs of hous
ing the prisoners in the meantime.
"Either way we go, Harris
County's going to be out of mon
ey," Harris County Judge Jon
Lindsay said Tuesday following
the commissioners' closed door
session.
The commissioners said they
could not agree to the state's re
quest to drop the lawsuit, con
tending that only the inmates who
sued the state nave the right to
drop the lawsuit.
Harris County attorney Mike
Driscoll said the 12 counties that
sued the state are in a position to
ask for a better deal.
"All the counties in Texas now
are starting to see that the state of
Texas has been asleep at the wheel
for the last year," Driscoll said.
Court punishes
Texas family in
benefits scam
DEL RIO (AP) —- A federal
judge sentenced seven members
of an Eagle Pass family to prison or
probation for an elaborate scheme
to collect unemployment benefits
for 1,800 migrant workers in 22
states.
The scam was uncovered when
a computer discovered checks for
1,800jpeople were going to the of
fice of a notary public in the border
city of Eagle Pass, prosecutors
said.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge
Emilio Garza of Del Rio sentenced
Daniel Ibarra Jr., 62, and six of his
family members.
All had pleaded guilty April 3
and admitted their roles in the
scheme in which unemployment
benefits were collected from Texas
and 21 other states and forwarded
to the workers in Mexico for a fee.
Prosecutors were able to prove
only about $15,000 in fraudulent
claims in this case, which was
cracked with the use of an under
cover agent. Officials said in many
of the cases the migrant workers
were not entitled to the unemploy
ment benefits.
U.S. Attorney Ronald Ederer of
San Antonio said the case was the
first of its kind.
Federal officials said variations
of the scheme have existed from
Brownsville to El Paso.
What’s Up
Wednesday
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: General discussion at noon. Call COPE at 845-0280 for more
information.
TEXAS ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION COMMISSION (TEAC): General membership meeting —
plans for activities during the summer months. Everyone interested in environmen
tal concerns welcome at 7 p.m. in Zachry 119A. Call Charlie at 823-3577 for more
information.
EPISCOPAL STUDENT CENTER: Eucharist and community dinner at 6:15 p.m. at Can
terbury House at 902 George Bush Drive.
LUTHERAN STUDENT FELLOWSHIP: Evening prayer at 6:30 p.m. at the University Lutheran
Chapel.
Thursday
ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS: General discussion at 6 p.m. Call CDPE at 845-0280
for more information.
CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST: Weekly meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. in Rudder 308.
Everyone Welcome! Call John Ferguson at 696-1091 for more information.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: General discussion at noon. Call CDPE at 845-0280 for more
information.
A&M CYCLING: To discuss summer racing and training. New members welcome at 7 p.m.
in 231 MSC. Call Stephen Haydel at 696-3945 for more information.
Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, no
later than three business days before the desired run date. We publish the name
and phone number of the contact only if you ask us to do so. What’s Up is a Battal
ion service that lists non-profit events and activities. Submissions are run on a first-
come, first-served basis. There is no guarantee an entry will run. If you have ques
tions, call the newsroom at 845-3316.
&
From school selection to admissions, we're the answer
to your questions about college and beyond.
■THE
EDUCATIONAL GROUP
College Station
764-8303
900-number blocking
offered by students'
long-distance carrier
By K. Lee Davis
The Battalion
Texas A&M students living
on campus do not have a call
blocking option because Univer
sity phone lines cannot directly
access the possible long-dis
tance phone numbers.
Local telephone companies
throughout Texas are offering
customers the opportunity to
block 900 and 976 pay-per-call
information and entertainment
services where the technology
exists.
The block option was man
dated by the Texas Public Utili
ties Commission in an attempt
to relieve some of the problems
consumers and business have
had with the numbers.
A representative with the
A&M communications office
said the block option has to be
exercised through a student's
long-distance carrier.
Tim Raven, president of the
Texas Telephone Association,
said his organization believes
the call-blocking option will alle
viate most concerns about
abuses connected with 900 serv
ice.
Meloise Canales, a customer
service representative for GTE
in Bryan-College Station, con
firmed that the option was avail
able in the area, but she added
that few complaints have been
received.
Philip Bode, a marketing di
rector for
AT&T in
Houston, said
major phone
carriers have
been working
with the PUC
to solve some
of the problems associated with
900 number abuse.
He added, however, that
some responsibility must be
taken by the consumer for his or
her actions.
"If you see a 900 number
these days, you should know
that there will be a charge for
the call," he said.
Bode added that the calls
ranged in price from 95 cents
?r minute to a maximum of
19.95.
Under the call-blocking plan,
telephone subscribers through
out Texas will receive ballots in
their telephone bills notifying
them of the 900 and 976 call
blocking option.
If a customer decides to block
access to these numbers, the op
tion initially will be carried out
free of charge. If a customer
later decides to remove the*
block and then reinstate it, there
will be charge of $10.25.
In areas where individual call
blocking is not technically possi
ble, access to 900 pay-per-call
services will be blocked to all
customers until the local tele
phone company's equipment is
able to provide the selective
blocking.
<
Storage tank leaks suspected carcinogen
FORT WORTH (AP) — A storage tank has leaked as much as!
20,000 gallons of a suspected carcinogen at a U.S. Air Force-owned air
craft facility, the government said.
But General Dynamics officials said Tuesday the leaking chemical,
tricholorethylene, would not affect Fort Worth's w^ter supply.
"Experts are studying possible damage to two ground water aquif
ers, but Fort Worth doesn't draw its water from ground water aqui
fers," a Fort Worth Water Department statement said.
"All Fort Worth water comes from above-ground lakes and reser
voirs; therefore, none of the city's drinking water sources are involved
with the spill in any way."
A&M students perfect
shuttle arm controls
Continued from page 1
tion to a computer on the shuttle.
Students and professors are
working on perfecting the com
puter's resolution and sending the
information to the arm to direct its
movements.
Everett said the arm's sensor
might ultimately be used in other
activities, such as docking the
shuttle at a space station, instal
ling the shuttle's solar panels,
picldng up tools in space or align
ing machine tools.
Redfield said the project also
might be used in the space sta
tion's proposed construction.
"All these activities need an arm
that is very dexterous and requires
a specific degree of accuracy," he
said. "The computer will be used
to control the accuracy of the sys
tem."
Redfield said NASA is looking
at building smaller arms for the
space station and the computer be
ing used in this project might en
able the arms to pick up tools and
use them in the construction.
"This summer we'll be imple
menting the control of the arm
with the manipulator devel
opment system down at Johnson
Space Center," he said.
The relationship between the
students working on the project
and NASA was initiated by A&M
alumnus Aaron Cohen, Class of
'52, a director of Johnson Space
Center.
Redfield said a good possibility
exists that the results or this pro
ject will be useful to manipulators
of mechanical arms throughout
U.S. industry.
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